Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fluctuations of S Availability Affect Growth, S Reserves, 15 N and 34 S Uptake in Brassica Napus L.

Oilseed rape is sensitive to sulphur (S) limitation and is confronted to permanent changes of S availability, resulting from soil activity and S fertilization regimes, which may affect N and S uptake, storage and remobilization. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the influence of initial S status and mineral S availability on i) biomass production, ii) 15 N and 34 S uptake, iii)
Impact of precipitation intermittency on NAO-temperature signals in proxy records

Abstract. In mid and high latitudes, the stable isotope ratio in precipitation is driven by changes in temperature, which control atmospheric distillation. This relationship forms the basis for many continental paleoclimatic reconstructions using direct (e.g. ice cores) or indirect (e.g. tree ring cellulose, speleothem calcite) archives of past precipitation. However, the archiving process is inherently biased by intermittency of precipitation. Here, we use two sets of atmospheric reanalyses (NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) and ERA-interim) to quantify this precipitation intermittency bias, by comparing seasonal (winter and summer) temperatures estimated with and without precipitation weighting. We show that this bias reaches up to 10 °C and has large interannual variability. We then assess the impact of precipitation intermittency on the strength and stability of temporal correlations between seasonal temperatures and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Precipitation weighting reduces the correlation between winter NAO and temperature in some areas (e.g. Quebec, South-East USA, East Greenland, East Siberia, Mediterranean sector) but does not alter the main patterns of correlation. The correlations between NAO, δ18O in precipitation, temperature and precipitation weighted temperature are investigated using outputs of an atmospheric general circulation model enabled with stable isotopes and nudged using reanalyses (LMDZiso (Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique Zoom)). In winter, LMDZiso shows similar correlation values between the NAO and both the precipitation weighted temperature and δ18O in precipitation, thus suggesting limited impacts of moisture origin. Correlations of comparable magnitude are obtained for the available observational evidence (GNIP (Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation) and Greenland ice core data). Our findings support the use of archives of past δ18O for NAO reconstructions.
Title Incorporating the position of sharing action in predicting popular videos in online social networks

Predicting popular videos in online social networks (OSNs) is important for network traffic engineering and video recommendation. In order to avoid the difficulty of acquiring all OSN users’ activities, recent studies try to predict popular media contents in OSNs only based on a very small number of users, referred to as experts. However, these studies simply treat all users’ diffusion actions as the same. Based on large-scale video diffusion traces collected from a popular OSN, we analyze the positions of users’ video sharing actions in the propagation graph, and classify users’ video sharing actions into three different types, i.e., initiator actions, spreader actions and follower actions. Surprisingly, while existing studies mainly focus on the initiators, our empirical studies suggest that the spreaders actually play a more important role in the diffusion process of popular videos. Motivated by this finding, we account for the position information of sharing actions to select initiator experts, spreader experts and follower experts, based on corresponding sharing actions. We conduct experiments on the collected dataset to evaluate the performance of these three types of experts in predicting popular videos. The evaluation results demonstrate that the spreader experts can not only make more accurate predictions than initiator experts and follower experts, but also outperform the general experts selected by existing studies.
A Segmentation Study of Non-Performing Loans Rates in Turkish Credit Market

Non-performing loans (NPLs) rate is one of the main risks in commercial banks and is also a critical measure of the bank’s financial performance and stability. Banks meet the growth rate of NPLs when the debtors are not able to meet their financial obligations in terms of repayment of loans. Regional diversification can impact NPLs rate as well as macroeconomic and bank-specific factors. The purpose of this study is to detect homogeneous credit risk groups by geographical locations. Diversification across regions can help banks and financial institutions to determine appropriate market areas and identify effective diversified investment strategies by reducing the overall risk of the credit portfolios.
Light and electron microscopic study on the effect of immobilization stress on adrenal cortex of adult rats and possible ameliorative role of vitamin E.

Background: Modern society is full of stress. Immobilization stress is a model used in animals to study its effects. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that protects biological membranes from oxidative stress. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of immobilization stress on the adrenal cortex of rats and the ameliorative effect of vitamin E.Materials and Methods: Forty adult male rats were used in this study and were divided equally into 4 groups. Group I:were divided equally into negative and positive controls. Group II: rats received vitamin E at a dose of 40 I.U/kg by gastric tube for 30 days. Group III: rats subjected to immobilization stress 2 hours /day for 30 days. Group IV: rats subjected to immobilization stress 2 hours /day and received 40 I.U/kg of vitamin E for 30 days. Adrenal sections were histologically prepared and examined. Results: Group II was comparable to group IA. Group III revealed zona glomerulosa (ZG) with loss of normal architecture, zona fasciculata (ZF) with multiple cells containing cytoplasmic vacuolations and darkly stained nuclei. By EM ZG cells appeared with accumulations of lipid droplets and lysosomes, irregular nuclear envelopes and chromatin condensation. ZF cells showed numerous lipid droplets and irregular nuclear envelopes. There were significant increases in the mean area of collagen fibers and mean serum cortisol level. Group IV revealed regression of these changes and increase in the mean count of CD44 +ve cells.Conclusions: Immobilization stress exerted deleterious suprarenal cortical changes and vitamin E had an ameliorative effect.
Patents, Capital Structure and the Demand for Corporate Securities

I assess empirically the implications of patent grants for corporate financing, investment and stock returns. I show that industry patents are associated with more firm-level equity issues and reduced leverage. Firms in industries with more patents issue more equity at a given point in time. Within industries, however, equity issuers are not patent recipients themselves. Remarkably, such equity issuers do not increase investments, dividends, or acquisitions. Rather, they hold the proceeds of equity issues in cash reserves. Finally, patent recipients earn high positive abnormal returns. These findings cast doubt on traditional views of patents as signals of investment opportunities or reductions of information asymmetry. The evidence is instead consistent with the view that patents are a catalyst for investor sentiment.
LOSS OF STRENGTH IN BIOLOGICALLY DEGRADED THERMALLY MODIFIED WOOD

The durability of thermally modified (TM) and untreated (UT) mini-stakes exposed to in-ground contact was compared by modulus of elasticity (MOE) and mass loss with decay type using microscopy. Results showed a strong correlation between MOE and soft rot decay for UT stakes over a 30 month exposure period. For TM stakes, the correlation between MOE and decay rate (soft rot/bacteria) was not as strong. Loss of MOE of the TM stakes is suggested to be accentuated by the extensive micro-checking produced in the TM wood tracheids during the original heat treatment. The micro-checks are thought to expand during the winter season due to water expansion during freezing, thereby leading to weakening of the wood in addition to the decay caused by soft rot and bacteria. Using molecular methods, Phialophora hoffmannii was identified as the main fungus causing soft rot decay.
Weed control and grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) tolerance to pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil.

Field studies were conducted during the 2008 and 2009 growing seasons at five locations in the Texas grain sorghum producing regions to evaluate pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil combinations for weed control and grain sorghum response. All pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil combinations controlled Amaranthus palmeri, Cucumis melo, and Proboscidea louisianica at least 94% while control of Urochloa texana was never better than 69%. Pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil combinations did result in early season chlorosis and stunting; however, by the end of the growing season no visual injury or stunting differences were noted when compared to the untreated check. Early season grain sorghum chlorosis and stunting with pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil combinations did not affect grain sorghum yields with the exception of pyrasulfotole at 0.03 kg ai/ha plus bromoxynil at 0.26 kg ai/ha plus atrazine at 0.58 kg ai/ha applied early postemergence followed by pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil applied mid-postemergence which reduced yield at one of two locations in 2008. Grain sorghum yield increased following all pyrasulfotole plus bromoxynil treatments compared to the untreated check in 2009.
Time to Unbridle U.S. Thoroughbred Racetracks? Lessons from Australian Bookies

We consider a policy reform that would relax price controls in American pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing by examining bookie behavior in Australia’s fixed-odds gambling sector. Descriptive regressions indicate that bookmaker takeouts (the effective prices of races) vary substantially and systematically with race characteristics, though in sometimes counterintuitive ways. Estimates of an explicitly reduced form model of bookie takeout, however, can qualitatively match both intuition and prior findings in the literature. Counterfactuals that use these estimates suggest that regulatory reform that permits racecourses to alter takeout across races would increase variable profit by about 5 %.
Thousand years of winter surface air temperature variations in Svalbard and northern Norway reconstructed from ice-core data

Two isotopic ice core records from western Svalbard are calibrated to reconstruct more than 1000 years of past winter surface air temperature variations in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, and Vardø, northern Norway. Analysis of the derived reconstructions suggests that the climate evolution of the last millennium in these study areas comprises three major sub-periods. The cooling stage in Svalbard (ca. 800–1800) is characterized by a progressive winter cooling of approximately 0.9 °C century−1 (0.3 °C century−1 for Vardø) and a lack of distinct signs of abrupt climate transitions. This makes it difficult to associate the onset of the Little Ice Age in Svalbard with any particular time period. During the 1800s, which according to our results was the coldest century in Svalbard, the winter cooling associated with the Little Ice Age was on the order of 4 °C (1.3 °C for Vardø) compared to the 1900s. The rapid warming that commenced at the beginning of the 20th century was accompanied by a parallel decline in sea-ice extent in the study area. However, both the reconstructed winter temperatures as well as indirect indicators of summer temperatures suggest the Medieval period before the 1200s was at least as warm as at the end of the 1990s in Svalbard.
An assessment of environmental sanitation in an urban community in Southern Nigeria

Inadequate environmental sanitation has been recognized as a public health hazard worldwide. In some Nigerian cities, living with waste as part of the natural environment has become a way of life. This study examined the sanitary condition of an urban community in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. It used a cross sectional survey design for a population of 123,033 inhabitants of four villages in North Eastern Akwa Ibom. Multi-stage sampling was used in selecting 237 inhabitants in this community and structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, Chisquare test and multiple logistic regressions. Results showed that tap water was the major source of water, usually disinfected by boiling. Results of multiple logistic regression showed a significant association between gender and their participation in environmental sanitation (p<0.05) with males showing 9 times more odds of participation than females (OR =9.84, C.I =1.225-79.018). Unwholesome practices like open refuse dumping and building of pit latrines close to the house were prevalent in this community. Therefore, to enhance the sanitary condition in this community, government should establish and enforce a more robust environmental sanitation approach and health education. Key words : Environmental sanitation, sanitary condition, diarrhoea, disease.
Combined effects of short-day treatment and fall fertilization on growth, nutrient status, and spring bud break of Pinus tabulaeformis seedlings

Abstract: Although effects of short-day treatment and fall fertilization on seedling development have been studied independently, their combined influences are not well elucidated. We explored growth, nutrient concentration, and spring bud break of Chinese pine (Pinus tabulaeformis Carr.) seedlings exposed to two photoperiod treatments (short-day consisting of 3 weeks of 18-hr nights in late summer and ambient day length) and three rates of fall N fertilization (0, 12 and 24 mg N per seedling). Seedlings were assessed before fall fertilization and at the end of the growing season. Bud break timing was evaluated the following spring. Increased foliar P concentration concurrent with reduced root P and K concentration occurred in short-day treated seedlings at the conclusion of photoperiod treatment. By the end of the growing season, short-day treatment resulted in greater N and P concentration in the stems, and P concentration in the foliage. It also induced smaller foliage and stem dry mass in both stages. Fall fertilization consistently enhanced tissue N concentration, but interaction effects with short-day treatment were generally non-significant. Short-day treatment curtailed shoot growth, induced terminal bud set, and hastened spring bud break (by only one day) for this mid-latitude seed source (41° N). Thus, short-day treatment or fall fertilization each promoted an increased nutrient concentration, while having only a minor effect on spring bud break.
Tensions and trade-offs in instructional goals for physics courses aimed at engineers

Ayush Gupta is Research Assistant Professor in Physics and Keystone Instructor in the A. J. Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland. Broadly speaking he is interested in modeling learning and reasoning processes. In particular, he is attracted to fine-grained analysis of video data both from a microgenetic learning analysis methodology (drawing on knowledge in pieces) as well as interaction analysis methodology. He has been working on how learners’ emotions are coupled with their conceptual and epistemological reasoning. He is also interested in developing models of the dynamics of categorizations (ontological) underlying students’ reasoning in physics. Lately, he has been interested in engineering design thinking, how engineering students come to understand and practice design.
Running couplings and operator mixing in the gravitational corrections to coupling constants

The use of a running coupling constant in renormalizable theories is well known, but the implementation of this idea for effective field theories with a dimensional coupling constant is, in general, less useful. Nevertheless, there are multiple attempts to define running couplings, including the effects of gravity, with varying conclusions. We sort through many of the issues involved, most particularly the idea of operator mixing and also the kinematics of crossing, using calculations in Yukawa and {lambda}{phi}{sup 4} theories as illustrative examples. We remain in the perturbative regime. In some theories with a high permutation symmetry, such as {lambda}{phi}{sup 4}, a reasonable running coupling can be defined. However, in most cases, such as Yukawa and gauge theories, a running coupling fails to correctly account for the energy dependence of the interaction strength. As a by-product we also contrast on-shell and off-shell renormalization schemes and show that operators which are normally discarded, such as those that vanish by the equations of motion, are required for off-shell renormalization of effective field theories. Our results suggest that the inclusion of gravity in the running of couplings is not useful or universal in the description of physical processes.
Electron fishbones in FTU and Tore Supra tokamaks

This work presents a comparative study of the experimental observation of MHD instabilities identified as electron fishbone-like modes that appear in plasmas with lower hybrid current drive in FTU and Tore Supra tokamaks. Initially, the mode-induced electronic temperature oscillations measured by electron cyclotron emission were used to study the evolutions of the frequency and position of these modes. In FTU, where fishbones with and without bursting behaviour are observed, it was found that the evolutions of the mode position and frequency follow opposite trend in the two regimes. In Tore Supra, where abrupt changes between modes with different mode structures are often observed, it was found that the mode position evolves continuously and the wavenumbers follow an inverse cascade starting from an m/n = 4/4 mode and finishing in an 1/1 mode. In a second step, the energy of resonant electrons was estimated from the resonant condition of the precession drift frequency. It was found that in Tore Supra the resonant condition does not change during the frequency jumps. The relevance of the correction due to the pitch angle of the resonant electrons and the possible role of the energetic passing particles in the drive of these modes are discussed from the results obtained in both machines.
Bacterial inoculation effect on soil biological properties, growth, grain yield, total phenolic and flavonoids contents of common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) under hilly ecosystems of North-East India

Field experiments were carried out at Research Farm, ICAR Sikkim Centre, Tadong during two consecutive Rabi seasons of 2012 and 2013 to determine the effect of different microbial inoculants on selected soil biological properties, growth, yield, and quality of common buckwheat, and then identify the best inoculant for application for local common buckwheat production in hilly ecosystem of North-East India. The results indicated that seed inoculants applied to common buckwheat effectively increased plant growth, chlorophyll content (SPAD), yield attributing characters, total phenolic and flavonoid content, grain yield, and soil biological properties. Among the different inoculations, combined application of Azotobacter spp. and Azospirillum spp. was found most efficient and resulted in maximum values of plant growth parameter, yield attributing characteristics, grain yield (1.23 Mg/ha), soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) and dehydrogenase activities at all the growth stages of common buckwheat. Key words: Buckwheat, dehydrogenase activities, flavonoid content, phenolic content, microorganisms, yield.
Islamic Microfinance in Indonesia: The Challenge of Institutional Diversity, Regulation, and Supervision

Forays into Islamic microfinance have been few and scattered and of limited outreach. Some have been mandated by the state, but lack popular demand, as in Iran; others have emerged in response to popular demand, but lack regulatory support by the state, as in Syria. This has provided the background for a more systematic study of Islamic microfinance in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, where several strands of Islamic microfinance, formal and semi-formal, have evolved since 1990 in parallel. Islamic banking is now officially recognized as part of a dual banking system in Indonesia. Lacking broad popular demand, experience differs by sub-sector. Only commercial banks have successfully acquired the art of Islamic banking by training young and dynamic people, yet lack experience in microfinance. Islamic rural banks, mostly under absentee ownership, have failed to prove themselves as efficient and dynamic providers of microfinance services. Unsupervised Islamic, like conventional, cooperatives are an outright menace to their members, who risk loosing their savings. There are two options of promoting Islamic microfinance: (1) assisting Islamic commercial banks to establish units with Islamic microfinance products; (2) reassessing in a participatory process the challenges and realistic opportunities of Islamic rural banks and cooperatives, with a focus on effective internal control, external supervision, and the establishment of associations with apex services to their member institutions.
Latest Cretaceous Multituberculates of the Black Butte Station Local Fauna (Lance Formation, Southwestern Wyoming), with Implications for Compositional Differences Among Mammalian Local Faunas of the Western Interior

ABSTRACT Latest Cretaceous (Lancian) mammalian faunas of the Western Interior of North America are mostly known from the northern Great Plains and coastal lowland paleoenvironments. Here, we describe a sample of 143 multituberculate mammal teeth from the Lance Formation of southwestern Wyoming. The specimens, which are from two independent collections made in the 1970s by the University of California Museum of Paleontology and the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, are part of the best-sampled local fauna from the central part of the Western Interior. Deposits of the Lance Formation in this region are on the eastern flank of the Rock Springs Uplift near Black Butte Station. The Black Butte Station local fauna was farther west and possibly paleoenvironmentally distinct from most other Lancian local faunas known. The fossil assemblage preserves eight genera and 11 species of multituberculates. There are many common Lancian taxa, a high relative abundance of Cimexomys, the second published occurrences of Parikimys and Paressonodon, and a new species of Cimolodon. Cluster and ordination analyses of multituberculate abundance data from well-sampled Western Interior local faunas show that the Black Butte Station local fauna is distinct from all other local faunas and that variation among mammalian local faunas in composition is correlated with latitude, though paleoenvironmental, temporal, and taphonomic differences may also be factors. Results highlight that explorations in undersampled regions and paleoenvironments are critical to a more complete understanding of the Cretaceous-Paleogene transition. SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline. com/UJVP