Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of forage soybean yield and quality characteristics and potential as a feed resource for developing replacement beef heifers

Taylor, Emily G. M.S., Purdue University, May 2014. Evaluation of Forage Soybean Yield and Quality Characteristics and Potential as a Feed Resource for Developing Replacement Beef Heifers. Major Professor: Ronald P. Lemenager. Two agronomic studies were conducted to evaluate the yield and quality potentials of forage soybean (Glycine max (L.)) grown with and without pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.)). Results indicate that there were no differences between row spacings of 18 cm or 36 cm and targeted populations of 469,500 seeds ha-1 or 234,750 seeds ha-1 on dry matter yield or overall quality of the forage soybean. While harvest date had significant effects on quality as the crop matured, forage soybean as a monoculture proved to be a very forgiving crop, and recovered in quality as maturity advanced into the later reproductive stages of plant development. When forage soybean was intercropped with pearl millet as a mixture or in alternating rows, there were no significant differences in DM yield. In general, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber increased across harvest dates, while crude protein and in-vitro digestibility decreased. Collectively these studies suggest that, depending on equipment availability, row spacings of either 18 cm or 36 cm, and lower seeding rates of 234,750 seeds ha-1 would be most cost effective. These results also indicate that one late season harvest of soybean monoculture should reduce harvest cost and maximize both forage yield and quality, while an early season
Comorbidity and Polypharmacy in Free-World and Incarcerated Hiv-Infected Patients: An Observational Study

There has been a notable increase in life expectancy in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) related to current antiretroviral therapies (ART). (1) Thus, this group of patients is increasingly older, with associated comorbidities and diverse concomitant treatments. (2,3) These comorbidities are more prevalent in PLWHA than in the general population. (4) They are associated with a prolonged period of immunosuppression as well as with inflammation, immune hyperactivation and the use of high doses of ritonavir. (4) Mathematical models suggest that these comorbidities will only be more frequent in the future, as the age of patients infected with HIV increases. (5) The frequent polypharmacy in these patients due to their comorbidities is associated with a decrease in ART adherence;(6) the appearance of resistance, interactions, and toxicities;(7,8) and an increased risk of hospital admittance and death. (9)
Modeling Cognitive Social Capital and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as Preconditions for Sustainable Networks of Relations

The paper studies the relationship between social capital (SC) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by investigating the idea of a virtuous circle between the level of SC and the implementation of CSR practices that favours the creation of cooperative networks between the firm and all its stakeholders by promoting the spread of social norms of trust, trustworthiness and cooperation. Following the literature on SC that stresses its multidimensional character (e.g. Paldam 2000), we consider two dimensions of this notion. Starting from the distinction introduced by Uphoff (1999), we take into account a cognitive and a structural idea of SC. The first one essentially refers to the dispositional characters of agents that affect their propensity to behave in different ways. The latter refers to social networks connecting agents.With regard to the concept of CSR, we adopt a contractarian approach and consider CSR as an extended model of corporate governance, based on the fiduciary duties owed to all the firm's stakeholders. Among stakeholders, we distinguish between strong and weak stakeholders. Both these two categories have made specific investments in the firm. However, strong stakeholders are precious for the firm because they bring in strategic assets. They are, for example, skilled workers or institutional investors. On the contrary, weak stakeholders do not bring strategic assets into the firm and firms have material incentives at defecting in the relationship with them. They are, for example, unskilled workers. By using the tools of psychological game theory, the paper shows the role of cognitive social capital and the adoption of CSR practices in promoting the emergence of social norms of trust, trustworthiness and cooperation which favour the creation of cooperative networks between the firm and all its stakeholders (structural social capital). In particular, we show that: a) the level of cognitive SC plays a key role in inducing the firm to adopt and observe CSR practices that respect all the stakeholders; b) the decision of adopting formal instruments of CSR contributes to create cognitive SC that is endogenously determined in the model; c) the level of cognitive SC and the decision of adopting CSR practices creates structural SC in terms of a long term relationship between the firm and the weak and strong stakeholders.
International and Intranational Technological Spillovers and Productivity Growth in China

Technological spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) have been regarded as a major source of technical progress and productivity growth. This paper explores the role of international and intranational technological spillovers from FDI in technical change, efficiency improvement, and total factor productivity growth in Chinese manufacturing firms using a recent Chinese manufacturing firm-level panel data set over the 200105 period. International industry-specific research and development (R&D) stock is linked to the Chinese firm-level data, international R&D spillovers from FDI and intranational technological spillovers of R&D activities by foreign invested firms in China are examined as well. Policy implications are discussed.
Nutritional characteristics of seeds of eighteen linseed (Linum humille Mill.) cultivars from Serbia@@@Serbijos sėmeninio lino (Linum humile Mill.) aštuoniolikos veislių sėklų maistinės savybės

