Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial community structure in the western tropical South Pacific

Abstract. Oligotrophic regions play a central role in global biogeochemical cycles, with microbial communities in these areas representing an important term in global carbon budgets. While the general structure of microbial communities has been well documented in the global ocean, some remote regions such as the western tropical South Pacific (WTSP) remain fundamentally unexplored. Moreover, the biotic and abiotic factors constraining microbial abundances and distribution remain not well resolved. In this study, we quantified the spatial (vertical and horizontal) distribution of major microbial plankton groups along a transect through the WTSP during the austral summer of 2015, capturing important autotrophic and heterotrophic assemblages including cytometrically determined abundances of non-pigmented protists (also called flagellates). Using environmental parameters (e.g., nutrients and light availability) as well as statistical analyses, we estimated the role of bottom–up and top–down controls in constraining the structure of the WTSP microbial communities in biogeochemically distinct regions. At the most general level, we found a “typical tropical structure”, characterized by a shallow mixed layer, a clear deep chlorophyll maximum at all sampling sites, and a deep nitracline. Prochlorococcus was especially abundant along the transect, accounting for 68 ± 10.6 % of depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass. Despite their relatively low abundances, picophytoeukaryotes (PPE) accounted for up to 26 ± 11.6 % of depth-integrated phytoplankton biomass, while Synechococcus accounted for only 6 ± 6.9 %. Our results show that the microbial community structure of the WTSP is typical of highly stratified regions, and underline the significant contribution to total biomass by PPE populations. Strong relationships between N2 fixation rates and plankton abundances demonstrate the central role of N2 fixation in regulating ecosystem processes in the WTSP, while comparative analyses of abundance data suggest microbial community structure to be increasingly regulated by bottom–up processes under nutrient limitation, possibly in response to shifts in abundances of high nucleic acid bacteria (HNA).
Oroclinal bending in the Caledonides of western Ireland

New palaeomagnetic data from the Caledonides of western Ireland indicate that the Silurian rocks of South Mayo underwent oroclinal bending, following folding, in Siluro-Devonian time. Bending was accommodated on faults cutting the Silurian sequence, and was driven by strike slip motion across the Antrim-Galway Line, a recently recognized major curvilinear lineament. We propose that the Silurian rocks in the east of the region suffered up to 30° clockwise rotation, increasing towards the west to approximately 70°. This newly inferred differential rotation of the Silurian rocks, about a sub-vertical axis, implies that the underlying Dalradian rocks of the Connemara Massif to the south must also have undergone clockwise rotation in late Silurian/early Devonian time. This is consistent with published palaeomagnetic data from the Connemara Gabbro and accounts for the swing in strike of the Caledonian orogen in this part of western Ireland. From this we deduce that the swing in strike of the Caledonian rocks elsewhere on the west coast of Ireland might have a similar explanation.
The Politics of Fear: Is There an Ideological Asymmetry in Existential Motivation?

A meta-analysis by Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, and Sulloway (2003) suggested that existential needs to reduce threat were associated with political conservatism. Nevertheless, some maintain that fear plays as prevalent a role on the left as the right. In an attempt to resolve this issue, we reviewed evidence from 134 different samples (N = 369,525) and 16 countries—a database 16 times larger than those previously considered. Although the association between fear of death and conservatism was not reliable, there was a significant effect of mortality salience (r = .08–.13) and a significant association between subjective perceptions of threat and conservatism (r = .12–.31). Exposure to objectively threatening circumstances, such as terrorist attacks, was associated with a “conservative shift” at individual (r = .07–.14) and aggregate (r = .29–.66) levels of analysis. Psychological reactions to fear and threat thus convey a small-to-moderate political advantage for conservative leaders, parties, policies, and .
The Spitzer c2d Survey of Nearby Dense Cores. II. Discovery of a Low-Luminosity Object in the “Evolved Starless Core” L1521F

