Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathogenic Fitness of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis Isolates Causing Tan Spot of Winter Wheat in Oklahoma

Tan spot of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) caused by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis can be a significant disease, and thus developing resistant varieties using fit and virulent isolates is critical to wheat breeding programs. Hence, variability in fitness characters and virulence was determined for P. tritici-repentis isolates collected in three different decades (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s) from Oklahoma wheat fields. Growth (hyphal extension on media), conidia production on media, and conidia production on wheat leaves of a susceptible (TAM 105), an intermediate (Deliver) and a resistant (Red Chief) variety were determined for 17 isolates. Isolates also were evaluated for pseudothecia production and ascospore maturity on wheat straw, and isolate virulence was determined on all three wheat varieties. Isolates differed significantly (p<0.01) for growth on media, and for conidia production on agar and on wheat leaves. Isolates varied significantly in pseudothecia production and ascospore maturity on wheat straw. Isolates differed significantly (p<0.01) in virulence (percent leaf area infection) on the three wheat cultivars. Isolates collected from the 2000s were more virulent than those collected in the 1980s and 1990s, and also were deemed to be more fit than isolates collected in the 1980s and 1990s in terms of traits such as growth, conidia production, pseudothecia formation, mature ascospore production, and virulence. This fitness could affect the competitiveness of these isolates in the field, as well as facilitate selection of isolates used to test wheat germplasm lines for reaction to tan spot.
Human Dimensions of Urban Blue and Green Infrastructure during a Pandemic. Case Study of Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia)

Significant challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that features of a modern, sustainable and resilient city should not only relate to fulfilling economic and social urban strategies, but also to functional urban design, in particular, related to urban blue and green infrastructure (BGI). Using results from a web-based questionnaire survey conducted May–July 2020 in Moscow (Russia) and Perth (Australia), this paper provides insights regarding citizens’ needs for and values of urban BGI as well as their changes during and after the COVID-19 restrictions. Survey data collected during the lockdown period have captured information about people’s ability to access green and blue spaces within urban BGI, inequalities in access, feelings, and values as well as needs and perceived pathways of future development of urban natural environment. In both cities, lockdowns limited access of people to green spaces which affected their mental and physical health. Survey results revealed that the quality, functionality, and location of open green spaces illustrated a disparity in distribution, meaning that in many cases several communities from particular neighborhoods suffered from limited access to BGI. Furthermore, in addition to analyzing perceptions and values of urban nature during the COVID-19 pandemic, some suggestions for improvement of urban BGI based on the survey responses are provided.
Happiness Training Effectiveness for Increasing of Marital Sexual Satisfaction of Female Staff

Sexual satisfaction is affected by a variety of factors. Happiness tends to be a pivotal factor in sexual satisfaction. Unique in its own, in this paper we seek how happiness relates to sexual satisfaction among Iranians. the present research is a semi-experimental research using pre-test, post-test and follow-up design. The research statistical population comprised all the female working staff of Farhangiyan University of Pardis-e Amir Kabir located in Karaj. Individuals whose sexual satisfaction was not related to any types of sexual disorder were selected, out of which 30 individuals were randomly selected and assigned into the experimental and control groups and received eight 90-minute sessions of Fordyce Happiness training (Fordyce, 1983). Sexual satisfaction questionnaire (Divband, 2008) was used to collect the required data and covariance analysis was used for data analysis. Findings indicated that, the difference between the means of pre-test, post-test and follow-up is significant in the factors of training and group. Put it differently, Fordyce happiness group training was effective in the increase of the score of sexual satisfaction and was significant in the comparison of two groups. With regard to the results it can be concluded that, happiness can be easily considered as a component of life-enhancing quality and introduced as an effective and appropriate method to increase the sexual satisfaction.
Cancel Culture on Twitter: The Effects of Information Source and Messaging on Post Shareability and Perceptions of Corporate Greenwashing

This paper is a mixed-method study divided into three parts. Part I provides an overview of the current literature on corporate greenwashing, social media marketing and the intersection of the two. The section concludes by developing a theoretical model and testable hypotheses that aim to explain how individuals might process tweets as it pertains to environmental messaging from external third-party commentators. Part II empirically tests the hypotheses through a 2x2 between-participants survey experiment (n=200) to measure the effects of information source (author of the tweet) and post message (positive versus negative) on two dependent variable constructs: post shareability and environmental authenticity. The empirical study finds that (1) positive posts have a higher likelihood of being liked/shared than negative posts, (2) that thirdparty commentary from more credible information sources are ranked more favourably in environmental authenticity for both positive and negative conditions compared to less credible information sources, and (3) that the credibility of an information source does not have a statistically significant effect on the likelihood of a post being shared or liked. Part III aims to provide colour into potential behavioural mechanisms behind the causal relationships tested in Part II. Part III is exploratory in nature and uses a series of qualitative in-depth individual case studies (n=10) to propose a set of future research questions that would develop a more nuanced understanding to complement the empirical findings.
Multilinear Regression for Gamma Expansion of Overexposed Content Technical Report RR-03-11

