Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Assessment of the Effect of Taxes and Interest Rate on Economic Growth in Jordan: An Application of Dynamic Autoregressive-Distributed Lag

This study aims to examine the effect of taxes and interest rate on economic growth in Jordan by employing the time series data from 1970-2019. Furthermore, this study applies the Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron, Saikonen and Lütkepohl and Zivot-Andrews test of unit root. Moreover, the study uses cointegration test developed by Gregory and Hansen to investigate the long-run relationship and the dynamic autoregressive distributive lags were used for the estimation result. The long run and short-run estimates reveal the positive and negative effects of taxes and the interest rate on economic growth respectively. While the 1997 Asian financial crisis and 2015 food crisis show a negative effect on economic growth. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the government authorities in Jordan should lower the interest rate that will increase the investment in order to have faster economic growth. The government should urgently plan to broaden the tax base to stimulate economic growth in Jordan. Regulators should encourage banks to start raising capital immediately to strengthen capital ratios well above prudential norms, and prepare schemes for public recapitalization and, where appropriate, public purchases of non-performing assets. The next policy fulfils the government's need to enhance agricultural productivity through better technology to ensure long-term food security and reduce poverty, as well as help to boost economic growth.
EVALUATION OF NOVEL NANOPARTICLES AGAINST Tetranychus urticae AND ITS PREDATORY MITE Amblyseius gossipi

The present study was carried out to evaluate the relative biological activity of six treatments. Four nanoparticles (chitosan, Hydroxyapatite, chitosan hydroxyapatite and silver hydroxyapatite), one bio-agent effective microorganisms (EMs) compared to one synthetic acricide (bifenzata) were tested against the female adults and eggs of Tetranychus urticae and its predatory mite Amblyseius gossipi using standardized method of bioassay under laboratory conditions. Effect of the tested agents on the activity of carbohydrates enzymes, total lipid and total protein content were determined. The results revealed that chitosan (NPs) showed significantly adulticidal activity against T. urticae. Furthermore, EMs was the most effective treatment on the eggs of T. urticae followed by bifenzata under laboratory conditions. Therefore, nanoparticles and EMs appeared to be highly safe and selective against Amblyseius gossipi. This study suggests the possible use of nanoparticles as safe alternatives to conventional acaricides and compatible with integrated pest management practices. They might be contribute to future applications in pest control for sustainable agriculture.
Siloxane treatment of metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors in temperature-cycled operation – sensitivity and selectivity

Abstract. The impact of a hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) treatment on the response of doped SnO2 sensors is investigated for acetone, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The sensor was operated in temperature cycles based on the DSR concept (differential surface reduction). According to this concept, the rate constants for the reduction and oxidation of the surface after fast temperature changes can be evaluated and used for quantification of reducing gases as well as quantification and compensation of sensor poisoning by siloxanes, which is shown in this work. Increasing HMDSO exposure reduces the rate constants and therefore the sensitivity of the sensor more and more for all processes. On the other hand, while the rate constants for acetone and carbon monoxide are reduced nearly to zero already for short treatments, the hydrogen sensitivity remains fairly stable, which greatly increases the selectivity. During repeated HMDSO treatment the quasistatic sensitivity, i.e. equilibrium sensitivity at one point during the temperature cycle, rises at first for all gases but then drops rapidly for acetone and carbon monoxide, which can also be explained by reduced rate constants for oxygen chemisorption on the sensor surface when considering the generation of surface charge.
Serotype, Mating Type and Molecular Epidemiology of Environmental Cryptococcus Neoformans Isolated from Selected Areas of Tamil Nadu, India. -

Objectives: To isolate Cryptococcus neoformans from pigeon droppings collected in different regions of South India and their serotyping and molecular characterization using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) fingerprinting analysis. Methods: This prospective study comprised of 118 samples collected during 12 th September 2012 to 21 st March 2015 from different regions in Tamil Nadu, India and were examined for the presence of C. neoformans using Bird Seed Agar (BSA) medium. The serotypes of the isolated fungal strains were determined by employing multiplex PCR, using primers specific for laccase gene (LAC1) and capsular gene (CAP64). The molecular and mating types of the isolated C. neoformans were determined by PCR fingerprint analysis with the help of mini and micro specific satellite sequences respectively. Results: From the 118 pigeon dropping samples collected, 32 distinctive mucoid yeast colonies were retrieved and morphologically characterised as C. neoformans. This study confirms the serotypes C. neoformans var. grubii (serotype A) and var. neoformans (serotype AD/D) were prevalent in Tamil Nadu, India. PCR-fingerprinting pattern based using M13 and (GACA)4 revealed the distribution of VNI, VNII, VNIII and VNIV molecular types in the isolates. Based on their relationships in genotypes, a dendrogram was also derived using Neighbour joining algorithm. Conclusion: The findings of the present investigation elucidated the molecular diversity of the C. neoformans strains in Tamil Nadu and also provide evidence for genetic relatedness of the isolates in
Changes in herbaceous and suffrutescent perennials in grazed and ungrazed desertified grassland in southeastern Arizona, 1958-1978.