We present Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the "evolved starless core" L1521F that reveal the presence of a very low luminosity object (L < 0.07 L☉). The object, L1521F-IRS, is directly detected at mid-infrared wavelengths (>5 μm), but only in scattered light at shorter infrared wavelengths, showing a bipolar nebula oriented east-west that is probably tracing an outflow cavity. The nebula strongly suggests that L1521F-IRS is embedded in the L1521F core. Thus, L1521F-IRS is similar to the recently discovered L1014-IRS and the previously known IRAM 04191 in its substellar luminosity and dense core environment. However, these objects differ significantly in their core density, core chemistry, and outflow properties, and some may be destined to be brown dwarfs rather than stars.
Autoantibodies in patients with asthma: is there a link between asthma and autoimmunity?

The objective of this study was to measure autoantibodies and the mean individual immune reactivity (IR) in children with asthma. The study group consisted of ten children with asthma and the control group of ten age-matched healthy subjects. In all patients IR and 24 autoantibodies (aAb) type G were measured by ELISA (Immunculus, Russia). The IR in asthmatics was 42% and was statistically significantly higher than this of control group 9% (p < 0.005). The level of aAbs (LuM, LuS, CoM and dsDNA) was also raised in the asthmatics. Anti-Adr aAbs was higher in one patient who required intense treatment for asthma with frequent use of corticosteroids. Anti-HMMP, insulin and IR aAbs were significantly lower in comparison to the control group (p < 0.05). This study confirms the high level of immunological activation in patients with asthma. The presence of autoantibodies implies that autoimmunity might have a role in the pathogenesis of asthma.
Forecasting Service Quality Dynamics Based on Integrated Method with GM(1,1) Model and Markov Chain

Dynamics of quality attributes derived from Kano model has been recognized as one of the most interesting and fruitful developments of attractive quality theory. The purpose of this study is to propose an integrated method with GM(1,1) model and Markov chain to forecast the dynamics of service quality attributes with limited data and explore the existence of the alternative life cycles. Further, an empirical study of the express delivery industry in China is conducted at four points of time (the year of 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2013) to verify the feasibility of the method. This study not only provides a quantitative method for forecasting the dynamics of service quality attributes with limited information, but also gives evidence for the existence of alternative life cycles of service quality attributes.
High Impedance Fault Detection in Real-Time and Evaluation Using Hardware-In-Loop Testing

High Impedance Fault (HIF)is a low fault current event which cannot always be efficiently detected or cleared by conventional protection systems. Voltage or current signal distortions are often a possible indicator of HIF signatures which need to be carefully analyzed. This paper proposes a new technique based on second-difference approach to detect signal distortions. The technique does not require large database and is computationally very lightweight. The performance of the proposed technique is compared against commercial protection relays connected in Hardware-in-Loop (HIL)mode to a Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS)simulating HIF in a IEEE 9-bus system. Test result evaluation show that the proposed technique is accurate and dependable.
Respirometric Activity of Activated Sludge and Biofilm in IFAS-MBBR System

The aim of the presented study was: a) assessment of activity of microorganisms developed in form of activated sludge and biofilm, b) indirect assessment of the role of analyzed biocoenoses in removal of organic compounds in hybrid reactor with moving bed. Oxygen uptake rate tests (OUR) have been used, and obtained results were presented as volumetric activity ( V o2  , expressed in mg O2/L · h) and mass activity ( m o2  , expressed as mg O2/g VTS · h). Tests were conducted for three different variants, in which, as the biomass: 1) biofilm was used, 2) activated sludge was used, 3) biofilm and activated sludge were used. The biomass was collected from aerobic reactor from a wastewater treatment plant working in IFAS-MBBR system. The highest volumetric activity was observed for variant with biofilm and activated sludge, and the lowest for variant with biofilm only. Nonetheless, the highest value of oxygen uptake rate related to total volatile solids was observed for variant with biofilm and the lowest for activated sludge. Obtained results suggest, that during this research, at the wastewater treatment plant, the main role in removal of organic pollutants played the biomass developed in form of activated sludge.
PROBIOTIC POTENTIALS AMONG LACTIC ACID BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM CURD