Reverse tone mapping techniques aim at increasing the dynamic range of legacy low dynamic range images, generally for viewing on high dynamic range displays. Almost all existing reverse tone mapping operators (rTMOs) follow the same strategy: they first compute some sort of expand map based on detecting high-luminance areas of the LDR input images; pixels included in such expand map are then aggressively expanded, while the rest are either left unchanged or only slightly expanded. While this strategy works well for correctly exposed images (where typically only a small percentage of pixels are saturated), its performance decreases significantly when the input images are overexposed to begin with, as was shown by Masia et al. [4]. In their work, the authors show that, for overexposed input content, a global rTMO based on a simple gamma expansion outperforms more sophisticated algorithms, across a range of different overexposure levels. This finding should help guide the design of future reverse tone mapping operators. The authors additionally propose an easy method to obtain a suitable γ value for each image, based on computing its key value, which is an indicator of whether the scene is subjectively dark or light. This work extends the original publication by Masia et al. by further investigating other image metrics and statistics, which can be used to compute suitable γ values for the low dynamic range input images. We propose new, robust models that are still straightforward to compute, while showing
CUE353-DIVIDEND PAYMENT AND EARNINGS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN BRAZILIAN PUBLIC FIRMS AUTORIA

This paper examines the relation between dividend payment policy and earnings management practices in Brazilian public firms. Based on a sample of 200 Brazilian public firms from 2011 to 2017, we applied multilevel panel data with three structural levels: firm, industry and ownership concentration. Our findings show that is a positive and significant relation between dividend payout ratio and absolute discretionary accruals, as a proxy for earnings management practices. However, a singular form to distribute cash to shareholders by Brazilian firms seems to mitigate this agency conflict since our results show a negative and significant relation between interest on equity and absolute discretionary accruals. Finally, additional tests demonstrate that higher dividend payment levels also reduce the earnings management practices, even when we consider the joint effect of interest on equity. Consequently, this reduction in earnings management practices could benefit shareholders by providing better accounting information quality.
A Mixed-Methods Investigation of TEFL Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Qualitative Research: Challenges and Solutions in the Spotlight

This study explored the challenges of conducting qualitative research encountered by Iranian Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) graduate students and their solutions for them. To delve into the issue, 20 TEFL graduate students who had passed a research methodology course were selected based on their availability from among the participants of the study who were selected based on purposive sampling from various universities. The participants thus selected sat a semi-structured interview based on the results of which, a researcher-made five-point Likert-scale questionnaire was developed and validated. Next, one hundred TEFL graduate students who had passed the research methodology course were selected based on purposive sampling from different universities across the country to respond to the questionnaire developed as mentioned above. The results of descriptive statistics revealed that the most important aspect of qualitative research from the students’ viewpoint was data analysis; likewise, the most challenging part was data analysis. Moreover, the participants described how educational systems’ overemphasis on quantitative research frameworks left little space or time for learning sophisticated qualitative research approaches. Finally, the majority of the participants deemed the introduction and presentation of an independent course on qualitative research methodology in the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in TEFL highly necessary.
Future projections of High Atlas snowpack and runoff under
climate change

Abstract. The High Atlas, culminating at more than 4000 m, is the water tower of Morocco. While plains receive less than 400 mm of precipitation in an average year, the mountains can get twice as much, often in the form of snow between November and March. Snowmelt thus accounts for a large fraction of the river discharge in the region, and is particularly critical during spring, as the wet season ends but the need for irrigation increases. In the same region, future climate change projections point towards a significant decline in precipitation and enhanced warming of temperature. Understanding how the High Atlas snowpack will evolve under such trends is therefore of paramount importance to make informed projections of future water availability in Morocco. Here, we build on previous research results on snow and climate modeling in the High Atlas to make detailed projections of snowpack and river flow response to climate change in this region. Using a distributed energy balance snow model based on SNOW-17, high-resolution climate simulations over Morocco, and a panel regression framework to relate runoff ratios to regional meteorological conditions, we quantify the severe declines in snowpack and river discharge that are to be expected, even under a scenario of substantial mitigation of emissions. Our results have important implications for water resources planning and sustainability of agriculture in this already water-stressed region.
CommunityPulse: Facilitating Community Input Analysis by Surfacing Hidden Insights, Reflections, and Priorities

