Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Team conflict management and R&D team effectiveness: The effects of task interdependence and team cooperation

─Companies are dedicated to improving research and development (R&D) capacity to excel in market competition. Designers that share the same values and communicate and interact effectively are more likely to assist and cooperate with each other, making loyal contributions to the companies. This study explores the influence of task interdependence on engineering designers and examines cooperative conflict as a phenomenon. By conducting a questionnaire survey with 1000 consumer electronics manufacturers in Taiwan, we collected information regarding 339 design teams. Subsequently, we divided the teams based on various types of task interdependence before analyzing 28 cases of product development performed by these teams and investigating the cooperation and conflict between the team members. The results showed four types of task interdependence, namely, “Concretes”, “efficiency”, “concordance”, and “specialization”. Design teams featuring different types of task interdependence exhibit differing combinations in terms of the forms of team cooperation, team conflict, loyalty, and work values. Previous research has rarely addressed the conflict and cooperation of engineering designers within teams, and this study fills the research gap while offering specific recommendations for management practices.
Parametric inference for functional information mapping

An increasing trend in functional MRI experiments involves discriminating between experimental conditions on the basis of fine-grained spatial patterns extending across many voxels. Typically, these approaches have used randomized resampling to derive inferences. Here, we introduce an analytical method for drawing inferences from multivoxel patterns. This approach extends the general linear model to the multivoxel case resulting in a variant of the Mahalanobis distance statistic which can be evaluated on the ! 2 distribution. We apply this parametric inference to a single-subject fMRI dataset and consider how the approach is both computationally more efficient and more sensitive than resampling inference.
SOME WHEAT LEAF CHARACTERISTICS IN DEPENDENCE OF FERTILIZATION

The greatest part of yield of cultivated plants is known to result from work of the photosynthetic apparatus, in which the chlorophyll molecule occupies a key place. In this paper, photosynthetic pigments content, leaf surface and dry matter weight were investigated in the terminal leaf of wheat cultivars. Investigations were included five wheat cultivars which grew on the unfertilized and four fertilization variants of soil. All measurements were performed in wheat flowering phase. Results of investigation showed that fertilization had a great influence on examination parameters. The greatest amounts of chlorophyll and carotenoids content were measured at plants cultured on the soil fertilized with nitrogen and phosphorus as well as dry matter weight. Leaf surface extent was the biggest on the variant fertilized with nitrogen and potassium. Nitrogen fertilization variant was next favorable variant.
Macroeconomic linkages and international shock transmissions in East Asia: A global vector autoregressive approach

Abstract The growing interdependency among East Asian countries means that there is concern not only on the way their macroeconomic variables are linked across borders, but also on the way shocks are transmitted as a consequence. This paper investigates the effect of macroeconomic linkages on international shock transmissions in selected East Asian countries. Global Vector Autoregressive model (GVAR) is used on the quarterly data of real output, inflation, equity prices, exchange rates, and short-term interest rate over the period 1979Q2–2013Q1. The result generally shows that the focus countries are more linked to global economy through equity markets, real output, and exchange rates, signifying more tendencies for contagion effects in the same way. On the other hand, result from the dynamic analysis, shows that China contributes highest shock transmission in the real sector, whereas US is the highest in the equity market. For the exchange rate; within-regional shock transmission is found to be highest. The dominance of China in the real sector implies the possibility of business cycle synchronization in the region, especially if China is triggered; however, the insignificance currency-shock transmission between China and the rest of the East Asian countries contradicts one important criterion for optimum currency area. This means that China could vanguard the economic regionalism if its currency market is more developed and liberalized. More still, the dominance of US in capital market and second to China in the real sector explained the strategic importance of US in the global economy.
THE DISTANCE TO NOVA V959 MON FROM VLA IMAGING

Determining reliable distances to classical novae is a challenging but crucial step in deriving their ejected masses and explosion energetics. Here we combine radio expansion measurements from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array with velocities derived from optical spectra to estimate an expansion parallax for nova V959 Mon, the first nova discovered through its γ-ray emission. We spatially resolve the nova at frequencies of 4.5–36.5 GHz in nine different imaging epochs. The first five epochs cover the expansion of the ejecta from 2012 October to 2013 January, while the final four epochs span 2014 February–May. These observations correspond to days 126 through 199 and days 615 through 703 after the first detection of the nova. The images clearly show a non-spherical ejecta geometry. Utilizing ejecta velocities derived from three-dimensional modeling of optical spectroscopy, the radio expansion implies a distance between 0.9 ± 0.2 and 2.2 ± 0.4 kpc, with a most probable distance of 1.4 ± 0.4 kpc. This distance implies a γ-ray luminosity of 0.6 × 10 35 ? > erg s−1, which is much less than the prototype γ-ray-detected nova, V407 Cyg, possibly due to the lack of a red giant companion in the V959 Mon system. V959 Mon also has a much lower γ-ray luminosity than other classical novae detected in γ-rays to date, indicating a range of at least a factor of 10 in the γ-ray luminosities for these explosions.
Vaspin association with insulin resistance is related to physical activity and body fat in Brazilian adolescents - A cross-sectional study.

