Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Method For Relating GPS Performance To Forest Canopy

Abstract This paper describes the development of a quantitative method of classifying forest canopy that can be related to degradation in Differential GPS (DGPS) performance. Using digital images taken vertically skywards at 20 sites within a forest on the east coast of Ireland, canopy cover was described using percentage sky obstruction (Op ), largest hole (DTmax ), and the fragmentation of sky view (DTp ) using pixel count and distance transform data. Statistical methods were used to produce three clusters which related to canopy cover in stands of Picea sitkensis and Picea contorta. DGPS data were then collected on 10 separate dates at the 20 sites, every two seconds for five minutes, and the two–dimensional standard deviation of the position fix was used to represent DGPS precision. The standard deviations ranged from 0.5 m to 9.7 m (compared to the manufacturer’s specification of approximately 1 m in the horizontal). Precision was found to be related to the total obstruction, the size of the largest hole in the canopy, and the fragmentation of the sky view. Where there was little obstruction (<20%) or fragmentation, the DGPS performance was effectively the same as outside the forest, open canopy caused a 2–3 fold degradation in precision, and closed canopy a 5–7 fold degradation. It is suggested that the methods presented could be used to rapidly relate DGPS performance to forest canopy, and therefore may be useful in pre–planning inventory mapping and future machine operations using guidance systems.
Self-organizing Maps in Web Mining and Semantic Web

The nature inspired approaches represent a new trend in computer science in general and in the Semantic Web, due to their scalability and robustness. Neural networks represent one category of nature inspired solutions. The self-organizing map (SOM) is a very popular unsupervised neural network model (Kohonen, et al., 2000). It is a data mining and visualization method for complex high dimensional data sets. In the first part of the chapter, we present how the SOM model can be applied in Web mining, by giving sets of documents as input data space for SOM. The result of applying SOM on a set of documents is a map of documents, which is organized in a meaningful manner so that documents with similar content appear at nearby locations on the twodimensional map display. From the information retrieval point of view, our implemented SOM-based system creates document maps that are readily organized for browsing. A document map also clusters the data, resulting in an approximate model of the data distribution in the high dimensional document space. Some experimental results are included, where a couple of meaningful clusters have been discovered by our system in a subset of the “20 newsgroups” data set (Lang, K., 1995). The clustering capability of our system allows users to find out quickly what is new in a Web site of interest by comparing the clusters obtained from the site at different moments in time. In the rest of the chapter, we focus on how a more complex SOM based unsupervised neural network model is used for enriching a domain ontology. Building complete and reliable domain ontologies is the basis for the success of the Semantic Web. The ontology enrichment process consists in the addition of new concepts which will be attached as hyponyms for the existent nodes of the ontology (Pekar and Staab, 2002). The names of the new concepts are terms represented linguistically by common noun phrases. The enrichment process can also add new instances to existent concepts of the ontology. In this case, the process is also known in the literature as ontology population or named entity classification, where the named entities are represented linguistically by proper names of people, organizations, locations etc. (Cimiano and Volker, 2005). In both cases, the process is algorithmically the same, the only difference being the grammatical category of the linguistic entities to be classified: common noun phrases representing terms for new concepts to be added or proper noun phrases representing named entities, i.e. new instances for the existent 22
First Principles Study of Morphology, Doping Level and Water Solvation Effects on Catalytic Mechanism of a Graphene Towards Oxygen Reduction Reaction

연료전지는 에너지 생산문제를 해결할 수 있는 유망한 신 재생에너지원으로 조명되고 있지만, 비싼 백금촉매가격 및 상용화에는 부족한 내구성과 촉매활성 문제로 어려움을 겪고 있다. 최근, 백금촉매를 대체할 수 있는 비 백금 촉매를 개발하기 위한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 비 백금촉매 중에서 질소도핑 그래핀(N-Gr)은 백금촉매와 비슷한 산소환원반응(ORR) 촉매활성이 보고되었다. 그러나, 산소환원반응에 기여하는 N-Gr의 구체적인 구조는 밝혀지지 않았고 N-Gr에서의 산소환원반응 메커니즘에 대해서도 많은 연구가 필요하다. ⓒ 2015 DGIST
Drivers’ Age, Gender, Driving Experience, and Aggressiveness as Predictors of Aggressive Driving Behaviour

