Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coral growth in upwelling and nonupwelling areas off the Pacific coast of Panama

The mean growth rate of the dominant reef-building coral Pocillopora damicornis was significantly different in upwelling (Gulf of Panama) and nonupwelling (Gulf of Chiriqui) environments on the Pacific coast of Panama. Mean annual growth was 3.1 cm/ yr at Saboga Island, Gulf of Panama and 3.9 cm/ yr at the Secas study site, Gulf of Chiriqui. Coral growth declined markedly in the dry season in the Gulf of Panama during upwelling and decreased gradually in both areas in the wet season with increasing cloud cover. Water temperature was significantly correlated with coral growth in the upwelling area, and cloud cover (determined from satellite imagery) was significantly correlated with coral growth at the nonupwelling study site year round and in the Gulf of Panama during the nonupwelling season. Zooplankton abundance also appeared to be a significant predictor of coral growth in the Gulf of Panama. The growth rate of P. damicornis was significantly higher in Panama than in Hawaii and comparable to that reported in Samoa. Estimates of the gross producti on of CaCOa on Panamanian reefs, in the range 5.1 X 10• to 6.7 X 10• gm CaCOa/m/ yr, rank among the highest
Pure Nash Equilibria in Linear Regression

We build on an emerging line of work which studies strategic manipulations in training data provided to machine learning algorithms. Specifically, we focus on the ubiquitous task of linear regression. Prior work focused on the design of strategyproof algorithms, which aim to prevent such manipulations altogether by aligning the incentives of data sources. However, algorithms used in practice are often not strategyproof, which induces a strategic game among the agents. We focus on a broad class of non-strategyproof algorithms for linear regression, namely `p norm minimization (p > 1) with convex regularization. We show that when manipulations are bounded, every algorithm in this class admits a unique pure Nash equilibrium outcome. We also shed light on the structure of this equilibrium by uncovering a surprising connection between strategyproof algorithms and pure Nash equilibria of non-strategyproof algorithms in a broader setting, which may be of independent interest. Finally, we analyze the quality of equilibria under these algorithms in terms of the price of anarchy.
Improved Road Connectivity by Joint Learning of Orientation and Segmentation

Road network extraction from satellite images often produce fragmented road segments leading to road maps unfit for real applications. Pixel-wise classification fails to predict topologically correct and connected road masks due to the absence of connectivity supervision and difficulty in enforcing topological constraints. In this paper, we propose a connectivity task called Orientation Learning, motivated by the human behavior of annotating roads by tracing it at a specific orientation. We also develop a stacked multi-branch convolutional module to effectively utilize the mutual information between orientation learning and segmentation tasks. These contributions ensure that the model predicts topologically correct and connected road masks. We also propose Connectivity Refinement approach to further enhance the estimated road networks. The refinement model is pre-trained to connect and refine the corrupted ground-truth masks and later fine-tuned to enhance the predicted road masks. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach on two diverse road extraction datasets SpaceNet and DeepGlobe. Our approach improves over the state-of-the-art techniques by 9% and 7.5% in road topology metric on SpaceNet and DeepGlobe, respectively.
MarkovDecisionProcesseswithSequential Sensor Measurements ?

Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) have been used to formulate many decision-making problems in science and engineering. The objective is to synthesize the best decision (action selection) policies to maximize expected rewards (or minimize costs) for a stochastic dynamical system. In this paper, we introduce a new type of sensor measurement to the MDP model that provides additional information about the stochastic process, and hence that information can be incorporated in the decision policy to increase the performance. In this model, the additional measurement estimates the possible state transition if a particular action in a prescribed sequential order is taken, i.e., we have more refined information on the possible transition in real-time before taking an action. This new MDP model with the additional sequential measurements is referred to as sequentialy-observed MDP (SO-MDP). We show that the SO-MDP shares some similar properties with a standard MDP; among randomized history dependent policies, deterministic Markovian policies are still optimal. Optimal SO-MDP policies have the advantage of producing better rewards than standard MDP policies due to the additional measurements, however computing these policies is more complex. We present two algorithms for solving the finite-horizon SO-MDP problem: the first algorithm is based on linear-programming, and the second algorithm is based on dynamic programming. We show that the complexity of computing optimal policies of the SO-MDP model with perfect sensors is the same as standard MDP. Simulations demonstrate that the SO-MDP model outperforms the standard MDP model in the presence of high environment uncertainty.
ERAS protocol implementation in surgery is favorable for the recovery of patients

