Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Characterization of patterns of food packaging usage in Portuguese homes

This study aimed to further refine the exposure assessment of migrants from food-contact materials by characterizing, at the household level, food packaging usage (amount and type) in Portuguese urban families. Packages from domestic use were collected from a sample of 105 consumers from 34 households over a 30-day period. Collected packages (more than 6000 items) were characterized in the laboratory and data were used to estimate: (i) global packaging usage and food intake; (ii) the consumption factors (CF) that describe the fraction of the daily diet expected to be in contact with specific packaging materials and (iii) the food-type factors (FTF) that reflect the fraction of all food contacting each material which differ in nature according to six major types: aqueous, acidic, alcoholic, milky, fatty and dry. The daily intake of packaged food and beverages consumed at home ranged from 5–50 g kg−1 bw. Considering all materials, total package usage ranged from 0.1 to 0.6 dm2 day−1 kg−1 bw. The ratio between package surface area in contact and the quantity of food was determined for all packaging items collected and an average value of 25 dm2 kg−1 food was recorded. Data were gathered and presented in a manner compatible with current probabilistic approaches to exposure assessment. In this way, relevant consumption patterns from this type of population can be best represented in exposure assessments and subsequent risk assessments.
Sonographic Assessment of Kidney Length in Jordanian Children: Results from a Tertiary Hospital in The North of the Kingdom

Objective: To provide a reliable and practical reference for normal standard kidney length values in Jordanian children using ultrasound according to age, height, and weight, and to assess the comparability of our standards to those from previous studies. Materials and Methods: The kidneys of 331 children (156 males, 175 females) ages between newborns and 14 years of age, who had diseases unrelated to the urinary tract were prospectively examined by ultrasound. All the examined kidneys were normal in size, shape, and position. The length of the kidneys were correlated with the age, weight, and height of the patients, and was compared to previous studies published in the literature. Results: There was no significant statistical difference between the length of the right kidney and the left kidney, and no difference between boys and girls (P>0.05). There was good correlation between the length of the kidneys and the somatic parameters of the patients. Also, there was agreement between the kidney length in our study to those from previous international studies. Conclusions: A reliable and practical reference for normal standard kidney length values in Jordanian children is provided, which is in concordance with previously published data.
Dynamic Relations between International Equity and Currency Markets: The Role of Currency Order Flow

Previous research on the dynamic linkages between international financial markets focused on bivariate interequity or intercurrency relationships and do not allow a specific role for the currency or equity market, respectively. In this paper, we hypothesize that there are important, yet not well understood, dynamic relationships between international equity and currency markets and these are driven by information spillover via the mechanism of currency order flow. Using a trivariate asymmetric GARCH framework, we find that the relationships between equity and currency markets are significant, bidirectional, and pervasive. These relationships, which coexist with the relationships between U.S. and foreign equity markets, are much stronger in the volatilities than in the means. Importantly, we find strong support for our information spillover hypothesis where currency order flow is the economic mechanism by which information is transmitted.
Accumulation variability over a small area in east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, as determined from shallow firn cores and snow pits: some implications for ice-core records

Abstract We investigate and quantify the variability of snow accumulation rate around a medium-depth firn core (160 m) drilled in east Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (75°00′ S, 15°00’ E; 3470 m h.a.e. (ellipsoidal height)). We present accumulation data from five snow pits and five shallow (20 m) firn cores distributed within a 3.5–7 km distance, retrieved during the 2000/01 Nordic EPICA (European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica) traverse. Snow accumulation rates estimated for shorter periods show higher spatial variance than for longer periods. Accumulation variability as recorded from the firn cores and snow pits cannot explain all the variation in the ion and isotope time series; other depositional and post-depositional processes need to be accounted for. Through simple statistical analysis we show that there are differences in sensitivity to these processes between the analyzed species. Oxygen isotopes and sulphate are more conservative in their post-depositional behaviour than the more volatile acids, such as nitrate and to some degree chloride and methanesulphonic acid. We discuss the possible causes for the accumulation variability and the implications for the interpretation of ice-core records.
The Future of Securities Regulation

The U.S. system of securities law was designed more than 70 years ago to regain investors' trust after a major financial crisis. Today we face a similar problem. But while in the 1930s the prevailing perception was that investors had been defrauded by offerings of dubious quality securities, in the new millennium, investors' perception is that they have been defrauded by managers who are not accountable to anyone. For this reason, I propose a series of reforms that center around corporate governance, while shifting the focus from the protection of unsophisticated investors in the purchasing of new securities issues to the investment in mutual funds, pension funds, and other forms of asset management.
Principals ‟ Instructional Leadership Qualities That Enhance Effective Teaching and Learning of Chemistry in Secondary Schools from Perspectives of Students and Teachers

