Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Impact Study of GPS Radio Occultation Observations on Frontal Rainfall Prediction with a Local Bending Angle Operator

AbstractThe impact of global positioning system (GPS) radio occultation (RO) soundings on the prediction of severe mei-yu frontal rainfall near Taiwan in June 2012 was investigated in this study using a developed local bending angle (LBA) operator. Two operators for local refractivity (REF) and nonlocal refractivity [excess phase (EPH)] were also used for comparisons. The devised LBA simplifies the calculation of the Abel transform in inverting model local refractivity without a loss of accuracy. These operators have been implemented into the three-dimensional variational data assimilation system of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model to assimilate GPS RO soundings available from the Formosa Satellite Mission 3/Constellation Observing Systems for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC). The RO data are found to be beneficial to the WRF forecast of local severe rainfall in Taiwan. Characteristics of assimilation performance and innovation for the three operators are discussed.
A variational derivation of the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of a moist atmosphere with rain process and its pseudoincompressible approximation

Irreversible processes play a major role in the description and prediction of atmospheric dynamics. In this paper, we present a variational derivation of the evolution equations for a moist atmosphere with rain process and subject to the irreversible processes of viscosity, heat conduction, diffusion, and phase transition. This derivation is based on a general variational formalism for nonequilibrium thermodynamics which extends Hamilton's principle to incorporates irreversible processes. It is valid for any state equation and thus also covers the case of the atmosphere of other planets. In this approach, the second law of thermodynamics is understood as a nonlinear constraint formulated with the help of new variables, called thermodynamic displacements, whose time derivative coincides with the thermodynamic force of the irreversible process. The formulation is written both in the Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions and can be directly adapted to oceanic dynamics. We illustrate the efficiency of our variational formulation as a modeling tool in atmospheric thermodynamics, by deriving a pseudoincompressible model for moist atmospheric thermodynamics with general equations of state and subject to the irreversible processes of viscosity, heat conduction, diffusion, and phase transition.
Influence Costs in Agribusiness Cooperatives

This paper addresses the influence costs problem in the governance structure "agribusiness cooperative. " Influence costs are higher in cooperatives than in investor-oriented firms due to the unique governance structure of the former. Hypotheses are formulated and tested regarding the relationship between influence costs and seven variables: membership size, member heterogeneity, average member age, singleness of purpose, managerial power over members, level of managerial compensation, and professional versus inside management. The main results are that heterogeneous member preferences, older average member age, and investment in multiple product lines all contribute to higher influence costs. At the same time, cooperatives with well-paid, powerful, and professional managers incur lower influence costs. The impact of membership size on the level of influence costs is undetermined.
Trace-element partitioning between apatite and carbonatite melt

Abstract To establish more fully a basis for quantifying the role of apatite in trace-element fractionation processes, hitherto unknown mineral/melt partition coefficients (Dapatite/melt) for a variety of trace elements (Li, Be, B, K, Cs, Rb, Ba, Th, U, Nb, Ta, La, Ce, Sr, Pr, Hf, Zr, Sm, Gd, Y, Lu, and Pb) have been measured between fluorapatite [Ca5(PO4)3F], chlorapatite [Ca5(PO4)3Cl], and hydroxylapatite [Ca5(PO4)3OH] and carbonatite melt. Apatites were equilibrated experimentally with carbonatite melts at 1 GPa and 1250 ∞C, and run products were analyzed for trace elements by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Calculated partition coefficients indicate incompatibility of most analyzed elements. Rare-earth element (REE) partition coefficients show a convex-upward pattern, indicating that apatite prefers the middle (Sm, Gd) relative to the lighter (La, Ce, Pr) and heavier REE (Lu). Comparison of partition coefficients determined in this study with previous results in silicate systems reveals a strong influence of melt chemistry on partition coefficients, namely decreasing partition coefficients with decreasing silica-content, and increasing Ca and P in melts.
Cooperation or Competition: An Evolutionary Game Study between Commercial Banks and Big Data-Based E-Commerce Financial Institutions in China

On the premise of participants’ bounded rationality and information asymmetry, this paper focuses on the cooperation or competition relationship between Chinese e-commerce financial institutions and commercial banks from the perspective of dynamic game. Theoretical mathematical model is built to analyze an evolutionary stable strategy under different conditions. We adopt real-life data set collected in Alibaba’s network credit loan business case and Jingdong’s supply chain financing business case to verify the evolution process of cooperation and competition relationship. The results show that (cooperation, cooperation) is bound to be the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) and cooperation tends to be increasingly in-depth and expansive for commercial banks as well as e-commerce financial institutions in China. The complementarity of participants’ core competitiveness is explored as the root of cooperation. Finally, strategic suggestions are put forward on cooperation between e-commerce financial institutions and commercial banks.
When does brokerage matter? Citation impact of research teams in an emerging academic field

