Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Landscape dynamics of Paspalum quadrifarium grasslands analyzed by Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA)

Background. Despite its wide distribution worldwide, only 4.6% of temperate grasslands are included within systems of protected areas. In Argentina, this situation is even more alarming: only 1.05% is protected. The study area (central area of the southern Salado River basin) has a large extent of grasslands of Paspalum quadrifarium (Pq) which has been target since the last century of a variety of agricultural management practices including fire burning for cattle grazing. Methods. Binary images of presence-absence data of Pq from a 42-year (1974-2016) land cover change study were used as base data. MSPA (Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis) and Network Analysis were performed to the data using Guidos Toolbox for the estimation of habitat and connectivity dynamics of the Pq patches (fragments). Results. A loss of the coverage area and habitat nuclei of this grassland was observed between the beginning and the end of the study period. A drastic reduction in connectivity was also evident in resulting maps. The number of large Pq grassland fragments (> 50 ha) decreased during the study period, and fragmentation measured as number of components (patches) was higher at the end of study period. The Pq pajonal nuclei had their minimum representativeness in 2000, and recovered slightly in 2011, but with a significant percentage increase of the small patches (=islets) and linear elements as bridges and branches. Large corridors (mainly edge of roads) could be observed at the end of study period, while the total connectivity of the landscape pattern drops abruptly. Discussion. The habitat reduction could have an impact on the ecosystem functioning and the mobility of some species of native fauna. The connecting elements of the landscape were maintained and/or recovered in percentage in 2011 and 2016. This fact, although favoring the dispersion of the present diversity in the habitat nuclei could cause degradation by an edge effect. On the methodological side, the use of a proved tool as Guidos Toolbox for evaluating forest fragmentation could also be useful for monitoring dynamics of a grassland-habitat fragmentation.
Global Dynamics and Optimal Control of a Viral Infection Model with Generic Nonlinear Infection Rate

This paper is devoted to exploring the combined impact of a generic nonlinear infection rate and infected removable storage media on viral spread. For that purpose, a novel dynamical model with an external compartment is proposed, and the explanations of the main model assumptions (especially the generic nonlinear infection rate) are also examined. The existence and global stability of the unique equilibrium of the model are fully investigated, from which it can be seen that computer virus would persist. On this basis, a next-best approach to controlling the level of infected computers is suggested, and the theoretical analysis of optimal control of the model is also performed. Additionally, some numerical examples are given to illustrate the main results.
An improved method of DNA extraction from plants for pathogen detection and genotyping by polymerase chain reaction

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based applications in plant molecular biology and molecular diagnostics for plant pathogens require good quality DNA for reliable and reproducible results. Leaf tissue is often the choice for DNA extraction, but the use of other sources such as tubers, stems, or seeds, is not uncommon. The extraction of DNA from different tissue sources often requires different protocols. In this study, a simple protocol was established for the extraction of DNA from leaves, tubers, stems, seeds and even fungal mycelia. The protocol is simple and suitable for high-throughput DNA extraction using automated tissue grinders. It yielded large quantities of DNA (0.4 μg to 2 mg DNA from 100 mg tissue) of high quality from seeds of maize, soybean, and cowpea, tubers of yam, tuberous roots of cassava, and leaf tissues of banana and plantain, yam, cassava, maize, okra, mango, and other species. DNA was successfully used for the detection of fungal and viral pathogens and the genotyping of yam and cassava by PCR. Keywords : DNA isolation, plant tissues, PCR amplification, pathogen detection, high throughput DNA extraction African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(15), pp. 1894-1901
Semiclassical theory of multisubband plasmons: Nonlocal electrodynamics and radiative effects

Coherent multisubband plasmons in doped semiconductor quantum wells have recently attracted large interest as they allow us to strongly enhance light-matter interaction via collective Coulomb coupling among different intersubband transitions. In this work, we develop a semiclassical theory of intersubband plasmons in quantum wells, on the basis of nonlocal electrodynamics. The nonlocal treatment provides a proper description of collective effects in the electromagnetic response of the system and, in the long-wavelength approximation, it predicts the same resonance frequencies as the quantum mechanical description. The nonlocal formalism is applied to the study of the radiative decay rate of multisubband plasmons and plasmon polaritons, both in the case of an isolated quantum well and of a planar microcavity. We show that subpicosecond radiative lifetimes are to be expected for intersubband plasmons in semiconductor quantum wells, similarly to quantum well excitons. The theory is formulated in the context of the transfer-matrix method and it can be applied in a straightforward way to stratified geometries of any degree of complexity.
Modelling the Impact of Fundamentals on County Housing Markets in Ireland

