Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reproductive characteristics and growth of Zambian giant mole-rats, Cryptomys mechowi (Rodentia : Bathyergidae)

Nous presentons une etude de laboratoire sur la reproduction, le taux de mortalite et la croissance post-natale chez les rats-taupes geants (Cryptomys mechowi). La periode la plus breve entre deux mises bas est de 112 ± 9 (89-118) jours. La taille de la portee est 2,6 ± 1,1 (1-5, n = 41) et augmente avec le nombre de portees de la mere. Les nouveau-nes pesent 19,6 ± 2,9 (12,6-27,1) g (n = 74) et le poids du corps des nouveau-nes ne montre aucune correlation avec le sexe, la portee ou la taille de la famille. La mortalite des jeunes au cours des premiers mois apres la naissance (61,3 %) depend plus du poids du corps des nouveau-nes que du sexe, de la portee ou de la taille de la famille. Etant donne que les portees sont produites tous les mois, les jeunes meurent plus en hiver (73 %) qu'en ete (42 %). Le sex-ratio des nouveau-nes est proche de 0,54: 1 (mâle: femelle) et ne depend pas de la portee ou de la taille de la famille, ni du moment de la conception (post partum ou post lactationem). Quelques elements du comportement de developpement des jeunes sont decrits. Le taux de croissance des jeunes dans les 180 jours apres leur naissance est de 0,615 g/jour pour les femelles et les mâles. Les parametres de croissance, determines suivant le modele de Gompertz, et les courbes de croissance sont presentes.Tous les parametres sont compares et opposes a ceux des autres rats-taupes bathyergides, et des perspectives pour des etudes ulterieures sont proposees.
LIGHTNING-IGNITED FOREST FIRES IN NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO

This study investigates the relationship between lightning activity and the occurrence of lightning-ignited forest fires in the Northwestern Region of Ontario. We found that the Duff Moisture Code (a component of the Fire Weather Index System) and the multiplicity of the negative lightning discharges were the most important variables for estimating the number of lightning-ignited fires on a daily basis for Universal Transverse Mercator zone15 in Ontario. Also, the results indicate that negative lightning ignited more fires than positive lightning discharges, which is contrary to popular belief. Nearly 50% of the variance in the forest fire occurrence data was explained using linear stepwise regression. Future work will focus on finer temporal and spatial scales.
Impact of corporate social responsibility toward employees on business performance: The case of Vietnam

Article history: Received November 29, 2019 Received in revised format January 31, 2020 Accepted February 17 2020 Available online February 17 2020 The study aims to test the impact of social responsibility toward employees on the business performance. The sample selected includes 667 employees in the enterprises. The research results show that the social responsibility factor had direct and indirect impacts on the business performance of enterprises through two intermediaries: cohesion and opportunistic workers’ behavior. Based on the research results, we propose a number of recommendations to increase the efficiency of business operations of the enterprises through improving corporate social responsibility toward employees in countries with emerging economies, including Vietnam. 2020 by the authors; license Growing Science, Canada ©
Estimativas de parâmetros genéticos para altura do posterior, peso e circunferência escrotal em bovinos da raça Nelore