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the problem of aggressive driving. In the present study two demographic variables (gender and age), two non-psychological driving-experience related variables (annual mileage and legal driving experience in years) and aggressiveness as a personality trait (including behavioural and affective components) as psychological variable of individual differences were examined as potential predictors of aggressive driving. The aim of the study was to find out the best predictors of aggressive driving behaviour. The study was based on an online survey, and 228 vehicle drivers in Latvia participated in it. The questionnaire included eight-item Aggressive Driving Scale (Bone & Mowen, 2006), short Latvian version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ; Buss & Perry, 1992), and questions gaining demographic and driving experience information. Gender, age and annual mileage predicted aggressive driving: being male, young and with higher annual driving exposure were associated with higher scores on aggressive driving. Dispositional aggressiveness due to anger component was a significant predictor of aggressive diving score. Physical aggression and hostility were unrelated to aggressive driving. Altogether, the predictors explained a total of 28% of the variance in aggressive driving behaviour. Findings show that dispositional aggressiveness, especially the anger component, as well as male gender, young age and higher annual mileage has a predictive validity in relation to aggressive driving. There is a need to extend the scope of potential dispositional predictors pertinent to driving aggression.
Single‐ and Cross‐Generation Natural Hedging of Longevity and Financial Risk

The paper provides natural hedging strategies among death benefits and annuities written on a single and on different generations. It obtains closed-form Delta and Gamma hedges, in the presence of both longevity and interest rate risk. We present an application to UK data on survivorship and bond dynamics. We first compare longevity and financial risk exposures: Deltas and Gammas for longevity risk are greater in absolute value than the corresponding sensitivities for interest rate risk. We then calculate the optimal hedges, both within and across generations. Our results apply to both asset and asset-liability management.
Transient response of brain heat shock proteins 70 and 90 to acute osmotic stress in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).

Transient response of brain heat shock proteins 70 and 90 to acute osmotic stress in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Zoological Studies 48(6): 723-736. Previous studies demonstrated that gills play a major role in osmoregulation during salinity changes. However, the regulatory mechanism in the tilapia brain under osmolarity challenge remains unexplored. Tilapia Oreochromis mossambicus were transferred directly from fresh water (FW) to 25 ppt seawater (SW) for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 24 h; or to 35 ppt SW for 1, 2, and 4 h, to determine whether heat shock protein (HSP)70 and HSP90 in the brain respond to acute hyperosmotic stress. After transfer to 25 ppt SW, HSP70 and HSP90 messenger (m) RNA remained at higher levels compared to the FW group. HSP70 and HSP90 protein levels in the anterior and middle brain regions at 1 h after SW transfer were higher than those of the FW group, and they had increased in the whole brain at 1 h and were sustained to 4 h following transfer. After transfer to 35 ppt SW, HSP70 mRNA had decreased at 1 h and increased at 4 h compared to values in FW; however, a lower HSP90 mRNA level was observed at 4 h. For the whole brain, protein levels of HSP70 and HSP90 after transfer to 35 ppt SW increased compared to those in FW except at 2 h after transfer. The results suggest that HSP70 and HSP90 may be involved in regulating the tilapia brain when faced with acute osmotic stress and may subsequently facilitate adaptation to a SW environment. http://zoolstud.sinica. edu.tw/Journals/48.6/723.pdf.
Lignin-modifying enzymes: Solid-state production and application in dye decolorization and enzymatic lignocellulose hydrolysis

Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto. fi Author Ulla Moilanen Name of the doctoral dissertation Lignin-modifying enzymes: Solid-state production and application in dye decolorization and enzymatic lignocellulose hydrolysis Publisher School of Chemical Technology Unit Department of Biotechnology and Chemical Technology Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 64/2015 Field of research Bioprocess Engineering Manuscript submitted 30 January 2015 Date of the defence 29 May 2015 Permission to publish granted (date) 15 April 2015 Language English Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles)
The TeV Morphology of the Interacting Supernova Remnant IC 443

The middle-aged supernova remnant IC 443 is interacting with molecular gas in its surroundings. $Fermi$-LAT has established that its gamma-ray emission at low energies shows the "pion bump" that is characteristic of hadronic emission. TeV emission was previously established by MAGIC and VERITAS at a site of interaction between the shock front and a molecular cloud. VERITAS has continued to observe IC 443 and can now resolve the emission on few-arcmin scales. We will present results on the emission morphology and discuss possible sources of the emission, including the shell of the remnant and other gaseous structures in the vicinity.
Surveying on Wheat Farmers' Access and Confidence to Information and Communication Channels (ICCs) about Controlling Eurygaster integriceps in Hamedan Province-Iran

