Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of an international bridge on households : evidence from household panel data in Thailand

This paper empirically investigates the impact of an international bridge being constructed between Thailand and Laos on household behavior in Thailand. Our empirical results suggest that the establishment of an international bridge boosted the growth in Thailand of the industry in which the country had a comparative advantage, i.e., agriculture. Therefore, this industry enjoyed positive effects from the bridge’s construction. Specifically, we discovered that income, especially farm income, rose in households headed by a male or a young person. Furthermore, the bridge’s construction also increased the amount of agricultural land, the number of agricultural workers, and household debt ratios. On the other hand, income decreased in households with a female or an elderly head. To address possible endogeneity issues on the choice of the bridge’s location, we restricted this study to specific provinces. We also controlled for several confounding factors and conducted placebo tests to confirm the robustness of our results.
The Effect of the U.S.-China Trade War on U.S. Investment

We develop a new method of quantifying the impact of policy announcements on investment rates that makes use of stock market data. By estimating the effect of U.S.-China tariff announcements on aggregate returns and the differential returns of firms exposed to China, we identify their effect on treated and untreated firms. We show theoretically and empirically that estimates of policy-induced stock-market declines imply lower returns to capital, which lowers investment rates. We estimate that the tariff actions through 2018 and 2019 will lower the investment growth rate of listed U.S. companies by 1.9 percentage points by the end of 2020.
Systematics of the genus Rhacophorus (Amphibia, Anura): identity of red-webbed forms and description of a new species from Assam

The taxonomic status of Rhacophorus maculatus Anderson, 1871 and its replacement names (alloneonyms) Rhacophorus bimaculatus Boulenger, 1882 and Rhacophorus bipunctatus Ahl, 1927 is assessed and a lectotype (lectophoront) for this nomen is designated. Morphological evidence supports the nomen Rhacophorus htunwini Wilkinson et al. , 2005 being a junior subjective synonym of Rhacophorus maculatus Anderson, 1871. Rhacophorus rhodopus Liu & Hu, 1960 is considered a valid nomen with a new junior subjective synonym, Rhacophorus namdaphaensis Sarkar & Sanyal, 1985. A new species of red-webbed Rhacophorus is described which can be distinguished by the other species by the presence of web between fingers, green dorsal coloration and red web on feet, the absence of blackish spots on web and on flanks, the absence of complete web between fingers and the absence of distinct dermal appendages on forelimbs, tarsi and feet. A key to the red-webbed species of Rhacophorus is given.
The spread of the parthenogenetic mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836) to Paradise Island, The Bahamas, with comments on citizen science observations of non-native herpetofauna

Tracking the introduction of non-native reptiles is important for understanding the effects of non-native species and is potentially a process aided by citizen science. We present new observations of the mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris, (Duméril and Bibron, 1836) on a new island in the Caribbean. Lepidodactylus lugubris was observed on Paradise Island, The Bahamas concomitant with citizen science observations on iNaturalist. An additional iNaturalist observation is presented, documenting a second report of L. lugubris on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. These reports demonstrate significant spreading of this non-native parthenogenetic species from its first record on a Caribbean island 10 years ago, the utility of citizen science observations for documenting the spread of non-native reptiles, as well as an observation of this species utilizing non-anthropogenic habitats in the Western Hemisphere, a potential precursor to detrimental effects on native species.
Heifers rearing on natural grassland under rotational grazing during warm season

ABSTRACT: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two rest intervals between grazing on the structural characteristics of pasture and performance of beef heifers in Campos grassland under rotational grazing. The treatments were two intervals between 375 and 750 DD (degree-days) grazing, based on the cumulative thermal sum for leaf expansion of native grasses belonging to capture and conservation groups of resources dominant in a natural grassland. The experiment was conducted during 151 days from October 2015 to March 2016, and twenty-four Braford heifers tests mean age = 12 months; mean body weight = 220kg (± 27.8) were used. The pre-grazing total forage mass (FMt) was on average 3791 kgMSha-1 and did not differ between treatments and season, the same occurred with the non-tussock FM. The average stocking rate was 469 kg ha-1 in both treatments. The average daily gain varied only between seasons, 0.102 kg animal-1 day-1 during spring and 0.372 kg animal-1 day-1 during summer. During the 151 evaluation days, the gain per area was a 103 kgha-1. The use of rest intervals between grazing based on the leaf elongation of dominant grasses, when applied to the areas of Campos grasslands, provided nutritional conditions to reach the target body weight for breeding 24 months old beef heifers.
Physical Properties, Crude Nutrient Content, and Nutritive Values of Fish Meals Produced from Overflowed Fishes for Laying Quails

