Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear absorption and refraction in crystalline silicon in the mid‐infrared

The wavelength dependence of the nonlinear absorption and the third order nonlinear refraction of crystalline silicon between 2. 75μ m and 5. 5μ m as well as at 1. 55μ m have been measured. It was found that at all wavelengths multi‐photon and free carrier absorption can be significant. In particular nonlinear absorption can affect silicon devices designed for the mid‐infrared that require strong nonlinear response, such as for the generation of a supercontinuum.
Foreign Entry, Acquisition Target and Host Country Welfare

We discuss entry strategy of a foreign multinational into a local market with initially two asymmetric local firms. We show that greenfield investment occurs when both local cost asymmetry and subsidiary set up cost are small, exporting occurs when both trade cost and technology gap are low, otherwise acquisition occurs. Under acquisition equilibrium the less efficient firm is acquired unless the cost of technology transfer is large enough. We focus on the process of selection of the target firm by constructing sequential offer game, bidding game and repeated offer game. However, the MNC's entry always reduces host country welfare.
Evaluating risk effects of industrial features on woodland caribou habitat selection in west central Alberta using agent-based modelling

Alberta woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are classified as threatened in Canada, and a local population in the west-central region, the Little Smoky herd, is at immediate risk of extirpation due, in part, to anthropogenic activities such as oil, gas, and forestry that have altered the ecosystem dynamics. To investigate these impacts, we have developed a spatially explicit, agent-based model (ABM) to simulate winter habitat selection and use of woodland caribou, and to determine the relative impacts of different industrial features on caribou habitat-selection strategies. The ABM model is composed of cognitive caribou agents possessing memory and decision-making heuristics that act to optimize tradeoffs between energy acquisition and disturbance. A set of environmental data layers was used to develop a virtual grid representing the landscape over which caribou move. This grid contained forage-availability, energy-content, and predation-risk values. The model was calibrated using GPS data from caribou radio collars (n = 13) deployed over six months from 2004 to 2005, representing caribou winter activities. Additional simulations were conducted on caribou habitat-selection strategies by assigning industrial features (i.e., roads, seismic lines, pipelines, well sites, cutblocks and burns) different levels of disturbance depending on their type, age, and density. Differences in disturbance effects between industry features were confirmed by verifying which resultant simulations of caribou movement patterns most closely match actual caribou distributions and other patterns extracted from the GPS data. The results elucidate the degree to which caribou perceive different industry features as disturbance, and the differential energetic costs associated with each, thus offering insight into why caribou are choosing the * Corresponding author. Tel. : +1-403-220-8794; fax: +1-403-210-3894. E-mail address: semeniuc@ucalgary.ca . Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. 699 C.A. D Semeniuk et al. / Procedia Environmental Sciences 13 (2012) 698 – 714 C.A.D. Semeniuk et al./ Procedia Environmental Sciences 8 (2011) 714–730 715 habitats they use, and consequently, the level and type of industry most likely to affect their bioenergetics and fitness. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
TASK-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION AT A VIETNAMESE HIGH SCHOOL: STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS

Task-based vocabulary instruction has been increasingly popular in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) at tertiary institutions in Asia, includingVietnam. However, this type of instruction at high schools is mainly focused on traditional way and, this approach is widely held to prevent students from having opportunities to learn, communicate, and interact with other peers in English. This paper therefore reports on students’ perceptions of task-based vocabulary instruction within a high school context. Data through tests and questionnaire were administered to two groups of seventy tenth graders at a high school in a Mekong Delta region. The findings indicate that students in the experimental group outperformed those in the control group, suggesting that task-based vocabulary instruction was useful to tenth graders using the new textbook. The findings also reveal participants’ perceived need for the inclusion of task-based vocabulary in their learning process. Implications for language teaching and administration are also presented. Article visualizations:
Understanding the use of strategic intelligence as a strategic management tool in the long-term insurance industry in South Africa : original research

