Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Walking as a Tool for Fitness and its Influence on Obesity and Overweight Individuals

This study summarizes the use of walking (as a tool) and how it relates to influencing health, fitness, body composition, well-being and other psychological variables. It followed an intervention program that lasted 5 months using 1000 kcal of energy intensity in senior women, 1500 kcal in middle-aged men and 2000 kcal for children and composed of at least 85% walking, pointing to significant changes in fitness and body composition. Fitness, which was characterized by maximal oxygen uptake, was improved by 13% (in senior women and obese children) and 17% (middle age men). Similarly, the motor performance – maximal speed of walking on the treadmill was increased by about 11% in senior women and obese children and by about 15% in middle aged men. The percentage of body fat was decreased by 1.6% in senior women and by about 16.8 in men of middle age, and by about 14% in children. Together with these variables were significantly improved the predispositions for physical and workload evaluated by ECM/BCM coefficient. The lowest mean change was found in middle age men (4.8%) and the highest in senior women (10.8%). It may be concluded that walking in the range of 7000 to 10000 steps per day is able to remove the movement deficit in the contemporary population, which is due to present lifestyle and may be used in majority population for improvement of health predispositions and for an improved physical fitness state.
Weed vegetation response to chemical and manual selective ground cover management in a shaded coffee plantation

Summary Total weed control with machete and herbicides was compared ina field experimen t from 1994 to 1999, with four selective ground cover management tactics (± herbicides and ± planted ground cover legume) in the inter-rows of coffee plants. The aim of the selective management was to control weeds in patches, leaving uncontrolled species considered suitable to protect the soil from erosion and compaction, and to suppress more aggressive weed growth. Fresh biomass was sampled early and late in the rainy seasons. Weed data from the different years, treatments and blocks were analysed with a multivariate technique, partial redundancy analysis (pRDA), using different combinations of independent variables and covariables and resulting in a multivariate ANOVA. Weed biomass and number of species drastically decreased over time as coffee and shade trees aged. The five treatments also significantly affected the compositionof the weed vegetation . The combination of partial slashing and application of herbicides inpatches was more effective inreducin g unwanted weed biomass and also enhanced the spread of the ground cover legume, whereas the use of only partial slashing enhanced the spread of the weed Oplismenus burmannii. This species was considered a suitable ground cover species to protect the soil, as it emerges at the onset of the rainy season, is more persistent late in the rainy season and sustains growth under the shade of coffee in production.
Disrupting the "Quotidian": Reconceptualizing the Relationship Between Breakdown and the Emergence of Collective Action

This article provides theoretical refinement and empirical specification for the breakdown variant of strain theory. It reconceptualizes the relationship between social breakdown and movement emergence in a fashion that is consistent with strands of cultural theory, phenomenology, and symbolic interactionism, and that resonates with prospect theory and research on collective action in a diversity of settings. It argues that the key to the breakdown-movement relationship resides in the actual or threatened disruption of the "quotidian"—that is, the taken-for-granted routines and attitudes of everyday life. Four conditions are especially likely to disrupt the quotidian and heighten prospects of collective action: accidents that throw a community's routines into doubt and/or threaten its existence; actual or threatened intrusion into and/or violation of citizens' sense of privacy, safety, and control; alteration in subsistence routines because unfavorable ratios of resources to claimants or demand; and drama.
Functions of Ecosystems: Stream Metabolism as an efficient and effective means to gage the health and understand the interworking of urban streams in a watershed of Rock Island, IL

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana. edu/celebrationoflearning Part of the Environmental Health Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Microbiology and Microbial Ecology Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Fresh Water Studies Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Sustainability Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, and the Water Resource Management Commons
State-Dependent Utilities and Incomplete Markets

The problem of optimal consumption and investment for an agent that does not influence the market is solved. The optimization criteria are based on a state-dependent utility functional as proposed in Londono (2009). The proposed solution is given in any market without state-tame arbitrage opportunities, includes several utilities structures, and includes incomplete markets where there are multiple state variables. The solutions obtained for optimal wealths consumptions, and portfolios are explicit and easily computable; the main condition for the result to hold is that the income process of each agent is hedgeable, requiring a natural condition on employer and employee to agree on a contract whose risk can be managed by both parties. In this paper we also developed a theory of markets when the processes are generalization of Brownian flows on manifolds, since this framework shows to be the natural one whenever the problem of intertemporal equilibrium is addressed.
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON MRR IN TURNING OF PURE TITANIUM

