Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Particularism or Policy? When Distributive Outlays Flow to the President’s Core Supporters

The literature on distributive politics reveals that presidents regularly influence federal spending and disproportionately direct federal grants toward their core supporters. This paper offers a comprehensive assessment of the interpretation of core-supporter targeting. Empirical evidence shows that the underlying patterns of partisan targeting do not accord with standard accounts of party-building activities nor electoral considerations that are evidence of presidential particularism. Instead, this paper argues that presidential policy priority better explains core-state targeting. Presidents use agencies that are ideologically aligned with them or associated with their policy priorities to enhance the largesse they bestow on core constituencies, and this is the consequence of presidents pursuing ideological and policy goals. Collectively, it indicates a less cynical point of view on the orientation of the American presidency.
ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL EFFECT OF CARDAMOM, MASTICHE OILS AND HOT GREEN PEPPER EXTRACT ON SOME UNDESIRABLE BACTERIA AND MOULDS

Cardamom and mastiche oils were extracted from cardamom capsules and from mastiche gum using steam distillation, while hot green pepper extract (HGPE) was prepared in the form of a sterilized juice. They were tested as inhibitors against some pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms that may be present as contaminants in milk and other dairy products, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococci spp. , E. coli, B. cereus, B. subtilis and Ps. aeruginora. The fungicidal effect of each of these spices against the growth of A. flavus and A. parasiticus, the common contaminants of cheeses, was also studied. The microbial growth rate and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were the parameters used to assess the inhibitory effect of tested spices. The obtained results indicated that the inhibition of the growth of tested bacteria except B. cereus by cardamom and mastiche oils was in the following descending order; Staph. aureus> Micrococci spp. > Ps. aeruginosa > E. coli > B. subtilis, while B. cereus growth was stimulated by cardamom oil and inhibited by mastiche oil. HGPE inhibited only the growth of Staph. aureus and Micrococci spp. and stimulated that of all other tested bacteria. Cardamom and mastiche had antifungal effect against A. flavus and A. parasiticus, while HGPE showed stimulation effect on both. The MIC values of the tested spices pointed out that cardamom had a more powerful inhibitory effect on tested bacteria and moulds.
USE OF FUNGICIDES, BICARBONATE SALTS, AND FILM-FORMING POLYMERS TO SUPPRESS POWDERY MILDEW OF FLAX.

An outdoor pot experiment was conducted in 1999 and 2000 growing seasons to evaluate foliar application of a diverse group of compounds for control of flax powdery mildew. The tested compounds were a sulpher fungicide (That Flowable Sulphur), three ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors (Bayfidan, Bayleton, and Rubigan), three bicarbonate salts (salts of sodium, potassium, and ammonium), and two film-farming polymers (Nu-Film and Super-Film). Disease intensity variable (disease incidence and disease severity) and yield (straw and seed) were used as criteria for judging efficiencies of the compounds in controlling the disease. The findings of the present study demonstrate that sterol biosynthesis inhibitors in particular Bayfidan were the best performaring compounds in controlling the disease. This superiority was attributed to the following reasons: first, they were the only compounds, which significantly reduced disease incidence after the second spray in 1999. Second, they were the most effective compounds in reducing disease incidence after the second spray in 2000. Third, they were the most effective compounds in reducing disease severity after the second spray in 1999. Fourth, they showed high efficiencies in reducing disease severity after the second spray in 2000. Fifth, they gave considerable increases in straw and seed yield each year. In some cases, bicarbonates and film-forming polymers were as effective as or even more effective than fungicidal chemicals in controlling the disease and increasing yield; however, bicarbonates and film-forming polymers had two drawbacks: first, they showed inconsistent performance in controlling the disease compared to the fungicidal chemicals. Second, when they were effective, they mostly showed lower efficiencies in reducing disease incidence and disease severity. Significant negative correlations between powdery mildew intensity variables and yield were observed each year particularly in case of cultivar Giza 7. Three regression models, derived from stepwise multiple regression analysis, were constructed for each year to predict straw and seed yield. These models showed that yield differences observed were due largely to the disease which accounted for 56.23 to 88.18% and 49.31 to 74.28% of the explained (model) variation in straw and seed yield, respectively.
Propagation of a quantum fluid of light in a cavityless nonlinear optical medium: General theory and response to quantum quenches

