Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis of Nutrient Imbalance in Mango by DRIS and PCA Approaches

Abstract Nutrient concentration in Totapuri cultivar of mango leaf as affected by application of varying levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), or potassium (K) was monitored in three field experiments for a period of nine years from 1991 to 1999. A data bank of nutrient concentration vs. fruit yield was established based on the mean nutrient concentration determined for different treatments. The data was further sub-divided into low and high yielding population based on yield performance. The Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) ratio norms were developed from high yielding population, while diagnosis of nutrient imbalance was made in low yielding plants. Forty-five nutrient expressions were chosen as diagnostic norms. Not withstanding application of a wide range of major nutrient doses, fruit yield was low in four to five cropping seasons. DRIS indices showed no signs of improvement nor there was a trend with application of N, P, or K at different levels. Some measures of total imbalance of nutrients in plant were reflected through sum of DRIS indices irrespective of sign. The greater imbalance of nutrients resulted in lower fruit yield. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to extract the correlation structure among the nutrient in low and high yielding plants and for DRIS indices. The first PC derived by PCA performed both on absolute nutrient concentration and DRIS indices was designated as (N−P + Mg−S + Fe + Cu+). Involvement of several nutrients in a single PC indicated that, it was not possible to diagnose nutrient imbalance of any particular nutrient in isolation in fruit crops like mango. The nutrient concentration variation in mango leaf appears to be an overall orchard phenomenon rather than individual tree phenomenon.
An evaluation of copper biosorption by a brown seaweed under optimized conditions

A basic investigation into the removal of copper ions from aqueous solutions by Sargassum sp. was conducted in batch conditions. The influence of different experimental parameters such as initial pH, shaking rate, sorption time, temperature, equilibrium conditions and initial concentrations of copper ions on copper uptake was evaluated. Results indicated that for shaking rates higher than 100 rpm no significant changes in copper accumulation were observed, as well as for pH values between 3.0 and 5.0. No marked effect on the biosorption of copper was detected for temperatures between 298 and 328K. The Langmuir model better represented the sorption process, in comparison to the model of Freundlich. The process followed a second-order kinetics and its calculated activation energy was 5.2 kcal/mol. Due to its outstanding copper uptake capacity (1.48 mmol/g biomass) Sargassum sp. proved to be an excellent biomaterial for accumulating and recovering copper from industrial solutions.
Asymmetric Dark Matter and Dark Radiation

Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) models invoke a particle-antiparticle asymmetry, similar to the one observed in the Baryon sector, to account for the Dark Matter (DM) abundance. Both asymmetries are usually generated by the same mechanism and generally related, thus predicting DM masses around 5 GeV in order to obtain the correct density. The main challenge for successful models is to ensure efficient annihilation of the thermally produced symmetric component of such a light DM candidate without violating constraints from collider or direct searches. A common way to overcome this involves a light mediator, into which DM can efficiently annihilate and which subsequently decays into Standard Model particles. Here we explore the scenario where the light mediator decays instead into lighter degrees of freedom in the dark sector that act as radiation in the early Universe. While this assumption makes indirect DM searches challenging, it leads to signals of extra radiation at BBN and CMB. Under certain conditions, precise measurements of the number of relativistic species, such as those expected from the Planck satellite, can provide information on the structure of the dark sector. We also discuss the constraints of the interactions between DM and Dark Radiation from their imprint in the matter power spectrum.
Financial Development and Growth: Can the APEC Experience Offer A Lesson for Asia

In models of endogenous growth with financial development researchers typically find that a lower share of government ownership in the domestic financial sector leads to a greater efficiency and a higher rate of growth. We find no such evidence in the economies of the APEC. A greater privatisation of financial intermediaries in the APEC has only led to a greater volume of capital without any significant change in the overall efficiency. Nevertheless, a significant improvement in efficiency in the APEC has come from a greater access of the member countries to the international credit market. This finding implies that the real growth in East Asia should continue despite the recent problems of the domestic financial intermediaries, provided the region's access to international credit market continues to grow under the umbrella of APEC.
Investigating Finance-Growth Nexus: Further Evidence from Nigeria

This study investigates the influence of financial sector development on economic growth in Nigeria during the period 1982 to 2015. As such, the study obtained annual secondary data from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletins and World Bank financial database. The empirical model for this study examines growth in savings, growth in exchange rate, growth in government expenditure, growth in stock market capitalization, growth in credit to private sector, growth in gross capital formation, growth in trade openness and growth in broad money on economic growth in Nigeria. The multiple regression output reveals that growth in government expenditure and growth in gross capital formation are statistically significant on economic growth in Nigeria at 1% and 10% respectively under the period under investigation while other regressors in the model prove to be statistically insignificant. VAR test shows that there is considerable short-run causality running from lags of regressors to economic growth in Nigeria except for lag 1 of growth in exchange rate and lag 2 of growth in credit to private sector. The granger causality test reveals the existence of bi-directional causality between financial sector development and economic growth in Nigeria during the period under investigation. Hence, this study supports the ‘feedback hypothesis’ view on finance-growth. Based on these empirical results, this study recommends effective channeling of funds to the private sector and autonomy of the Central Bank of Nigeria in the use of monetary policy tools.
Wet Torrefaction of Miscanthus – Characterization of Hydrochars in View of Handling, Storage and Combustion Properties

