Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relation between the 100-hPa Heat Flux and Stratospheric Potential Vorticity

It is shown that a quantitative relation exists between the stratospheric polar cap potential vorticity and the 100-hPa eddy heat flux. A difference in potential vorticity between years is found to be linearly related to the flux difference integrated over time, taking into account a decrease in relaxation time scale with height in the atmosphere. This relation (the PV‐flux relation) is then applied to the 100-hPa flux difference between 2008/09 and the climatology (1989‐2008) to obtain a prediction of the polar cap potential vorticity difference between the 2008/09 winter and the climatology. A prediction of the 2008/09 polar cap potential vorticity is obtained by adding this potential vorticity difference to the climatological potential vorticity. The observed polar cap potential vorticity for 2008/09 shows a large and abrupt change in the potential vorticity in midwinter, related to the occurrence of a major sudden stratospheric warming in January 2009; this is also captured by the potential vorticity predicted from the 100-hPa flux and the PV‐flux relation. The results of the mean PV‐flux relation show that, on average, about 50% of the interannual variability in the state of the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere is determined by the variations in the 100-hPa heat flux. This explained variance can be as large as 80% for more severe events, as demonstrated for the 2009 major warming.
From Parallel to Comparable Text Corpora

We present a bilingual corpus management system under development in Pisa. The first component of this system was a set of procedures to create and query parallel text archives; we are now studying the implementation of a second set of procedures to interrogate comparable archives. The approach followed is quite different from that used for parallel data and considerably more complex; the results are also very different. In the paper, we describe the strategy we are adopting to retrieve significant data from comparable corpora, and discuss the preliminary results.
Total word count : 5697 Making Sense of Knowledge Productivity β-testing the KP-enhancer

Purpose – purpose of this article is to report about the progress of the development of a method that makes sense of knowledge productivity, in order to be able to give direction to knowledge management initiatives. Methodology/approach – the development and testing of the method is based on the paradigm of the Design Sciences. In order to increase the objectivity of the research findings, and in order to test the transferability of the method, this article suggests a methodology for beta testing. Findings – based on the experiences within this research, the concept of beta testing seems to fit Design Science Research very well. Moreover, applying this concept within this research resulted in valuable findings for further development of the method. Research implications – this is the first article that explicitly applies the concept of beta testing to the process of developing solution concepts. Originality/value – this article contributes to the further operationalization of the relatively new concept of knowledge productivity. From a methodological point of view, this article aims to contribute to the paradigm of the Design Sciences in general, and the concept of beta testing in particular.
Experimental probe of weak-value amplification and geometric phase through the complex zeros of the response function

The extraordinary concept of weak value amplification has attracted considerable attention for addressing foundational questions in quantum mechanics and for metrological applications in high precision measurement of small physical parameters. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a fundamental relationship between the weak value of an observable and complex zero of the response function of a system by employing weak value amplification of spin Hall shift of a Gaussian light beam. Using this relationship, we show that arbitrarily large weak value amplification far beyond the conventional weak measurement limit can be experimentally obtained from the position of the minima of the pointer intensity profile corresponding to the real part of the complex zero of the response function. The imaginary part of the complex zero, on the other hand, is related to the spatial gradient of geometric phase of light, which in this particular scenario evolves due to the weak interaction and the pre and post selections of the polarization states. These universal relationships between the weak values and the complex zeros of the response function may provide new insights on weak measurements in a wide class of physical systems. Extremely large weak value amplification and extraction of system parameters outside the region of validity of conventional weak measurements may open up a new paradigm of weak measurement enhancing its metrological applications.
Fumonisins in Maize # AN � 7 E � 2 EDUCE � 4 HEIR � / CCURRENCE

In 1988, W. C. A. Gelderblom et al. reported that the fumonisins (Fig. 1), a new class of mycotoxins, had been identified from cultures of Fusarium moniliforme J. Sheld. , and that these toxins had cancerpromoting activity (10). This report represented a major breakthrough in nearly a century of investigation into the animal and human diseases associated with consumption of maize contaminated with F. moniliforme. This also was the starting point for worldwide efforts to describe the structure, properties, and toxicology of this new group of toxins. Additionally, the report renewed interest in the phytopathology of the most notorious pathogen of maize. Disciplines Agricultural Science | Agriculture | Plant Pathology Comments This article is from Plant Disease 81 (1997): 556, doi:10.1094/PDIS.1997. 81.6. 556. Rights Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/plantpath_pubs/56
The Development of Local Debt Markets in Asia: An Assessment

