Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors affecting egg viability and incubation time in prairie dabbling ducks

I determined hatching success for 328 dabbling duck (Anas spp.) eggs that were experimentally subjected to varying lengths of preincubation delay and then artificially incubated. Hatchability declined as unincubated eggs were exposed to longer preincubation delays. This effect was more pronounced at higher ambient temperatures and later in the nesting season, but did not vary with egg size or among duck species. These results are largely consistent with observed patterns of clutch-size variation among prairie-nesting waterfowl. Clutch size may be smaller later in the year and at lower latitudes owing to the negative effects of date and temperature on the ability of eggs to withstand preincubation delay. The timing of embryo mortality was bimodal, with peaks occurring during early development ( 22 d); however, only early mortality was affected by preincubation delay. Eggs lost up to 2.6% of their initial mass as water vapor during preincubation delay, but the amount of water.
Energy Consumption and Internal Distribution in Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plants of Greece

The high-energy consumption of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a crucial issue for municipalities worldwide. Most WWTPs in Greece operate as extended aeration plants, which results in high operational costs due to high energy needs. The present study investigated the energy requirements of 17 activated sludge WWTPs in Greece, serving between 1100–56,000 inhabitants (population equivalent, PE), with average daily incoming flowrates between 300–27,300 m3/d. The daily wastewater production per inhabitant was found to lie between 0.052 m3/PE·d and 0.426 m3/PE·d, with average volume of 0.217 ± 0.114 m3/PE·d. The electric energy consumption per volume unit (EQ (kWh/m3)) was between 0.128–2.280 kWh/m3 (average 0.903 ± 0.509 kWh/m3) following a near logarithmic descending correlation with the average incoming flowrate (Qav) (EQ = −0.294lnQav + 3.1891; R2 = 0.5337). A similar relationship was found between the daily electric energy requirements for wastewater treatment per inhabitant (EPE (kWh/PE·d)) as a function of PE, which varied from 0.041–0.407 kWh/PE·d (average 0.167 ± 0.101 kWh/PE·d)) (EPE = −0.073ln(PE) + 0.8425; R2 = 0.6989). Similarly, the daily energy cost per inhabitant (E€/PE (€/PE·d)) as a function of PE and the electric energy cost per wastewater volume unit (E€/V (€/m3)) as a function of average daily flow (Qav) were found to follow near logarithmic trends (E€/PE = −0.013ln(PE) + 0.1473; R2 = 0.6388, and E€/V = −0.052lnQav + 0.5151; R2 = 0.6359), respectively), with E€/PE varying between 0.005–0.073 €/PE·d (average 0.024 ± 0.019 €/PE·d) and E€/V between 0.012–0.291 €/m3 (average 0.111 ± 0.077 €/m3). Finally, it was calculated that, in an average WWTP, the aeration process is the main energy sink, consuming about 67.2% of the total electric energy supply to the plant. The large variation of energy requirements per inlet volume unit and per inhabitant served, indicate that there is large ground for improving the performance of the WWTPs, with respect to energy consumption.
A study in the emergence of applied behavior analysis through the referencing patterns in its founding articles

ABSTRACT We examined the emergence of applied behavior analysis (ABA) through referencing patterns, analyzing 309 references cited in 36 ABA articles discerned as founding articles in prior research. We also analyzed 338 references in 26 articles in the first volume of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) to see if referencing patterns changed as the field became institutionalized. We identified two research groups whose publications seemed particularly influential – the Ayllon and Wolf Groups. We also found five referencing patterns that revealed a higher frequency of: (a) journal articles, (b) applied research, (c) operant research, (d) recent publications, and (e) references to publications by Ayllon and Wolf, to co-authored publications, and to male-authored publications. The results for JABA were similar, suggesting these patterns were not altered by the field’s institutional founding. We discuss unexpected findings (e.g., the dearth of references to Skinner and classic articles), limitations, and suggestions for future research.
Impact of expertise of audit committee chair and nomination committee chair on financial performance of firm

