Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The evolution of the advertisement call in glassfrogs (Centrolenidae Taylor, 1951)

Anurans emit advertisement calls with the purpose of attracting mates and repelling conspecific competitors. I investigated the association between body size, calling site and parental care with call variables (call duration, number of notes, peak frequency, frequency bandwidth and call structure) in glassfrogs—a family of leaf-dwelling frogs which inhabit Neotropical forests—while controlling for effects of shared ancestry. I also explored the tempo and mode of evolution of these traits and compared them with those of three morphological traits (snout-vent length, and relative head width and tibia length). I generated and compiled acoustic data for 72 glassfrog species (46 % of described diversity), including representatives of all genera (n = 12), and analyzed the data using phylogenetic comparative methods. I found that almost all acoustic traits evaluated had significant, but generally modest phylogenetic signal. Peak frequency of calls is significantly associated with body-size, while call structure is significantly associated with calling site and with the sex of the caring parent. My results support that, besides phylogenetic constraints, body size is associated with the evolution of advertisement calls in glassfrogs. Diversification of acoustic traits along the phylogeny of glassfrogs is coincident with the radiation of extant taxa at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. The estimated disparity of acoustic traits was larger than that of morphological traits and the peak in disparity of acoustic traits generally occurred later in the evolution of glassfrogs, suggesting a historically recent outset of the pronounced acoustic divergence in this clade.
Quantitative Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction and Charge Density Studies

Very accurate low-order structure factors have been measured in copper, magnesium and strontium titanate using quantitative convergent beam electron diffraction (QCBED). The charge density distribution in these materials has been studied using the measured structure factors. The results have also been compared to ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations.In the case of copper, we combined our low-order structure factors with higher order γ-ray structure factors, in order to obtain a larger experimental data set for maximum entropy and multipole analysis. The results show that bond formation induces a large change in the 3d orbital radial function. As expected for metallic bonding, no asphericity of the orbitals has been observed. These results are in perfect agreement with DFT calculations.For magnesium it was shown that the anisotropic displacement parameters could be determined accurately from the low order QCBED data, if structure factors from DFT calculations were used as a static lattice reference. This data set was combined with X-ray structure factor measurements and used to test some commonly used DFT functionals and self interaction correction (SIC) schemes. It was found that the local density approximation combined with the SIC of Lundin and Eriksson (2001) gave the best agreement with experiments. Using this functional no non-nuclear maximum was found in beryllium, but not in magnesium.
Phytoremeditation: A Potential Tool for Waste Water Recycling

Plants can be used in the cleanup and prevention of environmental pollution. This relatively new and green technology that uses natural processes to break down, stabilize, or accumulate pollutants. Phytoremediation-related processes might amend the situation or chemical makeup of contaminants. Multidisciplinary studies will help to develop a better understanding of the ecological interactions that contribute to phytoremediation, the effects of phytoremediation on ecological relationships, and the movement of pollutants through ecosystems. Phytoremediation, requires careful choice of plant species and management practices are key to promoting ecological restoration and preventing pollutant dispersal. Native/local plant species with effective remediation properties should be used that provide natural hydraulic control and soil stabilization should be selected.
A scoping review of health-based survey instruments validated in Brunei Darussalam

This study sought to map and review validated health-based survey instruments in Brunei Darussalam. A scoping search of relevant articles was carried out. Six health-based survey tools have been psychometrically evaluated in Brunei Darussalam, 4 in Brunei-Malay (SF-36v2, EQ-5D/VAS, CPQπ_14, and m-SEQ-12) and 2 in English (OFER and WPBA) languages. Two studies (m-SEQ-12, CPQ11–14) translated tools in English into Brunei-Malay. Two studies (SF-36v2, EQ-5D) cross-culturally adapted the Malaysian and Singaporean versions of the tools into Brunei-Malay. Four studies were adult- and hospital-based, among healthcare workers (OFER,WPBA) and patients with chronic diseases (SF-36v2, EQ-5D); and 2 studies (m-SEQ-12, CPQ11–14) were non-adult-and secondary school-based. Pretesting was carried out in 4 studies (SF-36v2, EQ-5D, CPQ11–14, and m-SEQ-12) on a sample of 5 to 20 volunteers. The sample size for validation ranged from 40 to 457. Reliability tests, Cronbach’s alpha and intra-class coefficient (n=3), Cohen’s Kappa (n=1), and 5-point scale qualitative assessment (n=1) were measured. Validity tests included face validity (n=2), discriminant validity (n=2), convergent validity (n=2), construct validity (n=2), factorial validity (n=2), and 5-point scale qualitative assessment (n=1). There is a need for more psychometric evaluation of questionnaires in Brunei Darussalam. Importantly, large heterogeneous participants, more languages, and varied psychometric tests should be considered.
The uses of ambiguity by managers in a change context : an ethnographic study

