Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economic Determinants of Oil Futures Volatility: A Term Structure Perspective

To assess the economic determinants of oil futures volatility, we firstly develop and estimate a multi-factor oil futures pricing model with stochastic volatility that is able to disentangle long-term, medium-term and short-term variations in commodity markets volatility. The volatility estimates reveal that in line with theory, the volatility factors are unspanned, persistent and carry negative market price of risk, while crude oil markets are becoming more integrated with financial markets. After 2004, short-term volatility is driven by industrial production, term and credit spreads, the S&P 500 and the US dollar index, along with the traditional drivers including hedging pressure and VIX. Medium-term volatility is consistently related to open interest and credit spreads, while after 2004 oil sector variables such as inventory and consumption also impact this part of the term structure. Interest rates mostly matter for long-term futures price volatility.
Controlled Vanadium Doping of MoS2 Thin Films Through Co-sputtering and Thermal Sulfurization

Recently, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have gained great attention owing to their remarkable properties. The electronic structure of TMDs can be modified by substitutional doping, which could give rise to novel and exciting properties. In this study, a strategy is presented for controlled vanadium (V) doping of MoS2, in which V doped MoS2 films with good uniformity are prepared by thermal sulfurization of V-Mo alloy films deposited using co-sputtering. The V incorporation in MoS2 induces p type doping, which enhances the electrical conductivity of MoS2 by a factor of 35-40. Such doping strategy and consequent conductivity improvement may be useful in many applications such as catalysis, nanoelectronics and optoelectronics.
Phylogeny of Withania (Solanaceae)

Withania is a genus of about 11 species, six endemic in the Horn of Africa region, three in the Canary Islands, North Africa and Spain, one in southern Asia, and one widespread in the Old World tropics and subtropics. A phylogeny was inferred on the basis of DNA sequence data from three plastid regions: the trnL intron, trnL-F intergenic spacer, and the rps16 intron, as well as the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS). We found strong evidence for monophyly of Withania. The enigmatic Mellissia begonifolia, endemic to St Helena, probably is Withania’s nearest sistergroup and as sister of Withania and Mellissia we found some evidence for a clade consisting of Athenaea and Aureliana. All species of Withania except for W. aristata and W. frutescens form a clade that have W. aristata and/or W. frutescens as sister group. W. coagulans groups together with W. riebeckii in the chloroplast phylogeny but does not so on the basis of the ITS data. It may be of allopolyploid origin. Otherwise the phylogeny of the Horn of Africa taxa remains poorly resolved.
Improving the Current Procurement System in Saudi Arabia: A University Case Study

Public projects in Saudi Arabia have faced performance issues. The primary procurement system used in Saudi Arabia (low-bid) does not consider the contractors’ performance. A case study conducted at a university campus in northern Saudi Arabia showed low project performance. The current procurement system was analyzed and modified to utilize the concepts of the Best Value Performance Information Procurement System (BV PIPS). BV PIPS has demonstrated high levels of project performance in previous tests. A large survey was conducted of 761 classified contractors and 43 universities’ representatives. Survey respondents were asked to quantify their view regarding the current procurement system, rate their level of agreement regarding Best Value principles, and rate their level of agreement with the newly proposed procurement system which integrates Best Value principles. The results of the survey show that both, clients and contractors, are dissatisfied with the current procurement system, and agree with the new procurement system. The survey also suggests that respondents agree with Best Value principles suggesting that contractors’ performance should be tracked, and procurement should be conducted using both price and past performance information. The authors recommend that the newly proposed procurement model should be implemented in more projects in Saudi Arabia to further validate the Best Value system and improve the performance of projects in the country.
What are the Impacts of Sugarcane Production on Ecosystem Services? A Review

Since the 1950s sugarcane production has grown rapidly from less than 0.5 billion tonnes in the late 50s to reach over 1.9 billion tonnes in 2012 on about 27 million hectares of agricultural land. This expansion has been boosted by the high demand for bioethanol promoted as a sustainable bioenergy source which accounted in 2010 for the biggest share of the global biofuel market. Despite its benefits, the scientific debate on sugar is growing especially that counterarguments are so many, including negative impacts on different interacting ecosystems and human well-being, e.g. bigger stress on land and water resources, environmental externalities on air, a harmful impact on the biodiversity and endemic species, negative environmental externalities, health, and socio-economic aspects. This paper provides a narrative systematic review (SR) of the impacts of sugarcane production on these different ecosystems employing the ecosystem services framework for its acceptance by policy-makers. The references included for the SR were 163 and results showed that the majority of the studies are from Brazil, Australia, South Africa and the USA (≈ 75% of the literature), most of Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 27 February 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202002.0397. v1 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license. 2 them were from peer-reviewed journals (85%), and most of the case studies adopted a quantitative research approach (93%). The literature assessed showed that sugarcane, like all agro-systems, depends on the practices and techniques to transform negative impacts into positive externalities on ecosystems and human well-being. However, the literature studied failed to include the interlinkage in sugarcane production impacts’ and therefore to evaluate the related ecosystem services with respect to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) framework to account for existing trade-offs. Therefore, the findings are addressed to the scientific community and decision-maker for an intensification of interdisciplinary and integrated research based on the MA framework to cover all ecosystem services, for sustainable development of the sugarcane sector.
Gene Therapy for the COL7A1 Gene

