Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Animating the urban: an ethological and geographical conversation

Abstract Urban animals and their political ecologies constitute an arena of geographical scholarship that has intensified in recent years. Yet, little headway has been made in terms of understanding how sentient creatures inhabit and negotiate dynamic, metabolic environments. Focusing on urban macaques in Indian cities, the paper develops a conversation between geography and ethology. Firstly, the conversation provides insights into what urbanisation might entail for animals. Secondly, it assays ways in which non-human knowledges enable rethinking what expertise counts in urban governance. Thirdly, the conversation foregrounds other spatial topologies of the urban that become evident when animals’ lifeworlds are taken into account. The paper advances efforts to animate urban political ecology in registers yet inattentive to non-human lifeworlds. It concludes by reflecting upon the purchase of such etho-geographical conversations generate for political ecologies of urbanisation.
Late Pleistocene mollusks from the southern Black Hills, South Dakota

Pleistocene-age mollusks recovered from the Nelson-Wittenberg Site and Mammoth Site provide information on paleoenvironments of the southern Black Hills, South Dakota. New mollusk records for the Mammoth Site include Vertigo modesta, Catinella sp. , and Gyraulus parvus . The presence of V. modesta, Columella columella alticola , and Pupilla muscorum at the Nelson-Wittenberg Site suggests cooler than modern conditions in the Black Hills during the Pleistocene. Although the majority of identified taxa are consistent with previous interpretations of an arid, shrubsteppe environment for the Black Hills during the Wisconsin Glaciation, V. modesta and C. c. alticola suggest the presence of at least some isolated, local mesic areas.
Innovation and R&D Activities in Chinaâs Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sectors

This paper examines innovation and R&D expenditures in China’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. We found that R&D spending for these industries was much lower than spending in operating activities, which suggests a suboptimal allocation of resources. We also found that the proportion of intangible assets to total assets (including patents, trademarks and licenses) were also much lower than those in industrialized countries such as Canada and the U.S. We also examined other factors that were associated with R&D spending in these sectors. Using the China Stock Market Financial Statement Database and the SINA financial database, it was found that Chinese biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms’ expenditures in R&D activities are positively associated with ownership structure, but negatively associated with firm size, and with investments in other assets including inventory and fixed assets.
Breaking the Curse of Dimension in Multi-Marginal Kantorovich Optimal Transport on Finite State Spaces

We present a new ansatz space for the general symmetric multi-marginal Kantorovich optimal transport problem on finite state spaces which reduces the number of unknowns from $\tbinom{N+\ell-1}{\ell-1}$ to $\ell\cdot(N+1)$, where $\ell$ is the number of marginal states and $N$ the number of marginals. The new ansatz space is a careful low-dimensional enlargement of the Monge class, which corresponds to $\ell\cdot(N-1)$ unknowns, and cures the insufficiency of the Monge ansatz, i.e. we show that the Kantorovich problem always admits a minimizer in the enlarged class, for arbitrary cost functions. Our results apply, in particular, to the discretization of multi-marginal optimal transport with Coulomb cost in three dimensions, which has received much recent interest due to its emergence as the strongly correlated limit of Hohenberg-Kohn density functional theory. In this context $N$ corresponds to the number of particles, motivating the interest in large $N$.
Magnetorotational instability and dynamo action in gravito-turbulent astrophysical discs

Though usually treated in isolation, the magnetorotational and gravitational instabilities (MRI and GI) may coincide at certain radii and evolutionary stages of protoplanetary discs and active galactic nuclei. Their mutual interactions could profoundly influence several important processes, such as accretion variability and outbursts, fragmentation and disc truncation, or large-scale magnetic field production. Direct numerical simulations of both instabilities are computationally challenging and remain relatively unexplored. In this paper, we aim to redress this neglect via a set of 3D vertically stratified shearing-box simulations, combining self-gravity and magnetic fields. We show that gravito-turbulence greatly weakens the zero-net-flux MRI. In the limit of efficient cooling (and thus enhanced GI), the MRI is completely suppressed, and yet strong magnetic fields are sustained by the gravitoturbulence. This turbulent `spiral wave' dynamo may have widespread application, especially in galactic discs. Finally, we present preliminary work showing that a strong net-vertical-flux revives the MRI and supports a magnetically dominated state, in which the GI is secondary.
Selection of High Yielding and Farmers’ Preferred Genotypes of Bambara Nut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) in Malawi