The purpose of this research paper was to explore the extent to which strategic intelligence is utilised within the South African long-term insurance industry and whether it could be used to identify opportunities or threats within the global environment to remain competitive, create greater innovation, and corporate advantage. The paper obtained the qualitative views and opinions of strategic decision makers, on an executive managerial level within the South African long-term insurance industry, on their organisations use of strategic intelligence. It was found that there are marked differences in the conformity and usage of strategic intelligence and its components between the organisations surveyed, with a measurable difference between large and small organisations. It is, however, generally viewed that the use of a strategic intelligence framework could greatly enhance decision-making. Data collection for the research undertaken was limited to the 82 long-term insurance companies, which were registered with the South African Financial Services Board. More specifically the focus was on the organisations listed on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange within the Life Assurance sector, within which a final response rate of 36.1% was achieved, including the 100% response rate from the six listed organisations. By understanding the extent to which strategic intelligence is utilised in the South African longterm insurance industry, and the benefits or problems that are experienced by implementing and using strategic intelligence as an input to the strategic management process we can comprehend the value that strategic intelligence adds in the decision making process. The originality of this work concludes in the identification and utilisation of the most important factors of a strategic intelligence framework that will greatly enhance global corporate decision-making and result in competitive advantage and constant innovation within the South African business environment.
Riverine ground beetles as indicators of inundation frequency of mountain stream: a case study of the Ochotnica Stream, Southern Poland

Effect of inundation frequency on carabid beetle assemblage structure and organization were studied in single cross-section of mountain stream. A non-metric multidimensional scaling performed on the Bray-Curtis matrix of similarity clearly divided assemblages from lower, flooded at least 1 time per year and upper elevation, flooded every two or more years. Mean species abundance, biomass and mean individual biomass were significantly lower in more frequently disturbed plots. Analyzing infrequently and frequently flooded sites jointly and separately co-occurrence pattern was clearly non-random with c-score values higher than random means, indicating segregation processes even among highly disturbed sites. Twenty nine species were significantly related to flood frequency (IndVal analysis), nine of these were indicators for frequently flooded sites with significantly lower mean body biomass. Our findings confirm the hypothesis of decreasing body size in relation to disturbance in riverine ground beetle assemblages.
Assessing glacier melt contribution to streamflow at Universidad Glacier, central Andes of Chile

Abstract. Glacier melt is an important source of water for high Andean rivers in central Chile, especially in dry years, when it can be an important contributor to flows during late summer and autumn. However, few studies have quantified glacier melt contribution to streamflow in this region. To address this shortcoming, we present an analysis of meteorological conditions and ablation for Universidad Glacier, one of the largest valley glaciers in the central Andes of Chile at the head of the Tinguiririca River, for the 2009–2010 ablation season. We used meteorological measurements from two automatic weather stations installed on the glacier to drive a distributed temperature-index and runoff routing model. The temperature-index model was calibrated at the lower weather station site and showed good agreement with melt estimates from an ablation stake and sonic ranger, and with a physically based energy balance model. Total modelled glacier melt is compared with river flow measurements at three sites located between 0.5 and 50 km downstream. Universidad Glacier shows extremely high melt rates over the ablation season which may exceed 10 m water equivalent in the lower ablation area, representing between 10 and 13 % of the mean monthly streamflow at the outlet of the Tinguiririca River Basin between December 2009 and March 2010. This contribution rises to a monthly maximum of almost 20 % in March 2010, demonstrating the importance of glacier runoff to streamflow, particularly in dry years such as 2009–2010. The temperature-index approach benefits from the availability of on-glacier meteorological data, enabling the calculation of the local hourly variable lapse rate, and is suited to high melt regimes, but would not be easily applicable to glaciers further north in Chile where sublimation is more significant.
Real-time 3 D Object Detection for Autonomous Driving by

This thesis focuses on advancing the state-of-the-art 3D object detection and localization in autonomous driving. An autonomous vehicle requires operating within a very unpredictable and dynamic environment. Hence a robust perception system is essential. This work proposes a novel architecture, AVOD, an Aggregate View Object Detection architecture for autonomous driving capable of generating accurate 3D bounding boxes on road scenes. AVOD uses LIDAR point clouds and RGB images to generate features that are shared by two subnetworks: a region proposal network (RPN) and a second stage detector network. The proposed RPN uses a novel architecture capable of performing multimodal feature fusion on high resolution feature maps to generate reliable 3D object proposals for multiple object classes in road scenes. Using these proposals, the second stage detection network performs accurate oriented 3D bounding box regression and category classification to predict the extents, orientation, and classification of objects in 3D space. AVOD is differentiated from the state-of-the-art by using a high resolution feature extractor coupled with a multimodal fusion RPN architecture, and is therefore able to produce accurate region proposals for small classes in road scenes. AVOD also employs explicit orientation vector regression to resolve the ambiguous orientation estimate inferred from a bounding box. Experiments on the challenging KITTI dataset show the superiority of AVOD over the state-of-the-art detectors on the 3D localization, orientation estimation, and category classification tasks. Finally, AVOD is shown to run in real time and with a low memory overhead. The robustness of AVOD is also visually demonstrated when deployed on our autonomous vehicle operating under low lighting conditions such as night time as well as in snowy scenes. Furthermore, AVOD-SSD is proposed as a 3D Single Stage Detector. This work demonstrates how a single stage detector can achieve similar accuracy as that of a two-stage detector. An analysis of speed and accuracy trade-offs between AVOD and AVOD-SSD are presented.
Medicinal Plants from Flora of Bannu Used Traditionally by North West Pakistan's Women to Cure Gynecological Disorders