Background: Vaspin is a newly-identifi ed adipocytokine associated with insulin resistance (IR). Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between plasma vaspin concentrations and IR and determine whether this association is affected by body composition, physical activity and pubertal stage in adolescents. Methods: Were studied 484 Brazilian adolescents aged 10–14 years whose anthropometric, clinical, biochemical, and lifestyle measurements were analized. We evaluated the correlation between vaspin and risk factors for IR in adolescents with normal and high body fat percentage (%BF) and did a logistic regression to calculate the odds ratio for IR according to vaspin quartiles sex specifi c for the sample. Results: Vaspin was positively correlated with IR in adolescents with high %BF (r = 0.23, p = 0.003). The logistic regression analysis adjusted for sex, age, BMI, and pubertal stage showed that adolescents in the 2nd (OR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.23-0.80, p = 0.008) and 3rd (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.25-0.85, p = 0.014) quartile of vaspin concentration had a lower risk for IR. When the model was adjusted for %BF and physical activity, the association remained statically signifi cant only for adolescents in the 2nd quartile. Conclusion: Vaspin was correlated positively with risk factors associated with insulin metabolism in adolescents with high %BF. Vaspin was associated with a reduced risk of IR independently of BMI and pubertal stage and the association was infl uenced by body fat and physical activity in these adolescents.
The brain is so we can listen and see the colour of the dress: The ideas four year old children have about the inside of our bodies

AbstractThe paper explores what kind of ideas four year old children have about their body; that is, the location, structure and function of bones and certain organs. Twenty pre-school children were chosen to take part in the research. They were asked to make two drawings each, one of the bones and one of the organs. The children were interviewed about the functions of the bones and organs. The children were also given a cracker and a glass of water and asked to describe the way the food goes from mouth andonwards. The results show that most of the children draw bones as lines throughout the body. The heart and the brain are the first organs they know and they also know that the food we eat goes from the mouth and into the stomach but their understanding of what happens in and beyond the stomach is very vague.
Predicting the effects of freshwater diversions on juvenile brown shrimp growth and production: a Bayesian-based approach

Freshwater diversions from the Mississippi River may help restore coastal wetlands in Louisiana, but their implementation will alter temperature and salinity regimes, potentially affecting juvenile shrimp growth and production. We developed a bioenergetics model for brown shrimp Farfantepenaeus aztecus to investigate water temperature and salinity effects on brown shrimp growth. The model used a Bayesian framework that provided estimates of parameter and model uncertainty. Temperature affected shrimp metabolism, whereas salinity modified food availability. Mortality was modeled using a size-dependent function. We examined the effects of diversion timing (February, March, April and May), length (2× 14, as well as 30 and 60 d), temper- ature change (+1, 0, −1, −5 and -10°C), initial salinity (5, 15, 25), salinity during the diversion (2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25) and prey biomass response time (7, 14 and 28 d) on juvenile brown shrimp production. Diversions during February and March had little effect on shrimp, but 30 and 60 d diversions starting in April and May often had large, negative effects on production. April and May diversions that dropped water temperature by 5°C or more could decrease juvenile brown shrimp production by 40 to 60% compared with the baseline, no diversion scenarios. Whether changes in salinity had a positive or negative effect on brown shrimp production depended on the initial salinity of the scenario. Longer diversions and slower prey response times extended the duration brown shrimp were exposed to either the positive or negative effects of diversions, and this magnified the overall (positive or negative) effect on shrimp production. Limiting diversions to February and March when brown shrimp populations are not abundant would minimize nega- tive effects on shrimp production, though managers will be constrained by the needs of other spe- cies such as oysters, as well as ecosystem considerations.
Understanding Sedimentation Process in the Makoye Reservoir of Southern Zambia