Properties of miscanthus hydrochars obtained through wet torrefaction were studied. The process was carried out in three different temperatures – 180, 200 and 220 °C and with four different ratios of water to biomass – 3:1, 6:1, 12:1 and 16:1. The obtained solid products were characterized with respect to their fuel properties. The best results were obtained for the temperature of 220 °C and showed a noticeable improvement in fuel properties – especially grindability and lowered ash content. The influence of water to biomass ratio was not so explicit and while high ratio showed an improvement in all mentioned properties, low ratio allowed to achieve the highest energy yield. The results obtained for miscanthus wet torrefaction and the literature data for dry torrefaction were compared.
Culture and corruption-driven agency costs and earnings management: Evidence from south east Asian countries

Purpose: This study scrutinised whether agency costs driven by culture and corruption could determine the earnings quality in six South-East Asian (SEA) countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Design/methodology: This research restricted the categorisation of each SEA country whether they have low or high agency cost. This study employs 581 firm-years observations from the 30 biggest market capitalisation firms of six SEA countries. This paper runs multiple regressions of three main accrual models for main analysis (Jones, 1991; Dechow, Sloan & Sweeney, 1995; Kasznik, 1999) to get discretionary accruals. Findings: Results show that firms in low agency cost countries have lower earnings quality and indicate that earnings management behaviour in this study is efficient rather than detrimental. Furthermore, results present that large firms engage less in earnings management conduct compared to their counterparts. Research limitations/implications: This study has implications on standard setters and regulatory bodies, (prospective) investors, and wider society. Originality/value: This study provides broader acknowledgement of how cultural values and corruption and their assumed correlation to agency cost could affect earnings management behaviour in South East Asia. Authors use a single proxy of high/low agency cost based on national cultural and corruption index.
Channel current cheminformatics and stochastic carrier-wave signal processing

Methods for channel current cheminformatics are reviewed, including finite state automaton based signal acquisition methods and generalized Hidden Markov model (HMM) methods for both signal feature extraction and structure identification. The generalized HMMs described enable a new form of carrierbased communication, where the carrier is stationary but not periodic. HMMwith-binned-duration, and meta-HMM generalizations, in particular, are shown to enable practical stochastic carrier wave encoding/decoding, where the generalized HMM methods have generalized Viterbi algorithms with all of the inherent benefits of an efficient dynamic programming implementation, as well as Martingale convergence properties when used for filtering and robust feature extraction. Applications to extracting channel current blockade signals from the nanopore transduction setting are discussed to provide a specific, challenging, application example, where individual molecular captures, generally nontranslocating, generate strongly stationary channel blockade signals, allowing stochastic carrier-wave signal processing and channel current signal transduction functionalization in a variety of settings. Stochastic carrier wave signal processing enablers improved (‘smart-device’) signal processing in a number of settings in science and nanotechnology. 116 Stephen Winters-Hilt
An Examination of Short-Run Performance of IPOs Using Extreme Bounds Analysis

This paper estimates the short-run performance of IPOs issued on the Karachi Stock Exchange in Pakistan. The present study extends the existing literature concentrating on the degree of underpricing over a 3-month period lasting from the listing date to the 3-month anniversary showing significant evidence of IPO underpricing. The analyses support the investors’ sentiment and underwriters’ prestige hypothesis but not ex-ante uncertainty. The EBA technique has been used to examine fifteen explanatory variables of IPO underpricing. The study finds that the aftermarket risk level of the IPO, the oversubscription ratio, the offer price, the return on assets, post issue promoters’ holding and size of the firm are six robust determinants of IPO underpricing.
Scheduling of the optimal tool replacement times in a flexible manufacturing system

In Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs), a cutting tool is frequently used for different operations and on different part types to minimize tool change-overs and the number of tools required, and to increase part-routing flexibility. In such situations, the tools become shared resources and work in job-dependent, changeable and nonhomogeneous conditions. It is well known that the tool failure rate depends on both age and machining conditions and that tool reliability is a function of the duration, machining conditions, and the sequence of the operations in FMS. The objective of this paper is to obtain a schedule of the optimal preventive replacement times for the cutting tools over a finite time horizon in a flexible manufacturing system. We assume that the tool will be replaced either upon failure during an operation or preventively after the completion of each operation, incurring different replacement costs. A standard stochastic dynamic programming approach is taken to obtain the optimal tool replacement times. The optimal schedule is obtained by minimizing the total expected cost over a finite time horizon for a given sequence of operations. A computational algorithm is developed and a numerical example is given to demonstrate the procedure.
Dynamic loads in new engineering codes for railway bridges in Europe and Spain

