Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asbestos Bodies Burden in the Autopsy Lung Tissue from General Thai Population

Background: Chrysotile asbestos has been used in Thailand for over 30 years mainly in asbestos-cement wall and roof tiles. In non-exposed subject, asbestos fiber can contaminate in ambient indoor and outdoor environments. Objective: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the current prevalence and volume of AB load in general Thai population. Methods: Lung tissues were obtained from 200 autopsy cases. Asbestos Bodies (AB) were identified with light microscopy using the tissue digestion and membrane filtration method. Results are reported as AB/g wet lung tissue. Results: AB was identified in 97(48.5%) out of 200 cases. The AB level ranged from 0.19-14.4 AB/g wet lung. Most of the positive cases (99%) have less than 10 AB/g wet lung. Only one case exhibited a high value at 14.4 AB/g wet lung. Age, gender, occupation and hometown were found to have no effect on AB burden in autopsy lung tissue from this study. Conclusion: The prevalence of AB in autopsy lung tissue from general Thai population is 48.5% and the AB level ranges from 0-14.4 AB/g wet lung in consistent with non-occupational asbestos exposure level regarding several reference reports.
Two Dads: Gay Male Parenting and its Politicisation — A Cooperative Inquiry Action Research Study

Australian gay men have only recently become parents through surrogacy arrangements. They have had to overcome a discriminatory legal, social, political, cultural and financial environment. A cooperative inquiry action research group was formed, with seven two-father families conceived via surrogacy, to explore their journey to parenthood and their consequent politicisation as gay fathers. This article reveals how that experience of the cooperative inquiry process strengthened their resolve to be intentionally ‘out’ in their communities to overcome discriminatory and conservative social attitudes. They embraced the political reality of their parenting and were stimulated to create improved support structures for themselves and future parents. This transformed the legal, social, political and cultural environment for their families.
On Godwin ’ s Law : A Statistical Analysis on the Distribution of Nazi Analogies in Online Discussion

Godwin’s Law is a well known internet adage about the prevalence of analogies to Nazi Germany in online discussions. Though Godwin’s Law can be shown to be mathematically true by a triviallly universal proof, this does not account for the perceived frequency of Nazi analogies specifically by Godwin and others. The undertaking of this research is to study the empirical distribution of online Nazi-comparisons by examining the comments section of major online news outlets. It is shown that number of comments until the first Nazi-comparison does not follow a geometric distribution (as presumed by the trivial theory), but rather demonstrates power-law characteristics above a specified threshold. The dataset in this study is shown to resemble a type II Pareto (Lomax) distribution, though ways to improve this model are suggested in conclusion.
Individual Recognition in Japanese Quail Requires Physical and Behavioral Cues

Individual recognition is a complex social learning process in which idiosyncratic characteristics of a conspecific are learned and later used to discriminate this conspecific from others. Many social species of birds appear to be capable of individual recognition. However, it is possible that at least under some circumstances these and other species discriminate conspecifics not based on individual recognition but instead, by recognizing them as members of one or more social categories. Many references to individual recognition in the literature have neglected to address this distinction. For example, Riters and Balthazart (1998) reported that male quail were capable of recognizing individual females with which they had and had not copulated, but their experimental design may have unintentionally created two social categories of females (sexually receptive and non-receptive). The present set of experiments replicated Riters’ and Balthazart’s findings (Experiment 1) and then tested male quail for their ability to recognize females based on physical cues only (Experiment 2), physical and behavioral cues (Experiment 3), and the social categorization cues associated with female receptivity (Experiment 4). The results suggested that male quail are capable of recognizing individual females with which they have and have not copulated, but this recognition is not based onphysical, non-sexual, or sexual receptivity behaviors in isolation. Instead, individual recognition occurred only when the males were able to utilize all of these potentially distinctive female attributes in combination. The results also suggested that female receptivity responses may be unique and idiosyncratic, varying along one or more dimensions.
Convective mixing and high littoral production established systematic errors in the diel oxygen curves of a shallow, eutrophic lake

