Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HST-COS OBSERVATIONS OF HYDROGEN, HELIUM, CARBON, AND NITROGEN EMISSION FROM THE SN 1987A REVERSE SHOCK

We present the most sensitive ultraviolet observations of Supernova 1987A to date. Imaging spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope-Cosmic Origins Spectrograph shows many narrow (Δv ∼ 300 km s−1) emission lines from the circumstellar ring, broad (Δv ∼ 10–20 × 103 km s−1) emission lines from the reverse shock, and ultraviolet continuum emission. The high signal-to-noise ratio (>40 per resolution element) broad Lyα emission is excited by soft X-ray and EUV heating of mostly neutral gas in the circumstellar ring and outer supernova debris. The ultraviolet continuum at λ > 1350 Å can be explained by H i two-photon (2s 2S1/2–1s 2S1/2) emission from the same region. We confirm our earlier, tentative detection of N v λ1240 emission from the reverse shock and present the first detections of broad He ii λ1640, C iv λ1550, and N iv] λ1486 emission lines from the reverse shock. The helium abundance in the high-velocity material is He/H = 0.14 ± 0.06. The N v/Hα line ratio requires partial ion–electron equilibration (Te/Tp ≈ 0.14–0.35). We find that the N/C abundance ratio in the gas crossing the reverse shock is significantly higher than that in the circumstellar ring, a result that may be attributed to chemical stratification in the outer envelope of the supernova progenitor. The N/C abundance may have been stratified prior to the ring expulsion, or this result may indicate continued CNO processing in the progenitor subsequent to the expulsion of the circumstellar ring.
Spread of fire blight in Austria and Hungary – variability of Erwinia amylovora strains

First outbreaks of fire blight were detected in Austria in 1993 and in Hungary in 1995. 137 Erwinia amylovora isolates were compared by PCR-RFLP, sequencing of the repeat region of the PstI fragment of plasmid pEA29, RAPD and AFLP analysis. Differences of repeat numbers in first isolates were observed. Six isolates showed different RAPD profiles. In AFLP analysis, so far, no differences in fragment pattern were determined. Pathogenicity tests with micropropagated apple cultivars revealed differences in plant susceptibility and in virulence of isolates. Responses of Malus tissue were visualized by the use of epifluorescence microscopy through the localization and the production of substances involved in cellular defence mechanisms (e.g. flavonoids, lignin) in various susceptible cultivars. The effect of bacterial strains differing in pathogenicity is shown by cellular peroxidase and flavonoid production.
Compressão de frequências e reconhecimento de fala em idosos

Purpose To evaluate and compare the performance of elderly people in speech recognition tests, in silence and in noise, using hearing aids with and without the activation of the nonlinear compression algorithm (NLFC). Methods Forty-eight subjects were evaluated, 33 male and 15 female, ranging in age from 61 to 84 years, with mild to moderate hearing loss of descending configuration. The Lists of Sentences in Portuguese (LSP) test was applied, seeking the Sentence Recognition Threshold in Silence (SRTS), the Sentence Recognition Threshold in Noise (SRTN), expressed by the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and the Sentence Recognition Percentage Index in Silence (SRPIS) and in noise (SRPIN). All measurements were obtained twice: with the use of hearing aids without the activation of NLFC (SC) and with the activation of the NLFC (CC). Results It was found a statistically significant difference between the SRTS and PSRS obtained using hearing aids without and with CNLF, the latter being those that provided better results. In the S/N ratio and ISRN the analysis pointed no significant difference between the use of hearing aids SC and CC. Conclusion In the measurements obtained in silence, the hearing aids with NLFC CC presented statistically better results than with NLFC SC. In the measurements with competitive noise, it was not found a statistically significant difference between the results obtained with the use of hearing aids SC and CC. This suggests that elderly people with hearing loss of descending configuration could benefit from using hearing aids with NLFC, especially in silence.
Ideas are not as stable as political scientists want them to be - Using discourse theory in ideational research

Most theories about ideas in politics implicitly conceptualise ideas as relatively stable entities that act as a catalyst for political change in times of crisis. In these theories political change is usually brought on by the full and sudden replacement of old ideas with new ones. The paper’s main charge against this mainstream perspective on ideas is that it is based on a simplified conception of ideas which biases the theories to focus on the role of ideas in times of crisis, and, in effect, they overlook incremental yet significant ideational change in times of stability. With inspiration from discourse analysis the paper develops a more dynamic understanding of ideas as made up by several elements of meaning that typically does not reach a final stage of stability or equilibrium. Furthermore, it is argued that a more dynamic analytical perspective can account for both incremental and paradigmatic ideational change. Two types of incremental ideational change are discussed and exemplified with empirical examples from British politics: First, a change in the relation between the existing elements of an idea, and, second, a change of one or more (but not all) elements of an idea.
Influences of effective fractions of Ju Li San Jie Wan on expressions of EGF,EGFR and PR-A in uterine leiomyoma cells

