Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in central and south Asia

[1] Changes in indices of climate extremes are studied on the basis of daily series of temperature and precipitation observations from 116 meteorological stations in central and south Asia. Averaged over all stations, the indices of temperature extremes indicate warming of both the cold tail and the warm tail of the distributions of daily minimum and maximum temperature between 1961 and 2000. For precipitation, most regional indices of wet extremes show little change in this period as a result of low spatial trend coherence with mixed positive and negative station trends. Relative to the changes in the total amounts, there is a slight indication of disproportionate changes in the precipitation extremes. Stations with near-complete data for the longer period of 1901–2000 suggest that the recent trends in extremes of minimum temperature are consistent with long-term trends, whereas the recent trends in extremes of maximum temperature are part of multidecadal climate variability.
F 1 Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy in Nano-( Bio )-Physics

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy as one of the major tools in molecular physics, benefits from the extraordinary advantage that its sensitivity increases with decreasing thickness of a sample capacitor and hence with a decreasing amount of sample material. This enables one, for instance, to carry out broadband spectroscopic measurements on quasi-isolated polymer coils in nano-structured capacitor arrangements having thicknesses as small as 10 nm. It is demonstrated that for polymers like atactic polystyrene (PS) or poly2-vinyl-pyridine (P2VP), the dynamic glass transition can be measured for (averaged) sample thickness as small as ~ 2 nm in a wide spectral range (10 mHz to 10 MHz) and temperature interval (150 K to 350 K). No shift of the mean relaxation rate and no broadening of the relaxation time distribution function are found compared to the bulk liquid. Electrode polarization is a ubiquitous phenomenon that takes place at the interface between a metal and an ionic conductor. A quantitative theory is presented, which enables one to deduce from its characteristic frequency, temperature and concentration dependencies – by use of a novel formula – the bulk conductivity of the ion conducting liquid under study. It is shown that the electrical relaxation processes take place within a nanometric layer at the (ionic conductor/metal) interface.
The Evolution of Community Self-Organization in Interaction With Government Institutions: Cross-Case Insights From Three Countries

This article deals with the evolution of community self-organization in public administration. Within the literature of interactive governance, increasing attention is being paid to how communities take initiative in dealing with societal issues. However, we know little about the factors contributing to the durability of self-organization. We analyzed three cases of community self-organization in three different countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands. We found that community self-organization initiatives are strongly embedded in governmental environments, leading to different modes of interaction that change from phase to phase and in response to reciptiveness (or the lack thereof) among government counterparts. These modes of interaction strongly influence the evolution of community self-organization efforts. Moreover, we conclude that it is important that self-organized citizen initiatives represent and capture the perspectives and interests of large groups of citizens. This condition positively influences the evolution and duration of citizen initiatives. Those who manage to link with other citizens, including via community and volunteer organizations, can succeed. Those who do not can lose their legitimacy and fail.
Identification of Factors that Influence Technical Efficiency of Food Crop Production in West Africa: Empirical Evidence from Borno State, Nigeria

The objective of this study was to examine the determinants of food crop production and technical efficiency in the guinea savannas of Borno State, Nigeria. A stochastic frontier production function, using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) technique was applied in the analysis of data collected from 1086 sample farmers in 2004. The MLE results reveal that farm size; fertilizer and hired labour are the major factors that are associated with changes in the output of food crops. The effect of land area on output is positive and the coefficient found to be significant (p = 0.01). Fertilizer and hired labour have positive effects on output and their coefficients are significant (p = 0.01). Mean farmers’ technical efficiency index was found to be 0.68. Farmer-specific efficiency factors, which comprise age, education, credit, extension and crop diversification, were found to be the significant factors that account for the observed variation in efficiency among the farmers. The implication of the study is that technical efficiency in food crop production could be increased by 32 percent through better use of available resources, given the current state of technology.
Social Capital Dimensions For Tacit Knowledge Sharing: Exploring The Indicators

