Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analysis of energy allocation to tissue and skeletal growth in corals

In aquatic invertebrates that form exoskeletons, the partitioning of energy between skeletal and tissue growth is an important tradeoff, especially under resource limitation or physiological stress. Here, we provide the first comparative analysis of energy investment into tissue and skeleton in corals. We develop a mathematical growth model based on colony geometry, tissue mass and quality (enthalpy), and predicted cost of calcification. For hemispherical colonies, the model predicts greater investment in tissue at small sizes, but a shift to skeletal‐dominated growth at colony sizes greater than 5–14 cm radius, depending on tissue mass and quality. A similar transition occurs in branches, but is a function of radius and length. An experimental study to assess the impact of resource (light) limitation and physiological stress (sediment load) on energy partitioning in small hemispherical colonies (Goniastrea retiformis Lamarck) and branches (Porites cylindrica Dana) showed that tissue mass and quality varies greatly over small increments in colony or branch size. In particular, allocations to tissue growth varied tenfold (from positive to negative) more across sediment treatments than did allocations to skeletal growth. A model of energy acquisition versus loss (scope for growth) indicated that tissue growth is more responsive to resource variation and physiological stress than skeletal growth. These results suggest that (1) skeletal and tissue growth rates are weakly correlated across environmental conditions, and that (2) variation in tissue properties is a better proxy for coral health or stress than skeletal growth.
Higgs-Like Mechanism by Confinement of Quarks in a Chemical Non-Equilibrium Model

A chemical non-equilibrium equation for binding of massless quarks to antiquarks, combined with the spatial correlations occurring in the condensation process, yields a density dependent form of the double-well potential in the electroweak theory. The Higgs boson acquires mass, valence quarks emerge and antiparticles become suppressed when the system relaxes and symmetry breaks down. The hitherto unknown dimensionless coupling parameter to the superconductor-like potential becomes a re-gulator of the quark-antiquark asymmetry. Only a small amount of quarks become “visible”—the valence quarks, which are 13% of the total sum of all quarks and antiquarks—suggesting that the quarks-antiquark pair components of the becoming quark-antiquark sea play the role of dark matter. When quark-masses are in-weighted, this number approaches the observed ratio between ordinary matter and the sum of ordinary and dark matter. The model also provides a chemical non-equilibrium explanation for the information loss in black holes, such as of baryon number.
Technological Asymmetry Among Foreign Investors and Mode of Entry

How does the preferred entry mode of foreign investors depend on their technological capability relative to that of their rivals? The authors develop a simple model of entry mode choice and evaluate its main testable implication using data on foreign investors in Eastern European countries and the successor states of the former Soviet Union. The model considers competition between two asymmetric foreign investors and captures the following tradeoffs: while a joint venture helps a foreign investor secure a better position in the product market compared with its rival, it also requires that profits be shared with the local partner. The model predicts that the efficient foreign investor is less likely to choose a joint venture and more likely to enter directly relative to the inefficient investor. The authors' empirical analysis supports this prediction: foreign investors with more sophisticated technologies and marketing skills (relative to other firms in their industry) tend to prefer direct entry to joint ventures. This empirical finding is robust to controlling for host country-specific effects and other commonly cited determinants of entry mode.
Network Externalities and Copyright Enforcement

A monopolist sellinga goodsubjectto consumercopying andnetworkexternalities triggers two effects by not fully enforcing copyright protection. The copying effect reduces demand due the introduction of copies as an outside alternative. However, a "network augmenting" effect increases demand through the increased network size due to copies. If the marginal network externality is large enough, the monopolist increases profits by allowing some level of copying to occur. In a dynamic setting, I show that the typical pattern of copyright enforcement involves little enforcement at product introduction, followed by increased enforcement as the market and network grow.
The results of the Survey of Employment in the South Moravian Region in 2009

In the second half of 2008, significant impacts of the world economic crisis became evident in the Czech labour market. In 2009, employment and the number of vacancies gradually declined and the number of the unemployed continually increased. This paper aims to show the impact of the crisis on the development (2008–2009) of the structure of employment according to industries and sectors of national economy in South Moravia as revealed by the unique “Survey of Employment in the South Moravian Region on the date of 31 December 2009”. This paper is a presentation of the general parameters of this survey – the number of companies participating in this survey, the number of their employees and regional differences of these characteristics are evaluated. Brief attention is also paid to the expected development of employment in 2010, which is compiled on the basis of the assumed recruitment/release of employees of businesses participating in the survey.
Evaluation of internet addiction in a group of high school students: a cross-sectional study -

