Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphometric characterization of Eryngium viviparum (Umbelliferae): description of a new subspecies from the Iberian Peninsula

Eryngium viviparum is an endemic plant of the Atlantic regions of Europe. Surveys carried out in recent years in the wetlands of northwest Spain have led to the identification of several previously undetected subpopulations of this species in inland areas with markedly Mediterranean bioclimatic characteristics that constitute the southern limit of this species. However, these populations overlap with the distribution of the Iberian endemic E. galioides, similar in size and morphology. We developed a biometric study on herbarium vouchers that has enabled us to identify a new subspecies, subspecies bariegoi , distributed in a limited geographical zone in Mediterranean areas of the northwest Iberian Peninsula.
Global measure for assessing image fusion methods

The objective evaluation of the performance of pixel level fusion methods is addressed. For this purpose a global measure based on information theory is proposed. The measure employs mutual and conditional mutual information to assess and represent the amount of information transferred from the source images to the final fused gray-scale image. Accordingly, the common information contained in the source images is considered only once in the performance evaluation procedure. The experimental results clarify the applicability of the proposed measure in comparing different fusion methods or in optimizing the parameters of a specific algorithm.
Improving the power of unit root tests against fractional alternatives using bootstrap

In this paper asymptotic tests for unit root hypothesis against fractional alternatives are considered. Since they are generally badly sized in small samples, even for normally distributed processes, we consider a new bootstrap approach to correct such size distorsion. We find out that the bootstrap approach always improves the size and the power of the considered tests.
Role of overshoots in the formation of the downstream distribution of adiabatic electrons

We analyze the influence of the magnetic overshoot on the downstream electron distributions formed as a result of the collisionless adiabatic motion of the electrons in the quasi-stationary electric field in shock front. We show that a substantial overshoot can result in a significant distortion of the downstream distribution due to cutting out the electrons with high perpendicular velocities. We calculate numerically the electron distribution in the v∥ - v⊥ plane, as well as expected cuts through the distribution depending on the angle with respect to the magnetic field direction, also taking into account the averaging procedure of the ISEE type apparatus. These distorted distributions and cuts should be clearly observed in the downstream region just behind the shock transition layer. Absence of such observations would indicate that the above picture of adiabatic electron dynamics in the static field is significantly incomplete, and estimates based on these assumptions should be considered with caution.
Running Head: A CASE FOR STORYTELLING & INCLUSIVITY A Case for Storytelling from an African and Indigenous Perspective: Moving Towards Inclusivity By

This qualitative study is concerned with how educators of African and Indigenous backgrounds experience the use of storytelling in their teaching practice. The study attempts to make connections to the use of storytelling from these cultural perspectives and inclusive practices related to education; namely, culturally relevant pedagogy. There is a particular focus on what shapes educators’ practices and how students are impacted by these choices. Semi-structured interviews with experienced educators were the source of the findings related to the study. The study is rooted in challenging Western educational practices and the findings point to practices that go beyond the accepted norm. The findings make a clear link between the practices of non-dominant educators as related to storytelling and inclusivity through encouraging student voice, meaning making, and student-centred learning. The study advocates for educators of nondominant cultural practices to be incorporated into teaching practices and the need for additional training for educators. Furthermore, the study speaks to the benefits for educational communities when non-dominant practices like storytelling are incorporated into teaching.
Measuring Agricultural Policy Bias: General Equilibrium Analysis of Fifteen Developing Countries

Measurement is a key issue in the literature on price incentive bias induced by trade policy. We introduce a general equilibrium measure of the relative effective rate of protection, which generalizes earlier protection measures. For our fifteen sample countries, results indicate that the agricultural price incentive bias generally perceived to exist during the 1980s was largely eliminated during the 1990s. Results also demonstrate that general equilibrium effects and country-specific characteristics are crucial for determining the sign and magnitude of agricultural bias. Our comprehensive protection measure is therefore uniquely suited to capture the full impact of trade policies on relative agricultural price incentives. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.
What determines mutual fund size

The mutual fund industry manages about a quarter of the assets in the U.S. stock market and thus plays an important role in the U.S. economy. The question of how much control is concentrated in the hands of the largest players can be quantitatively discussed in terms of the tail behavior of the mutual fund size distribution. We study the distribution empirically and show that the tail is better described by a log-normal than a power law, indicating less concentration than, for example, personal wealth. We postulate that the reasons for this stem from market eciency and the stochastic nature of fund returns; they otherwise have very little to do with investor choice. To demonstrate this we study mutual fund entry, exit and growth empirically and develop a stochastic model. Under simplifying assumptions we obtain a time-dependent analytic solution. The distribution evolves from a log-normal into a power law only over long time scales, suggesting that log-normality comes about because the industry is still young. Numerical solutions under more realistic conditions support this conclusion and give good agreement with the data. Our study shows that, while mutual funds behave in many respects like other rms, there some respects in which they are quite unusual. Surprisingly, it appears that transaction costs and investor choice play only a minor role in determining fund size.
The Assembly and Disassembly Process Guided by Software Agents

Author supplied: A manufacturing process can be described by a sequence or combination of production steps. Based on this approach a manufacturing system has been developed that is capable to produce several different products in parallel. A batch size of one unit is possible and the production is pull-driven. The manufacturing system is based on agent technology and a special so-called product agent collects information about the assembly process. This agent will be connected to the actual product and can guide the disassembly process at the end of the products life. The agent will show the inverse steps to be taken to take a product apart. This approach can be used in the agent based manufacturing process described in this paper but the concept can also be used for other manufacturing systems. The paper discusses the possibilities as well as the restrictions of the method proposed here.
Fast Times During Spring Breaks: Are Traffic Fatalities Another Consequence?

Every year in the United States, millions of college students travel for spring break, spending billions of dollars. We examine a potential adverse consequence of spring break that has received little attention in the literature – traffic safety. In particular, we estimate the impact of spring break season on fatal passenger vehicle crashes. Using daily county-level longitudinal data on traffic fatalities in popular spring break destinations from 1982-2011, we conduct separate analyses by age groups, license status, and alcohol involvement in the crash. Our findings indicate that passenger vehicle fatalities are significantly overrepresented during the spring break season.
Demand Analysis of Non-Alcoholic Beverages in Japan

This paper estimates the demand of non-alcoholic beverages in Japanese household using the linear approximation quadratic almost ideal demand system model (LA/QUAIDS). Eight expenditure shares and prices demand equations for non-alcoholic beverage group: green tea, black tea, tea beverage, coffee, coffee beverage, fruit and vegetable juice, carbonated beverage and milk are estimated for two or more households in forty-nine cities for the period January 2000 through March 2013. The expenditure elasticity results indicate that green tea (2.320), black tea (1.357), coffee (1.090) and fruit and vegetable juice (1.019) are luxury goods while tea beverage (0.836), coffee beverage (0.896), carbonated beverage (0.844) and milk (0.677) are necessities in the Japanese household. The demographic effects reveal that people under the age of 18 prefer milk (5.928) than any other beverages whereas elderly people tend to drink more green tea (24.427). Moreover, temperature effects shows it has mostly positive effect on demand for tea beverage, coffee beverage, fruit and vegetable juice, and carbonated beverage and negative effect on green tea, black tea, and coffee in most of the months.
REGIONAL TAX COMPLIANCE AND TAX MOTIVATED EARNINGS MANAGEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM THE 2008 ITALIAN TAX REFORM

Using a large sample of public and private Italian companies, I investigate whether regional tax compliance affects earnings management activity in response to a decrease in the corporate tax rate. I find evidence that the higher the regional tax compliance where the company is based, the less managers engage in tax motivated earnings management. On the other hand, empirical results do not support the hypothesis that companies with an audit committee manage their earnings less in order to reduce their tax burden. Further analyses, however, show that the presence of an audit committee is relevant when interacted with the regional tax compliance. The impact of regional tax compliance on tax motivated earnings management declines when a company has an audit committee and this suggests a substitution effect between internal and external monitoring mechanisms. Finally, sensitivity tests show that both the intensity of earnings management for tax purposes and the effect of regional tax compliance are more material for small firms.
Movement constraints on the relative order of double topics in Mandarin Chinese

This paper presents new data for two movement constraints on the relative order of double topics in Mandarin Chinese. I first show that in a double topicalisation construction, the base-generated topic must precede the moved topic, which can be explained by the locality constraint on movement, following the idea of minimal effort that places shortness requirement on movement operations (Li, 2000). Secondly, when both topics are derived via movement, their dependency relations with the corresponding gaps in the comment clause must be ‘nested’. This can be accounted for by the Path Containment Constraint proposed by Pesetsky (1982), which requires the paths of movement to be in a containment relation. These findings challenge the view that Chinese topics are merely constrained via a semantic “aboutness” relation with the comment clause (cf. Xu & Langendoen, 1985), suggesting that topicalisation in Mandarin Chinese is subject to syntactic constraints.
Patterns of Success amongst Hungarians Living in the UK