ABSTRACT The importance of social aspects of knowledge sharing has been emphasized in the literature on managing knowledge, with the recognition that knowledge is often tacit and embedded within particular social groups and situations. It is argued that the main dimensions of social capital relevant to knowledge sharing are structural, cognitive, and relational capitals. These dimensions, among other things, foster the exchange of knowledge and resources especially in settings where activity and learning are project-based. Since a project team is essentially tasked with integrating distributed knowledge, social capital of the team members is pertinent. However, understanding the relationship between social capital and knowledge integration within a project team requires that the dimensions of social capital be explicitly distinguished. Thus, the objective of this paper is to identify the dimensions and items of social capital in fostering tacit knowledge sharing among team members of projects. This study used grounded theory method and data were collected through in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using open, axial, and selective coding. This study proposes a list of social capital indicators for tacit knowledge sharing highlighting the categories and items of social capital dimensions. ABSTRAK Kepentingan aspek sosial dalam perkongsian pengetahuan telah banyak diberi penekanan dalam literatur pengurusan pengetahuan, terutama apabila pengetahuan adalah berbentuk tasit dan tertanam dalam kumpulan sosial atau situasi tertentu. Kajian lepas telah membahaskan dimensi utama bagi modal sosial yang penting untuk perkongsian pengetahuan adalah modal struktur, modal kognitif, dan modal hubungan. Ini adalah kerana modal-modal ini menggalakkan pertukaran pengetahuan dan sumber terutama dalam keadaan di mana aktiviti dan pembelajaran berasaskan projek. Memandangkan ahli pasukan sesebuah projek diberi tugas untuk mengintegrasikan pengetahuan mereka, modal sosial mereka adalah penting.Bagaimanapun, untuk memahami hubungan di antara modal sosial dan pengintegrasian pengetahuan di dalam pasukan projek memerlukan dimensi modal sosial ini diperincikan dan dibezakan dengan jelas. Justeru itu, kertas ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti dimensi dan item-item modal sosial dalam menggalakkan perkongsian pengetahuan tasit di kalangan ahli pasukan projek. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah teori ‘grounded’ di mana data dikutip menggunakan temu bual. Data kemudiannya dianalisis menggunakan cara pengekodan terbuka (open), paksi (axial), dan terpilih (selective). Kajian ini mengusulkan satu senarai kategori dan item yang terperinci bagi dimensi modal sosial untuk tujuan perkongsian maklumat tasit.
Soil-applied silicon decreases severity of wheat spot blotch on silicon-deficient soils

Spot bloth caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana is an important wheat desease mainly in hot and humid regions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response of wheat to different sources and modes of Si application, as related to the severity of wheat spot blotch and plant growth, in two Si-deficient Latosols (Oxisols). An greenhouse experiment was arranged in a 2 x 5 factorial completely randomized design, with eight replications. The treatments consisted of two soils (Yellow Latosol and Red Latosol) and five Si supply modes (no Si application; Si applied as calcium silicate and monosilicic acid to the soil; and Si applied as potassium silicate or monosilicic acid to wheat leaves). No significant differences were observed between the two soils. When Si was applied to the soil, regardless the Si source, the disease incubation period, the shoot dry matter yield and the Si content in leaves were greater. Additionally, the final spot blotch severity was lower and the area under the spot blotch disease progress curve and the leaf insertion angle in the plant were smaller. Results of Si foliar application were similar to those observed in the control plants.
University Students' Associative Knowledge of History of Science: Matthew Effect in Action?.

We present a method to analyse how pre-service science teachers relate events, ideas, characters and deeds in history of science and in cultural and general history. A group of 25 students presented their views they deemed to be of importance in history of science, culture, society and politics in era between 1550 and 1850. The sample is based on students’ study reports and analysed by using network analysis. We show how students’ knowledge of history of science and history in general are organised around certain famous characters, ideas, events and institutions, thus revealing the phenomenon of accumulation of fame; the Mathew effect in action.
Development : The determinants of the poverty status of Rural Kenyan Households

The question of poverty has become central to the work of development economists in the last decade and a half. The 2000 World Development Report was entitled Attacking Poverty and the UN held a series of World Conferences in the 1990s, all of which addressed in some form or fashion the problem of poverty. Despite this and because of limited data there has been relatively little empirical work at the household level on determinants of poverty in Africa generally and Kenya specifically. In the few econometric studies that have been done for Kenya land has not been a significant determinant of poverty. This is a surprising result for a country where 80 per cent of the population depends on agriculture. Further the little that has been done has not incorporated the role of human development in the determination of poverty. Via an examination of a nationwide sample this paper will examine the role that land and social capital play in determining households poverty status in rural Kenya in addition to the standard theorized determinants.
Stabilizing intrinsic defects in SnO2