This paper investigates the effect of process parameters in turning of Titanium grade 2 on conventional lathe. Three parameters namely spindle speed, depth of cut and feed rate are varied to study their effect on material removal rate and tool failure. The experiments are conducted using one factor at a time approach. Moreover, a few random experiments are also carried to study the phenomenon of tool failure. The study reveals that material removal rate is directly influenced by all the three process parameters. However the effect of spindle speed and feed rate is more as compared to depth of cut. An optimum range of input parameters has been bracketed as the final outcome for carrying out further research.
The Usage of Internet Banking Service among Higher Learning Students in Malaysia

Today, the advancement of internet has provided an opportunity for banking institution in introducing new financial innovations. One of the emerging financial innovations introduced by banking institution is online banking. This study adopts a technology acceptance model (TAM) to investigate factors that determine an individual's intention to use online banking by bank customers among higher learning students in Malaysia. The additional of TAM includes usefulness, ease of use, credibility, self-efficacy, compatibility and intention to use. By using simple random sampling, one hundred and seventy college students from university campuses in Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Polytechnic will took part in the survey. Data was collected via questionnaires; the constructs Perceived usefulness and computer self-efficacy with three items were adapted from Wang et al. (2003). Perceived ease of use with four items was adapted from Nysveen et al. (2005). Perceived credibility with two items were adapted from Pikkarainen et al. (2004). Behavioral intention with two items was adapted from Venkatesh (2000). The data were analyzed using Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 18. Understanding what influences users to accept internet banking can be beneficial to banks, system developers and marketing practitioners in developing and marketing internet banking services that will be acceptable by the target market. The research finding shows that there is significant relationship between self efficiency towards intention to use of internet banking.
Discourse Analysis and its Utility for Urban Policy Research

In recent years, discourse analysis has been deployed by academics as a methodology to understand the urban policy implementation process, in particular, the ways in which key actors exercise power. Much of the discourse-based research in urban policy has drawn upon the writings of Norman Fairclough and Michel Foucault and seeks to provide a critical scrutiny of texts and utterances of policy makers and other key actors. The methodological assumption that informs discourse-based approaches is that politics is an arena in which different interest groups seek to establish a particular narrative or version of events as a means to pursue political objectives. This article begins by setting out the theoretical influences that have informed discourse analysis. There then follows a discussion of some of the studies that have deployed discourse-based research within urban policy, an evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses as a method and an assessment for new areas of enquiry. The article's conclusion is that discourse analysis provides the researcher with a set of tools to interpret urban policy in a theoretically informed and insightful way. However, there are some pitfalls associated with its techniques that require consideration before any analysis should commence.
Why Do Firms Pay Dividends? International Evidence on the Determinants of Dividend Policy

In the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, and Japan, the propensity to pay dividends is higher among larger, more profitable firms, and those for which retained earnings comprise a large fraction of total equity. Although there are hints of reductions in the propensity to pay dividends in most of the sample countries over the 1994-2002 period, they are driven by a failure of newly listed firms to initiate dividends when expected to do so. Dividend abandonment and the failure to initiate by existing nonpayers are economically unimportant except in Japan. Moreover, in each country, aggregate dividends have not declined and are concentrated among the largest, most profitable firms. Finally, outside of the US there is little evidence of a systematic positive relation between relative prices of dividend paying and non-paying firms and the propensity to pay dividends. Overall, these findings cast doubt on signaling, clientele, and catering explanations for dividends, but support agency cost-based lifecycle theories.
Examining Teacher Multicultural Competence in The Classroom: Further Validation of The Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale

iv CHAPTER . 1 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE . 1 Definition of Multicultural Competence . 2 Tripartite Model of Multicultural Competence . 3 Awareness . 3 Knowledge . 4 Skill . 4 Importance of Multicultural Competence . 5 Increase of Diversity in U.S. Public Education . 5 Underachievement of Minority Students . 6 Achievement Gap . 7 Overrepresentation of Minorities in Special Education . 7 Dropout Rate . 8 Limited Diversity in Teacher Workforce . 8 Lack of Knowledge . 9 Governing Bodies . 10 Multicultural Competency and the Relation to Wellbeing of Students . 11 Effectiveness and Teacher Self-Efficacy . 12 Teacher-Student Relationship . 13 Available Self-Assessments Measures of Multicultural Competence for Teachers . 16 Purpose and Research Questions . 19 2 METHOD . 21 Participants . 21 Measures . 22 Teacher Demographic Questionnaire . 22 Multicultural Teaching Competency . 22 Teacher-Student Relationship . 23 Teacher Self-Efficacy . 24 Procedures . 25 Recruitment and Consent. 25 Data Collection . 25 3 RESULTS . 27 Descriptive Statistics . 27 Generalizability of MTCS Psychometric Properties . 27 Internal Consistency Reliability . 27 Exploratory Factor Analysis . 27 Ethnic Match versus Non-Ethnic Match . 29 Multicultural Teaching Competency and Teacher Self-Efficacy . 29 Multicultural Teaching Competency and Teacher-Student Relationship . 30
The Millimeter Continuum Size–Frequency Relationship in the UZ Tau E Disk