This paper investigates the characteristics of Hungarian migration into the UK, the distinctive features of different migrant groups, and the chances for perceived individual success. The study is based on an on-line study conducted in 2014, using a large sample, albeit a non-representative method of data collection. By presenting the results related to migration to the UK, one can have a broader picture on present day migration starting from Hungary. The study demonstrates that migration from Hungary is neither a straightforward, nor a mono-dimensional process: migrants abroad form a diaspora in a transnational environment that maintains several links to their country of origin. Professional development, fulfilling individual potential, and career-mobility all play a very important role in migration. A significant number of migrants consider migration a success, and experience upward mobility while changing their places of residence. Venturing out from the ethnic “niche” seems to bring better networking resources and more openness, which further contributes to migrants’ success. There seems to be a strong correlation between success in the new country and the frequency of visits to the country of origin: this might be exploited by a dynamic diaspora politics that regards migrants abroad an important resource of the country.
The Role of Regional Innovation Systems in Regional Transformation Models: the RIS-through process

In a reference framework towards the knowledge economy concept and in relation to the notions of Regional Innovation System (RIS) and Triple Helix, the purpose of this paper is to identify different paths of regional change with the aim of drawing some indication supporting local policy making. To this aim, the paper analyses six regions considered as virtuous models of economic and industrial renewal (Cambridge, UK; Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany; Goteborg, Sweden; Singapore; Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, US), particularly focusing on the time dynamics of the development process. From the analysis of the regional transformation process we classify three different regional development paths that in this paper we define as ‘RIS-into’, ‘RIS-from’ and ‘RIS-through’ processes. The first two find a confirmation in Asheim (2003)’s classification. The analysis in this paper made through case studies allows to identify a third development path, the RIS-through process, where the Regional Innovation System acts as a catalyst for the territorial transformation, easing the competitive repositioning of the regions involved.
Opportunity Discovery Under Risky Conditions

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of entrepreneurs decision-making when they are faced with risky conditions at the time of opportunity discovery. Thus, in an experimental study, we compared two groups of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs according to their manners of decision-making. The study draws on an internet-based survey sent in December 2013 to 120 adults (60 entrepreneurs and 60 non-entrepreneurs). Entrepreneurs were from different small businesses in three different industries. Participants were randomly assigned to three different non-entrepreneurial tasks of life and death, investment and time plus one entrepreneurial opportunity task. All the tasks were designed based on risky choice framing in negative vs. positive conditions. Results show that entrepreneurs are impervious to framing effects in opportunity scenario and show very little inconsistency in risk seeking behavior in both negative and positive conditions.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce

This study seeks to improve accounting information system (AIS) application specially built for restaurants small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been developed and tested to the user, as well as demonstrate the feasibility of the applications that have been enhanced when viewed in terms of functionality, performance, and usability. Enhanced AIS is the result of system development that have been developed, that requires three years to complete all the stages involving 179 restaurants in JABODETABEK for the user requirements analysis phase and processed using Quality Function Deployment (QFD). The research model used is a model of Research Development. The study focused on the study of designing, developing, and evaluating AIS applications for restaurant SMEs and improving it. Feasibility of restaurant AIS quality was measured in terms of functionality using TOFTS and FETs, in terms of performance measured using paired sample t-test test, and Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), and in terms of usability measured using Computer System Usability Questionnaire (CSUQ). The research showed that enhanced AIS applications for restaurant SMEs can be used to perform restaurants data processing ranging from Point of Sales (POS) transaction to accounting reporting and has a very good percentage of functionality quality. The AIS application had a very good appearance and value of the application performance is very satisfying, and also has an
Effect of Solar Activity on the Polar-night Jet Oscillation in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Winter

Effect of the modulation of the Polar-night jet oscillation (PJO) in winter time by the 11-year solar cycle is examined by the observational data from 1979 to 1999. It is found that zonal wind and the E-P flux anomalies appear commonly in the subtropical upper stratosphere in early winter of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres as a response to meridional UV heating contrast. These zonal wind anomalies are found to propagate poleward and downward with development as a seasonal march in both hemispheres. Although the length of the record is limited, it is suggested from the available data that the signal due to solar activity appears as the time evolution of the PJO triggered by solar forcing at early winter in both hemispheres. Differences in the signals between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres during late winter are explained in terms of the different characteristics of the PJO in each hemisphere. A significant temperature signal is also found to appear in the Southern Hemisphere in late winter under a solar maximum condition.
Molecular Identification and Nickel Biosorption with the Dead Biomass of Some Metal Tolerant Fungi

