Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk Assessment of Dioxins in Wild Birds by the Combination of Contamination Level and Species-Specific Response of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor

Here we review the results of risk assessment of dioxin-like compounds (DLCs) in wild populations of avian species including black- footed albatrosses (Phoebastria nigripes) from the North Pacific, common cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) from the Lake Biwa, Japan and jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) from Tokyo. Focusing on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) of these species, we measured the species-specific responses of AHR-cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) signal transduction activated by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) through the in vitro reporter gene assay system that was constructed using the expression vector of AHR from the respective species. Together with total TCDD toxic equivalents (TEQs) derived from concentrations of DLC congeners in the liver of these avian species, TCDD-EC50 from in vitro reporter gene assay treated with TCDD indicated that the total TEQ levels in all the specimens of the black-footed albatross population reached the levels sufficient to induce CYP1A expression via the AHR activation. This indicates that the wild black-footed albatrosses have experienced a greater threat from DLCs. By a similar approach, we found that about 50% and 0% of wild populations exceeded the TCDD-EC50 in the common cormorant and jungle crow, respectively. Consequently, our in vitro reporter gene assay system can potentially be a valuable tool for evaluating the susceptibility to DLCs and for assessing the disruption of AHR-CYP1A signaling pathway by DLCs in target species.
Acute Triangulations of Trapezoids and Pentagons

An acute triangulation of a polygon is a triangulation whose triangles have all their angles less than . The number of triangles in a triangulation is called the size of it. In this paper, we investigate acute triangulations of trapezoids and convex pentagons and prove new results about such triangulations with minimum size. This completes and improves in some cases the results obtained in two papers of Yuan (2010).
THE EXPLOSIVE POWER OF THE LOWER LIMBS IN BASKETBALL AND HANDBALL PLAYERS UDC 796.323.322, 796.012.11

Basketball and handball are sports which require almost the same physical abilities. Since horizontal jumps and vertical jumps are the predominant elements of the game in both sports, their successful realization depends on the explosive power of the lower limbs. The aim of this research was to determine the significance of the differences of the explosive power of the lower limbs in basketball and handball players. Thirty participants took part in the research, 15 basketball and 15 handball players, all from Nis. A set of six variables was applied for evaluating the horizontal (3 Hop Test, One Leg Triple Jump and Standing Long Jump Test) and vertical jump (Bosko-Abalakov Jump- CMJ, Vertical Jump - run up and single leg take off and Squat Jump - SJ). The results of the univariate analysis of a single variable (ANOVA) show that basketball players achieved statistically better results in the vertical jump tests, whereas handball players did better in the horizontal jump tests.
Effects of bacterial pneumonia in neonatal calves on serum lipids

A total of 31 neonatal calves (9 clinically healthy and 22 with pneumonia), between 22 and 28 d of age were used. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was obtained through transtracheal aspiration for Gram-staining and bacterial culture. Bacteria were identified according to the routine and described procedures. Serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoproteins were analysed enzymatically. While total cholesterol (P=0.001) and high-density lipoprotein (P=0.05) concentrations were statistically decreased, there was an increase in serum triglyceride and very-low-density lipoprotein concentrations (P=0.01). The results indicated a relationship between serum lipid concentrations and bacterial pneumonia. This may be associated with hepatocellular damage initiated by subsequent sepsis.
In search of design principles for developing digital learning & performance support for a student design task

A digital learning and performance support environment for university student design tasks was developed. This paper describes on the design rationale, process, and the usage results to arrive at a core set of design principles for the construction of such an environment. We present a collection of organizational, technical, and course-related requirements that led to the particular choice and setup of the targeted environment. Building upon the established learning management system “Moodle”, we designed a backbone structure called Product & Process that fitted onto the ASCE intervention model. Within the four phases of this model, students could find activity checklists, tools, and background information to support their design activities. In addition, the environment was supplemented with tools for group Communication and collaborative Report writing. The environment has been used for 5 weeks by 35 students who worked in small groups on a design task. We analyzed the students’ appraisals for usability, and examined usage data from their action logs. The results indicated that the students were positive about the environment, and generally used its facilities fairly frequently. The discussion revolves around the issue of how to achieve a balance between constraints, freedom, and scaffolding. In addition, a set of design principles is proposed for the constructing of a future version of a learning & performance support environment.
Uranium Recovery from Aqueous Solutions Using Amidoxime Modified Cellulose Derivatives. II. Uranium Uptake Behavior of Amidoximated Ethyl Cellulose