Bambara nut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc) is a nutritious legume, however, its production is characterised by use of landraces, which have been maintained by farmers. Lack of improved varieties has contributed to low yields. This re- search was done to identify potentially high yielding and farmers’ preferred genotypes for improved production of Bambara in Malawi. A completely Randomised Block Design experiment with eight genotypes (181CR, 181RD, 194, 137CR, 137RD, 317, 2762 and 2768) and four replicates was implemented at Chitedze, Chitala and Mbawa Research Sta- tions to identify high yielding genotypes. In addition to the yield, farmers’ criteria based on plant vigour, ability to fully bury its pods in the ground (mounding), yield at harvest, maturity period, seed colour, grain size, taste of boiled dry grain and taste of fresh pods were used to identify farmers’ preferred genotypes. Significant yield differences were identified between genotypes (P kg/ha) followed by 2768 (1066 kg/ha), 181RD (1064 kg/ha) and 2762 (841 kg/ha). In contrast to the high yielding genotypes, genotype 137RD gave the lowest yield (485 kg/ha) followed by 194 (573 kg/ha), 317 (617 kg/ha) and 137CR (620 kg/ha). Mbawa Research Sta- tion showed significantly high yields with site mean of 1177 kg/ha compared with Chitedze and Chitala with site means of 703 kg/ha and 530 kg/ha respectively. Farmers ranked the eight accessions in order of importance as follows: 181RD, 181CR, 2768, 137CR, 194, 137RD, 2762 and 317. Combination of yield and farmers’ preference identified three geno- types (181RD, 181CR and 2768) as potential varieties for production in Malawi. Accessions 181RD and 2768 were specifically selected for relish unlike 181CR, which has been selected for use as snack. However, further research on nutrition, value addition and marketing needs to be conducted on the identified genotypes.
Changes of Growth Factor Family Genes Expressions in the Striatum Following the Dominant Hemisphere Ischemia in Rats

Abstract Rationale Handiness of the human implies the asymmetry in the brain. Asymmetry in the human brain denotes the dominant hemisphere has more elaborate and complicated functions, therefore, the ischemic injuries in the dominant hemisphere usually yield more serious clinical problems than that in the non-dominant hemisphere. The mechanism of the heavier ischemic injury in the dominant hemisphere has not been yet known thoroughly, especially at the genetic level; the specific gene expression pattern following the dominant hemisphere ischemia has not yet been reported. Objectives In this study it was to investigate the trend of gene expression in the striatum after the dominant hemisphere ischemia in the rats. Methods Behavioral tests were used to select 24 right-handed Wistar rats, and the dominant hemisphere ischemic model was archived by the left middle cerebral artery occlusion/ reperfusion (MCAO). 8000 dots gene chip was used to analyze the changes of gene expression profiles in the striatum. In situ hybridization was used to confirm the gene expression and immunohistochemistry stain to find the downstream protein expression of target gene. Results There was a lot of lower Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) both in the ischemia group and in the sham. A total of 4286 EST differentially expressed with the density value more than 800 and the ratio of Cy3/Cy5 >2.0. There were 368 EST with density value more than 800 and the ratio of Cy3/Cy5 <0.5 revealed higher expression and 79 EST lower expression in the ischemia group. Growth factors family genes lower expressed but individual genes higher expressed. Gene expressions in the striatum in the dominant hemisphere ischemia group were lower than that of the non-dominant hemisphere ischemia group significantly (p<0.05). Conclusion The results mentioned above suggested that growth factors family gene expression in the dominant hemisphere ischemic striatum were lower than that of non-dominant hemisphere, cerebral ischemia in the dominant hemisphere produced sever injury at gene expression level.
Compositional responses of bacterial communities to redox gradients and grazing in the anoxic Cariaco Basin

