Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of abiotic factors on reproduction in the centre and periphery of breeding ranges: a comparative analysis in sympatric harriers

and the Montagu's harrier is central in its distribution. We examined the reproductive success of both species during an 8-yr period, and looked at the influence of the most stressful abiotic factors in the study area (between-year variation in rainfall and within-year variation in temperature) on reproductive parameters. In the hen harrier, low levels of rainfall during the breeding season had a negative influence on annual fledging success and thus on population fledgling production. The relationship between rainfall and reproduction was probably mediated through food abundance, which in Mediterranean habitat depends directly on rainfall levels. In the Montagu's harrier, no negative effect of dry seasons on productivity was found. Additionally, in the hen harrier, the proportion of eggs that did not hatch in each clutch increased with higher temperatures during the incubation period. No such relationship was found in the Montagu's harrier. We interpret these between-species differences in terms of differences of breeding range and adaptations to the average conditions existing there. Hen harriers, commonest at northern latitudes, are probably best adapted to the most typical conditions at those latitudes, and have probably not developed thermoregulatory or behavioural mechanisms to cope with drought and high temperatures in Mediterranean habitats, in contrast to Montagu's harrier. Thus hen harrier distribution might be constrained by these variables, due to lower reproductive success or higher reproductive costs. Accordingly, a logistic regression analysis of the presence or absence of both species in 289 random points throughout the western Palearctic showed that the distribution of both species was related to temperature, but the relationship was in opposite directions for the two species: hen harriers had lower probability of breeding in areas with higher temperature (as expected in a species with a more northerly distribution).
Albedo Measurements and Optical Sizing of Single Aerosol Particles

Aerosols play an important role in global climate change by their interactions with incoming solar radiation and outgoing longwave radiation from the planetary surface. The climate effects of aerosols depend on their scattering and absorption properties. This article describes the development of an instrument (ASTER: Aerosol Scattering To Extinction Ratio) that simultaneously measures the scattering and extinction of single aerosol particles. ASTER uses a high-Q cavity to amplify the extinction signal and innovative optics to collect the scattered light. It can distinguish many partially absorbing particles from a few black ones even if the bulk absorption is the same. Optical sizing and single-scattering albedo measurements were made for laboratory-generated particles with diameters from about 300 nanometers to above one micrometer. Using this prototype instrument, changes in albedo for single particles of 20% or greater were detected by measurement of the scattering and extinction. Optical sizing of the individual particles to within ∼ 50 nm was accomplished using the ratio of the forward scattered light to the total scattering. Initial measurements of laboratory air showed a mode of highly absorbing particles. This article reports design and early laboratory tests on ASTER.
An Attachment-Based Parenting Training Program for Opiate Dependent Carers

Background: Parental substance use can impede parenting, placing a significant number of children at risk, accounting for the high rates of child protection service (CPS) involvement with substance use affected families. Very few parenting programs provide evidence for improving parenting skills in this high risk group. However, attachment-based parenting programs provide some promise in improving outcomes for parents and children. This pilot study introduces such a program, the Circle of Security (COS), with opiate dependent carers. Method: Pre and post COS intervention measures of substance use (ATOP), mental health (DASS21) and child-parent attachment (CHQ) were conducted. A qualitative feedback questionnaire was also undertaken to determine the tolerability, acceptability and experiences of participants. Results: 8 participants commenced the study with a retention rate of 75%. Heroin (M=-2.4), other opiate (M=-2.3), alcohol (M=-2.7), nicotine (M=-0.1) and injecting drug days (M=-3.0) were reduced following the intervention. Parental stress (M=-4, 19%), depression (M=-3.29, 16%) and anxiety (M=-2.57, 12%) improved over the study period. No clinically significant shift in carer-helplessness was identified, however parents reported improved parenting in a number of areas. Participants highly rated the program across multiple domains. Conclusions: The COS is well tolerated, accepted and positively experienced by this group of opiate dependent carers. The program appears to assist in reducing substance use levels and improving mental health symptoms in this vulnerable group of parents. The program warrants further evaluation with opiate dependent parents as part of a randomised control trial.
Capital Account Liberalization and Financial Stability: An Application of the Finite Distributed Lag Model

The recurrence of financial crises in recent years has sparked renewed interest in the controversy over the implications of financial openness for the stability of the financial system. This article examines the relationship between capital account liberalization and financial stability in 31 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1996-2015. Firstly, the study uses the Exchange Market Pressure Index (EMP) as the indicator of the degree of financial risk. Then, to determine the timing and the nature of the effect of capital account liberalization on financial stability, a finite distributed lag model is used. The estimation of long-term structural coefficients is obtained by the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) method in panel data. The results show that liberalization of the capital account negatively affects financial stability after two years in sub-Saharan African countries. These results suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should standardize their strategies for liberalizing capital accounts and engage reforms to promote long-term capital flows that are more stable and improve the macroeconomic and institutional environment.
Communication Tools and the Influence of Culture in Television Advertising : A Study of South Korea and Finland