Amidoxime modified ethyl cellulose (EC- g -AO) was used for the recovery of uranyl ions from aqueous solutions by a complexation process. Adsorption trials were carried out in different concentrations of UO 2 2+ solutions (100 – 1000 mg/L) and at temperatures ranging from 25 to 50 ° C. The kinetics and the thermodynamics of the adsorption of uranyl ions (UO 2 2+ ) by EC- g -AO were investigated. The adsorption capacity was found as 240 mg UO 2 2+ /g dry copolymer. The thermodynamic parameters for the interaction of UO 2 2+ with EC- g -AO were calculated from thermodynamic relations. Calculations showed that adsorption occurred through strong electrostatic interactions with an enthalpy of -23.6 kJ/mol. The desorption of UO 2 2+ was investigated by desorption agents like EDTA, HCl, NaHCO 3 , and NaOH. 52 % of desorption yield was found for NaHCO 3 .
Unconventional Fiscal Policy

Unconventional fiscal policy uses announcements of future increases in consumption taxes to generate inflation expectations and accelerate consumption expenditure. It is budget neutral and time consistent. We provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of such policies using changes in value-added tax (VAT) and household survey data for Poland. We find households increased their inflation expectations and willingness to purchase durables before the increase in VAT. Future research has to ensure income, wealth effects, or intratemporal substitution channels cannot explain these results and ideally exploit exogenous variation in VAT in a fixed nominal interest rate environment.
Characteristics of Benthic Invertebrates in Organic and Conventional Paddy Field

BACKGROUND: Today, environmentally friendly farming has become an important feature of agricultural policy. It promotes or sustains farming systems which protect and enhance the environment. This study was conducted to compare benthic invertebrate communities in an organic and a conventional paddy field in South Korea. METHODS AND RESULTS: Benthic invertebrates were collected at 11 regions of a rice paddy from June to August, 2009, 2010 and 2011. These comparisons undertaken using a community assessment approaches such as the number of individuals and species and community composition. Generally, the larger number of individuals and species of benthic invertebrates was observed in an organic paddy than in a conventional paddy field. Organic paddy fields could supported the wider range of species and abundance in aquatic invertebrates comparing to conventional paddy fields. Carrying capacity to support larger numbers of invertebrates also tends to be higher in organic paddy than in conventional paddy field. Specially, organic farming regions surrounded by forests were high quality habitat for benthic invertebrates than other surrounded regions such as grassland. CONCLUSION(S): We concluded that organic farming was more advantaged to benthic invertebrates than conventional farming. In order to improve biodiversity in rice paddy field, farming regimes without agricultural chemicals are recommended. The effect of organic management on biodiversity and abundance of benthic invertebrates could be maximized across highland farmland.
Support for obesity policy: The effect of perceptions of causes for obesity and national identity in Canada

Interventions in Canada to address obesity have largely been limited to individual-level change through education rather than a population-level public policy approach. Little is known about obesity policy support in Canada, and substantial national variation in obesity policy support prevents direct transferability of these policies among nations. Our study recruited 521 young adults for an online survey through leaflets and flyers. We investigated how respondents’ demographics, health characteristics, political attitudes, beliefs regarding causes of obesity, and national identity affected their support for obesity policy. Results showed that there is high support for many obesity policies among Canadian young adults. Including Canadian national identity in regression models was significant in explaining obesity policy support beyond the combined effect of other predictors. Further exploration of national identity, in Canada and elsewhere, has implications for understanding obesity policy support that might assist policy makers in making more informed decisions in addressing obesity.
The Incremental Information Content of Income Smoothing in Firm Listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)

This study aims at achieving the following objectives: examining the explanatory power of the income smoothing of future profitability, introducing evidence about the information content of income smoothing from the Iranian market and enriching the literature on income smoothing relationships in the capital market research. The study sample consists of (46) industrial companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange, during the period (2004- 2011). Regression analysis is employed to examine the study's hypotheses (Four Models). Wald test and Adjusted- R2 was used to indicate the incremental information content for the study variables. The study found the following: 1. Current profitability predicts future profitability. 2. Income smoothing hasn't incremental information relative to current profitability when predicting future profitability. 3. Past profitability doesn't provide incremental information related to current profitability when predicting the future profitability. 4. Income smoothing hasn't incremental information content with respect to current and past profitability when predicting future profitability. These results mean that the lagged earnings is a good predictor to the future earnings and Iranian companies' managers can manipulate profitability trend in the future to achieve a target level in earnings by using income smoothing tools.
Interpreting the 'selection effect' of biodiversity on ecosystem function

