Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Four-Day School Weeks on School Finance and Achievement: Evidence From Oklahoma

Motivated by potential financial savings, 4-day school weeks have proliferated across the United States in recent years, reaching public schools in 24 states as of 2019. The consequences of the 4-day school week for students, schools, and communities are largely unknown. This article uses district-level panel data from Oklahoma and a difference-in-differences research design to examine the causal effect of the 4-day schedule on school district finance and academic achievement. Results indicate that 4-day weeks decrease districts’ federal revenues and their noninstructional and support services expenditures. Decreases are concentrated specifically in operations, transportation, and food services expenditures and amount to approximately 2.03% of the average 4-day district’s budget. There is no detectable effect of the 4-day week on academic achievement.
Ecological functions of parrots: an integrative perspective from plant life cycle to ecosystem functioning

ABSTRACT Parrots (Psittaciformes) have been viewed as efficient consumers of the reproductive structures of plants. Consequently, parrots have been excluded from studies focusing on plant–animal mutualistic relationships as they have been considered only as plant antagonists. This prevailing view is challenged, however, by recent studies showing that (1) several parrot species are the main seed dispersers of some plant species through stomatochory; (2) the proportion of seeds removed and dispersed to long distances is high in some plant–parrot systems; (3) seeds dispersed by parrots are able to produce seedlings, even in some cases after being partially consumed; (4) tiny seeds are also legitimately dispersed by parrots through endozoochory; (5) seeds dropped by parrots under the mother tree can be consumed and secondarily dispersed by a variety of other species; and (6) parrots can also pollinate and heal their food plants by consuming their parasites. Through both antagonistic and mutualistic interactions with their food plants, parrots can exert cascading effects on the plants’ life cycles and shape the structure and functioning of ecosystems. The later was evaluated by a few studies showing how parrots may shape vegetal landscapes by influencing the spatial distribution and demography of their food plants and vegetal communities. On the other hand, mutualistic interactions lead to an increase of the parrot community robustness when facing the loss of plant species. We provide guidance for further research on the multiple plant–parrot interactions, also encouraging the assessment of how the ongoing decline and extirpation of parrot populations may cause regional losses of key ecological functions.
Big data management and environmental performance: role of big data decision-making capabilities and decision-making quality

PurposeThis study is undertaken to examine the antecedents and role of big data decision-making capabilities toward decision-making quality and environmental performance among the Chinese public and private hospitals. It also examined the moderating effect of big data governance that was almost ignored in previous studies.Design/methodology/approachThe target population consisted of managerial employees (IT experts and executives) in hospitals. Data collected using a survey questionnaire from 752 respondents (374 respondents from public hospitals and 378 respondents from private hospitals) was subjected to PLS-SEM for analysis.FindingsFindings revealed that data management challenges (leadership focus, talent management, technology and organizational culture for big data) are significant antecedents for big data decision-making capabilities in both public and private hospitals. Moreover, it was also found that big data decision-making capabilities played a key role to improve the decision-making quality (effectiveness and efficiency), which positively contribute toward environmental performance in public and private hospitals of China. Public hospitals are playing greater attention to big data management for the sake of quality decision-making and environmental performance than private hospitals.Practical implicationsThis study provides guidelines required by hospitals to strengthen their big data capabilities to improve decision-making quality and environmental performance.Originality/valueThe proposed model provides an insight look at the dynamic capabilities theory in the domain of big data management to tackle the environmental issues in hospitals. The current study is the novel addition in the literature, and it identifies that big data capabilities are envisioned to be a game-changer player in effective decision-making and to improve the environmental performance in health sector.
Implementing Asynchronous Linear Solvers Using Non-Uniform Implementing Asynchronous Linear Solvers Using Non-Uniform Distributions Distributions

Asynchronous iterative methods may improve the time-to-solution of their synchronous counterparts on highly parallel computational platforms. This paper considers asynchronous iterative linear system solvers that employ non-uniform randomization and develops a new implementation for such methods. Experiments with a two-dimensional finite-difference discrete Laplacian problem are presented. The new finer grain implementation is compared with an existing block-based one and shown to be superior in terms of the convergence speed and accuracy. In general, using non-uniform distributions in selecting components to update may lead to faster convergence. In particular, the new implementation converges up to 10% faster when it uses a non-uniform distribution.
Cutting and breaking metaphors of the self and the Motivation & Sedimentation Model

Why are expressions of irreversible separation (e.g. I feel torn apart ) used to speak about the self? Are they to be treated as metaphorical? We address these questions by using concepts and methods from cognitive semiotics, and especially the conceptual-empirical loop . We develop identification and classification procedures based on intersubjective intuitions, and apply these to data from a corpus of personal descriptions of traumatic experiences. To provide a principled explanation of these expressions, we employ the Motivation & Sedimentation Model (hereafter, MSM), which distinguishes between three interacting levels of meaning making: the Situated, the Sedimented, and the Embodied. On this basis we provide a definition of metaphor, leading to the conclusion that most instances of expressions in the sample would qualify as metaphorical, while affirming that metaphoricity is a scalar notion.
Adaptive Cruise Control for Eco-Driving Based on Model Predictive Control Algorithm