2 Abstract: The objective of the present study was to document and preserve the traditional knowledgeon medicinal plants use to treat different gynecological problems by the traditional healers of region Bannu. Total 48 medicinal plants belonging to 33 families are used for different gynecological problems. Mostly plant species are used against gonorrhea, lecorrhoea and mensis complications. The study showed that medicinal plants are playing an important role in meeting the primary health care needs and the local women are highly dependent on them due to limited access to modern health facilities. Due to modernization the traditional knowledge has been only restricted to elder people. The medicinal plants treating major ailments in the region indicating that these species are worth examining for bioactive compounds.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Multiple Dimensions of Ability, College Attendance, and Earnings

This paper investigates the role of mechanical ability as a determinant of schooling decisions and labor market outcomes. Using a Roy model with multiple unobserved abilities and longitudinal data from NLSY79, we find that this ability has a positive effect on overall earnings. However, in contrast to cognitive and socioemotional abilities, mechanical ability reduces the likelihood of 4-year college attendance. The rationale for this asymmetry comes from its large estimated impact on earnings conditional on not attending a 4-year college. Our findings highlight the importance of moving beyond the one-size-fits-all discourse to offer individuals alternative educational pathways to successful careers.
Proceedings of the World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production , 11 . 604 Association between feed efficiency and carcass and meat quality traits in Hereford steers

1 Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Unidad de Biotecnologia, Las Brujas, Ruta 48 km. 10, Rincón del Colorado, CP.90, Canelones, Uruguay. mpravia@inia.org. uy 2 Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Programa Carne y Lana, La Estanzuela, Ruta 50 km. 11. Colonia, Uruguay 3 Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, Programa Carne y Lana, Tacuarembó, Ruta 5 km. 386. Tacuarembó, Uruguay.
Post-Pliocene establishment of the present monsoonal climate in SW China: evidence from the late Pliocene Longmen megaflora

Abstract. The paleoclimate of the late Pliocene Longmen flora from Yongping County located at the southeastern boundary of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was reconstructed using two leaf-physiognomy-based methods, i.e., leaf margin analysis (LMA) and Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Program (CLAMP), to understand the paleoclimate condition and geographical pattern of monsoonal climate in southwestern China during the late Pliocene. The mean annual temperatures (MATs) estimated by LMA and CLAMP are 17.4 ± 3.3 °C and 17.4 ± 1.3 °C, respectively, compared with 15.9 °C at present. Meanwhile, the growing season precipitation (GSP) estimated by CLAMP is 1735.5 ± 217.7 mm in the Longmen flora, compared with 986.9 mm nowadays. The calculated monsoon intensity index (MSI) of the Longmen flora is significantly lower than that of today. These results appear consistent with previous studies on the late Pliocene floras in western Yunnan based on the coexistence approach (CA), and further suggest that there was a slightly warmer and much wetter climate during the late Pliocene than the present climate in western Yunnan. We conclude that the significant change of the monsoonal climate might have been resulted from the continuous uplift of mountains in western Yunnan, as well as the intensification of the eastern Asian winter monsoon, both occurring concurrently in the post-Pliocene period.
Measuring the grazing losses of picoplankton: methodological improvements in the use of fluorescently labeled tracers combined with flow cytometry

