Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Value-driven Adoption and Consumption of Technology: Understanding Technology Decision Making

Recent innovations have integrated information and communication technology (ICT) into the fabric of people’s daily lives. Wireless technology, with its constant presence and transcendence of geographical boundaries, has profoundly influenced people’s behavior and the consumption of technology and related services. During the past few years, wireless technologies have shifted from simple devices offering mobile phone calling to multipurpose devices that incorporate the capabilities of other devices. The multiple uses of these devices, coupled with the blurring of the work-home and utilitarianhedonic technology, creates the need for a new understanding of technology adoption and use. When making the decision to use a wireless technology, consumer end users must make their decisions in a context that often includes alternatives and substitutes that can fulfill their needs. As the breadth of wireless capabilities increases, the decision to use technology becomes more complex because the number of competing options grows. Given the need to understand wireless technology usage, this thesis asks why do consumers use a given wireless technology when they have so many options to choose from? To answer this question, this thesis views technology use as both adoption (decision to begin using) and consumption (the use once someone has accepted a technology). It draws upon two qualitative field studies and five research papers. To address consumer technology decision-making, this thesis borrows the theory of consumption values (TCV) from market research and employs a behavioral economics lens to understand how people decide among choices. The findings indicate that people decide to use technology to satisfy functional, social, emotional, epistemic and conditional needs; and that a technology’s value is created by satisfying these needs. However, consumers do not make their usage decisions by evaluating wireless technologies in isolation, but in context by comparing them against a technology with which they are already familiar (in the case of adoption) or by comparing the wireless option against another choice that can also address their need. The consumption value of the wireless technology relative to the referent drives the decision. Accordingly, the referent against which consumers compare a wireless technology will determine
Varietal differences in the physical properties and proximate composition of elite sesame seeds.

: The study investigated varietal differences in the physical properties and proximate composition of improved sesame seeds. Fourteen varieties of sesame seeds obtained from National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (NACGRAB), Moor Plantation, Ibadan, Oyo State and Plant Breeding and Seed Technology Department, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State were analyzed for their physical properties and proximate composition using standard methods. The result revealed that there were significant varietal differences (P<0.05) in all the physical properties determined. Variety NG/SA/07/095 had the highest value of 1000 seed weight (3.12g) and YANDEF 55, had the lowest (1.09g). The length of YANDEF 55 was the lowest (2.26mm) while that of NCRI BEN 01M was the highest (3.01mm). The breadth ranged from 1.55 - 1.86 mm; with KANO 05 having the least value and NG/SA/07/095 having the highest value. The thickness also ranged between 0.74 and 0.97mm. The Arithmetic Mean Diameter (AMD) and Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD) ranged from 1.51-1.91 mm and from 1.32-1.70 mm, respectively. The Degree of Sphericity ranged between 0.57 and 0.64, while aspect ratio ranged between 61.50 and 75.00%. Surface area (SA) ranged from 5.84 - 8.94 mm with KANO 2 05 having the least and NG/SA/07/052 having the highest. The ash content of the seeds ranged from 4.00 -7.00% with NG/SA/07/106 having the least value and YANDEF 55 having the highest value. NCRI BEN OIM had the highest fat content of 20.50% while YANDEF 55 had the least value of 11.50%. The crude protein content of NG/SA/07/106 was found to be the highest (23.03%) while NG/SA/07/179 had the lowest (12.69%). The crude fibre content ranged from 1.86 - 2.54%. Carbohydrate content of NCRI BEN OIM was the lowest (41.55%) while that of NCRI BEN 02M was the highest (58.20%). The study showed that there are significant varietal differences (P<0.05) in the physical properties and proximate composition of the improved sesame seeds except moisture content. The values obtained were in close agreement with the result obtained for local varieties of sesame seeds. This implied that the improved sesame varieties studied would not pose much problem in designing machines for processing as their physical dimensions were not far from the existing local varieties.
Population features of the spider crab Acanthonyx scutiformis (Dana 1851) (Crustacea, Majoidea, Epialtidae) associated with rocky-shore algae from southeastern Brazil.