Making use of a generalized quantum theory of paraxial light propagation where the radiation-axis and the temporal coordinates play exchanged roles, we discuss the potential of bulk nonlinear optical media in cavityless configurations for quantum statistical mechanics studies of the conservative many-body dynamics of a gas of interacting photons. To illustrate the general features of this point of view, we investigate the response of the fluid of light to the quantum quenches in the photon-photon interaction constant experienced at the front and the back faces of a finite slab of weakly nonlinear material. Extending the standard Bogoliubov theory of dilute Bose-Einstein condensates, peculiar features are predicted for the statistical properties of the light emerging from the nonlinear medium.
Adding modular predicates

This paper is a contribution to the study of regular languages defined by fragments of first order or even monadic second order logic. More specifically, we consider the operation of enriching a given fragment by adding modular predicates. Our first result gives a simple algebraic counterpart to this operation in terms of semidirect products of varieties together with a combinatorial description based on elementary operations on languages. Now, a difficult question is to know whether the decidability of a given fragment is preserved under this enrichment. We first prove that this is always the case for so-called local varieties. The problem is then reduced to the decidability of varieties of categories. Our main results gives several sufficient conditions to preserve decidability. We use these latter results to establish the decidability of three fragments of the first order logic with two variables.
Planetary nebulae in the Magellanic Clouds and Local Group galaxies

Abstract The Magellanic Clouds are close enough to the Milky Way to provide an excellent environment in which to study extragalactic PNe. Most of these PNe are bright enough to be spectroscopically observed and spatially resolved. With the latest high resolution detectors on today's large telescopes it is even possible to directly observe a large number of central stars. Magellanic Cloud (MC) PNe provide several astrophysical benefits including low overall extinction and a good sample size covering a large range of dynamic evolutionary timescales while the known distances provide a direct estimation of luminosity and physical dimensions. Multi-wavelength surveys are revealing intriguing differences between MC and Galactic PNe. Over the past 5 years there has been a substantial increase in the number of PNe discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in particular. Deep surveys have allowed the faint end of the luminosity function to be investigated, finally providing a strong clue to its overall shape. In so doing, the surveys are approaching completeness, estimated at ~80% in the LMC (~120 deg2) and ~65% in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) (~20 deg2). The number of galaxies comprising the Local Group (LG) and its outskirts has been growing steadily over the past 5 years and now numbers 48. Most of the 7 newly discovered galaxies are dwarf spheroidal (dSph) in structure and range from 7.6 to 755 kpc from the Milky Way. Nonetheless, there are no published searches for PNe in any of these galaxies to date. Apart from the LMC and Milky Way, the number of PN discoveries has been very modest and only one additional LG galaxy has been surveyed for PNe over the past 5 years. This paper provides the number of Local Group PNe currently known and estimates each galaxy's total PN population.
Utilization Patterns and Trends in the Use of Medications for Asthma in a Cohort of Colombian Patients

