Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
What factors affect species richness and distribution dynamics within two Afromontane protected areas?

Abstract Context. Biodiversity monitoring programs provide information on the status and trends in wildlife populations. These trends are unknown for most mammals within African montane forests, which harbour many endemic and threatened species. Camera traps are useful for assessing mammal populations, because they allow for the estimation of species richness, occupancy, and activity patterns. Aims. We sought to explore the richness and distribution of small- to large-sized mammals by using occupancy models while accounting for imperfect detection in Volcanoes and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks, in Rwanda and Uganda. Methods. We used camera-trap data collected from 2014 to 2017 by the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring (TEAM) network and multi-season occupancy models with multispecies data to assess the dynamics of species richness and distribution in the Virunga Massif and the influence of site covariates on species detection probability, occupancy, colonisation and extinction. Key results. We identified 17 species from 7047 trap-days, with most of them showing an uneven distributional pattern throughout the park. We found that average species richness per site increased from five to seven species in 2017. Average local colonisation was estimated at 0.13 (s.e. 0.014), but the probability of local extinction was 0.17 (s.e. 0.028) and negatively influenced by distance from the park boundary. Detection probability was highest for medium-sized species. For species distribution, we found that black-fronted duiker, Cephalophus nigrifrons, and bushbuck, Tragelaphus scriptus, declined in distribution but remained widespread in our study area, while all other species showed an increase in distribution over the study period. Conclusions. Our approach allowed us to draw inferences on rare species, such as African golden cat, Caracal aurata, by estimating detection probability on the basis of shared covariate information with more common, widespread species. As such, we were able to estimate all occupancy parameters across the terrestrial mammal community. Implications. The results of this study on the distribution of terrestrial mammal species can be used by park management to inform optimal ranger patrolling efforts for mitigating threats in areas of high species presence. Additionally, the results can highlight locations of potential human–wildlife conflicts on the basis of species commonly found along the park boundary.
Deep Learning in Controlled Environment Agriculture: A Review of Recent Advancements, Challenges and Prospects

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is an unconventional production system that is resource efficient, uses less space, and produces higher yields. Deep learning (DL) has recently been introduced in CEA for different applications including crop monitoring, detecting biotic and abiotic stresses, irrigation, microclimate prediction, energy efficient controls, and crop growth prediction. However, no review study assess DL’s state of the art to solve diverse problems in CEA. To fill this gap, we systematically reviewed DL methods applied to CEA. The review framework was established by following a series of inclusion and exclusion criteria. After extensive screening, we reviewed a total of 72 studies to extract the useful information. The key contributions of this article are the following: an overview of DL applications in different CEA facilities, including greenhouse, plant factory, and vertical farm, is presented. We found that majority of the studies are focused on DL applications in greenhouses (82%), with the primary application as yield estimation (31%) and growth monitoring (21%). We also analyzed commonly used DL models, evaluation parameters, and optimizers in CEA production. From the analysis, we found that convolutional neural network (CNN) is the most widely used DL model (79%), Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) is the widely used optimizer (53%), and accuracy is the widely used evaluation parameter (21%). Interestingly, all studies focused on DL for the microclimate of CEA used RMSE as a model evaluation parameter. In the end, we also discussed the current challenges and future research directions in this domain.
Generating and manipulating entanglement of spins and photons

