Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diets of and trophic relationships among dominant marine nekton within the northern California Current ecosystem

In this study we analyzed the diets of 26 nekton species collected from two years (2000 and 2002) off Oregon and northern California to describe dominant nekton trophic groups of the northern California Current (NCC) pelagic ecosystem. We also examined interannual variation in the diets of three nekton species. Cluster analysis of predator diets resulted in nekton trophic groups based on the consumption of copepods, euphausiids, brachyuran larvae, larval juvenile fishes, and adult nekton. However, many fish within trophic groups consumed prey from multiple trophic levels—euphausiids being the most widely consumed. Comparison of diets between years showed that most variation occurred with changes in the contribution of euphausiids and brachyuran larvae to nekton diets. The importance of euphausiids and other crustacean prey to nekton indicates that omnivory is an important characteristic of the NCC food web; however it may change during periods of lower or higher upwelling and ecosystem production.
Structural Changes in the Industry of Poland Aagainst the Background of Eastern European Union States

Structural Changes in the Industry of Poland Aagainst the Background of Eastern European Union States Industrial restructuring processes associated with the transformation of the system taking place in Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe bring about structural changes in manufacturing intended to develop intellectually-intensive industries based on the implementation of the latest research and development (R&D) results. The purpose of this article is therefore to present changes in the role of industry in the economy of Poland based on its share in employment and gross value added in comparison with other eastern EU countries, as well as structural changes in the industrial sectors (NACE divisions). The comparison will assess the competitive position of Polish industry on international markets, particularly against the other states transforming their economies. The analysis will seek to establish to what extent the structural changes in Polish industry indicate positive effects of the country's economic transformation.
Efficiency in the Japanese Trust Banking Industry: A Stochastic Distance Function Approach

This paper aims to assess the technical efficiency of Japanese trust banks by using the stochastic distance function approach, which is suitable for analyzing complex trust banks but has never applied for Japanese trust banks. Although the trust banking industry has been one of the most restricted financial sectors in Japan, it has recently been deregulated, particularly in terms of entry restrictions. Most noteworthy was the approval of the entry of the foreign-owned trust banks that represented the financial liberalization at that time. The traditional theory expects that allowing new entry makes market more competitive and therefore players become more efficient to survive. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate whether the liberalization made Japanese banks more efficient. The results indicate that the traditional domestic trust banks possess a technical efficiency superior to new entrants (i.e., foreign-owned trust banks). However, we failed to find an apparent tendency for trust banks to be more efficient now than in the pre-liberalization period.
Causality between the pillars of development and economic growth: a panel VAR application

This paper examines the long-term relationship between financial development, social development and economic growth in 15 Asian countries for the period from 1961 to 2012. Using principal component analysis to construct development indices and a panel vector auto-regressive (VAR) model to test Granger causalities, the study identified the presence of bidirectional causality between economic growth and financial development. They predict a country's level of social development. The policy implication of this study is that, in order to maintain sustainable social development in the 15 selected Asian countries, economic policies should recognise differences in the financial development and economic growth of a given country.
The Economics of Teams among Technicians

This paper examines the economic logic of organizing field technicians into self-managed teams, an approach to work organization that shifts the division of labour from a hierarchical to horizontal one. Economic efficiencies arise through the integration of direct and indirect labour tasks and the alignment of'the organizational structure with the occupational logic of communities of practice among technicians. Self-managed teams absorb the monitoring and co-ordination tasks of supervisors, substantially reducing indirect labour costs but without adversely affecting objective measures of quality and labour productivity. For technicians, team membership means longer work hours, but higher wages through overtime pay. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 2001.
Code choice in interethnic interactions in two urban neighborhoods of Central Java, Indonesia

While there is a significant amount of research on language choice in intraethnic interactions in Indonesia, there have been few studies done on interethnic conversations. This lack of research led me to carry out an ethnographically oriented linguistic study of code choice in interethnic encounters in two neighborhoods (RT) of Semarang, in Central Java. Although it is often assumed that Indonesian is the language for interethnic communication in Indonesia, what was in fact found was that ngoko Javanese was being used to signal relative familiarity in interethnic interactions, as among the Javanese alone. A local variety of Indonesian was generally used in interethnic interactions to signal more distant relationships, where kromo Javanese was used to signal this among the Javanese themselves.
A new Typhlocharis (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Anillina) from Spain: combining adult and larval morphological data with DNA information

