Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-decorative Floral Organs Largely Contribute to Transpiration and Vase Life of Cut Hydrangea Flowers with Lacecap Inflorescence

We compared transpirations and vase lives of cut hydrangea (Hydrangea spp.) flowers using two cultivars with lacecap inflorescence (‘Blue sky’ and ‘S-1’) and their mutants with hortensia inflorescence (‘BM-1’ and ‘SM-1’). There was no significant difference in the transpirations from cut flowers with the lacecap and hortensia inflorescences in the two cultivars. However, transpiration from ‘S-1’ cut flowers tended to exhibit higher transpiration than ‘SM-1’. There was also no significant difference in the vase lives of ‘Blue sky’ and ‘BM-1’. However, ‘S-1’ had a significantly shorter vase life (3 days) than its mutant ‘SM-1’. This was due to the greater number of total florets in ‘S-1’ cut flowers than ‘SM-1’. The non-decorative floret clusters and clusters of petals, stamens, and pistil of decorative florets exhibited lower temperatures than decorative sepals in both ‘Blue sky’ and ‘BM-1’ on thermal images. Therefore, we estimated the transpiration from the nondecorative florets and studied the effect of removal of non-decorative florets on the vase life of cut flowers using two lacecap cultivars, ‘Blue sky’ and ‘Fairy eye’. Estimated transpirations from the non-decorative florets of ‘Blue sky’ and ‘Fairy eye’ accounted for approximately 61.8% and 39.7%, respectively, of total transpirations per cut flower, and the removal of non-decorative florets significantly extended the vase lives of cut flowers (18 and 22 days, respectively). The difference in the contribution of the non-decorative florets to the transpiration between the cultivars is due to the difference in the number of non-decorative florets in the inflorescences. We conclude that the use of cut flowers that do not bear too many non-decorative florets and/or treatments that suppress the transpiration from non-decorative florets would be effective in extending the vase life of cut hydrangea flowers with lacecap inflorescence.
A Multivariate Analysis Approach to Forecasts Combination. Application to Foreign Exchange (FX) Markets

Forecasting is characterized by the availability of a lot of methods and the fact that technological and economic forecast horizons are increasingly more different from each other. Combining forecasts is an adequate methodology for handling the above scenario, which is conceptually suitable for the application of several methods of multivariate analysis. This paper reviews some main problems in combining forecasts efficiently from the multivariate analysis view. In particular, a methodology to produce combined forecasts with a large number of forecasts is proposed. The usefulness of such a methodology is assessed in exchange rates forecasting. Further research is suggested for finance as well as for other practical contexts such as energy markets.
Disadvantage among Australian Young Mothers

Young mothers are one of the most disadvantaged groups in Australian society. This paper documents this disadvantage and shows how the relative disadvantage of young mothers has increased over time. Almost all teenage mothers and most mothers in their early 20s are reliant upon income support payments and both groups have low levels of education. By the time they are in their early 30s, women who were young mothers are less likely to be partnered, if partnered are more likely to have a low-income partner, and are less likely to be purchasing their own home. This concentration of disadvantage has increased over the last 20 years. The main reasons for this disadvantage lie in the factors that determine fertility at young ages rather than via the effect of young motherhood per se. Nonetheless, young motherhood is a strong signal of disadvantage, which should be used in the targeting of services to disadvantaged mothers and their children.
Fast Stochastic Block Partition for Streaming Graphs

The graph partition problem continues to be challenging, particularly for streaming graph data. Although optimal graph partitioning is NP-hard, stochastic methods can provide approximate solutions in reasonable time. However, such methods are optimized for static, not dynamic graph data. In this paper, we describe a new efficient algorithm we have developed for stochastic block partitioning on time-varying, streaming graph data. Our algorithm is a refinement of the baseline algorithm of the IEEE HPEC Graph Challenge [1]. Our incremental algorithm efficiently updates its previous internal state as new pieces are streamed in, and generates a complete partition at every time step. Compared to the naive baseline which performs a complete partitioning from scratch at every time step, our algorithm offers speedups between 1.96x for $\mathbf{N}=500$ and 3.56x for $\mathbf{N}=20\mathbf{k}$ overall, for a graph streamed over 10 parts, with similar accuracy. At the margin, the speedup in processing time for additional streaming pieces over the baseline is between 7.1x for $\mathbf{N}=500$ to 25.1x for $\mathbf{N}=20\mathbf{k}$.
Collection for Interactive Learning through the Dialog

This paper presents a dataset collected from natural dialogs which enables to test the ability of dialog systems to learn new facts from user utterances throughout the dialog. This interactive learning will help with one of the most prevailing problems of open domain dialog system, which is the sparsity of facts a dialog system can reason about. The proposed dataset, consisting of 1900 collected dialogs, allows simulation of an interactive gaining of denotations and questions explanations from users which can be used for the interactive learning.
Exhibitor Perspective on the Relationship Quality in Trade Fairs in China

