Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Means of control : deriving the properties of PRO in the minimalist program

Within the Principles and Parameters approach to syntax, it has been considered necessary to stipulate a Theory of Control, to explain the distribution and interpretation of certain instances of unpronounced subjects in non-finite clauses. However, with the advent of the Minimalist Program (Chomsky 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995), the assumptions which made Control Theory necessary (such as the Theta Criterion and the Projection Principle) are either superfluous or have been called into question on independent grounds. In this thesis, the properties of Control Theory — and of PRO, the object of Control Theory — are derived from independently-motivated conditions on movement and feature-checking in the Minimalist Program. The Theta Criterion, a necessary stipulation in GB Theory, is replaced by more minimalist conditions on theta-role assignment at LF. This theory is applied to a variety of languages, showing its empirical as well as its theoretical coverage. I also argue that obligatory and non-obligatory control constructions do not form a natural class. Different theories, derived from the Minimalist Program in different ways, are used to explain the differences (and similarities) between them. Insofar as this proposal is simpler and contains fewer stipulations than Control Theory, as well as having adequate empirical coverage, PRO and Control Theory become redundant and can be eliminated.
Teaching Experiential Data Analytics Using an Election Simulation

Abstract Data Analytics has grown dramatically in importance and in the level of business deployments in recent years. It is used across most functional areas and applications, some of the latter including market campaigns, detecting fraud, determining credit, identifying assembly line defects, health services and many others. Indeed, the realm of analytics has famously grown to include major league sports and even U.S. election campaigns. Universities have raced to include data analytics in their curricula as the need for data scientists has become more acute. Unfortunately, many data science courses in college curricula suffer from various deficiencies: some lack a hands-on component, others are insufficiently experiential, and yet others leave students with too few transferable skills. This article describes an experiential approach to teaching data analytics at the college level that uses an election simulation, MISSimulation.com—to communicate key data science concepts in a competitive setting. Many universities actively use the simulation, combined with analytic tools such as Tableau and Excel, to implement team competition. We explore key techniques used and knowledge learned during the typical teaching of a data analytics course using the simulation. We end with pedagogical review of data analytics skills transferred during the course and student feedback.
A remarkably large depleted core in the Abell 2029 BCG IC 1101

We report the discovery of an extremely large (R_b ~ 2"77 ~ 4.2 kpc) core in the brightest cluster galaxy, IC 1101, of the rich galaxy cluster Abell 2029. Luminous core-Sersic galaxies contain depleted cores---with sizes (R_b) typically 20 - 500 pc---that are thought to be formed by coalescing black hole binaries. We fit a (double nucleus) + (spheroid) + (intermediate-scale component) + (stellar halo) model to the HST surface brightness profile of IC 1101, finding the largest core size measured in any galaxy to date. This core is an order of magnitude larger than those typically measured for core-Sersic galaxies. We find that the spheroid's V-band absolute magnitude (M_V) of -23.8 mag (~ 25% of the total galaxy light, i.e., including the stellar halo) is faint for the large R_b, such that the observed core is 1.02 dex ~ 3.4 sigma_s (rms scatter) larger than that estimated from the R_ b -M_V relation. The suspected scouring process has produced a large stellar mass deficit (M_def) ~ 4.9 X 10^11 M_sun, i.e., a luminosity deficit ~ 28% of the spheroid's luminosity prior to the depletion. Using IC 1101's black hole mass (M_BH) estimated from the M_BH-$\sigma$, M_BH-L and M_BH-M_* relations, we measure an excessive and unrealistically high number of dry major mergers for IC 1101 (i.e., $\mathcal{N} \ga 76$) as traced by the large M_def/M_ BH ratios of 38-101. The large core, high mass deficit and oversized M_def/M_ BH ratio of IC 1101 suggest that the depleted core was scoured by overmassive SMBH binaries with a final coalesced mass M_BH ~ (4 -10) X 10^10 M_sun, i.e., ~ (1.7- 3.2) X sigma_s larger than the black hole masses estimated using the spheroid's $\sigma$, L and M_*. The large core might be partly due to oscillatory core passages by a gravitational radiation-recoiled black hole.
An independent test on the local position invariance of gravity with the triple pulsar PSR J0337  +  1715