Author Hennariikka Kivinen Title Communication Tools and the Influence of Culture in Television Advertising: A Study of South Korea and Finland Year 2012 Language English Pages 93 Name of Supervisor Rosmeriany Nahan-Suomela Even though the world is becoming more global and cultures seem to evolve closer to each other, national cultures still have their own distinctive characteristics. It is said that advertising both reflects and influences our cultural values and, hence, this has to be considered when planning an advertisement. The aim of this thesis is to find differences and similarities between the television advertising tools such as appeals, methods of execution, and source types between South Korea and Finland and how these differences derive from the national culture’s characteristics. The theoretical framework of this thesis consists of three parts. First, a broader overview on advertising and communications was taken. Next, a closer look was taken at the communication process and communication tools; channel, source and message were defined and described. Finally, culture’s influence and visibility in advertising was reviewed. The empirical study was conducted by using a qualitative case study method in which the analysis was done through deductive content analysis where the promotional factors of source, message and channel, were guiding the empirical analysis. The study of culture’s influence on advertising tools was done by describing and analyzing three Finnish and three South Korean television commercials. The commercials were selected according to heterogeneous purposive sampling to best fit the purpose of the study. The results of the research showed culture’s impact on the communication components in the case commercials. Especially cultural dimensions of individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance proved the theoretical assumptions of Finnish commercials preferring verbal information with precise facts and expertise and competitiveness, whereas the South Korean commercials relied more on visual communication and a high use of sources employing likability and familiarity. The study showed few similarities mainly rising from the cultural dimension of femininity. In addition, the value paradox, which reflects the desirable and the desired in life, can be seen in the study.
Critical Links Governing Performance of Self-binding and Natural Binders for Hot-pressed Reconstituted Lignocellulosic Board without Added Formaldehyde: A Review

The production of fiberboard, particleboard, and related hot-pressed biomass products can convert small, relatively low-valued pieces of wood into valuable products. There is strong interest in being able to manufacture such products without the addition of formaldehyde, which is a health hazard during both production and use. This article reviews literature describing various challenges that need to be faced in order to achieve satisfactory bonding properties in hot-pressed bio-based board products without the addition of formaldehyde. Bonding mechanisms are examined in the form of a hypothesis, in which the strength development is represented by a chain with four links. Failure of a board is expected to occur at the weakest of these mechanistic links, which include mechanical contact, molecular-scale wetting and contact, various chemical-based linkages, and structural integrity. The most promising technologies for environmentally friendly production of hot-pressed board with use of lignocellulosic materials tend to be those that favor success in the development of at least three of the mechanistic links in the hypothetical chain.
Influence of pre-harvest application of gibberellin and brassinosteroid on fruit growth and quality characteristics of pear (Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm.) Nakai) cv. Gola

Quality of fruit crop is an important parameter to decide the acceptability of the product. The present study consists of seventeen year old pear (Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm.) Nakai) trees subjected to seven treatments viz., GA3 (50 ppm,100 ppm), BR (0.5 ppm, 1.0 ppm), and GA3 + BR (50 ppm + 0.5 ppm and 100 ppm + 1 ppm) and water as control, sprayed thrice at 15 days intervals starting from petal fall stage. Each treatment was replicated thrice with one tree served as a treatment unit. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design. The fruits treated with GA3 @ 50 ppm (T1) showed the highest fruit length (6.98 cm), breadth (6.81 cm), weight (175.9 g) and volume (171.16 cc). An improvement in terms of fruit quality was observed either alone or in combined application of GA3 and BR. The application of BR @ 1 ppm (T4) recorded the highest TSS (12.91Â°Brix) and lowest titrable acidity (0.42%) while the highest ascorbic acid content (6.95 mg / 100 g) and non reducing sugar (0.44%) was estimated under GA3 @ 100 ppm + BR @ 1 ppm (T6). Total sugar (7.88%) and reducing sugar (7.45%) was observed highest in GA3 @ 50 ppm + BR @ 0.5 ppm (T5). Based on this research combined application of GA3 + BR had a positive effect and therefore can be recommended for spray on pear in order to obtain higher yield and better quality.
DETERMINATION OF MESOSCALE RANDOM FIELDS FOR THE APPARENT PROPERTIES OF SPATIALLY RANDOM COMPOSITES

