Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relative Survival and Growth of Triploid and Diploid Rainbow Trout in Two Idaho Reservoirs

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine whether triploid rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss grew faster or lived longer than diploid rainbow trout stocked in two southeastern Idaho reservoirs. In October 1996, triploid and diploid rainbow trout were differentially marked and stocked in equal proportions. Relative survival and growth rates were estimated by means of gill-net and electrofishing samples collected through October 2000. In both reservoirs, the relative survival rate (total catch) was significantly higher for triploid fish. The final catch ratios (triploid: diploid) were 1.4:1 and 1.9:1 in the Treasureton and Daniels reservoirs, respectively. We also observed ontogenetic differences in growth. At age 1, mean lengths and weights were similar for the triploid and diploid fish in each reservoir. During the second year, diploids weighed significantly more than triploids. The trend reversed as the diploid fish matured: age-3 and older triploids matched or exceeded diploid fish in length.
Antioxidant and Antihemolytic Activities of Ethanolic Extract of Flowers, Leaves, and Stems of Hyssopus officinalis L. Var. angustifolius

In this study, antioxidant and antihemolytic activities of ethanolic extract of flowers, leaves, and stems of Hyssopus officinalis L. Var. angustifolius were investigated employing different in vitro assay systems. Extracts showed good antioxidant activity. IC50 for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical-scavenging activity were 148.8 ± 4.31 μg mL−1 for flowers, 79.9 ± 2.63 μg mL−1 for stems, and 208.2 ± 6.45 μg mL−1 for leaves. All extracts showed moderate iron (II) chelating ability. Extracts exhibited good antioxidant activity in the hemoglobin-induced linoleic acid model and also they were capable of scavenging hydrogen peroxide in a concentration dependent manner. Extracts showed good antihemolytic activity againts hydrogen peroxide-induced hemolysis (IC50 were 48.51 ± 2.27 μg mL−1 for flowers, 19.47 ± 0.73 μg mL−1 for leaves, and 63.1 ± 2.65 μg mL−1 for stems). The total amount of phenolic compounds in the extracts was determined as gallic acid equivalents and total flavonoid content was calculated as quercetin equivalents from a calibration curve.
The effect of temperature on pollen germination and pollen tube growth of sour cherry cultivars

The study was carried out to determine the effect of three different temperatures (5, 15 and 25°C) on in vitro pollen germination and pollen tube growth of five sour cherry cultivars: ‘Heimanns Konservenweichsel’, ‘Kelleriis 14’, ‘Oblacinska’, ‘Rexelle’ and ‘Sumadinka’. Pollen germination a % agar % Temperature significantly affected pollen germination. High germination rates (50-70%) were obtained at both 15°C and 25°C. Satisfactory germination rates (42-51%) were also obtained at 5°C in some cultivars (‘Rexelle’, ‘Sumadinka’ and ‘Heimanns Konservenweichsel’). The influence of temperature on the pollen tube growth was more prominent. The length of pollen tubes was three to six times higher at 15°C and 25°C in comparison with 5°C. This has led to the conclusion that the temperature of 5°C, although it could be adequate for pollen germination, is not high enough for optimal pollen tube growth. was determined by germinating pollen grains in culture medium containing 0.7agar-and 15sucrose. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR-31063]
Assessing transport energy consumption in two product supply chains

The paper addresses the transport activities and associated energy consumption involved in the production and supply of two products: jeans and yoghurt. In the case of jeans, the analysis is from the locations in which cotton is grown, to retail outlets in the UK; in the case of yoghurt, the analysis is from the supply of milk on farms, to retail outlets in France. The results show that the transport stages from the point of jeans manufacture to UK port are responsible for the greatest proportion of transport energy use per kilogram of jeans in the UK supply chain. In the case of the French yoghurt supply chains, the results indicate that each of the three transport stages from farm to third-party distribution centre consume approximately the same proportion of total freight transport energy. The energy used on the transport stage for yoghurt from third-party distribution centre to retail outlet varies depending on the type of retail outlet served. Far greater quantities of energy are used in transporting jeans than yoghurts from farm/field to retail outlet. This is explained by the distances involved in the respective supply chains. Both case studies demonstrate that the energy used by consumers transporting goods to their homes by car can be as great as total freight transport energy used in the supply chain from farm/field to retail outlet (per kilogram of product transported).
Seismic Performance of Circular Concrete Bridge Piers Externally Strengthened by Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer

This paper evaluated the optimum Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) using a circular concrete bridge pier subjected to dynamic loading. A three-dimensional finite element model was simulated using finite element program, ABAQUS. Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) option and plastic properties of the materials were incorporated to model the non-linearity of the structure. The analyses parameters were changed in length-to-height ratio and width-to-span ratio where columns were subjected to dynamic loading. Numerical analysis was conducted, and the seismic performance of the structures were evaluated by analyzing the ductility behavior of the structure. Results showed that the use of CFRP enhances the structural performance of column and revealed that the increase in length-to-height ratio plays vital role of improving the performance of the structure than the change in width-to-span ratio.
Male reproductive cycle in Aspidoscelis costata costata (Squamata: Teiidae) from Tonatico, Estado de México, México

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reproductive cycle of a high-elevation population of Aspidoscelis costata costata (1500–1600 m) and compare its reproductive cycle with that of other populations, species, and closely related genera. Adult male A. costata costata lizards were collected, and the reproductive tracts were removed and subjected to histological analyses. Testicular activity commences in March with maximum testicular activity and highest sperm abundance (in the epididymides) occurring between May and July. The testis remains at peak activity until September when a late regression/early quiescent phase is observed. Leydig cells follow this same pattern except these hormone-producing cells remain at maximum secretory level through September. Sperm are present in the epididymides in April–September. This pattern is consistent with the spring recrudescence found in a multitude of male lizard taxa. However, this differs from the continuous cycle observed in some tropical Teiid species and other lizard taxa at high elevation. This study indicates that our knowledge about lizard spermatogenic cycles remains incomplete, and additional studies are required to fully understand the interactions between phenotype, evolution, phylogenetics and environment.
Fermentation Reduces Free Asparagine in Dough and Acrylamide Content in Bread

ABSTRACT Free asparagine is an important precursor for acrylamide in cereal products. The content of free asparagine was determined in 11 milling fractions from wheat and rye. Whole grain wheat flour contained 0.5 g/kg and whole grain rye flour 1.1 g/kg. The lowest content was found in sifted wheat flour (0.2 g/kg). Wheat germ had the highest content (4.9 g/kg). Fermentation (baker's yeast or baker's yeast and sourdough) of doughs made with the different milling fractions was performed to investigate whether the content of free asparagine was reduced by this process. In general, most of the asparagine was utilized after 2 hr of fermentation with yeast. Sourdough fermentation, on the other hand, did not reduce the content of free asparagineas efficiently but had a strong negative impact on asparagine utilization by yeast. This indicates that this type of fermentation may result in breads with higher acrylamide content than in breads fermented with yeast only. The effect of fermentation time on acrylamide f.
Biochemical and physiological mechanisms related to cold acclimation and enhanced freezing tolerance in poplar plantlets

Temperature is one of the abiotic factors limiting growth and productivity of plants. In the present work, the effect of low non-freezing temperature, as inducer of 'cold acclimation', was studied in poplar. Actively growing plantlets of Populus tremula x Populus tremuloides cv. Muhs 1 were used, and cold treatment consisted in whole plants exposure to 4°C in controlled conditions. Leaves of cold-treated poplars were shown to be acclimated, as an increase of their freezing tolerance was measured using electrolyte leakage. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements revealed a decrease in photosystem II efficiency while the pigment contents of leaves did not vary. In contrast, after 1 week of cold exposure, an accumulation of pigments was noted in the stems near the apex of the stressed plants as confirmed by chromatographic analyses. Simultaneously, a rapid accumulation of osmo-protectants, i.e. carbohydrates (measured by spectrometry), and of stress indicators (e.g. putrescine) occurred; changes in protein patterns also arose. Indeed, Western blot studies revealed that the expression of three families of stress-related proteins, i.e. dehydrins, stress protein 1 and heat-shock protein 70, was activated or induced by low temperatures. This study complements a previous work on proteomic and individual carbohydrates and provides insight in the ability of poplar plantlets to cold acclimate and to cope with low temperatures by diverse mechanisms (growth cessation, carbohydrate, pigment, polyamine and protein accumulations) related to stress response or involved in acclimation process.
THE JACOBSON RADICAL OF A PROPOSITIONAL THEORY

Abstract Alongside the analogy between maximal ideals and complete theories, the Jacobson radical carries over from ideals of commutative rings to theories of propositional calculi. This prompts a variant of Lindenbaum’s Lemma that relates classical validity and intuitionistic provability, and the syntactical counterpart of which is Glivenko’s Theorem. The Jacobson radical in fact turns out to coincide with the classical deductive closure. As a by-product we obtain a possible interpretation in logic of the axioms-as-rules conservation criterion for a multi-conclusion Scott-style entailment relation over a single-conclusion one.
Saving Lives Versus Saving Livelihoods: Can Big Data Technology Solve the Pandemic Dilemma?