Visando estimar parâmetros geneticos em bovinos, foram utilizados registros de pesos padronizados aos 120, 210, 365, 450 e 550 dias de idade (P120, P210, P365, P450 e P550), altura do posterior mensurada proxima ao sobreano (ALT) e circunferencias escrotais (CE) padronizadas aos 365, 450 e 550 dias de idade (CE365, CE450 e CE550). Os dados foram provenientes de animais machos e femeas, nascidos entre 1998 e 2003 em dez fazendas de seis estados brasileiros. Os componentes de (co)variância foram estimados pela metodologia REML em analises uni, bi e trivariadas, utilizando-se modelos animal. As estimativas de herdabilidade do efeito direto com os respectivos erros-padrao foram: ALT 0,63 (0,09), P120 0,25 (0,03), P210 0,34 (0,03), P365 0,45 (0,04), P450 0,48 (0,04), P550 0,49 (0,04), CE365 0,48 (0,04), CE450 0,53 (0,04) e CE550 0,42 (0,09). As correlacoes geneticas entre a ALT e as variaveis P120, P210, P365, P450 e P550 foram de 0,68; 0,64; 0,53; 0,58 e 0,59, respectivamente. As associacoes geneticas do P120 com as CE ajustadas para peso e idade foram proximas de zero, entretanto, essas correlacoes foram positivas e moderadas, quando as CE foram ajustadas somente pela idade. As correlacoes geneticas da ALT com as CE, quando ajustadas para peso e idade, foram: -0,19 (CE365), -0,24 (CE450) e 0,00 (CE550). Utilizando um modelo que nao incluiu o peso do animal como covariavel, as correlacoes geneticas das CE com a ALT foram: 0,21 (CE365), 0,12 (CE450) e 0,39 (CE550). Essas estimativas indicam que as caracteristicas de crescimento e CE apresentam variabilidade genetica na raca Nelore, podendo ser incluidas em programas de melhoramento genetico, e a selecao para peso em qualquer idade deve acarretar aumento na estatura dos animais. Desta forma, para obtencao de animais com tamanho e peso adequados ao sistema de producao, faz-se necessaria a utilizacao de um indice de selecao aliando estas caracteristicas.
First report of the North Atlantic myrionematoid brown alga Ulonema rhizophorum Foslie (Phaeophyceae, Chordariaceae) in the Mediterranean Sea

The myrionematoid brown alga Ulonema rhizophorum Foslie (Phaeophyceae, Chordariaceae) is reported for the first time from the Mediterranean Sea. This species was collected growing as an epiphyte on Ulva sp. from the Dardanelles (Sea of Marmara, Turkey) in the midlittoral zone. Ulonema rhizophorum is characterized by downwardly produced rhizoids from the basal system. A key to the Mediterranean related genera of Ulonema is provided.
Differentiation in Some Populations of Eucalyptus viminalis Labill. In Relation to Factors Affecting Seedling Establishment

Genetic variation was observed among a series of Eucalyptus viminalis populations whose habitats range from wet to dry climates and from relatively fertile to infertile soils. In comparison with populations from low-rainfall areas, two high-rainfall populations showed rapid germination and fast early seedling growth, the latter being correlated with large seed weight. Older seedlings were capable of continuing fast growth in response to high nutrient levels, and the root/shoot ratios of 6-month-old seedlings were significantly lower than those of seedlings from low-rainfall areas. Populations from within the low-rainfall areas showed some differences in germination, root lengths and growth rates and these appear to be related to site fertility and soil water-holding capacity. Relatively slow growth, even in response to increased nutrient supply, was observed in a population naturally occurring on a granite soil of fair fertility but poor water-holding capacity. Low-rainfall populations also showed a greater lignotuber development than high-rainfall populations and the growth of the lignotuber was not markedly affected by nutrient supply.
A Calculation Method for Three-Phase Power Flow in Micro-Grid Based on Smooth Function

The existing three-phase imbalanced power flow calculation models for isolated micro-grid do not consider the non-smooth constraints such as voltage control limits and dead zone characteristics, which makes the power flow calculation results cannot meet the actual model constraints. In this paper, a more robust projected Levenberg-Marquardt (PLM) method is used to solve the problem after the non-smooth constraints are converted into smooth functions, which can reduce the model dependence on the initial values and solve the convergence problem caused by non-smooth constraints. The numerical experiments of micro-grid show that considering the non-smooth constraints can effectively improve the accuracy of power flow calculation. In addition, the PLM method has better convergence dealing with non-smooth constraints even poor initial value settings.
Effects of Reduction in Plant Height Induced by Chlormequat on Radiation Interception and Radiation-Use Efficiency in Wheat in Southwest Japan

