Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Food and sex-specific growth strategies in a spider

Growth patterns are expected to differ between environments and between the sexes if there is sexual dimorphism, the general view being that male growth strategies are primarily sexually selected whereas female growth strategies are fecundity selected. We investigated the effects of food on sex-specific growth in the cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides, a sexually dimorphic spider with larger males than females. In a full sib design, 1164 offspring of 39 once-mated females were reared to sexual maturity under two feeding regimes. Food level had strong positive effects on (1) offspring body size, with males growing larger than females, and (2) offspring mass, with females maturing heavier than males; it had negative effects on (3) development time for males but not females. Males matured before females under unlimited food conditions. Analysing the entire ontogeny revealed that until the last instar, both sexes were equally retarded in development by food limitation, males lagging behind females. During the last instar, the picture reversed: development time of males was equally long at high and low food, while females had extremely long development at high food and abbreviated development at low food. We conclude that females are selected to increase mass and hence fecundity, while sexual selection apparently favours larger males but at the same time earlier maturity (i.e. protandry). Achieving both was only possible when food was plentiful, and is facilitated by a low genetic correlation between development time and body size. We found high genetic variation, as well as genotype–environment interactions, for size, mass, development time and growth rate, and consequently high full-sib but lower parent–offspring (size only) heritabilities. Genetic variation was not greater under food stress but genetic covariation was.
Unsupervised human height estimation from a single image

The single image containing only a human face not previously addressed in the literature is employed to estimate body height. The human face especially the facial vertical distribution possesses some important information which strongly correlates with the stature. The vertical proportions keep up relative constancy during the human growth. Only a few facial features such as the eyes, the lip and the chin are necessary to extract. The metric stature is estimated according to the statistical measurement sets and the facial vertical golden proportion. The estimated stature is tested with some individuals with only a single facial image. The performance of the proposed method is compared with some similar methods, which shows the proposal performs better. The experimental results highlight that the developed method estimates stature with high accuracy.
Prevalence of Uncorrected Refractive Errors among Adolescents at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Vision disorders are the fourth most common disability in children and uncorrected refractive errors are an important cause of visual impairment in many countries. The present study was conducted to identify the prevalence and pattern of refractive errors among intermediate school entrants (12-13 years) at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study population consisted of all the intermediate school entrants (n=1,536) who attended the mandatory health examination for intermediate-school entry between February 2009 and October 2009. Every student was subjected to a 10-minute vision and auto-refractive test performed by a qualified optometrist. Students with visual acuity of 20/28 (6/9) or worse in one or both eyes, an eye disorder (such as strabismus, nystagmus, ptosis) or abnormal ocular movement were referred for a 45-minute complete ophthalmic examination that consisted of the following: 1) distance visual acuity (V/A), 2) cover – uncover test and 3) non-cycloplegic retinoscopy. The refractive error cut-off point was defined according to the spherical equivalent refractive error (SERE). Results: Of the 1,536 students, 209 were diagnosed with one or more refractive errors, with an overall prevalence of 9.8% (8.3% in boys and 11.7% in girls, with a significant gender difference) (P=0.033). The prevalence of different refractive errors was as follows: myopia, 4.5% (95% CI, 3.5-.5.5%); hyperopia, 1.5% (95% CI, 0.9-2.1%); astigmatism, 6.5% (95% CI, 5.3-7.7%); and amblyopia, 0.65% (95% CI, 0.25-1.05%). Conclusion: Our results highlight the need for school–based programs that provide prescription of glasses to students when needed at no cost through government and non-governmental collaborative funds. However, there is a need for further studies to evaluate the cultural beliefs and practice surrounding the use of spectacles in Saudi communities.
A novel method for compound specific determination of δ13C in volatile organic compounds at ppt levels in ambient air

A novel method for the compound specific determination of δ13C in VOC is presented. It combines a cryogenic preconcentration procedure with gas chromatographic separation, on‐line combustion and isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The method allows the determination of δ13C values of VOC at sub ppb levels with a precision of 0.5‰. The procedure is suitable for routine operation. The accuracy of the method is of the same quality as the reproducibility of the measurements. The first ever measurements of δ13C in selected VOC in clean air are presented and compared with data from samples of contaminated air. The variability in the δ13C values of atmospheric VOC is much larger than the accuracy and precision of the measuring method. Hence the technique will be a very valuable tool to complement concentration measurements of VOC and to improve our understanding of the processes governing the distribution of VOC in the atmosphere.
Promoting GP use of the Internet for evidence based practice: evaluation of an educational program