Cover of plants was measured in creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) and tarbush (Flourensia cernua) vegetations within a newly established cattle exclosure in 1958, and again in 1976-1977, within the exclosure and in contiguous grazed areas. Protection from cattle grazing for 18-19 years did not alter the direction of vegetation change. Unpalatable species, particularly snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae) and fluff grass (Tridens pulchellus), increased significantly within and without the exclosure from less than 1% cover in 1958 to as much as 20% in 1977. There was significant, but limited, increase of palatable perennial grasses within the exclosure, particularly in shallow washes. These grasses also increased in grazed creosote bush vegetation, particularly bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri), but decreased in grazed tarbush vegetation. There is evidence that there was less moisture stress in the shallow soil over caliche in the creosote bush vegetation than in the deep soil of tarbush. There was high mortality of fluff grass after a prolonged freeze in December 1978. Such infrequent events confound the interpretation of data on long-term vegetational changes.
Explainable Search

Search-based AI agents are state of the art in many challenging sequential decision-making domains. However, contemporary approaches lack the ability to explain, summarize, or visualize their plans and decisions, and how they are derived from traversing complex spaces of possible futures, contingencies, and eventualities, spanned by the available actions of the agent. This limits human trust in high-stakes scenarios, as well as effective human-AI collaboration. In this paper, we propose and motivate the new research direction of explainable search. We discuss its differences to existing approaches in ex-plainable AI, and outline important related research challenges with concrete examples, focusing in particular on online interactions and the resulting understanding of explanations in an ongoing process of mutual collaboration towards human goals.
Influence of Rumen Protected Methionine and Lysine Supplementation on Milk Production, Composition and Nutrient Utilization in Periparturient Dairy Cows

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of supplementing rumen protected methionine (RPL) and lysine (RPL) on milk production, composition and nutrient utilization in periparturient crossbred cows (Bos taurus × Bos indicus). Eighteen crossbred cows were divided into two groups (9 each) on the basis of most probable production ability (MPPA) and lactation number. Animals in control group (C group; MPPA = 4119 kg), were fed chopped wheat straw, chaffed green maize fodder and concentrate mixture as per requirements (NRC, 2001). However, animals in supplemented group (S group; MPPA = 4120 kg), were fed same ration as fed to control group plus 5 g RPM and 20 g RPL, prepartum and 7 g RPM and 60 g RPL, postpartum. The experimental period started from 30 days before expected date of parturition to 90 days post parturition. Milk yield during supplementation period in group S was 17.36 kg/d, which was 14.21% higher (P<0.05) in group S than that of group C (15.20 kg/d). Milk fat, protein and lactose yield per day was higher (P<0.05) by 17.39, 14.86 and 13.91% in group S than that of group C, respectively. The efficiency of utilizing DMI (kg) per kg milk production was 0.79 and 0.69 for group C and S, respectively. The CP, MP, TDN, ME and NEL intake (kg) per g milk production was also better in group S than that of group C. Therefore, supplementation of rumen protected methionine and lysine increased milk production and milk fat, protein and lactose yield in periparturient dairy cows.
EXTRACTING AND EVALUATING CLUSTERS IN DINSAR DEFORMATION DATA ON SINGLE BUILDINGS

Abstract. In the past two decades persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) has become a well understood and powerful method to monitor the deformations of man-made structures. PSI can derive displacement histories of thousands of scattered points on a single building with accuracy of a few millimetre per year, by analysing space-borne SAR data. In this paper, we present a method to cluster PS points on a single building into segments which show the same deformation behavior. The spatial distribution of those clusters gives an insight into the structural behavior of a building. We use dimensionality reduction to visualize the clusters in the deformation space. The comparison of our extracted displacement patterns with ground truth data from precise levelling and 3D tachymetry confirms the plausibility of our remote sensing method.
Size and Age Structure of a Population of Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes (Thamnophis elegans)

