Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Song discrimination suggests premating isolation among sympatric indigobird species and host races

Indigobirds (Vidua spp.) are host-specific brood parasites that have diversified in a recent radiation apparently driven by host colonization. Behavioral imprinting of both male and female indigobirds on host song is thought to promote rapid speciation because it results in assortative mating between indigobirds associated with a particular host. We conducted a song playback experiment to test whether male indigobirds discriminate among potential competitors based on song. Of particular interest was the behavior of two sympatric host races of the Cameroon indigobird Vidua camerunensis that differ only in host song mimicry and other components of their vocal repertoires. Territorial males of the two V. camerunensis host races and Vidua raricola, a morphologically distinct indigobird species, were tested with playbacks of each other's songs. Males of all three groups responded most aggressively to songs of their own species and/or host race, as evidenced by strong and highly significant differences in a variety of response variables. This differential territorial defense suggests that an intruding male with different songs does not represent a competitive threat and is expected if females mate assortatively with respect to song. Thus, our results provide evidence of premating reproductive isolation among recently evolved indigobird species and host races. Copyright 2006.
STUDENTS’ PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DIFFERENCES IN THEIR LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES IN PUBLIC COLLEGES OF EDUCATION IN THE CENTRAL-WESTERN ZONE OF GHANA

The study investigated the differences in learning style preferences of students of public Colleges of Education (CoEs) in the Central-Western Zone of Ghana based on their personal characteristics (sex, level of study and college setting), and how these personal characteristics influence the students’ choice of learning style preference. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey design. Purposive and random sampling techniques were used to sample 1,396 students from five public CoEs. Frequencies with percentages, independent samples t-test, and regression and ANOVA were used to analyse the data. Generally, a combination of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic learning styles were preferred by the students. Statistically significant differences in the learning style preferences of the students in terms of their sex and setting of college were observed. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the students’ learning style preferences based on their level of study. Again, a statistically significant positive influence of students’ demographic variables on their learning style preferences was established even though the influence was very small. It was concluded that most of the students prefer the use of more than one learning style, and so tutors must comprehend differentiated learning of their students in order to adopt different teaching and assessment techniques to suit the learning needs of the PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences ISSN 2454-5899 Available Online at: http://grdspublishing.org/ 593 students. It was recommended among others that tutors should encourage students to adopt multiple learning styles and effective study habits to enhance their academic endeavours.
Microencapsulation of DHA Algal Oil by Spray Drying

The aim of this study is to evaluate and optimize the influence of process conditions on the microencapsulation of DHA algal oil by spray drying, while using whey protein isolate (WPI) and maltodextrin (MD) as wall material. Emulsion stability was analyzed. Microencapsulation efficiency, surface oil content and moisture content are evaluated with the change of five independent variables, including the ratio of WPI and MD, the ratio of core and wall material, total solid content, inlet air temperature and centrifugal disk speed. The morphology of the microcapsules was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Particle size distribution was measured using high Resolution Laser Particle Size Analyzer. The microencapsulation process was finally optimized at 2.5 of WPI/MD, 0.2 of core/wall material, 0.5 of total solid content, inlet air temperature of 180°C and centrifugal disk speed of 32000 rpm. The produced microcapsules with spherical shape exhibited smooth and free of pores, cracks and surface indentation, which indicated the emulsification and encapsulation of DHA with above process was feasible. Keywords-microencapsulation; DHA algal oil; spray drying; process condition evaluation
Left-handed metamaterials: The fishnet structure and its variations

We investigate, both theoretically and experimentally, a left-handed metamaterial design composed of pairs of short slabs connected with continuous wires, operating in microwave frequency regime. The design was found to give left-handed behavior for a wide range of structure parameters, maintaining high impedance match with free space. We introduce a capacitor-inductor circuit description of the design and we show that this description can account for all the characteristics of its electromagnetic behavior, explaining also its superior performance.
A Comparison of Growth, Structure and Diversity of Mixed Species and Monoculture Reforestation Systems in the Philippines

ABSTRACT Forests in the Philippines, and many other developing countries in the tropics, have been extensively cleared over recent decades. There have been increasing efforts to reforest these cleared lands to achieve both socio-economic and environmental objectives. To date, planted forests have been dominated by monocultures. There has however been increasing calls to use mixtures of species, although there is limited evidence to support mixed-species plantations being a better or win-win approach to reforestation. To address this, we compared the tree growth, forest structure, and tree species diversity performance of monoculture and mixed-species tree plantations across 168 sites (251 survey plots) on Leyte Island, the Philippines. Our results indicate that mixtures of fast-growing exotics species had better growth performance compared to monocultures of fast-growing exotics species, and also better tree species diversity performance at both the plot and landscape scale. Our results suggest that mixtures of exotic or native species can provide benefits over monoculture plantations. Mixtures of productive exotic species are most suited to situations where the production function of the forest is most important, while mixtures of native species are most suited to situations where the biodiversity function of the forest is most important.
Group on Human-ComputerInteraction 1-1-2010 Understanding Twitter ’ s adoption and use continuance : the Synergy between Uses and Gratifications and Diffusion of Innovations

