Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Existing Knowledge on Learning

It has been observed that different people learn the same things in different ways に increasing their knowledge of the subject/domain uniquely. One plausible reason for this disparity in learning is the difference in the existing personal knowledge held in the particular area in which the knowledge increase happens. To understand this further, in this paper knowledge is modelled as a けsystem of cognitive schemataげ, and knowledge increase as a process in this system; the effect of existing personal knowledge on knowledge increase is けthe Learning Capabilityげ. Learning Capability is obtained in form of a function, although it is merely a representation making use of mathematical symbolism, not a calculable entity. The examination of the function tells us about the nature of learning capability. However, existing knowledge is only one factor affecting knowledge increase and thus one component of a more general model, which might additionally include talent, learning willingness, and attention.
Role of Non-Performing Loans (Npls) and Capital Adequacy in Banking Structure and Competition

This paper analyses the impact of the transition from price-cap regulation (deposit/loan rate control) to rate-of-return regulation ( ROA, NPLs and/or BIS ratio ) on banking industry structure. A simple theoretical mo del of banking competition suggests that the relative dominance of the two objective fu nctions under different regulatory regimes affects the market structure. Imposing more stringent rate-of-return regulation, whilst relaxing price-cap regulation, reduces the e quilibrium number of banks. The result from the theoretical model is also supported by empirical evidence from Korea, which has undergone substantial consolidation in re cent years. The empirical analysis uses a unique data set of the entire commercial ban king sector in Korea between 1976 and 2003, which covers both pre- and post- banking crisis periods.
Influence of human footprint and sensory disturbances on night-time space use of an owl

Artificial sensory disturbances (sound and light) can extend far beyond the physical footprint of human development. Nocturnal predators such as owls may be influenced by artificial sound and light, as they depend on aural and visual cues when hunting. Owl nocturnal move- ments may also be altered by physical changes to the landscape, as these can affect prey availabil- ity. The burrowing owl population in Canada has declined by 90% and was classified as endan- gered in 1995. We tracked adult male burrowing owls Athene cunicularia with GPS dataloggers, and used resource selection models to examine their night-time movement patterns in relation to human infrastructure and associated artificial light and sound. The amount of sound and light from compressor stations, oil wells, traffic, towns and buildings was calculated for each owl and random location. We found that owl night-time space use was better predicted by distance to infrastructure on the landscape than by intensity of sensory disturbance. Burrowing owls did not show a pronounced avoidance of artificial sound. Infrastructure best predicts owl space use, per- haps because associated changes to vegetation alter prey abundance and availability. While human infrastructure most influenced owl nocturnal space use, the extent to which ecosystems are impacted by artificial sound and light is becoming clearer and needs to be considered when assessing the total effect of human development on species.
Integrated function modelling: comparing the IFM framework with SysML

This paper presents a comparison between the Integrated Function Modelling framework and SysML with the aim of deriving specific potentials for cross-fertilisation and further improvement regarding their application for function modelling in interdisciplinary design. The presented comparison comprises literature reviews as well as the practical application of both the IFM framework and SysML for modelling the functionality of an exemplary mechatronic system. The research leads to the identification of advantages and shortcomings in both approaches. Based on these insights, the paper further presents a conceptual adaptation of the IFM framework with the intention to improve its practical applicability and reducing modelling efforts.
Evaluation of Concrete Durability Performance with Sodium Silicate Impregnants

This paper presents an enhanced performance in concrete impregnated with silicate compound. Two different types of impregnant materials (inorganic and combined type) are applied to concrete samples with different strength grade (21 MPa and 34 MPa). Through lab-scale test, improved performances in impregnated concrete are evaluated regarding porosity, strength, chloride diffusion coefficient, permeability of air/water, and absorption. Long-term exposure tests including strength, chloride penetration depth and contents, and electrical potential for steel corrosion are performed for different marine conditions. While the surface-impregnated concrete shows marginal increase in strength, significant improvements of porosity, absorption, and permeability are evaluated. The resistance to chloride attack reasonably improved through simply spraying the inorganic silicate in atmospheric-salt spraying condition.
Informing Canada’s commitment to biodiversity conservation: A science-based framework to help guide protected areas designation through Target 1 and beyond

Biodiversity is intrinsically linked to the health of our planet—and its people. Yet, increasingly, human activities are causing the extinction of species, degrading ecosystems, and reducing nature’s resilience to climate change and other threats. As a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Canada has a legal responsibility to protect 17% of land and freshwater by 2020. Currently, Canada has protected ∼10% of its terrestrial lands, requiring a marked increase in the pace and focus of protection over the next three years. Given the distribution, extent, and geography of Canada’s current protected areas, systematic conservation planning would provide decision-makers with a ranking of the potential for new protected area sites to stem biodiversity loss and preserve functioning ecosystems. Here, we identify five key principles for identifying lands that are likely to make the greatest contribution to reversing biodiversity declines and ensuring biodiversity persistence into the future. We identify current gaps and integrate principles of protecting ( i) species at risk, ( ii) representative ecosystems, ( iii) intact wilderness, ( iv) connectivity, and ( v) climate refugia. This spatially explicit assessment is intended as an ecological foundation that, when integrated with social, economic and governance considerations, would support evidence-based protected area decision-making in Canada.
Retrogressive "Classic Game" Image Processing