The macroscopic mechanical and physical properties of heterogeneous materials can be efﬁciently determined using either analytical or numerical homogenization techniques where the identiﬁcation of a representative volume element (RVE) is required over which a ﬁne-scale boundary value problem is solved. In this work, an efﬁcient computational scheme is proposed for the determination of mesoscale random ﬁelds for the apparent properties and of the RVE size of particle-reinforced composites based on computer-simulated images of their microstructure. A variable number of microstructure models are directly constructed by segmentation of the composite material image into windows of certain size. The proposed numerical procedure takes into account the particle volume fraction variation through digital image processing of the microstructure models. The proposed approach couples the extended ﬁnite element method (XFEM) with Monte Carlo simulation in order to analyze the microstructure models and obtain statistical information (probability distribution, correlation structure) for the apparent properties of the composite in each window size. The XFEM analysis of the microstructure models also leads to upper and lower bounds for their constitutive behavior by solving Dirichlet and Neumann boundary value problems. The RVE is attained within a prescribed tolerance by examining the convergence of these two bounds with respect to the mesoscale size and useful conclusions are derived about the effect of matrix/inclusion stiffness ratio as well as of inclusion
FORCE OUTPUT COMPARISON BETWEEN SIX U.S. COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC TEAMS

The aim of the study was to compare allometrically scaled peak force and the force at 250 ms between six U.S. collegiate sport teams using isometric mid-thigh pull. Ninety subjects performed maximum effort of isometric mid-thigh pull to measure force output. The data were averaged within the teams, and statistically compared between teams using one-way ANOVA (p=.01). Significant difference was found that men’s soccer and baseball produced higher allometrically scaled peak force, and men’s soccer, tennis, and baseball produced higher allometrically scaled force at 250 ms. The data indicates that not all sports possess similar strength characteristics because of the nature of the sports, and observed separation between gender. Teams such as volleyball and baseball showed higher coefficient of variation due to the various positions within their sports.
The Impacts of Nano‑Structured Nutrients on Chickpea Performance under Supplemental Irrigation

JANMOHAMMADI MOHSEN, SABAGHNIA NASER, SEIFI AKBAR, PASANDI MOKHTAR. 2017. The Impacts of Nano‐Structured Nutrients on Chickpea Performance under Supplemental Irrigation. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 65(3): 859–870. Chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae and the most widely grown crop in the semi‐arid Mediterranean regions. This pulse crop can grow on almost any soil and is well adapted to the semi‐arid conditions, but for good growth it requires a fertile soil with good residual moisture. Therefore, nutrient‐and water‐management practices are necessary agronomic options to improve chickpea production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different conventional and nano‐fertilizers on growth and yield of Kabuli chickpea under supplemental irrigation. The experiment was carried out at a research field in dry highland of Maragheh, North western Iran. Plants were grown under rainfed situation during the vegetative growth and supplement irrigations was applied during flowering and seed filling stages. The effect of nine nutrient treatments including T1: control (no fertilizer application), T2: nano‐chelated iron, T3: nano‐chelated manganese, T4: nano‐chelated copper, T5: nano‐chelated boron, T6: organic manganese, T7: conventional NPK fertilizer, T8: multi‐nutrient nano‐fertilizer and T9: nano‐chelated zinc were evaluated. Result showed that application of multi‐nutrient nano‐fertilizer, conventional NPK fertilizer and nano‐chelated Zn considerably improved the both vegetative growth (e.g. plant height, canopy width, number of the branches) and yield components. Also the highest chlorophyll concentration (P < 0.05) was recorded for plant grown by application of multi‐nutrient / compound fertilizers. There was a significant positive correlation between chlorophyll concentration and seed yield components (P < 0.01). Among the applied micronutrients, plants significantly responded to nano‐chelated Zn. Conventional NPK significantly improved the lateral growth (canopy width, ground cover, branches numbers). The results pointed out that the best performance of chickpea could be achievable through utilization of nano‐ of multi‐nutrient fertilizer, with the simultaneous release of micronutrients and macronutrients. The findings provided illustrative information in order to appreciate the importance of balanced crop nutrition in semi‐arid Mediterranean region.
Non-invasive assessment of liver fibrosis by measuring the liver stiffness and biochemical markers in chronic hepatitis B patients