Acanthonyx scutiformis, an endemic species in the Brazilian coast, is commonly found in intertidal rocky-shore algal communities. This study analyzes the population biology of A. scutiformis from Ubatuba region. A total of 371 specimens were collected over one year. Size range was 4.2-12.7 mm CW (carapace width) for females and 3.7-15.8 mm CW for males. Females predominated in intermediate size classes, whereas males prevailed in the largest ones. The estimated size when 50% crabs were mature was 10.7 mm CW for males and 8.9 mm CW for females. Sex ratio varied among the demographic groups. The processes that influence A. scutiformis population structure can be related to the different times males and females reach sexual maturity and probably to the distinct predation pressures on each sex during the adult phase.
Carbon Dynamics and Optimal Forest Rotation

: Carbon sequestration in forests is being considered as a mechanism to slow or reverse the trend of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This paper presents the results from a dynamic programming model used to determine the optimal harvest decision for a forest stand that provides both timber harvest volume and carbon sequestration services in the Canadian boreal forest. The primary contribution of this study is that the model incorporates detailed information on carbon stocks in dead organic matter pool (DOM), which have been ignored in stand level economic models. It also considers varying levels of initial DOM stocks. The varying DOM stock has interesting implications because it allows one to establish an initial DOM stock for which a landowner will voluntarily participate in the type of carbon market considered in this study. The results of the study indicate that while optimal harvest age seems to be relatively insensitive to carbon stocks in DOM pool, initial carbon stock levels signiﬁcantly aﬀect economic returns to carbon management.
Diminuição dos níveis de cálcio e fósforo em dietas com farelo de arroz integral e enzimas sobre o desempenho de frangos de corte

The objective of this work was to study the effect of the growing levels of whole rice meal (WRM) on the performance of broilers chickens and to evaluate the reduction of the calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P), when the diets were supplemented with enzymes exogenous. A total of 480 chicks (females) Cobb 12 days old were used, distributed in 8 treatments evaluating 4 levels of WRM (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%), with and without supplementation of a multienzyme complex, with 3 repetitions of 20 poultries for treatment. In the diets that contained enzymes, the levels of Ca and P were decreased in 0,1%, in all the development phases. With the addition of growing levels of Whole rice meal in the diets, there was a significant lineal regression (P 0.05). The enzymatic supplementation in the different levels of WRM didn’t present significant statistical difference. The use of low levels of Ca and P didn’t harm the acting of the birds.
Biomolecular recognition mechanisms studied by NMR spectroscopy and MD simulations

This thesis describes the use of solution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations to study the mechanism of biomolecular recognition with two model systems: i) lipid II-binding lantibiotics (lanthionine-containing antibiotics) and ii) the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) envelope protein (Env), gp120, and its receptor molecule, CD4. The first system concerns a group of unique antimicrobial peptides, which make use of an hitherto unknown mechanism of attacking bacteria by targeting the Achilles¹ heel of bacteria, the cell wall precursor, lipid II. In the light of antibiotic resistance, understanding of this recognition mechanism may lead to novel antibiotics. The second system focuses on the initiation step of the HIV-1 viral entry wherein the engagement of gp120 and CD4 switches on a cascade of conformational changes that are necessary for the membrane fusion between the virus and the host cell. The biological contexts of both systems are important to human health and numerous functional studies on both systems have been well documented. Yet, because of the underlying dynamics and the intricate assembly process of higher order complexes, a detailed structural description is currently lacking in both systems. We therefore applied advanced NMR and MD techniques to unravel the structure and dynamics of these complexes with the hope to facilitate the development of new antibiotics and vaccines for infectious diseases, such as AIDS. As biological functions are manifested by interactions at a molecular level, understanding of structural properties of these biomolecules may consolidate related biomedical research.
Ambient Temperature Regulates Drinking and Arterial Pressure in Eels

Abstract Ambient temperature exerts strong influences on physiological processes in ectothermic animals. Thus, we have examined the effects of changes in water temperature on drinking and arterial blood pressure in seawater-adapted eels, Anguilla japonica. Temperature dependence was also examined with respect to the effects of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) on drinking and arterial pressure. When water temperature was altered abruptly from 18°C to 11°C or to 25°C, drinking rate consistently decreased or increased, respectively, in all fish examined. The temperature-response relationship was highly linear (p<0.001) between 11°C and 25°C with a Q10 value of 2.45. Arterial pressure was significantly lower at 11°C compared with the level at 18°C, but no difference was observed between 18°C and 25°C. The change in hematocrit did not parallel that of temperature. Plasma Na+ concentration did not change at different temperatures. Bolus injections of eel ANP at 10, 100, and 1000 pmol/kg decreased drinking rate and arterial pressure dose-dependently. The effects of ANP did not differ in terms of potency and efficacy at different temperatures except that the effects continued longer at lower temperatures. These results show that the ambient temperature causes profound effects on drinking rate in seawater eels even though Na+ balance and blood volume were well maintained. The sensitivity to ANP, a physiological regulator of drinking in eels, was not altered by the temperature, suggesting an involvement of other factors in the thermogenic drinking that is demonstrated in this study.
Population structure of Eupemphix nattereri (Amphibia, Anura, Leiuperidae) from Central Brazil

This study reports on 156 specimens of the amphibian Eupemphix nattereri, a widely distributed leiuperid, obtained from 11 municipalities of central Brazil. The extent of genetic variation was quantified by determining the mean number of alleles per locus and the proportion of polymorphic loci. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was performed on the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) haplotypes. The genetic distances obtained by calculating pairwise Fst among local samples were used to determine population relationships using the unweighted pair-group method (UPGMA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). The cophenetic correlation was calculated to confirm agreement between the genetic matrix and the unweighted pair group method with averages (UPGMA) dendrogram. To determine if genetic distances were correlated to geographical distances we constructed pairwise genetic distance and geographical distance matrices and compared them using the Mantel test. The AMOVA results indicated significant genetic differences (p < 0.001) between E. nattereri populations, representing 69.5% of the within population genetic diversity. The Mantel test showed no significant correlation (r = 0.03; p = 0.45) between the genetic and geographical distance matrices. Our findings indicate that the genetic variation of E. nattereri populations was randomly distributed in geographic space and that gene flow for this species is probably structured at spatial scales smaller than those between our samples
Breeding for Saline-resistant Varieties of Rice : I. Variability for Salt Tolerance among Some Rice Varietles

Rice Varieties : Bluebonnet, IR 8, Jhona 349 and Magnolia responded quite differently to salinization. Each character showed a differential reaction to salinity. Three types of sterility i.e. cluster, delayed, and random caused by salinization could be classified. Regarding panicle weight and seed setting percentage, which are important from the agronomic standpoint, Jhona 349 was relatively the most resistant, while Magnolia the least.
Line-shape analysis of double-quantum multidimensional coherent spectra

Double-quantum two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy (MDCS) is a powerful optical method that is used to study optical properties of atomic and complex molecular systems and semiconductor materials. Double-quantum 2D spectra and particularly the peak lineshapes on the spectra can also provide information about many-body interactions. We model 2D spectra by solving the optical Bloch equations and show the effects of correlation between coupled resonances, which also explains the discrepancies between the experimental results reported by multiple groups.
Vegetation and seed bank in a calcareous grassland restored from a Pinus forest

Abstract Question: What is the importance of the seed bank in the maintenance of the restoration potential of a 60-year-old abandoned calcareous grassland overgrown by Pinus trees? Location: ‘Les Pairées’, province of Luxembourg, Belgium. Methods: The seed bank and the above-ground vegetation were surveyed in three adjacent stands, previously forming a unique calcareous grassland: a 60-year-old Pinus forest, a four-year-old clear-cutting and a typical calcareous grassland. Floristic diversity was compared among stands and between vegetation and seed bank. Results: The species richness of the vegetation and the seed bank was significantly lower in the Pinus forest. More floristic similarities were found between the clear-cutting and the calcareous grassland. Seed bank was essentially transient, dominated by annual species. Its correspondence with the above-ground vegetation was weak. Conclusion: Very few calcareous grassland species have persisted in the Pinus stand. Four years after clear-cutting, the stand was nearing restoration towards a calcareous grassland. Seed longevity in the soil was not the most explicative factor. Dispersal of propagules from adjacent sources was also important. Nomenclature: Lambinon et al. (1992).
Reviewing and comparing the impact of aerobic exercise (3 and 5 times per week) on insulin receptors, glucose transporter protein (GLUT4), and skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity in diabetic rats

Objectives: The diabetes is a metabolic disease which is caused by chronic disease of blood glucose due to low insulin secretion, insulin resistance, or both of them. The sports activities have a major impact on prevention, treatment, and reduction of diabetes effects. Therefore, this study aimed to review and compare the impact of aerobic exercise (3 and 5 times per week) on some factors which are involved in glucose transition to skeletal muscles of diabetic rats. Materials & Methods: A total of 30 Wistar rats were divided into three groups: Diabetic, control (n=8); exercise group, 3 times a week (n=11); and exercise group, 5 times a week (n=11). The exercise groups ran on treadmill for 6 weeks with progressive intensity and duration. The variance analysis test was used to detect the significance of difference between groups. Also, the paired t-test was used to evaluate changes of groups in pre-test and post-test. Results: The findings showed that the insulin sensitivity and insulin receptor levels increased significantly in aerobic exercise groups (3 and 5 times a week) compared to control group (p<0.05). The aerobic exercise (three times a week) did not significantly increase the levels of glucose transporter protein (GLUT4) in exercise group compared to control group. However, aerobic exercise (five times a week) increased significantly the levels of glucose transporter protein (GLUT4) in exercise group compared to control group (p<0.05). Conclusions: The findings showed that aerobic exercise increased insulin receptors levels, glucose transporter proteins (GLUT4), and insulin sensitivity level. Also, the findings showed that the number of exercise session per week may be effective in management of diabetes and reduction of its destructive effects. © 2017 Mohammad Reza Yousefi et al.
Detecting the mechanism of improvement via scaffolding in online problem solving

Two earlier studies demonstrated that students' behavior in a sequence of online learning modules can be analyzed to measure the students' ability to transfer their learning from solving one physics problem to a similar new problem. In addition, adding an on-ramp module that develops problem solving skills improved students' transfer ability. In the current study, we improved the accuracy of the transfer measurement by identifying and excluding students who interacted with the learning modules differently from what was expected, and examined two possible mechanisms by which the on-ramp module could improve student transfer. Based on a two by two framework of self-regulated learning, we hypothesized that students with a performance-avoidance goal orientation are likely to guess on their initial attempts, leaving a distinctive pattern in the log data. We argue that including those students in the sample could result in an underestimation of students' actual transfer ability. We divided the remaining student sample according to whether they passed the on-ramp module before or after accessing the instructional materials, and compared their performance to a propensity score-matched sample from a previous semester. We found improvement in transfer ability primarily occurred among students who passed the on-ramp before learning. A possible explanation is that the on-ramp module served as an effective reminder, lowering cognitive load for retrieving existing knowledge, but may be insufficient to develop the essential skills for those who were learning it for the first time. Our results suggest that online learning modules can be an accurate and flexible tool in assessing students' transfer ability, but more importantly demonstrated that analysis of online learning data can produce accurate and insightful results when taking into account details of student learning behavior and learning strategy.
Regional Rainfall Prediction Using Support Vector Machine Classification of Large-Scale Precipitation Maps

