Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time-integrated thermal bleaching thresholds of reefs and their variation on the Great Barrier Reef

Knowledge of the critical levels for key environmental variables that are likely to cause bleaching in reef corals is of fundamental importance in conducting risk assessments of potential cli- mate-change effects on coral reefs. Such knowledge can also be used to provide early warning of mass bleaching events. A number of factors have contributed to the difficulty in determining critical levels for coral bleaching. These factors include the fact that multiple stressors may be involved in bleaching, the duration of stress required to elicit a bleaching response varies with temperature, and bleaching triggers are known to be variable in space, time and by species. In this study, I identify sea surface temperature (SST) as the most important parameter for predicting coral bleaching from 4 pos- sible environmental variables collected over 10 to 12 yr from weather stations at 2 locations on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR): temperature, wind speed, solar radiation and barometric pressure. Pre- dicted bleaching-response curves are constructed from high-resolution in situ temperature records and historical observations of coral bleaching for 13 locations. These curves approximate reef-wide stress-response thresholds for bleaching of thermally sensitive (and often dominant) coral species. Distinct spatial trends exist in the thermal sensitivity of coral populations that correspond with posi- tion across the shelf and latitude in the case of mid- and outer-shelf reefs. This suggests that consid- erable thermal adaptation has taken place over small (10s of km) and large (100s to 1000s of km) spa- tial scales. Bleaching curves for inshore reefs do not correspond with latitude and are more variable, reflecting greater local-scale variability in temperature regimes.
Taming volatility : fiscal policy and financial development for growth in the Eastern Caribbean

The report is structured in four chapters that outline the main sources of volatility in the region and suggest ways to mitigate the impacts of that volatility on growth. Chapter one presents stylized facts associated with the growth performance of the Eastern Caribbean over the last 40 years. It contrasts the growth performance of the OECS with the rest of the Latin America region and shows that the two groups of countries have shown significant heterogeneity over the business cycle. The chapter also highlights some of the factors that might be responsible for the volatility of growth in the OECS, including the region’s exposure to natural disasters, high debt, and adverse developments in the financial sector. Chapter two provides new evidence on output volatility and the cyclicality of fiscal policy in the OECS and discusses why countries are better off avoiding a pro-cyclical fiscal policy stance. Chapter three assesses the level of financial development in the region as well as the relationship between financial development, growth, and volatility. The chapter also explores critical policy options to strengthen financial development in the OECS. Chapter four assesses empirically the combined effects of terms of trade volatility, fiscal policy (pro) cyclicality, and financial development on growth in the OECS and other countries using two complementary modeling approaches. First, through an econometric model using panel data for 175 countries over the period 1980-2010. Second, by using impulse-response analysis based on a structural model of the business cycle in the OECS region.
Growth of Sesbania rostrata on different components of tin tailings.

Two field experiments were conducted to evaluate the growth of Sesbania rostrata on sandy, sandy loam and slime components of a tin tailing area treated with inorganic fertilizer, and on the sandy component amended with an organic mixture. Inorganic fertilizer was applied at a rate of30 kg N, 90 kg P20sand 120 kg K20 ha -1. The organic mixture used consisted of50% palm oil mill cake (POMC) and 50% chicken dung at a total equivalent rate of10 t ha -1. Plants were harvested after 24, 42 and 63 days of growth. The results showed that S. rostrata grew best on the slime and poorest on the sandy tailings. Inorganic fertilization increased plant growth on the slime and sandy loam but not on the sandy tailings. Plant tops, roots and nodules in sandy soil amended with organic mixture were 29,27and 2.5 times bette'i than those with the inorganic fertilizer. Plant growth on sandy tailing was equivalent to 56% of plant tops and 200% of roots from plants grown on slime supplied with inorganic fertilizers.
Problematising current forms of legitimised participation in the examination papers for Mathematical Literacy

In this article we argue that in South Africa the current format of legitimised participation and practice in the examination papers for Mathematical Literacy restricts successful apprenticeship in the discipline of scientific mathematics and limits empowered preparation for real-world functioning. The currency of the subject, then, is brought into question. We further argue that the positioning of the subject as a compulsory alternative to Mathematics and the differential distribution of these two subjects to differing groups of learners facilitates the (re)production and sustainment of educational disadvantage. We draw on Dowling’s theoretical constructs of differing domains of mathematical practice and positions and focus analysis on a collection of nationally set exemplar Grade 12 examination papers to identify legitimised forms of participation in the subject. We conclude by arguing for a reconceptualised structure of knowledge and participation in Mathematical Literacy and make preliminary recommendations in this regard.
The Hausman Test for Correlated Effects in Panel Data Models under Misspecification

