Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECTS OF ZINC ON GILLS PEROXIDASE ACTIVITY IN THE FISH, LABEO ROHITA

Four groups of fish equal in lengths and weights were exposed, separately, to 96-hr LC 50 , 2/3 rd , 1/4 th and 1/5 th of LC 50 concentrations of zinc for 30 days in the glass aquaria. Another group was kept as control which was not exposed to any metal concentration. After 30-day zinc exposure, the fish from all treatments were sacrificed and their gills isolated for peroxidase enzyme assay. Physico-chemical parameters viz. pH, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, total hardness, calcium, magnesium and total ammonia of the test media were monitored, twice a day. The data were subjected to statistical analyses by following the factorial design. The correlation and regression analyses were also employed to see the statistical relationships among different parameters under study. The results revealed that peroxidase activity was increased significantly in the gills of Labeo rohita after exposure of zinc in all treatments as compared to the control fish gills. The peroxidase activity was measured as 0.353±0.003 UmL -1 in the 96-hr LC 50 metal exposed fish gills while the same was 0.079±0.003 UmL -1 in the control fish. The regression of peroxidase activity on physico-chemical variables of the test media, showed significantly positive coefficients on all the variables except dissolved oxygen.
Effect of Different Probiotics on Growth , Survival and Production of Monosex Nile Tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) MS Khatun and

Effect of different oral probiotics on growth, survival and production of monosex Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) under brackishwater pond was studied in eight brackishwater ponds, where tilapia fries with the average body weight (ABW) of 0.15 g were stocked at a density of 5 Nos/m2. Salinity of the ponds varied from 10 ppt to 16 ppt. Fishes were fed with floating feed containing 28% protein. Three types of probiotics viz., Safegut (T1), Zymetin (T2), Probio-aqua (T3) were supplemented @ 5 mg or ml per kg feed. Control (T4) ponds were not supplemented with probiotics. After 105 days of culture, highest production (8681±626.50 kg/ha) and survival (92.35±6.41) was found in T3, where Probio-aqua was supplemented with diet. Control (T4) produced lowest production (6967±982.17 kg/ha) but there was no significant (P<0.05) difference among treatments.
Observations on biological properties of the cyprinid fish , Carasobarbus sublimus in the Al-Diwaniya River , Middle Euphrates , Iraq

Length frequency distribution, length-weight relationship, age, growth, gonado-somatic index (GSI) and food habit of the cyprinid fish, Carasobarbus sublimus (Coad & Najafpour, 1997) from the Al-Diwaniya River, Middle Euphrates, Iraq were investigated for the first time. Fish were collected by gill nets and electeofishig during July-September 2017. Fish lengths of 20 to 25 cm dominated the population. Total length– weight relationship was found to be W= 0.009L 3.153 , growth pattern is isometric (P>0.05). The mean relative condition factor was 0.99. The mean lengths estimated at ages 1 to 4 year were found to be 8.5, 14.6, 18.3 and 21.7 cm respectively. The von Bertalanffy growth equation was Lt = 29.4(1-e -0.331(t+0.039) ). The overall values of GSI for females and males were 9.7 and 1.6%, respectively. C. sublimus was omnivorous fed on algae (31.0%), aquatic insects (29.8%), macrophytes (27.8%) and snails (11.5%).
Groundwater pollution vulnerability and groundwater protection strategy for the Owerri area , southeastern Nigeria

