Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Detection of low bottom water oxygen concentrations in the North Sea; implications for monitoring and assessment of ecosystem health

Abstract. This paper presents new results from high temporal resolution observations over two years (2007 and 2008) from instrumented moorings deployed in the central North Sea, at the Oyster Grounds and on the northern slope of Dogger Bank (North Dogger). The water column was stratified in the summer at both sites, leading to limited exchange of the water in the bottom mixed layer. Data from these moorings revealed the variable nature of summer oxygen depletion at the Oyster Grounds. The combination of in situ and ship-based measurements allowed the physical and biological conditions leading to decreasing dissolved oxygen concentrations in bottom water to be examined. In 2007 and 2008, the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the bottom water at both sites was observed to decrease throughout the summer period after the onset of stratification. Depleted dissolved oxygen concentration (6.5 mg l−1, 71% saturation) was measured at the North Dogger, a site which is not significantly influenced by anthropogenic nutrient inputs. Lower oxygen saturation (5.2 mg l−1, 60% saturation) was measured for short durations at the Oyster Grounds. The seasonal increase in bottom water temperature accounted for 55% of the decrease in dissolved oxygen concentration at the Oyster Grounds compared to 10% at North Dogger. Dissolved oxygen concentration in bottom water at the Oyster Grounds was shown to be strongly influenced by short term events including storms and pulses of particulate organic matter input. In contrast, dissolved oxygen concentration in bottom water at the North Dogger reflected longer seasonal processes such as a gradual temperature increase over the summer and a more steady supply of particulate organic matter to the bottom mixed layer. The differences between the study sites shows the need for an improved understanding of the mechanisms driving these processes if the use of oxygen in marine management and ensuring ecosystem health is to be meaningful and successful in the future. These high frequency observations provide greater understanding of the nature of the depletion in bottom oxygen concentration in the North Sea.
3 Paleoclimate and Recent Temperatures 3 . Paleoclimate and Recent Temperatures

Introduction The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) claims average Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the second half of the twentieth century were “likely the highest in at least the past 1,300 years” (IPCC 2007). Later in its report, the IPCC again states “it is likely that the 20 th century was the warmest in at least the past 1.3 kyr. ” In the 2009 report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Idso and Singer (2009) contested the IPCC claims by presenting “a thorough examination of temperature records around the world” illustrating the global presence of a significant Medieval Warm Period (MWP) during which temperatures exceeded those of the twentieth century. The book cited hundreds of scientific papers documenting the MWP in Africa, Antarctica, the Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. The authors also reported satellite temperature data showing a much more modest warming trend in the last two decades of the twentieth century and a dramatic decline in the warming trend in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In this chapter, we cover this ground once again, highlighting papers not addressed in the 2009 NIPCC report or published after its preparation. After reviewing new evidence of a global MWP, we present evidence of a “Little Medieval Warm Period” that began sometime in the early 1400s, and then address two issues specific to the global temperature debate.
A Model of Credit Risk, Optimal Policies, and Asset Prices

This article studies an economy with borrowers (firms or individuals) under costly default. Borrowers defaulting under adverse economic conditions may, despite incurring default costs, emerge as wealthier than nonborrowers. Asset substitution is generally not pronounced, although a larger risk exposure by borrowers may also occur, and then binary options emerge as useful credit derivatives. The asset-value dynamics are endogenously determined and shown to exhibit stochastic mean and volatility, in contrast to many credit risk models. In equilibrium, the market level is increased (decreased) in economic downturns (upturns) by the presence of credit risk.
Protective effect of Cordia boissieri A. DC. (Boraginaceae) on metabolic syndrome

Article history: Received on: 01/02/2016 Revised on: 06/03/2016 Accepted on: 22/04/2016 Available online: 30/08/2016 Increased fructose ingestion has been linked to obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and hypertension associated with metabolic syndrome. Cordia boissieri A. DC. (Boraginaceae) is a slow growing beautiful plant, used traditionally as herbal remedy by diabetic Hispanic women in the Southwestern USA. The present study aimed to elucidate the toxicity and the possible protective effect of ethyl acetate extract of C. boissieri leaves on metabolic syndrome. Three groups of rats were fed on fructose-enriched diet for 14 weeks. One group served as fructose-enriched diet control, while the remaining groups were treated with metformin (10 mg/kg/day) and ethyl acetate extract (200 mg/kg/day) during the last 4 weeks. A fourth group was fed on normal laboratory diet. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were withdrawn for the estimation of metabolic syndrome-related markers and liver samples were subjected to histopathological and immunohistochemical examination. Induction of metabolic syndrome using fructose enriched diet was associated with increased weight gain coupled with elevated levels of blood glucose, insulin, uric acid, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor in addition to, decreased level of glutathione (GSH). Four-weeks oral administration of ethyl acetate extract attenuated most of the changes associated with metabolic syndrome as marked by improved insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, kidney function, lipid profiles and reduced oxidative stress and inflammation. The present study provides evidence of the potential protective effect of C. boissieri against metabolic syndrome.
Comparing Treatment Approaches on Health Outcomes and Quality of Life for People Living with HIV Infection in Kasarani Kenya

