Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical and microphysical properties of the aerosol during foggy and nonfoggy episodes: a relationship between organic and inorganic content of the aerosol

Abstract. An extensive field measurement during winter was carried out at a site located in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) which gets heavily influenced by the fog during winter almost every year. The chemical and microphysical properties of the aerosols during foggy and nonfoggy episodes and chemical composition of the fogwater are presented. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) as a tool for the source apportionment was employed to understand the sources of pollution. Four major sources viz. biomass burning, refractory, secondary and mineral dust were identified. Aerosols properties during foggy episodes were heavily influenced by almost all the sources and they caused considerable loading of almost all the organic and inorganic species during the period. The biomass generated aerosols were removed from the atmosphere by scavenging during foggy episodes. The wet removal of almost all the species by the fog droplets was observed. The K+, water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), water soluble inorganic carbon (WSIC) and NO3- were most heavily scavenged among the species and their concentrations consequently became lower than the nonfoggy episode concentrations. The production of secondary inorganic aerosol, mainly sulfate and ammonium, during foggy episodes was considerably higher than nitrate which was rather heavily scavenged and removed by the fog droplets. The fogwater analysis showed that dissolved inorganic species play a vital role in processing of organic carbon such as the formation of organo-sulfate and organo-nitrate inside the fog droplets. The formation of organo-sulfate and organo-nitrate in aerosol and the influence of acidity on the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation were rather found to be negligible. The study average inorganic component of the aerosol was considerably higher than the carbonaceous component during both foggy and nonfoggy episode. The secondary production of the aerosol changed the microphysical properties of aerosol which was reflected by increase in the modal diameter of the size distribution during foggy episodes and growth in the diameter of the particles upon the fog evaporation.
Speech production and syntax comprehension deficits on Mt .

Deficits in speech motor control and in the comprehension of syntax were observed as five members of the 1993 American Sagarmatha Expedition ascended Mt. Everest. We analyzed speech recordings and cognitive test scores of the climbers at different altitudes. The mean “voice onset time” interval that differentiates “voiced” stop consonants from their “unvoiced” counterparts (e.g., a [b] from a [p]) decreased from 24.0 ms at Base Camp to 5.4 ms at Camp Three. The time needed to comprehend simple spoken English sentences increased by 50% at higher altitudes, and was correlated with speech motor deterioration. This pattern of deficits is similar to that noted for Parkinson’s disease and may reflect disruption of subcortical pathways to prefrontal cortex. Similar procedures could be used to remotely assess cognitive impairments caused by hypoxia, carbon monoxide or alcohol intoxication, or drugs, in order to monitor crew behavior in aeronautics and spaceflight operations, or to evaluate the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.
Negative Effects of Gas Flaring: The Nigerian Experience

Gas flaring have been condemned severally in different countries of the world. Though the practice is still obtainable in some countries with many calling for a stop. The environmental and health implications were examined with Nigeria as a case study. Data and information were retrieved from pubmed, medline and other search engines. All available data/information depict the negative effects of gas flaring on the environment and humans. Gas flaring have impoverished the communities where it is practiced, with attendant environmental, economic and health challenges. Reluctance on the part of government and policy makers is also a factor. These difficulties faced by local communities from gas flares are a sufficient justification for ending gas flaring practice. Fines by defaulting companies should be so exorbitant so as to deter them while the gas can be processed and produced into cooking/domestic gas. The time to stop is now and the place to stop is here: Nigeria.
The Role of Working Capital Accruals on Earnings Quality and Stock Return

A failure to beat earnings expectations often results in an immediate fall in a firm’s stock price, while exceeding market expectations is normally rewarded by investors in the form of an increased stock price. As a result, managers may have a vested interest in ‘managing’ the reported earnings growth when remuneration packages are linked to corporate profitability. Investors may be misled by this earnings management process if they are fail to consider the quality of earnings when assessing stock returns. Investors can determine earnings quality through the information disclosures provided by management, although such information may not be routinely provided by corporate management teams. In situations where the market focuses primarily on firms’ reported income and fails to consider the quality of accounting earnings, there may be temporary divergence of stock prices from their correct values. Where the market focuses on the reported income figure in a firm’s income statement it fails to consider information about earnings quality, such as the disclosures about working capital accruals. The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) states that the usefulness of accounting information is the principal objective of financial statements (FASB, 1978). This paper investigates whether the usefulness of accounting information in the decision making process is enhanced by recognizing the impact that information about earnings quality may have on stock returns. More specifically, the paper focuses on the impact of accounting accruals as the main measurement and indicator of earnings quality.
Temporal and along-shelf distribution of the larval fish assemblage at Gran Canaria , Canary Islands