| The present research aimed to define the potential availability of overflowed fish catch by traditional fishermen and to compare meal yield rate, physical property, crude nutrient content, and nutritive value of fish meal produced from overflowed fishes by direct or steam cooking before drying. Samples of three overflowed fishes, i.e., sardine, ponyfish, and mackerel tuna, were processed into meal products by direct sun drying or steam cooking before drying. Fish meals analyzed for physical properties (bulk density, compacted bulk density, angle of response), moisture, and crude nutrient content (crude protein, crude ash, crude fat, crude fiber), and minerals (Ca, P). Their nutritive values were evaluated by mixing 5% of fishmeal with basal diet and fed to 180 laying quails for 6 weeks. Parameters measured included feed intake, egg production, FCR, and eggshell quality. There were three species of overflowed fishes that were potentially available for producing a fish meal, i.e., sardine, pony fish, and mackerel tuna. Meal yield rate varied from 19.1 to 29.6%. The mackerel tuna had the highest meal rate of 24.5-29.6%. The results suggested that fish meals provided by the steam cooking before drying had lower meal yield rate but better product qualities in terms of physical properties, moisture, and crude nutrient content, and nutritive values.
Environmental Business Attitudes and Behaviors (Study on SMES in East Java, Indonesia)

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the dominant type of business in Indonesia. As a dominant business, SMEs can reduce unemployment through the use of labor, contributing to Indonesias GDP, and so forth. However, the production behavior carried out by SMEs gives many adverse effects on the environment, such as pollution. The purpose of this study was to describe the environmentally sound production behavior of SME producers ecologically. The design used in this study was qualitative research. The informants in this study were16 owners of SMEs. The research instrument consisted of interviews, participant observation, and documentation. The study reported there were still SMEs that did not do waste management so that it harmed environmental sustainability such as water, air, and soil pollution. Besides, the positive attitudes of the owners of SMEs related to environmentally sound businesses were not always following the behavior of the owners of SMEs.
Institutional performance and new product development value chain for entrepreneurial competitive advantage

Article history: Received January 2, 2020 Received in revised format June 8, 2020 Accepted July 17 2020 Available online July 17 2020 This study explains the role of institutional performance and new product development (NPD) value chain strategies to enhance entrepreneurial competitive advantage. The analysis was based on survey data on 125 entrepreneurial households, taken using the multi-stage random sampling technique in Central Java and Yogyakarta. The path analysis model is used to explain the role and strategy used quantitatively. It was supplemented by a value chain analysis (VCA) model based on a supply chain management (MSC) approach in a more classical, linear, complex, and descriptive sub-sector analysis. The results show that the NPD factors significantly contribute to increasing the entrepreneurial competitive advantage. Furthermore, the NPD value chain strategy, apart from benefiting managers, provides employment opportunities and new markets to the community holistically. Its chain strategy changes the role and atmosphere of people's lives more humane. 2020 by the authors; license Growing Science, Canada ©
Towards an in-depth characterization of Symbiodiniaceae in tropical giant clams via metabarcoding of pooled multi-gene amplicons

