Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new method of determining distances to dark globules. : The distance to B 335

Context. The distance to an isolated dark globule is often unknown and yet crucial for understanding its properties, in particular its mass. A new approach to this problem is discussed Aims. The purpose of the present paper is to investigate how well the distances of more or less reddened field stars can be determined by using multi-colour imaging. Methods. We observed a test globule, B 335 in U, B, g, r ,a ndI, and together with the 2MASS survey, this data set gives a well-defined spectral energy distribution (SED) of a large number of stars. The SED of each star depends on the interstellar extinction, the distance to the star, and its intrinsic SED. As we had good reasons to suspect that the wavelength dependence of the extinction (the reddening) changes from the outskirts of the globule to the central parts, we did not assume any specific reddening law. Instead, we use a scheme that allows independent determination of the extinction in each line of sight as determined by groups of adjacent stars. The method is based on the use of stellar atmospheric models to represent the intrinsic SEDs of the stars. Formally, it is then possible to determine the spectral class of each star and thereby its distance. For some of the stars we have optical spectra, allowing us to compare the photometric classification to the spectrometric. Results. As expected, the main problem is that there are few stars found within each distance bin for the small field size defining a typical dark globule. However, the characterisation of the extinction and photometric classification give consistent results and we can identify one star at the front side of the globule. It has a photometric distance of 90 pc. The closest star behind the B 335 globule has a distance of only ≈120 pc and we therefore determine the distance to B 335 as 90−120 pc. Our deep U image shows a relatively bright south-western rim of the globule, and we investigate whether it might be due to a local enhancement of the radiation field. A candidate source, located 1.5 arcmin outside our field, would be the field star, HD 184982. This star has an entry in the Hipparcos Catalogue and its distance is 140−200 pc. However, we come to the conclusion that the bright SW rim is more likely due to the wing of the point-spread-function (PSF) of this star.
The role of niche breadth, resource availability and range position on the life history of butterflies

We analysed the relationship between three life history characteristics (mobility, length of flight period and body size) and niche breadth (larval host plant specificity and adult habitat breadth), resource availability (distribution and abundance of host plants) and range position (distance between the northernmost distribution record and southernmost point of Finland) of the butterfly fauna of Finland. The data is based on literature and questionnaires. Often in across species studies phylogeny may create spurious relationships between life-history and ecological variables. We took the phylogenetic relatedness of butterfly species into account by analysing the data with phylogenetically independent contrasts (CAIC method). Butterfly mobility was positively related to the niche breadth, resource availability and range position. The length of the flight period was negatively related to the range position, indicating that the species at the northern edge of their distribution range have shorter flight period than species which are further way from the range edge. After controlling for the phylogenetic relatedness we found no significant correlations between body size and niche breadth, resource availability or range position. We suggest that the relationship between the length of the flight period and range position may arise as a consequence of lower hatching asynchrony in edge species as a result of lower environmental variance in larval growth conditions. Our results on the mobility suggest that there is selection pressure towards lower migration rate in species that have restricted niche breadth, low resource availability and in species that are on the northern edge of their geographical distribution range. In such species, selection against mobile individuals is likely to result from the decreased probability of finding another habitat patch suitable for egg laying.
Estimation of forest structural information using RapidEye satellite data

Forest management plans in Bavaria are generally updated only once every 10 years. However, the increasingly dynamic forest structure due to climatic changes requires more frequent data collection in order to maintain up-to-date information. This study explored the use of RapidEye satellite data to provide more frequent updates to the information database. Forest structural information such as quadratic mean diameter (dq), basal area (BA), stem number (SN) and volume (V) were estimated using multi-seasonal analysis of three RapidEye datasets from 2009. Spectral indices and textural metrics provided additional image feature layers. Forest inventory plots were stratified based on the forest type. A correlation analysis was conducted between terrestrial inventory data and that derived from RapidEye data. A cross-validated stepwise forward regression analysis was performed for each forest type. The coefficient of determination and relative root mean square error (rRMSE) showed that stratification improved the regression models, which obtained determination measures ranging from 0.37 to 0.63 and rRMSE ranging from 25 to 131 per cent. Biases of the regression estimates were small, hence the results obtained from applying the models were of an acceptable level of accuracy. The analysis confirmed the potential of RapidEye data to support forest management.
Co-Creation Intention; Presenting a Model of Antecedents and its Impact on Attitude Toward the Product (Case Study in Shatel Company)