The literature data about nutritional characteristics of linseed cultivars from a specific geographical area or country are rather scarce. This is the first study to document differences across autochthonous linseed cultivars in Serbia. Our paper is presenting chemical and mineral compositions of linseed cultivars, their fatty acid compositions and antioxidant capacity of lipid-soluble components, which might be interesting, especially due to the increasing trend of linseed usage in human diet. The examined linseed cultivars statistically differed (p ≤ 0.05) in the content of protein (from 18.9% to 27.0%) and fat (from 34.1% to 40.7%). The highest content of α-linolenic acid (C18:3ω-3) was recorded in the cultivar labelled with No. 5 (61.1%), while cultivar No. 17 showed the most favourable ω-6:ω-3 ratio (0.16). The highest antioxidant capacity of lipid-soluble substances (ACL) was found in cultivar No. 18 – 392.4 μmol trolox kg-1 dry matter. Cultivars with higher ACL value have stronger protection against oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Nevertheless, it seems that ACL is more affected by a cultivar, than by fatty acid composition. The aforementioned results could be useful for determination of shelf life of linseed, or its products, while the fatty acid composition of linseed seeds might be one of the criteria for the authentication of linseed origin. The presented results could be of great help in the future selection of the cultivars, depending on the purpose of linseed production.
University Students' Perceptions of Teacher Effectiveness and Emotions in Lectures: The Role of Socio-Cognitive Factors, and Academic Performance.

This study examined (a) students’ ability self-perceptions, perceptions of domain-difficulty, value beliefs, experienced emotions in lectures and performance in the courses taught by the perceived as extremely effective and ineffective teachers, (b) the role of ability self-perceptions, perceived domain-difficulty and value beliefs in the emotions, rating of teacher effectiveness and impact of perceived teacher effectiveness on emotions, and (c) the effects of the three sets of concepts on performance. The sample comprised of 410 Early Childhood Education female students. The results showed that ability self-perceptions, perceptions of domain-difficulty, value beliefs, experienced emotions in lectures and performance differed between the courses taught by the perceived effective and ineffective teachers, in favoring the effective teachers. Cognitive factors had positive effects on perceived teacher effectiveness, emotions and impact of teacher effectiveness on emotions. The three set of concepts, together, positively influenced performance, while their relative power varied between the two groups of teachers.
Online assessment of narrative macrostructure in adult Irish-English multilinguals

Background Online assessment of narrative production and comprehension became an important component of language assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to establish quantitative measures of narrative macrostructure in the production and comprehension of adult Irish-English bilinguals in an online assessment. Methods A total of 30 Irish-English bilingual adults participated in an online assessment of oral narrative production and comprehension. Narratives were elicited using LITMUS-MAIN for Irish and English. Story-tell elicitation method was used for all stories. Twenty participants produced Baby Birds and Baby Goats story pairs while 10 participants produced Cat and Dog story pairs. Quantitative measures of story structure, comprehension score, and the overall number of Internal State Terms (ISTs) in production and comprehension were compared across the story pairs, languages, and the output type (production vs. comprehension). Results A general linear model indicated no differences in either story structure or story comprehension scores across languages for both sets of stories. Combined analysis for all participants and stories indicated no difference in the story structure scores or comprehension scores across the languages or the story pairs. While the overall number of ISTs was the same across languages, a higher number of ISTs was observed in comprehension relative to production in both languages for Cat and Dog story pair only, but not for Baby birds and Baby goats' stories. The major benefit of using online assessment was the accessibility of participants. The major drawback was the inability to control the environment and the quality of the internet connection. Conclusion and implications While online assessment increased the availability of participants, which is a significant factor in rural Ireland characterized by low population density and the high percentage of Irish speakers, the availability of stable internet connection limited the applicability of online assessment. Measures of narrative macrostructure were stable across the languages and the story pairs. This is important because of high variability in exposure to Irish, frequent code-switching, and a high number of morphosyntactic errors due to rapid language change that characterizes Irish-English bilinguals. Identifying reliable measures of language performance for Irish-English adult speakers is an important step toward establishing developmental norms for Irish-English bilinguals.
Monitoring of concrete hydration using electromechanical impedance technique

