Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactive Home Shopping: Consumer, Retailer, and Manufacturer Incentives to Participate in Electronic Marketplaces

The authors examine the implications of electronic shopping for consumers, retailers, and manufacturers. They assume that near-term technological developments will offer consumers unparalleled opportunities to locate and compare product offerings. They examine these advantages as a function of typical consumer goals and the types of products and services being sought and offer conclusions regarding consumer incentives and disincentives to purchase through interactive home shopping vis-à-vis traditional retail formats. The authors discuss implications for industry structure as they pertain to competition among retailers, competition among manufacturers, and retailer-manufacturer relationships.
Interaction at the nanoscale of fundamental biological molecules with minerals

The availability of advanced nanotechnological methodologies (experimental and theoretical) has widened the investigation of biological/organic matter in interaction with substrates. Minerals are good candidates as substrates because they may present a wide variety of physico-chemical properties and surface nanostructures that can be used to actively condense and manipulate the biomolecules. Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) is one of the best suited techniques used to investigate at a single molecule level the surface interactions. In addition, the recent availability of high performance computing has increased the possibility to study quantum mechanically the interaction phenomena extending the number of atoms involved in the simulation. In the present paper, firstly we will briefly introduce new SPM technological developments and applications to investigate mineral surfaces and mineral-biomolecule interaction, then we will present results on the specific RNA-mineral interaction and recent basics and applicative achievements in the field of the interactions between other fundamental biological molecules and mineral surfaces from both an experimental and theoretical point of view.
A principles-based decision tree for future investigations of native New Zealand birds during aerial 1080 operations

Ongoing investigations into bird mortality caused by aerial 1080 poison operations to suppress pest populations will be required because the operational specifications continually change and improve. We summarise recent studies of bird deaths following 1080 operations and present six principles for use in prioritising future research into poison risk for bird populations. A decision tree and supporting flow diagram show how the need for new surveys can be evaluated using these principles. Iterative reporting of surveys and use of the six principles to prioritise new work will enable bird mortality risks to be continually updated in an evidence-base for conservation.
Uniformity of radiant heat fluxes in cone calorimeter

A model has been developed for the local configuration factor for the radiant interchange between the internal surface of the cone heater and the specimen's surface in the cone calorimeter. The incident heat flux under the cone was characterised in a series of experiments as a function of spatial coordinates. Both the emissivity and the temperature of the heating element were estimated from the experimental data. Significant variations in the surface temperature, and therefore in radiosity, were observed. The expression for the configuration factor was applied to estimate uncertainties in the measured variables due to tolerances in independent parameters. Plots were provided of the configuration factor and isolines of the radiant heat flux at various heights below the base of the cone. A comparison was carried out between predicted and measured data, demonstrating good agreement. The model predicted that, at the standard location of the specimen of 25 mm below the frustum, the radiant flux is uniform but only within the central area of the sample. Toward the edges and corners, the flux decreases by 2.6 and 15.9%, respectively, in comparison to that along the centreline.
Effect of environmental factors on prey-derived nitrogen in sundews (Drosera rotundifolia) in a northern Michigan bog

In this study, δ 15 N values of insectivorous plants, their prey, and non-carnivorous reference plants were used to determine the relative contributions of nitrogen originating from prey and soil to the nutrition of Drosera rotundifolia plants in a northern Michigan bog. To determine which environmental factors that most strongly affect the relative contributions of plantand insect-derived N within a single population of carnivorous plants, soil pH, temperature, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (as NH4 + ), and insect availability adjacent to 26 sundew plants were measured. Stable nitrogen isotope analysis was used to determine which variable was most strongly correlated with the proportion of prey-derived nitrogen across plants. This study provided a test of the hypothesis that carnivory evolved in acidic, low-nutrient habitats largely because low pH inhibits decomposition, thereby reducing the availability of plant-derived nitrogen and creating strong selection for modification of leaves into structures capable of capturing insect nitrogen. The population of Drosera rotundifolia was found to derive an average of 44% of its nitrogen from prey. However, the variation among individuals and thus the relative importance of carnivory varied across individuals by almost 4-fold. Neither pH nor temperature, nor insect availability as a whole were significantly correlated with the proportion of prey-derived nitrogen. The commonly held belief that pH slows decomposition which decreases ammonium availability did not appear be upheld in this bog. The major driver of the relative importance of carnivory in Mud Lake Bog may be the abundance of small, weak flying prey that are likely to be attracted to the red glistening leaves of sundews such as midges.
How much birch (Betula papyrifera) is too much for maximizing spruce (Picea glauca) growth: a case study in boreal spruce plantation forests