Virtual co-creation is a tool which assists marketers in better recognizing customers’ needs and in increasing new products success rates. Despite the importance of co-creation in new product development, little empirical research is being conducted in order to clarify the concept. Studies are mostly company centric, overlooking consumer’s value perception of co-creation and how it affects his behavior. Thus, this research intends to analyze the customers’ value perceptions of virtual co-creation, considering the effect of self-efficacy on the correlation between their perceived value and co-creation intention, and eventually study the impact of co-creation intention on attitude toward the product. To do so, Shatel’s voice of the customer website was selected as an example of virtual co-creation and a questionnaire was distributed among 446 customers of this company. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and SPSS18 and Amos22 software. Results showed that customers perceived virtual co-creation valuable and self-efficacy had no significant impact on value perceptions of the participants regarding this process. Moreover, according to the findings, co-creation leads to positive attitudes toward the product.
Sex steroid hormones involvement in aging brain . The perimenopausal “ window ” of opportunity for neuroprotection

Perimenopause is a mandatory period in women’s life, when the medical staff may initiate hormone therapy with sex steroids for the delay of brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases, during the so-called “window of opportunity. ” Animals’ models are helpful to sustain the still controversial results of human clinical observational and/or randomized controlled studies. Estrogens, progesterone, and androgens, with their nuclear and membrane receptors, genes, and epigenetics, with their connections to cholinergic, GABAergic, serotoninergic, and glutamatergic systems are involved in women’s normal brain or in brain’s pathology. The sex steroids are active through direct and/or indirect mechanisms to modulate and/or to protect brain plasticity, and vessels network, fuel metabolism—glucose, ketones, ATP, to reduce insulin resistance, and inflammation of the aging brain through blood-brain barrier disruption, microglial aberrant activation, and neural cell survival/loss.
From Performance-Based To Inquiry-Based Accountability

This paper argues Canada has a unique approach to large-scale assessment and accountability that is not reflected in the current literature. I explore its construction by drawing on the results of two pan-Canadian SSHRC-funded studies and reflecting on Canada’s philosophical identity that distinguishes it from other nations. I conclude with a call for more Canadian-based theoretical and empirical research to support contextually relevant interpretations in future studies.
Study of involvement of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase in imparting resistance to bacterial blight disease in Oryza sativa varieties

Resistance of Oryza sativa towards X. oryzae pv. oryzae at different growth stages varies according to host genotypes as seedling resistance (at seedling stage) and adult plant resistance (at adult stage but susceptible at seedling stage). These stresses can induce biochemical and physiological changes in plants, such as physical strengthening of the cell wall through lignification, suberization and callose deposition by producing phenolic compounds, phytoalexins and pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins which subsequently prevent various pathogen invasions. Plants responds to bacterial pathogen attack by activating different defense responses leads to accumulation of defense enzymes, inhibitors and antibiotics etc. which prevents the pathogen infection. Plant pathogen interaction is mediated by the complex network of molecular and cytological events that determine a range between susceptibility and resistance. Peroxidise is believed to be one of the most important factors of the plant biochemical defense against pathogenic microorganism, which is actively participating in the self-regulation of plant metabolism after infection. The other enzyme belongs to this group is Polyphenol oxidase is a nuclear encoded, plastid copper-containg enzyme which catalses the oxygen-dependant oxidation of phenols to quinines. Because of conspicuous reaction products and induction by wounding and pathogen attack. There are few reports of the role of polyphenol oxidase in plant defense against pathogens. Our studies indicate that the defense enzymes Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase are actively involved in imparting resistance to bacterial blight in Oryza sativa varieties. It was observed that upon inoculation of resistant seedlings, Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase expression were elevated. This may inhibit the growth of pathogen by suppressing attempted invasion there by imparting resistance to bacterial blight in Oryza sativa varieties. From these studies it appears that Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase are involved in imparting resistance to bacterial blight in Oryza sativa varieties. Further, Peroxidase and Polyphenol oxidase can be used as a biochemical markers to indicate the resistance/ susceptibility nature of rice cultivars against bacterial blight disease in Oryza sativa varieties.
The Impact of Firm Performance on Executive Compensation in France

Abstract The purpose of this article is to model the executive compensation in France. From a sample of 90 companies included in the SBF 120 over 2004, we examine whether there is a significant link between the overall executive compensation and corporate performance, and then determine the relationship between the fixed and variable part of the compensation with performance. Our findings highlight in particular the level of total executive compensation that is linked with relatively improved performance. And clearer, the pay of executive increases with the increase of financial performance, whereas, the bonus depends on level of accounting performance. The grant of options to executive is relatively linked to the financial performance of the enterprise level.
Translating Heritage: a corpus-based approach to solving translation problems in mining heritage tourism texts