Purpose Asthma affects approximately 358 million people worldwide. This study aimed to determine the trend for the use of medications intended to treat asthma in a group of patients affiliated with the Colombian health system. Patients and Methods This was a retrospective study on prescription patterns of medications used to treat asthma in patients over 5 years of age between 2017 and 2019. Sociodemographic variables, medications used and combinations, the persistence of use, and prescribing physicians were considered. Data were obtained from a drug-dispensing database from Colombia. Results A total of 10,706 people diagnosed with asthma were identified, including predominantly females (56.8%), with a mean age of 32.2 ± 26.1 years. At the beginning of the follow-up, 53.2% of patients aged 5–11 years were receiving monotherapy, with a mean of 1.5 ± 0.6 drugs/patient, especially inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs; 55.9%) and short-acting β-agonists (SABAs; 55.6%). Moreover, in patients older than 12 years, 53.5% were treated with monotherapy, with a mean of 1.6 ± 0.7 drugs/patient, 45.9% of whom were on SABAs, while 37.1% were on ICSs. Between 63.0% and 83.6% of patients were treated by a general practitioner. 12.5% of patients (n = 495) received triple therapy (ICS/LABA + LAMA [long-acting antimuscarinic]), particularly fluticasone/salmeterol + tiotropium. Conclusion The identification of treatment patterns will allow physicians and decision makers to implement strategies in order to promote adherence to treatment and improve asthma medication use.
EFFECT OF Meloidogyne incognita ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF SUSCEPTIBLE AND RESISTANT TOMATO CULTIVARS AND EFFECT OF VARIOUS APPLIED ORGANIC MANURES ON NEMATODE CONTROL

Two pot experiments were simultaneously conducted during the early summer seasons of 1997 and 1998. The first experiment studied the effect of four initial population (P i ) densities of Meloidogyne incognita (0, 4  10 3 , 10  10 3 and 20  10 3 nematode eggs/pot) on growth and yield of susceptible (Castlerock) and resistant (F 1 hybrid Heinz 2710) tomato cultivars. The susceptible cv. was greatly suppressed by M. incognita in most growth and yield parameters, viz., stem length, number of leaves, leaf fresh and dry weight, root fresh weight, chlorophyll and N, P, K content of leaves, fruit yield per plant and average fruit weight. Meanwhile, the resistant cv. was slightly affected. On the other hand, titratable acidity and vitamin C and T.S. S. content of fruits were higher in the susceptible cv. Final nematode population (P f ), root gall index and reproduction factor (R f ) were significantly higher in the susceptible cv. as compared with the resistant one. A negative relationship was found between P i and most vegetative growth parameters, where gradual decreases were observed with the increase in P i . However, a positive relationship was found between root fresh weight and P i . Fruit yield per plant decreased with the increase in P i . Average fruit weight significantly decreased at P i 20  10 3 as compared with the control. Fruit acidity and vitamin C content decreased at most P i levels. P f increased with the increase in Pi level. Root gall index ranged from 0.0 in the control
Electromagnetic form factors of the Δ in an S-wave approach

Without any further adjusting of parameters, a relativistic constituent quark model, successful in the description of the data for the nucleon elastic form factors and of the dominant contribution for the nucleon toelectromagnetic transition, is used here to predict the dominant electromagnetic form factors of thebaryon. The model is based on a simplewavefunction corresponding to a quark-diquark system in an S-state. The results for E0 and M1 are consistent both with experimental results and lattice calculations. The remaining form factors E2 and M3 vanish, given the symmetric structure taken for � . (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)
A study of distance-based machine learning algorithms