We design a direct test of the local position invariance (LPI) in post-Newtonian gravity, using the timing observation of the triple pulsar, PSR J0337+1715. The test takes advantage of the large gravitational acceleration exerted by the outer white dwarf to the inner neutron star—white dwarf binary. Using machine-precision three-body simulations and dedicated Markov-chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques with various sampling strategies and noise realizations, we estimate that the Whitehead’s parameter could have already been limited to |ξ|≲0.4 (95% CL), with the published timing data spanning from January 2012 to May 2013. The constraint is still orders of magnitude looser than the best limit, yet it is able to independently falsify Whitehead’s gravity theory where ξ=1. In addition, the new test is immune to extra assumptions and involves full dynamics of a three-body system with a strongly self-gravitating neutron star.
Mapping Molecular Emission in Vela Molecular Ridge Cloud D

We present the 12CO(1-0) and 13CO(2-1) line maps obtained observing with the SEST, a ~1° × 1° region of the Vela Molecular Ridge, cloud D. This cloud is part of an intermediate-mass star-forming region that is relatively close to the Sun. Our observations reveal, over a wide range of spatial scales (from ~0.1 to a few parsecs), a variety of dense structures such as arcs, filaments, and clumps that are in many cases associated with far-IR pointlike sources, recognized as young stellar objects and embedded star clusters. The velocity field analysis highlights the presence of possible expanding shells, extending over several parsecs, probably related to the star-forming activity of the cloud. Furthermore, the analysis of the line shapes in the vicinity of the far-IR sources allowed the detection of 13 molecular outflows. Considering a hierarchical scenario for the gas structure, a cloud decomposition was obtained for both spectral lines by means of the CLUMPFIND algorithm. The CLUMPFIND output has been discussed critically, and a method is proposed to reasonably correct the list of the identified clumps. We find that the corresponding mass spectrum shows a spectral index α ~ 1.3-2.0, and the derived clump masses are below the corresponding virial masses. The mass-radius and velocity dispersion-radius relationships are also briefly discussed for the recovered clump population.
The Fe/Ni ratio in ionized nebulae: clues on dust depletion patterns

We perform a homogeneous analysis of the Fe/Ni abundance ratio in eight Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) and three Galactic H II regions that include the Orion nebula, where we study four nebular zones and one shocked region. We use [Fe ii], [Fe iii], and [Ni iii] lines, and ionization correction factors (ICFs) that account for the unobserved ions. We derive an ICF for nickel from an extensive grid of photoionization models. We compare our results with those derived by other authors for 16 neutral clouds in the solar neighbourhood with available Fe/Ni ratios in the literature. We find an excellent agreement between the ionized nebulae and the diffuse clouds, with both types of regions showing a clear correlation between the Fe/Ni ratios and the iron and nickel depletion factors. The trend shows that the objects with a relatively low depletion have near solar Fe/Ni ratios whereas at higher depletions the Fe/Ni ratio increases with the depletion. Our results confirm that, compared to iron atoms, nickel ones are more efficiently stuck to the dust grains in ambients where dust formation or growth have been more efficient.
Factors Influencing Acceptance of Hippopotamus at a Large Reservoir in Nigeria

