Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Continuous Record of Central Tropical Pacific Climate Since the Midnineteenth Century Reconstructed From Fanning and Palmyra Island Corals: A Case Study in Coral Data Reanalysis

Accurate estimation of central tropical Pacific (CTP) climate variability on interannual to centennial time scales is required for robust projections of future global climate trends. Here we outline an approach that blends instrumental and coral proxy observations to yield a continuous, monthly resolved record of climate evolution in the CTP spanning the past 160 years. We concatenate coral oxygen isotope (δ18O) records from multiple living and fossil corals collected from Fanning Island (4°N, 160°W) and Palmyra Island (5°N; 162°W) located in the heart of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. We use the regularized expectation maximization (RegEM) method to impute missing data across short gaps of 5 to 23 years within and beyond individual coral records. The resulting monthly resolved Fanning/Palmyra Island climate record spans continuously from 1863 to 2016 and provides an example of how extended time series can be built from shorter coral segments. The extended record highlights the strong trend toward warmer and wetter mean conditions in late twentieth century, in agreement with the majority of climate model hindcast simulations. The continuous reconstruction also enables a direct comparison of four exceptionally strong El Niño events (1877–1878, 1940–1941, 1997–1998, and 2015–2016). Three of these very strong El Niño events in the CTP featured a precursor warm event in the prior year and that may have favored the development of a strong El Niño event.
Cultivation of Banana using Plantlets from Meristem Culture

Plantlets orginating from adventitious buds of explants obtained from the decapitated shoot apex of a banana sucker established well under field conditions and gave rise to mature plants with uniform growth and normal yield of fruit. A total of one million pathogen-free plantlets for commercial planting was produced in 1983. Introduction of plantlets for commercial planting prevents the spreading of fusarial wilt of banana by planting materials to the disease-free orchards.
The Display Makes a Difference: A Mobile Eye Tracking Study on the Perception of Art Before and After a Museum’s Rearrangement

There is increasing awareness that the perception of art is affected by the way it is presented. In 2018, the Austrian Gallery Belvedere redisplayed its permanent collection. Our multidisciplinary team seized this opportunity to investigate the viewing behavior of specific artworks both before and after the museum’s rearrangement. In contrast to previous mobile eye tracking (MET) studies in museums, this study benefits from the comparison of two realistic display conditions (without any research interference), an unconstrained study design (working with regular museum visitors), and a large data sample (comprising 259 participants). We employed a mixed-method approach that combined mobile eye tracking, subjective mapping (a drawing task in conjunction with an open interview), and a questionnaire in order to relate gaze patterns to processes of meaning-making. Our results show that the new display made a difference in that it 1) generally increased the viewing times of the artworks; 2) clearly extended the reading times of labels; and 3) deepened visitors’ engagement with the artworks in their exhibition reflections. In contrast, interest in specific artworks and art form preferences proved to be robust and independent of presentation modes.
Fish Bycatch Rate by Rapana venosa (Valenciennes, 1846) Fishery in the Bulgarian Black Sea Waters, with a Special Emphasis on the Bycatch of Turbot Scophthalmus maximus (L., 1758)

Catches of the commercial beam trawl fishery for Rapana venosa in Bulgarian waters were assessed during summer – autumn 2017. The fish bycatch was analysed, with a particular emphasis on the bycatch rate of turbot juveniles. Four commercial boats were chartered and catch species composition as well as weight and length of turbot bycatch were recorded from a total of 104 hauls. The trawling was performed at a depth of 13–38 meters, with duration of up to 220 min and hauling speed of 2.8–3.6 knots. Nine fish species were identified as bycatch, including 29 turbot specimens, with a total weight of 14.46 kg. The turbot bycatch weight was 0.55 kg/fishing day ± 0.76 SD, averaged for the whole study period, with a maximum of 3.20 kg/day. The bycatch daily rate of turbot was 0.23 % ± 0.34 SD of the total catches and the turbot bycatch was dominated by the length class 30 40 cm (66 % of all collected specimens). The highest bycatch rate of turbot juveniles was found in the region of Cape Kaliakra, Balchik (off the northern Bulgarian coast), spatially separated from the zones with the highest catches of Rapana (off the central coast). Provided this spatial pattern persists in summer – autumn, we suggest that targeted restrictions to Rapana fisheries in certain areas might be an appropriate tool to achieve lower catches of turbot juveniles.
Medicinal plants in Cyrenaica, Libya: existence and extinction

Cyrenaica is a distinguished region located in the south of the Mediterranean region. Eighty-nine plant taxa were collected and identified as having medicinal properties from four main valleys in Cyrenaica in 2001 and 2013. Collections included the same 47 families in both years, dominated by Lamiaceae (9%) followed by Apiacea (8%) and Asteraceae (7%); only two of these species collected were endemic. Species frequency was assessed in both years and showed a dramatic decrease in 25 taxa over all sites. Regression analysis was applied to determine which plant families in Cyrenaica are more likely to contain species with medicinal compounds. Climate change was clearly noticeable in the last few decades; metrological data showed an increase in the mean monthly temperate and a decline in the annual rainfall over the whole area. This study concludes that there is a significant diversity of medicinal plant species on the southern edge of the Mediterranean which is being disturbed and some of wild native plant species could be under threat. Findings of this work suggest that conservation strategies should take place urgently; and suggest a number of important strategies that could be effective to preserve the plant community structure in this area.
Does electricity reliability matter? Evidence from rural Viet Nam

Using a three-round panel dataset of more than 3,000 households, the paper estimates the impacts of electricity reliability improvement on the welfare and economic decisions of rural Vietnamese households. The number of days without power outages in communes per annum is used to proxy for electricity reliability. We employ a fixed effect regression with an instrumental variable to deal with the endogeneity issue, led by the simultaneous causal relationship between the reliability of electricity and household outcomes along with the unobservable variables. We use the similar electricity quality variable but measured in other communes within the same province as an instrumental variable. Results from this model show that an improvement in electricity reliability plays an important role in enhancing incomes, durable consumption, access to credit and land investment decisions of rural households.
Ontology of the Communication Performance Prospects of Building Information Modelling Adoption among Project Teams in Construction Project Delivery

The need for improved communication performance among project teams has significantly underlined the increased adoption of many computer-based tools and information communication technology (ICT) in project delivery in the construction industry. Though the literature has espoused the key benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM), relatively less attention has been paid to the communication performance influence of BIM to profession-specific tasks and wider industry adoption. The primary aim of this study is to assess the communication performance prospects of BIM adoption among project teams in construction project delivery. Using deductive research design, a structured questionnaire survey was conducted on 52 experienced construction industry practitioners in the use of BIM tools in project delivery. The results indicated a significant influence of BIM adoption to accuracy, understanding, timeliness and improvement in the dissemination of shared project related information among project teams. However, contrary to opinion espoused in literature, there was no significant impact on overcoming underloading, overloading and gatekeeping issues in communicated information among the team. The findings provide empirical support into the perceived communication benefits of BIM adoption and thus this knowledge can be an overriding impetus to extensive adoption of BIM tools across all the project life cycle to enhance communication in the construction industry.
Study on ruminant tick infestation, phytochemical analysis and in vitro acaricidal effect of Calpurnia aurea and Otostegia integrifolia extracts on Amblyomma variegatum

Ticks limit the productivity of livestock through decreased production, reproduction, increased mortality, downgrading and rejection of hides and skin. A cross-sectional study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of tick infestation in ruminant while experimental study was used to evaluate the in-vitro acaricidal efficacy of methanolic extracts: Calpurnia aurea and Otostegia integrifolia and the phytochemicals present in those extracts at different concentrations (200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25 mg/ml) against Amblyomma variegatum. Adult immersion was used for the in-vitro acaricidal efficacy test and plant extracts were subjected to qualitative phytochemical screening for the presence or absence of secondary metabolites using standard procedures. Out of the 160 goats, 152 sheep and 121 cattle, 23 (14.4%), 44 (28.9%) and 28 (23.1%) were found to be positive for tick infestation, respectively. The incidence of tick infestation was significantly different (p<0.01) among ruminants. Five tick spp. were identified: A. variegatum, A. gemma, R. decoloratus, R. evertsi evertsi and R. pulchellus. Extract of C. aurea and O. integrifolia was found to contain alkaloids, saponins, phlobatannin, steroids, phenolic, flavonoids, glycosides and tannins. However, both plants were found negative for triterpens. Extracts of C. aurea and O. integrifolia at 200 and 100 mg/ml concentrations showed a significantly higher (p<0.05) acaricidal activities compared to other treatments at 24 hrs post exposure. Mortality of ticks was increased with the increased dosage (concentration) and exposure time after treatment. Extracts of C. aurea showed a significantly higher (p<0.05) tick mortality (52%) compared to those of O. integrifolia (27%). This is a promising finding to have alternative means of treatment and to substitute the use of synthetic drugs which have a wide spread drug resistance especially in developing countries like Ethiopia. Key words: Calpurnia aurea; in-vitro test; Otostegia integrifolia; Phytochemical screening; Tick infestation
THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF THE ECTONEURAL/HYPONEURAL SYNAPTIC CONNECTION IN AN ECHINODERM

