Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Study area and instrumentation CLOUD STRUCTURES , MICROPHYSCIAL PROCESSES AND SYNERGISTIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FRONTAL AND OROGRAPHIC FORCING OF PRECIPITATION

The orographic field phase of the University of Washington’s (UW) IMPROVE Project focused on the acquisition of comprehensive measurements of meteorological state parameters, polarization Doppler radar measurements, and cloud microphysical parameters to improve understanding of orographically-influenced precipitation. The Oregon Cascades, a north-south mountain barrier in west-central Oregon, is the main topographical feature that modifies cloud processes and precipitation in this region of the Pacific Northwest. Results from an earlier study in the Washington Cascades (Hobbs et al. 1975), as well as orographic studies in other locations (e.g., Reynolds and Dennis 1986), revealed the complexity of storm systems modified by terrain in the western United States. Through the use of a new generation of in-situ and remote sensing instruments in IMPROVE, we hope to add to the knowledge gained in these earlier studies and thereby improve the representations of cloud and precipitation processes in mesoscale models (Stoelinga et al. 2003). In this paper we summarize data collected during the passage of a strong precipitation system over the Oregon Cascades on 13-14 December 2001. We focus on differentiating between the influences of baroclinic and orographic lifting to the overall precipitation production over the mountains by considering data in reference frames relative to an upper-level baroclinic zone and to the underlying topography. Analysis of ground-based raingauge and microwave radiometrically derived cloud liquid water depth (LWD) measurements enabled quantitative estimation of the synergistic interaction that occurred between precipitation forced frontally and orographically as the system approached and passed over the Oregon Cascade Mountains.
Localization and Detection of Bond Wire Faults in Multichip IGBT Power Modules

Multichip insulated gate bipolar transistor (mIGBT) power modules (PMs) degrade over power cycling. Bond wire lift–off is one of the major failure modes. This article presents a technique to diagnose bond wire lift-off by analyzing the on-state voltages across collector and emitter terminals and the voltages across collector and Kelvin emitter terminals. The proposed method can indicate the first lift-off out of 37 bond wires in a mIGBT. The main novelty of the proposed technique is that it can locate the chip that has bond wire lift-off(s). In addition, the temperature dependence of the proposed approach is negligible. The article describes the proposed technique in detail and shows results and discussions based on practical tests which are carried out on two mIGBT PMs with different packages.
Foreign Institutional Investors, Controlling Shareholders and Market Timing: Evidence from India

Using a regulatory feature governing foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in India, we study the timing of increase in firm-specific limit on aggregate FII shareholding of Indian companies. We find that controlling shareholders (promoters) exploit their information advantage to sell overvalued equity to FIIs around valuation peaks. Despite the initial positive market reaction to greater anticipated FII shareholding, we find severe under-performance in the long-run, both in stock prices and operating performance. At the same time, there are no changes in board structure. Our study thus reevaluates the role of FIIs in markets characterized by opaque information environment. JEL Codes: G15, G23, G35, O16, F65.
On the efficacy of neurofeedback training : can subjects learn to regulate their own brain waves? = Sobre a eficácia do treinamento de neurofeedback: podem indivíduos controlar suas próprias ondas cerebrais?

Neurofeedback (NFB) training has been used as a tool to enhance cognitive abilities for both clinical patients and healthy subjects aiming to perform better at specific tasks. This cognitive training approach exposes the trainees to their own brain activity in real time through a simple interface. Then, they are rewarded whenever they present the response that matches a specific, predetermined goal, following a learning method called operant conditioning. By choosing a response that is known to be related to some cognitive ability, the technique uses this reward system to reinforce that response, aiming the enhancement of the underlying cognitive capacity as well. The present work verified whether participants were indeed able to gain control over their own brain waves along with the training. Student volunteers were randomly assigned to two groups: activeand placebo-NFB. Participants in the first group interacted with their signals for around seven to ten NFB sessions, while those in the placebo group did the same procedure but interacted with fake signals. Performance was measured as the same-day changes in signal while performing the NFB task, in relation to a previous resting-state measure. All of those in the active-group exhibited improvement of performance, even the slightest ones. It means that there was a tendency of those in the active group to perform better at the final stages of the training, a characteristic not observed in the placebo-group (Wilcoxon’s rank test, p = 0.0028). Those in the placebo group, instead, exhibited a variety of tendencies, which reflects the natural variations of this measures when the feedback is off. Measures of long-term effects, by following the signals over the sessions, exhibited no tendencies for both groups, either by tracking task periods or resting-state ones. Despite that non-significance, the trend between those in the active group at improving their ability of interaction with brain signals, as measured by the above-mentioned performance, can be interpreted as a process of learning. Analyzing our data, it seems to be possible to regulate brain waves via feedback. Moreover, since long-term effects were not observed, further assessments should be made in regard to NFB training efficacy at actually changing human behavior.
Pronouns in ASL-English Simultaneous Interpretation