3 Correspondence author Abstract Adult and larva of Typhlocharis toletana n. sp. (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Anillini) are described from the province of Toledo, Central Spain. Identical mitochondrial cox1 gene haplotype suggested that the adults and larvae are conspecific. Typhlocharis toletana is the third species of the genus with an unguiform shape of gonocoxite 2 of the ovipositor, a character state that is considered as ancestral. However, T. toletana is not closely related to the other two species having a similarly shaped gonocoxite 2, as judged by their morphological characters and geographic distribution. It is concluded that this ancestral state has been kept in different lineages within Typhlocharis. Species relationships inferred from a preliminary molecular analysis of five Typhlocharis taxa are not congruent with putative morphological lineages. Finally, it was found that the larva of T. toletana is morphologically indistinguishable from that of Typhlocharis sp. described by Arndt et al. (1999).
Rate of Change in Dormancy Level and Light Requirement in Weed Seeds During Stratification

The rate of change in dormancy level and light requirement, induced during stratification at 3‐2 ∞C, was investigated in seeds of Stellaria media, Cerastium fontanum, Veronica agrestis and Taraxacum ocinale. Two stratification environments, soil and wet filter paper in petri-dishes, were used. On nine occasions during a 6 week stratification period, germination was tested under three light conditions at 3‐5}18‐5 ∞C: (1) darkness; (2) light; and (3) short-term light exposure followed by darkness. Prior to stratification, germination in all species was & 89% in light and & 53% in darkness. Within 2 weeks of stratification, germinability in V. agrestis and S. media seeds decreased in all treatments. In C. fontanum and T. ocinale seeds, germinability also decreased after 2 weeks but only in the dark treatment, indicating induction of a light requirement. After two more weeks of stratification, the induced dormancy in S. media seeds stratified in soil became weaker and the light requirement in T. ocinale seeds was lost. Dierences between the two stratification environments and}or interactions between light conditions, stratification environments and time were found for all species. These results suggest that: (1) the dormancy level and the light requirement of seeds may change dramatically over relatively short-time periods during stratification; and (2) germinability depends on the stratification environment experienced by the seeds. Predicting the dormancy level or light requirement in a seed batch is dicult and requires a thorough knowledge of the eect of the stratification conditions used. # 1997 Annals of Botany Company
The impact of maize stand density on herbicide efficiency

The impact of maize stand density (4, 8 and 12 plants per m 2 ) on herbicide efficiency (in %) and cob yield loss (in %) was studied in four field trials. The mixture of soil-applied herbicides (HS) isoxaflutole and S-metolachlor and the mixture of foliar-applied herbicides (HF) dicamba and rimsulfuron was applied in two dosages (100 and 75% of dose recommended by manufacturers). The 100% dose of HS was (75 g isoxaflutole + 960 ml S-metolachlor) per ha and 100% dose of HF was (12.5 g rimsulfuron + 240 ml dicamba) per ha. In all four trials, the studied factors (stand density, herbicide type and dose) had significant impact on herbicide efficiency and on maize cob yield loss. The herbicide efficiency decreased significantly, when herbicides were applied to maize of lower stand density and the maize yield losses increased. When weed population was composed predominantly of annual seed weeds higher efficiency was obtained by HS herbicides, conversely, when the weed population was composed predominantly of perennial weeds the HF herbicides provided better control. The reduction of herbicide dose always caused the significant reduction in herbicide efficiency and increase in maize yield loss.
Disability discourse, physiotherapy and physical activity in the lives of people with traumatic spinal cord injury

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences with disability discourse, physiotherapy and physical activity (PA) of people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Eight men with traumatic SCI participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with each participant. The participants emphasized the importance of peer counselling in coping with traumatic SCI but also identified several problems in their everyday lives: limited outside mobility during the winter months, limited accessibility, different disturbing societal attitudes and behaviours towards people using a wheelchair, and limited financial aid for people with disabilities. They had mostly positive experiences with physiotherapy and suggested that physiotherapists should focus on developing their general competencies and using an individual client-centred approach. The participants valued PA but were rather inactive due to function- and health-related, motivational and socio-environmental barriers. The combination of different barriers and facilitators to PA varied for each participant, thereby demonstrating the heterogeneity of their PA experiences. When looking at the described benefits of both physiotherapy and PA, the main forms of creating a strong sense of self-efficacy were represented.
Credit Scoring for Microfinance: Can It Work?