Cette these etudie comment, pour faire face a un changement organisationnel, des managers produisent et gerent differents types d’ambiguites (en reduisant, niant ou augmentant ces ambiguites). Elle montre comment ces managers mobilisent des capabilites complementaires, dites positive et negative, selon leurs preferences, pour faire face aux incertitudes du changement, et deviennent ainsi des dompteurs d’ambiguite. A travers une etude ethnographique de deux ans, et en tant qu’observatrice participante, nous analysons dix-sept managers, leurs subordonnes et leurs directeurs. Nous montrons comment ces managers sont amenes a mobiliser ambiguites et capabilite negative (ou capacite de demeurer dans les « incertitudes et les doutes sans chercher les faits ni la raison », Keats, 1970 ; 43) comme des ressources pour gerer le changement.
Evaluation of the antigen relatedness and efficacy of a single vaccination with different infectious bronchitis virus strains against a challenge with Malaysian variant and QX-like IBV strains

Background The predominant infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strains detected in chickens in Malaysia are the Malaysian variant (MV) and QX-like, which are associated with respiratory distress, nephropathy, and high mortality. On the other hand, the antigenic relatedness and efficacy of IBV vaccines against these 2 field IBV strains are not well characterized. Objectives This study aimed to determine the antigen relatedness and efficacy of different IB vaccine strains against a challenge with MV and QX-like strains. Methods The antigen relatedness and the ability of different IB vaccine strains in conferring protection against MV and QX-like were assessed based on the clinical signs, macroscopic lesions, and ciliary activity. Results The MV strain IBS037A/2014 showed minor antigenic subtype differences with the vaccine virus Mass H120 and 4/91 strains but showed major antigenic subtype differences with the K2 strain. The Malaysian QX-like strain IBS130/2015 showed major antigenic subtype differences with the MV strain IBS037A/2014 and the vaccine strains except for K2. Chickens vaccinated once with Mass (H120) or with non-Mass (4/91 and K2) developed antibody responses with the highest antibody titer detected in the groups vaccinated with H120 and 4/91. The mean ciliary activities of the vaccinated chickens were between 56 to 59% and 48 to 52% in chickens challenged with IBS037A/2014 and IBS130/2015, respectively. The vaccinated and challenged birds showed mild to severe lesions in the lungs and kidneys. Conclusions Despite the minor antigenic subtype differences, a single inoculation with Mass or non-Mass vaccines could not protect against the MV IBS037A/2014 and QX-like IBS130/2015.
De l'artisan traditionnel à la marque artisan : perceptions et réactions cognitives, affectives et comportementales du consommateur à l’égard de l’artisan