The vulnerability to pollution of the Owerri regional water supply in, Nigeria, was assessed as the basis for proposing an appropriate strategy for protecting the groundwater resources. The vulnerability assessment was accomplished using the LeGrand, GOD, SIGA, and DRASTIC computer models. The model techniques generally involve parameter rating and pointcount systems, based on evaluation of various hydrogeological parameters in relation to their capacity to influence the flow of contaminants in the groundwater system. The Owerri area is generally flat and groundwater recharge is relatively high. The area is underlain by predominantly sandy strata in the north, which grade into gravelly sequences towards the southwest. The southeastern part of the area is underlain in part by a thick clayey faces that thins and interfingers into the gravelly strata. Effective hydraulic conductivity ranges from 5.6 x lfj 9 to 1.44 x 10" m s", the higher value being in the coarse sand and gravel units. The depth to the water table is about 60 m in the north decreasing southward to less than 20 m; the hydraulic-head gradient is 9-22%. The southwestern part of the Owerri area including the Owerri conurbation has a high vulnerability to groundwater pollution and therefore waste disposal sites should not be located there. The northern and southeastern areas have moderate and low vulnerabilities, respectively, and carefully selected and engineered sites within those areas could be considered for future waste disposal. Policies should be instituted to facilitate the closing of pollution sources in the area of high vulnerability such as open disposal pits, leaking petrol stations, effluent discharge from industries, and use of pit latrines, and to locate future disposal site in areas of lower vulnerability.
Special Issue: Skilled Immigration Trends Guest edited by Anna Boucher and Lucie Cerna Current Policy Trends in Skilled Immigration Policy

Over the last decade, skilled immigration has proliferated as a policy preference among governments. Skilled immigration policies target the supply of new immigrants into labour market gaps that result from economic shifts and structural ageing. At the same time, skilled immigrants are often viewed as less welfare dependent and more labour market ready that other forms of immigrants, including those entering through family reunification streams. International organizations, including the World Bank and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), have also emphasized the growing importance of skilled immigration globally. Notwithstanding this considerable attention by both international and domestic government agencies to skilled immigration, it is notable that to date there has been no single special issue produced on skilled immigration policies in comparative perspective. A number of important collected books have been edited on the topic (Bhagwati and Hanson, 2009; Boeri et al, 2012; Chiswick, 2010; Ruhs and Anderson, 2010; Triadafilopoulos, 2013). Yet, at present, we lack a special issue on this topic. This current special issue, bringing together many of the world’s experts on skilled immigration policy, attempts to fill the gap. In the following introductory article, we briefly set out some of the major themes for contemporary skilled immigration policy globally, and discuss how these issues are addressed in the contributions in this Special Issue.
SmokeNet: Satellite Smoke Scene Detection Using Convolutional Neural Network with Spatial and Channel-Wise Attention

A variety of environmental analysis applications have been advanced by the use of satellite remote sensing. Smoke detection based on satellite imagery is imperative for wildfire detection and monitoring. However, the commonly used smoke detection methods mainly focus on smoke discrimination from a few specific classes, which reduces their applicability in different regions of various classes. To this end, in this paper, we present a new large-scale satellite imagery smoke detection benchmark based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, namely USTC_SmokeRS, consisting of 6225 satellite images from six classes (i.e., cloud, dust, haze, land, seaside, and smoke) and covering various areas/regions over the world. To build a baseline for smoke detection in satellite imagery, we evaluate several state-of-the-art deep learning-based image classification models. Moreover, we propose a new convolution neural network (CNN) model, SmokeNet, which incorporates spatial and channel-wise attention in CNN to enhance feature representation for scene classification. The experimental results of our method using different proportions (16%, 32%, 48%, and 64%) of training images reveal that our model outperforms other approaches with higher accuracy and Kappa coefficient. Specifically, the proposed SmokeNet model trained with 64% training images achieves the best accuracy of 92.75% and Kappa coefficient of 0.9130. The model trained with 16% training images can also improve the classification accuracy and Kappa coefficient by at least 4.99% and 0.06, respectively, over the state-of-the-art models.
Application of Vetiver ( Vetiveria zizanioides ) on Phytoremediation of Carwash Wastewater

Carwash wastewater (CW) contains potentially harmful compounds. Due to water scarcity, its reuse is indispensable. Phytoremediation is one of methods to eliminate pollutants by using plants, such as vetiver grass. This study observed the growth characteristic of vetiver in CW and its capacity in pollutant removal. Treatment with two factors and three replicates was done: Media for vetiver growth was tap water (TW) without carwash wastewater (M0), mixture of 50% tap water + 50% carwash wastewater (M1), and 100% of carwash wastewater without tap water (M2). Media grown without and with vetiver was of V0 and V1 respectively. Individual stem of vetiver was planted hydroponically in a chamber. Plant growth was observed once a week. At the harvesting (day 70), root, stem and leaf of the vetiver were collected separately Results showed that vetiver has a capacity to adapt, survive and growing in CW media. Plant generation achieved 70.1-81.8%, 60.6-75.8%, and 71.7-78.5% for stem, leaf and root respectively. Within 70 days, the pollutant that covered of 78.5 and 57.9% N, 83.5 and 69.0% P, 76.0 and 65.3% COD, 68.6 and 64.8% BOD, 81.3 and 59.5% detergent, 98.6 and 95.8% phenol, 73.3 and 61.5% Pb, and 88.5 and 82.8% Zn could be removed by vetiver, i.e. in growth media M1 and M2, respectively.
Cross-Border Cooperation Between Securities Regulators

The events of September 11, 2001, prompted sweeping cross-border coordination efforts for securities regulators around the globe. After 9/11, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) forged a nonbinding arrangement—the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information (MMoU)—that standardized the protocol for information sharing among participating securities regulators. Because regulators from different countries entered the MMoU at different times, their enlistments created a set of staggered shocks. I use these shocks to show that the resulting cross-border cooperation (a) increases cross-border enforcement and (b) reduces the cost of liquidity provision in the capital markets of participating countries. These results support the conclusion that the MMoU helps fill gaps in cross-border regulation that historically exposed investors to information asymmetry, agency costs, and expropriation risks.
CAPE: Explaining Outliers by Counterbalancing

In this demonstration we showcase Cape , a system that explains surprising aggregation outcomes. In contrast to previous work, which relies exclusively on provenance, Cape explains outliers in aggregation queries through related out-liers in the opposite direction that provide counterbalance . The foundation of our approach are aggregate regression patterns (ARPs) that describe coarse-grained trends in the data. We deﬁne outliers as deviations from such patterns and present an eﬃcient algorithm to ﬁnd counterbalances explaining outliers. In the demonstration, the audience can run aggregation queries over real world datasets, identify outliers of interest in the result of such queries, and browse the patterns and explanations returned by Cape .
Preference for odor-taste mixtures is dependent on previous experience.

PREFERENCE FOR ODOR-TASTE MIXTURES IS DEPENDENT ON PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE Kelsey A. McQueen April 25, 2019 The perception of flavor occurs when a tastant is simultaneously detected and associated with an odorant (i.e., odor-taste mixture). Sampling an odor and taste together results in a congruent odor-taste mixture. Mixing an odor and taste from different congruent odor-taste pairs results in incongruent odor-taste mixtures. Creation of a flavor percept requires sampling a novel chemosensory stimulus; however, mammals exhibit robust neophobic behavior when presented with new chemosensory stimuli. To determine preference for novel odorants and experienced odor-taste mixtures, we employ a two-bottle brief-access preference task where two chemosensory stimuli are presented simultaneously. We found that rats show a preference for water over a novel odor until the odor is paired with a pleasant taste. Additionally, rats prefer an odor-taste mixture containing the odor previously paired with a pleasant taste, regardless of odor-taste congruence. Finally, we show that rats prefer a novel odor to an experienced-unpleasant odor, but prefer an experienced-pleasant odor. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . iv ABSTRACT . v.v LIST OF FIGURES . vi
Effects of light and drought stress on germination of Artemisia sieberi

Preservation and development of plant cover are major factors in the management of range ecosystems. Artemisia sieberi is one of the native dominant species of vast areas in the Irano-Turanian bioclimatic region. This species is very tolerant to drought stress and grazing pressure. Therefore, it can be used to rehabilitate degraded rangelands of dry areas within this region. Understanding the germination characteristics of this species is important for the conduction of revegetation projects. Seeds of A. sieberi were collected randomly from 20 plants of existing vegetation along 6 kilometers transect at Isfahan Kolah Ghazi National Park located at 51°45'E and 35°15'N. To pass the dormant period, seeds were pre-chilled for nine days at 0 to 5°C. Two germination experiments were conducted in complete factorial block design. Moisture stress test was carried out with 0, -0.2, -0.4 and -0.6 MPa treatments using polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions in Petri dishes. The light treatment test was conducted with 12 h light and dark versus a continual dark condition. Results indicated that, an increase in the drought level lead to a decrease in the percentage and rate of germination, plumule length and allometry ratios, whereas the radicle length increased. In comparison with the dark treatment, 12 h of light treatment increased the percentage of germination and radicle length, while allometry ratios and plumule length decreased. Continual dark treatment compared with the 12 h light and dark photoperiod significantly reduced radicle and increased plumule lengths. Drought tolerance of A. sieberi seeds during germination showed the high potential of this species for vegetation rehabilitation in dry regions.
Matrix Factorization with Neural Networks and Stochastic Variational Inference

In this paper, we explore the “Neural Network Matrix Factorization” (NNMF) model [1], which uses a neural network to predict movie ratings as a function of user and movie latent variables. We extend this model by using variational Bayesian inference to approximate the posterior distributions of the latent variables. To train the model, named “SVINNMF”, we use stochastic variational inference, where stochastic gradients of likelihood and KL divergence terms can be computed on a small number of sample ratings (rather than the entire dataset). Learning posterior distributions of the latent variables allows us to express a degree of certainty about what we’ve learned about users and movies, and also allows us to predict a reasonable range of estimated ratings for a given user/movie pair. This provides the flexibility to recommender systems to make decisions based on the uncertainty of predicted ratings. Both the NNMF and SVINNMF models were evaluated against the MovieLens datasets, and compared to PMF and BPMF as baseline models.
A qualitative study of the influence of Country of Manufacturing among young Danish consumers

By employing a qualitative method of hermeneutic phenomenology as its research design, this thesis attempts to uncover the role of country of manufacturing in the young Danish consumers’ buying decision-making process, focusing especially on the information evaluation stage. Through in-depth interviews with 9 participants, this study has discovered, that in the scenario of buying clothes, young Danish consumers do not use country of manufacturing as a quality indicator in their information evaluation. However, country of manufacturing seems to become prominent to these informants for indicating the workers’ welfare, when there are no other indicators present. Findings show, that as long as these consumers are not well informed in regards to the workers’ welfare (e.g.: in the form of transparency from companies), the negative effect of country of manufacturing will continue to be present in their information evaluation process.
Nuclearity in RST and signals of coherence relations

We investigate the relationship between the notion of nuclearity as proposed in Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) and the signalling of coherence relations. RST relations are categorized as either mononuclear (comprising a nucleus and a satellite span) or multinuclear (comprising two or more nuclei spans). We examine how mononuclear relations (e.g., Antithesis, Condition) and multinuclear relations (e.g., Contrast, List) are indicated by relational signals, more particularly by discourse markers (e.g., because, however, if, therefore). We conduct a corpus study, examining the distribution of either type of relations in the RST Discourse Treebank (Carlson et al., 2002) and the distribution of discourse markers for those relations in the RST Signalling Corpus (Das et al., 2015). Our results show that discourse markers are used more often to signal multinuclear relations than mononuclear relations. The findings also suggest a complex relationship between the relation types and syntactic categories of discourse markers (subordinating and coordinating conjunctions).
Advancing human health risk assessment

