Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of standard oak tree growth in Ruislip woods, West London

Tree-ring studies on dominant and co-dominant oak standards from four woodlands on the western fringes of London were studied in relation to known historical and meteorological conditions. Whilst previous studies suggested a decline in oak growth in recent decades, this was not apparent from this study. Major recruitment periods for the large oaks were determined. The sites had differing responses to known drought years. Coppicing of the undergrowth was found not to greatly influence the growth of the remaining standard trees on all occasions, although one woodland showed some growth release following recent coppicing. Records of lichens for each woodland were used to assess changing pollution levels at the sites.
Approximate nanophotonic interconnects

The energy consumption of manycore is dominated by data movement, which calls for energy-efficient and high-bandwidth interconnects. Integrated optics is promising technology to overcome the bandwidth limitations of electrical interconnects. However, it suffers from high power overhead related to low efficiency lasers, which calls for the use of approximate communications for error tolerant applications. In this context, this paper investigates the design of an Optical NoC supporting the transmission of approximate data. For this purpose, the least significant bits of floating point numbers are transmitted with low power optical signals. A transmission model allows estimating the laser power according to the targeted BER and a micro-architecture allows configuring, at run-time, the number of approximated bits and the laser output powers. Simulations results show that, compared to an interconnect involving only robust communications, approximations in the optical transmission lead to up to 42% laser power reduction for image processing application with a limited degradation at the application level.
Effect of injection of diazepam, melatonin, methocarbamol and glucose on physiological responses of neonate chicks subjected to road transportation stress

Introduction: Transportation causes stress in chicks that may make numerous physiological changes with a negative impact on their production and health. This study was conducted to examine the effects of injection of diazepam, melatonin, methocarbamol and glucose on Serum biochemical parameters include: glucose, total protein, albumin, uric acid, cholesterol, triglycerides, Ca, P, Zn, Fe, Na and K in neonate chicks subjected to road transportation stress. Materials and methods: The research was carried out in the form of factorial experiment (9×5) based on a completely randomized design with 4 replications. A total of 940 one-day old Ross 308 Male-sex broiler chicks were bought from a commercial hatchery. Immediately after the hatching, broiler chicks were traveled to about 1200 km far from the hatchery. At hatchery (40 samples) and after 300, 600, 900, and 1200 km journey, a random sample (From each treatment 8 birds) were sampled for blood collection. Results: The mean concentration of glucose, protein, albumin, cholesterol, triglyceride, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, and potassium was not affected by the treatments (P>0.05), but concentration of uric acid and plasma Zn was influenced (P<0.05). The effect of road distance on all serum parameters except Zn was significant. Furthermore, the mean concentrations of uric acid, Zn, Sodium and Potassium in serum showed an interaction between treatments and transport distance (P<0.05). Conclusion: These results clearly show the physiological responses of chickens under longdistance transport and the effect of some treatments on stress indicators.
To Explain or not to Explain: the Effects of Personal Characteristics when Explaining Feature-based Recommendations in Different Domains

In our daily life, we need to sift through various options which often results in choice overload. Recommender systems help to overcome this problem by suggesting potentially relevant items to the users. Explaining the relevancy of these items to users has become an increasingly important goal. In recent years, a large body of research has shown that explanations are an effective means for supporting decision-making processes. However, still little is known on how to best implement these explanations and how these explanations are perceived. In addition, it is unclear how this perception is affected by the product domain or by users’ personal characteristics. To fill these research gaps, we conducted an online user study (N=291) with different design mock-ups that represent explanations of feature-based recommendations in various recommendation scenarios in two product domains (music and camera) and using different recommendation techniques (content, collaborative, and hybrid). We conducted in each domain a between-subject study with a baseline without explanations and one of the three designs explaining the feature-based recommendations. The study offers empirical evidence on how the perception of feature-based explanations in various recommendation scenarios are moderated by both the product domains and personal characteristics of the user, in particular need for cognition.
Modeling and Calibration of the Accelerometer Size Effect Error of the SINS

In high angular dynamic environments,accelerometer size effect,which is due to the fact that the center of seismic mass(the effective acceleration measurement point) of each accelerometer in the triad could not be physically collocated,becomes a dominant error source for accurate navigation of a Strapdown Inertial Navigation System(SINS). A size effect error model is deduced from a geometric viewpoint.Three kinds of calibration scheme based on a precise triad-axis rate turntable are devised,namely the constant angular rate rotation,the constant angular acceleration one and the sine angular acceleration one.A Kalman filter for processing the velocity measurements of the SINS during rotation is formulated to estimate the size effect coefficients.Through the observability analysis of piece-wise constant system(PWCS),the error model under three different calibration motions are all completely observable.The simulation results validate all the calibration schemes' feasibility and indicate that the first motion results in the most smooth estimate process while the third one promises the best estimation accuracy.
Marketing academic library information services using social media