Objectives: To evaluate the impact and acceptability of a training program on effective internet use for general practitioners (GPs). Methods: The training program entitled Chaos to Clarity was developed and piloted in 2005 and was designed to improve GP use of the internet for the purposes of gathering valid and clinically useful medical information. It involved a single session of 45-60 minutes conducted at the GP’s practice, and covered information management skills, search skills, structuring clinical questions, navigating through a selection of reputable clinical databases, and case studies. Thirty three GPs were recruited via three divisions of general practice in Melbourne following invitations via telephone calls, emails and newsletter advertisements. Three project officers were trained in delivering the program which was evaluated quantitatively through pre- and postprogram surveys. Qualitative evaluation was also undertaken using semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 GPs and face-to-face interviews with the project officers. Results: Significant pre- to post-program differences were found for GPs’ knowledge about preappraised evidence-based medicine resources, frequency of use of the internet for clinical purposes, search skills and confidence, and perceived competence in using clinical databases. Favourable attitudes towards using of the internet to obtain clinical information were also reported by GPs. Qualitative data indicated that GPs were more likely to put the training into practice outside consultation times (rather than during consultation) as clinical searches take too long and can detract from doctor/patient rapport. GPs reported that they mainly use the internet to access patient education information, and to perform occasional quick searches for unfamiliar medications or illnesses. Conclusions: Training in efficient use of the internet can increase GP knowledge, skill and interest in using the internet to find evidence-based clinical information.
Assessing Faculty Attitudes toward Faculty Unions: A Survey of Four Primarily Undergraduate Universities

This study examines the views of full-time unionized university faculty at four primarily undergraduate universities in Ontario, Canada, on a broad range of issues related to postsecondary education, faculty associations, and the labor movement. The purpose of the study is twofold: first, to better understand the views of unionized professors regarding the role and effectiveness of their faculty unions and of labor unions more generally, and second to explore what impact such views might have on shaping the strategic orientation and political priorities of faculty associations in a context of unprecedented austerity measures and neoliberal restructuring in Ontario's postsecondary education sector. Based on the findings of a mixed-methods survey, we found that university professors were relatively satisfied union members with a healthy degree of union—as opposed to class—consciousness, but had little appetite for engaging in political activities beyond the narrow scope of postsecondary education. This finding, we argue, reinforces the false division between the “economic” and the “political” in the realm of labor strategy, thus potentially undermining the capacity of unionized faculty associations to effectively resist neoliberal restructuring both on campus and in society more broadly.
Diplomarbeit Multivariate analysis of volatile emission from wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata using GCxGC-ToFMS

The release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is one of the plant specific responses to insect attack. The specificity of this physiological and adaptative response is based on the perception of elicitors contained in the oral secretions (OS) of insect larvae. Fatty acid amino acid conjugates (FACs) are the best characterized class of VOCs elicitors but to which extend they control the total OS-induced VOC emission is only partly understood. To that attempt, we produced sub-fractions of Manduca sexta larvae oral secretions (OS), purified by ion exchange chromatography (FACs-free OS) or simply boiled to denature their protein content, and monitored, as well as that of synthetic FACs, 2-hydroxyoctadecanoid and -glucosidase (two OS constituents), their capacity to induce VOCs production in the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata. VOCs extracts obtained at different time-point post-treatment were analyzed following an unbiased approach combining comprehensive resolution of those mixtures by GCxGC-TOFMS analysis and the use of multivariate statistics. The work-flow developed for this study allowed us to partly identify VOCs markers discriminating samples at the treatment level. If our results confirm the central role fulfilled by FACs; they also show that FACs do not fully explained the reconfiguration VOCs production herbivory and highlight for instance the effect of -glucosidase in the emission of eucalyptol during the dark phase. In parallel, this work also provides a conceptual and reliable approach of analysis GCxGCTOFMS-generated data.
Modeling of sprays using computational fluid dynamics codes

Recently developed approaches to droplet and spray modeling in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes are reviewed. It is emphasized that the modeling of spray primary break-up needs to take into account the transient nature of sprays, while the modeling of droplet heating and evaporation needs to take into account a number of factors, including recirculation and finite thermal conductivity of liquid, semi-transparency of droplets and the kinetic effects. This modeling needs to take place in realistic three-dimensional enclosures, which makes it essential to find a compromise between the accuracy of the models and their CPU efficiency.
Lagrange-Galerkin Methods on Spherical Geodesic Grids