We present high spatial resolution observations of the continuum emission from the young multiple star system UZ Tau at frequencies from 6 to 340 GHz. To quantify the spatial variation of dust emission in the UZ Tau E circumbinary disk, the observed interferometric visibilities are modeled with a simple parametric prescription for the radial surface brightnesses at each frequency. We find evidence that the spectrum steepens with radius in the disk, manifested as a positive correlation between the observing frequency and the radius that encircles a fixed fraction of the emission (Reff ∝ ν0.34±0.08). The origins of this size–frequency relation are explored in the context of a theoretical framework for the growth and migration of disk solids. While that framework can reproduce a similar size–frequency relation, it predicts a steeper spectrum than that observed. Moreover, it comes closest to matching the data only on timescales much shorter (≤1 Myr) than the putative UZ Tau age (∼2–3 Myr). These discrepancies are direct consequences of the rapid radial drift rates predicted by models of dust evolution in a smooth gas disk. One way to mitigate that efficiency problem is to invoke small-scale gas pressure modulations that locally concentrate drifting solids. If such particle traps reach high-continuum optical depths at 30–340 GHz with a ∼30%–60% filling fraction in the inner disk (r ≲ 20 au), they can also explain the observed spatial gradient in the UZ Tau E disk spectrum.
Sex-linked markers in dioecious plants.

Dioecy is generally associated with sexual dimorphism, which can be noticed with the naked eye, but in plants the sex of an individual, at the early stages of development before flowering, is difficult to diagnose. The situation is more complicated in bryophytes, where determination of sex in adult individuals can be problematic or even impossible. Here, molecular tools are helpful. This paper focuses on sex-linked molecular markers in plants. It presents plant species, for which sex-linked markers have been developed, indicates the most popular marker systems used in the research and tries to emphasise that some kind of information about sex determination can be provided during development of sex-linked markers.
Nest site selection by the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in a beach of the north of Veracruz, Mexico

The distribution of the nests of marine turtles on beaches is one of the most important factors for hatchling success. Beaches with fine sands, moderate slopes and good humidity and drainage, are the main environmental variables for ovoposition. The objective of this investigation was to determine the nesting variations of the green turtle during which the nesting frequency per year, beach morphology and distance from the nests to the tidal line were registered. During the nesting seasons, 1 654 nests were registered on 13 beaches, among which significant differences in the number of nests per month were noted (f= 14.07; p< 0.05). Central beaches displayed major nesting probability and included beaches with short distances from the intertidal zone to the supralittoral zone. Dunes were the sites with greater preference for oviposition, being different from the sandy beaches and the intertidal zone (f=54.68; p< 0.05). Significant differences were found in the location of the nests with respect to the tidal line (t=2.33; p< 0.05), and the greatest intervals for nesting were between 10 and 24 m from the tidal line. The area displayed beaches with moderate slopes and dunes with an average distance of 22.6 m from the tidal line. This area is the most important nesting site for green turtle in the American Continent.
Systemic Inflammatory Reaction in Gastric Cancer: Biology and Practical Implications of Neutrophil to Lymphocyte Ratio, Glasgow Prognostic Score and Related Parameters

Gastric cancer induces systemic inflammatory reaction (SIR) manifesting with changes in counts of white blood cell fractions and concentrations of acute phase proteins, clotting factors and albumins. Thus, protein-based scores or blood cell ratios (neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR); platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR)) are used to evaluate SIR. SIR tests are biologically justified by multiple clinically important and fascinating events including bone marrow activation, development of immune-suppressing immature myeloid cells, generation of pre-metastatic niches and neutrophil extracellular trap formation from externalised DNA network in bidirectional association with platelet activation. Despite biological complexity, clinical SIR assessment is widely available, patient-friendly and economically feasible. Here we present concise review on NLR, PLR, Glasgow prognostic score and fibrinogen – parameters that have prognostic role regarding overall, cancer-free and cancer-specific survival in early and advanced cases. Tumour burden can be predicted helping in preoperative detection of serosal or lymph node involvement. Practical consequences abound, including selection of surgical approach in respect to tumour burden, adjustments in treatment intensity by prognosis or evaluation of chemotherapy response. The chapter also scrutinises main controversies including different cut-off levels. Future developments should include elaboration of complex scores as described here. SIR parameters should be wisely incorporated in patients’ treatment.
Small-sized companies' earnings management: evidence from Italy