Curd is a commonly used fermented milk product in India since time immemorial. The scientific use of curd as a source of probiotic (good bacteria for health) has not been much examined. The yougurt (curd containing probiotics) is in Indian marke t and highly acclaimed. Therefore the status of curd as a source of probiotics is in question and requires scientific examination of its content, so the study was carried out. Probiotic potentials of two bacterial isolates from 20 different curd samples we re identified as Lactobacillus spp. by the determination of morphological, cultural, physiological and biochemical characteristics . The antibacterial potential against diarrhoegenic bacterial pathogens was also examined. The reference st rain used was Lactobacillus acidophilus , MTCC 447. The percentage survivability of the strains at pH 3.5, was found to be satisfactory (>90%). Bile salt resistance (0.3% sodium thioglycollate) was found to be between 80.41% and 83.2%. The pH decrease of th e strains with time showed slow acidification activity. The lactic acid production of the strains ranges from 1.83 ± 0.12 to 3.93 ± 0.07 g. The strains were β - galactosidase producer and were resistant to principal antibiotics tested. But the absence of pla smids showed that they are intrinsically resistant or chromosome encoded. Strains showed maximum inhibition zone against V. cholerae O139 (13.67 ± 0.57 to 15.33 ± 0.57 mm) in comparison to other diarrhoeagenic bacteria. Only 10% of the examined curd sample s had probiotic bacteria. Isolated strains of Lactobacillus spp. showed satisfactory probiotic potentials in comparison with reference strains and with antibacterial activity against diarrhoeagenic pathogens and thus maybe useful in the management of diar rhoea and also in functional food industry.
Best practices to mitigate seabird bycatch in longline, trawl and gillnet fisheries—efficiency and practical applicability

Growing concerns have been raised about incidental capture of seabirds in various fisheries. Here, studies testing measures to prevent seabird bycatch in longline, trawl and gillnet fisheries are reviewed in order to identify the most efficient mitigation methods. There is potential for considerable reduction in mortality rates in most longline fisheries because effective measures have been developed. However, there is no single solution as the efficiency of a measure is specific to each fishery. In demersal longline fisheries where northern fulmar is the dominant seabird captured, streamer lines have been proven to virtually eliminate mortality. In the fishery for Patagonian toothfish where interactions with albatrosses occur, night setting has resulted in considerable bycatch reductions. Night setting has also been proven to be efficient in pelagic fisheries, but this measure should be used in combination with streamer lines and weighted longlines in areas inhabited by nocturnal and diving birds. The main cause of mortality in trawl fisheries is collision with warp and netsonde cables, but studies are fragmentary. Interactions between cables and seabirds have been shown to be rare at times of no offal discharge, suggesting that a no-discharge policy would virtually eliminate mortality. Streamer lines have been proven to effectively reduce cable strikes under offal discharge. Measures to prevent birds from diving into the trawl net meshes have not been tested. Efficient mitigation methods that maintain target fish catch still have to be identified for gillnet fisheries. Future research in longline fisheries should fine-tune the most promising measures for each specific fishery. Effective measures identified for trawl fisheries need to be expanded to and tested in other areas where seabird interactions occur.
Dentofacial Abnormalities and Oral Health Status in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the oral health conditions and treatment need of children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) aged 4–17 years in United Arab Emirates (UAE) and provides baseline data to enable comparison and future planning of dental services. Subjects and methods: The study included 52 patients with CP and 52 matched healthy control subjects. Each patient received a complete oral and periodontal examination using codes and criteria as described by WHO. Data analyzed using Fisher's exact test, Chi-square test and t-test. Results: The prevalence of dental caries among children with CP was 90.0% (47/52) where as for the healthy controls was 54.0% (28/52). The overall means DMFT/dmft was 6.5. The restorative index (RI) and Met Need Index (MNI) for the CP children were 0.03 and 0.08 respectively. Children, 4-12 years old with CP had higher percentage of untreated caries, but lower percentage of filled teeth. The mean plaque index (2.35 ± 0.7); the probing depth (2.96 ± 0.8) and the average periodontal attachment loss 4.18 ± 1.3, all significantly greater in patients with CP than controls. And significantly high proportion of patients with CP (p<0.05) requiring complex periodontal treatment. Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that the overall health of children with CP could be improved with earlier intervention and planned dental care.
Initiatives among Authorities to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Prescribing and the Implications