Pronominal systems across languages mark grammatical categories in different ways, and this can pose challenges for simultaneous interpretation. Pronouns can also be ambiguous, for example, by collapsing distinctions in some forms or by resembling demonstratives. We examine pronouns produced by a Deaf signer of American Sign Language (ASL) within a TEDx talk and how they are interpreted (simultaneously) by an ASL-English interpreter. Pronouns from both languages were coded and scrutinized for semantic correspondence across the two languages. Robust correspondences were found with some personal pronouns, especially first-person forms. However, mismatches across languages, in particular thirdperson forms and demonstratives, provide evidence of pitfalls for interpretation. In particular, we suggest that the ambiguous nature of some forms (e.g., third-person pronouns and singular demonstratives) can cause challenges for simultaneous interpretation across modalities.
Comparative Study of Rheological Characterization and Classification of Honeys with Their Physicochemical Properties

This study explores the application of rheology as a tool for assessing “honey” samples for authenticity and quality. Honey was serially diluted to different percentages of sucrose and each was analysed rheologically at different temperatures to obtain calibration curves for subsequent evaluation of different “honey” samples. Levels of adulterations were determined for honey samples in Nigeria. Pure honey exhibits shear thinning rheological behaviour while the behaviour of sucrose melt tends towards Newtonian. The rheological profiles of samples were determined using RV DV-III Ultra Programmable Rheometer at low shear rate (0.1to 2.45S -1 ). The Power law and Carreau Yasuda models provided good correlations of the data. The Carreau Yasuda model gave a better fit with pure honey while Power law model correlates better with sucrose melt. Proximate and Chromatographic characterizations of honey which provide acceptable measures of honey quality corroborated the conclusions derived from the rheological characterization of this study.
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America Amplification of strong ground motions at Heathcote Valley during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes: The role of 2D non-linear site response

1 This article presents a quantitative case study on the site amplification effect ob2 served at Heathcote Valley, New Zealand, during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake 3 sequence for 10 events that produced notable ground acceleration amplitudes up to 4 1.4g and 2.2g in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively. We performed 5 finite element analyses of the dynamic response of the valley, accounting for the re6 alistic basin geometry and the soil non-linear response. The site-specific simulations 7 performed significantly better than both empirical ground motion models and physics 8 based regional-scale ground motion simulations (which empirically accounts for the site 9 effects), reducing the spectral acceleration prediction bias by a factor of two in short 10 vibration periods. However, our validation exercise demonstrated that it was necessary 11 to quantify the level of uncertainty in the estimated bedrock motion using multiple 12 recorded events, to understand how much the simplistic model can overor under13 estimate the ground motion intensities. Inferences from the analyses suggest that the 14 Rayleigh waves generated near the basin edge contributed significantly to the observed 15 high frequency (f > 3Hz) amplification, in addition to the amplification caused by the 16 1 Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript Jeong_HeathcoteValley_BSSA_2016. tex
Impact of forcing on sublimation simulations for a high mountain catchment in the semiarid Andes

Abstract. In the semiarid Andes of Chile, farmers and industry in the cordillera lowlands depend on water from snowmelt, as annual rainfall is insufficient to meet their needs. Despite the importance of snow cover for water resources in this region, understanding of snow depth distribution and snow mass balance is limited. Whilst the effect of wind on snow cover pattern distribution has been assessed, the relative importance of melt versus sublimation has only been studied at the point scale over one catchment. Analyzing relative ablation rates and evaluating uncertainties are critical for understanding snow depth sensitivity to variations in climate and simulating the evolution of the snowpack over a larger area and over time. Using a distributed snowpack model (SnowModel), this study aims to simulate melt and sublimation rates over the instrumented watershed of La Laguna (513 km2, 3150–5630 m a.s.l., 30∘ S, 70∘ W), during two hydrologically contrasting years (i.e., dry vs. wet). The model is calibrated and forced with meteorological data from nine Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) located in the watershed and atmospheric simulation outputs from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Results of simulations indicate first a large uncertainty in sublimation-to-melt ratios depending on the forcing as the WRF data have a cold bias and overestimate precipitation in this region. These input differences cause a doubling of the sublimation-to-melt ratio using WRF forcing inputs compared to AWS. Therefore, the use of WRF model output in such environments must be carefully adjusted so as to reduce errors caused by inherent bias in the model data. For both input datasets, the simulations indicate a similar sublimation fraction for both study years, but ratios of sublimation to melt vary with elevation as melt rates decrease with elevation due to decreasing temperatures. Finally results indicate that snow persistence during the spring period decreases the ratio of sublimation due to higher melt rates.
EFFECTS OF “STOP” MINDFULNESS ON DECREASING CORTISOL LEVEL IN PRIMIGRAVIDA MOTHERS