An adaptive cruise control (ACC) system is developed based on eco-driving for two typical car-following traffic scenes. The ACC system is designed using the model predictive control (MPC) algorithm, to obtain objectives of eco-driving, driving safety, comfortability, and tracking capability. The optimization of driving comfortability and the minimization of fuel consumption are realized in the manner of constraining the acceleration value and its variation rate, so-called the jerk, of the host vehicle. The driving safety is guaranteed by restricting the vehicle spacing always larger than minimum safe spacing from the host vehicle to the preceding vehicle. The performances of the proposed MPC-based ACC system are evaluated and compared with the conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller-based ACC system in two representative driving scenarios, through a simulation bench and an instantaneous emissions and fuel consumption model. In addition to meeting the other driving objectives mentioned above, the simulation results indicate an improvement of 13% (at the maximum) for fuel economy, which directly shows the effectiveness of the presented MPC-based ACC system.
Biologia populacional da carapeba listrada, Eugerres brasilianus (Cuvier, 1830), próximo à foz do Rio São Francisco (Brasil)

Eugerres brasilianus is one of the main marketable species in Northeastern Brazil and in the lower Sao Francisco River. The objective of this study was to evaluate the population structure of this species in the region. Fish were collected monthly through gillnet from May to December 2013. About 80% of 95 individuals captured were females ranging between the classes 17.0 - 29.0 cm of standard length. The weight/length ratio in females and males during the rainy and dry seasons presented a negative allometric type of growth. Gonadal maturation stages varied from B (under maturation) to C (mature) for females during the rainy season, indicating reproductive activity, a fact confirmed by the gonadosomatic index and the condition factor K, whose values were superior in females (p> 0.05). The results indicate that the species development may be related to the prereproductive period, because the growth in length was greater than in weight.
Serum Levels of CXCL13 Are an Independent Predictor of Survival Following Resection of Biliary Tract Cancer

Simple Summary Biliary tract cancer (BTC) is a primary liver malignancy with poor outcome. The identification of the ideal surgical candidates is often challenging and stratification algorithms comprising the parameters of individual tumor biology are missing. Here, we investigated a potential role of circulating CXCL1, CXCL10 and CXCL13 in patients with resectable BTC as novel biomarkers and could show that elevated levels of CXCL13 both before and after tumor resection identified a subgroup of patients with significantly impaired outcomes following tumor resection. Thus, the present study supports a fundamental role of the CXC chemokine family in BTC and identifies circulating levels of CXCL13 as a previously unrecognized marker for predicting outcomes following the resection of BTC. Abstract Background: The prognosis of biliary tract cancer (BTC) has remained very poor. Although tumor resection represents a potentially curative therapy for selected patients, tumor recurrence is common, and 5-year survival rates have remained below 50%. As stratification algorithms comprising the parameters of individual tumor biology are missing, the identification of ideal patients for extensive tumor surgery is often challenging. The CXC chemokine family exerts decisive functions in cell–cell interactions and has only recently been associated with cancer, but little is known about their function in BTC. Here, we aim to evaluate a potential role of circulating CXCL1, CXCL10 and CXCL13 in patients with resectable BTC. Methods: Serum levels of CXCL1, CXCL10 and CXCL13 were measured by multiplex immunoassay in a cohort of 119 BTC patients undergoing tumor resection and 50 control samples. Results: Circulating levels of CXCL1, CXCL10 and CXCL13 were all significantly elevated in BTC patients compared to healthy controls and increased the diagnostic power of established tumor markers such as CA19-9 when used in combination. Importantly, elevated levels of CXCL13 both before and after tumor resection identified a subgroup of patients with significantly impaired outcomes following tumor resection. As such, BTC patients with initial CXCL13 levels above the ideal prognostic cut-off value (25.01 pg/mL) had a median overall survival (OS) of 290 days compared to 969 days for patients with low initial CXCL13 levels. The prognostic value of circulating CXCL13 was further confirmed by uni- and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Finally, the individual kinetics of CXCL13 before and after tumor resection were also indicative of patient outcomes. Conclusion: Our data support a fundamental role of the CXC chemokine family in BTC and identified circulating levels of CXCL13 as a previously unrecognized marker for predicting outcomes following the resection of BTC.
Evaluation of potential vector control methods that target outdoor feeding anopheles mosquitoes