Through exposure to heterogeneous sources of knowledge, actors who broker between unconnected contacts are more likely to generate valuable output. We contribute to the theory of social capital of brokerage by considering the impact of field maturity. Using longitudinal data from the field of strategic management we find that the benefits of network brokerage are stronger during the early stages of field development and diminish as the field matures. The results of our study call for further research on the interplay between network structures and processes of field emergence.
Vulnerability of Coral Reefs to Bioerosion From Land‐Based Sources of Pollution

Ocean acidification (OA), the gradual decline in ocean pH and [ CO32−] caused by rising levels of atmospheric CO2, poses a significant threat to coral reef ecosystems, depressing rates of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) production, and enhancing rates of bioerosion and dissolution. As ocean pH and [ CO32−] decline globally, there is increasing emphasis on managing local stressors that can exacerbate the vulnerability of coral reefs to the effects of OA. We show that sustained, nutrient rich, lower pH submarine groundwater discharging onto nearshore coral reefs off west Maui lowers the pH of seawater and exposes corals to nitrate concentrations 50 times higher than ambient. Rates of coral calcification are substantially decreased, and rates of bioerosion are orders of magnitude higher than those observed in coral cores collected in the Pacific under equivalent low pH conditions but living in oligotrophic waters. Heavier coral nitrogen isotope (δ15N) values pinpoint not only site-specific eutrophication, but also a sewage nitrogen source enriched in 15N. Our results show that eutrophication of reef seawater by land-based sources of pollution can magnify the effects of OA through nutrient driven-bioerosion. These conditions could contribute to the collapse of coastal coral reef ecosystems sooner than current projections predict based only on ocean acidification.
ASSESSMENT OF PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF CURCUMIN ON CADMIUM CHLORIDE INDUCED TESTICULAR TOXICITY IN MALE SWISS ALBINO MICE (MUS MUSCULUS).

P. Singh. It is a well established fact that cadmium is a known clastogen, mutagen and a carcinogen. Its ingestion results in long term multifaceted alterations and impaired biological and physiological functions. It is also known that curcumin a mandatory dietary condiment has potent healing and curative properties. Hence the aim of the present study was to investigate the protective effects of curcumin against cadmium chloride induced testicular toxicity in male Swiss albino mice (Mus musculus). Male Swiss albino mice were divided into four groups, each comprising of six mice. (a) Control group administered only vehicle; (b) experimental group administered only curcumin (10mg/animal/day); (c) experimental group administered a single oral dose of cadmium chloride (50mg/kg/animal/day) and (d) experimental group administered curcumin (10mg/animal/day) for 15 days and on the 16th day cadmium chloride (50mg/kg/animal/day). After completion of dose administration mice were sacrificed and testes were excised. Sections of testes were processed for histopathological, histochemical and biochemical studies. Histopathological examination showed cadmium induced toxicity as manifested by damaged disorganized cellular layers of seminiferous tubules, leydig cells, apoptotic cells, and loss of interstitial tissue ameliorated by the administration of Curcumin. Histochemcial staining resulted in altered distribution pattern of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme on cadmium administration. The curcumin pre treated group showed an enzymatic distribution profile similar to that of control group. Biochemical test result in a marked decrease in the activity levels of the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) significantly (P<0.05) in the cadmium treated mice. The degree of decrease of these enzymes was significantly less (P<0.05) when mice were pre treated with curcumin. Curcumin appear to possess an ameliorative potential against cadmium-induced testicular toxicity.
Changes in some pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokines produced by bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells following foot and mouth disease vaccination

Interleukin (IL)-17 is exclusively produced by CD4 helper T-cells upon activation. It most often acts as a pro-inflammatory cytokine, which stimulates the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). In this study, we studied the in-vitro IL-17 response to specific antigens and a variety of mitogens and compared the IL-17 response to IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, and IFN-γ responses. We used a foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine as specific antigens and mitogens (phytohemagglutinin [PHA], pokeweed mitogen [PWM], and concanavalin A [Con A]) to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of vaccinated calves. Cell culture supernatant was harvested and analyzed for cytokines, using commercially available bovine ELISA kits. The mitogens induced a significant increase in IL-17 production. IL-17 was produced at high levels in response to the T cell-stimulated mitogens, PHA, and Con A, and at low levels in response to PWM mitogens. In contrast, level of the produced IL-17 cytokines in response to the FMDV antigens was lower as compared to those produced by mitogens. The FMDV antigens and mitogens significantly increased IL-17 production. There was not a correlation between IL-17 production and type-1 cytokine, IFN-γ, and IL-2, while there was a correlation between type-2 cytokine, IL-4, and IL-5 at either cytokine level produced by PBMCs stimulated by FMDV antigens. Moreover, there was an interaction between IL-17 and IL-6, that is, as IL-6 cytokine level elevated or diminished, IL-17 cytokine level increased or decreased, as well.
Parental involvement in inclusive classrooms for students with learning disabilities at Omani schools as perceived by teachers.