High-throughput sequencing is revolutionizing our ability to comprehensively characterize free-living and symbiotic Symbiodiniaceae, a diverse dinoflagellate group that plays a critical role in coral reef ecosystems. Most studies however, focus on a single marker for metabarcoding Symbiodiniaceae, potentially missing important ecological traits that a combination of markers may capture. In this proof-of-concept study, we used a small set of symbiotic giant clam (Tridacna maxima) samples obtained from nine French Polynesian locations and tested a dual-index sequence library preparation method that pools and simultaneously sequences multiple Symbiodiniaceae gene amplicons per sample for in-depth biodiversity assessments. The rationale for this approach was to allow the metabarcoding of multiple genes without extra costs associated with additional single amplicon dual indexing and library preparations. Our results showed that the technique effectively recovered very similar proportions of sequence reads and dominant Symbiodiniaceae clades among the three pooled gene amplicons investigated per sample, and captured varying levels of phylogenetic resolution enabling a more comprehensive assessment of the diversity present. The pooled Symbiodiniaceae multi-gene metabarcoding approach described here is readily scalable, offering considerable analytical cost savings while providing sufficient phylogenetic information and sequence coverage.
Effect of strategic nutrient supplementation on health, reproductive and productive status of buffaloes in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh

In Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, buffaloes have a significant contribution as dairy animals. Nutritional deficiencies cause several reproductive and metabolic problems in buffaloes. Rations of advanced pregnant buffaloes are mostly based on straw with very little concentrates and greens without any mineral supplementation. To find out the nutritional causes and in order to suggest the strategic nutrient supplementation to overcome these problems in dairy animals, the present study was conducted to know the nutrient status of buffaloes of Indore district of Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. Twenty (20) adult healthy advanced pregnant buffaloes identical in all respect were selected randomly from the area of the study and feed intake of individual animal was measured to work out nutrient availability by considering chemical composition of dietary ingredients. The nutrient availability of individual animal was compared with the nutrient requirements given in the feeding standards to work out the nutrient deficiencies/excess/imbalance. Results indicated shortage of DCP 11 %, P 21 %, Zn 65 %, Cu 2 %, vitamin A 45 % and vitamin E 80 % in advanced pregnant buffaloes. On the basis of results obtained a strategic nutritional supplement, containing deficient nutrients, was formulated. These animals (20) were divided into two groups (a) Control/Un-supplemented (n=10) fed on existing ration (b) Treatment/Supplemented (n=10) fed on existing ration supplemented with strategic nutrients during advanced pregnancy for 2 months. The strategic nutrient supplementation in advanced pregnant buffaloes found to prevent reproductive problems, metabolic disorders and mastitis. It also improved the health status of buffaloes. However, there was no significant difference in milk yield of supplemented and un-supplemented groups.
Analysis of COnjugation Induced (COI) genes in Tetrahymena thermophila

In Tetrahymena thermophila kommt es zu programmierter Eliminierung bestimmter DNA Sequenzen waehrend der sexuellen Reproduktion (Konjugation). Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, Gene zu identifizieren, die an der DNA Eliminierung beteiligt sind. 22 konjugations-spezifische Gene (COI Gene) konnten als potenzielle Kandidaten identifiziert werden. Im Verlauf dieser Arbeit wurde COI12, das eine spezifische Expression waehrend der Konjugation zeigt und notwendig ist fuer die Produktion lebensfaehiger Nachkommen, genauer analysiert. COI12 ist essentiell fuer die Eliminierung von DNA und agiert nach dem Export der scnRNA aus dem Mic in das Zytoplasma und vor dem Beladen des Argonaut Proteins Twi1p mit scnRNA. Ausserdem ist eine Primer-abhaengige RNA-abhaengige RNA Polymerase- (RdRP) Aktivitaet mit dem Protein Coi12p assoziiert. Coi12p interagiert mit zwei Proteinen, die Homologie zu bekannten RdRP Faktoren aufzeigen, Rdn3p and Rdf3p, und mit dem Dicer Protein Dcr1p. Moeglicherweise wird durch den mit Coi12p assoziierten RDRC dsRNA produziert, die von Dcr1p in sekundaere scnRNA prozessiert wird. Diese neue Klasse von scnRNA koennte spezifisch in Twi1p geladen werden und als epigenetischer Faktor im Prozess der DNA Eliminierung dienen.
Comparative Study of Pregnancy Rate of Dairy Cows Inseminated with Fresh or Frozen-Thawed Semen

