Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An inventory of saprophagous Calyptratae (Insecta: Diptera) in urban green spaces of Buenos Aires City

El inventario de la biodiversidad es una tarea urgente para la conservacion de los insectos. En particular, los espacios verdes urbanos (areas sin edificaciones) dentro de entornos urbanos son un elemento fundamental para el mantenimiento y restauracion de la biodiversidad. Se describe la biodiversidad de los Calyptratae saprofagos en tres espacios verdes urbanos: un jardin privado, un parque urbano, y una reserva natural en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, y se compara la presencia de especies cosmopolitas y nativas. Un total de 14.688 especimenes fueron colectados, representando 62 especies. Las moscas fueron capturadas con red de mano sobres cebos de atraccion, visceras de pollo en descomposicion y heces caninas. Las tres especies mas abundantes, Cochliomyia macellaria, Tricharaea (Sarcophagula) occidua, y Chrysomya albiceps, representan el 81,70 % de la muestra total. Las especies nativas representan 62,24 % de la muestra total y muestran un incremento en terminos de riqueza en espacios mas grandes y menos modificados. Se identificaron las especies cosmopolitas tratadas con “homogenizadores globales”
Physical parameters activating electrical signal distortions in polluted soils

Laboratory investigations and field measurements show that the electrical behaviour of polluted soils is strongly non-linear at low frequencies. This phenomenon can be related to the class and amount of pollutants. To measure this non-linearity, we used only monochromatic voltage waveform as input signal and analysed the current signals at first by means of the classical spectral analysis. In particular, the Total Harmonic Distortion % (THD%) and the Harmonic Distortion %(HD%) measure the non-linearity level and identify the frequency interval where the nonlinear electrical behaviour is activated. This frequency interval can be related to the pollutant molecular size. Open interpretative problems were the following: 1) phase localization of the signal deformation; 2) «local» amplitude of the applied signal activating the distortion, and 3) numerical fit of the distortion. We employed the wavelet analysis to study the phenomenon. The wavelet technique breaks up a signal into shifted and scaled versions of the original wavelet, which is a waveform of limited duration. These features of the wavelets allow us to obtain current components that can be interpreted on the bases of a real physical meaning. By using the wavelet analysis, we obtained the phase localization of the «oscillations» of the details and consequently the phase and amplitude of the applied signal. The sum of nine details provides a good numerical fit of the distorted signal. Starting from the wavelet analysis, we determined the physical conditions activating each distortion, testing some parameters on experimental data. The parameters that resulted most significant are the phase †of the distortion activation and the product Vin6 t (Vs) (where 6 t is the time interval corresponding to the said †and Vin is the integral tension applied to the sample on 6 t). The latter parameter is in a very good agreement with field data of Advanced Monochromatic Spectral Induced Polarization (AMSIP) and restricts the physical interpretative hypotheses of distorted signals that are measured in the field. Typical experimental results will be shown as examples.
Ages and Heavy Element Abundances from Very Metal-poor Stars in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy

Sagittarius (Sgr) is a massive disrupted dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Milky Way halo that has undergone several stripping events. Previous chemical studies were restricted mainly to a few, metal-rich ([Fe/H] ) stars that suggested a top-light initial mass function (IMF). Here we present the first high-resolution, very metal-poor ([Fe/H] =−1 to −3) sample of 13 giant stars in the main body of Sgr. We derive abundances of 13 elements, namely C, Ca, Co, Fe, Sr, Ba, La, Ce, Nd, Eu, Dy, Pb, and Th, that challenge the interpretation based on previous studies. Our abundances from Sgr mimic those of the metal-poor halo, and our most metal-poor star ([Fe/H] ) indicates a pure r-process pollution. Abundances of Sr, Pb, and Th are presented for the first time in Sgr, allowing for age determination using nuclear cosmochronology. We calculate ages of . Most of the sample stars have been enriched by a range of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with masses between 1.3 and 5 M⊙. Sgr J190651.47–320147.23 shows a large overabundance of Pb (2.05 dex) and a peculiar abundance pattern best fit by a 3 M⊙ AGB star. Based on star-to-star scatter and observed abundance patterns, a mixture of low- and high-mass AGB stars and supernovae (15–25 M⊙) is necessary to explain these patterns. The high level (0.29 ± 0.05 dex) of Ca indicates that massive supernovae must have existed and polluted the early ISM of Sgr before it lost its gas. This result is in contrast with a top-light IMF with no massive stars polluting Sgr.
Portfolio and Consumption Decisions under Mean-Reverting Returns and Mean-Reverting Labor Income Growth