Image processing has been applied for aesthetic or artistic purposes to produce a range of visual eects including abstracted images, painterly renderings, and comic-book, or cartoon eects. In this paper we examine the problem of transforming standard RGB images to having an appearance reminiscent of older console games. This is achieved by way of quantization of the colour-space, accompanied by a number of complementary processing stages that optimize the spread of initial RGB values for the target palette. Specific palettes considered include the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Gameboy, Sega Master System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and TurboGrafx‐16. Methods and experimentation presented reveal that distinct strategies are required dependent on properties of source images, and target palettes. Observations driven by experimentation are provided as guidelines for quickly adapting source imagery to the appearance of a desired classic console game, and accompanying software is provided with an overview of its use case.
Econometrics of first price auctions: a survey of the theoretical and applied literature

The analysis of auctions is an active area of research for both theoretical and empirical economists. This paper provides an overview of the literature relevant to the econometrics of auctions from a structural approach perspective. The structural approach is a framework to analyze auction data in which theory and econometrics are closely related. There are three fundamental issues at the heart of the structural analysis: (i) Are there any testable restrictions imposed by the theoretic model on the data? (ii) Is it possible to identify the structural elements that characterize an auction without a priori parametric information? (iii) What can be said about feasible estimation procedures which do not rely on parametric assumptions? This survey shows how the structural approach literature has answered each question.
Evaluation of Selected Algorithms for Sensor Based Localization for a Mini Autonomous Vehicle Sensor fusion and localization algorithms ’ evaluation in a simulation framework under experimental conditions

This paper evaluates two different sensor fusion algorithms and their effect on a localization algorithm in the Robot Operating System. It also describes algorithms’ strengths and weaknesses. In order to evaluate these algorithms experiment was conducted in three different scenarios for both fusion algorithms, results were collected under the same conditions. The data compares the final robot’s position to ground truth.
Potassium Nitrate Priming Affects the Activity of Nitrate Reductase and Antioxidant Enzymes in Tomato Germination

Priming has been used to improve the performance of germination at the field, and potassium nitrate (KNO 3 ) is a promising compound for this purpose. The nitrate (NO 3 ) could be absorbed, being used in the metabolism of the embryo, through the enzyme nitrate reductase (NR). Besides, the priming could also activate the response of the antioxidant system, becoming the primed seeds more prepared for possible stresses. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic effect of nitrate in tomato seed germination by the quantification of NR activity, and also evaluate the activity of some antioxidant enzymes as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). Tomato seeds were primed using solutions of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) -1,1MPa, 50 mM KNO 3 and PEG+KNO 3 . The variables analyzed were germination (germinability, mean germination time, mean germination rate, coefficient of variation of the germination time, uncertainty and synchrony) nitrogen, total proteins and enzymes. The germination data were analyzed using an ANOVA, comparing the averages by Scott-Knott test (P < 0.05). To analyze the nitrogen, protein and enzymatic activities, we used a Kruskal-Wallis test (P < 0.05). The results show an increase in the NR activity, as well as in the antioxidant enzymes. The germination time ( t ) and germination rate ( v ) primed in KNO 3 had a better performance compared to the other treatments. In conclusion, the observed benefits in tomato seeds primed with KNO 3 were related to the activity of the enzyme nitrate reductase in the production of nitrite/nitric oxide, which acted promoting a faster germination.
Evolution of protoplanetary disks from their taxonomy in scattered light: spirals, rings, cavities, and shadows

