Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Postprocessing methodology for direct normal irradiance forecasting using cloud information and aerosol load forecasts

AbstractA method for direct normal irradiance (DNI) forecasting for specific sites is proposed. It is based on the combination of a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, which provides cloud information, with radiative transfer simulations fed with external aerosol forecasts. The NWP model used is the ECMWF Integrated Forecast System, and the radiative transfer information has been obtained from the Library of Radiative Transfer (libRadtran). Two types of aerosol forecasts have been tested: the global Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) model, which predicts five major components of aerosols, and the Dust Regional Atmospheric Model (BSC-DREAM8b) added to a fixed background calculated as the 20th percentile of the monthly mean of AERONET 2.0 observations from a different year. The methodology employed is valid for all meteorological situations, providing a stable and continuous DNI curve. The performance of the combined method has been evaluated against DNI observations and compared w.
Dunstaffnage Castle, Argyll & Bute: excavations in the north tower and east range, 1987-94

Reports excavations in areas thought to encompass the donjon and hall respectively. Traces of an early curtain wall predating the north tower were found. At ground level, two window embrasures were revealed in the east wall of the building and, on its south side, a doorway into a passage linking with the east range. In the late seventeenth or eighteenth century the passage was blocked and a fireplace inserted into the north gable of the east range, which was occupied at least until the late eighteenth century. There are specialist reports on: `Sculptured stones' by Pamela Graves (576--8); `Coins' by Nicholas M McQ Holmes (578--9); `Other small finds' by David Caldwell (579--87); `Pottery' by Helen Smith (587 & 589) followed by `Medieval and post-medieval pottery' by Robert S Will (589--90); `Clay tobacco pipes' by Dennis B Gallagher (590--6); `Vessel glass' by K R Murdoch (596--7); The environmental evidence begins with `Charcoal' by Sheila Boardman (597), followed by `Faunal remains' by Tanya O'Sullivan & Jennifer Thoms (597--8).
Reflections on Temporal Factors in Interaction Design: A Study of User Engagement in a Platform for Professional Learning

This paper reflects on insights from the design process and evaluation of an online tool for supporting professional learning in a higher education setting. The online tool was developed through an iterative user-centred design process to ensure that it supported the needs and goals of academics. However, findings from a semester-long evaluation study showed that it found relatively little uptake despite participants' positive feedback in post-study interviews. This prompted us to conduct a further analysis of our results, which revealed that our process had failed to capture some of the more nuanced factors emerging from the users' work environment relating to time and timing. Drawing on those insights, the paper highlights the need to capture temporal factors during the design process and offers three design considerations to better support the adoption of online tools into daily work practices.
Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Nonstructural Protein 1 IgG Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Differentiating Infection versus Vaccination Antibody Responses

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is an important central nervous system (CNS) infection in Europe and Asia. It is a flavivirus in the tick-borne group. Effective vaccines against TBE are available in the affected countries. However, diagnosing TBE is challenging due to cross-reactive antibodies between different viruses of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. Differentiation between infection-induced and vaccine-induced antibodies can be difficult and in many cases impossible, due to the increasing vaccination rate against TBEV. ABSTRACT Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is an important central nervous system (CNS) infection in Europe and Asia. It is a flavivirus in the tick-borne group. Effective vaccines against TBE are available in the affected countries. However, diagnosing TBE is challenging due to cross-reactive antibodies between different viruses of the genus Flavivirus, family Flaviviridae. Differentiation between infection-induced and vaccine-induced antibodies can be difficult and in many cases impossible, due to the increasing vaccination rate against TBEV. We present a new approach to detect antibodies against the TBEV nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) as a diagnostic marker, which is exclusively indicative for virus replication in natural infection, on the basis of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). A total of 188 anonymous serum samples from the National Consultant Laboratory for TBEV were included in our study. The assay was validated according to the European Laboratory Norm DIN EN ISO 15189 for diagnostic use. The ELISA for the detection of TBEV NS1 specific IgG class antibodies has demonstrated a sensitivity of >94% and a specificity of >93% in broadly cross-reacting sera from patients with vaccinations against flaviviral diseases and single or multiple flavivirus infections, respectively. The detection of anti-NS1 antibodies is feasible and facilitates reliable differentiation between different flavivirus infections, TBEV infection, and TBE vaccination.
Wasserstein-based methods for convergence complexity analysis of MCMC with application to Albert and Chib's algorithm

