Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Response Patterns of Tallgrass Prairie to Frequent Summer Burning

Abstract Knowledge of how tallgrass prairie vegetation responds to fire in the late growing season is relatively sparse and is based upon studies that are either spatially or temporally limited. To gain a more robust perspective of vegetation response to summer burning and to determine if repeated summer fire can drive vegetational changes in native tallgrass prairie, we evaluated species cover and richness over a 14-yr period on different topographic positions from ungrazed watersheds that were burned biennially in the growing season. We found that annual forbs were the primary beneficiaries of summer burning, but their fluctuations varied inconsistently among years. Concomitantly, species richness and diversity increased significantly with summer burning but remained stable through time with annual spring burning. After 14 yr, species richness was 28% higher in prairie that was burned in the summer than in prairie burned in the spring. Canopy cover of big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans [L.] Nash) increased significantly over time with both summer and spring burning, whereas heath aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides [L.] Nesom), aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium [Nutt.] Nesom), and sedges (Carex spp.) increased in response to only summer burning. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cover declined in both spring-burned and summer-burned watersheds. Repeated burning in either spring or summer did not reduce the cover or frequency of any woody species. Most perennial species were neutral in their reaction to summer fire, but a few species responded with large and inconsistent temporal fluctuations that overwhelmed any clear patterns of change. Although summer burning did not preferentially encourage spring-flowering forbs or suppress dominance of the warm-season grasses, it is a potentially useful tool to increase community heterogeneity in ungrazed prairie.
Identifying Morphological Indicators of Aging With Neural Networks on Large-Scale Whole-Body MRI

A wealth of information is contained in images obtained by whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Studying the link between the imaged anatomy and properties known from outside sources has the potential to give new insights into the underlying factors that manifest themselves in individual human morphology. In this work we investigate the expression of age-related changes in the whole-body image. A large dataset of about 32,000 subjects scanned from neck to knee and aged 44–82 years from the UK Biobank study was used for a machine-based analysis. We trained a convolutional neural network based on the VGG16 architecture to predict the age of a given subject based on image data from these scans. In 10-fold cross-validation on 23,000 of these images the network reached a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.49 years (R2 = 0.83) and showed consistent performance on a separate test set of another 8,000 images. On a second test set of 100 images the network outperformed the averaged estimates given by three experienced radiologists, which reached an MAE of 5.58 years (R2 = 0.08), by more than three years on average. In an attempt to explain these findings, we employ saliency analysis that opens up the image-based criteria used by the automated method to human interpretation. We aggregate the saliency into a single anatomical visualization which clearly highlights structures in the aortic arch and knee as primary indicators of age.
The Effect of Korean Beauty Product Characteristics on Brand Loyalty and Customer Repurchase Intention in Indonesia

The purpose of this study is to explore factors influencing Indonesian consumers to brand loyalty and customer repurchase intention of Korean beauty products. This study uses a quantitative approach to test the hypotheses. A sample of 411 respondents was collected by online questionnaires in Indonesia. Causal research design and SEM analysis are also conducted to determine the relationship between constructs. The finding showed that brand name, product quality, product design, promotion and brand loyalty have significant influence on repurchase intention. Moreover, all of product characteristics (brand name, product quality, product design and promotion) also have a significant influence on brand loyalty. This study explains some practical directions for beauty product companies to do better marketing strategies. Beauty product enterprises should give priorities to brand name, product quality, product design and promotion as the basic factor influencing consumers to repurchase the product. On the other hand, a commitment to build a strong brand loyalty in consumers' mind is a compulsory. Once consumers are loyal to one brand, they will keep buying a same product from a same brand again and again.
Caprine coccidiosis in semi-arid India: Dynamics and factors affecting fecal oocysts count

Objective : This study envisages dynamics and factors affecting fecal oocyst counts (FOC) in natural infection in goats in semi-arid India. Materials and methods : A total of 1152 fecal samples from Jamunapari goats in semi-arid India were collected, processed and examined for fecal oocysts over a period of 3 years for prevalence and severity of the disease through FOC using modified Mc Master Technique. The log transformed FOC data on 912 animals from 59 sires were used for subsequent analyses for genetic and non-genetic factors affecting FOC. Fixed effects included were years of collection (1-3), seasons of collection (summer, rainy, winter), sex (male, female), age group (0-3, >3-6, >6-12, adults). Least squares analysis of variance for fitting constant was applied to data set. Results : The overall prevalence of coccidian infection in goats was 86.71%(n=999/1162). Highest incident was found in winter season (91.74%) and >6-12 M age (97.95%). Eimeria arloingi and E. ninakohlyakimovae were the most frequently occurring species. The heritability of FOC was found to be 0.06±0.06. The effect of sire on FOC was not significant; however, effects of animal age, year, season of collection and sex on FOC were found to be significant. Conclusion: Coccidiosis in goats is seasonally occurring disease, most commonly affecting animals of less than one year age. FOC in coccidiosis affected animals is lowly inherited trait for selection of goat against this disease. http://doi.org/10.5455/javar.2017. d190
The LHC beam loss monitoring system's data acquisition card