To determine the effect of implementing the Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) concept on the rehabilitation of patients undergoing radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Medical records of 213 patients who underwent D2 radical gastrectomy were analyzed retrospectively. Of these, 151 patients were managed as per the ERAS concept (recovery group) and 62 patients received conventional care (conventional group). The postoperative recovery, anxiety and depression score, quality of life score and satisfaction with nursing care as well as the incidence of complications, follow up results and the survival rates were also recorded. The time to anal exhaust, oral feeding, and activity out-of-bed in the recovery group were shorter than those in the conventional group (all P<0.05). There were significant differences between the two groups in the self-rating anxiety score (P<0.05). The difference in the rate of complications between the two groups was statistically significant (χ2=5.085, P=0.024). After nursing care, the emotional function, cognitive function, physical function, and social function in the two groups of patients improved and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The nursing satisfaction in the recovery group was significantly superior to that in the conventional group (P<0.05). Implementing the concept of ERAS in the perioperative period of gastric cancer surgery effectively improves the psychological state of the patients, reduces the incidence of complications, enhances the rehabilitation of patients after surgery, and improves the quality of life and the nursing care satisfaction among patients.
Patriotism as Perceived by Social Studies Teachers : An Outlook on the Individual , Society and Education *

Patriotism is a citizenship value involved in the affective objectives of social studies education. The present study aimed to investigate the social studies teachers’ perceptions of patriotism. A total of 14 social studies teachers selected as per maximum variation method participated in the study, which was designed as a phenomenological research. The research data were collected using a semi-structured interview form. The data were analysed using content analysis method with the help of NVivo software program. The results of the research suggested that participating social studies teachers explain patriotism with concepts of love, commitment and responsibility, and perceived themselves closer to blind patriotism. It was recommended that teachers should become more aware of active and democratic citizenship, get training to become constructive citizens, and improve their practices in this direction.
University of Dundee desynaptic 5 carries a spontaneous semi-dominant mutation affecting Disrupted Meiotic cDNA 1 in barley

Despite conservation of the process of meiosis, recombination landscapes vary between species, with large genome grasses such as barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) exhibiting a pattern of recombination that is very heavily skewed to the ends of chromosomes. We have been using a collection of semi-sterile desynaptic meiotic mutant lines to help elucidate how recombination is controlled in barley and the role of the corresponding wild-type (WT) meiotic genes within this process. Here we applied a combination of genetic segregation analysis, cytogenetics, and immunocytology to genetically map and characterize the meiotic mutant desynaptic5 (des5). We identified an exonic insertion in the positional candidate ortholog of Disrupted Meiotic cDNA 1 (HvDMC1) on chromosome 5H of des5. des5 exhibits a severe meiotic phenotype with disturbed synapsis, reduced crossovers, and chromosome mis-segregation. The meiotic phenotype and reduced fertility of des5 is similarly observed in Hvdmc1 transgenic plants and HvDMC1p:GusPlus reporter lines show DMC1 expression specifically in the developing inflorescence. The des5 mutation maintains the reading frame of the gene and exhibits semi-dominance with respect to recombination in the heterozygote indicating the value of non-knockout mutations for dissection of the control of recombination in the early stages of meiosis.
Latent Classes of Exposure to Potentially Traumatic and Stressful Life Events in a Sample of Young Predominantly Ethnic Minority Women

Women are disproportionately affected by specific types of potentially traumatic and stressful life events that are strongly linked to PTSD and depressive symptoms (Tolin & Foa, 2006; U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). Yet, while many studies have investigated patterns of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and their associations with clinical outcomes, few have assessed PTE typologies with exclusively female samples (e.g., Cavanaugh et al., 2013). This study examined profiles of childhood and adulthood potentially traumatic and stressful life events in a predominantly ethnic minority, community sample of 191 young women. Using latent class analysis, we found four distinct profiles of exposure to PTEs and stressful life events: a Minimal risk class (51.3% of the sample), a Family conflict/moderate risk class (19.9%), a Chronic abuse/polyvictimization class (14.7%), and an Adulthood abuse/polyvictimization class (14.1%). The Adulthood abuse/polyvictimization class displayed significantly higher levels of PTSD symptoms than the Minimal risk class. Additionally, both the Adulthood abuse/polyvictimization and Chronic abuse/polyvictimization classes had significantly higher estimated probabilities of endorsing elevated depressive symptoms in comparison to the Minimal risk class. Results illustrate the importance of multidimensional assessment of potentially traumatic and stressful life event exposures and their impact on young ethnic minority women.
COMPARATIVE SIMULATIONS OF THE PLASMA RESPONSE TO RMPS DURING ELM-CRASH MITIGATED AND SUPPRESSED PHASES IN KSTAR

