Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new genus of pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Lower Jurassic of Holzmaden, Germany

Abstract: The exquisitely preserved holotype of the pliosaur ‘Rhomaleosaurus’victor (SMNS 12478) is described from the Toarcian Posidonien‐Schiefer (Upper Lias, Lower Jurassic) of Holzmaden (Baden‐Württemberg), Germany. The specimen presents a novel combination of synapomorphies and unique morphometric proportions separating it from Rhomaleosaurus sensu stricto and warranting the erection of a new genus, Meyerasaurus gen. nov. Historically, the name ‘Thaumatosaurus’ has been interchangeable with Rhomaleosaurus and is frequently associated with SMNS 12478 in the literature. However, this is an invalid taxon and cannot be reinstated. The anatomy of Meyerasaurus victor is compared in detail with other pliosaurs, and its taxonomic affinity is reviewed. M. victor belongs to the family Rhomaleosauridae and shares several anatomical characters with Rhomaleosaurus including a short and robust premaxillary rostrum (length‐to‐width ratio c. 1.0), parallel premaxilla–maxilla sutures anterior to the nares, vomers contacting the maxillae posterior to the internal nares, and c. 28 cervical vertebrae minus the atlas–axis. The known geographical distribution of Rhomaleosaurus, which previously extended across the German and English palaeobiogeographical zones, is reduced to the English zone as a consequence of the referral of SMNS 12478 to a new genus. This is significant because it contributes to an ongoing trend of increasing generic separation between the German and English zones, while increasing the generic diversity within the German zone itself.
Stability and load carrying capacity of multi-cell thin-walled columns of rectangular cross-sections

The paper concerns theoretical, numerical and experimental analysis of the stability and ultimate load of multi-cell thin-walled columns of rectangular and square cross-sections subjected to axial compression (uniform shortening of the column). The theoretical analysis deals with the local and global stability of multi-cell orthotropic columns of a rectangular profile with rectangular cells. It has been shown that for a multi-cell column made of the same material and having the same cross-section area, the value of local buckling stress of the column walls grows rapidly with an increase of the cell number. The experiment conducted for isotropic columns has also proved a significant growth of the ultimate load with the increase of the cell number. The paper gives some conclusions which can be useful in design of thin-walled box columns.
ZnO Nanowire Heterostructures: Intriguing Photophysics and Emerging Applications

Over the last decades, semiconductor nanowires have been extensively studied for their applications in several disciplines. Many of these applications require heterostructures, which can be defined as the combination of two or more materials within the same nanowire structure. Recent research on the ZnO nanowires (NWs) heterostructures shows the possibility to overcome the existing limitation of the bare ZnO NWs based optoelectronic devices. Prospects for the commercialization of ZnO NWs based devices using the heterostructure approach are intensively pursued at present. This review article summarizes the current status of research worldwide and the findings from our group on various aspects of the ZnO NW heterostructures: fabrication methodologies, structural characterization, photophysical properties and related emerging applications. The fascinating properties of the ZnO NW heterostructures and its applications in different devices, mainly UV photodetectors, light-emitting-diodes, dye sensitized or quantum dots sensitized solar cells and photoelectrochemical cells are discussed. Focus of the article is on the impact of heterostructure approach on the selective properties and performance of the ZnO NWs based devices. The improvements in the key parameters of these devices are also discussed to highlight the effectiveness of the heterostructure approach and a future outlook of the field is presented at the end.
Sediment transport capacity and its response to hydraulic parameters in experimental rill flow on steep slope

