Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ecology and life histories of two Alpine-Apenninic species of Velia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae)

Velia currens (Fabricius, 1794) and V. gridellii Tamanini, 1947 are two South European species of Veliidae, whose ecology and behaviour are poorly known. The aims of this study were to investigate their life histories, quantify occurrence of wing polymorphism and gather information on their degree of co-occurrence. Nine different populations were regularly surveyed from April to November 2010. Furthermore, a dataset containing information on the occurrence of the two species and the presence of winged morphs at 294 sites was compiled from museum collections, private collections and published literature. No evidence for multivoltinism was detected in either species. However, oviposition and and/or hatching were protracted in time so that early-instar nymphs and adults co-occurred up to midsummer. Although their distributional ranges completely overlap at a large spatial scale, the two species co-occurred only rarely at the same sites and the degree of co-occurrence was lower than expected by chance. Winged specimens were rarely recorded. At least in V. gridellii, the numbers of winged individuals were inversely related to the altitudes of the sites. During the summer, when some of the streams surveyed dried up, several specimens were found in an apparent state of lethargy, under stones. It is hypothesized that the ability to aestivate, coupled with the ability to walk from one site to another may reduce the advantage associated with producing winged forms and account for the low rate of occurrence of macropterism in these species.
Technical, allocative and cost efficiency in the Australian general insurance industry

Data envelopment analysis is used to calculate technical, allocative and cost efficiency indices for a sample of fifty-three Australian general insurers. The inputs used are labour, physical capital (in the form of both information technology and plant and equipment) and financial capital. The outputs are net premium revenues for housing-related insurance, transport-related insurance, indemnity-related insurance and other insurance, along with investment revenue. The results indicate that the major source of overall cost inefficiency would appear to be allocative inefficiency, rather than technical inefficiency, and that the largest twenty percent of insurers are significantly more efficient than the remaining firms. A second-stage analysis uses limited dependent variable regression techniques to relate efficiency scores to financial and non-financial information. Cost efficiency appears to be closely related to asset size, the proportion of non-premium income, and participation in compulsory third party (CTP) markets, but not to stock exchange listing or product range.
Exact H 2 Optimal Tuning and Experimental Verification of Energy-Harvesting Series Electromagnetic Tuned-Mass Dampers

Energy-harvesting series electromagnetic-tuned mass dampers (EMTMDs) have been recently proposed for dual-functional energy harvesting and robust vibration control by integrating the tuned mass damper (TMD) and electromagnetic shunted resonant damping. In this paper, we derive ready-to-use analytical tuning laws for the energyharvesting series EMTMD system when the primary structure is subjected to force or ground excitations. Both vibration mitigation and energy-harvesting performances are optimized using H2 criteria to minimize root-mean-square (RMS) values of the deformation of the primary structure or maximize the average harvestable power. These analytical tuning laws can easily guide the design of series EMTMDs under various external excitations. Later, extensive numerical analysis is presented to show the effectiveness of the series EMTMDs. The numerical analysis shows that the series EMTMD more effectively mitigates the vibration of the primary structure nearly across the whole frequency spectrum, compared to that of classic TMDs. Simultaneously, the series EMTMD can better harvest energy due to its broader bandwidth effect. Beyond simulations, this paper also experimentally verifies the effectiveness of the series EMTMDs in both vibration mitigation and energy harvesting. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4034081]
On Volatility Swaps for Stock Market Forecast: Application Example CAC 40 French Index

This paper focuses on the pricing of variance and volatility swaps under Heston model (1993). To this end, we apply this model to the empirical financial data: CAC 40 French Index. More precisely, we make an application example for stock market forecast: CAC 40 French Index to price swap on the volatility using GARCH(1,1) model.
APPLICATION OF LATTICE BOLTZMANN METHOD AND FIELD SYNERGY PRINCIPLE TO THE HEAT TRANSFER ANALYSIS OF CHANNEL FLOW WITH OBSTACLES INSIDE

In this paper the lattice Boltzmann method and field synergy principle are applied to simulate two-dimensional incompressible steady channel flow under low Reynolds number, and analyze the local influence on velocity field and temperature field caused by inserting cylinder obstacles of different cross- section. Furthermore, field synergy principle of elliptic flow type is applied to demonstrate that the increased interruption within the fluid increases the synergistic level between the velocity field and temperature gradient field. As the intersection angle between the velocity vector and the temperature gradient vector decreases by inserting cylinder obstacles to fluid field, the results of heat transfer will improve significantly.
Seasonal variability of the Ekman transport and pumping in the upwellingsystem off central-northern Chile (∼ 30° S) based on ahigh-resolution atmospheric regional model (WRF)

