Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asynchronism in leaf and wood production in tropical forests: a study combining satellite and ground-based measurements

The fixation of carbon in tropical forests mainly occurs through the production of wood and leaves, both be- ing the principal components of net primary production. Cur- rently field and satellite observations are independently used to describe the forest carbon cycle, but the link between satellite-derived forest phenology and field-derived forest productivity remains opaque. We used a unique combina- tion of a MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) dataset, a wood production model based on climate data and di- rect litterfall observations at an intra-annual timescale in order to question the synchronism of leaf and wood pro- duction in tropical forests. Even though leaf and wood biomass fluxes had the same range (respectively 2.4 ± 1.4 and 2.2± 0.4 Mg C ha 1 yr 1 ), they occurred separately in time. EVI increased with leaf renewal at the beginning of the dry season, when solar irradiance was at its maximum. At this time, wood production stopped. At the onset of the rainy season, when new leaves were fully mature and water avail- able again, wood production quickly increased to reach its maximum in less than a month, reflecting a change in carbon allocation from short-lived pools (leaves) to long-lived pools (wood). The time lag between peaks of EVI and wood pro- duction (109 days) revealed a substantial decoupling between the leaf renewal assumed to be driven by irradiance and the water-driven wood production. Our work is a first attempt to link EVI data, wood production and leaf phenology at a sea- sonal timescale in a tropical evergreen rainforest and pave
A New Species of Collyria Schiødte (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Collyriinae), a Parasitoid of Cephus Fumipennis (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) in China, and Potential Biological Control Agent for Cephus Cinctus in North America

Abstract A new species, Collyria catoptron, is described from Gansu Province, China. It is an egg-larval koinobiont parasitoid reared from Cephus fumipennis, a grass-mining sawfly that attacks wheat. Collyria catoptron is currently being evaluated as a possible biological control agent for Cephus cinctus in North America.
Different Subdomains are Most Protected From Hydrogen Exchange in the Molten Globule and Native States of Human a-Lactalbumin Brenda

Howard Hughes Medical a-Lactalbumin (a-LA) is a two-domain, calcium-binding protein that forms Institute, Whitehead Institute one of the best studied molten globules. We present here amide hydrogen for Biomedical Research exchange studies of the molten globule formed by human a-LA at pH 2 Department of Biology and compare these results with a similar study of the native state at pH 6.3. The most persistent structure in the molten globule is localized in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nine Cambridge helical domain, consistent with previous results. However, the helices most Center, Cambridge protected from hydrogen exchange in the molten globule are, in the native MA 02142, USA state, less protected from exchange than other regions of the protein. The molten globule appears to contain major elements of the native fold, but Oxford Centre for Molecular formation of the fully native state requires stabilization of structure around Sciences, New Chemistry the calcium-binding site and domain interface. Laboratory, University of 7 1995 Academic Press Limited Oxford, South Parks Road Oxford, OX1 3QT, UK
A remark on the uniqueness problem for the weak solutions of Navier-Stokes equations

Nous donnons de nouvelles classes d'unicite pour les solutions faibles des equations de Navier-Stokes en dimension trois. Ces resultats etendent ceux de Prodi, Serrin, Sohr et von Wahl a des espaces de type L q ([0,T], (H s p (Ω)) 3 ) pour des valeurs de q dans [1,2].
Brownfield regeneration from the perspective of residents: Place circumstances versus character of respondents

Little attention is paid to the inhabitants’ views of places where brownfields are localized. If the residents attract some attention in this matter, it is most often at global level, and no influence of responders’ characteristics or of place of questioning on the perception of problems of brownfields is examined in more detail. However, there is a consensus among researchers that these variables have an immediate effect on perception. That is why we set the objective to assess the impact of inhabitants’ characteristics and of the place of residence on the structure of preferences for various types of brownfields regeneration. Respondents were questioned in three zones (city center, vicinity of the city and the peripheral surroundings of the city) of two cities (497 respondents in Karvina and 833 respondents in Ceske Budějovice, both Czech Republic). Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents were pursued and respondents commented on the extent of agreement with the use of existing brownfields in three defined zones of cities. The impact of origin of the resident (geographic characteristics) and of the character of the respondent (soci-economic characteristics) on a structure in preferences was studied sequentially by means of three methods of multidimensional data analysis (PCA, RDA, and Variation Partitioning). All methods led us to reveal a structure of four factors of preferences for regeneration: green/sport, housing/shopping, industry, and entertainment. Following the RDA the statistically significant variables to influence the structure of answers are both geographical variables – city, zone of a city – and three socio-economic variables – gender, age, and education. Preference for commercial-residential use of brownfields has a distinctive centre-periphery distribution within the city. The preferences of the revitalization through the reactivation of the industry are given primarily by the particular city, and the impact of both types of variables (characteristics of the respondent and the place of questioning) is significant, however the shared explainable variation is negligible (geographic variables explain 51.6% and characteristics of respondents 46.6%)
Understanding the genetic bases of adaptation to soil water deficit in trees through the examination of water use efficiency and cavitation resistance: maritime pine as a case study

This article provides a comprehensive view on the existing knowledge related to adaptation to soil water deficit in maritime pine, a conifer species widely planted in the southwestern Europe. It synthesizes discoveries made in ecophysiology, quantitative and population genetics as well as in genomics, combining several layers of information at the genotypic, phenotypic and environmental levels. Particular focus is given to two major traits: water-use efficiency (WUE) and cavitation resistance (CR). The former is related the maintenance of productivity during periods of lower soil water availability, whereas the latter is tightly linked to survival during severe drought. The development of high throughput phenotypic technologies have made it possible to estimate genetic and environmental variance components of these key traits, providing clues about their suitability for breeding and the evolutionary forces that have shaped their variability. Both CR and WUE were screened in different ecotypes as well as in the Aquitaine breeding population, the main genetic resource of the most advanced maritime pine breeding program in Europe. While the unexpectedly low level of variation of CR within and between natural populations will most likely hamper its use in breeding application, for WUE the medium heritability, absence of unfavorable phenotypic and genetic correlations with diameter growth, as well as the high inter-site correlation and weak genotype-by-environment interaction indicates that artificial selection could be applied for this trait without unfavorable consequences for radial growth, at least within the Aquitaine provenance. On the other hand, recent advances in sequencing and genotyping technologies have contributed to reveal the genetic architecture (i.e. number, location and effect of quantitative trait loci) of these two traits. In combination with ultra-dense genetic linkage map and functional genomics approaches, these findings will contribute to identify positional and expressional candidate genes that should be validated by association genetics and eventually introduced in genomic prediction models to make such knowledge useful to improve tree breeding.
Meditation and workplace creativity: A potential relationship

This multidisciplinary literature review across the business, medicine and psychology disciplines explored the possible relationship between meditation and workplace creativity. This review generated four staged frameworks resulting in the Meditation and Workplace Creativity Intervention Framework which yielded the equation 'NF+M = C ? WC' (Negative Factors + Meditation = Change Facilitating Workplace Creativity). The hypothesized equation may be utilized as a potential diagnostic tool for future studies within organizational settings so as to facilitate workplace creativity. This paper stimulates thinking in the area of meditation, workplace and creativity.
Proline Accumulation and Rooting Patterns in Rice in Response to Water Deficit under Rainfed Lowlands

Drought is a major impediment to a rainfed lowland rice system. Drought tolerance has been associated with proline accumulation in roots and leaves. However, genetic linkage was uncertain. To determine if there is a genetic correlation between proline accumulation and drought tolerance; a total of 220 double haploid lines, their parents (CT9993 and IR62266), and three standard checks (IR20, NSG19 and KDML105) were used in experiments to determine the extent of genetic variation in root characters, proline accumulation, relative water content, visual leaf rolling and drought injury under different intensities of water deficit. Genotypes with high proline content in leaf tissues were more dehydration tolerant, a relatively high water content was maintained, and leaf rolling and senescence were delayed under severe water deficit. However, the ability of rice roots to penetrate deep into the soil was negatively correlated with proline accumulation in leaf tissue. Rice roots are mostly distributed at 0-30 cm soil depth under lowland conditions. Therefore, the ultimate goal to combine high dehydration tolerance with strong root penetration may not be realized in the existing germplasm.
Responses to fish predation and nutrients by plankton at different levels of taxonomic resolution

SUMMARY 1. To improve mechanistic understanding of plankton responses to eutrophication, a mesocosm experiment was performed in the shallow littoral zone of a south Swedish lake, in which nutrient and fish gradients were crossed in a fully factorial design. 2. Food chain theory accurately predicted total biomass development of both phyto- and zooplankton. However, separating zooplankton and algae into finer taxonomic groups revealed a variety of responses to both nutrient and fish gradients. 3. That both nutrients and fish are important for phytoplankton dynamics was seen more clearly when viewing each algal group separately, than drawing conclusions only from broad system variables such as chlorophyll a concentration or total phytoplankton biovolume. 4. In some taxa, physiological constraints (e.g. sensitivity to high pH and low concentrations of free CO2) and differences in competitive ability may be more important for the biomass development than fish predation, grazing by herbivorous zooplankton, and nutrient availability. 5. We conclude that food chain theory accurately predicted responses in system variables, such as total zooplankton or algal biomass, which are shaped by the dynamics of certain strong interactors (‘keystone species’), such as large cladocerans, cyanobacteria and edible algae (<50 lm), whereas responses at finer taxonomic levels cannot be predicted from current theory.
Exploring the behaviour of water nanodroplet on a coplanar electrowetting-on-dielectric: a molecular dynamics approach