We investigate the performance under misspecification of the Durbin-WuHausman test for correlated effects with panel data. Consideration of size leads to a general proposition for quadratic forms in normal variate which gives conditions for a class of test statistics, which are chi-square under correct specification, to be oversized under misspecification. In the case of measurement error, the Hausman test is found to be a test of the difference in asymptotic biases of between and within group estimators. However, its ‘size’ is sensitive to the relative magnitude of the intra-group and inter-group variations of the covariates, and can be so large as to call into question the use of the statistic in this case. We discuss an implementation of the alternative robust formulation of the test. Power considerations are presented, using a matched employee-employer data set
Antibacterial Activity of Ginger (Zingiber officinale) Against Isolated Bacteria from the Respiratory Tract Infections

This study was designed to investigate the bacteria found in association with respiratory tract infections (RTI) and the susceptibility of such bacteria to aqueous and methanolic extracts of Zingiber officinale (ginger). Bacteriological studies were carried out on sputum from 110 patients, made up of 57 males and 53 females, aged 24-80 years, attending Chest Clinic at Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital Ado-Ekiti in the year 2013. Seventeen bacteria species namely Luteococcus sanguinuis, Corynebacterium accolens, Vibrio fluvialis, Serratia ficaria, Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococus aureus, Pasteurella pneumotropica, Aeromonas caviae, Vibrio mimicus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Pleisomonas shigelloides, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Citrobacter youngae, Chromobacterium violaceum, Luteococcus pertonei, Actinomyces radicidentis and Klebsiella pneumoniae were isolated from the sputum specimens. Klebsiella pneumoniae, Corynebacterium accolens, Aeromonas caviae and Luteococcus sanguinis were commonly isolated from both sexes. Enterobacter aerogenes, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Luteococcus peritonei, Citrobacter youngae, Pleisomonas shigelloides and Serratia ficaria were isolated mainly from male patients while Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio fluvialis, Vibrio mimicus, Citrobacter youngae and Chromobacterium violaceum were isolated from female patients. The bacteria showed a high degree of resistance to the antibiotics used. All the Gram positive bacteria were resistant to cloxacillin, augmentin and tetracycline, with varied resistance to erythromycin (85%), streptomycin (68.75%) and cotrimoxazole (75%). The gram negative bacterial isolates were all resistant to augmentin, tetracyclin and amoxicillin, but were all susceptible to ofloxacin. All the bacteria tested were susceptible to both aqueous and the methanol extracts of ginger, but with higher susceptibility of bacteria to methanolic extract than the water extract. The phytochemical analysis of the ginger extracts indicated that the methanolic extract possessed phenolics, saponin, tannin and flavonoids, but no glycoside detected. On the other hand only cardiac glycoside, out of the 5 phytochemicals, was detected from the aqueous extract of ginger. Key words : Antimicrobial Activity, Ginger, Respiratory Tract Infection
Self-similar properties of decelerating turbulent jets

The flow in a decelerating turbulent round jet is investigated using direct numerical simulation. The simulations are initialised with a flow field from a statistically stationary turbulent jet. Upon stopping the inflow, a deceleration wave passes through the jet, behind which the velocity field evolves towards a new statistically unsteady self-similar state. Assumption of unsteady self-similar behaviour leads to analytical relations concerning the evolution of the centreline mean axial velocity and the shapes of the radial profiles of the velocity statistics. Consistency between these predictions and the simulation data supports the use of the assumption of self-similarity. The mean radial velocity is predicted to reverse in direction near to the jet centreline as the deceleration wave passes, contributing to an approximately threefold increase in the normalised mass entrainment rate. The shape of the mean axial velocity profile undergoes a relatively small change across the deceleration transient, and this observation provides direct evidence in support of previous models that have assumed that the mean axial velocity profile, and in some cases also the jet spreading angle, remain approximately constant within unsteady jets.
Short-Sales Restrictions and Efficiency of Emerging Option Market: A Study of Indian Stock Index Options

Using Indian index options, this paper investigates the effect of short-sales restrictions on the pricing and informational efficiency of derivative markets in emerging countries. Results indicate that there are violations of the put-call parity as well as the boundary conditions, indicating pricing inefficiency in the derivative market when there are restrictions on short-sales. However, volume-volatility relationship of the Indian market is similar to that of the developed markets which suggests that investors in India are using the derivative market for efficient hedging strategies.
STP-LWE: A Variant of Learning with Error for a Flexible Encryption

We construct a flexible lattice based scheme based on semitensor product learning with errors (STP-LWE), which is a variant of learning with errors problem. We have proved that STP-LWE is hard when LWE is hard. Our scheme is proved to be secure against indistinguishable chosen message attacks, and it can achieve a balance between the security and efficiency in the hierarchical encryption systems. In addition, our scheme is almost as efficient as the dual encryption in GPV08.
Transformative Processes in Environmental Education: A Case Study

This paper presents a case study on the severely degraded Boksburg Lake’s (Gauteng, South Africa) social–ecological system, and on an environmental-education initiative that aimed to support the lake’s transformation with a view to its improved social and ecological well-being. In this case study, three key characteristics of the initiative which appeared to support the transformative process are discussed, namely: 1. Learning was aligned with the local social–ecological context; 2. Human-to-human and human-to-ecological connections were encouraged; and 3. The youth played a key role in initiating and effecting transformation. Apparent consequences of this particular environmental-education approach include: local people becoming involved and invested in an environmental-education process that was highly meaningful to them; a deeper connection being nurtured among participating stakeholders, as well as between the youth and Boksburg Lake; a collective identity being adopted to bring about change; knowledge of Boksburg Lake’s social– ecological system being strengthened; acknowledgement of personal culpability in the lake’s degradation; many of the youths changing their negative environmental practices; and local stakeholders, including the youth, engaging in collective action to reclaim Boksburg Lake. Furthermore, a range of new practices emerged from the Schools for a Sustainable Environment (SSE) initiative. The literature is drawn on to explain the possible consequences of this initiative. Through this paper, it is hoped that environmentaleducation practitioners will be provided with useful conceptual tools to support their work.
A Review on Smart Home based on Ambient Intelligence, Contextual Awareness and Internet of Things (IoT) in Constructing Thermally Comfortable and Energy Aware House

This survey intends to identify the techniques surrounding a construction of a house that is thermally comfortable and energy aware and IoT enabled. The automated home has renewed interest in recent years largely due to ubiquitous communication and lower cost in computational unit. The Internet of Things (IoT), context awareness and ambient intelligence are the key technologies elements under research for realization of the modern smart home. However, these elements are often implemented individually. This study provides a comprehensive review of the above mentioned methods for constructing of a smart home. In this review, the context-aware application for smart home is discussed extensively in term of thermal comfort and energy optimization base on occupancy. The discussion is centered on intelligence technique which can provide an ambient intelligence home with inclusion of IoT sensor network. This review therein provides a functional mapping on solving the relevant problem surrounding thermal comfort and energy awareness in construction of a smart house.
Why the Empty Shells Were Not Fired: A Semi-Bibliographical Note*

Abstract This note documents Aumann's reason for omitting the “empty shells” argument for the common prior assumption from the final version of “Correlated Equilibrium as an Expression of Bayesian Rationality. ” It then continues to discuss the argument and concludes that rational entities cannot learn their own identity; if they do not know it a priori, they never will.
An Experiment to Improve Classification Accuracy Using Ensemble Methods

Data mining is the practice of analyzing huge quantities of data and shortening it into constructive knowledge. Data Mining is an eternal process which is quite useful in finding understandable patterns and relationships amongst the data. There are various classification techniques available. It is observed that all the techniques don’t work well with all datasets. It is found that when the classifiers are used alone, they are not performing as good as when they are combined using ensembles. Ensemble methods are renowned techniques in order to improve the classification accuracy. Bagging and Boosting are the most common ensemble learning techniques used to improve the classification accuracy. Here, a study on the classification accuracy improvement is carried out in which an experiment is performed using boosting with different datasets from UCI repository.
Factors influencing infiltrability of semiarid mountain slopes.