During a May 2005 cruise, depth-dependent distributions of bacterial populations and their responses to predator exclusion were investigated in the anoxic Cariaco Basin, Venezuela. Community structure was assessed using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S rRNA genes. FISH combined with microautoradiography was used to determine single-cell activity of heterotrophic bacterial popula- tions provided with 3 H-leucine substrate. FISH and T-RFLP patterns clearly illustrated shifts in bac- terial community composition as waters transitioned from oxic to anoxic conditions at depth. Preda- tor-exclusion experiments were conducted at 3 depths across the redoxcline. Although richness of bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was initially reduced at all 3 depths (250, 270, 400 m) as a likely consequence of confinement, distinct responses of individual OTUs to predator exclusion were detected in T-RFLP patterns. FISH analyses also detected very consistent responses of α-, β-, γ-, and e-proteobacteria to predator exclusion. The α- and β-proteobacteria became more prevalent in controls than in 'predator-free' samples (<1.6 µm filtrate) over time. In contrast, γ- and e-proteobacte- ria gained prevalence in 'predator-free' samples. Interestingly, abundances of β-proteobacteria dra- matically declined over time in both controls and predator-free treatments, and none actively assim- ilated 3 H-leucine (MICRO-FISH). Among 3 H-leucine-assimilating cells in control samples at 270 m, α-, γ-, and e-proteobacteria accounted for 12, 38, and 14% of 3 H-leucine active cells, respectively. Taxonomic distributions of 3 H-leucine-assimilating cells in predator-exclusion treatments did not detectably differ from controls. Overall, results demonstrated that redox gradients structured microbial communities and that predator exclusion significantly altered bacterial abundances and community composition.
Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers

The interests and incentives of managers and shareholders conflict over such issues as the optimal size of the firm and the payment of cash to shareholders. These conflicts are especially severe in firms with large free cash flows—more cash than profitable investment opportunities. The theory developed here explains 1) the benefits of debt in reducing agency costs of free cash flows, 2) how debt can substitute for dividends, 3) why “diversification” programs are more likely to generate losses than takeovers or expansion in the same line of business or liquidationmotivated takeovers, 4) why the factors generating takeover activity in such diverse activities as broadcasting and tobacco are similar to those in oil, and 5) why bidders and some targets tend to perform abnormally well prior to takeover.
On the influence of carbonate on mineral dissolution: III. The soI~bility of microcrystalline TbOz in C02-Hz0 media

The solubility of microcrystalline Th02 as a function of pH has been studied under different partial pressures of CO* in aqueous media, in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative information on the complexation of Th4’ with carbonate. Based on the results of the study, the existence of a mixed tho~um-hydroxo-carbonate complex, Th(OH)$ZO;, as well as a thorium carbonate complex Th( CO,);is proposed, and their stability constants and the solubility product of microcrystalline thorium dioxide (ThO*(act)) are determined. The following equilibrium constants were determined in 0.5 M NaC104 at 25’C 1 atm. : ThOz(act) + 4H+ = Th4+ + 2H20 log Ks = 9.37 t 0.13 ThO,(act) + I-I+ + HzO + CO<* Th(OH),CO; log @,. i. , = 6.1 I rt 0.19 ThOz(act) + 4H+ + 5CO$& Th(CO,):log &,s = 42.12 -;t 0.32. The errors are given as three standard deviations in the fitted constants. By extrapolation, the following constants are obtained for the infinite dilution standard state: Th02(act) + 4H’ ;r‘ Th”+ + 2Hz0 log & = 7.31 + 0.3 ThO,(act) + H+ iHz0 + CO:= Th(OH)&O: log @,. ),I = 6.78 t 0.3 ThOz(act) + 4H+ + SCO:-= Th(C03)glog /3,. “. s = 39.64 rt: 0.4.
Trends in Numbers and Changes in the Distribution of Feral Goats (Capra hircus) in the South Australian Pastoral Zone