Interest in conifer-broadleaf mixedwood forests has greatly increased due to continuous demand for hardwood products and a shift towards more biological or ecosystem-based management. In British Columbia, more than 30% of the productive forest land is a conifer-broadleaf mixture and current forest regulations are more conifer biased rather than maintaining a mixed-species condition. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of paper birch on white spruce growth. Spruce growth data from 10 to 18 years old complex stands indicate that radial, height, and stem volume was not impacted by retaining up to 3,000 stems·ha -1 of birch. Similarly, growth and yield model projections suggest spruce-birch stands would be more productive up to a threshold birch density (3,000 stems·ha -1 ) than pure spruce stands. At a 4% real interest rate, the removal of birch from these stands does not appear to be war - ranted as an investment. The results suggest that instead of encouraging uniform broadleaf removal across conifer plantations, mixed species management strategies could enhance the forest productivity, stand diversity and resilience.
Thermodynamic Model of a Very High Efficiency Power Plant based on a Biomass Gasifier, SOFCs, and a Gas Turbine

Thermodynamic calculations with a power plant based on a biomass gasifier, SOFCs and a gas turbine are presented. The SOFC anode off-gas which mainly consists of steam and carbon dioxides used as a gasifying agent leading to an allothermal gasification process for which heat is required. Implementation of heat pipes between the SOFC and the gasifier using two SOFC stacks and intercooling the fuel and the cathode streams in between them has shown to be a solution on one hand to drive the allothermal gasification process and on the other hand to cool down the SOFC. It is seen that this helps to reduce the exergy losses in the system significantly. With such a system, electrical efficiency around 73% is shown as achievable.
Farm Size and Technical Efficiency of Rice Farmers in Imo State, Nigeria

This study analyzed the technical efficiency and the sources of inefficiency in large scale and small scale rice production in Imo State, Nigeria during the 2009 cropping season, using a stochastic frontier production function which incorporates a model for inefficiency effects. A sample of 160 farmers selected using the multi-stage stratified random sampling techniques were used to generate primary data with structured and validated questionnaire through the cost-route approach. Results showed that factors that affected the output of rice farmers were labour, capital, land and planting materials. Low capital base for investment, poor extension contact and poor access to credit were the major factors that influenced farmers’ level of technical efficiency. The mean technical efficiency were 0.65 and 0.69 for large and small scale farmers respectively, which implies that the mean technical efficiency index could be increased by 35% and 31% for large scale and scale farmers respectively through efficient reallocation of the available resources.
Fixed Costs Per Shipment

Exporting firms do not only decide how much of their products they ship abroad but also at which frequency. Doing so, they face a trade-off between saving on fixed costs per shipments (by shipping large amounts infrequently) and saving on storage costs (by delivering just in time with small and frequent shipments). The firm's optimal choice defines a mapping from size and frequency of shipments to fixed costs per shipment. We use a unique dataset of Swiss cross-border trade on the transaction level to infer the size and shape of the underlying fixed costs. The inferred fixed costs are specific to each firm–country–product combination. Our results suggest that the fixed costs per shipment of the average Swiss exporter are large, ranging between 0.82% of the export value in our most conservative specification and 5.4%. We document that the imputed fixed costs per shipment correlate negatively with language commonalities, trade agreements and geographic proximity.
MODERN SLAVERY AND THE SUPPLY CHAIN : THE LIMITS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ?

This is a prepublication version of the paper published in Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Vol. 20 Iss 6 pp. 697 – 707. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the EurOMA Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Forum, Barcelona, Spain, 23-24 March 2015. The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of Laurence Cranmer to this work. MODERN SLAVERY AND THE SUPPLY CHAIN:
CONSUMPTION ANALYSIS OF PROTEINOUS FOODS IN REMO DIVISION,OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined the consumption of proteinous food in Remo division of Ogun State, Nigeria. Primary data were obtained in a cross-section survey of 120 randomly selected households drawn by a combination of a multi-stage random sampling and stratified random sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics and ordinary least square (OLS) regression techniques were employed for data analysis. The descriptive statistics of the socio-economic characteristics of proteinous food consumers show that majority (56.7%) of the household heads are about 40 years old, most (73%) of the households’ heads are males, of which about 68% are married. A high percentage of the households heads are well educated with mean household size of 4 and mean monthly income of N15, 000.00. The per capita expenditures on the two classes of proteinous source of foods indicate that the mean per capita expenditure (N 1266.11) on animal protein source food (APSF) is greater than the per capita expenditures (N239.12) on plant protein source food (PPSF). The results show that animal protein and plant protein consumption accounted for N5, 064.43 and N956.48 of the household monthly disposable income respectively, representing 41% and 7.8% of household monthly disposable income of the household. With respect to the determinants of plant protein source food (APSF) and plant protein food consumption, the linear regression model was chosen as the lead equations on the basis of high R2, the conformity of the signs of the coefficients with apriori expectations. The R2 for animal protein source food (APSF) consumption is 0.80 indicating that 80% of the variations in APSF consumption is due to the influence of the explanatory variables while that plant protein source food consumption is rather low (29%). Household income, household size and years of schooling are the variables that significantly and positively influence APSF consumption while plant protein source food (PPSF) consumption was only influenced by household disposable income. KEYWORDS: Consumption, animal, plant, protein, food
The spin temperature of high-redshift damped Lyman α systems

