Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FLUORINE VARIATIONS IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER NGC 6656 (M22): IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNAL ENRICHMENT TIMESCALES

Observed chemical (anti)correlations in proton-capture elements among globular cluster stars are presently recognized as the signature of self-enrichment from now extinct, previous generations of stars. This defines the multiple population scenario. Since fluorine is also affected by proton captures, determining its abundance in globular clusters provides new and complementary clues regarding the nature of these previous generations and supplies strong observational constraints to the chemical enrichment timescales. In this paper, we present our results on near-infrared CRIRES spectroscopic observations of six cool giant stars in NGC 6656 (M22): the main objective is to derive the F content and its internal variation in this peculiar cluster, which exhibits significant changes in both light- and heavy-element abundances. Across our sample, we detected F variations beyond the measurement uncertainties and found that the F abundances are positively correlated with O and anticorrelated with Na, as expected according to the multiple population framework. Furthermore, our observations reveal an increase in the F content between the two different sub-groups, s-process rich and s-process poor, hosted within M22. The comparison with theoretical models suggests that asymptotic giant stars with masses between 4 and 5 M☉ are responsible for the observed chemical pattern, confirming evidence from previous works: the difference in age between the two sub-components in M22 must be not larger than a few hundred Myr.
Classifying Users and Non-Users of Internet Banking in Northern Malaysia

Internet banking has become the latest delivery channel for banking services due to the backlash from globalization and liberalization of financial services. Malaysian banks are desperately embracing this new distribution channel to prepare themselves for the competition which is looming in the near future. Using a structured questionnaire data was collected through a convenience sampling from 180 banking customers in the state of Penang, this study revealed that the banks have achieved considerable success as far as awareness is concerned as a vast majority of the respondents reported that they were aware of Internet banking. Although awareness was high, this has not translated into actual use as only 24.4% have had some Internet banking experience. Using the discriminant analysis it was found that Internet banking users had more prior Internet experience, had positive views on ease of use, were more aware of the Internet banking services and benefits and also had less security concerns as compared to the nonusers of Internet banking. Implications of these findings are further discussed.
Duckweed - a potential high-protein feed resource for domestic animals and fish

Summary Duckweeds have received research attention because of their great potential to remove mineral contaminants from waste waters emanating from sewage works, intensive animal industries or from intensive irrigated crop production. Duckweeds need to be managed, protected from wind, maintained at an optimum density by judicious and regular harvesting and fertilised to balance nutrient concentrations in water to obtain optimal growth rates. When effectively managed in this way duckweeds yield 10-30 ton DM/ha/year containing up to 43% crude protein, 5% lipids and a highly digestible dry matter. Duckweeds have been fed to animals and fish to complement diets, largely to provide a protein of high biological value. Fish production can be stimulated by feeding duckweed to the extent that yields can be increased from a few hundred kilograms per hectare/year to 10 tonnes/ha/year. Mature poultry can utilise duckweed as a substitute for vegetable protein in cereal grain based diets whereas very young chickens suffered a small weight gain reduction by such substitution. Pigs can use duckweed as a protein/energy source with slightly less efficiency than soyabean meal. Little work has been done on duckweed meals as supplements to forages given to ruminants, but there appears to be considerable scope for its use as a mineral (particularly P) and N source. The protein of duckweeds requires treatment to protect it from microbial degradation in the rumen in order to provide protein directly to the animal. The combination of crop residues and fresh duckweeds in a diet for ruminants appears to provide a balance of nutrients capable of optimising rumen microbial fermentative capacity. These diets can, therefore, be potentially exploited in cattle, sheep and goat production systems particularly by small farmers in tropical developing countries.
An Analysis of Day-of-The-Week Effects in the Egyptian Stock Market

