Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Connectivity of Neotropical River Basins in the Central Guiana Shield Based on Fish Distributions

The Guiana Shield in northeastern South America contains some of the largest tracts of intact forests on the globe. Guyana alone has more than 80% forest cover. In south-central Guyana a unique biogeographic feature allows for a hydrological connection between the Guiana Shield with the Amazon basin via the Rupununi savannas and wetlands (Rupununi Portal). This corridor allows for connectivity between two of the most biodiverse, carbon rich, and intact forests in the world. The significance of this (and other) hydrological corridors for terrestrial and aquatic species is underappreciated in the scientific literature. We attempt to determine the importance of the surrounding mosaic of habitats that influence fish assemblages in the Rupununi Portal. We extensively sampled fishes in this corridor over six expeditions. Multivariate analyses revealed significant trends in fish assemblage structure and environmental conditions. We found high species richness and diversity within the Takutu (Amazon River drainage) and Rupununi rivers (Essequibo River drainage). Fish assemblages were found to be most similar within the specific river drainages with some similarity within forest and savanna sites. A second Rupununi portal was revealed in the South Rupununi, at the upper Rupununi and Takutu Rivers. Ordination analyses found water body type, vegetation and water chemistry to be significantly structuring the fish assemblages of the Rupununi. Our study reveals the interdependent nature of the various habitats in the Rupununi that facilitate high biodiversity and maintain the ecosystem. With the increase in human activity in this region, and the increased connectivity of the region with the rest of the world through better roads, this area is in danger of being modified and fragmented to a point where ecosystem services begin to fail. We recommend demarcating a protected area in the region that considers the diversity of associated habitats and the importance of the ecological portal joining two diverse river basins.
Disrupted Protein Expression and Altered Proteolytic Events in Hypophosphatemic Dentin Can Be Rescued by Dentin Matrix Protein 1

Dentin, one of the four mineralized tissues of the craniofacial complex, forms sequentially from the deposition of an organic matrix to the nucleation of an inorganic phase within the matrix scaffold. Several promoters and inhibitors of mineralization support and regulate mineral nucleation. Clinical and experimental evidence suggest that dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1) and phosphate-regulating neutral endopeptidase (PHEX) cooperate and are necessary for the formation of a cohesive dentin layer. The following study investigates the effect of PHEX loss-of-function on dentin matrix formation preceding mineralization. Using the Hyp mouse, an animal model for X-linked hypophosphatemia (XLH), we identified an irregular distribution of dentin extracellular matrix proteins. Likewise, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) from XLH patients exhibited altered proteolytic events with disrupted extracellular matrix deposition. Further differentiation assays demonstrated that XLH DPSCs exhibited impaired matrix mineralization. Overexpression of DMP1 in XLH DPSCs restored the irregular protein processing patterns to near-physiological levels. Our results support the hypothesis that hypophosphatemia resulting from PHEX loss-of-function affects the integrity of the organization of the dentin matrix and suggests that exogenous DMP1 can restore physiological processing of matrix proteins, in addition to its canonical role in mineralization.
Conservation and expansion of a necrosis‐inducing small secreted protein family from host‐variable phytopathogens of the Sclerotiniaceae

Abstract Fungal effector proteins facilitate host‐plant colonization and have generally been characterized as small secreted proteins (SSPs). We classified and functionally tested SSPs from the secretomes of three closely related necrotrophic phytopathogens: Ciborinia camelliae, Botrytis cinerea, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Alignment of predicted SSPs identified a large protein family that share greater than 41% amino acid identity and that have key characteristics of previously described microbe‐associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Strikingly, 73 of the 75 SSP family members were predicted within the secretome of the host‐specialist C. camelliae with single‐copy homologs identified in the secretomes of the host generalists S. sclerotiorum and B. cinerea. To explore the potential function of this family of SSPs, 10 of the 73 C. camelliae proteins, together with the single‐copy homologs from S. sclerotiorum (SsSSP3) and B. cinerea (BcSSP2), were cloned and expressed as recombinant proteins. Infiltration of SsSSP3 and BcSSP2 into host tissue induced rapid necrosis. In contrast, only one of the 10 tested C. camelliae SSPs was able to induce a limited amount of necrosis. Analysis of chimeric proteins consisting of domains from both a necrosis‐inducing and a non‐necrosis‐inducing SSP demonstrated that the C‐terminus of the S. sclerotiorum SSP is essential for necrosis‐inducing function. Deletion of the BcSSP2 homolog from B. cinerea did not affect growth or pathogenesis. Thus, this research uncovered a family of highly conserved SSPs present in diverse ascomycetes that exhibit contrasting necrosis‐inducing functions.
The Moderating Role of Business Intelligence in the Impact of Big Data on Financial Reports Quality in Jordanian Telecom Companies

This study aimed at discovering the impact of big data in terms of its dimensions (Variety, Velocity, Volume, and Veracity) on financial reports quality in the present business intelligence in terms of its dimensions (Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), Data Mining, and Data Warehouse) as a moderating variable in Jordanian telecom companies. The sample included (139) employees in Jordanian Telecom Companies. Multiple and Stepwise Linear Regression were used to test the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. And Hierarchical Regression analysis, to test the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable in the presence of the moderating variable. The study reached a set of results, the most prominent of which was the presence of a statistically significant effect of using big data in improve the quality of financial reports, Business intelligence contributes to improving the impact of big data in terms of its dimensions (Volume, Velocity, Variety, and Veracity) on the quality of financial reports. The study recommends the necessity of working on making use of big data and resorting to business intelligence solutions because of its great role in improving the quality of financial reports and thus supporting decision-making functions for a large group of users.
NDT_A_232924 71..79

1Department of Radiology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing 100034, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400014, People’s Republic of China; 3Molecular and Functional Imaging Laboratory, Chongqing General Hospital, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400014, People’s Republic of China
Recognition of 3D Shapes Based on 3V-DepthPano CNN

This paper proposes a convolutional neural network (CNN) with three branches based on the three-view drawing principle and depth panorama for 3D shape recognition. The three-view drawing principle provides three key views of a 3D shape. A depth panorama contains the complete 2.5D information of each view. 3V-DepthPano CNN is a CNN system with three branches designed for depth panoramas generated from the three key views. This recognition system, i.e., 3V-DepthPano CNN, applies a three-branch convolutional neural network to aggregate the 3D shape depth panorama information into a more compact 3D shape descriptor to implement the classification of 3D shapes. Furthermore, we adopt a fine-tuning technique on 3V-DepthPano CNN and extract shape features to facilitate the retrieval of 3D shapes. The proposed method implements a good tradeoff state between higher accuracy and training time. Experiments show that the proposed 3V-DepthPano CNN with 3 views obtains approximate accuracy to MVCNN with 12/80 views. But the 3V-DepthPano CNN frame takes much shorter time to obtain depth panoramas and train the network than MVCNN. It is superior to all other existing advanced methods for both classification and shape retrieval.
Appraisal of In-Vitro and In-Vivo Antioxidant Activity Potential of the Ethanolic Leaf and Bark Extracts of Ficus dalhousiae Miq

The present study was aimed to investigate the antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of the leaf and stem bark (EELFD, EEBFD) of Ficus dalhousiae Miq. Fam. Moraceae. The antioxidant activity of the extracts has been evaluated by using a variety of in vitro assays and an in vivo hepatoprotective model. The test extracts exhibited potential scavenging effects on DPPH, hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide free radicals. In the in vivo hepatoprotective model the EELFD and EEBFD significantly increased the hepatic levels of reduced glutathione, antioxidant enzymes and decreased the lipid peroxidation. The free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities may be due to the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds of the EELFD and EEBFD. The result obtained in the present study justifies that Ficus dalhousiae is a potential source of natural antioxidant activity.
Incentives for teachers: A theoretical framework and a structural model