Objective To investigate the influences of different extractive fractions of Ju Li San Jie Wan on the expressions of progesterone receptor-A(PR-A),epidermal growth factor(EGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in uterine leiomyoma cells.Methods Human uteriae leiomyoma cells were cultured by using collagenase digestion,and Ju Li San Jie Wan was extracted by modern technology.After the different extractive fractions of Ju Li San Jie Wan in different doses effecting primary cultured uterine leiomyoma cells for 24 hours,the changes of EGF secretion and expressions of EGFR and PR-A,respectively,were detected by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),immunocytochemistry and immunoflurescence techniques.Results Compared with the blank control group,EGF secretion decreased significantly(P0.05) in the high-concentration groups of ethanol extract,water-extract ethanol-precipitation liquid,water-extract ethanol-precipitation sediment and volatile oil.The mean optical density(MOD) of EGFR positive expressed cells decreased significantly(P0.05) in the group of ethanol extract,group of water-extract ethanol-precipitation liquid,group of water-extract ethanol-precipitation sediment and group of volatile oil.There was a concentration-dependence relationship between the groups of volatile oil(P0.05). In the groups of all extractive fractions of Ju Li San Jie Wan,MOD of PR-A positive expression cells decreased significantly(P0.05). Compared with the mifepristone(RU486) group,the expression of EGFR decreased significantly(P0.05) in the high-concentration groups of ethanol extract,water-extract ethanol-precipitation liquid,water-extract ethanol-precipitation sediment and volatile oil(P0.05). Conclusion All extractive fractions of Ju Li San Jie Wan can reduce EGF secretion or regulate the expressions of PR-A and EGFR in uterine leiomyoma cells.The synergism of all these fractions may be one of mechanisms in the treatment of uterine leiomyoma by Ju Li San Jie Wan.The regulation effect of these different effective fractions on EGFR is better than that of RU486.
Using Computers to Assess New Educational Goals

Abstract There is a remarkable consensus worldwide on 'new' educational goals. These emphasise problem solving using mathematics and science, supported by an increased use of information technology. Change can be difficult: first is the problem of communicating new goals; second is their alignment with old assessment systems. Well-designed assessment can solve both these problems. Here, computer-based tasks are described which exemplify new goals and could be used to promote desirable educational change. Computers can make a unique contribution to assessment. They can present new sorts of tasks, where dynamic displays show changes in several variables over time. Interaction makes computers well suited to the assessment of process skills—discovering rules, finding relationships, developing effective strategies—by the use of simulations, microworlds and interactive games. Students can work with complex realistic data sets, using professional methods. The paper illustrates these claims, and describes student strengths and weaknesses observed on live tests.
The black tea bioactivity: an overview

Teaisoneofthemostpopularbeveragesinmanycountriesandisthesecond,afterthepurewater, mostconsumeddrinkintheworld,butconsumptionhabitvariesbetweendifferentcountries.Incidence of different diseases varies widely across the world and many investigators relate these differences to dietincludinghabitualteadrinking.Itisconsumedmostlyasgreenteaandblackteawhereotherforms such oolong; red or white teas are less popular. Green tea was extensively investigated on its health benefits but black tea is only now catching the serious attention of scientific community. Compounds contained in black tea such as theaflavins and thearubigens contribute to black tea dark color and distinctiveflavor.Theyalsoprovidehealthbenefitsoriginallyattributedsolelytogreentea. Thisreview summarizesavailableinformationonbioactiveingredientsoftea,theirbioactivityandrelationtodiseases, bioavailability with special attention to health benefits of black tea.
New approach to use rice straw waste for weed control. II. The effect of rice straw extract and fusilade (Herbicide) on some weeds infesting soybean (Glysin max L.)

A greenhouse experiment was carried out to study the combined effect of rice straw extract and fusilade herbicide on some aggressive grasses (i.e. Echinochloa crus-galli L. & Echinochloa colonum L.) associated with 3 soybean varieties. The fusilade herbicide (40 g/ feddan) and methanol extract of rice straw (3.47 13.9 g/ L) were sprayed as post-emergence either alone or in combination. Spraying fusilade alone was more effective in suppressing (50 78%) growth and development of the two weeds than applying rice straw extract alone; irrespective of the rate of application. Applying fusilade in combination with rice straw particularly at the lowest (3.47 g/ L) and moderate (6.95 g/ L) doses were the most effective treatments by all means of suppressing weed growth as well as increasing vegetative growth and yield productivity of soybeans. Combined fusilade with rice straw extract at the highest rate (13.9 g/ L) showed severe toxicity against soybean growth and yield productivity. It has suggested that the rice straw might open the door for new strategy for controlling the aggression of grassy weeds in soybean.
Extended transition rates and lifetimes in Al I and Al II from systematic multiconfiguration calculations