Sediment transport capacity must be considered when developing physical models of soil erosion. The effects of related hydraulic parameters (e.g., flow discharge, slope gradient, and flow velocity), and of force predictors (e.g., shear stress, stream power, and unit stream power) on sediment transport capacity in rill erosion are still poorly known on the farmland of the Loess Plateau in China where rill erosion is common. We conducted a series of experiments to simulate and evaluate the sediment transport capacity of rill flow in a nonerodible rill flume. The test sediment was the loessial soil of the farmland of the Loess Plateau. Five flow discharges ranging from 0.22 to 0.67 × 10−3 m2 s−1 (0.00237 to 0.00721 ft2 sec−1) and five slope gradients ranging from 15.8% to 38.4% were tested. Sediment transport capacity increased with both flow discharge and slope gradient, as expected, but was more sensitive to flow discharge than to slope gradient, unlike other similar studies. Mean flow velocity, related to the flow discharge, was strongly correlated with sediment transport capacity (r2 = 0.93). Stream power was the best predictor of sediment transport capacity; shear stress and unit stream power, with critical values of 0.55 W m−2 and 0.02 m s−1 (0.04 mi hr−1) respectively, were poor predictors. An empirical equation of sediment transport capacity of the loessial soil for rill flow was developed. Our results present a different view, compared to previous studies, of the relationship of sediment transport capacity with discharge and slopes, especially with lower discharges, steep slopes, and loessial soil. Further study should be conducted to evaluate the performance of farmland soil at various slopes and discharges.
ANALYZING THE BURNOUT LEVELS OF PRODUCTION MANAGERS IN TEXTILE AND CLOTHING SECTOR: TURKISH CASE

Turkiye ekonomisinde onemli bir yere sahip olan tekstil ve haz i r giyim sektoru rekabetin yo g un olarak hissedildi g i de g i s ken ve dinamik bir sektordur. Bu dinamik yap i icerisinde cal i s an yoneticiler cal i s ma hayatlar i nda s i kl i kla kaosla ve cozulmesi gereken cok say i da problemle kar s i la s maktad i rlar. Bu de g i s ken ortamda yo g un bir tempoyla cal i s an yoneticilerin stres ve b i kk i nl i k duzeyleri yukselmektedir. Bu durum ise bir yandan cal i s anlar i n i s e ve i s letmeye kar s i tutumlar i n i olumsuz etkilemekte di g er yandan ise i s letmenin performans i n i olumsuz etkilemektedir. Bu cal i s ma tekstil ve haz i r giyim sektorunde cal i s an uretim yoneticilerinin tukenmi s lik duzeylerini analiz etmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bu amacla, I zmir, Bursa, I stanbul, Gaziantep, Kayseri ve Kahramanmara s illerindeki tekstil ve haz i r giyim fabrikalar i nda cal i s an uretim yoneticilerini kapsayan bir anket cal i s mas i gercekle s tirilmi s tir. Elde edilen ara s t i rma sonuclar i analiz edilerek onerilerde bulunulmu s tur.
Accelerating Content-Based Image Retrieval via GPU-Adaptive Index Structure

A tremendous amount of work has been conducted in content-based image retrieval (CBIR) on designing effective index structure to accelerate the retrieval process. Most of them improve the retrieval efficiency via complex index structures, and few take into account the parallel implementation of them on underlying hardware, making the existing index structures suffer from low-degree of parallelism. In this paper, a novel graphics processing unit (GPU) adaptive index structure, termed as plane semantic ball (PSB), is proposed to simultaneously reduce the work of retrieval process and exploit the parallel acceleration of underlying hardware. In PSB, semantics are embedded into the generation of representative pivots and multiple balls are selected to cover more informative reference features.With PSB, the online retrieval of CBIR is factorized into independent components that are implemented onGPU efficiently. Comparative experiments with GPU-based brute force approach demonstrate that the proposed approach can achieve high speedup with little information loss. Furthermore, PSB is compared with the state-of-the-art approach, random ball cover (RBC), on two standard image datasets, Corel 10 K and GIST 1M. Experimental results show that our approach achieves higher speedup than RBC on the same accuracy level.
Multiple Emission States in Active Galactic Nuclei