This study investigates daily stock market anomalies in the Egyptian stock market using its major stock index, the Capital Market Authority Index (CMA), to shed some light on the degree of market efficiency in an emerging capital market with a four-day trading week. The results indicate that Monday returns in the Egyptian stock market are positive and significant on average, but are not significantly different from returns of the rest of the week. Thus, no evidence was uncovered to support any daily seasonal patterns in the Egyptian stock market, indicating that stock market returns are consistent with the weak form of market efficiency. These results should be interpreted with caution since the Egyptian stock market has only a limited number of stocks that are actively traded. JEL: G150, G140, O530
Methylphenidate and atomoxetine prescribing trends in children in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, 2005–2013

Background There is paucity of data on methylphenidate and atomoxetine prescribing patterns in South African children. Aim To describe the prescribing trends of these agents in children residing in the Western Cape Province. Setting South African private health sector. Methods Longitudinal drug utilisation study on medicine claims data from 2005–2013, focussing on the number of patients and prescriptions per patient. Results The total number of patients increased by 29.5% from 2005 to 2013. The majority were boys (male:female ratio, 3.5:1), and between the ages of > 6 and ≤12 years in 2005 and >12 and ≤18 years in 2013. More than 75% of patients received methylphenidate or atomoxetine in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan municipality. Prescriptions for methylphenidate and atomoxetine increased by 45.5% overall from 2005 to 2013 (p < 0.001), with that for methylphenidate and atomoxetine increasing by 36.0% and 314.5%, respectively. The average number of annual methylphenidate prescriptions per patient increased from 3.96 ± 2.92 (95% CI, 3.69–4.23) in 2005 to 4.38 ± 2.85 (95% CI, 4.14–4.61) in 2013 (Cohen’s d = 0.14) and for atomoxetine from 2.58 ± 1.86 (95% CI, 1.80–3.37) in 2005 to 4.85 ± 3.66 (95% CI, 3.84–5.86) in 2013 (Cohen’s d = 0.62). Conclusion Although the total number of patients and prescribing of methylphenidate and atomoxetine increased significantly from 2005 to 2013, a slight downward trend was observed in the mean number of prescriptions per patient per year from 2008 onwards. These prescribing patterns warrant further research.
Subcritical excitation of the current-driven Tayler instability by super-rotation

It is known that in a hydrodynamic Taylor-Couette system uniform rotation or a rotation law with positive shear ('super-rotation') are linearly stable. It is also known that a conducting fluid under the presence of a sufficiently strong axial electric-current becomes unstable against nonaxisymmetric disturbances. It is thus suggestive that a cylindric pinch formed by a homogeneous axial electric-current is stabilized by rotation laws with $d\Omega/dR \geq 0$. However, for magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm$\neq 1$ and for slow rotation also rigid rotation and super-rotation support the instability by lowering their critical Hartmann numbers. For super-rotation in narrow gaps and for modest rotation rates this double-diffusive instability even exists for toroidal magnetic fields with rather arbitrary radial profiles, the current-free profile $B_\phi\propto 1/R$ included. For rigid rotation and for super-rotation the sign of the azimuthal drift of the nonaxisymmetric hydromagnetic instability pattern strongly depends on the magnetic Prandtl number. The pattern counterrotates with the flow for Pm$\ll 1$ and it corotates for Pm$\gg 1$ while for rotation laws with negative shear the instability pattern migrates in the direction of the basic rotation for all Pm. An axial electric-current of minimal 3.6 kAmp flowing inside or outside the inner cylinder suffices to realize the double-diffusive instability for super-rotation in experiments using liquid sodium as the conducting fluid between the rotating cylinders. The limit is 11 kAmp if a gallium alloy is used.
Influence of zinc and iron on yield and quality of sugarcane planted under various trench spacings.