The diel (24‐h) oxygen (O2) curves approach has become a popular method for analyzing gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) rates in aquatic systems. Despite the simplicity of this approach, there remain aspects of the calculation and interpretation of diel O2 curves which may skew results, with potentially large implications for estimates of metabolic rates. One common problem in lakes is the occurrence of unexpected changes in O2 concentrations (for instance, increasing overnight O2 concentrations). Such changes have typically been ascribed to the random mixing of pockets of O2. It has thus been suggested that negative GPP or positive ER values should be included in calculations, on the assumption that under‐ and overestimates should occur with equal frequency, and thus cancel each other out. Our data from a shallow, eutrophic lake provided a high share of negative GPP values. We argue that these may have been the result of elevated littoral productivity coupled with convective currents produced by consistent differences in the heating or cooling of littoral and offshore waters. Such phenomena might be common in small, sheltered lakes where the role of mixing by wind is diminished. We conclude that a failure to account for consistent metabolic gradients and periodic convective mixing may lead to a chronic underestimation of metabolic rates in lakes when using the diel O2 curves method.
Can Disclosure Quality Explain Dividend Payouts

This study investigates how a firm’s disclosure quality affects its dividend policy. Using a sample of Canadian firms with disclosure data from The Globe and Mail, we empirically test the outcome hypothesis and the substitution hypothesis. The outcome hypothesis posits that dividends are an outcome of an effective governance regime and complements other governance mechanisms while the substitution hypothesis argues that dividend payout is a substitute for other forms of governance. Since disclosure quality can reflect the severeness of agency problems between outsiders and insiders, the outcome hypothesis predicts that higher disclosure quality would lead to higher dividend payouts while the substitution hypothesis predicts that lower disclosure quality is associated with higher payouts. This study contributes to the ongoing debate on the relationship between disclosure quality and dividend policy. Our results provide support for the outcome hypothesis; specifically, better disclosure quality is associated with both a stronger propensity to pay dividends and among dividend payers, with larger dividends.
Classroom Repair Practices and Reflective Conversations: Longitudinal Interactional Changes

For many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, working contingently with language learners' problematic learner contributions in classroom interaction remains a challenge. Drawing on conversation analysis methodology and using sociocultural and situated learning theories, this longitudinal case study traces the progressional changes in one Iranian English language teacher's repairing practices (his orientation to repairable, repair completion type and trajectory) along with the changing impacts of different organizational patterns of repair and interactional awareness on learning opportunities. The data material consists of video recordings of EFL oral classroom interactions (11 lessons) and reflective conversations (seven sessions) between the researcher and the participant teacher at one private language institute in Iran over a period of six months, in two phases. Qualitative results from the first (descriptive) phase indicated that the teacher's provision of repair in meaning-oriented contexts was generally convergent while in form-oriented ones divergent. The qualitative changes revealed the teacher's increasing attention to lexical errors and use of self-repair types, particularly in form-oriented contexts and the teacher's progress in interactional awareness including identification of contexts and repair organization, use of metalanguage and critical self-evaluation This study makes a contribution to conversation analytic research and our understanding of English teacher professional development.
Analysis of short– and long–run interactions between the stock market and prices of different sizes of properties in South Africa

Stock and property markets are regarded as investment alternatives and the interaction between these two markets has been established. However, there is a debate on whether this interaction starts from the property market, as explained by the credit-price effect, or from the stock market, as explained by the wealth effect. This study used monthly observations, rolling from January 2004 to December 2014, to analyze the interactions between stock and property markets in South Africa. The VAR model and Johansen co-integration approach were used to capture the short- and long-run relationships between the South African stock market index and the property prices for small, medium and large houses. Findings of this study revealed that there is a long-run relationship between the stock market and property prices for small and medium houses; while there was no long-run interaction between the stock market and prices of large houses. This study further found that the wealth effect explains the interaction between stock market and prices of small and medium houses; while the credit-price effect explains in the interaction between stock market and prices of large houses. This study concluded that the interactions between the two markets tend to change with the size of houses in the property market.
Downregulation of STIM 2 improves neuronal survival after traumatic brain injury by alleviating calcium overload and mitochondrial dysfunction

Abbreviations: Alzheimer's disease, AD; Amyotrophic posterior, AP; Apoptotic index, AI; Area under the curv Ca channels, CACS; Controlled cortex injury, CCI; Dorsal– ulum, ER; Huntingdon's disease, HD; Lactate dehydroge Metabotropic glutamate receptor, mGluR1; Mitochondr Parkinson's disease, PD; Reactive oxygen species, R entry, SOCE; Stromal interactive molecule 2, STIM2; Te Traumatic brain injury, TBI; Traumatic neuronal injury phenyhydrazone, FCCP; TdT-mediated dUTP Nick End-Lab ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: feizhou@fmmu.edu. cn (Z. Fei). 1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
Alpine Steppe Vegetation Patterns in the Koyondu Valley, Kyrgyz Republic

