Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparing hydroacoustic fish stock estimates in the pelagic zone of temperate deep lakes using three sound frequencies (70, 120, 200 kHz)

Abstract Several decades of research have led to the acceptance of hydroacoustics as a reliable measurement method to monitor fish population in lakes, but full standardisation and intercalibration are still lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sound frequency on acoustic parameters, such as volume backscattering strength, target strength, and the estimation of fish abundance. Data were recorded in situ using 3 frequencies (70, 120, 200 kHz) simultaneously in 2 different lakes. The results among the frequencies were compared and statistically tested. Data from the 70 and 120 kHz frequencies yielded similar results, but the 200 kHz echosounder estimates in temperate lakes seemed different, especially in cases of high fish abundance, which is typical of eutrophic ecosystems. This work indicates that the abundance estimates of fish populations in temperate lakes based on 200 kHz frequency may differ from results obtained using lower frequencies, and that further study is needed.
Physiological Potential Evaluation of Myracrodruon urundeuva Stored Diaspores

The conservation of seeds in an appropriate location combined with the utilization of rapid tests for monitoring the physiological aspects is essential for quality seedlings. Thus, the study aimed to evaluate the behavior of Myracrodruon urundeuva diaspore under different periods and storage environments, and verify the testing of individual exudate pH in the physiological monitoring. The experimental design was completely randomized, factorial 2 × 8 (8 periods of storage and 2 storage environments) with four replications of 25 diaspores, using the Tukey test at 5% probability for average comparisons. After analysis of variance, it was performed regression analysis for the quantitative factor and simple Pearson correlation test. The variables analyzed were moisture content, seedling emergence (E) emergence velocity index (IVE), mean emergence time (TME) and the pH of the individual exudate. The results of E, IVE, TME tests indicated that the Myracrodruon urundeuva diaspores could be stored for ten months in room fridge, with low vigor loss. The pH test individual exudate showed lower estimates of simple Pearson correlation with the emergence test, not monitoring the physiological potential of Myracrodruon urundeuva diaspores.
Fragmentation of wind‐blown snow crystals

Understanding the dynamics driving the transformation of snowfall crystals into blowing snow particles is critical to correctly account for the energy and mass balances in polar and alpine regions. Here we propose a fragmentation theory of fractal snow crystals that explicitly links the size distribution of blowing snow particles to that of falling snow crystals. We use discrete element modeling of the fragmentation process to support the assumptions made in our theory. By combining this fragmentation model with a statistical mechanics model of blowing snow, we are able to reproduce the characteristic features of blowing snow size distributions measured in the field and in a wind tunnel. In particular, both model and measurements show the emergence of a self‐similar scaling for large particle sizes and a systematic deviation from this scaling for small particle sizes.
Simple digital system for tuning and long-term frequency stabilization of a CW Ti:Sapphire laser

Abstract. We have implemented a simple digital system for long-term frequency stabilization and locking to an arbitrary wavelength of the single-frequency ring CW Ti:Sapphire laser. This system is built using two confocal Fabry-Pérot cavities, one of which is used to narrow the short-term linewidth of the laser and the other to improve the long-term stability of the laser frequency. The length of the second cavity is stabilized using the radiation from an external-cavity diode laser locked to an atomic transition. Our system is an improvement of a commercial Tekhnoscan laser lock. This system has been successfully used in our experiments on high-resolution laser spectroscopy of ultracold rubidium Rydberg atoms.
Participatory orientation to strategic planning process: Does it pay?

th September, 2011 It is postulated that a participatory orientation to the strategic planning process could influence the realization of the expected strategic planning outcomes. Past studies investigating the relationship between strategic planning and performance mainly focuses on the direct relationship between these two variables. This study examines the influence of employee participation on the expected relationship between strategic planning and strategic planning outcomes. The study was carried out in Kenya, within the insurance sector. A structured questionnaire was used to gather the required data from 31 firms. Study findings reveal that employee participation does influence the strength of the relationship between strategic planning and strategic planning outcomes and this influence is statistically significant.
Financial Development And Economic Growth: A New Investigation

This article applies a Bayesian dynamic factor model to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth from a new angle. We estimate the common, country, and idiosyncratic factors that drive the dynamics and co-movement of financial development and economic growth across 89 countries in three different income groups, namely industrial countries (INDs), emerging market economies (EMEs), and other developing countries (ODCs), over the period 1970 to 2009. The results indicate that the common factor plays a more significant role in explaining the variance of output growth in INDs and EMEs, but not in ODCs. In contrast, financial development variability is mainly driven by the country and idiosyncratic factors. We also analyze the relation between country characteristics and the relative importance of the factors.
Unbiased Combinatorial Genomic Approaches to Identify Alternative Therapeutic Targets within the TSC Signaling Network