-1 , along with a check. Different trench spacing and levels of zinc and iron significantly affected the yield and all the quality parameters of sugarcane crop except cane juice purity. Crop planted at 120 cm spaced trenches produced the maximum yield of stripped cane in both years. Sub plot treatment with applied Zn+Fe @ 5.0+10 Kg ha -1 gave the maximum stripped cane yield of 106.4 & 110.4 t ha -1 during 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively. The higher sucrose contents (18.61%) were obtained with foliar application of 5.0+10 Kg ha -1 of Zn+Fe, while 90 cm and 120 cm apart trenches gave similar sucrose contents but the higher than 75 cm apart trenches. The maximum sugar yield of 14.97 t ha -1 was obtained from crop grown at 120 cm spaced trenches. Foliar application of zinc and iron @ 5+10 kg ha -1 provided higher sugar yield of 15.25 t ha
The use of human resource information systems in two retail organisations in the Western Cape, South Africa

Orientation: The retail industry is the largest contributor to employment and the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Western Cape, South Africa. The management of human resources in this very competitive industry is a high priority for all retailers. The successful implementation, maintenance and use of human resource information systems (HRISs) are an integral part of many retailers. Research purpose: Human resource information systems are difficult to implement and maintain, and as a result, organisations cannot effectively utilise these systems to their benefit. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors affecting the implementation, maintenance and use of HRISs in two retail organisations in the Western Cape. Motivation of study: Many retailers find it difficult to apply and utilise HRISs to their benefit and to the systems’ full potential. This study explores the challenges retailers are facing when implementing, maintaining and using HRISs. Research design, approach and method: Multiple case studies were used to conduct the research. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire using interviews. Twenty-one interviews were conducted in the two retail companies to gain an understanding of the use of HRISs within these organisations. The data were analysed using a thematic method of analysis. The units of analysis were the Human Resources and the Information Technology departments of both companies. The units of observation were (21) purposively selected employees in the two mentioned departments of both retail organisations. Main findings: This research shows an under-utilisation of the HRIS in both companies as a result of poor data quality, lack of adequate training and the high cost of implementing and maintaining the system. There is a gap in terms of data analytics and report generation. This gap leads to the under-utilisation of the HRISs preventing the retailers to optimise the benefits of the HRIS. Practical and managerial implications: For organisations to reap benefits from HRISs, a change management strategy and a rigorous training programme are needed that will focus on the implemented maintenance and improved usage of these systems. Contribution: The contribution of the study includes proposed guidelines for the effective and efficient use of HRISs. The study further contributes to the body of knowledge in shedding light on the implementation, maintenance and use of HRISs in the retail industry in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Oreochromis niloticus by dietary supplement of sorbent materials By

T he objectives of the current study were to evaluate the ability of Egyptian bentonite (EB) and montmorillonite (EM) to protect against biochemical, histochemical and genotocicity induced by aflatoxin B1 using the micronucleus (MN) assay, chromosomal aberrations and random amplified polymorphism DNA (RAPD-PCR) analysis in Tilapia fish. Six groups of fish were treated for 3 weeks and included the control group, AFB1-treated group and the groups treated with EB or EM alone or in combination with AFB1. At the end of experiment period, blood samples were collected for MN, testosterone and biochemical assays. Chromosomal aberrations were determined in kidney tissues, DNA fragmentation test was determined in liver and testes whereas; histochemical study was carried out on liver, testes and gills. The results indicated that a significant decrease in total protein, albumin, globulin, testosterone and DNA content in liver, gills and testes accompanied with a significant increase in number of MnRBCs, total chromosomal aberrations in kidney and DNA fragmentation in testis and liver of fish received AFB1 alone. Fish treated with EB or EM alone were comparable to the control regarding the biochemical parameters except testosterone in EB-treated group which was significantly decreased. Both clays induced a significant increase in number of MnRBCs, chromosomal aberrations in the kidney, DNA fragmentation in testes but not in liver of EB-treated group. The combined treatment with AFB1 and EB or EM succeeded to improve all the tested parameters towards the control values although it did not normalize them. Moreover, the improvement was pronounced in the group received EM plus AFB1. It could be concluded that EB and EM have the ability to tightly bind AFB1 in the gastrointestinal tract of fish resulting in decreasing its bioavailability. Moreover, the two tested clays were safe and can be use as potential aflatoxins binders in animal feed.
Chromatin Loop Extrusion and Chromatin Unknotting