Molecular dynamics simulation has been used to investigate the behaviour of a water nanodroplet on a hydrophobic surface under an applied electric field. The model system mimics a typical electrowetting-on-dielectric experiment of an open-plate coplanar electrodes system. Given the various strengths of the electrode-induced field, variations in contact angle of the droplet, hydrogen bonding and diffusion coefficient of the water molecules are disclosed. Their main findings are: (i) nanodroplet displays asymmetric electrowetting in contact angle measurement; (ii) water molecules and the entire droplet are slightly positively biased; (iii) more water hydrogen bonds are maintained in the positive side, in both the first and the second hydration layer to the surface; and (iv) water diffusion is higher in parallel to the surface than the normal direction.
Experimental evidence for reduced hybrid viability between dwarf and normal ecotypes of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis Mitchill)

Forces driving the evolution of reproductive isolation among natural populations, as well as the mechanisms involved to maintain it, are still poorly understood. Because sympatric fish ecotypes mainly differ in phenotypic traits associated with occupying distinct trophic niches, it is generally believed that reproductive isolation is mainly driven by ecological divergent selection, excluding genome incompatibility as a basis for postmating isolation. We did cross experiments between dwarf and normal ecotypes of lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis Mitchill) originating from distinct glacial refugia to test the hypothesis that their geographical isolation during the Pleistocene may have led to sufficient genetic divergence for the development of reproductive isolation between them before their secondary contact. Similar fertilization success in pure and hybrid crosses indicated the absence of gametic incompatibility between the two ecotypes. In contrast, daily embryonic mortality rates were 2.4–4.7 times higher in reciprocal hybrid crosses compared to pure crosses, which supports our working hypothesis. These results, along with previous morphological and population genetic studies, indicate that both genetic and ecological mechanisms may jointly act to promote speciation among northern freshwater fish ecotypes.
X-ray single-crystal diffraction study of pyrope in the temperature range 30-973

X-ray single-crystal diffraction data are presented for synthetic pyrope garnet over the temperature range 30-973 K, which extends the range previously studied. The structure refinements allow a detailed geometrical analysis of the polyhedral distortions over this temperature range, the determination of the thermal expansion for bond distances, and the determination of atomic displacement parameters. The problem of static or dynamic disorder of the Mg site is discussed on the basis of the temperature behavior of the atomic displacement tensors, which show no evidence of static disorder on this site. The hightemperature anharmonic contribution to the thermal vibrations is investigated by the use of Gram-Charlier high-order expansion terms of the displacement parameter tensor.
Treatment of Partner Aggressive Women

Summary The examination of partner aggression perpetrated by women has been a controversial but important development in domestic violence research. Previous studies have suggested that women's use of aggression in romantic relationships may place women at increased risk of being assaulted by their partners. Furthermore, children who witness the aggression may be at increased risk for mental health and behavioral problems. This article describes what we know about the characteristics of partner aggressive women, and how this information might inform our understanding of their behavior and the design of treatment programs to assist them. The group treatment program for partner aggressive woman at the University of Massachusetts Medical School is described in detail. Recommendations about necessary components of treatment for aggressive women and a description of how treatment for female perpetrators should differ from treatment for male batterers are provided. Suggestions are made for future research to evaluate current programs and to further develop and refine effective treatments.
Francesco Nava and Pasquale Schiraldi

Sales are a widespread and well-known phenomenon documented in several product markets. This paper presents a novel rationale for sales that does not rely on consumer heterogeneity, or on any form of randomness to explain such periodic price fluctuations. The analysis is carried out in the context of a simple repeated price competition model, and establishes that firms must periodically reduce prices in order to sustain collusion when goods are storable and the market is large. The largest equilibrium profits are characterized at any market size. A trade-off between the size of the industry and its profits arises. Sales foster collusion, by magnifying the intertemporal links in consumers’decisions.
A Structuralist Model of the Wage-Price Spiral with Non-Linear Demand Pressure Terms

