Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiple mating and supercoloniality in Cataglyphis desert ants

In social organisms, the breeding system corresponds to the number of breeders in a group, their genetic relationships, and the distribution of reproduction among them. Recent, genetically based studies suggest an amazing array of breeding system and reproductive strategies in desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis. Using highly polymorphic DNA microsatellites, we performed a detailed analysis of the breeding system and population genetic structure of two Cataglyphis species belonging to the same phylogenetic group: C. niger and C. savignyi. Our results show that both species present very different breeding systems. C. savignyi colonies are headed by a single queen and populations are multicolonial. Remarkably, queens show one of the highest mating frequency reported in ants (Mp = 9.25). Workers can reproduce by both arrhenotokous and thelytokous parthenogenesis. By contrast, colonies of C. niger are headed by several, multiply mated queens (Mp = 5.17), and they are organized in supercolonial populations made of numerous interconnected nests. Workers lay arrhenotokous eggs only. These results illustrate the high variability in the socio-genetic organization that evolved in desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 104, 866–876.
IMPACTS OF SOFT SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ON THE EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS OF THE DIFFICULT-TO-EMPLOY

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS x CHAPTER 1 PROBLEM CONCEPTUALIZATION 1 Problem Statement: The Low-Skilled and Unemployed 1 A Troublesome Solution: Welfare 3 Transition from Welfare and Unemployment to Work 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7 Welfare-to-Work Objectives 7 Strategies Employed in Welfare-to-Work Programs 8 Human Capital Development Approach 12 Overall Impacts of Welfare-to-Work Programs 13 Characteristics of Successful Welfare-to-Work Programs 17 The “Hardest-to-Employ” Subgroup 19 Effects of Welfare-to-Work Programs on Children 20 Overview of Past Studies 21 CHAPTER 3 STRIVE 25 STRIVE National 25 STRIVE Central Jersey 31 Assessments of STRIVE 38 vii CHAPTER 4 CONCEPTUAL MODEL 40 Theoretical Background of Study 40 Conceptual Logic of Study 42 Analytic Framework 44 CHAPTER 5 VARIABLE DESCRIPTION 50 Descriptive Statistics 50 Profiles at Each Stage of the STRIVE Program 54 CHAPTER 6 RESULTS 59 Model Estimation Results 59 Heckman Selection Model Analysis of STRIVE Process and Impact 61 Graduation 62 Employment 63 Wages 67 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSIONS & POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 71 General Discussion 71 Policy Recommendations 74
Production and Off-Farm Employment Decisions of Greek and Hungarian Farmers in the Light of the Last CAP Refrom

Using field survey data from Hungarian and Greek farmers, an evaluation was attempted of their perceptions and intentions concerning the last major CAP reform. In particular farmers’ future intentions concerning their farm investments, crop mix and off-farm work are explored. Empirical findings suggest that although investment decisions are similar across countries, there are differences concerning crop-mix and offfarm work. Hungarian farmers are more willing to adjust their crop mix focusing in their farming businesses and therefore less willing to increase off-farm work. For the sample of Greek farmers the opposite is observed. The level of information concerning CAP measures as well as the farm's size, the type of crop and farm specialization play an important role in these individual decisions.
Decipher the Three-Dimensional Magnetic Topology of a Great Solar Flare

Three-dimensional magnetic topology of solar flare plays a crucial role in understanding its explosive release of magnetic energy in the corona. However, such three-dimensional coronal magnetic field is still elusive in direct observation. Here we realistically simulate the magnetic evolution during the eruptive process of a great flare, using a numerical magnetohydrodynamic model constrained by observed solar vector magnetogram. The numerical results reveal that the pre-flare corona contains multi-set twisted magnetic flux, which forms a coherent rope during the eruption. The rising flux rope is wrapped by a quasi-separatrix layer, which intersects itself below the rope, forming a hyperbolic flux tube and magnetic reconnection is triggered there. By tracing the footprint of the newly-reconnected field lines, we reproduce both the spatial location and its temporal evolution of flare ribbons with an expected accuracy in comparison of observed images. This scenario strongly confirms the three-dimensional version of standard flare model.
The evolution of technology-based alliance networks in pharmaceutical biotechnology

The dominant focus in the literature until now has been on how networks enable and constrain action, whereas the question what factors enable and constrain networks has been largely ignored. To fill this void, the paper aims to develop an understanding of the role of ex-ante factors and processes that influence network evolution. Empirically, we study network evolution in the biotechnology industry along two levels of analysis: network and dyad level. One of the key findings is that these two levels seem to change relatedly in response to exogenous environmental change. More generally, our framework contributes by elucidating not only how networks evolve, but also why they evolve in ways they do.Overall, this yields valuable insights that carry implicatitions for the literature on learning and innovation, strategic alliances as well as on social network theory.
COVER 4_07

Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (GSS) is an inherited autosomal dominant prion disease, caused by a codon 102 proline to leucine substitution (P102L) in the prion protein gene (PRNP). We describe the case of a 40-year-old male, affected by a slowly progressive gait disturbance, leg weakness and cognitive impairment. Genomic DNA revealed a point mutation of PRNP at codon 102, resulting in P102L, and the diagnosis of GSS was confirmed. Somatosensory evoked potentials showed alterations of principal parameters, particularly in the right upper and lower limbs. Laser-evoked potentials were indicative of nociceptive system impairment, especially in the right upper and lower limbs. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed marked atrophy of the vermis and cerebellar hemispheres and mild atrophy of the middle cerebellar peduncles and brainstem, as confirmed by a brain volume automatic analysis. Resting-state functional MRI showed increased functional connectivity in the bilateral visual cortex, and decreased functional connectivity in the bilateral frontal pole and supramarginal and precentral gyrus. Albeit limited to a single case, this is the first study to assess structural and functional connectivity in GSS using a multimodal approach.
Coverage of Black versus White Males in Local Television News Lead

As far back as the early 1990s scholars have analyzed how some television news stations have disproportionately portrayed Black males as notorious lawbreakers, while White males are significantly more likely to be depicted as heroes, defenders of all that is righteous, or the perpetual “good guys. ” As a result of those early articles many other researchers have examined the prevalence of such reporting as well as the impact it has on Black males as well as society. Most of those studies have focused on the entire newscasts coverage of big city television markets, like Chicago or New York. No study has performed a similar analysis on the lead news story. Nebraska has recently been designated as the “most dangerous place in America to be Black. ” Nebraska received that title even though it has an extremely small Black population, 4.8%, most of whom live in Omaha, the state’s largest city. This research looks at how Omaha’s four local television network affiliates-ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox-portray Black males versus White males in their lead or first stories of their newscasts. A team of coders evaluated three-months of newscasts from each station. The statistical findings are clear: crime-related stories account for more than 60% of lead news stories in Omaha, and Black males were featured in the primary crime story subject nearly 70% of the time even though crime statistics show that Blacks are only responsible for 31% of arrests during the same 3-month period.
Influence of legislative conditioned changes in waste management on economic viability of MSW- fuelled district heating system ‒ case study

District heating systems represents one of the ways by which the European Union is trying to reach set goals in energy efficiency and security field. These systems allow the use of different energy sources including local energy sources such as waste and biomass. This paper provides economic viability assessment of using these fuels in the district heating system. Economic evaluation is based on regression analysis from data of existing plants and on the locally dependent data. Some of parameters that are dependent of local parameters are price and available fuel quantity, therefore these values are separately modelled; biomass as a function of location of the plant while municipal waste as a function of location and the time changes in waste quantity and composition which depend of socio-economic trends and legislation. This methodology is applied on the case of district heating plants in the City of Zagreb where internal rates of return are calculated for four considered scenarios. Results indicate that waste powered plant can improve its profitability by co-combusting other local wastes while economic viability is achieved by introduction of region wide waste management system. Reducing plant capacity, based on prognosis of waste generation, showed that these plants can be competitive with biomass plants.
Ingestive behavior of Guzerat and Sindhi heifers under the effects of feed restriction - doi: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v34i3.14328