The study was designed to investigate the principals’ instructional leadership qualities that enhance effective teaching and learning of chemistry in secondary schools in Kogi state, Nigeria. The sample of this study consists of 42 principals, 84 chemistry teachers and 1,050 chemistry students from 42 senior secondary schools selected using multi – stage sampling technique. A 36-item questionnaire (r = 0.81) was developed, validated and used by the researcher to collect data. Mean and Standard Deviation were used to answer research questions while t – test was used to analyse the hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. The results showed among others that provision of conducive teaching and learning environment, constant supervision of teaching – learning process and provision of incentive to both teachers and students by the principals are the leadership qualities that enhance effective teaching and learning. It was also found that non – significant difference existed between the mean perception scores of students and teachers on the instructional leadership qualities of principals’ that enhance effective teaching and learning chemistry. Recommendations were made to include that principals of schools should be constantly assessed by their students and teachers and the feedback used to improve the instructional leadership qualities of principals.
USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES TO DETECT CHANGES TO THE PRINCE ALFRED HAMLET CONSERVATION AREA IN THE WESTERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract. Understanding and identifying the spatial-temporal changes in the natural environment is crucial for monitoring and evaluating conservation efforts, as well as understanding the impact of human activities on natural resources, informing responsible land management, and promoting better decision-making. Conservation areas are often under pressure from expanding farming and related industry, invasive alien vegetation, and an ever-increasing human settlement footprint. This study focuses on detecting changes to the Prince Alfred Hamlet commonage, near Ceres in the Cape Floral Kingdom. It was chosen for its high conservation value and significance as a critical water source area. The study area includes a fast-growing human settlement footprint in a highly productive farming landscape. There are conflicting development needs as well as risks to agricultural production, and both of these threaten the integrity of the ecosystems which supply underlying services to both demands on the land. Using a multi-disciplinary approach and high-resolution satellite imagery, land use and land cover changes can be detected and classified, and the results used to support the conservation of biodiversity and wildlife, and protect our natural resources. The aim of this research is to study the efficacy of using remote sensing and GIS techniques to detect changes to critical conservation areas where disturbances can be understood, and therefore better managed and mitigated before these areas are degraded beyond repair.
Implication of Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA method for differentiating Anopheles culicifacies sibling species

Efficient method for discriminating among members of Anopheline species complexes is of extreme significance for epidemiological studies and effective vector control programme. Anopheles culicifacies is a principal malaria vector in rural, periurban and tribal settings and responsible for about 65- 70% malaria cases in India. It is a complex of 5 isomorphic types A, B, C, D and E with varying biological characteristics. Presently, cytogenetic methods involving polytene chromosome and mitotic karyotyping are the only methods that could differentiate all the five sibling species but these techniques are time consuming and labour intensive. DNA based techniques using rDNA and COII such as AS-PCR and gene specific PCR-RFLP seems to be good alternatives but these techniques too have limitations and until now none of the techniques have been able to differentiate all the five sibling species in one step. In the present study we have been able to develop Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers that could differentiate all the five sibling species of An. culicifacies in India. A number of RAPD primers were screened and genetic fingerprints for all the 5 sibling species of An. culicifacies were developed using a selected primer. A total of 34 loci representing these sibling species using selected primer were polymorphic and able to differentiate the sibling species and showed 100% polymorphism. A consensus tree was also generated indicating genetic distances among these sibling species. The findings will be useful in devising a new method for identification of sibling species which will be helpful to develop successful vector management strategies.
Assessing Future Ecosystem Services: a Case Study of the Northern Highlands Lake District, Wisconsin

The Northern Highlands Lake District of Wisconsin is in transition from a sparsely settled region to a more densely populated one. Expected changes offer benefits to northern Wisconsin residents but also threaten to degrade the ecological services they rely on. Because the future of this region is uncertain, it is difficult to make decisions that will avoid potential risks and take advantage of potential opportunities. We adopt a scenario planning approach to cope with this problem of prediction. We use an ecological assessment framework developed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to determine key social and ecological driving forces in the Northern Highlands Lake District. From these, we describe three alternative scenarios to the year 2025 in which the projected use of ecological services is substantially different. The work reported in this paper demonstrates how scenarios can be developed for a region and provides a starting point for a participatory discussion of alternative futures for northern Wisconsin. Although the future is unknowable, we hope that the assessment process begun in this paper will help the people of the Northern Highlands Lake District choose the future path of their region.
The Division of Labour Among European Couples: The Effects of Life Course and Welfare Policy on Value-Practice Configurations

