Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Location in location-less environments: The role of geospatial concordance in online information evaluation

In spite of the capacity for the Internet to connect people and information irrespective of geography, physical location may paradoxically provide influential indicators of the perceived expertise of strangers and the credibility of the information they provide that may in turn guide people’s behaviors. To address this, this study examined the novel concept of geospatial concordance or the degree to which entities implicated in the sharing of aggregated opinions in online information pools are physically close to each other in geographic space. Predictions were tested in the context of user-generated online reviews using stimuli reflecting various types of geospatial concordance: between information consumers and online reviewers, between reviewed venues and their reviewers, and between consumers and reviewed venues. Findings support geographic perspectives emphasizing space as a mental construction imbued with particular meaning and confirm psychological views that people mentally construe places at different levels of abstraction, depending on their psychological, and physical, distance from them.
Monopolar Vs. Bipolar TURBT: analysis of safety, efficacy and histopathological outcome

1. Department of Urology & Renal transplant, V.M. Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi 110029, India 2. National Institute of Pathology, ICMR Safdarjung Hospital campus, New Delhi 110029, India ABSTRACT To prospectively compare monopolar and bipolar TURBT for its perioperative safety and efficacy along with the histopathological outcome of the biopsy specimen. The 96 consecutive eligible patients between July 2015 and August 2017, who were planned for TURBT, were randomized into two equal groups: group A] monopolar TURBT and group B] Bipolar TURBT. Patient’s perioperative, histopathological and 1 year check cystoscopy data were collected and analysed. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were statistically similar. The operative time (p=0.51), post-operative haemoglobin (p=0.30) and duration of catheterization (p=0.63) were similar between the two groups. Pathological stage, grade and cautery artefacts affecting histopathological diagnosis were similar between the two groups. The obturator jerk, bladder perforation and need for blood transfusion were reported more with monopolar TURBT, but did not differ significantly with bipolar TURBT. Four and 6 patients required re-TURBT as detrusor muscle was not identifiable in the resected tissue in monopolar vs. bipolar group, respectively. Bipolar TURBT is as efficient and safe as monopolar TURBT regarding intraoperative safety and histopathological quality of resected tissue.
Metapopulation Dynamics and Genetics

Metapopulation dynamics as originally defined by Levins consists of the extinction and colonization of local populations. Theory suggests that these processes can profoundly affect demographic persistence, the coexistence of interacting species, genetic variation, and evolution. However, a review of empirical studies illustrates the limitations of the Levins definition and indicates the need for a more complex view of metapopulation dynamics. We describe a modeling approach that can incorporate a greater range of ecological and genetic processes within local populations. We discuss uses of this general formulation, its connections to other modeling frameworks, and directions for the future integration of ecological and genetic studies of metapopulations.
Compensated Horner scheme in complex floating point arithmetic

Several different techniques and softwares intend to improve the accuracy of results computed in a fixed finite precision. Here we focus on a method to improve the accuracy of polynomial evaluation via Horner’s scheme. Such an algorithm exists for polynomials with real floating point coefficients. In this paper, we provide a new algorithm which deals with polynomials with complex floating point coefficients. We show that the computed result is as accurate as if computed in twice the working precision. The algorithm is simple since it only requires addition, subtraction and multiplication of floating point numbers in the same working precision as the given data. Such an algorithm can be useful for example to compute zeros of polynomial by Newton-like methods.
The modern avifauna of the Pitcairn Islands

Abstract Excluding the gadfly petrelsPterodromaspp. and the resident landbirds, this paper details the present status of bird species seen during an expedition to the Pitcairn Islands (Ducie, Henderson, Oeno and Pitcairn) in 1991 and early 1992. Ten species were recorded in the Islands for the first time. Several Southern Ocean petrels were recorded, most in the midwinter period of June and July. The populations of Christmas Island shearwaters breeding on Oeno and Ducie laid in synchrony every 9–10 months. The species is one of few with such a sub-annual, synchronized regime. The majority of other seabirds had an annual breeding cycle, laying between May and October. Around one percent of the world population of the bristle-thighed curlew passes the non-breeding season in the Pitcairn Islands.
Can Forecast Errors Predict Financial Crises? Exploring the Properties of a New Multivariate Credit Gap