Reservoir sedimentation is one of the problems facing managers of small reservoirs (with ≤5m height of embankment). The main methods used to understand sedimentation process in the Makoye reservoir included sediment coring, onsite measurements using Sedimeter SM3A, use of Elevation Change Method (EMC), laboratory analysis of sediment core, 3D Spatial Analyst Tools (3DSATs) in ArcGIS 10.3 as well as mathematical models. The reservoir had been silting at a significant rate of 3,112.97 m3 yr-1 leading to average accumulation of 87,163 m3 of sediment, which had eventually reduced the reservoir's storage capacity by 53.5%. The EMC methods also revealed that Makoye reservoir tapped 79,749.38 m3 of sediment giving rise to the between method average sediment volume of 83,456.26 m3. Reservoir's useful life was found to be 24 years. Results from Sedimeter SM3A showed that a total depth of 0.688cm of sediment had accumulated during a period of 309 hours in the 2015/2016 rainy season as compared to 1.56 cm in the 2016/2017 rainy season. The long term average depth of sediment was found to be 2.4 cm. It was concluded that sedimentation in the Makoye Reservoir is a serious problem which may lead to complete loss of reservoir storage capacity.
The desegregating e ¤ ect of school tracking ¤

December 20, 2013 Abstract This paper makes the following point: “detracking” schools, that is preventing them from allocating students to classes according to their ability, may lead to an increase in income residential segregation. It does so in a simple model where households care about the school peer group of their children. If ability and income are positively correlated, tracking implies that some high income households face the choice of either living in the areas where most of the other high income households live and having their child assigned to the low track, or instead living in lower income neighbourhoods where their child would be in the high track. Under mild conditions, tracking leads to an equilibrium with partial income desegregation where perfect income segregation would be the only stable outcome without tracking.
Heads or tails? Variation in tadpole body proportions in response to temperature and food stress

Given sufficient time and genetic variation, populations of ectothermic animals living in different thermal environments are expected to diverge in their thermal optima for growth. Several recent studies have used common frog (Rana temporaria) tadpoles as models to study animal adaptation to geographic variation in ambient temperatures, but little attention has been paid to how the growth of different body parts responds to variation in temperature. We examined the variation in early growth in body, tail and relative tail length of common frog tadpoles in a common garden experiment that subjected individuals from six populations situated along a 1600-km latitudinal gradient to different temperature and food treatments. We found a high degree of latitudinally unordered inter-populational differentiation in relative tail length, and that increasing levels of environmental stress (low temperature and restricted food) lead to increased mean relative tail length. This occurred mainly because of changes in body growth, not because of changes in tail growth per se. This suggests that growth of the tail itself is less sensitive to environmental stress than body growth, but at the same time the relative length of tail can be a good indicator of growth conditions experienced by individuals. In general, the results do not support the earlier proposition that common frog tadpoles in the south have relatively longer tails due to increased risk of predation, but indirect evidence was found to support the contention that the populations along the latitudinal gradient have different thermal optima for growth as indicated by latitudinally ordered differences in how relative tail length changed in response to temperature treatments.
Jurassic accretion tectonics of Japan

Abstract The Jurassic accretionary complex and coeval granites in Japan represent remnants of the Jurassic arc‐trench system developed between the Asian continent and Pacific Ocean. The Jurassic accretionary complex occurs as a large‐scale nappe that is tectonically sandwiched between the overlying pre‐Jurassic nappes and underlying post‐Jurassic nappes. By virtue of new research styles (microfossil mapping and chronometric mapping) the following new views of the Jurassic accretionary complex in Japan, that suggest those for on‐land exposed ancient accretionary complexes in general, have been obtained: (i) the accretion age of the Jurassic accretionary complex ranges over ∼ 80 million years from the latest Triassic to earliest Cretaceous according to a reconstructed stratigraphy of component rocks (oceanic plate stratigraphy); (ii) the accretionary complex is subdivided into several nappe units, each characterized by unique oceanic plate stratigraphy; (iii) a tectonically downward‐younging polarity is observed in the piled nappes; (iv) the Jurassic accretionary complex is composed of coherent‐type and chaotic‐type units, the former retaining the primary accretionary structures while the latter are characterized by collapsed and secondarily mixed materialslfabrics derived from the former; (v) the chaotic‐type units predominate in volume over the coherent‐type units; (vi) the accretionary complex suffered from a regional low‐grade metamorphism (up to the lower greenschist facies) within ∼10–20 million years after the accretion timing; and (vii) the lateral extent of the Jurassic accretionary complex in East Asia is intermittently traced from the Koryak mountains in Russia to North Palawan in the west Philippines for ∼6000 km. Discussion focuses on (i) the low preservation ratio of the coherent‐type units to the chaotic‐type units with respect to frequent subduction erosion by seamount subduction; (ii) absence of the Franciscan‐type melange, suggesting sedimentary mixing origin for the chaotic‐type unit; (iii) a growth rate of the Jurassic accretionary complex compatible to modern analogues; and (iv) the total volume of the Jurassic accretionary complex in Japan with respect to the most likely terrigeiious elastics source along the 250 Ma continent‐continent collision suture in central China (between the Sino‐Korean and Yangtze blocks).
The Effect of Bacterial Inoculants and a Chemical Preservative on the Fermentation and Aerobic Stability of Whole-crop Cereal Silages