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a genetically and clinically variable disease characterized by blis‐ ter formation and erosions of the skin and mucous membranes after minor trauma [1]. The in‐ heritance of the affected genes can occur in a dominant or recessive way depending on the subform of the disease. In general, epidermolysis bullosa is caused by mutations in genes en‐ coding structural proteins within the basal membrane zone of the skin. Absence or functional loss of one of these proteins results in a lack of stability of the microarchitecture of the connec‐ tion between dermis and epidermis leading to a loss of coherence [1]. The basement membrane between the dermis and the epidermis is a complex membrane produced by basal keratino‐ cytes and dermal fibroblasts that acts as mechanical support for the connection of both skin lay‐ ers. The basal membrane also regulates the metabolic exchange between the two skin compartments [2]. Up to date, there are at least 15 genes associated with EB causing different forms of the disease. Numerous mutations in these genes that encode for structural proteins within keratinocytes or within mucocutaneous basement membranes have been identified up to now [1].
Tannins and Related Polyphenols of Melastomataceous Plants. V. Three New Complex Tannins from Melastoma malabathricum L.

Malabathrins A (6), E (11) and F (14), new complex tannins consisting of a C-glucosidic ellagitannin and a flavan 3-ol, have been isolated from the leaves of melastoma malabathricum L. , and their structures were determined by chemical and spectroscopic methods including two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Confirmation of Everbearing Mutants in the Everbearing Strawberry Cultivar ‘Natsuakari’ and the Effect of an Overwintering Condition on Inflorescence and Runner Development

The everbearing strawberry cultivar ‘Natsuakari’ produces high-quality fruits and can be harvested in summer and autumn. However, flowering-defective individuals have been recently found at some farms in the Tohoku region. To solve this problem, we first investigated the behavior of flowering-defective individuals collected from three places in Aomori, Akita, and Miyagi prefectures and confirmed that the non-flowering phenomenon reproducibly occurred during summer and autumn. Next, we analyzed the genotypes of flowering-defective individuals using highly polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers suitable for cultivar discrimination and SSR markers linked to the everbearing gene. As a result, flowering-defective individuals showed the same genotype as the original ‘Natsuakari’, and the fragment linked to the everbearing gene was not detected in flowering-defective individuals. It was suggested that cultivar contamination was not the cause of the non-flowering phenomenon, and that mutations may be present in flowering-defective individuals. To confirm the effects of previous history before transplanting on the flowering and runner development of normal flowering plants and the flowering-defective mutants, the influence of potting time of the daughter plant and overwintering conditions were investigated. The potting time had no effect on flowering or runner development. Inflorescences in the normal flowering plants continuously emerged, especially in summer and autumn under both heated and non-heated conditions during overwintering. The mutants hardly flowered in the summer and autumn under both conditions, although the inflorescences emerged in the early summer under the heated condition during overwintering. The number of runners observed in the mutants was higher than that in the normal plants throughout the study, especially in the summer, while in both heating during overwintering led to much less runner development in May through July. According to these results, although the mutants were suitable for plant propagation, defective flowering persisted in subsequent years. Therefore, to ensure stable production, it is important to observe flowering types in mother plants with adequate chilling and to select mother plants exhibiting flowering in summer and autumn.
Design study for a compact laser-driven source for medical x-ray fluorescence imaging

Thomson scattering sources with their hard x-ray pencil beams represent a promising candidate to drive high-resolution X-ray Fluorescence Imaging (XFI). As XFI is a scanning imaging modality, it specifically requires pencil-beam geometries along with a high beam mobility. In combination with laser-wakefield acceleration (LWFA) such sources could provide the compactness needed for a future transition into clinical application. A sufficient flux within a small bandwidth could enable in-vivo high-sensitivity XFI for early cancer diagnostics and pharmacokinetic imaging. We thus report on a specific all-laser driven source design directed at increasing the photon number within the bandwidth and opening angle defined by XFI conditions. Typical parameters of driver lasers and electron bunches from LWFA are utilized and controlled within realistic parameter regions on the basis of appropriate beam optics. An active plasma lens is implemented for chromatic focal control of the bunch. Source performance limits are identified and compared to existing x-ray sources with regard to their potential to be implemented in future clinical XFI.
Systematics, biogeography, and diversification of Scytalopus tapaculos (Rhinocryptidae), an enigmatic radiation of Neotropical montane birds