Spins in a solid-state environment and photons are both promising physical systems regarding the implementation of qubits. Whereas electron and nuclear spins act very well as localized qubits that are able to store and process quantum information, photons are the primary candidates to transmit quantum information between distant locations. Entanglement, on the other hand, is a fundamental resource of quantum information processing enabling, e.g., secure communication over long distances. The generation and manipulation of entanglement are thus fundamental steps in order to leverage the bene ts of quantum information processing. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to theoretically investigate entangling mechanisms for various physical systems. A functioning source of entangled photons is a basic hardware component required for quantum communication. To this end, we study a system composed of semiconductor quantum wells inside a microcavity, known as intersubband cavity system, in which the interaction of the electronic system with the cavity eld can reach the ultrastrong coupling regime. The ground state contains a nite number of photons, and we nd that these photons are entangled. The amount of entanglement is quanti ed analytically, and maximal entanglement is found to be possible. The technique of entanglement puri cation allows to restore maximal entanglement that has decreased, e.g. due to decoherence. Puri cation requires quantum memory, a role for which electron spins in electrically-de ned quantum dots are well suited. However, existing puri cation protocols are rather unpractical in this case. Here, the concept of asymmetric bilateral two-qubit operations is introduced to purify spin entanglement by harnessing the typical interaction between electrons in neighboring quantum dots. As it turns out, this concept can be applied to a variety of qubit systems, e.g. superconducting qubits or spins in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The latter example o ers several possibilities to implement a qubit, of which the intrinsic nitrogen nuclear spin has proven its viability in many ways. We develop a scheme to deterministically couple two nuclear spin qubits, in which the interaction is mediated by an optical cavity. It is found that an entangling two-qubit gate, also required for universal quantum computation, can be implemented with operation times below 100 nanoseconds, i.e. several orders of magnitude faster compared to the decoherence time of the nuclear spin. The veri cation of entanglement, which is required e.g. in entanglement-based quantum communication to detect an eavesdropping attack, typically involves a measurement of qubit states. Using the input-output formalism, we derive a fully quantum-mechanical model of an optical readout scheme to measure the spin state of an electron in a self-assembled quantum dot.
Mechanochemical Treatment in High-Shear Thermokinetic Mixer as an Alternative for Tire Recycling

This publication highlights the use of a high-speed thermokinetic mixer as an alternative to recycling ground tire rubber (GTR) using mechanochemical treatment. The GTR initially had a gelled fraction of 80% and presented a reduction of up to 50% of gel fraction in the most intensive condition (5145 rpm, n2). The processing condition at the lowest speed (2564 rpm, n1) resulted in greater selectivity in chain scission (K~1). However, in the most intense processing condition (10 min to n2), more significant degradation was observed via random scission, reduction in the glass transition temperature, Tg (11 °C), increase in the soluble polymeric fraction, and a more significant reduction in the density of bonds occurs. The artificial neural network could describe and correlate the thermal degradation profile with the processing conditions and the physicochemical characteristics of the GTR. The n2 velocity resulted in the formation of particles with a smoother and more continuous surface, which is related to the increase in the amount of soluble phase. The approach presented here represents an alternative to the mechanochemical treatment since it can reduce the crosslink density with selectivity and in short times (1–3 min).
Epitaxial ferromagnetic nanoislands of cubic GdN in hexagonal GaN

Periodic structures of GdN particles encapsulated in a single crystalline GaN matrix were prepared by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. High resolution x-ray diffractometery shows that GdN islands, with rock salt structure are epitaxially oriented to the wurtzite GaN matrix. Scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction allows for the study of island formation dynamics, which occurs after 1.2 monolayers of GdN coverage. Magnetometry reveals two ferromagnetic phases, one due to GdN particles with Curie temperature of 70 K and a second, anomalous above room temperature phase.
Charmonium-nucleon potential from lattice QCD

We present results for the charmonium-nucleon potential V{sub cc-N}(r) from quenched lattice QCD, which is calculated from the equal-time Bethe-Salpeter amplitude through the effective Schroedinger equation. Detailed information of the low-energy interaction between the nucleon and charmonia ({eta}{sub c} and J/{psi}) is indispensable for exploring the formation of charmonium bound to nuclei. Our simulations are performed at a lattice cutoff of 1/a{approx_equal}2.1 GeV in a spatial volume of (3 fm){sup 3} with the nonperturbatively O(a) improved Wilson action for the light quarks and a relativistic heavy quark action for the charm quark. We have found that the potential V{sub cc-N}(r) for either the {eta}{sub c} or J/{psi} states is weakly attractive at short distances and exponentially screened at large distances. The spin averaged J/{psi}-N potential is slightly more attractive than that of the {eta}{sub c}-N case.
Carbon Formation during Methane Dry Reforming over Ni-Containing Ceria-Zirconia Catalysts