The paper makes an assessment of the progress made in developing local debt markets in emerging Asia. Market development has been limited by hurdles confronting borrowers and lenders, current and potential liquidity providers, and insufficient support from government policies and regulations. Besides fostering a credit culture to deepen local debt markets, the issue of critical size can be addressed through an integrated regional market for local currency bonds that provides greater scale, efficiency, and access. With rapid economic growth in Asia, a key challenge is to generate financial assets that can provide the underlying collateral for expanding fixed-income markets, and hence domestic and regional investment opportunities.
El mapa borgeano y sus alrededores

Nasce con Borges una letteratura elevata al quadrato e nello stesso tempo una letteratura come strazione della radice quadrata di se stessa: una cletteratura potenziale>, per usare un termine che sara applicato piu tardi in Francia, ma i cui preannunci possono essere trovati in Ficciones, negli spunti e formule di quelle che avrebbero potuto essere le opere di un ipotetico autore chiamato Herbert Quain. Lezioni americane Italo Calvino
_PROCESSING FACILITATION IN A LEXICAL DECISION TASK

A cost/benefit and a speed/accuracy analysis of semantic priming in a lexical decision task provided information'relevant to the \\\ automatic/conscious' facilitation distinction made by Neely (1977 and Posner and Snyder (1975b). Information is also provided about the opera\tion_of distriminability, criterion bias, and response bias in the facilitation. In both studies, half the cues were neutral and half were words. Word-cues were instances from 30 semantic categories. : Word,targets were the category names, nonword targets were derived from those names. The cue-word was valid 80% ok the time and invalid 20% of the time. In Experiment 1, cue time, a between groups factor was either 200, 300, 400, 500, or 700 msec. Valid cues produced facilitation:in. RT at cue times as short as 400 msec. j Invalid cues produced inhibition at cue times as short as 200 msec. These results, while Similar in many respects to Neely's (1977), raise doubts about an "inhibitionless" kind of automatic facilitation in primed lexical decisions. Response bias and simple applications . of criterion bias models are also ruled -out as the sole explanation of the facilitation. Experiment 2 used a response-signal technique to collect information about the speed/accuracy trade-off-in a lexical decision task. Six college students ' participated in 10 sessions each. Cues were always presented for 800 msec, targets were variably presented-within subjects for either 100, 200, 300, 450,-or 600 msec. Results indicate that. : (a-) subjects are.capable of trading. accuracy for speed; (b) invalid cues can ,. lower discriminability; (c) response bias is an active component in-primingl_JAJ_previous studies
Are Quants All Fishing in the Same Small Pond with the Same Tackle Box?

Widening anecdotal consensus in recent years has posited that quantitative managers as a group pursue similar alpha factors and similar portfolio construction methodologies, resulting in a “crowded trade. ” In this article, the authors perform several types of empirical analysis to examine this claim. The authors find no distinguishable trend in return correlations among a broad set of quantitative managers in recent years, with an average monthly pairwise correlation of 0.34 during the 2007–2009 period versus 0.35 for the 2004–2006 period. Preceding years produced similar numbers. This evidence is corroborated through an analysis of actual portfolio holdings from quantitative managers. We find the average active weight holding correlations to be a low 0.14 over the 2007–2009 period. Moreover, in examining the factor loadings of the dataset, we find little evidence to support the notion of “common factor” loadings. We find only three factors where the mean is larger than the variance: price to forward earnings, CFROIC (cash flow return on invested capital), and shareholder yield (a combination of dividend yield, change in shares outstanding, change in total debt, and change in cash holdings). Even for these factors, the results are not strong, and for the vast majority of factors we find diversity to be the norm.
Exit Through Exitus in Private Equity Buyouts

We study the impact of PE firm and buyout characteristics on default probability employing a Cox proportional hazards model to a global sample of 5,093 buyouts between 1997 and 2012. Our results indicate that investments of generalists have lower default probability than those of specialists. However, industry specialization reduces default probability if stated focus and target industry match. Investments of captive PE firms and secondary buyouts are more likely to default, while the opposite holds true for syndicated investments. In sum, our findings indicate that increasing heterogeneity within a maturing PE market goes along with increasing heterogeneity in default probabilities.
Psychology-informed doctoral research in tourism

ABSTRACT While scholars have reflected on the roles played by psychology in tourism studies, there has been only limited exploration of the contributions of this discipline to tourism doctoral research. The aim of this study is to examine how psychology features in tourism-focused doctoral dissertations completed in the United States (US), Canada, Australia and New Zealand from 1974 to 2013. A content analysis was conducted on the 359 tourism doctoral theses identified during that four-decade period as drawing directly on theory informed by psychology and/or employing psychological concepts. The results indicate that motivation/destination choice, tourist behaviour/experiences, and attitudes/satisfaction are the most prevalent conceptual themes studied and expectancy-value theory the most frequently-invoked theory by psychology-informed doctoral research in tourism. Although collectively drawing on a wide range of methods throughout this period, an increase in the use of mixed and qualitative methodologies in recent decades was evident. This paper adds to a suite of studies exploring the scholarly contributions and trends in the application of psychology to the study of tourism. It serves to highlight gaps and avenues for further research, including the need for a more strategic and documented approach to the selection and application of psychology-informed theory, theoretical frameworks and models.
Influence of in ovo Inoculation of Probiotic Strains on the Jejunal Goblet Cell Counts and Morphometry in Peri- and Post-hatching Chicks

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of in ovo inoculation of different probiotic strains (Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecium, and Pediococcus acidilactici) on jejunal goblet cells counts and morphometry in chicken. Probiotics were inoculated into the amniotic fluid of 480 eggs (day 17 of incubation), with four treatments and five replicates. At days 21 of incubation and 3 post-hatch, counts of goblet cells were 30% and 16% higher in the jejunum of group inoculated Bacillus subtilis as compared with the control group, respectively. Inoculation of Enterococcus faecium, and Pediococcus acidilactici had no effect (P>0.05) on goblet cells counts. Inoculation of Bacillus subtilis and Pediococcus acidilactici resulted in an increase of villus height, a decrease in crypt depth and a decrease in ratio of villus height to crypt depth compared with the control group (P>0.05), at days 8 and 28 of age. As a conclusion, various effects of different probiotic strains on goblet cells count and intestinal morphometry were observed. Among probiotic strains evaluated in this study, Bacillus subtilis has higher benefit effect on goblet cells counts in the early of life and morphometry of jejunum.
The General Factor of Personality and Evaluation

According to the proposal of the general factor of personality (GFP), socially desirable personality traits have been selected for throughout evolution because they increase fitness. However, it remains unknown whether people high on this factor actually behave in socially desirable ways or whether they simply endorse traits of positive valence. We separated these two sources of variance by having 619 participants respond to 120 personality adjectives organised into 30 quadruples balanced for content and valence (e.g. unambitious, easy–going, driven and workaholic tapped the trait achievement–striving). An exploratory six–factor solution fit well, and the factors resembled the Big Five. We subsequently extracted a higher–order factor from this solution, which appeared similar to the GFP. A Schmid–Leiman transformation of the higher–order factor, however, revealed that it clustered items of similar valence but opposite content (e.g. at the negative pole, unambitious and workaholic), rendering it an implausible description of evolved adaptive behaviour. Isolating this evaluative factor using exploratory structural equation modelling generated factors consisting of items of similar descriptive content but different valence (e.g. driven and workaholic), and the correlations among these factors were of small magnitude, indicating that the putative GFP capitalises primarily on evaluative rather than descriptive variance. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Study on the Wave Screening Effectiveness According to Trench Dimensions Using Ultrasonic Waves

In this study numerical and experimental studies are conducted to examine the wave screening effectiveness of trenches. The numerical study relies on the finite element model of a sandbox with Lysmer-Kuhlemeyer absorbing boundaries. This model is used to examine the screening ef-fectiveness of trench studied for different trench dimensions and distances from the source and receiver to the trench. The results of the numerical analysis are compared with the results of the ultrasonic experiment performed on an acrylic block drilled with a rectangular cut. The comparison shows that the screening effectiveness of the trench is nearly equal if the depth of trench is larger than 60% of the surface wave length. It is also shown that if the distance between the trench and the source is longer than twice the surface wave length, the thickness of the trench does not affect the screening effectiveness.
Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Insights from Learning Styles and Learning Theories

Learning styles like (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic) as in the VAK theory and (Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinaesthetic) as in VARK, and the Mind Styles Model (i.e. concrete vs. abstract perceptual abilities and sequential vs. random ordering abilities)—propose in one way or another individualisation of education (i.e. mainly here learning and teaching languages as in TESL and TEFL). Similarly, learning theories propose different interpretations for the system of learning as in (behaviourism, constructivism, cognitivism, social psychology, and connectionism)— through which learning and teaching should take place. Five models were proposed approaching these issues with the first model for the vocabulary system (i.e. form aspect(s), meaning aspect(s), and distribution aspect(s), the second model for integration of learning theories and five types of aids (visual, audio, audio-visual, action and multimedia aids), the third, fourth and fifth models for three learning styles’ theories (i.e. VAK, VARK, and the Mind Styles Model). Given that my approach was only based on my designed models inspired by the original theories, conclusions included that experimental and behavioural based evidence is needed to give credibility for the effectiveness of using learning styles towards more effective teaching of vocabulary. With this in mind, it was proposed that learning styles could be used as indicators other than reliable and valid diagnostic tools for he learners’ preferences-helping teachers to consider the use of as many as possible of the five introduced types of aids while teaching vocabulary-enhancing the implications from the learning theories, too.
"Dinotopia" a visual serious game. An application for education purposes.

7 Introduction . 8 Chapter 1 Electronic Games . 10 1.1 Characteristics of the electronic games. 10 1.2 Categories of the electronic games . 11 1.2.1 Adventures games: . 11 1.2.2 Educational games: . 11 1.2.3 Fighting games . 11 1.2. 4 First Person Shooter games . 12 1.2. 5 Massive online games or multiplayer on line games. 12 1.2. 6 Music Games . 12 1.2. 7 Racing Games . 12 1.2. 8 Simulation Games . 13 1.2. 9 Strategy games . 13 1.3. Electronic games and real world . 13 1.3. 1 How games effect the way of thinking. 14 1.3. 2 Modern teaching and learning theories . 15 1.3. 3 What can make a serious game successful . 16 1.4 Serious games applications in the classroom. 19 1.4. 1 Using electronic games in the classroom and the evaluation of them. 21 1.5 Advantages and Disadvantages of the electronic Serious Games in the class. 1.5. 1 Advantages of the serious games in class: . 22 1.5. 2 Disadvantages of the serious games in class: . 23 Chapter 2 Serious Games . 25 2.1 Serious Games -description . 25 2.1 Classifications of the serious games . 26 2.2 Electronic Games versus Serious Games. 32 2.3 Virtual worlds . 33
Crustal structure of the central Lesser Antilles island arc : seismic near-vertical and wide-angle profiling

In the context of the EU funded THALES project active seismic investigations were conducted along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, using both, wide-angle and near-vertical techniques. The structure of the Caribbean plate and the subducting Atlantic plate was determined through a combined analysis of ocean bottom seismometer and multi-channel seismic data along a transect between 15°N and 17°N. A detailed analysis of a priori and a posteriori information of a Monte Carlo based tomography scheme with a subsequent structural evaluation by forward modeling are applied to a 2-d seismic profile south of Guadeloupe. The island arc crust of the Caribbean plate has an average thickness of 28±2 km and overrides the approximately 8 km thick late cretaceous (80 Ma) Atlantic crust. The island arc crust shows two distinct reflections, which are interpreted as an intracrustal and Moho discontinuity, respectively. To a depth of 40 km the Atlantic lithosphere subducts at an average angle of 40°. The accretionary prism gains a thickness of more than 10 km and shows high energy attenuation in the middle prism. A backstop structure is imaged by a strong lateral increase of the vertical velocity gradient superimposed on structural heterogeneities. The decollement zone reaches a thickness of up to 1.8 km and shows no seismic phase polarity change. The slow convergence rate and the subduction of the Tiburon and Barracuda ridges make this subduction zone a prime candidate for major earthquakes. Between 15°N and 17°N, the seismogenic rupture area is approximated by the contact zone between the backstop and the mantle wedge. Accordingly, this area is capable of triggering an earthquake of a magnitude of Mw 7.6 and indeed makes this active European subduction zone a place of major telluric risk.
Investigating the readiness of people in manufacturing SMEs to embark on LSS projects

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to investigate the impact of the core personal competence, vision and organisational culture on readiness of people to commence Lean Six Sigma (LSS) projects in the manufacturing Small and Medium Sized- Enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach - A set of hypothesis analysis was designed to identify the level of association between constructs of people’s competence, vision and culture with LSS readiness through correlation and regression analysis. A quantitative data collection through questionnaire has been conducted for seven different German manufacturing SMEs involved in aerospace and agro-food manufacturing as convenient samples. Finding – It was found that there is a strong positive association between Core competence of people and organisational culture with readiness for commencing LSS. However, further detailed regression analysis indicated that amongst cultural constructs, core values of people was the significant predictor for LSS readiness, whilst no significant difference between core competence constructs was found to be ready for LSS commencing. Therefore, focusing on core values of people could be prioritised to facilitate management commitment and removing resistance to change as two key people-related success factors of LSS commencement. Practical Implications –The result of this paper could be generalised to different manufacturing SMEs and would have direct impact on identifying the key factors that could lead to management commitment and resistance to change in order to commence any LSS in any organisation specially SMEs. Originality/Value- This research focuses on human resource (HR) aspects of implementing LSS projects in SMEs and would recommend the people-related critical variables to lead success of LSS project in western culture.