This paper provides structural analysis of teacher behaviour under the provision of individual and group monetary incentive schemes using data from a randomised control trial conducted in India. I develop a theoretical principal-agent model explicitly allowing for both intrinsic motivation and a crowding out effect of explicit performance pay on intrinsic incentives. Theoretically, I show that intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation through performance pay are substitutes under the optimal incentive scheme in the presence of motivation crowding out. Applying the theoretical framework, I identify the sets of teacher heterogeneity consistent with each effort choice in the treatment and control group schools. Using the barycenters of these sets, I find that increasing the effort of the average teacher who did not change his/her effort under the experimental incentive payment of Rs. 500, would require increasing the bonus payment to Rs. 730 under the individual incentive scheme. The corresponding figure lies between Rs. 720 Rs. 1020 depending on the reported group cooperation level under the group incentive scheme.
Forecasting Ination in India Under the Ination-Targeting Regime

This paper presents an approach to forecasting headline ination (CPI-Combined) using year-on-year monthly ination data from 2012:M1 through 2018:M5. To handle instability in the ination dynamics present in headline ination, we decompose ination into a trend and a cycle, referred to as ination gapby Stock and Watson (2007). The results suggest a signi cant payo¤ of utilizing this approach. The realtime out-of-sample forecasts from a univariate model of ination gap signi cantly outperform the forecasts of the random walk model at all horizons for 2015:M1 through 2018:M5. We also nd that exchange rate movements help improve forecasts from the univariate model of ination gap for short horizons. Most surprisingly, the forecasts from the simple univariate and bivariate models of ination gap outperform the forecasts reported by professional agencies. Kishor: Professor, Department of Economics, Box 413, Bolton Hall 822, University of WisconsinMilwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53201. Email: kishor@uwm.edu.
A Sense of Order: Ordinality and the meaning of symbolic numbers

How are symbolic numbers represented in the brain? The central conclusion of my thesis is that ordinality – the relative position of numbers – is central to answering this question. Furthermore, I show that efficient representation of ordinal information in symbolic numbers (e.g., Indo-Arabic numerals) is a crucial link between basic number representation and more complex mathematics. My thesis thus advances our understanding of the neurocognitive basis of symbolic number representation – a recent (circa 4000 BCE) human cultural invention that forms the foundation of our modern scientific world. My work also provides clear hypotheses about the key processes leading to the emergence of symbolic numbers in the developing brain, which in turn may directly inform early math-education practices.
Linear Model of Resolution and Quality of Digital Images

This paper deals with digital image processing its properties, resolution and quality of such images. Some statistical relations are used to describe images' quality and distributions. Resolution of images is very important in all applications. Probability density function of quality of such images is constructed. It is found that images' quality depends on resolution which takes the form non-linear relation. This paper also presented a linear mathematical model between quality and resolution.
DESIGN, PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BIOLOGICAL AUXETIC HYDROGELS WITH SHELL-CORE STRUCTURE

The biological auxetic hydrogels can be used in the wide field of biomedical materials. HowUUever, there are few researches about preparation and properties of this kind of materials. According to the structures of auxetic molecular materials and composite materials which have already exhibited the negative Poisson’s ratio effect, a kind of novel hydrogels with shell-core structure were designed and prepared. The deformation of the hydrogels under compressing was tested by the Digital Speckle Correlation Method (DSCM), and their displacements and Poisson’s ratios were characterized. For the compressed hydrogels with shell-core structure, because of the asynchronous deformation between core and shell part, the middle area of the sample appeared concave shrink. The core’s diameter had important influence on the deformation and Poisson’s ratio of the samples.
agenda to explore the role of conservation agriculture in African mallholder farming systems

Controversy surrounds the promotion of conservation agriculture (CA) in smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The introduction of CA is a profound change in farm management. Benefits in reduced erosion and stabilized crop production may be obtained, but technical performance at field level is but one of the determinants of adoption. For various reasons, all of the CA principles are not always fully implemented by farmers and results not as favourable as expected. As with other approaches to increasing agricultural productivity, the production constraints, farmers’ objectives, and the expected benefits and costs of implementing CA are important aspects that influence adoption. At farm and village levels, trade-offs in the allocation of resources become important in determining how CA may fit into a given
Design of controller for Cuk converter using Evolutionary algorithm via Model Order Reduction

In this paper, the modelling and design of controller for Cuk converter operating in continuous conduction mode (CCM) is proposed. The Cuk converter is a DCDC converter, operating in step-up as well as stepdown modes based on a switching buck-boost topology. By using the State Space Averaging (SSA) technique, the mathematical model of this converter is carried out and yields to a fourth order system. The feedback compensator design for higher order system is very difficult. In this proposed paper, the fourth order system is reduced to a second order model using Evolutionary algorithm based Particle Swarm Optimization via model order reduction by minimizing the Integral Square Error (ISE)and the controller designed by this proposed method gives the satisfactory results.
Examining CEOs' behavior related to BYOD implementation through the CMUA

Despite prior research on the 'Bring Your Own Device' (BYOD) phenomenon, little attention has been paid to perceptions of opportunities/threats associated with the implementation of BYOD by CEOs. This quantitative study is based on the coping model of user adaptation (CMUA). We enriched this model with quantitative constructs for assessing the CEOs' beneficial and threatening perceptions of BYOD implementation. We also added CEOs' information security (ISS) concern, in order to identify potential security paradoxes, i.e., discrepancies between their concerns and the adopted coping strategies. Results indicate that perceived opportunities/threats and perceived behavioral control have an impact on the type of coping strategy adopted. This study clarifies the operationalization of an enriched CMUA and offers managerial contributions regarding improved protection of corporate information when implementing BYOD. These are the first results concerning 61 CEOs. The full results will be released during the AIM conference with 200+ responses in May 2018.
Floral Species Richness Correlates with Changes in the Nutritional Quality of Larval Diets in a Stingless Bee

Bees need food of appropriate nutritional quality to maintain their metabolic functions. They largely obtain all required nutrients from floral resources, i.e., pollen and nectar. However, the diversity, composition and nutritional quality of floral resources varies with the surrounding environment and can be strongly altered in human-impacted habitats. We investigated whether differences in plant species richness as found in the surrounding environment correlated with variation in the floral diversity and nutritional quality of larval provisions (i.e., mixtures of pollen, nectar and salivary secretions) composed by the mass-provisioning stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria (Apidae: Meliponini). We found that the floral diversity of larval provisions increased with increasing plant species richness. The sucrose and fat (total fatty acid) content and the proportion and concentration of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid decreased, whereas the proportion of the omega-3 fatty acid linolenic acid increased with increasing plant species richness. Protein (total amino acid) content and amino acid composition did not change. The protein to fat (P:F) ratio, known to affect bee foraging, increased on average by more than 40% from plantations to forests and gardens, while the omega-6:3 ratio, known to negatively affect cognitive performance, decreased with increasing plant species richness. Our results suggest that plant species richness may support T. carbonaria colonies by providing not only a continuous resource supply (as shown in a previous study), but also floral resources of high nutritional quality.
Study-Group Diversity and College Academic Outcomes: Experimental Evidence from the Beca18 Social Inclusion Program in Peru

