Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The life history of an egg-laying mammal, the echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus)

ABSTRACT Echidnas have a low metabolic rate, and energy expenditure is reduced even further by the use of torpor and hibernation. Thus, echidnas appear to lie at the slow extreme of the fast–slow continuum, and this is reflected in many aspects of echidna life history: a long life, a long lactation period, and a single young that matures late. Reproductive activity occurs in mid-winter, shortly after arousal from hibernation. After a pregnancy of about 3 weeks the female lays a single egg into her pouch that hatches after 10–11 d. Initially, the young is incubated in the pouch. Later, it is left in the nursery burrow while the mother forages for ants, termites, and other invertebrates. Lactation lasts for 150–200 d, the duration differing significantly between geographic regions. Growth rates during late lactation are very high, and, when weaned, the young has reached about 40% of adult mass. The young loses mass before entering its first hibernation, which extends from early autumn to late spring. The young echidna reaches adult mass after about 3–5 years.
Robust Information Extraction with Perceptrons

We present a system for the extraction of entity and relation mentions. Our work focused on robustness and simplicity: all system components are modeled using variants of the Perceptron algorithm (Rosemblatt, 1858) and only partial syntactic information is used for feature extraction. Our approach has two novel ideas. First, we define a new large-margin Perceptron algorithm tailored for classunbalanced data which dynamically adjusts its margins, according to the generalization performance of the model. Second, we propose a novel architecture that lets classification ambiguities flow through the system and solves them only at the end. The system achieves competitive accuracy on the ACE English EMD and RMD tasks.
Determining the Effects of Perceived Utilitarian and Hedonic Value on Online Shopping Intentions

In today’s digital world, the Internet is having vigorous and transformational effects on consumer’s behavior. Over the past ten years, consumers all over the world have increasingly used the Internet as an efficient medium in their shopping experience. Online retailers are trying to influence consumers shopping attitude and behavior by creating renewed shopping experiences in order to sustain their business under the catastrophic destructive competition among online and offline retailers. In the catastrophic destructive rivalry environment, it is vital for retailers to understand online consumers’ beliefs, attitudes, shopping intentions and behavior toward online shopping. Therefore, this study was designated to clarify consumers’ online shopping intentions within the online shopping environment. This study extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) and consumer perceived value theory.In the data gathering process, we used convenience sampling and face-to-face interviews techniques. The 400 valid questionnaires were gathered from the Internet shoppers who voluntarily participated with in our research in Osmaniye, Turkey. In order to test the research model, we used Partial Least Squares (PLS-PM) analysis method. The analysis results provide strong support for the research model. Particularly, perceived usefulness, hedonic value, and online shopping satisfaction dimensions have statistically positive effect on online shopping intentions. The findings suggest that perceived usefulness and positive online shopping attitude plays a significant role in increasing both perceived utilitarian and hedonic online shopping value. In addition, online shopping satisfaction and hedonic value have a significant effect on consumer online shopping intentions. Finally, analysis results give some useful insights into the consumers’ online shopping intentions.
A Higher Moment Downside Framework for Conditional and Unconditional Capm in the Russian Stock Market

The article presents an empirical validation for mean-variance CAPM, using a Downside and Higher-moment framework of CAPM in the Russian stock market. The authors test the unconditional and conditional CAPM specifications on a sample of weekly returns of the most liquid Russian stocks over the financially stable period of 2004–2007 and over the crisis period of 2008–2009. The primary contribution of this study is ranking the models with respect to their explanatory power of cross-sectional return variations. The unconditional classical CAPM (where market risk is approximated by the beta coefficient) is compared to the downside (mean-semivariance) CAPM extended to incorporate the third (skewness) and fourth (kurtosis) moments. The ranking methodology is based on Fama and MacBeth’s (1973) two-stage estimation procedure. The unconditional CAPMs prove to have low explanatory power for the financially stable period and test results that are not statistically significant for the crisis period. Incorporating additional risk measures of the third and fourth moments and adopting one-sided risk measures only slightly increases the explanatory power. The highest explanatory power is offered by the unconditional CAPM of the Harlow-Rao downside systematic risk measure with zero benchmark. Our study confirms the feasibility of employing conditional CAPMs extended for systematic asymmetry (co-skewness) and systematic kurtosis (co-kurtosis) for the Russian stock market since these models display better explanatory power for cross-sectional return variations.
An Experimental Investigation on the Generation of a Stable Arch in Granular Materials Using a Developed Trapdoor Apparatus