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of feed restriction on the ingestive behavior of Guzerat and Sindhi heifers. A total of 36 heifers were used, 18 from each breed, randomly distributed in a completely randomized design, in a 2 x 3 factorial scheme. The treatments used were 20 and 40% restriction compared to intake by animals from the third group, which were fed ad libitum (without restriction). For the behavioral analysis, the scan sampling method was used by logging and recording times in five-minute intervals during 24 hours, thus estimating the time spent feeding, ruminating and idling. With regard to the imposed restrictions, it was observed that non-restricted animals showed greater feeding time and lower resting time (p < 0.05); the two breeds showed the same feeding efficiency. When subjected to levels up to 40% of feed restriction, both studied genotypes perform similarly with regard to ingestive behavior, feeding efficiency and cud chews. However, there was an effect of the restriction levels on the patterns of ingestive behavior and cud chews, although there were no changes to feeding efficiency or chewing time per cud.
Enhanced Group Delay of the Pulse Reflection with Graphene Surface Plasmon via Modified Otto Configuration

In this paper, the group delay of the transverse magnetic (TM) polarized wave reflected from a modified Otto configuration with graphene surface plasmon is investigated theoretically. The findings show that the optical group delay in this structure can be enhanced negatively and can be switched from negative to positive due to the excitation of surface plasmon by graphene. It is clear that the negative group delay can be actively tuned through the Fermi energy of the graphene. Furthermore, the delay properties can also be manipulated by changing either the relaxation time of graphene or the distance between the coupling prism and the graphene. These tunable delay characteristics are promising for fabricating grapheme-based optical delay devices and other applications in the terahertz regime.
Application du test d'inhibition de la biocristallisation de l'hème à la caractérisation de composés antipaludiques isolés de la flore de Bolivie

La vallee du Zongo, situee au nord de la ville de La Paz en Bolivie, est une vallee tropicale transandine d'altitude presentant une importante diversite vegetale. Dans le cadre d'une recherche de nouveaux composes antipaludiques, cinquante huit plantes caracteristiques de la flore de cet endroit ont ete soumises a l'essai d'inhibition de biocristallisation de la ferriprotoporphyrine IX (FBIT) pour evaluer leur capacite a empecher la formation d'hemozoine plasmodiale. De 134 extraits testes, 14 especes se sont montrees actives. L'essai in vitro sur la schizogonie erythrocytaire de Plasmodium falciparum a ammene a confirmer l'interet pharmacologique de 4 especes : Brachyotum microdon (Melastomataceae), Miconia boliviensis (Melastomataceae), Gaiadendron punctatum (Loranthaceae) et Liabum hastifolium (Asteraceae). Des separations phytochimiques bioguidees de B. Microdon ont ete conduites en utilisant le test FBIT. Deux types de composes actifs ont ete obtenus : des alcools gras et des triterpenes. Les triterpenes caracterises, l'acide oleanolique, l'acide ursolique et l'acide corosolique, sont responsables de l'inhibition de la biocristallisation de l'heme. Les triterpenes ont egalement presentes une activite moderee contre Plasmodium falciparum. Des etudes complementaires d'especes medicinales amazoniennes ont ete egalement conduites. De R. Obtusifolius, une anthraquinone active contre le test FBIT, la demethylmacrosporine, a ete caracterisee. L'etude des ecorces de tronc de Bowdichia virgiloides (Leguminosae) a permis la caracterisation d'alcaloides de type ormosia presentant une importante activite antiplasmodiale et egalement sur FBIT. La separation phytochimique de Gustavia augusta (Lecythidaceae) utilisant le test FBIT a permis la caracterisation d'acides gras bioactifs.
The Effects of Aromatherapy by Lavender Oil on Agitation and Hemodynamic Parameters in Mechanically Ventilated Patients in ICU

