Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intensification of grassland and forage use: driving forces and constraints

Abstract. The increasing demand for safe and nutritional dairy and beef products in a globalising world, together with the needs to increase resource use efficiency and to protect biodiversity, provide strong incentives for intensification of grassland and forage use. This paper addresses the question: ‘Does intensification of grassland and forage use lead to efficient, profitable and sustainable ecosystems? ’ We present some notions about intensification of agricultural production, and then discuss the intensification of grassland-based dairy production in The Netherlands, Chile and New Zealand. Finally, we arrive at some conclusions. External driving forces and the need to economise (the law of the optimum) provide strong incentives for intensification, that is, for increasing the output per unit surface area and labour. The three country cases illustrate that intensification of grassland use is a global phenomenon, with winners and losers. Winners are farmers who are able to achieve a high return on investments. Losers are small farmers who drop out of the business unless they broaden their income base. The relationship between intensification and environmental impact is complex. Within certain ranges, intensification leads to increased emissions of nutrients and greenhouse gases to air and use of water per unit surface area, but to decreased emissions when expressed per unit of product. The sustainability of a grassland-based ecosystem is ultimately defined by the societal appreciation of that system and by biophysical and socioeconomic constraints. In conclusion, intensification may lead to more efficient and profitable and, thereby, more sustainable grassland ecosystems. This holds especially for those systems that are currently not sustainable because they are either underutilised and of low productivity or over-exploited and unregulated, and as long as the adapted systems meet societal and ecological constraints.
EXAMINING SYSTEMATIC RISK ON MALAYSIAN FIRMS: PANEL DATA EVIDENCE

This study is motivated by the issue of inconclusiveness in the literature pertaining to the impact of firm specific variables towards the systematic risk, with a specific focus given on the financial leverage and firms’ financing policies. By employing panel data and Fixed Effect Model (FEM), this study examines comprehensively the determinants of systematic risk of 824 non-financial listed firms in Malaysia, for the period of fourteen years, from 2000 until 2013. To gain an inclusive understanding on the systematic risk, inter-industry variations is also investigated using the FEM. Overall findings reveal that financial leverage is the most significant variable influencing the systematic risk of Malaysian firms. Other controlling variables are not found to be significant. However, interestingly, results from the inter-industry analysis shows different views with some significant impact from other firm specific controlling variables for certain industries. Findings from this study add to the literature on systematic risk, especially on the inter-industry differences in relation to the factors influencing the firms’ exposures to the systematic risk.
Development of Antioxidant Activity during Milk Fermentation by Wild Isolates of Lactobacillus helveticus

Background and Objective: Oxidative stress, due to free radicals, brings injury to the body by attacking large molecules and cell organs, and is the main reason of many diseases. Fermentation of foods containing large amount of proteins such as milk by special species of lactic acid bacteria is a potential way in enhancement of the antioxidative activity of foods. This study aimed at evaluating non-common starter species isolates of Lactobacillus helveticus for their capability to produce fermented milk enriched in antioxidant peptides. Materials and Methods: Reconstituted skim milk (11%) was inoculated with 7 wild isolates of Lactobacillus helveticus , and after 24 h fermentation at 37oC, the samples were kept 4oC and for 14 days. Viable cell number, acidification and proteolysis degree in the milk fermented by each isolate were assessed in 1, 7 and 14 days. Development of antioxidant activity was measured using DPPH and ABTS●+ radial scavenging activities during the storage period. Results and Conclusion: Though some slight strain-dependent differences were observed in growth, acidification and proteolysis, all the samples showed considerably strong antioxidant activity (at least 62.32±3.66% and 57.64±1.42% measured using DPPH and ABTS●+ radicals, respectively) through the whole storage period. In vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion indicated that DPPH radical-scavenging activity of the antioxidative peptidic supernatants was not affected significantly by consecutive pepsin-pancreatin hydrolysis in most of the samples. These evidences support Lactobacillus helveticus as a promising functional culture able to promote health benefits in dairy-based functional foods. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Relationship between the Subtropical Anticyclone and Diabatic Heating