ABSTRACT We studied the phylogeny, biogeography, and diversification of suboscine passerines in the genus Scytalopus (Rhinocryptidae), a widespread, species-rich, and taxonomically challenging group of Neotropical birds. We analyzed nuclear (exons, regions flanking ultraconserved elements) and mitochondrial (ND2) DNA sequence data for a taxonomically and geographically comprehensive sample of specimens collected from Costa Rica to Patagonia and Brazil. We found that Scytalopus is a monophyletic group sister to Eugralla and consists of 3 main clades roughly distributed in (1) the Southern Andes, (2) eastern Brazil, and (3) the Tropical Andes and Central America. The clades from the Southern Andes and eastern Brazil are sister to each other. Despite their confusing uniformity in plumage coloration, body shape, and overall appearance, rates of species accumulation through time in Scytalopus since the origin of the clade in the Late Miocene are unusually high compared with those of other birds, suggesting rapid non-adaptive diversification in the group. We attribute this to their limited dispersal abilities making them speciation-prone and their occurrence in a complex landscape with numerous barriers promoting allopatric differentiation. Divergence times among species and downturns in species accumulation rates in recent times suggest that most speciation events in Scytalopus predate climatic oscillations of the Pleistocene. Our analyses identified various cases of strong genetic structure within species and lack of monophyly of taxa, flagging populations which likely merit additional study to clarify their taxonomic status. In particular, detailed analyses of species limits are due in S. parvirostris, S. latrans, S. speluncae, the S. atratus complex, and the Southern Andes clade.
The Study of Online knowledge Sharing Behavior: Effect of Individual Motivation factors on Individual Performance in Higher Education Students

Knowledge sharing behavior is an activity of exchanging information or spreading massages very quickly and broadly like a virus on a computer by using an interactive internet network. The use of interactive technology can be via e-mail, blogs, sites chat, online bulletin and social networking sites. However, there is still little researches that discussed individual motivation factors where the person finally decides to conduct online knowledge sharing activities in relation to the individual academic performance of students in the university. This study aims to examine the influence of interpersonal relationship theory, especially individual motivation factors consisting of need to belong, altruism, and personal growth on the online knowledge sharing behavior in order to increase the student academic performance. In this study researchers distributed online questionnaires to students in universities of Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia and analyzed using path analysis. The results state that the variables need to belong, altruism, personal growth have positive effects on the online knowledge sharing behavior and online knowledge sharing behavior has a positive effect on student academic performance.
HKA: A Hierarchical Knowledge Attention Mechanism for Multi-Turn Dialogue System

Generating informative responses by incorporating external knowledge into dialogue system attracts more and more attention. Most previous works facilitate single-turn dialogue system on generating such responses. However, few works focus on incorporating knowledge for multi-turn system, since the hierarchy of knowledge, from the words and utterances in context, is ignored. Motivated by this, we propose a novel hierarchical knowledge attention (HKA) mechanism for open-domain multi-turn dialogue system in this paper, which utilizes both word and utterance level attention jointly. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed HKA can incorporate more appropriate knowledge and make the state-of-the-art models generate more informative responses. Further analysis shows that our HKA can improve the model’s ability of dialogue state management, especially when the number of dialogue turns is large.
Using a Delphi study to clarify the landscape and core outcomes in environmental education

Abstract When leaders in a field agree upon core outcomes for the field, connection, reinforcement, and a shared vision of change are synergistically strengthened. Even when the field is dynamic, theoretically wide-ranging, and dispersed, consensus around core outcomes can help develop strategic research agendas and priorities. Environmental education (EE) is an inherently interdisciplinary field drawing on diverse theoretical foundations and epistemological orientations, resulting in a broad conceptual and empirical landscape. To better understand and situate this within EE, we pursued a modified Delphi study, with participation from 44 professionals and leaders active in North America. Over three Delphi rounds, the panel came to agreement on five core outcomes that focus the EE field: (1) environmentally related action and behavior change, (2) connecting people to nature, (3) improving environmental outcomes, (4) improving social/cultural outcomes, and (5) learning environmentally relevant skills and competencies. Reflecting those commonalities, we propose the following encapsulating statement to describe the field’s core outcomes: Environmental education works to move people to action for the tangible benefit of the environment and humanity. To realize these benefits, people must connect experientially with the environment, learn needed skills, and understand the complicated social and cultural connections between humanity and the natural environment. Graphical Abstract
ISOLASI DAN IDENTIFIKASI AWAL SENYAWA INHIBITOR RNA HELIKASE VIRUS HEPATITIS C DARI EKSTRAK BUAH MANGROVE Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh

Hepatitis C virus is the cause of hepatitis C disease which has high virulence. Recent therapy using combination of ribavirin and alpha interferon has short efficiency ( Avicennia marina (Forsk) which had inhibitory activity against RNA helicase. Inhibitory activity was measured by releasing of phosphate inorganic in colorimetric ATPase assay. Crude extract was fractionated using gel filtration chromatography with methanol in chloroform solvent. The result showed that fraction 2 has the highest inhibitory activity i.e. 81.78%. Phytochemical test of crude extract indicated positive result for flavonoids, alkaloids, steroid dan triterpenoid, tannin and saponins. Moreover, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed absorption peak with the high abundance at the retention time of 7.250; 18.983 and 20.050 minute at 216 nm, 247 nm and 263 nm, respectively. According to the results of phytochemical, TLC, and HPLC analyses, inhibitor compound from fruit of A. marina (Forsk) was suggested it belongs to flavonoids. Key words: Avicennia marina, flavonoid, hepatitis C virus, RNA helicase
Determinants of Gi1α and βγ Binding

G protein heterocomplex undergoes dissociation and association during its functional cycle. Quantitative measurements of α and βγ subunit binding have been difficult due to a very high affinity. We used fluorescence flow cytometry to quantitate binding of fluorescein-labeled Gi1α (F-α) to picomolar concentrations of biotinylated Gβγ. Association in Lubrol solution was rapid (k on = 0.7 × 106 m −1 s−1), and equilibrium binding revealed a K d of 2.9 ± 0.8 nm. The binding showed a complex dependence on magnesium concentration, but activation of F-α with either GDP/aluminum fluoride or guanosine 5′-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) completely prevented formation of the heterocomplex (K d > 100 nm). The binding was also influenced by the detergent or lipid environment. Unlabeled βγ reconstituted in biotinylated phospholipid vesicles (pure phosphatidylcholine or mixed brain lipids) bound F-α ∼2–3-fold less tightly (K d = 6–9 nm) than in Lubrol. In contrast, βγ in ionic detergents such as cholate and 3-[(cholamidopropyl)diethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate exhibited substantially lower affinities for F-α. Dissociation of F-α from βγ reconstituted in lipid vesicles was observed upon addition of aluminum fluoride or excess unlabeled α subunit, indicating that myristoylated α subunit has only a weak interaction with lipids without the βγ subunit. The kinetics of aluminum fluoride-stimulated dissociation were slower than those of the α subunit conformational change detected by intrinsic fluorescence. These results quantitatively demonstrate G protein subunit dissociation upon activation and provide a simple but powerful new approach for studying high affinity protein/protein interactions in solution or in a lipid environment.
Lifetime Analysis of IGBT Power Modules in Passively Cooled Tidal Turbine Converters

Thermal cycling is one of the major reasons for failure in power electronic converters. For submerged tidal turbine converters investigating this failure mode is critical in improving the reliability, and minimizing the cost of energy from tidal turbines. This paper considers a submerged tidal turbine converter which is passively cooled by seawater, and where the turbine has fixed-pitch blades. In this respect, this study is different from similar studies on wind turbine converters, which are mostly cooled by active methods, and where turbines are mostly pitch controlled. The main goal is to quantify the impact of surface waves and turbulence in tidal stream velocity on the lifetime of the converter IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) modules. The lifetime model of the IGBT modules is based on the accumulation of fatigue due to thermal cycling. Results indicate that turbulence and surface waves can have a significant impact on the lifetime of the IGBT modules. Furthermore, to accelerate the speed of the lifetime calculation, this paper uses a modified approach by dividing the thermal models into low and high frequency models. The final calculated lifetime values suggest that relying on passive cooling could be adequate for the tidal converters as far as thermal cycling is concerned.
Personal Digital Assistant: A Case Study

— Personal Digital Assistant is inexpensive, lightweight and easy to use. It has desktop class operating system features such as music, web browsing, smart calculation, etc. In Personal Digital Assistant system input can be given either in voice format or in text format. Then the given input can be parsed by the system and tokens are generated using simple tokenized algorithm and built in Google voice API which generates desired output in text format, SAPI5 is used to generate the output in speech format. PDA is useful in computer task management by reducing use of input devices such as keyboard/mouse, and using hardware interface, the support libraries, and its application. It can be used to create a Personal Assistant’s who recognizes different dialogues that are provided as input to the machine and produces response accordingly. Similarly it can process the given input and the output which can be in the form of music, videos, text, etc. can be used efficiently. Personal Digital Assistant system is designed for normal human being and blind/visually impaired people, which transceives information in the form of audio. Through this system it’s possible to send and receive emails, to have access to daily news, weather forecast, set reminders, alarms and make to do list.