Longtemps consideres comme uniquement centres sur leur metier et leur production, les artisans ont aujourd’'hui fait la preuve de leur ouverture sur leur environnement et de leur capacite a developper leur activite et leur marque aux yeux des consommateurs. L'objectif de cette recherche est alors de determiner si le developpement de l’'activite de l’artisan, a travers une demarche de developpement de marque et d’actions marketing, lui fait perdre ce qui fait son essence et ses valeurs aux yeux des consommateurs. Une revue de litterature ainsi qu’'une serie d’'etudes qualitatives (focus group, entretiens semi-directifs, approche ZMET) permettent de mieux cerner ce qu’'est un artisan du point de vue des consommateurs, de mieux comprendre les freins et motivations a son egard et de faire emerger le concept de marque artisan. En complement, une serie d’'experimentations a ete menee pour mesurer l’impact de la personnification et de l’'orientation marketing du nom de la boutique de l’artisan sur les reactions des consommateurs. Les resultats montrent le role mediateur du caractere chaleureux et de la competence percue de l’'artisan, ainsi que de l’'identification du consommateur a la boutique et a l’artisan. Enfin, une derniere experimentation testant differents scenarios de developpement de l’'activite de l’'artisan met en evidence les reactions positives a l’'egard de la creation d’une marque artisan, de son orientation marketing mais une mefiance vis-a-vis de l’'accroissement de la taille de son activite.
REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR HYBRID BEAMFORMING IN MILLIMETER WAVE SYSTEMS

The use of millimeter waves (mmWave) for next-generation cellular systems is promising due to the large bandwidth available in this band. Beamforming will likely be divided into RF and baseband domains, which is called hybrid beamforming. Precoders can be designed by using a predeﬁned codebook or by choosing beamforming vectors arbitrarily in hybrid beamforming. The computational complexity of ﬁnding optimal precoders grows exponentially with the number of RF chains. In this paper, we develop a Q-learning (a form of reinforcement learning) based algo-rithm to ﬁnd the precoders jointly. We analyze the complexity of the algorithm as a function of the number of iterations used in the training phase. We compare the spectral efﬁciency achieved with unconstrained precoding, exhaustive search, and another state-of-art algorithm. Results show that our algorithm provides better spectral efﬁciency than the state-of-art algorithm and has performance close to that of exhaustive search.
Corporate Governance and Liquidity Creation: Evidence from Iranian Banks

This paper examines the impact of internal bank governance on bank liquidity creation in Iran during 2010-2017. We analyze whether banks with larger size and liquidity levels creates higher levels of liquidity. The results using panel GMM method show that corporate governance has a positive effect on liquidity creation; of course, it is not significant. Also, this effect is not affecting by bank size level, but a bank with higher liquidity levels have a higher elasticity to the governance change. Moreover, banks with higher financial stability have higher liquidity creation. Furthermore, the equity ratio index harms liquidity creation, which means “the fragility hypothesis” is confirmed within Iranian banks.
Identificação de espécies de Calonectria e reação de acessos de grão-de-bico a isolados de Calonectria brassicae

v 1. INTRODUÇÃO . 13 2. REVISÃO DE LITERATURA . 15 2.1. O Grão-de-bico . 15 2.2. Problemas relatados na cultura do grão-de-bico . 19 2.3 O gênero Calonectria: taxonomia e aspectos gerais . 21 3. MATERIAL E MÉTODOS . 25 3.1. Obtenção, isolamento e armazenamento dos isolados . 25 3.2. Identificação molecular dos isolados Calonectria spp . 26 3.2.1 Extração de DNA genômico dos isolados . 26 3.2.2 Reação em cadeia da polimerase – PCR . 27 3.2.3 Purificação dos produtos de PCR . 27 3.2. 4 Sequenciamento dos amplicons . 27 3.2. 5 Análise Filogenética . 28 3.3. Identificação morfológica e morfométrica de isolados Calonectria spp . 31 3.4. Preparo das suspensões de inóculo para o teste de patogenicidade com Calonectria spp. 31 3.5. Patogenicidade de Isolados de Calonectria spp. aos acessos de grão-de-bico . 32 3.6. Reação de acessos de grão-de-bico a Calonectria brassicae . 33 3.7. Análise de variância . 34 4. RESULTADOS . 35 4.1. Identificação molecular dos isolados Calonectria spp . 35 4.2. Identificação morfológica e morfométrica dos isolados Calonectria spp . 37 4.3. Patogenicidade e agressividade de Isolados de Calonectria spp. aos acessos de grão-de-bico 39 4.4. Reação de genotipos de grão-de-bico à Calonectria brassicae . 42 5. DISCUSSÃO. 45 6. CONCLUSÕES . 52 7. REFERÊNCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS . 53
Duration of Involvement and Types of Extracurricular Activities and Psychological Well-being of the University Students

