Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Surface Topography on ICESat/GLAS Forest Height Estimation and Waveform Shape

This study explores ICESat/GLAS waveform data in Thuringian Forest, a low mountain range located in central Germany. Lidar remote sensing has been proven to directly derive tree height as a key variable of forest structure. The GLAS signal is, however, very sensitive to surface topography because of the large footprint size. This study therefore focuses on forests in a mountainous area to assess the potential of GLAS data to derive terrain elevation and tree height. The work enhances the empirical knowledge about the interaction between GLAS waveform and landscape structure regarding a special temperate forest site with a complex terrain. An algorithm to retrieve tree height directly from GLA01 waveform data is proposed and compared to an approach using GLA14 Gaussian parameters. The results revealed that GLAS height estimates were accurate for areas with a slope up to 10° whereas waveforms of areas above 15° were problematic. Slopes between 10–15° have been found to be a critical crossover. Further, different waveform shape types and landscape structure classes were developed as a new possibility to explore the waveform in its whole structure. Based on the detailed analysis of some waveform examples, it could be demonstrated that the waveform shape can be regarded as a product of the complex interaction between surface and canopy structure. Consequently, there is a great variety of waveform shapes which in turn considerably hampers GLAS tree height extraction in areas with steep slopes and complex forest conditions.
Data Warehousing in Big Data: From Multidimensional to Tabular Data Models

Data warehouses are central pieces in business intelligence and analytics as these repositories ensure proper data storage and querying, being supported by data models that allow the analysis of data by different perspectives. Those perspectives support users and organizations in the decision-making process. In Big Data environments, Hive is used as a distributed storage mechanism that provides data warehousing capabilities. Its data schemas are defined attending to the analytical requirements specified by the users. In this work, multidimensional data models are used as the source of those requirements, allowing the automatic transformation of a multidimensional schema into a tabular schema suited to be implemented in Hive. To achieve this objective, a set of rules is proposed and tested in a demonstration case, showing the applicability and usefulness of the proposed approach.
SPEAKING STRATEGIES USED BY INDONESIAN TERTIARY STUDENTS

Speaking is considered to be difficult thing, moreover English as a foreign language. Students' performance depends on their personalities. Students who have low participation in speaking activity in the classroom lose their opportunity to practice their speaking skill which may cause poor speaking skill and achievement. However, some of students are active in speaking activity in the classroom that leads them to have good skill and achievement in speaking. This study attempts to reveal: (1) speaking strategies used by Indonesian tertiary students in terms of speaking English and strategies to improve their speaking ability, and (2) to identify speaking strategies mostly used by the students when they speak English and improve their speaking ability. This study is a descriptive research since its purpose is to describe the Indonesian tertiary students’ learning strategies in learning speaking English. The data from 15 tertiary students, who have good performance and achievement in speaking, from one of schools of higher education in Cimahi were collected using a 21 items questionnaire of a modified version of Strategy Inventory Language Learning (SILL) and 5 items interview questions. The result of the study revealed that some speaking strategies are used in terms of speaking English and improve speaking ability, namely cognitive, metacognitive and compensation strategy. In the type of speaking strategy that mostly used by the student in terms of speaking English is compensation strategy, while cognitive strategy was indicated as the mostly speaking strategies used by the Indonesian tertiary students in improving their speaking ability. Considering to the study conducted, it is recommended to students that they should know what strategies that appropriate and can help them in learning speaking English. The students should be able to choose strategies they need in learning and analyze which strategies that give better effect on their own learning. Keywords: Speaking, strategy, speaking strategy, tertiary students
Conjugating the " Tenses " of Function : Discordance Among Hypothetical , Experimental , and Enacted Function in Older Adults

/ :,I1. ,_. ~'. "I. ':,. :hl \'. ;l\ """'. I IIII-II~ Within the field oi aging, the conceptualization and measurement of iunctioning has been dominated by the disability model. In this paper, one limitation of that model is described by calling attention to a distinClion oetween three "tenses" of functioning. Inadequate attention has heen paid to the distinction between the capacity 10 function in Ihe abstract (hypothetical (ense) and actual periormance in daily life (enacted tense). Failure to attend to this distinction has obscured considerable discordance between what people say they arc able to do in standard functional disabilily . 1ssessmenls, and what they actually do al home. To illustrate this point, dala from the MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging comparing the hypothetical to (he en.lcted tenses are presented. These data show a consistent pattern of discordance between these two tenses.
Behavioral Integration as a Relational Governance Mechanism in Family Firms—The Moderating Role of Family Involvement in Management

In this paper we introduce behavioral integration, a construct established in top management team (TMT) research, into the family firm field. TMT research argues that behavioral integration has a positive performance effect as it fosters commitment to the task at hand, joint goals, and mutual trust among TMT members. Because of these specific characteristics, we argue that behavioral integration might act as a relational governance mechanism that positively influences family firm performance. Based on research on family involvement in management, we posit that this positive performance effect of behavioral integration as a relational governance mechanism is particularly pronounced in family firms with a high degree of family involvement in management.
Automating the Detection of Complex Semantic Conflicts between Software Requirements(An empirical study on requirements conflict analysis with semantic technology)

Keeping requirements consistent already at early project stages is a main success factor for software development projects. However, manual requirements conflict analysis takes significant effort and is error-prone. Requirement engineers and other project participants such as technical architects use different terminologies (due to different domain backgrounds) which makes automation of conflict analysis difficult. In this paper we propose semantic approach as foundation for automating requirements conflict analysis and introduce the automated ontology-based reporting approach OntRep. We evaluate the effectiveness of OntRep referring to (a) different types of conflicts and (b) different levels of conflict complexity in a real-world industrial case study. Major results were that OntRep had considerably higher recall and precision of conflict detection for all conflict types compared to a manual approach. Regarding complexity, the comparison with manual results shows that recall and precision of OntRep is considerably higher for complex conflicts. Keywords—requirements conflict detection, requirements consistency checking, ontology, case study, empirical evaluation.
The role of thermal energy accommodation and atomic recombination probabilities in low pressure oxygen plasmas

Surface interaction probabilities are critical parameters that determine the behaviour of low pressure plasmas and so are crucial input parameters for plasma simulations that play a key role in determining their accuracy. However, these parameters are difficult to estimate without in situ measurements. In this work, the role of two prominent surface interaction probabilities, the atomic oxygen recombination coefficient γO and the thermal energy accommodation coefficient αE in determining the plasma properties of low pressure inductively coupled oxygen plasmas are investigated using two-dimensional fluid-kinetic simulations. These plasmas are the type used for semiconductor processing. It was found that αE plays a crucial role in determining the neutral gas temperature and neutral gas density. Through this dependency, the value of αE also determines a range of other plasma properties such as the atomic oxygen density, the plasma potential, the electron temperature, and ion bombardment energy and neutral-to-ion flux ratio at the wafer holder. The main role of γO is in determining the atomic oxygen density and flux to the wafer holder along with the neutral-to-ion flux ratio. It was found that the plasma properties are most sensitive to each coefficient when the value of the coefficient is small causing the losses of atomic oxygen and thermal energy to be surface interaction limited rather than transport limited.
Extending external validity measures for determining the number of clusters

External validity measures in cluster analysis evaluate how well the clustering results match to a prior knowledge about the data. However, it is always intractable to get the prior knowledge in the practical problem of unsupervised learning, such as cluster analysis. In this paper, we extend the external validity measures for both hard and soft partitions by a resampling method, where no prior information is needed. To lighten the time burden caused by the resampling method, we incorporate two approaches into the proposed method: (i) extending external validity measures for soft partitions in a computational time of O(M2N); (ii) an efficient sub-sampling method with time complexity of O(N). The proposed method is then applied and reviewed in determining the number of clusters for the problem of unsupervised learning, cluster analysis. Experimental results has demonstrated the proposed method is very effective in solving the number of clusters.
ADHD and gender: are risks and sequela of ADHD the same for boys and girls?

BACKGROUND Research comparing treatment-referred boys and girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has yielded equivocal results. Contradictory findings may be associated with differential referral practices or unexplored interactions of gender with ADHD subtypes. METHOD We examined possible gender differences in ADHD and its subtypes among children aged 4 to 17 in a representative community sample (N = 1896) in Puerto Rico. Caretakers provided information through the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (version IV) and a battery of impairment, family relations, child problems, comorbidity and treatment measures. RESULTS ADHD was 2.3 times more common in boys than girls, but with one exception there was little evidence that the patterns of associations of ADHD with correlates were different for boys and girls. The exception was school suspension, which was more common among ADHD boys than girls. Additional gender interactions were found when ADHD subtypes were considered. Among those with combined type (n = 50), boys were more likely to be comorbid with mood disorders than girls. For those with the inattentive type (n = 47), girls were more likely to be comorbid with anxiety disorders than boys. CONCLUSIONS Our findings lend cross-cultural generalizability to recent reports that gender does not interact with correlates for ADHD overall, but that it may play a role in subtypes.
Exploring Mathematical Capital: An Essential Construct for Mathematical Success?

This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu. Recommended Citation Baber, Marla Ann Lasswell, "Exploring Mathematical Capital: an Essential Construct for Mathematical Success? " (2017). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3470.
Humpbacks in Credit Spreads

Models of credit valuation generally predict a hump-shaped spread term structure for low quality issuers. This is understood to be driven by the shape of the underlying conditional default probabilities curve. We show that (a) recovery assumptions and (b) deviation of bond's price from its par value can also drive different term structure shapes. Our analysis resolves conflicting empirical evidence on the shape of speculative grade spread curves and explains the related existing theoretical results. On examining a large set of speculative grade bonds and credit default swaps, we find evidence that par-spread term structures are likely to be downward sloping as credit quality deteriorates sufficiently.
Repression of the cardiac myosin light chain‐2 gene in skeletal muscle requires site‐specific association of antithetic regulator, Nished, and HDACs

The transcriptional activation mechanisms that regulate tissue‐specific expression of cardiac muscle genes have been extensively investigated, but little is known of the regulatory events involved in repression of cardiac‐specific genes in non‐cardiac cells. We have previously reported that Nished, a ubiquitous transcription factor, interacts with a positive sequence element, the Intron Regulatory Element (IRE) as well as a negatively acting element, the Cardiac‐Specific Sequence (CSS), in myosin light chain‐2 (MLC2v) gene to promote activation and repression of the gene in cardiac and skeletal muscle cells respectively. Here, we show that the negative regulation of cardiac MLC2v gene in skeletal muscle cells is mediated via the interaction of Nished with histone deacetylase (HDAC) co‐repressor. Treatment of cells with the HDAC inhibitor, Trichostatin A (TSA), alleviates the repressor activity of Nished in a dose‐dependent manner. Co‐transfection studies in primary muscle cells in culture and in Nished expressing stable skeletal muscle cell line demonstrate that Nished down‐regulates the cardiac MLC2 gene expression when its association is restricted to CSS alone. Chromatin immunoprecipitation data suggest that the CSS‐mediated repression of cardiac MLC2v gene in skeletal muscle cells excludes the participation of the positive element IRE despite the presence of an identical Nished binding site. Taken together, it appears that the negative control of MLC2v transcription is based on a dual mode of regulations, one that affords inaccessibility of IRE to Nished and second that promotes the formation of the transcription repression complex at the inhibitory CSS site to silence the cardiac gene in skeletal muscle cell.
The Role of Surface Oxygen in the Growth of Large Single-Crystal Graphene on Copper

Oxygen Control of Graphene Growth The growth of graphene on copper surfaces through the decomposition of hydrocarbons such as methane can result in a wide variety of crystal domain sizes and morphologies. Hao et al. (p. 720, published online 24 October; see the cover) found that the presence of surface oxygen could limit the number of nucleation sites and allowed centimeter-scale domains to grow through a diffusion-limited mechanism. The electrical conductivity of the graphene was comparable to that of exfoliated graphene. Oxygen treatment of a copper surface promoted the faster growth of compact, centimeter-scale graphene domains. The growth of high-quality single crystals of graphene by chemical vapor deposition on copper (Cu) has not always achieved control over domain size and morphology, and the results vary from lab to lab under presumably similar growth conditions. We discovered that oxygen (O) on the Cu surface substantially decreased the graphene nucleation density by passivating Cu surface active sites. Control of surface O enabled repeatable growth of centimeter-scale single-crystal graphene domains. Oxygen also accelerated graphene domain growth and shifted the growth kinetics from edge-attachment–limited to diffusion-limited. Correspondingly, the compact graphene domain shapes became dendritic. The electrical quality of the graphene films was equivalent to that of mechanically exfoliated graphene, in spite of being grown in the presence of O.
Partial Evaluation of Intermediate Code from Equational Programs

Partial evaluation is greatly simpliied if the target language is simple. In SS90] we deene an extremely simple language that is used as an intermediate language for equational programming O'D85]. Although the intermediate language is a general graph manipulation language, we take advantage of the particular properties of programs generated from equational programs. For partial evaluation to be successful, we need both a set of transformations that preserve the semantics of the program and a strategy that tells us when to apply a particular transformation. The strategy includes termination criteria to avoid innnite computations. In this paper we concentrate on a set of transformations that preserve the semantics of the program. We also show a small example of how these transformations can be applied to a program in order to improve its execution speed. The strategy, however, is only sketchy at the present time. The complete strategy is left for a future paper. Furthermore, we do not prove in this paper that the transformations do preserve the semantics, neither do we formally deene the semantics of intermediate code. Instead, the purpose is to give the reader an idea of how such ne-grain transformations can be deened and applied. In SSD91] we presented a similar idea, the main diierence being that the transformations were done on the function level rather than instruction by instruction as in the present paper. Our transformations are relatively local, in that they are mostly applied to small set of adjacent instructions. In addition, inlining of a function can be done partially, instruction by instruction. We therefore label our method ne-grain.
HIDE AND SEEK IN A COMPLEX WORLD

Complex networks have become the key to uncover the patterns of interactions in man-made and complex systems in nature. The Internet, the proteins in our cells, our bonds of friendship and the web-pages we daily browse form networks. Despite their widely different origins the networks have many interesting features in common. We endeavor to a better understanding of both man-made structures, like the Internet, and networks in nature, like the protein-protein interactions in our cells. The ultimate goal is to avoid system breakdowns, hopefully to prevent major deceases and to benefit from undiscovered possibilities. The comprehensive target is the interplay between structure and function, and the focus of this thesis is the co-action between the dynamics of the interacting components and the interaction pattern itself, the network. The widely different topics presented in this thesis is an example of the sweeping interdisciplinary field of complex networks. For example, we investigate the agglomeration-inspired merging as a key evolution process in networks, probably an important component to understand the formation dynamics of the Internet. Further, we present a social model with agents that everyone tries to optimize their relative position in the network, based on local limited information. This model opens for investigation of the interplay between individual behavior and global organization. This in turn raises the question about the inevitable connection to the network function from the point of view of communication and navigability. In this context we have analyzed city navigation and thereby been able to understand why it is more difficult to find the way in some cities than in others. Perhaps you have wondered: What is the best strategy to find the hotel — to go by chance or to ask a citizen in every corner? We found that the solution is non-trivial and varies from city to city.
Biomarkers of Coagulation and Fibrinolysis during Cemented Total Hip Arthroplasty with Pre- versus Postoperative Start of Thromboprophylaxis

Venous thrombosis is common in elective hip surgery, and prophylaxis is recommended. Clinical trials suggest that the drug dose and timing of initiating prophylaxis significantly influence antithrombotic effectiveness and safety. We studied the time course and gradient of plasma coagulation and fibrinolysis during total hip arthroplasty (THA) in twenty patients that were randomly assigned to have the first dose of 5000 IU dalteparin subcutaneously (sc) injected 12 hours before or 6 hours after surgery. Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. Specific biomarkers on coagulation (prothrombin fragment 1+2 (F1+2)) and fibrinolytic activity (plasmin/α2-antiplasmin complex (PAP) and D-dimer) were collected at six events during hospitalization and analysed. There were no significant group differences in the biomarkers at any time point. The highest concentrations were measured 6 hours after surgery and before the first postoperative injection. A marked decrease followed at the first postoperative day, and then a second increase in plasma concentrations was observed 6 days after surgery. This study showed that activation of coagulation and fibrinolysis by the operative trauma was the same when the first dose of dalteparin was injected 12 hours before or 6 hours after surgery.
Respiratory Burst of Normal Human Eosinophils

Oxidative metabolism of eosinophils has generally been studied in cells from patients with eosinophilia. We isolated eosinophils with purity of >95% from normal donors. Oxygen metabolism of eosinophils and neutrophils was compared using O2 production as a measure of the stimulus‐induced respiratory burst. During 10 min of stimulation, using phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or opsonized zymosan (OPZ), eosinophils produced two to three times as much O2 as did neutrophils. Continuous kinetic analysis was used to measure the latency period and maximal rate of O2 production. Eosinophils had a shorter latency period and greater rate of O2 production than did neutrophils at all concentrations of PMA. With OPZ stimulation, O2 production rates by both cells were similar. The latency periods were similar with high concentrations of OPZ but at limiting amounts of OPZ eosinophils had a longer latency period than did neutrophils. In addition, the kinetic assay demonstrated that the respiratory burst in eosinophils was more sustained than in neutrophils.
Kinemetry of SINS High-Redshift Star-Forming Galaxies: Distinguishing Rotating Disks from Major Mergers

We present a simple set of kinematic criteria that can distinguish between galaxies dominated by ordered rotational motion and those involved in major merger events. Our criteria are based on the dynamics of the warm ionized gas (as traced by Hα) within galaxies, making this analysis accessible to high-redshift systems, whose kinematics are primarily traceable through emission features. Using the method of kinemetry (developed by Krajnović and coworkers), we quantify asymmetries in both the velocity and velocity dispersion maps of the warm gas, and the resulting criteria enable us to empirically differentiate between nonmerging and merging systems at high redshift. We apply these criteria to 11 of our best-studied rest-frame UV/optical-selected z ∼ 2 galaxies for which we have near-infrared integral-field spectroscopic data from SINFONI on the VLT. Of these 11 systems, we find that >50% have kinematics consistent with a single rotating disk interpretation, while the remaining systems are more likely undergoing major mergers. This result, combined with the short formation timescales of these systems, provides evidence that rapid, smooth accretion of gas plays a significant role in galaxy formation at high redshift.