Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Steady states in rapidly evolving populations

Populations are subject to mutations conferring beneficial effects, as well as mutations conferring deleterious effects. Even if deleterious mutations occur much more frequently than beneficial mutations, the contribution of deleterious mutations to the overall rate of change of the population-wide mean fitness may be limited, due to the efficient action of selection. However, in particularly rapidly evolving populations, the stochastic accumulation of deleterious mutations may negate a significant fraction of the fitness increments provided by beneficial mutations, or even result in an overall decrease in fitness over time. Here we obtain a constraint on beneficial and deleterious mutation rates and selection pressures in order for positive adaptation to counterbalance fitness decline via Muller's ratchet. The steady state that separates parameter regimes of positive adaptation and negative adaptation is characterized by appealing to the exponential dependence of fixation probabilities on fitness effect sizes. We consider a range of fitness-mediated epistatic interactions and the corresponding implications regarding the existence, location and stability of long-term evolutionary fixed points. Thesis Supervisor: Mehran Kardar Title: Francis Friedman Professor of Physics
Home-School Communication and Expectations of Recent Chinese Immigrants

In this study, I investigated the nature of communication between home and school in families who recently immigrated to Canada. I used an open-ended questionnaire in interviews of 21 Chinese immigrant families and 19 non-immigrant European-Canadian families. The immigrant parents’ pattern of communication differed from that of non- immigrant parents: immigrant parents communicated less frequently, had more difficulty comprehending the communication, and were less satisfied with the communication. The immigrant parents especially emphasized the academic progress of their children and were concerned with the quality of teaching. L’etude porte sur la nature des communications entre la famille et l’ecole dans le cas de nouveaux immigrants chinois. A l’aide de questions ouvertes, l’auteure a interviewe 21 familles d’immigrants chinoises et 19 familles de non-immigrants europo- canadiennes. Le mode de communication des parents chinois differe de celui des parents non immigrants : les parents chinois communiquent moins frequemment, ont plus de difficulte a comprendre la communication et en tirent moins de satisfaction. Ils mettent surtout l’accent sur les progres scolaires de leurs enfants et se preoccupent de la qualite de l’enseignement.
DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE TEST OF A TWIN-FUSELAGE CONFIGRATION SOLAR-POWERED UAV

In order to improve the payload capability, reduce the bending moments and make the accession to near-space easier, the development of a twin-fuselage configuration solar-powered UAV is introduced in this paper. The purposes of this project are to exercise and evaluate the primary functionalities of the crucial engineering techniques for future full-scale high-altitude long-endurance solar powered UAV. Firstly, the impaction of solar cell to aerofoil, three-dimensional effect and aerodynamic trim are discussed in the aerodynamic design process. Secondly, the deformational modes of the UAV under statics and dynamics pressure are analyzed in the structure design process. Thirdly, the aerodynamic performance and structural stability are demonstrated and validated by flight test. The test results show that the works in aerodynamic and structural design are effective and suitable for conceptual and preliminary design of twin-fuselage configuration solar-powered aircraft.
A Comparative Study of Handling Missing Data in Student Data Analysis using Rough Set and Soft Set

When analyze the student data some of the data may seem to be missing. By using a number of techniques such missing data can be brought to line. Among the methods which are used to handle this issue to recover the missing values some popular methods can be adopted, such as CDC (Complete Delete Case), LOCF (Last Observation Carried Forward), RST (Rough Set Technique) and (SS) Soft Set. When data is analyzed in reality mainly three types of missing data occurs depending on the reasons of missingness. They can be classified as MCAR, MAR and MNAR. In order to evaluate the performance of this three usual missing data cases number of similar experiments under a variety of situations where conducted to bring the responsible factors to the surface in this paper. It was noted that the CDC method cannot be used in the data analysis of educational trials. The methods of LOCF and RST are successfully performed under the missing mechanism of MCAR. The methods which can be reliably and comfortably grounded under the MAR missing mechanism are the RST and SS methods.
Who Says What or Nothing at All? Speakers, Frames, and Frameless Quotes in Unauthorized Immigration News in the United States, Norway, and France