Abstract : The long-term goal of this project is geared toward further defining the regulatory mechanisms impinging on the TSC-Rheb circuit and revealing therapeutic strategies to target this signaling network in genetic tumor syndromes and cancer. Specifically, we aim to establish a robust synthetic lethal screening method applied to the study of the TSC network, validate synthetic lethal pairs in an in vivo intestinal stem cell system, and determine whether synthetic lethal combinations found in Drosophila are relevant to mammalian networks. In the second year of funding we have made significant progress and generated the required mutant cell lines and performed a combinatorial screen that has led to some exciting leads that we are in the process of being validated in mammalian cells.
EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WEIGHT, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD STAMPS, AND PERCEIVED DIET QUALITY IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN

OF THESIS EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WEIGHT, FOOD INSECURITY, FOOD STAMPS, AND PERCEIVED DIET QUALITY IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN A paradox exists between food insecurity and obesity. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past three decades. This study aimed to understand the relationships between food insecurity, poverty income ratio, food stamps usage, perceived diet quality, and weight status in children. A child’s weight status is determined by many different factors and this study investigated several of these aspects. It was found that the family’s poverty index ratio had the greatest effect on a child’s BMI, but household food security status, ethnicity, and the perceived inability to serve balanced meals were all found to be statistically significant when considering a child’s BMI.
On quantum statistical interference

• A submitted manuscript is the version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication
Momentum profitability in Malaysia

This paper reports evidence of short-term momentum profits in a study of 700 stocks traded in the emerging Malaysian stock market. For this purpose, momentum portfolios were formed over a full sample period and other sub-periods that included the Asian Financial Crisis, Global Financial Crisis and the period between the two crises. Significant negative returns were observed during the economic downturn brought about by the Asian Financial Crisis, consistent with literature. Moreover, the results showed positive returns over the period characterised by rising market index. This finding is consistent with publication and may be explained as due to investors' confidence being high in a rising market. In addition, individual stock momentum observed was studied to determine whether it was attributable to industry effect, which is a less explored topic. The results of the current study showed that strategies of buying past winning industries and selling past losing industries appeared to be profitable in this market. Thus, this research's findings have added to the literature on this topic from an emerging market place.
Effect of herbal immunomodulator on sensory evaluation in Giriraja birds

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of herbal immunomodulator powder and liquid form (with and without vaccine) comparing with levamisole powder (with and without vaccine) in Giriraja birds from day one to 8 weeks periods to evaluate on sensory evaluation in birds. In a completely randomised design, 525 day old Giriraja chicks were assigned to seven treatments with each treatment group consisting of five replicates with 15 chicks each.The effect of supplementation of different immunomodulators viz levamisole, herbal immunomodulator liquid and powder with and without vaccine did not show significant difference among the treatment groups. The highest mean score for flavor (4.65) was recorded in herbal immunomodulator liquid with vaccine supplemented group (T7) and significantly compared with other treatment groups (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6). The highest mean score for taste (4.10) was recorded in herbal immunomodulator powder without vaccine supplemented group (T4) and other treatment groups exhibited non- significant difference among themselves. The highest mean score recorded for juiciness was 3.95 in herbal immunomodulator powder with vaccine(T5) and herbal immunomodulator liquid without vaccine supplemented group (T6) and significantly comparable with 3.65 score recorded in treatment groups (T1,T2, and T4) and non-significantly comparable with treatment groups (T3 and T7). There was no significant difference observed in texture and there was no significant difference in overall mean score of different treatment groups.
DOES FINANCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROMOTE INDUSTRIALISATION IN NIGERIA ? 1

This paper examines the long run and causal relationship between financial sector development and industrialization in Nigeria for the period 1981 to 2011 using time series data. Results from a multivariate VAR and vector error correction model provide evidence of long run relationship between financial sector development and industrialization in Nigeria. The two measures of financial development had contrasting effects on industrial output. Ratio of private sector bank credit to GDP has a positive relationship with industrial output while the ratio of broad money stock to GDP has a negative relationship with industrial output. Granger causality test reveals long-run unidirectional causal link running from industrialization to financial development. There is therefore the urgent need for government to consolidate on past financial sector reforms to address the challenges of financial intermediation in the domestic financial sector to improve loan disbursement to the industrial sector of the Nigerian economy.
Discussion Paper Series Offshoring and Sequential Production Chains : A General Equilibrium Analysis