Yes, they can. I propose a new method to detect credit booms and busts from multivariate systems -- monetary Bayesian vector autoregressions. When observed credit is systematically higher than credit forecasts justified by real economic activity variables, a positive credit gap emerges. The methodology is tested for 31 advanced and emerging market economies. The resulting credit gaps fit historical evidence well and detect turning points earlier, outperforming the credit-to-GDP gaps in signaling financial crises, especially at longer horizons. The results survive in real time and can shed light on the drivers of credit booms.
On the Strategy of "Eating Your Competitor": A Mathematical Analysis of Algal Mixotrophy

Recent experimental evidence indicates the importance in some pelagic sys- tems of mixotrophic protists that combine photosynthetic ability with the ability to ingest bacteria. If both bacteria and phytoplankton are mineral nutrient limited, this should provide the mixotrophs with the double benefit of combining removal of their competitor with ingestion of the limiting nutrient in pelleted form. It is the objective of this study to expand the classical theories of competition and predation to explore the effect on the microbial food web of one trophic group possessing both strategies. In a chemostat scenario, we analyzed the two-species situation of a mixotroph preying on mineral-nutrient-limited bac- teria, and also the situations when the mixotroph in addition has to compete with specialized photoautotrophic and phagotrophic protists, each superior to the mixotroph in their spe- cialized nutritional modes. In the mixotroph-bacteria relationship, somewhat paradoxically, high predatory abilities will reduce the quantitative importance of predation in the mixo- troph's nutrition. The reason is a strong reduction in prey abundance, allowing the mixotroph to survive as a photoautotroph despite its low competitive ability. In the three-species case with mixotrophs, bacteria, and specialized phagotrophs, it is shown that the mixotroph can compensate for a "price" paid in reduced affinity for bacterial prey by a sufficiently high affinity for mineral nutrients. In the other three-species case where the mixotroph has to compete with a specialized photoautotroph, the situation is more complex; there is an optimum value for the mixotroph's predatory ability at which mixotroph biomass is max- imized. In the general situation with all four species (bacteria, mixotrophs, and specialized auto- and phagotrophs) potentially present, different mixotrophic strategies will alter the equilibrium composition of the consortium, with the mixotroph being most successful with a high affinity for nutrients and an intermediate affinity for bacteria. In the simple form used here, the model predicts no equilibrium with all four species simultaneously present. The theory is in principle directly applicable to laboratory experimentation.
Study of Association of Anti-Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Mannan Antibodies in Patients of Ankylosing Spondylitis

Inflammatory bowel disease especially Crohn’s disease is associated with presence of IgG and IgA antibodies against the phosphor-peptidomannan of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Various studies have assessed the association of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiaeantibodies (ASCA) with several autoimmune diseases postulating molecular mimicry as a possible link between ASCA and autoimmunity.This study was done to find out the prevalence of ASC Ain serum of patients of Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) patients. A case control study was conducted to find the association of ASCA with AS in 232 cases of AS and 100 age and sex matched controls. The presence of antiSaccharomyces cerevisiae mannan antibodies was estimated using commercial ELISA kit. ASCA IgA and IgG antibodies were significantly increased in AS patients as compared to control. 8.6% of AS patients were positive for ASCA IgA and 9.5% were positive for ASCA IgG while in control only 1 case of AS was positive for ASCA IgA but no case was positive for ASCA IgG. This study showed a significant correlation between AS patients and prevalence of ASCA suggesting a possible pathognomonic association.
Testing a developmental model in the fossil record: molar proportions in South American ungulates

