Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New insights into the interstellar medium of the dwarf galaxy IC 10 : connection between magnetic fields, the radio--infrared correlation and star formation

We present the highest sensitivity and angular resolution study at 0.32 GHz of the dwarf irregular galaxy IC\,10, observed using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, probing $\sim45$ pc spatial scales. We find the galaxy-averaged radio continuum spectrum to be relatively flat, with a spectral index $\alpha = -0.34\pm0.01$ ($S_\nu \propto \nu^\alpha$), mainly due to a high contribution from free--free emission. At 0.32 GHz, some of the H{\sc ii} regions show evidence of free--free absorption as they become optically thick below $\sim0.41$ GHz with corresponding free electron densities of $\sim11-22~\rm cm^{-3}$. After removing the free--free emission, we studied the radio--infrared relations on 55, 110 and 165 pc spatial scales. We find that on all scales the non-thermal emission at 0.32 and 6.2 GHz correlates better with far-infrared (FIR) emission at $70\,\mu$m than mid-infrared emission at $24\,\mu$m. The dispersion of the radio--FIR relation arises due to variations in both magnetic field and dust temperature, and decreases systematically with increasing spatial scale. The effect of cosmic ray transport is negligible as cosmic ray electrons were only injected $\lesssim5$ Myr ago. The average magnetic field strength ($B$) of $12~\mu$G in the disc is comparable to that of large star-forming galaxies. The local magnetic field is strongly correlated with local star formation rate ($\mathrm{SFR}$) as $B \propto \mathrm{SFR}^{0.35\pm0.03}$, indicating a star-burst driven fluctuation dynamo to be efficient ($\sim10$ per cent) in amplifying the field in IC\,10. The high spatial resolution observations presented here suggest that the high efficiency of magnetic field amplification and strong coupling with SFR likely sets up the radio--FIR correlation in cosmologically young galaxies.
Phytophthora in Finnish nurseries

International trade and travel have facilitated the spread of harmful organisms around the world. Human-mediated movement of plants and plant products is now generally accepted to be the primary mode of introduction of pathogens and pests. Species of Phytophthora, a genus of plant pathogens, are commonly spread in this way and have caused severe epidemics in silviculture, horticulture and natural systems all over the world. The objective of the study was to gather information on the occurrence of Phytophthora spp. in Finnish nurseries. Furthermore, the aim was to produce information for risk assessments for these Phytophthora spp. and establish molecular means for their detection. Phytophthora cactorum was found to persist in natural waterbodies and results suggest that irrigation water might be a source of inoculum for the disease in nurseries. In addition to P. cactorum, isolates from ornamental Rhododendron in nurseries yielded three species new to Finland: P. ramorum, P. plurivora and P. pini. The only species with quarantine status, P. ramorum, was able to persist in the nursery in spite of an annual European Commission sanitation protocol. Phytophthora plurivora and the closely related P. pini had more hosts among Nordic tree species and other plants abundant in Finnish nurseries and forest ecosystems. They were also found to have higher infectivity rates compared to P. ramorum and P. cactorum. All four species survived two weeks in -5 °C , and thus soil survival of these Phytophthoras in Finland is likely under current climatic conditions. The most common tree species in Finnish nurseries, Picea abies, was highly susceptible to P. plurivora and P. pini in pathogenicity trials. In a histological examination of P. abies shoot tissues inoculated with P. plurivora zoospores, fast necrotrophic growth was observed in nearly all tissues of the fresh shoot. The production of propagules in P. abies shoot tissue was only weakly indicated. In this study, a PCR–DGGE technique was developed for simultaneous detection and identification of Phytophthora spp. It reliably detected Phytophthora in plant tissues and could discriminate most test species as well as indicate instances of multiple-species infections. It proved to be a useful detection and identification tool either applied alone or in concert with traditional isolation culture techniques. The limitations of the method are also discussed. In conclusion, all of the introduced species of Phytophthora had properties that promote a high risk of establishment and spread in Finland. The efficient transport of Phytophthora via commercial traffic and favorable conditions due to expected climate change will increase the incidence and establishment of Phytophthora in new areas. Thus, it is probable that pathogens of this genus will be introduced and become established in Finland and other Nordic countries unless efficient phytosanitary control becomes standard practice in the international plant trade.
Regulation, enforcement and informality: an analysis based on selected countries

