Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE ROLE OF SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE ON AESTHETIC JUDGMENT: A CROSS-CULTURAL INVESTIGATION ON THE PERCEPTION OF AFRICAN “CALABASH” FIGURE

The main purpose of this study was to examine the viewer’s opinion about aesthetic judgment related to the individual feeling that is transferred through the designed object to the viewer and that shows the effects of cultural differences on aesthetic judgment by comparing the liking rates of African and Turkish participants on various symbolic structures. Two groups of participants were selected for this study: African professionals (architects, planners and urban designers) and laypersons who had information about African culture and its effect on design elements. Another group was Turkish architects and laypersons who did not have any information about African culture and its effect on design elements. As a very important cultural value in Africa, the “Calabash” was used as the reference. Three architectural structures were used that have been designed with reference to the “Calabash”. According to the results, there were differences between the liking rates of African and Turkish participants: African laypersons as well as architects were impressed by symbolic structures and their cultural effects and they evaluated these three structures to be more impressive than the Turkish participants. After giving information about the deep meaning of these structures and the place occupied by the calabash in the African culture, the Turkish participants were also impressed and contrary to their previous evaluation, their aesthetic liking rates increased and approached the judgment levels of the Africans.
Effect of Planting Methods and Seeding Rates on Grain Yield and Yield Components of Durum Wheat (Triticum durum) in Harran Plain

This study was conducted in Sanliurfa, SE-Turkey to identify suitable Planting methods and seeding rates for durum wheat to be grown under irrigated conditions in the Harran Plain. Seeding rates were 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg ha respectively. Sowing methods were: 1) Conventional system (CP): Sowing on flat seedbeds with small grain seeders, 2) Raised bed planting (RBP): Sowing in two rows with 20 cm distance on previously prepared 70 cm wide beds. 3) Furrowed Planting (FP): Broadcast sowing on flat seedbeds and preparation furrow 70 cm distance after sowing. The cultivar used was Diyarbakir 81, the dominating durum wheat variety. The irrigated trials were conducted in 1994 and 1997 at Tatlica and in 1998 at two locations (Akcakale, Tatlica). In 1996, the same experiment was conducted under rainfed conditions at Akcakale and Tatlica. Traits measured were: Number of plants/ m; number of spike/ m; grain yield spike; TKW and grain yield. Under rainfed conditions, CP resulted in a significantly higher grain yield, number of plants m, number of spike m, and lowest grain yield spike. No significant difference was recorded for TKW. No differences were observed between RBP and FP for any of the traits. In the seeding rate experiment, the lowest seeding rate resulted in the highest grain yield spike and TKW but the lowest number of plants m. No significant differences were observed for number of spike m and grain yield. Under irrigated conditions, RBP and FP resulted in a significantly lower number of plants m and number of spike m and the higher grain yields spike compared to CP. However, no statistically significant differences could be observed for grain yield and TKW. No significant differences were observed between RBP and FP. In the seeding rate experiment, the lowest seeding rate produced the highest grain yields spike and TKW, but the lowest number of plants m and spikes m. Seeding rate had no significant effect on grain yield. The results suggest that grain yield of RBP and FB are similar to CP in irrigated condition. However, the RBP and FP are more water use efficient, less labor intensive, consequently more economic than the CP and irrigation system presently used by farmers in the Harran Plain.
Drivers of Exchange Rate Dynamics in Selected CIS Countries: Evidence from a Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressive (FAVAR) Analysis

We investigate the likely sources of exchange rate dynamics in selected member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS; Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) over the past decade (1999-2010). Evidence is based on country VARs augmented by a regional common-factor structure (FAVAR model). The models include nominal exchange rates, the common factor of exchange rates in the CIS countries, and international drivers such as global trade, share prices, and oil price. Global, regional, and idiosyncratic shocks are identified in a standard Cholesky fashion. Their relevance for exchange rates is explored by a decomposition of the variance of forecast errors. The impact of global shocks on the development of exchange rates has increased, particularly if financial shocks are considered. Because of the recent global financial crisis, regional shocks have become more important at the expense of global shocks.
Adolescent goals and aspirations in search of psychological well-being: from the perspective of self-determination theory

According to self-determination theory, an individual’s goal content and the processes involved in goal setting often represent the status of the individual’s mental health and well-being. When examining the importance placed on goal setting, an individual’s goals and aspirations are often synonymous with mental health and well-being. Aspiring to achieve intrinsic life goals has been associated with greater psychological well-being in literature. This study therefore aimed to establish the relationships between goals and aspirations, mental health behaviour (interpersonal relations, stress management, and spiritual growth), and psychological well-being (measured by positive affect). A sample of 457 secondary school learners in the Overberg Educational District, Western Cape, South Africa, participated in the study. The results suggest a significant positive relationship between placing importance on intrinsic goals and aspirations, and psychological well-being (as indicated by positive affect). However, psychological well-being was not correlated with mental health behaviour. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis suggest that importance placed on intrinsic goals and aspirations predicts psychological well-being and accounts for 8% of the variance. The results highlight the role of intrinsic goals and aspirations in predicting the psychological well-being of adolescents. The findings are supported by the theoretical assumptions of self-determination theory.
Assessment of Spatial Visualization Skills in Freshman Seminar