Abstract A developmental model, based upon murine rodents, has been proposed by Kavanagh et al. (2007) to explain lower molar proportions in mammals. We produce a clade-wide macroevolutionary test of the model using the dental evolutionary trends in a unique radiation of extinct mammals endemic to South America (“Meridiungulata”) that comprise a diverse array of molar morphologies. All of the South American ungulate groups examined follow the inhibitory cascade model with the exception of two groups: Interatheriidae (Notoungulata) and Astrapotheria. For most taxa studied, ratios between lower molar areas are greater than 1.0, indicating a weak inhibition by m1 on the subsequent molars in the tooth row, and a trend to greater absolute size of the posterior molars. Comparisons of mean ratios between clades indicate that a significant phylogenetic signal can be detected, particularly between the two groups within Notoungulata— Typotheria and Toxodontia. Body mass estimates were found to be significantly correlated with both m3/m1 and m2/m1 ratios, suggesting that the larger body size achieved the weaker inhibition between the lower molars. Molar ratio patterns are examined and discussed in relation to the independent and numerous acquisitions of hypsodonty that are characteristic of dental evolution in “Meridiungulata. ”
SWIMMING RESPONSE TO WATER CURRENT IN PARATYA AUSTRALIENSIS KEMP, 1917 (DECAPODA, ATYIDAE) UNDER LABORATORY CONDITIONS

The swimming response to flow of the freshwater shrimp Paratya australiensis Kemp, 1917, was examined in a small recirculating laboratory stream. On three occasions during 1993 larvae, juveniles, small and large adults, and ovigerous females were collected from headwater populations and tested in the laboratory at current speeds of 10 and 30 cm s-1. Juvenile and adult shrimps showed the same strong positive rheotactic response at velocities of 10 and 30 cm s-1. However, large adults moved upstream more rapidly than juveniles and small adults. This response was not influenced by the time of year of collection or time of day tested (day/night). Ovigerous females showed a weak response to flow and tended to maintain position rather than move into the current. Early stage larvae (stages III and IV) were not able to maintain position at the lowest velocities. The positive rheotactic response of shrimps, particularly large adults, is seen as an adaptation to compensate for downstream movement of larvae by drift and juvenile and adult displacement during high discharge events. La nage en reponse au courant chez la crevette d'eau douce Paratya australiensis Kemp, 1917, a ete examinee en laboratoire dans un petit courant continu d'eau. A trois reprises durant l'annee 1993, des larves, des juveniles, de petits et grands adultes, ainsi que des femelles ovigeres ont ete collectes dans populations situees en amont et testes au laboratoire a des vitesses de courant de 10 a 30 cm s-1. Les crevettes juveniles et adultes ont repondu par une forte rheotaxie positive aux vitesses de 10 a 30 cm s-1. Cependant, les adultes de grande taille se sont deplaces vers l'amont plus rapidement que les juveniles et les petits adultes. Cette reponse n'a pas ete influencee par le moment du prelevement, que ce soit au cours de l'annee ou de la journee (jour/nuit). Les femelles ovigeres ont donne une faible reponse au courant et tendaient a maintenir leur position plutot qu'a se deplacer dans le courant. Les jeunes larves (stades III et IV) n'etaient pas capables de maintenir leur position aux vitesses les plus basses. La rheotaxie positive des crevettes, en particulier des grands adultes, est consideree comme une adaptation pour compenser le mouvement des larves entrainees vers l'aval par le courant et le deplacement des jeunes et des adultes au moment des hautes eaux.
Evaluation of Bone Density after Bone Condensation around Immediate Loaded Dental Implants using Different Techniques

