Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vertical transmission of granulosis virus of sugarcane shoot borer, Chilo infuscatellus Snell.†

Abstract The granulosis virus (GV) of sugarcane shoot borer, Chilo infuscatellus Snelt. , was found to be transmitted vertically when the fourth instar larvae were microfed with the virus at a sublethal dose of 1.1 x 103 inclusion bodies/larva. The virus infection was found to alter the sex ratio in pupae in favour of male (1 : 5.70—♀ : ♂) from the normal 1 : 1 ratio. The per cent pupation and adult emergence were also significantly reduced. No adults emerged from abnormal pupae that lacked pigmentation on the ventral surface of the first abdominal segment. The GV was also found to be transmitted from the infected adult to the offspring through eggs and 50% of the larvae that hatched were found to die due to virosis.
Effect of Income Gap: Happiness, Cost and Midlife Crisis

Personal happiness, economic and social behavior and organizational behavior are widely concerned. New concepts and tools are defined such as ability income, expected income, expected difference, and income gap. With these new tools, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of common social and economic issues: statistics on the gap between rich and poor, midlife crisis, lifelong learning, layoff, happiness-income paradox, U-shaped curve of happiness, pension systems, seniority-wage system, and so on. The happiness does not depend on the actual income, but mainly depends on expected difference. Income gap increases the cost of the organization.
Impact of Overwhelming Joy on Consumer Demand: The Case of a Soccer World-Cup Victory

In this paper, we identify the period following a Soccer World Cup victory as a period of overwhelming joy for the winning country and we test the impact of a World Cup victory on the demand for Soccer in this country. Our empirical study is based on all matches of the French Soccer First League during the four seasons surrounding the 1998 World Cup. After controlling for the main determinants of attendance, we find that consumer demand has positively, significantly, and durably shifted following the 1998 World Cup. We also show that the rise in demand is stronger in the nine cities that hosted the World Cup and that the World Cup effect persists for percentage attendance after we control for season-ticket holders. Finally, we find supportive evidence to our claim that exceptional performance improves sport popularity when analyzing Soccer attendance in several control countries, attendance for a potential substitute for Soccer in France, and other episodes of overwhelming joy.
Private Information Communication and IPO Pricing: Evidence From Individual Investment Bankers

Information flows are of critical importance for IPO pricing. We posit that individual investment bankers use personal social capital to address information problems during IPOs. Using a unique database of mutual fund bids in the Chinese IPO market, we find that when an investment banker has a social connection with a mutual fund manager, this manager is significantly more likely to (1) participate in the IPO, (2) submit higher than average bid prices, and (3) realize lower first-day and short-term post-IPO returns. Further evidence shows that social connections between individual investment bankers and fund managers reduce IPO underpricing. Overall, our findings confirm that private information communication plays a significant role during the IPO process.
Fatores ambientais e estimativa de herdabilidade para o intervalo desmame-cio de fêmeas suínas

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of environmental factors and to estimate the heritability of weaning-estrus interval in Dalland (C-40) sows in the Southeast of Brazil. Data consisting of 1,032 weaning-estrus intervals recorded in two herds were analyzed by a model that included the random effects of sire and dam and the fixed effects of year of farrowing, herd and the farrowing season, and the covariables age of sow at farrowing, litter size at birth and lactation length. Variance components were estimated by REML. Average and coefficient of variation of weaning estrus interval were respectively 5.3 days and 71.44%. Sire and dam effects were important sources of variation for the weaning-estrus interval. The linear effect of lactation length and the quadratic effect of the age of sow at farrowing on the weaning-estrus interval were also significant. The effects of year, season of farrowing and herd on the weaning-estrus interval were not significant, suggest that sows are less sensitive to these effects when they reach maturity. The heritability estimate was 0.11 and indicate that expected genetic gain by selection for reducing weaning-estrus interval will be low.
Future Return Inferences Contained within Implied Volatility: A Brief Mathematical Look

Past empirical work has shown that implied volatility, while forward looking, bears little useful information about future returns for assets. We take a closer look at the mathematical nature of implied volatility in order to show, at least in theory, that implied volatility must carry an assumption about future returns. We analyze this through two lenses. The first lens is the standard deviation equation, and the second lens is the Sharpe ratio (Sharpe 1966). We then ask: where is the empirical evidence, and where is this information going?
Bond portfolio management under Solvency II regulation

We develop a novel approach to the bond portfolio optimization for insurance companies that are subject to the new Solvency II regulation. The regulatory efficient portfolios are determined using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The characteristics of the estimated efficient portfolios are examined in different market regimes. Our findings suggest low cardinality of all estimated efficient portfolios despite explicit regulatory penalties for highly concentrated portfolios. The efficient portfolios are dominated by short term and BBB rated bonds. The lack of diversification and over-exposure to bonds with higher credit risk in different market regimes represents a weakness of the Solvency II regulation with unintended consequences for management of insurance companies.
Measuring Human Capital as a Predictor of Financial Performance: An Evidence from Indian Private Sector Banks