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of financial, monitoring and experiential expertise of audit committee chair (ACC) and HR, monitoring and experiential expertise of nomination committee chair (NCC) on the financial performance (FP) of the firm. ,Quantitative approach was used in this study to collect data from 50 non-financial firms of Pakistan and to analyze the data through e-views for testing hypotheses. ,The findings revealed that financial and monitoring expertise of ACC and experiential expertise of NCC positively influence return on assets, return on equity and the net profit margin of the firm. However, no significant influence of experiential expertise of ACC and monitoring and HR expertise of NCC on FP was found. ,The findings of this study will help firms of Pakistan to understand what expertise of their ACC and NCC can contribute to the enhancement of their FP. However, the current study examined the non-financial firms of Pakistan only. ,Past studies have never shown the particular focus on different types of expertise of “Chairs” of nomination and audit committees in a combined research to analyze their impact on FP of firms. The present study has abridged this gap in the field of expertise of chairs of board committees so, it will open new areas of discussion for future researchers in domains of “agency theory”, “human capital theory” and corporate governance.
In vitro CULTURE OF BIG-SAGE (Lantana camara L.) PLANT

The study was conducted to mass micropropagation of big sage (Lantana camara L.) plant by shoot multiplication technique. The treatments 2.22 and 2.66 μmol·L–1 BA gave the highest significant increase in the percentage of response to shoot multiplication and number of shoots per explant compared to the other treatments as reached 96.70% and 100.00% and 4.33 and 6.00 shoots, respectively. The results showed that these two treatments did not differ significantly between them. While the 1.33 μmol·L–1 BA gave the lowest values in the percentage of response to shoot multiplication and number of shoots per explant were 80.00% and 2.00 shoots per explant, respectively. The MS medium supplemented with 4.30 or 5.37 μmol·L–1 NAA gave a high response to root formation, number of roots per shoot and root length. While the MS medium supplemented with 6.44 or 7.52 μmol·L–1 NAA gave low values in these characteristics. The MS medium with 2.22 or 2.66 μmol·L–1 concentration of BA or 7.52 μmol·L–1 concentration of NAA recorded the highest significant increase in the percentage of response to callus formation. While the MS medium supplemented with 1.33 μmol·L–1 BA or 4.30 μmol·L–1 NAA gave less response to the callus formation.
Cissus Populnea Flour Addition and Proximate Composition, Functional and Sedimentation Properties of Millet Kunu

The study evaluated the possibility of using cissus populnea mucilage flour as a colloid in beverage production and its influence on proximate composition, functional properties and sedimentation rate of millet kunu during storage at ambient temperature. Hot water (80 90 0C) extraction method was used to extract the mucilage from fresh stem cuttings of cissus populnea plant. Freeze (100g,-400C, 48 hr) drying method was used in mucilage flour production. Standard methods were used in millet-cissus kunu production and determination of the proximate composition, functional properties and sedimentation rates of the beverage samples. Results showed that addition of freeze dried cissus populnea mucilage flour to millet kunu significantly decreased its moisture content but increased its protein, fat, fibre, ash and carbohydrate contents, when compared to 100% millet kunu (control). Similarly, the addition of freeze dried cissus populnea mucilage flour to millet kunu significantly elevated the viscosity, pH, and tritratable acidity of the beverage samples when compared to control. The addition of C. populnea mucilage flour to millet kunu equally reduced the rate of dissociation of the starch granules from the beverage during 8 hr storage at ambient temperature. Freeze dried C. populnea mucilage flour has the potentials of serving as a colloid in beverages and improving its nutritional and functional attributes.
Reduced Oct 4 expression directs a robust pluripotent state with distinct signaling activity and increased enhancer occupancy by Oct 4 and Nanog

Citation for published version: Karwacki-Neisius, V, Göke, J, Osorno, R, Halbritter, F, Ng, JH, Weiße, AY, Wong, FCK, Gagliardi, A, Mullin, NP, Festuccia, N, Colby, D, Tomlinson, SR, Ng, H-H & Chambers, I 2013, 'Reduced Oct4 expression directs a robust pluripotent state with distinct signaling activity and increased enhancer occupancy by Oct4 and Nanog' Cell Stem Cell, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 531-45. DOI: 10.1016/j.stem. 2013.04. 023
Face Recognition on Low Resolution Face Image With TBE-CNN Architecture