Ireland experienced a recent boom-bust cycle in the housing market. While the housing market in Ireland has been analysed at the national level there has been no research on the relationship between fundamentals and the housing market at the sub-national level. In this paper the spatial distribution of household changes is projected for the period 2011 to 2021 and this is used to consider the impact on housing demand, taking into account the significant overhang of vacant properties. Given the assumptions used the demographic projections indicate that the growth in number of households will be concentrate in and around the large cities and particularly Dublin. Given a smaller vacant stock and the projected growth in conjunction with small number of housing completions implies that the Greater Dublin Region will experience housing shortages. Formal modelling of the change in house prices, the stock of housing and the vacancy rate confirms that fundamental drivers are important in shaping these variables. Importantly, the estimated parameters confirm the emerging shortage of housing in Dublin and predict consequent strong growth in house prices.
Variation of primary production during winter induces synchrony in survival rates in migratory white storks Ciconia ciconia

Summary 1. The environmental conditions that migratory birds experience during their stay at different locations throughout the year can have significant impact on the variation of annual survival rates. Because migrants often crowd during non-breeding, environmental conditions can affect survival rates of individuals originating from different breeding populations, thus also provoking spatial synchronisation of annual survival rates. The identification of critical environmental factors affecting survival is therefore crucial for understanding large-scale population dynamics of migrants. 2. We studied temporal and spatial variation of survival rates of migratory white stork Ciconia ciconia from eastern Germany and Poland and examine factors associated with this variation. We used resighting and dead-recovery data from more than 30 000 individuals sampled over 19 years to estimate survival. 3. Survival rates of juvenile and adult white storks originating from the two countries varied in parallel over time. Thus, variation in survival was caused by environmental variation to which individuals of both age classes from both countries were similarly sensitive. Variation in the primary production (as reflected by the normalized difference vegetation index) at one staging area in the eastern Sahel that is visited from October to November contributed up to 88% to the temporal variation in survival. Annual survival was reduced when primary production in the Sahel was low. 4. As the population growth rate of white storks is very sensitive to changes in survival, variation in primary production in the Sahelian staging area contributed significantly to population changes and is likely to be an important reason for population synchrony. 5. This study demonstrates that dynamics of migratory bird populations inhabiting large breeding areas can result from environmental variation encountered at a staging area that is visited for only a short period of time.
The influence of galactic cosmic rays on ion–neutral hydrocarbon chemistry in the upper atmospheres of free-floating exoplanets

Abstract Cosmic rays may be linked to the formation of volatiles necessary for prebiotic chemistry. We explore the effect of cosmic rays in a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, as a proof-of-concept that ion–neutral chemistry may be important for modelling hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. In order to accomplish this, we utilize Monte Carlo cosmic ray transport models with particle energies of 106 eV<E<1012 eV in order to investigate the cosmic-ray enhancement of free electrons in substellar atmospheres. Ion–neutral chemistry is then applied to a Drift–Phoenix model of a free-floating giant gas planet. Our results suggest that the activation of ion–neutral chemistry in the upper atmosphere significantly enhances formation rates for various species, and we find that C2H2, C2H4, NH3, C6H6 and possibly C10H are enhanced in the upper atmospheres because of cosmic rays. Our results suggest a potential connection between cosmic-ray chemistry and the hazes observed in the upper atmospheres of various extrasolar planets. Chemi-ionization reactions are briefly discussed, as they may enhance the degree of ionization in the cloud layer.
Genetic Variation of Kenyan Populations of Warburgia ugandensis, an Important East African Highlands Medicinal Tree Species

Abstract Warburgia ugandensis is an important medicinal tree species in Eastern Africa used to treat several ailments. Wild populations are under great threat due to unsustainable harvesting for medicines and indiscriminate felling of trees for timber and firewood. There is an urgent need for developing and implementing conservation strategies of this species and information on genetic structure is a crucial input. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA), which employed 141 AFLP markers revealed most genetic variation to be among individuals within populations (59%, P < 0.0001), but variation among populations (41%, P < 0.0001) was highly significant as well. Constrained ordination analysis illustrating the relationship among populations showed a clear distinction between W. ugandensis from Uganda and western Kenya and other W. ugandensis populations. No correspondence was shown in some cases on pair-wise genetic distances and geographic distances among populations. These findings suggested that conservation strategies for the species in Kenya should place relatively more emphasis on the revealed genetic structuring within the country.
Income Status and Homeownership: Micro-econometric Evidence on Nigerian Households