China’s trade fair industry has enjoyed fast growth in the past two decades and is facing consolidation. Competition among trade fairs for quality participants is increasingly intensive. If and how organizers can build up B2B customer loyalty becomes a key issue for competitive advantages of trade fairs. This paper aims to use relationship marketing theory to examine the adaption of the relationship quality concept in the trade fair sector in China. Altogether 33 semi-structured interviews were conducted in four major international trade fairs staged in Guangzhou and Beijing. Results indicate the perceptions of exhibitors regarding relationship orientation, organizer reliability and service quality, and how communication, service quality, trust and commitment contribute to trade fair relationship quality. By taking a qualitative approach to probe the perceptions of exhibitors, this paper is able to identify in-depth issues and problems. Findings may also have implications to trade fair industries in other countries and regions.
INFORMATION CONTENT OF ASSOCIATION RULES

Database records can be often interpreted as state descriptions of some world, system or generic object, states of which occur independently and are de- scribed by binary properties. If records do not contain missing values, then there exists close relationship between association rules and propositions about state properties. In data mining we usually get a lot of association rules with large con- fidence and large support. Since their interpretation is often cumbersome, some quantitative measure of their "informativeness" would be very helpful. The main aim of the paper is to define a measure of the amount of infor- mation contained in an association rule. For this purpose we make use of the tight correspondence between association rules and logical implications. At first a quantitative measure of information content of logical formulas is introduced and studied. Information content of an association rule is then defined as information content of the corresponding logical implication in the situation when no knowl- edge about dependence among properties of world states is at our disposal. The intuitive meaning of the defined measure is that the association rule that allows more appropriate correction of the distribution of world states, acquired under un- fair assumption of independence of state properties, contains also larger amount of information. The more appropriate correction here means a correction of the current probability distribution of states that leads to the distribution that is closer to the true distribution in the sense of Kullback-Leibler divergence measure.
An Empirical Approach for Estimating the Causal Effect of Soft Budget Constraints on Economic Outcomes

In this paper, we develop an empirical framework for estimating the causal effect of soft budget constraints on economic outcomes. The point of departure is that the problem of the soft budget constraint is a problem of credibility, that is, inabili ty of a supporting organization to commit itself not to extend more resources (i.e., bailouts) ex post to a budget-constrained organization than it was prepared to provide ex ante . This means that current economic behavior of a budget-constrained organization will depend upon its expectations of being bailed out in the future. Thus, to estimate the causal effect of s oft budget constraints (i.e., bailout expectations) on economic outcomes one has to measure these expe ctations and link those to the current behavior of the budget-constrained organization. We a rgue that one can use information about realized bailouts to construct credible measures of bailout expectations and use an instrumental variable strategy to solve problems of mea surement error and endogeneity associated with the proxy variable for bailout expectat ions. The empirical framework is applied to Swedish local governments, who provide an attra ctive testing ground of the soft budget constraint since the central government has extende d a total of 1,697 bailouts over the period 1974 to 1992. We find strong evidence that bailout expec tations have a causal effect on economic behavior. The estimated effect is a lso quite sizeable: on average, a local government increases its debt with 30 percent if it is certain of being bailed out as compared to when it is certain of not being bailed out.
Optimisation of arbitrary light beam generation with spatial light modulators

Phase only spatial light modulators (SLMs) have become the tool of choice for shaped light generation, allowing the creation of arbitrary amplitude and phase patterns. These patterns are generated using digital holograms and are useful for a wide range of applications as well as for fundamental research. There have been many proposed methods for optimal generation of the digital holograms, all of which perform well under ideal conditions. Here we test a range of these methods under specific experimental constraints, by varying grating period, filter size, hologram resolution, number of phase levels, phase throw and phase nonlinearity. We model beam generation accuracy and efficiency and show that our results are not limited to the specific beam shapes, but should hold for general beam shaping. Our aim is to demonstrate how to optimise and improve the performance of phase-only SLMs for experimentally relevant implementations.
Effect of nitrogen and iron fertilizers on seed yield and yield components of safflower genotypes

Nitrogen and Iron fertilizers are considered as important elements in plant nutrition. This experiment was carried out via factorial split plot design based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Nitrogen rates were arranged as the main factor with three levels (0, 75 and 150 kg/ha) and iron spraying (sulphate of iron) with two levels (1/1000 and 2/1000) (kg/1000 L H2O) along with 10 safflower genotypes including four lines (22-191, V-138, Isfahan14, Isfahan 28) and six landraces (Golsefid, Goldasht, Arak, Isfahan, Shiraz and kashan) as subfactor. Analysis of variance showed that the highest content of seed yield and its components (head number/plant, seed number/head, 1000 – seed weight) and harvest index were obtained from application of 100 kg/ha nitrogen treatment and sulphate of iron that was sprayed with 2/1000 dose (kg/1000 L H2O) in Shiraz landrace. Based on correlation coefficients analysis, seed yield showed positive and significant correlation with seed number/head, biological yield and harvest index. According to regression analysis, seed number/head was considered as the main trait that explained nearby 49% of total variation in seed yield.
Clasp Together: Composing for Mind and Machine

This paper will explore questions of agency, control and interaction and the embodied nature of musical performance in relation to the use of human-computer interaction (HCI), through the experimental work Clasp Together (beta) 2 for small ensemble and live electronics by J. Harry Whalley. This practice-led research is situated at the intersection of music neurotechnology for sound synthesis and brain-computer interfaces (BCI), and explores the use of neural patterns from Electroencephalography (EEG) as a control instrument. The composition departed from the traditional composer/performer paradigm by including both non-instrumental physical gestures and cognitive or emotive instructions integrated into the score.
Fresh Properties of Self-consolidating Concrete Incorporating Palm Oil Fuel Ash as a Supplementary Cementing Material

This paper reports the key fresh properties of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) incorporating palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as a supplementary cementing material. Various SCC mixtures were produced based on the water/binder ratio of 0.50 and 0.60. POFA was incorporated in concretes substituting 0, 5, 10, and 15 of cement by weight. The fresh concretes were tested for the key workability properties of SCC such as filling ability, passing ability, and segregation resistance. The filling ability was determined with respect to slump flow, T 50cm spread time, and V-funnel flow time. The passing ability was measured with regard to J-ring flow. The segregation resistance was qualitatively assessed in respect of visual stability index. The segregation resistance was also quantified by sieve and column tests. Test results showed that the slump flow and J-ring flow decreased whereas the T 50cm spread time and V-funnel flow time increased with higher POFA content. The presence of POFA improved the stability of concrete mixture and provided a lower visual stability index. In addition, the segregation index and segregation factor obtained from sieve and column tests, respectively, decreased with greater POFA content. The overall findings suggest that the filling ability and passing ability of SCC decreased whereas its segregation resistance increased with higher POFA content.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) How large is average economic growth ? : evidence from a robust method

This paper puts forward a method to estimate average economic growth, and its associated confidence bounds, which does not require a formal decision on potential unit root properties. The method is based on the analysis of either difference-stationary or trend-stationary time series models, implementing the robust bootstrapping procedure advocated in Romano and Wolf (2001). Simulation evidence indicates the practical relevance of the method. It is illustrated on quarterly post-war US industrial production.
Effect of different irrigation regimes on the quality attributes of monovarietal virgin olive oil from cv. “Cobrançosa”

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of different irrigation strategies in virgin olive oil (VOO) composition and quality of cv. Cobrancosa, integrated in a protected denomination of origin of “Azeite de Tras-os-Montes” in the Northeast of Portugal. Three irrigation treatments were applied: T2-full irrigation that received a seasonal water equivalent to 100% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ET c ), T1-continuous deficit irrigation (30% ET c ) and T0- rainfed treatment. Data were collected from two consecutive crop years (2005-2006). Irrigation regimes had a minor effect on standard quality indices (free fatty acids, peroxide value, K 232 and K 270 ) of VOO and in fatty acid composition. Total polyphenols decreased up to treatment T2, and were strongly related to the water stress integral, suggesting that the effect of irrigation on this variable occurs along the crop season and not just during the oil accumulation phase. A strategy of continuous deficit irrigation with only 30% of maximum ETc may have an advantageous effect, as it increased oil yield to more than double that of rainfed conditions while VOO quality was similar.
Degree of Disclosure and Conservatism in the Annual Financial Statements in Service and Industrial Public Shareholding Companies listed in Amman Stock Exchange

The study aimed to reveal the extent of compliance with a proposed index of disclosure in the financial statements by Jordanian public shareholding companies of service and industrial sectors listed in Amman Stock Exchange and to reveal the extent of the Jordanian companies’ compliance with the concept of conservatism (accounting conservatism )in their financial reports in addition to reveal the impact of accounting conservatism in the level of disclosure. To achieve the objectives of the study, an index of disclosure consisting of 105 items has been built and the financial reports of the companies listed in Amman Stock Exchange of the services and industry sectors have been reviewed to identify their compliance with the proposed index of disclosure. The level of conservatism in the companies’ financial reports was measured using two models: ratio of the firm’s book to market ratio and the accrual model. To test the hypotheses of the study, descriptive statistics, One Sample (T) test and a simple regression test were all used. The study revealed lack of full compliance with disclosure in presenting the financial statements according to the proposed index of disclosure in the service and industrial companies and at the sectorial level. The results also showed lack of compliance with concept of conservatism at the annual financial reports’ preparation process and lack of conservatism’s existence in the disclosure’s level in presenting the financial statements in the companies of service and industrial sectors and at the sectorial level. Based on these results, the study recommended the control’s parties to follow up the compliance with international accounting standards and the concept of conservatism which adds more reliability to the financial statements. Key words : Accounting Conservatism, Financial Statements, Disclosure, Public Shareholding Companies listed in Amman Stock Exchange.
How Do Infanticidal Male Bank Voles (Myodes glareolus) Find the Nest with Pups

Infanticide, the killing of conspecific young, occurs in most mammal species, like in our study species, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus). Infanticide by adult males is regarded as a strong factor affecting recruitment of young into population. It is considered as an adaptive behaviour, which may increase male fitness via resource gain or an increased access to mates. When an intruder is approaching the nest, the mother should not be present, as her nest guarding is very aggressive and successful. Pups use ultrasonic vocalisation to call their mother when mother leaves nest for foraging but it is not know which cues do infanticidal males use to find the nest with vulnerable pups to commit infanticide? We studied whether the pups' sounds or the olfactory cues of the nest guide the males of known infanticidal behavioural trait towards the nest with vulnerable pups. Four nest boxes in a large indoor arena offered different nesting cues: nest odour, pup vocalisation, both odour and sound or control with no cue. The result showed that infanticidal males were more active in their searching behaviour than non-infanticidal males and seemed to target the nest providing only acoustic cues. Four of the males, all infanticidal, intruded the nest box. Infanticidal males seem to actively search for nests with vulnerable pups by eavesdropping pup begging calls for absent mother. However, under natural conditions, mother presence and aggressive nest protection may be an effective counter strategy against strange male infanticide. When trapping study voles from the wild, we monitored occurrence of male infanticide across the breeding season from early to late summer. Proportion of infanticidal males was between 25 and 29% of all males tested along the breeding season. Our results suggest that male infanticide seems to cause a stable threat for pup mortality in increasing breeding season density.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE NUCLEAR REACTOR IN VIN Č A , BASED ON THE DATA ON EMISSION OF RADIOACTIVITY FROM THE LITERATURE – A MODELING APPROACH *

Research activities of Vinca Institite have been based on two heavy water research reactors: a 10 MW one, RA, and zero power, RB. Reactor RA was operational from 1962 to 1982. In 2010, spent fuel has been sent to the country of origin, and the reactor now is in decommissioning. During the operational phase of the reactor there were no recorded accidental releases into the environment, only operational ones. Results of the environmental impact assessment of the assumed emission of radionuclides from the ventilation of nuclear reactor "RA" in Vinca to the atmospheric boundary layer are presented in this paper. Evaluation was done by using the Gaussian straight-line diffusion model and taking into account characteristics of the reactor ventilation system, the assumed emission release of radioactivity (from the literature), site-specific meteorological data for six-year period and local topography around nuclear reactor, and corresponding dose factors for inventory of radionuclides. Based on the described approach, and assuming that the range of appropriate meteorological data for six year period for the application of described mathematical model is enough for this kind of analysis, it can be concluded that the nuclear reactor RA, in the course of its work from 1962 to 1982, had no influence on the surrounding environment through the air above regulatory limits.
A Study of Compatibility Related Issues

Different application domains have varying transactional requirements. Such requirements must be met by applying adaptability and flexibility within transaction processing environments. ReflecTS is such an environment providing flexible transaction processing by exposing the ability to select and dynamically compose a transaction service suitable for each particular transaction execution. A transaction service (TS ) can be seen as a composition of a transaction manager (TM ) and a number of involved resource managers (RMs). Dynamic transaction service composition raises a need to examine issues regarding Ve t cal Compatibility between the components in a TS. In this work, we present a novel approach to service composition by evaluatingVertical Compatibility between aTM andRMswhich includesProperty andCommunication
On a Parabolic-Hyperbolic Filter for Multicolor Image Noise Reduction

We propose a novel PDE-based anisotropic filter for noise reduction in multicolor images. It is a generalization of Nitzberg & Shiota’s (1992) model being a hyperbolic relaxation of the well-known parabolic Perona & Malik’s filter (1990). First, we consider a ‘spatial’ molifier-type regularization of our PDE system and exploit the maximal L2-regularity theory for non-autonomous forms to prove a well-posedness result both in weak and strong settings. Again, using the maximal L2-regularity theory and Schauder’s fixed point theorem, respective solutions for the original quasilinear problem are obtained and the uniqueness of solutions with a bounded gradient is proved. Finally, the long-time behavior of our model is studied.