Nickel as a heavy metal is the fifth most abundant element on earth. It has many applications and usages. The present study was conducted to isolate metal tolerant fungal strains, molecular identification and evaluating the bioprocess efficiency by assessment the effect of some environmental conditions on biosorption capacity by the dead biomass of the selected fungi. Twelve fungal isolates obtained from polluted water of the nickel (Ni2+) were screened, fungi under the isolation number MERV21569 and AHM21696 proved to be the best biosorbents. They removed Ni2+ by 79.6% and 85.2% with uptake equal 4.33 and 4.75 μg/mL, respectively. According to the molecular identification of these selected isolates, they were designated as Aspergillus sojae MERV21569 and Aspergillus terrus AHM21696. It was found that the sorption isotherms for Ni2+ by both fungi appeared well acceptable with both Freundlich and Langmuir's models. Both isolates were investigated and evaluated with different bioprocess factors including, initial concentrations of Ni2+, different contact times and different initial pH of Ni2+ solution with different process times. Metal resistant capacity of the selected fungi against ten heavy metals including Cd2+, Pb2+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Ag+, Cr6+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Fe3+ and Al3+, which are represent the highly poisonous heavy metals in wastewaters of different industries was determined. In waters polluted with heavy metals the maximum removal of Ni2+ (100% for both strains) was achieved within 4 and 2 h contact time by using the dead biomass of Aspergillus sojae MERV21569 and Aspergillus terrus AHM21696, respectively.
Graphene growth from polymers

Graphene is a fascinating material with excellent electrical, optical, mechanical, and chemi- cal properties. Remarkable progress has been made in the development of methods for syn- thesizing large-area, high-quality graphene. Recently, the chemical vapor deposition method has opened up the possibility of using graphene for electronic devices and other applications. This review covers simple and inexpensive methods to grow graphene using polymers as solid carbon sources; which do not require an additional process to transfer graphene from the growth substrate to the receiver substrate.
LearningApproximatePreconditions forMethods inHierarchical Plans

A significant challenge in developing planning systems for practical applications is the difficulty of acquiring the domain knowledge needed by such systems. One method for acquiring this knowledge is to learn it from plan traces, but this method typically requires a huge number of plan traces to converge. In this paper, we show that the problem with slow convergence can be circumvented by having the learner generate solution plans even before the planning domain is completely learned. Our empirical results show that these improvements reduce the size of the training set that is needed to find correct answers to a large percentage of planning problems in the test set.
Characterization of Non-Heme Haloperoxidase from Marine Red Algae, Gracilaria sp.

In this study, the haloperoxidase has been isolated from the marine red algae, Gracilaria sp. and has been characterized. Haloperoxidase requires vanadium for enzyme activity. The enzyme was purified by ion-exchange and size-exclusion chromatography. The relative molecular mass was 619 kDa, as determined by gel filtration. The UV spectrum of the peroxidase did not show absorbance in the Soret band indicating a non-heme protein, like vanadium-dependent haloperoxidases. Reconstitution experiments in the presence of several metal ions showed that only vanadium completely restored the enzyme activity. The enzyme was also moderately thermostable, keeping full activity up to 50 °C for 30 min. It has a pH optimum for bromoperoxidase activity at 6.0 and exhibits activities over a broad pH range from 4.5 to 8.5 It was inhibited by ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA). Brominating activity was noticed using monochlorodimedone (MCD) as a substrate. The preliminary steady-state kinetic study was performed and apparent Michaelis‐Menten kinetic parameters were determined for the substrate monochlorodimedone. The kinetic parameter has been determined from a steady-state analysis of the bromination: K m MCD = 2.74 · 10 -4 M. Enzyme was inactivated by diafiltration against 100 mM citrate-phosphate pH 3.8 buffer in the presence of 1 mM EDTA, followed by a second diafiltration with 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0). Reactivation studies were carried out with ferric chloride, manganese sulphate, manganese sulphate, potassium chloride, cobolt sulphate, nigel chloride, cupric chloride, zinc chloride and sodium vanadate in the later buffer. The thermostability of the enzyme was tested by heating the extract at 30-80°C for 30 min and checking the activity (bromide assay). The enzyme from the marine red alga, Gracilaria sp. was found to be a non-heme bromoperoxidase.