Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constraining Models of Postglacial Rebound Using Space Geodesy

SUMMARY Using global positioning system, very long baseline interferometry, satellite laser ranging and Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite observations, including the Canadian Base Network and Fennoscandian BIFROST array, we constrain, in models of postglacial rebound, the thickness of the ice sheets as a function of position and time and the viscosity of the mantle as a function of depth. We test model ICE-5G VM2 T90 Rot, which well fits many hundred Holocene relative sea level histories in North America, Europe and worldwide. ICE-5G is the deglaciation history having more ice in western Canada than ICE-4G; VM2 is the mantle viscosity profile having a mean upper mantle viscosity of 0.5 × 1021 Pa s and a mean uppermost-lower mantle viscosity of 1.6 × 1021 Pa s; T90 is an elastic lithosphere thickness of 90 km; and Rot designates that the model includes (rotational feedback) Earth's response to the wander of the North Pole of Earth's spin axis towards Canada at a speed of ≈1° Myr−1. The vertical observations in North America show that, relative to ICE-5G, the Laurentide ice sheet at last glacial maximum (LGM) at ≈26 ka was (1) much thinner in southern Manitoba, (2) thinner near Yellowknife (Northwest Territories), (3) thicker in eastern and southern Quebec and (4) thicker along the northern British Columbia–Alberta border, or that ice was unloaded from these areas later (thicker) or earlier (thinner) than in ICE-5G. The data indicate that the western Laurentide ice sheet was intermediate in mass between ICE-5G and ICE-4G. The vertical observations and GRACE gravity data together suggest that the western Laurentide ice sheet was nearly as massive as that in ICE-5G but distributed more broadly across northwestern Canada. VM2 poorly fits the horizontal observations in North America, predicting places along the margins of the Laurentide ice sheet to be moving laterally away from the ice centre at 2 mm yr−1 in ICE-4G and 3 mm yr−1 in ICE-5G, in disagreement with the observation that the interior of the North American Plate is deforming more slowly than 1 mm yr−1. Substituting VM5a T60 for VM2 T90, that is, introducing into the lithosphere at its base a layer with a high viscosity of 10 × 1021 Pa s, greatly improves the fit of the horizontal observations in North America. ICE-4G VM5a T60 Rot predicts most of the North American Plate to be moving horizontally more slowly than ≈1 mm yr−1, in agreement with the data. ICE-5G VM5a T60 Rot well fits both the vertical and horizontal observations in Europe. The space geodetic data cannot distinguish between models with and without rotational feedback, in the vertical because the velocity of Earth’ centre is uncertain, and in the horizontal because the areas of the plate interiors having geodetic sites is not large enough to detect the small differences in the predictions of rotational feedback going across the plate interiors.
Knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among antenatal attendees in Uyo, Southern Nigeria

This cross sectional study was conducted at the maternity unit of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo. The aim was to assess the knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among women receiving antenatal care in the teaching hospital. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to two hundred women in the antenatal clinic. Majority of the respondents (69.5%) were between 25-34 years of age, 57.0% were multiparous and 67.7% had attained tertiary level education. Eighty-four women (42.0%) were able to define exclusive breastfeeding correctly while just 7.0% of the respondents knew the ten steps to successful breastfeeding. Only 44.5% of the women practiced exclusive breastfeeding. None of the women belonged to a breastfeeding support group and the most common source of information on exclusive breastfeeding was the antenatal health talks (81.0%). The level of knowledge and practice of exclusive breastfeeding by women in our centre is poor. There is need for large scale health enlightenment of members of the public on exclusive breastfeeding. There is also the need for periodic retraining of relevant health workers on the practice of exclusive breastfeeding and strategies introduced for its regular monitoring and evaluation.
The New (Commercial) Open Source: Does it Really Improve Social Welfare?