We present a two-region general equilibrium model in which firms exploit international wage differences by offshoring parts of the production process. Firms have to take into account that production steps follow a strict sequence and that transporting intermediate goods across borders is costly. We analyze how a change in transport costs and various properties of the production process affect the volume of offshoring, accounting for the general equilibrium effects of firms’ decisions. Interestingly, the influence of declining transport costs on the range of tasks offshored per firm may differ from the effect on the number of firms engaged in offshoring.
Local Productive Structures, Spatial Dependence and Employment Dynamics

This paper is concerned with employment growth at sectoral and local level in Italy. With respect to previous literature, we introduce across regions spatial spillovers and an explicit econometric dynamic set-up to analyse the behaviour of the model through time. We find that a province’s employment growth rate is closely related to that of nearby provinces. Spatial spillovers, however, are weaker in relatively large geographical units. A diversified mix of productive activities has a positive effect on employment growth rates at local level, while employment density and specialisation have a negative impact. We also find that these negative effects extend across different cyclical phases of the Italian economy, hence they are not restricted to a time period of decreasing employment levels.
Emotional Capital in Family Businesses: Decisions from Human Resource Management Perspective

Nowadays, family businesses (FBs) have become a distinctive organizational model, not only for preserving the values of their founders in times of technological, political and economical changes but also for fostering a different kind of organization surrounded by emotional ties. This is particularly interesting to the human resource management (HRM) area, because managers must take decisions aimed at achieving economic and financial goals, which often affect the emotional stability of family members. Regarding this issue, the term emotional capital (EC) appears as a set of assets based on the emotions that the organization has developed over time with their employees. This chapter examines, from the HRM perspective, how human resource choices can be affected in order to preserve a positive EC for organizations. Due to the social implications emotions have in HRM, the chapter also links corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an important management strategy, focused on meeting employees and social concerns, as a way to strengthen the emotional bonds in companies. The literature review and institutional reports pointed the characteristics of FB in Spain, describing how companies could design human resource policies and practices aimed at keeping EC. Finally, the configurational approach of HRM is used to explain the design of the best possible human resource practices adapted to a particular context like FB.
His or her work–life balance? Experiences of self-employed immigrant parents

The question of how to achieve ‘work–life balance’ has been a central debate for several decades. Hitherto, this subject has primarily been explored in organizational contexts; less is known in the context of self-employment. This article advances our understanding of work–life balance by analysing the everyday stories of self-employed immigrant parents in Norway. In this study, work–life balance is constructed in contrasting ways between mothers and fathers on the individual level and simultaneously in binary and potentially competing ways on the couple level. Hence, through an analysis of the participants’ work and family availabilities, this study sheds light on how gender relations may be shaped at the micro level within the Nordic dual-earner family model.
Investigation of a marine magnetic polarity reversal boundary in cross section at the northern boundary of the Kane Megamullion, Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, 23°40′N

Near‐bottom magnetic field measurements made by the submersible Nautile during the 1992 Kanaut Expedition define the cross‐sectional geometry of magnetic polarity reversal boundaries and the vertical variation of crustal magnetization in lower oceanic crust exposed along the Kane Transform Fault (TF) at the northern boundary of the Kane Megamullion (KMM). The KMM exposes lower crust and upper mantle rocks on a low‐angle normal fault that was active between 3.3 Ma and 2.1 Ma. The geometry of the polarity boundaries is estimated from an inversion of the submarine magnetic data for crustal magnetization. In general, the polarity boundaries dip away from the ridge axis along the Kane TF scarp, with a west dipping angle of ~45° in the shallow (<1 km) crust and <20° in the deeper crust. The existence of the magnetic polarity boundaries (e.g., C2r.2r/C2An.1n, ~2.581 Ma) indicates that the lower crustal gabbros and upper mantle serpentinized peridotites are able to record a coherent magnetic signal. Our results support the conclusion of Williams (2007) that the lower crust cools through the Curie temperature of magnetite to become magnetic, with the polarity boundaries representing both frozen isotherms and isochrons. We also test the effects of the rotation of this isotherm structure and/or footwall rotation and find that the magnetic polarity boundary geometry is not sensitive to these directional changes.
Study of varietal influence post conservation on biochemical and sensory qualities of Attiéké and boiled cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz).

