Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wideband acoustic immittance measures using chirp and pure tone stimuli in infants with middle ear integrity

Purpose: To characterize the wideband reflectance and absorbance values in infants with middle ear integrity. Methods: The wideband reflectance and absorbance values for chirp and pure tone stimuli of 31 ears of infants aged 10 days to five months were analyzed. Inclusion criteria considered: 1000 Hz tympanometry. suggesting normal middle ear and the presence of transient evoked otoacoustic emission. Results: The reflectance values were shown to be greater for low frequencies, reducing to medium ones and increasing once again to high frequencies, while the absorbance values displayed an opposite behavior. No significant difference was verified between chirp and pure tone stimuli. Conclusion: A typical behavior of the measures, characterized by a higher reflectance at low frequencies and higher absorbance at medium frequencies was observed in the population studied.
Incidence of different tumors in bovines

Tumour incidence in cattle is relatively increased; specialty literature indicating the second place, after dogs, for tumour incidence in bovines.Recently, the tumor incidence in bovines is relatively increasing. Cattle occupied the second place after dogs for incidence of all tumors.1 Tumors affecting skin and appendages form a major component of all neoplasms in veterinary practice.2 Among the skin tumors, bovine cutaneous papillomatosis and squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) are commonly diagnosed and economically important neoplasms in large animals.3–5 SqCC is a common tumor among cattle in India affecting the horn and the eye6 and it constitutes 41.46%. 7 Horn cancer affects approximately one percent of bullock population in India.8 Lymphoid tumors comprise one of the most common groups of tumors in domestic animals. Lymphosarcoma is expressed as a specific multicentric form in calves up to six months of age (sporadic) and in adult cattle (enzootic); and as thymic form in young cattle.10 Among the internal body organs of bovines, tumors are commonly diagnosed in adrenal glands, uterus and occasionally in liver, gallbladder, ovary, kidney and heart.9 Out of the total carcasses that are rejected at slaughter house, tumor affected carcasses account for 41.1% and the most frequent localization of tumors was found in urinary bladder (50.9%), followed by third eyelid and skin (20% and 15.7%, respectively). 11
Trends in basic mathematical competencies of beginning undergraduates in Ireland, 2003–2013

Deficiencies in beginning undergraduate students’ basic mathematical skills has been an issue of concern in higher education, particularly in the past 15 years. This issue has been tracked and analysed in a number of universities in Ireland and internationally through student scores recorded in mathematics diagnostic tests. Students beginning their science-based and technology-based undergraduate courses in the University of Limerick have had their basic mathematics skills tested without any prior warning through a 40 question diagnostic test during their initial service mathematics lecture since 1998. Data gathered through this diagnostic test have been recorded in a database kept at the university and explored to track trends in mathematical competency of these beginning undergraduates. This paper details findings surrounding an analysis of the database between 2003 and 2013, outlining changes in mathematical competencies of these beginning undergraduates in an attempt to determine reasons for such changes. The analysis found that the proportion of students tested through this diagnostic test that are predicted to be at risk of failing their service mathematics end-of-semester examinations has increased significantly between 2003 and 2013. Furthermore, when students' performance in secondary level mathematics was controlled, it was determined that the performance of beginning undergraduates in 2013 was statistically significantly below that of the performance of the beginning undergraduates recorded 10 years previously.
Impact of storm‐induced cooling of sea surface temperature on large turbulent eddies and vertical turbulent transport in the atmospheric boundary layer of Hurricane Isaac

Roll vortices in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) are important to oil operation and oil spill transport. This study investigates the impact of storm-induced sea surface temperature (SST) cooling on the roll vortices generated by the convective and dynamic instability in the ABL of Hurricane Isaac (2012) and the roll induced transport using hindcasting large eddy simulations (LESs) configured from the multiply nested Weather Research & Forecasting model. Two experiments are performed: one forced by the Unified Wave INterface - Coupled Model and the other with the SST replaced by the NCEP FNL analysis that does not include the storm-induced SST cooling. The simulations show that the roll vortices are the prevalent eddy circulations in the ABL of Isaac. The storm-induced SST cooling causes the ABL stability falls in a range that satisfies the empirical criterion of roll generation by dynamic instability, whereas the ABL stability without considering the storm-induced SST cooling meets the criterion of roll generation by convective instability. The ABL roll is skewed and the increase of convective instability enhances the skewness. Large convective instability leads to large vertical transport of heat and moisture; whereas the dominant dynamic instability results in large turbulent kinetic energy but relatively weak heat and moisture transport. This study suggests that failure to consider roll vortices or incorrect initiation of dynamic and convective instability of rolls in simulations may substantially affect the transport of momentum, energy, and pollutants in the ABL and the dispersion/advection of oil spill fume at the ocean surface.
The Interaction between Security Lending Market and Security Trading Market