Determining the speakers and arguments that dominate the news has long been a core task of media sociology. Yet systematic evidence linking the two—who says what or nothing at all—is lacking in news analysis, especially on the important issue of immigration. In this article, we analyze quoted sources and issue frames in U.S., French, and Norwegian news coverage of unauthorized immigration during 2011 and 2012. Supporting claims of transnational media homogenization, we find most quotes are “frameless,” that is, do not contain any substantial arguments addressing the problems, causes, or solutions associated with immigration. Of those quotes that do offer frames, problem frames are far more common than causes and solutions. Across nations and media types, government sources dominate the news, focusing on problems for society, while pro-immigration associations and unaffiliated individuals help account for overall greater attention to problems for immigrants. On the other hand, providing limited support for structural variation, less narrative-driven French media featured fewer frameless quotes and also tended to offer more cause and solution frames than U.S. or Norwegian media; dominant frames varied notably across nations; and elite right newspapers were more likely to quote anti-immigration speakers and emphasize problems for society than other types of outlets. We also find that the mediated immigration “debate” is often only a series of opposed monologues; even ideologically diverse groups such as unaffiliated citizens tend to be linked to a small range of frames, suggesting that “who says what” is not a reflection of society, but rather the outcome of journalistic practices and sources’ rhetorical tactics.
Studies on effects of salicylic acid and thiourea on biochemical activities and yield production in wheat (Triticum aestivum var. Gimaza 9) plants grown under drought stress

Drought is a problem of water deficit in the soil. It causes restrictions of wheat plants growth and productivity. In the present approach, we explored new methods for drought managment. Wheat grains were presoaked in ~1 mmol salicylic acid (SA). Wheat was left to grow with 40% soil water holding capacity in pots until yielding stages. The leaves which were produced were two-times sprayed with 2.5 and 5 mmol thiourea (Th) before anthesis. Morphological and biochemical traits were analyzed on the heading stage in addition to yield and yield components. Results show a conspicuous anti-drought effect in pretreated-compared to untreated-wheat. For example, pretreated wheat with SA and/or Th, possessed a significant increase in carotenoids, antioxidant enzymes activities and some metabolites (growth promotors, photosynthetic pigments, carbohydrates, nitrogenous constituents and minerals). On the contrary, lipid peroxidation and H 2 O 2 decreased in level under the effect of external treatments. Wheat general morphology and yield components were generally improved upon SA and/or Th pretreatments. These data reinforced further investigations to reveal the reason behind the anti-drought responses in treated wheat with low doses of SA and/or Th before and during exposure to a progressive drought. Keywords: Biochemical activity, foliar application, salicylic acid, thiourea, wheat
Economic versus Strategic Constraints: the Asymmetric Behaviour of Defense Spending in France

This article examines the main drivers of French defense expenditure between 1960 and 2010. France has to balance with two contradictory issues: strategic constraint and budgetary process. We assume that nonlinear approach is suitable to evaluate the demand function. Our results support latter assumption and we use time trend as transition function. Economic factors play a major role and considering the nonlinear pattern, we show that, before 1983, economic growth is inversely related to defense expenditure whereas the opposite arises after this threshold. Strategic considerations exert a little impact.
Title Attachment Style and Political Ideology : A Review of Contradictory Findings Permalink

Relational attachment style—a lifespan factor whose first manifestation at the age of 6 months continues into old age—has recently been theoretically and empirically linked to political ideology. A review of the literature that links these two constructs reveals a conflicting pattern. Secure attachment is predominantly associated with liberalism and its covariates, although the relationship is not robust, and there are some exceptions. Insecure avoidant attachment is associated with both liberalism and conservatism, along with their respective covariates. Finally, insecure anxious-ambivalent attachment is associated with covariates of conservatism. We propose a tentative distinction between motivational conceptualizations of attachment as a relational need and of attachment as a relational habit, which may help to clarify the relationship between attachment style and political ideology.
The Effect of Minimum Wages on Labour Market Flows – Evidence from Germany

Using a linked employer-employee data set on the German construction industry, we analyse the effects of the introduction of minimum wages in this sector on labour market dynamics at the establishment level, i.e. turnover and churning flows, as well as accessions and separations and their underlying worker flows. The fact that minimum wages in Germany are sector-specific enables us to apply a between approach using other industries as control groups in a difference-in-differences framework. Furthermore, we use a within approach with high-wage workers as control group. While the within approach shows that the minimum wage reduced worker flows in East Germany, the between approach yields positive effect on labour market dynamics in West Germany. Our results can be explained by differences between East and West Germany with respect to the bite of the minimum wage, as well as the much higher prevalence of posted workers in West Germany. Furthermore, spillover effects to highwage workers are likely to have played a role in East Germany.
Effects of solar wind density on auroral electrojets

During the magnetic cloud event of January 10–11, 1997, several density enhancements in the solar wind were observed while other solar wind parameters were relatively constant. By using this fortuitous opportunity, the effects of the solar wind density on the intensity of the auroral electrojets are examined. It is found that a positive relationship exists between the solar wind density and the intensity of the auroral electrojets. The relationship is found to be much weaker for northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) than for southward IMF. It is also shown that when the IMF is directed southward, the density effect is dominant in the westward electro jet, while it is most effective in the eastward electro jet when the IMF is directed northward.
Total Factor Productivity of Main and Second Rice Production in Thailand