Article history: Received: 10 February, 2020 Accepted: 04 March, 2020 Online: 20 April, 2020 Face recognition in low resolution images has challenges in active research because face recognition is usually implemented in high resolution images (HR). In general, research leads to a combination of pre-processing and training models. Therefore, this study aims to classify low-resolution face images using a combination of pre-processing and deep learning. In addition, this study also aims to compare evaluation results based on differences in epoch values. In this research will use the Trunk Branch Ensemble Convolutional Neural Network (TBE-CNN) as one of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture combined with the pre-processing method which is super resolution to get better accuracy compared to the state-of -art. Then the model is trained with different epoch values, that is 40 and 100, to comparing the best classification. This study was evaluated by YTD Dataset. Based on the test results, this proposed method has achieved better results compared to the previous method, which gives an increase of 1%. After that, training results from different epoch values used produce different accuracy at the training model but have no effect on validation and testing model. The training using epoch = 100 has an accuracy increase of 3% compared to training using epoch = 40 and the loss ratio obtained at the training is decreased by 20% compared to training at epoch = 40. Furthermore, optimization parameters used and reducing computing time when training models and validation will be future research.
Illuminating Intcal During the Younger Dryas

ABSTRACT As the worldwide standard for radiocarbon (14C) dating over the past ca. 50,000 years, the International Calibration Curve (IntCal) is continuously improving towards higher resolution and replication. Tree-ring-based 14C measurements provide absolute dating throughout most of the Holocene, although high-precision data are limited for the Younger Dryas interval and farther back in time. Here, we describe the dendrochronological characteristics of 1448 new 14C dates, between ~11,950 and 13,160 cal BP, from 13 pines that were growing in Switzerland. Significantly enhancing the ongoing IntCal update (IntCal20), this Late Glacial (LG) compilation contains more annually precise 14C dates than any other contribution during any other period of time. Thus, our results now provide unique geochronological dating into the Younger Dryas, a pivotal period of climate and environmental change at the transition from LG into Early Holocene conditions.
The Serbian Lake System: a stepping stone for freshwater molluscs in the middle Miocene

The first in‐depth revision of a lacustrine freshwater mollusc fauna of the Serbian Lake System (SLS) is carried out. We describe and discuss well‐preserved faunas from two localities in central and southern Serbia (Mađere and Medoševac), along with the reinvestigation of type material of several species described in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Our revision yields 14 species of gastropods, with the families Hydrobiidae (six species) and Planorbidae (four species) being most abundant, along with one species each of Neritidae, Melanopsidae, Bithyniidae and Bulinidae, as well as two dreissenid bivalve species. Three of the hydrobiid gastropods are new to science, Prososthenia milosevici sp. nov., Prososthenia? naissensis sp. nov., and Prososthenia rundici sp. nov., and so is the bivalve Trigonipraxis madjerensis sp. nov. The present study results in 12 lectotype designations, 10 new generic combinations, and 10 new junior synonyms. About four‐fifths (81.3%) of the species are endemic to the SLS, which is slightly higher than the overall SLS endemism (71.4%). The composition at the genus and family level overlaps strongly with the slightly older faunas of the Dinaride Lake System in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as that of the late Miocene Lake Pannon. Its stratigraphically intermediate position and geographical proximity suggest that the SLS was a stepping stone for many of the mollusc lineages, some of which are found only in those systems.
Local scour and pore-water pressure around a monopile foundation under combined waves and currents