This papers focus is on consumption/portfolio optimization under time-varying investment opportunities and dynamic non-financial (labor) income using analytical methods. The most striking result is that counter-cyclical non-financial income growth (income growth is low when expected returns are high) can lead to a strong reduction of optimal risky investment and consumption. Hence, it can be stated that dynamic labor income is a simple and comprehensible instrument to explain why some people do not participate in the stock market
Analysis of waves in a cavity and their significance to splashing in steelmaking

In steelmaking, metal droplets are generated due to the impact of supersonic jets onto the liquid metal bath. This phenomenon is generally referred to “splashing” [1]. Splashing is an important phenomenon as it provides large interfacial area between reacting phases and promotes high overall reaction rates. Dogan et al. [2] estimated that 60% of decarburization in steelmaking process takes place in the gas-metal-slag emulsion phase during the main blow. Therefore, it is important to understand droplet generation if we are to optimize steelmaking processes.
Refining Methods for Estimating Critical Values for an Alignment Index

Abstract The alignment among standards, assessments, and teachers’ instruction is an essential element of standards-based educational reforms. The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) is the only common tool that can be used to measure the alignment among all three of these sources (Martone & Sireci, 2009). Prior SEC alignment work has been limited by not allowing for significance tests. A recent article (Fulmer, 2011) provided a first attempt to address this shortcoming of the SEC, but that work was limited in several ways. We extend Fulmer's simulation approach by accounting for important elements of the SEC procedures, including the proper framework size, number of standards and assessment points, number of raters, rater cell-splitting rates, and rater agreement results. The results indicate that inferences about relative alignment may be heavily influenced by features of the alignment procedures. Thus, our method should be broadly applied to future SEC alignment investigations.
The Impact of Apartheid and International Sanctions on South Africa's Import Demand Function: An Empirical Analysis

In this paper we ascertain South Africaâ€™s aggregate import demand function over the period 1950 to 2008 utilizing the bounds testing approach to cointegration, and the unrestricted error-correction model. Our study empirically investigates the impact of apartheid (1950-1994), in particular the period of international sanctions (1981-1994) against the apartheid government, on South Africaâ€™s imports. Further, we utilize the autoregressive distributed lag model to estimate short-run and long-run import elasticities. Our results reveal that imports depend positively on the levels of domestic economic activity and foreign exchange reserves but negatively on relative prices. In addition, apartheid has had a significant short-run negative impact on import demand, but is insignificant in the long-run. Furthermore, international sanctions affected import demand positively in the short-run, but negatively in the long-run We argue that appropriate public policy is necessary to reduce the economyâ€™s reliance on imports of capital and intermediate goods, especially oil, while simultaneously diversifying its exports base. Strengthening trade relations with other developing countries will give it an exchange rate advantage, improve its balance of payments, create macroeconomic stability, growth, and with that, alleviate unemployment and poverty in South Africa.
Prediction of spatially distributed seismic demands in structures

In this paper the efficacy of various ground motion intensity measures (IM’s) in the prediction of spatially distributed engineering demand parameters (EDP’s) within a structure is investigated. While the predictive capabilities of various intensity measures in predicting global seismic demands (such as peak interstorey drift over all floors) have been previously investigated, to date the effectiveness of intensity measures at predicting various measures of seismic demand occurring at spatially differing locations in a structure has not been investigated. This has direct implications to building-specific seismic loss estimation, where the seismic demand on different components is dependent on the component location in the structure. Several common intensity measures are investigated in terms of their correlation with the spatially distributed demands in a 10-storey office building, which are measured based on maximum interstorey drift ratios and maximum floor accelerations. It is found that the ability of an IM to ‘efficiently’ predict a specific EDP depends on the similarity between the frequency range of the IM and the vibration frequencies which control the peak value of the EDP. An IM’s ‘predictability’ is found to have a significant effect on the median response demands for ground motions scaled to a specified probability of exceedance using the ground motion hazard curve.
Analysis of the Lead-Lag Relationship on South Africa capital market

Despite the efficient market hypothesis (EHM), lead-lag relationships can be observed mainly between financial derivatives and underlying asset prices, prices of large and small companies, etc. In our paper, we examined the lead- lag relationship between prices of open ended funds and an all-share index as a representative of the capital market. Along with more traditional methods of using cross correlations, partial correlation and Toda-Yamamoto causality tests, we also analysed the speed of adjustment of assets to their intrinsic values and identified the most prevalent lag using rolling time windows. The analysis was performed using data from the South Africa capital market.
Male reproductive biology of European hake Merluccius merluccius