The magnetism and electronic structure of Li-doped SnO2 are investigated using first-principles LDA/LDA+U calculations. We find that Li induces magnetism in SnO2 when doped at the Sn site but becomes nonmagnetic when doped at the O and interstitial sites. The calculated formation energies show that Li prefers the Sn site as compared with the O site, in agreement with previous experimental works. The interaction of Li with native defects (Sn VSn and O VO vacancies) is also studied, and we find that Li not only behaves as a spin polarizer, but also a vacancy stabilizer, i.e., Li significantly reduces the defect formation energies of the native defects and helps the stabilization of magnetic oxygen vacancies. The electronic densities of states reveals that these systems, where the Fermi level touches the conduction (valence) band, are nonmagnetic (magnetic).
Part‐Time Work as Practising Resistance: The Power of Counter‐Arguments

Contributing to a Foucauldian perspective on ‘discursive resistance’, this paper theorizes how part‐time workers struggle to construct a valid position in the rhetorical interplay between norm‐strengthening arguments and norm‐contesting counter‐arguments. It is thereby suggested that both the reproductive and the subversive forces of resistance may very well coexist within the everyday manoeuvres of world‐making. The analysis of these rhetorical interplays in 21 interviews shows how arguments and counter‐arguments produce full‐time work as the dominant discourse versus part‐time work as a legitimate alternative to it. Analysing in detail the effects of four rhetorical interplays, this study shows that, while two of them leave unchallenged the basic assumptions of the dominant full‐time discourse and hence tend instead to reify the dominant discourse, two other interplays succeed in contesting the dominant discourse and establishing part‐time work as a valid alternative. The authors argue that the two competing dynamics of challenging and reifying the dominant are not mutually exclusive, but do in fact coexist.
Characterization of Performance and Dynamics of Genetic Networks

Living cells are continuously monitoring their surroundings and making appropriate decisions to enhance chances of survival. Information regarding environmental conditions is processed in biochemical and genetic networks, eventually leading to a cellular phenotype. However, for all transfer of information, a large number of possible network topologies are available to the cell to choose from. In the common bacterium Escherichia coli, frequency of certain topologies far outnumbers others. What decides the choice of a particular network over the others? In this work, we work with the simplest transcriptional network - an interaction between a regulator, R and its target gene, T - and develop a computational and experimental framework to characterize performance of different possible networks in terms of a list of objective functions. Our results suggest and we speculate that a group of proteins evolve into a particular network topology so as to optimize the most crucial objective function for their particular role in cellular physiology.
Relativistic effects in two-particle emission for electron and neutrino reactions

Two-particle two-hole contributions to electroweak response functions are computed in a fully relativistic Fermi gas, assuming that the electroweak current matrix elements are independent of the kinematics. We analyze the genuine kinematical and relativistic effects before including a realistic meson-exchange current (MEC) operator. This allows one to study the mathematical properties of the non-trivial seven-dimensional integrals appearing in the calculation and to design an optimal numerical procedure to reduce the computation time. This is required for practical applications to CC neutrino scattering experiments, where an additional integral over the neutrino flux is performed. Finally we examine the viability of this model to compute the electroweak 2p-2h response functions.
An Investigation into Cultural Representation in Interchange Textbooks

Language and culture are now deemed to be co-constitutive; hence English language teaching (ELT) textbooks should incorporate cultural aspects and promote intercultural competence. However, careful decisions should be made as regards to the cultural content of materials and the ways in which culture is represented. This study was an attempt to deconstruct the patterns of cultural representation and intercultural interactions in Interchange textbooks, an ELT textbook series taught to English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Iran. Using content analysis of texts and images and with the focus on nationality, gender and race, it examined how different cultures were reflected in Interchange 1, Interchange 2, Interchange 3, and whether cultural bias or inequality was present. The quantitative and qualitative data analysis revealed that the white male group was dominant in all three textbooks. And, to use Kachru’s (1985) terms, inner, outer and expanding circle nationalities were represented in the textbooks, with the expanding circle constituting the major nationality, but American culture of inner circle was predominant. Additionally, the interactions were mainly limited to superficial aspects of the target culture although these textbooks sought to show various intercultural interactions. Dominance of male and white characters and the US culture indicated inequality in race and gender, and the superficial treatment of culture in the textbooks. Less attention to the hybrid culture and deeper level of intercultural aspects, i.e. critical reflections, in the textbooks suggests that the materials be supplemented by EFL teachers’ constructive discussion of the cultures that interact.
Frequency-Magnitude Distribution of Earthquakes