Successful implementation of inclusive educational programs requires the involvement and the support from the parents of learning disabilities children at all level. The main aim of the study was to investigate the role of parents in educating their children in inclusive classrooms at Omani schools as perceived by teachers. Specifically, the present study aimed at: (1) examining the importance of parents' involvement in their children education at inclusive classrooms from the teachers’ perspectives, (2) identifying activities used by teachers or parents to get involved in their children's education at inclusive classrooms, (3) recognizing barriers of parents' involvement in their children's education at inclusive classrooms from teachers’ perspectives. The sample of the study included 100 participants. They were teachers of Learning Disabilities children in inclusive classroom at primary schools in Oman. The present study used descriptive research design which described data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon that being studied. The researcher developed appropriate measuring tools that serve the aims of the present study. The psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of these measuring tools have been examined. Findings showed that teachers believe that the parental involvement is important for the students. They also mentioned that using technology (like android applications) can facilitate the parental involvement. However, the findings showed that there are three types of barriers of parental involvement; school barriers (school rules, school schedule, etc.); parental barriers (time, the presence of baby in the family, feeling shame, etc.); other barriers (distance of schools from the work, relationship with the teacher, age of students, etc.).
Histological and histochemical studies of parathyroid gland in one-humped camel ( Camelus dromedarus )

Thirty one-humped camels were grouped into three: juvenile (Group A), adult (Group B), and old ages (Group C), were used for the study. The camel parathyroid gland tissues were obtained from camels slaughtered at the Kano Metropolitan abattoir. The glands were prepared for standard histological study using haematoxylin and eosin (H and E) stains for light microscopy. For histochemical studies, Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) special stain was used to demonstrate glycogen and glycoprotein. The results showed that the parathyroid glands are surrounded by a thin capsule of connective tissue. They have abundant stroma of connective tissue, with large smooth muscles all over. The tissue of the parathyroid gland consists of clusters of principal or chief cells. There are two different functional stages of the principal cell. The light principal cell has a large, pale nucleus and pale cytoplasm (described as inactive). The dark principal cell is a smaller cell, with a small, dark nucleus and a dark cytoplasm (active cell). The presence of oxyphil cells was observed. Histochemical studies showed that the tissue of the parathyroid gland in one-humped camel reacted negatively to the Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS) stain. The parathyroid gland consisted of densely packed chief cells (light and dark cells), oxyphil cells, and abundance of adipose cells in the adult male and female. These cells were absent in the younger group, which is generally identical to what is found, specifically, in cows, goats, and in humans, which signifies that one-humped camel can be introduced as an experimental research animal model for human parathyroid gland, in understanding the etiology and possible solution to human parathyroid diseases and osteoporosis. The study of parthyroid gland will enhance the provision of basic and clinical information on endocrinology and related research fields, such as animal breeding and biotechnology in one humped camel. Keywords: Endocrinology, Histochemistry, Parathyroid gland, Principal (chief) cells, One-humped camel
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Seropositivity In African Patients Presenting To The Eye Clinic - A Preliminary To Prevention Of Occupational Exposure

A seroprevalence study of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in new patients attending the eye clinic of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria showed that twenty-nine patients 2.7%) were positive to HIV1. No patient was positive to HIV 2. There were 21 males (72.4%) and 8 females (27.6%). The clinical diagnosis in the HIV positive patients was as shown in Table 1. Cataract was found in nine cases (31.03%), herpes zoster 4 (13.79%), glaucoma, optic atrophy (nonglaucomatous) and corneal abscess were responsible for 3 (10.35%) of cases each; presbyopia, bacterial conjunctivtis 2 (6.89%) while maculopathy, orbital cellulitis and adherent leucoma were found in 1 (3.45%) patient each. These findings suggest that, patients with ocular disorders and who are otherwise healthy looking may infact be HIV seropositive and as such it may be necessary to observe all rules relating to HIV transmission so as to prevent occupational exposure and cross infection in our clinics and operating theatres. Necessary measures to reduce occupational HIV infection and post exposure treatment if exposure occurs are discussed. Keywords : Nigeria, ophthalmological disorders, occupational exposure, cross infection. African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 9 (3) 2008: pp. 110-114
SPATIAL PREDICTION OF AIR TEMPERATURE IN EAST CENTRAL ANATOLIA OF TURKEY