Context. Dozens of protoplanetary disks have been imaged in scattered light during the last decade. Aims. The variety of brightness, extension, and morphology from this census motivates a taxonomical study of protoplanetary disks in polarimetric light to constrain their evolution and establish the current framework of this type of observation. Methods. We classified 58 disks with available polarimetric observations into six major categories (Ring, Spiral, Giant, Rim, Faint, and Small disks) based on their appearance in scattered light. We re-calculated the stellar and disk properties from the newly available Gaia DR2 and related these properties with the disk categories. Results. More than half of our sample shows disk substructures. For the remaining sources, the absence of detected features is due to their faintness, their small size, or the disk geometry. Faint disks are typically found around young stars and typically host no cavity. There is a possible dichotomy in the near-infrared (NIR) excess of sources with spiral-disks (high) and ring-disks (low). Like spirals, shadows are associated with a high NIR excess. If we account for the pre-main sequence evolutionary timescale of stars with different mass, spiral arms are likely associated with old disks. We also found a loose, shallow declining trend for the disk dust mass with time. Conclusions. Protoplanetary disks may form substructures like rings very early in their evolution but their detectability in scattered light is limited to relatively old sources ( ≳5 Myr) where the recurrently detected disk cavities cause the outer disk to be illuminate. The shallow decrease of disk mass with time might be due to a selection effect, where disks observed thus far in scattered light are typically massive, bright transition disks with longer lifetimes than most disks. Our study points toward spirals and shadows being generated by planets of a fraction of a Jupiter mass to a few Jupiter masses in size that leave their (observed) imprint on both the inner disk near the star and the outer disk cavity.
Effects of B-Mannanase Supplementing of Olive Pulp-Included Diet on Performance of Laying Hens, Egg Quality Characteristics, Humoral and Cellular Immune Response and Blood Parameters

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate performance of laying hens fed olive pulp (OP)- included diets supplemented with a commercial -mannanase-based enzyme product. A total of 144 laying hens (75-wk old Lohman-LSL Lite) were assigned to feed 6 experimental diets with 4 replicates (cage) and 6 hens per cage. A 3×2 factorial arrangement of treatments including 3 levels of OP (0, 4.5 and 9.0 %) and enzyme (Hemicell 0 and 0.05%) was employed for 9 wk trial period. Collected data was analyzed based on completely ® randomized design using GLM procedure of SAS. Diet inclusion of OP and enzyme had no significant effect on overall egg production, egg mass, feed conversion ratio and feed intake (p>0.05). Hens fed diet with 9% OP and enzyme had the highest egg weight compared to hens fed other experimental diets (p<0.05). Decreased Haugh unit was seen in hens fed diet included 9% OP compared to hens fed other experimental diets (p<0.05). Egg shell weight in the birds fed OP-included diets was higher than the birds fed control diet (p<0.05). Dietary enzyme supplementation had no significant effect on egg quality characteristics. In conclusion, based on the results of the present experiment OP can be included laying hens diets up to 9 % with no deleterious effects on bird's performance. In addition, dietary OP could improve egg weight.
Tilburg University On measurement properties of continuation ratio models

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In Vitro Antifungal Activities of Three Aromatic Plant Extracts Against Fusarium Oxysporum Schlechtend. Fr. F. Sp. Lycopersici (Sacc.) Causal Organism of Fusarium Wilt In Tomato

In vitro assay of aqueous extracts of Allium sativum, Zingiber officinale and Dysphania ambrosioides were evaluated against Fusarium oxysporum. Five concentrations of cold and hot water aqueous extracts were obtained by infusing 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 g of powder in 20 ml of sterile distilled water for 24 hours to obtain 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% concentration, the hot water extracts were obtained using similar procedure with each flask placed in a water bath at 90°C for 90 mins. Food poisoned technique was employed for investigating the fungi toxicity of the plants essential oils (EO) against Fusarium oxysporum growth. An aliquot of 0.1 of the EO was dissolved in 0.9 ml of Tween-20 and mixed with 15 ml of Potato Dextrose Agar medium to achieve 20, 40, and 60% concentration, while the undiluted oil was recorded as 100%. The plates were inoculated with a 6mm assay disc cut from 7 day old culture fungus; observations were recorded on 7th day of incubation. Results indicate a reduction in F. oxysporum growth in the culture media, with hyphae becoming visible 48-50h after inoculation. A. sativum at 100% gave the highest inhibitory effect (71.24%) on mycelial growth, and compete favourably with Carbendazim (80.38%). The hot water extraction revealed better antifungal effects (45.86%) on F. oxysporium than cold water extract (33.80%). A. sativum showed the highest inhibition of 71.24% and 66.92% at 80% and 100% respectively, after Carbendazim (80.38%) at 0.5 mg/ml which is the standard. However, all extracts recorded the lowest mycelia growth at 20% concentration level.
Adaptation of epiphytic bryophytes in the understorey attributing to the correlations and trade-offs between functional traits

This study explores adaptive strategies of epiphytic bryophytes in the understorey by investigating the photosynthetic characteristics, pigment concentrations and nutrient stoichiometry, as well as other functional traits of three trunk-dwelling bryophytes in a subtropical montane cloud forest in SW China. The results showed that their light-saturated net photosynthetic rate (Anmax−L), light saturation point (Isat), light compensation point (Ic) and dark respiration rate (Rd) were ca 0.55, 106.72, 4.17 and 0.25 μmol m−2 s−1, respectively. Furthermore, the samples demonstrated photosynthetic down-regulation under high irradiance. These photosynthetic characteristics can be explained by higher total chlorophyll concentrations, specific leaf area, chlorophyll per unit leaf N (Chl/N), lower ratio of chlorophyll a to chlorophyll b (Chl a/b) and photosynthetic nitrogen-use efficiency. We suggest that the bryophytes adapted to the shaded understorey microhabitats through a series of correlations and trade-offs between functional traits.
Magnetically modified coffee silverskin for the removal of xenobiotics from wastewater