Abstract The effects of reducing plant height by the growth retardant chlormequat on radiation interception and radiation-use efficiency in field-grown wheat were studied in southwest Japan. Chlormequat was applied to wheat cultivar Sanukinoyume 2000 at the beginning of jointing. The cumulative total solar radiation intercepted by the plant canopy (Si) was determined by continuous measurements of total solar radiation above the canopy with a dome pyranometer and below the canopy with tube solarimeters. Nondestructive measurement of leaf area index (LAI) and mean tip angle of the canopy (MTA) using a plant canopy analyzer was performed weekly. Chlormequat application shortened the culm length by 12.6% compared with the control, but did not affect the aboveground dry matter (AGDM), LAI, yield or yield components except for the harvestindex (HI). The extinction coefficient in canopy (K) was not affected by chlormequat, so that Si at heading and anthesis were not significantly different. Radiation-use efficiency (RUE) of chlormequat treated plants estimated from the slope ofalinearregression of Si vs AGDM was 1.34 g MJ-1 for the period up to heading and 1.57 g MJ-1 for theperiod up to anthesis. The RUE values were not significantly different between chlormequat-treated and control plants. Although the effect may be restricted to the duration from heading to the premature ripening stage, a higher MTA in chlormequat should provide a more even distribution of radiation within the canopy, which should increase the photosynthetic performance. These results suggested that shortening the culm length of this wheat cultivar by about 12% is beneficial in reducing the risk of lodging without affecting light interception characteristics or RUE.
Morphology of the blood cells from three species of wobbegong sharks (Orectolobus species) on the East Coast of N.S.W.

Marine Mammal Research Group, Graduate School of the Environment, MacquarieUniversity, New South Wales, AustraliaThis study is the ﬁrst study to describe blood cell morphology, using lightmicroscopy, for three species of wild-caught wobbegong shark. Blood cellmorphology was similar to that described previously in ﬁsh. Wobbegong sharkspossess erythrocytes, at least three different morphological types of thrombocytes,lymphocytes, eosinophils, neutrophils, granuloblasts and monocytes. Nobasophils were observed in this study. Similarities and differences in morpholo-gical appearance of wobbegong shark blood cells compared to Chondrichthyes,teleosts and mammalian blood cells are discussed. Zoo Biol 0:1–10, 2005.
Time-Activity Budgets of Juvenile Woodchat Shrikes Lanius senator During the Post-Fledging Period

This study, conducted in the region of Sofia (western Bulgaria), investigated activity patterns of juvenile Woodchat Shrikes Lanius senator after fledging. Time spent to flying, social interactions, ground hunting and solitarily behaviour increased with age, while the time spent food begging, obtaining food from adults, and staying close (<1 m) to adult birds decreased with age. Occupation of concealed perch-sites decreased with age whereas use of exposed lookout posts increased. Young Woodchat Shrikes became increasingly independent at an age of about 30 days. After 45 days they were not fed by parents at all.
Dehardening of annual bluegrass and creeping bentgrass during late winter and early spring.

Changes in cold hardiness levels of annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) and creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds.) were monitored under field conditions during the dehardening period of late winter and early spring. During the course of two spring periods the cold hardiness levels of the two species were monitored in conjunction with the following hydration treatments: snow cover maintained to prolong dormancy, snow removal in March, and hydration of crown tissues in combination with snow removal. Cold hardiness levels, percent crown moisture, and soil temperatures were monitored throughout this period. Cold hardiness levels were significantly influenced by year, species, hydration treatment, and a number of interactions of these factors. Generally, plants dehardened 2 wk earlier in 1997 than in 1996. On 1 April, creeping bentgrass had cold hardiness levels averaging -20°C compared to -13°C for annual bluegrass. By 15 April, creeping bentgrass plants had lost their cold hardiness advantage. Increased soil temperature was the greatest contributor to the loss of hardiness in the spring. An increase in crown moisture of 4% for annual bluegrass and 6% for creeping bentgrass occurred during the period from 25 March to 22 April. Maintaining a snow cover on plots delayed the loss of cold hardiness by 6 to 9 d in 1996 but had no effect in 1997. Maintaining a snow cover also delayed the increase in crown hydration by a week. Plants were able to partially regain cold hardiness when soil temperatures dropped.
The Influence of Perceived Security and Perceived Enjoyment on Intention To Use with Attitude Towards Use as Intervening Variable on Mobile Payment Customer in Surabaya