The number of open source (“OS”) software projects has grown exponentially for at least a decade. Unlike early open source projects, much of this growth has been funded by commercial firms that expect to earn a profit on their investment. Typically, firms do this by selling bundles that contain both OS software and proprietary goods (e.g. cell phones, applications programs) and services (custom software). We present a general two-stage Cournot model in which arbitrary numbers of competing OS and closed source (“CS”) firms decide how much software to create in Stage 1 and how many bundles to supply in Stage 2. We find that the amount of OS software delivered depends on (a) the degree of substitutability between proprietary products, (b) the number of OS and CS firms competing in the market, and (c) the savings available to OS firms from cost-sharing. However, code-sharing also guarantees that no OS firm can offer better software than any other OS firm. This suppresses quality competition between OS firms and restricts their output much as an agreement to suppress competition on quality would. Competition from CS firms weakens this quality-cartel effect, thus mixed industries often offer higher welfare. We find that Pure-OS (Pure-CS) markets are sometimes stable against CS (OS) entry so that the required OS/CS state never occurs. Even where mixed OS/CS industries do exist, moreover, the proportion of OS firms needed to stabilize the market against entry is almost always much larger than the target ratio required to optimize welfare. We examine various policy options for addressing this imbalance with tax policy, funding of OS development, and procurement preferences. We find that the first-best solution in our model is to tax OS firms and grant tax breaks to CS firms. Conversely, government policies that fund OS development or establish procurement preferences for OS software actually increase the gap between desired and actual OS/CS ratios still further. Despite this, funding OS development can still improve welfare by boosting total (private government) OS investment above the levels that a private cartel would deliver.
The Effects of Social Capital and Individual Factors on Knowledge Sharing Among ERP System Users

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a management technology that advocates an integrated approach to conduct business. Before organizations apply technology to improve the overall performance, they must understand what their employees need to use it. ERP systems are knowledge intensive, which require high level of knowledge absorption and knowledge sharing between organizational members in order to be used successfully. Since the knowledge sharing is a key factor to use the ERP system, therefore this study aims to identify the social capital and individual factors affecting knowledge sharing among ERP users in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). A quantitative method was employed using a self-administered questionnaire technique to collect data from 413 ERP users in Jordanian SMEs and SPSS software to analyse the data. This study found that social networks, trust, shared vision, self-efficacy, absorptive capacity; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic factors have influenced significantly on knowledge sharing among ERP users. Such a finding could provide guidelines for the management to enhance knowledge sharing among ERP users for successful ERP system usage.
Determinants of Undergraduate Program Choice in Two Health Science Fields: Does Personality Influence Career Choice?

One hundred and twelve first year health science students enrolled in medical radiation sciences (n = 76) and speech pathology (n = 36) from the Faculty of Health Sciences, the University of Sydney, participated in a survey designed to determine factors influencing career choice and the role of personality in this process. Findings indicated that the two groups of health science students were similar on major factors explored in our study. In terms of dominant personality types, students from both groups were more likely to be Guardians and Idealists, thereby suggesting that personality does not have an influential role in their career choice. Both groups of students were similar in the reasons influencing their career decision, including interest in working in a health science field, working with and helping others. These reasons were endorsed strongly. The level of knowledge both groups of students possessed regarding their chosen career was similar although on all working dimensions a proportion of students reported no knowledge of this information. Of relevance to the above findings is the fact that 36% of the total sample indicated that they were not enrolled in their first career choice, with the majority of these students selecting a different health science field as their first preference. The implications of these findings for university educators and career advisors are discussed in the paper.
Attitudes of Bahrain University Students Toward Women's Rights and Roles

The primary purpose of the present study was to explore the attitudes of Bahrain university students toward women's rights and roles. The study also determined whether the Arabic version of the Attitude toward Women Scale (AWS-AR) developed in this study had satisfactory psychometric properties and thus was a useful measure of gender-role ideology. The AWS-AR was administered to 364 students enrolled in the University of Bahrain. The results of this study provided additional evidence for the adequacy of the AWS for measuring attitudes toward women. They also corroborate the findings of other similar studies that utilized this scale for revealing student views concerning rights and roles of women. Implications of the results of study on teacher education in Bahrain are highlighted and discussed.
Neural network models for inflation forecasting: an appraisal