Abstract The current/traditional human health risk assessment paradigm is challenged by recent scientific and technical advances, and ethical demands. The current approach is considered too resource intensive, is not always reliable, can raise issues of reproducibility, is mostly animal based and does not necessarily provide an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of toxicity. From an ethical and scientific viewpoint, a paradigm shift is required to deliver testing strategies that enable reliable, animal‐free hazard and risk assessments, which are based on a mechanistic understanding of chemical toxicity and make use of exposure science and epidemiological data. This shift will require a new philosophy, new data, multidisciplinary expertise and more flexible regulations. Re‐engineering of available data is also deemed necessary as data should be accessible, readable, interpretable and usable. Dedicated training to build the capacity in terms of expertise is necessary, together with practical resources allocated to education. The dialogue between risk assessors, risk managers, academia and stakeholders should be promoted further to understand scientific and societal needs. Genuine interest in taking risk assessment forward should drive the change and should be supported by flexible funding. This publication builds upon presentations made and discussions held during the break‐out session ‘Advancing risk assessment science – Human health’ at EFSA's third Scientific Conference ‘Science, Food and Society’ (Parma, Italy, 18–21 September 2018).
How does freemium strategy affect the demand of the paid premium mobile healthcare service: From an information asymmetry perspective

This paper studies the impact of physicians’ freemium strategy on demand for physicians’ paid premium services in the mobile healthcare setting. In addition, the moderating effects of physicians’ quality indicators are investigated with reference to two dimensions: (1) individual-specific quality indicator, related to the physician’s personal skills and measured by the physician’s professional title; (2) hospital-specific quality indicators, related to the hospital’s quality information and measured by the hospital’s grade and location. Using a sample of 71,256 physicians observed over a 15-week period on the largest Chinese mobile healthcare platform, we find that the free service can significantly increase demand for physicians’ paid services. Both the hospital-specific and individual-specific quality indicators reinforce this impact. For chief (and associate chief) physicians working in the tertiary hospital setting and in a large city, a 1% increase in the free service will lead to a 0.358% increase in demand for the physician’s paid Text&Picture consultation service, whereas the increase is only 0.075% for junior physicians in non-tertiary hospitals and in a small city. However, among the most active physicians, the reinforcing effect of the individual-specific quality indicator weakens, while the effect of the hospital-specific quality indicators becomes even stronger. The results provide several implications both from the theoretical and the practical perspective.
CO 2 Capture Mongstad Project / H & ETQPAmine 2 Modelling atmospheric dispersion for components from post combustion amine based CO 2 capture

Carbon capture by the use of amines from power plants have emissions to air. Amines react chemically in the atmosphere after emission. The substances produced can pose a risk to the environment and human health. This report is a review of existing modeling tools , a case study of the emissions and a recommendation on future development aimed at reducing uncertainty in the exposure estimates.
THE EFFECT OF SEGMENTAL EARNINGS SMOOTHNESS ON MARKET PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC COMPANIES IN KENYA

This study uses a longitudinal design to test the effect of earnings smoothness on segmental market performance of companies quoted in the various segments of the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Based on modified capital asset pricing model (CAPM) the study uses a purposive sample of four segments (Manufacturing; Commercial and Services; Construction and Energy segments) out of the eleven segments listed at the NSE. The study’s covers the period January 1994 through December 2015 and involves regression of segmental portfolio semi-annual return premium on market premium over risk free rate of return as well as equal-weighted earnings smoothness efficiency marketing (EM) value. The earnings smoothness is computed as the ratio of the standard deviation of earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) to the cash flows from operations, being equal weighted values on a three period basis. This yields 44 semi-annual observations for each of the segments. Using the F-test, the findings show that the earnings smoothness of the segments are significantly different from each other. Testing the statistical significance of the EM coefficients from each of the segments, the findings reject the null hypothesis in the manufacturing, commercial and energy segments. The results show that EM has a positive effect of market performance of companies quoted in the manufacturing segment and a negative one in the commercial and energy segments. The study however fails to reject the null hypothesis for the Construction segment in which earnings smoothness has no effect on market performance of securities listed in the segment. The coefficients of the market return premium are positive and significant for all the four segments, an indication that besides earnings smoothness, market risk plays an important role in the market performance of the securities listed in the various segments of the NSE. It is concluded that segmental specific earnings smoothness factors are significant in determining market performance of securities of public companies in Kenya