Abstract. Air temperature is an essential component of the factors used in landscape planning. At similar topographic conditions, vegetation may show considerable differences depending on air temperature and precipitation. In large areas, measuring temperature is a cost and time-consuming work. Therefore, prediction of climate variables at unmeasured sites at an acceptable accuracy is very important in regional resource planning. In addition, use a more proper prediction method is crucial since many different prediction techniques yield different performance in different landscape and geographical conditions. We compared inverse distance weighted (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), and ordinary cokriging (OCK) to predict air temperature at unmeasured sites in Malatya region (East Central Anatolia) of Turkey. Malatya region is the most important apricot production area of Turkey and air temperature is the most important factor determining the apricot growing zones in this region. We used mean monthly temperatures from 1975 to 2010 measured at 28 sites in the study area and predicted temperature with IDW, OC, and OCK techniques, mapped temperature in the region, and tested the reliability of these maps. The OCK with elevation as an auxiliary variable occurred the best procedure to predict temperature against the criteria of model efficiency and relative root mean squared error.
EasyCritics – I. Efficient detection of strongly lensing galaxy groups and clusters in wide-field surveys

We present EasyCritics, an algorithm to detect strongly-lensing groups and clusters in wide-field surveys without relying on a direct recognition of arcs. EasyCritics assumes that light traces mass in order to predict the most likely locations of critical curves from the observed fluxes of luminous red early-type galaxies in the line of sight. The positions, redshifts and fluxes of these galaxies constrain the idealized gravitational lensing potential as a function of source redshift up to five free parameters, which are calibrated on few known lenses. From the lensing potential, EasyCritics derives the critical curves for a given, representative source redshift. The code is highly parallelized, uses fast Fourier methods and, optionally, GPU acceleration in order to process large datasets efficiently. The search of a $\smash{1 \, \mathrm{deg}^2}$ field of view requires less than 1 minute on a modern quad-core CPU, when using a pixel resolution of $0.25''/\mathrm{px}$. In this first part of a paper series on EasyCritics, we describe the main underlying concepts and present a first demonstration on data from the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope Lensing Survey. We show that EasyCritics is able to identify known group- and cluster-scale lenses, including a cluster with two giant arc candidates that were previously missed by automated arc detectors.
The regolith portion of the lunar meteorite Sayh al Uhaymir 169

Abstract— –Sayh al Uhaymir (SaU) 169 is a composite lunar meteorite from Oman that consists of polymict regolith breccia (8.44 ppm Th), adhering to impact‐melt breccia (IMB; 32.7 ppm Th). In this contribution we consider the regolith breccia portion of SaU 169, and demonstrate that it is composed of two generations representing two formation stages, labeled II and III. The regolith breccia also contains the following clasts: Ti‐poor to Ti‐rich basalts, gabbros to granulites, and incorporated regolith breccias. The average SaU 169 regolith breccia bulk composition lies within the range of Apollo 12 and 14 soil and regolith breccias, with the closest correspondence being with that of Apollo 14, but Sc contents indicate a higher portion of mare basalts. This is supported by relations between Sm‐Al2O3, FeO‐Cr2O3‐TiO2, Sm/Eu and Th‐K2O. The composition can best be modeled as a mixture of high‐K KREEP, mare basalt and norite/troctolite, consistent with the rareness of anorthositic rocks. The largest KREEP breccia clast in the regolith is identical in its chemical composition and total REE content to the incompatible trace‐element (ITE)‐ rich high‐K KREEP rocks of the Apollo 14 landing site, pointing to a similar source. In contrast to Apollo 14 soil, SaU 169 IMB and SaU 169 KREEP breccia clast, the SaU 169 regolith is not depleted in K/Th, indicating a low contribution of high‐Th IMB such as the SaU 169 main lithology in the regolith. The data presented here indicate the SaU 169 regolith breccia is from the lunar front side, and has a strong Procellarum KREEP Terrane signature.
Mobile Banking in Russia: User Intention towards Adoption

Mobile banking is currently one of the most dynamic and rapid growth types of distance banking services. In recent years in Russia, the number of individual bank accounts that can be accessed remotely using mobile devices has increased by more than 20 times. With every year, an increasing number of banks offer mobile banking services. Nevertheless, the popularity of mobile banking applications is lower than the popularity of other banking services. Thus the problem of mobile banking adoption by customers remains an extremely important problem. This paper analyses foreign surveys on the incentives for using mobile banking. The model developed by the authors is based on well-known theoretical and empirical approaches and takes into account particular features of Russia’s economy and society. As a theoretical basis, we use the most widespread theories about technology acceptance and innovation diffusion. Using a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, we verified that the key incentives for using mobile banking by mobile Internet users — are perceived usefulness and perceived efforts. Our results confirm those of most similar foreign surveys. Our findings also have ‘real world’ significance as they may help financial institutions better understand the latest developments of mobile banking in Russia.