The weak Lagrange? Galerkin finite element method for the 2D shallow water equations on the sphere is presented. This method offers stable and accurate solutions because the equations are integrated along the characteristics. The equations are written in 3D Cartesian conservation form and the domains are discretized using linear triangular elements. The use of linear triangular elements permits the construction of accurate (by virtue of the second-order spatial and temporal accuracies of the scheme) and efficient (by virtue of the less stringent CFL condition of Lagrangian methods) schemes on unstructured domains. Using linear triangles in 3D Cartesian space allows for the explicit construction of area coordinate basis functions thereby simplifying the calculation of the finite element integrals. The triangular grids are constructed by a generalization of the icosahedral grids that have been typically used in recent papers. An efficient searching strategy for the departure points is also presented for these generalized icosahedral grids which involves very few floating point operations. In addition a high-order scheme for computing the characteristic curves in 3D Cartesian space is presented: a general family of Runge? Kutta schemes. Results for six test cases are reported in order to confirm the accuracy of the scheme.
Comparison of Population Genetic Structures between Asian and American Mungbean Accessions Using SSR Markers

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity and population structure of 65 mungbean accessions collected from East and Southeast Asia, the United States and Guatemala using 15 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. In total, 47 alleles were detected, the number of the alleles per locus range from two to six, with an average of 3.13. The mean major allele frequency (MAF), expected heterozygosity (HE), and polymorphic information content (PIC) of the 15 SSR loci were 0.76, 0.05, and 0.28, respectively. Of the 47 alleles, 17 (36.2%) were common, with a frequency of 0.05– 0.5; 16 (34.0%) were rare (frequency 0.5). On the basis of the UPGMA dendrogram, most of the accessions were clustered into two main groups. The first group (Group I) included seven accessions and the second comprised 58 accessions, which were further divided into four subgroups. Four subpopulations were detected by model-based structure analysis. Fifty-five accessions (84.6%) showed a clear relation to each cluster based on their inferred ancestry value (>75%), while the remaining 10 accessions (15.4%) were categorized as admixtures. Mungbean accessions from US distributed to almost all clusters and 2 accessions shared genetic constituents showing it derived from mixed ancestry with Asean accessions. These results could be useful in identifying mungbean germplasms and facilitating their improvement programs.
Reduced Order Models for Beam-Wave Interaction in High Power Microwave Sources

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Comparison between Fenugreek and Lovastatin in restoration of endothelial function in an experimental old rat model

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum) with that of lovastatin in restoration of endothelia function in the aorta taken form aged N-Mair rats. For this purpose, 4 groups of old N-Mari rats were used (n=6), normal saline treated control group, lovastatin (10 mg/kg, orally) and fengreek seed powder in normal saline suspension (100 or 500 mg/kg) were administered orally daily for 8 weeks. The rate of relaxation of ephedrine- precontracted aorta to acetycholine, the lipid profiles, and histological examinations of the aorta were compared between these two groups and with a control non-treated normal saline treated group. The results showed that treatment with lovastatin and fenugreek produced significant reduction in IDL, VLDL triglyceride and total cholesterol, while HDL was increased as compared to control non-treated group. Lovastatin induced an increase in contraction/mg tissue weight. However, improvement in endothelial function was significantly increased in all treatment groups. The histological findings showed significant reduction in thickness and lipid deposits in the aorta in all treatment groups. The improvement in the epithelial function was correlated with LDL-cholesterol lowering and partly with the reduction in the thickness of the aortic intimal layer. This study demonstrated that fenugreek is as effective as lovastatin in reducing the features associated with atherosclerosis.
What factors determines the FDI net flows in Africa? GMM and PMG techniques

This study investigated the determinants of FDI in Africa during the time period from 1974 to 2013, and annual data from the World Bank, African Union and United Nation. The study used GMM estimator and conducted three estimations, namely, 5 years, 8 years and 10 years average’ estimations. Besides, to robustness check the results, the study used PMG estimator and therefore the full sample countries has been divided into three groups according to the income level, namely, low-income, lower middle-income and upper middle-income groups. The results suggested that the net inflows of the FDI in Africa are determined by economic growth, human capital, infrastructure, domestic investment and trade openness of the region.
Economy of Scale in the Production of Selected Educational Outcomes.