Bridges and viaducts for high speed trains are subject to demanding dynamic loads. In addition to the classical effect of the moving (single) load, much larger and potentially dangerous effects arise from dynamic resonance, for speeds above 220 km/h. The classical methods for evaluation of dynamic impact factors, reflected in the codes of practise existing until recently, do not cover this possibility of resonance. The design of such structures requires dynamic calculations which are the object of this paper. We discuss briefly available methods for dynamic analysis, as well as the new (draft) codes IAPF [9] and Eurocode 1 for actions on bridges [10]. One of the key aspects which is desirable for the new lines is their qualification for interoperability, so that all possible present and future European high speed trains may use them. The proposal for this is covered in [10, 9] through the new High Speed Load Model HSLM, whose background is discussed here. Finally, some results obtained by our group are presented for high speed traffic loads on bridges. These studies focus on the evaluation of the bridge-vehicle interaction in bridges and a discussion and proposal for dynamic uplift dynamic effects. These topics originate from issues in the application of the new regulations for high speed lines, and are oriented toward being of practical use to designers of railway bridges. 44 Bridges for High-Speed Railways
Time of Cutting Timothy: Effect on the Proportion of Leaf Blades, Leaf Sheaths, Stems, and Heads and on Their Crude Protein, Ether Extract, and Crude Fiber Contents 1

T HE proportion and chemical composition of the morphological parts found in the portion harvested for hay of the various leguminous hay plants when cut at different stages of maturity have been determined by a number of investigators. As a result of these studies the percentage of leaves has been used as an important factor in appraising the quality and feed value of legume hays. Similar detailed studies have never been made of the grasses used for hay. This paper presents some preliminary studies with reference to the proportion of leaf blades, leaf sheaths, stems, and heads of timothy harvested at different stages of maturity and their respective crude protein, ether extract, and crude fiber contents. A review of the literature showed that a number of the agricultural experiment stations had collected data on the relation between time of cutting and yield of timothy hay per acre. Waters3 reported, in addition to the yields, the composition of timothy hay cut at different stages of maturity. Trowbridge, et al., 4 reported on the yields and composition of the heads, stalks with attached leaves, stubble, and bulbs for timothy cut at different stages of maturity. The stalks with attached leaf sheaths and leaf blades were not studied individually by these investigators, although they cited a need for such information.
Holocene climate aridification trend and human impact interrupted by millennial- and centennial-scale climate fluctuations from a new sedimentary record from Padul (Sierra Nevada, southern Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract. Holocene centennial-scale paleoenvironmental variability has been described in a multiproxy analysis (i.e., lithology, geochemistry, macrofossil, and microfossil analyses) of a paleoecological record from the Padul Basin in Sierra Nevada, southern Iberian Peninsula. This sequence covers a relevant time interval hitherto unreported in the studies of the Padul sedimentary sequence. The ∼ 4700-year record has preserved proxies of climate variability, with vegetation, lake levels, and sedimentological change during the Holocene in one of the most unique and southernmost wetlands in Europe. The progressive middle and late Holocene trend toward arid conditions identified by numerous authors in the western Mediterranean region, mostly related to a decrease in summer insolation, is also documented in this record; here it is also superimposed by centennial-scale variability in humidity. In turn, this record shows centennial-scale climate oscillations in temperature that correlate with well-known climatic events during the late Holocene in the western Mediterranean region, synchronous with variability in solar and atmospheric dynamics. The multiproxy Padul record first shows a transition from a relatively humid middle Holocene in the western Mediterranean region to more aridity from ∼ 4700 to ∼ 2800 cal yr BP. A relatively warm and humid period occurred between ∼ 2600 and ∼ 1600 cal yr BP, coinciding with persistent negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) conditions and the historic Iberian–Roman Humid Period. Enhanced arid conditions, co-occurring with overall positive NAO conditions and increasing solar activity, are observed between ∼ 1550 and ∼ 450 cal yr BP (∼ 400 to ∼ 1400 CE) and colder and warmer conditions occurred during the Dark Ages and Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), respectively. Slightly wetter conditions took place during the end of the MCA and the first part of the Little Ice Age, which could be related to a change towards negative NAO conditions and minima in solar activity. Time series analysis performed from local (Botryococcus and total organic carbon) and regional (Mediterranean forest) signals helped us determining the relationship between southern Iberian climate evolution, atmospheric and oceanic dynamics, and solar activity. Our multiproxy record shows little evidence of human impact in the area until ∼ 1550 cal yr BP, when evidence of agriculture and livestock grazing occurs. Therefore, climate is the main forcing mechanism controlling environmental change in the area until relatively recently.
PERCEIVED QUALITY IN RURAL LODGINGS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: THE RURALQUAL SCALE