We present a test of the emission statistics of active galactic nuclei (AGN), probing the connection between the red-noise temporal power spectra and multi-modal flux distributions known from observations. We simulate AGN lightcurves under the assumption of uniform stochastic emission processes for different power-law indices of their respective power spectra. For sufficiently shallow slopes (power-law indices β ? 1), the flux distributions (histograms) of the resulting lightcurves are approximately Gaussian. For indices corresponding to steeper slopes (β ? 1), the flux distributions become multi-modal. This finding disagrees systematically with results of recent mm/radio observations. Accordingly, we conclude that the emission from AGN does not necessarily originate from uniform stochastic processes even if their power spectra suggest otherwise. Possible mechanisms include transitions between different activity states and/or the presence of multiple, spatially disconnected, emission regions.
Distribución vertical de epífitas y su filogenia en un bosque mesófilo de montaña de Tamaulipas

El bosque mesófilo de montaña en la Reserva de la Biósfera El Cielo se localiza cerca de su límite de distribución boreal. Las plantas epífitas son un componente importante de la biodiversidad de estos bosques, aunque son poco estudiados. En este trabajo se estudiaron las epífitas vasculares en un gradiente altitudinal, y se determinó su preferencia por un hospedero; también se observó que existen diferencias en su distribución sobre los forofitos, así como su distribución vertical sobre su hospedero. Se registró un total de 33 especies epífitas, de las cuales 29 se asociaron, mínimo con un taxón de hospedero. Los taxa arbóreos fueron 24; en 16 de ellas se observó la presencia de al menos una epífita. El número de especies epífitas fue mayor en altitudes menores. De acuerdo con la cantidad de individuos en cada una de las secciones del forofito, se registró una preferencia hacia las zonas III y IV, correspondientes a las partes basal y media de las ramas. La filogenia no estuvo relacionada con la distribución de los taxones en las zonas de los hospederos ni con las altitudes estudiadas. El total de taxa es pequeño, en relación a estudios similares llevados a cabo en latitudes más sureñas, quizá como resultado de un decremento general en la riqueza de especies, asociado con la distancia respecto al Ecuador.
The relations between personality traits and psychopathy as measured by ratings and self-report

The objective of this study was to examine the relations between psychopathy - as assessed by ratings (PCL-R) and by self-report (SRP3) - on one side, and The Five-Factor personality Model - expanded to include the traits Amorality and Disintegration - on the other. Both methods examined four traits of psychopathy: interpersonal, affective, lifestyle and antisocial characteristics. Data were collected on a sample of 112 male convicts. The results show the absence of congruence between the two methods - self-report and rating - in case of interpersonal and affective psychopathic dispositions. This incongruence is also reflected in their relations with personality traits. The self-report measures and the ratings of Lifestyle and Antisocial tendencies are related to amorality, aggressiveness, schizotypy, Neuroticism and impulsivity. However, the ratings of affective and interpersonal style are related to the integrated, organized, and emotionally stable aspects of personality. The results are interpreted in the light of differences between the methods of assessment and in the light of the essential characteristics of the psychopathic phenomena.
Acute effect of resistance exercise performed at different intensities on the hemodynamics of normotensive men

The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effect of resistance exercise performed at different intensities on the hemodynamics of normotensive men. The study included 10 normotensive and recreationally-trained men (25.40 ± 6.90 years) performed the following three experimental protocols in a randomized order: a) 60% of 8RM; b) 80% of 8RM; c) 100% of 8RM. All protocols performed six exercises (Leg Press, Vertical Bench Press, Leg Flexion, Close-Grip Seated Row, Leg Extension and Shoulder Press) with three sets of eight repetitions for each exercise. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR) and double product (DP) were measured at rest, at the end of exercise and during the 60-minute post-exercise. The findings showed that there was a significant reduction in the faster SBP with a longer duration ( p 0.05). There were significantly higher elevations in HR and DP for 100% of 8RM at all times ( p <0.0001). We conclude that high intensities (100% of 8RM) promote post-exercise hypotension with faster responses and greater duration and increase HR and DP in normotensive men.
An Analysis of the Characteristics and Practices of Selected Alabama Small Livestock Producers: A Focus on Economics and Marketing

