Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
XMM-Newton observation of the young open cluster Blanco 1. II. X-ray time variability and flares

We study the X-ray variability of the young open cluster Blanco 1 observed with the EPIC camera on board the XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. The time coverage of EPIC observations has allowed us to address short time scale (hours) variability, while the comparison with previous ROSAT observations has allowed us to investigate the variability on time scale of six years. On the time scale of hours, dM stars of the cluster are more variable than solar-mass stars. The main features of X-ray light curves in dM stars appear to be essentially flare-like events with a typical duration of the order of a few ks, while dF–dG stars show smooth variations. Two intense flares were observed in the ZS76 cluster member. From the analysis of the light curves and of the time resolved X-ray spectroscopy we infer that they occurred in arcades, made of several similar coronal loops (~10 10 cm long), ignited at ~15 ks time delay. Minor heat pulses may occur in the first flare. The similarity of the two flares and of the flaring inferred structures may suggest that the flares are physically connected to each other. Amplitude variations on the time scale of 6 years are smaller by a factor 2, whereas a factor of 10 is observed on the Sun in the same band. This implies a smaller amplitude of any analog of the 11-yr cycle in these young active coronae.
Changes in Compulsory Schooling, Education and the Distribution of Wages in Europe

Using data from 12 European countries and the variation across countries and over time in the changes of minimum school leaving age, we study the effects of the quantity of education on the distribution of earnings. We find that compulsory school reforms significantly affect educational attainment, especially among individuals belonging to the lowest quantile of the distribution of ability. Contrary to previous findings in the relevant literature, we find that additional education reduces wage inequality below median income and increases it above median income. There is also evidence in our data that education and ability are complements in the production of human capital and earnings. While these results support an elitist education policy – more education to the brightest, they also suggest that investing in the less fortunate but bright could payoff both on efficiency and on equity grounds.
Hot and cool executive functions in very and extremely preterm preschool children

background In most countries, premature deliveries constitute 5% to 18% of births. Some preterm children, especially those born before 32 weeks of pregnancy, experience serious medical complications, which can affect their subsequent development and functioning. Even those who have an IQ within the normal range can be at risk of worse functioning. This study aimed to investigate the differences in development of hot and cool aspects of executive functions in children born prematurely in comparison to those born on time. It is also focused on evaluating relationships between executive functions in premature children and their socio-emotional competences.
A formal model of procrastination

Procrastination is widespread self-undermining behaviour that negatively impacts individual performance and well-being. Psychological research has identified a variety of factors that influence this complex behaviour. However, how these factors interact and influence procrastination is poorly understood; there is no uniform theory that integrates all these factors. This paper presents an initial conceptual model of procrastination built from factors that are found in the psychological literature. In addition, it presents a formalization of the model that will serve as the basis for a computational model. The aim of the project is to develop model-based e-coaching software that can offer personalized support to individuals in their struggle with procrastination.
FPGA Implementations of Feed Forward Neural Network by using Floating Point Hardware Accelerators

This paper documents the research towards the analysis of dierent solutions to implement a Neu- ral Network architecture on a FPGA design by using floating point accelerators. In particular, two dierent implementations are investigated: a high level solution to create a neural network on a soft processor design, with dierent strategies for enhancing the performance of the process; a low level solution, achieved by a cas- cade of floating point arithmetic elements. Compar- isons of the achieved performance in terms of both time consumptions and FPGA resources employed for the architectures are presented.
Multistage accretion and exhumation of the continental crust (Ivrea crustal section, Italy and Switzerland)

The Ivrea crustal section exposes in map view all levels of the southern Alpine continental crust, from ultramafic, mafic, and felsic granulite facies rocks of the deep crust (Ivrea‐Verbano Zone), through medium‐grade basement rocks (Strona‐Ceneri Zone and Val Colla Zone), to unmetamorphosed Permo‐Mesozoic sediments. The oldest part of the crustal section is preserved in the medium‐grade basement units, which are interpreted to be the overprinted remains of an Ordovician (440–480 Ma) magmatic arc or forearc complex. During Variscan subduction this arc was technically underplated by a Carboniferous accretion‐subduction complex (320–355 Ma) containing metasediments and slivers of Rheic oceanic crust presently found in the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone. During the late stages of Variscan convergence (290–320 Ma), lithospheric delamination triggered magmatic underplating and lead to polyphase deformation under amphibolite to granulite facies conditions. This was broadly coeval with extensional exhumation and erosion of the Variscan‐overprinted Ordovician crust presently exposed in the Strona‐Ceneri and Val Colla Zones. Post‐Variscan transtensional tectonics (270–290 Ma) were associated with renewed magmatic underplating, mylonitic shearing, and incipient exhumation of the lower crust in the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone. This coincided with the formation of elongate basins filled with volcanoclastic sediments in the upper crust. Early Mesozoic, Tethyan rifting of the southern Alpine crust (180–230 Ma) reduced crustal thickness to 10 km or less. In the lower crust, most of this thinning was accommodated by granulite to retrograde greenschist facies mylonitic shearing. The lower crust was exhumed along a large, noncoaxial mylonitic shear zone that was linked to asymmetrical rift basins in the upper crust. The composite structure resulting from this complex evolution is probably typical of thinned, late Variscan continental crust on the passive margins of western Europe. Alpine faulting and folding (20–50 Ma) fragmented the crustal section. The originally deepest levels of the crustal section in the Ivrea‐Verbano Zone as well as some segments of the basement‐cover contact were steepened, whereas other parts of the crustal section, particularly the Strona‐Ceneri Zone, underwent only minor to moderate Alpine rotation.
Expression of p53 and Cox-2 Genes as Tumour Markers in Spontaneous Canine Mammary Tumours