This study aims to determine the effect of perceived security and perceived enjoyment as moderated variable on intention to use mobile payment, either directly or through mediation of attitude towards use. The method used in this study is quantitative by spreading the questionnaires to 211 respondents of mobile payment application users both online and offline in Surabaya. The selection of this research sample used a judgment sampling technique with criteria determined by the researcher. The data was analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), SmartPLS tools. The questionnaire collected was 192 questionnaires. The results show that perceived security and perceived enjoyment have a significant directly influence on intention to use and indirectly through mediating attitudes to use mobile payment. In addition, it was found that perceived enjoyment variable moderated the relationship between perceived security and attitudes to use but did not moderate the relationship between perceived security and intention to use.
Psychological Capital, Organizational Commitment and Job Performance: A Case in Vietnam

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between employee’s psychological capital, organizational commitment and job performance in Vietnam. In this study, psychological capital and overall organizational commitment are considered as two second-order constructs. Psychological capital includes four different components: self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency. Organizational commitment comprises three different components: affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. The study uses the combination of quantitative research method and qualitative research method. Qualitative research method (based on the experts’ opinions) is used to design the official questionnaire, while relationship between concepts is estimated by quantitative research method, which is inclusive of the methods of descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha, EFA, CFA and CB-SEM. The survey is conducted in two ways: face-to-face and via email. Data are collected from 848 employees across provinces and cities in Vietnam. The findings show that psychological capital and job performance have a positive relationship, organizational commitment has positive influence on job performance, and psychological capital is also related to organizational commitment. All relationship between psychological capital, organizational commitment and job performance of employee are statistically significant. In addition, organizational commitment also plays the mediating role in the positive relationship between psychological capital and employee’s performance.
Proximate mechanisms leading to large male-mating advantage in the Andrew's toad, Bufo andrewsi

In animals, body size is a prominent trait that generally positively affects ecological and reproductive success. Through field observations and experiments, we investigated the effects of two mechanisms of sexual selection on large male mating advantage in the Andrew's toad, Bufo andrewsi, a species widely distributed in western China. We observed a large male mating advantage in the field. Field data were corroborated by experiments in which large males mated more frequently than smaller males. However, in female preference tests, in which females could choose freely between two males differing in body size, choosing females showed no size preference while many females did not exert mate choice at all. We suggest that the large male mating advantage observed in the field and laboratory is caused by competition among males rather than by female choice.
THE EFFECTS OF COMPETITIVE ASYMMETRY ON THE RATE OF COMPETITIVE DISPLACEMENT : HOW ROBUST IS HUBBELL'S COMMUNITY DRIFT MODEL?

Abstract It is intuitively clear that the average time required for competitive exclusion increases as the competitive abilities of species become closer to equal. To emphasize the importance of this point for understanding diversity patterns, Hubbell and his colleagues modeled tropical rainforest dynamics under the extreme assumption of competitive equivalency. In this study, we aim to extend Hubbell's community drift model to the cases of unequal competitive abilities. We find that a slight variation upon the assumption of equality of species could cause a considerable decline in the persistence time of species. Since species cannot be ecologically identical in any real ecosystems, we conclude that the community drift hypothesis is, at best, rather restricted in the domain of applicability.
Behind the therapy door: what is “usual care” aphasia therapy in acute stroke management?