Introduction: Medicines have made an appreciable contribution to improving patient care in recent years. However, European and other countries are increasingly struggling to fund new premium priced medicines. This has resulted in models to optimise their utilisation as well as multiple initiatives to improve the prescribing of established medicines including enhancing the use of low cost generics, improving adherence to prescribing guidance as well as access to medicines, ensuring adequate doses are prescribed and improving patient adherence rates especially in chronic asymptomatic conditions. Objective: Review a range of demand-side initiatives in ambulatory care across different countries and their resultant effects to provide future direction. Methodology: Principally a narrative review of case histories of published studies. Results: Measures to encourage the prescribing of low cost generics versus originators and patented products in a class can release considerable resources without compromising care. However, there is no ‘spill over’ effect between classes. Consequently, multiple demand-side measures are needed to effect changes in physician prescribing habits. In addition, there are classes where there is caution, e.g. atypical antipsychotics. Activities surrounding the ‘Wise List’ in Stockholm healthcare region, including continuous medical education with resultant high prescribing adherence rates to a list of approximately 200 medicines, provides guidance to authorities where there are currently limited programmes to improve the quality of prescribing. Adequate dosing can be a concern necessitating strategies to assess current dosing levels to plan for the future including potential ways to address this. There are also concerns with adherence rates especially among patients with chronic asymptomatic diseases. This is resulting in activities by authorities to address this including adherence clinics. Discussion: Multiple measures can enhance the quality and efficiency of prescribing, and authorities need to continually learn from each other to achieve desired results. The involvement of all key stakeholder groups including patients, pharmacists and physicians can enhance the rational use of medicines and enhance prescribing efficiency.
Competition and Quality in Regulated Markets: A Differential-Game Approach

We investigate the effect of competition on quality in regulated markets (e.g., health care, higher education, public utilities) taking a differential game approach, in which quality is a stock variable. Using a Hotelling framework, we derive the open-loop solution (providers commit to an optimal investment plan at the initial period) and the feedback closed-loop solution (providers move investments in response to the dynamics of the states). If the marginal provision cost is constant, the open-loop and closed-loop solutions coincide, and the results are similar to the ones obtained by static models. If the marginal provision cost is increasing, investment and quality are lower in the closed-loop solution: in fact, quality drops to the minimum level in steady state, implying that quality competition is effectively eliminated. In this case, static models tend to exaggerate the positive effect of competition on quality. Our results can explain the mixed empirical evidence on competition and quality for regulated markets.
‘Golden Wave’ Frezya Çeşidinde Dikim Zamanları ile Yetiştirme Ortamlarının Korm ve Çiçek Oluşumuna Etkisi