The informal economy has been occupying a key position in the development-discourse ever since it was ‘discovered’ in the Ghana in the second half of the 20th century. A good deal of literature has grown up in the past forty years with efforts to ‘formalize’ the concept of informality and to integrate it with mainstream development economic theory. In particular, there is a strong controversy regarding the appropriate policy response to informality: Should it be left on its own or should the state intervene in the functioning of the informal sector? And, if the state needs to regulate the informal sector, what instruments of regulation can it possibly put to use? Based on the literature that has developed around these issues, the paper provides a formal econometric model of regulation and enforcement. Using secondary data collected for 46 countries from different sub-continents over the period between 1980 and 2008, this study explores the inter-relationship among regulation, enforcement and the level of informal employment for different countries across the world. The study establishes that regulation by itself has no role in reducing or aggravating the level of informality in an economy. Regulation will only affect levels of informality when it is enforced.
Estimating Dynamic Treatment

Randomized trials in the social sciences and clinical medicine often provide a sequence of interventions and tend to suffer from a variety of implementation problems. In this setting, neither traditional program evaluation estimators nor non-experimental estimators recover the full set of causal parameters of interest to policy makers, particularly if there is nonignorable selective attrition. We introduce an estimation strategy based on an underlying economic model of a cumulative production process to estimate treatment effects in such a setting. This approach is applied to the highly influential randomized class size study, Project STAR. Estimates from our model are combined to recover the full set of dynamic treatment effects, presenting a complete and different picture on the effectiveness of reduced class size.
A Review on the Application of Enhanced Oil/Gas Recovery through CO2 Sequestration

Global warming is considered as one of very important problems in the last few years. This phenomenon is caused primarily by increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). Natural events and human activities are believed to be the principal sources of this problem. A promising long-term solution for mitigating global heating is to inject CO 2 into oil field geological formations for combination between CO 2 sequestra- tion and enhanced oil recovery. This chapter aims to give an extensive literature survey and examines research papers that focus on EOR-CO 2 processes and projects that have been tested in the field.
EFFECTS OF FARMERS PERCEPTION ON THE ADOPTION OF MODERN RICE VARIETIES IN NEPAL

everal modern varieties of rice have been released in Nepal to raise the productivity, a major pies about 50 percent of the total area under food S staple crop. Farmers have adopted these varieties to varying degrees, especially in rainfed areas. This paper attempts to identify factors that affect the adoption of modern varieties of rice. Farmers considered suitability of rice varieties based on several characteristics. They were more concerned with biotic and abiotic stresses, which probably reflects the high incidence of these stresses in the rainfed condition. Modern varieties were superior over traditional varieties for many characteristics except in terms of taste. It is hypothesized that farmers’ perceptions regarding varietal characteristics play a key role in explaining adoption behavior. This hypothesis was tested using farm-level data from rainfed areas of Nepal. An econometric model that includes farmers’ perception variables was found to be superior in explaining adoption behavior than the ones that include only the usual farm and farmer related variables. Farmers’ perceptions of the varietal characteristics such as pest resistance, drought tolerance and suitability for making special products were important in determining technology choices in the areas where current adoption rates are quite high. It was also found that the farms and farmers’ specific variables such as education of the decision maker and his/her experience in rice farming, and availability of extension services have significant effect on adoption of modern varieties. Research approaches that incorporate farmers’ preferences for various characteristics of rice in breeding programs and extension strategies that are geared towards providing accurate information for efficient revision of farmer perceptions are needed to raise the adoption rate. 1. Background and Aim of the Study Rice is the staple food crop of Nepal. It occu crops of 3.2 million hectares and its contribution to the total food supply is more than 50 percent. This crop alone contributes to about 40 percent of the total calorie intake. In order to increase the productivity, modern varieties (MVs) of rice were introduced in late 1960s in Nepal. Overall, the spread of MVs and associated technologies is concentrated in pockets of favorable irrigated areas, with farmers choosing to follow largely traditional practices in less favorable rainfed areas. Although over 48 MVs have been released in Nepal, limited spread of MVs and their low productivity continue to remain major constraints to increasing the rice production in Nepal. Analysis of factors constraining the diffusion of MVs, especially in the dominant rainfed ecosystem of Nepal, is hence, an important area of research.
ADAPTATION TRAITS IN DRY BEAN CULTIVARS GROWN UNDER DROUGHT STRESS

Drought is the major constraint to common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production in Mexico. The objective of this study was to identify physiological and phenological traits related to drought adaptation in common bean. A field experiment was conducted under a rainout shelter at The Valley of Mexico Experimental Station near Texcoco, State of Mexico. Eight common bean cultivars from different genetic races and growth cycle and contrasted drought response were tested under drought stress and non-stress. Irrigation was withheld 55 days after sowing at the initiation of flowering, to induce the stressed treatment. Starting at this day, six consecutive nondestructive samplings were conducted at noon every other day. In each sampling, leaf water potential, stomata conductance and CO2 assimilation rate were determined. Data on phenology were also recorded. At physiological maturity, seed yield and shoot biomass were measured. Harvest index was calculated. All cultivars exhibited a tendency to escape drought effects throughout accelerated reproductive development. This response was of small magnitude in Mesoamerican cultivars Negro Cotaxtla 91 and BAT 477 (type III) and significant in cultivars from the Durango race such as Pinto Zapata, Bayo Madero and Bayo Criollo del Llano. Significant difference among cultivars for stomata control was observed with high sensitivity in BAT 477 and SEQ 12, cultivars from the Mesoamerican race and in ICA Palmar from Nueva Granada race. Bred and distinct cultivars ICA Palmar (type I) and Pinto Villa (type III) from Durango race, displayed high photosynthetic rate and harvest index, traits or mechanisms directly related to seed yield under stress and non-stress conditions.
An Interactive UML-like Visualization for Large Software Diagrams

