Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is there a relationship between herbaceous species richness and buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris)

Cenchrus ciliaris L. (buffel grass) (Poaceae) is recognized as one of Australia's most serious environmental weeds. This introduced grass has been associated with loss of native species and alteration of fire regimes. However, it is also highly valued as a pasture species for arid and semiarid zones and its weed status is highly controversial. Quantitative studies are needed to determine its ecological effects. The relationship between C. ciliaris and herbaceous species richness was investigated in two studies at a range of scales up to 64 m(2) in open woodlands in the Dalrymple Shire, north-eastern Queensland. In the first study, the herbaceous species composition of sites with and without C. ciliaris were compared. Cenchrus ciliaris-dominated sites had fewer herbaceous species than non-C. ciliaris sites at all scales investigated and this pattern was found for the major plant groups (perennial grasses, legumes and other forbs) present. In the second study, the relationship between varying levels of C. ciliaris biomass and species richness was investigated. The relationship between varying levels of a dominant native grass, Bothriochloa ewartiana (Domin) C.E. Hubb. (Poaceae), and species richness was also determined for comparison with the C. ciliaris biomass-richness relationship. In this study, species richness was negatively associated with increasing C. ciliaris biomass at some scales and it appeared that C. ciliaris had a greater effect on richness than B. ewartiana. The negative association between C. ciliaris and species richness is consistent with the view that invasion by C. ciliaris poses a threat to biodiversity. However, the precise cause of the relationship has yet to be determined.
Determining the Odor Thresholds for Some Compounds in Alcoholic Beverages

SUMMARY: Determinations have been made of the sensory odor threshold estimates of four alcohols, five esters, seven acids and diacetyl found in alcoholic beverages, by means of the triangular test. The threshold levels ranged among alcohols from 5 to 8 ppm except for isobutyl alcohol with the level of 75 ppm. Among esters there were three with the level of 0.2-0.6 ppm and two with the level of 14-17 ppm. Among acids three levels were found, one with the range of 4-9 ppm, one with 15-20 ppm and isovaleric acid with 0.7 ppm. Diacetyl had the lowest level–0.0025 ppm. The determination of thresholds was standardized by calculation of the percentage-abovechance-scores; by testing the usefulness of the amateur panel, and by specification of the threshold estimates in statistical terms. The results attained a fair goodness-offit of the model and the smell perception was found to vary with the logarithm of the stimulus. The distribution of scores follows the normal probability function.
An analysis of the impact of the process improvement at LHV Bank

: ​ The financial institutions nowadays have big development departments and are trying to adjust all the processes towards the use of agile software development. Before they mostly relied on the waterfall methods of development because it was more reliable and brought overall more value. But the demand outgoing from the rapidly changing world made companies consider Agile software methods as well. Companies usually spend additional resources on the changes and software process improvement to become more Agile, therefore the ways to evaluate change results are relevant for them. In this thesis, the case study on the LHV bank which applied 8 proposals of Agile Software Process Improvement was done. The proposals introduction of the agile management culture in the whole company, organization of the relevant training, assigning the concrete development team for the bank products, setting the common objective to the autonomous teams, and review of the agile development methods, delivery, and moving system architecture from the legacy system to the microservices. In light of its context, this thesis addresses the research questions of how the proposals were implemented, what was the impact of the implemented changes on the company, and what can be done to further improve the impact? In order to answer the research questions, the interviews with the employees of the company took place and the qualitative data were analyzed. The analysis was done to allow us to understand how the proposals were applied and which further improvements can be done in the future in LHV Bank.
Modelling the relationship between market and accounting values of Australian listed companies*

This paper analyses the relationship between market and accounting values using firm-level dynamic information. Using annual data from the period 1950 2009, error correction models (ECMs) for twenty-nine, selected individual firms listed on the Australian stock exchange (ASX) are estimated. The results are consistent with those recently reported in Falta and Willett (2011a; 2011b) for a sample of large listed US companies of similar size and time period. They show, inter alia: the need for a logarithmic transformation of the data to give statistically well-specified models; time series stability of individual firm model coefficients; variation in the regressors and their coefficient values between firms; and systematic predictive ability of book values for market value in one year ahead forecasts of abnormal returns. Average ECMs in book value are reported for the sample but it is not possible to produce these by cross section analysis alone. Fixed effects panel modelling is required to do this.
Tools for GPU Computing - Debugging and Performance Analysis of Heterogenous HPC Applications