Bu arastirma, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart Universitesi, Dardanos yerleskesinde yer alan Ziraat Fakultesi’nin isitmasiz cam serasinda 2012–2013 yillari arasinda yurutulmustur. Arastirmada, ‘Golden Wave’ frezya cesidinin 7–8 cm capli cicek soganlari (korm), bitkisel materyal olarak kullanilmistir. Calismada, farkli dikim zamanlari ile farkli yetistirme ortamlarinin frezyada yeni korm (kormel) olusumu ve ciceklenme uzerine olan etkilerinin belirlenmesi amaclanmistir. Arastirmada, Canakkale kosullarinda Ekim ayi ortasindan baslayarak 15 gun aralikla (Ekim 15, Ekim 31 ve Kasim 15) seraya korm dikimi gerceklestirilmistir. Yetistirme ortami olarak toprak, kum, torf, cam kabugu rendesi ve perlit’in belirli oranlardaki karisimlari kullanilmistir. Vejetasyon sonunda meydana gelen yeni korm miktari belirlenmis, agirlik ve caplari olculmustur. Dikim zamanlarina gore basak uzunlugu olculmus, ciceklenme zamani ile birlikte bitki basina dusen basak ve kandil sayilari da tespit edilmistir. Arastirma sonuclarina gore, ‘Golden Wave’ frezya cesidinde en yuksek korm uretim degeri 31 Ekim’de torf/cam kabugu/perlit karisimi ile torf/kum/cam kabugu karisiminin oldugu ortama yapilan dikimlerde tespit edilmistir. Benzer sekilde korm agirligi ve korm capi bakimindan en yuksek deger torf/cam kabugu/perlit karisiminda saptanmistir. Basak ve kandil olusumu bakimindan en dusuk deger, 15 Kasim’da toprak/kum/torf karisimina yapilan dikimlerde tespit edilmistir. Diger taraftan arastirmada kullanilan yetistirme ortamlarinin basak uzunlugu uzerinde etkili olmadigi gorulmustur. Torf/cam kabugu/perlit karisimina gerceklestirilen dikimlerde ise ciceklenme bakimindan dusuk oranda erkencilik saglandigi belirlenmistir
Understanding Poverty Reduction in Sri Lanka: Evidence from 2002 to 2012/13

This paper quantifies the contributions to poverty reduction observed in Sri Lanka between 2002 and 2012/13. The methods adopted for the analysis generate entire counterfactual distributions to account for the contributions of demographics, labor, and non-labor incomes in explaining poverty reduction. The findings show that the most important contributor to poverty reduction was growth in labor income, stemming from an increase in the returns to salaried nonfarm workers and higher returns to self-employed farm workers. Although some of this increase in earnings may point to improvements in productivity, defined as higher units of output per worker, some of it may simply reflect increases in food and commodity prices, which have increased the marginal revenue product of labor. To the extent that there have been no increases in the volumes being produced, the observed changes in poverty are vulnerable to reversals if commodity prices were to decline significantly. Finally, although private transfers (domestic and foreign) helped to reduce poverty over the period, public transfers were not as effective. In particular, the reduction in the real value of transfers of the Samurdhi program during 2002 to 2012/13 slowed down poverty reduction.
Understanding Trade Finance : Theory and Evidence from Transaction-level Data

This paper provides a portrait of the pattern of payment methods in international trade at the national level, by employing the universe of Colombian and Chilean import transactions data. The data reveal a striking predominance of the post-shipment payment system: the post-shipment term accounts for 80 90 percent of total import transactions in Colombia and Chile. Further, a substantial level of variation across source countries is mostly explained by Asian countries with which the post-shipment payment term is used signi cantly less by around 10 20 percentage points. Alternative model of trade nance that features the self-liquidating and recourse nature of account receivables nancing is introduced to explain the observed empirical patterns of payment methods. A subsequent econometric analysis strongly supports the validity of the model. JEL classi cation: F1, F4, G2, G3 This paper is a substantially revised version of the working paper titled A Theory of Domestic and International Trade Finance. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not be attributed to the International Monetary Fund, its Executive Board, or its management. yResearch Department, International Monetary Fund, 700 19th street NW, Washington, DC 20431. email : jahn@imf.org
Gender and Preferences at a Young Age: Evidence from Armenia

We look at gender differences in competitiveness, risk preferences and altruism in a large sample of children and adolescents aged 7–16 in Armenia. Post-Soviet Armenia has few formal barriers to gender equality but is also characterized by a patrilineal kinship system and traditional gender roles. In contrast to research conducted in Western countries, we find that girls increase their performance more than boys in response to competition in a running task. We find no gender differences in the other three tasks we explore: skipping rope, a mathematical task, and a verbal task. We also find no difference in the willingness to compete in either the mathematical or the verbal task. In line with previous research, we find that boys are less altruistic and more risk taking than girls, and that the latter gap appears around the age of puberty.