Three microorganisms and one chemical preservative were tested for their effects on the fermentation and aerobic stability of whole-crop wheat, sorghum and maize silages. Wheat at the early dough stage, sorghum at the late milk stage and maize at the one-third milk line stage were harvested and ensiled in 1.5-1 anaerobic jars untreated or after the following treatments: control (no additives); Lactobacillus plantarum (LP) at 1.0×10 6 colony-forming units (CFU)/g of fresh forage; L. buchneri (LB) at 1.0×10 6 CFU/g; Propionibacterium acidipropionici (PA) at 1.0×10 6 CFU/g; and a formic acid-based preservative (FAP) at 3 ml/kg of fresh forage weight. Three jars per treatment were sampled on d 90 after ensiling, for chemical and microbiological analysis. At the end of the ensiling period, 90 d, the silages were subjected to an aerobic stability test lasting 5 d. In this test, CO 2 produced during aerobic exposure was measured along with chemical and microbiological parameters which serve as spoilage indicators. The silages inoculated with LP had higher concentration of lactic acid compared with the controls and the other treated silages (p<0.05). The controls and LP-inoculated silages spoiled upon aerobic exposure faster than LB, PA and FAP-treated silages. The controls and LP-inoculated silages spoiled upon aerobic exposure faster than LB, PA and FAP-treated silages due to more CO 2 production (p<0.05) in these two groups and development of yeasts unlike the other groups. In the experiment, the silages treated with LB, PA and FAP were stable under aerobic conditions. However, the numbers of yeasts was higher in the LP-inoculated wheat, sorghum and maize silages compared with the LB, PA and FAP-treated silages. The LB, PA and FAP improved the aerobic stability of the silages by causing more extensive heterolactic fermentation that resulted in the silages with high levels of acetic and propionic acid. The use of LB, PA and FAP as silage additives can improve the aerobic stability of whole-crop wheat, sorghum and maize silages by inhibition of yeast activity.
Hydraulic behaviour of dune sand-bentonite mixtures under confining stress

Compacted layers of sand-bentonite mixtures have been proposed and used in a variety of geotechnical projects as engineered barriers for the enhancement of impervious landfill liners, cores of zoned earth dams and radioactive waste repository systems. This paper presents a study on the valorization of local materiel such as dune sand from Laghouat region and mine bentonite intended for the realization of liner base layers in the conception of insulation barriers for hazardous waste centers. In the practice we try to get an economical mixture that satisfies the hydraulic and mechanical properties specified by regulation rules. The effect of the bentonite additions on the mixture is reflected by its capability of clogging the matrix pores upon swelling. In order to get an adequate dune sand-bentonite mixture, an investigation on hydraulic and mechanical behaviours is carried out in this study for different mixtures. Using oedometer test, the adequate bentonite addition to the mixture, which satisfies the conditions on permeability, is found to be around 12% to 15%. These results are also confirmed by direct measurement using triaxial cell.
Assessment of heavy metals accumulation in paddy rice (Oryza sativa)

Heavy metals contamination in paddy field was conducted using Oryza sativa. Paddy soils and rice plants were sampled along seven transverse lines of the paddy field before the harvesting time. The paddy plants were separated into roots, stems, leaves and grains. Metal concentrations of the samples were carried out using ICP-OES Spectrometer machine OPTIMA 5300 DV. Metals enrichment factor and translocation were also measured in this study. The results showed that the plant roots of O. sativa accumulated relatively large amount of lead, cadmium, chromium and copper, while zinc highest in the stem. The correlation test showed that there was a strong correlation for zinc and cadmium concentrations in O. sativa with the paddy soil. Enrichment factor (EF) showed that lead, cadmium and copper were concentrated in the root of O. sativa, while chromium and zinc metals were more concentrated in the shoot part. Translocation factor (TF) showed that Oryza sativa was able to transfer zinc and chromium from root to the shoot part of O. sativa. O. sativa has the potential of being used for the phytoremediation of zinc and chromium from the paddy soil. Key words: Heavy metals, Oryza sativa, enrichment factor (EF), translocation factor (TF).