Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ASSESSMENT OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATION IN WATER AND SURFACE SEDIMENTS OF THE MAHARLU SALINE LAKE, SW IRAN

Maharlu saline Lake is located in the SW of Iran. To assess the environmental pollution of the lake, the total concentrations of As, Cr, Co, Cu, Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni, Fe, and Mn were determined in the surface sediments and water of the lake. As and Cr were not detected in the water samples, however, the mean concentrations of other dissolved metals in Maharlu Lake water were 0.28 mg/l for Cu, 0.28 μg/l for Cd, 5.17 μg/l for Pb, 0.37 mg/l for Zn, 2.36 μg/l for Ni, 2.88 μg/l for Co, 10.4 mg/l for Fe, and 1.5 mg/l for Mn. Different water and sediment quality assessment approaches indicated that in this lake, metals can be divided into three different groups: (a) Co, Pb, and Cd. These metals have the highest enrichment factors (the mean values are 35.8, 76.9, and >36.6, respectively), geoaccumulation indexes (the mean values are >3), and contamination factors (11.1, 29, and 8, respectively) compared with other studied elements; thus, the Maharlu Lake is highly polluted with these metals, and they are mainly from anthropogenic sources; (b) Cu, Zn, and Ni. Their mean enrichment factor values are 6.6, 3.4, and 6, respectively; their mean geoacumulation indexes are <1, and their mean contamination factor values are 2, 1.1, and 2, respectively. The enrichment factor of these metals is higher than 10 only north of the lake. The Maharlu Lake is moderately polluted with these metals, and they are from both natural and anthropogenic sources; (c) Cr, As, Fe, and Mn. These elements have the lowest mean enrichment factor (1, 3.5, 2, and 4.2, respectively), geoaccumulation indexes (≤0), and contamination factor (0.32, 0.91, 0.63, and 1.5, respectively) values; thus the Maharlu Lake is not polluted with these elements, and they are mainly from natural sources. Results indicated that the Maharlu Lake sediments have a high contamination degree (56.66). Comparisons with consensus-sediment quality guidelines reveal that Ni and Pb pose the greatest environmental threat to aquatic organisms. In order to protect the lake from further contamination, the treatment and recycling of wastewaters discharged into the lake is needed.
A multi‐trait approach reveals the structure and the relative importance of intra‐ vs. interspecific variability in plant traits

Summary 1. Functional traits have been extensively used to describe, group and rank species according to their functions. There is now growing evidence that intraspecific functional variability, as well as interspecific variability, can have significant effects on community dynamics and ecosystem functioning. A core hypothesis for the use of functional traits expressed as species means, that their intraspecific variability is negligible compared with their interspecific variability, has however been too rarely tested empirically. We then addressed four questions: Is intraspecific functional variability across species ranges negligible compared with interspecific variability? Are the major resource economics trade-off and functional strategies robust to individual trait variability? Are species rankings or ordination robust across species ranges once considering intraspecific variability? Can species be discriminated by their leaf traits? 2. Using an environmentally stratified sampling design within an alpine catchment, we collected five functional traits for 13 common plant species with contrasting life histories and traits. Several populations from a range of environmental conditions were then sampled for each species across their ranges. 3. With an original combination of single-trait and multi-trait analyses, we highlighted a non-negligible contribution of intraspecific variability to overall functional trait variability (∼30%). Although not affecting general and well-known functional trade-offs and strategies, intraspecific functional variability had the potential to alter species ordination and produced a functional continuum rather than a clear-cut species classification. 4. Deciding whether intraspecific functional variability can be considered as negligible – species being represented by mean trait values –, or not – species being represented by multivariate trait distributions –, is an essential question for multiple ecological issues. However, this decision cannot be generic, but will depend on the studied system and selected traits and species, as well as on study objectives.
Predictive modeling of suitable habitats for threatened marine invertebrates and implications for conservation assessment in Brazil

Spatial analysis and modeling tools were employed to predict suitable habitat distribution for threatened marine invertebrates and estimate the overlap between highly suitable areas for these species and the Brazilian marine protected areas (MPAs). Records of the occurrence of species were obtained from the collections included in the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS-Brazil), with additional records culled from the literature. The distribution data of 16 out of 33 threatened species, with at least ten occurrences in the available records, were selected for modeling by Maxent algorithm (Maximum Entropy Modeling) based on environmental variables (temperature, salinity, bathymetry and their derivatives). The resulting maps were filtered with a fixed threshold of 0.5 (to distinguish only the highly suitable areas) and superimposed on MPA digital maps. The algorithm produced reasonable predictions of the species' potential distributions, showing that the patterns predicted by the model are largely consistent with current knowledge of the species. The distribution of the highly suitable areas showed little overlapping with Brazilian MPAs. This study showed how the habitat suitability for threatened species can be assessed using GIS applications and modeling tools.
Latina Spaces: Middle–Class Ethnic Capital and Professional Associations in the Latino Community

This article examines the incorporation of middle–class Latinas in Southern California. Based on three years of participant observation, 30 in–depth interviews, and 50 conversational interviews with the organization's members, I find that the upwardly mobile Latinas mobilize “middle–class ethnic capital” to create professional associations in ethnic communities that provide valuable business skills, networks, and social capital to coethnics. Members of the organization realize that they must approximate the normative business standards of white middle–class business culture to get ahead, yet they feel that it is vital to retain their ethnic identity and provide resources to the ethnic community. While contemporary immigration research maintains the Latino ethnic communities lack the “high–quality resources” that might buffer against downward assimilation and advance upward mobility, these findings suggest that it takes one or two extra generations for Latinos to mobilize class and ethnic resources to promote mobility.
Spherical topological insulator

The electronic spectrum on the spherical surface of a topological insulator reflects an active property of the helical surface state that stems from a constraint on its spin on a curved surface. The induced effective vector potential (spin connection) can be interpreted as an effective vector potential associated with a fictitious magnetic monopole induced at the center of the sphere. The strength of the induced magnetic monopole is found to be g=2pi, -2pi, being the smallest finite (absolute) value compatible with the Dirac quantization condition. We have established an explicit correspondence between the bulk Hamiltonian and the effective Dirac operator on the curved spherical surface. An explicit construction of the surface spinor wave functions implies a rich spin texture possibly realized on the surface of topological insulator nanoparticles. The electronic spectrum inferred by the obtained effective surface Dirac theory, confirmed also by the bulk tight-binding calculation, suggests a specific photo absorption/emission spectrum of such nanoparticles.
3-D Printed Antenna for Snowpack Monitoring

Microwave radars represent a viable solution to perform rapid and nondestructive snowpack analyses. Depending on the working frequency, they are required to provide a suitable compromise between the penetration depth and the spatial resolution. For these reasons, antennas able to cover relatively large fractional bandwidths at a few gigahertz are fundamental, while minimizing the antenna mass and volume to do not jeopardize the portability often required to these systems. This letter presents the development and the experimental results of a novel antenna realized by three-dimensional printing, based on a double-ridge waveguide configuration and on the use of different infill percentages. The operation bandwidth is from 2.3 to 6 GHz, with a gain at the central frequency of around 5 dBi. The antenna is fabricated using low-loss filaments, with a relatively high dielectric constant (4.5); thus, maintaining the mass in the order of 100 g, with an encumbrance of 5.16 × 2.40 × 6.78 cm 3.
Prevalence of Intrauterine Fetal Death in Iran: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review

Introduction: Intra uterine fetal death (IUFD), means the intrauterine death of the fetus before birth after 20 weeks of gestation, with a fetus weighing more than 500 g. The main causes can be classified into three groups of maternal, fetal, and placenta causes. Aim: The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the prevalence of intrauterine fetal death in Iran. Methods: The prevalence of intrauterine fetal death was defined based on the international criteria and the measured outcome of the disease. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were performed by two independent reviewers. Qualified studies were searched in Medline (PubMed), web of science, and Embase. All peer reviewed articles published by the end of 2017 were included during the process of searching. Cochran test and I2 index were used to evaluate heterogeneity of studies. Collected data was analyzed using Stata 12.0. Results: Of 263 studies, 5 studies utilized meta-analysis In 2017, the pooled overall prevalence of intrauterine fetal death in 44161 people was 4.9% (95% confidence interval [CI]:2.50, 4.60, I2 = 98.60%). Conclusion: Regarding the high prevalence of intrauterine fetal death in Iran two basic cases, including the birth registration of all babies and the provision of appropriate pregnancy care are essential in order to prevent stillbirth. To reduce the incidence of stillbirths, it is necessary to record the prevalence, untimely deaths, and the ways in which risk factors lead to stillbirths with higher precision and accuracy; finally, it is necessary to evaluate strategies the implementation of which might decrease the rate of stillbirth.
LEXICAL FACTORS AND SEGMENTAL ACCURACY IN SECOND LANGUAGE SPEECH PRODUCTION

Voice onset time (VOT) was measured in the production of /t/ in the initial position of 60 English words spoken by native English (NE) speakers and native Spanish (NS) speakers who began learning English before or after the age of 21 years. The subjects rated the words for familiarity, age of acquisition, imageability, and relatedness to word(s) in the Spanish lexicon. The subjects in all three groups showed two well-known phonetic effects: They produced longer VOT values in the context of high than nonhigh vowels, and longer VOT in one- than in two-syllable words. As expected, the NS subjects who learned English prior to the age of 21 years judged the English words to be more familiar and more like a Spanish word than did the subjects who began learning English later in life. Also, many but not all of the NS subjects produced /t/ with shorter VOT values than did the NE subjects. However, regression analyses showed that none of the lexical factors mentioned above or the text frequency of the 60 English words examined affected the NS subjects' VOT values. Thus, variation in the accuracy with which NS subjects produce English /t/ must be accounted for by factors other than the lexical status of the words in which /t/ occurs.
Investigating NP-Chunking with Universal Dependencies for English

Chunking is a pre-processing task generally dedicated to improving constituency parsing. In this paper, we want to show that universal dependency (UD) parsing can also leverage the information provided by the task of chunking even though annotated chunks are not provided with universal dependency trees. In particular, we introduce the possibility of deducing noun-phrase (NP) chunks from universal dependencies, focusing on English as a first example. We then demonstrate how the task of NP-chunking can benefit PoS-tagging in a multi-task learning setting – comparing two different strategies – and how it can be used as a feature for dependency parsing in order to learn enriched models.
Relative Toxicity of Some Modern Insecticides Against Spodoptera litura Fabricius on Castor

Investigation on relative toxicity of selected modern insecticides against S. litura revealed that emamectin benzoate a semi synthetic derivative of natural pro duct was the most toxic and effective insecticide as its LC 50 value was 0.0013. On the other hand, novaluron found to be th e least toxic in which the LC50 value was worked out to the tune of 0.0146.
Penilaian Kinerja Pembangunan Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan Produksi Awota di Provinsi Sulawesi Selatan

Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan Produksi (KPHP) Awota terbentuk setelah melalui tahapan berdasarkan pedoman pembangunan KPH, yaitu dari pencadangan awal hingga ditetapkan sebagai satu kawasan KPHP oleh Pemerintah Pusat. KPHP Awota telah menjalankan tugas dan fungsi untuk menyelenggaraan Tata Hutan dan Penyusunan Rencana Pengelolaan Hutan serta Pemanfaatan Hutan. Namun, keberhasilan pengelolaannya tidak terlepas dari berbagai dinamika dan persoalan, seperti masih terdapat konflik antara masyarakat dan pemerintah, belum selesainya proses rekonstruksi tata batas, dan belum adanya jaminan keamanan terhadap investasi berbagai pihak di wilayah KPHP tersebut. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menilai kinerja KPHP Awota dalam pelaksanaan pengelolaan hutan di tingkat tapak dengan menggunakan kriteria dan indikator dari Forest Watch Indonesia versi 1.0. Hasil penilaian kinerja menunjukkan bahwa nilai indeks kinerja pembangunan KPHP Awota pada tingkatan sedang dengan nilai 2,13 yang berarti bahwa KPHP Awota sudah cukup siap dalam mewujudkan fungsinya sebagai pengelola di tingkat tapak. Beberapa kriteria perlu menjadi perhatian, yaitu kemantapan kawasan, rencana kelola, mekanisme investasi, dan pelaksanaan pengelolaan dalam lingkup KPH sehingga harus diperkuat untuk menjamin operasionalisasi KPHP di tingkat tapak.
Knowledge and Attitude towards HPV, PAP Testing and HPV Vaccination among Women with HIV

Background: Although cancer prevention strategies have resulted in a dramatic reduction in the overall cervical cancer burden in developed countries, among women with HIV the problem remains unabated. Several studies have identified limited knowledge as a major contributory factor for cervical cancer especially in vulnerable populations like women with HIV. Objective: To determine the knowledge and attitudes of HPV, Pap smear testing and HPV vaccination among women with HIV utilizing the health belief model as a guiding framework for the study. Methods: 50 HIV positive women in the 21-64 age groups were purposively sampled from the HIV clinic in San Fernando General Hospital, South Trinidad. Data were collected using an administered questionnaire with a 100% response rate after receiving ethical approval. Results: Respondents were generally knowledgeable about Pap Smear testing but had limited knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccination. Most respondents were unaware that HPV infection was a risk factor for cervical cancer. Many respondents knew that the purpose of pap testing and the recommended Pap testing guidelines for women with HIV. Although most respondents 43 (86%) considered Pap Smear testing to be important it was not a regular practice. The main reasons for not having regular Pap test include the procedure is embarrassing and painful, fear of a cervical cancer diagnosis, reluctance to be examined by male doctor and not being asked to do Pap test by healthcare professionals. Respondents also had a negative attitude when asked if they would recommend the vaccine to friends and relatives. Conclusion: While women with HIV may be knowledgeable of the risk associated with cervical cancer, this does not necessarily translate into effective screening behaviours. The findings of this study demonstrate the need for an organized and integrated cervical cancer screening program for women with HIV as an integral component of management.
On the Asymptotic Internal Path Length and the Asymptotic Wiener Index of Random Split Trees

The random split tree introduced by Devroye (1999) is considered. We derive a second order expansion for the mean of its internal path length and furthermore obtain a limit law by the contraction method. As an assumption we need the splitter having a Lebesgue density and mass in every neighborhood of 1. We use properly stopped homogeneous Markov chains, for which limit results in total variation distance as well as renewal theory are used. Furthermore, we extend this method to obtain the corresponding results for the Wiener index.
Unsupervised Token-wise Alignment to Improve Interpretation of Encoder-Decoder Models

Developing a method for understanding the inner workings of black-box neural methods is an important research endeavor. Conventionally, many studies have used an attention matrix to interpret how Encoder-Decoder-based models translate a given source sentence to the corresponding target sentence. However, recent studies have empirically revealed that an attention matrix is not optimal for token-wise translation analyses. We propose a method that explicitly models the token-wise alignment between the source and target sequences to provide a better analysis. Experiments show that our method can acquire token-wise alignments that are superior to those of an attention mechanism.
On the importance of intraspecific variability for the quantification of functional diversity

Functional diversity (FD) is a key facet of biodiversity used to address central questions in ecology. Despite recent methodological advances, FD remains a complex concept and no consensus has been reached either on how to quantify it, or on how it influences ecological processes. Here we define FD as the distribution of trait values within a community. When and how to account for intraspecific trait variability (ITV) when measuring FD remains one of the main current debates. It remains however unclear to what extent accounting for population-level ITV would modify FD quantification and associated conclusions. In this paper, we address two critical questions: (1) How sensitive are different components of FD to the inclusion of population-level ITV? (2) Does the omission of ITV obscure the understanding of ecological patterns? Using a mixture of empirical data and simulation experiments, we conducted a sensitivity analysis of four commonly used FD indices (community weighted mean traits, functional richness, Rao's quadratic entropy, Petchey and Gaston's FD index) and their relationships with environmental gradients and species richness, by varying both the extent (plasticity or not) and the structure (contingency to environmental gradient due to local adaptation) of population-level ITV. Our results suggest that ITV may strongly alter the quantification of FD and the detection of ecological patterns. Our analysis highlights that 1) species trait values distributions within communities are crucial to the sensitivity to ITV, 2) ITV structure plays a major role in this sensitivity and 3) different indices are not evenly sensitive to ITV, the single-trait FD from Petchey and Gaston being the most sensitive among the four metrics tested. We conclude that the effects of intraspecific variability in trait values should be more systematically tested before drawing central conclusions on FD, and suggest the use of simulation studies for such sensitivity analyses.
Explosive condensation in symmetric mass transport models

We study the dynamics of condensation in a misanthrope process with nonlinear jump rates and factorized stationary states. For large enough density, it is known that such models have a phase separated state, with a non-zero fraction of the total mass concentrating in a single lattice site. It has been established in (Waclaw and Evans 2012 Phys. Rev. Lett. 108 070601) for asymmetric dynamics that such processes exhibit explosive condensation, where the time to reach the stationary state vanishes with increasing system size. This constitutes a spatially extended version of instantaneous gelation which has previously been studied only in mean-field coagulation models. We show that this phenomenon also occurs for symmetric dynamics in one dimension if the non-linearity is strong enough, and we find a coarsening regime where the time to stationarity diverges with the system size for weak non-linearity. In higher space dimensions explosive condensation is expected to be generic for all parameter values. Our results are based on heuristic mean field arguments which are confirmed by simulation data.
Information infrastructure capability and organisational competitive advantage: Framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an inclusive research model to overcome the single perspective issues of the previous research which were looking at either on knowledge management (KM) activity, information technology (IT) applications or information infrastructure capability (IIC) independently. Design/methodology/approach – This paper reviewed and categorised five knowledge management (KM) frameworks: first, KM foundation studies; second, resource-based view studies; third, IIC studies; fourth, competitive advantage (CA) studies; fifth, organisational information processing theory studies to propose research model. Case studies based on face-to-face interviews were conducted to empirically analyse the proposed research model. Findings – An inclusive research model was suggested to redress the key limitation of past studies in this research field. Research limitations/implications – Since Asian countries are at present heading for the creation of a knowledge economy, the present study i.
Behaviorism as a Theory of Personality : A Critical Look

This paper explores the theory of behaviorism and evaluates its effectiveness as a theory of personality. It takes into consideration all aspects of the behaviorism theory, including Pavlov's classical conditioning and Skinner's operant conditioning. Additional research in this field by scientists such as Thorndike is also included. As a result of this critical look at behaviorism, its weaknesses as a comprehensive personality theory are revealed. At the same time, its merits when restricted to certain areas of psychology and treatment of disorders are discussed.