Increased access to online engagement platforms has created a shift in civic practice, enabling civic leaders to broaden their outreach to collect a larger number of community input, such as comments and ideas. However, sensemaking of such input remains a challenge due to the unstructured nature of text comments and ambiguity of human language. Hence, community input is often left unanalyzed and unutilized in policymaking. To address this problem, we interviewed 14 civic leaders to understand their practices and requirements. We identified challenges around organizing the unstructured community input and surfacing community’s reflections beyond binary sentiments. Based on these insights, we built CommunityPulse, an interactive system that combines text analysis and visualization to scaffold different facets of community input. Our evaluation with another 15 experts suggests CommunityPulse’s efficacy in surfacing multiple facets such as reflections, priorities, and hidden insights while reducing the required time, effort, and expertise for community input analysis.
Dissecting The Sonic Identity Of Brands: Timbre Of Sonic Logo And Brand Perception

Sonic logos have been recognized by modern marketers as one of the most essential elements of sensory marketing that establish a brand’s identity and render a brand memorable. This paper examines the emotional implications of sonic logos. An experiment investigating the emotional impact of four versions of a fictional radio advertisement (three versions that feature a sonic logo performed on the violin, the piano, the trumpet, and one that does not feature a sonic logo) was conducted. Specifically, a text analysis of participants’ comments regarding the brand and an analysis of the participants’ perceived warmth of the nonprofit brand was conducted. The influence of the four stimuli on respondents’ willingness to spread positive word of mouth was also analyzed. Results suggest that the piano sonic logo produced the most positive comments, but that the perceived warmth of the brand was highest for the group that listened to the trumpet sonic logo. The violin treatment group scored the lowest perceived warmth of the brand and generated comments that were less positively valanced than the other groups. Furthermore, the trumpet treatment groups’ willingness to spread positive word of mouth was highest among the four groups.
DETERMINANTS OF LOAN LOSS PROVISIONS OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NEPAL

This study aims to derive determinants of loan loss provisions (LLPs) of commercial banks in Nepal using pooled data of ten commercial banks with the 50 observations over the period of 2012/13 to 2016/17. The descriptive and causal comparative research designs have been adopted for the study. The need for this research is due to failures in the loan loss provisioning practices which resulted in loan loss provisions (LLP) not reflecting on collectability of the defaulted loans. As a consequence, the banks do not capture their loss expectations and do not continuously reassess their loss expectations as the conditions affecting their borrowers may change. The study has been used loan loss provision on total assets as dependent variables and natural logarithm of total assets, total loan to total assets ratio, nonperforming loan to total assets ratio, earnings before taxes and provisions to total assets, capital adequacy ratio, loan to deposit ratio taken as independent variables. The estimated regression model reveals that nonperforming loan ratio (NPL) and loan to deposit ratio are significant positive impact of loan loss provisions. This study concluded that nonperforming loan ratio (NPL) and loan to deposit ratio are the mainly determinants of loan loss provisions of commercial banks in Nepal.
The Effectiveness of SBIRT Training for Online RN to BSN Nursing Students

Background: Substance abuse is a significant problem in the United States. More than half of Americans ages 12 and older are current drinkers of alcohol; Over a quarter report current use of a tobacco product and 10.2% report use of illicit drugs. Substance abuse is a significant threat to the health of our American citizens as statistics reveal it as a major cause of preventable deaths. Addressing the substance abuse crisis merits attention and skills training for our healthcare professionals. Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) is an evidence-based simple screening tool that nurses can use to identify those at risk for substance abuse and provide brief intervention and referral to treatment. Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of an online SBIRT training in RN to BSN nursing students by assessing the change in knowledge, readiness to perform, attitudes, and confidence related to the use of SBIRT in practice. Method: An interventional comparative method was used. The participants were asked to complete a pre and post intervention survey following a SBIRT training. The survey research design was used for gathering information from RN to BSN nursing students (n = 162) from a large private online university in the U.S. Participants were ages 18 and above, and mainly ages 45-54 (35%). Findings: The majority of the RN-BSN student nurse participants were between 45-54 years old (34.6%); 74.4%, worked in acute settings, 11 % identified as African American and 75% identified as White. A t-test was conducted, and results showed a statistically significant improvement in knowledge, attitudes, confidence, and readiness to perform SBIRT. Conclusion: This study supports the growing evidence that online SBIRT delivery is a viable tool for increasing student nurses' knowledge, confidence in performing SBIRT, and changing students' attitudes toward patients with substance use disorder (SUD). Nursing students who understand substance use disorder's etiology, treatment, and rehabilitation, may treat patients with SUD, just like they treat patients with chronic diseases. Their positive attitudes toward these patients may influence their degrees of encouragement and support, which are essential to treatment and recovery. Nursing students who are confident in performing SBIRT will most likely use this tool in their routine patient care if their practice environment supports it. This study shows the utility of online SBIRT education as a tool to empower nurses to help decrease substance use disorder in the population(s) they serve.
Joint Generation and Bi-Encoder for Situated Interactive MultiModal Conversations