Over the last 25 years, techniques based on drift and minorization (d&m) have been mainstays in the convergence analysis of MCMC algorithms. However, results presented herein suggest that d&m may be less useful in the emerging area of convergence complexity analysis, which is the study of how Monte Carlo Markov chain convergence behavior scales with sample size, $n$, and/or number of covariates, $p$. The problem appears to be that minorization becomes a serious liability as dimension increases. Alternative methods of constructing convergence rate bounds (with respect to total variation distance) that do not require minorization are investigated. These methods incorporate both old and new theory on Wasserstein distance and random mappings, and produce bounds that are apparently more robust to increasing dimension than those based on d&m. Indeed, the Wasserstein-based bounds are used to develop strong convergence complexity results for Albert and Chib's (1993) algorithm in the challenging asymptotic regime where both $n$ and $p$ diverge. We note that Qin and Hobert's (2019) d&m-based analysis of the same algorithm led to useful results in the cases where $n \rightarrow \infty$ with $p$ fixed, and $p \rightarrow \infty$ with $n$ fixed, but these authors provided no results for the case where $n$ and $p$ are both large.
Export Diversification and Economic Development: A Dynamic Spatial Data Analysis

This paper contributes to the empirical literature on the relationship between ‘export variety’ (export diversification) and economic development by relaxing the assumption of cross-country independence and allowing for spatial diffusion of shocks in observed and unobserved factors. Export variety is measured for a balanced panel of 114 countries (1992-2012) using very detailed information on their exports (HS 6-digit product level). The estimation results of a dynamic spatial panel data model confirm the relevance of spatial network effects: indirect effects (spatial spillovers) strongly reinforce direct effects, while spatial proximity to large countries accelerates the diversification process. These results are robust to the choice of the weights matrix (an inverse-distance matrix, an exponential distance matrix and a matrix based on bilateral trade flows are used).
Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Health Benefits, Potential Applications in Infant Formulas, and Pharmacology

The first months of life are a special time for the health development and protection of infants. Breastfeeding is the natural and best way of feeding an infant, and positively influences their development and health. Breast milk provides the ideal balance of nutrients for the infant and contains countless bioactive ingredients such as immunoglobulins, hormones, oligosaccharides and others. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a very important and interesting constituent of human milk, and are the third most abundant solid component after lactose and lipids. They are a structurally and biologically diverse group of complex indigestible sugars. This article will discuss the mechanisms of action of HMOs in infants, such as their anti-adhesive properties, properties modulating the immune system, and impact on bacterial flora development. Many health benefits result from consuming HMOs. They also may decrease the risk of infection by their interactions with viruses, bacteria or protozoa. The commercial use of HMOs in infant formula, future directions, and research on the use of HMOs as a therapy will be discussed.
Association Between Substance Use and Insufficient Sleep in U.S. High School Students

Multidimensional causes of insufficient sleep among adolescents are not fully explored, particularly, the association between substance use and sleep duration. The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) of high school students (N = 14,638; 51% female, 14–18 years old) was used to examine the association between substance use, namely cigarette, electronic vapor, alcohol, and marijuana use in the past 30 days, and insufficient sleep (<8 hr) using logistic regression analyses. Findings suggest that the use of alcohol (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.42; 95% CI [1.22, 1.65]) and marijuana (AOR, 1.19; 95% CI [1.00, 1.41]) was significantly associated with having insufficient hours of sleep adjusting for age, sex, race, and computer use ≥3 hr per day. Moreover, interaction effects were examined for sex and age, which revealed that the association between marijuana use and having insufficient sleep was stronger for male and younger students. It highlights the potential value of sleep assessment among adolescent substance users.
Who Succeeds at University? Factors predicting academic performance in first year Australian university students

With the increasing diversity of students attending university, there is a growing interest in the factors predicting academic performance. This study is a prospective investigation of the academic, psychosocial, cognitive, and demographic predictors of academic performance of first year Australian university students. Questionnaires were distributed to 197 first year students 4 to 8 weeks prior to the end of semester exams and overall grade point averages were collected at semester completion. Previous academic performance was identified as the most significant predictor of university performance. Integration into university, self efficacy, and employment responsibilities were also predictive of university grades. Identifying the factors that influence academic performance can improve the targeting of interventions and support services for students at risk of academic problems.
Variable blurred reflection in the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493

We examine a 200 ks XMM-Newton observation of the narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 493. The active galaxy was half as bright as in a previous 2003 snapshot observation and the current lower flux enables a study of the putative reflection component in detail. We determine the characteristics of the 2015 X-ray continuum by first analyzing the short-term variability using model-independent techniques. We then continue with a time-resolve analysis including spectral fitting and modelling the fractional variability. We determine that the variability arises from changes in the amount of primary flux striking the accretion disk, which induces changes in the ionization parameter and flux of the blurred reflection component. The observations seem consistent with the picture that the primary source is of roughly constant brightness and that variations arise from changes in the degree of light bending happening in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole.
EURASIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

This paper examines the primary determinants of the contemporary economic growth performance in MENA and African countries using a panel data estimation and random effects model during the period 1996-2014 for 24 countries. It is hypothesized that the variation in natural resources rents, initial human capital stock, and initial inequality in land ownership have significant impacts on contemporary economic growth rates in different countries. Furthermore, various political economy factors are controlled for in order to measure the effect of institutional quality. The estimation results show that the natural resources rents, initial inequality in land ownership, initial income, and government effectiveness influence GDP per capita growth rates with a statistical significance.
Deception and reciprocity

We experimentally investigate the relationship between (un)kind actions and subsequent deception in a two-player, two-stage game. The first stage involves a dictator game. In the second-stage, the recipient in the dictator game has the opportunity to lie to her counterpart. We study how the fairness of dictator-game outcomes affects subsequent lying decisions where lying hurts one’s counterpart. In doing so, we examine whether the moral cost of lying varies when retaliating against unkind actions is financially beneficial for the self (selfish lies), as opposed to being costly (spiteful lies). We find evidence that individuals engage in deception to reciprocate unkind behavior: The smaller the payoff received in the first stage, the higher the lying rate. Intention-based reciprocity largely drives behavior, as individuals use deception to punish unkind behavior and truth-telling to reward kind behavior. For selfish lies, individuals have a moral cost of lying. However, for spiteful lies, we find no evidence for such costs. Taken together, our data show a moral cost of lying that is not fixed but instead context-dependent.
Amino Acid Profiles to Differentiate White Wines from Three Autochtonous Galician Varieties

Amino acids play a relevant role in wine quality and can allow for classifying wines according to the variety. In this work, the amino acid contents of Albariño, Godello, and Treixadura wines, three autochthonous varieties from Galicia (NW Spain), were determined. During three consecutive vintages, these varieties were grown on the same vineyard and were harvested at optimum maturity, and the wines were elaborated following the same enological protocol. The identification and quantification of the primary amino acids were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection, after a derivatization. Amino acid contents in these white varieties were within the range of values reported for other European wines, but Treixadura wines showed the highest concentrations, while wines from the Albariño variety showed the lowest contents. Apart from proline, whose concentrations were caused by yeast release, the most abundant amino acids were aspartic acid, glutamic acid, lysine, arginine, asparagine, alanine, and histidine. Principal component analysis separated wines by variety according to their amino acid contents.
Permanent Price Impact Asymmetry of Trades with Institutional Constraints

Dynamic institutional trading constraints related to capital, diversification, and short-selling asymmetrically affect the incorporation of new information as reflected in the permanent price impact of their trades. The sign of the permanent price impact asymmetry between institutional buys versus sells is positive at the initial stage of a price run-up and reverses due to changing constraints with a prolonged price run-up in a stock. Idiosyncratic volatility, analyst forecast dispersion, trading intensity, price dispersion, and bullish market conditions further sharpen the initial asymmetry, as well as its reversal after a price run-up.
Growth Characteristics, Biomass and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Variation of Garhwal Himalaya’s Fodder and Fuel Wood Tree Species at the Nursery Stage