temporal and spatial variations of the larval fish community off the island of gran Canaria (Canary islands) were studied in weekly surveys from october 2005 to June 2006. a total of 156 taxa, belonging to 51 families and 15 orders, were identified. Myctophidae was by far the most abundant family (30%), followed by Sparidae (11%), Clupeidae (9%) and gonostomatidae (7%). as expected for an oceanic island, neritic and oceanic taxa contributed in similar proportions. Leeward and windward retention areas were found for total egg and neritic larval abundance. However, seasonality showed a stronger influence on the annual larval assemblage than sampling site, as the latter was not significant on a long time scale. results suggest that there are two seasonal larval assemblages corresponding to the two main characteristic periods of the water column in these waters: mixing (winter) and stratification (summer). in addition, a significant relationship was recorded between lunar illumination and small mesozooplankton biomass, suggesting that this relationship may be extended to certain neritic families. the most abundant neritic larvae (Sparidae) showed this lunar pattern, which partially supports a recent hypothesis about the effect of lunar illumination on larval fish survival and development in subtropical waters.
Leveraging News and Advertising to Introduce New Brands on the Web

ABSTRACT Previous studies using the integrated marketing communications framework have examined the increased effectiveness of combining either multiple media or different tactics when promoting a brand. This study considers integrating advertising and publicity to promote an unknown brand on the Internet. Experiment results indicate that when exposure to advertising combines with exposure to objective news about a new brand, effectiveness increases in terms of both brand attitudes and behavioral intentions. For sequencing exposures for technical brands, the news-then-advertising condition offers more effectiveness than the reverse sequence. When introducing non-technical brands on the Web though, using advertising first is more effective in terms of brand attitudes.
Lysosomal and pseudocoelom routing protects Caenorhabditis elegans from ricin toxicity

The resistance of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans towards the highly potent toxin ricin has been studied. Incubation of C. elegans in ricin did not affect life span or progeny production. However, micro-injection of the ricin A-chain into the distal, syncitial gonad caused degeneration and sterility in test specimens, confirming that C. elegans ribosomes are sensitive. Using transmission electron microscopy, it was observed that ricin is effectively internalised into the intestinal cells. When pre-labelled with gold, the toxin reached only the lysosomes. When native toxin was used, the toxin was either routed to the lysosomes or underwent transcytosis to the pseudocoelomatic cavity and incorporation into embryos. None of the ricin reached either the trans Golgi network or the Golgi apparatus, considered essential for toxicity. The observed oral non-toxicity is therefore due to alternate sorting of the toxin, a mechanism not previously observed. The data indicate that, although ricin can opportunistically bind to, and be internalised by, cell surface receptors, these receptors are not sufficient to elicit toxicity.
Brown Rice-Beyond the Color Reviving a Lost Health Food - A Review

1 Abstract: Rice is a staple food for over half of the world's population. Today people are going for whole food, to the days our forefather had been eating. You hardly heard of cancer, heart attack and diabetics and so on. All these degenerative deceases in our present society are caused by the pollutants from within and without. White food, better known as refined carbohydrates was once a delicacy affordable only to the financially wealthy. However, financial wealth does not equate to a wealth of health. A primary reason for the development of refining wheat for white flour products is to establish a longer shelf life. Whole wheat flour left in sacks for long periods of time cause bugs to appear within it. In their natural form, whole grains contain natural nutrients vital to our health.
Kinship , Social Preferences and Voting in Rural China : A Lab-inthe-Field Experiment

Economists have come to understand that human choices are not only driven by self-interest but also “social preferences” – a person’s concern over resources allocated to other people. Moreover, such preferences may be affected by the environment in which such choices are made, especially social networks and social pressure. We performed a lab-in-the-field experiment in rural China, where we recruited 162 Chinese farmers to vote in 7 variants of allocation games in randomly assigned groups and with real-world social contacts, with and without pressure. We find that social network and social pressure combined have significant yet heterogeneous effects on social preferences. The source of heterogeneity include the assignment with in-group or out-group members, membership in dominant lineages, individual characteristics as defined by age and gender, and the degree of kinship between individuals within a social group. Our study not only provide empirical evidence for the social preference theories but also urges policy makers to be careful in choosing an appropriate voting method. In addition, constraining the power of dominant lineage and having better educated villagers more involved in village affairs could be welfare improving. ∗Xin Gao: Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. Address: 362 Warren Hall, Cornell University Ithaca NY 14850 (E-mail: xg68@cornell.edu)
Exchange Risk Sensitivity and Its Determinants: A Firm and Industry Analysis of U.S. Multinationals