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the use of social media in the marketing of academic library resources and services in Kuwait and identifies the factors related to the use of social media applications in marketing academic libraries.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative data-collection approach using a paper and online questionnaire has been employed to elicit the opinions of librarians working in academic libraries in Kuwait in both private and public institutions. In total, 89 valid questionnaires have been analyzed using descriptive (frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (factor analysis, correlations, experimental analysis and regression). FindingsThe study shows that the academic librarians have a positive perception toward the use of social media. The identified factors relating to the use of social media for marketing library information resources and services are the usefulness of social media tools in raising awareness and in providing needs analysis and satisfaction assessments. However, management support for the use of social media for library marketing is poor.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights into the factors related to the use of modern social media platforms to promote information resources and services at academic libraries to provide outreach services to current and potential users.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the field of information studies as it highlights the importance of using social media platforms in marketing academic library information resources and services. Library administrators could use the results to develop social media marketing plans to effectively promote their library resources.
Active and Multi-View Machine Learning for microRNA Prediction

This thesis explores two emerging trends in semi-supervised machine learning to maximize the utility of both labelled and unlabelled training data. Specifically, this thesis explores the application of active learning and multi-view co-training to microRNA prediction for the first time. Results show that our active learning approach is able to greatly improve classification performance using a small number of labeled instances, outperforming state-of-the-art methods under equivalent training data constraints. Multi-view co-training results also demonstrate improved performance compared to single view classifiers and yield high classification performance using a minimum number of labeled instances for classification. This thesis demonstrates that semi-supervised machine learning is likely to be useful in creating predictors of novel miRNA, particularly for species where few training exemplars are available.
The EmojiGrid as a Tool to Assess Experienced and Perceived Emotions

In a recent study on food-evoked emotions, we observed that people often misunderstood the currently available affective self-report tools. We, therefore, developed a new intuitive and language-independent self-report instrument called the EmojiGrid: a rectangular response grid labeled with facial icons (emoji) that express different degrees of valence and arousal. We found that participants intuitively and reliably reported their affective appraisal of food by clicking on the EmojiGrid, even without verbal instructions. In this study, we investigated whether the EmojiGrid can also serve as a tool to assess one’s own (experienced) emotions and perceived emotions of others. In the first experiment, participants (N = 90) used the EmojiGrid to report their own emotions, evoked by affective images from a database with corresponding normative ratings (obtained with a 9-point self-assessment mannikin scale). In the second experiment, participants (N = 61) used the EmojiGrid to report the perceived emotional state of persons shown in different affective situations, in pictures from a database with corresponding normative ratings (obtained with a 7-point Likert scale). For both experiments, the affective (valence and arousal) ratings obtained with the EmojiGrid show excellent agreement with the data provided in the literature (intraclass correlations of at least 0.90). Also, the relation between valence and arousal shows the classic U-shape at the group level. Thus, the EmojiGrid appears to be a useful graphical self-report instrument for the assessment of evoked and perceived emotions.
Financial Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Empirical Evidence from Banks in India

In the era of changing business dynamics and evolving socio economic systems the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become widespread. In the recent decades this ideology is gaining momentum in both academic and business life, i.e., the company exists for and has responsibilities towards a wider group of stakeholders and it must have some objectives other than profitability. The Friedman’s formulation that “The Business of Business is Business” has outlived its utility, and corporate social responsibility and being a good corporate citizen are the buzzwords today. It is believed that organizations which do not consider any social responsibility towards society will ultimately tend to lose in the long run. It is questioned whether any relationship exists between financial performance and social performance. The present study aims to examine the impact of financial performance on CSR investments of selected banks in India. The research based on 20 banks (listed in BSE) investigates the impact of financial indicators viz a viz Profit After Taxes (PAT) and Earning Per Share (EPS) on CSR investments in some selected banks in India. Correlation and multiple regressions have been used to analyze the relationship among these financial profitability indicators and CSR investments. Results indicated a high significant positive correlation between PAT and CSR investments indicating that with an increase in profits, banks are increasingly spending on their CSR initiatives and vice versa. On the contrary though a significant positive correlation exits between PAT and EPS, the association between EPS and CSR investments though positive was found to be insignificant.
A new species of Bornmuellera Hausskn. (Brassicaceae) from south Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract A new species Bornmuellera kiyakii Aytac & Aksoy (Brassicaceae) is described and illustrated. The species grows on serpentine rocks in south Anatolia, Turkey. Diagnostic morphological characters from closely similar taxa are discussed. A key of Turkish Bornmuellera species is presented.
Stomatal and non-stomatal limitations of photosynthesis under water stress in field-grown grapevines