ABSTRACT Background: Usual care is the term used to describe everyday practice in the management of a client within a profession. The knowledge of the tasks used in therapy and key therapeutic processes used within these treatments, provides critical information about if and how the therapy works. The Very Early Rehabilitation in SpEech Randomised Controlled Trial (VERSE RCT) had three arms with therapists within the intensive Usual Care-Plus arm (UC-Plus) providing daily direct aphasia therapy at their discretion for 20 sessions. Aims: To describe usual care aphasia treatment provided in the Usual Care-Plus arm of VERSE RCT. Methods and Procedures: One in four intensive Usual Care-Plus treatment sessions were video-recorded (N = 187) within the main trial. Twenty-five of these (13%) were transcribed, coded, and analysed for therapeutic inputs to describe usual care aphasia therapy using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist as an overriding framework. Outcomes and Results: Therapy predominantly took place in an inpatient setting (52%) with an average session duration of 51 minutes (SD 7.8). Across the sessions, 96 different tasks were used and 57% of these focused on verbal expression at the single word level. Visual materials were most frequently used compared to the use of technology during sessions. Therapists (n = 16) did the majority of the talking during sessions and most frequently provided models as cues or problem-solving accuracy feedback. Models (55%), sentence completion (51%), and orthographic cues (44%) were the most successful at eliciting the target response. Conclusions: Considerable variability in task selection was seen in the sample which may be a hallmark of usual care. Therapists may have a preference for single word tasks and appear to produce the majority of verbal utterances during sessions, potentially creating an unequal communication environment. This study provided a comprehensive description from the Usual Care-Plus data of the VERSE RCT and may establish a baseline of therapy type for future research.
Food procurement through piracy and scavenging in the African fish eagle in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda

Summary The territorial adult African fish eagle Haliaeetus vocifer (Daudin, 1858) in Queen Elizabeth National Park (QEP) feeds almost exclusively on fish, which it catches live. However, it readily steals from conspecifics and other fish-eating birds. With a success rate of only 17%–providing only 3% of the fish eaten by the territorial bird–piracy is a less successful method of food procurement than hunting, whose success rate is c. 66%. Even if restricted to depriving only conspecifics (success rate = 23%), piracy is still inferior to hunting. With its low success rate and high risk factor, piracy seems of little survival value to the territorial adult fish eagle. It contributes substantially (28%) to the food supply of the young. However, the fatalities due to injuries sustained during piracy could be of significant importance in the regulation of the population of the species. Resume L'aigle pecheur africain adulte Haliaeetus vocifer (Daudin, 1858) du Pare National Queen Elizabeth, se nourrit presque exclusivement de poissons qu'il attrape vivants. Cependant, il ravit volontiers la proie de ses congeneres ou d'autres oiseaux piscivores. Avec un taux de reussite de 17%, procurant seulement 3% du poisson que mange cet oiseau territorial, ce piratage est une methode moins effi-cace pour se procurer de la nourriture que la peche dont le taux de reussite est d'environ 66%. Meme si Ton ne tient compte que des proies qu'ils volent a des congeneres (reussite = 23%), cela reste moins efficace que la peche. Vu son faible taux de reussite et le risque qu'il engendre, le piratage apparait comme de peu d'interet pour la survie de l'aigle pecheur territorial adulte. II contribue de facon substancielle (28%) a l'apport de nourriture du jeune encore que Tissue fatale des blessures revues lors du piratage puisse compter de facon significative dans la regulation de la population de l'espece.
Development of Instruments to Assess Students’ Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) and Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO)

Two new instruments were created to assess secondary students’ (ages 14-18) spatial learning attitudes and their interest in science and technology, related careers ideas and perceptions about geospatial technologies. These instruments were designed to evaluate the outcomes of a geospatial learning curriculum project. During a two-year period, we explored the use of these instruments during the prototype testing and pilot testing of a series of socio-environmental science investigations. The instruments were implemented with 664 ninth grade urban students from a population traditionally underrepresented in STEM-related fields. Both classical and Rasch analyses were conducted each year to optimize the instruments. The resulting 24-item Student Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO) measure and 9-item Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) measure had high internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach’s Alpha) as well as acceptable Rasch reliabilities. Content validity and construct validity evidence were also summarized and discussed.