We report results from a programme aimed at investigating the temperature of neutral gas in high-redshift damped Lyman α absorbers (DLAs). This involved (1) H I 21 cm absorption studies of a large sample of DLAs towards radio-loud quasars, (2) very long baseline interferometric studies to measure the low-frequency quasar core fractions, and (3) optical/ultraviolet spectroscopy to determine DLA metallicities and the velocity widths of low-ionization metal lines. Including literature data, our sample consists of 37 DLAs with estimates of the harmonic mean spin temperature Ts. We find a statistically significant (4σ) difference between the Ts distributions in the high-z (z > 2.4) and low-z (z 1.7 have Ts values indicating CNM fractions >20 per cent, comparable to the median value (≈27 per cent) in the Galaxy. We tested whether the H I column density measured towards the optical quasar might be systematically different from that towards the radio core by comparing the H I column densities inferred from H I 21 cm emission studies at different spatial resolutions (≈15 pc-1 kpc) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The high-resolution NH I values are, on average, larger than the smoothed ones for NH I > 1021 cm-2, but lower than the smoothed NH I estimates for NH I 1. Since all DLAs at z > 1 have angular diameter distances comparable to or larger than those of their background quasars, they have similar efficiency in covering the quasars. We conclude that low covering factors in high-z DLAs cannot account for the observed redshift evolution in spin temperatures.
Impact of intermittent spectral nudging on regional climate simulation using Weather Research and Forecasting model

[1] This study examines simulated typhoon sensitivities to spectral nudging (SN) to investigate the effects on values added by regional climate models, which are not properly resolved by low‐resolution global models. SN is suitably modified to mitigate its negative effects while maintaining the positive effects, and the effects of the modified SN are investigated through seasonal simulations. In the sensitivity experiments to nudging intervals of SN, the tracks of simulated typhoons are improved as the SN effect increases; however, the intensities of the simulated typhoons decrease due to the suppression of the typhoon developing process by SN. To avoid such suppression, SN is applied at intermittent intervals only when the deviation between the large‐scale driving forcing and the model solution is large. In seasonal simulations, intermittent SN is applied for only 7% of the total time steps; however, this results in not only maintaining the large‐scale features of monsoon circulation and precipitation corresponding to observations but also improving the intensification of mesoscale features by reducing the suppression.
Variably occurring parietal pits in psammophiid snakes (Squamata: Serpentes): convergent expression of ancestral skin traits?

Sense-organ-like" parietal pits (PPs) in snakes have so far been documented in several psammophiid species as well as the Asiatic Atretium schistosum (Natricinae). Hypotheses regarding the function of these structures have been suggested but support for any is weak due to sampling limitations of species exhibiting these, and previous inconclusive histological examinations. Here we present data from additional sampling (N=842 for seven species) on the variable expression of PPs throughout psammophiids and discuss possible explanations for their occurrence pattern in two distantly related caenophidians. We consider the spontaneous atavism hypothesis previously suggested by Miralles and Ineich (2006) in light of our additional data and also suggest that it may be more appropriate to regard PPs as a particular manifestation of a more general underlying developmental mechanism that produces a wide variety of integumentary sensory structures in snakes.
Experimental and Theoretical Spectroscopic Analysis on N-((1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indol-3-Yl)methyl)acetamide

In this work, The structural characteristics and vibrational spectroscopic analysis were carried out by quantum chemical methods with the hybrid exchange-correlation functional B3LYP using 6-31G (d, p) and 6-311++G (d, p) basis sets in order to investigate the fundamental modes of vibrational analysis and electronic properties of phenyl substituted compound N-((1-(phenylsulfonyl)-1H-indol-3-yl)methyl)acetamide. Density Functional Theory (DFT) method, using B3LYP functional, with 6-31G (d, p) and 6-311++G (d, p) basis sets, which in turn creates a platform to study the structure of the chosen compound. The experimentally obtained FTIR and FT Raman spectrum supports the results of theoretically observed ones. Detailed interpretations of the experimental spectra of the molecule along with the theoretical ones are reported based on Potential Energy Distribution (PED). The total dipole moment, static total and anisotropy of polarisability and static first hyperpolarisability values were calculated. The FMOs, molecular electrostatic potential, global reactivity descriptors were also calculated and discussed. Molecular electrostatic potential and frontier molecular orbitals were constructed to understand the electronic properties. The intramolecular contacts are interpreted using Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis to ascertain the charge distribution. The thermodynamic properties at different temperatures were calculated revealing the correlations between standard heat capacities, entropy and enthalpy changes with temperatures.
Effect of different concentrations of Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid (EDTA) ongrowth performance and physiological aspects of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus Fingerlings.