MultiConfiguration Dirac-Hartree-Fock (MCDHF) and relativistic configuration interaction (RCI) calculations were performed for 28 and 78 states in neutral and singly ionized aluminium, respectively. In Al I, the configurations of interest are 3s2nl for n = 3, 4, 5 with l = 0 to 4, as well as 3s3p2 and 3s26l for l = 0, 1, 2. In Al II, in addition to the ground configuration 3s2, the studied configurations are 3snl with n = 3 to 6 and l = 0 to 5, 3p2, 3s7s, 3s7p, and 3p3d. Valence and core-valence electron correlation effects are systematically accounted for through large configuration state function (CSF) expansions. Calculated excitation energies are found to be in excellent agreement with experimental data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database. Lifetimes and transition data for radiative electric dipole (E1) transitions are given and compared with results from previous calculations and available measurements for both Al I and Al II. The computed lifetimes of Al I are in very good agreement with the measured lifetimes in high-precision laser spectroscopy experiments. The present calculations provide a substantial amount of updated atomic data, including transition data in the infrared region. This is particularly important since the new generation of telescopes are designed for this region. There is a significant improvement in accuracy, in particular for the more complex system of neutral Al I. The complete tables of transition data are available at the CDS.
EFFECT OF POSTHARVEST TREATMENTS AND STORAGE CONDITIONS ON AVOCADO FRUIT RIPENING AND QUALITY

Most of the common postharvest handling procedures are of a physical nature and are applied before, during or after the cold storage period. Variations in cold storage technologies, in combination with changes in storage atmosphere such as controlled atmosphere (CA) and modified atmosphere (MA), are reviewed. Some attempts to reduce chilling injuries are discussed. Physiological aspects of avocado ripening and quality, including involvement of some related enzymatic activities, are considered. Key index words Avocado, postharvest, storage, ripening, quality, chilling injury, ACC-oxidase.
Editorial on the special issue “Research on Divorce: Causes and Consequences”

“Of all changes in family life during the 20 th century, perhaps the most dramatic – and the most far-reaching in its implications – was the increase in the rate of divorce“, Paul Amato (2000: 1269) wrote in a review. Amato’s thesis can undoubtedly be approved; separation and divorce have certainly received a lot of attention in the sociology of the family. However, these topics are not as prominent in research as one would expect and as they surely deserve to be – especially in Europe and Germany. This is all the more surprising, considering that general sociology also refers to these phenomena and thereby shifts the focus to the question of how the – putatively or actually – rising instability of romantic relationships can be explained. The instability of close relationships is often seen as a consequence of modernisation and individualisation processes or even as a manifestation of the postmodern loss of solidarity and community spirit. With these speculative considerations, increasing divorce rates are often hastily taken as empirical evidence. The fact that this increased dissolution of close relationships is not historically unique – existing even in tribal, estate-based and pre-modern industrial societies – is often ignored. In the past, separation and divorce were less frequent in total numbers, but this was due rather to specifi c individual circumstances than to the social system. Therefore, it is not surprising that even in pre-modern societies the instability of close romantic and long-term relationships was particularly observable in those social groups whose resource level made separation and divorce possible, as well as the support of those who were left behind (like children and women). Thus, it is not the needs, the integrity or the bonding capacity of individuals that have changed, nor the infl uence of society with its framework of norms and values, but rather the allocation of resources and the additional possibilities for individuals. Confi rmed by this reasoning, micro-sociological approaches dominate the explanation of separation and divorce. Recent reviews (Arranz Becker 2015a; Braver/ Lamb 2013) on theory development only discuss approaches based on action theory. Four theories are featured in nearly all lists: exchange theory, New Home Economics as well as its theoretical extensions, the vulnerability-stress-adaption model and the cascade theory. Undoubtedly, exchange theory provides the central arguments for the explanation of separation and divorce and for the prior processes of partner choice and the institutionalisation of the relationship (Thibaut/Kelley 1959; Lewis/Spanier 1979). Its key advantage is its applicability to a whole range of famil
Adolescents' Ability To Engage in Critical Thinking.