Concrete hydration refers to the chemical reaction that begins once water is combined with cements. With time, the concrete hardens and increases in strength. Insufficient curing of concrete may severely impact its strength and durability, deteriorate its performance during service and threaten its safety. Therefore, an effective concrete hydration monitoring technique is crucial especially during the early age. In this study, the hydration of concrete will be monitored using the electromechanical impedance (EMI) technique. This active monitoring technique employs smart piezoelectric material, namely Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) that acts as collocated actuator and sensor. Experimental results show that the surface bonded PZT is effective in monitoring the initial setting and subsequent curing process of lab scale concrete prisms. The admittance signatures measured revealed that the stiffness of the concrete increases in the process of hardening. The first PZT’s resonance is found to be useful in monitoring early age hydration whereas the host structural resonances are effective in monitoring of curing after 1 day.
Accounting Regulation and Financial Reporting Quality: Pre-and-Post IFRS Nigeria Evidence

The purpose of this study is to examine whether accounting regulation is associated with financial reporting quality in Nigeria. Using accrual-based earnings management construct – abnormal accruals as a proxy for financial reporting quality, the study found some significant variation in abnormal accruals with the implementation of International financial reporting standards (IFRS) to regulate accounting practice. Similarly, the research found that the control variables - firm size, leverage, and return on asset have significant effects on financial reporting quality. This study is found to be consistent with previous studies indicating the effectiveness of IFRS adoption in improving financial reporting quality. The study also contributes to the discussion on IFRS adoption across reporting environments. Regulatory agencies in Nigeria might need to consider the combined effect of other corporate governance laws to ensure quality reporting. The study is limited by our sample (2009 - 2014), and by the proxies for both accounting regulation and financial reporting quality, the data of which was in most part handpicked. Future research might consider testing the combined effect of other corporate governance variables like audit committees and board characteristics.
Dust in the Tycho, Kepler and Crab supernova remnants

SuperNova Remnants (SNR) have been extensively studied in radio, X-rays and optical, but barely in the InfraRed (IR). From IRAS observations, SNR are known to be IR emitters, but the origin of the emission is difficult to assess because of the limited angular and spectral resolution of IRAS observations. ISO follow-up observations of the Cassiopeia-A SNR have shown that the mid-IR radiation from this remnant was dominated by thermal emission from silicate condensates made from SN material. These condensates constitute a probe which can provide unique information about element mixing inside a SN. In this paper, we present ISOCAM observations of the three other young SNR's known in our galaxy: the Kepler SNR, the Tycho SNR and the Crab Nebula. The emission observed from the Kepler SNR is dominated by dust thermal emission. The dust at the origin of the IR emission is circumstellar, not from SN condensates. "Astronomical" silicates, collisionally heated to a temperature of 107 K, can account for both the mid-IR ISO data and the IRAS data. The IR emission from Tycho is probably also emitted by circumstellar or interstellar dust. In order to reproduce both the mid-IR ISO data and the IRAS data, a model with two dust components, one at a temperature of 107 K and the other at 55 K, is needed. The mid-IR emission from the Crab is dominated by synchrotron radiation; no dust is detected.
To cheat or not to cheat? The effect of a moral reminder on cheating

Decades of studies show that most students cheat at some point in their academic career. This has mainly been dealt with by surveillance and technical solutions. This paper shows that by signaling a reminder of moral conduct universities can create norms that lessen the chance of unethical behavior in tests. An experiment was conducted in a Finnish business school, where 99 students were tested with a mathematical quiz. All participants were given the opportunity to cheat by self-reporting the scores. Half of them received a reminder of moral conduct which decreased the reported math scores, thus indicating less cheating. The results indicate that male students cheat more than females. The findings support the use of primes to mitigate cheating. It is argued that reducing cheating in business schools has implications for graduates’ future ethical business behavior. Jori Grym, M.Sc. (Econ), is a journalist and a security expert based in Helsinki, Finland Veronica Liljander is a Professor of Marketing at Hanken School of Economics, Finland
How does our choice of observable influence our estimation of the centre of a galaxy cluster? Insights from cosmological simulations

Galaxy clusters are an established and powerful test-bed for theories of both galaxy evolution and cosmology. Accurate interpretation of cluster observations often requires robust identification of the location of the centre. Using a statistical sample of clusters drawn from a suite of cosmological simulations in which we have explored a range of galaxy formation models, we investigate how the location of this centre is affected by the choice of observable - stars, hot gas, or the full mass distribution as can be probed by the gravitational potential. We explore several measures of cluster centre: the minimum of the gravitational potential, which would expect to define the centre if the cluster is in dynamical equilibrium; the peak of the density; the centre of BCG; and the peak and centroid of X-ray luminosity. We find that the centre of BCG correlates more strongly with the minimum of the gravitational potential than the X-ray defined centres, while AGN feedback acts to significantly enhance the offset between the peak X-ray luminosity and minimum gravitational potential. These results highlight the importance of centre identification when interpreting clusters observations, in particular when comparing theoretical predictions and observational data.
Ceramic Processing Route and Characterization of a Ni-Zn Ferrite for Application in a Pulsed-Current Monitor

Pulsed-current sensors require transducers constituted of magnetic materials with high magnetic permeability in a frequency range compatible with the period and the frequency of the current pulse. The use of ferrites in this application has the advantage of low cost and low losses in high frequencies. The aim of this work is to present a procedure for selection of the ceramic processing route of Ni-Zn ferrite for application in a pulsed-current sensor. The ferrite samples were prepared under different processing parameters and characterized in terms of microstructure, chemical analysis, complex magnetic permeability, and magnetic hysteresis. The chosen processing route included high energy milling of the pre-sintered powder, its disaggregation before sample forming, and sintering of the samples
Soil microbial communities following bush removal in a Namibian savanna

Abstract. Savanna ecosystems are subject to desertification and bush encroachment, which reduce the carrying capacity for wildlife and livestock. Bush thinning is a management approach that can, at least temporarily, restore grasslands and raise the grazing value of the land. In this study we examined the soil microbial communities under bush and grass in Namibia. We analyzed the soil through a chronosequence where bush was thinned at 9, 5, or 3 years before sampling. Soil microbial biomass, the biomass of specific taxonomic groups, and overall microbial community structure was determined by phospholipid fatty acid analysis, while the community structure of Bacteria, Archaea, and fungi was determined by multiplex terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. Soil under bush had higher pH, C, N, and microbial biomass than under grass, and the microbial community structure was also altered under bush compared to grass. A major disturbance to the ecosystem, bush thinning, resulted in an altered microbial community structure compared to control plots, but the magnitude of this perturbation gradually declined with time. Community structure was primarily driven by pH, C, and N, while vegetation type, bush thinning, and time since bush thinning were of secondary importance.
Schur and operator multipliers

Schur multipliers were introduced by Schur in the early 20th century and have since then found a considerable number of applications in Analysis and enjoyed an intensive development. Apart from the beauty of the subject in itself, sources of interest in them were connections with Perturbation Theory, Harmonic Analysis, the Theory of Operator Integrals and others. Advances in the quantisation of Schur multipliers were recently made in [29]. The aim of the present article is to summarise a part of the ideas and results in the theory of Schur and operator multipliers. We start with the classical Schur multipliers defined by Schur and their characterisation by Grothendieck, and make our way through measurable multipliers studied by Peller and Spronk, operator multipliers defined by Kissin and Shulman and, finally, multidimensional Schur and operator multipliers developed by Juschenko and the authors. We point out connections of the area with Harmonic Analysis and the Theory of Operator Integrals.
New Air Cleaning Strategies for Reduced Commercial Building Ventilation Energy

Approximately ten percent of the energy consumed in U.S. commercial buildings is used by HVAC systems to condition outdoor ventilation air. Reducing ventilation rates would be a simple and broadly-applicable energy retrofit option, if practical counter measures were available that maintained acceptable concentrations of indoor-generated air pollutants. The two general categories of countermeasures are: 1) indoor pollutant source control, and 2) air cleaning. Although pollutant source control should be used to the degree possible, source control is complicated by the large number and changing nature of indoor pollutant sources. Particle air cleaning is already routinely applied in commercial buildings. Previous calculations indicate that particle filtration consumes only 10percent to 25percent of the energy that would otherwise be required to achieve an equivalent amount of particle removal with ventilation. If cost-effective air cleaning technologies for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were also available, outdoor air ventilation rates could be reduced substantially and broadly in the commercial building stock to save energy. The research carried out in this project focuses on developing novel VOC air cleaning technologies needed to enable energy-saving reductions in ventilation rates. The minimum required VOC removal efficiency to counteract a 50percent reduction in ventilation rate for air cleaning systems installed in the HVAC supply airstream is modest (generally 20percent or less).
Upper and lower bounds for the correlation function via inducing with general return times

For non-uniformly expanding maps inducing with a general return time to Gibbs Markov maps, we provide sufficient conditions for obtaining higher-order asymptotics for the correlation function in the infinite measure setting. Along the way, we show that these conditions are sufficient to recover previous results on sharp mixing rates in the finite measure setting for non-Markov maps, but for a larger class of observables. The results are illustrated by (finite and infinite measure-preserving) non-Markov interval maps with an indifferent fixed point.