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the bone density changes around immediate loaded dental implants after bone condensation with different techniques. Materials and Methods: Twenty-one implants were inserted in 14 female patients with missing maxillary posterior teeth. Patients were randomly divided according to the method of osseocondensation into three equal groups. Group I: The osseodensification technique was performed by densah burs, which followed by immediate implantation. Group II: Bone expander technique was used and followed by immediate implantation. Group III: Conventional surgical drilling technique was used and followed by immediate placement of implant with progressive threads design. Implant stability was clinically assessed at three and six months post-operatively. Moreover, Peri-implant Probing Depth (PPD) and Modified Sulcus Bleeding Index (mSBI) were evaluated at three and six months post-operatively. For radiographic assessment of bone density, CBCT was obtained preoperatively, and immediately postoperative. All clinical and radiographic data were subjected to statistical analysis. Results: Regarding implant stability, PPD and mSBI, no statistically significant difference was found between the three groups. The immediate postoperative bone density showed significant increase in the three groups when compared with the preoperative bone density. Conclusion: Bone density measurements increased postoperatively as a result of bone compression around the placed implants, which is important especially in areas of poor bone quality as the posterior maxilla for enhancing the initial implant stability. [Amira Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Attia, Wael Mohamed Said Ahmed, Mai Ahmed Haggag, Mohamed AbdelMoniem Tawfik. Evaluation of Bone Density after Bone Condensation around Immediate Loaded Dental Implants using Different Techniques. J Am Sci 2020;16(7):33-42]. ISSN 1545-1003 (print); ISSN 2375-7264 (online). http://www.jofamericanscience. org. 6. doi:10.7537/marsjas160720.06.
FIR-BASED NARROWBAND ACTIVE NOISE CONTROL WITH A NEW ONLINE SECONDARY-PATH MODELING SUBSYSTEM

Injecting auxiliary random noise is an effective approach to implementing the online secondarypath modeling (SPM) subsystem in active noise control (ANC). In this paper, a typical FIR-based narrowband ANC (NANC) system with online SPM is proposed to reduce the sinusoidal noise generated by rotating machines, especially its lower frequency portion. A first-order FIR filter or magnitude/phase adjuster (MPA) serves as a sub-controller in each frequency channel. The contributions of this work are twofold. A bandpass filter bank based on IIR notch filters is introduced to mitigate the coupling between the controller (MPAs) and the SPM subsystem, which significantly improves the performance of the overall system. Furthermore, the proposed system requires only one x-filtering block regardless of the number of targeted frequencies, which considerably reduces the computational cost of the system. Simulations as well as application to real noise are conducted to demonstrate that the proposed system is superior to its conventional version in terms of overall system convergence and online SPM quality.
Fabrication and characterisation of planar polymer waveguide grating sensors

Several fabrication methods and materials are evaluated in order to fabricate planar polymer Bragg grating sensors. Two major techniques are investigated experimentally in-depth. The first one is based on a mechanical imprinting method where the pattern of a Si-master stamp is transferred to a soft material such as PDMS and then subsequently to a low-loss optical material such as OrmoClad/EpoClad. The second method uses a UV-lamp and phase mask to produce a sinusoidal interference pattern of required period. Volume and surface dielectric gratings were fabricated in several materials such as epoxies EpoCore/Clad, methacrylates PMMA and hybrid materials OrmoCer. A sensor was produced by transferring the grating formed in PMMA to EpoClad by means of a Reactive Ion Etching process and defining EpoCore single-mode waveguides on top. The produced second order Bragg grating with period 1. 01μm features a Bragg reflectivity of -31dB @ 1581 nm and FWHM of 90pm. Keywords— Planar polymer Bragg grating sensor, phase mask, soft lithography, imprinting, refractive index modification, PMMA
MODIFIED NON-GAUSSIAN FILTERS FOR SYNTHETIC TUR- BULENCE