In rich countries, lenders often rely on credit scoring--formulae to predict risk based on the performance of past loans with characteristics similar to current loans--to inform decisions. Can credit scoring do the same for microfinance lenders in poor countries? This paper argues that scoring does have a place in microfinance. Although scoring is less powerful in poor countries than in rich countries, and although scoring will not replace the personal knowledge of character of loan officers or of loan groups, scoring can improve estimates of risk. Thus, scoring complements--but does not replace--current microfinance technologies. Furthermore, the derivation of the scoring formula reveals how the characteristics of borrowers, loans, and lenders affect risk, and this knowledge is useful whether or not a lender uses predictions from scoring to inform daily decisions. In the next decade, many of the biggest microfinance lenders will likely make credit-scoring models one of their most important decision tools.
Earnings analysis at industry level

In the view of the economic recovery, the European Union encourages member states to rapidly implement a policy convergence at competitive levels, coherent with the internal single market. In this context, economic competitiveness should have a leading place within the structural policies designed to unleash the industrial potential of the European economies. Wage is a key factor of economic competitiveness as it also reflects the level of labour productivity. In this study we conducted a panel data analysis of the economic activities in Romania to identify the factors that determine the wage level.
A confidence-aware interval-based trust model

It is a common and useful task in a web of trust to evaluate the trust value between two nodes using intermediate nodes. This technique is widely used when the source node has no experience of direct interaction with the target node, or the direct trust is not reliable enough by itself. If trust is used to support decision-making, it is important to have not only an accurate estimate of trust, but also a measure of confidence in the intermediate nodes as well as the final estimated value of trust. The present paper thus aims to introduce a novel framework for integrated representation of trust and confidence using intervals, which provides two operations of trust interval multiplication and summation. The former is used for computing propagated trust and confidence, whereas the latter provides a formula for aggregating different trust opinions. The properties of the two operations are investigated in details. This study also proposes a time-variant method that considers freshness, expertise level and two similarity measures in confidence estimation. The results indicate that this method is more accurate compared to the existing ones. In this regard, the results of experiments carried out on two well-known trust datasets are reported and analyzed, showing that the proposed method increases the accuracy of trust inference in comparison with the existing methods. c © 2012 ISC. All rights reserved.
Reproductive traits of horned octopus Eledone cirrhosa in Atlantic Iberian waters

Length–weight relationships, sex-ratio, maturity patterns, size at first maturity, reproductive outputs, fecundity and spawning period of horned octopus Eledone cirrhosa in north-west Iberian coast are presented for the first time. Samples were collected between February 2009 and July 2011 in four fishing ports along the north-west Iberian coast: Burela in north Galician waters (NGW), Ribeira or Bueu in western Galician waters (WGW), and Aveiro in western Portuguese waters (WPW). A total of 4127 individuals (1042 males, 3079 females and six undetermined) were sampled. Individuals ranged from 45 to 191 mm dorsal mantle length (ML) and 15–1159 g body weight (BW). The overall sex-ratio was biased towards females, accounting for 74.71% of whole sample. Main spawning season of this species in north-western Iberian waters extends from May to June. Size at first maturity (ML50%) of males was 108.9 mm in NGW, 99.25 mm in WGW, and 91.4 mm in WPW, whereas ML50% for females were 134.5 mm, 121.4 mm and 100.8 mm, respectively. Potential fecundity was 2452.88 ± 36.4 oocytes per ovary (N = 697). Mean oocyte length was 3.89 ± 0.025 mm (N = 697). The average number of fully developed spermatophores in mature males was 86.55 ± 1.9 (N = 223) with a mean length of 44.97 ± 0.29 mm (N = 224). Potential fecundity in females was significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with ML and BW. Results obtained suggest that energy for gonad growth comes from the diet rather than endogenous reserves.
Disclosure of Forward Looking Information: Evidence from Listed Companies on Istanbul Stock Exchange [ISE]

This study examines the disclosure of forward-looking information in annual reports of companies listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE). It aims to determine the factors influencing the decision of ISE listed companies to disclose forward-looking information. The factors proposed for the investigation consist of size, industry, institutional investors, internalization and intangibles. Since the annual reports represent the main source of voluntary disclosures of the for-ward-looking information, our investigation uses a disclosure index based on an analysis of the statements made by management in annual reports of the companies listed on ISE. In our study, the level of forward looking information disclosed in the annual reports of the firms is examined in two broad categories. We find that the total disclosure of forward looking information is positively related with the size and foreign offers, and negatively related with the variables of ownership structure, profitability, the level of foreign investment and the proportion of institutional investors. Additionally, the firms operating in service and finance sector disclose more forward looking information as compared with the manufacturing firms. Ownership structure and financial performance are determinant factors affecting the disclosure of financial forward looking information.
The Victoria mode in the North Pacific linking extratropical sea level pressure variations to ENSO