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate internet addiction and the effects of some variables like age, gender, parental age and education, number of siblings, existence of internet connection at home, existence of computer in the adolescent’s room, time spent on internet, adolescent’s cigarette use, depression inventory score on internet addiction inventory scores in a group of high school students. Method: The study group consisted of students of a high school in Ankara city center who volenteered to participate in the study. Data was collected by a socio-demographic information form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Internet Addiction Inventory (IAI). A probability level of p
EGF , epithelium and Embryo manipulation through micromanipulation technology 1003 The use of transgenic animals in biotechnologymouse

The development of a technique that allows for oocyte and early embryo manipulation is one of the major scientific endeavors in the field of genetic manipulation for animal disease models, basic science in gene regulation and commercial applications. Dr. Ralph Brinster is one of the most prestigious scientists in the development of this science. Through his direction and support, the undertaking of the mechanisms that are involved in the earlier stages of embryology have been productive and enlightening. This paper outlines just some of the experimental successes that evolved from Dr. Brinster’s insight and mentorship of one of his pupils. The essay outlines several experimental approaches that have contributed to this field. Specifically, it addresses how the mouse oocyte and the zygote respond to messenger RNA when introduced into the cell, in comparison to comparable non-mammalian species embryos. In addition, this paper discusses some transgenic animal models, both from a basic science point of view and a commercial extension of these techniques. This extension of Dr. Brinster’s pioneering work is through technology that allows for the introduction of foreign DNA that can be expressed in targeted organs, such as the mammary gland for production of pharmaceuticals for use in clinical applications.
Demography of fish populations reveals new challenges in appraising juvenile habitat values.

Understanding the 'value' of nursery habitats is increasingly perceived as essential to conservation management of marine ecosystems globally. Yet, most work on this topic has assumed that population dynamics are temporally and spatially static, which clearly oversimplifies some highly complex and integral ecological processes. We used size-frequency data of fish species from mangrove and seagrass habitats collected at various locations over a >2 yr period to explore demographic structure and variability along with potential factors (such as growth, food abundance, and relative predation risk) that might encourage such variability. While demo - graphics were skewed predominantly towards juveniles, older fish (up to 13 yr) were regularly observed in some mangroves or seagrass beds, indicating relatively complex population demo- graphics. Juvenile habitats varied substantially in both prey abundance and relative predation risk — an effect that appeared to give rise to habitat-specific differences in somatic growth rates and fish densities. Fish population size structure was further related to position within the sea- scape, suggesting complex spatial dynamics in the production of fish biomass. Our results demon- strate that effectively appraising juvenile habitats will be a more convoluted process than previ- ously thought, as greater integration is needed between basic ecological processes (e.g. predation risk and food availability) and population demography. Whereas current approaches often iden- tify and manage single, complete nursery habitats based on those that contribute most individuals to adult populations, our study shows that a more dynamic and spatially-explicit management approach is needed, as nurseries have divergent benefits for separate life stages, species, and locations.
Applications of Frölicher spaces to cosmology

Tangent bundles, cotangent bundles and various notions common to differential geometry are defined for Frolicher spaces in a natural way and seen to coincide with their counterparts for smooth finite dimensional manifolds. Manifolds with boundary and a Frolicher space model V for polar coordinates are introduced as Frolicher space quotients of R and the plane, respectively. Although V has the cone {(x, y, z)|z = x + y} as underlying set, it is not known whether it is smooth isomorphic to {(x, y, z)|z = x + y} as a Frolicher subspace of R . Nonetheless, one can define connections, geodesics, the Einstein tensor, etc. on V or R×V ×R in a natural way and these, as our calculations show, are sometimes simpler than the corresponding notions on R or R , respectively. In addition, the Levi-Civita metric which is singular on R when viewed on R×V ×R is weakly non-singular. AMS Classification Numbers 58A40, 53B15, 53C80, 18F15
Effect of Thermal Process and Drying Principle on Color Loss of Pineapple Slices

This study is a contribution to knowledge the color loss of pineapple slices during hot air drying process. The kinetics of color degradation of pineapple (Ananas cosmosus) slices were investigated at 40-60°C and at two drying principles: parallel airflow and traversing airflow. Those temperatures are in the range used to dry the commercial pineapple in tropical humid zone. Color changes associated with heat-treated slice were monitored using Hunter colorimeter (L, a, b, total color difference ΔE). The results showed that temperature had a signiﬁcant eﬀect on the color loss of pineapple slice during the process. At 60°C the color loss is less perceptible. The parallel flow drying process permits us to obtain high color quality during thermal process.
Response of different sources of arbuscular mycorrhiza on tomato seedlings