Beca18 is a social inclusion program in higher education implemented by the Peruvian government. It provides full scholarships to poor public high school graduates who have been admitted into an eligible higher education institution. We exploit random assignment of freshman students to small study-groups at a private university in Peru to evaluate how the interactions between Beca18 fellows and the relatively wealthier non-Beca18 students who predominantly attend this institution affect academic outcomes. We find that assignment to mixed study-groups, composed of Beca18 and nonBeca18 students, on average improves performance on individual weekly/biweekly quizzes. In the case of Beca18 fellows this effect is increasing in a pre-college academic performance indicator; that is, relatively high ability Beca18 fellows benefit the most. Interestingly, the opposite holds for nonBeca18 students. Our evidence points to two underlying mechanisms behind these results: (i) peers’ academic ability and (ii) peer’s attitudes towards effort and cooperation. In the case of Beca18 students assigned to mixed groups, they seem to benefit from the relatively higher academic ability of their non-Beca18 peers. In the case of non-Beca18 students, they appear to benefit from the higher effort and cooperation displayed by Beca18 fellows. The benefits of mixed study-group assignment also seem to be stronger among non-Beca18 students with relatively low household incomes; as well as in mixed groups containing the same number of Beca18 and non-Beca18 individuals. 1 This research has been generously funded by the Government of Japan and supported by the Global Development Network (GDN) through the Global Development Awards Competition, Japanese Award for Outstanding Research on Development 2016. We thank German Vega and Paul J Corcuera for their excellent research assistance and Mario Palacios for his extraordinary logistic support. We thank participants at the Canadian Association Meetings 2017, Peruvian Economic Association Conference 2017, Virginia Tech Economics Department Seminar, UDEP Engineering Faculty Innovation Seminars, UDEP Economics Department Seminar, 8 Bolivian Economic Development Conference 2017, LAWEBESS 2017 at Universidad del Valle, and GRADE Seminar for their comments on previous versions of this paper. We specially thank Mario Picon for his valuable comments and guidance. The usual disclaimer applies. 2 Corresponding author: marcos.agurto@udep.pe +51 73 284500 ext. 3134. Departamento de Economía Universidad de Piura. Oficina 218 – Edificio E. Av. Ramón Mugica 131 – Urb. San Eduardo – Piura, Peru.
Chapter 2 Dinosaurs of Korea 2 . 1 Dinosaur Tracks

Numerous tracks of ornithopods, theropods, and sauropod dinosaurs have occurred in the Cretaceous basins mainly located in south east and south of the Korean Peninsula. In addition, diverse fossils of dinosaur bones, teeth, eggshells, skin impressions, and tail traces have been also discovered, though these are relatively uncommon compared with dinosaur tracks. This chapter presents visual images of well-preserved and paleontologically significant tracks, bones, teeth, and eggshells of dinosaurs. The first discovery of dinosaur tracks at the Cretaceous Jindong Formation on the southern coastal area of Dukmyeongri, Hai District, Goseong County (Yang 1982) stimulated subsequent research into vertebrate ichnology in Korea. Although measured data of over 360 dinosaur tracks at Dukmyeongri were provided, Yang (1982) did not provide a systematic description of dinosaur tracks and trackways. In addition, Yang (1982) tentatively classified Dukmyeongri dinosaur tracks into seven types (Type 1, Type 2-1, 2, Type 3-1, 2, Type 4-1, 2) mainly based on track size, length/width of track, number of digits, and rotation of digits. He made no mention of the dinosaurs that could have made these tracks, such as theropods, sauropods, and ornithopods. Subsequently, Lim (1990), who was a Ph.D. student supervised by Yang, extensively surveyed the evidence at Dukmyeongri and discovered numerous (around 5000) dinosaur tracks. Lim (1990) also made informal attempts to differentiate dinosaur tracks into two categories: Q type (quadrupedal, presumably all sauropods) and B type (bipedal ornithopods and theropods), and further subdivided these into several subcategories (Q1–Q4 and B1–B9). Some authors have used the Q and B types devised by Lim (1990) for the classification of dinosaur tracks (e.g., Seo 1992; Baek and Seo 1998). However, this scheme is not effective because there is too much disagreement among independent observers as to the category to which a particular dinosaur track belongs (Lockley et al. 2006).