This study used the principles of corpus analysis set out by Bowker & Pearson (1998; 2002) and Wilkinson (2005a; 2005b) to attempt to compile a French & English bilingual glossary of specialised mining heritage tourism terminology, which was then applied during a translation of a previously untranslated text. The resulting translation was then compared to a similar text known to be professionally translated, and assessed in terms of the translation choices made. Under consideration was the appropriate treatment of informative-operative text types, as described by Reiss in Munday (2008) and by Newmark (1988), particularly the objective of maintaining the influence of the SL heritage upon the TL reader. Although the study would have benefited from a greater scope and the possibility of a larger, wider ranging corpus, and although a number of cultural differences between tourism in the UK and France impacted on the success of the project, it was concluded that the principles of corpus analysis for this purpose were sound and furthermore it was demonstrated that access to a specialised glossary compiled in this manner could offer the translator better choices than the traditional dictionary resources with regards to terminology and translation strategy. MA Translation UPN-­‐QCB-­‐60-­‐M ‘Dissertation’ 10040540
Performance evaluation of efficient combinational logic design using nanomaterial electronics

Abstract Scaling down trend of CMOS transistor is approaching its lowest point, the rational substitute for the CMOS technology to attain advance improvements in terms of size, low power, and device density usage is an imperative essential. Due to the several physical limitations and circuit bounds of CMOS technology, it is the requirement of a new possible consistent model, that has small area, high device density and low power consumption. Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is a novel approach in this direction. This paper presents a new design of 2:4 Decoder, 2:1 Multiplexer, D-Flipflop based on QCA. In addition, a nano communication circuit has been proposed which is proficient as compared to previous designs. Hamming distance approach has been used to perform the power calculations of the proposed circuits. To authenticate the functionality of the proposed designs computational simulation results has been performed using the QCAdesigner tool.
Exploring Mobile-only Internet Use: Results of a Training Study in Urban South Africa

Using an ethnographic action research approach, the study explores the challenges, practices, and emergent framings of mobile-only Internet use in a resource-constrained setting. We trained eight women in a nongovernmental organization’s collective in South Africa, none of whom had used a personal computer, how to access the Internet on mobile handsets they already owned. Six months after training, most continued to use the mobile Internet for a combination of utility, entertainment, and connection, but they had encountered barriers, including affordability and difficulty of use. Participants’ assessments mingled aspirational and actual utility of the channel with and against a background of socioeconomic constraints. Discussion links the digital literacy perspective to the broader theoretical frameworks of domestication, adaptive structuration, and appropriation.
Investor disagreement: the modern approach

Disagreement between economists is a well know fact. However, it took a long time for this concept to be incorporated in economic models. In this survey, we review the consequences and insights provided by recent models. Since disagreement between market agents can be generated through different hypotheses, the main differences between them are highlighted. Finally, this work concludes with a short review of nowcasting using google trends, emphasizing advances connecting both literatures.
Estimation of induced variability in M2 generation of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.)

Mutagenesis involving ionizing radiations have been extensively used for development of genetic and breeding resources with novel characteristics. Genetic variability in fennel for agronomically important traits is low. Thus this study was aimed at generating genetic variability in Rajasthan Fennel-125 variety of fennel using the most potent physical mutagen i.e. gamma rays. The seeds were exposed to different doses of gamma rays (150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 Gy). The M1 and subsequent M2 generations were raised in the field. In M2 generation, large numbers of morphological mutants were identified. Observations were recorded in each of selected putative mutants in M2 generation (from seedling to harvesting stage). Many of the selected variants showed comparatively slow growth and variation in chlorophyll content. The chlorophyll variegation involved either whole plant or was restricted to part of leaves. In chlorophyll mutants, the leaf colour ranged from yellow to pure white. Huge variability was also observed with respect to plant height in selected variants. The selected putative mutants showed variation in flowering time, number of primary branches, number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per umbel and days to maturity. Though plant yield in many of the mutants were low in comparison to the parents, the ideotype of the variants were good with respect to plant height and branching pattern. Many of the hitherto indentified mutants exhibited yield superiority over the parent. The identified variants would be further evaluated for their superiority and the breeding nature in M3 & M4 generation to ascertain the nature of mutation.
Moisture-induced strength degradation of aggregate–asphalt mastic bonds