A series of experiments were conducted in a large flow-structure-soil interaction flume to analyze the scour development and pore-water pressure response around a monopile foundation under the action of combined waves and currents. In the experiments, the scour depth and pore pressure response around the pile were measured simultaneously. The experimental results indicate that the maximum equilibrium scour depth due to waves plus currents is greater than a linear sum of those caused by waves and currents respectively. This nonlinearity effect is particularly obvious when the sand-bed condition under currents or waves alone is in clear-water regime. The maximum equilibrium scour depth normalized with pile diameter is closely dependent on the Froude number with increasing the wave-induced water particle velocity meanwhile the current velocity keeping constant. The wave-induced pore pressure gradient around the monopile under the wave trough weakens the buoyant unit weight of the surrounding sand and induces the sand-bed more susceptible to scouring.
PLEXIFORM LESIONS IN BROILER LUNGS 635

Plexiform lesions form in the terminal pulmonary arterioles of human patients suffering from prolonged pulmonary arterial hypertension. Plexiform lesions also develop in broiler lungs, but lesion incidences are not strongly correlated with sustained pulmonary hypertension as reflected by right to total ventricular weight (RVTV) ratios. The present study was conducted to assess plexiform lesion incidences in broiler lines that have been divergently selected for susceptibility or resistance to pulmonary hypertension. Broilers from susceptible (SUS) and resistant (RES) lines were reared together and only clinically healthy (nonascitic, noncyanotic) individuals were evaluated to minimize potential line differences in cardiopulmonary hemodynamics. The objective was to determine if an innate genetic predisposition for plexogenic arteriopathy would be exposed in SUS broilers when compared with RES broilers in the absence of extreme differences in cardiopulmonary hemodynamics. Broilers up to 12 wk age from the SUS and RES lines had essentially equivalent BW, indices of cardiopulmonary function (left ventricle + septum weight, total ventricle weight, and RVTV ratios), and lung volumes within a sex. Average RVTV ratios for broilers from both lines were indicative of normal pulmonary arterial pressures at all ages sampled. Nevertheless, plexiform lesions were detected in SUS and RES broiler lungs immediately posthatch and thereafter at all ages sampled. Lesion incidences were consistently low and did not differ between the lines within any of the sampling ages. This evidence demonstrates that plexiform lesions develop extremely rapidly in broiler chicks, apparently without the prerequisite for vascular stress caused by severe, prolonged pulmonary arterial hypertension. No innate genetic predisposition for complex vascular lesion development appeared to exist in the SUS line when compared with the RES line.
Use of underpasses by animals on a fenced expressway in a suburban area in western Poland

Expressways act as barriers to animals that block free movement in their habitats, especially when the roads are continuously fenced to prevent collisions between animals and vehicles. Various types of animal passages have been repeatedly studied in terms of their utility, albeit rather less frequently in the suburban environment. We conducted our research in a section of the fenced expressway S3 connecting two closely located cities in western Poland (Lubuskie province). Over the course of one year, we monitored four underpasses intended for smalland medium-sized animals using tracks. The underpasses were inspected weekly. Animal traces most frequently found belonged to roe deer Capreolus capreolus (20.9%), red fox Vulpes vulpes (15.1%), wild boar Sus scrofa (14%), and domestic dog Canis l. familiaris (12.4%). Surprisingly, the results of our study indicate that underpasses for small and medium mammals are also used by ungulate mammals. The use of the underpasses varied seasonally, being the highest in spring (37.9%) and the lowest in winter (10.4%). Moreover, seasonal differences in the use of passages were related to particular species/groups of animal species. We found that 22% of animals that entered the passage did not completely traverse it. People accounted for 17.1% of all stated traces in the underpasses. Stagnant water in the underpasses reduced the number of predatory mammals and wild boars using the underpasses but did not affect the activity of roe deer. These studies indicate that animal underpasses located in suburban areas are used by many species of animals despite the activity of humans and domesticated mammals. Nature Conservation 39: 1–18 (2020) doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.39. 33967 http://natureconservation.pensoft. net Copyright Agnieszka Ważna et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journal
Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality Since 1980