Long-term induced water stress in field-grown grapevine leads to a progressive decline of stomatal conductance, accompanied by a decrease in CO 2 assimilation (40%). The apparent quantum yield also decreases (59%), which may reflect a relative increase in alternative processes for electron consumption. There is also a shift to non-stomatal regulation, as judged from significant depletions (37%) in maximum photosynthesis rate at saturating CO 2 related to limited ribulose biphosphate (RuBP) regeneration, whereas small, non-significant effects are observed on carboxylation efficiency. A high correlation (87%) between photosynthesis and stomatal conductance is observed for all experimental data and declines in intercellular CO 2 concentration parallel reductions in stomatal conductance. The data show that field response of grapevines to increasing soil water deficit involves stomatal and non-stomatal effects but, due to gradually induced drought, regulation mechanisms able to adjust mesophyll capacity to the average CO 2 supply. The non-stomatal adjustment seems to be exerted mainly in metabolic pathways related with the RuBP regeneration. Contrasting characteristics were observed for both cultivars. Tempranillo exploited the non-stressful conditions successfully, whereas Manto Negro, responding to its reputation as more drought resistant, showed a higher intrinsic water use efficiency, particularly for low water availability. This advantage seems to be due to lower non-stomatal limitations.
Effect of integrated pest management farmer field school (IPMFFS) on farmers knowledge, farmers groups ability, process of adoption and diffusion of IPM in Jember district

This research aims to explore the effect of the integrated pest management farmer field School (IPMFFS) on farmers’ knowledge, farmers groups’ ability, and process of adoption and diffusion of IPM in Jember District. The population of the research was 556 groups of farmers, with 22.240 farmers who are engaged in the IPMFFS in Jember District. The sample of this research consisted of 400 farmers selected with stratified area random sampling technique. Area or region will be used as basis for sub-district: from 31 sub-districts will be taken 8 sub districts by random, and each sub-district will be represented by 2 farmer groups. It means 16 farmers group can act as sample and 400 farmers as sample taken proportionally. The conclusion is rationalized with the following points: (1) the IPMFFS has significant effect on farmers’ knowledge, (2) the IPMFFS improves three aspects of farmer groups’ ability, that is the ability to plan activity for improving agribusiness productivity, to implement and obey agreement with other institution and to apply technology, information and team work, (3) The IPMFFS has the ability to improve the adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) by the farmers, and (4) the IPMFFS has the ability to improve diffusion of IPM by the farmers to other farmers. Key words: Integrated pest management, farmers’ knowledge, farmer group ability, adoption, diffusion.
Cognitive-Behavioral (CBT) and Psychodynamic (PDT) Group Psychotherapy and Their Impact on Depressive Symptoms and Hostile Attributions

ABSTRACT This article examined how intensive group cognitive-behavioral therapy (GCBT) and group psychodynamic psychotherapy (GPDT) modified depressive symptoms and processing of social information (hostility attributions in a variety of ambiguous situations). The sample (N = 37) comprised individuals who were attending psychotherapy due to psychological distress (GCBT or GPDT). The study examined how group psychotherapy influences depression symptoms and social cognition. There was a decrease in depressive symptoms after three months of intensive CBGT, but PDGT did not significantly improve symptoms of depression. Moreover, in both psychotherapies, the authors noted a significant decrease in hostile attributions, mainly in situations involving people with whom one does not have a close relationship.
Enhancing executive function through imaginary play: A promising new practice principle