The study examined the characteristics and practices of small livestock producers, focusing on economics and marketing. Data were obtained from a convenience sample of 121 small producers from several South Central Alabama counties, and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including chi-square tests. The socioeconomic characteristics reflected a higher proportion of part-time farmers; a higher proportion with at most a two-year/technical degree or some college education; and a higher proportion with $40,000 or less annual household income. A majority had been farming more than thirty years, and most had small herds. Also, very few made profits; many sold animals live on-farm or at auction/stockyard, and kept records. The chisquare tests showed that farming status, gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, and household income had statistically significant relationships with selected farm, economic, and marketing characteristics. Educational programs should be implemented in the study area emphasizing economics and marketing, and taking into consideration socioeconomic factors.
The Relationship Between Oil Price Shocks and Macroeconomic Aggregates

In 1973 and 1979, two oil crises occurred in the international market for crude oil. These oil crises had significant effects on oil-importing countries. Oil is the most important natural energy resource. It is not only a necessary factor in economic development, but is also a strategic material for the safety of a country. Thus, studying the relationship between oil price shocks and economic activity is an important subject in empirical literature. In general, two themes are explored with regard to this subject, namely, the effects of oil price shocks on real economic activity and the factors contributing to oil price changes. Oil price shocks almost always impose negative effects on real economic activity. These negative effects include inflation, recession, and high unemployment. A recent finding showed that these effects are significantly weaker after 2000 than in the 1970s and 1980s. Thus, economists attempt to clarify the transmission mechanisms of oil price shocks in the economic system and to recommend appropriate monetary policies to reduce such effects. In Chapters 2 and 3, a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model and a structural Vector Autoregression model are respectively constructed to confirm the effects of oil price shocks on the Japanese economy. Chapter 2 discusses an economic system where there are two types of firms in the economy: one type produces intermediate goods and the other produces unique final good. Each intermediate good is produced with capital, labour, and crude oil. The unique final good is produced only by intermediate goods. The primary findings of this chapter are the substitution effects between capital, labour, and oil. We also determine two important changes that have emerged in the last two oil price shocks after the 1980s, that is, the quantity and volatility of oil price shocks have changed across periods. In Chapter 3, according to the variables in the Vector Autoregression model, the effects of oil price shocks on the Japanese economy are analysed using four steps. Step 1 merely
Anticancer and Antimutagenic Activities after Simulated Digestion of Ethanol Extracts from White, Red and Yellow Onions

The beneficial effects of digested onion extracts have been assessed by antimutagenic and anticancer activities by Ames test and SRB test. The total phenolic acids and flavonoids in onion extracts were determined. Red and yellow onions contain more phenolic acids and flavonoids than those in the white onion. Digested, extracts showed antimutagenic activity and anticancer activity, and it appears that the antimutagenic activity of digested extracts of onion against mutagens and anticancer activities were related to their phenols and flavonoids contents. Moreover, the extracts inhibited the proliferation of four human tumorigenic cell lines such as HT-29 (colon), MCF-7 (breast), DU-145 (prostate) and HepG2 (liver), in a dose-dependent manner. Phenolic acids and flavonoids caused oxidative damage to the cancer cell lines and induced apoptosis. Generally, red onion extracts showed effective antimutagenic and anticancer activity, and the digested red onion extracts elicited stronger antimutagenic activity than those of the onion extracts without digestion.
Toward a joint catalogue of recent seismicity in western Greece: preliminary results

Routine catalogue phase data of three Greek permanent seismic networks are merged and jointly used to relocate earthquakes in western Greece. Processed data refer to the time period from 2000 to 2005 and to the geographical area between 35- 42°N and 19-22Έ. After the merging procedure, the number of events in the joint catalogue is increased by more than 3000 compared to the individual pre-existing catalogues. Earthquakes are relocated using the Hypoinverse algorithm and several different combinations of ID velocity models and phase weighting schemes. Among these two tested factors, S-phase weights are found to affect the relocation results more drastically. In fact, minimum mean rms, erh and erz values (0.28 sees, 3.6 km and 5.8 km, respectively) are found when S-phases are neglected. Relocated epicenters appear more clustered and illuminate well-known, as well as obscure, seismotectonic structures of the area
Land cover classification of Lago Grande de Curuai floodplain (Amazon, Brazil) using multi-sensor and image fusion techniques

