Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Standards for the development and review of instrumental studies: considerations about test selection in psychological research

This paper discusses the criteria that should be considered when selecting psychological assessment tests in a research context. Traditionally attention has focused - and still does - on the stages that must govern any process of test construction/ adaptation. This work is guided by internationally accepted standards, whose scientific importance is agreed by the scientific community. However, beyond any construction/ adaptation process, the use of tests is a constant feature of psychological research, so it is of vital importance to select the tests adequately. For this reason, in this theoretical study we provide a summary of the criteria that should guide test construction/adaptation as well as some general guidelines to consider when selecting tests for psychological research. The information presented is organized into six sections, each of which corresponds to a different stage in the process of test creation: a) conceptual definition of the construct to assess; b) information about item construction and qualitative assessment; c) results of the statistical analysis of the items; d) empirical evidence of the internal structure of the test; e) results of the reliability estimation; and f) external evidence of score validity. The study ends with a reflection on the scope of the proposed guidelines and the importance of using clear criteria to select the tests used in research.
Attention Defi cit Hyperactivity Disorder and Scientifi c Epistemology

Attention Defi cit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) continues to be controversial with arguments for and against its veracity being waged by individuals representing a variety of disciplines from behavioral scientists to philosophers. Our perspective focuses on the epistemological underpinnings of what is now commonly known as ADHD. Its ignominious history and current disputes may stem from a “pessimistic” epistemology, meaning that truth is only the province of persons in authority and power. The authoritative organizations that govern the diagnostic labels and criteria are the American Psychiatric Association and their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the World Health Organization that sponsors the International Classifi cation of Disease. We contrast the pessimistic epistemology with criteria for truth from the scientifi c method. Although scientifi c scrutiny has been and is being applied subsequent to “authoritarian edicts” of the disorder, we opine that ADHD currently does not have status beyond that of the “hypothetical construct. ” Moreover, current brain-based causal models have failed to provide rigorous supporting data that comes from testing falsifi able hypotheses.
L'enrichissement par la plantation sous couvert : les facteurs qui influencent le développement de plants de feuillus durant la phase d'établissement

Early-successionnal forests that have deve10ped following agriculture abandonment provide opportunities for the rehabilitation of productive deciduous forests in the agroforested landscape of Eastern North America. When naturai regeneration 1S insufficient, enrichment under-planting could be a more acceptable and effective alternative to commonly used techniques such as planting after a clear-cut. Under-planted trees grow in an environrnent where light is attenuated to some degree. Furthermore, newly planted trees have a limited access to soil resources, which could be amplified by underground competition with the surrounding vegetation. The aim of this study was to analyze the initial phase of seedling establishment as a function of the variation in light availability and understory competition intensity under the canopy of a young intolerant hardwood stand. After two growing seasons, height and root growth, biomass distribution and leaf morphology of five species of newly planted trees were studied. Our results show that among controlled factors, light availability was the main factor affecting height and root growth of the planted seedlings. This effect was not accompanied by a modification in biomass distribution to the different plant parts. Other factors, like initial size of the seedlings and herbivory, explained an important portion of the variation observed in terms of height growth.
A perceptual calibration method to ameliorate the phenomenon of non-size-constancy in hetereogeneous VR displays

The interception of the action-perception loop in virtual reality [VR] causes that understanding the effects of different display factors in spatial perception becomes a challenge. For example, studies have reported that there is not size-constancy, the perceived size of an object does not remain constant as its distance increases. This phenomenon is closely related to the reports of underestimation of distances in VR, which causes remain unclear. Despite the efforts improving the spatial cues regarding display technology and computer graphics, some interest has started to focus on the human side. In this study, we propose a perceptual calibration method which can ameliorate the effects of non-size-constancy in heterogeneous VR displays. The method was validated in a perceptual matching experiment comparing the performance between an HTC Vive HMD and a four-walls CAVE system. Results show that perceptual calibration based on interpupillary distance increments can solve partially the phenomenon of non-size-constancy in VR.
Earnings and Employment: Gender and Ethnic Gaps in Families with Pre-school