This paper presents an initiative taken at the University of South Alabama to assess and improve the spatial visualization skills of the first year freshman engineering students. The University of South Alabama is currently listed as a team member of the NSF funded ENGAGE (Engaging Students in Engineering) program. In an effort to implement one of the three strategies of ENGAGE to improve student retention, a spatial visualization component was introduced in the Freshman Seminar/ Introduction to Engineering course in the Fall of 2012. The objective of incorporating spatial visualization into Freshman Seminar was to provide the incoming engineering students the prerequisite spatial skills required to become successful in their subsequent engineering courses. The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) was administered as a pre-test to assess the spatial visualization ability of the students in the beginning of the semester. Following the pre-test, a series of brief lectures along with a set of computer based exercises was used to improve the spatial visualization skills of the students. A post-test and a survey were used at the end of the semester to assess the effectiveness of the initiative. An observation of the mean preand post-test scores indicated an overall improvement in student’s spatial visualization skills. This improvement appeared more pronounced in female students than their male counterparts. There was an 11.8% increase in the mean score of the female students, whereas there was a 6.9% increase in the mean score of the male students. A statistical analysis of the preand post-test scores also demonstrated a statistically significant gain in average sores of the students. In addition to test results, student’s response to the assessment survey indicated that this initiative was effective in raising awareness in the students that spatial visualization skill is very useful to become successful in engineering studies.
The Context of Smallholder Farming in South Africa: Towards a Livelihood Asset Building Framework

Abstract The need to support smallholder farmers by governments in developing countries has taken centre stage globally. In this regard, the South African Government’s New Growth Plan puts agriculture, particularly the development and support of new smallholder farmers as an important area for development that could impact positively on poverty alleviation and household food security. In this paper, the researchers critically analyse the context of smallholder farming in South Africa, dynamics of market access and challenges facing smallholder farmers’ agency. Analysis denotes how institutional dynamics related to socio-economic conditions of the farmers; the policy landscape and agro-climatic zones where farmers are located in South Africa are not well-geared towards positioning smallholder farmers for meaningful participation in the market. Furthermore, the historical marginalization of smallholder farming is explored to illicit challenges of the duality of farming in South Africa which is characterised by a well-developed commercial farming sector and a poorly developed smallholder sector. The paper proposes an asset-building approach linked to social-protection and institutional readiness as a basis for enhancing market access and farmer agency in order to address poverty and inequality in South Africa.
eview melioration of heavy metal and nutrient stress in fruit vegetables by grafting

The response of grafted vegetables to stress conditions owing to the nutrient status, and the presence of heavy metals in the root environment may be different than that of self-rooted plants, depending mainly on the rootstock genotype. Several studies have indicated that some rootstocks are capable of restricting the uptake and/or the transport of heavy metals (e.g. Cd, Ni, Cr) and micronutrients (e.g. Cu, B and Mn) to the shoot, thereby mitigating the stress caused by excessive external concentrations of them. However, other mechanisms driven by the root system, such as detoxification of harmful elements or hormonal signals modifying gene expression in the scion, seem to be involved in the mitigation of stress caused by excessive external nutrient or heavy metal concentrations. On the other hand, the uptake and/or utilization efficiency of macronutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) by plants may be enhanced by grafting onto some rootstocks. This is ascribed mainly to the root characteristics of these rootstocks, which are more vigorous than those of highly productive cultivated varieties. However, other mechanisms implicated in the efficiency of active nutrient absorption by the roots, as well as signals arising from the scion, which are mainly governed by sink demand, may also enhance nutrient uptake and utilization. The higher efficiency of some graft combinations of fruit vegetables to take up and utilize nutrients may mitigate yield losses owing to shortages of these nutrients in the root environment of plants and restrict nutrient losses due to leaching. Nevertheless, it is important to specifically test each grafting combination and not merely each rootstock for its ability to ameliorate nutrient or heavy metal stress because in many instances the responses depend on the rootstock/scion combination. This report gives an overview on the prospects and restrictions of grafting as a means to minimize the negative effects of heavy metals, excessive nutrient availability, nutrient deficiency, and alkalinity stress on vegetable crop performance taking into consideration agronomical, physiological and biochemical aspects. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A semi-analytical model for free vibrations of free spanning offshore pipelines