The age structure of a population can reveal trends in growth and maturation and be used to describe other demographic processes. Accurate descriptions of age structure for populations of snakes are rare, limiting our ability to understand their population dynamics. In this study, I used skeletochronology to determine the age of individuals, and examined the relationship between age and size, in a population of western terrestrial garter snakes (Thamnophis elegans). Most of the adult snakes had between two and six growth layers, and the youngest gravid female had three growth layers. Although lengths and number of growth layers were positively correlated, it would not be possible to predict the age of an individual from its length. DETERMINATION of the age of individual animals is an important component of the study of populations, because demographic processes (e.g., fecundity and survivorship) can be age specific. Knowledge of age structure therefore can yield essential data on the dynamics of the population and life history of the species as a whole (Parker and Plummer, 1987). Individual and population-specific patterns of growth and maturation, and individual and year-specific variations in these patterns, also can be determined if age structure is known; this information allows the dynamics of populations to be modeled and projected into the future more accurately. Besides contributing to our understanding of the fundamental ecological issue of limitation of distribution and abundance, such knowledge is critical to management or conservation plans for many species. Accurate data on age rarely have been collected for populations of snakes, greatly limiting our understanding of their population dynamics and life histories.
Spatial distributions of natural radionuclide concentrations of bottled mineral water: doses estimation and health risk assessment

Background: Evaluation of the various types of water reveal that groundwater comprises 99% of the earth’s available fresh water. Many factors affect the type and degree of mineralization, as well as the natural radionuclides content in these types of water. The consumption of bottled natural mineral water, which comes from groundwater, among Iranians is gradually increasing. Therefore, the detection of high concentrations of radionuclides, associated with consumption of groundwater, is proposed as a public health problem in several areas. Methods: In this study, the activity concentration of natural radionuclides such as 226Ra, 228Ra, 210Pb, and 40K, annual effective dose for three age groups (<1 year, 7-12 years, and >17 years), and excess lifetime cancer risk due to the ingestion of natural radionuclides present in 70 different commercial bottled mineral waters from most provinces of Iran, were evaluated. Activity concentrations were measured using gamma spectrometry and a high purity germanium detector (HPGe). Results: The results showed that the activity concentrations of natural radionuclides were higher than those reported in the same studies in other countries. Also, the annul effective dose for the three age groups was much higher than the recommended value (0.1 mSvyr-1), as reported by the WHO. The excess lifetime cancer risk for three radionuclides, 226Ra, 228Ra, and 40K, were less than the acceptable value of 10-3 for radiological risk, while the risk for 210Pb was higher than the recommended value. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the frequent use of bottled waters produced in different provinces of Iran possess health hazards to consumers.
Genetic algorithm based optimization of deep convolutional neural network ensemble for pedestrian moving direction recognition

ing is permitted with due credit to the Australian Journal of Intelligent Information Processing Systems. Article Processing Cost Recovery AJIIPS is an open access journal, with cost recovery. On paper acceptance, an article processing charge of $200 is required, unless alternative arrangements are in place, e.g. for some special issues. This is a refereed journal. Abstracted by INSPEC. Publication Date December 2019 Australian Journal of Intelligent Information Processing Systems Volume 16 , No. 1 ISSN: 1321-2133 2019 Special Issue: Neural Information Processing 26th International Conference on Neural Information Processing, Sydney, Australia. 12-15 December 2019 Editors: Tom Gedeon, Kok-Wai Wong, Minho Lee
External Seed Morphology of Arenaria (Caryophyllaceae) of the Southeastern United States

Seeds of 13 southeastern United States taxa of Arenaria were exam- ined with the scanning electron microscope. With a few exceptions, external mor- phology is distinctive and valuable for separating taxa at the species level. No dif- ferences were discerned, however, between the closely related A. alabamensis and A. uniflora. Arenaria glabra is variable in the degree of tubercle development, but oth- erwise it is identical to A. groenlandica. Interspecific variation in external seed mor- phology of the taxa examined does not support generic segregation of Minuartia from Arenaria. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) has become the standard tool for the detailed examination of pollen grains, trichomes, seeds, and other morphological features. Brisson and Peterson (1976) reported that SEM seed coat illustrations are available for only 440 species of flowering plants. These data appear to substantiate the contention of Thieret (1966) that ". characters of vegetative and floral structures have always occupied a position of prominence with systematic botanists, but those of seeds have been little used. " Seeds are often ignored in floras and other taxonomic works, although they are generally stable in external morphology (Davis and Heywood 1963). Recently, however, the potential taxonomic value of seed coat microsculpture has been demonstrated by Chuang and Heckard (1972), Hill (1976), Musselman and Mann (1976), Seavey et al. (1977), Newell and Hymowitz (1978), Crow (1979), and Canne (1980). Seed microsculpture has previously been studied in a few taxa of Ar- enaria (sandworts). The seeds of A. ciliata L. subsp. hibernica Ostenf. & Dahl, A. ciliata subsp. pseudofrigida Ostenf. & Dahl (Echlin 1968), and A.
Evaluation of the Level of Length of Eating Time, Chewing and Parameters of Daily Increased Activity Depending on the Breed, the Lactation Number and the Period of the Year