It has been a puzzle how decondensed interphase chromosomes remain essentially unknotted. The natural expectation is that in the presence of type II DNA topoisomerases that permit passages of double-stranded DNA regions through each other, all chromosomes should reach the state of topological equilibrium. The topological equilibrium in highly crowded interphase chromosomes forming chromosome territories would result in formation of highly knotted chromatin fibres. However, Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) methods revealed that the decay of contacts with the genomic distance in interphase chromosomes is practically the same as in the crumpled globule state that is formed when long polymers condense without formation of any knots. To remove knots from highly crowded chromatin, one would need an active process that should not only provide the energy to move the system from the state of topological equilibrium but also guide topoisomerase-mediated passages in such a way that knots would be efficiently unknotted instead of making the knots even more complex. We show here that the process of chromatin-loop extrusion is ideally suited to actively unknot chromatin fibres in interphase chromosomes. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Similar to earphone cables crammed into a pocket, long and crowded chromatin fibres that form chromosomes in living cells have the natural tendency to get knotted. This is exacerbated by the action of DNA topoisomerases that transiently cut some chromatin fibres and let other to pass through. Yet, the knotting frequency of chromatin fibres is very low and it has been a puzzle how this is achieved. Recently a novel active mechanism known as chromatin loop extrusion has been proposed to be involved in shaping chromosomes by forming sequential arrays of ca 1 Mb large chromatin loops. Using numerical simulations, we show here that chromatin loop extrusion is ideally suited to remove knots from chromatin fibres.
Effects of herbage allowance on defoliation grass prairie patterns of tall

Few studies have dealt with measuring individual plant defoliations in the context of intensive grazing management. In May, July, and August of 1987, grazing trials were conducted to quantify the effects of herbage allowance on defoliation patterns of big bluestem [An&opogon gem&i Vitmanl, hrdiangrass [Sorghtrum nutons(L.) Nash], and little bluestem [ScEza&yr~ scqnrrium (Michx.) Nash]. Herbage allowancea of 10, 20,30, and 40 kg AUD” were replicated twice per trial. Tiller height, relative leaf area removed, and lrequency of defoliation were measured every 2 days over loday trials. Indiangrass was the most preferred species in all trials. The rate of leaf area removal increased as herbage allowance decreased. Current guidelines which call for rest periods of 3040 days would result in light to moderate intensity defoliation for indiangrass at all herbage allowances. The maximum percentage of tillers grazed only once per trial ranged from 20 to 9g%1 depending on herbage allowance, species, and trial. Selectivity between species was reduced by decreasing herbage allowance hut this effect was not large until herbage allowance was below 20-25 kg AUD” and selectivity was never completely removed. Grazing all tillers only once in a grazing period, even within a species, is unlikely in a tallgrass prairie community. Leaf area removal was moderate the first time a tiller was defoliated and severe for later defoliations. The goal of grazing any individual tiller at no greater than moderate intensity within a grazing period would he roughly equivalent to grazing any tiller no more than once. However such a goal would require many tillers to go ungrazed.
The nature of invisible gold in arsenopyrite

Gold-bearing arsenopyrite from the EImtree deposit, New Brunswick, and the Sheba mine, Transvaal has been characterized by a variety of techniques including optical microscopy, electron microprobe analysis, scanning electron microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry and high-resolution electron microscopy. The arsenopyrite from these two deposits of widely different ages contains structurally bound Au, thus making the mineral refractory to metallurgical treatment by cyanidation. Gold in solid solution in arsenopyrite was found to attain 912 ppm in the EImtree sample and up to 0.44 wt. % in the Sheba sample.
Assimilation of Soil Wetness Index and Leaf Area Index into the ISBA-A-gs land surface model: grassland case study