Control of the edge localized modes (ELMs) is one of the most critical issues for a ITER and the future tokamak fusion reactors. In order to develop a predictive model of the access to ELM-crash suppressed states, it is essential to understand first the underlying physics mechanism of ELM-crash-suppression. The paper reports simulation results for particular KSTAR experimental shots, where ELM-crash mitigated and suppressed phases were observed sequentially and distinctly with low-n resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs). It has been observed that toroidal rotation and ion temperature are rapidly increased and decreased, respectively, near the top of the pedestal across the transition from ELMcrash-mitigation to suppression. This results in a small outward shift in the rotation zero-crossing points and the perpendicular rotation becomes even smaller at the rational surface located near the pedestal top. Correspondingly, linear plasma response modeling with the resistive MHD code M3D-C1 indicates that resonant tearing response is increased significantly at that surface, which is well correlated to the observed onset of ELM-crash suppression. Nevertheless, it is not yet clear which of the perpendicular rotations, ExB or perpendicular electron rotation, is actually important for the ELMcrash suppression in KSTAR. In order to understand the rotation zero-crossing effects more fundamentally, kinetic plasma response model has been newly developed and its numerical scheme briefly explained in the paper. Preliminary kinetic simulation results reproduce the main plasma response characteristics predicted by two-fluid resistive MHD although kinetically modified rotation zero-crossing effect may be slightly different from that based on MHD model.
IMPACT OF IFRS ADOPTION ON VALUE RELEVANCE OF EARNINGS AND BOOK VALUE OF NIGERIAN LISTED NON-FINANCIAL FIRMS

Emergence and subsequent rife adoption of IFRS globally has redefined course for more empirical studies into assumed over-flocked value relevance discourse in accounting research. Owing to confounding submissions on value relevance of IFRS-based accounting information, this study investigates plausible influence of IFRS adoption on value relevance of earnings and book value of the Nigerian listed non-financial firms. The study relied on panel data sourced from forty-six listed non-financial companies with 31 December as financial year-end between 2008 and 2015. Panel least square regression was adopted to perform relative and incremental value relevance metrics. The relative metric results showed that earnings per share and book value are jointly and individually more value relevant positively and significantly during IFRS regime than under erstwhile Nigerian SAS. However, incremental metric analysis revealed that only earnings of the sampled firms is incrementally positive and significantly value relevant after IFRS adoption while positive influence of book value is statistically insignificant. These results confirm prior findings, suggesting that informative nature of IFRS is more value relevant to investors at the Nigerian stock market. As a matter of policy, we therefore recommend that Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria and NSE regulatory bodies as well as other accounting standards setters and stock markets regulators across the globe should work in tandem to strengthen IFRS adoption and compliance by listed firms.
A Neural Question Answering System for Supporting Software Engineering Students

QA (Question Answering) is the task of automatically answer natural language questions posed by humans. Usually, QA approaches use a combination of computational linguistics, information retrieval and knowledge representation to find answers for questions. In a teaching-learning process, it is critical that teachers use a range of teaching strategies to effectively meet the needs of individual learners. Thus, QA approaches can be effectively used to support the teaching-learning process. In this article, we exploit neural networks for QA to support the teaching-learning process. Particularly, we use DMN+ (improved dynamic memory networks) and SeqToSeq (sequence to sequence) with a corpus of SE (software engineering) texts to effectively answer questions commonly posed by SE learners. Experimental results show that DMN+ is more effective than SeqToSeq for this task with up to 77% accuracy.
Antimicrobial Resistance Profile of Enteropathogens Isolated from Diarrhea Patients : Herbal Antimicrobials , a Ray of Hope

Emergence of drug resistant microbes and their global spread is the biggest public health dilemma of the day. Enteropathogens are the biggest killers of neonates all over the globe. This study was conducted to understand antimicrobial drug resistance in bacteria causing enteric infections. A total of 199 bacterial strains isolated from faecal samples of diarrhoeic buffalo calves (8), foals (14), children (7), goat kids (7), piglets (74), chicks (9), pups (2) and cattle calves (78), belonging to 21 genera of enteropathogens were tested for their sensitivity to 8 herbal antimicrobials and 25 conventional antimicrobials. Of the tested strains 38.2%, 29.6%, and 12.1% strains were resistant to extended spectrum β-lactam drugs, carbapenems, and produced metallo-β-lactamases (MBL), respectively. Of the 24 strains positive for MBL, 22 were New Delhi metallo-β-lactamases (NDM) producers and two produced Verona integron encoded MBL (VIM). Both the VIM positive strains were Shewanella species and 6, 7, and 9 NDM producers strains belonged to Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, respectively. About 60% strains had multiple drug resistance (MDR) and 7.5% had multiple herbal antimicrobial resistant (MHAR). Among the herbal antimicrobials ajowan essential oil (AEO) was the most effective and inhibited all the strains, followed by cinnamaldehyde (98.2%), cinnamon essential oil (96%), holy basil essential oil (92.5%), carvacrol (91.9%), thyme essential oil (87.1%), Zanthoxylum rhetsa essential oil (21.3%) and patchouli essential oil (6.6%). Tigecycline was the most effective (in vitro) antibiotic on the strains tested inhibiting 83.7% strains followed by chloramphenicol (81.2%), moxalactam (81.1%), imipenem (78.2%), gentamicin (74%), and colistin (71.4%), other drugs could inhibit less than 70% of the strains. Erythromycin (1.3%) and ampicillin (17.1%) were the least effective antibiotics. Study revealed high levels of antimicrobial drug resistance in enteropathogens with a ray of hope with herbal antimicrobials.
Retrospective Evaluation of Patients with a Diagnosis of Primary Lung Cancer Who Underwent Resection with One-Lung Ventilation

