Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non-deforestation fire vs. fossil fuel combustion: the source of CO 2 emissions affects the global carbon cycle and climate responses

Abstract. Non-deforestation fire – i.e., fire that is typically followed by the recovery of natural vegetation – is arguably the most influential disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems, thereby playing a major role in carbon exchanges and affecting many climatic processes. The radiative effect from a given atmospheric CO2 perturbation is the same for fire and fossil fuel combustion. However, major differences exist per unit of CO2 emitted between the effects of non-deforestation fire vs. fossil fuel combustion on the global carbon cycle and climate, because (1) fossil fuel combustion implies a net transfer of carbon from geological reservoirs to the atmospheric, oceanic, and terrestrial pools, whereas fire occurring in terrestrial ecosystems does not; (2) the average lifetime of the atmospheric CO2 increase is longer when originating from fossil fuel combustion compared to fire, due to the strong vegetation regrowth following fire disturbances in terrestrial ecosystems; and (3) other impacts, for example on land surface albedo, also differ between fire and fossil fuel combustion. The main purpose of this study is to illustrate the consequences from these fundamental differences between fossil fuel combustion and non-deforestation fires using 1000-year simulations of a coupled climate–carbon model with interactive vegetation. We assessed emissions from both pulse and stable fire regime changes, considering both the gross (carbon released from combustion) and net (fire-caused change in land carbon, also accounting for vegetation decomposition and regrowth, as well as climate–carbon feedbacks) fire CO2 emissions. In all cases, we found substantial differences from equivalent amounts of emissions produced by fossil fuel combustion. These findings suggest that side-by-side comparisons of non-deforestation fire and fossil fuel CO2 emissions – implicitly implying that they have similar effects per unit of CO2 emitted – should therefore be avoided, particularly when these comparisons involve gross fire emissions, because the reservoirs from which these emissions are drawn have very different residence times (millions of years for fossil fuel; years to centuries for vegetation and soil–litter). Our results also support the notion that most net emissions occur relatively soon after fire regime shifts and then progressively approach zero. Overall, our study calls for the explicit representation of fire activity as a valuable step to foster a more accurate understanding of its impacts on global carbon cycling and temperature, as opposed to conceiving fire effects as congruent with the consequences from fossil fuel combustion.
Development and Validation of the Information Systems Creative-Self-Efficacy Scale

High-performing information systems (IS) professionals harness creativity as they build systems to solve new and unstructured business problems. Psychology has developed useful scales and techniques for measuring creativity. However, “being creative” is not sufficient. IS professionals must also have confidence in their creative ability to succeed. The belief in one’s ability to be creative is termed creative self-efficacy (CreaSE). CreaSE is defined in the general business context, but scales are not thoroughly developed or refined. CreaSE has also never been studied in the IS context. We detail steps to develop and validate a theoretically-based measure of CreaSE as related to IS. Our process includes six datasets collected during refinement. Participants include business and IS students, online respondents, university professors, IS executives, and IS professionals. The validated instrument is a secondorder formative measure with reflective first-order sub-constructs based on belief in cognitive ability, affect, domain knowledge, skills, and understanding of people.
Obesity and ECG left ventricular hypertrophy

Aim: Our aim was to investigate the prevalence and the prognostic significance for fatal and nonfatal cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events of different ECG criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in normal weight, overweight and obese patients in an adult Italian population. Methods: A total of 18 330 adults (mean age 54 ± 11 years, 55% women, 53% hypertensive patients) were analyzed from the Moli-sani cohort. Obesity was defined using the ATPIII criteria. ECG-LVH was defined according to 2013 ESC-ESH guidelines. Results: The age and sex adjusted prevalence of ECG-LVH did not differ from normal weight patients to class 1–3 obesity patients, when Cornell-voltage criterion was used. In overweight and obese patients, as compared with normal weight patients, a progressively lower prevalence of ECG-LVH was observed when the Sokolow–Lyon index was used, whereas a higher prevalence was shown by using the aVL R-wave voltage (>11 and >5.7 mm) and the Cornell-voltage-QRS duration product. The incidence of cardiovascular events was significantly greater in patients with ECG LVH diagnosis by the Cornell voltage [hazard ratio 1.89, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–3.39] and the Cornell product (hazard ratio 1.87, 95% CI 1.31–2.67). After adjusting for different confounders (age, sex, cigarette, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, income, education, occupational class and physical activity) and for BMI categories, only the Cornell product remained significantly associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular events (hazard ratio 1.66; 95% CI 1.16–2.38). The predictive significance of different LVH criteria was assessed across BMI categories; after adjusting for confounders, no LVH criteria were significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events in obese patients; Cornell-product LVH remained an independent predictor of events in normal weight and overweight individuals (hazard ratio 2.63; 95% CI 1.10–6.28 and hazard ratio 2.72; 95% CI 1.52–4.25, respectively). Conclusion: Our results confirm that ECG LVH prevalence may differ according to the criteria used across BMI categories in a low cardiovascular risk cohort. The use of different LVH criteria according to BMI categories may improve cardiovascular risk stratification in a general population independently of several confounding factors.
Proposal of personalised mobile game from inquiry-based learning activities perspective: relationships among genders, learning styles, perceptions, and learning interest

This study is focused on the relationships among genders, learning styles, perceptions, and learning interest for physics learning supported by a digital game incorporated with scientific inquiry approach. Seventy-nine students participated in this experiment. The results of this study showed that perception about the digital game and learning interest are not significantly different among the different genders or learning styles; and there is significant association between genders and learning styles. Explanations and discussions of these results are offered. Although, this suggests the game need to provide the opportunities for interaction on game screen and with peers. The students showed the need of learning science in real phenomena by basing on the developed game corresponding their own prior-knowledge. In light of the previously mentioned, this paper extends the developed game and addresses the application proposal with the use of mobile devices to support personalised learning in authentic general science activities.
Medication use among inner-city patients after hospital discharge: patient-reported barriers and solutions.

OBJECTIVES To better characterize medication-related problems among inner-city patients after hospital discharge and to suggest potential interventions. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between August 9, 2005, and April 3, 2006, we interviewed 84 patients hospitalized with acute coronary syndromes at Grady Memorial Hospital in downtown Atlanta, GA, and contacted them by telephone about 2 weeks later. English-speaking patients who managed their own medications were studied. Patients reported their adherence with filling prescriptions and taking medications after discharge, as well as barriers to and potential enablers of proper medication use. RESULTS Most of the 84 respondents were African American (74 [88%]), male (49 [58%]), and middle-aged (mean age, 54.5 years). Only 40% of patients filled their prescriptions on the day of discharge, 20% filled them 1 or 2 days later, and 18% waited 3 to 9 days; 22% had not filled their prescriptions by the time of the follow-up telephone call (median, 12 days; interquartile range, 8-18 days). Transportation, cost, and wait times at the pharmacy were cited as the main barriers. Many patients reported it was somewhat or very difficult to understand why they were prescribed medications (21%), how to take them (11%), or how to reconcile them with the medications they had been taking before hospitalization (16%). About half the patients (40 [48%]) reported some degree of nonadherence after discharge. Patients noted that several forms of assistance could improve medication use after discharge, including lower medication costs (75%), a follow-up telephone call (68%), transportation to the pharmacy (65%), pharmacist counseling before discharge (64%), and a pillbox (56%). CONCLUSION Patients often delay filling prescriptions and have difficulty understanding medication regimens after hospital discharge. Interventions that reduce medication costs, facilitate transportation, improve medication counseling, and supply such organizing aids as pillboxes might be beneficial.
Reliability and validity of the Beliefs About Medication Scale in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Low adherence is a pervasive issue among youth with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), yet our understanding of perceived adherence barriers is hampered by a lack of validated instruments. This study sought to address this by evaluating the reliability and predictive validity of the Beliefs About Medication Scale (BAMS) among youth with IBD. Seventy-six youth (ages 11–18) with IBD who were prescribed a daily oral IBD medication completed baseline ratings of perceived adherence barriers via the BAMS. Parents provided information about patient demographic and disease factors. Subjective medication adherence was assessed via the medication adherence measure. Objective medication adherence was assessed via Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) Track Caps. BAMS subscales demonstrated adequate internal consistency (αs = .78–.90) and test–retest reliability (rs = .64–.79). BAMS subscales reliably distinguished between adherent and low adherent groups, though intent to adhere (IA) was the only independent predictor of adherence status. The BAMS holds promise as a tool for assessing adherence barriers among adolescents with IBD. IA may be of particular value in identifying adolescents at risk for low adherence.
Smartphone Spectrometers

Smartphones are playing an increasing role in the sciences, owing to the ubiquitous proliferation of these devices, their relatively low cost, increasing processing power and their suitability for integrated data acquisition and processing in a ‘lab in a phone’ capacity. There is furthermore the potential to deploy these units as nodes within Internet of Things architectures, enabling massive networked data capture. Hitherto, considerable attention has been focused on imaging applications of these devices. However, within just the last few years, another possibility has emerged: to use smartphones as a means of capturing spectra, mostly by coupling various classes of fore-optics to these units with data capture achieved using the smartphone camera. These highly novel approaches have the potential to become widely adopted across a broad range of scientific e.g., biomedical, chemical and agricultural application areas. In this review, we detail the exciting recent development of smartphone spectrometer hardware, in addition to covering applications to which these units have been deployed, hitherto. The paper also points forward to the potentially highly influential impacts that such units could have on the sciences in the coming decades.
The Structure and Performance Consequences of Equity Grants to Employees of New Economy Firms

The paper examines the determinants and performance consequences of equity grants to senior-level executives, lower-level managers, and non-exempt employees of "new economy" firms. We find that many of the equity grant determinants and their relative importance vary significantly between new and old economy firms. In addition, we find that employee retention objectives, which new economy firms rank as the most important goal of their equity grant programs, have a significant impact on new hire grants, but not on annual, ongoing grants. Our exploratory performance tests indicate that lower than expected option grants and/or existing option holdings are associated with lower accounting and stock price performance in subsequent years. However, we find that greater than expected option and equity grants and holdings have little consistent association with future performance.
The Paulson–Lichtenberg Frailty Index: evidence for a self-report measure of frailty

Objectives: This study evaluates the Paulson–Lichtenberg Frailty Index (PLFI), a self-report measure that is based on Fried's well-established frailty phenotype. The PLFI is examined using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) database, for which it was developed.Methods: The sample was drawn from the HRS and included 8844 community-dwelling older adults. Frailty was measured using the PLFI's five-item frailty index (wasting, weakness, slowness, falls, and fatigue). Results: In comparison to intermediate-frail or non-frail respondents, frail respondents were found to be older, more medically compromised, and less independent for activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). On average, frail respondents reported worse self-rated health and had fewer years of education. Women, ethnic minorities, and those who were not partnered were also more likely to be frail. Over subsequent years, frail respondents were more likely to be hospitalized, report more loss of independence, and experience higher mortality rates.Conclusions: The PLFI is a valid tool for assessing frailty in the HRS data set.
The Role of Information Complexity and Randomization in Representation Learning

A grand challenge in representation learning is to learn the different explanatory factors of variation behind the high dimen- sional data. Encoder models are often determined to optimize performance on training data when the real objective is to generalize well to unseen data. Although there is enough numerical evidence suggesting that noise injection (during training) at the representation level might improve the generalization ability of encoders, an information-theoretic understanding of this principle remains elusive. This paper presents a sample-dependent bound on the generalization gap of the cross-entropy loss that scales with the information complexity (IC) of the representations, meaning the mutual information between inputs and their representations. The IC is empirically investigated for standard multi-layer neural networks with SGD on MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets; the behaviour of the gap and the IC appear to be in direct correlation, suggesting that SGD selects encoders to implicitly minimize the IC. We specialize the IC to study the role of Dropout on the generalization capacity of deep encoders which is shown to be directly related to the encoder capacity, being a measure of the distinguishability among samples from their representations. Our results support some recent regularization methods.
Dynamics of ammonia exchange with cut grassland: synthesis of results and conclusions of the GRAMINAE Integrated Experiment

Abstract. Improved data on biosphere-atmosphere exchange are fundamental to understanding the production and fate of ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere. The GRAMINAE Integrated Experiment combined novel measurement and modelling approaches to provide the most comprehensive analysis of the interactions to date. Major inter-comparisons of micrometeorological parameters and NH3 flux measurements using the aerodynamic gradient method and relaxed eddy accumulation (REA) were conducted. These showed close agreement, though the REA systems proved insufficiently precise to investigate vertical flux divergence. Grassland management had a large effect on fluxes: emissions increased after grass cutting (−50 to 700 ng m−2 s−1 NH3) and after N-fertilization (0 to 3800 ng m−2 s−1) compared with before the cut (−60 to 40 ng m−2 s−1). Effects of advection and air chemistry were investigated using horizontal NH3 profiles, acid gas and particle flux measurements. Inverse modelling of NH3 emission from an experimental farm agreed closely with inventory estimates, while advection errors were used to correct measured grassland fluxes. Advection effects were caused both by the farm and by emissions from the field, with an inverse dispersion-deposition model providing a reliable new approach to estimate net NH3 fluxes. Effects of aerosol chemistry on net NH3 fluxes were small, while the measurements allowed NH3-induced particle growth rates to be calculated and aerosol fluxes to be corrected. Bioassays estimated the emission potential Γ = [NH4+]/[H+] for different plant pools, with the apoplast having the smallest values (30–1000). The main within-canopy sources of NH3 emission appeared to be leaf litter and the soil surface, with Γ up to 3 million and 300 000, respectively. Cuvette and within-canopy analyses confirmed the role of leaf litter NH3 emission, which, prior to cutting, was mostly recaptured within the canopy. Measured ammonia fluxes were compared with three models: an ecosystem model (PaSim), a soil vegetation atmosphere transfer model (SURFATM-NH3) and a dynamic leaf chemistry model (DCC model). The different models each reproduced the main temporal dynamics in the flux, highlighting the importance of canopy temperature dynamics (Surfatm-NH3), interactions with ecosystem nitrogen cycling (PaSim) and the role of leaf surface chemistry (DCC model). Overall, net above-canopy fluxes were mostly determined by stomatal and cuticular uptake (before the cut), leaf litter emissions (after the cut) and fertilizer and litter emissions (after fertilization). The dynamics of ammonia emission from leaf litter are identified as a priority for future research.
Skin nerve misfolded α‐synuclein in pure autonomic failure and Parkinson disease

To characterize the expression in skin nerves of native (n‐syn) and misfolded phosphorylated (p‐syn) α‐synucleins in pure autonomic failure (PAF) and idiopathic Parkinson disease (IPD). The specific aims were to (1) define the importance of n‐syn and p‐syn as disease biomarkers and (2) ascertain differences in abnormal synuclein skin nerve deposits.
A Comprehensive Association Analysis of Homocysteine Metabolic Pathway Genes in Singaporean Chinese with Ischemic Stroke

Background The effect of genetic factors, apart from 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) polymorphisms, on elevated plasma homocysteine levels and increasing ischemic stroke risk have not been fully elucidated. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of 25 genes involved in homocysteine metabolism to investigate association of common variants within these genes with ischemic stroke risk. Methodology/Principal Findings The study was done in two stages. In the initial study, SNP and haplotype-based association analyses were performed using 147 tagging Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in 360 stroke patients and 354 non-stroke controls of Singaporean Chinese ethnicity. Joint association analysis of significant SNPs was then performed to assess the cumulative effect of these variants on ischemic stroke risk. In the replication study, 8 SNPs were selected for validation in an independent set of 420 matched case-control pairs of Singaporean Chinese ethnicity. SNP analysis from the initial study suggested 3 risk variants in the MTRR, SHMT1 and TCN2 genes which were moderately associated with ischemic stroke risk, independent of known stroke risk factors. Although the replication study failed to support single-SNP associations observed in the initial study, joint association analysis of the 3 variants in combined initial and replication samples revealed a trend of elevated risk with an increased number of risk alleles (Joint P trend = 1.2×10−6). Conclusions Our study did not find direct evidence of associations between any single polymorphisms of homocysteine metabolic pathway genes and ischemic stroke, but suggests that the cumulative effect of several small to moderate risk variants from genes involved in homocysteine metabolism may jointly confer a significant impact on ischemic stroke risk.
SPATIAL UPDATING OF HAPTIC ARRAYS ACROSS THE LIFE SPAN

Background/Study Context: Aging research addressing spatial learning, representation, and action is almost exclusively based on vision as the input source. Much less is known about how spatial abilities from nonvisual inputs, particularly from haptic information, may change during life-span spatial development. This research studied whether learning and updating of haptic target configurations differs as a function of age. Methods: Three groups of participants, ranging from 20 to 80 years old, felt four-target table-top circular arrays and then performed several tasks to assess life-span haptic spatial cognition. Measures evaluated included egocentric pointing, allocentric pointing, and array reconstruction after physical or imagined spatial updating. Results: All measures revealed reliable differences between the oldest and youngest participant groups. The age effect for egocentric pointing contrasts with previous findings showing preserved egocentric spatial abilities. Error performance on allocentric pointing and map reconstruction tasks showing a clear age effect, with the oldest participants exhibiting the greatest error, is in line with other studies in the visual domain. Postupdating performance sharply declined with age but did not reliably differ between physical and imagined updating. Conclusion: Results suggest that there is a general trend for age-related degradation of spatial abilities after haptic learning, with the greatest declines manifesting in all measures in people over 60 years of age. Results are interpreted in terms of a spatial aging effect on mental transformations of three-dimensional representations of space in working memory.
Dust and Gas in Star Forming Galaxies at z~3 - Extending Galaxy Uniformity to 11.5 Billion Years

We present millimetre dust emission measurements of two Lyman Break Galaxies at z~3 and construct for the first time fully sampled infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs), from mid-IR to the Rayleigh-Jeans tail, of individually detected, unlensed, UV-selected, main sequence (MS) galaxies at $z=3$. The SED modelling of the two sources confirms previous findings, based on stacked ensembles, of an increasing mean radiation field with redshift, consistent with a rapidly decreasing gas metallicity in z > 2 galaxies. Complementing our study with CO[3-2] emission line observations, we measure the molecular gas mass (M_H2) reservoir of the systems using three independent approaches: 1) CO line observations, 2) the dust to gas mass ratio vs metallicity relation and 3) a single band, dust emission flux on the Rayleigh-Jeans side of the SED. All techniques return consistent M_H2 estimates within a factor of ~2 or less, yielding gas depletion time-scales (tau_dep ~ 0.35 Gyrs) and gas-to-stellar mass ratios (M_H2/M* ~ 0.5-1) for our z~3 massive MS galaxies. The overall properties of our galaxies are consistent with trends and relations established at lower redshifts, extending the apparent uniformity of star-forming galaxies over the last 11.5 billion years.