This study explored the explanatory power of Uses and Gratifications (UG) and the Diffusion of Innovation theory (IDT) in describing Twitter phenomenon. Effects of mobile access and perceived outcomes of using Twitter were also examined and comparison of active and inactive users revealed which needs are likely to result in Twitter’s discontinuance if unmet. Online survey and data analysis with Partial Least Squares (PLS) revealed that the needs for Entertainment, Relaxation, the service’s Visibility and Compatibility were strong predictors of Twitter’s usage. ANOVA highlighted that the same dimensions were significantly lower among inactive ‘tweeters’, suggesting that the same factors may be responsible for both adoption and continuance. Mobile access of Twitter was found to be a catalyst for continued use. There is a need for the combined use of UG and IDT in describing Twitter’s adoption, with personal needs and the service’s characteristics being the use drivers by different audiences.
Chelating agents to solubilize heavy metals from Oxisols contaminated by the addition of organic and inorganic residues

A fitoextracao tem sido uma opcao atrativa para remediar solos contaminados com metais pesados, principalmente quando associada a aplicacao de quelantes ao solo, embora no Brasil seus estudos sejam muito incipientes. Portanto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiencia dos quelantes EDTA e EDDS na solubilizacao de metais pesados em Latossolos contaminados por Cu, Zn, Cd e Ni, cujas fontes de contaminacao foram: orgânica em Jaguariuna (LVJ) e inorgânica em Paulinia (LVP). Antes da solubilizacao dos metais com os quelantes as amostras de solo foram submetidas ao fracionamento sequencial e a extracao dos metais pesados pelo metodo do DTPA. Ainda, as amostras dos dois solos foram agitadas com as solucoes dos quelantes, por 24 h, usando as seguintes doses: 0, 250, 500 e 750 mg kg-1 de solo, realizando-se a determinacao dos metais pesados no sobrenadante. Tanto a extracao com DTPA como o fracionamento sequencial indicaram que os metais estavam nas fracoes disponiveis que poderiam ser solubilizados pelos quelantes. As quantidades solubilizadas de Cu, Fe, Zn e Ni variaram em funcao do tipo de solo, dos quelantes e das doses aplicadas. A solubilizacao do Fe em relacao ao seu teor total no LVJ foi de 11% (EDTA) e 19% (EDDS). O EDDS solubilizou mais Cu em ambos os solos e Ni no LVJ, enquanto o EDTA apresentou maior solubilizacao do Zn tambem em ambos os solos e do Cd no LVP. Portanto, a utilizacao de tais complexantes pode ser promissora na fitoextracao de metais em solos, mas a avaliacao da concentracao de Fe no solo torna-se importante quando se utiliza a tecnica de fitoextracao assistida por quelantes para remediar Latossolos contaminados com metais.
A New Approach to Environmental Valuation for New Zealand

New Zealand’s Resource Management Act is frequently criticised for the costs and delays it imposes on activities, but less attention is given to the consistency of values it applies to environmental effects through its decisions. The wide variety of parties who exercise decision roles under the act lack guidance on the economic value of the environment, and non-market valuation studies are too costly to be widely used and too few and varied to infer reliable generic values. Drawing on experience in estimating the public value of safety improvements, this article proposes an alternative approach that measures people’s aversion to the risk of environmental impacts of different scales and severity which could yield values sufficiently generic to be widely used, and outlines its uses both within and beyond the RMA applications.
Unveiling the X-ray/UV properties of disk winds in active galactic nuclei using broad and mini-broad absorption line quasars

We present the results of the uniform analysis of 46 XMM-Newton observations of six BAL and seven mini-BAL QSOs belonging to the Palomar-Green Quasar catalogue. Moderate-quality X-ray spectroscopy was performed with the EPIC-pn, and allowed to characterise the general source spectral shape to be complex, significantly deviating from a power law emission. A simple power law analysis in different energy bands strongly suggests absorption to be more significant than reflection in shaping the spectra. If allowing for the absorbing gas to be either partially covering the continuum emission source or to be ionised, large column densities of the order of $10^{22-24}$ cm$^{-2}$ are inferred. When the statistics was high enough, virtually every source was found to vary in spectral shape on various time scales, from years to hours. All in all these observational results are compatible with radiation driven accretion disk winds shaping the spectra of these intriguing cosmic sources.
Appliance Level Energy Disaggregation

We build and experiment with various models for separating total electric energy usage (kWh) into usage by appliance in a given household. We formulate the task of energy disaggregation as a regression problem for each appliance, where we predict a continuous valued usage in kWh at each time step conditioned on the total energy used from m previous time steps. We note that the challenge in this task is building a predictive network that is able to learn a mapping from R → R appliances. We therefore experiment with a sparse coding model in which we attempt to learn signatures of each home appliance that together sum to aggregate energy signal. We achieve the best results on the REDD dataset (plug-wise meter data from 6 homes) using a Random Forest model with 89% accuracy on the test set as well as our sparse coding model with 91% accuracy. Mentor: Akhila Yerukola Code repository: https://github.com/fl16180/disaggregate-NRG
Current Understanding in the Measurement of Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol: A Comparison of Direct Measurement by Homogenous Assays versus Calculations

Background: To compare the results obtained by direct homogenous assay for LDL-C to those obtained by Friedwalds and Anandrajas formulas with the assumption that the results obtained by direct assay are most accurate. This was a comparative study for the estimation of LDL-C using two different types of calculation formulas and direct estimation of LDL-C by homogenous method. Method: Serum Lipids and lipoproteins were measured in 505 fasting samples. Serum Total cholesterol was measured using CHOD-PAP method first described by Stadman on Siemens Dimensions Clinical Chemistry RXL Analyzer. Triglycerides were measured by Glycerol Phosphate peroxidase PAP method. Direct LDL-C was measured by a homogenous assay by siemens diagnostics. AHDL was measured by a homogenous method which uses PEGcholesterol esterase using kit from siemens diagnostics. This was a comparative study for the estimation of LDL-C using two different types of calculation formulas and direct estimation of LDL-C by homogenous method. Results: A good correlation was found between D-LDL as compared to both F-LDL and A-LDL. Pearsons coefficient of correlation between F-LDL & D-LDL was 0.891 (p<0.001) which was comparatively better than that between A-LDL & D-LDL which came out to be 0.850. Conclusion: In conclusion, regarding patients convenience, financial reasons and accuracy we support the reliability of Anandrajas formula as indirect low density lipoprotein estimation – in Punjabi population.
Beach Sand Filtration as Pre-Treatment for RO Desalination

Membrane fouling has a strong negative impact on the efficiency of reverse osmosis membranes in seawater desalination. Although reports indicate that water abstracted by beach sand filtration systems on the Mediterranean and Red Seas leads to less membrane fouling compared to direct seawater intakes, only limited information can be found on the efficiency of such systems in removing biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC), an important fouling agent. This article describes different designs of beach sand filtration systems. In order to investigate the reduction during beach sand filtration of parameters relevant to membrane fouling, such as total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity and total nitrogen, column experiments have been carried out using natural and wastewater spiked seawater with coral beach sand from Hawaii, USA at low and high infiltration rates. Additionally, operational results from existing beach sand filtration sites were collected and supplemented with data from a field site visit of the Dahab beach well desalination plant, Egypt. Preliminary results show good reduction of the targeted parameters and indicate that beach sand filtration would be a valuable pre filtration step in RO based drinking water production systems.
Contested Lands and Incompatible Images: The Political Ecology of Struggles Over Resources in Nicaragua's Indio-Maíz Reserve

This article analyzes the contested struggles over protection and production in the Nicaraguan biological reserve of Indio-Maíz as a local example of broader conflicts over wilderness preservation and local livelihoods in the developing world. The main focus is on conflicting views of different stakeholders concerning the access to and control over natural resources. Special attention is given to the local inhabitants’ struggles for everyday survival and social justice on the fringe of the restricted-use reserve. The study emphasizes that in densely populated rural areas, such as Central America, inclusionary conservation represents the politically most feasible and socially most just form of conservation possible.
Big Data-Driven Market-Oriented Information System for the Internationalisation and Strategic and Sustainable Management of SMEs

There have been many discussions on the globalisation of SMEs, but it is true that there is not enough academic achievement after such the study of Born global (BG) ventures. The internationalisation of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) is not easy because they lack resources or capabilities compared to multinational corporations. This study investigated the role of government in assisting the internationalisation of SMEs. In particular, SMEs lacked the ability to acquire market-oriented information, so we’ve established the scheme of efficient information support system for the internationalisation of SMEs. In other words, we proposed an information analysis system through the establishment of a relational database constructed for market-oriented information support. KISTI (Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information), which is one of the government-funded research institutes in the Republic of Korea, provided information support to the SMEs dealing with hydrazine related products. This study suggests this case for the market-oriented information support of the government in the internationalisation of SMEs. The research on information support of the government is meaningful in that it suggests a way to support SMEs in practical level.
Track Quality Achieved on HSL-South

