Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bill color, reproduction and condition effects in wild and domesticated Zebra Finches

Bill-color variability has the identical range and similar distributions in free- living Australian Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and their wild-type domesticated de- scendants. Individual differences in bill color exist among adults of both sexes, both in nature and captivity. In laboratory birds, bill color changed over the course of the five-week breeding cycle, with lowest bill-color scores expressed at the end of the cycle. Longer-term patterns included a gradual decline of bill color over the course of multiple clutch attempts, followed by a rapid increase when resources for breeding were withdrawn. Among laboratory males, survivorship was clearly independent of bill color. Among females, bill color changed more rapidly in birds that subsequently died than in those that survived a two-year breeding experiment. High rates of reproduction were significantly associated with decline of male bill score, but not female bill score. The bill-color scores of laboratory males maintained on supplemented and basic seed diets for eight weeks did not diverge. Crowding of laboratory birds was associated with decreased bill color. For birds in nature, bill color tended to decline over the breeding season. Bill color of captive wild birds became more red over a six-week period when birds were fed ad libitum on the laboratory diet. Data for both laboratory and wild birds indicate that reproduction is associated with a decline of bill color in both sexes. Results of diet experiments were inconclusive, but helped to establish that the range of bill colors displayed by domesticated birds is similar to that encountered in nature. Our results, when considered in light of previous findings, suggest the possibility that bill color has different costs and benefits for the sexes and that genetic and/or physiological constraints prevent optimal phenotypic expression of bill color in Zebra Finches. Received 4 June 1990, accepted 21 July 1991.
Evaluation of merger premium and firm performance in Europe

This paper investigates whether the deal premium affects the performance of the acquiring firms in European mergers and acquisitions (M%As) deals for the period 2000-2013. We find a significant reduction in short-term performance of the acquiring firms after the M%As, reflecting the overpayment hypothesis. Our result also indicates that the negative effect on the performance of the acquiring firms is less pronounced in the long-term. The result confirms the synergy hypothesis and the existence of quadratic relationship between high premium and performance. Our findings are robust as we control for firm and time trends. The findings of our study have implications for companies engaging in acquisitions in Europe.
The safety and efficacy of sotalol in the management of acute atrial fibrillation: a retrospective case control study

Objective: The European Society of Cardiology, American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology guidelines on atrial fibrillation (AF) 2006 state that Sotalol should not be used in acute AF. We assessed the safety and efficacy of sotalol in acute AF when compared to other anti-arrhythmic drugs (ADD). Methods: A single centre retrospective observational study on 300 patients admitted with acute AF over a 12 months period. Study drugs used were sotalol, amiodarone, flecainide, propafenone or disopyramide for rhythm control. Digoxin, beta blockers, verapamil, diltiazem were prescribed for rate control. Rates of cardioversion to sinus rhythm, readmission rates due to AF, all cause readmissions, mortality rates due to sudden cardiac death and all-cause mortality was recorded over a 2 year follow up period. For paired data, the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed- ranks or paired t-test were used. For unpaired data, FisherâÂÂÂÂÂÂs exact test was used. Results: 120 patients were discharged on sotalol. The mean total dose used was 169.2 mg daily. Cardioversion to sinus rhythm on discharge occurred in 68% in the rhythm control group versus 42% for rate control group (p<0.001). Sotalol had a significantly higher cardioversion rate regardless of the dose when compared to amiodarone (p=0.036) however, there were similar readmission rates for AF. Four patients died acutely in hospital, none were on sotalol. Compared to all drugs sotalol had the lowest mortality rates (p=0.001). Mortality rates were lower in patients who received the higher dose of sotalol; 7.4% for patients who received a total of 320 mg daily versus 11.8% in those who received 160 mg daily. Conclusion: Sotalol is as safe and effective as other anti-arrhythmic drugs; in fact it was significantly more effective than amiodarone in this cohort. All AAD\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s demonstrated a significant improvement in cardioversion rates and a significantly lower mortality rate than rate controlling drugs.
Is There Association between the Biometric Variables of Tomato Seeds and their Physiological Quality