This paper explores the earnings and labor force participation development of recent immigrants in Sweden as a response to the childcare reforms conducted in 2001 and 2002. Differences in earnings and employment rates between immigrant and native families with children in their pre-school ages are estimated to study the hypothesis that increased accessibility to childcare might be particularly beneficial to the groups having certain obstacles to enter labor market. A difference-in-difference approach is employed in on individual data for the period 1995-2009.
Antimicrobial resistance of potential pathogenic strains isolated from eggs produced by informal farms and sold in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial quality of eggs produced by informal farms and sold in most Abidjan’s markets. Thus, a preliminary investigation was conducted to evaluate the frequency of eggs consumption by the population of the study area (Abidjan). After this investigation, an analysis of the eggs microbiological quality was performed both on the shell and the eatable (egg yolk) part. The eggs were categorized into two groups: i- eggs with shell covered with droppings and ii- eggs with shell not covered with droppings. Four samples of eggs were randomly taken in the same batch collected from 10 districts of Abidjan. Therefore, a total of 90 samples of each category were taken for microbial analyses. The classical method of enumeration in food bacteriology was used for the research of total aerobic mesophilic flora, Enterococcus, total and fecal coliforms, Enterobacteriaceae, the golden Staphylococcus and sulphite-reducing anaerobic bacteria. The present study data show that the consummation of eggs varies according to the area. None of the eatable part contained the investigated bacteria. In general, bacterial counts were higher on shells covered with droppings. Total aerobic mesophilic counts of ~5x107 CFU/g vs. 105 CFU/g was observed on not covered samples. Similarly, Enterococci, Enterobacteriaceae and Staphylococcus reached ~104 CFU/g on shells covered with dropping, about 1 log higher than the values observed for non-covered shells. This study suggests that the contamination of the eggs by the investigated microbial parameter is mainly observed on the shell and not on the eatable part. Also, the highest contamination levels were observed in eggs with dropping on the shells. Key words: Bacterial load, eggs, shell, market, dropping, Abidjan.
Defense enzymes triggered by Exobasidium vexans Massee induce resistance in tea plants

Involvement of defense related enzymes such as chitinase (CHT), b-1,3-glucanase (bGLU) and peroxidase (POX) in developing resistance in tea plants against Exobasidium vexans causing blister blight disease was evaluated. Among the ten tea varieties tested against E. vexans, B-668 and T-135 were found to be most susceptible while P-1258 and TV-26 were resistant under identical conditions. Screening for resistance of these varieties towards E. vexans based on plate trapped antigen (PTA) format of ELISA using polyclonal antibodies of the pathogen (PAb-EV) also confirm the results. Changes in the levels of enzyme activities were noticed in tea varieties exhibiting compatible and incompatible interactions against E. vexans. Disease free leaf samples exhibited greater accumulation of CHT and bGLU than infected ones. However, considerable increase in POX activity was evident in plants showing resistant reaction against E. vexans after overcoming the disease in the field condition. Time course accumulation of defense enzymes in tea plants triggered by inoculation with E. vexans showed a general increase in CHT and bGLU within 24 h of inoculation whereas the activity of POX increased 48 h post-inoculation. Elicitation of these defense enzymes was also evident in plants induced with salicylic acid (SA). Induced resistance occurs when an early synergistic increase in CHT and bGLU activity is coupled with POX.
Effects of cultivars and coco-substrates on soilless strawberry production in Cyprus

This experiment was conducted to generate up-to-date, practical and location specific information for soilless strawberry production in Cyprus. Commercial ‘fresh’ strawberry plants (Fragaria× ananassaDuch) of three cultivars (‘Camarosa’, ‘Festival’, and ‘Ventana’) were cultivated from October 2010 to June 2011, using coco-substrates from three different brands (BVB, Wonder Soil, Pelemix) in a 2 levels-pyramid layout. Harvesting started in January and lasted until June. The total yield obtained was similar in all cultivars and of about 439 g plant−1. However, with ‘Ventana’ and ‘Festival’ ‘extra’ category fruits and berry mass were advanced. Early yield (Jan–April) was higher in‘Festival’compared with‘Camarosa’and ‘Ventana’ was in between. Amount of water consumed to produce one kg of fruit fresh weight (WUE), was lower in ‘Ventana’ and ‘Festival’ compared to ‘Camarosa’. No differences were observed in productive characteristics, early yield and WUE according to the substrate. Regarding quality, fruits of ‘Festival’ and ‘Ventana’ retained higher soluble solids to acid ratio, where as fruits of ‘Camarosa’ performed higher levels of bioactive compounds. The results from this study suggest ‘Festival’ and ‘Ventana’ as interesting alternative cultivars.
Simulation of Micro-Channel and Micro-Orifice Flow Using Lattice Boltzmann Method with Langmuir Slip Model