This work has two main goals. First we seek to start the validation process of the RURALQUAL scale as an instrument of evaluation of the quality of the service provided by rural lodgings in two border regions of the Iberian Peninsula: Extremadura (Spain) and the Alentejo (Portugal). Second, we aim to identify the most appropriate dimensions that integrate the variable service quality in this type of lodging. To do this we perform a factorial analysis. The paper ends with a set of recommendations for lodging managers in order to improve the quality of the service provided.
Hypoxia and anoxia effects on alcohol dehydrogenase activity and hemoglobin content in Chironomus riparius Meigen, 1804

The metabolic effects of low oxygen content on alcohol-dehydrogenase (ADH) activity and hemoglobin (Hb) concentration were investigated in IV-instar larvae of Chironomus riparius (Diptera: Chironomidae) from an Italian stream. Two series of short-term (48 h) experiments were carried out: exposure to (1) progressive hypoxia (95 to 5% of oxygen saturation) and (2) anoxia (at 50% and decreased significantly only after 48 h of treatment (= <5% of oxygen saturation) reaching values <100 mmolO 2 gAFDW -1 h -1 . ADH activity showed two phases of growth, within the first 14 h and over 18 h of exposure. Overall, we inferred that i) Hb might function as short-term oxygen storage, enabling animals to delay the on-set of anaerobiosis; and ii) alcoholic fermentation co-occurs for a short time with aerobic respiration, becoming the prevalent metabolic pathway below 5% of oxygen saturation (<1 mg L -1 ). These considerations were supported also by results from anoxia exposure (2). In such condition, larvae were visibly stressed, becoming immobile after few minutes of incubation, and ADH reached higher values than in the hypoxia treatment (2.03±0.15 UADH mg prot -1 ). Overall, this study showed a shift from aerobic to anaerobic activity in C. riparius larvae exposed to poorly oxygenated water with an associated alteration of ADH activity and the Hb amount. Such metabolites might be valid candidate biomarkers for the environmental monitoring of running waters.
Trophic biology of Stylophora pistillata larvae: evidence from stable isotope analysis

The successful recruitment of planktonic larvae to coral reefs is essential for the contin- ued existence of these highly diverse ecosystems. Feeding strategies may affect recruitment success and potentially determine species distribution by controlling the dispersal range of the larvae. Our aim here was to ascertain the feeding strategies of planula larvae of the coral Stylophora pistillata by using stable isotopes. Planula larvae, fragments of parental colonies, and 3 potential food types were analyzed for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope compositions and C/N ratios. We found that planu- lae were depleted in 13 C when compared to parental tissues, whereas their C/N ratios were 2-fold higher. Following lipid extraction, there were no significant differences in δ 13 C values and C/N ratios between lipid-free planulae and parental colonies. This indicates that the differences in δ 13 C origi- nate in the lipid content of the planulae and not from any isotopic fractionation that may occur dur- ing embryological development. Controlled feeding experiments were conducted using phytoplank- ton, zooplankton, and bacteria. Despite the presence of an oral opening, the planulae did not show any feeding behavior, and the stable isotope data corroborated the observations of no feeding. Moreover, following 2 wk of starvation in the dark, planulae started to utilize their lipid and protein reservoirs. These results stress the importance of the photosynthates translocated from the algal symbionts to these planulae as an energy source.
Effect of PEDOT:PSS Layer and ITO Ozonization in Arylenevinylene-co-Pyrrolenevinylene (AVPV) Based Solar Cell Devices

Arylenevinylene-co-pyrrolenevinylene (AVPV) is polymer oligomer system derived from arylbridged bispyrroles which has been explored for photovoltaic devices. In this paper, we show the dependence of the photovoltaic device parameters on the anode surface treatment in an organic single layer photovoltaic device based on AVPV as an electron donor. Since the total quantum efficiency includes the charge collection efficiency at the electrodes, experiments were carried out to vary the anode (ITO) characteristics, achieved by using ITO with or without ozonization and with or without PEDOT:PSS (Polyethylene dioxythiophene:Polystyrene sulphonic acid) layer. Devices fabricated on ITO anode (without ozonization and without PEDOT:PSS) exhibited the maximum current density (Jsc = 1.3 µA·cm–2) as compared to those devices where ITO was ozonized as well as had a PEDOT:PSS layer (Jsc = 0.1 µA·cm–2) measured under 1 sun illumination of AM 1.5 through a calibrated solar simulator.