Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term interannual cycles of the gametogenic ecology of the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae

Spermatogenesis, oogenesis and fecundity are described and the gonad index calculated for 10 individuals from each month using histological and image analysis techniques for the Antarctic brittle star Ophionotus victoriae (Bell 1902). Individuals were collected between September 1997 and December 2000 from a shallow water population (15 to 20 m) on the west of the Antarctic Peninsula. Both male and female gonad index varied seasonally, where proportions of large oocytes and mature sperm decreased markedly between November and December of each year, indicating the spawning period. Although the annual timing of reproduction was consistent among years, O. victoriae displayed considerable inter-annual variation in reproductive effort. This variability was notable in the gonad and gut index of both males and females and in female fecundity, which showed no discernible change in some years, but varied more than an order of magnitude in others. We identify 3 main aspects to the reproductive ecology of 0. victoriae: (1) spawning was synchronous and annually consistent; (2) long periods were required for gamete development, with oocytes requiring similar to18 to 24 mo to mature; (3) there was clear inter-annual variability in reproductive effort and nutritional condition, which could be associated with the extent of the preceding organic sedimentation event. Subsidiary effects may also have been felt from the seasonal ice profile and temperature signal. A combination of all or some of these patterns may be an adaptation to the distinct seasonality and low level resource supply characteristic of the Antarctic and the long-term cycles intrinsic in polar environmental variables.
Remuneration Logics: How Large U.S. Firms Justify Ceo Pay

Purpose: The legitimacy of CEO pay in large U.S. firms has been repeatedly challenged in first decade of the 21 century. However, increases in CEO pay have continued to outpace corresponding changes in firm size and performance. This paper studies how large U.S. firms employ remuneration logics to legitimise CEO pay. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis is used to identify 13 remuneration logics used in the 1998 and 2007 proxy statements from the largest 50 U.S. firms as well as 18 codes of practice issued between 1994 and 2007. Findings: The remuneration policies of U.S. firms have become increasingly homogenous over time. In 2007, all firms studied used the human resources, market and pay-for-performance logics to justify CEO pay. While firms use the remuneration logics to strategically manage their legitimacy, coercive and normative pressures are driving firms towards uniformity in their remuneration policies. Originality/value: Legitimacy and institutional theory are used to understand and explain organisational discourse on executive remuneration.
Dynamic relations between oil and stock markets: Volatility spillovers, networks and causality

We study the relation between oil and stock market returns for a set of seven countries that are important participants in commodity markets. Total and directional spillover indicators are computed using forecast error variance decomposition from vector autoregressions, and their dynamic nature is explored. We find that, on average, oil markets are net volatility receptors while the stock markets of Norway and the US are the main volatility trasmitters. However, transmission intensities and net positions present considerable time variation, being substantially different in moments of financial distress with respect to normal times. Furthermore, we perform dynamic Granger causality tests on recursive windows to explore the validity of the exogeneity assumption of oil market shocks frequently made in the literature. Our results show the existence of bidirectional causality relations, being stronger from stock to oil markets. The results of this study provide empirical evidence suggesting the validity of the oil markets financialization hypothesis, and have important implications for global investors and policymakers. **** RESUMEN: Se estudia la relacion entre los retornos de los mercados petroleros y los mercados accionarios de siete paises que son participantes importantes de los mercados de bienes basicos. Se computan indicadores totales y direccionales de transmision de volatilidad usando metodos de descomposicion de la varianza del error de pronostico de vectores auto-regresivos y se explora su dinamica. Se encuentra que, en promedio, los mercados de petroleo son receptores netos de volatilidad mientras que los mercados accionarios de Noruega y de los Estados Unidos son los principales transmisores de la misma. Sin embargo, las intensidades de transmision y las posiciones netas exhiben importante variacion temporal, siendo sustancialmente diferentes en momentos de tension financiera frente a momentos de tranquilidad en los mercados. Adicionalmente, se realizan pruebas de causalidad en sentido de Granger dinamicas en ventanas recursivas para probar la validez de los supuestos de exogeneidad de los choques a los mercados petroleros que se hacen de forma frecuente en la literatura. Los resultados muestran que existen relaciones de causalidad bidireccionales, que son mas fuertes de los mercados accionarios hacia el petroleo que viceversa. Los resultados de este estudio proveen evidencia empirica que sugiere la validez de la hipotesis de financiarizacion de los mercados de petroleo y tienen implicaciones importantes para los inversionistas globales y para los hacedores de politica.
Using Geovisual Analytics to investigatethe performance of GeographicallyWeighted Discriminant Analysis

Geographically Weighted Discriminant Analysis (GWDA) is a method for prediction and analysis of categorical spatial data. It is an extension of Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) that allows the relationship between the predictor variables and the categories to vary spatially. This is also referred to spatial non-stationarity. If spatial non-stationarity exists, GWDA should model the relationship between the categories and predictor variables more accurately, thus resulting in a lower classification uncertainty and ultimately a higher classification accuracy. The GWDA output also requires interpretation to understand which variables are important in driving the classification in different geographical regions. This research uses interactive visualisations from the field of geovisual analytics to investigate the performance of GWDA in terms of classification accuracy, classification uncertainty and spatial non-stationarity. The methodology is demonstrated in a case study that uses GWDA to examine the relationship between county level voting patterns in the 2004 US presidential election and five socio-economic indicators. This research builds on existing techniques to interpret the GWDA output and provides additional insight into the processes driving the classification. It also demonstrates a practical application of geovisual analytic tools.
Transnational Sufism from below: charismatic counselling and the quest for well-being

Pakistani migrants in Denmark have achieved a level of prosperity and social mobility that first-generation migrants could only dream of before they emigrated in the 1960s. However, their success has come at a price. Currently, migrant families are experiencing a period of radical social change, which challenges and alters their perception of well-being. In such a critical situation, they may turn towards Sufi shaykhs, located in Pakistan, for help and guidance. This article puts forward the concept of ‘transnational Sufism from below’ in order to explore how migrants pragmatically use religious counselling in dealing with the contingencies of everyday life. The quest for well-being is not only related to the pain and suffering of ‘the individual body’, but it is also related, to a large extent, to ‘the social body’ of family and kinship relations, and seems to outline a new kind of diffuse transnational engagement with the potential for reshaping diasporic identities and connections between Pakistan and Denmark.
Characterization of a new natural dye applied on wool fabrics

The present work involves the dyeing of pure wool fabrics with a natural dye extracted fromthe violet flowers of Calotropis procerea plant Erichrome black T as a pre-mordant. The effect of dyeing time, temperature and pH value of the dye bath, using, on the reflectance spectra of the fabrics was followed using spectrophotometer tool and CIE tristimulus values. The color yields of the dye on thewool fabricswere found to be highly dependent on these different dyeing conditions. The beneficial effects of varying conditions of dyeing on the color parameters L, a, b, h, c and the change in color difference (iÂÂE) were also investigated. Light and washing fastness were carried according to ISO standard recommendations to evaluate the amount of fading in terms of color difference to deduce the influence of dye-fiber bonding. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of dyed wool fabrics were followed at each dyeing conditions. The results indicated that, the behavior of the change in the peak intensity values of different functional groups present in the wool fabrics are completely different by changing dyeing conditions. The obtained results indicate that the improvement in dyeing process may be due to the change in the molecular configuration as a result of the variation in the chemical bonds in wool fabrics, the dye and/or the mordant. This means that the increase in the amorphous region of the dyed samples, the oxidation of the cystine linkage on the surface of the wool fabrics, and the formation of free-radicals species encouraged dye penetration and aggregation inside the fiber pores as well as bond formation. The standardization of dyeing and mordanting mechanisms are discussed, as well as the evaluation of the dyeing parameters and fastness properties and reported CIELab data.
Grandstanding and Spinning in VC Backed IPOs on AIM UK

We study a hand-collected dataset that includes 507 IPOs on the UK Alternative Investment Market (AIM) from FY2004 to FY2010. IPOs backed by venture capitalists registered an average underpricing of 25.8 percent; almost double that of non-venture-backed IPOs (14.6%). We provide new empirical evidence that grandstanding and spinning increase IPO underpricing. Conversely venture capitalists provide a certification role when they avoid moral hazard behaviors. Firms may strategically exploit these phenomena to accelerate growth while market regulators have to evaluate this evidence in light of stricter or more prone to laissez faire policies.
Population-level impact of white-nose syndrome on the endangered Indiana bat

Abstract Establishing status and trend for an endangered species is critical to recovery, especially when it is faced with a nascent extinction agent. We calculated, with hierarchical log-linear change-point models, hibernaculum-level population trends between 1983 and 2009 for the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis) now subjected to the fast-spreading fungal disease white-nose syndrome. We combined trends from 222 wintering populations before and after onset of the disease to determine trend for clusters of interacting wintering populations, recovery units, and the species. Before onset of the disease, a west-to-east gradient in trends existed, with westernmost populations declining and easternmost populations increasing in abundance. The species as a whole, however, was stationary between 1983 and 2005 (−0.5% mean annual change; 95% confidence interval [CI] = −2.8, +1.8%). Estimated mean population size in 2009 was 377,124 bats (195,398–957,348), with large variance apparently caused by white-nose syndrome. With the onset of white-nose syndrome (2006–2009), the species exhibited a 10.3% annual decline (95% CI = −21.1, +2.0%). White-nose syndrome is having an appreciable influence on the status and trends of Indiana bat populations, stalling and in some cases reversing population gains made in recent years.
Comparison of the antibacterial activity of chelating agents using the agar diffusion method.