An experiment on the effect of different sources of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi on tomato seedlings (var. Ratan) were conducted in the seed bed of Soil Science Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur, Bangladesh during rabi 2007-08 and 2008-09. Eight sources of AM fungi viz. Jessore (AM-01), Rahmatpur (AM-02), Joydebpur (AM-03), Ullapara (AM-04), Jamalpur (AM-05), Hathazari (AM-06), Ishurdi (AM-07), Rajshahi (AM-08) from different AEZs of Bangladesh (Jessore, Rahmatpur, Joydebpur, Ullapara, Jamalpur, Hathazari, Ishurdi, Rajshahi) were studied along with a control and mixed sources on tomato seedlings. Soil based AM inoculum at the rate of 2.0 kg m was used. Biomass yield of tomato (var. Ratan) increased from 11.0% to 57.9% in 2007-08 and 25.1% to 70.4% in 2008-09 by inoculation with different sources of AM over control. The highest biomass yield (360 mg seedling in 2007-08 and 339 mg seedling in 2008-09) of tomato (Ratan) was observed with mixed culture which was identical to all AM source in 2007-08 and with Jamalpur source (AM-05) which was identical to all AM source except Ullapara source (AM-04) in 2008-09. Uptake of all the nutrients by tomato seedlings was also improved by inoculation with AM fungi. The AM fungi from all the sources appeared to be effective in enhancing the growth and development of tomato seedlings. The AM fungi might be used to produce tomato seedlings.
A biosensor and data presentation solution for body sensor networks

A Body Sensor Network can sense health parameters directly on the patient’s body, allowing 24/7 monitoring in an unobtrusive way. Several tiny sensors collect and route data to a special sink node. A new intra-vaginal biosensor was developed to study the relation between temperature variations and women health conditions, such as ovulation period, among others. We present a biosensor prototype and some initial results on real scenarios with a woman. One of the main issues in a body sensor network is the transformation of the sensor raw data into meaningful medical data for medical staff. Several approaches exist, from mobile device-based approaches to more powerful hardware such as a personal computer. This paper presents our current work in body sensor networks, namely a prototype for intra-vaginal temperature monitoring with initial results, and a mobile tool for data presentation of a three-tier body sensor network. The gathered results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, contributing to the widespread application of body sensor networks.
Effect of board monitoring on corporate investment and firm performance: Taiwan evidence

This paper examines the monitoring of listed-companies’ independent directors. Our evidence from Taiwan shows that board monitoring could be an important factor in investment behavior and firm performance. But the association among those board monitoring, investment and firm performance variables may not exist in linear relationships for the full sample. We therefore apply OLS regression to the whole sample and specify subsamples according to different levels of financial constraints to investigate the fine effect of board monitoring. This study shows that strong board monitoring for firms with few financial constraints is significantly related to the promotion of corporate investment and to the improvement of firm performance in Taiwan. Firms with many financial constraints have little sensitivity between investment and cash flow, and have worse profitability, consistent with the prior literature (Kaplan et al., 1997; Lamont et al., 2001). However, we empirically find that the adoption of independent directors may lower the agency problem for those highly constrained firms, thus resulting in higher investment sensitivity to cash flow and mitigating the association between firm performance and financial constraints. Our findings support that the introduction of independent director rules in Taiwan affects investment behavior and firm performance, particularly among few financial constrained firms.
Order and Disorder, Entropy in Math, Science, Nature and the Arts

Often, science and engineering students have difficult time in viewing certain concepts in their holistic form. An example for such a concept is the concept of Entropy. Although it originated from the field of thermodynamics, the relation between order and disorder is a profound one and manifests itself in various fields, sometimes unrelated, such as math and science, nature and the arts. In the discipline of physics, the amount of disorder in a system has been quantified by the concept of Entropy. In the area of information theory it provides a quantitative measure of the amount of compression that may be achieved in a coding scheme and in nature it poses an intriguing question when we consider biological systems. In the arts, which is an unrelated field to the previously mentioned, entropy can be seen in the balance and the tension between the regular and irregular, the expected and the unexpected themes, which make a piece of art valuable. In this paper we provide some interesting insights into the concept of Entropy and its implications in the fields of physics, information theory, decision making, nature and the arts.
Ultraviolet radiation modelling from ground-based and satellite measurements on Reunion Island, southern tropics