Stress in pregnant women may have different effects on pregnancy. Mindfulness is an intervention which can be practiced independently by primigravida mothers for stress management. Stress is indicated biologically by cortisol levels. Purpose of this research is to analyze the effects of Stop-Take a breath-Observe-Proceed (STOP) mindfulness on cortisol levels in primigravida mothers. This is a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with a control group was used. Sixty primigravida mothers who experienced stress in Semarang city, Indonesia, were divided into control and mindfulness intervention groups (n = 30 each). Sample size was calculated based on different proportions, and a consecutive sampling technique was used to select samples. Mindfulness using the STOP technique was practiced over four 60-min meetings. Before and after mindfulness intervention, 3 mL of blood was taken from each subject for cortisol examination. Data were analyzed using a paired Student’s t-test. The majority of women (46.7%) were in their second trimester of pregnancy and aged 20–35 years-old (86.7%). The mean cortisol level significantly decreased after mindfulness intervention from 180.60 to 152.50 nmol/L (P = 0.000; α < 0.05). Mindfulness using the STOP technique is effective for decreasing cortisol levels in primigravida mothers by increasing self-reliance for stress management.
Decomposition of large nonnegative tensors using memetic algorithms with application to environmental data analysis

In this article, we address the problem of the Canonical Polyadic decomposition (or Candecomp/Parafac Decomposition) of large N-way tensors under nonnegativity constraints. This problem is usually carried out using algebraic or iterative (alternating or all at once) deterministic optimization algorithms. Here, we focus on stochastic approaches and more precisely on memetic algorithms. Different variants of these algorithms are suggested and compared. A partial cost function and other optimization tools are introduced to reduce the complexity of the problem at hand. Different (either deterministic or stochastic) strategies concerning the local search step are also considered. This leads to new algorithms which are analysed thanks to computer simulations and compared with state of the art algorithms. When the tensor rank is unknown, we also propose a solution to estimate it. Finally, our approach is tested on a real experimental water monitoring application where the tensor rank is unknown.
Effect of dietary inclusion of a commercial polyherbal formulation on some physiological and immune parameters in healthy and stressed hens

The effects of the dietary inclusion of a polyherbal formulation based on three powdered herbs (W. somnifera, T. cordifolia, O. sanctum) on some physiological and immune parameters were studied in healthy and stressed laying hens. The effects of the dietary polyherbal formulation were also compared with those of dietary ascorbic acid (AA) supplement, nowadays considered one of the most potent immunostimulant substances widely used as a food supplement.Experimental data did not show any positive effects, or very low ones, on the assessed parameters in healthy hens as a consequence of the two dietary supplementations. On the contrary, the dietary inclusion of the polyherbal mixture or AA partially counteracted the adverse effects in hens subjected to a moderate and transient dexamethasone-induced stress, when ameliorating effects on natural IgM antibody level, specific antibody response, total immunoglobulin content, respiratory burst activity and total antioxidant capacity were shown. The obtained results justify the ethnomedical use of this polyherbal mixture in stressed laying hens in which faster recovery has been demonstrated, whereas healthy specimens did not seem to substantially benefit from the dietary integration, neither with the polyherbal product nor with AA. Thus, the presence of nutraceutical compounds in several herbal plants exerting no side-effects might be useful for exploring them as an alternative to allopathic substances for preventive or therapeutic purposes in poultry.
Working Horizon and Labour Supply: the Effect of Raising Minimum Retirement Age on Middle-aged Individuals

This paper analyzes the effects of raising the minimum retirement age on the labour force participation of middle-aged individuals and their partners. Identification relies on a difference-in-differences setting that exploits the large heterogeneous increase in the minimum retirement age induced by an unexpected Italian pension reform. We detect a sizable increase in the participation rate of middle-aged women which spills over into their their husbands’ labour supply, who postpones his retirement decision.
Natural additives in functional egg production