The objective of this research was to determine the effects of selected vegetation, soil, rock, and slope variables on infiltration of semiarid rangelands with slope gradients ranging from 0-70%O. Analyses were made on 2 sets of data collected a year apart in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and consisted of Pearson and partial correlation analysis of the dependent infi'ltration variables and independent site variables. In addition, infiltration was regressed against uncorrelated factors produced by factor analysis. Vegetal cover and biomass strongly influenced infiltration. The relative importance of grasses, shrubs or litter was dependent on their respective abundance, especially grass. Soil depth also limited infiltration especially as soil water storage became satisfied. Infiltrability was negatively correlated with rock cover and the smallest rock size fragments were the most negatively related. When the effects of vegetal cover and slope were removed (using partial correlation analysis) however, the median sized rock fragments (26-150 mm) were positively related to infiltrability, and the smallest rock fragements (2-12 mm) were negatively related. Partial correlation analysis also suggested a positive correlation between infiltrability and slope gradient.
Obstacles and Challenges Confronting Principals in the Development of School Democracy Policies in Taiwan

Democratic ideals are the foundations of public education. All educational practitioners are accountable to recognize inequity and develop inclusive school communities to fulfill the individual needs of every student. However, obstacles and challenges might emerge in the development of democracy in schools. The main purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of school principals at the elementary and junior high school levels and understand what problems they encountered when transforming the school power structure into a democracy. The qualitative method was employed in this study, and this method entailed an in-depth interview approach. Twenty school principals in central Taiwan were randomly selected through purposeful sampling. The dilemmas identified included an interestbased conception of democracy over the common good, failure to communicate through official channels, lack of accountability for power sharers, constraints on principals’ power, struggles between participatory and representative participation, and democracy as an obstacle to school effectiveness. The implications for the future development of school democracy are presented in this paper.
Effects of food prices and consumer income on nutrient availability: An application of the demand for dairy products in Tunisia

Number of Tunisian food demand studies have measured the influence of traditional variables, such as income and prices, and in some cases some sociodemographic variables. However, givenincreasing concerns about health, other important factors, such as the nutritious quality and the nutrientcontent of food, have also been shown to determine consumer choices. This paper analyses the effect ofthese factors on the demand for dairy products. The nutritious quality of dairy products is measured by anindex that relates nutrient content of each product with the standards suggested by the National Academyof Science. A demand system is estimated and nutrient demand elasticities with respect to prices and expenditure are obtained. Results differ from traditional studies in the sense that higher prices do not indicate lower consumption but a shift to a higher quality demand.
A research on the ethical dimension of banking crises in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)

In an era of sustainable economic development models there is an increased attention on sectoral compatibility, environmental protection, and professional ethics. As in the past, the banking and finance sector is still considered to be the heart of all development models. Financial institutions such as banks provide the necessary funds for all the manufacturing or service organizations in all the sectors. Therefore stability in the finance sector is necessary for the stability in all the other sectors. Analysing the recent bank and business failures it can be seen that the business and professional ethics is one of the most important elements of stability in banking and finance industries. In this respect, the basic objective of this study is to look at the ethical issues among the reasons for the recent bank failures and outline the professional and business ethics that has to be adopted in order to provide stability in the banking and finance sector of TRNC. As the summary It can be asserted that the most serious ethical problems which led to financial crises in TRNC were, connected lending, credits without adequate collaterals, favorism by the management, inadequate use of funds, dealing in non-financial activities, political interference, lack of accountability, illegal use of funds, lack of transparency, and risky investments with low
Actions of androgens and estrogens in experimental models of cardiovascular disease

Men are at higher risk of developing both atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Actions of sex steroids are hypothesized to underlie these gender differences. Testosterone, the major androgen, reduces atherosclerosis in male animal models but is suggested to promote AAA formation. However, the role of the androgen receptor (AR) in mediating these effects of androgens is unknown. Further, the physiological metabolic actions of androgens in females are unclear. Estradiol, the major estrogen in females, reduces atherosclerosis in female animal models and can be metabolized to 2-methoxyestradiol, a biologically active metabolite, in the vascular wall. This thesis aimed 1) to determine the role of the AR in the atheroprotection by testosterone in male mice, and 2) to investigate the physiological, AR-dependent actions of androgens in the development of atherosclerosis in female mice, and 3) to investigate the role of the AR in the development of AAA in male mice, and 4) to examine whether 2-methoxyestradiol affects the development of atherosclerosis in female mice. Male and female AR-deficient mice (AR - and AR -/- ) on apolipoprotein E-deficient background were generated using Cre/loxP technology. Male AR - mice fed a high-fat diet displayed accelerated atherosclerosis and reduced atheroprotection by testosterone. Female AR -/- mice fed a high-fat diet displayed accelerated atherosclerosis associated with several features of the metabolic syndrome including obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. In an angiotensin II-induced model of AAA formation, male AR - mice were protected from the development of AAA while displaying increased atherosclerosis, and testosterone increased AAA formation in controls, but not in AR - mice. In addition, 2-methoxyestradiol treatment reduced atherosclerotic lesion formation in female apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.