Distance-based algorithms are machine learning algorithms that classify queries by computing distances between these queries and a number of internally stored exemplars. Exemplars that are closest to the query have the largest influence on the classification assigned to the query. Two specific distance-based algorithms, the nearest neighbor algorithm and the nearest-hyperrectangle algorithm, are studied in detail. It is shown that the k-nearest neighbor algorithm (kNN) outperforms the first nearest neighbor algorithm only under certain conditions. Data sets must contain moderate amounts of noise. Training examples from the different classes must belong to clusters that allow an increase in the value of k without reaching into clusters of other classes. Methods for choosing the value of k for kNN are investigated. It shown that one-fold cross-validation on a restricted number of values for k suffices for best performance. It is also shown that for best performance the votes of the k-nearest neighbors of a query should be weighted in inverse proportion to their distances from the query. Principal component analysis is shown to reduce the number of relevant dimensions substantially in several domains. Two methods for learning feature weights for a weighted Euclidean distance metric are proposed. These methods improve the performance of kNN and NN in a variety of domains. The nearest-hyperrectangle algorithm (NGE) is found to give predictions that are substantially inferior to those given by kNN in a variety of domains. Experiments performed to understand this inferior performance led to the discovery of several improvements to NGE. Foremost of these is BNGE, a batch algorithm that avoids construction of overlapping hyperrectangles from different classes. Although it is generally superior to NGE, BNGE is still significantly inferior to kNN in a variety of domains. Hence, a hybrid algorithm (KBNGE), that uses BNGE in parts of the input space that can be represented by a single hyperrectangle and kNN otherwise, is introduced. The primary contributions of this dissertation are (a) several improvements to existing distance-based algorithms, (b) several new distance-based algorithms, and (c) an experimentally supported understanding of the conditions under which various distance-based algorithms are likely to give good performance.
Cytopathological Impacts of Certain Plant Growth Regulators on The Circulating Hemocytes of Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The greater wax moth Galleria mellonella is a worldwide insect pest damaging wax combs and feeding on bee‐hive products. The objective of the current study was to investigate the cytopathological impacts of four plant growth regulators (PGRs), viz . , indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid, 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and 6-benzyladenine, on the circulating hemocytes of last (7 th ) instar larvae of G. mellonella . For this purpose, the 3 rd instar larvae were force-fed on diet supplemented with LC 50 values of these PGRs (0.24, 0.022, 0.16 & 0.085 ppm, respectively). These larvae were continuously fed on the treated diet throughout the larval stage. The important results could be summarized as follows. Five main types of the freely circulating hemocytes in the haemolymph of larvae had been identified as Prohemocytes (PRs), Plasmatocytes (PLs), Granulocytes (GRs), Spherulocytes (SPs) and Oenocytoids (OEs). Different qualitative disorders of the profile of each circulating hemocyte type were demonstrated in thelast instar larvae, such as destruction of cell nuclei and/or membrane, some extruded cytoplasmic contents, and production of some vacuoles in the cytoplasm. However, some of the tested PGRs failed to exhibit cytopathological impacts on certain hemocytes, since IAA and 6-BA failed to affect PLs, IBA and 6-BA failed to affect GRs, IBA and 6-BA failed to affect SPs and IBA and 6-BA failed to affect OEs. Therefore, IAA and 2,4-D may be recommended to use in the IPM program against G. mellonella
PROGRESS TOWARD A THEORY FOR EXCESS HEAT IN METAL DEUTERIDES

The strength of the experimental evidence for an excess heat effect in metal deuterides has motivated us to consider theoretical models. The observation of 4He correlated with energy with an associated reaction Q‐value determined experimentally to be near 24 MeV implicates reaction mechanisms consistent with d+d⇥4He+heat. Most significant is that the reaction energy is not expressed through the emission of energetic reaction products. Hence, whatever process is involved constitutes a fundamentally new kind of physical mechanism unlike anything seen previously in nuclear physics.Here we discuss a theoretical model that consists of sets of two‐level systems coupled indirectly through a low‐energy oscillator that is off‐resonant. The two‐level systems represent nuclear states, and the oscillator stands in for a highly excited phonon mode. This kind of model exhibits an excitation transfer effect, in which the excitation at one site is transferred to another site. This is interesting since it corresponds to a.
Bottonium in QCD at finite temperature

Vector ($\Upsilon$) and pseudoscalar ($\eta_b$) bottonium ground states are studied at finite temperature in the framework of thermal Hilbert moment QCD sum rules. The mass, the onset of perturbative QCD in the complex squared energy plane, $s_0$, the leptonic decay constant, and the total width are determined as a function of the temperature. Results in both channels show very little temperature dependence of the mass and of $s_0$, in line with expectations. However, the width and the leptonic decay constant exhibit a very strong $T$-dependence. The former increases with increasing temperature, as in the case of light- and heavy-light-quark systems, but close to the critical temperature, $T_c$, and for $T/T_c \simeq 0.9$ it drops dramatically approaching its value at T=0, as obtained recently in this framework for charmonium states. The leptonic decay constant is basically a monotonically increasing function of the temperature, also as obtained in the charmonium channel . These results are interpreted as the survival of these bottonium states above $T_c$, in line with lattice QCD results.
Progress and Prospects of Financial Inclusion in Andhra Pradesh, India