Insecticide-Treated Nets (ITNs/Long Lasting Insecticide-Treated Nets (LLINs) and Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) have contributed to halving global malaria incidence and mortality rates. Achieving zero malaria transmission using these methods which target indoor-feeding mosquitoes is hampered by residual malaria transmission attributable to outdoor-feeding mosquitoes. This study evaluated potential malaria vector-control methods that target outdoor-feeding Anopheles mosquitoes to contribute to efforts to eliminate residual malaria transmission. Specifically, it set out: (i) To assess community knowledge and awareness on malaria and its vectors, (ii) To determine spatial distribution of Anopheles adults and larvae, (iii) To determine effects of combined use of chemo-attractants and non excito-repellant insecticide (Chlorfenapyr) applied to contaminating devices in attracting and killing outdoor Anopheles mosquitoes and (iv) To evaluate method of attracting gravid Anopheles gambiae s.s to oviposit in artificially-created ovicidal breeding sites. To meet specific objective (i), a cross-sectional questionnaire study which explored knowledge and awareness on malaria was carried out in Dodoma and Morogoro on 400 respondents. The questionnaire study revealed that a vast majority (78.8%) were not aware that early outdoor biting of mosquito was a risk factor for malaria transmission. The main Anopheles breeding sites were found to be rice paddies (25.2%), ditches (23.3%) and septic tanks/pits (18.8%). Adult Anopheles mosquitoes were collected mainly from ceiling (42.3%) and stored/piled junks (16.3%) in the hot-wet season and from under beds (32.1%), undisturbed curtains (25.3%) and store rooms (23.7%) in cold-dry seasons. On testing a novel Umbrella-topped Mosquito Contaminating Device (UtMCD) developed in the present studies as a tool for attracting and killing outdoor Anopheles mosquitoes (specific objective iii) it was revealed that, adjusting for season and study location, the number of Anopheles mosquitoes caught were significantly associated with type of UtMCD set-up used. From among the UtMCD
Markets and the crowding out of conservation‐relevant behavior

Markets are increasingly being incorporated into many aspects of daily life and are becoming an important part of the conservation solution space. Although market‐based solutions to environmental problems can result in improvements to conservation, a body of social science research highlights how markets may also have unforeseen consequences by crowding out or displacing 3 key types of behaviors potentially relevant to conservation, including people's willingness to engage in collective action and civic duty; tolerance for inflicting harm on others (third‐party externalities); and desire for equity. Better understanding of the contexts and mechanisms through which this crowding out occurs and whether specific market‐based instruments are more prone to different types of crowding out will be crucial to developing novel conservation initiatives that can reduce or prevent crowding out.
Evaluation of Hospital Food Waste—A Case Study in Portugal

Food waste (FW) has been linked with nutrient intake, menu performance, food acceptability, costs and environmental impacts. This study aims to evaluate the FW in the wards of a Portuguese public hospital. The evaluation of the FW of lunch meals was performed during 21 days, to all new hospitalized patients (n = 105) admitted in four hospital wards (Medicine (Med), Paediatrics (Ped), Oncology (Onc) and Orthopaedics (Ort)). For each patient, the type of diet and FW were evaluated during the length of hospital stay (covering 321 meals). The FW of the dish was calculated by the physical method by weighing and the soup by the method of visual estimation, evaluating before and after distribution. The patients have a mean 3.1 ± 2.2 day length of hospital stay. In relation to the FW of the dish per ward, that in the Ped ward it was 72.6%, Med 47.5%, Onc 46.9% and Ort 58.4% (ρ = 0.027). The FW for Ped soup was 67.1%, Med 30.9%, Onc 29.4% and Ort 35.2% (ρ = 0.018). The FW values are high, especially in the paediatric ward. The institutions are unaware of the FW produced and given the magnitude of the problem it is necessary to implement effective measures.
Tracking Seasonal and Interannual Variability in Photosynthetic Downregulation in Response to Water Stress at a Temperate Deciduous Forest

The understanding and modeling of photosynthetic dynamics affected by climate variability can be highly uncertain. In this paper, we examined a well‐characterized eddy covariance site in a drought‐prone temperate deciduous broadleaf forest combining tower measurements and satellite observations. We find that an increase in spring temperature usually leads to enhanced spring gross primary production (GPP), but a GPP reduction in late growing season due to water limitation. We evaluated how well a coupled fluorescence‐photosynthesis model (SCOPE) and satellite data sets track the interannual and seasonal variations of tower GPP from 2007 to 2016. In SCOPE, a simple stress factor scaling of Vcmax as a linear function of observed predawn leaf water potential (ψpd) shows a good agreement between modeled and measured interannual variations in both GPP and solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment‐2 (GOME‐2). The modeled and satellite‐observed changes in SIFyield are ~30% smaller than corresponding changes in light use efficiency (LUE) under severe stress, for which a common linear SIF to GPP scaling would underestimate the stress reduction in GPP. Overall, GOME‐2 SIF tracks interannual tower GPP variations better than satellite vegetations indices (VIs) representing canopy “greenness. ” However, it is still challenging to attribute observed SIF variations unequivocally to greenness or physiological changes due to large GOME‐2 footprint. Higher‐resolution SIF data sets (e.g., TROPOMI) already show the potential to well capture the downregulation of late‐season GPP and could pave the way to better disentangle canopy structural and physiological changes in the future.
Path Analysis of Self-Efficacy, Critical Thinking Skills and Emotional Intelligence for Mental Health of Medical Students