The reproductive biology of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) has been studied extensively in the field, but mainly focusing on fecundity regulation in females and its implications for the fishery. The European hake is highly important commercially throughout its geographical range. Because catches have been decreasing since the 1960s, interest in hake as a potential aquaculture species has recently increased. However, for successful domestication of hake, a better understanding of its reproductive biology, including sperm biology, is needed for purposes of broodstock management and also for the development of sperm storage techniques, including cryopreservation. The objectives of this thesis were to assess hake sperm quality, including sperm production characteristics and energetics, and to characterize sperm movement parameters such as the percentage of motile cells, sperm velocity and flagellar beats. Changes of these parameters over time following activation were evaluated qualitatively for fresh hake sperm. The effects of i) salinity of the activation medium, ii) survival in relation to short term storage duration at 4°C, and iii) sperm cryopreservation on sperm motility characteristics, as well as the reliance on the sperm’s energetic content, were evaluated. In many other Gadoid species, drumming muscles are an important component of reproductive behaviour in spawning males: the contraction of these muscles associated to the swim-bladder results in an audible ‘drumming’ sound during the courtship of the females. However, the presence of drumming muscles has never been reported for hake. Mature hake collected for the sperm analyses, as well as mature females and immature individuals were thus dissected to investigate the presence of drumming muscles and the existence in mature males of potential correlations between their morphological characteristics and the sperm motility parameters.
Fast MHD oscillations in line-tied homogeneous coronal loops

Loop oscillations have been abundantly reported in recent years. Earlier analytical studies of loop oscillations con- sider freely propagating waves, allowing for line-tying by a quantization of the wavenumber. Here we consider the rich spectrum of fast MHD modes (both standing and leaky) in coronal loops, allowing for line-tying and performing some comparisons with observational data. We point out that in a straight and homogeneous cylindrical flux tube there should be observational signa- tures of the excitation of higher order harmonics. Our results indicate that these modes become leaky with the addition of the chromospheric structure at the base of the loop. Leakage can be quite efficient in damping the oscillations for many of these high frequency (compared to fundamental) modes.
Macronutrient content and accumulations in different arrangements of dwarf pigeon pea intercropped with corn

Intercropping is a technique which consists of cultivating two or more species in the same area. In these systems, planning and management should be carried out in order to avoid interspecies competition for water, light, and nutrients. This paper aimed to evaluate macronutrient content and accumulations in corn (Zea mays L.) intercropped with dwarf pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan L.) in different plant arrangements. The experimental design adopted was one of randomized blocks, with six treatments and four repetitions. The treatments consisted of different arrangements of dwarf pigeon pea intercropped with corn: corn in monoculture, dwarf pigeon pea sown in the same rows as the corn, one row of dwarf pigeon pea sown between the rows of corn, dwarf pigeon pea sown in the same rows and in a row between the corn, and dwarf pigeon pea sown in the same rows and in two rows between the corn. The following variables were evaluated: dry matter (t ha-1), macronutrient content and accumulations (g kg-1), total chlorophyll in the corn leaves (FCI) and grain yield of corn, as well as dry matter production (t ha-1) and macronutrient content in the aerial part of the dwarf pigeon pea (g kg-1). The arrangement with dwarf pigeon pea sown in the same rows and in two rows between the corn increased N content in the corn plants, in relation to the other arrangements and the corn in monoculture. Ca content and accumulations were higher in corn in monoculture and in the arrangement with dwarf pigeon peas sown in the same rows as the corn. Key words: Zea mays L. , Cajanus cajan, interspecies competition, plant nutrition.
Human Susceptibility to Framing Effect in Decisions Can Be Reflected in Scalp Potentials

Humans are susceptible to a famous decision bias named framing effect, which refers that people make different decisions in two decision questions that are intrinsically the same but described in different ways. This intriguing phenomenon has been widely studied with behavioral methods, animal models, and fMRI technique. To date, it’s still unknown whether human susceptibility to this intriguing decision bias can be reflected in scalp potentials. We recorded subjects’ scalp potentials when they decided between risky options and sure options, which were described in positive or negative way. We found that subjects’ brain potential significantly differed between when their choices were consistent with framing effect and when not. More significantly, we found that their susceptibility to framing effect could be reflected in their scalp potentials. Further research in this line can possibly help minimize framing effect bias.
Effects of remote and local atmospheric forcing on circulation and upwelling in the Baltic Sea

Due to the ephemeral nature of the atmospheric conditions over the Baltic Sea, the flow fieldis highly variable, and thus, changes in the resulting circulation and upwelling are difficult toobserve. However, three-dimensional models, forced by realistic atmospheric conditions andriver runoff, have reached such a state of accuracy that the highly fluctuating current field andthe associated evolution of the temperature and salinity field can be described. In this work, effects of remote and local atmospheric forcing on circulation and upwelling in the Baltic Seaare investigated. Changes in the characteristics of the large-scale atmospheric wind field overthe central and eastern North Atlantic can be described by the North Atlantic Oscillation(NAO). The NAO is related to the strength and geographical position of weather systems asthey cross the North Atlantic and thus has a direct impact on the climate in Europe. To relatethe local wind field over the Baltic Sea to the large-scale atmospheric circulation, we defined aBaltic Sea Index (BSI), which is the difference of normalised sea level pressures between Osloin Norway and Szczecin in Poland. The NAO is significantly related to the BSI. Furthermore, the BSI is highly correlated with the storage variation of the Baltic Sea and the volume exchangethrough the Danish Sounds. Based on three-dimensional model calculations, it is shown thatdifferent phases of the NAO during winter result in major changes of horizontal transports inthe deep basins of the Baltic Sea and in upwelling along the coasts as well as in the interior ofthe basins. During NAO+ phases, strong Ekman currents are produced with increased up-anddownwelling along the coasts and associated coastal jets, whereas during NAO- phases, Ekmandrift and upwelling are strongly reduced, and the flow field can almost entirely be described bythe barotropic stream function. The general nature of the mean circulation in the deep basinsof the Baltic Sea, obtained from a 10-yr model run, can be described by the depth integratedvorticity balance derived from the transport equation for variable depth.
Acoustic behavior of ceramic pots used in middle age worship spaces - a laboratory analysis

This paper presents the results of laboratory measurements of ceramic acoustic pots similar to those used in the vaults and walls of some Middle Age churches in Switzerland and other countries. The resonance frequency of the pots was found to be from 237 Hz to 444 Hz. A good estimation of the resonance frequency is given by the formula of Alster (with a cylindrical modeling) or by the traditional formula for Helmholtz resonators, slightly adapted. The intensimetric and sound level measurements highlighted a weak-operating range for the pots (difference open/closed pot on a radius of 0.3 m) of the omnidirectional re-emitted wave by the pots at the natural frequency and at certain harmonics. The sound absorption measurements in reverberation chamber highlighted a small but very selective absorption. The acoustic pots present around their resonance frequency and certain harmonics, light phenomena of amplification, sound absorption and diffusion.
Simulation of oil spill infiltration and redistribution in a shallow aquifer

Simulations of oil spill infiltration and redistribution in a shallow aquifer were conducted in this work to quantify their effects on groundwater. Results showed that flow of oil spills can be adequately described by infiltration and redistribution patterns within the domain. Without the influence of rainfall, the contaminant plume pervaded the water table within one year of the spill through the influence of dissolution, diffusive and convective mechanisms. The plume advanced in the domain first by domain wall trailing in a manner suggestive of oil-wetting characteristics followed by bulk plume movement. Simultaneous infiltration with rainfall increased the rate of contaminant penetration and aided the plume front further into the domain. Without influence of rain, uncontaminated water can be found at a depth beyond 30 m from the spill surface at 30 years after the spill, while the possibility of clean water with influence of rainfall, at the same period of time, became remote even up to the bottom of the aquifer as the rainfall drives the plume into the furthest depth though, this is accompanied by cleaner water body at the upper portion of the aquifer. It was found that the impacts of contaminants on aquifer water are influenced by contaminant components, wettability of the aquifer, annual rates of rainfall, boundary conditions of the source and possibly size of the domain. Findings in this report point to the needs for quicker clean up exercises and identification of multi-approach procedures for different spill scenarios. Key words : Simulation, oil spills, infiltration, redistribution, Niger Delta.
Appraisal: Shareholder Remedy or Litigation Arbitrage?

We present the first large-sample empirical study of the recent trends in the appraisal remedy—the right of shareholders of companies completing an eligible merger to petition the court for an improved price for their shares. Appraisal petitions have increased markedly over our sample from 2000 to 2014, and the composition of those bringing these suits has shifted from individual shareholders toward specialized hedge funds. Appraisal petitions are more likely to be filed against mergers with perceived conflicts of interest, including going-private deals, minority squeeze outs, and acquisitions with low premiums, which makes them a potentially important governance mechanism. Appraisals yield sizable excess returns to the petitioners, with an average annualized return of 32.9 percent, which suggests that appraisals also act as a litigation arbitrage. Finally, we explore the likely effects of two recent changes to the Delaware appraisal statute—regarding the minimum stake and interest payment—on the incentives to file appraisal petitions.