Two series of Ni/Ce(Ti/Nb)ZrO2 catalysts were prepared using citrate route and original solvothermal continuous flow synthesis in supercritical isopropanol and studied in dry reforming of methane (DRM). TEM, XPS and FTIRS of adsorbed CO confirm influence of support composition and preparation method on the catalysts’ morphology and surface features. The oxygen mobility was studied by isotope heteroexchange with C18O2. After testing in DRM, carbon deposits after catalysts’ testing in DRM were investigated by temperature-programmed oxidation with thermo-gravimetric analysis. The lowest amounts of carbon deposits were obtained for unmodified Ni-CeZr and Ni-CeNbZr compositions. Ti addition lead to an increased amount of carbon, which was removed at higher temperatures. The use of supercritical supports also resulted in the formation of a higher amount of coke. Catalysts prepared by the supercritical synthesis were tested in DRM for 25 h. The highest activity drop was observed in the first three hours. For all compositions, close values of carbon deposits were revealed.
Consider the source: An examination of the effects of externally and internally generated content on memory.

Drawing on ideas from philosophy (in particular, epistemology), I argue that one of memory ’ s most important functions is to provide its owner with knowledge of the physical world. This knowledge helps satisfy the organism ’ s need to confer stability on an ever-changing reality so the objects in which it consists can be identi ﬁ ed and reidenti ﬁ ed. I then draw a distinction between sources of knowledge (i
Polarization gratings in the short-pitch approximation: electro-optics of deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals

Electro-optical properties of deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal (DHFLC) cells are studied by using a general theoretical approach to polarization gratings in which the transmission and reflection matrices of diffraction orders are explicitly related to the evolution operator of equations for the Floquharmonics. In the short-pitch approximation, a DHFLC cell is shown to be optically equivalent to a uniformly anisotropic biaxial layer where one of the optical axes is normal to the bounding surfaces. For in-plane anisotropy, orientation of the optical axes and birefringence are both determined by the voltage applied across the cell and represent the parameters that govern the transmittance of normally incident light passing through crossed polarizers. We calculate the transmittance as a function of the applied voltage and compare the computed curves with the experimental data. The theoretical and experimental results are found to be in good agreement.
Impact risk management in impact investing: How impact investing organizations adopt control mechanisms to manage their impact risk

In impact investing, impact risk encompasses the probability that investment projects may fail to achieve the expected positive impact (i.e., positive impact risk) and/or may have a negative impact (i.e., negative impact risk). Using an inductive research approach, this study examines how impact investing organizations adopt control mechanisms to manage impact risk. It finds that impact investors adopt a wide range of input, behavior, and output control mechanisms to manage impact risk that may arise from investee-level, investor-level, and system-level operations. Also, to manage impact risk, investors establish control mechanisms to influence relevant actors not only within a firm’s boundary but also outside its boundary. Given the inherent complexity and ambiguity in managing impact risk in impact investing, control mechanisms appear to rely heavily on judgment and experience and adhere more to the “satisficing” principle. Furthermore, investors tend to focus more on managing positive impact risk than negative impact risk.
Some notes on shock resolving flux functions. Part 1: Stationary characteristics

Numerical flux functions for solving the Euler equations using exact and/or approximate solutions of the Riemann problem of gasdynamics are discussed. Under certain restrictive conditions, schemes using these flux functions produce systems of equations which can exhibit a single degree of freedom. In some instances, the solutions represented by this degree of freedom are unstable to perturbations. This local instability can seriously degrade the temporal convergence of numerical schemes. This point is demonstrated by numerical example.
A Study of Lyα Quasar Absorbers in the Nearby Universe