Monthly mean reanalysis data and numerical experiments based on a climate model are employed to investigate the relative impacts of different types of diabatic heating and their synthetic effects on the formation of the summertime subtropical anticyclones. Results show that the strong land surface sensible heating (SE) on the west and condensation heating (CO) on the east over each continent generate cyclones in the lower layers and anticyclones in the upper layers, whereas radiative cooling over oceans generates the lower-layer anticyclone and upper-layer cyclone circulations. Such circulation patterns are interpreted in terms of the atmospheric adaptation to diabatic heating through a potential vorticity‐potential temperature view. A Sverdrup balance is used to explain the zonally asymmetric configuration of the surface subtropical anticyclones. The strong deep CO that is maximized in the upper troposphere over the eastern continent and the adjacent ocean is accompanied by upper-tropospheric equatorward flow and weaker lower-tropospheric poleward flow, whereas the very strong longwave radiative cooling (LO) that is maximized near the top of the planetary boundary layer over the eastern ocean is accompanied by strong surface equatorward flow and weaker upper-layer poleward flow. The center of the surface subtropical anticyclone is then shifted toward the eastern ocean, and its zonal asymmetry is induced. This study concludes that in the summer subtropics over each continent and its adjacent oceans LO, SE, CO, and a double-dominant heating (D) from west to east compose a LOSECOD heating quadruplet. A specific zonal asymmetric circulation pattern is then formed in response to the LOSECOD quadruplet heating. The global summer subtropical heating and circulation can then be viewed as ‘‘mosaics’’ of such quadruplet heating and circulation patterns, respectively.
Compliance with Segment Disclosure Initiatives: Implications for the Short and Long Run

Regulatory oversight of capital markets has intensified in recent years, with a particular emphasis on expanding financial transparency. A notable instance is efforts by the Financial Accounting Standards Board that push firms to identify and report performance of individual business units (segments). This paper seeks to address short-run and long-run consequences of stringent enforcement of and uniform compliance with these segment disclosure standards. To do so, we develop a parsimonious model wherein a regulatory agency promulgates disclosure standards and either permits voluntary compliance or mandates strict compliance from firms. Under voluntary compliance, a firm is able to credibly withhold individual segment information from its competitors by disclosing data only at the aggregate firm level. Consistent with regulatory hopes, we show that mandatory compliance enhances welfare by increasing transparency and leveling the playing field. However, our analysis also demonstrates that in the long run, if firms are unable to use discretion in reporting to maintain their competitive edge, they may seek more destructive alternatives. Accounting for such concerns, in the long run, voluntary compliance can provide an upside for all parties. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Iranian Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Informatics Vol.2, No.1 (2007),pp 21-37 REVERSE LOOP SUBDIVISION FOR GEOMETRY AND TEXTURES

Reverse subdivision aims at constructing a coarser representation of an object given by a fine polygon mesh. In this paper, we first derive a mask for reverse Loop subdivision that can be applied to both regular and extraordinary vertices. The mask is parameterized, and thus can also be used in reversing variants of Loop subdivision, such as those proposed by Warren and Litke. We apply this mask not only to mesh geometry, but also to texture coordinates. This reverses the texture-mapping process described by DeRose, Kass and Truong, in which a texture originally defined for a coarse mesh was carried to the finer meshes obtained by subdivision. Combined with the forward subdivision, the proposed technique constitutes a multiresolution representation of textured subdivision surfaces. We illustrate its use with a set of examples.
responses to : Interactive comment on “ Impacts of temperature and soil characteristics on methane production and oxidation in Arctic polygonal tundra ” by

20 Rapid warming of Arctic ecosystems accelerates microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and leads to increased production of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). CH4 oxidation potentially mitigates CH4 emissions from permafrost regions, but it is still highly uncertain whether soils in high-latitude ecosystems will function as a net source or sink for CH4 in response to rising temperature and associated hydrological changes. We investigated CH4 production and oxidation potential in permafrost-affected soils from degraded ice-wedge polygons on the Barrow Environmental Observatory, Utqiaġvik 25 (Barrow) Alaska, USA. Frozen soil cores from flat and high-centered polygons were sectioned into organic, transitional and permafrost layers, and incubated at -2, +4 and +8 °C to determine potential CH4 production and oxidation rates. Significant CH4 production was only observed from the suboxic transition layer and permafrost of flat-centered polygon soil. These two soil sections also exhibited highest CH4 oxidation potential. Organic soils from relatively dry surface layers had the lowest CH4 oxidation potential compared to saturated transition layer and permafrost, contradicting to our original assumptions. Low 30 methanogenesis rates are due to low overall microbial activities measured as total anaerobic respiration and competing iron Deleted: polygon
Discrete projection methods for integral equations