Because of its kinetic nature and computational advantages, the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) has been well accepted as a useful tool to simulate micro-scale flows. The slip boundary model plays a crucial role in the accuracy of solutions for micro-channel flow simulations. The most used slip boundary condition is the Maxwell slip model. The results of Maxwell slip model are affected by the accommodation coefficient significantly, but there is not an explicitly relationship between properties at wall and accommodation coefficient. In the present wok, Langmuir slip model is used beside LBM to simulate micro-channel and micro-orifice flows. Slip velocity and nonlinear pressure drop profiles are presented as two major effects in such flows. The results are in good agreement with existing results in the literature.
Synthesis and thermal degradation of amphiphilic 2-(diethylaminoethyl) methacrylate by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization and its copolymers with isobornylmethacrylate

The atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DEAEMA) with isobornylmethacrylate (IBMA) were performed in bulk at 110 o C in the presence of cuprous(I)bromide (CuBr), and ethyl 2-bromoacetate. The structure of homo- and copolymers was characterized by IR, 1 H and 13 C-NMR techniques. For copolymerization system, their monomer reactivity ratios were obtained by using Kelen-Tudos equations. Thermal analysis measurements of homo- and copolymers prepared by ATRP method were measured by TGA-50 and DSC-50. The initial decomposition temperatures of the obtained copolymers increased with increasing mole fraction of IBMA moiety. The average activation energy calculated for the first and the second decomposition stages of poly(DEAEMA) by MHRK method were 43.45 and 94.82 kj/mole, respectively. Thermal degradation of poly[2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate] was investigated by programmed heating from ambient temperature to 350 o C under vacuum followed by the product collection, and using FT-IR spectra of partially degraded polymer. The cold ring fraction (CRF) of products volatile at degradation temperature but not at ambient temperature was identified by GS-MS, FT-IR. Based on degradation, the major products of CRF are tri ethylamine, [m/e:99(M + ), 86(base peak)], diethyl 2-hydroxyethylamine [m/e:17(M + ), 86(b.p)], 2(diethylaminoethyl) methacrylate(monomer)[m/e:185(M + ,very small),113,99, 86(b.p), 69,58].
Interaction between Mesodinium rubrum and its prey: importance of prey concentration, irradiance and pH

The functional and numerical responses for the marine obligate mixotrophic ciliate Meso- dinium rubrum Lohmann, 1908 (=Myrionecta rubra Jankowsky, 1976) were studied at 2 irradiances (20 and 100 µE m 2 s -1 ). Furthermore, its tolerance to high pH levels and response to starvation were studied in mixed cultures of M. rubrum and Teleaulax sp. The functional and numerical response study showed that the threshold concentration of the cryptophyte Teleaulax sp. was 50 cells ml -1 and the maximum growth of M. rubrum was 0.23 and 0.49 d -1 for 20 and 100 µE m 2 s -1 , respectively. Calcu- lation of ingestion rates revealed that ~1 Teleaulax sp. cell M. rubrum -1 d -1 was sufficient to maintain the maximum growth rate. Maximum ingestion rates were independent of light and saturated at ~6 Teleaulax sp. cells M. rubrum -1 d -1 . A heterotrophic carbon uptake of from 2 to 4% of M. rubrum car- bon content was sufficient for maximum growth, but carbon contributions as high as 22% were ob- served to have no effect on growth. The pH experiments revealed that the growth of M. rubrum and Teleaulax sp. was impeded at pH levels in excess of 8.5 and 8.8, respectively. Experiments to reveal M. rubrum's response to starvation showed that M. rubrum could survive for around 50 d without prey. These results are all discussed with respect to M. rubrum's adaptation to its environment.
Fish ingredients in online recipes do not promote the sustainable use of vulnerable taxa

Consumer preferences can be influenced by cultural factors, such as recipes. Thus, popular recipes using seafood ingredients could encourage demand for the featured marine spe- cies. We recorded the fish taxa appearing in all online Greek recipes and related the number of recipes in which a taxon is a suggested ingredient to the taxon's landings and vulnerability to fish- ing. For marine fish, the number of recipes per taxon (henceforth called recipe prevalence) increased significantly with the taxon's landings. When the effect of landings was removed, recipe prevalence increased significantly with vulnerability to fishing, indicating that more vulnerable taxa appear more frequently in recipes. This pattern should be reversed by eliminating the recipe abundance of taxa that are very vulnerable to fishing and counterbalance such a reduction with an increase in the representation of taxa of low vulnerability, landed in large quantities and cur- rently underrepresented in recipes. Managing recipe composition by educating a small group of stakeholders (i.e. chefs and recipe authors) may be a cost-effective way of promoting fisheries sustainability when compared to directly educating consumers.
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL GENETIC STRUCTURE OF WILD EMMER WHEAT IN JORDAN. I. PHENOTYPIC TRAITS