We develop a simple model to address the interaction between security lending market and security trading market. Whether a security is hard to borrow or not results in two different scenarios of the interaction process. When a security is easy to borrow, short-selling leads to a lower spot price. When a security is hard to borrow, any CHANGE in shorting supply/demand should be largely absorbed by the lending market, and thus have minimal impact on the spot price. We identify three types of market segmentation that contribute to the observed small aggregate short interest and positive lending fee. A positive lending fee implies that the negative opinion of short sellers is offset by the opposite view of security lenders, leaving the equilibrium security price that reflects only the perception of those who neither lend nor short. We further perform static analyses of the change in the scope of the short-selling prohibition, the population mass of potential lenders, the degree of heterogeneity in beliefs, institutional ownership, and margin requirement. The analytical results derived from this model are potentially useful for resolving the debate on the impact of short-selling on security price.
Effect of direct adding oregano essential oil (Origanum syriacum L.) on quality and stability of chicken meat patties

In meat processing, both manufactures and researchers are focusing toward using natural antioxidant (NA) instead of synthetic one (Solomakos et al., 2008; Shahidi, 2008; Karre et al., 2013). Several research studies reported that adding synthetic antioxidants (SA) may have negative effect on human health (Monahan & Troy, 1997; Taghvaei & Jafari, 2015). For example, In the United State of America (USA) they have been successfully used butylatedhydroxyanisole (BHA), butylatedhydroxytoluene (BHT), and tertiarybutylhydroquinone (TBHQ) to prevent oxidative changes in their meat products (Monahan & Troy, 1997). However, these SA may have toxicological and carcinogenic effects on human (Altmann et al., 1986; Kumar et al., 2015). In addition sodium nitrite or sodium nitrate considers very essential preservative in meat processing (Zubillaga et al., 1984; Decker et al., 2010).
Supplemental chromium in cold-stressed buffalo calves (Bubalus bubalis): effects on growth performance, nutrient utilization and cell mediated and humoral immune response

Various stressors significantly increase urinary excretion of chromium (Cr), suggesting that Cr may be physiologically linked to the responses to control stress. The aim of this study was to determine the physiological responses of buffalo calves to increased Cr supply under low ambient temperature. In a randomized complete block design, twenty-four Murrah buffalo calves were assigned to 4 treatments for a period of 120 days. Treatments included either no supplemental Cr (control), 0.5 mg of supplemental Cr/kg DM, 1.0 mg of supplemental Cr/kg DM, or 1.5 mg of supplemental Cr/kg DM. Buffalo calves were monitored daily for physiological variables, dry matter intake (DMI) and fortnightly for body mass change. Blood samples were collected at fortnightly intervals and analyzed for the biomarkers of immunity and plasma trace mineral concentration. At the end of the 120 day experimental period, a 7 day metabolic trial was conducted. The average temperature-humidity index (THI) and relative humidity (RH) during the study were 58.10 units and 52.0% respectively. Physiological variables, DMI and growth performance did not differ among all treatments. 1.5 mg Cr/kg DM increased B and T-cell proliferation, neutrophil phagocytic activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) value, whereas plasma total immunoglobulin (TIg) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) *Corresponding author: Muneendra Kumar, Assist. Prof., Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, DUVASU, Mathura 281001, India, Mobile number: +91 90 4554 6435; E-mail address: muneendra82@gmail.com
An Analysis of Dynamic Price Discrimination in Airlines

Prices for the same flight change substantially depending on the time of purchase. Labeling this time-variation as discriminatory is misleading because the cost of an unsold airline seat changes with inventory, days before departure and aggregate demand expectations. This paper uses a unique dataset with round-the-clock posted fares to identify a dynamic price discrimination component. Consistent with agents forming expectations of future prices, we find higher prices during office hours (when business travelers are likely to buy tickets) and lower prices in the evening (when leisure travelers are more likely to purchase). As the proportion of business travelers increases closer to departure, both price dispersion and price discrimination become larger. We also find that price discrimination is more pronounced for low cost carriers than for legacy carriers.
Decentralised coordination of electric vehicle aggregators