In a world increasingly affected by human presence and activities, achieving human–wildlife coexistence has become the goal of many wildlife conservation programs. Coexistence requires an understanding of factors that contribute to human tolerance and acceptance of problematic wildlife. In four communities in Nigeria, we used structured and semi-structured interviews to explore local people’s acceptance of the river hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) at a large reservoir with high human impact and where other conspicuous, damage-causing species are absent. We collected data two years apart to evaluate whether acceptance changed over time. Acceptance was low among respondents (21%). Logistic-regression results showed that attitudes, beliefs related to benefits and risks, behaviors toward hippos, study period, and income source significantly influenced acceptance of hippos. Results from Woolf tests showed that hippo-caused human fatalities most notably modified the observed decline in acceptance between study years. The potential significant impact of rare, yet severe events (in this case, human fatalities) on acceptance of wildlife and thus human–wildlife coexistence was supported in this study, one of few focused on hippo-human relations. For conservation and development interventions to be effective at this site, they should, at a minimum, improve human safety around hippos, emphasize current and potential benefits of hippos, create avenues for off-farm income, and reduce crop losses owing to hippos.
Trigger related outcomes of takotsubo syndrome in a cancer population

Background Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) occurs more frequently in cancer patients than in the general population, but the effect of specific TTS triggers on outcomes in cancer patients is not well studied. Objectives The study sought to determine whether triggering event (chemotherapy, immune-modulators vs. procedural or emotional stress) modifies outcomes in a cancer patient population with TTS. Methods All cancer patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) between December 2008 and December 2020 at our institution were enrolled in the catheterization laboratory registry. Demographic and clinical data of the identified patients with TTS were retrospective collected and further classified according to the TTS trigger. The groups were compared with regards to major adverse cardiac events, overall survival and recovery of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and global longitudinal strain (GLS) after TTS presentation. Results Eighty one of the 373 cancer patients who presented with ACS met the Mayo criteria for TTS. The triggering event was determined to be “cancer specific triggers” (use of chemotherapy in 23, immunomodulators use in 7, and radiation in 4), and “traditional triggers” (medical triggers 22, and procedural 18 and emotional stress in 7). Of the 81 patients, 47 died, all from cancer-related causes (no cardiovascular mortality). Median survival was 11.9 months. Immunomodulator (IM) related TTS and radiation related TTS were associated with higher mortality during the follow-up. Patients with medical triggers showed the least recovery in LVEF and GLS while patients with emotional and chemotherapy triggers, showed the most improvement in LVEF and GLS, respectively. Conclusion Cancer patients presenting with ACS picture have a high prevalence of TTS due to presence of traditional and cancer specific triggers. Survival and improvement in left ventricular systolic function seem to be related to the initial trigger for TTS.
Films, Gels and Electrospun Fibers from Serum Albumin Globular Protein for Medical Device Coating, Biomolecule Delivery and Regenerative Engineering

Albumin is a natural biomaterial that is abundantly available in blood and body fluids. It is clinically used as a plasma expander, thereby increasing the plasma thiol concentration due to its cysteine residues. Albumin is a regulator of intervascular oncotic pressure, serves as an anti-inflammatory modulator, and it has a buffering role due to its histidine imidazole residues. Because of its unique biological and physical properties, albumin has also emerged as a suitable biomaterial for coating implantable devices, for cell and drug delivery, and as a scaffold for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. As a biomaterial, albumin can be used as surface-modifying film or processed either as cross-linked protein gels or as electrospun fibers. Herein we have discussed how albumin protein can be utilized in regenerative medicine as a hydrogel and as a fibrous mat for a diverse role in successfully delivering drugs, genes, and cells to targeted tissues and organs. The review of prior studies indicated that albumin is a tunable biomaterial from which different types of scaffolds with mechanical properties adjustable for various biomedical applications can be fabricated. Based on the progress made to date, we concluded that albumin-based device coatings, delivery of drugs, genes, and cells are promising strategies in regenerative and personalized medicine.
Methane profile retrieval from IASI: a deep learning inversion approach based on feed-forward neural networks