Patients receiving mechanical ventilation, due to stress, anxiety and stimulations of tracheal intubation, experience agitation that threatens the process of mechanical ventilation and also can cause dyspnea, confusion and asthenia. Agitation control by the medications and physical restraints, brings unpleasant side effects as well. Therefore, this study was performed to determine the effect of aromatherapy with lavender oil on agitation and hemodynamic parameters in mechanically ventilated patients. This quasi-experimental study was performed over 40 patients under mechanical ventilation. All patients who met inclusion criteria, were recorded their hemodynamic parameters and agitation severity before the intervention and then two drops of 2% lavender essential oil were added to 200 ml of distilled water and the aromatherapy was done within one hour. Hemodynamic and agitation parameters recorded every 15 minutes during the first hour and every 30 minutes during the second and third hours. Agitation severity and hemodynamic parameters were compared before and after aromatherapy and were analyzed by statistical methods [descriptive and inferential]. The findings showed that the scores of agitation and hemodynamic parameters, before and after aromatherapy with lavender were significant (P < 0.001). According to the results of this study, aromatherapy with lavender oil is effective on agitation and hemodynamic parameters in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation; therefore, it is suggested to be used as one of the non-drug and uncomplicated interventions in independent nursing duties to control patient’s agitation
Radical scavenging activities of the leaf extracts and a flavonoid glycoside isolated from Cineraria abyssinica Sch. Bip. Exa. Rich

The aqueous decoction of the leaves of Cineraria abyssinica Sch. Bip. exA. Rich (Asteraceae) is used for treatments of myriads of diseases associated with oxidative stress. However, there appear to have been lack reports on its phytochemistry and pharmacological activities. The main purpose of this study was, therefore, to determine the radical scavenging activities of the leaf extracts of C. abyssinica. The aqueous and 80% methanolic crude extracts, chloroform, acetone and methanol fractions of the leaf extracts of C. abyssinica showed potent radical scavenging activities (IC50 = 5.27-12.41 µg/ml). Activity-guided fractionation of the most active, methanol fraction resulted in the isolation of a flavonoidal glycoside, rutin. The structure was assigned on the basis of spectroscopic methods including ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV), infra red (FT-IR), mass spectrometry (MS) and one and two dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry (1D- and 2D-NMR). Rutin showed the most potent DPPH scavenging activity (IC50 = 3.53 µg/ml) slightly higher than ascorbic acid (IC50 = 3.57 µg/ml). Acute toxicity studies on the crude extracts showed the nontoxic nature of the plant up to 3 g/kg. Therefore, the present study revealed for the first time the presence of antioxidant phytochemical in the leaves of C. abyssinica that scientifically validated the traditional use and its great potential to be used as a source of antioxidant phytochemicals.
Tensile and compressive damage coupling for fully‐reversed bending fatigue of fibre‐reinforced composites

Due to their high specific stiffness and strength, fibre-reinforced composite materials are winning through in a wide range of applications in automotive, naval and aerospace industy. Their design for fatigue is a complicated problem and a large research effort is being spent on it today. However there is still a need for extensive experimental testing or large safety factors to be adopted, because numerical simulations of the fatigue damage behaviour of fibre-reinforced composites are often found to be unreliable. This is due to the limited applicability of the theoretical models developed so far, compared to the complex multi-axial fatigue loadings that composite components often have to sustain in in-service loading conditions. In this paper a new phenomenological fatigue model is presented. It is basically a residual stiffness model, but through an appropriate choice of the stress measure, the residual strength and thus final failure can be predicted as well. Two coupled growth rate equations for tensile and compressive damage describe the damage growth under tension-compression loading conditions and provide a much more general approach than the use of the stress ratio R. The model has been applied to fully-reversed bending of plain woven glass/epoxy specimens. Stress redistributions and the three stages of stiffness degradation (sharp initial decline - gradual deterioration - final failure) could be simulated satisfactorily.
Classification and Counting of Vehicle on Freeway Ramps

