Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond Carnival: Male Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Brazil

For many foreign observers, Brazil still conjures up a collage of exotic images, ranging from the camp antics of Carmen Miranda to the bronzed girl (or boy) from Ipanema moving sensually over the white sands of Rio's beaches. Among these tropical fantasies is that of the uninhibited and licentious Brazilian homosexual, who expresses uncontrolled sexuality during wild Carnival festivities and is welcomed by a society that accepts fluid sexual identity. However, in this cultural history of male homosexuality in Brazil, James Green shatters these exotic myths and replaces them with a complex picture of the social obstacles that confront Brazilian homosexuals. Ranging from the late-19th century to the rise of a politicized gay and lesbian rights movement in the 1970s, Green's study focuses on male homosexual subcultures in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. He uncovers the stories of men coping with arrests and street violence, dealing with family restrictions, and resisting both a hostile medical profession and moralizing influences of the Church. Green also describes how these men have created vibrant subcultures with alternative support networks for maintaining romantic and sexual relationships and for surviving in an intolerant social environment. He then goes on to trace how urban parks, plazas, cinemas and beaches are appropriated for same-sex erotic encounters, bringing us into the world of street cruising, male hustlers and cross-dressing prostitutes.
Assemblage of hermit crabs near coastal islands in southeastern Brazil

An assortment of environmental factors may limit the permanence of hermit crabs in the environment, and determination of certain ecological indices can reveal the current conditions of the assemblage. This study evaluated the assemblage of hermit crabs near two islands adjacent to areas with fishing activity. Hermit crabs were collected monthly near Couves and Mar Virado islands on the southeastern coast of Brazil, from January through December 1998. Environmental factors were also recorded monthly. Ecological indices including species richness, diversity, evenness and dominance were calculated. The environmental characteristics differed between the islands, which helps to explain the differences in the composition of hermit crabs between the locations. Hermit crabs were significantly more abundant near Couves Island, where, according to the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA), the environmental parameters varied less. The Monte Carlo test (P < 0.05) confirmed the CCA model, indicating a strong correlation between the species of hermit crabs, bottom and surface water temperatures, and sediment organic-matter content. The presence of ovigerous females throughout the year indicates that these areas are favorable for reproduction. These results indicate that the environmental heterogeneity allows the establishment of different species of hermit crabs, influencing species richness and abundance of individuals in the ecosystem. These conditions favor the establishment of diverse benthic communities near the studied islands. Keywords : Diogenidae, Paguridae, diversity, abundance, multivariate analysis, Dardanus insignis, Loxopagurus loxochelis .
Board independence, CEO duality and firm performance: A quantile regression analysis for Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand

We study the effect of board independence and CEO duality on firm performance for a sample of stock-listed enterprises from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, applying Quantile Regression. Quantile Regression is more powerful than standard linear regression, as reflected in the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression method, since Quantile Regression can produce estimates for all conditional quantiles of the distribution of a response variable, whereas OLS regression only estimates the conditional mean effects of a response variable. Moreover, Quantile Regression is better able to handle violations of the standard assumptions of normality, homoscedasticity and absence of outliers. Indeed, we find that the relationship between corporate governance and firm performance variables is different across the conditional quantiles of the distribution of firm performance, something OLS would leave unidentified. This finding suggests that estimating the quantile effect of a response variable can well be more insightful than estimating only the mean effect of this response variable, particularly so when the data violate assumptions required to perform OLS regression, as is often the case in corporate governance research.
Overview of semi-sinusoidal stellar variability with the CoRoT satellite

To date, the CoRoT space mission has produced more than 124,471 light curves. Classifying these curves in terms of unambiguous variability behavior is mandatory for obtaining an unbiased statistical view on their controlling root-causes. The present study provides an overview of semi-sinusoidal light curves observed by the CoRoT exo-field CCDs. We selected a sample of 4,206 light curves presenting well-defined semi-sinusoidal signatures. The variability periods were computed based on Lomb-Scargle periodograms, harmonic fits, and visual inspection. Color-period diagrams for the present sample show the trend of an increase of the variability periods as long as the stars evolve. This evolutionary behavior is also noticed when comparing the period distribution in the Galactic center and anti-center directions. These aspects indicate a compatibility with stellar rotation, although more information is needed to confirm their root-causes. Considering this possibility, we identified a subset of three Sun-like candidates by their photometric period. Finally, the variability period versus color diagram behavior was found to be highly dependent on the reddening correction.
Two decades of urban climate research: a review of turbulence, exchanges of energy and water, and the urban heat island