Even though egalitarian gender values are increasingly spreading among younger Europeans, division of labour does not always comply with this trend. Traditional theories of familial behaviour struggle to explain the resulting paradoxical simultaneity of egalitarian values and inegalitarian practices. In this article, we propose an approach based on the ideas that (i) practices are the translation of values moderated by specific social structures and (ii) incoherencies between values and practices are biographically unstable. Therefore, the biographical stage and welfare policies support or hinder couples in realizing their values in the form of specific divisions of work. On the basis of the multi-level regression analyses of data from the European Social Survey 2004, we show that while most of the European heterosexual couples live in coherent egalitarian configurations of values and practices in their pre-parental phase, they shift to a situation of tension between egalitarian values and gendered practices following the births of their first children. In addition, the magnitude of this shift is strongly moderated by welfare policies. In liberal regimes, the tension between values and practices is transformed into an enduring accommodation to inequality, whereas in socio-democratic regimes, change to unequal practices is rarer and reversible.
PERCEPTIONS OF CHALLENGES TO SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE , CROP FORAGING BY WILDLIFE AND CHIMPANZEES IN UNPROTECTED AREAS IN SIERRA LEONE

If you believe this document infringes copyright then please contact the KAR admin team with the take-down information provided at http://kar.kent. ac.uk/contact.html Citation for published version Garriga, Rosa M. and Marco, Ignasi and Casas-Díaz, Encarna and Amarasekaran, Bala and Humle, Tatyana (2017) Perceptions of challenges to subsistence agriculture, and crop foraging by wildlife and chimpanzees Pan troglodytes verus in unprotected areas in Sierra Leone. Oryx . pp. 1-14. ISSN 0030-6053.
Parasite control practices and anthelmintic efficacy field study on gastrointestinal nematode infections of Horro sheep in Western Oromiya, Ethiopia

Gastrointestinal nematodes are one of the rampant parasitic diseases constraining sheep farming in western Oromiya. A study aimed at assessing parasite control practices in use and to determine the efficacy of three brands of anthelmintics commonly used on the farms was conducted. Questionnaire survey and faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were used to collect data. Majority of respondents (95.3%) indicated that anthelmintic treatment was the only method used to manage nematode infections in sheep. Many farmers (60.0%) followed prescription orders to determine dosage while others (40.0%) were reliant on visual appraisals. In most responses (38.7%) two treatments were given per year and more deworming can be done directed to animals exhibiting general syndromes such as emaciation, diarrhea and loss of production. Most of the treatments (49.3%) were performed on the farms by the owners. Efficacy tests showed a suspected resistance against albendazole by Haemonchus contortus and Trichostrongylus spp. whereas tetraclozan and ivermectin demonstrated high efficacy against all nematode genera isolated on the farms. Some worm control practices which are thought to enhance selection of resistant strains have been evident. These involved mainly risk of underdosing and continued use of one class of anthelmintics, irrespective of its efficacy status, which may accelerate selection dynamics. To preserve the efficacy of anthelmintics, targeted selective treatments traditionally practiced by farmers should be encouraged and supported by laboratory tests to identify animals in need of treatments. Anthelmintic efficacy evaluations should be part of the control strategies to monitor treatment failures in the study areas. Key words: Gastrointestinal nematode, parasite control, anthelmintic efficacy, questionnaire, horro sheep, Ethiopia.
Implication of the inferior vena cava in the generation of reentry in the pectinate muscles Implicación de la vena cava inferior en la generación de reentradas en los músculos pectíneos

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and its prevalence increases with age. The most dangerous and complex arrhythmias are the result of a phenomenon known as reentry. In experimental studies, the vena cava has been associated with ectopic activity that promotes the generation of reentries. The changes caused by electrical remodeling in an atrial myocyte action potential model (AP), coupled with an anatomically realistic three-dimensional model of human atria with orientation fibers were incorporated in this work. When applying an ectopic focus to the nearby ostium of the inferior vena cava, a relationship between this activity and the generation of reentries in the pectinate muscles is found. A functional reentry repeated in time is favored by the pectinate muscles anatomy, the anisotropic properties and the non-uniform distribution in the three-dimensional tissue. The existence of a preferential conduction pathway facilitates the initiation of reentries affecting the conduction scheme. Therefore, the capacity of induction and development of arrhythmias are found.
Subsequent Expansion in the Mandibular Intercanine Distance with Rapid Maxillary Expansion