We develop a model of firm valuation to examine the exchange risk sensitivity of 409 U.S. multinational firms during the 1978-89 period. In contrast to previous studies, we find that exchange rate fluctuations do affect firm value. More specifically, we find that approximately sixty percent of firms with significant exchange risk exposure gain from a depreciation of the dollar. We also find that cross-sectional differences in exchange risk sensitivity are linked to key firm-specific operational values (i.e., foreign operating profits, sales, and assets). Although we find limited support for exchange risk sensitivity when we aggregate the data into 20 SIC-based industry groups, we do observe some cross-sectional and inter-temporal variation in the significant exchange risk sensitivity during the weak-dollar as compared to the strong-dollar period.
Beneficial Effects of Marine Algae-Derived Carbohydrates for Skin Health

Marine algae are considered to be an abundant sources of bioactive compounds with cosmeceutical potential. Recently, a great deal of interest has focused on the health-promoting effects of marine bioactive compounds. Carbohydrates are the major and abundant constituent of marine algae and have been utilized in cosmetic formulations, as moisturizing and thickening agents for example. In addition, marine carbohydrates have been suggested as promising bioactive biomaterials for their various properties beneficial to skin, including antioxidant, anti-melanogenic and skin anti-aging properties. Therefore, marine algae carbohydrates have potential skin health benefits for value-added cosmeceutical applications. The present review focuses on the various biological capacities and potential skin health benefits of bioactive marine carbohydrates.
CRITICAL POINTS AND CURVATURE IN CIRCULAR CLAMPED PLATES

In this article we investigate some qualitative properties of the solutions of the classical linear model for clamped plates on circular domains, under constant sign external loads. In particular we prove that inside the circle there are at most a nite number of critical points, which in turn rules out the existence of critical curves. We also study the curvature of the level curves of the solutions, and we prove that the curvature function is continuous up to the border, even though the gradient of the solutions vanishes on the border circle.
Sensorial Integration and Intellectual Disabilities : Influence of Psychomotor Intervention

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of a psychomotor intervention from the perspective of sensorial integration in children with Intellectual Disability (ID). Children with ages 5 to 12 participated in the program, diagnosed with ID, and were evaluated before and after by Psychomotor Battery Tests (BPM). The intervention was constructed with sessions of Physical Education, characterized as psychomotor education/reeducation, and was composed of 44 individual sessions of 50 minutes each. The results showed that the program had an influence in the following psychomotor fundaments: tonicity, laterality, body schema, global and final praxis. However, there was less influence in balance and space-time structure. As such, after the test, there was an improvement in the psychomotor profile of the participants. Therefore, it was concluded that psychomotor intervention based on sensorial integration positively influenced the development of psychomotor fundamentals of the participating children with ID.
Media Effects on Racial Attitudes: Evidence from a Three-Wave Panel Survey in a Political Campaign

In Western democracies, the public harbors mostly negative attitudes toward ethnic minorities and favors policy programs intended to restrict immigration (Pettigrew, Wagner, & Christ, 2007). In some cases, these prejudices may stem from the coverage of ethnic minorities in the news media. On U.S. television, ethnic minorities are typically portrayed negatively, for example, as being poor or violent, as well as being loud politicians, or criminals (Dixon & Linz, 2000; Entman & Rojecki, 2000). Studies from Europe also reveal that racial bias is a core component of media reporting on ethnic minorities (e.g., Lubbers, Scheepers, & Wester, 1998; Ruhrmann, 2002). Given that media coverage of minorities is overwhelmingly negatively biased, exposure to such news is likely to perpetuate ethnic prejudice (Mastro, 2009).
Linear predictability vs. bull and bear market models in strategic asset allocation decisions: evidence from UK data

Most papers in the portfolio choice literature have examined linear predictability frameworks based on the idea that simple but flexible Vector Autoregressive (VAR) models can be expanded to produce portfolio allocations that hedge against the bull and bear dynamics typical of financial markets through careful selection of predictor variables that capture business cycles and market sentiment. Yet, a distinct literature exists that shows that non-linear econometric frameworks, such as Markov switching, are also natural tools to compute optimal portfolios arising from the existence of good and bad market states. This paper examines whether and how simple VARs can produce portfolio rules similar to those obtained under a simple Markov switching, by studying the effects of expanding both the order of the VAR and the number/selection of predictor variables included. In a typical stock-bond strategic asset allocation problem for UK data, we compute the out-of-sample certainty equivalent returns for a wide range of VARs and compare these measures of performance with those of non-linear models. We conclude that most VARs cannot produce portfolio rules, hedging demands or (net of transaction costs) out-of-sample performances that approximate those obtained from simple non-linear frameworks.
Degradation of selected nutrients in sunflower oils during long-term storage