| Mammary neoplasms are the most frequently observed neoplasms in female dogs and constitute an important problem in veterinary medicine. The objective of this study was to investigate the p53 and Cox-2 gene expressions profile in mammary tumours of dogs of different histological types in comparison to healthy mammary tissues using quantitative real time PCR (qPCR) assay. A total of 12 cases (5 benign lesions: adenomas and benign mixed tumour and 7 malignant lesions: carcinomas and malign mixed tumour) were examined. Higher expression levels for p53 and Cox-2 genes in mammary tumour tissues were observed as compared to normal mammary tissues. Expression of both genes was relatively higher in malignant tumour than benign. These results show that p53 and Cox-2 genes may be useful tumour markers for early evaluating malignancy in canine mammary tumours.
Genotyping of F-RNA coliphages isolated from wastewater and river water samples

Faecal contamination of water sources can only be managed if the sources of pollution are identified and thus tools to distinguish between human and animal faecal sources are needed. Male-specific F-RNA coliphages have been classified into four sero-groups and evidence has been presented that two of these sero-groups are specific for human excreta and the other two for animal excreta. The sero-groups are readily detectable as genotypes with the application of molecular techniques, notable hybridisation tests using gene probes specific for each genotype. A standard ISO method was used for the detection of F-RNA coliphages. Wastewater containing predominantly animal excreta was collected from cattle, pig and chicken feedlots. Wastewater containing predominantly human excreta was collected from hospitals. The F-RNA genotyping study was qualitative and focussed on determining which groups of F-RNA phages were present in different wastewater and environmental samples. The results were in agreement with earlier reports on the specificity of F-RNA phage Genotypes 1 and 4 for animal wastes, and Genotypes 2 and 3 for human excreta. Besides being detected in human wastewater, F-RNA Group 3 was detected in both chicken and pig wastewater indicating that this Group was not specific to humans. The results showed that F-RNA phage Group 2 was the only group detected in seven of the twenty-six positive samples from the Dorpspruit, Slangspruit and uMsunduze Rivers, suggesting human faecal input. All other river water samples contained mixtures of F-RNA phage groups suggesting that the faecal input could not exclusively be ascribed to humans or animal sources alone. This suggested that both human and animal sources were responsible for contamination of receiving water at these sampling sites. The research proved that the genotyping of F-RNA phages was feasible in practice and could be used to assist in identifying the source of faecal pollution.
Application of the Graphene Quantum Dots as a sensor of cancers: A review

Cancers have been a serious problem that is taking life of a big amount of people all this time. Until now, there is no better treatment to wipe away these cancers when entering the fatal stadium. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the graphene quantum dots as a sensor of cancers in order to prevent it entering the deathly stadium. We studied the types of quantum dots before choosing graphene as the sensor and how this graphene quantum dots detects the present of cancer cells in the body. We also studied how this quantum dots is synthesized in a variation of methods: top-down methods and bottom-up methods. The final purpose of this paper is to give references of how graphene quantum dots detects the present of cancer cells in the body. The backwards philosophy herein is that the continuous studying of graphene as the quantum dots in purpose of improving its efficiency and accuracy as a sensor of cancers. Keywords : cancer, graphene, quantum dot, sensor, synthesis
Environmentally sustainable innovations in offshore shipping: A comparative case study

Two Norwegian offshore shipping firms facing the challenge of developing more environmentally sustainable services choose divergent strategies. One focuses on managerial innovation and develops a new business model equally dividing fuel-savings achieved through operational optimization between customers and the Norwegian Rainforest Foundation, thus operating climate neutrally. The other firm develops a technology-driven strategy and develops LNG-propulsion for part of its fleet. Following the firms through the innovation processes, the study finds that implementing environmentally sustainable innovations requires managerial capability to provide a holistic and integrative perspective on organizational innovation processes which align technical and managerial actions and activities. The findings indicate that a business model can be used as a boundary-spanning tool that goes beyond the ambidextrous challenges of balancing and integrating exploration and exploitation and provides a complementary view on organizational innovation processes. The comparative case study looks inside the “black box” of sustainable innovation and offers theoretical and practical insights to academics and students. The study also contributes guiding principles for practitioners and policymakers.
Optical determination of the relation between the electron-boson coupling function and the critical temperature in high- Tc cuprates

We take advantage of the connection between the free carrier optical conductivity and the glue function in the normal state, to reconstruct from the infrared optical conductivity the glue-spectrum of ten different high-Tc cuprates revealing a robust peak in the 50-60 meV range and a broad con- tinuum at higher energies for all measured charge carrier concentrations and temperatures up to 290 K. We observe that the strong coupling formalism accounts fully for the known strong temperature dependence of the optical spectra of the high Tc cuprates, except for strongly underdoped samples. We observe a correlation between the doping trend of the experimental glue spectra and the critical temperature. The data obtained on the overdoped side of the phase diagram conclusively excludes the electron-phonon coupling as the main source of superconducting pairing.
Estimating sediment thickness by using horizontal distance to outcrop as secondary information

Sediment thickness ( D ) was estimated utilizing a publically available well database from Norway, GRANADA. General challenges associated with such databases typically involve clustering and bias of the data material due to preferential sampling. However, if information about horizontal distance to the nearest outcrop ( L ) is included, does the spatial estimation of D improve? This idea was tested comparing two cross-validation results: ordinary kriging ( OK ) where L was disregarded; and co-kriging ( CK ) where cross-covariance between D and L was included. The analysis resulted in only minor differences between OK and CK in terms of absolute estimation error, however CK produced more precise results than OK . All observations were declustered and transformed to standard normal probability density functions before estimation and back transformed for the cross-validation analysis. The semivariogram analysis gave correlation lengths for D and L of approx. 10 km and 6 km. These correlations reduce the estimation variance in the cross-validation analysis because more than 50 % of the data material had two or more observations within a radius of 5 km. The small-scale variance of D , however, was about 50 % of the total variance, which gave an accuracy of less than 60 % for most of the cross-validation cases. Despite of the noisy character in the data material, the analysis demonstrates that L can be used as a secondary information to reduce the estimation variance of D .
Changes in Photosynthesis, Yield, and Quality of Baby Lettuce under Salinity Stress

The objective of this work was to study the responses of two baby lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.) cultivars, namely, green Paris Island and red Sanguine, to different NaCl concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 20 mM). The study was conducted in a floating system and plants were harvested at the stage of 5-6 leaves, outside leaf 6-10 cm in length (25 and 31 days after sowing for green and red lettuce, respectively). Photosynthetic parameters (photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, and intercellular CO 2 concentration) and yield (leaf fresh weight) as well as color [L* (lightness), C* (saturation), Ho (object’s color)], pigments ( Chla , Chlb , total chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanins) and quality indices (appearance, freshness, taste and texture) were determined. The results indicated that, in both cultivars, leaf fresh weight was reduced at 20 mM NaCl; the reduction depended on the limited water accessibility and photosynthetic rate was suppressed in high salt concentration through stomatal limitations aiming at the retention of water but resulting in restricted availability of CO 2. Nevertheless, no limitations were observed in photosynthetic pigments and, thus, stomatal closure was the dominant factor limiting photosynthesis. On the other hand, salinity improved anthocyanin content and coloration in red lettuce and enhanced freshness in green lettuce.
Debate on the Appropriate Methods for Conducting Impact Evaluation of Programs within the Development Context

Background: Donors and decision-makers use impact evaluation reports to assess the effectiveness of development programs and identify ways to improve the design and implementation of projects, programs, and policies in developing countries. Purpose: This paper will explore the existing published impact evaluation literature on development programs and provide an overview of the types of approaches and methods that are being used to conduct impact evaluations. Setting: NA Intervention: NA Research Design: The paper will examine published program evaluation literature in order to shed light on issues related to appropriate methods for impact evaluations of development programs. Data Collection and Analysis: Literature review. Findings: The paper will conclude by suggesting a list of approaches and methods that can be used to conduct impact evaluations of programs within the development context.
Comparative study on redox properties and catalytic behavior for CO oxidation of CuO/CeO2 and CuO/ZrCeO4 catalysts

Redox processes occurring during the CO–O2 reaction and catalytic properties for CO oxidation have been examined for CuO/CeO2 and CuO/ZrCeO4 catalysts using catalytic activity tests, in situ DRIFTS and EPR spectroscopies, and CO-TPD. EPR results suggest synergetic effects in the reduction–oxidation of these systems, both copper and the support being involved in these redox processes. Both EPR and CO-TPD experiments indicate a more facile reduction by CO of the CuO/CeO2 system, mainly due to the greater reducibility of sites at the interface between the copper oxide clusters and the support for this catalyst. A greater CO oxidation activity is exhibited by the CuO/CeO2 catalyst. A comparison of both catalysts and analysis of the redox properties of the different copper entities present in the catalysts indicate that the active copper sites for CO oxidation are located on the copper oxide clusters. On the basis of the results obtained by the different techniques, it is proposed that CO oxidation in these systems follows a redox mechanism in which both the support and copper oxide clusters are simultaneously reduced or oxidized following interaction with CO or O2, respectively. The limiting step in the reaction is related to the oxidation process.
Body Identity: Towards the Subjective Body

This paper is a theoretical investigation of body identity. It is an attempt to deepen the analysis of body identity in its subjective aspect, which is framed as a constellation of complex identity senses: the sense of being, continuity of body self in time and space, inner consistency, separateness and bodily limits, as well as the senses of body ownership and agency. All the identified motives of body identity are regarded as pertaining to a special scope in the relationship with the body which produces the sense of body self, i.e., the sense of being an embodied subject. Ultimately, body identity is defined as a holistic and a higher order manner of experiencing one’s body self which anchors a human being in his/her subjectivity and uniqueness, thus complementing the individual and social aspect of identity.
AWARD NUMBER: W81XWH-13-1-0220 TITLE: A Genetically Engineered Mouse Model of Neuroblastoma Driven by Mutated ALK and MYCN PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:

Moore N, Pukma S, Gray N, George R. A high-throughput chemical screen identifies synergistic activity between neurotransmitter receptor inhibitors and crizotinib in ALK-mutated neuroblastoma. Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; San Diego (CA), 2014. Abstract #790. Presentation: Selective inhibition of CDK7 targets super-enhancer driven transcriptional programs in MYCNamplified cells. George RE. Advances in Neuroblastoma Research Conference, Cologne,
The emergence of a new form of IS offshore enterprise - The modern heterarchy

The complexity of the information systems field often lends itself to classification schemes, or taxonomies, which provide ways to understand the similarities and differences among objects under study. Developing a taxonomy, however, is a complex process that is often done in an ad hoc way. This research-in-progress paper uses the design science paradigm to develop a systematic method for taxonomy development in information systems. The method we propose uses an indicator or operational level model that combines both empirical to deductive and deductive to empirical approaches. We evaluate this method by using it to develop a taxonomy of mobile applications, which we have chosen because of their ever-increasing number and variety. The resulting taxonomy contains seven dimensions with fifteen characteristics. We demonstrate the usefulness of this taxonomy by analyzing a range of current and proposed mobile applications. From the results of this analysis we identify combinations of characteristics where applications are missing and thus are candidates for new and potentially useful applications.
A Different Point of View: The Neurodiversity Approach to Autism and Work

With this chapter, we want to open up the debate whether neurodiversity might be the next step of diversity. The term neurodiversity was first established in the online autism community in the 1990s and has since spread both off‐ and online. It describes the idea that, throughout the human population, different brain developments and structures exist. Neuronal variances such as Autism are therefore not to be seen as disorders but as variations different from the neurotypical brain. Instead of being considered ill and cure‐worthy, neurodiverse people should be included and integrated into society. In our current research, we follow the neurodiversity approach and focus on the subject of autism in the work context. We found that certain strengths and abilities are most prominent in autistic people (such as logical reasoning, visual perception) and that autistic people are able to find different effective solutions to overcome the barriers detaining them from entering the job market. Furthermore, while many autistic individuals are employed in regular competitive jobs, more focus on autism‐specific job environments is needed. These findings lead us to the conclusion that autistic individuals have potential that is beneficial for society.
Population dynamics of filbert aphid, Myzocallis coryli (Goetze) on hazel bushes to an agroforestry system

The densities of filbert (hazelnut) aphid, Myzocallis coryli (Goetze) on the hazel bushes were measured in both 1993 and 1994. The aphids were present on the hazel during from May to September and peaked in July. Significantly greater densities of M. coryli were found in block 1 in the tree rows in both years (1993 and 1994). The population densities of aphids on hazel bushes were found to be significantly greater in the forestry plots than in the tree rows. The fewer predators observed provided too small a sample size for any meaningful comparisons of percentage predation to be made.