A common manifestation of moisture-induced damage in asphalt mixtures is the loss of adhesion at the aggregate–asphalt mastic interface and/or cohesion within the bulk mastic. This paper investigates the effects of moisture on the aggregate–mastic interfacial adhesive strength as well as the bulk mastic cohesive strength. Physical adsorption concepts were used to characterise the thermodynamic work of adhesion and debonding of the aggregate–mastic bonds using dynamic vapour sorption and contact angle measurements. Moisture diffusion in the aggregate substrates and in the bulk mastics was determined using gravimetric techniques. Mineral composition of the aggregates was characterised by a technique based on the combination of a scanning electron microscope and multiple energy dispersive X-ray detectors. Aggregate–mastic bond strength was determined using moisture-conditioned butt-jointed tensile test specimens, while mastic cohesive strength was determined using dog bone-shaped tensile specimens. Aggregate–mastic bonds comprising granite mastics performed worse in terms of moisture resistance than limestone mastic bonds. The effect of moisture on the aggregate–mastic interfacial bond appears to be more detrimental than the effect of moisture on the bulk mastic.
Measurement of inter- and intra-annual variability of landscape fire activity at a continental scale: the Australian case

Climate dynamics at diurnal, seasonal and inter-annual scales shape global fire activity, although difficulties of assembling reliable fire and meteorological data with sufficient spatio-temporal resolution have frustrated quantification of this variability. Using Australia as a case study, we combine data from 4760 meteorological stations with 12 years of satellite-derived active fire detections to determine day and night time fire activity, fire season start and end dates, and inter-annual variability, across 61 objectively defined climate regions in three climate zones (monsoon tropics, arid and temperate). We show that geographic patterns of landscape burning (onset and duration) are related to fire weather, resulting in a latitudinal gradient from the monsoon tropics in winter, through the arid zone in all seasons except winter, and then to the temperate zone in summer and autumn. Peak fire activity precedes maximum lightning activity by several months in all regions, signalling the importance of human ignitions in shaping fire seasons. We determined median daily McArthur forest fire danger index (FFDI50) for days and nights when fires were detected: FFDI50 varied substantially between climate zones, reflecting effects of fire management in the temperate zone, fuel limitation in the arid zone and abundance of flammable grasses in the monsoon tropical zone. We found correlations between the proportion of days when FFDI exceeds FFDI50 and the Southern Oscillation index across the arid zone during spring and summer, and Indian Ocean dipole mode index across south-eastern Australia during summer. Our study demonstrates that Australia has a long fire weather season with high inter-annual variability relative to all other continents, making it difficult to detect long term trends. It also provides a way of establishing robust baselines to track changes to fire seasons, and supports a previous conceptual model highlighting multi-temporal scale effects of climate in shaping continental-scale pyrogeography.
Does the temperature sensitivity of decomposition vary with soil organic matter quality

Knorr et al. (2005) concluded that soil organic carbon pools with longer turnover times are more sensitive to temperature. We show that this conclusion is equivocal, largely dependent on their specific selection of data and does not persist when the data set of K¨ atterer et al. (1998) is analysed in a more appropriate way. Further, we analyse how 5 statistical properties of the model parameters may interfere with correlative analyses that relate the Q10 of soil respiration with the basal rate, where the latter is taken as a proxy for soil organic matter quality. We demonstrate that negative parameter correlations between Q10-values and base respiration rates are statistically expected and not necessarily provide evidence for a higher temperature sensitivity of low quality soil 10
Evaluation of Agricultural Production Systems Simulator as yield predictor of Panicum virgatum and Miscanthus x giganteus in several US environments

Simulation models for perennial energy crops such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) and Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) can be useful tools to design management strategies for biomass productivity improvement in US environments. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) is a biophysical model with the potential to simulate the growth of perennial crops. APSIM crop modules do not exist for switchgrass and Miscanthus, however, re‐parameterization of existing APSIM modules could be used to simulate the growth of these perennials. Our aim was to evaluate the ability of APSIM to predict the dry matter (DM) yield of switchgrass and Miscanthus at several US locations. The Lucerne (for switchgrass) and Sugarcane (for Miscanthus) APSIM modules were calibrated using data from four locations in Indiana. A sensitivity analysis informed the relative impact of changes in plant and soil parameters of APSIM Lucerne and APSIM Sugarcane modules. An independent dataset of switchgrass and Miscanthus DM yields from several US environments was used to validate these re‐parameterized APSIM modules. The re‐parameterized modules simulated DM yields of switchgrass [0.95 for CCC (concordance correlation coefficient) and 0 for SB (bias of the simulation from the measurement)] and Miscanthus (0.65 and 0% for CCC and SB, respectively) accurately at most locations with the exception of switchgrass at southern US sites (0.01 for CCC and 2% for SB). Therefore, the APSIM model is a promising tool for simulating DM yields for switchgrass and Miscanthus while accounting for environmental variability. Given our study was strictly based on APSIM calibrations at Indiana locations, additional research using more extensive calibration data may enhance APSIM robustness.