Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Herding in online product choice

Previous research has shown that people are influenced by others when making decisions. This work presents three studies examining herding in product choices on the Internet. The first two studies addressed how two cues frequently found on the Internet, that is, sales volume and customer reviews, influence consumer on-line product choices. The third study examined the relative effectiveness of two recommendation sources. The experimental results revealed that subjects used the choices and evaluations of others as cues for making their own choices. However, herding effects are offset significantly by negative comments from others. Additionally, the recommendations of other consumers influence the choices of subjects more effectively than recommendations from an expert. Finally, implications of this work are discussed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The emerging on-line economy provides consumers with easy access to numerous choices. Unlike traditional face-to-face retail environments, in which products can be seen and touched and customers can consult salespersons, transactions occur in a computer-mediated environment that provides no opportunities for experiencing a product or for face-toface consultation before making a purchase. Facing numerous options, consumers may delay their purchases or make their choices by a simple
Applications of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agroecosystems.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi belong to phylum Glomeromycota, which are main component of the soil microbiota in most agroecosystems and form symbiotic association with most of the plants. By forming an extended, intricate hyphal network, AM fungi can efficiently absorb mineral nutrients from the soil and deliver them to their host plants in exchange for carbohydrates. They facilitate nutrient uptake, particularly with respect to immobile nutrients, such as phosphorus and enhance tolerance to drought, disease resistance, building up a macroporous structure of soil that allows penetration of water and air and prevents erosion, enhance photosynthesis and reduce stresses during micropropagation. Thus the present review focuses on nutritional and non-nutritional benefits of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in agroecosystems.
The Media Calibration System for Cassini Radio Science: Part II

A new media calibration system is currently being implemented at DSS 25 that is intended to calibrate the delay of radio signals due to the neutral atmosphere, both the static dry and static and fluctuating wet components of this delay. In particular, the system will calibrate the fluctuations in path delay due to atmospheric water vapor that we believe will dominate the error budget for several radio science and radio astronomy experiments. The first user of this system will be the Gravitational Wave Experiment (GWE) with the Cassini spacecraft. The system consists of a water vapor radiometer (WVR) of a new design (i.e., the A-series), a microwave temperature profiler (MTP), and a package of instruments that sense surface meteorology. In order to demonstrate the performance of the media calibration system, we have installed two of them, one near DSS 13 and one near DSS 15. We operated these two radio antennas as an interferometer and compared the estimates of path delay provided by the media calibration system to the delay fluctuations seen by the interferometer. In this article, we describe the instrumentation, observing strategy, data analysis procedures, and weather conditions for 29 interferometer experiments that started on August 17, 1999, and ended May 18, 2000. Our goal is to demonstrate that the new media calibration system can meet or exceed an Allan standard deviation of 3 × 10−15 on time scales of 1,000 to 10,000 s, as required by the Cassini GWE.
Heat Distribution at Joints of Subjects with Musculoskeletal and Neuromuscular Dysfunctions

Body temperature is being speculated to be accurate for diagnosis and also monitor chronicity of diseases. Most studies on skin temperature are obsolete and were mostly done in Europe, and racial differences have been noted to have profound effect on human health. The primary objective of this study was to compare the temperatures on the affected and unaffected sides of selected patients with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal dysfunctions. Sixty-nine patients with neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disorders participated in the study. Temperatures were taken at both the pathologic and non-pathologic joints. Data obtained were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics of paired t-test at 0.05 alpha levels. The results showed no significant difference between axillary, elbow, wrist, knee and ankle joints temperature of the pathologic and non-pathologic upper extremities of subjects with neurological conditions A mean skin temperature difference of 0.29 °C was observed between neuromuscular and musculoskeletal dysfunctions. However, within subjects with musculoskeletal dysfunctions; the skin temperature at the pathologic knee joint was significantly higher than that of the non-pathologic knee joint (t = 2.43, p = 0.02). We concluded that, for patients with neuromuscular dysfunctions; there was a minor but an insignificant decrease in skin temperature of pathologic joints compared to that of non-pathologic joints. The mean skin temperature at the pathologic knee joint of patients with musculoskeletal dysfunctions was significantly higher than that of the non-pathologic knee joint.
New Late Cretaceous mammals from the Intertrappean beds of Rangapur, India and paleobiogeographic framework

A new mammal−bearing locality from the Intertrappean beds (Maastricthian) of Rangapur, Andhra Pradesh, India pro− vides isolated teeth referable to Deccanolestes and a new eutherian, Sahnitherium rangapurensis. Dental comparisons with Cimolestes, Procerberus, and Aboletylestes do not support proposed “palaeoryctoid” affinities for Deccanolestes. Although similarities exist with Otlestes and Batodon, Deccanolestes is currently considered to be of uncertain familial affinities. Sahnitherium rangapurensis exhibits similarities to Procerberus, Paranyctoides, Alostera, Aboletylestes, and Avitotherium, but it is here placed within Eutheria incertae sedis. Despite family level taxonomic uncertainties, the new material confirms the presence of eutherians on the Indian subcontinent during the Late Cretaceous. A Eurasian connec− tion via an early collision or some other dispersal route may explain these paleobiogeographic data, but other hypotheses are considered. In particular, paleogeographic, paleontological, and molecular systematic data hint that boreosphenidan mammals may have had wider distribution on Gondwana during the Cretaceous than previously supported.
Milk quality in high production systems during dry and rainy seasons according to normative instruction N° 62

This study aimed to evaluate the milk quality of crossbred cows from five production systems according to the quality parameters required by Normative Instruction No. 62 (NI 62). Five different production systems were used, with different environmental and sanitary conditions, and with animals from different breeds in two seasons: dry and rainy. Three individual milk samples were collected from animals in the five production systems during the dry season; the same number of samples was collected during the rainy season. The samples were evaluated in the Milk Quality Laboratory of the Federal University of Goias using analytical principles based on infrared differential absorption of milk components. The data were analyzed with a 2 × 5 factorial system in which factor 'A' includes the seasons and factor 'B' includes the five different production systems. The values of fat, protein, lactose, nonfat solids (NFS) and somatic cell count (SCC) were analyzed. Throughout the experiment, the chemical composition of milk was in accordance with NI 62; however, in relation to SCC, System 2 did not produce milk with optimal quality parameters and did not follow the criteria established by law. The analyzed milk had higher protein content of 3.32%, NFS of 8.89% and SCCs of 492,180 SC/mL during the rainy season compared to the dry season. Higher SCCs were also observed with increasing concentrations of fat and protein in the milk. Lactose and NFS values were found in lower concentrations with increasing SCCs due to epithelial damage present in animals with high SCCs. The systems differ among each other in some factors due to the particularity of each system. It was concluded that the milk components are in agreement with those required by NI 62, however all systems produced milk with higher SCC levels during the rainy season. Keywords: Chemical composition, somatic cell count, season, individual milk samples, quality
Nutrient limits in diets for growing dairy goats

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue revisar el consumo de materia seca y las necesidades nutritivas de cabras lecheras de reposicion estabuladas para establecer limites nutricionales aplicables a la formulacion de dietas por programacion lineal a minimo coste. El diseno de dietas nutricionalmente adecuadas y economicas requiere que el nutricionista estime correctamente el consumo de materia seca y forraje y los aportes y las necesidades de nutrientes. La bibliografia revisada sugiere que el consumo total de materia seca de las cabras oscila entre los limites fisico y fisiologico impuestos por la capacidad del tracto digestivo y las necesidades energeticas diarias. El efecto de llenado digestivo puede relacionarse con los carbohidratos estructurales de la dieta, mientras la saciedad metabolica se relaciona con la concentracion energetica de la dieta. El consumo minimo de forraje necesario para mantener la salud ruminal es bajo, mientras que el consumo maximo de forraje esta determinado probablemente por el contenido de fibra neutrodetergente de la dieta. Los aportes y las necesidades de energia y proteina calculadas segun los dos sistemas de valoracion mas modernos son similares, por lo que es indistinto usar cualquiera de ambos para optimizar dietas. Las propuestas recientes para el calculo de los aportes y las necesidades de calcio y fosforo ofrecen una mayor precision
Null injectivity estimate under an upper bound on the curvature

We establish a uniform estimate for the injectivity radius of the past null cone of a point in a general Lorentzian manifold foliated by spacelike hypersurfaces and satisfying an upper curvature bound. Precisely, our main assumptions are, on one hand, upper bounds on the null curvature of the spacetime and the lapse function of the foliation, and sup-norm bounds on the deformation tensors of the foliation. Our proof is inspired by techniques from Riemannian geometry, and it should be noted that we impose no restriction on the size of the curvature or deformation tensors, and allow for metrics that are "far" from the Minkowski one. The relevance of our estimate is illustrated with a class of plane-symmetric spacetimes which satisfy our assumptions but admit no uniform lower bound on the curvature not even in the L2 norm. The conditions we put forward, therefore, lead to a uniform control of the spacetime geometry and should be useful in the context of general relativity.
Liquidity, cash conversion cycle and financial performance: case of Russian companies

Managing liquidity and the cash conversion cycle play an important role in running a business successfully. Company officials must be confident that their organization does not suffer a shortage or a surplus of payment means and they must be ready to cover current liabilities when necessary. At the same time, the management’s aim is an increase in the company’s returns. The research covers the influence of the current liquidity ratio and cash conversion cycle on financial performance (as a return on net operating assets, RNOA) of Russian companies. A regression analysis of 720 Russian companies engaged in various economic activities for the period 2001 to 2012 was performed with Stata 12.0. The companies in the sample represent the following industries: telecommunications, transport, electric power industry, trade, metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemical and petrochemical, oil and gas. The authors find an inverse relation between the Russian companies’ cash conversion cycle and RNOA. Further research revealed that companies should seek to obtain a zero cash conversion cycle in order to increase their rate of return. The study also indicated a positive relation between companies’ current liquidity ratio and RNOA. This means that Russian companies should augment their current liquidity ratio in order to increase the RNOA, but the ratio should only be augmented to a defined value. In the paper we also present the calculations of the recommended intervals of current ratio for the analyzed economic sectors for the contemporary economic situation in Russia.
Nutritional quality of meat from local poultry population of Gallus gallus species of Benin

Tougan P.U. , Dahouda M. , Salifou C.F. A. , Ahounou G.S. , Kossou D.N. F. , Amenou C. , Kogbeto C.E. , Kpodekon M.T. , Mensah G.A. , Lognay G. , Thewis A. , Youssao I.A. K. 1 Department of Animal Production and Health, Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 2009,Cotonou, Republic of Benin. 2 Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agronomic Science, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526, Republic of Benin. 3 Agricultural Research Center of Agonkanmey, National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin, 01 BP 884, Cotonou 01, Republic of Benin. 4 Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 2, Passage des Déportés 5030 Gembloux, Belgique. 5 Animal Sciences Unit, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liege, Passage des Déportés, 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium. * Correspondance Prof. Issaka YOUSSAO ABDOU KARIM / EPAC / Department of Animal Production and Health, Polytechnic School of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 2009,Cotonou, Republic of Benin. Phone: 00 229 95 28 59 88 or 00 229 97 91 20 74, Fax: 00 229 21 36 01 99; E-mail: iyoussao@yahoo.fr, issaka.youssao@epac.uac. bj
Upper mesospheric lunar tides over middle and high latitudes during sudden stratospheric warming events

In recent years there have been a series of reported ground‐ and satellite‐based observations of lunar tide signatures in the equatorial and low latitude ionosphere/thermosphere around sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) events. This lower atmosphere/ionosphere coupling has been suggested to be via the E region dynamo. In this work we present the results of analyzing 6 years of hourly upper mesospheric winds from specular meteor radars over a midlatitude (54°N) station and a high latitude (69°N) station. Instead of correlating our results with typical definitions of SSWs, we use the definition of polar vortex weaking (PVW) used by Zhang and Forbes ( ). This definition provides a better representation of the strength in middle atmospheric dynamics that should be responsible for the waves propagating to the E region. We have performed a wave decomposition on hourly wind data in 21 day segments, shifted by 1 day. In addition to the radar wind data, the analysis has been applied to simulations from Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model Extended version and the thermosphere‐ionosphere‐mesosphere electrodynamics general circulation model. Our results indicate that the semidiurnal lunar tide (M2) enhances in northern hemispheric winter months, over both middle and high latitudes. The time and magnitude of M2 are highly correlated with the time and associated zonal wind of PVW. At middle/high latitudes, M2 in the upper mesosphere occurs after/before the PVW. At both latitudes, the maximum amplitude of M2 is directly proportional to the strength of PVW westward wind. We have found that M2 amplitudes could be comparable to semidiurnal solar tide amplitudes, particularly around PVW and equinoxes. Besides these general results, we have also found peculiarities in some events, particularly at high latitudes. These peculiarities point to the need of considering the longitudinal features of the polar stratosphere and the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere regions. For example, during SSW 2009, we found that M2 enhances many days before PVW which is not in agreement with most of our results.
Morphological characteristics of the interspecies hybrid between Sorghum and Sudan grass under intensive nitrogen nutrition

The object of this study was a two-year trial (2009 and 2010) regarding variability of morphological characteristics of species belonging to Sorghum genus, more specifically interspecies hybrid between sorghum and Sudan grass Siloking as affected by different applications of nitrogen. The following morphological characteristics were analysed: plant height, number of leaves, leaf ratio, stem ratio, and number of shoots. Samples were taken from the first cut when the effect of the applied nitrogen doses was the strongest. The results showed that increasing nitrogen quantities significantly affected the tested morphological characteristics, especially the intensity of tillering (increased number of secondary stems), number of the formed leaves, and ratio of leaf weight in the total above-ground biomass. The effect of applied nitrogen depended on the weather conditions, i.e. distribution of precipitation, so that plants reached maximum height when 105 kg N ha-1 was applied in the dry year and 180 kg N ha-1 in the wet year. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 31078 i br. TR 31022]
The inter-comparison of major satellite aerosol retrieval algorithms using simulated intensity and polarization characteristics of reflected light