Pandemics such as COVID-19 present an difficult choice to policymakers between saving lives and saving livelihoods. On the one hand, economic lockdown is deemed necessary to contain the rapid spread of the disease. On the other hand, a lockdown inflicts steep economic costs as normal activities are disrupted. The painful tradeoff between human toll and economic costs has led to heated and sometimes divisive debate in the policy domain…. © 2020 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
On the Productivity Advantage of Cities

Ever since Marshall (1890) agglomeration externalities have been viewed as the key factor explaining the existence of cities and their size. However, while the various micro foundations of agglomeration externalities stress the importance of Total Factor Productivity (TFP), the empirical evidence on agglomeration externalities rests on measures obtained using firm revenue or value-added as a measure of firm output: revenue-based TFP (TFP-R). This paper uses data on French manufacturing firms' revenue, quantity and prices to estimate TFP and TFP-R and decompose the latter into various elements. Our analysis suggests that the revenue productivity advantage of denser areas is mainly driven by higher prices charged rather than differences in TFP. At the same time, firms in denser areas are able to sell higher quantities, and generate higher revenues, despite higher prices. These and other results we document suggest that firms in denser areas are able to charge higher prices because they sell higher demand/quality products. Finally, while the correlation between firm revenue TFP and firm size is positive in each location, it is also systematically related to density: firms with higher (lower) TFP-R account for a larger (smaller) share of total revenue in denser areas. These patterns thus amplify in aggregate regional-level figures any firm-level differences in productivity across space.
Call for Tax Co-ordination but Complain about Excessive Taxation?1

Contemporaneous complaints state that intensifying tax competition damages a government’s ability to raise taxes and that taxes are too high. Our paper explains this puzzle within a model of voting on political representatives and subsequent negotiations about tax rates. To improve the own payoff at the expense of the other country voters elect politicians who implement inefficiently high tax rates. This is due to the facts that electorates are unable to co-ordinate their voting decision and do not face the effective cost for higher tax rates since less tax base leaks away when tax rates increase in either country.
SQMCI: A biotic index for freshwater macroinvertebrate coded‐abundance data

Abstract A new freshwater macroinvertebrate‐based biotic index derived from the Quantitative Macroinvertebrate Community Index (QMCI) is proposed for use with coded‐abundance data collected from stony New Zealand streams using hand nets. The SQMCI (Semi‐Quantitative MCI) responds to changes in community dominance in a similar manner to the QMCI, but requires fewer replicate samples to achieve the same precision. In situations where macroinvertebrate densities are not required, the SQMCI provides a similar assessment to the QMCI with less than 40% of the effort, thus reducing the cost and/or improving the scientific defensibility of biomonitoring programmes. Variability of biotic indices must be known to enable detection of significant differences in water quality between streams, at different sites in the same stream, or between times at the same site. Best estimates of MCI and QMCI standard deviations have been updated, and newly derived for the SQMCI, for use in two statistical procedures for testing fo.
Impact of Spanish Dialect in Deep Learning Next Sentence Predictors

—With the second largest number of native speakers in the world, Spanish exhibits a large dialectical difference, both in grammar and word forms. We analyze the impact of these differences in a Natural Language Processing task using the proceedings of two parliamentary bodies from Costa Rica and Argentina. The task chosen is to determine whether to pieces of text are coherent, that is, whether they can follow each other in normal discourse. We train a deep learning network to perform next sentence prediction using the BERT model. Our experiments indicate that task adaptation presents a more substantive impact than regional differences but dialect still can account for up to 8% difference in F-measure.
COMBINING ABILITY ANALYSIS FOR AGRONOMIC TRAITS IN SUNFLOWER (Helianthus annuus L.) / ANÁLISIS DE APTITUD COMBINATORIA EN GIRASOL (Helianthus annuus L.) PARA CARACTERES AGRONÓMICOS / ANALYSE DE L’APTITUDE DE LA COMBINAISON EN TOURNESOL POUR CARACTÈRES AGRONOMIQUES

SUMMARY The general and specific combining abilities among 20 cytoplasmic male sterile inbred lines and four testers were estimated in order to study the potential of these materials in a sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) breeding program. Test cross progenies were evaluated in three environments. Plant height, days to 50% flowering, 1000-kernel weight, seed oil content and grain yield were evaluated. Seed oil content, plant height and 1000-kernel weight presented the largest proportional contribution of cms inbred lines and testers, indicating the predominant role of the additive component for these traits. On the other hand, line × tester interaction exhibited the greatest contribution to grain yield suggesting the presence of non-additive genetic effects. The testers showed capacity to discriminate within the set of inbred lines. RESUMEN La aptitud combinatoria general y específica entre 20 líneas endocriadas androestériles con 4 probadores fue estimada con el objeto de estudiar el potencial de estos materiales en un programa de mejoramiento de girasol (Helianthus annuus L). Los cruzamientos de prueba se evaluaron en tres ambientes. Las variables evaluadas fueron altura de la planta, días desde emergencia a floración, peso de mil semillas, contenido de aceite y rendimiento. Contenido de aceite, altura de planta y peso de mil semillas presentaron la mayor contribución proporcional de líneas y probadores lo cual indica la importancia de la componente aditiva para estos caracteres. Por otra parte para rendimiento la mayor contribución proporcional fue la de la interacción línea × probador sugiriendo la presencia de efectos no aditivos. Los probadores mostraron capacidad para discriminar entre el conjunto de líneas. RÉSUMÉ L’aptitude de la combinaison générale et spécifique entre vingt lignées homozigotes androstériles avec quatre essayeurs a été estimée avec l’ objet d’ étudier le potential de ces matériaux dans un programme d’ amélioration de tournesol (Helianthus annuus L.). Le croisements d’épreuve ont été, évalués dans trois environments différents. Les caractères évaluées ont eté: la taille de la plante, les jours dès l´émersion à la floreison, le poids de mille graines, le contenu de l’huile et le rendement. Le contenu de l´huile, la taille de la plante et le poids de mille grains ont présenté la plus grande contribution proportionnelle de lignées et d’essayeurs, ce qui indique l’importance de la composante additive pour ces caractères. D’autre part pour le rendement la plus grande contribution proportionnelle a été celle de l’interaction lignée × essayeur qui suggérait la présence des effets pas additifs. Les essayeurs ont montré la capacité pour discriminer entre l’ensemble de lignées.
Computations of French lifetables by department, 1901–2014

Background: Debates concerning the French territorial divide are deep in France. However, few historical data on French demography at the local level for the 20th century are available for the study of these territorial disputes. Objective: The main objective is to present a new demographic database built at the departmental level for the 20th century, as well as the methods used to build this database. Methods: The database was constructed by digitizing a large part of the raw data available in the French archives and by using new statistical sources for military deaths and deportees during the two world wars. The methods used are both the methodological protocol of the Human Mortality Database and a set of methods that take into account the speciﬁcities of the French departments. Contribution: With this database, the French departmental lifetables by sex and year, including military deaths and deaths in deportation, will be available, as well as the departmental populations by age, sex, and year between 1901 and 2014.
Corner Singularities for the Fractional Laplacian and Finite Element Approximation

Solutions to elliptic boundary value problems in polygonal domains exhibit singularities at edges and corners. In this article we consider the integral fractional Laplacian in polygonal domains and discuss the regularity properties and numerical approximation of solutions. We study the detailed asymptotic expansions of the solution at edges and vertices. The vertex singularities are governed by an eigenvalue problem for a perturbed Laplace-Beltrami operator on the upper hemisphere. Its analysis and numerical approximation generalize classical results for screen problems for the standard Laplace equation. Our results imply quasi-optimal convergence rates for the approximation by h-version nite elements on graded meshes. Numerical experiments illustrate the theory and provide numerical tables for the singular vertex exponents, depending on the geometry of the domain and the order of the operator.
Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction: A Study on Southeast Bank Limited

Commercial banks provide various financial services to its customers. In the competitive banking arena, quality service is a burning issue as the success of obtaining customers’ satisfaction. This paper focuses on the drivers of customer satisfaction for financial services and tries to know the relationship among service quality, price and customer satisfaction through the Southeast Bank Limited, Goneshtola Branch, Dinajpur. Data were collected purposively from 42 different customers. A questionnaire elicited information on sociodemographic variables along with human, technical, and tangible aspects of service quality and customer satisfaction. Three aspects of service quality—people, process through technology, and physical evidence are considered for this study. Results suggest that better human, technical and tangible aspects of service quality of the bank increase customer satisfaction. The research also provide the evidence of customer satisfaction and their retention through improved service quality and maintaining reasonable price of the services.
Habitat complexity affects functional traits and diversity of ant assemblages in urban green spaces (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Habitat complexity conferred by vegetation characteristics mediates key processes that govern the assemblage of insect communities. Thus, species within the community should only persist if their functional traits are well-matched to the conditions of their environment. Here, we compared ant assemblages between habitats in terms of species richness and functional-trait distribution at the species and the assemblage level. Ants were collected from 36 sites representing different degrees of habitat complexity mediated by standing vegetation. We found fewer ant species in simpler habitats, supporting the “habitat-heterogeneity” hypothesis. We measured key functional traits of ants that reflect their foraging and dispersal strategies, such as body size, femur length, antenna scape length, and head length / width. Interactions of species traits with measured habitat complexity variables were assessed at the species and the assemblage level using a fourth-corner approach. Ant traits were closely related to environmental complexity. In wooded habitats, ants were larger and had broader heads, while ants with longer antenna scapes prevailed in habitats with a dense herb / grass layer. Our study suggests that vegetation structural complexity can act as an environmental filter, driving ant assemblages in terms of both species numbers and functional traits. Our results can be used to predict turnover patterns in ant assemblages due to changes in management practices.