Background : Transient elastography (FibroScan®) is a rapid and non-invasive method to measure liver stiffness and this allow the assessment of liver fibrosis. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of measuring the liver stiffness in addition to measuring the other biochemical markers such as the aspartate transaminase to platelet ratio index [APRI] and the AST/ALT ratio. Methods : We enrolled 228 HBsAg positive patients whose liver stiffness was measured by FibroScan® between March 2005 and September 2005. Liver biopsy examinations were performed in 34 patients. The fibrosis (F) was staged on a 0-4 scale according to the Ludwig classification. Results : According to the clinical diagnosis, the median values of liver stiffness were 7.0±2.7 kPa for inactive carriers (n=29), 8.3±5.3 kPa for chronic hepatitis patients (n=106), 15.9±8.3 kPa for compensated cirrhosis patients (n=63), 31.8±20.3 kPa for decompensated cirrhosis patients (n=26), and 45.1±34.5 kPa for HCC patients (n=4). The degree of liver stiffness was significantly different between the different disease groups (p
ACTIVATION PATTERN OF TRUNK, THIGH AND LOWER LEG MUCLES DURING UNDERWATER DOLPHIN KICK IN SKILLED FEMALE SWIMMERS

This study investigated the muscle activation pattern between the agonist and the antagonist muscles in the trunk, thigh and lower leg during underwater dolphin kick. Thirteen female elite swimmers participated in this study and they performed 15 m underwater dolphin kick swimming at maximum effort. The surface electromyography (sEMG) of six muscles were measured and the muscle activation pattern between the agonist and antagonist muscles in the trunk, thigh and lower leg were estimated from the sEMG data. As results, the trunk and the thigh muscles showed a reciprocal activation pattern during one-kick cycle. However, the activation pattern of the lower leg muscles did not show a reciprocal pattern and it was clarified that the lower leg muscles were co-activated during the upward kick phase.
A new "knowledge-based engineering" guideline

It is necessary to enable product developers to use specific engineering knowledge in an efficient and fast way during the product development process. However, existing procedures supporting the development of products are not strictly convenient to meet this challenge. This is the reason why already in the 1980 various research approaches in the area of knowledge-based engineering (KBE) have been developed. Nevertheless, there is still no uniform and universally applicable description for the industrial environment, with which a KBE application can be implemented and operated. Therefore, the aim is empowering designers to use design-related knowledge in CAD-systems as a central engineering workbench. The main research question in this paper is: How to formulate a universally applicable procedure to conduct KBE-projects with all relevant roles as well as necessary instructions and recommendations regarding specific KBE-methods and -tools? By answering this question, this contribution offers insights in general adapted definitions and perspectives, a procedure for the implementation of KBE-projects, a classification of knowledge-based engineering and a first exemplary solution.
A Multimodal Biometric System Based on an Active Database Paradigm

Today, on many occasions and in many different places, one must be authorised in order to use certain services or applications or to access protected data. A user (person) can be authorised in three different ways or combinations of ways: it is either information that the user knows, something that the user possesses or a measurement of some physical or psychological characteristics unique to that user, i.e. biometric characteristics. In this paper we emphasize this third possibility. When talking about biometrics we can distinguish two basic types of systems: unimodal and multimodal. The main difference is that the unimodal biometric system is based solely on a single biometric feature, while multimodal biometric systems combine several features. We intend to show how active databases could be used in order to implement a multimodal (unimodal) biometric system and reduce the time needed for authorisation (identification or verification). Specifically, the concept of reactivity upon which active databases rely could be the core of a multimodal biometric system, as will be shown in the paper. We will especially consider the use of complex events used in active databases for authorisation purposes. Key words: ADBMS, active database, complex events, biometrics, biometric system
The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfer on Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Livelihoods

In Ethiopia various poverty-related metrics pinpoint to an alarming level of poverty. According to FAO (2012), between the periods 2010-2012 about 40.2% of the total population of Ethiopia was undernourished. Relatedly, based on the 2011 Human Development Index of UNDP, Ethiopia ranks 174 out of 187 countries with average per capita income that is less than the average of Africa south of the Sahara. To mitigate such prevalence of poverty various interventions have been and are being carried out both by the government and development partners. One approach being followed is social protection programs of which cash transfer is the notable case in point. From a rural household perspective, cash transfer has the potential to improve the food security, resilience, and asset building capacities of households. Revitalizing Agricultural Incomes and New Markets (RAIN) was a program implemented over a three-year period (2009-2012) on households located in Somali region and East Hararge zone of Oromiya region. The program involved conditional cash transfer (CCT) among other interventions. The households involved in cash for work activities were primarily engaged in natural resource management and infrastructural development, such as community roads. The study was conducted to examine whether the CCT program addressed its objective of bringing long term impact by protecting and diversifying the productive asset base of the targeted households.