The present study was designed to explore the psychological well-being of university students on the basis of their duration of involvement and types of extracurricular activities. To reach at the end of the investigation of the study psychological well-being of 370 participants (students engaged in extracurricular activities=185, general students=185) was measured by administering MUNSH scale. The result of the study indicated that the duration of involvement is the best predictor for psychological well-being. The result also revealed that there is no significant difference in psychological well-being among the students of different extracurricular activities groups.
Modeling the Mole Understanding with Mathematical Reasoning

The amount of substance, expressed in the units of moles is an essential concept in chemistry and physics. Students entering physics courses usually possess a chemistry background. However, this study showed that their understanding of units of matter on the microscopic level is fragile, and needs improvement. Research shows that the complexity of interpretations of quantities expressed as ratios; molar mass or atomic mass makes formulating a dimensional analysis or proportion of these ratios unclear to students. Based on these findings, this study proposes applying equations of fundamental constants and proportional reasoning, instead of ratios, as the main building blocks to formulate conversion algorithms. In the line of that, a deductively designed lecture was delivered to a group (N=25) freshman college physics students. While on the pretest, only (N=4, 16%) correctly converted a mass of a substance expressed in kilograms to a number of moles, on the posttest the percentage of correct answers increased (N=20, 80%) suggesting that proportional reasoning coupled with fundamental constants brings clarity to the process and improves its understanding.
Multi-GNSS Hybridization for precise positioning

GNSS are widely used for precise positioning applications of geosciences and especially space geodesy. So far, mainly the existing GPS was extensively used for scientific applications. With the arrival of the new European Galileo system it became imperative to include the new system in the studies and check the new capabilities that it will bring as a system alone and as combined together with the others in a Multi-GNSS processing. The CNES/CLS analysis center of the IGS is weekly calculating GNSS (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) products that can be taken from any kind of user to perform precise positioning. A way to achieve the best accuracy possible is to resolve the unknown integer ambiguities of the phase measurements. Up until now, the CNES/CLS was performing ambiguity resolution to the GPS system using the zero-difference method. In this way they are able to deliver precise satellite orbits and precise clock products with phase fixed ambiguities. The goal of this work was to implement and validate if the method can be also applied for the Galileo system. The method applied from the CNES/CLS is consisting of two further steps. The first one is the resolution of the Wide-Lane ambiguities. The Galileo Wide-Lane satellite biases have been proven to be stable over long periods of time. In addition, there is homogeneity in the way they are observed from different types of receivers. These findings were used and the Wide-Lane biases were successfully resolved with nearly 100% success rate percentage. The second step of zero-difference method is the Narrow-Lane ambiguity resolution. This step was executed for the Galileo system together with the GPS system in a Multi-GNSS Precise Orbit Determination processing. Galileo ambiguity fixing success percentage is around 93%, nearly similar to the one of the GPS system. The integer property of the Galileo phase clocks is demonstrated. Both orbit overlaps and orbit validation using SLR validation methods showed that ambiguity resolution improves mainly in the normal and the along track direction. Galileo orbit overlaps in 3D RMS showed an improvement of around 50%, from around 7 cm to 3.5 cm. The results of this work were used by the CNES/CLS IGS AC that has announced the delivery of weekly Galileo precise orbits, clocks and Wide-Lane satellite biases. A new method is also introduced on how to compare ambiguity resolution results for a common overlapping period. This method is also used to speculate the agreement and the disagreement between two different daily solutions. [. ]
Molecular and Genetic Bases of Fruit Firmness Variation in Blueberry—A Review

Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) has been recognized worldwide as a valuable source of health-promoting compounds, becoming a crop with some of the fastest rising consumer demand trends. Fruit firmness is a key target for blueberry breeding as it directly affects fruit quality, consumer preference, transportability, shelf life, and the ability of cultivars to be machine harvested. Fruit softening naturally occurs during berry development, maturation, and postharvest ripening. However, some genotypes are better at retaining firmness than others, and some are crispy, which is a putatively extra-firmness phenotype that provides a distinct eating experience. In this review, we summarized important studies addressing the firmness trait in blueberry, focusing on physiological and molecular changes affecting this trait at the onset of ripening and also the genetic basis of firmness variation across individuals. New insights into these topics were also achieved by using previously available data and historical records from the blueberry breeding program at the University of Florida. The complex quantitative nature of firmness in an autopolyploid species such as blueberry imposes additional challenges for the implementation of molecular techniques in breeding. However, we highlighted some recent genomics-based studies and the potential of a QTL (Quantitative Trait Locus) mapping analysis and genome editing protocols such as CRISPR/Cas9 to further assist and accelerate the breeding process for this important trait.
Ecological Networks between Tent-Roosting Bats (Phyllostomidae: Stenodermatinae) and the Plants Used in a Neotropical Rainforest

Roost ecology in bats is a complex interaction of behavioral, morphological and physiological adaptations, thus, there are many factors involved in roost selection by bat species. Approximately 22 species of bats are able to modify leaves to establish their roost, 17 of which are in the Neotropics. Although there are many studies of tent-roosting bats, this is the first describing the structure of the interaction between bats and the plants they are using as roosts. We describe a potential antagonistic network between these bats and the plants used for tent construction in La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. We calculated descriptors of the network such as the number of bats and plants interacting, as well as the number of pairwise interactions based on published records or direct observations. We also tested for connectance and nestedness in the network structure. We propose a name for this non-trophic antagonistic interaction, which is a structural antagonism, where bats damage the leaves, reducing their lifespan and the plant fitness. In La Selva the network is composed of eight bats and 45 plant species reported by 60 pairwise interactions. Only 2.16% of vascular plant species in La Selva are being modified as tents. The network had low connectance (0.167) and no significant nestedness or modularity. Considering the species richness of plants in La Selva, there are few links between tent-roosting bats and plants species, which shows the specialization of these interactions and the high dependence of most of these bats on a few plant species, even if they are very specific and temporary resources.
Basics of pump-and-treat ground-water remediation technology. Special report

The pump-and-treat process, whereby contaminated ground water is pumped to the surface for treatment, is one of the most common ground-water remediation technologies used at hazardous waste sites. However, recent research has identified complex chemical and physical interactions between contaminants and the subsurface media which may impose limitations on the extraction part of the process. The report was developed to summarize the basic considerations necessary to determine when, where, and how pump-and-treat technology can be used effectively to remediate ground-water contamination.
Isolation and characterization of α‐(1→3)‐glucan‐degrading bacteria from the gut of Diaperis boleti feeding on Laetiporus sulphureus

Bacteria degrading α‐(1→3)‐glucan were sought in the gut of fungivorous insects feeding on fruiting bodies of a polypore fungus Laetiporus sulphureus, which are rich in this polymer. One isolate, from Diaperis boleti, was selected in an enrichment culture in the glucan‐containing medium. The bacterium was identified as Paenibacillus sp. based on the results of the ribosomal DNA analysis. The Paenibacillus showed enzyme activity of 4.97 mU/cm3 and effectively degraded fungal α‐(1→3)‐glucan, releasing nigerooligosaccharides and a trace amount of glucose. This strain is the first reported α‐(1→3)‐glucan‐degrading microorganism in the gut microbiome of insects inhabiting fruiting bodies of polypore fungi.
Impact of R&D Activities on Pricing Behaviors with Product Turnover

This study empirically investigates the impact of research and development (R&D) activity on product turnover from Point-of-Sales (POS) data. When measuring the inflation rate in an economy, the effects of quantitative changes, volume changes, and quality changes from nominal sales changes must be removed. In order to examine the effect of R&D activities on price changes from sales data, we implement an empirical combining three datasets: weekly POS data, patent database (IIP Patent DB) data, and Survey of Research and Development data. We use regression analysis with pooling and panel regression. We observe that while the effect of price increases due to the new product introduction can be related to R&D behavior a negative effect on the price of the incumbent product is also observed. In addition, the relative prices of new and incumbent products tended to be higher for companies with active R&D expenditures. We suggest that continuous R&D is necessary to keep introducing high value products while prices are under pressure.