Frequency magnitude distribution of all types of earthquakes has received consider- able attention in the last few decades. Their linear logarithmic relationship remains the most accepted. The a and b constants of this equation, their values and variations have been studied in detail. It is largely agreed that for the seismicity of the whole Earth, its hemispheres, quadrants and large epicentral regions are a=10.0 and b=1.0. The b-variations have long been investigated and reported to occur in different forms and values. Long- and short-term b-variations occur in a continuous cyclic man - ner and may exceed ± (0.6 – 0.7) of its absolute value. These are observed to occur not only yearly or monthly but also daily. The b -value always attains maxima and minima before and after the occurrence of all large earthquakes. Many days before the occurrence of large earthquakes, b -values start increasing at variable gradients that are affected by foreshocks. It attains a maximum value shortly before each large earthquake and a minimum on its occurrence. Many factors have been proposed to explain the b-variations including prevailing stress, crustal heterogeneity, focal depth, pore pressure, geothermal gradient, tectonic setting, and other factors. Considering the b-variations of the whole Earth, its hemispheres and quadrants and considering that most proposed factors are directly or indirectly related to the stress, it is concluded that this remains the major factor. It is found that for large earthquakes with Mw ≥ 7, an increase of about 0.20 in the b -value implies a stress increase that will result in an earthquake with a magnitude one unit higher.
Genomic approaches to trace the diversification history ofimportant agronomic traits in plant

In order to investigate the diversification of important agronomic traits in plants, a conservation and evolution study of nucleotide binding genes from bacteria to plant kingdom was performed. The pathogen recognition genes were detected and classified in 102 organisms. In particular, the expansion and/or conservation of R-gene subgroups among organisms was investigated. Several large of NLR groups were found involved in important clustering events. A focus on orthologous pathogen recognition gene-rich regions in solanaceous species regions was also provided. A complete catalogue of eggplant (Solanum melongena) and pepper (Capsicum annuum) nucleotide-binding site (NBS), receptor-like protein (RLP) and receptor-like kinase (RLK) genes was generated and compared with tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) genomic repertoire. Orthologous relationships among clustering loci were found, and interesting reshuffling within given loci was observed for each analyzed species. The information obtained were integrated in a comparative map to highlight the evolutionary dynamics in which the PRG loci were involved. Diversification of 14 selected PRG-rich regions was also explored using a DNA target-enrichment approach. A large number of gene variants was found as well as rearrangements of single protein domain encoding sequences and changes in chromosome gene order among species. Lastly, whole-genome sequences of herbarium samples were compared to the genomes of modern tomato accessions to investigate the improvement history of the tomato crop in Italy and in Campania region in the last centuries. An aDNA extraction from herbarium tomato leaves was set up and successively used to perform aDNA sequencing sequenced. Several structural variants were detected in important genes of the ancient genomes. A comparison with a panel of wild and cultivated tomato was performed to shed light on genome pedigree history of European tomato. The findings of this thesis contribute to addressing several biological questions concerning the history of plant genome evolution and diversification.
Primary Commodity Dependence and Debt Problem in Less Developed Countries

Economists have proffered myriads of causes of the debt problem faced by less developed countries (LDCs). This paper uses the panel data technique to investigate the fundamental causes of the debt problem among primary commodity dependent LDCs. The results show a strong link between high levels of indebtedness and unfavourable terms of trade among commodity-dependent countries. Further results show that the degree of openness of the LDC's economy also has a significant influence on its external debt level.
Nearshore and Surf Zone Wind Stress

Field data of the wind stress over surf zone waves is presented from an open ocean beach on the East Australian Coast. Two ultrasonic anemometers were deployed at nominal heights of 5 and 10 m above the water surface in the intertidal and inner surf zones, with concurrent measurements of water levels and offshore wave parameters. Considering near-neutral conditions only, the wind drag coefficients were found to systematically change with the wind angle of approach relative to the shoreline, and are much smaller for longshore wind than during onshore wind. The concept of an apparent wave steepness changing with wind direction is suggested to explain this behaviour. The drag coefficients over the surf zone during onshore wind and near-neutral conditions were determined to be almost twice the values expected at the same wind speed and open ocean conditions. The observed Charnock coefficient was similarly an order of magnitude larger than open ocean values. A wave celerity of the order of that expected in the inner surf zone is required to explain the observed large roughness and drag coefficients using existing wave-age dependent parameterisations. This suggests that the slower wave celerity in the surf zone is an important contributor to the increased wind stress, in addition to the sawtooth wave shape.