The goal of this research synthesis is to evaluate the validity of the claim that there are fundamental limitations on the ability of adolescents to engage in critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as an analytic, focused cognitive activity aimed at understanding phenomena at a root rather than a superficial level; a type of thinking closely though not exclusively associated with formal thinking as described by Piaget. This paper examines what fundamental cognitive developmental limitations have been claimed or implied regarding adolescents' abilities to engage in critical thinking, what empirical evidence has been used to support or refute these claims, what empirical evidence exists to demonstrate that adolescents are able to engage in such thinking, and what recurring themes emerge from consideration of all this evidence. Evidence is reviewed within four broad headings: (1) Piaget's formal operations; (2) biopsychological constraints; (3) individual differences; and (4) cognitive processing analyses. It is concluded that there is no persuasive evidence of fundamental constraints on the ability of early adolescents to engage in critical thinking. Sixty-three references are included. (NB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
Climbing the cosmic ladder with stellar twins in RAVE with Gaia

We apply the twin method to determine parallaxes to 232 545 stars of the RAVE survey using the parallaxes of Gaia DR1 as a reference. To search for twins in this large data set, we apply the t-student stochastic neighbour embedding projection that distributes the data according to their spectral morphology on a two-dimensional map. From this map, we choose the twin candidates for which we calculate a χ2 to select the best sets of twins. Our results show a competitive performance when compared to other model-dependent methods relying on stellar parameters and isochrones. The power of the method is shown by finding that the accuracy of our results is not significantly affected if the stars are normal or peculiar since the method is model free. We find twins for 60 per cent of the RAVE sample that are not contained in Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) or that have TGAS uncertainties that are larger than 20 per cent. We could determine parallaxes with typical errors of 28 per cent. We provide a complementary data set for the RAVE stars not covered by TGAS, or that have TGAS uncertainties which are larger than 20 per cent, with model-free parallaxes scaled to the Gaia measurements. (Less)
Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolated from bovine and ovine samples in slaughterhouses of Algiers, Algeria

The aims of our work are to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella isolated from carcasses and feces of cattle and sheep in the two biggest slaughterhouses in Algiers, Algeria, and to characterize the obtained strains by serotyping and antimicrobial resistance testing. The detection of Salmonella was performed by the conventional culture method and isolates were confirmed by PCR. Susceptibility to antibiotics was carried out by agar disc diffusion method. The results showed that 10.17% of samples were Salmonella positive. Carcass samples were more contaminated than fecal samples. Serotyping of the 84 Salmonella isolates has enabled to identify 10 different serovars; the most predominant was S. Muenster. The invA gene was detected in 96.43% of isolates whereas all S. Typhimurium strains were positive for spy gene. Sixty-eight (80.95%) isolates were resistant to at least one of the 28 antibiotics tested and exhibited 17 different antimicrobial resistance patterns. The most frequently observed resistance was to streptomycin (69.05%). While 22.62 % of the isolates were MDR, two S. Typhimurium showed an‘‘ACSSuT’’ pentaresistance pattern. Considering the importance of this group of bacteria for public health, Salmonella control is necessary at several steps of food production to ensure safe products for consumers.
Water-soluble Ions of Aerosols in Taipei in Spring 2002

1 Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC * Corresponding author address: Dr. Shih-Chun Candice Lung, Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, ROC; E-mail: sclung@rcec.sinica. edu.tw Dust originating from arid and semiarid areas in Central Asia can reach Taiwan during springtime. However, aerosols in a metropolitan region, such as Taipei city, also have significant local sources. In this work, the influence of long-range transport and local pollution, on various water-soluble ions in fine and coarse modes, was investigated for several dust events. Concentration differences between dust-event and non-dust-event days were assessed. Field measurements were conducted in Taipei from February to May 2002. Twelve-hour samples of PM2.5 and PM10 were taken. Ion chromatography was used to analyze water-soluble ions (Na, NH4 +, K, Mg , Ca , Cl , NO3 − , and SO4 2− ). The mean concentrations of Na, NH4 , K, Mg 2+ , Ca , Cl, NO3 , SO4 2− , and PM in the fine mode during the entire sampling campaign were 0.29, 2.87, 0.29, 0.029, 0.13, 0.57, 0.92, 2.68, and 28.2 μg m 3 − , respectively. The corresponding mean concentrations in the coarse mode ( PM2.5-10) were 0.75, 0.30, 0.096, 0.14, 0.63, 0.84, 2.33, 1.60, and 34.0 μg m 3 − , respectively. Results of Principle Component Analysis showed that elevated concentrations of fine Na , K , Mg , Ca , and Cl and coarse Na , Mg , Ca , NO3 − , and SO4 2− on dust-event days were a result of long-range transport. A prolonged influence of long-range transport on concentrations of fine and coarse ions, after dust peaked, was also observed. K, Mg , and Ca increased by about 1.7 to 3.8 fold and Na and Cl increased by 45 210% on dust-event days. Fine modes of NH4 + , NO3 − , and SO4 2− were derived from local pollution, while most coarse NO3 − and some coarse SO4 2− were derived from long-range transport. On average, coarse NO3 − and SO4 2− increased by 67% and 97%, respectively, during dust events. <Back to Index>