The aim of this study was to investigate conception rates (CR) achieved with artificial insemination of Holstein cows using fresh or frozen insemination doses (ID). The synchronization protocols (Double-Ovsynch, Ovsynch, ReSynch) and pedometers were used to secure proper timing of artificial inseminations (AI). Total of 3979 inseminations data were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using the SAS 9.3 package. For the evaluation of a CR, the effects of ID type, season, year, sire breed, lactation number and oestrus detection type, were analysed. Cows inseminated with fresh ID performed higher CR (+4.86%; P < 0.05). Best pregnancy per artificial insemination (P/AI) success was observed during the winter season (+11.82%; P < 0.01). Parity affected P/AI with primiparous having a greater P/AI than multiparous cows (P < 0.01). The least likelihood of pregnancy success matched up with ReSynch and the highest with Ovsynch protocol (+7.7%; P < 0.05). In conclusion, fresh ID manifested superior CR over frozen-thawed semen under common conditions of Czech dairy farming. Similar or better P/AI was achieved when an automated activity monitoring were used rather than timed AI based on Ovsynch protocol, indicating a possible reduction in hormonal treatment applications without affecting fertility of high producing dairy cows.
Comparison Between UMAP and t-SNE for Multiplex-Immunofluorescence Derived Single-Cell Data from Tissue Sections

Using human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue samples stained with seven immune markers including one nuclear counterstain, we compared and evaluated the use of a new dimensionality reduction technique called Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP), as an alternative to t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (t-SNE) in analysing multiplex-immunofluorescence (mIF) derived single-cell data. We adopted an unsupervised clustering algorithm called FlowSOM to identify eight major cell types present in human HCC tissues. UMAP and t-SNE were ran independently on the dataset to qualitatively compare the distribution of clustered cell types in both reduced dimensions. Our comparison shows that UMAP is superior in runtime. Both techniques provide similar arrangements of cell clusters, with the key difference being UMAP’s extensive characteristic branching. Most interestingly, UMAP’s branching was able to highlight biological lineages, especially in identifying potential hybrid tumour cells (HTC). Survival analysis shows patients with higher proportion of HTC have a worse prognosis (p-value = 0.019). We conclude that both techniques are similar in their visualisation capabilities, but UMAP has a clear advantage over t-SNE in runtime, making it highly plausible to employ UMAP as an alternative to t-SNE in mIF data analysis.
Haematological and serum biochemical indices of finisher broilers fed Spondias mombin leaf meal

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Spondias mombin leaf meal on the blood indices of broiler finisher birds. Spondias mombin leaf meal was used to formulate four broiler finisher rations at 0.0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0% inclusion levels. Four groups of fifteen broiler chicks (28 days old) of Agrited breed were randomly assigned to four treatment diets in a completely randomized design and fed for 28 days. Each group was further subdivided into three replicates of five birds each. At the end of the feeding trial, blood was collected from three birds per treatment for haematological and biochemical analysis. Results showed that the haemoglobin (10.90 to 11.90 g/dl) and the red blood cells (32.6 to 36.33 x1012/L) were significantly decreased (P 0.05). The biochemical indices showed that total serum protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine and the enzyme-alkaline phosphatase were not affected by treatments (P> 0.05). Cholesterol was significantly decreased at 10.0 and 15.0% dietary levels. It was therefore concluded that, Spondias mombin leaf meal was not toxic to the blood of finisher broilers and therefore could be incorporated into broiler finisher ration up to 15.0% level without any deleterious effect.
Uncertainty and Economic Activity: Does it Matter for Thailand?

This paper investigates the role of domestic and foreign uncertainty shocks for macroeconomic dynamics in Thailand. We construct and compare various indicators of economic and policy uncertainty, including macroeconomic and financial uncertainty, as well as monetary policy, fiscal policy, and political uncertainty. We find that while all uncertainty measures display countercyclical behavior, they generate heterogenous effects on real GDP and its components depending on the type of shock. In general, the magnitude of real activity decline in response to economic and policy uncertainty shocks are on the scale of 1-2 percent, with most of the transmission occurring through investment and trade flows rather than consumption demand. In terms of persistence, Thai macroeconomic uncertainty shocks generate sudden impacts, while the effect of other shocks on the economy are more gradual. Despite being a small open economy, we find that domestic uncertainty shocks can be as prominent as uncertainty shocks that spillover from abroad. Thai monetary policy shocks generate declines in real activity that are as large and persistent as US financial uncertainty shocks, whereas the impact of both Thai fiscal policy uncertainty and US economic policy are both rather short-lived. Furthermore, we find that uncertainty is a key driver of fluctuations in domestic output, with certain types of uncertainty being able to explain up to 40 percent of the variation in real activity, even in the long run. Finally, we observe asymmetry in the effects of downside versus upside economic uncertainty shocks, but no difference between uncertainty of short versus long horizons.
CRITICAL REVIEW OF SUFI HEALING THERAPY IN DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT

This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of Sufi healing technique on drug addiction treatment. Methodology: The participants of this study involved 19 male drug addicts who underwent a full 12 intervention sessions using the Sufi healing technique to treat their addiction. They completed the first part of instrument on demographic data at pre-intervention session. During post-intervention session they completed the second part of instrument on their views on the Sufi treatment technique and the effectiveness of the technique on themselves. Results: The study shows that religion and spiritual teachings specifically Sufi techniques are important to the rehabilitation of drug addicts. The Sufi Healing Therapy (SHT) Model is shown to be accepted by the participants. SHT is also deemed to be effective in building the self-awareness of the participants in drug addiction intervention.
Evidence for Hot Chemistry Under Reduced Conditions in the Thermally Modified Stardust Samples

Introduction: The Stardust mission brought to Earth samples from the comet 81P/Wild 2. The hypervelocity impacts created deceleration tracks in the aerogel, along which the cometary material is unevenly distributed in various proportions [1-3]. The material dispersion along the tracks suggests weakly bounded material that mechanically disaggregated during the impact into aerogel. Several Stardust samples show evidence for thermal-induced modifications [1, 4-5]. Their typical microstructure consists of a dense silica–rich glassy matrix containing widespread beads of nanoscale Fe-Ni-S phases. This microstructure gives clear evidence for melting of the cometary dust and mixing with molten aerogel. Mixing was spatially limited and heterogeneous as shown by the presence of “dust-rich” submicron patches dispersed in molten aerogel [4]. In addition to melting, chemical reactions were established to occur in the high temperature melt as demonstrated by the presence of iron-silicides in some samples [5]. The objective of the present study is to discuss the chemical reactions which may have occurred in the thermally modified samples during the high temperature regime. We propose also a new petrological groundwork based on Fe-Mg-S ternary diagrams. Samples and experimental procedures: The five TEM (transmission electron microscope) utramicrotomed samples used for this study were extracted from several track walls. Details about extraction, manipulation and preparation for TEM by ultramicrotomy can by found in [1]. Results have been obtained at the University of Lille (France) using a TEM Philips CM30 (300 keV) and a TEM FEI Tecnai G2-20 twin, both equipped with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) (see [4] for a full description of the analytical procedure). Results: The domininant microstructure of the thermally modified samples is the presence of Fe-Ni-S nanophases within a SiO2-rich glassy matrix (Fig. 1). The glassy matrix contains also Mg, Al or Ca as for the most abundant ones. Their distribution is highly variable from place to place. They are mainly present as “dust-rich” patches in the melted aerogel matrix. Figure 2 shows an elemental distribution for Mg and Fe for an entire TEM slice. The correlation between Mg and Fe is relatively good. Figure 1: Bright field TEM image of sample C2054,0,35,52,3. The typical microstructure of the thermally modified samples consists of a silica-rich glassy matrix embedding nanoscaled Fe-Ni-S phases.
Technology-Enabled Learning: Policy, Pedagogy and Practice

This publication, based mostly on various technology-enabled learning (TEL) projects from the last five years, presents diverse experiences of TEL from a critical research perspective, offering lessons that can be deployed elsewhere. The chapters provide success stories about the planned and systematic integration of technology in teaching and learning, and present models for online training at scale using massive open online courses and other platforms. Within the framework of the policy-technology-capacity approach to TEL implementation at the micro, meso and macro levels, the chapters also provide guidelines for researching and evaluating similar projects and interventions.