One of the most contentious issues of globalization is the effect of global economic integration on inequality and poverty. This article documents five trends in the modern era of globalization, starting around 1980. The first trend is that growth rates in poor economies have accelerated and are higher than growth rates in rich countries for the first time in modern history. Developing countries per capita incomes grew more than 3.5 percent a year in the 1990s. Second, the number of extremely poor people in the world has declined significantly. The share of people in developing economies living on less than dollar 1 a day has been cut in half since 1981, though the decline in the share living on less than dollar 2 per day was much less dramatic. Third, global inequality has declined modestly, reversing a 200-year trend toward higher inequality. Fourth, within-country inequality in general is not growing, though it has risen in several populous countries (China, India, and the United States). Fifth, wage inequality is rising worldwide. This may seem to contradict the fourth trend, but it does not because there is no simple link between wage inequality and household income inequality. Furthermore, the trends toward faster growth and poverty reduction are strongest in developing economies that have integrated with the global economy most rapidly, which supports the view that integration has been a positive force for improving the lives of people in developing areas
Local stellar kinematics from RAVE data - II. Radial metallicity gradient

We investigate radial metallicity gradients for a sample of dwarf stars from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) Data Release 3 (DR3). We select a total of approximately 17 000 F-type and G-type dwarfs, using a selection of colour, log g and uncertainty in the derived space motion, and calculate for each star a probabilistic (kinematic) population assignment to a thick or thin disc using space motion and additionally another (dynamical) assignment using stellar vertical orbital eccentricity. We additionally subsample by colour, to provide samples biased toward young thin-disc and older thin-disc stars. We derive a metallicity gradient as a function of Galactocentric radial distance, i.e. d[M/H]/dRm =− 0.051 ± 0.005 dex kpc −1 , for the youngest sample, F-type stars with vertical orbital eccentricities ev ≤ 0.04. Samples biased toward older thin-disc stars show systematically shallower abundance gradients.
Gemological Characteristics and Origin of the Zhanguohong Agate from Beipiao, Liaoning Province, China: A Combined Microscopic, X-ray Diffraction, and Raman Spectroscopic Study

The Zhanguohong agate from Beipiao (Liaoning province, China), which occurs in the intermediate–felsic volcanic breccias of the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation, generally shows massive and banded structures, with red, yellow, and/or white layers or zones. Little research has been done on its mineralogical and gemological characteristics or its genesis. In this study, we present petrographic and spectroscopic constraints on the mineral composition and micro-texture of the silica matrix, as well as the ferruginous inclusions within the agates, in order to deduce the origin of the Zhanguohong agate. According to the microscopic observations, sandwich-like interlayered micro-granular quartz, fibrous chalcedony, and jigsaw quartz bands are common in the banded agates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopic analyses revealed that all of the samples were mainly composed of α-quartz and moganite, with minor hematite and goethite. The moganite content (17–54 wt%) of the silica matrix decreases by varying degrees from the outermost to the innermost part of the banded agates. The crystal defects and ferric iron in the microcrystalline silica grains probably contributed to the moganite crystallization. The red, yellow, and orange zones are rich in hematite, goethite, and their mixtures, respectively. The ore-forming fluids fluctuated between acidic and alkaline within a temperature range of 100–200 °C and at a sustained positive Eh. Combined with the field observations, these results suggest that the multiperiod precipitation of the agates probably resulted from the episodic volcanic activity during the Early Cretaceous lithospheric extension in eastern China.
Prediction of plasticity-controlled failure in polyamide 6:influence of temperature and relative humidity

In this study, the influence of temperature and relative humidity on the plasticity controlled failure of polyamide 6 was investigated. Uniaxial tensile tests were performed at several temperatures, strain rates, and relative humidity; creep tests were performed at different relative humidity and applied load. In order to describe and predict the yield kinetics, the Ree–Eyring equation was employed and modified to include the effect of relative humidity. Subsequently, by the introduction of the concept of critical amount of accumulated plastic strain, the yield kinetics were successfully translated to predictions of time-to-failure. A good agreement between predictions and experimental results is obtained, showing that the model is a suitable and versatile tool to evaluate mechanical performance of a temperature and moisture sensitive material such as polyamide 6. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 135, 45942.