This paper presents the findings of a study conducted with preschool teachers trialling an intervention in which executive function activities are embedded in teachers’ daily practices and imaginary play is used to build meaningful problem situations that children solve using executive functions. The participants were 227 preschool children (53% male, M age = 55.5 months, SD = 4.2) in 10 preschool groups from Brisbane, Australia. The intervention consisted of educators and children creating and developing an imaginary situation (playworld) over an extended period (e.g. one school term). Executive function was assessed pre- and post-intervention. A repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated significant differences between Time 1 and Time 2 on all executive function measures. The study found that teachers can develop children’s executive functions when executive function activities are embedded in teachers’ daily practices, and when imaginary play is used to build meaningful problem situations that children solve using executive functions.
THE EFFECT OF SELF DIRECTED LEARNING READINESS (SDLR) AND LEARNING APPROACH TOWARD MEDICAL STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Background: Learning approach and Self Directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) are important factors that influence student learning achievement. The world of medical education has experienced a paradigm shift from Teacher-Centered Learning (TCL) to Student-Centered Learning (SCL) that is applied through the Problem Based Learning (PBL) methods that expected the student to have the ability to learn independently or what is called Self Directed Learning (SDL). This study aimed to analyzed the effect of SDLR and learning approach on medical student achievement. Methods : this study uses a cross-sectional design. The sample was students of the Faculty of Medicine, Swadaya Gunung Jati University, 2016, 2017 and 2018 as many as 181 people. The sampling technique uses stratified random sampling. Spearman test, chi-square test and linear regression test were used to analyse d the effect of the age, SLDR and learning approach on medical student achievement Results : The chi square te s t result in this study showed that age (P = 0.001; rs = 0.359), SDLR (P = 0.001; rs = 0.516) and the learning approach (P = 0.001; rs = 0.308) had a significant effect on medical students' learning achievement. However, t here was no significant difference in the learning approach between 2016, 2017 and 2018 classes. The linear regression test results showed that SDLR was the most influential variable in the learning achievements of medical students. Conclusions : Self Directed Learning Readiness (SDLR) and learning approach could be the effective learning methods. SDLR as the most effective method to increase the learning achievements of medical student could be applied on many medical schools.
A incompletude além da matemática: impactos culturais do Teorema de Gödel no século XX

Em 1930, o logico matematico austriaco Kurt Godel provou que se um sistema formal contendo a aritmetica nao produz teoremas contraditorios entao existem proposicoes neste sistema que nao podem ser demonstradas e nem refutadas. Como corolario, provou ainda que o sistema em causa nao e capaz de provar que os teoremas contraditorios, de fato, nao existem no seu interior. O significado deste teorema e seu corolario para a matematica e para a logica matematica, bem como as suas implicacoes filosoficas e criticas de abusos nos seus usos em circulos nao matematicos sao questoes ja abordadas suficientemente pela literatura cientifica, mas o movimento historico de apropriacao dos resultados de Godel pela comunidade cientifica nao matematica e um problema merecedor de reflexoes e uma das principais contribuicoes pretendidas com este trabalho.
Financial Journalism and Quarterly Earnings Guidance

Financial journalists have two countervailing incentives when reporting on a firm’s quarterly earnings guidance. On the one hand, their explicit incentive to attract readership leads them to express discrepant views that deviate from the guidance news managers intend to deliver. We hypothesize that journalists’ tendency to express discrepant views induces managers to stop issuing guidance because it leads to greater investor response uncertainty and, in turn, nondisclosure in equilibrium (media framing hypothesis). On the other hand, financial journalists have implicit quid pro quo incentives to curry favor with managers in exchange for information access or advertising revenue. Their coverage of guidance news would reinforce the intended guidance message and have no incremental impact on future guidance decisions (media reinforcing hypothesis). Using a comprehensive dataset of financial journalists’ articles covering quarterly earnings guidance, we find evidence supporting the media framing hypothesis. Our study provides fresh insight into the information flow in financial markets. We document evidence that the media, through the effect of its discrepant views, curtails the likelihood of managers issuing earnings guidance.
Financial Advice, Wealth and Gender: Risk Tolerance, Knowledge and Confidence

We examine gender differences in investment risk tolerance, knowledge, confidence, and portfolio cash allocations among a sample of advised and self-directed wealthy individuals. Our results demonstrate that gender effects are more complicated than previously assumed. First, while even wealthy women consider themselves more conservative and hold more cash than men, previous findings of lower confidence and knowledge do not extend to our sample wealthy women. Second, having an advisor matters. Advised investors perceive themselves to have a higher risk tolerance and hold 15% points less cash than self-directed investors. Finally, the investor-advisor gender combination matters, but only for female investors. Women with male advisors are more risk averse, and feel less knowledgeable and less confident about investments. They also hold 11% more cash than women with female advisors. Indeed, female investors advised by women report the highest risk tolerance and make the lowest portfolio allocation to risk-free assets across the full sample, including men.