Objective: Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer-related death and the incidence continues to increase. The development of one-lung ventilation (OLV) techniques has provided new surgical alternatives. The aim of this study was to investigate the demographic characteristics, anesthetic approaches, and factors that affected the prognosis of patients who underwent OLV in the treatment of lung cancer.
MOTIVATION WITHIN THE OMANI EFL CONTEXT : TYPES , SOURCES AND CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS

Given that in any context motivation drives action, reaction, transaction and interaction, it is not surprising that some researchers identify it as one of the most important factors in language acquisition. Although a number of models contribute to an understanding of L2 motivation, Alzayid (2012) and Bernard (2010) highlight the theories of motivation as they appear in Gardner’s (1985) socioeducational model, Deci and Ryan’s (1994, 2000) Self-Determination Theory, and Dörnyei’s (1994) three level framework of L2 motivation, as being highly influential. In these theories can be found, in addition to the concepts of integrative and instrumental motivation and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, a variety of individual, social, and cultural factors impacting upon L2 language learning. Because motivation is context-dependent, determined by socio-cultural settings, and because it is clearly so influential in language learning, it is vital for improved EFL teaching and curricula that its sources and types are investigated. The current research investigated both the types and sources of motivation of 100 Omani university students before and during their formal schooling, through a series of one-on-one open-ended oral and written interviews. Findings indicate that instrumental motivation is dominant among participants, while examples of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are almost equally apparent. In terms of motivation sources, results suggest that family members, teachers, and students’ own attitudes towards the language are major positive contributors to participants’ motivation, with these last two also appearing as potentially important sources of demotivation. Contextual factors, including socio-cultural and school contexts, parental involvement and peer pressure, were also found to have a significant effect on student motivation. The classroom implications of these types and sources of motivation in Omani classrooms are discussed.
Investment Strategy for Defined Contribution Plans

The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of investment strategy on emerging benefits in a defined contribution pension plan. In the first part of the paper the author examines the relationship between different asset class characteristics and the style of benefits provided by a typical defined contribution plan. In the second part of the paper the risk of benefit shortfall relative to a target benefit is assessed for three asset classes, namely equities, fixed interest and cash. In the final part of the paper several ‘dynamic’ asset mix investment strategies are examined to see whether they are superior to ‘constant mix’ investment strategies. The analysis has been carried out by simulation, using a stochastic model for the equities, fixed interest, cash and salary inflation. The models are described briefly in an Appendix.
RISK FACTORS OF BREAST CANCER IN ABHA CITY : A CASE CONTROL STUDY

Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women, and it is the second leading cause of cancer related death. Worldwide; more than a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Breast cancer incidence is increasing in most regions. The Objectives include: to Study the risk factors of breast cancer among Saudi women and initiate women's awareness regarding breast cancer. The case control study was the selected study design, setting: Departments of surgery and chemotherapy at the Asser general hospital in Abha city, Saudi Arabia. The index group (n= 32) was cases of confirmed female breast cancer patients presented in the surgical and chemotherapy departments during the period of the study . The control group was women attending mammogram unit and free from the disease. Tools of data collection: A structured questionnaire was prepared in Arabic . Data were collected by personal interview method. Health awareness lecture was given to women in public places and faculties. Though cases are more obese than controls (21.88% compared to 32.69%) yet the difference is not statistically significant (p>0.05); however, Odds ratio = 1.735 It was found that age of menarche of cases is significantly lower (11.875 ± 1.373 y) than that of controls (13.288 ± 1.412 y) (t=2.138, p < 0.05). The median duration of breast feeding was shorter among cases than controls (16 compared to 48 months) . There is no significant difference between cases and controls regarding age of first pregnancy, number of children, or age of menopause (P< 0.05respectively). History of use of oral contraceptive pills is found to be significantly more among cases than controls where X2= 5.556 and odds ratio= 3. Estimated cancer risks detected by this research are lack of physical exercise (14.17), don’t eat vegetables or fruits (5.455), use of oral contraceptive pills (3.00), self examination of the breast (4.822) and breast biopsy whenever indicated (2.583),and younger age of menarche. The study recommended with further studies on a large sample size for generalization, awareness program for women about breast awareness should be initiated, health promotion should be provided through healthy guidelines and nutritional education programme focusing on healthy diet and the importance of eating fresh vegetables and fruits.