In this study, the authors sought to examine the concept of economy of scale as it relates to school systems. We consider CY% Prk this as a part of a broader theoretical question, namely the rJ identification of relevant factors which in some way contribute (NJ to the production of educational outputs. In the instance where CD C2i the system under examination is a school or school district, then we may think of there being two kinds of inputs to the system:
Beyond the dyadic: customer engagement in increasingly networked environments

In recent years, marketing is witnessing a paradigm shift where traditional boundaries between customer and provider roles are blurring, and markets are becoming increasingly interconnected. That is, contemporary customers are no longer simply fulfilling passive end-user roles in relation to firm-based offerings, but are proactively contributing to their interactions with brands, firms and other stakeholders. Through these interactions, customers are therefore increasingly engaged in shaping firms' offering and cocreating value.
Do Funds-of-Funds Deserve Their Fees-on-Fees?

Since the after-fee returns of funds-of-funds are, on average, lower than hedge fund returns, it is easy to conclude that funds-of-funds do not add value compared to hedge funds. However, funds-of-funds should not be evaluated relative to hedge fund returns in publicly reported databases. Instead, the correct fund-of-funds benchmark is the set of direct hedge fund investments an investor could achieve on her own without recourse to funds-of-funds. We use asset allocation concepts to estimate characteristics of the fund-of-funds benchmark distribution. Since the benchmark characteristics are reasonable, we conclude that funds-of-funds, on average, deserve their fees-on-fees.
The Memory Orientation Screening Test (MOST) Accurately Separates Normal from MCI and Demented Elders in a Prevalence-Stratified Sample

Abstract Purpose: The Memory Orientation Screening Test (MOST) is compared with standard neuropsychological tests in a sample of elders reflecting the population prevalence of normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. Methods: One hundred, forty-eight elders without dementia diagnosis completed neuropsychological tests, the MOST, and MMSE. Neuropsychological results reclassified 37 as having MCI or mild dementia. Clinically diagnosed patients were added, creating a 217-person sample reflecting the population distribution of normal, MCI and dementia. Results: The MOST correlated highly with diagnostic severity and each neuropsychological test, demonstrating 80% correct diagnostic classification. The MOST showed a stronger relationship with dementia severity and list memory than MMSE. MOST cutting scores provided 88% sensitivity and 83% specificity for identifying MCI and dementia, yielding a PPV of . 72 and NPV of . 93. Conclusion: The MOST accurately classifies patients from a diagnostically proportioned sample as normal, MCI, or demented and has high sensitivity and specificity for separating normal from impaired. Providers can use this 5-minute test to accurately identify cognitively impaired patients and to reassure elders with normal cognition, while acknowledging that no single test is adequate for making a definitive diagnosis.
Do Corporate Control and Product Market Competition Lead to Stronger Productivity Growth? Evidence from Market‐Oriented and Blockholder‐Based Governance Regimes*

We investigate the impact of corporate governance and product market competition on productivity of German and U.K. firms. We find a strong positive relation between productivity and product market competition and various governance mechanisms. In poorly performing U.K. firms, the presence of strong outside blockholders leads to substantial increases in productivity. In contrast, for poorly performing and distressed German firms, it is bank debt concentration that stimulates productivity growth. Whereas high bank debt concentration also supports productivity growth in profitable German firms, leverage is unrelated to productivity growth in U.K. firms. Weak product market competition in the United Kingdom has a negative impact on productivity growth in both widely held and concentrated firms, with the exception of firms controlled by insiders. For profitable German firms, only control by banks, insurance firms, and the government can somewhat reduce the negative effect of weak product market competition.
Stormwater Quality Benefits of Permeable Pavement Systems with Deep Aggregate Layers

Green infrastructure (GI) stormwater control measures (SCMs), such as permeable pavement systems, are common practices used for controlling stormwater runoff. In this paper, two permeable pavement strips were studied to quantify their water quality performance. The quality monitoring was coupled with comprehensive rainfall analysis to investigate the effects of common rainfall characteristics on the quality performance of the systems. The pavements utilized deep aggregate layers to promote higher infiltration, and were installed in parking lanes of an urban neighborhood. Water quality samples were collected from upgradient stormwater runoff and from stormwater captured by the permeable pavements. In addition to total suspended solids (TSS), nutrients, and dissolved metals, this research also investigated bacterial contamination (Escherichia coli, E. coli). The results indicated that the two permeable pavement systems significantly reduced concentrations of TSS, E. coli, total phosphorus, and ammonia. The average reductions of TSS and E. coli between the two systems were 47% and 69%, respectively. It was also observed that pollutant loadings in the stormwater runoff, as well as pollutant reductions, were affected by the intensity of sampled rainfall events. Thus, it is suggested to consider the effects of rainfall characteristics when reporting the water quality benefits of stormwater GIs.