The agar diffusion assay was used to examine antibacterial activity of 2 metal chelators. Concentrations of 0-40 mM of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ethylenediamine-N,N’-disuccinic acid (EDDS) were prepared in 1.0 M potassium hydroxide (KOH). The pH of the solutions was adjusted to 11.0 with citric acid and wells in agar media seeded with bacterial isolates were filled with the solutions. Agar plates were incubated at 35 C for 18-24 h and zones of inhibition around the agar wells were measured. o Results indicated that 10 mM EDTA produced significant (p<0.05) zones of inhibition of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus simulans growth, while 20 mM of EDTA produced significant (p<0.05) zones of inhibition of Salmonella typhimurium. Increases in the concentration of EDTA added to agar wells generally produced significantly increases in the size of zones of inhibition. EDDS only inhibited growth of A. calcoaceticus and P. aeruginosa. Significant (p<0.05) zones of inhibition of both isolates were produced by 10 mM of EDDS and significantly larger zones were produced by higher concentrations of EDDS, although intrazonal growth of A. calcoaceticus was present in all zones of inhibition of this isolate. The addition of these chelators to formulations of sanitizers used in poultry processing may improve the ability of sanitizers to wash away microorganisms on processed carcasses, but findings from this study indicate that these chelators also possess antimicrobial activity that may aid in reducing contamination of carcasses.
ISO 9000 certification and the bottom line: a comparative study of the profitability of Basque region companies

Registrations to the ISO 9000 standard have grown rapidly in recent years with 343,643 certificates in 150 countries at the start of 2000, a growth of 71,769 on the previous year, of which 23,900 were in Europe. This suggests that there is a wide‐spread belief in the business benefits of ISO 9000 accreditation. However, failure to realise business performance improvement in practice could have a negative effect on the future credibility of quality certification and lead to ISO 9000 eventually becoming just another failed management panacea. Although there is much research describing implementation of ISO 9000 quality systems, there is little empirical research that examines whether ISO 9000 is linked to improvement in audited financial performance. This paper contributes to closing this gap in the literature by comparing the audited financial performance of 400 accredited and 400 non‐accredited Basque firms over a period of five years.
Higher education and membership of voluntary groups

This research uses the British National Child Development Study to examine the effect of higher education on individual membership of voluntary groups and organizations. Gender differences in the education effects are given emphasis. We apply parametric and nonparametric econometric methods to isolate the influence of confounding variables. There is strong evidence of education endogeneity in the female sample and we observe a negative education effect on women's group membership. Education endogeneity does not cause serious estimation bias in the male sample. Higher education is a significantly positive determinant of men's group membership. Further investigations from a mid-life perspective reveal that the boost of female participation in the workforce and their attitudes towards employment are key factors in the negative association between higher education and women's group membership. Our research provides clues for the divergence in the enrolment in higher education and social participation behavior in Western countries.
APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES IN MS. PAC-MAN GAME: A REVIEW

AbstrakTeknik Kecerdasan Buatan (AI) berjaya digunakan dan diaplikasikan dalam pelbagai bidang, termasukpembuatan, kejuruteraan, ekonomi, perubatan dan ketenteraan. Kebelakangan ini, terdapat minat yangsemakin meningkat dalam Permainan Kecerdasan Buatan atau permainan AI. Permainan AI merujukkepada teknik yang diaplikasikan dalam permainan komputer dan video seperti pembelajaran, pathfinding,perancangan, dan lain-lain bagi mewujudkan tingkah laku pintar dan autonomi kepada karakter dalampermainan. Objektif utama kajian ini adalah untuk mengemukakan beberapa teknik yang biasa digunakandalam merekabentuk dan mengawal karakter berasaskan komputer untuk permainan Ms Pac-Man antaratahun 2005-2012. Ms Pac-Man adalah salah satu permainan yang digunakan dalam siri pertandinganpermainan diperingkat antarabangsa sebagai penanda aras untuk perbandingan pengawal autonomi.Kaedah analisis kandungan yang menyeluruh dijalankan secara ulasan dan sorotan literatur secara kritikal.Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa, walaupun terdapat berbagai teknik, limitasi utama dalam kajianterdahulu untuk mewujudkan karakter permaianan Pac Man adalah kekurangan Generalization Capabilitydalam kepelbagaian karakter permainan. Hasil kajian ini akan dapat digunakan oleh penyelidik untukmeningkatkan keupayaan Generalization AI karakter permainan dalam Pasaran Permainan KecerdasanBuatan. Abstract Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are successfully used and applied in a wide range of areas, includingmanufacturing, engineering, economics, medicine and military. In recent years, there has been anincreasing interest in Game Artificial Intelligence or Game AI. Game AI refers to techniques applied incomputer and video games such as learning, pathfinding, planning, and many others for creating intelligentand autonomous behaviour to the characters in games. The main objective of this paper is to highlightseveral most common of the AI techniques for designing and controlling the computer-based charactersto play Ms. Pac-Man game between years 2005-2012. The Ms. Pac-Man is one of the games that used asbenchmark for comparison of autonomous controllers in a series of international Game AI competitions.An extensive content analysis method was conducted through critical review on previous literature relatedto the field. Findings highlight, although there was various and unique techniques available, the majorlimitation of previous studies for creating the Ms. Pac-Man game characters is a lack of generalizationcapability across different game characters. The findings could provide the future direction for researchersto improve the Generalization A.I capability of game characters in the Game Artificial Intelligence market.
Building Sustainable Future for Nigeria through Entrepreneurship