As a part of an ecological research project on wild animals, alpine steppe vegetation in the Koyondu Valley, the Sarychat-Ertash State Reserve, in the northern Tian Shan Mountains of the Kyrgyz Republic was surveyed. Horses and sheep were kept as livestock, while wildlife such as Marco Polo sheep (argali) and wolves also inhabited the region. Information regarding wildlife, weather conditions and the livelihood of human inhabitants within the region was scarce and difficult to obtain. In May 2011, 21 releve plots from 5 types of vegetational physiognomy were established at elevations ranging from ca. 3,400 to 3,600 m. In each plot, coverage, sociability and height of each plant species were measured. As a result, vegetation physiognomy of type IV plots (grassland with accumulated detritus) proved to have by far the greatest coverage and v-values of all physiognomy types. Seven varieties of plant community (A1 to A4 and B1 to B3) were recognized based on differing combinations of 4 differential plant species. Varieties of plant community did not exactly correspond to types of vegetation physiognomy, and type IV plots displayed the most variability. Distribution patterns of each community in relation to elevation and slope direction appeared similar on both the left (facing southwest) and right (facing northeast) banks of the valley, but exceptions were observed more frequently on the left bank than the right. When v-value was plotted against the total number of plant species present, the majority of plots fell within a successive transition. Type IV plots, however, were out of this transition and possessed exceptionally abundant vegetation.
Measuring the Measurement Error: A Method to Qualitatively Validate Survey Data

Field experiments rely heavily on self-reported data, but subjects may misreport behaviors, especially sensitive ones such as crime. If treatment influences survey responses, it biases experimental estimates. We develop a validation technique that uses intensive qualitative work to assess survey measurement error. Subjects were assigned to receive cash, therapy, both, or neither. According to survey responses, receiving both treatments dramatically reduced crime and other sensitive behaviors. Local researchers spent several days with a random subsample of subjects following their endline surveys, building trust and seeking verbal confirmation of six behaviors: theft, drug use, homelessness, gambling, and two expenditures. This validation suggests that subjects in the control and cash only groups underreported sensitive behaviors and expenditures in the survey relative to the other treatment arms. We bound survey-based treatment effects estimates, and find the impacts of cash and therapy on crime may be larger than suggested by surveys alone.
Dividend Policy of European Banks

The majority of managers set themselves some long-term coefficient-objective for the distribution of dividends in relation to the profits of the period (target payout ratio). But they do not mechanically apply this ratio to each year? s profits as they try to avoid brusque fluctuations which could provoke movements in investors? positions in imperfect markets. The purpose of this paper is to verify whether the dividend distribution policy of a company depends not only on profit but also on other factors, amongst which the both the theoretical and empirical literature point to the following: the profitability of the company, the stability of its earnings, its rate of growth and opportunities for investment and its financial and governing structure, highlighting the institutional aspects of the financial systems of the countries in which banks operate. The results obtained in the empirical test allow us to affirm that the policy of payouts does not depend solely on business profits. We observe that the economic and financial factors proposed by the theories mentioned, along with institutional factors, in practice determine the dividends of companies according to the structure of government which exists within organisations.
Forecast Combination with Truncation of the Negative Weights

This thesis examines the predictive power of forecast combinations when the negative weights are not ignored. Instead of removing the negative weights, we use truncation to limit the negative weights to a select range of levels. Using the Survey of Professional Forecasters from the European Central Bank, a dataset with high correlations in forecast errors, this thesis reports a positive performance compared to both equal weights and non-negative weights in five out of six cases. We also show that the truncation is also able to improve the forecast when the selection of the threshold is out-of-sample. Additionally, illustration using conditional-biasadjusted weights, and a simulation study has been carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the method.
The GTAP-Power Data Base: Disaggregating the Electricity Sector in the GTAP Data Base (Supplementary materials)