In this work, a nonlinear statistical regressor method based on deep learning feed-forward neural network (NN) for the retrieval of atmospheric CH4 is proposed. The methodology has been trained and validated on a simulated dataset of observations by the processing of the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) Reanalysis dataset with the state-of-the-art transfer model (RTM) σ-IASI-as. Global data related to one day of the 12 months of 2012 and four synoptic hours (00-06-12-18 UTC) have been processed to catch typical seasonal and diurnal cycles, corresponding to a fairly large number (168.000) of simulated IASI-L1 spectral radiances. CH4 profiles have been predicted on 60 pressure layers. A regression framework based on the principal components analysis (PCA) of the IASI radiances and CH4 profiles has been implemented. The choice of the number of principal components has been addressed by the study of their eigenvalues, to filter redundant information from IASI channels and extract the most significant information from the CH4 profiles. The analysis of the NN retrieval, shows agreement with the reference MACC CH4 contents, allowing to obtain unbiased profile estimates, with accuracy on the total content of about 1.55%. The same accuracy has been obtained for the tropospheric column while for the stratosphere atmospheric column the accuracy is about 3%. Finally, an additional analysis of the CH4 total content shows a correlation between the reference and predicted values of about 0.97.
The Impact of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility and Behavioral Biases on Investment Decision Making

Understanding the effects of information technology infrastructure flexibility (ITIF) and behavioural biases on investment decisions will help investors make more informed choices. Due to a lack of investment and decision-maker biases, Iraqi universities' IT infrastructure is not well developed, resulting in low performance. However, few studies look into the causes of this phenomenon. This study aimed to investigate the impact of ITIF and behavioural biases on investment decision making and their impact on organisations' performance. A total of 209 valid responses from decision-makers in private universities of the Republic of Iraq are analyzed. A set of statistical analyzes are performed with SmartPLS software. The results show that there is a significant impact of ITIF factors and behavioural biases on investment decision making. Also, investment decision making influences organizational performance. The research confirms the significance of ITIF and behavioural biases as critical indicators of organizational strategic decision making.
Duplication, Loss, and Evolutionary Features of Specific UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase Genes in Carnivora (Mammalia, Laurasiatheria)

Simple Summary In this study, we clarified the evolutional features of the UGT gene family in Carnivora. We firstly analyzed the gene synteny of UGT1As, 2Bs, ana 2Es and further demonstrated the phylogenetic analysis to reveal the evolutional gene duplication and loss event in Carnivora. We found specific UGT1A duplication in Canidae, brown bear and black bear, and UGT2Bs duplication in Canidae, some Mustelidae, and Ursidae. In addition, we observed gene contraction of UGT1A7–12 in Phocidae, Otariidae, and Felidae. This study strongly suggested closely related Carnivorans also showed significant evolutional differences of UGTs, and further imply the importance of appropriate approaches to assess pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetic from experimental animals. Abstract UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are one of the most important enzymes for xenobiotic metabolism or detoxification. Through duplication and loss of genes, mammals evolved the species-specific variety of UGT isoforms. Among mammals, Carnivora is one of the orders that includes various carnivorous species, yet there is huge variation of food habitat. Recently, lower activity of UGT1A and 2B were shown in Felidae and pinnipeds, suggesting evolutional loss of these isoforms. However, comprehensive analysis for genetic or evolutional features are still missing. This study was conducted to reveal evolutional history of UGTs in Carnivoran species. We found specific gene expansion of UGT1As in Canidae, brown bear and black bear. We also found similar genetic duplication in UGT2Bs in Canidae, and some Mustelidae and Ursidae. In addition, we discovered contraction or complete loss of UGT1A7–12 in phocids, some otariids, felids, and some Mustelids. These studies indicate that even closely related species have completely different evolution of UGTs and further imply the difficulty of extrapolation of the pharmacokinetics and toxicokinetic result of experimental animals into wildlife carnivorans.
Structural fluctuations cause spin-split states in tetragonal (CH3NH3)PbI3 as evidenced by the circular photogalvanic effect