This main purpose of this study is to investigate the role of entrepreneurship in building a future for Nigeria. This study examines existing literatures on the model of entrepreneurial action that takes its point of departure in entrepreneurs’ experiences of risk-taking, opportunity identification and the role of self. By focusing on what entrepreneurs experience as relevant aspects of their life worlds, the goal is to attain a better understanding of the drivers and motivations of venture creation and development. The study adopts a descriptive survey, that is, questionnaire based technique to sample opinion and derive answers to the problem identified in the literature review section. The data employed for the study was primary data and secondary data. The primary data were responses gathered from employees through the administration of questionnaires while the secondary data includes the information gathered from journals, textbooks, articles and internet sources. Business owners (i.e. both small and medium enterprises) currently operating within Lagos metropolis were randomly selected to participate in the study. The research instruments used for this study were standardized questionnaire derived from journals that are related to the topic of study and they were formulated based on the variables available in the research topic. The data collected were analyzed using percentages, graphical representations, and pie charts. The findings from this study revealed that there is significant relationship between entrepreneurship development and unemployment reduction in Nigeria. In addition, there is a significant relationship between commercial banks giving preferential treatment to small and medium sized firm’s proprietorship.
Further Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale

The Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale (BADS), a four-factor (Activation, Aviodance/ Rumination, Work/School impairment, and Social Impairment), 25-item scale, was to assess response contingent positive reinforcement (RCPR) that underlies the depression. So far, all the studies that examined its psychometric properties supported its usefulness in assessing RCPR in western culture. The purpose of the current study was to further evaluate psychometric properties of BADS that measures RCPR in a non-western culture. Based on a sample of 440 college participants from China, the results revealed that the four-factor of 25-item structure had a good fit to the data except for two items loaded differently from what was hypothesized. The data seemed to support BADS as a valid measure of RCPR and the results were discussed in the context of cultural differences.
DEVELOPMENT OF AN APPARATUS FOR ULTRAFAST THz SPECTROSCOPY

This thesis details the development of a multi-functional THz system capable of operating in three different geometrical configurations: transmission, reflection and attenuated total reflection (ATR). This apparatus can be used to collect THz time-domain spectroscopic data or it can be used to study the carrier dynamics of a system following optical excitation. These two functions categorize the two types of experiments presented in this thesis. THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) was performed with the transmission and reflection configurations to determine the feasibility of using THz radiation to study thin polymer films. This technique was also performed in an ATR configuration with the use of a high purity Si prism. The THz ATR method was developed to extend the capabilities of the system to accommodate liquid samples. '! \fater was the primary sample of interest, however methanol, ethanol and sucrose solutions were also examined. Although the results obtained regarding water are inconsistent with the literature, it has led to valuable insight as to ho\', the current experimental setup may be improved. The optical-pump THz-probe technique was also incorporated \\ ith each of the configurations of the system. In transmission mode, the carrier dynamics of ZnSe nanowires were studied. In reflection mode, the optical-pump, THz-probe capabilities were tested using a Si wafer sample. In the ATR configuration, the carrier dynamics of the Si prism itself were examined. It is necessary to characterize the response of the prism to optical excitation if this technique is to be applied to samples placed on the surface of the prism. Efforts were made to control the free carrier lifetime of the near surface region of the Si prism, by irradiating the surface of the prism with a high energy proton beam to create defects in the Si. The results from this initial experiment, along with suggestions for future follow-up experiments, are presented.