Fast and accurate methods for determining pipeline eigenfrequencies and associated bending stresses are essential to free span design, and hence of great interest to the pipeline industry. The Rayleigh-Ritz approach has been applied in combination with a displacement field taken as a Fourier sine series to obtain a novel, exact semi-analytical solution to an initially curved Euler-Bernoulli beam on a partial elastic foundation subject to axial force. The proposed methodology for calculation of free span eigenfrequencies determines both static and harmonic response with excellent accuracy, and includes nonlinear geometric effects and the pipe stiffening effect caused by static deformation due to gravity. This novel method is easily implemented into a computer program, and the calculation speed is greatly improved compared to traditional FE analyses. Compared to the widely applied semi-empirical formulae of Fyrileiv and Mork (2002), accuracy is increased and the range of applicability extended. Detailed FE analyses have been carried out to validate the model, and results of the semi-analytical model have also been compared to results obtained using current state-of-the-art engineering practice as defined in Det Norske Veritas' recommended practice provisions DNV-RP-F105 of 2006.
A neutrino model fit to the CMB power spectrum

The standard cosmological model, Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM), provides an excellent fit to cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. However, the model has well-known problems. For example, the cosmological constant, Λ, is fine-tuned to 1 part in 10100 and the CDM particle is not yet detected in the laboratory. Shanks previously investigated a model which assumed neither exotic particles nor a cosmological constant but instead postulated a low Hubble constant (H0) to allow a baryon density compatible with inflation and zero spatial curvature. However, recent Planck results make it more difficult to reconcile such a model with CMB power spectra. Here, we relax the previous assumptions to assess the effects of assuming three active neutrinos of mass ≈5 eV. If we assume a low H0 ≈ 45 km s−1 Mpc−1 then, compared to the previous purely baryonic model, we find a significantly improved fit to the first three peaks of the Planck power spectrum. Nevertheless, the goodness of fit is still significantly worse than for ΛCDM and would require appeal to unknown systematic effects for the fit ever to be considered acceptable. A further serious problem is that the amplitude of fluctuations is low (σ8 ≈ 0.2), making it difficult to form galaxies by the present day. This might then require seeds, perhaps from a primordial magnetic field, to be invoked for galaxy formation. These and other problems demonstrate the difficulties faced by models other than ΛCDM in fitting ever more precise cosmological data.
Magnetic classification of stony meteorites: 3. Achondrites

Abstract— A database of magnetic susceptibility measurements of stony achondrites (acapulcoite‐lodranite clan, winonaites, ureilites, angrites, aubrites, brachinites, howardite‐eucrite‐diogenite (HED) clan, and Martian meteorites, except lunar meteorites) is presented and compared to our previous work on chondrites. This database provides an exhaustive study of the amount of iron‐nickel magnetic phases (essentially metal and more rarely pyrrhotite and titanomagnetite) in these meteorites. Except for ureilites, achondrites appear much more heterogeneous than chondrites in metal content, both at the meteorite scale and at the parent body scale. We propose a model to explain the lack of or inefficient metal segregation in a low gravity context. The relationship between grain density and magnetic susceptibility is discussed. Saturation remanence appears quite weak in most metal‐bearing achondrites (HED and aubrites) compared to Martian meteorites. Ureilites are a notable exception and can carry a strong remanence, similar to most chondrites.
Empirical evidence of the effect of European accounting differences on the stock market valuation of earnings and book value

Recently, a new dimension has been added to research in accounting harmonization by studying the effects of accounting practices and regulations on share price and return movements. Although there is an agreement of mutual recognition in the European stock markets of financial statements adapted to the directives, the differences between the European countries are still great. The objective of this study is to investigate the value relevance of alternative accounting measures (earnings and book value) constructed under different accounting systems in Europe. We investigate the differences in accounting practices through the relationship between earnings and book value, and the stock market value of the firm. The aim of the study is to answer the following three questions: (1) Are there systematic differences in value relevance between earnings and book value across the different European accounting systems? (2) Do book value and earnings convey different information to stock valuation? (3) Are accounting numbers more value relevant in those countries traditionally orientated to market investors? The sample consists of listed firms from eight European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and the UK). The results obtained could be helpful for the decisions of institutional regulatory bodies since we find evidence of significant differences in the stock market valuation of accounting data not explained by the composition of the sample or macroeconomic factors, but mainly by the differences in reporting philosophies across Europe.
Properties of Transmetric Density Estimation