Computable general equilibrium (CGE) models are ubiquitous in energy and environmental economic research. Recent technological advancements in electricity fuels, generation technologies, and environmental policies which target specific generation technologies (e.g. emission regulations) have motivated detailed CGE modeling of the electricity sector. Modeling these issues requires distinct electricity generating technologies in a CGE database. Researchers using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Data Base have disaggregated the electricity sector into generating technologies independently using largely disparate, incomparable methodologies. This paper presents the methodology used to create the GTAP-Power Data Base, an electricity-detailed extension of the GTAP 9 Data Base with the following disaggregated electricity sectors: transmission and distribution, nuclear, coal, gas, hydroelectric, wind, oil, solar, and other. Gas, oil, and hydroelectric are further differentiated as base and peak load. The “bottom-up” data are electricity generation and levelized input costs for each technology and region. The levelized input costs for each technology are estimated to be as close as possible to the original data, but consistent with the original GTAP 9 Data Base. Major limitations in the initial version of the GTAPPower Data Base are the lack of regional coverage in input cost data and disparity between available data and the total values for the electricity aggregate. All of the GTAP 9 Data Base is included in the GTAP-Power Data Base.
Teaching Young Children English : Experiences of Native and Nonnative English Speaking Teachers

As a contribution to the existing literature dedicated to the differences between native and non-native English speaking teachers, the primary purpose of this study is to provide a different perspective that explores English teachers’ common experiences working in early childhood programs. The underlying assumption is that most early childhood English language teachers, having no specific training in teaching young children English, may share similar experiences. Four teachers representing different backgrounds were included in this study. Data were collected through interviews and classroom observations. Six common teaching experiences were identified and discussed in six areas: (1) easy access to the position but lack of training in early childhood education, (2) English as the sole medium of instruction, (3) encouraging children to speak English as a common practice, (4) teaching English in isolation, (5) teaching as accommodation, and (6) teaching English as a process, not as an end. Suggestions and directions for future research were also addressed.
The Anti-Obesity Potential of Green Tea: The Effect on Leptin and Adiponectin

Green tea has been consumed for thousands of years, and has been known to have many medicinal properties such as, anti-cancerous, anti-atherogenic, anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial. With the increasing emergence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and its major risk factor, obesity, there has been increasing interest in green tea as a potential anti-obesity therapy. Evidence has demonstrated that green tea decreases body weight. However it remains unclear through which pathway and mechanism green tea exerts its anti-obesity properties. The metabolic adipose tissue hormones, adipocytokines, leptin and adiponectin have been studied extensively as a potential target for green tea and its main catechin, epigallacatechin gallate (EGCG). It has been demonstrated that green tea consumption decreases leptin levels which may directly decrease body weight through increasing energy expenditure and fat oxidation. Furthermore, ingestion of green tea or its catechins has been associated with increased adiponectin levels which may indirectly reduce body weight through insulin sensitivity.
A metric-based assessment of flood risk and vulnerability of rural communities in the Lower Shire Valley, Malawi

Abstract. In response to the increasing frequency and economic damages of natural disasters globally, disaster risk management has evolved to incorporate risk assessments that are multi-dimensional, integrated and metric-based. This is to support knowledge-based decision making and hence sustainable risk reduction. In Malawi and most of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), however, flood risk studies remain focussed on understanding causation, impacts, perceptions and coping and adaptation measures. Using the IPCC Framework, this study has quantified and profiled risk to flooding of rural, subsistent communities in the Lower Shire Valley, Malawi. Flood risk was obtained by integrating hazard and vulnerability. Flood hazard was characterised in terms of flood depth and inundation area obtained through hydraulic modelling in the valley with Lisflood-FP, while the vulnerability was indexed through analysis of exposure, susceptibility and capacity that were linked to social, economic, environmental and physical perspectives. Data on these were collected through structured interviews of the communities. The implementation of the entire analysis within GIS enabled the visualisation of spatial variability in flood risk in the valley. The results show predominantly medium levels in hazardousness, vulnerability and risk. The vulnerability is dominated by a high to very high susceptibility. Economic and physical capacities tend to be predominantly low but social capacity is significantly high, resulting in overall medium levels of capacity-induced vulnerability. Exposure manifests as medium. The vulnerability and risk showed marginal spatial variability. The paper concludes with recommendations on how these outcomes could inform policy interventions in the Valley.