The Netherlands join the Trans-European high-speed rail Network when the HSL-South line, connecting Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris, opens for service. This double track line is divided by the connection to Rotterdam in a northern and southern section (Fig. 1). A horizontal split in contracts has been applied between the substructure and the superstructure. The substructure which consists of for instance bridges, an aqueduct and various tunnels have been divided into different sections and built by seven mainly Dutch contracting consortia. The superstructure has been built completely by Infraspeed, a consortium consisting of Siemens, Royal BAM Group, Fluor and institutional companies Innesfree and HSBC Infrastructure. The contract has been awarded as a Design, Built, Finance and Maintenance contract (DBFM). The maintenance period is 25 years in which an availability >99% has to be achieved. After this maintenance period, an extra 5 years of normal maintenance has to be assured. This explains the importance to achieve a high initial track quality: a long lifetime of the structure must be guaranteed with a minimum of maintenance. Therefore the Rheda slab-track system of Pfleiderer Track Systems (now Rail.One) has been applied, engineered and built by Rheda 2000 v.o. f. ; a partnership consisting of BAM Civil, BAM Rail and Pfleiderer within the Infraspeed consortium. The short-wave irregularities (length-scale 0-5 m) in the track have a large impact on the required maintenance. They lead to high-frequency interaction between the train and the track, especially on a high-speed line, and generate high wheel-rail contact forces. These can lead to rapid damage or track deterioration. For the HSL-South, the geometry in the short-wave regime is entirely determined by the quality of the geometry of the welds between the straightened long-rails. The longwaves components of track irregularities are mainly responsible for passenger discomfort. This paper discusses the quality of the new HSL-South line in both aspects. The focus will be placed on the quality in the short-wave regime, the effects on the level of dynamic train-track forces and the effects on lifetime and maintenance.
nanomicellar formulation produced increased oral ioavailability and anticancer effects in triple negative breast cancer TNBC )

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), owing to its aggressive behavior and toxicity associated with available chemotherapy; currently no suitable therapy is available. Honokiol (HNK) is a promising anticancer drug but has poor bioavailability. In the current study, we evaluated the anticancer effects of an oral Honokiol nanomicellar (NM) formulation (size range of 20–40 nm) in vitro against various TNBC cells lines. Cytotoxicity, clonogenic and wound healing assays demonstrated the promising anticancer effects. In vitro Caco-2 permeability studies suggested increased absorption of Honokiol. Compared to HNK-FD, nanomicellar formulations resulted in significant increase in the oral bioavailability. Cmax (4.06 and 3.60fold) and AUC (6.26 and 5.83-fold) were significantly increased in comparison to oral 40 and 80 mg/kg free drug respectively. Further, anticancer effects of these formulations were studied in BALB/c nude mice transplanted with orthotopic MDA-MB-231 cell induced xenografts. After 4 weeks of daily adminNBC istration of HNK-NM formulation, significant reduction in the tumor volumes and weights compared to free drug (p < 0.001) treated groups was observed. Surprisingly, in some of the animals (25%), the treatment resulted in complete eradication of tumors. Increased apoptosis and antiangiogenic effect was observed in HNK-NM groups compared to free drug and untreated control animals. This is the first report FD p demonstrating that HNK-
Potential female mate choice in a male dominated system: the female capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

Capybaras, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Rodentia: Caviidae: Hydrochoerinae), show a strict social hierarchy among males, wherein the top-ranking male gains preferential access to females. Despite minimal sexual size dimorphism, males have a prominent scent gland on their snouts that is greatly reduced in the females. Top-ranking males have a larger gland and mark more frequently than subordinate males. This species also shows a moderately complex courtship that seems to be modulated by female behavior. In this study, we evaluated several components of courtship, as well as the females' interactions with males during and outside courtship, in relation to the hierarchy rank of males. We found that subordinate males engaged in longer courtships than top-ranking males. However, there was no difference in the number of mount attempts or the success rate of these mounts as a function of the social status of the male, despite the longer courtship performed by subordinate males in comparison to top-ranking males. Outside courtship, females directed the same number of social interactions to males regardless of status. However, during courtship, females avoided copulation by subordinate males both directly and indirectly by encouraging courtship disruption by higher-ranking males. Females' avoidance of subordinates may force these males to invest a higher amount of effort in courtships, thus engaging in longer courtships, yet achieving similar mount success as top-ranking males. We show that the original assumption of male hierarchy as the main mechanism of reproductive distribution is incomplete, and female mate choice plays an important role in determining which males reproduce.
Visualization for Equity Analysts: Using the DSM in Stock Picking

We use the Design Study Methodology in a short term project to apply visualization to equity analysis with a major supplier of information to the finance industry. Our interactive prototype is positively received and our work suggests that this kind of design and the application of the DSM to short term visualization projects have potential in stock picking and more broadly in financial analysis.