We assess the power of diverse Artificial Neural-Network (ANN) models as forecasting tools for monthly inflation rates for 28 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. In the context of short out-of-sample forecasting horizon we find that, on average, the ANN models were a superior predictor for inflation for 45% while the Autoregressive model of order one (AR1) model performed better for 23% of the countries. Furthermore, we develop arithmetic combinations of several ANN models and find that these may also serve as credible tools for forecasting inflation.
Gender Differences in Willingness to Compete: The Role of Public Observability

A recent literature emphasizes the importance of the gender gap in willingness to compete as a partial explanation for gender differences in labor market outcomes. However, whereas experiments investigating willingness to compete typically do so in anonymous environments, real world competitions often have a more public nature, which introduces potential social image concerns. If such image concerns are important, we should expect public observability to further exacerbate the gender gap. We test this prediction using a laboratory experiment that varies whether the decision to compete, and its outcome, is publicly observable. Across four different treatments, however, all treatment effects are close to zero. We conclude that the public observability of decisions and outcomes does not exert a significant impact on male or female willingness to compete, indicating that the role of social image concerns related to competitive decisions may be limited.
Local and Equatorial Forcing of Seasonal Variations of the North Equatorial Countercurrent in the Atlantic Ocean

Abstract The seasonal variation of the North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is investigated by using a linear, one-layer reduced-gravity ocean model and by analyzing sea surface height (SSH) data from Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon (T/P) altimeters. The T/P data indicate that the seasonal variability of the NECC geostrophic transport, between 3° and 10°N, is dominated by SSH changes in the southern flank of the current. Since the southern boundary of the NECC is located partially within the equatorial waveguide, the SSH variation there can be influenced considerably by the equatorial dynamics. Therefore, it is hypothesized that the wind stress forcing along the equator is the leading driver for the seasonal cycle of the NECC transport. The wind stress curl in the NECC region is an important but smaller contributor. This hypothesis is tested by several sensitivity experiments that are designed to separate the two forcing mechanisms. In the first sensitivity ru.
Pyrolysis study of coconut leaf’s biomass using thermogravimetric analysis

Coconut leaf is one of the most potential biomass to be converted into bio-oil through pyrolysis process and the availability in Indonesia is abundance. The mechanism of decomposition of coconut leaf into bio-oil productions requires further research because of the complexity of pyrolysis and differences in biomass composition. Therefore, the design, optimization and modeling of pyrolysis processes is strongly influenced by biomass characteristics. The purpose of this study was to find the characteristic differences in pyrolysis behavior of the three main parts of coconut leaf based on its constituent parts; leaflets, midrib and whole leaf. Moisture is removed by drying the sample in an electric oven at 110°C for 24 hours. Characteristics were tested using Cellulose Analysis, Ultimate Analysis, and Heat Value, whereas pyrolysis behavior used Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). The results show that leaflets, midrib and whole leaf exhibit different pyrolysis behavior. In terms of considering flow process of separation, the whole leaf becomes an option as a fuel for further pyrolysis processes. The maximum temperature that as a reference in the pyrolysis process of coconut leaves is 500°C with temperature rate of 20°C/min and the process lasts as long for 130 minutes.
What Is the Link between Stringent Response, Endoribonuclease Encoding Type II Toxin–Antitoxin Systems and Persistence?