Given the limitations of different types of remote sensing images, automated land-cover classifications of the Amazon varzea may yield poor accuracy indexes. One way to improve accuracy is through the combination of images from different sensors, by either image fusion or multi-sensor classifications. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine which classification method is more efficient in improving land cover classification accuracies for the Amazon varzea and similar wetland environments - (a) synthetically fused optical and SAR images or (b) multi-sensor classification of paired SAR and optical images. Land cover classifications based on images from a single sensor (Landsat TM or Radarsat-2) are compared with multi-sensor and image fusion classifications. Object-based image analyses (OBIA) and the J.48 data-mining algorithm were used for automated classification, and classification accuracies were assessed using the kappa index of agreement and the recently proposed allocation and quantity disagreement measures. Overall, optical-based classifications had better accuracy than SAR-based classifications. Once both datasets were combined using the multi-sensor approach, there was a 2% decrease in allocation disagreement, as the method was able to overcome part of the limitations present in both images. Accuracy decreased when image fusion methods were used, however. We therefore concluded that the multi-sensor classification method is more appropriate for classifying land cover in the Amazon varzea.
Low Paid Jobs and Unemployment: Churning in the Australian Labour Market, 2001 to 2006

This article explores the links between low pay, unemployment and labour market churning over the period 2001 to 2006. The issue of churning is explored through analysis of the HILDA calendar data, in which job starts and job terminations are modelled using multinomial logit regressions. The results are further explored using multilevel binomial logit models. Predicted probabilities of moving from job to job, from unemployment into jobs, and from jobs into unemployment, are calculated and these show that low paid, low skilled workers are highly vulnerable to labour market churning. Certain demographic groups, particularly migrants from particular regions, are also shown to be vulnerable. The results reinforce the importance of labour market policies which prioritise job continuity, skills development and earnings improvement rather than simply focusing on job attainment.
A Review to an Invincible Cryptographic Approach: DNA Cryptography

1,2 Abstract: Cryptography is the oldest and effective way to provide security to computer networks and data. The very first cryptographic techniques were developed over 200 years ago. As technology grows there is an evolution in cryptographic techniques. A thorough understanding of cryptography and encryption will help people develop better ways to protect valuable information. In present scenario modern cryptographic techniques provides a better way of encryption. Algorithms like Symmetric and Asymmetric key, ECC cryptography techniques had tremendous advantages over classic techniques (1) but they are also having some drawbacks like security issues, hence did not provide full security to the network. The recent technique Quantum Cryptography is a solution to above problem but there are some issues regarding practical implantation of this approach. Bimolecular Computation has led to remarkable new dimension in secret communication i.e. DNA cryptography(2). It is a novel field technology that brings forward a new hope for unbreakable algorithms. DNA cryptography has much more storage and computing capabilities than the traditional cryptographic algorithms. This paper will build a comparison between old cryptographic algorithms and their issues and it also provides an overview of different approaches used in DNA Cryptography.
Implementation of the Array-based Approach for the Evaluation of Randomness of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

Implementation of the Array-based Approach for the Evaluation of Randomness of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) by Hanadi Yahia Alomari Randomness is critical when it comes to cryptography. When a cryptographic system has randomness in it, it is impossible to decrypt the codes and break the system. To evaluate a cryptographic function’s randomness, many statistical tests were developed such as: Diehard and ENT, but these tests are not well suited for block ciphers. CryptoStat is the best statistical test suite to test the randomness of the Advanced Encryption Standard or AES, which is a block cipher established by NIST, the National Institute of Standard and Technology. An array based approach is also used to apply the CryptoStat test suite on AES.