Abstract. The performance of the joint assimilation in a land surface model of a Soil Wetness Index (SWI) product provided by an exponential filter together with Leaf Area Index (LAI) is investigated. The data assimilation is evaluated with different setups using the SURFEX modeling platform, for a period of seven years (2001–2007), at the SMOSREX grassland site in southwestern France. The results obtained with a Simplified Extended Kalman Filter demonstrate the effectiveness of a joint data assimilation scheme when both SWI and Leaf Area Index are merged into the ISBA-A-gs land surface model. The assimilation of a retrieved Soil Wetness Index product presents several challenges that are investigated in this study. A significant improvement of around 13 % of the root-zone soil water content is obtained by assimilating dimensionless root-zone SWI data. For comparison, the assimilation of in situ surface soil moisture is considered as well. A lower impact on the root zone is noticed. Under specific conditions, the transfer of the information from the surface to the root zone was found not accurate. Also, our results indicate that the assimilation of in situ LAI data may correct a number of deficiencies in the model, such as low LAI values in the senescence phase by using a seasonal-dependent error definition for background and observations. In order to verify the specification of the errors for SWI and LAI products, a posteriori diagnostics are employed. This approach highlights the importance of the assimilation design on the quality of the analysis. The impact of data assimilation scheme on CO2 fluxes is also quantified by using measurements of net CO2 fluxes gathered at the SMOSREX site from 2005 to 2007. An improvement of about 5 % in terms of rms error is obtained.
The Effect of Economic Inequality on Demand for Redistribution

In this paper we have examined the relationship between economic inequality and demand for redistribution for 23 OECD countries and 17 European countries respectively. We depart from two different theories with contradictory predictions of the relationship between demand for redistribution and economic inequality: the median voter theorem predicting a positive correlation (Meltzer and Richard 1986), and the social distance model (MacRae 2006) predicting a negative correlation. We test the theories using two different measures of demand for redistribution: aggregate vote share of right wing parties and individual attitudes towards increased government redistribution. We also briefly examine the Prospect of Upwards Mobility hypothesis, which claims that it is not economic inequality as such but social mobility that determines demand for redistribution. We used election data from between 1975 and 2009, and survey data from 2002-2010. This enabled us to exploit the crosssectional and time variation in economic inequality, to study the effect on demand for redistribution. The main contribution of this paper lies in the usage of new data, inequality data from 2005 and 2010, together with more robust econometric estimation techniques, e.g. fixed effects models. The results of the econometric estimation for both measures of demand for redistribution do not support any of the theories strongly, and are principally in line with most of the literature that does not find a statistically significant association between economic inequality and demand for redistribution. However, we do identify several important methodological caveats, e.g. limited variation in explanatory variables and reverse causality, and therefore stress that the empirical findings should be taken with a grain of salt.
Is There an Accruals or a Cash Flow Anomaly in UK Stock Returns?

In this paper, we apply a modified version of the Mishkin (1983) test to companies in the UK stock market in order to investigate the presence of accruals and cash flow effects on UK firms’ annual returns. First, we find that accruals decile rankings have U-shaped, or inverted U-shaped, or no relationships with most of the risk variables. Accruals decile rankings have, however, a negative relationship with the ratio of research and development to market value which is known to have a positive relationship with returns. Second, regarding the relationship between risk controls and returns, we find evidence associated with an RD effect and some evidence in favour of earnings-price and past return effects. We find little evidence of firm size, book to-market, and firm leverage effects, once the other variables are controlled for. Third, for the period 1990-2007, we report little evidence of general accruals mispricing in the UK in which accruals have a negative relationship with future returns, once risk has been accounted for. Additionally, after treatment of extreme observations, evidence of cash flow mispricing is found for the UK stock market. An alternative interpretation of our results is that there is no separate accruals effect, at least in the way predicted by the conventional mispricing stories, once other effects are taken into account, but there is a separate cash flow effect.