Tomato seeds are chosen by weight and size due to the positive association between these properties and the physiological quality of the seeds, as shown by many studies using large seeds and cereals. Nevertheless, for horticultural production, information on this subject is scarce and contradictory. This is the reason for the present research, whose objective is to determine the effect of the weight and size of tomato seeds (Solanum lycopersicum L.) on the physiological quality of the plant expressed as germination and vigor. A total of 30 blocks of nine hybrid tomato seed varieties were used. The seeds came from two different reproduction seasons. In all cases, the plants were of indeterminate growth habits and produced round fruits. The seeds were characterized by weight and size, and their quality was evaluated through tests of germination and vigor using accelerated ageing tests (stress) and usable transplant tests (seedling growth and evaluation). A fully randomized design was used; blocks from each season were compared using variance analysis, and means were compared using the Tukey or t-student test. The association between the two variables was determined using Pearson correlations. A level of significance of 0.05 was applied. The seed blocks for each variety presented significant differences for the size variables but not for weight. It was not possible to discriminate between block quality via the germination tests and usable transplant tests, although the accelerated ageing stress test did show statistical differences between blocks for most of the varieties in question. There was only weak association between the physiological quality of the seeds evaluated using germination and vigor tests and the physical characteristics of said seeds.
Nitrous oxide emissions from black soils under a continuous soybean cropping system in northeast China

A large number of natural wetlands in northeast China have been reclaimed as farmland in the last few decades, and soybean is the main rain-fed crop here. For the depth understanding of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from reclaimed soybean fields, using static opaque chamber method, we conducted a four-year N2O flux measurement at two adjacent soybean fields cultivated after wetland drainage in 1987 and 1993, respectively, in the Sanjiang Plain of northeast China Using static opaque chamber method,. Both sites had two treatments including soybean cropped and bare soils (i.e., SF87, BS87, SF93 and BS93). The results showed that soil N2O emission from all of the plots was severely inhibited by the low temperature in winter (November to March), while a N2O emission pulse occurred during the spring thaw (April and May). Temporal variation of the N2O fluxes during the growing season varied over all the four years but was mainly affected by soil water-filled pore space (WFPS). Intense rainfall events increased the intensity and duration of N2O pulses during the growing season, and most high fluxes were occurred at WFPS > 45%. The mean annual N2O emission from all treatments over four years was 4.8 ± 1.2 kg N ha-1 (ranges: 1.9-19.8), and one third of the emission originated from the spring-thaw. In addition, soybean growth did not increase N2O emissions during the growing season, which support the cancellation of N2O emission calculations from nitrogen fixed by legumes in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories.
Varying boreal forest response to Arctic environmental change at the Firth River, Alaska

In the second paragraph of the section '2.3 Meteorological and remote sensing data', the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data set used was incorrectly referred to as GIMMS-NDVI version 3G with a 0.084° spatial resolution. This should be corrected to GIMMS-NDVI version G with a 0.07° spatial resolution. The correct reference for this data set is: Tucker C J , Pinzon J E, Brown M E, Slayback D A, Pak E W, Mahoney R, Vermote E F and El Saleous N 2005 An extended AVHRR 8-km NDVI dataset compatible with MODIS and SPOT vegetation NDVI data Int. J. Remote. Sens. 26 4485–98
Discrimination Level of Students' Ratio, Number of Students per Faculty Member and Article Scores Indicators According to Place of Turkish Universities in International Ranking Systems.

The aim of this research is to determine classification in which the level of accuracy in Turkish universities rankings is detected by the international assessments according to the independent variables PhD students ratio, the number of students per faculty member and the article scores. The data of research were obtained from University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) in Turkey. The data were divided into three groups to international university ranking the top 500 (group A), 500 to 1000 (group B), and 1000 and 1500 (group C). Discriminant analysis was used to analyze the data. According to the findings of the study "PhD students’ ratio" is variable to distinguish groups of universities who have contributed the most variable. Then "article score" and the last "the number of students per faculty member” are seen. Classification results are analyzed, a total of 10 universities in the A group, 9 (90%), a total of 15 universities in the B group, 10 (66.7%) and, finally, a total of 26 universities in the C group and 19 (73.1%) were classified correctly. The total percentage of correct classification of discriminant function is 74.5%. Classification accuracy of the discriminant analysis is higher than chance criterion (33 %). In other words, function obtained from the research makes a more accurate classification than change classification. Key words: University ranking, Turkish higher education, PhD students’ ratio, article scores, discriminant analysis.
On-farm Conservation of Zaer Lentil Landrace in Context of Climate Change and Improved Varieties Competition

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) landrace of Zaer had been on-farm conserved thanks to ingenious farmers' practices. Farmers had selected, produced and maintained their landrace to satisfy their food security, ecological and economical needs. However, the increase of drought incidence had encouraged farmers to gradual abandonment of their landrace for L56 improved variety to increase productivity and incomes. The landrace is therefore threatened for genetic drift by climatic change, varieties innovation and economic development. The main objective of this study is to strengthen the on farm conservation of lentil landrace of Zaer through its promotion under a distinctive sign of origin and quality in accordance with national agricultural policy. Thus, the investigation is focused on analyzing (i) farmers' knowledge through field survey of 41 farmers randomly chosen across Zaer region, (ii) genetic structure of landrace as meta-population and by four geographical locations using biochemical markers (SDS-PAGE), and (iii) genetic relationship between the landrace and L56 improved variety cultivated in Zaer. Data analysis had provide us with valuable information's on seed management according to climate and farmers' category, genetic structure of landrace as meta-population which was shaped by both natural pressures and human practices, and on seeds flow between landrace and L56 variety that might be linked to seed acquisition, spatial organization of production field or to post-harvest seed management.
Integrating Construction Process Documentation into Building Information Modeling

The research described in this paper extends the use of building information modeling (BIM) throughout the construction phase of the project life cycle. The owner is a military base that uses three-dimensional (3D) modeling for underground services and the footprints of the buildings. They were interested in determining the feasibility of capturing the construction process and related documents into a similar format. The research was conducted in parallel with traditional methods. The objectives of this project were to create a 3D as-built model, a four-dimensional as-built model, and attach the construction process information to the model for the owner to use after construction. A literature review indicates that BIM application stops at the preconstruction phase with a limited amount of research regarding data collection of the construction process. Significant contributions include practical 3D data collection methods and extending the BIM software products to accommodate construction process documentation. Results indicate that BIM software is not specifically prepared to accomplish these objectives and some modification to procedures as well as software were necessary for the BIM to capture the construction process documentation.
CAPACITATION OF HAMSTER SPERMATOZOA WITH BLOOD

Yanagimachi & Chang (1964) were the first to report in vitro fertilization in the golden hamster using both epididymal and uterine spermatozoa. These studies were later extended by Barros & Austin (1967), who showed that follicular eggs could be readily fertilized in vitro with epididymal spermatozoa. They also showed that the follicular fluid of pre-ovulatory follicles could induce the acrosomal reaction at a higher rate than tubal fluid. Later, Barros (1968a) showed that a 4-hr incubation of epididymal spermatozoa with tubal fluid containing eggs was enough for the complete capacitation of hamster spermatozoa, suggesting that, in the hamster, the process of capacitation takes about this length of time. Capacitation, as judged by the occurrence of the acrosomal reaction and by the incidence of eggs fertilized in vitro, was not species-specific, since both tubal fluid containing mouse and rat eggs `in cumulus' (Barros, 1968b) and follicular fluid from the same species (Yanagimachi, 1969b) were found to capacitate hamster spermatozoa in vitro. Moreover, Yanagimachi (1969a) studied several fractions of bovine follicular fluid for the induction of capacitation and the acrosomal reaction of hamster spermatozoa, and found that there are at least two fractions in this fluid which are important in the process of capacitation; one fraction is dialysable and heat stable at 90\s=deg\C and has sperm-activating properties and the other is non-dialysable and heat labile at 90\s=deg\C and is responsible for the acrosomal reaction. Caravaglios 8c Cilotti (1957) showed that bovine follicular fluid and blood serum have similar electrophoretic patterns when subjected to paper electrophoresis. Using zone electrophoresis and immuno-electrophoresis, Marcus & Saravis (1965) found the same five protein components in the tubai fluid and in the blood serum of the rhesus monkey, in approximately the same percentage ranges. Albers & Castro (1961) demonstrated the presence ofat least five protein components in rat uterine fluid. One of them has a /? -globulin mobility and is specific for rat uterine fluid. Later studies made by Kunitake, Nakamura, Wells & Moyer ( 1965) revealed nine protein components in rat uterine fluid. They found at least four proteins which are common to rat serum and five protein components which are native to uterine fluid. The resemblances between blood serum and the female genital tract secre¬ tions prompted us to investigate whether blood serum could also induce sperm capacitation and the acrosomal reaction.
El Niño–Southern Oscillation signals in sea level, surface mass redistribution, and degree‐two geoid coefficients

[1] We use a coupled Earth system model to simulate and quantify the impact of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on monthly to interannual variations of steric and eustatic global mean sea level (GMSL), surface mass loading, and on the corresponding degree-two geoid coefficients (C21, S21, and C20). GMSL is dominated by eustatic variations on monthly to interannual timescales, but less than 10% of the eustatic variance is related to ENSO. In contrast, steric GMSL correlates linearly in phase with ENSO with an explained variance of nearly 46%. Together these results imply that total GMSL variations are only weakly correlated with ENSO. Despite this small correlation, we find a distinct ENSO pattern of sizable surface mass load anomalies. Over the continents, this pattern is similar to typical ENSO-related precipitation anomalies. Over the oceans, the pattern features a global, albeit weaker, response, with generally increased loading in the Arctic and Pacific oceans, and decreased loading in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. These surface loading anomalies lead to statistically significant ENSO-related variations in the S21 and C20 geoid coefficients, but not in C21. In analyzing the individual subsystem contributions, we find that S21 is influenced by both ocean mass redistribution and soil moisture loading, whereas C20 is mainly influenced by soil moisture loading. Our results highlight the importance of high-amplitude regional loading anomalies that integrate to low-degree geoid anomalies.
Van Hove singularities and spectral smearing in high-temperature superconducting H 3 S