This paper discusses the formation of stable arches in granular materials by using a series of laboratory tests. To this aim, a developed trapdoor apparatus is designed to find dimensions of arches formed over the door in cohesionless aggregates. This setup has two new important applications. In order to investigate the maximum width of the opening generated exactly on the verge of failure, the door can be open to an arbitrary size. In addition, the box containing granular materials (or base angle) is able to be set on optional angles from zero to 90 degrees with respect to the horizontal. Therefore, it is possible to understand the effect of different levels of gravity accelerations on the formed arches. It is observed that for all tested granular materials, increasing the door size and decreasing the base angle, both cause to increase the width and height of the arch. Moreover, the shape of all arches is governed by a parabola. Furthermore, the maximum door width is approximately five to 8.6 times the particle size, depending on the internal friction angle of materials and the base angle.
Particle capture efficiency of different-aged needles of Norway spruce under moderate and severe drought

Trees can remove particulate matter from the atmosphere, improving air quality and providing ecosystem services. Particle removal capacity is known to differ between tree species, but the influence of environmental factors on the removal capacity is still unclear. In this study, we measured particle capture efficiency (Cp) of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. ) in wind tunnel experiments under three watering treatments (well watered, moderate drought, and severe drought) and determined needle characteristics (stomatal conductance and density, wax condition, and needle area) that affect particle uptake. Trees were exposed in the wind tunnel to 0.7 μm (geometric mean diameter) NaCl particles with a mass concentration of 1 mg·m−3, and the Cp of the tree was determined for the current-year (C) and previous-year (C+1) needles. Overall, the Cp was significantly higher for C+1 needles than for C needles for all watering treatments. There was also a trend for higher Cp of C+1 needles of less watered trees, bu.
Economic growth of farms: An empirical analysis on organic farming

This article investigates which factors influence the economic growth of organic farms. Organic farming has experienced a substantial growth in Germany since the beginning of the 1990s until today. Most organic farms are concentrated in the southern region of the country, Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. While some of these farms have expanded their business size, others have contracted, reconverted to conventional or ceased to operate. Using a panel data of 318 farms and a System GMM method, the economic growth of organic farms is analyzed. Regression results suggest that organic farms with high revenue from agriculture are less likely to grow than smaller farms. Growth is influenced by livestock intensity, multiple job holding, share of grasslands areas, soil quality and agri-environmental payments for organic farming.
Voids and Mn-rich inclusions in a (Ga,Mn)As ferromagnetic semiconductor investigated by transmission electron microscopy

Voids adjacent to cubic (ZnS-type) and hexagonal (NiAs-type) Mn-rich nanocrystals are characterized using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy in an annealed Ga0.995Mn0. 005As magnetic semiconductor specimen grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Nanobeam electron diffraction measurements suggest that the nanocrystals exhibit deviations in lattice parameter as compared to bulk MnAs. After annealing at 903 K, the magnetic transition temperature of the specimen is likely to be dominated by the presence of cubic ferromagnetic nanocrystals. In situ annealing inside the electron microscope is used to study the nucleation, coalescence, and grain growth of individual nanocrystals.
contradictory results between t spot tb and qft 3g in patients with respiratory symptoms

Contradictory Results between T-Spot.Tb and Qft-3g in Patients with Respiratory Symptoms. Abstract A 60-year-old male presented with cough and fever (case 1), and a 77-year-old female patient with hemoptysis (case 2) were admitted to IUHW Shioya Hospital. Interferon gamma release assay (IGRA: QFT-3G and T-SPOT. TB) were both performed on each patient; the QFT-3G was positive and T-SPOT.TB was negative in both cases de-spite different final diagnosis. While case 1 was determined to have active tuberculosis, in case 2 active tuberculosis was eliminated as the diagnosis. The contradictory results in these patients should serve as a reminder to clinicians that they should not rely on the results of IGRA testing for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis.
Phosphorus Response Efficiency in Cowpea Genotypes

Phosphorus is important for cowpea production and is inherently low in many tropical soils. Selection of cowpea genotypes that produce good yield under low soil P or those with high P response efficiency can be a low input approach in solving this problem. Therefore, the effect of root architecture and P application on the yield of cowpea and its P uptake were investigated. A screen house experiment was conducted at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Ibadan, Nigeria. Three hundred cowpea genotypes obtained from the germplasm collection Unit of IITA were screened for number of root whorls and total number of roots using a completely randomized design with 12 replicates. Ten cowpea genotypes were further selected from the initial screening to determine the effect of three levels of P (0, 20 and 40 mg P kg -1 soil) application on their growth and nutrient uptake. The experiment was replicated three times. Phosphorus application significantly (p<0.05) enhanced shoot and root dry weight, total biomass, number of nodules, nodules dry weight, N and P uptake of the cowpea genotypes investigated. Six cowpea genotypes exhibited increases in nodules dry weight with P application. There was no significant relationship between root architecture and P uptake (r = -0.13). The N and P uptake were enhanced by the application of P in the cowpea genotypes studied. In low P soil, IT97K-414-5 was efficient in P uptake and IT92KD-267-2 was efficient in N uptake. The two genotypes may produce cowpea lines suitable in low P soils when used as breeder lines.
Definition of distribution archetypes for aseptic carton-packaged products in South America

Product integrity depends on the way the package is handled and transported; therefore packaging has a big impact on logistics, costs and efficiency along the entire distribution chain. Damaged or leaking packages are the result of an inconvenient distribution, and lead to product waste and a negative image of the brands involved. Even though Tetra Pak gives guidelines and recommendations concerning correct product handling and transportation to their customers, the logistic process depends directly on the clients and on the local conditions along the distribution chain. Using a multiple case study design, this research focuses on describing the distribution chain for the ambient carton-packaging sector in South America from Tetra Pak’s customers to the retailers. The results reflect the distribution of dairy and juice products in the three main markets for Tetra Pak in this continent: Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Applying a questionnaire to different actors involved in the physical process of distribution, such as producers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers and Tetra Pak’s employees, both levels of analysis were developed: specific industry cases and the country’s overview. The distribution flows are presented through distribution archetypes and the parameters affecting these flows are also pointed out. Despite the primary objective of this research was to build a generic view of the distribution archetypes in South America, after analyzing the selected countries, it became clear that generalizations at such a broad level cannot be made. In order to link the parameters with the distribution flow or archetypes, a tool was developed. In this tool, the level of risk for package damage is measured in terms of the effect of the different parameters over the whole distribution flow. The method and the tools resulting from this research could be established as an operational tool within Tetra Pak. The risk assessment tool will enable the company to optimize distribution solutions for new products as well as to increase effectiveness when dealing with distribution problems.
*The Retrenchment Hypothesis and the Extension of the Franchise in England and Wales

Does an extension of the voting franchise always increase public spending or can it be a source of retrenchment? We study this question in the context of public spending on health-related urban amenities in a panel of municipal boroughs from England and Wales in 1868, 1871 and 1886. We find evidence of a U-shaped relationship between spending on urban amenities and the extension of the local voting franchise. Our model of taxpayer democracy suggests that the retrenchment effect was related to enfranchisement of the middle class through nation-wide reforms and that these reforms might have been Pareto inferior in the average borough.
Mass appraisal of residential real estate using multilevel modelling

Mass appraisal, or the automatic valuation of a large number of real estate assets, has attracted the attention of many researchers, who have mainly approached this issue employing traditional econometric models such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). However, this method does not consider the hierarchical structure of the data and therefore assumes the unrealistic hypothesis of the independence of the individuals in the sample. This paper proposes the use of the Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) to overcome this limitation. The HLM also gives valuable information on the percentage of the variance error caused by each level in the hierarchical model. In this study HLM was applied to a large dataset of 2,149 apartments, which included 17 variables belonging to two hierarchical levels: apartment and neighbourhood. The model obtained high goodness of fit and all the estimated variances of the parameters in HLM were lower than those calculated by OLS. It can be concluded as well that no further neighbourhood variables need be added to the model to improve the goodness of fit, since almost all the residual variance can be attributed to the first hierarchical level of the model, the apartment level.
Brief communication: Impacts of ocean-wave-induced breakup of Antarctic sea ice via thermodynamics in a stand-alone version of the CICE sea-ice model

Abstract. Impacts of wave-induced breakup of Antarctic sea ice on ice concentration and volume are investigated using a modified version of the CICE sea-ice model, run in stand-alone mode from 1979–2010. Model outputs show that during summer wave-induced breakup reduces local ice concentration by up to 0.3–0.4 in a vicinity of the ice edge and total ice volume by up to a factor of 0.1–0.2.
Causes of Climate and Environmental Changes: The need for Environmental-Friendly Education Policy in Nigeria

Man cannot naturally be detached from his environment. From time to time, changes in climate and environmental conditions occur as a result of natural and human factors. Obviously, the natural factors are almost beyond human control. But, the human factors are to a very large extent under human control. Thus, this paper tried to discover natural and human factors that cause climate and environmental changes which have negative effects on the existence of man on earth. Such human factors include, air, water and land pollutions, production of greenhouse gases, deforestation, desertification, emission of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other harmful gases. Natural factors include, volcanic eruption, ocean variations, solar variations, Plate Tectonics, Thermohaline circulations, etc. Amazingly, the paper discovered that there is a complete negligence of climate and environmental education in many countries education system, including Nigeria. This is proven by the fact of the absence of climate and environmental education stipulations, in the National policy of education, 2004 edition. It is based on this that the paper advocated for the inclusion of climate and environmental education in Nigeria education policy. There were suggested policy statements made that will enhance climate and environmental education which will enlighten people about the dangers of causing harm to the environment. When this done, there will be a drastic reduction in the negative effects of climate and environmental changes. Keywords: Climate, environmental changes, environmental-friendly education policy, Nigeria.
Hay yield and quality of oat (Avena sativa L.) genotypes of worldwide origin.

Oat (Avena sativa L.) traditionally has been a major crop for feed and forage in Turkey. The objective of this research was to study hay yield and quality of oat genotypes harvested at the late milk stage. One hundred oat varieties of worldwide origin were compared in field experiments in Samsun (northern Turkey) over two growing seasons (2007-2008 and 2008-2009). Significant differences between the tested oat varieties were observed for the plant height, hay yield, crude protein (CP), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), total digestible nutrients (TDN), relative feed value (RFV) and macro minerals (Ca, K, P and Mg). Plant height varied from 76.2 to 141.2 cm, hay yield from 6.03 to 11.83 t ha -1 , crude protein from 58.8 to 136.4 g kg -1 dry matter (DM), acid detergent fibre from 333.2 to 424.8 g kg -1 DM and neutral detergent fibre from 522.5 to 652.4 g kg -1 DM. The TDN ranged from 465.1 to 583.3 g kg -1 and relative feed value from 80.9 to 112%. Cluster analysis grouped the 100 genotypes within 7 clusters, each of which having 17, 21, 13, 12, 20, 12 and 5 genotypes. Sisko, Akiyutaka, Longchamp, Sanova, Flamingslord, Matra and Revisor were identified as the high hay yield potential genotypes. However, quality traits of these genotypes were lower than some of other genotypes. Furthermore, while some macro minerals were insufficient, others were in excess regarding healthy feeding. Hence, some form of commercial mineral supplement would be required to oat-based ration or oat should be grown in mixtures with legumes for feeding productive livestock.
Chapter 7 Networking rCBF Gender Differences in Major Depression

Background: There is large evidence that major depressive disorder (MDD) has prevalence rates almost twice as high in females as in men. However, few studies have investigated in MDD the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) differences between genders. The aim of the study was to identify the influence of gender on the rCBF distribution in a group of depressed patients. This was performed by means of Volume of Interest (VOI) analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), this latter exploring functional brain connectivity and transforming a number of correlated variables by clustering them into functionally uncorrelated factors Methods: A group of 76 major depressed patients (36 males and 40 females) were investigated by Tc-HMPAO and SPECT. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and PCA were performed on 54 VOIs. Neuropsychiatric tests (MADRS, SCID, CFQ, KSP) were also carried out to assess disease severity without finding any gender differences. Results: VOIs analysis identified in females as compared to males a significantly higher rCBF distribution (F(1,73)=10.875; p=0.002). A significant VOI*Gender interaction was also found (F(26,1898)=2.180; p=0.001) revealing that 10 regions belonging to the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortex were particularly involved in gender differences. An overall effect of gender was also found for PCA (F(1,73)=8.814; p=0.004). The significant PCs*Gender interaction (F(12,876)=3.258; p<0.000) revealed lower rCBF distribution in males as compared to females in 6 PCs. Such PCs, grouped brain regions belonging to parietal-limbic cortex (PC3; p=0.033), parieto-temporo-occipital cortex (PCs 8 and 9; p=0.001), fronto-parietal cortex (PC10; Dario Salmaso, Marco Pagani and Ann Gardner p=0.017), fronto-temporal cortex (PC12; p=0.001) and hippocampi (PC 13; p=0.017). Age related hippocampal differences were found in PC13 in female only. Conclusion: PC8 grouped two areas involved in linguistic processing, the angular and the supramarginal gyrus of the left hemispheres for which gender differences are widely accepted. PC9 with the right angular gyrus was also likely to show rCBF differences since females are known to be more bilaterally organized. Gender differences in hippocampi confirmed previous findings. However, medial prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate) bilaterally and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, regions known from the existing literature to be implicated in MDD, were grouped by PCA into different PCs (PC1 and PC4, respectively) but did not show any sex difference speaking against specific gender related rCBF changes in major depression. PCA grouping functionally connected brain regions increased the depth of the analysis yielding more information on the processes underlying perfusion distribution measurements in MDD. Depression, Neuroimaging and Related Methodology