Two existing clinical models were studied for their relative effectiveness in promoting positive perceived quality of life and in managing the course of HIV. One treatment approach was Peer Social Support (PSS) used primarily in low social economic neighborhoods with limited access to highly organized medical care. The second approach, Comprehensive Clinic Care (CCC), was based more in a medical model. Patients went to an urban medical facility for regular follow-up appointments where medical examinations and patient education were provided. The objective of this study was to determine if there were differences in treatment outcomes between these two clinical models. The study employed a convenience sample of 103 subjects for the Peer Social Support group and 90 for the Comprehensive Clinic Care group. Retrospective time’s series design was used. Statistical measures used were; Univariate analysis of variance, chi square and one way repeated measures of ANOVA. The CCC groups had higher mean physical component scores for quality of life, X = 52.5 (SD 6.8), than those in the PSS groups, X=49.5 (SD 7.5), F(1,191)=8.4, p=0.006. The mean mental component quality of life score was also higher for the CCC group X=51.4, (SD 9.3) than the PSS group, X=47.7, (SD 9.1), F(1,191)=7.8, p=0.006. Weight showed a similar pattern, being higher for CCC, X=68 (SD 13.1) than PSS group X=63.5 (SD 12.5), t(182)=-2.36, p=0.02. The PSS group did have a higher CD4 count, X=468 (SD 200), than the CCC group, X=356 (SD 281), F(1,162)=8.89, p=0.003. No difference was observed in retention, PSS subjects returned for 90% of their appointments, and the CCC group for 87% of their appointments, X 2 (3, N=181)=4.39, p=0.222. Both models appear to work for the clientele they serve. CCC is a good model for urban areas. PSS is a less expensive clinic model that is shown here to work in rural areas. Since nurses manage these rural clinics, more nurses need to be prepared to provide in low income resource settings.
Plant functional connectivity – integrating landscape structure and effective dispersal

Dispersal is essential for species to survive the threats of habitat destruction and climate change. Combining descriptions of dispersal ability with those of landscape structure, the concept of functional connectivity has been popular for understanding and predicting species’ spatial responses to environmental change. Following recent advances, the functional connectivity concept is now able to move beyond landscape structure to consider more explicitly how other external factors such as climate and resources affect species movement. We argue that these factors, in addition to a consideration of the complete dispersal process, are critical for an accurate understanding of functional connectivity for plant species in response to environmental change. We use recent advances in dispersal, landscape and molecular ecology to describe how a range of external factors can influence effective dispersal in plant species, and how the resulting functional connectivity can be assessed. Synthesis. We define plant functional connectivity as the effective dispersal of propagules or pollen among habitat patches in a landscape. Plant functional connectivity is determined by a combination of landscape structure, interactions between plant, environment and dispersal vectors, and the successful establishment of individuals. We hope that this consolidation of recent research will help focus future connectivity research and conservation.
Complying with School Accountability Requirements and the Impact on School Leaders.

Within an era of seemingly ever-increasing school accountability to both Federal and State jurisdictions in Australia, the impact of such requirements has received little attention in the literature. This research project was designed specifically to investigate the impact of compliance requirements on school leaders’ workloads. The literature reviewed finds that detraction from the key role of leading teaching and learning due to spending so much time on compliance requirements leads to disenchantment with the role of the principal and is a leading contributor to why so few aspirants are pursuing a career as a principal. Eleven semi-structured interview questions were developed and analysis of the data revealed three broad themes: the use of resources required to meet compliance; the perceived value of the request for compliance; and, the impact of compliance on the independent nature of the school, educational leadership and personal cost. The findings not only have implications for current school leaders, but also undergraduate and postgraduate course structures, particularly in educational leadership units, as the nature of the demands revealed in this study should be considered within course
Spectroscopy of Fluorescein (FITC) Dyed Colloidal Silica Spheres

We have measured the absorption spectrum, the emission spectrum, the emission lifetime, and the photostability of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) incorporated inside colloidal silica spheres as a function of the dye concentration in the spheres, while minimizing scattering effects. Six batches of stable, monodisperse particles were synthesized with FITC up to high densities of 0.03 M. At dye concentrations above 0.001 M, we observe a large red shift of 10 nm in the absorption and the emission spectra, as well as a strong reduction of the lifetime. At the same time, the photostability of the dye is considerably improved. These effects are caused by an increased energy transfer between the dye molecules as their concentration increases. Several excitation quenching models are examined, namely annihilation quenching, surface quenching, and a fractal distribution of quenchers. None of the models that assume a homogeneous distribution of FITC provide a sufficient explanation of the observed effects. It is suggested that the dye molecules tend to form clusters during the synthesis of the colloidal spheres. It is concluded that colloids with a low dye concentration are useful for photonic applications, whereas high dye concentrations are interesting for optical experiments in colloid science.
ON LEARNING HETEROSCEDASTIC NOISE MODELS

In many robotic applications, it is crucial to maintain a belief about the state of a system, like the location of a robot or the pose of an object. These state estimates serve as input for planning and decision making and provide feedback during task execution. Recursive Bayesian Filtering algorithms address the state estimation problem, but they require a model of the process dynamics and the sensory observations as well as noise estimates that quantify the accuracy of these models. Recently, multiple works have demonstrated that the process and sensor models can be learned by end-to-end training through differentiable versions of Recursive Filtering methods. However, even if the predictive models are known, finding suitable noise models remains challenging. Therefore, many practical applications rely on very simplistic noise models. Our hypothesis is that end-to-end training through differentiable Bayesian Filters enables us to learn more complex heteroscedastic noise models for the system dynamics. We evaluate learning such models with different types of filtering algorithms and on two different robotic tasks. Our experiments show that especially for sampling-based filters like the Particle Filter, learning heteroscedastic noise models can drastically improve the tracking performance in comparison to using constant noise models.
Analysis of cough sounds for diagnosis of respiratory infections in intensive pig farming

Respiratory diseases are widespread causes of mortality and loss of productivity in intensive pig farming. Cough is one of the symptoms and a central element in screening and diagnosis of common illnesses caused, for example, by Pasteurella multocida or Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App). The aim of this research is to compare the acoustic features of cough sounds originating from the mentioned infections and non-infectious cough sounds provoked by inhalation of citric acid by means of labeling and sound analysis. The acoustic parameters investigated are peak frequency and duration of the cough signals. The differences resulting from the sound analysis confirm the variability in acoustical parameters according to health status or disease in the animals. In infections, there is a change in the status of the respiratory system; consequently, infectious coughs are different from non-infectious coughs. The duration of single infectious coughs is considerably different among the types of cough analyzed, which are: non-infectious coughs, App coughs, and P. multocida coughs. Frequency analysis of single coughs allows a more general classification between non-infectious and infectious coughs. Acoustics parameters can be used in an algorithm-based alarm system to automatically identify cough sounds and provide farmers an early warning about the health status of their herds.
Near-infrared integral-field spectra of the planet/brown dwarf companion AB Pictoris b

Context. We have already imaged a co-moving companion at a projected separation of ∼260 AU from the young star AB Pic A. Evolutionary model predictions based on JHK photometry of AB Pic b suggest a mass of ∼13−14 MJup, placing the object at the deuterium-burning boundary. Aims. We aim to determine the spectral type, the surface gravity, and the effective temperature of AB Pic b. From the comparison of our absolute photometry to surface fluxes generated by atmospheric models, we also aim at deriving mass and radius estimates that are independent of evolutionary model predictions to test and refine them. Methods. We used the adaptive-optics-fed integral field spectrograph SINFONI to obtain high-quality, medium-resolution spectra of AB Pic b (Rλ = 1500−2000) over the 1.1−2.5 μm range. Our analysis relie on comparing our spectra to young standard templates and to the latest libraries of synthetic spectra developed by the Lyon group. Results. AB Pic b is confirmed as a young early-L dwarf companion. We derive a spectral type L0–L1 and find several features indicative of an intermediate gravity atmosphere. A comparison to synthetic spectra yields Teff = 2000 +100 −300 K and log(g) = 4 ± 0. 5d ex. Determination of the derived atmospheric parameters of AB Pic b is limited by an imperfect match of current atmosphere spectra with our near-infrared observations of AB Pic b. The current treatment of dust settling and the missing molecular opacity lines in the atmosphere models could be responsible. By combining the observed photometry, the surface fluxes from atmosphere models and the known distance of the system, we derive new mass, luminosity, and radius estimates of AB Pic b. They independently confirm the evolutionary model predictions. We finally review the current methods used for characterizing planetary mass companions and discuss them in the perspective of future planet deep-imaging surveys that will be faced with the same limitations.
Application Of IntegrativeThermodynamic-hemodynamicpharmacokineticModel To PropofolAnesthesia For Hypothermic Decompression

A novel strategy of propofol anesthesia is proposed to improve clinical propofol anesthesia for hypothermic decompression. Theoretical analysis is carried out based on our previously developed integrative model of thermodynamics, hemodynamics and pharmacokinetics, after introducing a linear relationship of plasma propofol concentration with temperature thresholds of thermoregulatory responses. The therapeutic strategy proposed and simulated tentatively consists of four steps, that is, (i) the elevated intracranial pressure is decreased by therapeutic cooling; (ii) the brain temperature is cooled down simultaneously; (iii) the minimum plasma propofol concentration is calculated according to the propofol-threshold relationship and (iv) an adequate propofol is administered to realize the desired minimum plasma concentration. Simulation results suggest that the proposed propofol anesthesia is more appropriate than the empirical Roberts’ step-down infusion schema for hypothermic decompression.
A Proteomic Study on Donkey Milk

In children with Cow Milk Protein Allergy (CMPA), when it is not possible to breast feed or to use cow milk, the clinical use of donkey milk is considered since several studies have demonstrated the high similarity of donkey milk compared to human milk. An analysis was performed on donkey milk protein profile by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by N-terminal sequencing in order to give a panoramic view of the proteins that are present in donkey milk. Furthermore, the interest was focused on the casein fractions and on their phosphorylation degree that may influence the calcium binding ability of caseins. At this purpose experiments on donkey milk casein dephosphorylation have been performed and the dephosphorylated casein fractions have been identified after 2-DE analysis followed by N-terminal sequencing. Among caseins were found mainly αs1- and β-caseins that showed a considerable heterogeneity due to variable degree of phosphorylation and to the presence of genetic variants. Finally, a quantitative determination of some antimicrobial proteins, such as lactoferrin and lactoperoxidase, that could be able to stimulate the development of the neonatal intestine, was performed in donkey milk, with the results being 0.080±0.0035 g/L and 0.11±0.027 mg/L, respectively. From the obtained data is evinced that human and donkey milk contain considerable amounts of lysozyme and lactoferrin but lactoperoxidase is present only in small amounts, confirming the high similarity between donkey and human milk. The present study on donkey milk proteins may be useful to assess the nutritional characteristics of this milk that is used to feed children affected by CMPA, but also may open the possibility of utilizing donkey milk in the general population to benefit subjects with CMPA, such as adults and the elderly.
Compactness properties for families of quasistationary solutions of some evolution equations

The following typical problem occurs in passing to the limit in some phase field models: for two sequences of space-time dependent functions {θ n }, {X n } (representing, e.g., suitable approximations of the temperature and the phase variable) we know that the sum θ n + X n converges in some L P -space as n ↑ +∞ and that the time integrals of a suitable space functional evaluated on θ n ,X n are uniformly bounded with respect to n. Can we deduce that θ n and X n converge separately? LUCKHAUS (1990) gave a positive answer to this question in the framework of the two-phase Stefan problem with Gibbs-Thompson law for the melting temperature. PLOTNIKOV (1993) proposed an abstract result employing the original idea of Luckhaus and arguments of compactness and reflexivity type. We present a general setting for this and other related problems, providing necessary and sufficient conditions for their solvability: these conditions rely on general topological and coercivity properties of the functionals and the norms involved, and do not require reflexivity.
Are nurses the key to the increased uptake of frequent nocturnal home haemodialysis in Australia

Background: Although there are signifi cant benefi ts to frequent nocturnal home haemodialysis (NHHD) there has been a low acceptance of this therapy in Australia. Aim: The aim of this paper is to explore and discuss the literature relating to the nursing barriers to frequent nocturnal home haemodialysis.
Improving Profitability Forecasts with Information on Earnings Quality

Prior literature documents the usefulness of the DuPont disaggregation for predicting firms future profitability, operating income, and stock market returns. In addition, research also emphasizes the importance of earnings quality information. However, there is a lack of research examining how earnings quality affects forecasts of profitability. This paper explores whether different earnings quality factors moderate the accuracy of profitability forecasts. This study contributes to the existing literature along three dimensions. First, contrary to financial statement analysis studies, I find that changes in profit margin provide incremental information for predicting changes in future return on assets. After controlling for earnings quality factors, the incremental usefulness of this accounting signal increases significantly. Second, this paper contributes to the earnings quality literature by providing an approach as how to include this information into forecasts of profitability. In doing so, I incorporate the main drivers of earnings quality (i.e. fundamental performance and the accounting system) into profitability forecasts. Last, the paper adds to the literature on how capital market participants perceive accounting information. I document that both analysts and investors appear to efficiently incorporate earnings quality information in their investment decisions.