Abstract. Remote sensing of aerosol from space is a challenging and typically underdetermined retrieval task, requiring many assumptions to be made with respect to the aerosol and surface models. Therefore, the quality of a priori information plays a central role in any retrieval process (apart from the cloud screening procedure and the forward radiative transfer model, which to be most accurate should include the treatment of light polarization and molecular-aerosol coupling). In this paper the performance of various algorithms with respect to the of spectral aerosol optical thickness determination from optical spaceborne measurements is studied. The algorithms are based on various types of measurements (spectral, angular, polarization, or some combination of these). It is confirmed that multiangular spectropolarimetric measurements provide more powerful constraints compared to spectral intensity measurements alone, particularly those acquired at a single view angle and which rely on a priori assumptions regarding the particle phase function in the retrieval process.
Effect of green tea consumption on level of glucose, lipid profile and kidney functions in alloxan induced-diabetic rats

In recent years, green tea has become a subject of interest because of its beneficial effects on human health. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of daily oral administration of green tea extract for 6 weeks on plasma glucose, lipid profile and kidney functions in alloxan-induced diabetic rats to show the preventive and curative effects of green tea. Rats (130-150 g) were divided into 4 groups, normal control rats, diabetic rats, diabetic rats post-treated with green tea and diabetic rats pretreated with green tea. Green tea extract was administered orally for 6 weeks to the third and forth groups (300 mg/kg b.w,). Plasma glucose, triglycerides, HDL and LDL-cholesterol were significantly reduced in post-treated and pre-treated groups while plasma cholesterol was significantly reduced only in post-treated group while plasma creatinine, urea and uric acid levels were significantly reduced in post-treated diabetic group, but in the pre-treated group creatinine and uric acid levels were reduced, but urea level did not change. It is concluded that the consumption of green tea produced a significant reduction in glucose level in diabetic rats. In addition green tea is capable of improving hyperlipidaemia and the impaired kidney functions in addition to its hyperglycemic control.
Effect of senescent leaves on NDVI-based estimates of fAPAR: Experimental and modelling evidences

Spectral indices from remotely sensed data, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), are often used to estimate biophysical characteristics of vegetation. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of senescent leaves on the estimation of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the green elements of the canopy (fAPAR g ) from NDVI measurements. An experiment was conducted under controlled conditions over grass canopies. Both NDVI and fAPAR g were measured when the cover fraction by senescent leaves was changed. The results demonstrated that the effect of senescent leaves was significant on NDVI values. A similar effect was observed on the fAPAR g values. In these conditions, simple models were developed to relate the fAPAR g to NDVI values when the cover fractions of the senescent leaves vary. When combining these models, a linear relationship was found between NDVI and fAPAR g , which was in good agreement with our experimental observations. Complementary radiative transfer model simulations were then run and confirmed these results. In addition, the vertical and horizontal distribution of the senescent leaves was investigated. They show that the relationship between NDVI and fAPAR g was only marginally affected by the distribution of the senescent leaves.
Sources of otolith carbonate: experimental determination of carbon incorporation rates from water and metabolic CO2, and their diel variations

Although carbon isotopes in fish otoliths are widely utilized to obtain information on environmental records, uncertainty regarding the sources of otolith carbonate, either from fish diet or ambient water, limits detailed determinations. The present study experimentally determined absolute incorporation rates of carbon derived from 2 sources, metabolic CO2 and ambient water, into otoliths using goldfish under controlled conditions. In addition, the proportions of the 2 sources in otolith daily increments were also determined by the diel variations in the rate of incorporation from the 2 sources. A group of fish was administered with D-( 14 C-U)-glucose or was exposed to water con- taining NaH 14 CO3, and incubated for 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 h. Another group was similarly treated with the radiocarbons at 06:00, 12:00, 18:00, 00:00 or again at 06:00 h, and were incubated for 6 h. After incubation, serum and otoliths were collected and were separated into organic and inorganic carbon fractions, and the incorporation rates from the 2 sources were determined. The rates of carbon incor- poration from D-( 14 C-U)-glucose injected and NaH 14 CO3 water were 0.27 (25.5%) and 0.79 (74.5%) nmol mg -1 otolith h -1 , respectively. During darkness (18:00 to 06:00 h), both the incorporation rate and proportion of metabolic-CO2-derived carbon significantly decreased to ~50% of that during day- light. These results suggest that otolith carbonate is mainly derived from ambient water, and the ratio of carbon derived from metabolic CO2 is lower in the D-zone than that in the L-zone of the otolith daily increments.