The importance of financial inclusion in bringing the unbanked population into the formal banking system is acknowledged worldwide. The present study is an attempt to examine the current status of banking in Andhra Pradesh and to evaluate the progress & performance of financial inclusion, as indicated by number of accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) scheme and the enrolments made under the social security schemes like Prandhan Mantri Surakshit Bhima Yojana (PMSBY), Prandhan Mantri Jeevan Jyothi Bhima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY). The significant observations from the study are that, as on 31st March 2020, the total banking outlets in Andhra Pradesh were 17,296, of which the highest share of the bank branches was in rural areas (35 %) followed by the semi urban areas (31%), urban (25%) and metro areas (9%). The progress of PMJDY and the other social security schemes was also highly commendable during the period 2015-16 to 2019-20, but the market penetration of the social security schemes was low as compared to the accounts opened under the PMJDY in Andhra Pradesh. The performance of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) was also not splendid in social security schemes as compared to the other public sector banks and private sector banks. Thus the huge potential in insurance market has to be tapped by the banks by explaining the benefits of insurance as a measure against risk.
The Influence of Board Leadership Structure on The Creditability of Financial Reporting in the Egyptian Context: Triangulation Approach.

: The study draws on triangulation approach to evaluate the association between Chief Executive Officer (CEO) duality and creditability of financial reporting, proxied by discretionary accruals. As there has been an ongoing debates and conflict on whether the CEO duality eliminate or increase opportunistic earnings manipulations. Design/ Methodology/Approach: The research focused on 78 Egyptian listed companies including 780 observations from (2008 to 2017) after excluding firms with insufficient data, Banks and Financial Institutions, and Insurance Companies. 1 The paper employs Feasible Least Square and System Generalized Method of moment to test the association between CEO duality and non-duality on the opportunistic behavior of managers. Findings: Empirical findings on the association between CEO leadership and earnings manipulations are inconclusive. Consistent with the agency theory, we reveal that dual leadership increase the opportunistic earning manipulations based on kaznik model. While, dual or unitary leadership has no impact on opportunistic behavior of management based on the other models. advanced statistical
CORRELATIONS BETWEEN COMPOSITIONS AND ORBITS ESTABLISHED BY THE GIANT IMPACT ERA OF PLANET FORMATION

The giant impact phase of terrestrial planet formation establishes connections between super-Earths’ orbital properties (semimajor axis spacings, eccentricities, mutual inclinations) and interior compositions (the presence or absence of gaseous envelopes). Using N-body simulations and analytic arguments, we show that spacings derive not only from eccentricities, but also from inclinations. Flatter systems attain tighter spacings, a consequence of an eccentricity equilibrium between gravitational scatterings, which increase eccentricities, and mergers, which damp them. Dynamical friction by residual disk gas plays a critical role in regulating mergers and in damping inclinations and eccentricities. Systems with moderate gas damping and high solid surface density spawn gas-enveloped super-Earths with tight spacings, small eccentricities, and small inclinations. Systems in which super-Earths coagulate without as much ambient gas, in disks with low solid surface density, produce rocky planets with wider spacings, larger eccentricities, and larger mutual inclinations. A combination of both populations can reproduce the observed distributions of spacings, period ratios, transiting planet multiplicities, and transit duration ratios exhibited by Kepler super-Earths. The two populations, both formed in situ, also help to explain observed trends of eccentricity versus planet size, and bulk density versus method of mass measurement (radial velocities versus transit timing variations). Simplifications made in this study—including the limited time span of the simulations, and the approximate treatments of gas dynamical friction and gas depletion history—should be improved on in future work to enable a detailed quantitative comparison to the observations.