Progress in urban climatology over the two decades since the first publication of the International Journal of Climatology is reviewed. It is emphasized that urban climatology during this period has benefited from conceptual advances made in microclimatology and boundary‐layer climatology in general. The role of scale, heterogeneity, dynamic source areas for turbulent fluxes and the complexity introduced by the roughness sublayer over the tall, rigid roughness elements of cities is described. The diversity of urban heat islands, depending on the medium sensed and the sensing technique, is explained. The review focuses on two areas within urban climatology. First, it assesses advances in the study of selected urban climatic processes relating to urban atmospheric turbulence (including surface roughness) and exchange processes for energy and water, at scales of consideration ranging from individual facets of the urban environment, through streets and city blocks to neighbourhoods. Second, it explores the literature on the urban temperature field. The state of knowledge about urban heat islands around 1980 is described and work since then is assessed in terms of similarities to and contrasts with that situation. Finally, the main advances are summarized and recommendations for urban climate work in the future are made. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society.
Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow and Takeover Attempts

This study utilises two proxies of free cash flow, excess cash holdings and excess accounting cash flow, to investigate the relevance of Jensen’s (1986) free cash flow theory to the market for corporate control in Australia. Specifically, based on a sample of 6,062 firm-years between 1993 and 2000, this study tests the relationship between the level of excess cash and the likelihood of a takeover attempt. Results from the flow measure of excess cash, which is closer to Jensen’s definition of free cash flow, indicate that firms possessing high levels of excess accounting cash flow are more likely to make takeovers attempts, consistent with Jensen’s (1986) free cash flow hypothesis.
Private banking and crony capitalism in Egypt

Abstract Why do private banks lend preferentially to politically connected firms? Focusing on the case of Egypt during the later years of Mubarak's rule, we identified politically connected firms, and we documented, using the Orbis corporate data on large firms in Egypt, that they received a disproportionate amount of the loans going to the private sector during 2003–11. We then investigated the determinants of their borrowings, and we found evidence that connected firms were more attractive to banks both because they made larger profits, and because they were seen to be implicitly guaranteed by the state against failure. We also found evidence that non-connected firms had a lower demand for loans.
Flexural-eustatic numerical model for drowning of the Eocene perialpine carbonate ramp and implications for Alpine geodynamics

The Paleocene2Eocene Nummulitic Limestone Formation of the Alpine periphery occupies the lowermost part of a stratigraphic trinity above a major basal unconformity. It is thought to have accumulated as a foraminiferal carbonate ramp at the distal featheredge of the underfilled north Alpine and southwest Alpine foreland basin. We present the results of a numerical model that links carbonate sedimentation at the distal featheredge of a peripheral foreland basin to the flexural subsidence of an elastic plate subjected to a distributed load with a superimposed eustatic sea-level history. Carbonate accumulation is treated as depth dependent. Model parameters are constrained by geological and geophysical observations of the Alpine orogen and its peripheral foreland basin and from literature on the ecology of benthic foraminifers. The generic Alpine model shows that the carbonate ramp accumulates as a number of sedimentary cycles before rapid drowning, giving rise to a retrogradational stratigraphic package terminated by a surface of accelerated transgression and backstepping. Running the model with sets of parameter values appropriate to the Paleocene to middle Eocene Nummulitic Limestone in central-eastern Switzerland, and the late Eocene Nummulitic Limestone
FORMATIVE PROCESS RESEARCH ON THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM IN TANZANIA

The recent rationalisation of local government taxes and, in particular, the abolishment of the development levy, imply that many district councils, in the short run, will lose 40-50 percent of their own generated revenues. This has raised concern among stakeholders at both the local and central levels that the financial autonomy of local authorities is undermined and that some councils are moving towards bankruptcy. In this Project Brief, Odd-Helge Fjeldstad argues that there are reasons to be concerned about the short-term impacts of the tax rationalisation. However, the reform also represents an opportunity for local governments to implement much needed reforms of their revenue systems and to look at new approaches for revenue enhancement and cost saving.
Stochastic Convergence Across Brazilian States

We analyze the dynamic properties of the relative income of Brazilian states for the 1985-2008 period. Unit root tests suggest that shocks to relative income have permanent effects, contradicting the stochastic convergence hypothesis. On the other hand, interval estimates of the largest autoregressive root produce wide confidence intervals that include many alternatives consistent with stationarity. Additionally, the confidence interval estimate of the half-life suggests that relative income shocks die out relatively quick, within an average of 0 to 5 years. These results suggest that relative income shocks have a temporary effect, thus supporting the stochastic convergence hypothesis. Furthermore, we build a relative income series for the Brazilian states for the 1947-2008 period and redo the exercises above. Finally, all of our results remain the same when we extend the sample to the 1947-2008 period.
Personality change in older adults with dementia: Occurrence and association with severity of cognitive impairment

Personality change is among criteria for the diagnosis of dementia. We examine first whether personality changes are related to severity of cognitive impairment in a linear or an inverted-U fashion in 1132 demented older people from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA) and 921 unimpaired older people. The proportion with reported change was larger for all measures in the demented group than in the cognitively unimpaired group, and was more consistent with a linear increase in personality change with increasing cognitive impairment than with an inverted-U relationship, as seen in only one variable. In our second (longitudinal) study, we evaluate which aspects of personality change most in dementia; changes in mood and an exaggeration of existing traits were the variables most closely related to the development of dementia.
Lower Recurrence in HPV-Positive Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Mediated by Down-Regulation of Sphingosine Kinase 1

Background: Human papilloma viruses (HPVs) are implicated in a subgroup of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with a more favorable prognosis and lower recurrences. The mechanism of the HPV ‘s protective role remains unclear. We observed that HPV+ tumors express lower levels of sphingosine kinase 1 (Sphk1), an important regulator of apoptosis and proliferation in cancer cells. Previously, we showed that both in vitro and in vivo knockdown of Sphk1 increased radiosensitivity in HNSCC cell lines. Our goal is to determine the potential of Sphk1 as a biomarker for recurrence. Methods: DNA polymerase chain reaction classified HPV status for 16 tumors and 6 primary cell cultures developed from HNSCC. Immunohistochemistry assessed p53, Rb, p16, Sphk1, and TGF-β expression in tumor samples. Western Blot examined Sphk1 expression in primary cell cultures. We gathered clinical information through review of medical records. Results: All HNSCC patients, both HPV+ and HPV-, presented at advanced stage (III/IV). HPV+ samples had lower p53 and Rb and higher p16 expression. On immunohistochemistry Sphk1 expression was lower in HPV+ (46%) than HPV- (70%) tumors (p=0.014). Primary cell cultures from HNSCC patients displayed lower Sphk1 expression in HPV+ cells on Western Blot. TGF-β showed no difference among these groups (p=0.99). HPV+ patients had fewer recurrences (p=0.001) and lower 5-year local recurrence (p=0.03). Conclusion: The study showed that Sphk1 expression was lower in HPV+ than HPV- HNSCC. Primary cell cultures showed robust Sphk1 expression in HPV- cells and diminished expression in HPV+ cells. Sphk1 expression was associated with recurrence, suggesting its utility as an early biomarker for detecting recurrence. Despite the small size of the cohort, we observed significant differences between HPV+ and HPV- groups. We identified a novel pathway through which HPV may confer a favorable prognosis in HNSCC. This pathway may have value for further testing in Sphk1-targeted therapies.
Comparison of components of Fusarium head blight in doubled haploid wheat lines

Components of Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium spp. , were examined in one Chinese and seven New Zealand wheat cultivars, and in 141 doubled haploid lines from a cross between a susceptible and a moderately resistant cultivar. Components measured were incidence of FHB, proportions of grains with visible FHB infection, mycotoxins levels in grain and proportion of grains infected with Fusarium. Lines were sown in a field trial that was inoculated with F. graminearum and mistirrigated to enhance infection. The Chinese cultivar, Nanjing, had the lowest level of FHB in ears and visibly infected grains and Fusarium infection in harvested grain. Two New Zealand cultivars also had low levels of FHB components, while two other cultivars had medium levels and three had high levels of infection. There were moderate to good correlations between most components of FHB, except that the proportions of visibly infected grains were poorly correlated with other components.
Histology and Physiology of BPM1 Clones with Different Exploitation Systems

This research aimed to study the characters of histology and physiology of BPM1 rubber clones to obtain the right exploitation system in increasing production in accordance with the character of the clones. The research results are expected to serve as a useful technology package which can be applied not only in the community rubber plantations but also in private as well as government large rubber plantations. The study was conducted in the rubber plantation of PT Perkebunan Nusantara III (Persero), Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, from 5 April to 28 December 2014. This study used a randomized block design with exploitation systems as the treatments, and each treatment was repeated three times. The exploitation systems employed were: tapping system (P) with four levels (P1 : S/2 d3 BI-1, P2 : S/4 d3 BI-1, P3 : S/2U d3 H0-1, P4 : S/4U d3 H0-1, and types of stimulant (S) with four levels (S0 : Etepon 2.5%, S1 : Gas stimulant every 9 days, S2 : Gas stimulant every 18 days, S3 : Gas stimulant every 27 days). Before the application of the treatments, observations of histological characters were first performed on all experimental units to determine the number and diameter of the latex vessels of renewable bark (the tapping on the lower stem (BI-1) and virgin bark (the tapping on the upper stem (H0-1)). -----------------------------------------------------------------------* Corresponding author. E-mail address: yayuk_dadan@yahoo.com.
Enhancing the productivity of high‐magnesium soil and water resources in Central Asia through the application of phosphogypsum