Discrete projection methods are analyzed for a variety of integral equations which arise from the reformulation of boundary value problems for partial differential equations. The theory is illustrated by applying it to a variety of integral equations: Fredholm, Volterra, Cauchy singular, hypersingular and boundary integral. The material should be of interest to a large audience of graduate students, practising researchers in engineering and the sciences and applied mathematicians.
The Differential Rank Conservation Algorithm (DIRAC) Reveals Deregulation of Central Metabolic Pathways in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a deadly disease without existing cure or effective treatment. If the genetics and metabolics of this form of liver cancer would be better understood the chance of developing effective treatments would likely increase. HCC cells are different from normal liver cells. When it comes to gene expression the traditional way is to define these differences in terms of up- or downregulation of genes or metabolic subnetworks. The purpose of this report however is to present an alternative approach regarding the definition of what makes HCC cells different from matched liver cells. This approach does not primarily focus on between-phenotype differential gene expression but rather on metabolic network regulation and can be viewed in terms of metabolic network entropy. This alternative approach is made possible through implementation of the so called Di_erential Rank Conservation algorithm (DIRAC). In addition traditional differential expression analysis and detection of differentially expressed metabolites by the reporter metabolites algorithm was performed. The basis of the analysis was RNA-Seq data from 163 HCC patients downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. The results indicate fundamental alterations in network regulation of central metabolic pathways in HCC. For example the TCA cycle, the elec-tron transport chain and fatty acid metabolism show general apparent dysfunction with network deregulation and concomittant average down-regulation of gene expression in HCC. In contrast fatty acid biosynthesis seems to be under tight regulatory control with average upregulation of gene expression in HCC. The DIRAC algorithm also revealed large scale average metabolic network disorganization in HCC, a phenomena referred to as global deregulation. In addition six other cancers were also analysed in terms of their global regulation of their metabolic networks. This analysis revealed a correlation between the degree of global deregulation and malignancy of the cancer. In conclusion the DIRAC algorithm o_ers an alternative view on between-phenotype differences of gene expression which reveales important alterations of the metabolism in HCC.
Dynamics of Growth in a Finite World

The monography presents a mathematical model, "World 3", of the world for the years 1900—2100. The purpose of the model are the conditional; inprecise projections of dynamic behaviour modes of the five model outputs: population, capital, food, non-renewable resources, and pollution. Models of this global scope are not new, they can be traced back even to the ancient world, nevertheless from the very beginning they are controversial. The first class of models is "ecological"; decisions based on ecological models are cautious about the possibilities for human expansion because of unclear interactions and clear bounds. The second class, "technological", supposes that no unbreakable constraints to mankind evolution exist. The first model can be traced as back as to Upanishads ("the vital essence in man is the same as that in a gnat, the same as that in an elephant"), the second to Genesis ("fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over every thing that moveth upon the earth"). The authors claim that the philosophy of their model is synthesis of both elementary models. Nevertheless their project was motivated by the finitness of the world resources and as such from the ecological model. As it is well known from mathematical optimization and from experience of course, too, just because of this finitness, the short horizon decisions used to be, from the longer horizon criteria, the bad decisions. And as it is well known from feedback theory, the uncautious control based on unprecise model may lead to unstability.
226Ra and 228Ra activities in French foodstuffs

The activities of 228 Ac and 214 Bi in French foodstuffs acquired during the last 15 years allow one to obtain reference values of 228 Ra and 226 Ra activities which are usable to assess the dose to the French population due to the intake of these two natural radionuclides. As expected, because of similar 238 U and 232 Th activities in French soils (around 40 Bq.kg -1 ), the 226 Ra/ 228 Ra activity ratio in French terrestrial foodstuffs is close to 1. Most kinds of foodstuffs present similar mean activities: from 0.1 to 0.2 Bq.kg -1 fresh for cereals, leafy vegetables, root vegetables, eggs and fishes (marine and freshwater). The activity in fruits is lower, around 0.05 Bq.kg -1 , similar to that of meat calculated on the basis of the numerous grass measurement results. The lowest activities are noticeable for milk: around 0.015 Bq.L -1 . All these values are in good agreement with the data from various countries, but most often 2 to 3 times higher than the reference values proposed by UNSCEAR. This study also shows that due to the large variability of foodstuff activities reported by a large amount of data, it is not possible to distinguish the activities of samples from regions with a gap of only a factor of 2 between their soil activities.
Polar cap flow channel events: spontaneous and driven responses

Abstract. We present two case studies of specific flow channel events appearing at the dusk and/or dawn polar cap boundary during passage at Earth of interplanetary (IP) coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) on 10 January and 25 July 2004. The channels of enhanced (>1 km/s) antisunward convection are documented by SuperDARN radars and dawn-dusk crossings of the polar cap by the DMSP F13 satellite. The relationship with Birkeland currents (C1–C2) located poleward of the traditional R1–R2 currents is demonstrated. The convection events are manifest in ground magnetic deflections obtained from the IMAGE (International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects) Svalbard chain of ground magnetometer stations located within 71–76° MLAT. By combining the ionospheric convection data and the ground magnetograms we are able to study the temporal behaviour of the convection events. In the two ICME case studies the convection events belong to two different categories, i.e., directly driven and spontaneous events. In the 10 January case two sharp southward turnings of the ICME magnetic field excited corresponding convection events as detected by IMAGE and SuperDARN. We use this case to determine the ground magnetic signature of enhanced flow channel events (the NH-dusk/ B y B z B y
Permutation Spreading Technique Employing Spatial Modulation For MIMO-CDMA Systems