The study examines the relationship between cost of human capital and financial performance in the private sector banks of India. The study involved 10 selected private sector banks of India on their capital structure size. The cause and effect relationship was checked by regression model using E-Views 9. Since, the time series data was employed, stationarity of the data was checked in order to avoid spurious regression. The Augmented Dickey – Fuller test was used for unit root testing to check the stationarity. The result of the study revealed that cost of human capital has a significant impact on financial performance of the private sector banks of India.
Noncanonical Distributions of Commonness and Rarity

Some reported counts of species abundances, when tallied by octaves or other appropriate intervals, do not conform at all well to the expected normal (lognormal) distribution, but the departures therefrom seem to be by no means systematic or consistent. In the present paper we examine briefly two examples: The Audubon Christmas Bird Counts, and the counts of diatoms in freshwater streams. In some cases the departure may be due to defective, nonrandom, sampling; in others to using more than one method of sampling and then confounding the samples; in still others the sampling may be satisfactory, but the "universe" that is sampled may itself be a hybrid one, two universes (or more than two) interpenetrating one another. In the tropics the distribution of birds is lognormal but not canonical. Here the explanation must be different. The sigma values are far too low. I call these "congested" distributions. Biologically it may mean that there are more species than niches, a presumably unstable situation, possibly arising from recent (Pleistocene? ) excessive speciation. Apparently some problems exist that deserve examination.
Mass Privatisation, Corporate Governance and Endogenous Ownership Structure

We compare the change in ownership concentration in firms privatized through two different programs of mass privatization: the Czech voucher scheme and the Polish program of National Investment Funds. Despite important differences in ownership structure at the start of the process and in the quality of legal and regulatory environments, the emerging ownership patterns are remarkably similar: in the two groups of firms we observe high concentration and the emergence of industrial corporations and individuals as important dominant shareholders. Given the important evolution of ownership, we take ownership structure as endogenous and look at its determinants. We find in particular that ownership concentration depends on the degree of uncertainty in the firm's environment. In a more risky environment firms tend to have more dispersed ownership. We interpret this result in the light of the recent theories of the firm stressing the trade-off between managerial initiative and shareholder control.
A New Species of Tubiluchus (Priapulida) From the Red Sea

A description is given of Tubiluchus remanei n. sp. (Priapulida), based on males, females and larvae collected from coral sand from shallow water along the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea near Hurghada. Material of the same species had been found but not formally described earlier by Remane (1963). The presence of seminal vesicles and consequently the occurrence of internal fertilization could be proved for the first time in Tubiluchus (and in priapulids in general).
A Feasible Generalized Least Squares Approach to Estimating Total Causal Effects in a Regression

It is often thought that the error term in a regression represents the net effect of omitted variables. This poses a problem whenever the purpose of a model is to explain an economic phenomenon, because the estimated coefficients as well as the error will be wrong in the sense that they are not unique. But a model that is not unique cannot be a causal description of unique events in the real world. For a remedy, this paper presents a methodology based on conditions under which the error term and the coefficients on regressors included in a model do become unique, where the latter represent the sums of direct and indirect effects on the dependent variable, with omitted but relevant regressors having been chosen to define both these effects. The two effects corresponding to any particular omitted relevant regressor can be learned only by converting that regressor into an included regressor. For those cases where omitted relevant regressors are not identified, thereby preventing a meaningful distinction between direct and indirect effects, we introduce so-called coefficient drivers and a feasible method of generalized least squares, permitting a “total-effects” causal interpretation of the coefficients in a model.
User-Intermediaries and the Local Embedding of Low Carbon Technologies

This article draws on three theoretical fields, innovation intermediaries, socio-technical transitions and domestication studies to develop a process perspective of how user-side intermediary organisations seek to locally embed low carbon technologies. The term local embedding is increasingly used by transition researchers in a variety of ways. The first contribution of this paper is to explore and substantiate the concept of local embedding as the process of integrating technologies into local contexts of use. Intermediary organisations are conceived as contributing to local embedding where they facilitate, configure and broker change towards configurations that work. Nonetheless, understanding how these key intermediary processes relate as well as the influence of system dynamics on the work intermediaries undertake is still largely uncharted territory. The paper’s second contribution is a process perspective on the agency of intermediary organisations in local embedding. The resulting perspective offers insights into the agency of user-side intermediaries and later phases of transition processes.
The micropalaeontological record of global change