Table eggs can play an important role as functional food, especially if specially designed mixtures enriched with ω-3 fatty acids, natural pigments and vitamins are used for their production. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of inclusion of flax-corn meal co-extrudate (FCM) in combination with natural pigments in hens’ diet on physical properties, yolk colour and fatty acid composition of eggs. One hundred and twenty Lohmann Brown laying hens were fed corn-soybean meal based diet with the addition of FCM at different levels: 0% (control C1 and C2), 13.50% experimental treatment (E1) and 22.50% experimental treatment (E2). The control treatment (C1) contained up to 3% fat, without added pigments while the control treatment (C2) contained up to 5% fat and synthetic pigments. Experimental treatments E1 and E2 (3% and 5% fat, respectively) had the same amount of natural pigments (1% carrot and 0.5% paprika). When compared with control eggs, no significant changes (p>0.05) in the egg quality characteristics were observed for E1 and E2 eggs. Desirable egg yolk colour of 12.78 RYCF (Roche Yolk Colour Fan scale) was achieved in the treatments E1 and E2. Eggs from hens fed FCM had significantly higher level (p<0.001) of α-linolenic (6.46% for E1 and 8.87% for E2), docosahexaenoic (2.01% for E1 and 2.08% for E2) and eicosapentaenoic (0.17% for E1 and 0.21% for E2) acids in comparison to eggs originated from hens fed control diets. The ω-6/ω-3 ratios of 1.43 and 1.01 in the treatments E1 and E2, respectively, were significantly lower (p<0.001) than ω-6/ω-3 ratios in the control treatments C1 and C2 (9.40 and 8.88, respectively). The content of tocopherol in eggs from the experimental treatments E1 and E2 were 6 and 8 times higher than in eggs from the control treatment C1 as well as 1.8 and 2.3 times higher than in eggs from the control treatment C2, respectively. By the addition of FCM and natural pigments in hens’ diet, it is possible to produce functional egg with desirable colour and fatty acid composition.
The prospects for manufacturing-led growth in Africa’s cities

Many African countries are urbanising rapidly despite limited growth in manufacturing. Although other sectors could spur job creation and development, much like manufacturing, they need active public policy to support urban connectivity and business scale. Although the growth of cities in Africa has been closely linked to rising incomes across the continent, many countries have rapidly urbanised without the same gains in economic growth and poverty reduction that have been seen elsewhere. One potential reason is that urbanisation in Africa has not promoted a sustained period of structural transformation: shifting from growth dominated by agriculture and small-scale local services towards growth led by manufacturing and knowledge-intensive industries. This has led some observers to question Africa’s long-term prospects for development. This growth brief explores the prospects for manufacturing-led growth in Africa’s cities
The effect of electronic payments security on e-commerce consumer perception: An extended model of technology acceptance

This study investigates the aspects of e-payment security concerning e-commerce consumers’ purchase intentions. This study further involves college students in Semarang – Indonesia as representatives of the millennial generation. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using Wrap-PLS is employed to analyze the data. The findings show a fit model to explain e-commerce customers’ purchase intentions. The results of this study reveal a better mediating effect of perceived usefulness on e-payment security and customers’ purchase intentions. Perceived ease of use also has a significant indirect effect, through e-payment security, on e-commerce customers’ purchase intentions. In addition, understanding the ease and usability of the security aspects of the payment affects e-commerce consumers' purchase intentions. The results also give a heightened awareness of security in electronic transactions.
Disks settling in turbulence

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the dynamics of freely falling thin circular disks settling through turbulence. The patterns of the three-dimensional disk motion are studied using an orthogonal arrangement of two high speed cameras. Turbulence is generated in a water tank using a random jet array facility where the jets are mounted in a co-planar configuration. The facility is run continuously until turbulence reaches a statistically stationary state, then, all water pumps are turned off simultaneously and a disk is released after a given waiting time. Contrary to spherical particles, finite-size inertial disks show an increase in the descent velocity for turbulence velocity fluctuations smaller than the particle descent velocity in quiescent flow. Thus, we observe a severe increase of the mean descent velocity of the disk with increasing magnitude of the turbulence velocity fluctuations (up to $20\,\%$ of the velocity in quiescent flow for the disk with higher dimensionless inertia $I^{\ast }$). We also observe descent events that do not exist for disks falling in still fluid; i.e. ‘slow tumbling’ events and ‘levitating’ events. Finally, we show that the dominant frequency of the particle oscillatory motion decreases for increasing descent velocity and that particles exhibit oscillatory frequencies that never exceed the dominant frequency in quiescent flow by more than $30\,\%$.
The Status of Voucher Specimens of Mushroom Species Thought to Be Extinct from Japan

We surveyed some major fungal herbaria in Japan to find collections of “extinct” mushroom species. The presence of voucher collections was confirmed for a total of 21 out of 26 “extinct” mushroom species listed in a Red Data Book of Japan. We then assessed the type status and quality of these specimens based on collection data on collection labels and physical appearance of fruit bodies. The majority of voucher collections of “extinct” species were demonstrated to be the type (holotype, isotype or syntype) with various degrees of quality. Some were heavily contaminated by mold or highly fragmented into small pieces. In future, attempts will be made to obtain high quality DNA sequences from these “extinct” species to clarify their biological entity.