Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental demonstration that plant diversity reduces invasibility – evidence of a biological mechanism or a consequence of sampling effect?

Several recent studies have claimed to present experimental evidence from synthesised plant communities in which diversity was varied as a treatment that diversity reduces community invasibility by other plant species. This type of result contrasts from that of many observational studies which find diversity and invasibility to be positively correlated in nature, but some recent literature has claimed that these observational studies are confounded by extrinsic covarying factors while experimental studies are not. In this article I evaluate each of eight experiments from six recent publications in which the effect of varying plant diversity on the success of invasive species was investigated. In each case that invasibility was identified by the authors as being adversely affected by plant species richness, the result can be explained by factors that covaried with diversity in the experiment, most notably as a consequence of “sampling effect” (in which the most competitive species or species combination in the total species pool has a greater probability of occurring as species richness is increased), or through the incorrect use of statistical techniques. It is proposed that the apparent discrepancy between the results of many observational and experimental studies at least in grasslands is because: (1) in observational studies competitive dominant species are often associated with the most productive plots, and these dominants both reduce diversity through competitive exclusion of subordinates and competitively suppress invasive species; and (2) in recent experimental studies “sampling effect” results in the most competitive species (and therefore those most likely to suppress the invader) occurring with greater frequency as diversity is increased. Both observational and experimental studies therefore point to the role of competitive dominants in reducing invasibility, and in both situations species richness of the plant community need not be invoked as an explanation for the results.
Increasing coping and strengthening resilience in nurses providing mental health care: Empirical qualitative research

Background Research on coping and resilience is on the rise. However, there is a paucity of information addressing strengths, assets, competence or resilience that enable nurses to remain committed and cope in their profession despite the adversities they face in their working environment. Objective The purpose of this research was to explore and describe how to strengthen the resilience of nurses in a work environment with involuntary mental health care users. Method An exploratory and descriptive research design, which is contextual in nature, was used. Results Narrative responses to two open-ended questions (How do you cope with providing mental health care to involuntary admitted mental health care users? and; How can your resilience be strengthened to provide mental health care to involuntary mental health care users? ) yielded coping mechanisms and resilience strengthening strategies. Conclusion Nurses caring for involuntary mental health care users are faced with challenging situations while they themselves experience internal conflict and have limited choices available to be assertive. To strengthen their resilience, the following factors should be taken into account: support, trained staff, security measures and safety, teamwork and in-service training and education.
The economic potential of regions and the development of the transport network. A case study of the regions located alongside the Oder Waterway

On the one hand, the social and economic development of regions is determined by the development of the transport network, but on the other hand, the economic potential of a re­gion may be a basis for the development of the transport system in its catchment area. The re­gions located alongside the Oder Waterway (OW) are the main subject of the study undertaken in this article. The objective of the article is to determine the economic potential of these regions in the context of legitimacy of carrying out investment actions planned by the government with regard to the improvement of technological parameters of the OW, and its ultimate adaptation to the navigational class Va.
War, Recession, and Marital Instability: Conditional Effects of Uncertainty in Washington State, 2000-2010

The first decade of the 21 century was a tumultuous and economically unstable period for many American families. Yet we know little regarding how the periods of recession and America’s extended participation in two wars affected the incidence of divorce. We use county-level monthly divorce filings from the past 10 years and updated estimates of the married at-risk population to test how sources of upheaval such as increases in unemployment, changes in property values and income, and military deployment affect the incidence of divorce. We also test whether these effects are conditional on the economic context in which they are embedded. Our findings suggest that sources of uncertainty tend be positively associated with divorce filings, but the size and significance of the effects depend on the greater macro-economic context. We conclude that economic instability destabilizes marriages, and families are not inherently slow to respond to structural changes at the macro-level.
The micro-macro link plays a central role in some contemporary approaches to sociology , including in particular the emerging field of analytical sociology associated with

The paper addresses the question of whether an actor-centered social ontology can admit of relatively autonomous social causal explanations. It offers an alternative to the theory of social causation represented by Coleman’s Boat, according to which all macro-explanations must proceed through micro-level processes. The paper argues instead that the examples of other special sciences demonstrate the validity of the idea of “relative explanatory autonomy” in the case of social causal reasoning. These considerations provide a basis for affirming the legitimacy of causal statements about meso-level causal relations.
Fungi isolated from soil before the seeding and after harvest of pea (Pisum sativum L.) after application of bio-control product EM 1 TM

A field experiment was performed during the years 2003- -2005. An influence of EM (Effective Microorganisms) on the composition and number of fungi isolated from soil was found in the experiment. A total of 18111 fungal cultures were isolated from the roots of pea at flowering stage. The highest amount and the lowest diversity of fungi were obtained from rhizosphere of pea treated with pesticides (3257 colonies). The greatest diversity of fungi was found in the case of rhizosphere and rhizoplane, where EM was used in soil with the supplement of pesticides. The greatest amount and diversity of fungi were found from the plant roots of the control object. During the flowering stage, the fungi most frequently isolated from soil belonged to the genus Penicillium (40.78% of all isolates) and Fusarium (33.37% of all isolates).
Determinants Of Cow-Calf Pair Prices

Cow-calf prices are determined by interaction of many factors. At a particular auction, cow-calf pair prices often had a range of 75% of the mean price. This variability suggests that producers need to be informed regarding cow-calf price determinants. This study uses auction data during 1993 to estimate price differentials associated with cow-calf pair characteristics using a hedonic model. Cow breed, age, health, conditions, horns, frame, and whether the cow had been bred back were significant price determinants. Calf weight, health, and frame had significant price impacts. Highest prices were paid for pens containing 9-12 pairs of young Angus, dehorned, bred back, healthy cows with heavy healthy calves.
PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLNESS CONSTRUCTS : RELATIONSHIPS AND GROUP DIFFERENCES 24

The objective of the study was to examine the relationships between several constructs that were hypothesised to be components underlying psychological wellness and to establish whether there were differences between managerial and non-managerial groups or between Black and White groups in respect of the wellness variables. The Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), Locus of Control Inventory (LOC), Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC), and the Bar-On EQ-I were administered to a random sample of 200 employees of a financial services company. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups on several of the wellness variables with the manager and White groups obtaining higher scores on these variables than their comparison groups. However, in respect of External Locus of Control, the non-manager and Black groups obtained the higher scores. Factor analytic results demonstrated that the wellness variables clustered in two correlated factors (r = 0,43) labeled psychological wellness and self-actualisation.
Nonlinear Phenomena of Ultra-Wide-Band Radiation in a Photonic Crystal Fibre

We report the results of a numerical and experimental analysis of femtosecond pulse propagation in a highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibre (PCF). The propagation of ultrashort pulses in PCF is studied taking into account the effects of dispersion, self-phase modulation, stimulated Raman scattering, and self-steepening. The interaction between linear and nonlinear effects is investigated in order to better understand the interplay of these effects leading to the supercontinuum generation. The initial stage of an ultra-wide-band supercontinuum generation under femtosecond pumping is pointed out. Details about the expansion of the blue and red sides of the supercontinuum due to transfer of energy to dispersive waves are revealed and experimentally confirmed. Our experimental results are compared to numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Good agreement is found.
Removal of Zn(II) and Pb (II) ions Using Rice Husk in Food Industrial Wastewater

The adsorption behavior of Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ ions on rice husk was investigated using Rice Husk to remove the metals ions in dairy wastewater. The removal of mentioned heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions was studied by batch method. The main parameters that influencing Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ sorption on rice husk were: amount of adsorbent, contact time and pH value of wastewater. The influences of pH (2–9), contact time (5-70min) and adsorbent amount (0.5-3 g) have been studied. The percent adsorption of Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ ions increased with an increase in contact time and dosage of rice husk. The binding process was strongly affected by pH and the optimum pH for Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ ions were 7.0 and 9.0, respectively. The experimental data were analyzed by Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ ions was calculated from the Langmuir isotherm and found to be 19.617 and 0.6216 mg/g, respectively. Actually the percent of removing Zn 2+ and Pb 2+ ions reached maximum to 70% and 96.8%, respectively. @JASEM J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage. December, 2010, Vol. 14 (4) 159 - 162
Hardware core for off-chip memory security management in embedded system

Nous proposons une architecture materielle securisee du demarrage du systeme en passant par l'execution des applications jusqu'a sa mise ajour sur le terrain. Une nouvelle technique afin de garantir la confidentialite et l'integrite des donnees en memoires est presentee et evaluee dans un premier temp L'architecture proposee est alors etendue avec de nouvelles fonctionnalites qui permettent de gerer a la volee le niveau de securite specifique a la donnee. Ceci ayant pour but de minimiser au maximum les couts engendres par la securite et notamment la surface, la performance, la consommation memoire et e��nergetique de l'architecture. Cette base etant evaluee au traves de differentes applications temps reel s'executant sur l'architecture securisee, l'etape suivante est la mise en oeuvre complete d'un systeme. Pour cela une methode de demarrage securisee est egalement proposee afin de lancer les applications depuis une memoire flash. D'autre mecanismes sont egalement introduits afin de permettre une mise a jour des applications contenues dans la flash et leur execution par la suite sur l'architecture securisee. L'ensemble des resultats generes ont pour but de montrer que la solution proposee correspond aux besoins et aux capacites des systemes embarques. Pour la premiere fois le cout de la securite a ete evalue sur l'ensemble des caracteristiques specifiques au domaine des systemes embarques (surface, performance, consommation memoire et energetique) pour une chaine totalement securisee.
Heritage preservation : is it a motivation for agritourism entrepreneurship ?

Objectives. Previous studies on agritourism entrepreneurship have identified a variety of economic and noneconomic motivations driving farm operators to start the agritourism activity. Nonetheless, local heritage preservation and enhancement have been completely overlooked. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether “heritage preservation and enhancement” (in its three facets related to: tangible rural heritage; agrifood heritage; rural way of life heritage) is a specific non-economic motivation for agritourism entrepreneurship. Methodology. A survey on a sample of 226 Italian agritourism operators was conducted in March 2015. Data were first analysed through a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and then through the importance-performance analysis (IPA). Findings. The results show that there are 5 different groups of motivations to start the agritourism business, namely: i) economic motivations; ii) personal and family-related motivations; iii) tangible rural heritage preservation and enhancement; iv) agrifood heritage preservation and enhancement; v) rural way of life heritage preservation and enhancement. Hence “heritage preservation and enhancement” (in its three facets) has a pivotal role and it is more important than economic motivations. Similarly operators are more satisfied for having contributed to heritage preservation than for having obtained economic benefits from the agritourism activity. Research limits. Caution should be paid before extending these results to countries other than Italy (where, for example, agrifood heritage has a strong and peculiar tradition and connection with the territory). Practical implications. Operators are well aware of their contribution to the preservation and enhancement of local heritage but also perceive that tourists are not always able to appreciate the value of this contribution and have misconceptions about the essence of agritourism. This may be the result also of the use of the label “agritourism” to indicate offerings (such as agri-spas or basic accommodation services) which do not primarily focus on the link with local heritage. Therefore, it is important that “authentic agritourism” operators that focus on heritage (in its three facets) are able to share the efforts to make potential guests aware about the uniqueness of their offering, emphasizing the strong link with the local heritage. Originality of the study. This is the first study in the literature stream about agritourism entrepreneurship to demonstrate that locale heritage preservation and enhancement is a distinct, key motivation for agritourism operators.
Controlled Growth of Monodisperse Silica Spheres in the Micron Size Range

(56) PROCESS FOR FORMING HIGHLY UNFORMS LCA SPHERES Inventors: Timothy J. Barder, Addison; Philip D. DuBois, Lisle, both of Ill. Assignee: Allied-Signal Inc., Morris Township, Morris County, N.J. Appi. No.: 440,541 Fied: Nov. 22, 1989 Int, C. C01B33/12; B01J 35/08 U.S. C. 423/338; 423/335; 423/339; 502/8; 502/10 Field of Search . 423/335, 338,339; 502/8, 10 References Cited U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 3,634,558 1/1972 Stober . 264/0.5 4,567,030 1/1986 Yuasa et al. . 423/326 11 Patent Number: 4,983,369 (45) Date of Patent: Jan. 8, 1991
Efficient optimization of electronic circuits

The group Philips Electronic Design & Tools, Analogue Simulation has developed the optimization tool Adapt, which is used for the design of electronic circuits. An essential part of Adapt is the algorithm Gridmom, which solves optimization problems for functions defined on a grid. Gridmom solves minimization problems in an iterative process, where in every iteration quadratic models of the function that is to be optimized are constructed. The minima thus found are then coupled back to the original function. During the process the quality of these models is continually improved around the last found minimum point. The algorithm stops when the changes in these minimum points are very small. Each function evaluation in Gridmom implies a circuit simulation by one of the supported simulators PStar and Spectre. Since circuit simulation is in general expensive with respect to processing power, the time that is needed to optimize a circuit with Adapt will be mainly determined by the cumulative time used by the simulator. Therefore, it is important that the number of evaluations in Gridmom be kept to a minimum. In this Master’s Thesis we report on the project ”Efficient Optimization of Electronic Circuits” that has been performed to improve the efficiency of Gridmom. In the actual Gridmom algorithm the building of the quadratic models starts with sampling techniques. The techniques that have currently been used are quite problem independent. By including more knowledge about the actual functions a better optimization model may be constructed, which has a positive influence on the speed of the algorithm and possibly on the quality of the results. The efficient global optimization algorithm EGO satisfies these properties. This algorithm uses Kriging modelling, a statistic and geometric modelling technique used for point selection. Another point of interest is the convergence speed of the Gridmom algorithm when the area around the minimum is non-differentiable. Using piecewise linear approximative models instead of the quadratic approximative models should improve the speed of the algorithm. These strategies have been tested for different setups. EGO has been implemented in Gridmom and tested for two different termination criteria, automatic termination and termination after a specified number of evaluations. From the results it follows that it is hard to say if EGO gives the desired improvement in the efficiency of Gridmom, further investigation is therefore needed. The use of piecewise linear approximative models have been implemented for one-dimensional functions and tested. From the results it follows that there is improvement in the value of the minimum as well as the number of evaluations needed by Gridmom.
ONLINE SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR IN SAUDI ARABIA – AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Design/methodology/approach:The objectives of this study were addressed by using a quantitative research strategy, based on questionnaire survey of the people living in Jeddah city in Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was structured and close-ended measuring the intensity of response on five point Likert scale from 1 to 5. The respondents included Saudis and Non Saudis working and living here. Convenience random sampling method was used to administer the questionnaire on sample size of 400 respondents.
Dynamique cérébrale de la reconnaissance des expressions faciales

La neuropsychologie et l'imagerie fonctionnelle ont montre que la reconnaissance des expressions faciales, message emotionnel a grande valeur sociale, implique de vastes reseaux neuronaux dans le cerveau humain. Les structures corticales et sous-corticales impliquees different selon la nature de l'emotion vehiculee par le visage. Ainsi, l'amygdale participe au traitement des emotions aversives comme la peur et la colere alors que l'insula est particulierement impliquee dans la reconnaissance du degout. Le cortex orbito-frontal, participant egalement a la reconnaissance des expressions faciales, serait determinant dans l'interpretation des stimuli emotionnels dans un contexte social determine. Or les moments d'implication de ces differentes structures, les eventuelles sequences d'activation voire l'identification de periodes d'interaction potentielles entre les elements de ces vastes reseaux neuronaux sont tres mal connus. L'electrophysiologie dont la resolution temporelle reste inegalee et dont la resolution spatiale progresse represente un outil indispensable pour etudier ces questions. Nous avons ainsi recueilli, grâce a des enregistrements de scalp dans une population de sujets sains et grâce a des enregistrements intracerebraux chez 25 patients epileptiques pharmaco-resistants, des potentiels evoques par des visages exprimant differentes emotions. Les enregistrements de scalp ont mis en evidence une activite specifique des expressions emotionnelles dans la region occipito-temporale droite debutant 250 ms apres le debut du stimulus. Ces activites se poursuivaient tardivement dans les regions occipitales et temporales droites. Les enregistrements intra-cerebraux ont permis d'objectiver des reponses specifiques au degout dans l'insula ventrale anterieure apres 300 ms et des reponses specifiques a la peur dans l'amygdale apres 200 ms, soit 100 ms plus tot que les reponses au degout dans l'insula. Des reponses specifiques a differentes expressions faciales etaient ensuite enregistrees de facon prolongee dans les aires visuelles extra-striees, le cortex temporal externe (complexe STS/GTM), et le cortex orbito-frontal. Chez une patiente implantee dans l'aire motrice supplementaire, des reponses a la joie etaient evoquees des 150 ms. Les stimulations electriques des contacts ayant recueilli ces reponses provoquaient systematiquement sourire puis une sensation de gaiete chez cette patiente. L'ensemble de ces resultats confirme l'implication de reseaux specifiques dans la reconnaissance des expressions faciales, suggere une hierarchie temporelle dans le traitement de ces stimuli emotionnels, et montre une implication extremement soutenue dans le temps des principales structures determinantes pour cette fonction. Cette chronologie d'activation est compatible avec l'existence de vastes periodes d'interactions entre les aires corticales posterieures impliquees dans la perception et les regions limbiques et paralimbiques permettant la reconnaissance des expressions faciales et l'adaptation au contexte social
Toward a Knowledge-Based Economy Learning University is a Key Prerequisite

Changing into a Knowledge-based countries and, being able to apply an adaptive learning strategy has become imperative for the university survival. This study target at exploring the college of business school, CBA at King Saud University, using, the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) model. The research will help in studying and examining some important issues to develop KSU into a learning university. A case study triangulation method has been undertaken, documents, interviews and a survey. The Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ) was distributed to a faculty member and the management as well in the CBA, followed by semi-structured interviews with the Directorate. Data analysis has been focused on the identification of the main dimensions of LO in the case. This study is an attempt to build on and add to the current body of knowledge in the field of a Learning Organization by investigating and illustrating the most important dimensions that might have an impact on the learning organization as a valuable tool for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Furthermore, this study will use these different factors to change Saudi Arabia toward a knowledge-based society to cope with the 2030 vision, via creating a new learning university.