The nervous system of echinoderms consists of two parts, the ectoneural and the hyponeural. The latter is purely motor in function and of mesodermal origin. It is separated from the main ectoneural nervous tissue by a true basement membrane of collagenous connective tissue. Previous anatomical work has suggested that a chemical synapse occurs across the basement membrane with the hyponeural neurons being post synaptic. The brittlestar Ophiura ophiura contains very large ectoneural interneurons and hyponeural motor neurons. This report describes for the first time the use of intracellular recording electrodes to dye-fill the cells and monitor action potentials and synaptic potentials. The synaptic morphology of both ectoneural and hyponeural neurons is described from dye-filled cells and shows that the large axons break up into a fine varicose plexus at the terminal regions. Preliminary recordings have been made from ectoneural neurons. Further work is required before function at the cellular level in this nervous system is understood. The report describes in detail, using simultaneous recording from two electrodes, how activity within the ectoneural system drives the hyponeural motor system and thus produces muscular contractions in the intervertebral muscles.
The Time-varying Risk of Italian GDP

The uncertainty surrounding economic forecasts is generally related to multiple sources of risks, of domestic and foreign origin. This paper studies the predictive distribution of Italian GDP growth as a function of selected risk indicators, related to both financial and real economic developments. The conditional distribution is characterized by means of expectile regressions. Expectiles are closely related to the Expected Shortfall, a well-known measure of risk with desirable properties. Here a decomposition of Expected Shortfall in terms of contributions of different indicators is proposed, which allows to track over time the main drivers of risk. Our analysis of the predictive distribution of GDP confirms that financial conditions are relevant for the left tail of the distribution but it also highlights that indicators of global trade and uncertainty have strong explanatory power for both left and right tail. Their usefulness is supported also in a pseudo real-time predictive context. Overall, our findings suggest that Italian GDP risks have been mostly driven by foreign developments around the Great Recession, by domestic financial conditions at the time of the Sovereign Debt Crisis and by economic policy uncertainty in more recent years.
Potential climatic control of seedbank density

Abstract The relationship between Calluna vulgaris seedbank density and climate was investigated using regression analysis and two related techniques (factor-ceiling analysis). The seedbank data originated from published and unpublished studies. Low seedbank densities were associated with sites in the relatively dry, sunny and warm south and east of Great Britain. However, as the climatic variables used in the study were highly intercorrelated, it was not possible to determine which climatic variable had the greatest influence on seedbank density. A hypothesis is described suggesting that the limits of seedbank density can be described for single environmental factors. The operation of other environmental and management factors may reduce the seedbank density to less than this maximum. This is illustrated for a range of climatic variables using factor-ceiling analysis. The processes following seed deposition and the longevity of seeds in the soil are highlighted as possible factors controlled by climate which determine seedbank density.
Financial Performance and Income Diversity: Does Ownership Matter? Evidence from Vietnamese Commercial Banks

In the context of the sharp development of the Vietnamese stock market in recent years, financial performance of listed firms is drawing the attention of investors, particularly in banking industry. Moreover, the harmony of income diversity or reducing the relying on traditional activities of commercial banks is thriving in the world and strongly influence on Vietnam’s banking, especially when the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide may result in the freeze of real estate market, which leads to devaluate collaterals as well as the risk of non-performing loans, so-called ―credit shocks”. This paper, therefore, examines the impacts of income diversity on financial performance of Vietnamese commercial banks in the period from 2007 to 2019. To conduct this study, annual data are collected of 26 commercial banks, listed in Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE), Ha Noi Stock Exchange (HNX), UPCoM and OTC. The research develops an exploratory model reflecting financial performance of the banks in relation to their income diversity and analyzes data using panel regressions. The results show that there is no relationship between financial performance and income diversity due to its low proportion in total operating income. However, the state ownership makes stronger this relationship despite the small impacts. The findings are expected to add the gap in the existing literature, lacking of investigating the impacts of market power on bank income diversity, and the moderating role of state ownership in this relation in Vietnamese banking sector, which is ignored or opposite in most recent studies. Thereby, the paper also gives some useful implications for investors, bank managers as well as policy makers to catch up the market fluctuations.
Prediction and Judgmental Adjustments of Supply-Chain Planning in Festive Season