Recent evidences from some irrigated areas worldwide, such as Central Asia, suggest that water used for irrigation contains magnesium (Mg2+) at levels higher than calcium (Ca2+). Excess levels of Mg2+ in irrigation water and/or in soil, in combination with sodium (Na+) or alone, result in soil degradation because of Mg2+ effects on the soil's physical properties. More than 30 per cent of irrigated lands in Southern Kazakhstan having excess levels of Mg2+ are characterized by low infiltration rates and hydraulic conductivities. The consequence has been a gradual decline in the yield of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), which is commonly grown in the region. These soils require adequate quantities of Ca2+ to mitigate the effects of excess Mg2+. As a source of Ca2+, phosphogypsum—a byproduct of the phosphorous fertilizer industry—is available in some parts of Central Asia. In participation with the local farming community, we carried out a 4‐year field experiment in Southern Kazakhstan to evaluate the effects of soil application of phosphogypsum—0, 4·5, and 8·0 metric ton per hectare (t ha−1)—on chemical changes in a soil containing excess levels of Mg2+, and on cotton yield and economics. The canal water had Mg2+ to Ca2+ ratio ranging from 1·30 to 1·66 during irrigation period. The application of phosphogypsum increased Ca2+ concentration in the soil and triggered the replacement of excess Mg2+ from the cation exchange complex. After harvesting the first crop, there was 18 per cent decrease in exchangeable magnesium percentage (EMP) of the surface 0·2 m soil over the pre‐experiment EMP level in the plots where phosphogypsum was applied at 4·5 t ha−1, and a 31 per cent decrease in EMP in plots treated with phosphogypsum at 8 t ha−1. Additional beneficial effect of the amendment was an increase in the soil phosphorus content. The 4‐year average cotton yields were 2·6 t ha−1 with 8 t ha−1 phosphogypsum, 2·4 t ha−1 with 4·5 t ha−1 phosphogypsum, and 1·4 t ha−1 with the control. Since the amendment was applied once at the beginning, exchangeable Mg2+ levels tended to increase 4 years after its application, particularly in the treatment with 4·5 t ha−1 phosphogypsum. Thus, there would be a need for phosphogypsum application to such soils after every 4–5 years to optimize the ionic balance and sustain higher levels of cotton production. The economic benefits from the phosphogypsum treatments were almost twice those from the control. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
IMPACT OF COOKING UTENSILS ON TRACE METAL LEVELS OF PROCESSED FOOD ITEMS

Levels of trace metals namely: iron (Fe), aluminium (Al), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) were analyzed spectrophotometrically in rice, beans, yam and plantain cooked in aluminium and stainless steel pots. These metals were also determined in uncooked rice, beans, yam and plantain which served as Controls. Results obtained indicated that, the lowest concentrations of all the metals analyzed for were recorded in uncooked food items (Controls). It was also noticed from results recorded that, the highest mean concentration of Fe (4.45 ± 0.36 mg/kg) was obtained in plantain boiled in stainless steel pot, Al recorded its highest mean level (0.44±0.04mg/kg) in rice cooked in aluminium pot while the highest mean concentration of Cu (7.26 ± 0.06mg/kg) was indicated in beans cooked with aluminium pot. Chromium recorded the highest mean concentration (0.98 ± 0.04mg/kg) in rice boiled in stainless steel pot whereas; Ni indicated the highest concentration in plantain boiled with stainless steel pot. Results obtained in this study further revealed that, cooking utensils can leach some quantities of trace metals into food during processing, hence resulting in slight increase in the concentration of these metals in processed foods. The general results showed that levels of Fe and Al obtained were within their recommended safe limits whereas, concentrations of Cu, Cr and Ni were above their maximum acceptable levels. The study has also shown that, rice and plantain have high potentials of leaching these metals from cook wares examined. These results have discussed based on their environmental and health implications.
Worker Performance and Group Incentives: A Case Study

The author uses monthly, individual-level data collected from two units within a large U.S. financial corporation to estimate employees' response to the introduction of a group incentive plan. The findings indicate that the incentive plan caused performance to converge to a standard: the initially least productive workers improved greatly, whereas the performance of the initially most productive workers did not change. However, the evidence suggests that the incentive plan was successful in increasing the average level of productivity across the work group.
A DIPROSOPUS BUFFALO NEONATE: A CASE REPORT

A monster is a malformed fetus. Monstrosity is a disturbance of the development that involves sexual organs and causes great distortion of the individual (Vegad, 2007). Monstrosities are associated with either infectious disease or congenital defects (Arthur et al., 2001) and may or may not interfere with birth. Abnormal duplication of the germinal area in the fetus will give rise to congenital fetal abnormalities with partial duplication of body structures. Duplication of the cranial portion of the fetus is more common than that of the caudal portion (Robert, 2004). It is important to know various types of monsters in animals which usually cause dystocia, end which cannot be easily removed and so demand caesarean most of the time (Patil et al., 2004; Sharma, 2006). CASE HISTORY AND CLINICAL EXAMINATION