Cassava root is shortly preserved after harvesting due to its tanning and rapid physiological decomposition. Consequently, the commercial value is reduced and the craving of its finishes products. With an aim of improving physiological quality, post harvest food value “the effects of bleaching and conservation in silo-pits were evaluated. Four (04) varieties of cassava: Bocou1, Bocou2, Bocou3 and Yavo were collected fresh and healthy in 13 months of maturity. They were subjected to a bleaching (65°C /15 - 30 s) followed by a kinetic conservation (7 days of intervals) in silo-pit (1 × 0.6 × 0.5 m). Results show that Bocou2 variety has the high proteins content (2.64% ± 0.01%), followed by hydrocyanic acid (8.21 ± 0.01 mg/100 g) and total carotenoids (26.7 μg/100 g). The conservation influences positively the protein content, reducing sugars content, the dries matter content and the total phenolic compounds for all the varieties excluded Bocou2 variety whose protein content drops. As regard of the fat contents, a weak increase is observed. The sensory analysis reveals that the boiled cassava of the Yavo variety is more appreciated followed by Bocou1 variety. Concerning the Attieke, Bocou3 variety gives the more appreciated dish followed by the Yavo variety. In conclusion, the silo-pit conservation after bleaching improves the physiological quality of the cassava and the sensory taste even during 14 days. This study has a huge impact of reducing the post harvests losses and increases the commercial value of cassava in the world.
The Magellanic Bridge Cluster NGC 796: Deep Optical AO Imaging Reveals the Stellar Content and Initial Mass Function of a Massive Open Cluster

NGC 796 is a massive young cluster located 59 kpc from us in the diffuse intergalactic medium of the 1/5–1/10 Z☉ Magellanic Bridge, allowing us to probe variations in star formation and stellar evolution processes as a function of metallicity in a resolved fashion, and providing a link between resolved studies of nearby solar-metallicity and unresolved distant metal-poor clusters located in high-redshift galaxies. In this paper, we present adaptive optics griHα imaging of NGC 796 (at 0.″5, which is ∼0.14 pc at the cluster distance) along with optical spectroscopy of two bright members to quantify the cluster properties. Our aim is to explore whether star formation and stellar evolution vary as a function of metallicity by comparing the properties of NGC 796 to higher-metallicity clusters. We find an age of 20 − 5 + 12 Myr from isochronal fitting of the cluster main sequence in the color–magnitude diagram. Based on the cluster luminosity function, we derive a top-heavy stellar initial mass function (IMF) with a slope α = 1.99 ± 0.2, hinting at a metallicity and/or environmental dependence of the IMF, which may lead to a top-heavy IMF in the early universe. Study of the Hα emission-line stars reveals that classical Be stars constitute a higher fraction of the total B-type stars when compared with similar clusters at greater metallicity, providing some support to the chemically homogeneous theory of stellar evolution. Overall, NGC 796 has a total estimated mass of 990 ± 200 M⊙, and a core radius of 1.4 ± 0.3 pc, which classifies it as a massive young open cluster, unique in the diffuse interstellar medium of the Magellanic Bridge.
When Deviant Leaders are Punished more than Non-leaders: The Role of Deviance Severity

Evaluations of deviant behavior in organizations are often biased by personal characteristics of deviants. In four studies, we investigate the conditions under which sanctioners are more lenient towards deviants who hold leadership positions as compared to individuals at lower levels of organizational hierarchies. Results supported the hypothesized interactive effect of deviance severity — which is defined by the magnitude of harm that deviant behavior inflicts on others — and deviant leadership status on recommended (Studies 1 and 2) and actual punishments (Studies 3 and 4). Leadership status appeared to protect its holders in the case of low-severity deviances, but was a liability in the case of high-severity misbehavior. Furthermore, mediation studies with measured (Study 3) and manipulated (Study 4) proposed mediators supported our hypothesis that perceived entitlement mediates the effect of deviant leadership status on punishment for low-severity deviances. For deviances of high severity, we hypothesized and found that the effect of deviant leadership status is mediated by perceived betrayal of leader-specific responsibilities. These results suggest that deviance severity and perceived rights and responsibilities associated with leadership are important determinants of punitive actions that people are willing to impose on deviant leaders.
Corporate Governance Quality and Cash Conversion Cycle: Evidence from Jordan

This study aims at examining the impact of corporate governance quality on cash conversion cycle (CCC) in Jordan. Using OLS regression for a sample of all industrial companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange during the period (2009-2013). The results revealed that CCC is affected negatively by corporate governance quality, which provides an implication to industrial companies in Jordan to boost their compliance with corporate governance code in order to improve their working capital management efficiency. Furthermore, the outcomes showed a variation in corporate governance categories between sub-samples, which supports contingency theory that rejects the approach of “one size fits all”. The findings provide implications for future studies to deal with firm characteristics as context dependent rather than simply as control variables. The results also provide implications for regulatory bodies in Jordan that highlight the importance of “comply or explain” approach to some corporate governance rules embracing the “one size does not fit all” approach. This study fills a gap in the existing literature by studying the quality of corporate governance and by using the context dependent approach.