Trends in numbers and changes in the distribution of feral goats in the South Australian pastoral zone (217300 km2) during 1978-94 were determined by winter aerial surveys. Only the presence or absence of goats on sample units was scored between 1978 and 1988. On the assumption of a random distribution of goat groups, these indices were transformed to densities of goat groups. Between 1989 and 1994 actual goat numbers were recorded on each sample unit, allowing goat density to be estimated. Goats were consistently at their highest densities in the south-east of the pastoral zone, a region dominated by open mallee scrub and chenopod shrubland. Densities of goat groups fluctuated from a low in 1984, following a drought, to a peak in 1990, following above-average rainfalls, when there were an estimated 193700 2 29600 goats in the pastoral zone. This estimate is conservative because it is uncorrected for the visibility bias associated with sighting groups and undercounting their sizes. The estimate also excludes the Flinders Ranges for which a similar number of goats has been estimated.
A Forty-Nine Day Evaluation of Bio-Mos® Replacement of Roxarsone in a Commerically Based Broiler Feeding Program

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of roxarsone and Bio-Mos on broiler production, gut morphology and bone strength. Three thousand and ten broilers were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 dietary corn-soybean meal based treatments: 1) negative control (NEG), basal diet; 2) positive control (POS; NEG + 27 ppm Bacitracin MD); 3) roxarsone (ROX; POS + 50 ppm of roxarsone); 4) Bio-Mos (BIO; POS + 0.15 and 0.5% Bio-Mos added during the starter and grower periods, respectively); 5) Bio-Mos+All-Lac XCL (BIO+LAC; POS + 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05% Bio-Mos during the starter, grower and finishing periods, respectively and 0.25g All-Lac XCL/bird sprayed at hatchery). On day 14, 7 of the 14 replicate pens/treatment were challenged with Eimeria maxima (3 x 10 oocysts/bird). Tibias were collected on day 28 and 49 to determine bone-breaking strength. Non-challenged birds had higher body weight gains (BWG) and lower feed conversion (FCR) from day 0 to 49 than challenged birds (P < 0.05). Jejunal crypt depth was increased in challenged broilers compared to non-challenged broilers at 28 daysof-age (P < 0.05). From day 0 to 35, ROX birds had lower BWG and FI than BIO and BIO+LAC birds (P < 0.05), while FCR was similar. Supplementing roxarsone resulted in reduced feed intake and BWG, but no significant differences were noted in FCR compared to feeding Bio-Mos. ROX fed broilers had decreased ileal crypt depth compared to all other dietary treatments (P < 0.05). Muscle As concentration was lower than FDA allowable limits in 1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: amcelroy@vt.edu
Effects of copper-based compounds, antibiotics and a plant activator on population sizes and spread of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis in greenhouse tomato seedlings

Three copper-based compounds (copper hydroxide, copper oxychloride, copper sulphate), two antibiotics (streptomycin and kasugamycin) and a plant activator (ASM) significantly reduced population sizes and spread of C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis among tomato seedlings in the greenhouse. Streptomycin had the best effect in reducing pathogen population size in all sampling regions. Moreover, this antibiotic completely stopped the spread of C. michiganensis subsp. michiganensis in the region most distant from the inoculum focus. Copper hydroxide mixed with streptomycin significantly limited the pathogen population, compared with copper hydroxide alone, the other copper-based compounds, ASM and kasugamycin. However, combining streptomycin with copper hydroxide did not contribute to its greater efficacy against the pathogen population. Copper-based compounds, in general, were less effective in limiting pathogen population sizes than the other treatments in all three sampling regions, primarily copper oxychloride and the combination of copper hydroxide and mannose. Among copper compounds, copper hydroxide was the most prominent in reducing the bacterial population, especially in the region closest to the inoculums focus, while its combination with mannose did not improve the effects. Kasugamycin significantly limited pathogen population size, compared to copper bactericides, but it was less effective than the other antibiotic compound, i.e. streptomycin. The plant activator ASM significantly reduced population density, and it was more effective when used three days prior to inoculation than six days before inoculation.
Consumer Trust in Electronic Commerce: An Alternative Framework Using Technology Acceptance