As current software keeps growing in size and complexity, the means to visualize its structure become insufficient. Noticeably, standard UML diagrams and their implementations in the industrial tools can depict only diagrams of certain level of complexity. When the complexity rises above this level, the diagrams become no longer visually understandable and start to hinder analytical reasoning. This is mostly a problem of diagrams created during automated reverse-engineering processes. In this study we summarize and validate a new approach for software structure visualization which aims at supporting visual presentation of large software systems. It combines a notation derived from the UML component diagram with tool-supported interaction, utilizing features like hiding of unnecessary information that can be revealed on demand to reduce complexity of the diagrams. To validate the approach, we implemented an experimental tool that provides both the notation and interactive features. The main contribution of this study is an evaluation of the approach through a user study. The results of the user evaluation suggest that the proposed notation in combination with the interactive features allows users to gain insight into a visualized application faster in comparison to standard UML as supported by industrial tools.
Poultry-based poverty alleviation projects in Ehlanzeni District Municipality : do they contribute to the South African government's 'developmental state' ambition?

The aim of this study was to identify both institutional and production constraints to the success of poultry-based poverty alleviation projects (PAPs) in Bushbuckridge Municipality of the Ehlanzeni District of Mpumalanga Province. A mixed methods research design was used. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 Chairpersons, 20 ordinary members, and five extension officers of PAPs who served as respondents in the study. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a semi-structured guide to collect qualitative data. The qualitative data was analysed using the Atlas ti 7.0. 81 software. The results were used to develop a questionnaire employed to collect quantitative data from 116 respondents. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 was used to analyze the latter data. The major institutional constraints identified, in descending order of severity, were: lack of regulation of prices of poultry feed, lack of government start-up capital/subsidy, inadequate extension shows the poor support the PAPs receive. High price of poultry feeds force PAPs to stock fewer chickens was the major production constraint followed by diseases, in particular New Castle and Bronchitis are killing chickens and water supply is so erratic and unreliable that it affects effective running of poultry-based PAPs. It was concluded that despite the wide range of constraints facing them, PAPs were improving people’s livelihoods. The need for revamping the local extension service in order to deal with the numerous challenges that the PAPs faced was highlighted. Central to this reengineering of the extension support system is the need for creating platforms and opportunities for the PAPs to co-learn and learn from each other, both of which are fundamental ingredients of sustainability. Keywords: Constraints; developmental state; extension; poverty
Modeling Studies of an Exotype Alginate Lyase Atu3025 from Agrobacterium Tumefaciens Strain C58, a Member of Polysaccharide Lyase Family 15

Alginate lyases, also known as alginases or alginate depolymerases, catalyze the degradation of alginate by a -elimination mechanism that has yet to be fully elucidated. Alginate is a copolymer of -L-guluronate (G) and its C5 epimer -D-mannuronate (M), arranged as homopolymeric G blocks, M blocks, alternating GM or random heteropolymeric G/M stretches. Almost all alginate lyases depolymerize alginate in an endolytical fashion via a -elimination reaction. The alginate lyase Atu3025 from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58, consisting of 776 amino-acid residues, is a novel exotype alginate lyase classified into polysaccharide lyase family 15. Till now there is no crystal structure available for this class of proteins. Since there is no template with high sequence identity, three-dimensional coordinates for exotype alginate lyase (PL 15 family) were determined using modeling methods (Comparitive modeling and Fold recognition). The structures were modeled using the X-ray coordinates from Heparinase protein family (PDB code: 3E7J). This enzyme (Atu3025) displays enzymatic activity for both poly-M and poly-G alginate. Since poly-M is widespread; docking of a tri-mannuronate against the modeled structure was performed. We identified some of those residues which are crucial for lyase activity. The results from this study should guide future mutagenesis studies and also provides a starting point for further proceedings.
Assessment of microbiological contamination of radiographic devices in School of Dentistry

Although dental radiology is not directly involved in either invasive procedures or in the use of piercing-cutting material, the high-touch areas of dental x-ray device, including radiographic films, are a potential source of infection. The purpose of this study was to assess the amount of cross infection present in the dental x-ray devices of the School of Dentistry of the Federal University of Maranhao by investigating the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in high-touch areas of dental x-ray devices (tube head, timer button, portable processing box and lead apron). Twenty surfaces of 4 dental radiology clinics were cultured in different media. The results showed that 70 percent of the surfaces had contamination. All the dental x-ray devices assessed were contaminated (tube head, timers or both) as well as all the lead aprons. The portable processing boxes showed 75 percent of contamination. The groups found no statistical significance between the different surfaces assessed and the microorganisms. The highest frequent microorganisms found were from Staphylococcus genus. The authors concluded that because of the high incidence of contamination found, the x-ray devices used in the dental clinics could be at potential risk of cross infection, demonstrating the necessity for applying biosecurity practices when taking radiographic and during radiographic processing.
Model Averaging in Economics

Fragility of regression analysis to arbitrary assumptions and decisions about choice of control variables is an important concern for applied econometricians (e.g. Leamer (1983)). Sensitivity analysis in the form of model averaging represents an (agnostic) approach that formally addresses this problem of model uncertainty. This paper presents an overview of model averaging methods with emphasis on recent developments in the combination of model averaging with IV and panel data settings.
P-wave seismic attenuation by slow-wave diffusion: Effects of inhomogeneous rock properties

Recent research has established that the dominant P-wave attenuation mechanism in reservoir rocks at seismic frequencies is because of wave-induced fluid flow (mesoscopic loss). The P-wave induces a fluid-pressure difference at mesoscopic-scale inhomogeneities (larger than the pore size but smaller than the wavelength, typically tens of centimeters) and generates fluid flow and slow (diffusion) Biot waves (continuity of pore pressure is achieved by energy conversion to slow P-waves, which diffuse away from the interfaces). In this context, we consider a periodically stratified medium and investigate the amount of attenuation (and velocity dispersion) caused by different types of heterogeneities in the rock properties, namely, porosity, grain and frame moduli, permeability, and fluid properties. The most effective loss mechanisms result from porosity variations and partial saturation, where one of the fluids is very stiff and the other is very compliant, such as, a highly permeable sandstone at shallow depths, saturated with small amounts of gas (around 10% saturation) and water. Grain- and frame-moduli variations are the next cause of attenuation. The relaxation peak moves towards low frequencies as the (background) permeability decreases and the viscosity and thickness of the layers increase. The analysis indicates in which cases the seismic band is in the relaxed regime, and therefore, when the Gassmann equation can yield a good approximation to the wave velocity.
Stress mitigation of fucoidan-based nutraceuticals in Labeo rohita fingerlings challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila

Fucoidan was extracted productively from Sargassum wightii and its antioxidant potential was investigated. The isolated fucoidan content of 5.6% of dried seaweed powder was recorded. The in vitro antioxidant activity by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, total phenolic contents and reducing power assays of fucoidan rich extract (FRE) were evaluated. The extract showed enhanced antioxidant properties in a concentration dependent manner. Later, feeding trial of 60 days was conducted to observe any synergistic effect of methionine supplementation along with FRE on mitigation of stress due to Aeromonas hydrophila challenge, in which 420 Labeo rohita fingerlings were randomly distributed into seven groups in triplicates fed with different experimental diets by following a completely randomised design. There was no significant (P>0.05) effect on stress related enzymes like superoxide dismutase, catalase, aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase before the bacterial challenge, indicating stress free condition. But, the activity of enzymes in the group containing 2% FRE along with low dose methionine was significantly reduced among all the treatments during the post A. hydrophila challenge period. These results proved that the stress resulted from the bacterial challenge was mitigated synergistically by 2% FRE along with low dose methionine in the diets of L. rohita fingerlings.
Empirical Evaluation of Detecting MovingObjects Using Graph Cut Segmentation

Real-time moving object detection, classification and tracking capabilities is presented with its system operates on both color and gray scale video imagery from a stationary camera. It can handle object detection in indoor and outdoor environments and under changing illumination conditions. Object detection in a video is usually performed by object detectors or background subtraction techniques. Our proposed new background model updating method and adaptive thresholding are used to produce a foreground object mask for object tracking initialization. The proposed method to determine the threshold automatically and dynamically depending on the intensities of the pixels in the current frame. In this method update the background model with learning rate depending on the differences of the pixels in the background model of the previous frame. The graph cut segmentation based region merging algorithm approach achieves both segmentation and optical flow computation accurately and they can work in the presence of large camera motion. The algorithm makes use of the shape of the detected objects and temporal tracking results to successfully categorize objects into pre-defined classes like human, human group and vehicle.