Rainfall prediction helps planners anticipate potential social and economic impacts produced by too much or too little rain. This research investigates a class-based approach to rainfall prediction from 1–30 days in advance. The study made regional predictions based on sequences of daily rainfall maps of the continental US, with rainfall quantized at 3 levels: light or no rain; moderate; and heavy rain. Three regions were selected, corresponding to three squares from a $5\times 5$ grid covering the map area. Rainfall predictions up to 30 days ahead for these three regions were based on a support vector machine (SVM) applied to consecutive sequences of prior daily rainfall map images. The results show that predictions for corner squares in the grid were less accurate than predictions obtained by a simple untrained classifier. However, SVM predictions for a central region outperformed the other two regions, as well as the untrained classifier. We conclude that there is some evidence that SVMs applied to large-scale precipitation maps can under some conditions give useful information for predicting regional rainfall, but care must be taken to avoid pitfalls.
Domination in digraphs and their products.

A dominating (respectively, total dominating) set $S$ of a digraph $D$ is a set of vertices in $D$ such that the union of the closed (respectively, open) out-neighborhoods of vertices in $S$ equals the vertex set of $D$. The minimum size of a dominating (respectively, total dominating) set of $D$ is the domination (respectively, total domination) number of $D$, denoted $\gamma(D)$ (respectively,$\gamma_t(D)$). The maximum number of pairwise disjoint closed (respectively,open) in-neighborhoods of $D$ is denoted by $\rho(D)$ (respectively,$\rho^{\rm o}(D)$). We prove that in digraphs whose underlying graphs have girth at least $7$, the closed (respectively,open) in-neighborhoods enjoy the Helly property, and use these two results to prove that in any ditree $T$ (that is, a digraph whose underlying graph is a tree), $\gamma_t(T)=\rho^{\rm o}(T)$ and $\gamma(T)=\rho(T)$. By using the former equality we then prove that $\gamma_t(G\times T)=\gamma_t(G)\gamma_t(T)$, where $G$ is any digraph and $T$ is any ditree, each without a source vertex, and $G\times T$ is their direct product. From the equality $\gamma(T)=\rho(T)$ we derive the bound $\gamma(G\mathbin{\Box} T)\ge\gamma(G)\gamma(T)$, where $G$ is an arbitrary digraph, $T$ an arbitrary ditree and $G\mathbin{\Box} T$ is their Cartesian product. In general digraphs this Vizing-type bound fails, yet we prove that for any digraphs $G$ and $H$, where $\gamma(G)\ge\gamma(H)$, we have $\gamma(G \mathbin{\Box} H) \ge \frac{1}{2}\gamma(G)(\gamma(H) + 1)$. This inequality is sharp as demonstrated by an infinite family of examples. Ditrees $T$ and digraphs $H$ enjoying $\gamma(T\mathbin{\Box} H)=\gamma(T)\gamma(H)$ are also investigated.
Learning from Few Samples: A Survey

Deep neural networks have been able to outperform humans in some cases like image recognition and image classification. However, with the emergence of various novel categories, the ability to continuously widen the learning capability of such networks from limited samples, still remains a challenge. Techniques like Meta-Learning and/or few-shot learning showed promising results, where they can learn or generalize to a novel category/task based on prior knowledge. In this paper, we perform a study of the existing few-shot meta-learning techniques in the computer vision domain based on their method and evaluation metrics. We provide a taxonomy for the techniques and categorize them as data-augmentation, embedding, optimization and semantics based learning for few-shot, one-shot and zero-shot settings. We then describe the seminal work done in each category and discuss their approach towards solving the predicament of learning from few samples. Lastly we provide a comparison of these techniques on the commonly used benchmark datasets: Omniglot, and MiniImagenet, along with a discussion towards the future direction of improving the performance of these techniques towards the final goal of outperforming humans.