We introduce the results of a non-parametric estimate of the wage-Phillips Curve into a simplified version of the model by Flaschel and Krolzig (2006). The resulting non-linearity in the wage inflation-employment relation translates into a non-linearity in the reduced form of the model, namely the wage-price spiral. A dynamical analysis is then provided, both in wage-led and profit-led effective demand regimes. In a profitled economy, shown to be the empirically relevant case in the case of the US economy, there are 2 stable equilibria of Goodwin (1967) growth cycle type, identified as a stable depression and a stable boom. Both steady states are surrounded by trajectories that cycle around their basins of attraction if the economy remains viable in the economic part of the phase space. The obtained type of growth fluctuations can be verified by a long phase cycle estimation for the US economy using a method developed by Kauermann, Teuber and Flaschel (2007). ———————
Retention of Finger Blood Flow against Postural Change Has the Potential to Become a New Indicator of Sympathetic Block in the Upper Limb - A Preliminary Study

Introduction: Increased skin temperature and decreased sweating are used to identify the adequacy of sympathetic block in the upper limb. This, however, requires a thermography device to precisely evaluate skin temperature and a diaphoremeter to measure sweating. Baroreflexes elicited by postural change induce a reduction in peripheral blood flow to sustain systemic blood pressure and cerebral blood flow. We hypothesized that sympathetic blockade in the upper limb results in minimal changes in finger skin blood flow against postural change from the supine to sitting position. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether retention of finger blood flow against postural change can be used as a new indicator of sympathetic block in the upper limb. Methods: We tested for the following three signs after performing stellate ganglion block (SGB): Horner’s sign, brachial nerve blockade and finger blood flow, which was measured by a laser blood flow meter before and after SGB in the supine and immediately after adopting the sitting position. The criterion for determining effective sympathetic blockade in the upper limb was defined as follows: (Blood flow in the sitting position) / (Blood flow in the supine position) > 90%. Results: We executed a total of 80 SGBs in 7 patients. Two SGBs were excluded from analysis due to the absence of Horner’s sign. Brachial nerve blockade after SGB was absent in all patients. The criterion of (Blood flow in the sitting position) / (Blood flow in the supine position) > 90% was observed significantly more often on the SGB (45 cases) than non-SGB side (3 cases).
Analytic Solutions for Evolving Size Distributions of Spherical Crystals or Droplets Undergoing Diffusional Growth in Different Regimes

AbstractMotivated by simulations of slow-growing contrail cirrus, the solution of the diffusional growth equations for a population of spherical ice crystals or water droplets is reexamined. For forcing specified by the evolution of the total water content above saturation within a parcel (whether driven by vertical motions, radiative heating, turbulent mixing, etc.) three behavior regimes are identified: “very fast growth” that cannot equilibrate, “fast growth” with a narrowing size spectrum, and “slow growth” with a broadening spectrum. The boundaries between regimes, time scales involved, and evolution of the condensate mass, number, and supersaturation are determined. The slow-growth regime represents an example of “spectral ripening,” with crystal or droplet numbers falling in time because of surface tension effects. Surprisingly the diffusional growth equations for the size spectrum evolution can be solved exactly in this case: in appropriate coordinates the spectral shape becomes steady, crystal or.
Correlates of high blood pressure among the adolescent school children

Tel. : +91 94904 91276 To assess the prevalence of high blood pressure and its association with overall and abdominal obesity, social & environmental conditions among the adolescent school children of Tirupati town of Andhra Pradesh, India. Data was collected from schoolchildren aged between 12 to 16 years. The sample consisted of 2258 subjects (1097 boys and 1161 girls). Overweight and obesity were defined by body mass index based on the current method recommended by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention 2000. Abdominal obesity was classified based on age and sex specific >90th percentiles of the reference data. Hypertension was defined as raised blood pressure (average Systolic blood pressure and/or Diastolic blood pressure >95th percentile) for age and sex. Data on social and environmental factors was collected by using a pre-tested and validated questionnaire. In the present study pooled hypertension was 9.5%. Mean values of anthropometry and blood pressure showed consistent increase from 12 to 16 yrs (p<0.05). Body mass index, parental level of education, watching video games, leisure time physical activity and eating behavior of chocolates were the potential confounders to determine the elevated blood pressure levels. Our study reinforces the burgeoning prevalence of high blood pressure among the adolescents.
User Feedback in the App Store: A Cross-Cultural Study

App stores allow globally distributed users to submit user feedback, in the form of user reviews, about the apps they download. Previous research has found that many of these reviews contain valuable information for software evolution, such as bug reports or feature requests, and has designed approaches for automatically extracting this information. However, the diversity of the feedback submitted by users from diverse cultural backgrounds and the consequences this diversity might imply have not been studied so far. In this paper, we report on a cross-cultural study where we investigated cultural differences in app store reviews and identified correlations to cultural dimensions taken from a well-established cultural model. We analyzed 2,560 app reviews written by users from eight countries with diverse national culture. We contribute evidence about the influence of cultural factors on characteristics of app reviews. Our results also help developers of automated feedback analysis tools to avoid cultural bias when choosing their algorithms and the data for training and validating them.