In this work, a new Random-Eddy-Superposition (RES) technique is proposed to reproduce the major statistics of the synthetic turbulent field. The non-Gaussian filters are directly employed instead of Gaussian superposition, which are modified to generate a two-dimensional turbulent field maintaining the key characteristics of three-dimensional velocity spectra with zero spanwise wavenumber. It can overcome the limitations of the previous digital filter methods, getting rid of the inconvenience induced by complex hypergeometric functions and Mach number-dependent eddy parameters. Moreover, the RES technique offers improvement in accuracy and cost, with the results showing good agreement with theoretical solutions and experimental results.
Modeling active cellular transport as a directed search process with stochastic resetting and delays

We show how certain active transport processes in living cells can be modeled in terms of a directed search process with stochastic resetting and delays. Two particular examples are the motor-driven intracellular transport of vesicles to synaptic targets in the axons and dendrites of neurons, and the cytoneme-based transport of morphogen to target cells during embryonic development. In both cases, the restart of the search process following reset has a finite duration with two components: a finite return time and a refractory period. We use a probabilistic renewal method to explicitly calculate the splitting probabilities and conditional mean first passage times (MFPTs) for capture by a finite array of contiguous targets. We consider two different search scenarios: bounded search on the interval [0, L], where L is the length of the array, with a refractory boundary at x = 0 and a reflecting boundary at x = L (model A), and partially bounded search on the half-line (model B). In the latter case there is a non-zero probability of failure to find a target in the absence of resetting. We show that both models have the same splitting probabilities, and that increasing the resetting rate r increases (reduces) the splitting probability for proximal (distal) targets. On the other hand the MFPTs for model A are monotonically increasing functions of r, whereas the MFPTs of model B are non-monotonic with a minimum at an optimal resetting rate. We also formulate multiple rounds of search-and-capture events as a G/M/∞ queue and use this to calculate the steady-state accumulation of resources in the targets.
Identity and the cost of information

This paper proposes a theory of rational information avoidance based solely on the desire to protect identity, a person’s sense of self. Identity-caring individuals follow the prescriptions: behaviors that are appropriate given the identity. Information is costly because it can recommend a behavior that violates the prescriptions. The theory rationalizes information avoidance observed in different domains without resorting to cognitive biases, motivated reasoning or time-inconsistency. By analyzing revealed preferences over menus of actions, it is possible to disentangle identity protection from the many alternative rationalizations of information avoidance. The key behavioral restriction, a desire to have fewer options, supplies an identity-based explanation for excess entry in competitive environments, low participation of married women to the labor force, under-use of flexible work arrangements, and ethnic-specific differences in human capital accumulation.
Stomatal behaviour and water movement through roots of wheat plants treated with abscisic acid

Abstract Experiments with isolated roots of wheat plants suggested that when water uptake rates are low, low concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA) may increase the flux of water into roots. This increase was recorded despite an ABA-stimulated reduction in the hydraulic conductance of the whole root system. Hydraulic conductances were measured under steady-state conditions. A system is described where the stomatal behaviour and water movement through roots of a single intact plant may be concurrently monitored. Experiments with intact plants confirmed that application of ABA could increase the rate of water movement into roots when uptake rates were low. No such increase was observed at high flux rates. Application of ABA to roots caused partial stomatal closure and caused conductance to oscillate around a reduced mean value. An ABA-stimulated increase in the turgor sensitivity of stomata is postulated and the significance of this effect is discussed.
Do Investors Care about Earnings Quality? An Empirical Analysis

This study examines a panel sample of U.S.-listed Chinese reverse merger firms, IPO firms, and ADR firms to address the question whether, and to what extent, the earnings quality is capitalized in firm valuation and stock pricing by investors. Empirical evidence indicates that U.S.-listed Chinese reverse merger firms have much lower earnings quality as compared to both U.S.-listed Chinese IPO firms and U.S.-listed Chinese ADR firms, as measured by both the absolute value of discretionary accruals and the accruals quality. This fundamental difference, however, is reflected in neither firm valuation nor stock performance. An important implication arising from this study is that investors do not pay enough attention to the integrity of financial information of foreign listings in general and reverse merger firms in particular.