For a robust performance, Shipping costs planning in festive seasons is given the input data as free from trends, season-of-year effects etc. Seasonal forecasting for supplychain planning with past few years of similar data impact shipping costs. Additionally, during a festive season of the year, unbiased and accurate prediction of shipment load plays a major role in bringing up sales. Time-series forecasting methods can be useful to remove traditional fluctuations due to gap in months-of-year of festivals. We describe exponential smoothing techniques and trend fitting methods and compare the predictive accuracy. The accuracy is compared using rootmean square error and median absolute deviation. The exponential smoothing shows changing behavior with increased data size and data item values. The data is compared with and without tuning the seasonal effects due to festive season.
Evaluate the Performance of SVM Kernel Functions for Multiclass Cancer Classification

Multiclass cancer classification is basically one of the challenging fields in machine learning which a fast growing technology that use human behaviour as examples. Supervised classification such Support Vector Machine (SVM) has been used to classify the dataset on classification by its own function and merely known as kernel function. Kernel function has stated to have a problem especially in selecting their best kernels based on a specific datasets and tasks. Besides, there is an issue stated that the kernels function have a high impossibility to distribute the data in straight line. Here, three basic kernel functions was used and tested with selected dataset and they are linear kernel, polynomial kernel and Radial Basis Function (RBF) kernel function. The three kernels were tested by different dataset to gain the accuracy. For a comparison, this study conducting a test by with and without feature selection in SVM classification kernel function since both tests will give different result and thus give a big meaning to the study.
Distribution of Bacillus thuringiensis in sericultural farms of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.

A total of 124 crystalliferous sporeformers were isolated from the silkworm litters of 8 sericultural farms out of 38 farms of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Most isolates were found to belong to Bacillus thuringiensis serotypes 3a: 3b (subsp. kurstaki), 4a: 4b (subsp. sotto or subsp. dendrolimus), 4a: 4c (subsp. kenyae), 7 (subsp. aizawai), 8a: 8b (subsp. morrisoni), 9 (tolworthi), and 19 (subsp. tochigiensis). Of these 7 serotypes, serotypes 3a: 3b, 4a: 4c, and 7 were predominantly detected. No concentrated occurrence of this bacterium was observed in any particular region. Coexistence of two different serotypes was evident in 3 sericultural farms. Three H serotypes and one untypable strain were simultaneously isolated from one farm. Most isolates were toxic to the silkworm larvae, Bombyx mori. For mosquito larvae, Aedes aegypti, serotype 7 isolates were more toxic than the isolates of the other serotypes. The above untypable isolate was nonmotile and produced large parasporal inclusions nontoxic to larvae of the silkworm and the mosquito. The four isolates belonging to serotype 19 produced spherical parasporal inclusions. These isolates were nontoxic to the silkworm but showed low toxicity to the mosquito.
Habitat Partitioning among Size Classes of Larval Southern Leopard Frogs, Rana utricularia

cularia larvae. Only the largest size class was significantly correlated with any of these parameters, and this was a negative correlation with percent sand cover. Analysis of the distribution of 85 tadpoles indicated a significant negative association between large and small individuals. Laboratory experiments were carried out in order to continue study of the spatial distribution of the size classes. Significant interaction effects involving size class and spatial distribution, and density and spatial distribution, suggest that the tadpoles respond both to size class-specific preferences for position within the chamber and to differences in the density of conspecifics. As in the field observations, there was a negative association between large and small individuals. The inference from these observations is that small individuals may behaviorally avoid larger individuals.
Working Paper Series

This paper studies the importance of firm-level price-markup dynamics for business cycle fluctuations. Using state-of-the-art IO techniques to measure the behavior of markups over the business cycle at the firm level, I find that markups are countercyclical with an average elasticity of -1.1 with respect to real GDP. Importantly, I find substantial heterogeneity in markup cyclicality across firms, with small firms having significantly more counter-cyclical markups than large firms. Then, I develop a general equilibrium model by embedding customer capital (due to deep habits as in Ravn, Schmitt-Grohé, and Uribe, 2006) into a standard Hopenhayn (1992) model of firm dynamics with entry and exit. The calibrated model replicates these empirical facts and produces counter-cyclical firm sales dispersions consistent with the data. The resulting input misallocation amplifies both the volatility and persistence of the aggregate productivity shocks driving the business cycle. (JEL Codes: E31, E32, L11, L13.)
Cost-Benefit Evaluation of Investments in Climate Change Abatement

To evaluate the optimal level of public investments, governments regularly conduct cost-benefit analyses in which they weigh the value of the benefits of an investment against the value of the investments’ costs. In many settings, a project’s costs and benefits materialize over different time horizons. This is particularly the case when considering investments to abate the effects of climate change. Indeed, many of the costs associated with climate change, such as large-scale coastal flooding and long droughts, are predicted to occur decades or even centuries into the future. However, societies have to invest today in order to effectively mitigate and reduce these long-run risks.