Experimental ecosystems often function differently than expected under the null hypothesis that intra- and interspecific interactions are identical. Recent theory attributes this to the ‘selection effect’ (dominance by species with particular traits), and the ‘complementarity effect’ (niche differentiation and/or facilitative interactions). Using the Price Equation, I show that the ‘selection effect’ only partially reflects dominance by species with particular traits at the expense of other species, and therefore is only partially analogous to natural selection. I then derive a new, tripartite partition of the difference between observed and expected ecosystem function. The ‘dominance effect’ is analogous to natural selection. ‘Trait-independent complementarity’ occurs when species function better than expected, independent of their traits and not at the expense of other species. ‘Trait-dependent complementarity’ occurs when species with particular traits function better than expected, but not at the expense of other species. I illustrate the application of this new partition using experimental data.
Approximation of a semilinear elliptic problem in an unbounded domain

Let f be an odd function of a class C2 such that ƒ(1) = 0,ƒ'(0) 0 and increases on [0,1] . We approximate the positive solution of Δu + ƒ(u) = 0, on with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions by the solution of on ]0,L [2 with adequate non-homogeneous Dirichlet conditions. We show that the error uL - u tends to zero exponentially fast, in the uniform norm.
Estimation of Input Distance Functions: A System Approach

This article offers a methodology to address the endogeneity of inputs in the input distance function (IDF) formulation of the production processes. We propose to tackle endogenous input ratios appearing in the normalized IDF by considering a flexible (simultaneous) system of the IDF and the first-order conditions from the firm's cost minimization problem. Our model can accommodate both technical and (input) allocative inefficiencies amongst firms. We also present the algorithm for quantifying the cost of allocative inefficiency. We showcase our cost-system-based model by applying it to study the production of Norwegian dairy farms during the 1991--2008 period. Among other things, we find both an economically and statistically significant improvement in the levels of technical efficiency among dairy farms associated with the 1997 quota scheme change, which a more conventional single-equation stochastic frontier model appears to be unable to detect.
HIGH SPEED CRAFT VIABILITY ANALYSIS

This paper presents a brief analysis on the applicability of high speed crafts in short sea trades, from different marine stakeholders point of view. The TRANSMAR research group of the Nautical Engineering and Sciences department from the Technical University of Catalonia, has continued the finished study (INECEU: Intermodality between Spain and Europe), proposing fast ships for serving some of the selected sea links in West Europe in it. The recent communication regarding the mid-term review of the European Commission’s 2001 White paper on Transport, confirms that the evolution of modal split in freight transport from the year 2000 up to the year 2010, will show a steady share of 39% for the waterborne transport and a slight increase in the road transport. One of the four pillars of the European transport policy is the innovation in transport technologies and systems, improving its efficiency and logistics throughout the supply chain.
The Relation between Sustainability Performance and Stock Market Returns: An Empirical Analysis of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Europe

This paper investigates the relation between corporate financial performance (CFP) and corporate sustainability performance (CSP). This is done by first analyzing a sample of European stocks that were added to or deleted from the Dow Jones Sustainability Europe Index (DJSI Europe) over the period 2009-2013, and second by analyzing a sample of European stocks that were recognized as industry group leaders in CSP by the DJSI Europe over the same period. The impacts are measured in terms of (abnormal) stock returns. For the first analysis no strong evidence could be found that the announcement of the inclusion and exclusion events has any significant impact on stock return. However, on the day of change (CD) and in the period following CD, index inclusion (exclusion) stocks experience a significant but temporary increase (decrease) in stock return. These results seem to support Harris and Eitan’s (1986) price pressure hypothesis, which postulates that event announcement does not carry information and any shift in demand and hence the corresponding price change is temporary. From the second analysis, on industry group leaders, it can be concluded that the market rewards firms with high CSP. In the period after the day of change, industry group leader stocks experience a permanent and significant positive growth in stock returns. This conclusion can be supported by the resource based perspective, which posits that firms capable of investing heavily in CSP have greater underlying resources which in turn should produce higher financial performance (Alexander & Bucholz, 1978; Waddock & Graves, 1997; Clarkson et al., 2006).
Functional and Pasting Properties of Acha, Deffated Soybean and Groundnut Flour Blends

Composite flour blends (acha/defatted soybean and groundnut flour) in the ratio of 100:0, 90:10, 90:5:5, 80:10:10, 70:15:15, 60:20:20 and 50:25:25 respectively were produced and analyzed for functional and pasting properties using standard methods. Functional properties indicated a decreasing level for bulk density 0.72-0.54(g/m) and least gelation concentration (LGC) 5.90-3.85(%) with increasing level of substitution of defatted soybean and groundnut flour, while there was an increase in dispersibility(%), oil absorption(g/100g), water absorption capacity (g/100g) and foam capacity(%) 68.00-72.50(%), 1.06-1.83(g/100g), 1.61-1.98(g/100g) and 1.96-5.62(%) respectively with increasing level of substitution of defatted soybean and groundnut flour. Result of pasting properties indicated a decreasing level for peak viscosity (297.38-44.00) RUV, trough (173.30-40.42) RUV, break down (126.59-2.83) RUV, final viscosity (253.09-106.25) RUV with increase in substitution of defatted soybean and groundnut flour. Setback (79.79-128.67)RUV, peak time (5.33-6.71)min and peak temperature (81.30-94.32°C) increased with an increase in the level of substitution of soybean and groundnut. The result showed that supplementing acha flour with defatted soybean and groundnut flour improved the water absorption capacity which is an important functional property required in food formulations especially those involving dough handling.
Emission-Line Intensity Ratios in Fe XVII Observed with a Microcalorimeter on an Electron Beam Ion Trap

We report new observations of emission line intensity ratios of Fe XVII under controlled experimental conditions, using the National Institute of Standards and Technology electron beam ion trap (EBIT) with a microcalorimeter detector. We compare our observations with collisional-radiative models using atomic data computed in distorted wave and R-matrix approximations, which follow the transfer of the polarization of level populations through radiative cascades. Our results for the intensity ratio of the 2p6 1S0-2p53d 1P1 15.014 Å line to the 2p6 1S0-2p53d 3D1 15.265 Å line are 2.94 ± 0.18 and 2.50 ± 0.13 at beam energies of 900 and 1250 eV, respectively. These results are not consistent with collisional-radiative models and support conclusions from earlier EBIT work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that the degree of resonance scattering in the solar 15.014 Å line has been overestimated in previous analyses. Further observations assess the intensity ratio of the three lines between the 2p6-2p53s configurations to the three lines between the 2p6-2p53d configurations. Both R-matrix and distorted wave approximations agree with each other and our experimental results much better than most solar and stellar observations, suggesting that other processes not present in our experiment must play a role in forming the Fe XVII spectrum in solar and astrophysical plasmas.
SUBSIDENCE RECORD OF EARLY-STAGE CONTINENTAL COLLISION , ERATOSTHENES PLATFORM ( SITES 966 AND 967

A major thematic objective of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160 drilling was an improved understanding of the processes involved in the initial stages of continental collision. The Eratosthenes platform is hypothesized to be a fragment of thinned North African crust that is about to be subducted beneath Cyprus. Incipient subduction appears to be accompanied by extensive normal faulting, indicating that the Eratosthenes platform is undergoing breakup. Drilling at Sites 965−968 was aimed primarily at documenting the timing and nature of the subsidence and breakup. Using shipboard paleontologic and physical properties data, supplemented with postcruise age refinements, paleobathymetric estimates, and porosity vs. depth determinations, I present quantitative decompacted subsidence histories for Sites 966 and 967, which are located on or immediately adjacent to the Eratosthenes platform. Taken together, the subsidence results are consistent with a model in which the Eratosthenes platform is a part of North African passive margin that underwent exponentially decreasing thermal subsidence since at least early Cretaceous time, was uplifted during the late Oligocene or early Miocene, and then began a phase of rapid tectonic subsidence by late Miocene time, which has continued to the present day. The overall interpretation of the subsidence history presented here is that the Eratosthenes platform represents a thinned promontory of North African lithosphere that is now in the early stages of tectonic contact with the Eurasian plate. Breakup and subsidence since Miocene time may be related to bending stresses on the North African lithosphere associated with collision. Cymurlates ence, cean by INTRODUCTION A major goal of Leg 160 was to decipher the processes involved in the early stages of continent-continent collision. The site of this investigation has commonly been referred to as the Eratosthenes seamount (Fig. 1), which is likely a continental fragment (based on results presented here and elsewhere in this volume) and will be referred to herein as the Eratosthenes platform. The present-day tectonic setting of the Eratosthenes platform (Fig. 1) is dominated by collisional tectonics, with impingement of the Eratosthenes platform upon the Cyprus active margin, breakup of the platform, and incipient subduction of the Eratosthenes platform down the Cyprus trench, with a significant strike-slip component (Robertson and Xenophontos, 1993; Piper et al., 1996; Robertson et al., 1995b; Robertson et al., 1996). The early stages of hard collision are not well represented by modern analogues and are not well preserved in the ancient record, so the breakup and underthrusting of the Eratosthenes platform beneath Cyprus represents an opportunity to document these processes. The goal of this paper is to address fundamental objectives of Leg 160 by providing a quantitative subsidence and uplift history of Sites 966 and 967, which are located on the Eratosthenes platform (Fig. 1).