Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patterns of Ecosystem Metabolism in the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia with Links to Capture Fisheries

The Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia is a dynamic flood-pulsed ecosystem that annually increases its surface area from roughly 2,500 km2 to over 12,500 km2 driven by seasonal flooding from the Mekong River. This flooding is thought to structure many of the critical ecological processes, including aquatic primary and secondary productivity. The lake also has a large fishery that supports the livelihoods of nearly 2 million people. We used a state-space oxygen mass balance model and continuous dissolved oxygen measurements from four locations to provide the first estimates of gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (ER) for the Tonle Sap. GPP averaged 4.1±2.3 g O2 m−3 d−1 with minimal differences among sites. There was a negative correlation between monthly GPP and lake level (r = 0.45) and positive correlation with turbidity (r = 0.65). ER averaged 24.9±20.0 g O2 m−3 d−1 but had greater than six-fold variation among sites and minimal seasonal change. Repeated hypoxia was observed at most sampling sites along with persistent net heterotrophy (GPP<ER), indicating significant bacterial metabolism of organic matter that is likely incorporated into the larger food web. Using our measurements of GPP, we calibrated a hydrodynamic-productivity model and predicted aquatic net primary production (aNPP) of 2.0±0.2 g C m−2 d−1 (2.4±0.2 million tonnes C y−1). Considering a range of plausible values for the total fisheries catch, we estimate that fisheries harvest is an equivalent of 7–69% of total aNPP, which is substantially larger than global average for marine and freshwater systems. This is likely due to relatively efficient carbon transfer through the food web and support of fish production from terrestrial NPP. These analyses are an important first-step in quantifying the resource pathways that support this important ecosystem.
Edgework: A Social Psychological Analysis of Voluntary Risk Taking

Voluntary risk taking is an activity that attracts a sizable number of people in American society but has been largely ignored by sociologists. A literature review is presented that points to a number of shortcomings in existing studies, most of which are associated with the psychological reductionism that predominates in this area of study. An effort is made to provide a sociological account of voluntary risk taking by (1) introducing a new classifyin concept- edgework-based on numerous themes emerging from primary and secondary data on risk taking and (2) explaining edgework in terms of the newly emerging social psychological perspective produced from the synthesis of the Marxian and Meadian frameworks. The concept of edgework highlights the most sociologically relevant features of voluntary risk taking, while the connections between various aspects of risk-taking behaviour and structural characteristic of modern American society at both the micro and macro levels. This approach ties together such factors as political economic variables, at one end of the continuum, and individual sensations and feelings, at the other end.
Information, Misinformation, and Political Talk Radio

This article provides an empirical test of the theory that individuals gather political knowledge by inferential reasoning -constructing political ”reality” from the messages to which they are exposed by making inferences about what they do not know based on extrapolations from what they see or hear. This ”filling-in” may often result in misinformation, or the belief in incorrect information (as distinguished from a simple lack of information, or ignorance). Widespread misinformation among the electorate changes our conception of democracy as a ”marketplace of ideas,” and may have much more serious consequences than does a broad lack of information or sophistication on the part of the electorate. Data from a 1997 random-digit-dial survey of 810 adults residing in San Diego was used to test the hypothesis that listening to political talk radio leads to higher levels of both information (regarding non-ideologically charged facts) and misinformation (regarding ideologically charged facts). Analysis revealed that active listening (not only listening but also calling and/or taking action because of talk radio) corresponded to higher levels of in- formation, regardless of the ideological nature of the talk radio programs to which the listeners were exposed. However, greater frequency of exposure to conservative talk radio independently corresponded to greater misinformation, while greater exposure to moderate programming was associated with being less misinformed, controlling for partisanship, ide ology, and a number of other predictors.
Assessing a Dysplastic Cerebellar Gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos Disease) with 7T MR Imaging

Lhermitte-Duclos disease (LDD; dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytoma) is a rare hamartomatous lesion of the cerebellar cortex and this was first described in 1920. LDD is considered to be part of the autosomal-dominant phacomatosis and cancer syndrome Cowden disease (CS). We examined the brain of a 46-year-old man, who displayed the manifestations of CS, with 7 Tesla (T) and 1.5T MRI and 1.5T MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS). We discuss the possible benefits of employing ultrahigh-field MRI for making the diagnosis of this rare lesion.
Evaluation of in vivo T cell kinetics: use of heavy isotope labelling in type 1 diabetes