One of the core ambition of Federal Government staff of Nigeria is to own a home in urban areas. Generally, Income status plays a very significant role in the determination of home ownership in modern economies. Given the prominence of home ownership as a microeconomic success (utility) in Nigeria, Government and financial institutions in Nigeria has made considerable efforts to extend home ownership opportunities to low income earners through various channels. Based on the simplistic Linear Probability Model (LPM) of the Ordinary Least Squares procedure, the study elucidates information on 120 household income status and their chances of owning a house in urban Nigeria. Interviews, questionnaire and documents were used to collect data. As expected, Results revealed a positive and significant effect of salary on the probability of owning a home. These results suggest that ceteris paribus, at a very low income, a household will not own a house, but at a sufficiently high level of annual income (salary), say at about N4,331,367 {dollar equivalents of $28,684.55}, it most likely will own a house. This clearly suggests that the chances of affording a house in the Urban Areas of Nigeria by a public staff can be possible for highest grade level senior staff (salary), but probably unaffordable for the ordinary grade level senior staff in Nigeria. This paper thus suggests fiscal policies that will promote staff participation in mortgage scheme and increase staff salary to enhance housing affordability as a tool for public staff motivation. Key words :Home ownership, income status, Simplistic Linear Probability Model, fiscal Policies
O N THE REGULARITY OF THE QT ENSOR DEPENDING ON THE DATA

The coupled Navier-Stokes and Q-Tensor system is one of the models used to describe the behavior of the nematic liquid crystals, an intermediate phase between crystalline solids and isotropic fluids. These equations model the dynamics of the fluid via velocity and pressure (u, p) and the orientation of the molecules via a tensor Q. A review on the existence of weak solutions, maximum principle and a uniqueness criteria can be seen in [4] (the corresponding Cauchy problem in the whole R3 is analyzed by Zarnescu (cf. [10, 9])). However, the regularity of such solutions is only analyzed under some restrictive conditions: large viscosity or periodic boundary conditions. In this work, we study two different types of regularity for the Q-Tensor model: one inherited from the usual strong solution for the Navier-Stokes equations, and another one where (u,Q) and (∂tu, ∂tQ) have weak regularity (weak-t). This latter regularity is introduced due to the impossibility of obtaining local in time strong estimates for nonperiodic boundary conditions, where only the existence (and uniqueness) of local weak-t solution is obtained. Some regularity criteria for (u,Q) will also be given. In the particular case of Neumann boundary conditions for Q, the regularity criteria only must be imposed for the velocity u (cf. [5, 6]).
Children and Household Savings in the Philippines PIDS

This paper examines the relationship between household savings and family size. Household savings are important indicators for family welfare not only in terms of its investment and income generation prospects but also, and perhaps more importantly given pervasive borrowing constraints and limited social security coverage, because it provides protection from income shortfalls. Descriptive and multivariate evidence on the relationship of household savings and family size are provided. The endogeneity of family size in the household savings equation, as argued for in the old-age security hypothesis, is properly considered by using instrumental variables estimation technique. The paper uses a recent nationally representative household survey in the analysis. The results show that, on average, the impact of additional children on household savings is negative and that the impact is regressive.
PLEASE! WRAP THIS GIFT FOR ME: THE BRAND´S EFFECT WITH DIFFERENT PROMOTIONAL FRAMES

The main purpose of this study is to analyze the brand ́s effect on advertising with different promotional frames [Discount vs. Save]. In total 178 individuals participated in the study. In experiment 1, results showed that, consumer has a higher intention to recommend and product quality perception when the brand is recognized by the market. In experiment 2, it was found that, recognized and unrecognized brands were better evaluated when the term Discount is used in promoting the offer. Therefore, managers should consider the term Discount to improving their sales when competing with recognized brands.
The effects of positive and negative affect on Iowa gambling task performance

In normal populations, males typically perform better than females on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Previous studies have shown that deliberation of moral dilemmas during the IGT significantly improves the performance of females to the level of males and that smelling aromas during the IGT significantly reduces the performance of males to the level of females. Nevertheless, both moral dilemmas and aromas have an affective quality. In the present study, to test whether affect influenced IGT performance, participants viewed positive, negative, or neutral pictures during the IGT task. The results of this study showed the affective pictures had no effect on IGT performance. Males outperformed females and females chose one particular card type, as is typically the case. Thus, previous effects of dilemmas or aromas are not likely due to emotional factors.
Does Context Trump Individual Drivers of Voting Behavior? Evidence from U.S. Movers