The present study deals with the effect of different concentrations of EDTA (0, 0.1 & 0.3 g EDTA /L) on the growth in length, weight, survival rate, growth performance and physiological characters of the Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings reared in glass aquaria. The improvement of fish fingerlings development obtained by EDTA is dose-dependent. Fingerlings obtained from high concentration of EDTA (0.3 g EDTA /L) showed higher increase in length, weight and survival rate than those of low concentration (0.1 g EDTA /L) and control. The total weight gain, average daily gain and specific growth rate of O. niloticus, fingerlings improved with the high concentration of EDTA compared with the low concentration and control. The best feed conversion ratio (1.82) was recorded in the fish fingerlings exposed to 0.3 g EDTA/L compared with the control (2.1) and fingerlings exposed to 0.1 g EDTA/L (2.44). Biochemical analysis indicated that, EDTA in high concentrations are useful additives for isolated or/ and reducing dangerous substances from different fish tissues and surrounding media, thus improved the physiological responses.
Job Stability and Wage Progression Patterns among Early TANF Leavers

This article reports on first-year employment experiences of a randomly selected sample of 213 Illinois TANF leavers. Aggregate employment levels were 70 percent at exit, and leavers typically generated earnings from a single full-time job. However, employment often was unstable, so that only about one-fourth of leavers had the same job both at exit and when interviewed 10-11 months later. Employment instability resulted from the marginal or temporary nature of many jobs, as well as employment barriers such as health problems and lack of day care. Average wage levels easily exceeded the minimum wage and grew during the first year after exit, but nonetheless often were insufficient to provide incomes above the poverty level. The findings underscore the need to develop post-employment service strategies that assist persons in accessing work-related benefits such as child care and Medicaid, as well as improved income support strategies such as expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit
Integration of compact set-valued functions

provided by applying the McShane ^-integral. This integral is a Riemann-type integral and includes the Bochner, Lebesgue and other types of integrals, and by using Riemann sums it avoids deep measure theory. Thus, the ^-integral of set-valued functions contains other types of integrals such as the Hukuhara and Debreu integrals. Generalizations of known results, including the convexity of the integral, are obtained, and the techniques do not require measure theory. Further, if a set-valued function is 9 -integrable, then its integral equals the Aumann integral, where the latter is defined as the collection of integrals of selections.
In situ monitoring metal-ligand exchange processes by optical spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis: a review

Abstract Knowledge about the mechanisms involved in the structural development of solid materials at the atomic level is essential for designing rational synthesis protocols for these compounds, which may be used to improve desired technical properties, such as light emission, conductivity, magnetism, porosity or particle size, and may allow the tailored design of solid materials to generate the aforementioned properties. Recent technological advancements have allowed the combination of synchrotron-based in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) with in situ optical spectroscopy techniques, providing researchers with remarkable opportunities to directly investigate structural changes during synthesis reactions. Among the various available methods to measure optical properties, in situ luminescence, UV/Vis absorption, and light transmission spectroscopies are highlighted here, with in situ luminescence being subdivided into in situ luminescence analysis of coordination sensors (ILACS) and time-resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS). This article consists of a review of 122 references exploring various aspects of in situ analyses, with particular emphasis on the use of XRD-combined techniques in the study of metal-ligand exchange processes during the formation, phase transitions and decomposition of solid materials, including complexes, coordination polymers, metal-organic frameworks, nanoparticles and polyoxo- or chalcogenide metallates. We will then conclude with an exploration of future trends in this exciting research field.
The Valuation of Organizational Capital

The authors’ aim was to create a model suitable for measuring organization capital. This model was produced by means of the Forward and Backward Stepwise methods, on the basis of company information. Low p-levels (approaching 0) show the statistical significance of all regression coefficients, including the intercept. Organizational capital of 2,796 companies in the Czech Republic was quantified. A statistically significant correlation between organizational capital and return on equity (ROE), as well as between organizational capital and return on assets (ROA), has been established. This article is a part of the results of the project No. 402/09/2057 ‘‘Measurement and Management of Intangible Assets Impact on Firm Performance’’ financed by Czech Science Foundation.