General purpose GPUs are now ubiquitous in high-end supercomputing. All but one (the Japanese Fugaku system, which is based on ARM processors) of the announced (pre-)exascale systems contain vast amounts of GPUs that deliver the majority of the performance of these systems. Thus, GPU programming will be a necessity for application developers using high-end HPC systems.However, programming GPUs efficiently is an even more daunting task than traditional HPC application development. This becomes even more apparent for large-scale systems containing thousands of GPUs. Orchestrating all the resources of such a system imposes a tremendous challenge to developers. Luckily a rich ecosystem of tools exist to assist developers in every development step of a GPU application at all scales. In this paper we present an overview of these tools and discuss their capabilities. We start with an overview of different GPU programming models, from low-level with CUDA over pragma-based models like OpenACC to high-level approaches like Kokkos. We discuss their respective tool interfaces as the main method for tools to obtain information on the execution of a kernel on the GPU. The main focus of this paper is on two classes of tools, debuggers and performance analysis tools. Debuggers help the developer to identify problems both on the CPU and GPU side as well as in the interplay of both. Once the application runs correctly, performance analysis tools can be used to pinpoint bottlenecks in the execution of the code and help to increase the overall performance.
A Review of Studies on Occurrence Rules of Agricultural Non- point Source Pollution in Different Ecological Regions

In recent years, scholars both at home and abroad pay more and more attention to agricultural non-point source pollution, and research has been deepening. However, there is still no systematic comparative study of agricultural non-point source pollution in different ecological regions. Due to different ecological types, different soil physical states, different man-made fertilizer inputs, different rainfall characteristics and different topography, agricultural non-point source pollution has a huge difference in contribution to water environment pollution. In this study, by combining different ecological types, different rainfall characteristics and different topography and other factors to explore the characteristics of agricultural non-point source pollution and emission laws.
UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED FACULTY OF ARTS The issue of figurative language in pragmatics

Today, the linguistic status of figures of speech i nterests not only the scholars of rhetoric, stylistics, semantics, and th e literary studies. Although it has been a known fact that the figurative use of langua ge had not exclusively been a decoration of literary works or public speeches, it was the spread of pragmatic thinking, cognitive semantics, and experimental psy cholinguistics that was necessary for the research to increase focus on everyday communication. Different studies and different authors use the bas ic terms in diverse ways, so it is important to make it clear at the be ginning that the dissertation follows the dominant convention of pragmatics as it interprets the term figure of speech (cf. figurative meaning) as a broader category than trope: the latter only refers to metaphor (including simile, personificati on, allegory, synesthesia) and metonymy (involving synecdoche, emphasis, antonomas ia), while the former refers, beyond metaphor and metonymy, to irony, hyp erbole, litotes, oxymora, and colloquial tautology as well. All in all, figur es of speech refer to all kinds of general meaning-transposition patterns ( schēma in Greek), not merely to those based on conceptual analogy (metaphor) or connectio n (metonymy). The production and interpretation of figurative mea nings as communicational phenomena raise or concern all those fundame ntal questions which are in the limelight of pragmatic interest since the 70s:
TRANSPORT OF PHOTOASSIMILATES IN YOUNG TREES OF FRAXINUS AND SORBUS : MEASUREMENT OF TRANSLOCATION IN VIVO

: Translocation of photoassimilates was studied on 2-year-old trees of Fraxinus excelsior and Sorbus aucuparia using the short-lived isotope 11C. Leaflets of different leaves on the same plants were radiolabeled showing that both carbon distribution and speeds of transport may vary with leaf position. Within 2 h after pulse feeding with 11CO2, mainly the lower leaves distributed radiolabel to the roots in Fraxinus, whereas in Sorbus, the upper leaves were also involved. By repeated pulse applications to selected leaves, temporal profiles of 11C transport were followed on individual plants from April to October. Early in the season, within 2 h after pulse labelling, 30–40% of the fixed radiolabel was exported from leaves in Fraxinus and about 20% in Sorbus. Thereafter export started to decline, particularly in Fraxinus, and the distribution of radiolabel between stem and roots could alter depending on the position of the feed leaf. Speeds of translocation obtained along the rachis and stem showed high variability, but they did not necessarily slow down before the end of the season. The speeds monitored at the rachis of Fraxinus leaves (30–75 cm h−1) were generally lower than those found on Sorbus (50–130 cm h−1). As reported in the literature, the two tree species translocate different carbohydrates and show remarkable differences in the ultrastructure of their vascular systems. In that context it is interesting that the temporal profiles of 11C radioactivity obtained from F. excelsior and S. aucuparia could clearly be distinguished by their characteristic shapes. The results are discussed in terms of anatomical characteristics of the conducting tissues and possible differences in phloem loading.
AN EXPLORATION OF INNOVATION STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN KENYA: A STUDY OF AIRTEL KENYA

Innovation strategy provides a clear direction and focuses the effort of the entire organization on a common innovation goal. This study seeks to investigate the innovation strategies adopted by telecommunication service providers for competitive advantage in Kenya with special focus on Airtel Kenya. This research problem is studied through the use of descriptive research design. The target population for this study is the 68 employees of Airtel Kenya at the head office in Nairobi and 100 customer of Airtel Kenya. Stratified random sampling and purposive random sampling techniques were used to select the sample size of 158 respondents since the population of interest is not homogeneous and could be divided into three strata namely; top, middle and low level management. Primary and secondary data is gathered. Primary data was collected by administering survey questionnaires and interview schedules whiles secondary data is gathered from inside the company, libraries, annual reports, published data etc. Qualitative data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics using SPSS (version 20). Chi Square was used to test the hypothesis. Content analysis was used to test data that is qualitative in nature, whiles ANOVA was used to test the level of significance of the variables. In addition, the study conducted a multiple regression analysis to generate quantitative reports through tabulations, percentages, and measures of central tendency. The study established that technological innovation strategies, product innovation strategies, marketing innovation strategies, and process innovation strategies had significant influence effect competitive advantage of Airtel Kenya Limited. The study concludes that technological innovation strategies, product innovation strategies, marketing innovation strategies, and process innovation strategies all had a positive influence on competitive advantage of Airtel Kenya Limited. The study recomends that; It is very crucial for the telecommunication firms to keep innovating by investing heavily in the research and development in order to overcome the challenge of an improved innovative and efficient product for the consumers. Therefore, firms should continually invest in new technology or new product, market innovation and process innovation strategies so as to ensure insure profitability for themselves.
Organic Dairy Farming – A New Trend in Dairy Sector -

Organic Dairy farming means raising animals on organic feed (i.e. pastures cultivated without the use of fertilizers or pesticides), have access to pasture or outside, along with the restricted usage of antibiotics and hormones. Products obtained from Organic dairy farm are the organic dairy products. Organic farming is a system of production, a set of goal-based regulations that allow farmers to manage their own particular situations individually, while maintaining organic integrity. In this article, the benefits, conditions required, constraints involved, and managemental practices of organic dairying, along with information about the regulatory authorities concerned with the organic dairy farming were reviewed briefly to make students and farmers aware of organic dairy farming.
Load balancing with Modify Approach

: Recently, various types of bandwidth eater are growing rapidly. Cloud computing as a Internet computing has become popular day by day to provide various type of services and resources to web user. Cloud computing employs Internet resources to execute large-scale tasks. Therefore, to select appropriate node for executing a task is able to enhance the performance of large-scale cloud computing environment. There are several heterogeneous nodes in a cloud computing system. Namely, each node has different capability to execute task; hence, only consider the CPU remaining of the node is not enough when a node is chosen to execute a task. Therefore, how to select an efficient node to execute a task is very important in a cloud computing. In this paper, we propose a scheduling algorithm, LB3M, which combines minimum completion time and load balancing strategies. For the case study, LB3M can provide efficient utilization of computing resources and maintain the load balancing in cloud computing environment.
A Hedonic Price Index on Bank Data and the Impact of the Economic Crisis on House Prices in the Czech Republic

In the first section, this paper describes the methods employed to calculate the first ever hedonic price index created in the Czech Republic using data from the country’s biggest mortgage lenders. This section also presents the wider context of the creation of this index and its practical application. In the second section, hedonic price index data are used to demonstrate the impact of the global economic crisis on housing prices in the Czech Republic. The impact of the economic crisis on housing and mortgage markets is then analysed using methods from both neoclassic and institutional economics. The findings show that institutional factors relating to the housing system may have an important influence on the scope and character of the impact of the economic crisis on housing and mortgage markets in the Czech Republic.
Foliar flavanoids of nine speceis of Bauhinia

Foliar flavonoids of nine species of Bauhinia were isolated and identified. All the compounds correspond to glycosides derived from kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin and myricetin. Derivatives of the latter aglyconhe seem to be rare in Bauhinia. Derivatives of isorhamnetin are commonly found in species of subgenus Bauhinia and were not detected in the two species of subgenus Phanera. Flavonoid patterns of species of the former subgenus are in general more complex than those of the latter.
Functional studies of purinergic and cholinergic interactions in the rat urinary bladder - Characterization of ATP-evoked urothelial release of acetylcholine