Spectroscopy of 10 quasars obtained with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is presented. In the 10 sight lines, we detect 357 absorption lines above a significance level of 3 σ and 272 lines above a significance level of 4.5 σ. Automated software is used to detect and identify the lines, almost all of which are unresolved at the GHRS G140L resolution of 200 km s-1. After identifying Galactic lines, intervening metal lines, and higher order Lyman lines, we are left with 139 Lyα absorbers in the redshift range 0 < z < 0.22 (lines within 900 km s-1 of geocoronal Lyα are not selected). These diffuse hydrogen absorbers have column densities that are mostly in the range 1013-1015 cm-2 for an assumed Doppler parameter of 30 km s-1. The number density of lines above a rest equivalent width of 0.24 Å, dN/dz = 38.3 ± 5.3, agrees well with the measurement from the Quasar Absorption-Line Key Project. There is marginal evidence for cosmic variance in the number of absorbers detected among the 10 sight lines. A clustering analysis reveals an excess of nearest-neighbor line pairs on velocity scales of 250-750 km s-1 at a 95%-98% confidence level. The hypothesis that the absorbers are randomly distributed in velocity space can be ruled out at the 99.8% confidence level. No two-point correlation power is detected (ξ < 1 with 95% confidence). Lyα absorbers have correlation amplitudes on scales of 250-500 km s-1, at least 4-5 times smaller than the correlation amplitude of bright galaxies. A detailed comparison between absorbers in nearby galaxies is carried out on a limited subset of 11 Lyα absorbers where the galaxy sample in a large contiguous volume is complete to MB = -16. Absorbers lie preferentially in regions of intermediate galaxy density, but it is often not possible to assign a unique galaxy counterpart to an absorber. This sample provides no explicit support for the hypothesis that absorbers are preferentially associated with the halos of luminous galaxies. We have made a preliminary comparison of the absorption-line properties and environments with the results of hydrodynamic simulations. The results suggest that the Lyα absorbers represent diffuse or shocked gas in the intergalactic medium that traces the cosmic web of large-scale structure.
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT MANAGEMENT (PMM) IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY: THE INSIGHTS FROM LITERATURE

Rapid technological development, including the digitalisation of the industry, is changing the operations and management of businesses. Hence, businesses are facing challenges in ensuring that their Performance Measurement Management (PMM) system is contemporary and dynamic whilst dealing with constant change and rapid developments. Along with having to manage huge volume of data of different variability and the emergence of social media, keeping PMM current in today’s business setting has proved to be demanding. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investigate how digitally-driven changes are impacting the management of PMM. A review of literature was conducted to understand how PMM and its elements are transformed by these economy landscape changes in an effort to provide insights for a state-of-the-art PMM system.
Immunogenicity of a recombinant hemagglutinin neuraminidase-Porcine rubulavirus produced by Escherichia coli of Porcine rubulavirus gives protective immunity of litter after challenge

Porcine rubulavirus (PRV) is a contagious virus that affects the Mexican swine industry. This work aimed to evaluate the immunogenicity of an recombinant hemagglutinin neuraminidase-Porcine rubulavirus (rHN-PorPV) candidate vaccine on pregnant sows, and the protective efficacy afforded to their 7-day-old suckling piglets against PRV lethal challenge. Three sows were immunized with rHN-PorPV formulated with immune-stimulating complex (ISCOMs) and two sows with rHN-PorPV protein alone as well as a mock-immunized pregnant sow (negative control). Quantitative ELISA detected a high concentration of anti-rHN-PorPV Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in sow sera after the second dose of vaccine administered on day 14 until farrowing, showing viral-neutralizing and cross-neutralization activity against different variants of PRV. Sera samples from piglets of immunized sows (with or without adjuvant), showed high concentrations of IgG antibodies. As expected, piglets from the negative control sow (n=5), exhibited severe signs of disease and 100% of mortality after PRV challenge study. Conversely, 75% and 87.5% of the piglets born from the rHN-PorPV and the rHN-PorPV-ISCOMs-immunized sows (n=8), survived, respectively, showing milder PRV clinical signs. Our data indicate that rHN-PorPV candidate vaccine produced in Escherichia coli induces efficient humoral response in pregnant sows and that the maternally derived immunity provides high protection to suckling piglets against PRV lethal challenge.
Measurement of China’s Green Total Factor Productivity Introducing Human Capital Composition