The beam loss monitoring (BLM) system [1] of the LHC is one of the most critical elements for the protection of the LHC. It must prevent the super conducting magnets from quenches and the machine components from damages, caused by beam losses. Ionization chambers and secondary emission based beam loss detectors are used on several locations around the ring. The sensors are producing a signal current, which is related to the losses. This current will be measured by a tunnel electronic, which acquires, digitizes and transmits the data via an optical link to the surface electronic. The so called threshold comparator (TC) [2] collects, analyzes and compares the data with threshold table. It also gives a dump signal through the combiner card to the beam inter lock system (BIC). The usage of the system, for protection and tuning of the LHC and the scale of the LHC, imposed exceptional specification of the dynamic range and radiation tolerance. The input current dynamic range should allow measurements between 10pA and 1mA and it should also be protected to very high pulse of 1.5kV and its corresponding current. To cover this range, a current to frequency converter (CFC) is used in the tunnel card, which produces an output frequency of 0.05Hz at 10pA, and 5MHz at 1mA. In addition to the output frequency, the integrator output voltage is measured with a 12bit ADC to improve the resolution. The location of the CFC card next to the detector imposes the placement of the card in the LHC tunnel, exposing the card to radiation. The radiation tolerance was defined by assuming a 20 year operation period corresponding to 400Gy. A mixture of radiation tolerant Asics from the microelectronic group at CERN, and standard component was chosen to cope with these requirements.
Diversity between Jatropha curcas L. accessions based on oil traits and X-ray digital images analysis from it seeds

Jatropha curcas L. is a species with high potential for the biodiesel production. Therefore, the oil yield and quality from it seeds should be known. This study aimed to estimate the correlation between morphological traits, yield and oil quality evaluated in the seeds, to know the genetic diversity between J. curcas accessions and it behavior regarding to three harvest seasons. For this purpose, X-ray digital images from seeds of 18 accessions were obtained, and the seeds analyzed for external and internal morphological aspects. The same seeds were analyzed for oil yield and quality. In general, the results concerning diversity indicated a narrow genetic base. More rounded and very long seeds had lower oil yield. Larger seeds presented higher oil yield only when their internal cavity was filled by their endosperm. Most of the accessions showed variation regarding the size of the endosperm, yield and oil quality between harvest seasons.
Differential Fecundity and Gender-Biased Parental Investments in Health

Women are fecund for a shorter period of their lives than men. In monogamous societies with divorce and remarriage, fecund women are relatively scarce. This paper studies how parents, who maximize discounted dynastic consumption, invest in the survival of their sons and daughters. The theory also generates endogenous sex ratios, income class sizes, and population growth. (Copyright: Elsevier)
Evaluation of effect of parity on hemoglobin levels in anaemic pregnant women

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of parity on Hb levels in anaemic pregnant women receiving oral iron therapy. Method: In this observational study, all anaemic pregnant women who attended OPD were prescribed with oral iron therapy i.e., based on Hb levels. They were grouped based upon parity as primiparous or as multiparous with undertaking of the consent and were followed up for next three months. After recording the baseline data, Hb levels and weight at the end of each month were recorded. Results and Discussion: Changes in mean Hb levels from baseline to three months are 1.687 ± 0.85, 1.811 ± 0.67 in primi and multiparous respectively. Study did not show statistically significant difference in terms of change in Hb or weight among primi and multiparous women. But gain in Hb and weight after 3 months was satistically highly significant in comparison to baseline values in both groups with P<0.001 Conclusion: Increase in Hb levels with oral iron therapy in anaemic pregnant women is statistically significant compared to baseline values irrespective of parity.
Turbulence Spectra in the Stable Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Stratification can cause turbulence spectra to deviate from Kolmogorov's isotropic -5/3 power-law scaling in the universal equilibrium range at high Reynolds numbers. However, a consensus has not been reached with regard to the exact shape of the spectra. Here we propose a theoretically-derived shape of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and temperature spectra in horizontal wavenumber that consists of three regimes at small Froude number: the buoyancy subrange, a transition region and isotropic inertial subrange through derivation based on previous research. These regimes are confirmed by various observations in the atmospheric boundary layer. We also show that DNS may not apply in the study of very stable atmospheric boundary layers at very high Reynolds numbers as they cannot correctly represent the observed spectral regimes because of the lack of scale separation limited by current computational capacity. In addition, the spectrum in the transition regime explains why Monin-Obukhov similarity theory cannot entirely describe the behavior of the stable atmospheric boundary.
Dimensionally Enhanced Antibacterial Library Screening.

The emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance is a major public health threat, and there is an urgent need to develop new strategies to address the issue. In this study, the possibility of enhancing a whole cell based antibacterial library screen by increasing the dimensionality of the screening effort is explored using methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as the target organism. One dimension involved generating and screening a human liver microsome metabolized FDA approved drug library. Comparative screening of the un-metabolized (UM) and pre-metabolized (PM) libraries allows identification of intrinsically active agents from the UM library screen, and of agents with active metabolites from the PM library screen. To further enhance this screening effort, it was combined with a -/+ resistant to antibiotic screen (-/+ cefoxitin; Cef). This allows the identification of agents that can act synergistically with the resistant to antibiotic. This approach revealed 5 compounds with substantially improved activity after metabolism, and 4 compounds with substantial synergistic activity with cefoxitin. Capecitabine in particular only had significant antibacterial activity after metabolism. Its metabolites were isolated, identified and characterized for spectrum of activity along with several other anticancer drugs with anti-MRSA activity. Floxuridine, gemcitabine, novobiocin and rifaximin were identified as having substantial synergy with cefoxitin from the -/+ Cef screens. Checkerboard assays verified synergy for these agents. Floxuridine demonstrated a particularly high degree of synergy with cefoxitin (FIC=0.14). This study demonstrates how a dimensionally enhanced comparative screening effort can identify new antibacterial agents and strategies for countering antibacterial agent resistance.
Measuring Handrim Wheelchair Propulsion in the Lab: A Critical Analysis of Stationary Ergometers

There are many ways to simulate handrim wheelchair propulsion in the laboratory. Ideally, these would be able to, at least mechanically, simulate field conditions. This narrative review provides an overview of the lab-based equipment used in published research and critically assesses their ability to simulate and measure wheelchair propulsion performance. A close connection to the field can only be achieved if the instrument can adequately simulate frictional losses and inertia of real-life handrim wheelchair propulsion, while maintaining the ergonomic properties of the wheelchair-user interface. Lab-based testing is either performed on a treadmill or a wheelchair ergometer (WCE). For this study WCEs were divided into three categories: roller, flywheel, and integrated ergometers. In general, treadmills are mechanically realistic, but cannot simulate air drag and acceleration tasks cannot be performed; roller ergometers allow the use of the personal wheelchair, but calibration can be troublesome; flywheel ergometers can be built with commercially-available parts, but inertia is fixed and the personal wheelchair cannot be used; integrated ergometers do not employ the personal wheelchair, but are suited for the implementation of different simulation models and detailed measurements. Lab-based equipment is heterogeneous and there appears to be little consensus on how to simulate field conditions.
Geographical and temporal variation of multiple paternity in invasive mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki, Gambusia affinis)

Multiple paternity (MP) increases offspring's genetic variability, which could be linked to invasive species' evolvability in novel distribution ranges. Shifts in MP can be adaptive, with greater MP in harsher/colder environments or towards the end of the reproductive season, but climate could also affect MP indirectly via its effect on reproductive life histories. We tested these hypotheses by genotyping N = 2,903 offspring from N = 306 broods of two closely related livebearing fishes, Gambusia holbrooki and Gambusia affinis. We sampled pregnant females across latitudinal gradients in their invasive ranges in Europe and China, and found more sires per brood and a greater reproductive skew towards northern sampling sites. Moreover, examining monthly sampling from two G. affinis populations, we found MP rates to vary across the reproductive season in a northern Chinese, but not in a southern Chinese population. While our results confirm an increase of MP in harsher/more unpredictable environments, path analysis indicated that, in both cases, the effects of climate are likely to be indirect, mediated by altered life histories. In both species, which rank amongst the 100 most invasive species worldwide, higher MP at the northern edge of their distribution probably increases their invasive potential and favours range expansions, especially in light of the predicted temperature increases due to global climate changes.
Tactical Industry Allocation and Model Uncertainty

We use Bayesian model averaging to analyze industry return predictability in the presence of model uncertainty. The posterior analysis shows the importance of inflation and earnings yield in predicting industry returns. The out-of-sample performance of the Bayesian approach is, in general, superior to that of other statistical model selection criteria. However, the out-of-sample forecasting power of a naive i.i. d. forecast is similar to the Bayesian forecast. A variance decomposition into model risk, estimation risk, and forecast error shows that model risk is less important than estimation risk.
Does wood type influence the colonisation of this habitat by macroinvertebrates in large lowland rivers

Submerged woody habitat provides the major structure around which ecological processes operate in many lowland rivers. Colonisation by macroinvertebrates was measured in a south-eastern Australian river over a 32-day period in an experiment testing the hypothesis that wood type influences the invertebrate assemblage structure. The wood types were green wood, dry wood, and dry but previously waterlogged wood. All wood used was river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis). Macroinvertebrates colonised previously waterlogged wood more rapidly than green or dry wood. The assemblage structure varied significantly over the sampling period, with copepods and cladocerans numerically dominating the assemblage during the first few days after the introduction of the wood. The assemblage became more diverse through time and was numerically dominated by dipterans, ephemeropterans and trichopterans. The results indicate that there was little difference in the time taken for macroinvertebrate colonisation after wood introduction when using either green or dry wood. This has implications for large-scale restoration projects, where green wood is likely to be a more readily available option for reintroduction than dry wood.
Continuous Opinion Dynamics on an Adaptive Network

We present a model for opinion dynamics on a network. Opinions are assumed to be a continuous variable, reflecting a possible spectrum of real world opinions. A node’s opinion is updated to become more similar to a randomly selected neighbor’s opinion, provided that the neighbor’s opinion di↵ers by less than a threshold. Initially considering a static network, we establish criteria to determine whether consensus or clustering will be the outcome of the dynamics and on what time scales these states will be reached. We find that smaller step size of opinion update will facilitate consensus formation in the network. Next, in contrast to the static networks with fixed structures, we incorporate the changing nature of the interpersonal relations in real-life social networks. In addition to the opinion dynamics, links that do not communicate due to divergent opinions may be broken with some probability and new links are randomly created. In this way, the network changes in an adaptive manner, which combines the topological evolution of the network with dynamics in the network nodes. Our investigation reveals that adaptation fosters the formation of larger clusters at small mean degrees, while it promotes the division of the major cluster at comparatively large mean degrees.
Examination of Mixed-Phase Precipitation Forecasts from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh Model Using Surface Observations and Sounding Data

AbstractAccurate prediction of mixed-phase precipitation remains challenging for numerical weather prediction models even at high resolution and with a sophisticated explicit microphysics scheme and diagnostic algorithm to designate the surface precipitation type. Since mixed-phase winter weather precipitation can damage infrastructure and produce significant disruptions to air and road travel, incorrect surface precipitation phase forecasts can have major consequences for local and statewide decision-makers as well as the general public. Building upon earlier work, this study examines the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model’s ability to forecast the surface precipitation phase, with a particular focus on model-predicted vertical temperature profiles associated with mixed-phase precipitation, using upper-air sounding observations as well as the Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS) and Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING) observations. The analyses concentrate on reg.
Experimental investigation of the two-phase flow regimes and pressure drop in horizontal mini-size rectangular test section

An experimental study was conducted in order to investigate two-phase flow regimes and fully developed pressure drop in a mini-size, horizontal rectangular channel. The test section was machined in the form of an impacting tee junction in an acrylic block (in order to facilitate visualization) with a rectangular cross-section of 1.87-mm height on 20-mm width on the inlet and outlet sides. Pressure drop measurement and flow regime identification were performed on all three sides of the junction. Air-water mixtures at 200 kPa (abs) and room temperature were used as the test fluids. Four flow regimes were identified visually: bubbly, plug, churn, and annular over the ranges of gas and liquid superficial velocities of 0.04 ≤ JG ≤ 10 m/s and 0.02 ≤ JL ≤ 0.7 m/s, respectively, and a flow regime map was developed. Accuracy of the pressure-measurement technique was validated with single-phase, laminar and turbulent, fully developed data. Two-phase experiments were conducted for eight different inlet conditions and various mass splits at the junction. Comparisons were conducted between the present data and former correlations for the fully developed two-phase pressure drop in rectangular channels with similar sizes. Wide deviations were found among these correlations, and the correlations that agreed best with the present data were identified.