This study explores the earnings management practices of small-sized Italian companies. Adopting the earnings distribution approach, it finds that these companies are likely to manage their earnings to achieve two earnings level targets. On the one hand, they manage their earnings to report slightly positive earnings. Those with negative earnings manage them upward to be above the zero threshold. Those with positive earnings manage them downward to bring them close to zero. On the other hand, they manage their earnings to minimize earnings changes. The main implication of the findings of this study is that the small-sized Italian companies’ earnings are not unconditionally informative regarding their performance. In other words, they are of poor quality. As a result, they should be interpreted with caution by those who use financial statement information. This study mainly enriches the literature on earnings management in two ways. Firstly, it provides evidence on small-sized companies’ earnings management practices which are very little explored in literature. Secondly, it provides additional evidence on the earnings management practices undertaken in the Italian setting, and so in countries which are characterized by a code law system and a close alignment between accounting and tax systems.
Asymptotically optimal empirical Bayes inference in a piecewise constant sequence model

Inference on high-dimensional parameters in structured linear models is an important statistical problem. In this paper, for the piecewise constant Gaussian sequence model, we develop a new empirical Bayes solution that enjoys adaptive minimax posterior concentration rates and, thanks to the conjugate form of the empirical prior, relatively simple posterior computations.
An Exploratory Investigation of the Factor Structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS)

This study investigated the factor structure of the Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS) using rigorous exploratory factor analytic and factor extraction procedures. The results of this study indicate that the RIAS is a single factor test. Despite these results, higher order factor analysis using the Schmid—Leiman procedure indicates that all subtests are aligned with their theoretically consistent factors. All analyses in this study, including the minimum average partial test, parallel analysis, the Schmid—Leiman procedure, as well as principal factors with orthogonal and oblique rotation, support interpretation at the composite intelligence index level and suggest caution when moving to interpretation at the verbal and nonverbal index levels. The memory subtests should continue to be separated from the main IQ battery because of poor g-loadings and contribution to cross loadings of the intelligence subtests. Interpretation at the subtest level should be eschewed.
Can marine cloud brightening reduce coral bleaching?

Increases in coral bleaching events over the last few decades have been largely caused by rising sea surface temperatures (SST), and continued warming is expected to cause even greater increases through this century. We use a Global Climate Model to examine the potential of marine cloud brightening (MCB) to cool oceanic surface waters in three coral reef provinces. Our simulations indicate that under doubled CO2 conditions, the substantial increases in coral bleaching conditions from current values in three reef regions (Caribbean, French Polynesia, and the Great Barrier Reef) were eliminated when MCB was applied, which reduced the SSTs at these sites roughly to their original values.
Targeting Tim-1 to Circumvent Immune Tolerance in Prostate Cancer

Abstract : Early-stage clinical testing raises the possibility that combinatorial approaches that augment tumor antigen-specific immune responses may accomplish significant tumor destruction without the induction of serious autoimmune disease. Accordingly, a rational and combinatorial manipulation of immune evasion pathways and their targets should aid in the development of safer and more effective vaccine strategies and immunotherapies for all stages of prostate cancer. In prostate cancer, a plausible combination that could be targeted towards patients who undergo androgen ablation, a therapeutic modality that is also known to enhance immune responses to prostate TAA, would include a vaccine in conjunction with biologic agents that are known to simultaneously augment antigen presentation by DCs and inhibit immunosuppressive cells such as regulatory T cells (Treg) or prolong the survival and enhance the vigor of tumor-specific lymphocytes. An example of such agents is the agonist antibody that targets TIM-1, a receptor expressed on lymphocytes and dendritic cells that enhances cytotoxic lymphocyte responses to tumor-associated antigens when used in combination with a vaccine. Here we explore the combination of androgen ablation and anti-TIM1 targeting as a strategy to ameliorate cancer-specific vaccine outcome in a mouse model of prostate cancer.