In the face of resource and environmental problems caused by extensive economic development, China has put forward a green development strategy. Scientific measurement and analysis of green total factor productivity (GTFP) is of great significance for achieving high-quality economic development. By introducing the human capital composition, including education, health, scientific research, and training, this paper study adopts the Slack Based Measure-Global Malmquist-Luenberger (SBM-GML) index to re-measure the GTFP and its decomposition of 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China from 2000 to 2019. The results show that: (1) China’s GTFP has a fluctuating growth trend, with an average annual growth rate of 2.31%. (2) In terms of its decomposition, technical progress is the main force driving GTFP growth, with a contribution rate of 1.59%; the improvement of technical efficiency is a secondary driving force, with a contribution rate of 0.71%. (3) The measurement results of GTFP, considering the human capital composition, are generally higher than those without consideration, and the GTFP growth under the two modes shows a trend of “high in the east and low in the west”. The conclusions have enlightening significance for improving GTFP and the growth potential of the economy in China.
FACTORS FOR AUTOMATIC EARLY WARNING SCORING IMPLEMENTATION IN MALAYSIAN PRIVATE HOSPITALS

The paper explored factors affecting the choice of early warning score (EWS) card adoption using the case study of Malaysian hospitals. One hundred hospitals in Malaysia participated in a survey where CEO’s and nursing directors filled semi-structured questionnaires. A review of current literature confirms that deteriorating health following treatment of acute health is a critical issue undermining sustainable marketing in healthcare. Lack of sufficient and efficient measures to effectively care for these patients promptly has continued to present challenges to healthcare providers. Part of the problem is that it has always been problematic to detect early warning signs and calls when vital signs appeared. While early warning signs have been adopted to respond to calls of vital signs, difficulties arise in terms of efficient documentation, recording, interpretation and implementation of EWS. Hospitals with limited financial capabilities are compelled to use manual early warning scores. EWS is relatively affordable to acquire, install and maintain. They, however, lack in efficiency, timeliness and accuracy. The present study revealed that only seven hospitals had implemented manual early warnings signs. Findings indicated that no hospitals have implemented automatic warning signs, despite respondents indicating their understanding of the benefits and complexity associated with automation of EWS. The management of these hospitals revealed the high cost of implementing and maintaining automated EWS and inability to measure outcomes as the top reasons for not having automated EWS. However, the study noted that leadership and ethics, especially the leader’s attitude, employee’s engagement and perceived benefits of automatic EWS have a role in determining the successful implementation of EWS. To successfully implement EWS as a powerful marketing strategy, good management for implementation should be in place.
Cs Extraction from Chloride Media by Calixarene Crown-Ethers

Asse II salt mine, in Germany, contains low and intermediate-level radioactive waste that must be retrieved in the upcoming years. Potentially contaminated salts and brines will require treatment, with 137Cs being the main contaminant. Cs+ is problematic to selectively recover due to its chemical similarity with Na+ and K+ which are present in high quantities in a salt mine. This paper offers a novel solution for Cs+ separation from concentrated chloride salt media by solvent extraction with calixarene-crown-ether extractants in an alcoholic diluent. The proposed solvent extracts Cs+ at elevated chloride concentrations (3–4 M) while back-extraction is achieved by contacting the solvent with dilute (0.01 M) hydrochloric acid.