Persistence is a transient and non-inheritable tolerance to antibiotics by a small fraction of a bacterial population. One of the proposed determinants of bacterial persistence is toxin–antitoxin systems (TASs) which are also implicated in a wide range of stress-related phenomena. Maisonneuve E, Castro-Camargo M, Gerdes K. 2013. Cell 154:1140–1150 reported an interesting link between ppGpp mediated stringent response, TAS, and persistence. It is proposed that accumulation of ppGpp enhances the accumulation of inorganic polyphosphate which modulates Lon protease to degrade antitoxins. The decrease in the concentration of antitoxins supposedly activated the toxin to increase in the number of persisters during antibiotic treatment. In this study, we show that inorganic polyphosphate is not required for transcriptional activation of yefM/yoeB TAS, which is an indirect indication of Lon-dependent degradation of YefM antitoxin. The Δ10 strain, an Escherichia coli MG1655 derivative in which the 10 TAS are deleted, is more sensitive to ciprofloxacin compared to wild type MG1655. Furthermore, we show that the Δ10 strain has relatively lower fitness compared to the wild type and hence, we argue that the persistence related implications based on Δ10 strain are void. We conclude that the transcriptional regulation and endoribonuclease activity of YefM/YoeB TAS is independent of ppGpp and inorganic polyphosphate. Therefore, we urge for thorough inspection and debate on the link between chromosomal endoribonuclease TAS and persistence.
Small Sample Estimation in Dichotomous Item Response Models: Effect of Priors Based on Judgmental Information on the Accuracy of Item Parameter Estimates

Large item banks with properly calibrated test items are essential for ensuring the validity of computer-based tests. At the same time, item calibrations with small samples are desirable to minimize the amount of pretesting and limit item exposure. Bayesian estimation procedures show considerable promise with small examinee samples. The purposes of the study were (a) to examine how prior information for Bayesian item parameter estimation can be specified and (b) to investigate the relationship between sample size and the specification of prior information on the accuracy of item parameter estimates. The results of the simulation study were clear: Estimation of IRT model item parameters can be improved considerably. Improvements in the one-parameter model were modest; considerable improvements with the two- and three-parameter models were observed. Both the study of different forms of priors and ways to improve the judgmental data used in forming the priors appear to be promising directions for future research.
SYNTHESIS AND ANTICONVULSANT ACTIVITY OF NOVEL 2-AMINO-5-[4-CHLORO-2-(2-CHLOROPHENOXY) PHENYL]-1,3,4-THIADIAZOLE DERIVATIVES

Several novel 2-amino-5-[4-chloro-2-(2-chlorophenoxy)phenyl]-1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives 4a-d were synthesized and their anticonvulsant activity was determined by evaluation of the ability of theses compounds to protect mice against convulsion induced by a lethal doses of pentylentetrazole (PTZ) and maximal electroshock (MES). The result of anticonvulsant data shows that among the synthesized compounds, 5-[4chloro-2-(2-chlorophenoxy)phenyl]-N-ethyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-amine 4c was the most active compound in both MES and PTZ tests with an ED50 of 20.11 and 35.33 mg/kg, respectively.
The Formation of Consumer Inflation Expectations: New Evidence from Japan'S Deflation Experience

Using a new micro-level dataset we investigate the relationship between the inflation experience and inflation expectations of households in Japan. We focus on the period after 1995, when Japan began its era of deflation. Our key findings are fourfold. Firstly, we find that inflation expectations tend to increase with age. Secondly, we find that measured inflation rates of items purchased also increase with age. However, we find that age and inflation expectations continue to have a positive correlation even after controlling for the household-level rate of inflation. Further analysis suggests that the positive correlation between age and inflation expectations is driven to a significant degree by the correlation between cohort and inflation expectations, which we interpret to represent the effect of historical inflation experience on expectations of future inflation rates.
UNTRANSLATABILITY FALLACY OF URHOBO KOLANUT PRESENTATION RITUAL POWER SYMBOLS