This paper provides empirical evidence on the total factor productivity (TFP) of the Thai rice sector. It measures growth rates of TFP for the main and second crops and investigates the factors influencing the growth. The study employs pooled cross-section and time-series data covering four regions (North, Northeast, Central and South) over the period 1995-2011. TFPs of the main and second rice crops are measured separately using the Solow-type growth accounting method. The TFP measures are decomposed to identify their determinants using the panel data estimation techniques. The results show that TFP has generally been the main source of growth in rice production, for both main and second crops. The TFP growth, however, has been declining in recent years, particularly of the main crop, threatening long-term growth of the Thai rice industry. The results suggest public investment in research and adoption of high-yielding rice varieties are the key to sustaining long-term growth of both the main and second crops.
Coherent metamaterial absorption of two-photon states with 40% efficiency

Multiphoton absorption processes have a nonlinear dependence on the amplitude of the incident optical field, i.e., the number of photons. However, multiphoton absorption is generally weak and multiphoton events occur with extremely low probability. Consequently, it is extremely challenging to engineer quantum nonlinear devices that operate at the single photon level and the majority of quantum technologies have to rely on single photon interactions. Here we demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that exploiting coherent absorption of N = 2 NOON states makes it possible to enhance the number of two-photon states that are absorbed by at most a factor of 2 with respect to a linear absorption process. An absorbing metasurface placed inside a Sagnac-style interferometer into which we inject an N = 2 NOON state, exhibits two-photon absorption with 40.5 % efficiency, close to the theoretical maximum. This high probability of simultaneous absorption of two photons holds the promise for applications in fields that require multiphoton upconversion but are hindered by high peak intensities.
Testing the relevance of prenuclear accents for predicting intonational meaning in German

Listeners can rapidly integrate intonational information to infer a speaker’s intended meaning. But not all components of an intonation contour contribute to meaning equally well. Prenuclear pitch accents, tonal events preceding the nuclear pitch accent in an utterance, have been described as not reliably mapping onto discourse meaning. We use mouse tracking to investigate whether German listeners can use prenuclear pitch accents to predict upcoming referential information in the utterance. Our results are compatible with the assumption that listeners ignore prenuclear accents when predicting speakers’ intentions. All materials, data, and scripts can be retrieved here: https://osf.io/xf8be/.
PREDICTING FAMA-FRENCH FACTORS BASED ON INDUSTRY RETURNS IN BRAZIL

How to cite this paper: Gonçalves, M. , & Carvalhal, A. (2017). Predicting FamaFrench factors based on industry returns in Brazil. Corporate Ownership & Control, 15(1), 44-51. http://doi.org/10.22495/cocv15i1art4 Copyright © 2017 by Virtus Interpress
Socio-economic Impact of Traditional Technology of Charcoal Production in Kpaai District-Bong County Liberia

Locally produced charcoal through traditional technology is a source of income to the inhabitants of Kpaai district, Bong-County, Liberia and this has invariably contributed significantly to the country Gross Domestic Product. Two sets of questionnaires were designed and administered randomly to eighty seven consumers and fifty five producers representing sample intensity of between 54-68% and 10-10.3% respectively in five communities among the clans of Waytuah and Wotola. Field observation and Interview data collected were descriptively analysed using SPSS 20. Three traditional earth kiln methods of charcoal production were identified among the producers that are mostly male (69.20-85.10%). Women representing 61.20-82.70% of the consumer in the age range of 21-30 years (36.4-71.40%) were spending between 13-25% of their income on charcoal. Producers have recorded various achievement from the income range of between LD5, 000-20,000 realized monthly. Dirty of their bodies and houses, sicknesses, generating smoke and ash dust were the forms of social economic impact being encountered. Research findings will assist Liberia Government in developing appropriate modern technology for efficient charcoal production and sustainable energy generation as part of REDD + implementation process.
VORTEX SHEETS, BOUSSINESQ EQUATIONS, AND OTHER PROBLEMS IN THE WIENER ALGEBRA

The vortex sheet is a problem in interfacial fluid dynamics which is known to have an ill-posed initial value problem in Sobolev spaces. We sketch a proof of this ill-posedness that follows from an existence theorem for vortex sheets by Duchon and Robert, in which Duchon and Robert constructed vortex sheet solutions on the stable manifold using a fixed point formulation in function spaces related to the Wiener algebra. We give a detailed exposition of those parts of the Duchon-Robert proof which can be applied to other problems, and give an overview of some other such applications. These other applications include demonstrating nonlinear ill-posedness of some linearly illposed Boussinesq equations, and developing existence theory for problems in epitaxial growth of thin films and mean field games.
Development and Evaluation of English Listening Study Materials for Business People Who Use Mobile Devices: A Case Study