Natural populations of wild emmer wheat in Jordan represent a unique and sizable part of the species’ distribution in the Fertile Crescent. However, information on their genetic structure and diversity is limited. An understanding of the way genetic variation is partitioned among these populations is of primary importance for the ex situ sampling and in situ conservation of their genetic diversity. Fourteen categorical traits were used to characterize different phenotypes found in 12 wild emmer wheat populations in Jordan. They were scored in plants growing in 207 marked sampling sites and representing a wide range of observable variation. A strong effect of the heterogeneous habitats, encountered across collecting sites, was reflected in the magnitude and spatial distribution of phenotypic diversity. Several, and probably unique, first- and second-order associations among phenotypic traits reflect functional adaptation of the species to arid and semiarid Mediterranean environments. Phenotypic distances among populations were highly influenced by latitude and rainfall quotient (Q2) of collection sites. Spatial factors accounted for large portions (60.5–93.1%) of total variation in phenotypic diversity indices, suggesting strong provenance specificity. Temporal variation was less pronounced than spatial variation, and there were no drastic changes between years in frequencies of genotypes. Both spatial and temporal variation varied among populations.
Cutting plane methods for probabilistically-robust feasibility problems

Many robust control problems can be formulated in abstract form as convex feasibility programs where one seeks a solution vector x that satisfies a set of inequalities of the form F={f(x,delta) <= 0}. This set typically contains an infinite and uncountable number of inequalities, and it has been proved that the related robust feasibility problem is numerically hard to solve in general. In this paper, we discuss a family of cutting plane methods that solve efficiently a probabilistically-relaxed version of the problem. Specifically, under suitable hypotheses, we show that a cutting plane scheme based on a probabilistic oracle returns in a finite and pre-specified number of iterations a solution which is feasible for most of the members of F, except possibly for a subset having arbitrarily small probability measure
Understanding and seasonal forecasting of hydrological drought in the Anthropocene

Hydrological drought is not only caused by natural hydro-climate variability, but can also be directly altered by human interventions including reservoir operation, irrigation and groundwater exploitation, etc. Understanding and forecasting of hydrological drought in the anthropocene are grand challenges due to complicated interactions among climate, hydrology and human. In this paper, five decades (1961–2010) of naturalized and observed streamflow datasets are used to investigate hydrological drought characteristics in a heavily managed river basin, the Yellow River basin in North China. It is found that human interventions increase the nonlinear response of hydrological drought to the meteorological drought, and increase the response time especially during rainy seasons. Due to large water consumptions over the middle and lower reaches, there are two to four-fold increases in the hydrological drought frequency and up to six-fold increases in the drought severity, the drought duration increases by 12–83 %, and the drought onset becomes earlier. A set of 29-year (1982–2010) hindcasts from an established seasonal hydrological forecasting system are used to assess the forecast skill of hydrological drought. In the naturalized condition, the climate–model-based approach outperforms the climatology method in predicting the 2001 severe hydrological drought event. Based on the 29-year hindcasts, the former method has a Brier Skill Score of 11 %–26 % against the latter for the probabilistic hydrological drought forecasting. In the anthropocene, the skill for both approaches increases due to dominant influence of human interventions that have been implicitly incorporated by the hydrological post-processing, while the difference between two predictions decreases. This suggests that human interventions can outweigh the climate variability for the hydrological drought forecasting in the anthropocene, and the predictability for human interventions needs more attention.
INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF REVOLVING FUND LOAN (RFL) FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY FOREST PLANTATIONS (CFP)

The purpose of this study was to formulate effective and efficient institutions of Revolving Fund Loans for Community Forest Plantation development (RFL CFP) in accordance with variation of field conditions. Benchmarking techniques were used to formulate the institution of RFL CFP. For that purpose, Independent of Direct Assistance Rural Agribusiness Development (IDA RAD) from the Ministry of Agriculture was selected as a benchmark as it was good in performance. The study was conducted in three provinces, i.e. Riau, South Kalimantan (November 2008 to April 2009) and West Java (May 2009 to February 2011). Comparative study was used to analyze the institutions based on the agency theory. The results showed that the institutional of RFL CFP have not accomodated the differences in characteristics, perceptions and capacities of the parties. As a result, the institutions have not been able to overcome the risk of moral hazard, adverse selection and high transaction costs. On the other hand, the institution of IDA RADhas a positive impact on agency relationship. High repayments by IDA RADagent and the increasing number of agents each year have proved the impact.