We investigated the influence of long-term storage (10 months) at an average ambient temperature of 25°C on oxidative stability of sunflower oils (made in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary) and their nutrients. Chemical properties were determined and changes in oxidative stability monitored. Oil samples were collected and analysed for the content of tocopherols and β-carotene. Degradation of nutrients depends on chemical composition of oils and storage conditions. It was found that the concentration of both antioxidants decreased in all the samples with the increase in storage time. According to the results, losses of total tocopherols and β-carotene in refined sunflower oils stored in transparent 5-l PET bottles and exposed to daylight at ambient temperature were found to be 52-64 % and 63-65 %, respectively. The country of origin had no statistically significant impact on the oxidative stability of stored sunflower oils.
WORKING PAPER SERIES THE BIGGER PICTURE : COMBINING ECONOMETRICS WITH ANALYTICS IMPROVE FORECASTS OF MOVIE SUCCESS

There exists significant hype regarding how much machine learning and incorporating social media data can improve forecast accuracy in commercial applications. To assess if the hype is warranted, we use data from the film industry in simulation experiments that contrast econometric approaches with tools from the predictive analytics literature. Further, we propose new strategies that combine elements from each literature in a bid to capture richer patterns of heterogeneity in the underlying relationship governing revenue. Our results demonstrate the importance of social media data and value from hybrid strategies that combine econometrics and machine learning when conducting forecasts with new big data sources. Specifically, while recursive partitioning strategies greatly outperform dimension reduction strategies and traditional econometric approaches in forecast accuracy, there are further significant gains from using hybrid approaches. Further, Monte Carlo experiments demonstrate that these benefits arise from the significant heterogeneity in how social media measures and other film characteristics influence box office outcomes. Steven F. Lehrer School of Policy Studies and Department of Economics Queen's University Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 CANADA and NBER lehrers@queensu.ca Tian Xie Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics Department of Finance, MOE Key Lab of Econometric Xiamen, Fujian 361005, China xietian001@hotmail.com
African Financial Development Dynamics: Big Time Convergence

Purpose - – Assessment of African financial development dynamic convergences in money, credit, efficiency and size. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirical evidence is premised on 11 homogenous panels based on regions (Sub-Saharan and North Africa), income-levels (low, middle, lower-middle and upper-middle), legal-origins (English common-law and French civil-law) and religious dominations (Christianity and Islam). The paper examines convergence in financial intermediary dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size. Findings - – Findings suggest that countries with small-sized financial intermediary depth, efficiency, activity and size are catching-up countries with large-sized financial intermediary depth, efficiency, activity and size, respectively. The paper also provide the speeds of convergence and time necessary to achieve a full (100 percent) convergence. Practical implications - – The presence of strong links among African banking sectors may present little opportunity for portfolio diversification. The convergence patterns show positive steps toward regional integration. As a policy implication, African governments should not relent in structural and institutional reforms. Originality/value - – It is the first critical assessment of convergence in financial intermediary development dynamics in the African continent.
Variation in Pond Hydroperiod Affects Larval Growth in Southern Leopard Frogs, Lithobates sphenocephalus

Size at metamorphosis is an important correlate of amphibian fitness. Several, often interrelated factors, such as hydroperiod, competition, and food availability, determine metamorph size. Hydroperiod is a defining characteristic of ponds, but pond drying is not always a deterministic process, and refilling can occur prior to complete drying. We conducted an experiment to test if a recurring four-week partial drying/filling cycle affected amphibian growth and size using a population of overwintering larval Lithobates sphenocephalus (Southern Leopard Frogs). Effects of the drying/filling cycle varied over time on larval mass, but this cycle had no overall effect on other measures of larval or metamorph size. Metamorph size covaried with both survival and larval period length: individuals were larger at metamorphosis when survival was lower and among individuals with longer larval periods. We observed the first reported instance of prolonged larval periods across multiple winters in L. sphenocephalus, wherein some of our larvae exposed to the drying/filling cycle required 18 months to reach metamorphosis. Individuals that overwintered as larvae for a second winter were larger at metamorphosis than those that metamorphosed at the end of the previous summer. Lithobates sphenocephalus maximize metamorphic size rather than optimize metamorphic timing, and metamorph size can also be affected by larval survival.
A M aori homeless woman

Indigenous peoples are overrepresented in homeless populations in many countries. As part of a larger ethnographic project, this case study draws upon interviews and photoelicitation projects with a homeless M aori woman, Ari a. The actions of this M aori woman exemplify how Indigenous cultural practices can shape a person’s efforts to retain a positive sense of self and place while homeless. M aori cultural concepts relating to caring, leadership, unity, relationships, spirituality, history and place provide a basis for interpreting Ari a’s actions. This article demonstrates the appropriateness of cultural concepts indigenous to a group for conducting ethnographic research into homelessness within that group.