In this paper, we propose a new technique for MIMO-CDMA systems that combines the Spatial Modulation (SM) concept and the permutation spreading design. Simulation results of the proposed system show a significant improvement of the BER performance in low signal to noise ratio (SNR) compared to the conventional STBC design.
Solar‐wind proton access deep into the near‐Moon wake

We study solar wind (SW) entry deep into the near‐Moon wake using SELENE (KAGUYA) data. It has been known that SW protons flowing around the Moon access the central region of the distant lunar wake, while their intrusion deep into the near‐Moon wake has never been expected. We show that SW protons sneak into the deepest lunar wake (anti‐subsolar region at ∼100 km altitude), and that the entry yields strong asymmetry of the near‐Moon wake environment. Particle trajectory calculations demonstrate that these SW protons are once scattered at the lunar dayside surface, picked‐up by the SW motional electric field, and finally sneak into the deepest wake. Our results mean that the SW protons scattered at the lunar dayside surface and coming into the night side region are crucial for plasma environment in the wake, suggesting absorption of ambient SW electrons into the wake to maintain quasi‐neutrality.
Store Brand Equity: An Explorative Study

In regards to food consumption in Italy, consumers demonstrate a growing appreciation for Store Brands in their various forms: premium, mainstream and value. While retailing literature has largely been focused on the determinants behind the Store Brand’s success, little attention has been paid to a specific model able to describe and explain the main factors behind the creation of retail brand equity. Drawing on the literature that has analyzed the success of the Store Brand, this paper aims to assess the Italian consumer’s perception of the Store Brand. It is particularly interesting to study the consumers’ comparative evaluations between the two types of Store Brand segments: mainstream and premium. The variables which characterize a Store Brand’s Identity and those which enable it to offer a credible alternative to the leading industrial brands will be the focus of the study. They include: price advantage, perceived quality, level of innovation, ethics and sustainability. Data were collected from a quantitative survey based on a structured questionnaire. The final sample group was made up of approximately 600 Store Brand consumers loyal to the same retailer. Looking at the two Store Brand segments analyzed, results demonstrate that the consumers’ opinions differ in regards to price advantage, while they remain relatively uniform in regards to the other factors. These results lead to important managerial implications as they highlight how important it is to qualify a Store Brand’s distinctive factors, implement communication policies and to understand the final consumers’ expectations in order to increase its overall value.
Estimating the capital costs of energy storage technologies for levelling the output of renewable energy sources

In remote areas and islands north and west of Scotland and in many other parts of the world, the high cost of connecting wind farms and other renewable energy converters to the grid may make energy storage an attractive alternative. We estimated the installed capital costs of advanced adiabatic compressed air storage (ACAES), vanadium redox flow cells (VRB) and Li-ion batteries in the range of 0.5–50 MW and 0.7–30 MWh. These costs were all of the order of £1 million per MWh, confirming that they already compared favourably with that of network improvements and connection to mainland. VRB and Li-ion batteries had similar capital costs, with VRB being more competitive at lower power output and higher energy storage. Cost reductions of 30–50% would be required for ACAES to be competitive, which may be achieved by the use of reversible compressors that can also be operated as expanders.
A Survey on Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS)

The flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS), a new technology based on power electronics, proposes an opportunity to improve controllability, stability, and power transfer capability of AC transmission systems. This article presents a comprehensive review and evaluation of FACTS controllers. This paper provides an extensive analysis on the research and improvements in the power system stability development using FACTS controllers. Several technical publications related to FACTS installations have been highlighted and performance comparison of different FACTS controllers has been discussed. Moreover, some of the utility experience, real-world installations, and semiconductor technology development have been outlined. Streszczenie. FACTS (elastyczny system transmisji prądu przemiennego) jest nową technologią bazującą na urządzeniach energoelektronicznych umozliwiającą poprawe sterowalności, stabilności i mozliwości przesylu energii. Artykul prezentuje przegląd i ocene kontrolerow stosowanych w tym systemie. Szczegolny nacisk polozono na porownanie parametrow. (Analiza urządzen systemu FACTS)