The Internet continues to grow at a substantial rate, with estimates for online persons reaching 407 million by November 2000 (Nua 2001). Despite this growth, business to consumer commerce still experiences challenges on many fronts. Several studies have identified trust as a major concern for consumers to buy online. This paper examines trust and its antecedents, and presents an alternative framework, using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), of the consumer’s usage of the Internet for e-commerce.
Surface and hyporheic transient storage dynamics throughout a coastal stream network

Transient storage of stream water and associated solutes is expected to vary along stream networks in response to related changes in stream hydraulic conditions and morphologic gradients. These spatial changes are relevant to a wide variety of processes (e.g., biogeochemical cycling), yet data regarding these dynamics are limited and almost exclusively confined to the general storage terms of transient storage models with a single‐storage zone (1‐SZ). We used a transient storage model with two‐storage zones (2‐SZ) to simulate field data from conservative solute injections conducted in a coastal stream network in Massachusetts to separately quantify surface transient storage (STS) and hyporheic transient storage (HTS). Solute tracer additions were performed at basin‐wide, low‐flow conditions, and results were compared with respect to stream size. Strong positive relationships with reach contributing area indicated that the size of the main channel and the size and residence time in surface and hyporheic storage zones all increased from small to large streams. Conversely, longitudinal dispersion and the storage zone exchange coefficients had no consistent trends downstream. The influence of storage exchange on median transport time () was consistently large for STS and negligible for HTS. When compared to 1‐SZ model estimates, we found that the general 1‐SZ model storage terms did not consistently describe either STS or HTS exchange. Overall our results indicated that many zone‐specific (STS and HTS) storage dynamics were sensitive to the combination of hydraulic and morphologic gradients along the stream network and followed positive trends with stream size.
Extraction And Characterization Of Castor Seed Oil

The castor seeds used for this work were obtained in a market at Esa-Oke town in the western part of Osun State of Nigeria. The seeds were prepared for use by removing the endocarp, sun-drying for five days and milled to flour. A soxhlet extraction was used for the extraction of the oil and the solvent used was hexane . The oil was recovered by simple distillation. The residual oil obtained was investigated for physicochemical parameters and fatty acid composition. The result shows that : moisture content (0.300± 0.01%), specific gravity (0.948± 0.02), refractive index @30C (1.792± 0.01) ,fire point (256.000± 1.20C), flash point (225.000 ± 2.10 C), smoke point (215.000 ± 1.00 C), viscosity @ 28 C (0.425 ± 0.12), pH (5.800 ± 0.00), congealing temperature (-18.000 ± 1.50 C), turbidity (5.000 ± 1.00 C). Others were free fatty acid (7.400 ±0.07% oleic acid), acid value (14.800± 0.14 % oleic acid), saponification value (178.000± 0.42mgKOH/g oil), peroxide value (158.640 ± 2.20Meq/Kg), iodine value (58.390 ± 0.71wijs), The crude oil sample was determined according to AOAC,(1984), They are within acceptable standard. The yield of 48% makes the commercialisation of the seed in Nigeria possible and profitable. Also, the result of the analysis confirms the oil to be of good quality and can find application in food industry as food additives as well as industrial purposes.
Do neighbouring countries encourage the demand of international business tourism?

Abstract This paper aims at determining the factors that influence the growth of international business tourism and understanding whether the demand growth of business tourism spreads across neighbouring countries. For the development of the empirical research, data has been collected from a sample of 136 countries worldwide, and spatial econometric techniques have been used. Evidence that supports the idea that the main factors related to the increase in incomes of business tourism are the private investment on tourism assets, the leisure tourism and the trade openness in relation to the outside world is presented. This study also reveals that the demand of business tourism in a country is not contagious, that is, the demand varies neither with the demand of its neighbours nor with their exogenous characteristics. The results have important implications for the choice of tourism policy goals at national levels and the corresponding policy instruments.