The superconducting phase of hydrogen sulfide at Tc=200 K observed by Drozdov and collaborators at pressures around 200 GPa is simple bcc Im-3m H3S, predicted beforehand by Duan {\it et al.}, has experimental confirmation. The various "extremes" that are involved -- pressure, implying extreme reduction of volume, extremely high H phonon energy scale around 1500K, extremely high temperature for a superconductor -- necessitates a close look at new issues raised by these characteristics in relation to high Tc. We use first principles methods to analyze the H3S electronic structure, particularly the van Hove singularities (vHs) and the effect of sulfur. Focusing on the two closely spaced vHs near the Fermi level that give rise to the impressively sharp peak in the density of states, the implications of strong coupling Migdal-Eliashberg theory are assessed. The electron spectral density smearing due to virtual phonon emission and absorption needs to be included explicitly to obtain accurate theoretical predictions and current understanding. Means for increasing Tc in H3S-like materials are addressed.
Antioxidant responses of lentil and barley plants to boron toxicity under different nitrogen sources

In this study, the effects of different nitrogen sources on lentil (Lens clunaris) and barley (Hordeum vulgare) plants, exposed to 5 and 10 mM boron stress previously, were studied. After ten-day germination, the lentil (native) and barley (Tokak157/37) were incubated 16 h light and 8 h dark per day for 7-day growth cycle under the conditions of boron stress via different nitrogen sources (10 mM nitrogen in NH4 Cl, KNO3 and urea). As a result of the changes in the nitrogen sources of the plants, there were determined decreases in the relative growth rate (%) and total chlorophyll content related to boron stress, (p < 0.05) and (p < 0.01), respectively. The changes in the lentil were obtained much more than those in the barley. In addition, the changes in the groups in which NH4 + was used as nitrogen source were obtained at lowest levels. The concentrations of MDA, H2O2 and proline showed increases under boron stress (p < 0.05). The effect of boron toxicity on the activities of SOD, GPX and LOX was similar in the two species but the levels of CAT and APX activities were different in both species under 5 and 10 mM boron stress (p < 0.01). SOD, GPX and LOX activities increased in the roots and shoots of boron treated plants as compared with the controls (p < 0.01). Although, lentil CAT and APX, activities decreased; in barley, CAT and APX, activities increased under boron toxicity. In conclusion, the fertilizers which contain NH4 + should be used in the boron stressed farmlands.
Modelling of deep gaps created by giant planets in protoplanetary disks

A giant planet embedded in a protoplanetary disk creates a gap. This process is important for both theory and observations. Using results of a survey for a wide parameter range with two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, we constructed an empirical formula for the gap structure (i.e., the radial surface density distribution), which can reproduce the gap width and depth obtained by two-dimensional simulations. This formula enables us to judge whether an observed gap is likely to be caused by an embedded planet or not. The propagation of waves launched by the planet is closely connected to the gap structure. It makes the gap wider and shallower as compared with the case where an instantaneous wave damping is assumed. The hydrodynamic simulations shows that the waves do not decay immediately at the launching point of waves, even when the planet is as massive as Jupiter. Based on the results of hydrodynamic simulations, we also obtained an empirical model of wave propagation and damping for the cases of deep gaps. The one-dimensional gap model with our wave propagation model is able to well reproduce the gap structures in hydrodynamic simulations. In the case of a Jupiter-mass planet, we also found that the waves with smaller wavenumber (e.g., $m=2$) are excited and transport the angular momentum to the location far away from the planet. The wave with $m=2$ is closely related with a secondary wave launched by the site opposite from the planet.
Usage of a digital library system at a private university library in Bangladesh

The factors that influenced usage of digital libraries at East West University in Bangladesh have been explored. Questionnaire-based survey and observation methods were used to collect primary data from 129 users of East West University Digital Library (EWUDL). The findings suggest that some factors such as users’ knowledge of search domain, quality of digital library content, system characteristics, service quality, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and intention to use influenced the usage of the digital library. Users’ intention to use digital library is significantly related to their perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the system. The users were more or less satisfied with EWUDL. The study identified a number of challenges in establishing a digital library system in a university in Bangladesh. Some suggestions for adoption and usage of digital libraries in the country are made.