Abstract. Two physical mechanisms can contribute to coastal upwelling in eastern boundary current systems: offshore Ekman transport due to the predominant alongshore wind stress and Ekman pumping due to the cyclonic wind stress curl, mainly caused by the abrupt decrease in wind stress (drop-off) in a cross-shore band of 100 km. This wind drop-off is thought to be an ubiquitous feature in coastal upwelling systems and to regulate the relative contribution of both mechanisms. It has been poorly studied along the central-northern Chile region because of the lack in wind measurements along the shoreline and of the relatively low resolution of the available atmospheric reanalysis. Here, the seasonal variability in Ekman transport, Ekman pumping and their relative contribution to total upwelling along the central-northern Chile region (∼ 30° S) is evaluated from a high-resolution atmospheric model simulation. As a first step, the simulation is validated from satellite observations, which indicates a realistic representation of the spatial and temporal variability of the wind along the coast by the model. The model outputs are then used to document the fine-scale structures in the wind stress and wind curl in relation to the topographic features along the coast (headlands and embayments). Both wind stress and wind curl had a clear seasonal variability with annual and semiannual components. Alongshore wind stress maximum peak occurred in spring, second increase was in fall and minimum in winter. When a threshold of −3 × 10−5 s−1 for the across-shore gradient of alongshore wind was considered to define the region from which the winds decrease toward the coast, the wind drop-off length scale varied between 8 and 45 km. The relative contribution of the coastal divergence and Ekman pumping to the vertical transport along the coast, considering the estimated wind drop-off length, indicated meridional alternation between both mechanisms, modulated by orography and the intricate coastline. Roughly, coastal divergence predominated in areas with low orography and headlands. Ekman pumping was higher in regions with high orography and the presence of embayments along the coast. In the study region, the vertical transport induced by coastal divergence and Ekman pumping represented 60 and 40 % of the total upwelling transport, respectively. The potential role of Ekman pumping on the spatial structure of sea surface temperature is also discussed.
Agricultural Finance Constraints and Innovative Models Experience for Ethiopia: Emprical Evidance from Developing Countries

Efficient agriculture, agro-processing industries, and related distribution and logistics chains are essential elements of human development. In most developing countries, agriculture and agricultural value chains are inefficient and unproductive. Production yields fall short of potential, and products are spoiled during storage and transport. Crops regularly fail for various reasons, even though risk management and mitigation strategies exist. Lack of finance is one of the reasons why agricultural productivity in developing countries and Ethiopia in particular is very low. Recent studies confirm that the lack of agricultural finance is as pressing as ever. In spite of government programmes undertaken over the years, supply and demand for financial services continue to be mismatched, both in terms of the types and the volume of services. Government policies have not been able to remedy these shortcomings. Nevertheless, recent innovations in agricultural finance have created renewed interest in the sector. Such innovations include value chain finance approaches involving traders and processors, warehouse receipt finance, agricultural (index) insurance, (rural) microfinance, just to name a few. Building on these positive developments, this study will attempt to contribute ideas based on recent experiences with innovation from developing countries in order to spur more innovations in rural finance. Thus, this study aimed to identify constraints that keep the financial sector from serving agriculture effectively and agricultural finance innovations to mitigate these constraints. Keywords: agricultural finance, constraints and innovative models, empirical evidence
Jail Visitation: An Assessment of Organizational Policy and Information Availability

Jail inmates face substantial emotional, economic, legal, and other challenges when they are incarcerated. The extent to which they are able to maintain contacts with individuals on the outside can substantially determine how well they cope with these concerns, and visitation is the primary way that such links may be maintained. To date, no systematic assessment of jail visitation policies has been conducted. The current study examined the availability of visitation policy information and the content of policies for national samples of large and small jails. The results suggest that large jails provide more opportunities for visitation and that they provide more information than small jails. Overall, there exists an opportunity for jails to substantially increase the availability of crucial visitation information. Policy implications are discussed.
Examining the effect of relationship marketing on the frequency of using banking services

