Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ACTRIS ACSM intercomparison - Part 1: Reproducibility of concentration and fragment results from 13 individual Quadrupole Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitors (Q-ACSM) and consistency with co-located instruments

Abstract. As part of the European ACTRIS project, the first large Quadrupole Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (Q-ACSM) intercomparison study was conducted in the region of Paris for 3 weeks during the late-fall – early-winter period (November–December 2013). The first week was dedicated to the tuning and calibration of each instrument, whereas the second and third were dedicated to side-by-side comparison in ambient conditions with co-located instruments providing independent information on submicron aerosol optical, physical, and chemical properties. Near real-time measurements of the major chemical species (organic matter, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and chloride) in the non-refractory submicron aerosols (NR-PM1) were obtained here from 13 Q-ACSM. The results show that these instruments can produce highly comparable and robust measurements of the NR-PM1 total mass and its major components. Taking the median of the 13 Q-ACSM as a reference for this study, strong correlations (r2 > 0.9) were observed systematically for each individual Q-ACSM across all chemical families except for chloride for which three Q-ACSMs showing weak correlations partly due to the very low concentrations during the study. Reproducibility expanded uncertainties of Q-ACSM concentration measurements were determined using appropriate methodologies defined by the International Standard Organization (ISO 17025, 1999) and were found to be 9, 15, 19, 28, and 36 % for NR-PM1, nitrate, organic matter, sulfate, and ammonium, respectively. However, discrepancies were observed in the relative concentrations of the constituent mass fragments for each chemical component. In particular, significant differences were observed for the organic fragment at mass-to-charge ratio 44, which is a key parameter describing the oxidation state of organic aerosol. Following this first major intercomparison exercise of a large number of Q-ACSMs, detailed intercomparison results are presented, along with a discussion of some recommendations about best calibration practices, standardized data processing, and data treatment.
Research, part of a Special Feature on Networking the Environment: Social Network Analysis in Environmental Management and Local Ecological Knowledge Studies Interhousehold variability and its effects on seed circulation networks: a case study from northern Cameroon

We present a detailed ethnographic case study of sorghum seed acquisitions in a smallholder farming society in northern Cameroon. The effects of variability in household demographics and socioeconomic status on observed patterns of seed provisioning are explored alongside other variables such as age and gender. Our data set comprised 223 seed acquisition events. Independence tests (Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests) were carried out to test for significant dependencies between individual- or household- level characteristics and properties of seed acquisition events (categories of seed source, social relationship of exchange, and type of landrace). Results indicate that wealth is a structuring factor of the local seed circulation network in as much as it is highly correlated with household composition and size. Members from wealthy households benefit from a more diverse set of seed sources. Their greater number of coresidents and the importance of intrahousehold dynamics of seed transactions also play a role in making wealthy farmers more seed secure than others. The methodological implications of our findings indicate that when documenting seed exchange networks, the collection of data through a single informant or the undertaking of social network analyses at the household level may induce important biases.
1 Hard Skills or Soft Talk : Unintended consequences of a vocational training and an inspiration talk on childbearing and sexual behavior in vulnerable youth Preliminary draft

This paper analyses to what extent a hard skills (vocational training) and a soft skills (aspirational pep talk) intervention affected childbearing decisions, HIV testing and transactional sex in young people. Using baseline and follow-up data of a randomized control trial in Malawi, the authors find that receiving an offer to attend a vocational training program decreased the likelihood of childbearing in females and increased the likelihood of being HIV tested in both females and males. The likelihood of being offered transactional sex also decreased in females if receiving a vocational training offer. These outcomes were mainly affected by vocational training, but not by inspirational talks. Comparing the effects of both interventions between adolescents (under 20) and young adults (20-24), we observe that both ‘hard and soft skills’ reduced childbearing and increased HIV testing in both groups, but they presented significant opposite effects on transactional sex in adolescents. Vocational training reduced the likelihood of having been offered transactional sex, but inspirational talks increased the likelihood of having been offered. Adolescents who received ‘hard skills’ are less likely to offer transactional sex after the intervention. These results shed light on gender and age differences in the effects of vocational training interventions on non-labor outcomes and on how low-cost ‘soft skills’ interventions, such as inspirational talks, may affect long term outcomes.
Using crowdsourced imagery to detect cultural ecosystem services: a case study in South Wales, UK

Within ecological research and environmental management, there is currently a focus on demonstrating the links between human well-being and wildlife conservation. Within this framework, there is a clear interest in better understanding how and why people value certain places over others. This paper introduces a new method that measures cultural preferences by exploring the potential of multiple online geo-referenced digital-photo collections. Using ecological and social considerations, this paper contributes to the detection of places that provide cultural ecosystem services. The degree of appreciation of a specific place is derived from the number of people taking and sharing pictures of it. The sequence of decisions and actions taken to share a digital picture of a given place includes the effort to travel to the place; the willingness to take a picture; the decision to geo-locate the picture; and the action of sharing it through the web. Hence, the social activity of sharing pictures leaves digital proxies of spatial preferences, with people sharing specific photos considering the depicted place not only “worth visiting” but also “worth sharing visually. ” Using South Wales as a case study, we demonstrate how the proposed methodology can help identify key geographic features of high cultural value. These results highlight how the inclusion of geographical user-generated content, also known as “volunteered geographic information,” can be very effective in addressing some of the current priorities in conservation. Indeed, the detection of the most appreciated non-urban areas could be used for better prioritization, planning, and management.
Arginine Metabolism : Enzymology , Nutrition , and Clinical Significance Asymmetric Dimethylarginine , an Endogenous Inhibitor of Nitric Oxide Synthase , Explains the “ L-Arginine Paradox ” and Acts as a Novel Cardiovascular Risk Factor 1 , 2

There is abundant evidence that the endothelium plays a crucial role in the maintenance of vascular tone and structure. One of the major endothelium-derived vasoactive mediators is nitric oxide (NO). Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an endogenous competitive inhibitor of NO synthase. ADMA inhibits vascular NO production in concentrations found in pathophysiological conditions; ADMA also causes local vasoconstriction when it is infused intraarterially. Thus, elevated ADMA levels may explain the “L-arginine paradox,” i.e., the observation that supplementation with exogenous L-arginine improves NO-mediated vascular functions in vivo, although its baseline plasma concentration is about 25-fold higher than the Michaelis-Menten constant Km of the isolated, purified endothelial NO synthase in vitro. The biochemical and physiological pathways related to ADMA are well understood: Dimethylarginines are the result of degradation of methylated proteins; the methyl group is derived from S-adenosylmethionine. Both ADMA and its regioisomer, symmetric dimethylarginine, are eliminated from the body by renal excretion, whereas only ADMA is metabolized via hydrolytic degradation to citrulline and dimethylamine by the enzyme dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH). DDAH activity and/or expression may therefore contribute to the pathogenesis of endothelial dysfunction in various diseases. Plasma ADMA levels are increased in humans with hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis, hypertension, chronic renal failure, and chronic heart failure. Increased ADMA levels are associated with reduced NO synthesis as assessed by impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation. In several prospective and cross-sectional studies, ADMA evolved as a marker of cardiovascular risk. With increasing knowledge of the role of ADMA in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease, ADMA is becoming a goal for pharmacotherapeutic interventions. Among other potential strategies that are currently being tested, administration of L-arginine has been shown to improve endothelium-dependent vascular functions in subjects with high ADMA levels. Finally, ADMA has gained clinical importance recently because several studies have shown that ADMA is an independent cardiovascular risk factor. J. Nutr. 134: 2842S–2847S, 2004.
Opaque Mineralogy of the Igneous Rock Samples from DSDP Hole 395A

Study of the opaque mineralogy of submarine basalts, though essential to understanding the magnetic properties of these units, has not progressed as rapidly as similar studies on subaerial igneous rock samples. The major reason for this has been the predominant recovery of pillow basalts from the ocean floor. The extremely small grain size of the opaque minerals from those quenched rock units has precluded any detailed study of their structure, composition, and alteration features. The recovery, during Leg 34, of some coarsegrained massive flow units from the Nazca plate, has permitted the beginning of detailed opaque mineralogy studies similar to those that have been carried out on subaerial igneous rocks for the last 10 or 15 years (Ade-Hall et al., 1976; Johnson and Hall, 1977). Leg 45 drilling penetrated close to 600 meters of oceanic igneous basement at Site 395 near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 23 °N. A number of relatively coarse-grained units were recovered, as well as abundant fine-grained pillow basalts in which the grain size distribution of the opaque minerals was well within the useful range of the reflecting light microscope. This report gives a detailed description of the opaque mineralogy of 60 polished sections of igneous rock samples from Hole 395A, and correlates these optical properties with the rock magnetic data obtained from the same samples.
Intercomparison of four remote-sensing-based energy balance methods to retrieve surface evapotranspiration and water stress of irrigated fields in semi-arid climate

Instantaneous evapotranspiration rates and surface water stress levels can be deduced from remotely sensed surface temperature data through the surface energy bud- get. Two families of methods can be defined: the contex- tual methods, where stress levels are scaled on a given im- age between hot/dry and cool/wet pixels for a particular veg- etation cover, and single-pixel methods, which evaluate la- tent heat as the residual of the surface energy balance for one pixel independently from the others. Four models, two contextual (S-SEBI and a modified triangle method, named VIT) and two single-pixel (TSEB, SEBS) are applied over one growing season (December-May) for a 4 km◊ 4 km ir- rigated agricultural area in the semi-arid northern Mexico. Their performance, both at local and spatial standpoints, are compared relatively to energy balance data acquired at seven locations within the area, as well as an uncalibrated soil- vegetation-atmosphere transfer (SVAT) model forced with local in situ data including observed irrigation and rainfall amounts. Stress levels are not always well retrieved by most models, but S-SEBI as well as TSEB, although slightly bi- ased, show good performance. The drop in model perfor- mance is observed for all models when vegetation is senes- cent, mostly due to a poor partitioning both between tur- bulent fluxes and between the soil/plant components of the latent heat flux and the available energy. As expected, con- textual methods perform well when contrasted soil moisture
Dietary calcium requirement of Oreochromis mossambicus

The requirement of Oreochromis mossambicus for dietary calcium was investigated by feeding them with a basal diet containing (CaCo3:1 to 8.0 /100g) different levels of ca lcium, in the laboratory condition for the period of 60 days. To investigate the growth of the fish, field trial was also conducted in the fish diet supplemented with optimum level of calcium. The basal diet of 50% contained waste silkworm pupae used as the main source of protein with fishmeal and oilcake. The highest growth rate (30.164 mg/g live fish /day) occurred in the fish fed on a diet supplemented with 1.097% calcium. The proximate composition (protein, fat, ash and water), enzymes transaminases (GOT and GPT), lipase and whole body mineral (Phosphorus, Magnesium and Calcium) content of the tested fishes were varied according to the dietary calcium levels. Judging from the growth rate of the fish, adequate calcium content of the diet of Oreochromis mossambicus was estimated to be 1.097%.
Reconstruction of near‐global annual precipitation using correlations with sea surface temperature and sea level pressure

[1] An indirect precipitation analysis method is described which allows analysis of large spatial-scale and multidecadal variations over land and oceans beginning 1900. The method uses covariance between precipitation and analyses of sea level pressure (SLP) and sea surface temperature (SST). Both SLP and SST analyses can be produced using in situ data for the 20th century. Here a canonical correlation analysis is developed to specify annual precipitation anomalies from annual anomalies of SLP and SST on a 5° spatial grid. Covariance relationships are computed using 26 years of satellite-based precipitation data beginning 1979 and are used to analyze annual average precipitation anomalies for the full period. This indirect analysis indicates global variations consistent with the satellite-based analysis for the recent period. Cross-validation testing shows most skill in the tropics where variations are largest, with decreasing skill at higher latitudes, and large-scale averages have much more skill than at individual locations. For the full period over oceans the analysis indicates increasing precipitation with increasing temperature over the 20th century. That oceanic change is correlated with the change from climate models, but the analysis change is more than twice as strong as the change indicated by the models. Over land the analysis is consistent with gauge observations over the 20th century, which are independent observations before 1979. This study shows that indirect precipitation analyses can show many climate-scale variations that cannot be resolved in studies based on direct analysis of precipitation data.
The Relation Between Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and Dating Violence in a Social Information Processing Model Among Young Adults

Dating violence (DV) among young adults, specifically in college settings, is a serious issue with potential severe repercussions – both physically and psychologically – for victims of DV (DV victimization), and even financially on societal institutions as a whole. Exposure to parental intimate partner violence (IPV) has been associated with DV in young adults. Such violent behaviors appear to be associated with a recurrent pattern of aggressive thought processes, content, and arousing emotions. This study investigated the mediating effects of explicit socio-cognitive processes, through the reformulated social information processing (SIP) model, and implicit cognitive processes for exposure to parental IPV on DV perpetration and victimization, as well as the moderating effects of identification with parental figures and emotional arousal for exposure to parental IPV on predicting DV perpetration and victimization. 85 college students (men n = 23, M age = 22.29) were recruited for the study and results revealed that exposure to father-to-mother IPV predicted DV victimization, and that the interaction between exposure to father-to-mother IPV and identification with maternal figure predicted DV victimization. Conversely, identification with a parental figure negatively predicted DV victimization. The results revealed that SIP processes did not mediate the relationship for exposure to parental IPV on DV perpetration, however, SIP process of aggressive responding was positively associated with exposure to father-to-mother IPV and DV perpetration. Next, interaction of exposure to mother-to-father IPV and positive affective arousal is associated with less severe SIP hostile attributions and less positive evaluations of aggression responses. Finally, implicit cognition did not mediate exposure to parental IPV and DV perpetration.
What Lies behind Rising Earnings Inequality in Urban China? Regression-based Decompositions

Coupled with advances in enterprise reform and changes in the wage structure, earnings inequality in urban China has been increasing, and this has contributed significantly to rising income inequality. Using urban household survey data from the 1988, 1995 and 2002 waves of the China Household Income Project, in this article, we decompose earnings inequality in urban China by using the recently developed regression-based decomposition methods. The decomposition results indicate that the effects of gender and membership of the Communist Party of China on earnings inequality have changed little. While work experience had a reduced effect on earnings inequality, the effects of education and occupation have increased. The contributions of ownership status and industry to earnings inequality have increased. Regional effects have been the largest recent contributor to earnings inequality. (JEL codes: D31, J31, O53) Copyright The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.
Latent Domain Transfer: Crossing modalities with Bridging Autoencoders

Domain transfer is an exciting and challenging branch of machine learning because models must learn to smoothly transfer between domains, preserving local variations and capturing many aspects of variation without labels. However, most successful applications to date require the two domains to be closely related (e.g., image-to-image, video-video), utilizing similar or shared networks to transform domain-specific properties like texture, coloring, and line shapes. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to transfer across modalities (e.g., image-to-audio) by first abstracting the data with latent generative models and then learning transformations between latent spaces. We find that a simple variational autoencoder is able to learn a shared latent space to bridge between two generative models in an unsupervised fashion, and even between different types of models (e.g., variational autoencoder and a generative adversarial network). We can further impose desired semantic alignment of attributes with a linear classifier in the shared latent space. Through qualitative and quantitative evaluations, we demonstrate that the proposed model preserves both locality and semantic alignment through the transfer process. Finally, the hierarchical structure decouples the cost of training the base generative models and semantic alignments, enabling computationally efficient and data efficient retraining of personalized mapping functions.
Spatial Practices in Digital Work: Calling for a Spatial Turn in Information Systems Research

The growing use of digital media in the workplace is shifting work to digital platforms, this study explores the role of the physical office space in modern organisations where digital work is the norm. We capture the way in which digital media modulates the production of space by tracing the physical and digital interactions of a software development team in a global IT company. Taking a performative and ontogenetic view of space we conceptualise two types of spatial practices that form distinct modulations and assemblages of features of the physical and digital environment. The first spatial practice modulates space to support recurrent work activities, while the second spatial practice modulates space to support ephemeral and focused work activities. This study contributes to the IS literature with a conceptual basis to study the interconnected nature of physical space in digital work in modern workplace settings. It calls for greater attention to space as a performative and constitutive element of digital work in information systems research.
Inversion of P coda for isotropic scatterers at the Yucca Flat test site

Although many studies have addressed the statistical properties of P coda, there have been few attempts to analyze coda in a deterministic framework. In this analysis, 1050 teleseismic P-wave seismograms from 32 Yucca Flat explosions are inverted for the locations of any isotropic point scatterers in the source region that contribute coherent arrivals to the coda. A rectangular grid of potential scattering locations is constructed around the source array and the semiblance (a measure of waveform ensemble coherence) for each point is computed by slant-stacking the full set of seismograms at various move-out velocities. The potential resolution , or sensitivity, of the method for this data set is tested by constructing a corresponding suite of synthetic seismograms with direct arrivals plus arrivals from various point scatters and calculating the semiblance at each point on the grid. The particular source-station geometry produces better sensitivity near the array. Sensitivity is enhanced parallel to the trend of the elongated source array and diminished in the orthogonal direction. Stacking the data for a velocity of 2.5 km/sec yields relatively high semiblance values in the central portion of the test site as well as about 10 km to the ENE, and moderately high semiblance valuesmore » about 10 km to the WNW. « less
Optimal in vitro Culture Conditions for Sustainable Development of Preimplantation Mouse Embryos during Prolonged Culture

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of three different commercially available complex media (sequential media systems) on the sustainable development of preimplantation mouse embryos in a prolonged culture and whether the in vitro culture conditions could be further optimised when co-cultured with either MRC5 or cumulus cells. Hence, pronuclear embryos of ICR mice were cultured to the blastocyst stage in the sequential media systems, with and without the co-culture. Subsequently, the efficacy of the culture systems described in this paper was evaluated by the ability of the culture systems to alleviate the 2-cell block of ICR mouse embryos, and by measuring blastulation rates and nuclei number per blastocyst. The results obtained in this study suggest that specific combination between cell type and culture media is important and co-culture in sequential medium acts synergistically to improve the number and quality of blastocysts.