CD4+ memory cell development is dependent upon T cell receptor (TCR) signal strength, antigen dose and the cytokine milieu, all of which are altered in type 1 diabetes (T1D). We hypothesized that CD4+ T cell turnover would be greater in type 1 diabetes subjects compared to controls. In vitro studies of T cell function are unable to evaluate dynamic aspects of immune cell homoeostasis. Therefore, we used deuterium oxide (2H2O) to assess in vivo turnover of CD4+ T cell subsets in T1D (n = 10) and control subjects (n = 10). Serial samples of naive, memory and regulatory (Treg) CD4+ T cell subsets were collected and enrichment of deoxyribose was determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Quantification of T cell turnover was performed using mathematical models to estimate fractional enrichment (f, n = 20), turnover rate (k, n = 20), proliferation (p, n = 10) and disappearance (d*, n = 10). Although turnover of Tregs was greater than memory and naive cells in both controls and T1D subjects, no differences were seen between T1D and controls in Treg or naive kinetics. However, turnover of CD4+ memory T cells was faster in those with T1D compared to control subjects. Measurement and modelling of incorporated deuterium is useful for evaluating the in vivo kinetics of immune cells in T1D and could be incorporated into studies of the natural history of disease or clinical trials designed to alter the disease course. The enhanced CD4+ memory T cell turnover in T1D may be important in understanding the pathophysiology and potential treatments of autoimmune diabetes.
Amino Acid Transport in Mycoplasma

The uptake of l-histidine by Mycoplasma fermentans and l-methionine by M. hominis was found to be dependent on temperature and pH and to follow saturation kinetics. Several metabolic inhibitors inhibited this uptake. The transport system for l-methionine was highly specific. The l-histidine transport system was less specific, and the uptake was competitively inhibited by l-arginine and l-lysine. l-Histidine accumulated in the intracellular pool of M. fermentans at a concentration about 200 times that found in the medium. Efflux of accumulated l-histidine was demonstrated at 37 C, but not at 0 C. The rate of efflux was greatly accelerated by addition of l-histidine to the medium. The findings indicate that the Mycoplasma cell membrane contains specific transport systems resembling the permease systems of other microorganisms.
Growth and Education

www.growthcommission.org contactinfo@growthcommission.org Commission on Growth and Development Montek Ahluwalia Edmar Bacha Dr. Boediono Lord John Browne Kemal Derviş Alejandro Foxley Goh Chok Tong Han Duck-soo Danuta Hübner Carin Jämtin Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski Danny Leipziger, Vice Chair Trevor Manuel Mahmoud Mohieldin Ngozi N. Okonjo-Iweala Robert Rubin Robert Solow Michael Spence, Chair Sir K. Dwight Venner Hiroshi Watanabe Ernesto Zedillo Zhou Xiaochuan
Knowledge Facts , Knowledge Fiction Notes on the Role of ICT in Knowledge Management for Development

What happens when corporate knowledge management monoculture meets the diverse international development sector? This paper finds that development agencies have too readily adopted approaches from the Northern corporate sector that are inappropriate to development needs. These approaches treat knowledge as a rootless commodity, and information and communications technology as a key knowledge tool. Alternative approaches are required, that focus on the knower and on the context for creating and sharing knowledge. ICT tools need to support this approach, helping people develop appropriate or alternative scenarios and improving the accessibility of information and knowledge for people with different cultural, social, or educational backgrounds
Applying Learner-Centered Principles in Teacher Education

Applying the Learner-Centered Psychological Principles (LCPs) in teacher preparation programs and courses provides teacher educators with opportunities to model effective learner-centered practices and promote student motivation and learning. This article addresses issues related to the application of the LCPs in higher education, specifically, the promotion of self-regulated learning and the importance of examining preservice teachers' beliefs regarding students, learning, and teaching. Learnercentered instructional practices in teacher education courses are suggested for each of the four LCP factors/domains, including strategies for promoting teacher reflection and knowledge construction, offering students choices, encouraging collaboration, and accommodating individual differences through criterion-referenced mastery grading.
Theoretical Study on the Dynamic Behavior of a Plate-Like Micro-Cantilever with Multiple Particles Attached

In this study, the dynamic characteristics of a plate-like micro-cantilever beam attached with multiple concentrated masses are studied. The vibration modes of the cantilever plate are represented by combinations of beam functions. Using classical mechanics (the effect of size is not considered) and the corrected Cosserat’s theorem (the effect of size is considered), we employ the Lagrange equations to establish a dynamic model of the plate-like micro-cantilever beam attached with multiple concentrated masses. The accuracy of the model proposed in this paper is verified by comparing with the results of published literature. Then, the natural frequencies of the cantilever plates are calculated with self-compiled algorithms, and the results of the plates with 1–5 masses are displayed. The results are in high accordance with the exact solution, and all errors are within 0.5%. The analysis shows that the proposed model and analysis method converges quickly and is highly efficient. In addition, the effects of characteristic lengths, Poisson's ratios and plate thickness on the micro-cantilever plate’s resonant frequency for the first five modes are analyzed.
Translocation and extra pulmonary toxicities of multi wall carbon nanotubes in rats

This study evaluated the ability of the multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) to induce extra pulmonary toxicities in rats following intra-tracheal (IT) instillation of two MWCNT. Two carbon nanoparticles were instilled into the lungs of rats (0.2, 1, and 5 mg/kg b.w.) and at different post-exposure intervals, blood and organs like liver, kidney, etc. were collected. The histopathological examination of liver tissues revealed a dose-dependent periportal lymphocytic infiltration, ballooning, foamy degeneration, and necrosis at all post-instillation periods. However, examination of kidney revealed the tubular necrosis and interstitial nephritis with 5 mg/kg dose at 1 month of post-instillation of both MWCNT. These liver and kidney toxicities were further confirmed by the elevated levels of respective tissue damage biomarkers. These results suggest the extra pulmonary toxicities of these carbon nanoparticles might be due to the translocation into the liver and kidney.
How is Excessive Drinking Maintained? Untreated Heavy Drinkers' Experiences of the Personal Benefits and Drawbacks of their Drinking

The present paper reports results from a larger study of 500 heavy drinkers (men drinking more than 50 units of alcohol per week, women more than 35 units), untreated for their drinking within the last ten years, recruited by advertising and snowballing in the English West Midlands. Data on participants' perceived benefits and drawbacks of their own drinking were obtained by 1) a computer-administered set of ratings of benefits and drawbacks in thirteen life domains, and 2) open-ended interviewing with a sub-sample of 50 participants leading to qualitative analysis of post-interview reports and transcripts. The main findings were: perceived benefits outweighed drawbacks in both forced-choice ratings and open-ended interview; there was a small but significant correlation between drinking large quantities in a day and perceived drawbacks; social benefits and drawbacks were dominant in open-ended interview; enhancement and coping benefits were linked by the concept of 'relaxation' and were difficult to distinguish; becoming argumentative and aggressive with friends and family was the dominant drawback in open-ended interview; in the health domain, toxic and short-term drawbacks were more salient than longer-term illness effects. These findings suggest a model of the perceived benefits and drawbacks of heavy drinking which challenges both conventional health promotion efforts and motivational balance models of alcohol consumption.
Field Experiments in Litter Control

Litter is simultaneously one of the most neglected and most obvious forms of environmental degradation. A person cannot drive on a highway, go to a park, or walk down a street without seeing some litter. Because litter is so widespread and needless, many conservation-oriented groups and individuals have undertaken anti-litter activities. Some of these activities, such as the annual Green-Up day in Vermont, have collected massive amounts of litter. Others, such as Keep America Beautiful, Inc., and the United States Brewers Association’s Pitch In campaign, have placed primary emphasis on education and the placement of litter receptacles. Despite this widespread interest, federal, state, and local governments have grossly neglected litter. Unlike pesticides, air pollution, water pollution, and heavy metal poisoning, litter is not a health problem. While the neglect of many forms of environmental degradation can lead to serious illness and death, litter’s primary costs are esthetic. The punctured car tires and cut feet that occasionally result from litter are quite negligible compared to the primary cost of litter. ugliness.
Discovery of continental-scale travelling waves and lagged synchrony in geometrid moth outbreaks prompt a re-evaluation of mountain birch/geometrid studies

The spatio-temporal dynamics of populations of two 9-10 year cyclic-outbreaking geometrids, Operophtera brumata and Epirrita autumnata in mountain birch forests in northern Fennoscandia, have been studied since the 1970´s by a Swedish-Norwegian research team and, during the last decade, by Norwegian and Finnish research teams. Some of the early results have been challenged by the Norwegian team. To examine the base for disagreements, five of the papers published by the Norwegian team (2004-2011) are reviewed. It is found that conclusions in these papers are questionable or data could not be interpreted fully because two decisive traits in the spatio-temporal behaviour of outbreaks of the two species were not considered.
The Hands of Time: Temporal Gestures in English Speakers

Do English speakers think about time the way they talk about it? In spoken English, time appears to flow along the sagittal axis (front/back): the future is ahead and the past is behind us. Here we show that when asked to gesture about past and future events deliberately, English speakers often use the sagittal axis, as language suggests they should. By contrast, when producing co-speech gestures spontaneously, they use the lateral axis (left/right) overwhelmingly more often, gesturing leftward for earlier times and rightward for later times. This left-right mapping of time is consistent with the flow of time on calendars and graphs in English-speaking cultures, but is completely absent from spoken metaphors.English speakers gesture on the lateral axis even when they are using front/back metaphors in their co-occurring speech. This speech-gesture dissociation is not due to any lack of lexical or constructional resources to spatialize time laterally in language, nor to any lack of physical resources to spatialize time sagittally in gesture. We propose that when speakers are describing sequences of events, they often use neither the Moving Ego nor Moving Time perspectives. Rather, they adopt a 'Moving Attention' perspective, which is grounded in patterns of interaction with cultural artifacts, not in patterns of interaction with the natural environment. We suggest possible pragmatic, kinematic, and mnemonic motivations for the use of a lateral mental timeline in gesture and in thought. Gestures reveal an implicit spatial conceptualization of time that cannot be inferred from language.
Testing Models of Collaboration among High School Science Teachers in an Electronic Environment

This study aims to test Fishbough's models of collaboration and investigate the use of e-mail and the Internet among science teachers in government secondary schools in two school districts Perth, Western Australia. A mail questionnaire and face-to-face interview techniques were used together to collect data. Thirty-one science teachers from 24 government secondary schools responding to the questionnaire that asked about their collaboration. Results indicate that those science teachers rarely use the Consulting model and very seldom use the Coaching and Teaming models for their collaboration. Most of the sample science teachers had negative perceptions of the potential of collaboration on the Internet. However, some of them wanted to collaborate with other science teachers if they had sufficient computing skills, aim and direction for their collaboration; particularly, time and a technician to support this activity. These results have important implications for decisions regarding collaboration as a significant strategy to improve teaching.
Loss of ‘Blue Carbon’ from Coastal Salt Marshes Following Habitat Disturbance

Increased recognition of the global importance of salt marshes as ‘blue carbon’ (C) sinks has led to concern that salt marshes could release large amounts of stored C into the atmosphere (as CO2) if they continue undergoing disturbance, thereby accelerating climate change. Empirical evidence of C release following salt marsh habitat loss due to disturbance is rare, yet such information is essential for inclusion of salt marshes in greenhouse gas emission reduction and offset schemes. Here we investigated the stability of salt marsh ( Spartina alterniflora ) sediment C levels following seagrass ( Thallasiatestudinum ) wrack accumulation; a form of disturbance common throughout the world that removes large areas of plant biomass in salt marshes. At our study site (St Joseph Bay, Florida, USA), we recorded 296 patches (7.5 ± 2.3 m2 mean area ± SE) of vegetation loss (aged 3-12 months) in a salt marsh meadow the size of a soccer field (7 275 m2). Within these disturbed patches, levels of organic C in the subsurface zone (1-5 cm depth) were ~30% lower than the surrounding undisturbed meadow. Subsequent analyses showed that the decline in subsurface C levels in disturbed patches was due to loss of below-ground plant (salt marsh) biomass, which otherwise forms the main component of the long-term ‘refractory’ C stock. We conclude that disturbance to salt marsh habitat due to wrack accumulation can cause significant release of below-ground C; which could shift salt marshes from C sinks to C sources, depending on the intensity and scale of disturbance. This mechanism of C release is likely to increase in the future due to sea level rise; which could increase wrack production due to increasing storminess, and will facilitate delivery of wrack into salt marsh zones due to higher and more frequent inundation.
Growth differentiation factor 15 mediates epithelial mesenchymal transition and invasion of breast cancers through IGF-1R-FoxM1 signaling

Expression of the inflammatory cytokine growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is significantly elevated in many tumor types in association with epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT), drug resistance, and progressive disease. However, few studies have examined GDF15 expression, signaling, or function in breast cancer. In the current study, we demonstrate that GDF15 is associated with high tumor grade, ER-negativity, and HER2 overexpression in patients with breast cancer. Stable overexpression of GDF15 upregulates expression of mesenchymal markers and transcription factors, including FoxM1, and increases cellular invasion. GDF15 stable clones and breast cancer cells stimulated with recombinant human GDF15 (rhGDF15) demonstrate activation of insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), EMT, and invasion. Pharmacologic inhibition of IGF-1R reduces GDF15-mediated EMT and invasion in stable clones, and FoxM1 knockdown rescues invasion and EMT in GDF15 stable clones and rhGDF15-stimulated cells. These data suggest that IGF-1R-FoxM1 signaling is a potential mechanism through which GDF15 drives EMT and invasion of breast cancers. Further, GDF15 knockdown significantly inhibits invasion of HER2-overexpressing and triple-negative breast cancer cells, supporting further preclinical investigation of GDF15-targeted therapies.