Functional interplays between different transmitter systems are known to affect the signalling of the micturition reflex arc. The functional implications of many of these interactions, such as between ATP and acetylcholine, have yet to be unravelled. This thesis aimed to identify and characterize the functional importance of a proposed atropine-sensitive component in purinergic responses. Furthermore, its impact on afferent signalling and changes during experimental (cyclophosphamide-induced) cystitis were to be studied in vitro and in vivo. The existence of an atropine-sensitive part of purinergic responses important for direct detrusor contractions was proven. Furthermore, this purinergiccholinergic link was shown to be dependent on an intact urothelium as well as caveolae. This suggests a pronounced interaction between these structures, tentatively indicating the caveolae in the urothelium to be of importance for the ATP-evoked release of acetylcholine. Blockade of neuronal transmission by tetrodotoxin did not affect this release, suggesting it to be non-neuronal. Cystitis altered the urothelial signalling, diminishing the purinergic atropinesensitivity, showing this link to be important for healthy bladder signalling and to be affected during cystitis. Also, atropine significantly decreased contractions induced by the stable ATP-analogue α,β-MeATP, demonstrating
A Comparison of Privacy Enhancing Technologies in Internet of Vehicle Systems

The evolution of internet of things (IoT) is driving conventional vehicle ad-hoc networks into the internet of vehicles (IoV). IoV has shown great relevance in helping to improve traffic efficiency by easing traffic congestion. Vehicles can easily exchange information with other vehicles and infrastructure in the same environment as they are. However, the exchange of information in IoV introduces privacy challenges to vehicle owners. Private data of these IoV users are being leaked unintentionally to the system, some systems even send user’s data to a third party system and most times the user’s are not aware of such message exchange with their private data. It is possible for a honest but curious IoV user to identify vehicles and track user’s location by analysing messages exchanged between systems. Messages exchanged between these systems carry some form of vehicular identification and in turn can be used to trace an owner via location profiling. This thesis follows a structured approach towards mitigating this privacy leakage by applying the privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) identified in this thesis paper (encryption and attribute based credential), to help in protecting the information exchanged between each IoV’s involved in communication. This approach is beneficial to system entities compliance in privacy frameworks and also helps in identifying the most effective PET by comparing the state and condition of each data objects identified in the system.
Association of Glutathione S Transferase (GSTM1 and GSTT1) Genetic Polymorphism and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

The occurrence of abnormal balance between both anti-oxidant defenses and free radicals raises the oxidative stress, which is associated with damage to macromolecules and cell dysfunction which leads to variety of diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer and diabetes mellitus. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are multifunctional detoxification enzymes. An important condition influencing GSTs gene expression is oxidative stress, often noticed in diabetes. Multiplex PCR was conducted to detect the polymorphisms of GSTT1 and GSTM1 genes. Observations on a 100 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and 40 non diabetic as control were used. The associations of various null and present genotypes of both GSTT1 and GSTM1 genes with fast blood glucose, lipids profile and blood pressure were compared between the two groups. Null GSTT1 genotype (66%) was 5.11 folds more than control (27.5). Null GSTM1 genotype (65%) was 4.33 folds more than control (30%). NullGSTT1 and null GSTM1 genotype (60%) was 5.16 folds more than control (22.5%). Both present GSTT1 and present GSTM1 genotypes conferred statistical significance decrease in the risk to T2DM comparing to null genotypes. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP & DBP) was significantly higher in individuals of null GSTT1 and GSTM1 than in those with present GSTT1 and GSTM1 genotypes respectively. Fasting blood glucose and triglycerides were significantly higher in individuals of null GSTT1 than in those with present genotype, whereas, HDL was significantly lower than in those with present GSTT1 genotype. Fasting blood glucose and triglycerides of null GSTM1 genotype were significantly higher than in those with present GSTM1 genotype, whereas HDL was significantly lower than in those with present GSTM1 genotype (p ≤ 0.05).
Aspectos morfológicos de frutos, sementes, germinação e plântulas de Hymenolobium petraeum

Hymenolobium petraeum Ducke is a tree belonging to the family Leguminosae popularly known angelim-pedra. Possesses high commercial value, with wood widely used in construction and carpentry. The objective of the present work was to describe morphologically the fruit, the seed and the post-seminal development and to determine the cardinal temperatures for germination of angelim-pedra seeds. The length, width and dry mass of fruits and seeds were measured. For the germination tests, three repetitions of 50 seeds were placed in Petri dishes, in germination chambers at the temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40°C and 12 hours photoperiod. The fruits are samaroid-legumes, indehiscent, oblong, unicarpelate. The seeds are chestnut-dark, oblong, stenospermic, unalbuminous and with inconspicuous plumule. The primary root is white and pubescent near to the col; the shoot seedlings possess white pilosity and compound pinnate protophylum with opposite phyllotaxis, epicotyls green, erect, cylindrical and pilose, pinnate metaphylls with spiral pattern phyllotaxis. The germination is hypogeal cryptocotilar. The maximum germination temperature are above 35°C and the minimum below 15°C, while, the optimum temperature for germination of the seed is between 25 and 35°C.