Significance Lead halide perovskites are successfully used in thin-film solar cells, with efficiencies on the laboratory scale exceeding 22%. The electronic structure underlying their exceptional phototransport properties is complex because of the organic–inorganic character of the materials, their mechanical softness, and the strong spin–orbit coupling induced by the constituting heavy elements. Calculations predict that a dynamical Rashba effect could enhance the lifetimes and diffusion lengths of photocarriers in perovskite solar cells. The dynamical Rashba effect is characterized by spin splittings in the band structure at elevated temperatures, induced by local structural disorder. The mechanism should be general to structurally flexible materials composed of heavy elements, making those potentially attractive for both optoelectronics and spintronics. Lead halide perovskites are used in thin-film solar cells, which owe their high efficiency to the long lifetimes of photocarriers. Various calculations find that a dynamical Rashba effect could significantly contribute to these long lifetimes. This effect is predicted to cause a spin splitting of the electronic bands of inversion-symmetric crystalline materials at finite temperatures, resulting in a slightly indirect band gap. Direct experimental evidence of the existence or the strength of the spin splitting is lacking. Here, we resonantly excite photocurrents in single crystalline (CH3NH3)PbI3 with circularly polarized light to clarify the existence of spin splittings in the band structure. We observe a circular photogalvanic effect, i.e., the photocurrent depends on the light helicity, in both orthorhombic and tetragonal (CH3NH3)PbI3. At room temperature, the effect peaks for excitation photon energies ΔE=110 meV below the direct optical band gap. Temperature-dependent measurements reveal a sign change of the effect at the orthorhombic–tetragonal phase transition, indicating different microscopic origins in the two phases. Within the tetragonal phase, both ΔE and the amplitude of the circular photogalvanic effect increase with temperature. Our findings support a dynamical Rashba effect in this phase, i.e., a spin splitting caused by thermally induced structural fluctuations which break inversion symmetry.
A comparative study of the postcranial skeleton of Patagonian and Pampean specimens of the Pleistocene giant sloth genus Mylodon Owen, 1839 (Xenarthra, Pilosa) and its implications

ABSTRACT In this work, we describe postcranial elements of Mylodon listai distributed in collections from Argentina, Chile and Europe. Mylodon listai remains from Patagonia are clearly different from those from the Pampean region (Mylodon darwinii), presenting morphological differences in their postcranium such as a smaller intercondylar space and less displacement of the medial condyle in the femur. These anatomical features reveal that M. listai had less bowed legs than M. darwinii. We propose that this would be an adaptation to a less fossorial lifestyle in their habitats in southern Patagonia without having to do directly with differences in body mass in the southern specimens, because M. listai would have reached similar or even larger sizes than M. darwinii.
Optimal Location of Capacitive Units in Radial Distribution Networks Aiming to Reduce System Losses Using the Exchange Market Algorithm

Abstract Distributed generation (DG) has been a significantly popular approach in recent years due to its sought effects. However, DG tends to intensify the harmonic distortion level. In the case of implanting shunt capacitors, disregarding harmonies lead to increased harmonic pollution as a result of intensifying the imposition between the inductive elements of the power system and the shunt capacitors. The present study aims to develop a new minimization method for power loss in systems that are exposed to inequality or equality constraints by optimizing a long term schedule for radial distribution of capacitor banks. We specified the best locations for the installation of capacitor banks via the Voltage Stability Index (VSI) and the new integrated approach of Loss Sensitivity Factor (LSF). Furthermore, we detected the optimum size of the capacitor via the Exchange Market Algorithm (EMA). To examine the proposed method, we used 34-bus and 85-bus networks considering load variations via 1% step sizes in the range of light load (50%) to peak load (160%) while monitoring the optimization process during the entire period of testing. The comparison of the obtained results with the particle swarm optimization (PSO), Bacterial Foraging Optimization (BFO), and Water Cycle Algorithm (WCA) revealed improvement of the voltage profile together with a remarkable reduction in active power loss.