Coffee silverskin (CS), a solid waste from the coffee industry, was magnetically modified by contact with an aqueous ferrofluid containing magnetite nanoparticles. The resulting material was characterized by SEM-EDX analysis and X-ray diffraction. To assess the suitability of the magnetically modified CS for the removal of pollutants from wastewaters, both equilibrium and kinetic adsorption experiments were performed. Methylene blue was used as a model contaminant. Equilibrium and kinetic data were fitted by the Langmuir equation and the pseudo-secondorder model. A maximum adsorption capacity of 556 mg g –1 and a half-adsorption time ranging from 12.8 to 35.3 min were determined. The magnetically modified adsorbent was regenerated by washing with 0.01 N HCl and recovered from the aqueous solution by a permanent magnet. Overall, the results obtained strongly support the use of the magnetic material developed as a new lowcost adsorbent for the large-scale removal of pollutants from wastewater.
X-Ray and Radio Observations of the Magnetar SGR J1935+2154 during Its 2014, 2015, and 2016 Outbursts

We analyzed broadband X-ray and radio data of the magnetar SGR J1935+2154 taken in the aftermath of its 2014, 2015, and 2016 outbursts. The source soft X-ray spectrum <10 keV is well described with a blackbody+power-law (BB+PL) or 2BB model during all three outbursts. Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array observations revealed a hard X-ray tail, with a PL photon index Γ = 0.9, extending up to 50 keV, with flux comparable to the one detected <10 keV. Imaging analysis of Chandra data did not reveal small-scale extended emission around the source. Following the outbursts, the total 0.5–10 keV flux from SGR J1935+2154 increased in concordance to its bursting activity, with the flux at activation onset increasing by a factor of ∼7 following its strongest 2016 June outburst. A Swift/X-Ray Telescope observation taken 1.5 days prior to the onset of this outburst showed a flux level consistent with quiescence. We show that the flux increase is due to the PL or hot BB component, which increased by a factor of 25 compared to quiescence, while the cold BB component kT = 0.47 keV remained more or less constant. The 2014 and 2015 outbursts decayed quasi-exponentially with timescales of ∼40 days, while the stronger 2016 May and June outbursts showed a quick short-term decay with timescales of about four days. Our Arecibo radio observations set the deepest limits on the radio emission from a magnetar, with a maximum flux density limit of 14 μJy for the 4.6 GHz observations and 7 μJy for the 1.4 GHz observations. We discuss these results in the framework of the current magnetar theoretical models.
CONSUMPTION OF TOMATOES REDUCES THE CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Emerging epidemiological and intervention data support the connection between increased tomato consumption and reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. Tomato contains several antioxidants including lycopene, polyphenols, trace elements, and vitamins those are known to inhibit atherosclerotic processes. Recent studies have demonstrated that tomato also contains several potent anti-platelet compounds. The ingestion of these tomato components significantly affects ex vivo platelet function when supplemented in human volunteers. Platelet aggregation is a central mechanism in the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes, including myocardial infarction and unstable angina. Since tomato can reduce both platelet hyperactivity and atherosclerosis process thus makes it an ideal food for the cardiovascular system. Additionally tomato has the lowest content of uric acid than any fruits and vegetables. Tomato extract , commercially known as Fruitflow, is an absolutely unique dietary solution for cardiovascular support that works immediately after ingestion. Fruitflow works by helping to keep blood platelets smooth, thereby promoting healthy circulation and pressure within the cardiovascular system. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/jbayr.v1i2. 10027
Indel and single nucleotide variations of zeins generate unique 2D-zein patterns and molecular markers useful in maize (Zea mays) genotyping.

In this study, we investigated the inter- and intra-genomic sequence variation of alpha-zein genes and their polypeptide expression in different maize genotypes, i.e. inbreds and a set of Lombardy open pollinated varieties, by analyzing their RFLP, coding nucleotides and 2-dimensional (2D) protein fractionation profiles. An extensive analysis of coding capacity of alpha-zein sequences in various genotypes and in the B73 reference inbred allowed us to assign 2D-spots to specific zein sequences. Moreover, we found that some genes reported to contain in frame stop codons are very likely expressed. Collectively these data allowed us to constitute two barcodes respectively based on nucleotide variation and on 2-D protein patterns that identify univocally each genotype.