This paper presents our work on the fourth track in Dialog State Tracking Challenge 9 – Situated Interactive MultiModal Conversations (SIMMC) challenge, which aims at building virtual assistants that can handle multimodal inputs and perform multimodal actions. For this challenge, we propose an end-to-end encoder-decoder model based on BART for generating outputs of action prediction, response generation, and dialogue state tracking tasks in a single string, and another model based on Bi-encoders for response retrieval task. Our models came in the ﬁrst place for the action prediction and response retrieval tasks, and the second place for the response generation and dialogue state tracking tasks, achieving the ﬁrst position of overall ranking in the challenge. In particular, our Bi-encoder models for the response retrieval task signiﬁ-cantly outperformed the other entries of the challenge’s ofﬁ-cial evaluation. Furthermore, our models show similar performance on the two test datasets (devtest dataset whose ground-truth are released publicly and test-std dataset whose ground-truth are not released publicly), which shows the robustness of our models.
A Fresh Look at Zones and Octagons

Zones and Octagons are popular abstract domains for static program analysis. They enable the automated discovery of simple numerical relations that hold between pairs of program variables. Both domains are well understood mathematically but the detailed implementation of static analyses based on these domains poses many interesting algorithmic challenges. In this article, we study the two abstract domains, their implementation and use. Utilizing improved data structures and algorithms for the manipulation of graphs that represent difference-bound constraints, we present fast implementations of both abstract domains, built around a common infrastructure. We compare the performance of these implementations against alternative approaches offering the same precision. We quantify the differences in performance by measuring their speed and precision on standard benchmarks. We also assess, in the context of software verification, the extent to which the improved precision translates to better verification outcomes. Experiments demonstrate that our new implementations improve the state of the art for both Zones and Octagons significantly.
Gonial Angle of Healthy Young Males and Females in Indonesia: A Study Using the Facial Photometry

Introduction: Photometry gonial angle is a simpler and economic method useful to determine sex dimorphism and in orthodontic and prosthetic treatment plans, compared to the more common technique e.g. radiomorphometry of panoramic images. We aimed to compare the right and the left gonial angles of the young healthy males and females based on their frontal facial photographs. Methods: Twenty Indonesian males and twenty females aged 19-25 years were photographed facing forward at the 1.5 m of distance from the 12 mp DSLR camera held by a tripod in the relax sitting position. Photometry was conducted using tpsDig2 ver 2.3 software. Data were analyzed with independent t-test using SPSS 24.0. Level of significant was p< 0.05. Results: The mean ± SD value of the right gonial angle in males was 133.7 ± 4.68; the left side was 133.6 ± 5.49. Whilst was 134.2 ± 5.52 and 134.4 ± 4.98 in the right and the left side on the females, respectively. No significant differences of the right or the left gonial angle were found between males and females (p=0.784 and p=0.651, respectively). Conclusion: Photometry of the gonial angle was not significantly different between sexes in the current study; although future study with larger sample numbers and other methods should be done to confirm this.
Molecular Characterization, Tissue Distribution, and Expression Profiling of the CTSD Gene during Goose Ovarian Follicle Development

Cathepsin D (CTSD) is known to be crucial for the degradation and utilization of yolk precursors in ovarian follicles. However, little is known about its expression profiles and physiological actions in avian ovarian cells. In this study, the intact coding sequence of the CTSD gene in geese was cloned for the first time, with a length of 1197 bp. It encoded a polypeptide of 398 amino acids (AA) consisting of a signal peptide and two conserved functional domains (i.e., A1_Propeptide and Cathepsin_D2). The AA sequence of goose CTSD had > 96% similarities with the homologs of turkeys, chickens, and ducks. Results from real-time PCR showed that goose CTSD mRNA was present in all tissues examined, with higher levels in the adrenal gland, liver, heart, and reproductive organs. Furthermore, levels of CTSD mRNA were much higher in goose granulosa layers than in the theca layers in any follicular category. Significantly, its expression remained almost unchanged in the theca layers throughout follicle development, while it increased gradually in the granulosa layers from 2-4 mm to F5 follicles but declined there after. These results suggested that CTSD may regulate goose ovarian follicle development through its actions on both the degradation and absorption of yolk precursors and granulosa cell apoptosis.