Transmetric density estimation is a generalization of kernel density estimation that is proposed in Hovda (2014) and Hovda (2016), This framework involves the possibility of making assumptions on the kernel of the distribution to improve convergence orders and to reduce the number of dimensions in the graphical display. In this paper we show that several state-of-the-art nonparametric, semiparametric and even parametric methods are special cases of this formulation, meaning that there is a unified approach. Moreover, it is shown that parameters can be trained using unbiased cross-validation. When parameter estimation is included, the mean integrated squared error of the transmetric density estimator is lower than for the common kernel density estimator, when the number of dimensions is larger than two.
Fruit Characteristics of "Zaghloul" Date Palm in Relation to Metaxenic Influences of Used Pollinator

Field experiment of this investigation was carried out on date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Zaghloul cultivar growing in Edco district, El-Behera Governorate, Egypt during the two successive seasons 2007 and 2008. Two previously studied pollinators were used in this study, named here (A) and (B). The experiment was designed as randomized complete blocks with four replicates (each spathe as one replicate) in addition to the control (non-pollinated spathe). Furthermore, Physical and chemical characteristics of the pollinated fruits and non-pollinated ones were assessed. Regardless the time, results proved that pollinator (A) caused a significant increase in fruit weight, flesh weight, rag weight, fruit size, total soluble solids, reducing and non-reducing sugars, anthocyanin, vitamin C content, crude fibers content and a significant decrease in chlorophyll a, b contents as compared with pollinator (B). Meanwhile, pollinated spathes had remarkably greater fruit weight, flesh weight, rag weight, fruit size, total, reducing and non-reducing sugars, anthocyanin content, vitamin C and higher crude fibers content as compared with the non-pollinated spathes. As the fruit progressed from the kimri to the khalal stage, there was a continuously significant increase in fruit weight, flesh weight, rag weight, fruit size, TSS, total sugars, reducing, non-reducing sugars and crude fibers from one sampling date to another until harvest. Non-pollinated spathes had significantly greater tannin contents, higher acidity and higher chlorophyll a, b contents in their fruits as compared with those on pollinated spathes. However, either pollinator (A) or (B) did not make a significant difference in tannins and acidity content of fruits on pollinated spathes. The time factor data indicated that there was a significant decrease in tannin content, titratable acidity and chlorophyll a, b contents in the fruit until the period preceding maturity (after 186 days of pollination). The time factor data indicated that there were different trends for both vitamin C and anthocyanin increments between the two seasons since in the first one, vitamin C and anthocyanin ceased to increase after 174 and 186 days of pollination, respectively, while in the second season, this vitamin and anthocyanin continued to increase in a significant manner until harvest. In conclusion pollinators have their metazenic effects especially on fruit weight, size and flesh weight and pollinator (A) was superior to pollinator (B) in this regard.
Studies on the effect of in-situ soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices on the productivity of sesame and sorghum in sequence cropping system.

A field experiment was carried out in a rainfed situation to study the effect of in-situ soil moisture conservation and nutrient management practices (NMP) on productivity of sesame and sorghum in a sequence cropping system. Results indicated that integrated NMP (INMP) with application of organic manures + inorganic fertilizers to preceding sesame and without NMP to succeeding sorghum produced higher seed yield of sesame (566 kg/ha) and sorghum (2531 kg/ha) as compared to NMP either with organic manures alone (211 and 2471 kg/ha, respectively) or with inorganic fertilizers alone (480 and 2347 kg//ha, respectively). The sesame crop showed a similar response to different planting methods. 2:1 or 3:1 skip row method of planting + opening of furrow in skipped row 20 days after sesame sowing alone or with INMP or NMP with application of organic manures to the preceding crop of sesame resulted in higher seed yield of sorghum. In-situ soil moisture conservation through 2:1 or 3:1 skip row method of planting along with application of either organic manures or organic manures + inorganic fertilizers to preceding sesame crop and no organic manures and no inorganic fertilizers to succeeding sorghum produced higher yields of both the sesame and sorghum crops in this system.
Changes in chalk-grassland structure and species richness resulting from selective nutrient additions

A series of fertilization experiments was carried out over a 5-yr period in a chalk grassland in Limburg (The Netherlands) as part of a study of the maintenance of species richness in species-rich grasslands. Phosphorus and nitrogen were shown to be the most limiting nutrients. Addition of both elements doubled above-ground production, and species rich- ness dropped ca. 50 % in 0.01-m 2 subplots, relative to controls. However, neither the above-ground production nor plant growth-forms were sufficient to explain the observed changes in species richness. Small-scale structural heterogeneity of the vegetation is probably critical for maintaining high levels of richness. Historically, high nitrogen, low phosphorus condi- tions were rarely encountered in the Dutch landscape and few species appear adapted to these conditions. Among the chalk grassland species, Brachypodium pinnatum seems well adapted to these conditions, where it dominates and excludes most other species. A detailed understanding of the small-scale processes responsible for maintenance of species richness is critically important in efforts to maintain the biodiversity of natural ecosystems.