For many decades, vehicles have been an essential part of modern life. As the number of vehicles increased, transportation problems have become more and more serious. Tasks of vehicle counting and classification systems based on computer vision have attracted much attention. In this paper, we propose a vision-based vehicle classification and counting system capable of performing under different weather condition. Based on the profile of a vehicle, we classify the vehicle as one of the categories predefined. Our system has the advantages of easy installation and high performance while comparing with the other proposed methods.
Phylogenetic revision of the Taenogera Kröber genus‐group (Diptera: Therevidae), with descriptions of two new genera

The phylogenetic relationships of the Taenogera genus‐group, consisting of nine genera, are examined using cladistic methods. Twenty‐one species representing nine genera and one outgroup were compared in a cladistic analysis across 99 states in 44 characters. The genus Taenogera Kröber is revised to contain only T. longa (Schiner), T. nitida (Macquart) and T. notatithorax Mann. Two new genera are described and figured: Actenomeros gen. n. , with two species, A. corniculaticaudus sp. n. and A. onyx sp. n. ; and Taenogerella gen. n. , with four species, Ta. elizabethae sp. n. , Ta. platina sp. n. , Ta. schlingeri sp. n. and Ta. nigrapicalis (Mann) comb. n. Phylogenetic analysis also supports the removal of Nanexila gracilis (Mann) comb. n. from Taenogera.
NEW DRUG R&D OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE: ROLE OF DATA MINING APPROACHES

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) documented about 100,000 formulae during past 2500 years. To use and customize them by modern pharmaceutical industry, we make an interdisciplinary effort to study the activity of new drug research and development (R&D) in TCM by introducing data mining approaches to it. We used the migraine formulae as a training set to investigate the possibility of developing new prescription by means of data mining. The activity of new drug R&D of TCM consists of two steps. The first step is to discover new prescriptions (candidates for drugs) from migraine formulae. We present an unsupervised clustering approach based on data mining theory to address the problem in the first step and automatically discover ten new prescriptions from the formulae data. The second step is to develop and optimize the prescriptions discovered by current biomedical approaches. Since Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort (LCH), a kind of herb, is often used to treat migraine and appears in the new prescriptions, we use it as an example and apply supervised regression method based on data mining theory to study the drug R&D activity of TCM. We revised two linear regression methods in order to establish the nonlinear association between three chemical ingredients of LCH and corresponding pharmacological activity and used it to predict the activities. The association is validated by in vitro experiments and we found that the experimental results are consistent with the prediction. Unsupervised clustering and supervised regression cover most part of data mining theory, which means that data mining approaches play a crucial role in new drug R&D in TCM and present a better solution to establish the platform of drug R&D in TCM.
Technological development and software piracy

In this paper, we analyze the differences in piracy rates from one country to another. Like previous papers on the topic, we find that more developed countries have lower incentives for pirating. Unlike previous papers, we find that the piracy rate is positively correlated with the tax burden rate but negatively correlated with the domestic market size and exports over GDP. We also separate the impacts of education and R&D on piracy, and find two effects with opposite signs. Moreover, we find that those countries with smaller, more efficient bureaucracies are likely to protect intellectual property more effectively. Finally, we show that the spread of access to the Internet is negatively correlated with the software piracy rate.
Fire Spalling Prevention via Polypropylene Fibres : A Meso-and Macroscale Approach

A deep understanding of concrete at the mesoscale level is essential for a better comprehension of several concrete phenomena, such as creep, damage, and spalling. The latter one specifically corresponds to the separation of pieces of concrete from the surface of a structural element when it is exposed to high and rapidly rising temperatures; for this phenomenon a mesoscopic approach is fundamental since aggregates performance and their thermal properties play a crucial role. To reduce the risk of spalling of a concrete material under fire condition, the inclusion of a low dosage of polypropylene fibres in the mix design of concrete is largely recognized. PP fibres in fact evaporate above certain temperatures, thus increasing the porosity and reducing the internal pressure in the material by an increase of the voids connectivity in the cement paste. In this work, the contribution of polypropylene fibres on concrete behaviour, if subjected to elevated thermal ranges, has been numerically investigated thanks to a coupled hygrothermomechanical finite element formulation. Numerical analyses at the macroand mesoscale levels have been performed.