The Victoria mode (VM) represents the second dominant mode (empirical orthogonal function, EOF2) of North Pacific variability, independent of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and is defined as the EOF2 of SST anomalies in the North Pacific poleward of 20°N. The present study indicates that the VM is closely linked to the development of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The VM may effectively act as an ocean bridge (or conduit) through which the extratropical atmospheric variability in the North Pacific influences ENSO. The VM can trigger the onset of ENSO via the following two dominant processes: (1) surface air‐sea coupling associated with the VM in the subtropical/tropical Pacific and (2) evolution of subsurface ocean temperature anomalies along the equator associated with the VM. These two processes may force sufficient surface warming to occur in the central eastern equatorial Pacific from spring to summer, which in turn initiates an ENSO event. The VM influence on ENSO relies on a basin‐scale air‐sea interaction dynamic, as opposed to more local‐scale dynamics typically associated with the seasonal footprinting mechanism or Pacific meridional mode. The majority of VM events are followed by ENSO events. These ENSO events triggered by VM include El Niño Modoki (EM) as well as conventional El Niño. There is no evidence that the VM tends to be more conducive to the initialization of EM than conventional El Niño.
FRONT SLOPE STABILITY OF THE ICELANDIC-TYPE BERM BREAKWATER

acceptance number: p0112 FRONT SLOPE STABILITY OF THE ICELANDIC-TYPE BERM BREAKWATER 1 Author: Sigurdarson, Sigurdur 2 Author: van der Meer, Jentsje Breakwaters Berm Breakwaters Coastal structures Icelandic-type Recession Stable berm breakwater
Radically Simple IT

Many managers think that developing and rolling out a major IT system is like putting up a warehouse: You build it and you're done. But that does not work for IT anymore. Taking that approach results in rigid, costly systems that are outdated from the day they are turned on. What's needed for today's businesses is IT that serves not only as a platform for existing operations but also as a launchpad for new functions and businesses. In this article, the authors present a path-based approach that addresses the primary challenges of IT: the difficulty and expense of mapping out all requirements before a project starts because people often cannot specify everything that they need beforehand; the other unanticipated needs that almost always arise once a system is in operation; and the tricky task of persuading people to use and "own" it. Japan's Shinsei Bank emerged during the authors' research as a standout among the companies applying the path-based method. The firm designed, built, and rolled out its system by forging together, not just aligning, business and IT strategies; employing the simplest possible technology; making the system truly modular; letting it sell itself to users; and ensuring that users influence future improvements. Some of the principles are variations on old themes, while others turn the conventional wisdom on its head.
Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Overprescribing Goal Setting

Executive Overview Goal setting is one of the most replicated and influential paradigms in the management literature. Hundreds of studies conducted in numerous countries and contexts have consistently demonstrated that setting specific, challenging goals can powerfully drive behavior and boost performance. Advocates of goal setting have had a substantial impact on research, management education, and management practice. In this article, we argue that the beneficial effects of goal setting have been overstated and that systematic harm caused by goal setting has been largely ignored. We identify specific side effects associated with goal setting, including a narrow focus that neglects nongoal areas, distorted risk preferences, a rise in unethical behavior, inhibited learning, corrosion of organizational culture, and reduced intrinsic motivation. Rather than dispensing goal setting as a benign, over-the-counter treatment for motivation, managers and scholars need to conceptualize goal setting as a prescripti.
The peculiar horizontal branch morphology of the Galactic globular clusters ngc 6388 and NGC 6441 : new insights from UV observations

Context. In this paper we present multiband optical and UV Hubble Space Telescope photometry of the two Galactic globular clusters NGC 6388 and NGC 6441. Aims. We investigate the properties of their anomalous horizontal branches in different photometric planes in order to shed light on the nature of the physical mechanism(s) responsible for the existence of an extended blue tail and of a slope in the horizontal branch, visible in all the color-magnitude diagrams. Methods. New photometric data have been collected and carefully reduced. Empirical data have been compared with updated stellar models of low-mass, metal-rich, He-burning structures, transformed to the observational plane with appropriate model atmospheres. Results. We have obtained the first UV color-magnitude diagrams for NGC 6388 and NGC 6441. These diagrams confirm previous results, obtained in optical bands, about the presence of a sizeable stellar population of extremely hot horizontal branch stars. At least in NGC 6388, we find a clear indication that at the hot end of the horizontal branch the distribution of stars forms a hook-like feature, closely resembling those observed in NGC 2808 and Omega Cen. We briefly review the theoretical scenarios that have been suggested for interpreting this observational feature. We also investigate the tilted horizontal branch morphology and provide further evidence that supports early suggestions that this feature cannot be interpreted as an effect of differential reddening. We show that a possible solution of the puzzle is to assume that a small fraction - ranging between 10-20% - of the stellar population in the two clusters is strongly helium-enriched (Y ~ 0.40 in NGC 6388 and Y ~ 0.35 in NGC 6441). The occurrence of a spread in the He abundance between the canonical value (Y ~ 0.26) and the quoted upper limits can significantly help in explaining the "whole" morphology of the horizontal branch and the pulsational properties of the variable stars in the target clusters.