Fluorescently labeled tracers (FLT) are often used to estimate the loss rates of picoplank- ton to grazers. These tracers are commonly enumerated by epifluorescence microscopy, although flow cytometry is a viable alternative in the detection of FITC (fluorescein+isothiocyanate)- or DTAF (5-((4,6-dichlorotriazin-2-yl)amino)-fluorescein)-stained bacteria1 tracers. However, the bacterivory measured with FLT has hardly been applied to routine monitoring of oceanic waters, partly because of the time-consuming preparation of the tracers and other problems associated with the long-term incu- bations needed to generate detectable rates of tracer change. In addition, these long-term incubations make samples especially sensitive to the unwanted addition of nutrients carried over with the tracers. Here we present some experiments designed to ease the estimation of grazing rates on bacteria with this technique. Two bacteria1 strains and 2 fluorescent dyes were tested: Escherichia coli minicells (0.065 pm3) and Pseudomonas diminuta (0.064 pm3), stained with DTAF or with FITC. In addition, instead of the common use of pyrophosphate buffer during the staining protocol, the use of carbonate- bicarbonate buffer and cells scraped directly from solid media is suggested to avoid the problems asso- ciated with phosphorus enrichment of the sample that at times can occur in oligotrophic water samples. The FITC- or DTAF-stained tracers can be observed with either epifluorescence microscopy or flow cytometry. However, FITC- or DTAF-stained P. diminuta were more easily resolved with the flow cytometer than stained minicells. Flow cytometric detection of P. diminuta tracers, prepared in bicar- bonate-buffer and stained with FITC, is a fast protocol for the estimation of the grazing loss rates of bacteria in oceanic environments.
A Vector Error Correction Modeling of Security Spending and Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study has been on the impact of security expenditure on the level of economic growth in Nigeria. Using data covering the period between 1980 and 2010, the ECM result shows that the expenditure on defence has a negative impact on the level of economic growth. An indication of flawed expenditure budgeting and implementation in the defence sector. Expenditure on internal security played important role in generating the desired level of economic growth in Nigeria. The low elasticity indicates that the significance was below expectations. The result of the variance decomposition shows that the shocks to expenditure on defense did not significantly explain the changes in the level of economic growth in Nigeria. Expenditure on internal security however played a role in influencing the level of economic growth in Nigeria. The result of the Johansen cointegration test shows a long run relationship among the variables and the error correction result shows a satisfactory speed of adjustment. It is thus recommended that government should reassess the content of her defense expenditure and make it more transparent and growth oriented.
Re-examination of Pressure and Speed Dependences of Removal Rate during Chemical-Mechanical Polishing Processes

A new removal rate model which is a modification to the Preston equation is developed to re-account the dependence of removal rate on the down force (pressure) and rotation speed during the chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) process. The removal rate is first expressed as a linear function of both normal and shear stresses. The analogy of the CMP removal process to traveling indenters is considered and the stresses acting upon the abrasive particles (indenters) are formulated using previous models based on principles of elasticity and fluid mechanics. An expression is then derived which predicts the (pressure)5'6 and (speed)112 dependences of the removal rate. Experimental results with thermal oxides are consistent with the predictions. Chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) has been widely recognized as the most promising method that achieves both local and global planarization for ultralarge scale integrated circuit (ULSI) manufacturing processes.t'2 The polishing (material removal) mechanism is still obscure however and the process control and basic understanding of this technology remain essentialy on the empirical level. So far most CMP users and researchers adopt Preston's equation3 to monitor removal rate. This equation incorporates the pressure (I and speed ( as the main contributors to removal rate (R.R.)
The Art of Listening in an Educational Perspective

The purpose is to contribute to the theory and practice of listening reception as one of the four language arts in Swedish as a school subject. The object of inquiry is The Art of Listening (Adelmann 2009) as a Swedish example from a Scandinavian context, compared to mainstream listening research in the USA. The problem explored is: How can we, as researchers and teachers, handle some of the problems within international listening research and adapt listening research to a Scandinavian context. Results of the study show that The Art of Listening is mainly influenced by listening research in the USA, but also offer an alternative theoretical framework for listening by the Russian scholar Mikhail M. Bakhtin (1895–1975). The main conclusion is that with an educational approach and an alternative theoretical framework it is possible to work with an expanding and including perspective in listening research and listening education.
Interseismic strain accumulation in south central Chile from GPS measurements, 1996–1999

Two campaigns of Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements were carried out in the Concepción‐Constitución area of Chile in 1996 and 1999. It is very likely that this area is a mature seismic gap, since no subduction earthquake has occurred there since 1835. In 1996, 32 sites were occupied in the range 35°S–37°S, between the Pacific coast of Chile and the Andes near the Chile‐Argentina border. In 1999, the network was extended by the installation of 9 new points in the Arauco region whereas 13 points among the 1996 stations were reoccupied. The analysis of this campaign data set, together with the data recorded at eight continuous GPS sites (mostly IGS stations) in South America and surrounding regions, indicates a velocity of about 40 ± 10 mm/yr in the direction N80–90°S for the coastal sites with respect to stable cratonic South America. This velocity decreases to about 20–25 mm/yr towards the Andes. We interpret this result as reflecting interseismic strain accumulation above the Nazca‐South America subduction zone, due to a locked thrust zone extending down to about 60 km depth.