Today, Generation new and various information and knowledge sources need new information and communication channels. The better selection of information and communication channels (ICCs), the more effectiveness of extension programs in agriculture. Surveying on wheat farmers’ access to sources of information and communication channels as ICCs about controlling Eurygaster integriceps Puton in Hamedan province of Iran is primary purpose in this research study. The research method used was descriptive-analytic survey (correlation, causative and regression). The population consisted of a sample of wheat farmers (N = 203) on Hamedan province in Iran from 2004 through 2005. Descriptive results of this study showed that all of respondents were male ranged in age from 23 to 83 years. The most important educational need of wheat farmers was identifying new varieties of wheat’s resistant to pest. Village extension centers, TV, neighbors/relatives/colleagues, extension agents and radio, were the five important communication channels basis on eligibility to access, respectively. The highest confidence of wheat farmers was toward agricultural research centers, village extension centers, local extension agents, newsletter and TV, respectively.
Effect of crop residue harvest on long-term crop yield, soil erosion and nutrient balance: trade-offs for a sustainable bioenergy feedstock

Background: Agricultural residues could potentially be converted to bioenergy, but the sustainable harvest rate is unclear. Results: Residue removal increases soil loss at rates that vary with topography, crop rotation and management; decreases yields (100-year mean yields changed -0.07 to -0.08% for every percent of residue mass removed); decreases soil carbon (approximately 40–90 kg C ha-1 year-1 per Mg of residue harvested); and decreases soil nitrogen (∼3 kg N ha-1 year-1 per Mg residue harvested). Conclusion: Even where soil loss is within tolerable limits, harvesting residue is a question of trade-offs in terms of reduction of yield and loss of soil nutrients. The effects of increased residue harvest are highly variable, depending on local climate and soil erodibility and it is thus problematic to apply a single harvest rate globally. However, on flat land under conservation management, the majority of residue could be sustainably harvested for bioenergy.
Insights into the Nurse's Knowledge and Clinical experience of Polypharmacy in Ajman, UAE

The specter of polypharmacy is an ever-increasing problem. Nurses play a functional role in assisting patients to understand the dangers of polypharmacy. Nurse’s knowledge and their experience of polypharmacy in their nursing practice are determined in the study. Nurses working in Gulf Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Ajman, United Arab Emirates participated in this cross-sectional study (March-May 2011). A Self-administered structured questionnaire was used to obtain data. Chi-square test was performed to find the association between variables under study using PSAW software. A total of 105 nurses participated (92 female nurses; 13 male nurses). The definition of polypharmacy was correctly identified by only 45.7% nurses. 66% identified elderly population as the common age group exposed to polypharmacy; while 22.9% nurses opined that it is common in all age groups. 66.7% of the nurses acknowledge their non awareness of rational and irrational polypharmacy. The common reason for practice of polypharmacy was use of multiple drugs to manage multiple disease conditions. The knowledge of polypharmacy is inadequate among the nurses though they have experience of polypharmacy. Working knowledge of rational polypharmacy is essential among the nursing community to reduce the practice of polypharmacy.
Outcomes of Open Surgery for Popliteal Artery Aneurysms: An 18-Year Experience in a Single Institution in Japan

Objective: To elucidate the outcomes of open surgery for popliteal artery aneurysm (PAA) in a single Japanese institution. Materials and Methods: Between 1999 and 2016, 35 patients (44 PAAs) underwent open surgery in our department. The first-line surgical strategy involved the medial approach, with excision of the aneurysm sac and autologous vein bypass grafting. Associations between the outcomes and 1) the surgical management of the aneurysmal sac (aneurysmectomy vs. ligation with bypass) and 2) the preoperative clinical symptoms were evaluated. Results: There were no aneurysm-related deaths during the follow-up period (mean, 4 years; range, 1 - 17.6 years). The 5-year primary, primary-assisted, and secondary patency rates were 67.9%, 72.7%, and 94.5%, respectively. Re-intervention was required for 19 PAAs (14 patients), including two PAAs in patients with suspected Behcet’s disease. Patency rates did not differ between the aneurysmectomy and ligation groups. Remnant sac enlargement occurred in 3 cases. Among asymptomatic patients, clinical symptoms did not deteriorate; however, the ankle brachial pressure index decreased ≥0.15 in patients with artery-graft mismatching. Conclusion: Patency rates were good, and our modified ligation with bypass procedure, which involves excising the sac as much as possible, exhibited less risk in terms of remnant sac enlargement compared to that in previous studies.
Altered liver function and the status of calcium in postmenopausal women in and around Mangalore.