It is a great pleasure to be introducing this set of four thematic papers, which arose from the symposium ‘The Micropalaeontological Record of Global Change’ at the Third International Palaeontological Congress (IPC3) last year (28 June–3 July, 2010). Co-hosted by the Natural History Museum and Imperial College, London, IPC3 was brought to the UK under the auspices of the Palaeontological Association, thanks to the efforts of many but most notably Prof. Dick Aldridge, who chaired the IPC3 organizing committee. With Dick's own strong micropalaeontological interests, and this unique opportunity for the UK's palaeontological societies to join together as hosts to such a major international event, The Micropalaeontology Society (TMS) gave IPC3 its whole-hearted support. It is, perhaps, difficult to express the particular benefits and unique quality of a given scientific gathering; reports fill the pages of society newsletters, for repeat attendees at regular meetings their general feel becomes dissipated across half-remembered backgrounds of host institutions, cities and post-conference outcrops. To me, IPC3 felt like something different. The idea of the International Palaeontological Congress in itself is a new initiative. I remember hearing of plans for IPC2 in Beijing during my PhD studies. There were murmurs of excitement through the palaeontological community and a totting up of costs amongst the research students. As a very junior micropalaeontologist with a palaeoceanographic bent, IPC2 was a curiosity, and I was happy enough to watch my vertebrate palaeontologist office-mate go with moderate interest but little envy. IPC3, however, was different. Here was the world-leading palaeontological gathering, right on our doorstep – for me, in my very institution. IPC3, and specifically the TMS support of its organization and scientific programme, expressed a number of strengths, achievements and, dare I say it, creative tensions within the UK palaeontological community. First, it was an expression of the …
GPC STUDIES ON BACTERIAL CELLULOSE

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of time duration of bacterial cellulose (BC) biosynthesis as well as the culture medium composition on molecular parameters of the obtained polymer. It was found that the degree of polymerization of BC increases as the duration of biosynthesis is prolonged up to 6 days. A further prolongation of the process to 28 days lowers the degree of polymerization (DP) value and increases polydispersity. An examination of the effect of culture medium composition on the biosynthesis pointed out that the course of the process is mainly influenced by the chemical nature of the carbon source. The best results for molecular parameters were obtained for a medium containing 4% of glucose.
Zinc and cadmium concentrations in soft tissues of the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) after exposure to zinc and cadmium

Zinc and cadmium concentrations in crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) soft tissues (as edible portion) were measured after exposure to zinc and cadmium at 0, 25, 50, or 100 μg/L for 96 h at 10 or 20°C, and compared to environmental standards for human consumption. Results demonstrated that no significant change occurred in the concentrations of zinc in soft tissues of crayfish under the given conditions. Net accumulation of cadmium was observed at all experimental exposures, and exceeded the maximum allowed for human consumption only for those crayfish exposed to 100 μg/L at 20°C.
Phytochemical Composition and Antioxidant Potential of Ruta graveolens L. In Vitro Culture Lines

Ruta graveolens L. is a medicinal plant used in traditional systems of medicine for treatment of psoriasis, vitiligo, leucoderma, and lymphomas with well-known anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. Therefore antioxidant potential of R. graveolens (in planta and in vitro) was investigated. As antioxidants present in plant extracts are multifunctional, their activity and mechanism depends on the composition and conditions of the test system. Therefore, the total antioxidant capacity was evaluated using assays that detect different antioxidants: free radical scavenging (DPPH and ABTS), transition metal ion reduction (phosphomolybdenum assay), reducing power, and nitric oxide reduction. Content of furanocoumarin-bergapten in the extracts showed good corelation with free radical scavenging, transition metal reduction and reducing power, while total phenolic content showed good corelation with nitric oxide reduction potential. Antioxidant activity of in vitro cultures was significantly higher compared to in vivo plant material. The present study is the first report on comprehensive study of antioxidant activity of R. graveolens and its in vitro cultures.
Species distribution and antimicrobial susceptibility of enterococci isolated from broilers infected experimentally with Eimeria spp and fed with diets containing different supplements