Article history: Received 5 January 2014 Received in revised format 8 March 2014 Accepted 14 March 2014 Available online 16 March 2014 The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of relationship marketing on customers’ frequent use of services provided by an Iranian bank named Eghtesad Novin (EN). The present study was a correlational-applied study. The population of this study was all customers who had more than two years of collaboration with the EN Bank and were living in Tehran. Therefore, those branches located in diverse districts of Tehran were selected from all branches across the country. Since each branch was associated with one of quadripartite districts, five branches were selected randomly from each district. Multi-phase cluster random sampling was carried out in these districts. To obtain a sample size, formula of ratio estimation with a relative error of 0.05 and a maximum variance value of 0.50 were used so that the total size of sample was determined as 400 approximately. This study utilized the descriptive survey method. For this purpose, researcher-made questionnaires were used. In order to determine the reliability of the above-mentioned questionnaires, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used and it was determined as 0.813, which confirmed the questionnaires. In addition, the validity of these questionnaires was reviewed and confirmed using expert opinions and viewpoints of professionals working in the banking sector as well as respectful professors. Inferential statistics as well as SPSS and LISREL software were used in order to design the research model. To this end, the effect of the foundation of relationship marketing including commitment, trust, communication and conflict-handling on customer loyalty, the importance of these factors from the perspective of the customers and the bank's success in creating any of the variables was examined and the data was analyzed using multiple regression method. The results showed that, except commitment, other foundations of relationship marketing had significant and positive effects in this bank. © 2014 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Effect of Recruitment, Selection and Development on Talent Management in IKCO Company in Iran

Background/Objectives: the talented people are important role of success in organizations, the goals of this study is to determine the used organization techniques to recruit and select, develop and maintain talent. Also examine the relationship between recruitment and selection, development used by organizations and their talent management. The survey method was selected for this research. Methods/ Statistical analysis: The Research tool is a structured questionnaire. This study is Settings of international companies in Iran. The Questionnaire was conducted by human resource managers in the organization. The result indicate that HR planning and selection are the most common techniques used by the organization to recruit and techniques. Also, training programs continuously developing talent is the method used by the organization to develop their talents. Findings: The findings showed that the most important strategy to preservation talent is clarifying job responsibilities and career paths. In this study is that what techniques are used for the recruitment and choosing in this organization to predict the talent management.
Combination of Matched Filter and Gabor Filter for Retinal Vessel Extraction

In this paper a method is proposed to fine-tune the performance of matched filter using a Gabor filter structure to improve the overall vessel segmentation accuracy. The proposed Gabor filter structure classifies each pixel as vessel or non-vessel based on the output of matched filter and several other features extracted on the pixel level. The vessels are detected by thresholding the retinal image’s response to the matched filter, while the threshold is adjusted by the image’s response to the Gabor filter.The ground truth output is available from images labelled manually by observers. Several experiments were conducted to achieve better performance for matched filter and the error in pixel segmentation between the available ground truths. [Rahebi J, Hardalaç F. Combination of Matched Filter and Gabor Filter for Retinal Vessel Extraction. Life Sci J 2013;10(6s):483-486] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 74
Fitting GEE Models and Goodness-of-Fit Tests for Delivery Complications in Rural Bangladesh

The maternal morbidity data in Bangladesh is scanty. This paper employs the prospective data on maternal morbidity in rural Bangladesh to identify the potential risk factors associated with pregnancy related complications. The data were collected by the Bangladesh Institute of Research for Promotion of Essential and Reproductive Health and Technologies (BIRPERHT) during November, 1992 to December, 1993. The Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models with different correlation structures are used and tested for the maternal morbidity data by kappa-like statistic. The logistic regression model based on exchangeable correlation structure for the repeated observations appears to be the best. The findings indicate that the risk of suffering from complications is higher for unwanted pregnancy, lower level or no schooling, lower age at marriage, 5 or more pregnancies prior to the index pregnancy and kappa-like statistic shows that GEE model with exchangeable correlation structure fitted the data well.
Introduction to the Special Section. Making Education through Culture, Making Culture through Education

* National Research Council, Institute of Research on Population and Social Policies, Italy. Email: p.landri@irpps.cnr. it ** Department of Communication and Social Research, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Email: stefania. parisi@uniroma1.it *** Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Italy. Email: emanuela.rinaldi@uniud.it. **** Department of Human Science, Society and Health, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy. Email: mlstazio@unicas.it
What’s in a Name? The Influence of Persuasive Communication on Florida Consumers’ Attitude toward Genetically Modified Food

Consumer acceptance of new food technology, like genetically modified food, is essential for the product’s success. Consumers have been skeptical toward the technology of genetically modified food due to lack of knowledge by the public, negative portrayal of the technology by the media, and a lack of communication about the technology from those who develop and use it. This research was guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model to investigate the influence of persuasive communication on Florida consumers’ attitude toward genetically modified food. Consumers typically use the peripheral route to assess food information, therefore a message source (peripheral cue) was manipulated to examine its effect on attitude. An experimental design administered through an online survey was used to collect data (n = 515). Respondents reported that they agreed they were knowledgeable about genetically modified food, but they were unsure about associated risks. Respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that the four sources were credible, and there were no differences in credibility. Additionally, there were no differences in their attitude toward genetically modified food associated with the source. The results showed that the source did not predict attitude, but source credibility, risk perception, and some demographic characteristics did. Prior knowledge was not a predictor of attitude, and the respondents likely used the peripheral route to assess the message. Agricultural communicators should target communication for specific audiences and deliver value-driven messages rather than trying to increase consumer knowledge alone. Future research should explore different peripheral cues and their effects on attitude formation.
Input variable selection for data-driven models of Coriolis flowmeters for two-phase flow measurement

Input variable selection is an essential step in the development of data-driven models for environmental, biological and industrial applications. Through input variable selection to eliminate the irrelevant or redundant variables, a suitable subset of variables is identified as the input of a model. Meanwhile, through input variable selection the complexity of the model structure is simplified and the computational efficiency is improved. This paper describes the procedures of the input variable selection for the data-driven models for the measurement of liquid mass flowrate and gas volume fraction under two-phase flow conditions using Coriolis flowmeters. Three advanced input variable selection methods, including partial mutual information (PMI), genetic algorithm-artificial neural network (GA-ANN) and tree-based iterative input selection (IIS) are applied in this study. Typical data-driven models incorporating support vector machine (SVM) are established individually based on the input candidates resulting from the selection methods. The validity of the selection outcomes is assessed through an output performance comparison of the SVM based data-driven models and sensitivity analysis. The validation and analysis results suggest that the input variables selected from the PMI algorithm provide more effective information for the models to measure liquid mass flowrate while the IIS algorithm provides a fewer but more effective variables for the models to predict gas volume fraction.
Estimation of a focused object using a corneal surface image for eye-based interaction

Researchers are considering the use of eye tracking in head-mounted camera systems, such as Google’s Project Glass. Typical methods require detailed calibration in advance, but long periods of use disrupt the calibration record between the eye and the scene camera. In addition, the focused object might not be estimated even if the point-of-regard is estimated using a portable eye-tracker. Therefore, we propose a novel method for estimating the object that a user is focused upon, where an eye camera captures the reflection on the corneal surface. Eye and environment information can be extracted from the corneal surface image simultaneously. We use inverse ray tracing to rectify the reflected image and a scale-invariant feature transform to estimate the object where the point-of-regard is located. Unwarped images can also be generated continuously from corneal surface images. We consider that our proposed method could be applied to a guidance system and we confirmed the feasibility of this application in experiments that estimated the object focused upon and the point-of-regard.
Open Source Software Development Projects: Determinants of Project Popularity

This paper is an initial exploration of the determinants of open source project success as measured by project popularity. We simultaneously model the impact of project-specific characteristics on project popularity, and the impact of intended users and choice of operating system on the choice of end-user license. These models are jointly estimated using Full Information Maximum Likelihood Method. The results show that the software-user license, age of the project, project status, certain types of potential users, and compatibility with certain operating systems have a statistically significant impact on project popularity. An interesting finding is that GPL, the most widely used software license has an adverse impact on the popularity of an open source project.
Developmental instability as a research tool: using patterns of fluctuating asymmetry to infer the developmental origins of morphological integration.

This paper takes the study of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) beyond its conventional use as a measure of developmental instability, and turns it into a new research tool for evolutionary developmental biology. Covariation between morphological traits can have two developmental origins: direct developmental interactions, for instance between traits that derive from a common developmental precursor or interact by induction, and parallel variation in separate pathways that are subject to the same environmental or genetic variation. Analysis of covariances in signed FA can be used to distinguish between these two origins of trait covariation. For signed FA in two traits to be correlated, the developmental perturbations causing asymmetry must be transmitted between the developing traits, which requires a direct developmental link between them. Therefore, the analysis of covariation in signed FA can be
How to Identify New Business Models

Each of these paths usually involves devoting considerable time and resources to developing a corresponding organizational competency. For example, to build product capability, companies typically invest in in-house research and development departments and/or technology-sourcing expertise. Establishing customer insight capability often requires creating in-house market research units and implementing robust feedback links between the sales force and the developers of product or service lines. And creating a strategy capability generally involves setting up dedicated corporate strategy units and merger and acquisition groups or engaging consultants.