This study aims to verify the effectiveness of English language materials using mobile devices for businesspeople in terms of the effect on motivation, overall learning performance, and practical performance in real business situations. We compared the use of materials developed from business English for a sales department in a company environment, using two cohorts of learners, one from the sales division and the other from other divisions in the company. The results showed that the materials were effective for the enhancement of motivation in both groups of employees. Moreover, the test scores in overall learning performance for both cohorts increased after learning with the materials. However, the learners in sales positions recognized the effectiveness of the output activities (e.g., speaking) more than that of nonsales personnel because of the direct applicability of the learning materials to their business needs.
ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS IN BUILDING STRUCTURES

A prerequisite for admission into higher education in Nigeria is meeting the criteria set by the National Universities Commission (NUC). Apart from obtaining acceptable scores in the unified matriculation examinations, candidates are also expected to obtain at least credit grades in some subjects at the end of their secondary school education. For architecture these prerequisite subjects include physics and mathematics. However, there have been debates in recent times as to the relevance of these prerequisites to students’ academic performance after admission. This has been necessitated by suggestions that university students’ performance do not always reflect their pre-admission academic performance. It is in the light of this that this paper examines the correlation between the scores of students of architecture in some admission prerequisite subjects (mathematics and physics) and building structures - a core course for the study of architecture in Nigerian universities. The study adopts a combination of primary and secondary data. Data were obtained through literature survey, archival retrieval of students’ records and augmented by discussions with course tutors and students. Quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS (version17) while content analysis was used for qualitative data. This paper found that except for the second semester of the second year of architecture studies, there exists no correlation between admission qualification and academic performance of students. However, it found that female students outperformed their male counterparts in all the semesters. It is hoped that the outcome of this paper will inform university admission policy especially for architecture and ensure that the best candidates are given opportunity to study.
Comment Toxicity Assessment of Tobacco Products in Vitro

In the USA, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which became law on 22 June 2009, gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products. In its guidance for industry, the FDA does not explicitly require that animal studies be conducted in support of applications for the pre-market review of new tobacco products or modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs). However, it does include in vivo studies among the types of non-clinical studies that it recommends to address and compare the toxicities of tobacco products. This raises concern that large numbers of animals may be used in studies that are intended to support tobacco product marketing applications. This commentary is adapted from public comments on the FDA’s draft guidance for industry on MRTP applications, that were su mitted on behalf of People for the Ethical Treat ment of Animals and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The Tobacco Control Act directs the FDA to consult with the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a non-governmental organisation founded under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences, on the design and conduct of studies for the assessment of MRTPs. In its report, Scientific Standards for Studies on Modified Risk Tobacco Products (1), the IOM quoted a 2009 review by Johnson et al. (2) (the pre-print online copy of which is known as ‘Wan et al.’), in which the authors concluded that in vitro tests were not “reliably quantitative to allow valid comparisons of substantially different tobacco products”, and that the data provided could not “reliably be extrapolated to infer human cancer risk”. However, the authors also observed that most in vitro testing had been “limited to a small number of cytotoxicity and genotoxicity assays”, with “only isolated studies” comparing one type of tobacco product to another. In this overview of the many varied and technologically advanced studies that have been reported since 2009, we show that these observations no longer accurately describe the study of tobacco product toxicology in vitro, calling into question the inclusion of animal studies among the non-clinical studies needed to support marketing applications. The accompanying tables summarise recent in vitro studies not cited by Johnson et al. (2). They are arranged by assay type and whether cigarette smoke or smokeless tobacco was used. The order loosely follows that of the tables presented by Johnson et al. (2), to which the reader is referred for further discussion of the endpoints measured, smoke conditions, test substances, and abbreviations. Studies were selected from results returned ATLA 43, 39–67, 2015 39
FATTY ACID COMPOSITION OF WILD YAM (Dioscorea spp.) (COMPOSICIÓN DE LOS ÁCIDOS GRASOS DEL ÑAME SILVESTRE (Dioscorea spp.))

Samples of wild yam tubers (Dioscorea alata, D. bulbifera var. vera, D. esculenta, D. oppositifolia var. dukhumensis, D.oppositifolia var. oppositifolia, D. pentaphylla var. pentaphylla, D. spicata, D. tomentosa and D. wallichi) were analyzed for its fatty acid composition. Linoleic acid was found to be predominant among all the investigated Dioscorea spp. which ranged from 26.3 – 33.21% . Thus, the present investigation demonstrate that, the Dioscorea spp. act as a good source of fatty acid.