Given the rapid rise of electric vehicles (EVs) worldwide, and the ambitious targets set for the near future, the management of large EV fleets must be seen as a priority. Specifically, we study a scenario where EV charging is managed through self-interested EV aggregators who compete in the day-ahead market in order to purchase the electricity needed to meet their clients' requirements. In order to reduce electricity costs and lower the impact on electricity markets, a centralised bidding coordination framework has been proposed in the literature, using a trusted black-box coordinator. In order to improve privacy and limit the need for the coordinator, we propose a reformulation of the coordination framework as a decentralised algorithm, employing the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM). We test the resulting algorithm in a realistic scenario with real market and driver data from Spain. Finally, we discuss the potential of implementing the proposed coordination algorithm in a blockchain, providing transparency and anti-tampering guarantees.
Corporate tax incentives and capital structure: empirical evidence

This paper examines how companies' capital structure is affected by the corporate income tax system. Our analysis employs confidential company-level corporation tax return data in the UK. Our main identification strategy is based on variation in companies’ marginal tax rates due to the existence of kinks in the corporate tax rate schedule. Using a dynamic adjustment model of capital structure, we find a positive and substantial long-run tax effect on companies' financial leverage. We show that there are considerable discrepancies between estimates of taxable profits reported in tax return data and in financial statements and that the estimated tax effect on capital structure using financial statements is likely to be biased downward. We find that companies adjust their capital structures gradually in response to changes in the marginal tax rate. Moreover, we find that the external leverage of domestic stand-alone companies and of multinational companies responds strongly to corporate tax incentives.
An Exploration of the Motivations Behind Committee Membership in Food Networks

Food Tourism has been recognised as a fast growing niche area where Ireland can gain competitive advantage. In recognition of the importance of collaboration among diverse stakeholders in the development of food tourism, networks have been identified as essential. This article presents findings from research conducted with three networks and reveals the motivations for committee membership. Data was gathered in 2012 through participant observation and interviews with steering committee members on three food networks using an action research approach. A framework for examining motivations for collaboration is offered in this article which will contribute to effective network management. Motivations are aligned on a spectrum with individualistic motivations on one end and altruistic motivations on the other. Individuals expressing motives for committee membership at the altruistic end of the spectrum tended to focus on the benefits to the community as a whole and to all the businesses involved in network initiatives. At the individualistic end of the spectrum, personal or organisational gains are the motivators for collaboration. The majority of participants were motivated to become involved by recognising the potential benefits to others in the region as well as the personal benefits that could be gained from committee membership. The desire and ability of individuals to volunteer for committee membership was also influenced by contextual factors in the social and business environment within which they operated. Understanding that within a committee, all committee members have their own, possibly different motivations for participation and that there are contextual elements that encourage or prevent them from acting on these motivations, will allow for more effective collaboration and will contribute to the sustainability of networks.
Delta Debugging Microservice Systems

Debugging microservice systems involves the deployment and manipulation of microservice systems on a containerized environment and faces unique challenges due to the high complexity and dynamism of microservices. To address these challenges, in this paper, we propose a debugging approach for microservice systems based on the delta debugging algorithm, which is to minimize failure-inducing deltas of circumstances (e.g., deployment, environmental configurations) for effective debugging. Our approach includes novel techniques for defining, deploying/manipulating, and executing deltas following the idea of delta debugging. In particular, to construct a (failing) circumstance space for delta debugging to minimize, our approach defines a set of dimensions that can affect the execution of microservice systems. Our experimental study on a medium-size microservice benchmark system shows that our approach can effectively identify failure-inducing deltas that help diagnose the root causes.
An Evaluation of Lexicon-based Sentiment Analysis Techniques for the Plays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

We present results from a project in the research area of sentiment analysis of drama texts, more concretely the plays of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. We conducted an annotation study to create a gold standard for a systematic evaluation. The gold standard consists of 200 speeches of Lessing’s plays manually annotated with sentiment information. We explore the performance of different German sentiment lexicons and processing configurations like lemmatization, the extension of lexicons with historical linguistic variants or stop words elimination to explore the influence of these parameters and find best practices for our domain of application. The best performing configuration accomplishes an accuracy of 70%. We discuss the problems and challenges for sentiment analysis in this area and describe our next steps toward further research.
Semantic constraint on preposition incorporation of postverbal locative PPs in Mandarin Chinese

Other than subcategorized argument locative PPs (e.g. 放在桌子上 fàng zài zhuōzi-shàng ‘put on the table’), the postverbal position in Modern Mandarin Chinese can only be filled by limited types of adjunct locative prepositional phrases (e.g. 跳在桌子上 tiào zài zhuōzi-shàng ‘jump onto the table’). Among these postverbal adjunct locative PPs, only a small set of PPs permits the incorporation of the preposition into the preceding verb to form a V-P compound (“preposition incorporation”), yielding their previous prepositional object to surface as the object of the compound verb V-P. Previous studies claim that adjunct phrases which quantize an event, such as event delimiters, may behave like arguments (“the delimiter hypothesis”). Yet, our observations find that adjunct locative PPs that are not event delimiters (e.g. directional 向 xiàng/往 wǎng ‘toward’ PPs or non-directional 在 zài ‘at’ PPs) can also allow their prepositional object to appear as the verbal object. This thus calls for a modification of the widely-accepted delimiter hypothesis. We argue that the semantic characterization of the postverbal locative PPs permitting PI can be generalized as being associated with the denotation of a scalar result. Specifically, we understand result from the perspective of scale structure proposed in recent studies and argue that in addition to delimiting an event (that is, introducing a closed scale to the event from the scalar perspective), such PPs can also either add directional information (an open scale) to the event that they modify, or further specify scalar information for the event denoted by the VP. This work not only provides a unified analysis of most types of preposition incorporation that involve the postverbal locative PPs in Mandarin Chinese, but is also the first study that provides a comprehensive analysis of the scalar properties and functions of Chinese locative PPs. Our findings from the Chinese data will also contribute to the cross-linguistic semantic generalization of internal adjuncts and the domain of extended direct case assignment.
Sentiment Annotation of Historic German Plays: An Empirical Study on Annotation Behavior

We present results of a sentiment annotation study in the context of historical German plays. Our annotation corpus consists of 200 representative speeches from the German playwright Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Six annotators, five non-experts and one expert in the domain, annotated the speeches according to different sentiment annotation schemes. They had to annotate the differentiated polarity (very negative, negative, neutral, mixed, positive, very positive), the binary polarity (positive/negative) and the occurrence of eight basic emotions. After the annotation, the participants completed a questionnaire about their experience of the annotation process; additional feedback was gathered in a closing interview. Analysis of the annotations shows that the agreement among annotators ranges from low to mediocre. The non-expert annotators perceive the task as very challenging and report different problems in understanding the language and the context. Although fewer problems occur for the expert annotator, we cannot find any differences in the agreement levels among non-experts and between the expert and the non-experts. At the end of the paper, we discuss the implications of this study and future research plans for this area.
Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network for Surface Water Extraction in Landsat 8 OLI Satellite Images

Surface water mapping is essential for monitoring climate change, water resources, ecosystem services and the hydrological cycle. In this study, we adopt a multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network to identify surface water in Landsat 8 satellite images. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method when extracting surface water, eight images of typical regions are collected, and a water index and support vector machine are employed for comparison. Through visual inspection and a quantitative index, the performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of the entire scene classification, various surface water types and noise suppression is comprehensively compared with those of the water index and support vector machine. Moreover, band optimization, image preprocessing and a training sample for the proposed algorithm are analyzed and discussed. We find that (1) based on the quantitative evaluation, the performance of the surface water extraction for the entire scene when using the MLP is better than that when using the water index or support vector machine. The overall accuracy of the MLP ranges from 98.25–100%, and the kappa coefficients of the MLP range from 0.965–1. (2) The MLP can precisely extract various surface water types and effectively suppress noise caused by shadows and ice/snow. (3) The 1–7-band composite provides a better band optimization strategy for the proposed algorithm, and image preprocessing and high-quality training samples can benefit from the accuracy of the classification. In future studies, the automation and universality of the proposed algorithm can be further enhanced with the generation of training samples based on newly-released global surface water products. Therefore, this method has the potential to map surface water based on Landsat series images or other high-resolution images and can be implemented for global surface water mapping, which will help us better understand our changing planet.
Estudio metodológico sobre aprovechamiento de materiales de cambio de fase para la elaboración de morteros de revestimiento de arcilla en paramentos interiores de edificación

SEVILLA ÁVILA, Ismael; SERRANO CANTÓ, José L. ; RODRÍGUEZ, Juan Francisco; CASTILLA PASCUAL, Francisco J.; CARMONA, Manuel; SANZ MARTÍNEZ, David. “Estudio metodológico sobre aprovechamiento de materiales de cambio de fase para la elaboración de morteros de revestimiento de arcilla en paramentos interiores de edificación”. En: Arquitectura en tierra. Patrimonio Cultural. XII CIATTI. Congreso de arquitectura en tierra en Cuenca de Campos 2015. [online]. Valladolid: Cátedra Juan de Villanueva. Universidad de Valladolid. 2015. Pp. 175-186