th , 2012; revised December 16 th , 2012; accepted December 26 th , 2012 Fodder and fuel wood deficiency in the Himalayan region is well recognized. Rural inhabitants are exploiting these forest resources for their livelihood for generations which leads to severe deforestation. The aim of this study was to identify the fast growing fodder and fuel wood tree species of Garhwal Himalayas at nursery stage with wider relevance and great potential for extensive afforestation programmes. Seed of Bauhinia purpurea L. , Bauhinia retusa Roxb. , Bauhinia variegate L. , Celtis australis L. , Ficus nemoralis Wall. , Ficus roxburghii Wall. , Grewia optiva Drummond, Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit, Melia azedarach L. , Ougeinia oojeinensis (Roxb.) Hochr. , Quercus leucotrichophora A. Camus, Terminalia alata Heyne ex Roth. and Toona ciliate M. Roem. were collected from the superior trees and seedlings were raised. After one year and one month of establishment at the nursery, the growth characteristics, biomass and chlorophyll fluorescence (dark-adopted Fv/Fm) of each species were also recorded. G. optiva had shown the highest growth in terms of height, basal diameter increment and number of branches, while production of leaves was more on O. oojeinensis. Biomass and chlorophyll fluorescence (maximum quantum yield or photochemical efficiency of PSII) was found highest in Q. leucotrichophora which indicates photosynthetically this species was most active among the studied fodder and fuel wood tree species. The information in this communication could be utilized for developing various conservation and sustainable strategies in the Garhwal Himalayas to mitigate the scarcity of fodder and fuel wood production.
Knowledge and perception of postmenopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women presented at the gynecological clinic of a tertiary health institution in Abakaliki

Introduction: As life expectancy increases, most women spend a larger part of their lives in the postmenopausal state. This period is associated with other medical comorbidities which affect the quality of life. Knowledge and perception of postmenopausal symptoms could help them cope with such a situation. Aim: To determine the knowledge and perception of postmenopausal symptoms among postmenopausal women presented to the gynecological clinic of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out at the Gynecological clinic of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki. Around 408 women were administered structured questionnaires. The information obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Majority (50%) of the respondents were 50–54 years age group and the least (6.9%) were 55–59 years. The commonest menopausal symptom reported was hot flushes by 300 (73.5%) respondents. Tiredness and vaginal dryness were reported by 188 (46.1%) and 180 (44.1%) respondents, respectively. The knowledge of hormone replacement therapy was low (7.8%). The study showed that 356 (87.3%) women have no knowledge of hormone replacement therapy. Conclusion: There is a need for educating women in the clinics regarding menopause and hormone replacement therapy which would further enable women to make informed choices about their health postmenopause.
Involvement of small nerve fibres and autonomic nervous system in AL amyloidosis: comprehensive characteristics and clinical implications

Abstract Peripheral nerve involvement in immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis is common, characterised by severe progressive mixed neuropathy with autonomic dysfunction but there is limited data on the implications and the characteristics of small nerve fibres dysfunction (SNFD). The aim of our prospective study was to evaluate SNFD and its clinical implications in newly diagnosed AL patients. Twenty-three consecutive patients (10 male, mean age 61.78 years) and 21 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (8 male, mean age 61.28 years) underwent clinical evaluation and standard nerve conduction studies (NCS), baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) test, quantitative sensory testing (QST) and skin biopsy at the lower leg for measuring the density of the nerve fibres innervating the epidermis (IENFD). Axonal degeneration of the large nerve fibres was revealed in 15 out of 23 patients while SNFD was indicated by QST and skin biopsy in 56% and 61% of the patients respectively. BRS index significantly correlated with the IENFD and the QST results while low IENFD was associated with significantly poorer survival. Our study provides new insights and also an initial evaluation of new tools for assessment of the involvement of autonomic and small nerve fibres in AL amyloidosis. These findings also appear to have prognostic implications.
Early pregnancy Pregnancy loss managed by cervical dilatation and curettage increases the risk of spontaneous preterm birth

Fergus P. McCarthy1,*, Ali S. Khashan1, Robyn A. North2,3, Muna B. Rahma1, James J. Walker4, Philip N. Baker5,6, Gus Dekker7, Lucilla Poston2,3, Lesley M.E. McCowan8, Keelin O’Donoghue1, and Louise C. Kenny1 on behalf of the SCOPE Consortium The Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT), University College Cork, Cork University Maternity Hospital, Wilton, Cork, Ireland, Division of Women’s Health, Women’s Health Academic Centre, King’s College London, London, UK, King’s Health Partners, London, UK, St James University Hospital, Leeds, UK, National Centre for Growth & Development and Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Honorary Professor of Maternal and Fetal Health, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, Women’s and Children’s Division Lyell McEwin Hospital, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand