Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast ion conduction in the Li-analogues of Nasicon, Li1 + x[(Ta1 −xGex)Al](PO4)3

Fast lithium ion conducting Nasicon compounds, Li1 + x[(Ta1 − xGex)Al](PO4)3, x = 0–1.0 have been synthesized, characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and their ionic conductivities were determined as a function of temperature (T) and frequency (f) by the impedance technique. The hexagonal lattice parameters and cell volume showed a systematic change with the germanium dopant, x. The XPS Li(1s) spectra show two peaks with binding energies (BEs) of 55.0 and 55.9 eV for all the Ge-doped compounds, due to lithium ion occupation in the Type I and II lattice sites. The measured σionic at 60 °C varies from 2.1–5.5 × 10−5 S cm−1 for x in the range 0.4–0.8 and Ea and log σo go through a broad minimum and maximum respectively. From an analysis of σionicvs. f at various T, the f-independent σionic(dc), the hopping frequency (fp) of the mobile lithium ions and the exponent n of the ac dispersive regime were determined. The values of the activation energies of the ac and dc conductivity and that of the hopping process were found to be the same, implying that the mobile ion concentration is T-independent. Also, the low-frequency dispersion due to the electrode polarization appears to correlate with that of the f-independent dc conductivity.
How Students in the Secondary Years Engage with the Literacy Demands of Curricular Online Environments

In this paper we present work-in-progress on an ARC-funded five-year study (2003-2007) of the literacy demands students face as they use and create curricular knowledges in online environments. First, we introduce the study in terms of its purposes, outlining the range of data types and methodologies chosen to address the key enquiries. Then we address the application of an online screen tracking tool, discussing some of the challenges associated with coding and analyses when working with screen-by-screen data. Finally, we raise some key questions for the assessment of students' repertoires of multimodal literate capabilities.
Optical properties of accumulation mode, polluted mineral dust: effects of particle shape, hematite content and semi-external mixing with carbonaceous species

ABSTRACT The morphology, mixing state and hematite content of polluted mineral dust are not well accounted in the optical models and this leads to uncertainty in the radiative forcing estimation. In the present study, based on the morphological and mineralogical characterisation of polluted dust, the three-sphere, two-sphere and two-spheroid model shapes are considered. The optical properties of the above model shapes are computed using Discrete Dipole Approximation code. The single scattering albedo, ω 0, was found to vary depending on hematite content (0–6%) and model shape. For the two-sphere BC-mineral dust system, hematite was found to be a dominating absorber compared to that of black carbon as the R BC/R dust decreases. The ω 0 of the polluted dust system is larger if polluted dust is considered as pure dust spheroid (with 4% hematite) while smaller value is observed for Q ext. Among all the systems, the ω 0 of BCBCD (two BC spheres attached to one dust sphere) system showed the maximum departure (40 and 35% for polluted dust with 0 and 6% hematite, respectively) from that of pure dust spheroid with 0 and 6% hematite. For the Asian region (pollution-prone zone), the modelled polluted dust optics will help to trace the optical and radiative properties of dust.
PERFORMANCE OF GROWING RABBITS FED DIETS SUPPLEMENTED WITH SANGROVIT ® IN INTERACTION WITH THE FEEDING PLAN

Fattening rabbit mortality during the 50-60d period is generally in relation with digestive troubles like diarrheas and enterocolitis. Out of the antibiotics, one of the solutions used to control this mortality is the feed restriction, which significantly decreases mortality, but simultaneously reduces growth rate. The feed additive Sangrovit, is a natural product extracted from Macleaya cordata, plants belonging to the Papaveraceae family, which contains quarternary benzophenanthridine and protopine alkaloids (QBA PA) of which sanguinarine has the highest content. The QBA PA alkaloids as sanguinarine are phytoalexine substances produced by the plants to inhibit further growth of bacteria, fungi and viruses. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of Sangrovit® on viability, growth and slaughter performance of fattening rabbit between weaning and slaughter time. A trial was carried out with an experimental design 3x2 with the dosage of Sangrovit (0, 40 and 80 ppm) as the first factor and the feeding plan as the second factor (restricted feeding versus ad libitum feeding). Rabbits (1573) were distributed in 6 homogenous groups composed of 53 cages of 5 rabbits each, where they were fed from weaning to slaughtering. This work confirms that, without the additive, the feed restriction reduced mortality (11.0 vs 17.7%; P<0.05) and the feed conversion ratio (3.84 vs 4.06) but also reduced growth rate (39.6 vs 43.1 g/d; P<0.01). The addition of 40 ppm of Sangrovit® induced a significant reduction of mortality (P<0.05) but an unexplained late mortality erased the benefit. At the opposite, the dosage of 80 ppm of Sangrovit decreased significantly (P < 0.05) the mortality in ad libitum conditions (9.4% vs 17.7%). Whatever the dosage, Sangrovit has no average effect on growth rate, feed efficiency or slaughter rate, but the lower mortality reduced the economical feed conversion ratio. This publication shows that the dosage of an additive is different according to the feeding plan. In conditions of feed restriction, the recommended dosage is 40 ppm. In ad libitum conditions, 80 ppm of Sangrovit has the same effects on mortality than the restriction feeding, keeping the positive effects on the growth of feeding ad libitum. Consequently, the profit of rabbits fed ad libitum with 80 ppm of Sangrovit is higher than the one of rabbits feed restricted without Sangrovit.
Estimating crown base height for Scots pine by means of the 3D geometry of airborne laser scanning data

Crown base height (CBH) is an important factor in relation to several characteristics of the tree stock. This paper introduces approaches for estimating tree-level CBH from airborne laser scanning (ALS) data that make use of features of computational geometry. For that purpose, the concepts of Delaunay triangulations and alpha shapes were applied and compared with approaches based on analysing return frequencies and predicting CBH by linear regression. These approaches were evaluated using test data on a total of 185 Scots pine trees, of which 136 were of sawlog size, that were detected and delineated from ALS data with a density of approximately 4 returns m–2. The results suggest that variables based on the frequencies of crown returns within predefined height bins are the most accurate for estimating CBH. By combining the best CBH estimate with the estimated tree height in linear regression, a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 1.4 m (14%) was achieved when all study trees were considered. The estimation was generally less accurate for the trees smaller than those of sawlog size. Although the accuracy of estimating CBH is lower using the three-dimensional (3D) geometry approaches presented here, they are considered to have potential for further development.
Optimisation techniques for finite order viscothermal loss modeling in acoustic tubes

Viscothermal losses for models of one-dimensional wave propagation in ducts are usually expressed, in the frequency domain, in terms of a series impedance/shunt admittance pair. A wellknown model is that of Zwikker and Kosten, for which the immittances are not expressed in terms of rational functions of the frequency variable—and thus a difficult match to time domain simulation methods. One approach to finite order rational approximation is based on a high-frequency approximation, leading to a representation in terms of fractional powers of the frequency variable, which can then be further approximated in terms of a rational function using standard techniques. Another is to approximate the Zwikker-Kosten model directly, and a major design consideration is to ensure positive realness under a finite order approximation, leading to a passive or dissipative representation. Though closed-form solutions based on continued fraction expansion are available, another approach is to make use of optimisation over a parameterised finite order rational function for which the positive realness property is inbuilt. This paper focuses on the optimisation problem, using standard iterative techniques such as gradient descent and its extensions, particularly with regard to model order, and extensions to the case of optimisation in a discrete time setting are also discussed. Optimisation results, for a variety of model orders and frequency optimisation ranges, are presented.
Board Structure and Corporate Financial Performance in Vietnamese Listed Firms

This study aims to demonstrate the relationship between board features and performance of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange. There are six characteristics of board being considered, including board size, independent directors, chairman CEO, busy directors, foreign members on board, and managerial ownership feature. The data is collected from financial statements and reports of 194 firms classified to 9 industries. Both return on asset and return on equity are used to measure corporate performance. The results show the significant positive correlations between board size, foreign members and firm performance. In contrast, CEO duality has significant negative impact on ROA while significant positive effect is discovered when using ROE as performance measurement. This paper could not find significant relationship between independent members on board, busy directors and managerial ownership on firm performance. The findings may be suggestion to build corporate governance principles in Viet Nam and research in the future.
An investigation into the application and processes of manualised group body psychotherapy for depressive disorder in a clinical trial

Background: Body-oriented psychological therapy (BOPT) has been described as effective in addressing depressive symptoms. There is, however, a paucity of research into the processes leading to change and the actual experience of the patients and the therapist in delivering BOPT interventions. Method: Secondary qualitative analysis of data obtained within an exploratory randomised controlled trial of manualised body psychotherapy (BPT) for patients with chronic depression, analysing qualitative aspects of change processes during therapy, was conducted. Results: At the beginning of therapy, most patients presented with a restricted, emotionally dissociated and inwardly directed range of expressive behaviours, associated with isolation of emotions from self-awareness. Clinically relevant changes in body postures and gestures were associated with feelings of empowerment; connecting repressed anger with feelings of sadness appears to have resulted in enhanced levels of self-confidence and improvements of depressed mood. Body satisfaction scores improved slightly. Conclusion: Patients with chronic depression may benefit from specific BPT interventions. These interventions appear to be particularly effective in assisting patients to identify and express a wide range of feelings.
The Integration of Credit Default Swap Markets in the Pre and Post-Subprime Crisis in Common Stochastic Trends

It was evident that credit default swap (CDS) spreads have been highly correlated during the recent financial crisis. Motivated by this evidence, this study attempts to investigate the extent to which CDS markets across regions, maturities and credit ratings have integrated more in crisis. By applying the Panel Analysis of Non-stationarity in Idiosyncratic and Common components method (PANIC) developed by Bai and Ng (2004), we observe a potential shift in CDS integration between the pre- and post-Lehman collapse period, indicating that the system of CDS spreads is tied to a long-run equilibrium path. This finding contributes to a credit risk management task and also coincides with the missions of Basel III since the more integrated CDS markets could result in correlated default, credit contagion and simultaneous downgrading in the future.
Benchmarking and Analyzing Deep Neural Network Training

The recent popularity of deep neural networks (DNNs) has generated considerable research interest in performing DNN-related computation efficiently. However, the primary focus is usually very narrow and limited to (i) inference – i.e. how to efficiently execute already trained models and (ii) image classification networks as the primary benchmark for evaluation. Our primary goal in this work is to break this myopic view by (i) proposing a new benchmark suite for DNN training, called TBD1 TBD is short for Training Benchmark for DNNs, which comprises a representative set of eight DNN models and covers six major machine learning applications: image classification, machine translation, speech recognition, object detection, adversarial networks, reinforcement learning, and (ii) performing an extensive performance analysis of these models on three major deep learning frameworks (TensorFlow, MXNet, CNTK) across different hardware configurations (single-GPU, multi-GPU, and multi-machine). We present a new toolchain for performance analysis for these models that combines the targeted usage of existing performance analysis tools, careful selection of performance metrics, and methodologies to analyze the results. We also build a new set of tools for memory profiling in three major frameworks. These tools can shed light on precisely how much memory is consumed by different data structures (weights, activations, gradients, workspace) in DNN training. Using our tools and methodologies, we make several important observations and recommendations on where future DNN training research and optimization should be focused.1TBD is short for Training Benchmark for DNNs
Analysis of the Influence of Film-Forming Compounds on Droplet Growth: Implications for Cloud Microphysical Processes and Climate

Abstract Decades of cloud microphysical research have not provided conclusive understanding of the physical processes responsible for droplet spectral broadening. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed—for example, entrainment mixing, vortex shedding, giant cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), chemical processing of CCN, and radiative cooling—all of which are likely candidates under select conditions. In this paper it is suggested that variability in the composition of CCN, and in particular, the existence of condensation inhibiting compounds, is another possible candidate. The inferred potential abundance of these amphiphilic film-forming compounds (FFCs) suggests that their effect may be important. Using a cloud parcel model with a simplified treatment of the effect of FFCs, it is shown that modest concentrations of FFCs (on the order of 5% of the total aerosol mass) can have a marked effect on drop growth and can cause significant increases in spectral dispersions. Moreover, it is shown that FFCs may, in s.
Visitor Perceptions of Captive Wildlife Tourism in a Western Australian Natural Setting

Wildlife tourism involves a broad sweep of experiences that includes all of the aspects of the tourism genre with the distinguishing feature of animals as the primary attraction. The uniqueness of Australian wildlife in combination with factors such as remoteness and rarity appear to have provided the ideal context for successful wildlife tourism operations. Barna Mia, located in a large remnant woodland in the central southern wheatbelt of Western Australia, is approximately 165 km southeast of the state's capital, Perth. Dryandra Woodland, the location of Banra Mia consists of a closely grouped and connected cluster of native remnant vegetation blocks. The enclosure is surrounded by electrified, vermin proof fencing to keep feral predators out and the captive fauna in. The results of the visitor survey at Barna Mia suggested the experience provided a great sense of satisfaction amongst respondents. This was both in terms of the overall satisfaction as well as satisfaction with specific parts of the experience. The feeling of being 'in the wild' may have been enhanced by the lack of barriers between visitors and the animals and the absence of constraints on animal movement through the enclosure. Improving the operation of Barna Mia as an attraction in itself and as part of the Dryandra Woodland product may serve to improve its success as an attraction. However, an innately attractive tourism experience cannot work without appropriate integration within the specific wildlife tourism product of Dryandra Woodland, while coordination with tourism on a regional scale is also important.
Assessing the power transfer performance of a lattice tower overhead line system

This study examines the overall performance of overhead power lines (OHL) considering their electro-mechanical properties, with a focus on lattice tower structures. Performance analysis of commonly used aluminium alloy conductors on a 275 kv lattice tower system and subsequent comparison with the corresponding performance of the conductors on a 33 kV wood pole structure highlights the effect of the OHL structure strength on overall system performance. Further results from the analysis of the lattice tower structure help to evaluate the effect of span length, conductor weight and bundle configuration on OHL system performance. Finally, a holistic analysis illustrating the benefits of the use of novel conductors on lattice tower structures at ‘normal’ operating temperatures to avoid increased losses is reported and discussed.
Comparing journalism cultures in Latin America: The case of Chile, Brazil and Mexico

Based on interviews with 300 journalists in Chile, Brazil and Mexico, this article describes similarities and differences in their professional cultures. Two competing conceptual explanations are tested: the dominance of political structures, levels of press freedom and the size and concentration of media ownership vs the predominance of political cultures and political parallelism. Although the study provides some evidence in favour of the second scenario – overall in terms of the institutional roles supported by the journalists – neither of the two explanations can fully account for the differences between the countries. Meanwhile, the epistemological and ethical views of the journalists seem to be trapped in contesting terrains of ambiguity, where organizational, media routines and individual factors override country differences. Corresponding author: Claudia Mellado, School of Journalism, University of Santiago, Av. Ecuador 3650, Estación Central, Santiago de Chile, Chile Email: claudia.mellado@usach.cl the International Communication Gazette 74(1) 60–77 a The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1748048511426994 gaz.sagepub.com at UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE on December 12, 2013 gaz.sagepub.com Downloaded from
Synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services in Costa Rica

SUMMARY Ecosystems services have become a key concept in understanding the way humans benefit from ecosystems. In Costa Rica, a pioneer national scheme of payment provides compensation for forest conservation that is assumed to jointly produce services related to biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, water and scenic beauty, but little is known about the spatial correlations among these services. A spatial assessment, at national scale and with fine resolution, identified the spatial congruence between these services, by considering the biophysical potential of service provision and socioeconomic demand. Services have different spatial distributions but are positively correlated. Spatial synergies exist between current policies (national parks and the payment scheme) and the conservation of ecosystem services: national parks and areas receiving payments provide more services than other areas. Biodiversity hotspots have the highest co-benefits for other services, while carbon hotspots have the lowest. This finding calls for cautiousness in relation to expectations that forest-based mitigation initiatives such as REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) can automatically maximize bundled co-benefits for biodiversity and local ecosystem services.
Tail loss and escape behaviour in the Common Wall Lizard Podarcis muralis LAURENTI , 1768 . A preliminary analysis ( Squamata : Sauria

In some lizard species tail loss can involve a shift in defensive strategy, resulting in decrease of the escape distance. In this study I examined whether tail loss influences escape behaviour of the Common Wall Lizard, Podarcis muralis LAURENTI, 1768. Data were obtained from a population inhabiting a forested area situated about 17 km east of Rome (Latium, Central Italy). A total of 77 observations was collected. Results of this study seem to show that tail loss does not influence escape distance in P. muralis since defensive behaviour of specimens with intact tail was similar to that of specimens which had lost their tail. Escape distance was not affected by sex and body size, but was by vegetation coverage level.
Host specificity of several Pseudacteon (Diptera: Phoridae) parasites of fire ants (Hymenoptera: For

We tested the host specificity of several parasitic Pseudacteon scuttle flies in South America with 23 species of ants in 13 genera. None of these ant species attracted Pseudacteon parasites except Solenopsis saevissima (F. Smith) and to a lesser extent Solenopsis geminata (Fab.). This result is encouraging because it indicates that the Pseudacteon flies tested in this study would not pose an ecological danger to other ant genera if these flies were introduced into the United States as classical biological control agents of imported fire ants. This prediction of host specificity will, of course, need to be validated with potential hosts in the United States before these flies can be released.
Hydrochemical and microbiological distinction and function of ombrotrophic peatland lagg as ecotone between Sphagnum peatland and forest catchment (Poleski National Park, eastern Poland)

The testate amoeba, ciliate and rotifera communities living in interstitial waters in peatbog in eastern Poland were studied. Sampling was done on a monthly basis from April to November 2007–2008. Microbial communities were examined in a transect including three sites: (1) pine forest (site located 5 m from the lagg/forest contact zone), (2) lagg, (3) open peatbog (the centre of the peatbog). At each of the sites, interstitial water was sampled by means of piezometric wells placed to a depth of 1 m. The species richness and abundance of protozoa and rotifers significantly differed between the studied stations, with the lowest numbers in the pine forest and the highest in the lagg. These differences between macro-habitats may be due to differences in environmental conditions. The distribution of samples in ordination space led to conclude that studied habitats are distributed along the falling gradient of pH and rising gradient of total organic carbon, water table depth and nitrate nitrogen. Assemblages of all three groups showed a strong compositional gradient correlated with water-table depth, conductivity and total phosphorus. However, species composition of ciliates and rotifers was explained by nitrate nitrogen and/or phosphates concentrations. The results suggest that lagg zone of a raised bog can fulfil the function of an ecotone zone, distinguished by a significant increase in biodiversity, abundance and species specificity of micro-organisms. It can also be a place of very efficient matter and energy flow in a peat bog ecosystem.