A study of the short-term and long-term effects of rapid maxillary expansion on the mandibular anterior teeth was carried out using a retrospective approach. Dental casts were measured from nineteen subjects at four time-points. Changes in mandibular canine width and incisor crowding with no lower treatment during the expansion period, with fixed appliance therapy, and after retention were examined. There was significant increase in mandibular intercanine width as well as incisor alignment from expansion treatment. There was significant spontaneous increase in mandibular intercanine width as well as spontaneous incisor alignment from expansion treatment. There was also significant relapse long-term of the width gained in treatment, but the relapse was to an acceptable extent and was not beyond the spontaneously expanded distance. No significant correlations were noted between age, duration of expansion, or amount of expansion versus the changes in the lower anterior teeth in the short or long term with the treatment. The mandibular incisor alignment remained stable long-term.
Are Corn Futures Prices Getting 'Jumpy'?

The article sheds light on price jump risk in corn futures prices in the era of electronic trading and after the shift to real‐time announcement of USDA reports. Using intraday prices from 2008 to 2015, we employ a nonparametric test to detect jumps and variance analysis to assess the relative importance of jump risk. Real‐time trading of major USDA reports has substantially increased the frequency and clustering of price jumps, and results in higher market liquidity costs. In contrast, although the presence of jumps on non‐announcement days has doubled recently, their magnitude has declined as have transactions costs during their occurrence. The largest jump risk or execution risk is experienced by high frequency traders due to heightened microstructure noise during price jumps. However, traders holding long‐term market positions are only minimally affected by increased jump risk.
Acquired Restrictive Thoracic Dystrophy Induced Cor Pulmonale

Acquired restrictive thoracic dystrophy (ARTD), a rare iatrogenic disease, is characterized by an underdeveloped thoracic cage resulting from an inappropriate surgical correction of pectus excavatum, the most common type of chest wall deformity. We describe a 29-year-old young man with ARTD, stemming from pectus excavatum correction surgery in his toddler age, who developed cor pulmonale with chronic respiratory acidosis, hypoxemia, and moderate pulmonary hypertension. His symptoms were partially ameliorated after medical treatment. Surgical correction of the chest wall was suggested, but declined because of high mortality and morbidity rates incurred by the operation.
Stopping Memory Disclosures via Diversification and Replicated Execution

With the wide deployment of security mechanisms such as Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), memory disclosures have become a prerequisite for critical memory-corruption attacks (e.g., code-reuse attack)—adversaries are forced to exploit memory disclosures to circumvent ASLR as the first step. As a result, the security threats of memory disclosures are now significantly aggravated—they break not only data confidentiality but also the effectiveness of security mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a general detection methodology and develop a system to stop memory disclosures. We observe that memory disclosures are not root causes but rather consequences of a variety of hard-to-detect program errors such as memory corruption and uninitialized read. We thus propose a replicated execution–based methodology to generally detect memory disclosures, regardless of their causes. We realize this methodology with Buddy: By seamlessly maintaining two identical running instances of a target program and diversifying only its target data, Buddy can accurately detects memory disclosures of the data, as doing so will result in the two instances outputting different values. Extensive evaluation results show that Buddy is reliable and efficient while stopping real memory disclosures such as the Heartbleed leak.
Extent of phenotypic flexibility during long‐distance flight is determined by tissue‐specific turnover rates: a new hypothesis

Phenotypic flexibility in organ size of migratory birds is typically explained in functional terms in accordance with the principal of economic design. However, proposed functional hypotheses do not adequately explain differences in phenotypic flexibility between organs during fasting and in-flight starvation. We show that the extent of phenotypic flexibility in organ mass in five species of migratory birds during actual migration or simulated in-flight starvation consistently ranked as follows from highest to lowest mass change: small intestine, liver, kidney, gizzard, heart, flight and leg muscle. This pattern of phenotypic flexibility in organ mass was not consistent with proposed functional hypotheses, and was almost completely explained by differences in tissue-specific turnover rate measured in vivo using nutrients differing in their isotopic values. Thus, the fundamental process of tissue-specific protein turnover determines extent of organ mass changes for birds during migration, this likely applies to other organisms during fasting, and no further functional explanation(s) for differences in the magnitude of phenotypic flexibility between organs is required.