A strong untranslatability claim exists in the Urhobo public consensus that English as a communication medium is incapable of recapturing and retransmitting the meanings conceptualized in Urhobo kola-nut presentation ritual power symbols. In line with the Urhobo public consensus, heterogeneous sociocultural gatherings within the Urhobo homeland, which involve kola-nut presentation often depict disregard for the multi-lingual and –ethnic nature of the get-togethers. The problematic of the disregard, which is apparent at the inception stage, is the exclusion of participants who have neither competence nor performance in the language from contributing and benefiting from the discourse, because the presentation must happen in Urhobo. This engenders social disharmony. Twenty seven (27) heterogeneous sociocultural gatherings wherein kola-nut presentation occurred were attended within the Urhobo homeland. Five (5) select recurrent cliches were sieved out and subjected to descriptive analysis using translational resemblance as tertium comparationis and the Hallidayan systemic functional grammar as a linguistic model. Findings indicate that English could be bent to carry the ideational, interpersonal and textual functions of the Urhobo kolanut presentation ritual power symbols. The notion of untranslatability of the Urhobo kola-nut presentation ritual power symbols is fallacious. It spontaneously emerged out of appeal to tradition and patriotism which link to the prejudice of the Urhobo public consensus.
Hematology, micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities in fishes from São Francisco river, Minas Gerais state, Brazil - doi: 10.4025/actascibiolsci.v33i1.7117

This study aimed to determine the variables leukocytary, erythrocytary, frequency of micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities in peripheral erythrocytes of Prochilodus argenteus, Pimelodus maculates and Myleus micans from Sao Francisco river basin, Minas Gerais State, during the summer and winter. Thrombocytes, hematocrit and leukocyte of P.argenteus series, was influenced by climatic conditions. In P. maculatus , not were significant differences for all leukocytes and thrombocytes. In M. micans , values are unprecedented in the literature, with MCV and absolute number of leukocytes found superior to other species of the family Characidae. The frequency of micronuclei and nuclear abnormalities in erythrocytes, the three species not showed seasonal differences between the sites. However, the highest values were found in summer. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between the increase in the percentage of micronuclei with nuclear abnormalities.
On The Ricci Curvature of a Compact Kahler Manifold and the Complex Monge-Ampere Equation, I*

Therefore a necessary condition for a (1,l) form ( G I a ' r r ) I,,, Rlr dz' A d? to be the Ricci form of some Kahler metric is that it must be closed and its cohomology class must represent the first Chern class of M. More than twenty years ago, E. Calabi [3] conjectured that the above necessary condition is in fact sufficient. This conjecture of Calabi can be reduced to a problem in non-linear partial differential equation.
In-situ measurements of the individual acoustic backscatter of European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina Pilchardus), with concurrent optical identification.

The lack of specific Target Strength (TS) values for European anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardine (Sardina Pilchardus) in the literature has been pointed out by the Working Group on Acoustic and Egg Surveys for Sardine and Anchovy in ICES Areas VIII and IX. The need for specific small pelagics TS measurements conducted in controlled environments was recognized by the group, to further investigate the adequacy of TS length equation used to derive fish stock estimates for clupeids in European waters. TS is a stochastic variable which largely varies in the wild, in response to changes in physical (tilt angle, depth) or biological (physiology) single fish attributes. The first requirement to make sound TS measurement is to accurately identify of the species comprising fish targets. Fish target identification is usually carried out by fishing. The comparison between fishing and acoustic data may be biased by the large differences in sampling volume and selectivity between acoustic and fishing devices. Optical systems can improve target identification, by providing images of the fish simultaneously insonified by the echosounder. We used Ifremer’s towed body ‘EROC’, fitted with an optical-acoustic system, to conduct in-situ TS measurements of Biscay anchovy and sardine, with concurrent optical identification. Its combination with an “open” pelagic trawl termed “ENROL” allowed for the recording of small pelagic fish TS, while controlling for the prominent factors known to influence fish TS distribution: species, length and tilt angle. Repeating EROC/ENROL-based TS measurements on monospecific schools should then allow for the definition of accurate TS~length equations for near horizontal small European pelagic fish species.