Resistant bacteria in animal can be spread to environment and to humans. Poultry feed and infections caused by Eimeria spp. are important factors in determining the intestinal microbial communities. The aim of this study was to verify the prevalence of species and antimicrobial susceptibility of Enterococcus isolated from broilers fed with different supplements and infected experimentally with Eimeria spp. Broilers were divided in eight groups, fed with diets supplemented with a combination of antimicrobial, ionophore-coccidiostatics, probiotic, essential oil. At 14 days old all birds, except the control, received a solution containing oocysts of Eimeria spp. Samples of cloacal swabs from broilers were collected. A total of 240 Enterococcus sp. strains were isolated, confirmed genus by PCR, classified as species, tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and screened by PCR for the presence of tet(L), tet(M) and erm(B) genes. The overall distribution of species isolated from fecal samples was E. faecalis (40%), followed by E. casseliflavus/E. gallinarum (10.8%), E. mundtii (10.8%), E. faecium (10.8%), E. columbae (5.8%) and E. gallinarum (4.2%). Changes in the composition or frequency of Enterococcus species were observed in all dietary supplementation. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed resistance phenotypes a range of antibiotics, especially used in humans such as, streptomycin, penicillin, rifampicin and vancomycin. There was no correlation between different supplementation for broilers and antimicrobial resistance and the presence of tet(M), tet(L) and erm(B) genes. Dietary supplementation had effect on the Enterococcus sp. colonization, but did not have significant effect on the phenotype and genotype of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci.
Factor-MIDAS for Now- and Forecasting with Ragged-Edge Data: A Model Comparison for German GDP

This paper compares different ways to estimate the current state of the economy using factor models that can handle unbalanced datasets. Due to the different release lags of business cycle indicators, data unbalancedness often emerges at the end of multivariate samples, which is sometimes referred to as the 'ragged edge' of the data. Using a large monthly dataset of the German economy, we compare the performance of different factor models in the presence of the ragged edge: static and dynamic principal components based on realigned data, the Expectation-Maximisation (EM) algorithm and the Kalman smoother in a state-space model context. The monthly factors are used to estimate current quarter GDP, called the 'nowcast', using different versions of what we call factor-based mixed-data sampling (Factor-MIDAS) approaches. We compare all possible combinations of factor estimation methods and Factor-MIDAS projections with respect to nowcast performance. Additionally, we compare the performance of the nowcast factor models with the performance of quarterly factor models based on time-aggregated and thus balanced data, which neglect the most timely observations of business cycle indicators at the end of the sample. Our empirical findings show that the factor estimation methods don't differ much with respect to nowcasting accuracy. Concerning the projections, the most parsimonious MIDAS projection performs best overall. Finally, quarterly models are in general outperformed by the nowcast factor models that can exploit ragged-edge data.
Machine Learning Based Social Big Data Mining for Communal Welfare

With the evolution of social web, various networking services have contributed towards the establishment of a powerful platform that allows interaction and communication among people across the globe through shared information and messages. Unlike the traditional internet (which only supported one way communication) users can now not only gain information, but can also spread information using social media. This large amount of unstructured and freely available content posted by millions of internet users can be exploited to gain insight into various domains such as government strategies and ventures, marketing and research, business process optimization, smart society services etc. Several computational intelligence techniques are available to provide assistance in analyzing this huge content by means of big data analytics. Sentiment analysis is a pivotal intelligent learning technique which can be used to evaluate the public response to any topic, event, phenomenon, decision, or issue. An effective and suitable process of sentiment analysis leads to appraisal of an organization or governing body’s project as per the general opinion of the public. The goal of this paper is to assess one of the most recent government initiatives, i.e. Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), launched with an objective of rebuilding Kerala after the massive floods faced by the state. CMDRF is an open platform for people to come out and donate money for Kerala’s flood affected victims. This paper is an attempt to analyze the public discernment of this initiative using intelligent learning algorithms to comprehend the positive and negative impression of the project. The social media platform Twitter has been used extensively for eliciting and extracting public views or reactions over this initiative.
Frequent Hypermethylation of RASSF1A, TSLC1, High Viral Load of Epstein-Barr Virus DNA in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Matched Tumor-Adjacent Tissues

Abstract We examined the promoter hypermethylation of tumorsuppressor genes RASSF1A , TSLC1 , quantitated EBV DNA load in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues (T tissues), matched tumor-adjacent tissues outside 0.5 cm (P tissues), outside 1.0 cm (Z tissues) to evaluate the role of promoter hypermethylation of RASSF1A , TSLC1 as well as viral load in the pathogenesis of NPC. Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for RASSF1A , TSLC1 , quantitative real-time PCR analysis of EBV DNA were performed on matched T, P, Z tissues ( n = 28) as well as chronic nasopharyngitis tissues ( n = 8). Hypermethylated RASSF1A was frequently detected in the T (82%), P tissues (75%), but less frequently in Z tissues (46%). The average quantities of EBV DNA (copies/μg DNA) in matched T, P, Z tissues were 673,000, 90,000, 7000. The differences of promoter hypermethylation of RASSF1A , EBV viral load among T, P, Z tissues were statistically significant, with more frequent methylation, higher viral load detected when tissues examined were nearer to the NPC tissues. Our results suggest that aberrant hypermethylation of RASSF1A , high EBV load might be important events in NPC pathogenesis, they may be useful molecular diagnostic markers for this cancer.