This paper assesses the relative influence of contextual drivers of voter behavior, such as economic growth, voting rules, and media consumption, vs. individual factors, such as race and education. We use individual-level panel data covering the vast majority of the U.S. voting-age population from 2008 to 2018 and track changes in movers’ registration, turnout, and party affiliation as they cross state lines to estimate a value-added model including voter, state, and election fixed effects, and allowing movers’ behavior to be arbitrarily different, both in levels and average trend, than non-movers’. We find that state characteristics explain about 34 percent of the observed cross-state variation in turnout, and voter characteristics the residual 66 percent. Contextual factors also exert a substantial, albeit slightly lower, influence on registration and party affiliation. Their impact on party affiliation is similar for voters of different ages, genders, and races and their impact on participation larger for younger voters. No-excuse absentee voting and education are the factors most strongly correlated with state and average voter turnout effects. Closed primaries and the number of civic organizations are the strongest predictors of state fixed effects for both Democratic and Republican Party affiliation. JEL: D72 ∗University of Bologna; 2, piazza Scaravilli, Bologna, 40126, Italy; +39 339 189 1207; enrico.cantoni@unibo.it †Harvard Business School and NBER; Soldiers Field, Boston, MA 02163, USA; +1 617 899 7593; vpons@hbs.edu ‡For suggestions that have improved this article, we are grateful to Tiziano Arduini, Giulia Brancaccio, Rafael Di Tella, Amy Finkelstein, Matthew Gentzkow, Brian Knight, Benjamin Olken, Anthony Orlando, Jesse Shapiro, Andrei Shleifer, James Snyder, and Matthew Weinzierl, as well as seminar participants at Harvard, Bocconi, EIEF, the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, the University of Modena, the University of Bologna, the Catholic University of Milan, and conference participants at the IEB Workshop on Political Economy, Political Institutions and Political Economy at the University of Southern California, and the 2019 Marco Fanno Alumni Meeting in Naples. We thank Catalist for providing the U.S. individual-level panel data and responding to our queries about them, and Robert Freeman for invaluable help setting up the data work. We gratefully acknowledge generous funding from the Foundations of Human Behavior Initiative.
Assessment of Student’s Satisfaction and Quality of Patient Care under the Nigerian Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP)

Patients’ satisfaction is considered as one of the desired outcomes of health care and it is directly related with utilization of health services, it has emerged as an increasingly important parameter in the assessment of quality health care; hence, healthcare facility performance can be best assessed by measuring the level of patient’s satisfaction. Nonetheless, there is no adequate information on users’ perception about the quality service provided in the clinic after the implementation of this health insurance scheme, The focus on student’s satisfaction with the health insurance scheme's service provision for years of active implementation highlights the importance of monitoring and evaluation, a hospital may be well organized, ideally located and well equipped but it will fail in its responsibility to provide quality care if patient satisfaction is not of a high caliber. The objective of this study is to assess students’ satisfaction by identifying the basic elements of the service which students complain about, are satisfied or dissatisfied with or which otherwise affect their utilization of or response to health care and the quality of patient care under this scheme, with particular reference to ABU sick bay (Kongo campus). This is a cross sectional descriptive study that was conducted from February 2013-Febuary 2014 on a sample of 68 enrollees of the health services of the university using systematic random sampling technique. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS for windows version 20.0. Statistical tests were employed where necessary at 0.10 level of significance. Each satisfaction item was scored in a five-point likert scale ordinal response, which was converted to percentage scale response. Satisfaction was measured from the following domains: warm reception, patient waiting time, provider’s attitude towards the patients and the general cleanliness of the hospital for patients care. The overall level of satisfaction score of the respondents was 57.1%. Specifically, the respondents expressed satisfaction with: warm reception 58.7%, Doctors attitude 74.60%, Nurses attitude 55.6%, General attitude of other sick bay staff 55.6% , general cleanliness of the sick bay 74.6% and dissatisfaction with general waiting time 39.683%. This study has shown that the overall student’s satisfaction with the quality of services provided was very good with patient-provider relationship rated highest and waiting time rated lowest. There is need to improve on the current level of student’s satisfaction while effort should be made to address the domains of dissatisfaction. Keywords : Health Insurance, Tertiary institution social health insurance program, Patient Satisfaction, Quality of care.
Numerical Simulation of Ignition and Combustion of Ethylene in a Supersonic Model Combustor with a Reduced Kinetic Mechanism

The unsteady process of ignition and combustion of ethylene at varied fuel/air equivalence ratios in a Mach 2.5 supersonic model combustor is studied numerically. The reacting turbulent flow is solved using the shear stress transport (SST) k–ω turbulence model and a reduced kinetic mechanism obtained with sensitivity analysis and the assumption of quasi-steady-state from a detailed mechanism of ethylene. The present results reveal that ignition of ethylene first takes place in the cavity due to the local low speed and high static temperature. At a low equivalence ratio of 0.32, combustion is established and stabilized downstream of the cavity. However, as the equivalence ratio increases to 0.6, the combustion downstream of the cavity generates sufficient heat release to cause pressure and the flame to propagate upstream and to generate a shock train upstream of the injection point. Formation of the shock structure results in subsonic flow in the vicinity of the injection and combustion with higher efficiency stabilized mainly in the fuel/air mixing shear layer. The time evolutions of fuel jet and C2H2 qualitatively agree well with the experimental results, of which high-speed schlieren photos and chemiluminescence images of CH* are obtained at similar flow conditions.