Background: Mental health of medical students can be affect by quality of services in hospitals; therefore, it is essential to evaluate its effective factors. However, according to the available data, there were no similar published studies that assess the possibility of linkage between these factors with mental health, in Iranian medical students. Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the pathways applied by self-efficacy, critical thinking skills, and emotional intelligence, which influences the mental health of medical students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was implemented in 2016. The population of the study consisted of medical students in Mazandaran University (Sari, Iran). Self-efficacy questionnaire of Sheerer, critical thinking skills of California (Form B), standard emotional intelligence questionnaire of Petridis, and general health questionnaire of Goldberg were used for data collecting. The data were analyzed in SPSS 18.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) by descriptive and inferential statistic operations (path analysis). Results: The results showed that the average age of students participating in the study was 22.68 (SD = 1.12; 95% CI = 21.56 23.87). The direct path coefficient for critical thinking of mental health was -0.25, which was negative and significant (P < 0.001). In addition, a direct relationship between the emotional intelligence and mental health was found (path coefficient = -0.39). Conclusions: Generally, the results showed that both emotional intelligence and critical thinking play an important role in the mental health of self-reliant students. In addition to a direct effect, emotional intelligence had an impact on self-efficacy mediated
New Culicoides Vector Species for BTV Transmission in Central and Central West of Anatolia

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of BTV infection and possible vector species in different regions of Turkey. In the study, blood samples taken from 666 Akkaraman sheep were examined. 2000 Culicoides specimens were captured by light traps from the same provinces and 20 Culicoides spp. were identified. Blood sera samples were investigated by c-ELISA and SNT for detecting Abs to BTV. Sera samples were detected as positive 67 (10.06%) and 160 (24.02%) by SNT and ELISA, respectively. SN50 values of the 67 positive sera samples by SNT were detected between 1/2.38 and 1/200. All sheep blood samples and pools became Culicoides spp. samples were examined for BTV Ag presence by BTACE. Thirty six (5.40%) blood samples were detected as positive, but no from Culicoides pools. In the meantime, all sheep blood samples and Culicoides Original Research Article Yavru et al.; ARRB, 27(1): 1-9, 2018; Article no.ARRB. 42170 2 samples were directly investigated for BTV genome by one step RT-PCR. Fourteen (2.10%) blood samples and 7 (11.11%) Culicoides species were detected as positive. Also, the blood samples and the Culicoides samples were inoculated into Vero cell culture and passaged 5 times. Twenty nine (4.35%) blood samples cultured in Vero cell culture lines showed CPE but non CPE was observed in Culicoides samples. While 5 (17.24%) of 29 CPE positive isolates were identified as BTV by One Step RT-PCR. Total 26 samples (14 blood samples, 7 Culicoides samples and 5 supernatants) which detected BTV genome positive by One Step RT-PCR were serotyped. At the end of the study, while 23 of 26 samples were serotyped as BTV-9, two samples were serotyped as BTV-4. One sample (C. punctatus) from Culicoides was not serotyped as none of serotypes of BTV. In the present study, BTV was isolated for the first time from C. circumscriptus, C. kibunensis, and C. punctatus in Turkey.
Dauer diapause has transgenerational effects on starvation survival and gene expression plasticity

Phenotypic plasticity is facilitated by epigenetic regulation, and remnants of such regulation may persist after plasticity-inducing cues are gone. However, the relationship between plasticity and transgenerational epigenetic memory is not understood. Dauer diapause in Caenorhabditis elegans provides an opportunity to determine how a plastic response to the early-life environment affects traits later in life and in subsequent generations. We report that after extended diapause, post-dauer worms initially exhibit reduced reproductive success and greater inter-individual variation. In contrast, F3 progeny of post-dauers display increased starvation resistance and lifespan, revealing potentially adaptive transgenerational effects. Transgenerational effects are dependent on the duration of diapause, indicating an effect of extended starvation. In agreement, RNA-seq demonstrates a transgenerational effect on nutrient-responsive genes. Further, post-dauer F3 progeny exhibit reduced gene expression plasticity, suggesting a trade-off between plasticity and epigenetic memory. This work reveals complex effects of nutrient stress over different time scales in an animal that evolved to thrive in feast and famine.