Eating time, rumination and activity is affected by many factors. Evaluation of the parameters obtained from Vitalimeter 5P was performed on 719 dairy cows Czech fleckvieh cattle and Holstein cattle and their hybrids within one farm. Data collecting took place for one year. As part of a detailed evaluation using the GLM procedure, the lactation number, the period of the year and the pedigree (P < 0.001) had a significant effect on the time of rumination, eating, increased activity and the sum of activities. The highest values in all monitored parameters were reached by H 51–87. Within the effect of the lactation number was evident a certain discrepancy when the longest eating time was observed in cows at the first lactation (293.20 min.), while the longest rumination time in cows at 3, resp. 4 and further lactation (484.82 and 482.46 min, respectively). The lowest values were monitored for these two parameters in exactly the opposite order, the lowest eating time in older cows and the shortest rumination time in the youngest cows. Results of evaluated periods of the years confirmed mainly the differences in the time of eating and rumination in the summer months compared to the rest of the year (P < 0.01). These results, both individually and within the interactions of factors, confirm the effects of the body framework in the case of breeds, the age of the animals within the lactation order and the importance of assessing heat stress in assessing the effect of the year.
Phylogeny of the Arvicolidae (Rodentia): Biochemical and Paleontological Evidence

Genetic distances between 24 arvicolid species of eight genera were estimated by electrophoretic comparison of homologous proteins. A dendrogram was constructed. This dendrogram was compared to the phylogeny of the Arvicolidae as inferred from the fossil record. In many respects, biochemical criteria support current views on arvicolid evolution, including the homogeneity of the family, a fact that agrees with the recent origin of the Arvicolidae (5 106 years). They also agree with the early divergence of the branches that lead to Dicrostonyx, Clethrionomys , and Lemmus-Synaptomys . In addition, biochemical data support the view that various lineages of the large genus Microtus share a recent common ancestor (1.6–2 106 years). One case of disagreement concerns the phylogenetic position of the snow vole, Chionomys nivalis . Whereas the fossil record seems to indicate that separation of Chionomys from Microtus occurred less than 1 106 years ago, biochemical data suggest that isolation of Chionomys took place more than 2.4 106 years ago. Disagreement also exists with respect to the phylogeny of North American species of the genus Microtus . Despite suspected polyphyletism of the subgenera Pitymys and Pedomys , the analyzed species form a homogeneous cluster with respect to protein electrophoresis.
Opening Up to Hard History: Activating Anti-Racism in an Immersive Ed.D. Cohort Experience at Heritage Sites in Montgomery, Alabama

The Ed.D. program in H e ritage Leadership for Sustainability, Social Justice, and Participatory Culture at the University of Missouri—St. Louis helps students cultivate the mindsets and skill sets required to sustain, pluralize, and enliven heritage in the public sphere. Although the program primarily meets synchronously online, the January 2020 “Wintercession” field trip to heritage sites in Montgomery, Alabama, provided an opportunity for face-to-face interactions, deep conversation, and reflection. Curricular, conversational, and collaborative inquiry deepened awareness and activated activism toward issues of racial justice. The use of high-impact practices (Kuh, 2008) allowed the cohort and faculty mentors to delve further into heritage leadership themes, including: confronting difficult emotions, recognizing sanctified space, facilitating group bonding and trust building, identifying models for activism, and moving forward in activism. We argue that the emergence of these themes demonstrates the value of immersing students and faculty in a shared, high-impact experience that focused on awareness, remembering, and wondering—the process of imagining the not yet (Keenan-Lechel et al., 2019)—as a means to “activate activism” in a cohort-based Ed.D. program.
Development and Effects of Supplementary Textbook about EKG for Nursing Students

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop teaching material of electrocardiography (ECG) education for nursing students. Teaching material was designed to increase ECG knowledge and self-confidence of nursing students. Methods: A convenience sample of 72 nursing students in a university of South Korea were recruited to an experimental group (n=36) or a control group (n=36). A non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design was employed to test effects of teach material on ECG knowledge and self-confidence of nursing students. Teaching material was developed based on analysis learners, state objectives, select media & materials, utilize media & materials, require learner participation, and evaluate & revise (ASSURE) model. ECG knowledge and self-confidence were self-reported using scales developed by authors. Pre-test and post-test data were collected before and after a three-week intervention period. Results: The ECG knowledge of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (t=6.86, p<.001). And the self-confidence of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (t=3.07, p=.003). Conclusion: Teaching material developed in this study was effective in improving ECG knowledge and self-confidence of nursing students. Thus, this teaching material could be used as supplementary textbook in diverse nursing practice education such as simulation or nursing skill training.