Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Demand effects and social welfare of water metering in East Anglia

In England and Wales, water companies are abstracting about a half of total freshwater resources (Environment Agency, 2008a), which are projected to increase in order to feed the growing populations. On the other hand, scopes to increase water supply in the future are getting narrower given the environmental constraints including the climate change. In particular, East Anglia region, where population density is high relative to water availability, may face severer water stresses in the future. This implies putting more pressure to the freshwater environment, as more abstractions at water Demand Effects and Social Welfare of Water Metering in East Anglia
Speed-Control of Energy Regulation Based Variable-Speed Electrohydraulic Drive

The variable-speed electrohydraulic drive is a promising drive principle due to its high energy efficiency and large speed-range. However, its slow response and poor low-speed behaviour limit its application. To address these disadvantages, a energy regulation based variable-speed electrohydraulic drive is proposed. This novel drive principle is combined with the advantages of variable-speed drive and valve-control drive. The speed-control of the energy regulation based variable-speed electrohydraulic drive is discussed. The speed-control strategy, which is aimed at the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) structure of the proposed drive principle, is analysed. The results of simulations and experiments comparing it with three other drive principle systems show that the proposed drive principle has not only a good speed-control accuracy, but also a perfect energy-saving performance.
A Relation Between Historical Forest Use and Current Dead Woody Material in a Boreal Protected Old-Growth Forest in Finland

Assessing the human impact on the naturalness and vegetation characteristics of protected areas is one of the key issues when designing forest conservation networks in Fennoscandia. We studied the small-scale, detailed relationship between forest utilization history and the current availability of dead woody material in a protected old-growth forest area in North Karelia, eastern Finland. From the study area of 32.4 ha, all the stumps (diameter ≥ 5 cm and height < 1.3 m, classified as natural, man-made and of undetermined origin) were measured using 25 × 25 m sub-plots. Standing and fallen dead trees (dbh ≥ 5 cm) were measured on 50 × 50 m plots in an area of 7.8 ha. The average number of stumps was 130 per ha, and over half of the stumps were classified as man-made. However, the historical documents since the 1910s showed no logging in the area: some of the largest man-made stumps probably originated from an earlier time, but most of those stumps were made considerably later. The variation in the total number of stumps (per ha) was great (range 0–560/ha, 0–16 m 2 /ha), with no clear clustering in space. However, clustering of man-made stumps was detected. The average volume of pooled standing and fallen trees was 84 m 3 /ha, with a range of 37–146 m 3 /ha. The other noticeable man-made disturbance besides logging was notching of aspens, which has a scatteredly significant influence on the amount of dead trees. In conclusion, the protected old-growth forest was not as a whole in a natural state but showed different degrees of human impact from virtually untouched patches to quite heavily managed patches. The results suggest that the number of manmade stumps may be a relatively quick and easy method of assessing the naturalness of woody biomass structure in the Fennoscandian boreal forests.
Alpha Meals

Past research suggests that our ability to recall information increases when atypical items are presented within otherwise homogeneous sets. We investigated whether this effect applied to performance on practical, everyday tasks. In a computer-simulated restaurant scenario, participants acted as virtual servers, delivering “plates of food orders” to tables set up in different “rooms. ” Plate destination was communicated using either a distinctive alphanumeric code or a homogeneous numeric code, both of which indicated the room and table number for delivery of food orders. We examined accuracy of plate delivery when two (low load) or three (high load) coded assignments were given per delivery trial. As expected, performance declined from the low- to high-load condition. Importantly, performance declined less with alphanumeric compared with all-numeric communication of assignments. Results suggest that increasing the distinctiveness of assignments, by using alphanumeric codes, can boost performance in real-life situations to significantly improve memory-related task performance, particularly when cognitive load is taxed.
Strategic Responses to New Technologies and Their Impact on Firm Performance

Modern corporations must adopt and assimilate new technologies to build and sustain competitive advantage. The authors develop a theoretical framework to understand the relationships among (1) strategic responses to new technologies, (2) organizational resources, and (3) firm performance. Specifically, they theorize that a strategic response can be categorized according to the dimensions of magnitude, domain, and speed, and they conceptualize organizational resources as tangible and intangible. The authors operationalize this framework for the adoption of the Internet by traditional store-based retailers, for which they posit strategic responses as the speed of (1) adopting the Internet as a communications channel, (2) adopting the Internet as a sales channel, and (3) forming e-alliances. In addition, they use resource slack to represent organizational resources. Results from nine years (1992–2000) of data on 106 firms establish the influence of strategic responses on firm performance (i.e., market valuation of the firm, operationalized as Tobin's q). Specifically, the results show that both the adoption of the Internet as a communications channel and e-alliance formation positively influence firm performance. The positive effect of communications channel adoption on firm performance is enhanced further by the use of slack resources. Post hoc analysis reveals that the adoption of the Internet as a sales channel seems to matter only to firms that have preexisting catalog operations.
INFLUENCE OF CEMENT ON TRIAXIAL RESPONSE OF FLY ASH-ADMIXED SAND

A series of triaxial compression tests has been conducted to investigate the strength characteristics of a sandy soil blended with fly ash and cement, paying special attention to the influence of cement in this mixture. Fly ash content used in this study is 35% and the cement content varies from 1% to 4% with curing periods of 0, 7 and 28 days for the various mixtures. It has been observed that addition of cement to fly ash-soil mixes changes the stress-strain response of the mixes. Curing time also influences the strength behaviour of the mixes.
Advantages of the point-intercept method for assessing functional diversity in semi-arid areas

Abstract: Semi-arid areas are particularly susceptible to the loss of biodiversity as a consequence of global change. Species functional traits are key drivers of functioning and resilience of ecosystems, thus monitoring of functional trait diversity is urgently needed. The assessment of functional diversity requires the quantification of species and/or their traits in the field, though there is no consensus on the best plant-sampling method to be used. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of the point-intercept (PT) method with two area-based approaches, the modified-Whittaker (MW) and Dengler (DE) methods, to assess functional diversity in semi-arid areas. The herbaceous community of a savanna-like Mediterranean woodland was surveyed at the two extremes of a regional precipitation gradient (dry to wet). Efficiency in the quantification of species/ traits, precision of cover estimates, and their effect on functional diversity metrics computed for eight functional traits were compared. Results showed that the examined methods differed in their efficiency in quantifying species/traits in both sites. With the DE method, fewer species were detected than with the MW and PT methods, which yielded similar values. The PT method had a higher precision in the quantification of both dominant and non-dominant species/traits. It also had a higher community evenness, mainly in the wet location, which allowed the analysis of a greater number of species/traits within the 80% “dominance” threshold (i.e., species representing 80% of the relative cover of community), a critical aspect of functional diversity assessments. In addition, the PT method yielded higher estimates for multi-trait functional evenness, as well as different estimates (either higher or lower than MW and DE) of single-trait community weighted means (for N-fixing ability and flowering onset), functional dispersion (for N-fixing ability and specific leaf area), and functional evenness (for height and flowering onset). In spite of the observed differences among methods in the assessment of functional diversity, the PT approach demonstrated important advantages in the non-destructive, fine-scale monitoring of semi-arid areas, where “less dominant” species may play a critical role.
Antifungal compounds extracted from rice bran fermentation applied to bakery product conservation

The objective of this study was to apply a natural extract derived from the biomass of fermented rice bran as conservative, aiming to increase the shelf life of pizza doughs. The substrate, rice bran, was placed in tray bioreactors and inoculated with Rhizopus oryzae , whose initial concentration was 4 x 10 6 spores g -1 of bran fungus. The phenolic extracts, in average concentration of 2.47 mg g -1 , were applied on the pizzas doughts stored at room temperature. These pizza doughs treated increased by more than ten days life compared with those that were applied conventional conservatives. Thus, this extract phenolic derivative of rice bran showed to be promise as conservative, with results that indicate less fungal contamination as glucosamine, score of molds and yeasts, and invertase enzyme activity in 17.66 µg g -1 , 1.3 x 10 1 CFU g -1 and 0.04 mg min. proteins -1 , respectively.
Integrated Fertilizer Management Correctly Mirrors the Prospective Flower Quality, Bulb Yield and Beauty Features of Amaryllis (Hippeastrum Vittatum Herb)

An innovative bioformulation labeled "Biofertile" of six endophytic diazotrophs was eval uated for improving flower quality, bulb yield and beauty features of amaryllis (Hippeastrum vittatum Herb). Along the winter growing seasons 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, leaf characteristics (numbers per plant, length, surface area, fresh and dry weights) significantly stimulated due to Biofertile treatment. Incorporation into soil of a rational N level with plant hormones did magnify the beneficia l impact of the diazotroph formulation. Simultaneous bio-pro duct inoculation and N fertilization resulted in earlier flower opening and budding, up to 18 days were resulted. T he highest seasonal average bulb fresh weight of 76.9 g plant -1 was scored for plants inoculated with the diazotrop h biopreparate together with 50 % N dose in presence of gibberellin and benzyl adenine. Addition of full N regime increased chlorophyll and carbohydrate contents of leaves by 26.8 and 16.7 % respectively over untreated amar yllis, Relatively low amounts of indole (0.56 mg/ 100 g fr esh weight) and phenol (1.41 mg/ 100 g fresh weight) we re estimated for untreated plants, higher quantities o f 1.31 and 336 mg/ 100 g fresh weight were recorded for Biofer tile- inoculated plants. Being among the beauty features of amaryllis, leaves area and fresh weight as well as bulb diameter and fresh weights conspicuously improved athe N content of the plant organs increased. Net N gai ns of 18.7 - 22.2 kg acre -1 were introduced into the ornamental plant growth media via inoculation with Biofertile either with or without the other additives. Results of thi s study open a new window on the successful role of the Int egrated Fertilizer Management (IFM) concept for improving f lower
Employment in industrial timber plantations: An Ethiopian case supported by a global review

HighlightsGlobal experience of employment generation in timber plantations shows contrasting outcomes including in terms of rural development, but there are also commonalities such as poor working conditions, seasonality of employment and relatively low labor intensity over large areas compared to other land uses.Ethiopia conforms to this pattern, based on a case study of an industrial timber plantation, with low wages and reliance on casual jobs without formal contracts in a rural context of a weak labor market with few employment opportunities.Gender wise, the opportunities are uneven with a large majority of positions filled by men resulting in a marginal involvement of women, and a great potential for improvements in this field.Employees with agricultural land (a minority) appreciate the provision of additional sources of incomes, and the flexibility in work arrangement that allows them to simultaneously engage in agricultural activities. However, we also notice that daily labor as the main model of employment has serious implications with respect to social security and various benefits that would be associated to labor contracts.As the Government of Ethiopia is committed to promote afforestation and reforestation on 7 million hectares (ha) in view of making the country self-sufficient in wood, enhancing carbon sequestration and supporting green growth, these lessons would be usefully applied in the future. There are indeed great expectations that timber plantations and processing units will create significant rural and urban employment opportunities.
Women and alcohol in developing countries

Las mujeres alrededor del mundo corren un gran riesgo de presentar problemas relacionados con el alcohol. En las culturas en las que se consume alcohol se espera que las mujeres se abstengan o beban menos que los hombres y, como resultado, de hecho beben menos; sin embargo cuando desarrollan un problema derivado de su forma de beber las rechazan, tienen mas problemas y ocultan mas su adiccion, lo que dificulta detectarlas y tratarlas oportunamente. A las mujeres que no beben alcohol tambien les afecta en su papel de madres o esposas de personas dependientes, quienes las hacen victimas de su adiccion y de su incapacidad para proveer al hogar. A pesar de estas importantes diferencias entre los generos, la investigacion social y en salud, tradicionalmente se ha enfocado en los habitos de consumo de los varones, y las unidades para medir su consumo y los problemas, asi como las alternativas de prevencion y tratamiento, no han considerado las condiciones y necesidades especiales de las mujeres. Este trabajo, enfocado a los paises en desarrollo, describe las diferencias fisiologicas, psicologicas y socioculturales de genero, describe la posicion de la mujer en los paises en vias de desarrollo, y la forma especial en que resultan afectadas por el consumo de alcohol. Ilustra las diferencias de genero en las practicas, las normas alternativas de tratamiento, y presenta algunas consideraciones que lleveran a una politica mas comprensiva de este problema.
A Combined Study of Canada's Top CEO Compensation Sectors - Energy, Metal, & Mining - An Empirical Study

This study investigated CEO compensation system of Canada’s top CEO compensation sectors, energy, metal, and mining. It tested the relationship between CEO cash compensation, firm size, accounting firm performance, and corporate governance in TSX/SP the correlation between CEO salary and corporate governance had weak mixed ratios; the correlations between CEO bonus, total compensation, and firm size had strong positive ratios; the correlations between CEO bonus, total compensation, firm performance, and corporate governance were ranged from weak negative to strong positive ratios.
Moulting in the chalimus larva of the salmon louse Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Copepoda, Caligidae)

The ultrastructure of moulting in the chalimus phase of the parasitic caligid copepod Lepeophtheirus salmonis is described for the first time. The major features of the moult sequence correspond to those of other Crustacea, save for the absence of a distinguishable intermoult as defined by reduced epidermal activity and a cessation of cuticle production. This latter may be explained cither in terms of a continuous moulting process related to the constant food supply available to a parasite or in terms of a highly abbreviated intermoult period. The findings are discussed with respect to studies of other Crustacean species.
Motivation and Social Cognition: Enemies or a Love Story?

This paper discusses four distinct models of conceptualizing the relationship between motivation and cognition in contemporary social psychology. The first one, referred to as “antagonistic” assumes that motivation and cognition are alternative, and potentially rival ways of reaching judgments. This claim rests on a rich tradition in Western thought stemming from Plato and Aristotle and more recently echoed by Freud. The second model referred to as “segregationist” assumes that different degrees of motivation combine with different cognitive contents to form separate clusters, or routes to judgment as in the case of the well-known models of persuasion advanced in the 1980s. The third conceptualization Lay Epistemic Theory (LET) proposes an integrated model in which any motivation may combine with any cognitive content to form a uniform route to judgment, also known as the “unimodel”. Finally, a fourth model proposes a “fusion” in which motivation is thought to possess a distinctly cognitive aspect and in a sense to constitute a unique type of cognition with motivational contents.
KINETIC PLASMA TURBULENCE IN THE FAST SOLAR WIND MEASURED BY CLUSTER

The k-filtering technique and wave polarization analysis are applied to Cluster magnetic field data to study plasma turbulence at the scale of the ion gyroradius in the fast solar wind. Waves are found propagating in directions nearly perpendicular to the background magnetic field at such scales. The frequencies of these waves in the solar wind frame are much smaller than the proton gyrofrequency. After the wavevector k is determined at each spacecraft frequency fsc, wave polarization property is analyzed in the plane perpendicular to k. Magnetic fluctuations have δB⊥ > δB∥ (here the ∥ and ⊥ refer to the background magnetic field B0). The wave magnetic field has right-handed polarization at propagation angles θkB < 90° and >90°. The magnetic field in the plane perpendicular to B0, however, has no clear sense of a dominant polarization but local rotations. We discuss the merits and limitations of linear kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) and coherent Alfvén vortices in the interpretation of the data. We suggest that the fast solar wind turbulence may be populated with KAWs, small-scale current sheets, and Alfvén vortices at ion kinetic scales.
Biomimetic Growth of Hydroxyapatite on Electrospun CA/PVP Core–Shell Nanofiber Membranes

In this study, cellulose acetate (CA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) core–shell nanofibers were successfully fabricated by electrospinning their homogeneous blending solution. Uniform and cylindrical nanofibers were obtained when the PVP content increased from 0 to 2 wt %. Because of the concentration gradient associated with the solvent volatilization, the composite fibers flattened when the PVP increased to 5 wt %. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed the existence of a hydrogen bond between the CA and PVP molecules, which enhanced the thermodynamic properties of the CA/PVP nanofibers, as shown by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) results. To analyze the interior structure of the CA/PVP fibers, the water-soluble PVP was selectively removed by immersing the fiber membranes in deionized water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) indicated that the PVP component, which has a low surface tension, was driven to the exterior of the fiber to form a discontinuous phase, whereas the high-content CA component inclined to form the internal continuous phase, thereby generating a core–shell structure. After the water-treatment, the CA/PVP composite fibers provided more favorable conditions for mineral crystal deposition and growth. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and FTIR proved that the crystal was hydroxyapatite (HAP) and that the calcium to phosphorus ratio was 1.47, which was close to the theoretical value of 1.67 in HAP. Such nanofiber membranes could be potentially applicable in bone tissue engineering.
Evaluation of contaminant elements in Portuguese wines and original musts by high intensity focused ultrasound combined with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Portuguese musts and wines from several varieties and different vineyards were studied to evaluate their contents in contaminant elements, in two winemaking steps. HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) combined with ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) was the methodology used. The variation from must to wines was a function of the element and its concentration. Be, Al, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Ga, Rb, Cd, In, Ba, Tl and U concentration in wines was lower than in musts. Cu depletion achieved 99% of the initial value. For Li, Fe, Zn, Sr, Cs, Pb and Bi, white and red samples presented different trends, suggesting the importance winemaking process. The levels of Cu, Zn, As, Cd and Pb were lower than the acceptable maximal limits established by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine and in general could be considered relatively low values.
The theory of planned behaviour and user engagement applied to Facebook advertising

Background: Facebook has become one of the most popular advertising platforms on social media. It is therefore important for social media marketers and researchers to have an understanding of the predictors of Facebook users’ engagement with Facebook advertising across all brands and Facebook advertising types. Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether the theory of planned behaviour could be applied to understand and predict engagement with Facebook advertising. Method: Non-probability convenience sampling resulted in a sample size of 656 Facebook users above the age of 18 who resided in South Africa. The data collected by means of an online survey were analysed using regression analyses. Results: The findings indicated that attitude was the strongest predictor of behavioural intention to engage with Facebook advertising, followed by subjective norms. However, perceived behavioural control was found not to be a significant predictor of behavioural intention to engage with Facebook advertising. Furthermore, behavioural intention to engage with Facebook advertising was found to predict actual engagement. Conclusion: Social media marketers need to focus on influencing attitudes and subjective norms to increase engagement with their Facebook advertisements. Furthermore, the theory of reasoned action was found to be more appropriate to predict engagement with Facebook advertising, as it excludes perceived behavioural control.