At the time of menopause female sexual cycle ceases and female sex hormones diminish rapidly. It is characterized by various physiological, psychological and biochemical changes, and also metabolic bone disorders. Therefore in the present study we analyzed the level of AST, ALT, serum proteins, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin and the level of calcium in pre and postmenopausal women. The study involves 80 subjects, of which 40 pre-menopausal and 40 postmenopausal women. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA. In premenopausal women the concentration of AST was elevated significantly as compared to postmenopausal women (p<0.001) but, the concentration of ALT was increased nonsignificantly. The concentration of total serum protein increases in post menopausal women non significantly as compared to pre menopausal women’s whereas, the albumin level was decreased significantly in post menopausal women (p<0.0001). The level of total bilirubin and direct bilirubin increased significantly in post menopausal women as compared to pre menopausal women’s (p<0.01). The serum calcium level was declined significantly in post menopausal women as compared to pre menopausal women’s (p<0.0001). Thus our study demonstrated that, as age advances liver gets irritated and the liver functions gets disturbed. The decreased concentration of calcium in postmenopausal women indicates that they are more prone to fractures and osteoporosis.
Effect of a sowing date on the quantity and quality of the yield of tarragon [Artemisia dracunculus L.] grown for a bunch harvest

The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of a sowing date (10 April, 25 April and 10 May) on the quantity and quality of the yield of tarragon grown for a bunch harvest. The yields of tarragon plants were assayed in 2004-2006. Chemical analyses were made in the years 2004 and 2005. In the dry plant material, the content of macro- and microelements: total nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron and copper was assessed. Moreover, the content of essential oils in dry plant material was estimated. In the raw plant material, the content of L-ascorbic acid and the scavenging effect on DPPH radical were measured. It was proved that the sowing dates had a significant effect on the yield quantity. Significantly higher yield (424.5 kg⋅100 m-2) was obtained when seeds were sown on 10 May. The yield significantly decreased when seeds were sown on 10 April. The test sowing dates had no significant effect on the biometrical characteristics of tarragon plants during the harvest; only the leaves were significantly wider when the earliest sowing date was used. The yields were characterized by a high content of mineral compounds. However, the content of iron was twice as high in 2004 as in 2005. Also, the content of zinc and copper was higher in the first year of the study, respectively by 87.2% and 76.9%, compared with the yield obtained in the year 2005. The content of essential oils (mean for years of the study) was 0.59%, that of L-ascorbic acid was 10.08 mg⋅100 g -1 f.m. and the scavenging effect of tarragon herb on DPPHradical was 26.74%.
Resources and Relationships: Food Insecurity and Social Capital among Middle School Students

This study examines the relationship between food insecurity and social capital among 5-7 graders attending an intermediate school in Northwest Arkansas where nearly 70 percent of students participate in the free or reduced lunch program. The central research questions are: Does social capital have a direct impact on children’s food insecurity? And, does social capital mediate the influence of negative circumstances on children’s food insecurity? This study finds that social capital does have a significant association with food insecurity, even when controlling for multiple demographic and circumstantial factors. However, there appears to be no mediation of circumstance by social capital. Additionally, we find that the quality of relationships among peers, rather than the quantity of close friends, plays a primary role in children’s food insecurity. Together, these findings tell a story about the importance of relationships among middle-school children and how these connections may function to provide a shield from insecurity. More broadly, however, this study informs the larger question of how hunger exists in a nation as rich as the United States by addressing food insecurity as a social phenomenon rather than simply an economic, technological, or biological one. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council. Thesis Director: _______________________________________ Dr. Kevin Fitzpatrick Thesis Committee: _______________________________________ Dr. Anna Zajicek _______________________________________ Dr. William Schwab THESIS DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this thesis when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed __________________________________________ Don Willis Refused __________________________________________ Don Willis ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge the chair of my committee, Dr. Kevin M. Fitzpatrick for his invaluable mentoring and support throughout the entire research and writing process. When I took one step, he pushed me to take three more—which I took, stumbling forward, but moving forward nonetheless. Additionally, I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Anna Zajicek and Dr. William Schwab, for their critical eyes and thoughtful feedback. And finally, I must thank my friends and family for their immeasurable love and support. Altogether, this thesis is a product of my own efforts in combination with the privilege of being surrounded by brilliant and compassionate people. DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to all families and communities doing there best to eliminate hunger and food insecurity.
An Exploration of the Socio-Economic Desertification Strategies in Katsina State, Nigeria

The study commenced to scrutinize the socioeconomic desertification strategies in Katsina State, Nigeria. A total of 385 randomly selected farming families from across the three agroecological zones of the state and 18 key informants were interviewed on the desertification strategies. The indicators selected for the study included land ownership type, access to services and infrastructure, and purchase of food from other localities including food importation from neighboring countries. The KTARDA reforestation program, community organizations involved in environmental protection, and desertification campaign by local councils were also included for analysis. In addition, awareness of the GGW, the impact of the annual tree planting campaign, and adequacy of government extension services completed the set of the selected indicators. It was observed that the strategies in vogue have proved ineffectual in the fight against desertification in the study area.