Surface ultraviolet radiation (SUR) is not an increasing concern after the implementation of the Montreal Protocol and the recovery of the ozone layer (Morgenstern et al., 2008). However large uncertainties remain in the prediction of the future changes of SUR (Bais et al., 2015). It has long been known that its variability depends on ozone levels and also on clouds, aerosol and albedo. It is therefore essential to monitor its evolution in the context of global change. Unfortunately there are 5 few ground-based stations measuring surface UV irradiance in the southern tropics and particularly in the Indian Ocean, and long-term time series are required to study SUR variability and its relationship to ozone and to detect trends. Reunion Island is located in the tropics (21S, 55E), in a part of the world where the amount of ozone in the ozone column is naturally low. In addition, this island is mountainous and the marine atmosphere is often clean with low aerosol concentrations. Thus, measurements show much higher SUR than at other sites at the same latitude or at mid-latitudes. Several studies 10 pointed out that UV-B impacts the biosphere (Erickson III et al., 2015), especially aquatic system, which plays a central part in biogeochemical cycle (Hader et al., 2007). It can affect phytoplankton productivity (Smith and Cullen, 1995). This influence can result in either positive or negative feedback on climate (Zepp et al., 2007). In order to quantify the future evolution of SUR in the tropics, it is necessary to validate a model against present observations. This study is designed to be a preliminary parametric and sensitivity study of SUR modelling in the tropics. Ground-based measurements of SUR have been performed at Reunion Island by a BENTHAM DTMc300 spectroradiometer since 2009. This instrument is part of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC). In this study, we used the UltraViolet Index in order to quantify SUR radiation integratively.
Security Enforcement with query routing Information Brokering in Distributed Information Sharing

Information brokering system (IBS) shares information via on-demand access. IBS connect large- scale loosely federated data sources via a brokering overlay. It is a peer-to-peer overlay network that comprises diverse data servers and brokering components, that helps client queries to locate the data server(s). Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are gaining increasing popularity as a scalable means to share data among a large number of autonomous nodesand to balance the load. Here brokers routes the decisions to direct client queries to the requested data servers. The proposed novel approach is to preserve privacy of multiple stakeholders involved in the information brokering process. The system defines two privacy attacks, namely attribute- correlation attack and inference attack. The Privacy-Preserving Information Brokering in Distributed Information Sharing is achieved by an innovative automaton segmentation scheme and query segment encryption scheme. I. Introduction Along with the explosion of information collected by organizations in many realms ranging from business to government agencies, there is an increasing need for inter organizational information sharing to facilitate extensive collaboration. The effort spent for reunite data heterogeneity and interoperability providing. Balancing peer autonomy and system coalition is still challenging. Most of the existing systems work on on-demand information access, where peers are fully autonomous peers and managed by a unified DBMS. Take healthcare information systems as example. Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) aims to facilitate access to and retrieval of clinical data across collaborative healthcare providers that include a number of regional hospitals, outpatient clinics, payers, etc. The provider requires full control on the data and the access to the data. A healthcare provider requesting data from other providers expects to preserve her privacy (e.g., identity or interests) in the querying process.
Middle Grades Students' Concepts of Size and Scale: Relationships and Factors of Influence.

CHESNUTT, KATHERINE MCGREGOR. Middle Grades Students’ Concepts of Size and Scale: Relationships and Factors of Influence. (Under the direction of Melissa Gail Jones.) National K-12 science standards have included an emphasis on broad themes in science as a way to unify seemingly disparate science content (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1994; National Research Council [NRC], 1996; 2012). As students construct meaning by making connections between prior knowledge and new experiences, these broad themes provide a framework on which to base these connections, allowing for deep learning to occur. One such unifying theme is scale, proportion and quantity (NRC, 2012; Next Generation Science Standards [NGSS] Lead States, 2013). The purpose of this study was to examine factors related to students’ concepts of size and scale. The first study includes a review of the literature on individuals’ innate sense of quantity or number and the role that this innate sense plays in academic achievement. The second study reports on the relationship between students’ (N=229) understanding of size and scale and students’ achievement in science and mathematics. Findings indicated that a positive and significant relationship existed between students’ concepts of scale and students’ mathematics and science achievement in grades five through eight. The third study examines the degree to which factors such as students’ out-of-school experiences with size and scale, innate sense of quantity, exposure to size and scale instruction, gender identity, and racial/ethnic identity predict students’ (N=232) concepts of scale. Findings indicated that students’ experiences with scale outside of school, students’ racial/ethnic identities, and students’ exposure to size and scale instruction statistically and significantly added to the prediction model. Implications for future research and pedagogy are discussed. © Copyright 2017 Katherine Chesnutt All Rights Reserved Middle Grades Students’ Concepts of Size and Scale: Relationships and Factors of Influence by Katherine McGregor Chesnutt A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy