Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Demand for Independent and Active Audit Committees

We focus on the importance of audit committees in the contracting process. We find that the demand for independent and active audit committees increases with proxies capturing the demand for accounting certification. Specifically, the likelihood of a firm having a completely independent and active audit committee is negatively related to firm growth opportunities and managerial ownership and positively related to firm size and leverage.
Studies on the Ripening of Wheat Grain : 6. Development of the furrow side tissues.

The furrow side tissue of wheat grain consist of thin pericarp, raphe (conducting strand) and inside nucellar parenchyma. In this report the developmental morphology of these tissues was dealt. At the time of anthesis, the vessels and sieve tubes were not yet found except of some strongly stained ceells layer in the furrow side of the ovary. Immediately after the fertilization, the formation of the conducting strand started at the base of funiculus and it continued until 25∼30 days after anthesis. Thus four groups of the conducting cells which were parallel to the dorsal surface of the endosperm were formed in the raphe. A few of the conducting cells extended to the level of the distal end of endosperm, however, others terminated at several elevations, and their ends were not joined directly to the endosperm even at the distal end of the raphe. Therefore, the number of conducting cells was less in higher portion of the raphe. The fromation of sieve tubes seemed to precede that of vessels, although the typical sieve plate could not be found. Nucellus inside the raphe was dissimilar in character to that in flank and abdominal side, for the former did not show degeneration until full maturation stage. In 5-6 cells layer parallel with the raphe, yellow-coloured substance similar to that in the integument of abdominal side was deposited during 9th to 25th days. But in this side seed cooat and hyaline layer which were formed from integument and outer layer of nucellus respectively in the abdominal and flank side were never formed. Nucellar cells increased in number in early developmental stage and thereafter, all of them elongated toward the center of the dorsal surface of endosperm. The space surrounded by nucellus and endosperm was filled with sap and became narrower in the last stage of development and disappeared at full maturation. From the above mentioned observations, we may assume the following hypothesis regarding the terminal course of translocation of the reserve materials into endosperm. Carbohydrates and other reserve materials enter the conducting cells from the base of ovary, and then transfer into nucellar tissue from several elevations of the conducting tissue. The materials go across the cells layer accumulating the yellow-coloured substance, subsequently they are sent along the elongated nucellar parenchyma in sequence, and lastly flow into the cavity surrrounded by the nucellus and endosperm. Surface area of the endosperm facing to the cavity where the cells are of a peculiar shape plays a role of intaking the reserve substances from the cavity. This hypothesis is showing some points of disagreement with Percival and other researchers. In their explanations, the reserve substances traverse the raphe and diffuse into endosperm from a point in the upper part of it.
Occurrence of aflatoxin B1 contamination in dairy cows feed in Iran

Abstract Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary toxic metabolites produced by fungal species. Occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was determined in 210 dairy cow feed samples consisting of concentrate (n= 70), corn silage (n = 70) and alfalfa hay ( n= 70) obtained from dairy farms in central part of Iran during July–September 2014. AFB1 analysis was carried out by using the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique for screening and high performance liquid chromatography for confirmatory purpose. AFB1 was detected in 88 analyzed samples (41.9%), ranging from 1.87 to 19.41 μg/kg; and 70 samples (33.3%) had levels of the toxin above the Iranian national standard and European Commission limits (5 μg/kg). The frequencies of AFB1 contamination in the samples were as follows: alfalfa hay, 55.7%; concentrate, 44.3% and corn silage, 25.7%. The high occurrence of AFB1 contamination may be attributed to poor harvesting technique, environmental conditions, insect infestation or unsuitable storage conditions. Hence, the contamination with AFs could be a potential hazard for human and animal health.
Determinants of Exclusive Breastfeeding of Infants under Six Months among Cambodian Mothers

Introduction Practicing exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in an infant's first six months of life is recommended by the World Health Organization because of its proven effectiveness as a method to support the infant's short- and long-term physical and cognitive development. However, many countries, including Cambodia, face contextually driven challenges in meeting this optimum standard of breastfeeding. The recent declining EBF rate in Cambodia is a concerning indicator of the impact of these challenges. Methods We used existing data from the 2014 Cambodian Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) to analyze 717 Cambodian mother-infant pairs. CDHS 2014 used a two-stage stratified cluster sampling approach to select samples. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess determinants of EBF, taking into account the sampling weight in the analysis. Adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated, and significance level was considered at p value < 0.05. Results Our findings indicate that among mothers with infants under six months, EBF was more likely if they resided rurally (AOR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.23-4.23) and if they delivered at a public hospital (AOR = 2.64; 95% CI 1.28-5.47). On the other hand, mothers of middle wealth index practiced EBF less than mothers of low wealth index (AOR = 0.58; 95% CI 0.34-0.99). And as expected, our analysis confirmed that the older the infants grew, the less likely they were to be exclusively breastfed than those younger than one month old (2-3 months: AOR = 0.49; 95% CI 0.26-0.92; 4-5 months: AOR = 0.25; 95% CI 0.15-0.43). Conclusion The findings emphasize the need to address these determinants adequately by appropriate interventions to halt the declining trend of EBF practice. We recommend a multifaceted approach to improve EBF rates in Cambodia. Advocacy around EBF at public hospitals should continue, and private hospital staff should receive training to provide EBF counselling and support to mothers.
Campylopus introflexus (Dicranaceae, Musci) – an addition to the moss flora of Russia

Campylopus introflexus (Hedw.) Brid. , an adventive moss from the Southern Hemisphere found for the first time is Russia, in Kaliningrad Province. Two localities were found in 2000, not far from the coast of Baltic Sea, in Kurshskaya Kosa (Curonian Spit). Illustration is provided and diagnostic characters of this species are briefly discussed.
The utilization of carbohydrate by fishes - VI. Effect of carboxymethylcellulose supplemented to dextrin-containing diets on the growth and feed efficiency of red sea bream.

In order to investigate the nutritive effect of carboxymethlcellulose (CMC), groups of red seabream Chrysophrys major were fed on the 10%, 20%, or 30% dextrin-containing control diets with-out CMC and on the diets which were supplemented with CMC at a level of 3%, 6%, 9%, or 12% to each control diet. The supplement of CMC improved the growth and feed effficiency, and the optimum level of CMC in diets increased with the increase of dietary dextrin.
Résolutions de Demazure affines et formule de Casselman-Shalika géométrique

We prove a conjecture of Frenkel, Gaitsgory, Kazhdan and Vilonen, related to Fourier coefficients of spherical perverse sheaves on the affine Grassmannian associated to a a split reductive group. Our proof is an extension of the proof given by the first author in the case of GL(n) (see math/9801109); it relies on the study of certain resolutions of Schubert varieties in the affine Grassmannian, built from the so-called minuscule or quasi-minuscule cases.
Hypergammaglobulinemia D syndrome

The hyperimmunoglobulinemia D syndrome is characterized by early onset of attacks of periodic fever and an elevated serum polyclonal Ig D (> 100 U/ml). Symptoms during attacks include joint involvements (arthralgia/arthritis), skin lesions, swollen lymph nodes, headache and abdominal complaints (vomiting, diarrhea and pain). The ethiopathogenia is unknown. It is transmitted by autosomal recessive inheritance. The hyperimmunoglobulinemia D syndrome should be distinguished from other periodic febrile syndroms such as systemic-onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, CINCA syndrome, FADA syndrome, familial mediterranean fever and adult-onset Still disease. There is no therapy for the syndrome but the prognosis is good because the frequency and severity of the attacks tends to diaeminish with age.
Kinetics of the Zn2+-Stimulation of Human Peripheral Lymphocytes in Vitro

Summary Zn2+ induced DNA synthesis to a varying degree in all peripheral lymphocyte cultures from healthy adults and from human cord blood. The effect of zinc acetate, zinc aspartate, zinc chloride, and zinc sulfate was identical, optimal stimulant concentration ranging from 2.25 to 2.75 × 10-4 M. Zinc-treated cultures did not show more cytotoxicity than untreated controls. Zn2+ stimulated few blast cells and little DNA synthesis at 3 days, but mitotic response and DNA synthesis occurred on day 6. A long contact of the stimulant with the cells seems to be necessary to induce maximal DNA synthesis on day 6.
Stability in nonlinear system of neutral difference equations with functional delay

Difference equations usually describe the evolution of certain phenomena over the course of time. For example, if a certain population has discrete generations, the size of the (n + 1)st generation x(n+ 1) is a function of the nth generation x(n) (see [8]). The problems of stability of time-delay systems of neutral type have received considerable attention in the last two decades, see [1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 21, 22]. Practical examples of such systems include distributed networks containing losses transmission lines [4], and population ecology [14], vibration of masses attached to an elastic bar [20]. Certainly, the Lyapunov direct method has been, for more than 100 years, the main tool for the study of stability properties of ordinary, functional, partial differential and difference equations (see [6, 9, 10]). The fixed point theory does not only solve the problem on stability but has a significant advantage over Lyapunov’s direct method. In 2005, Y. N. Raffoul in [19] studied the existence of periodic solutions for a system of nonlinear neutral functional difference equations
Nimber Sequences of Node-Kayles Games

Node-Kayles is an impartial game played on a simple graph. The Sprague-Grundy theorem states that every impartial game is associated with a nonnegative integer value called a Nimber. This paper studies the Nimber sequences of various families of graphs, including 3-paths, lattice graphs, prism graphs, chained cliques, linked cliques, linked cycles, linked diamonds, hypercubes, and generalized Petersen graphs. For most of these families, we determine an explicit formula or a recursion on their Nimber sequences.
Caboverdiana de Zoologia Dragonflies ( Insecta , Odonata ) collected in the Cape Verde Islands , 1960-1989 , including records of two taxa new to the archipelago

Dragonflies from the Cape Verde Islands, collected between 1960 and 1989 and kept in institutes in Portugal and Cape Verde, were studied. The Cape Verde collection at the Centro de Zoologia, Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisbon, Portugal, includes eight species of dragonflies represented by 279 specimens collected in 1960-61 and 1969-72. The entomological collection at the Instituto Nacional de Investigação e Desenvolvimento Agrário (INIDA), São Jorge dos Orgãos, Republic of Cape Verde, includes four odonate species, represented by 27 specimens, collected in the years 1987 and 1989. Anax tristis Hagen and A. rutherfordi McLachlan, single male specimens of which were collected in Santo Antão, 27 October 1972, are new taxa for the archipelago. Both are tropical migrants of which the nearest known occurrence in continental Africa is more than 1,000 and 1,500 km, respectively, from the Cape Verde Islands. The two collections contain several specimens from new localities within the archipelago, particularly from the islands of Maio and Fogo. Current knowledge of flight season and island distribution are summarized and updated.
Effect of Carbogen to Chemoradiation in Volume of Rectal Cancer

The outcome of inoperable rectal cancer treatment by chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and targeted therapy are still unfavorable. Carbogen is a combination of 98% oxygen and 2% carbon dioxide proven effective as chemoradiosensitizer. The aim of this study is to know the effect of concurrent carbogen and chemoradiotherapy in locally advanced rectal cancer by measuring the shrinkage of the tumor volume. The design of this study was randomized true experimental 2 groups pre and post-test-controlled design. Samples were patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. MRI of the pelvis before and 4-8 weeks after the chemoradiation were examined. A total of 28 subjects were randomized to 14 patients who received concurrent chemoradiation with carbogen (treatment group) and 14 patients chemoradiation (control) The tumor shrinkage in the treatment group (13.08 to 6.08 cm3) was significantly higher compared to the control group (18.00 to 12.83 cm3). Supplementation of carbogen to standard treatment chemoradiation for locally advanced rectal cancer significantly shrinkage the tumor volume.
TRIM33 Overexpression Inhibits the Progression of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma In Vivo and In Vitro

Purpose To evaluate the expression of tripartite motif-containing 33 (TRIM33) in ccRCC tissues and explore the biological effect of TRIM33 on the progress of ccRCC. Method The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used to examine the mRNA expression levels of TRIM33 in ccRCC tissues and its clinical relevance. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed to evaluate its expression in ccRCC tissues obtained from our hospital. The correlation between TRIM33 expression and clinicopathological features of the patients was also investigated. The effects of TRIM33 on the proliferation of ccRCC cells were examined using the CCK-8 and colony formation assays. The effects of TRIM33 on the migration and invasion of ccRCC cells were explored through wound healing and transwell assays, along with the use of Wnt signaling pathway agonists in rescue experiments. Western blotting was used to explore the potential mechanism of TRIM33 in renal cancer cells. A xenograft model was used to explore the effect of TRIM33 on tumor growth. Result Bioinformatics analysis showed that TRIM33 mRNA expression in ccRCC tissues was downregulated, and low TRIM33 expression was related to poor prognosis in ccRCC patients. In agreement with this, low TRIM33 expression was detected in human ccRCC tissues. TRIM33 expression levels were correlated with clinical characteristics, including tumor size and Furman's grade. Furthermore, TRIM33 overexpression inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of 786-O and ACHN cell lines. The rescue experiment showed that the originally inhibited migration and invasion capabilities were restored. TRIM33 overexpression reduced the expression levels of β-catenin, cyclin D1, and c-myc, and inhibited tumor growth in ccRCC cells in vivo. Conclusion TRIM33 exhibits an abnormally low expression in human ccRCC tissues. TRIM33 may serve as a potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker for ccRCC.
Six-Minute Walk Test: A Study to Evaluate Normal Values in Female Saudi Arabia Population

Background: Different ethnic populations have normal values for reference. These values are vital to a precise interpretation of the 6MWT in clinical practice. Objective: To evaluate normal six-minute walk distance among young Saudi female population. Design: Cross sectional, Prospective. Setting: Academic set up. Patients and Methods: Cross sectional study conducted on female volunteers aged 18-30 years old. 6MWD was done in a 30 meters long corridor. Vital signs were measured before and after the test. MET was calculated from the distance walked. Main Outcome Measure(s): The primary outcome measure was the 6MWD. Results: Sixty-nine female volunteers participated in the study. Mean age was 23.00 (1.67) (years) and BMI was 22.67(4.10) kg/ m2. 6MWT mean distance covered was 403.43 (91.62) meters. The Metabolic Equivalent and Maximum Heart Rate (%mHR) achieved were 2.81(0.76) ml/kg/min and 50.41(6.7) %, respectively. Height was found to be positively correlated with 6MWD. The 6MWD was found to be in agreement with the reference equation for Saudi population (P <0.05). There is a significant difference in heart and respiratory rates, p<0.000, CI {-14.16(-4.54)}, {-5.45(-2.63) respectively. Conclusion: Height was found to be positively correlated with 6MWD. A large multicenter study is required to confirm the present data and to include a larger age scale.
Rebirth: Mexican Los Angeles from the Great Migration to the Great Depression

This sweeping, vibrant narrative chronicles the history of the Mexican community in Los Angeles. Douglas Monroy unravels the dramatic, complex story of Mexican immigration to Los Angeles during the early decades of the twentieth century and shows how Mexican immigrants re-created their lives and their communities. Against the backdrop of this newly created cityscape, "Rebirth" explores pivotal aspects of Mexican Los Angeles during this time - its history, political economy, popular culture - and depicts the creation of a time and place unique in Californian and American history. Mexican boxers, movie stars, politicians, workers, parents, and children, American popular culture and schools, and historical fervor on both sides of the border all come alive in this literary, jargon-free chronicle. In addition to the colorful unfolding of the social and cultural life of Mexican Los Angeles, Monroy tells a story of first-generation immigrants that provides important points of comparison for understanding other immigrant groups in the United States. Monroy shows how the transmigration of space, culture, and reality from Mexico to Los Angeles became neither wholly American nor Mexican, but Mexico de afuera, 'Mexico outside', a place where new concerns and new lives emerged from what was both old and familiar. This extremely accessible work uncovers the human stories of a dynamic immigrant population and shows the emergence of a truly transnational history and culture. "Rebirth" provides an integral piece of Chicano history, as well as an important element of California urban history, with the rich, synthetic portrait it gives of Mexican Los Angeles.
Entomopathogenicity of Several Fungi toward the English Grain Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) and Enhancement of Virulence with Host Passage of Paecilomyces farinosus

Virulence of the entomopathogenic fungus Paecilomyces farinosus was tested against the English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae (F.), before and after selective subculturing of the fungus. When the stock culture of P. farinosus was tested against S. avenae, an LT50 of 11.1 d was observed. P. farinosus was subcultured by two methods. In the first method, P. farinosus was subjected to repeated passages through the host. In the second method, the fungus was repeatedly subcultured on an agar medium that contained sterilized S. avenae cuticle as the only nutrient source. In both cases, after three selective subcultures of P. farinosus, a decrease in the LT50 to approximately 5.0 d was observed. To our knowledge, the effect of serial in-vitro passage of an entomopathogenic fungus on cuticle of the host insect and the associated LT50 has not been previously studied. Repeated subculturing of the more virulent strain of P. farinosus on nonselective media did not result in an increase in LT50. Five other entomopathogenic fungi were assayed for their virulence towards S. avenae. These fungi were Verticillium lecanii (Zimmerman) Viegas, Erynia heoaphidis Remaudiere & Keller, Beauveria bassiana (Bals.) Vuillemin, Beauveria brongniartii (Saccardo) Petch, and Conidiobolus obscurus (Hall & Dunn) Remaudiere & Keller. V. lecanii showed the greatest virulence, with an LT50 of 2.4 d. E. neoaphidis had an LT50 of 8.0 d, whereas treatment with B. bassiana resulted in an LT50 of 9.5 d. B. brongniartii had the lowest virulence of the strains tested against S. avenae with an LT50 of 11.7 d.
Developments in Cathodic Protection Applied to Reinforced Concrete

Impressed current cathodic protection (CP) has been shown to provide an effective means of restraining corrosion associated with the presence of chloride ions in reinforced concrete structures. Advances in extended anode systems and monitoring methods, together with improved understanding of how to minimize the risks of adverse side effects, have led to widespread acceptance of the approach for treating such problems. Interesting developments in recent years have included the use of very low current density CP for preventing the initiation of corrosion in new structures (cathodic prevention) and intermittent or temporary forms of CP for restoring the passivating character of contaminated cover concrete. Progress is also being made in the application of sacrificial anode CP, particularly as a means of enhancing the performance of patch repairs, which as yet have not been considered a durable method of restoring chloride-contaminated reinforced concrete.
Black-box Optimizer with Implicit Natural Gradient.

Black-box optimization is primarily important for many compute-intensive applications, including reinforcement learning (RL), robot control, etc. This paper presents a novel theoretical framework for black-box optimization, in which our method performs stochastic update with the implicit natural gradient of an exponential-family distribution. Theoretically, we prove the convergence rate of our framework with full matrix update for convex functions. Our theoretical results also hold for continuous non-differentiable black-box functions. Our methods are very simple and contain less hyper-parameters than CMA-ES \cite{hansen2006cma}. Empirically, our method with full matrix update achieves competitive performance compared with one of the state-of-the-art method CMA-ES on benchmark test problems. Moreover, our methods can achieve high optimization precision on some challenging test functions (e.g., $l_1$-norm ellipsoid test problem and Levy test problem), while methods with explicit natural gradient, i.e., IGO \cite{ollivier2017information} with full matrix update can not. This shows the efficiency of our methods.
Ripening, Respiration, and Ethylene Production of ‘Hass’ Avocado Fruits at 20° to 40°C1

The respiratory rate, ethylene production and ripening of mature ‘Hass’ avocado fruits (Persea americana Mill.) were determined at 20° to 40°C. Typical climacteric patterns occurred at 20°, 25°, 30° and 35° with the climacteric maximum increasing with temperature, but only a decreasing respiratory rate with time was observed at 40°. Maximum ethylene production decreased as the temperature increased, with a significant decrease between 25° and 30°, only trace amounts were produced at 35° and essentially no ethylene production was detected at 40°. The ripened fruit quality was excellent at 20°, 25° and 30°, fair at 35° and abnormal and unacceptable at 40°. Fruit held at 40° for up to 2 days resumed ripening when transferred to 20°. The exposure to exogenous ethylene or propylene hastened the ripening response up to 35°, however at 40° the respiratory rate was increased, but ethylene production and normal ripening did not occur.