Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University

The accumulation of Pb deposits in soil is a growing global concern. Soil remediation options include phytoextraction that involves the use of plants and associated soil microorganism. Switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L.), a second-generation bioenergy crop was used in this study due to its ability to produce high biomass and grow in metal polluted soils. Plants were grown in Pb-contaminated soil (5,802.5 mg kg − 1 ) in an environmentally controlled greenhouse. Plants were treated with exogenous application of the plant growth regulator (PGR) benzylaminopurine (BAP) or complete foliar nutrient solution (Triple-12 ® ) twice a week until harvested. Plants also received the soil fungicide propiconazole (Infuse ™ ) that was followed by the soil chelate nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA). Two concentrations of NTA were compared (5 mM and 10 mM) and combined application of NTA (10 mM) + APG (alkyl polyglucoside). Soil fungicide (propiconazole) was used to arrest arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) activities in the roots of switchgrass in order to enhance Pb-phytoextraction. Lead (Pb) was measured in dry plant materials using an ICP-OES. Phytoextraction by switchgrass was signi ﬁ cantly improved by dual soil applications of 10 mM NTA, APG and foliar applications of BAP which resulted in the greatestaverage Pb concentration of 5,942 mg kg − 1 . The average dry mass of plants and the average value for total phytoextracted Pb (mg) per pot were signi ﬁ cantly greatestfor plants treated with 10 mM NTA, APG and BAP. Also, plants treated with NTA and BAP showed average bioconcentration factor of 1.02. The results suggested that chemically enhanced phytoextraction signi ﬁ cantly improved biomass production of switchgrass and at the same time increased phytoextracted Pb which is important for phytoremediation and bioenergy industry.
Creditworthiness of North American Oil Companies and Minsky Financing Categories: Assessment of Shifts Due to the 2014-2016 Oil Price Shock

Our study provides a unique and comprehensive analysis of oil and gas companies' performance over the latest oil price crisis of 2014-2016. The oil price declined under the pressure of global oil oversupply instigated by OPEC under the strategic leadership of Saudi Arabia, in an effort to retain market share by diminishing the production growth of shale oil and oil from oil sands in North America. The financial performance of 45 North American oil companies was assessed over the 2014-2016 period of decreased oil prices, distinguishing six peer groups based on market capitalization, of which 11 representative companies were selected for further in-depth analysis. For each selected company, a forensic financial analysis was performed on the three principal accounts of corporate financial performance: profit-loss account, cash flow account and balance sheet. Financial accounts were consolidated in annualized graphs for 2010-2015. Next, the historic production output and operational income from the existing assets (2010-2015) were projected forward to stress test future liquidity positions (2016-2020). These projections incorporated known maturation dates of corporate debt and any announced divestments and/or acquisitions. The majority of the companies are classified in Minsky's speculative financing category, which is riskier than hedge financing and less risky than Ponzi financing. The oil price collapse pushed numerous companies into Ponzi financing and led to a record number of bankruptcies. Lessons learned and recommendations are formulated for company management, shareholders and lenders, based on the corporate financial performance of the analyzed companies during the decade (2010-20120) spanning the 2014-2016 oil price shock.
MUON COLLIDER PROGRESS

A complete scheme for muon production, cooling, acceleration and storage in a collider ring is presented. Parameters for two muon colliders are given. Both start with pion production on a mercury target. A capture and phase rotation yields bunch trains of both muon signs. Six dimensional cooling reduces the longitudinal emittance until it becomes possible to merge the trains into single bunches, one of each sign. Further cooling in 6 dimensions is applied in lattices followed by final linear transverse cooling in 50 T solenoids. Experiments suggest that there are rf breakdown problems with the focusing magnetic fields. Possible solutions are discussed. Table 1: Parameters of two muon colliders. C of m Energy (TeV) 1.5 4 Luminosity (10 cm2sec−1) 1 4 Beam-beam Tune Shift 0.1 0.1 Muons/bunch (10) 2 2 Ring circumference (km) 3 8.1 Beta at IP = σz (mm) 10 3 rms mom. spread (%) 0.1 0.12 Required depth for ν rad (m) 13 135 Muon survival 0.07 0.07 Repetition Rate (Hz) 12 6 Proton Driver power (MW) ≈4 ≈ 2 Trans Emittance (π mm mrad) 25 25 Long Emittance (π mm mrad) 72,000 72,000
PHENOLOY AND YIELD OF SWEET CORN LANDRACES INFLUENCED BY PLANTING DATES

This study was conducted to determine the production potential and optimum sowing date for various landraces of sweet corn. The research was carried out at New Developmental Farm, NWFP Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan during 2007 crop season. Sowing dates were 25 April (D1), 25 May (D2), 16 June (D3), 26 July (D4) and 18 August (D5). Sweet corn landraces Mingora, Mansehra, Swabi, Parachinar and cv. Azam were used. All parameters were significantly affected by sowing dates, landraces and their interaction. Days to 50 % tasseling and 50 % silking decreased as the date of sowing was delayed from D1 to D5. Days to maturity decreased as the date of sowing was delayed from D1 to D3 and then increased again as sowing was delayed from D3 to D5. Sweet corn landrace Swabi produced maximum (17292 kg ha -1 ) biological yield from D1 sowing compared to minimum (7083 kg ha -1 ) produced by Parachinar on D5. Azam produced maximum grain yield (4097 kg ha -1 ) and harvest index (27.21 %) when sown on D4, where as minimum grain yield (621 kg ha -1 ) and harvest index (7.16 %) was
Gastrointestinal Imaging:

Procedure Appropriateness Category Relative Radiation Level MRI pelvis without and with IV contrast Usually Appropriate O CT pelvis with IV contrast Usually Appropriate ☢☢☢ US endoanal May Be Appropriate O MRI pelvis without IV contrast May Be Appropriate O CT pelvis without IV contrast May Be Appropriate ☢☢☢ Radiography pelvis Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢ Fluoroscopy contrast enema Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ Fluoroscopy fistulography Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢ CT pelvis without and with IV contrast Usually Not Appropriate ☢☢☢☢
Evaluating potential of leaf re�ectance spectra to monitor plant genetic variation

Remote sensing of vegetation by spectroscopy vegetation by its reﬂection of light is increasingly used to characterize trait distributions in plant communities. How leaves reﬂect light interact with electromagnetic radiation is determined by their structure and contents of pigments, water, and abundant dry matter constituents like lignins, phenolics, and proteins. High-resolution (“hyperspectral”) spectroscopy can characterize trait variation at ﬁner scales, and may help to reveal underlying genetic variation: – information important for assessing the potential of populations to adapt to global change. Here, we use a set of 360 inbred genotypes of the wild coyote tobacco Nicotiana attenuata : wild accessions, recombinant inbred lines (RILs), and transgenic lines (TLs) with targeted changes to gene expression, to dissect genetic versus non-genetic inﬂuences on variation in leaf spectra across three experiments. We calculated leaf reﬂectance from hand-held ﬁeld spectroradiometer measurements covering visible to short-wave infrared wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation (400-2500 nm) using a standard radiation source and backgrounds, resulting in a small and quantiﬁable measurement uncertainty. Plants were grown in more controlled (glasshouse) or more natural (ﬁeld) environments, and leaves were measured both on-and oﬀ-plant with the measurement set-up thus also in more to less controlled environmental conditions. Entire spectra varied across genotypes and environments. We found that the greatest variance in leaf reﬂectance was explained by between-experiment and non-genetic between-sample diﬀerences, with subtler and more speciﬁc variation distinguishing groups of genotypes. The visible spectral region was most variable, distinguishing experimental settings as well as groups of genotypes within experiments, whereas parts of the short-wave infrared may vary more speciﬁcally with genotype. Overall, more genetically variable plant populations also hadshowed more varied leaf spectra. We highlight key considerations for the application of ﬁeld spectroscopy to assess genetic variation in plant populations.
Overconfidence and Prejudice ∗

We develop a model in which an overconfident agent learns about groups in society from observations of his and others’ successes. In our model, both the agent’s information and his beliefs are multi-dimensional, allowing us to study interactions between different views. Overall, society always exhibits an in-group bias — the average person sees his group relative to other groups too positively — but this general tendency toward prejudice exhibits systematic comparative-statics patterns. First, a person is most likely to have negative opinions about other groups he competes with. Second, while information about another group’s achievements does not lower a person’s prejudice, information about economic or social forces affecting the group can, and personal contact with group members has a beneficial effect that is larger than in classical settings. Third, the agent’s beliefs are subject to “bias substitution,” whereby forces that decrease his bias regarding one group tend to increase his biases regarding unrelated other groups. Methodologically, to make our analysis of interdependent multi-dimensional beliefs possible, we develop tools for studying learning under high-dimensional misspecified models.
Guaranteed cost approach for robust model predictive control of uncertain linear systems

In this paper we propose a constrained guaranteed cost robust model predictive controller (GCMPC) for uncertain discrete time systems. This controller was developed based on a quadratic cost functional and guarantee robustness with respect to quadratically bound uncertainties. Such a class of problems is currently intractable by Min-Max Robust Model Predictive Controllers without polytopic approximations of the uncertainties. The proposed technique is computationally more efficient then an enumeration-based approach and requires only a Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Problem (QCQP) optimization, whereas LMI-based GCMPC approaches require a Semi-Definite Programming (SDP) optimization.
Explorer Structural brain MRI trait polygenic score prediction of cognitive abilities

Citation for published version: Luciano, M, Marioni, R, Valdes Hernandez, M, Munoz-Maniega, S, Hamilton, I, Royle, N, Scotland, G, Chauhan, G, Bis, JC, Debette, S, de carli, C, Fornage, M, Schmidt, R, Ikram, MA, Launer, LJ, Seshadri, S, Consortium, CHARGE, Bastin, M, Porteous, D, Wardlaw, J & Deary, I 2015, 'Structural brain MRI trait polygenic score prediction of cognitive abilities' Twin Research and Human Genetics, vol 18, pp. 738-745. , 10.1017/thg.2015. 71
The Total Carbon Column Observing Network’s GGG2020 Data Version

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) measures column-average mole fractions of several greenhouse gases (GHGs) beginning in 2004 from over 30 current or past measurement sites around the world, using solar absorption spectroscopy in the near infrared region. TCCON GHG data have been used extensively for multiple purposes, including in studies of the carbon cycle and anthropogenic emissions as well as to validate and improve observations made from spacebased sensors. Here, we describe an update to the retrieval algorithm used to process the TCCON near IR solar spectra and 5 the associated data product. This version, called GGG2020, was initially released in April 2022. It includes updates and improvements to all steps of the retrieval, including but not limited to: converting the original interferograms into spectra, the spectroscopic information used in the column retrieval, post hoc airmass dependence correction, and scaling to align with the calibration scales of in situ GHG measurements. All TCCON data are available through tccondata.org and hosted on CaltechDATA (data.caltech.edu). Each TCCON site has 10 a unique DOI for its data record. An archive of all sites’ data is also available with the DOI 10.14291/TCCON.GGG2020 (Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) Team, 2022). The hosted files are updated approximately monthly, and TCCON sites are required to deliver data to the archive no later than one year after acquisition. Full details of data locations are provided in the data availability section.
A ROLE FOR CULTURAL TRANSMISSION IN FERTILITY TRANSITIONS

Cultural variables in economic analysis have recently experienced a strong renewal. This evolution sheds a new light on the old debate between the “Beckerian model” of fertility and the “synthesis model” of fertility. In this paper, I propose a fertility model making the evolution of culture endogenous. The whole population is divided into two cultures corresponding to specific preferences for fertility. Parents decide their fertility rate and try to transmit their culture to their children. Differential fertility between cultures gives rise to an evolutionary process while differential effort to transmit the parental culture gives rise to a cultural process. The long-run distribution of preferences and the average total fertility rate both result from interactions between these processes. As a result, a fertility transition cannot appear without productivity shocks in favor of the culture that is not biased toward quantity of children. However, asymmetric productivity shocks are not always sufficient to cause a fertility transition.
Female stress urinary incontinence: how do patient and physician perspectives correlate in assessment of outcomes?

Purpose of review This article discusses outcome assessment following surgery for incontinence, by correlating patient perspectives with that of the physician. Recent findings A review of the literature demonstrates a large variance in the ‘success rates’ published for different stress urinary incontinence procedures. We review the elements essential in formation of a universal and valid incontinence questionnaire. Studies have attempted to correlate common clinical measures (voiding diaries, pad testing, urodynamics) with quality-of-life questionnaires. Sentinel articles in incontinence outcome assessment are discussed. Studies with critical measures of outcome are examined using the recommendations made by the Female Stress Urinary Incontinence Guidelines Panel summary report. Through presentation of our data on tension-free vaginal tape procedures, we give insight into the future of stress urinary incontinence research and outcomes. Summary Early ‘cure rates’ were severely limited by their retrospective nature and focus on chart review and physician assessment. Symptom and quality-of-life questionnaires provide subjective outcome assessments. No direct correlation exists between universally accepted objective and subjective measures of improvement. Recent studies are getting closer to the female stress urinary incontinence guidelines. Yet, the pursuit for a universal definition of success continues, in order to bridge patient and physician perspectives on cure.
Parkinson's disease - psychological determinants of quality of life

Objectives: This systematic review focuses on the role of the intensity of fear in patient’s delay in cancer and in myocardial infarction. Methods: In a search of literature published between 1990 and June 2009, 161 articles were found. After the use of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 articles in cancer and 4 articles in myocardial infarction remained. Results: High levels of fear are associated with earlier help-seeking in both diseases; for low levels of fear the picture is unclear. Conclusion: The level of fear is an important factor which should be taken into account when facilitating help-seeking by patients.
Institutional Causes of Macroeconomic Volatility

In this paper we investigate the relation between the quality of institutions and macroeconomic volatility. Using instrumental variable regressions, we show that higher barriers to entry lead to higher volatility. In particular, a one standard deviation increase in entry costs increases the standard deviation of output growth by roughly 40% of its average value in our sample. To the contrary, property rights protection has no statistically significant effect on volatility.
Discovering:

That Davies was alive throughout the years of preparation and publication of his biography was a mixed blessing. It made it possible to observe him in many contexts, and his excellent memory meant that much could be learned from interviews. But his memory was not perfect and there were parts of his life he shied away from and papers he chose not to make available. If balance and accuracy were to be achieved, interviews with friends, enemies, and neutral observers were needed, as was a thorough examination of the record – newspapers edited by Davies’ father, his own editorials and articles, his manuscripts and professional correspondence, private letters still in the hands of correspondents, diaries (insofar as he was willing to make them available), and the like. While Man of Myth was in preparation, he was sufficiently skittish that the possibility he might withdraw from the project was ever present. He had much to say about the difficulties of writing biography in two novels and in many letters, but he claimed he’d never read his own biography so he would not have to answer questions about it.
Inversion Is the Key to Dispersion: Understanding Eruption Dynamics by Inverting Tephra Fallout

Volcanologists increasingly rely on numerical simulations to better understand the dynamics of erupting volcanoes. Mathematical models are often used to explain the geologic processes responsible for eruption deposits found in the geologic record, and to better characterize possible hazards from future volcanic activity. Examples of models include the finite element flow and transport codes used to simulate pyroclastic flows, lahars, and volcanic debris avalanches (Iverson, 1997; Patra et al., 2005), analytical solutions or finite difference approximations to the advection-diffusion equation that are used to model tephra dispersion (see Bonadonna, this volume) and gas emissions from quiescent volcanoes (Delmelle et al., 2001), and cellular automata algorithms that model the advance of lava (Barca et al., 1994). Commonality among these examples involves the fact that we wish to estimate parameters related to the dynamics of volcanic activity directly from field observations. For instance, how well can we estimate the magnitude of an eruption from measurements of tephra deposits?
Trace Elements in Antarctic Air and Snowfall

Measurements of trace elements in snow and ice are frequently used to describe past atmospheric composition although there is no firm basis for assuming a direct connection. Trace-element concentrations have been measured on samples of aerosol and freshly fallen snow collected simultaneously from two sites in the Antarctic Peninsula during summer. Following improvements in contamination control, the reported concentrations and crustal enrichment factors of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the aerosol are lower than any values previously reported from Antarctica. Even tighter controls will be required in the future. For a crustal element (A1) and for the marine cations (Na, Ca and K) a consistent ratio (0.48±0.31) for the concentration in air (pg m−3)/concentration in snow (pg g−1) is obtained for simultaneously collected samples. This supports a simple model of aerosol scavenging proposed by Junge which considers aerosol removal over polar ice sheets to be dominated by in-cloud processes. Averaged data for Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn from samples collected at different times appear to behave similarly. These findings suggest that there is no preferential scavenging by snowfall of either crustal or heavy metal components in contemporary aerosol. If proved more general in Antarctica this may help to simplify the interpretation of time series data from ice cores.
Investigations into the impact of the lower boundary condition on thereflected solar radiance field

It is presented how the original isotropic boundary condition in a Gauss-Seidel radiative transfer model is generalized to describe an angular dependent surface reflection. A symmetry about the plane of incidence is assumed since the general case of an arbitrary non-symmetric reflection is to costly. As a result using Hapke's BRDF the upward radiance at the surface and the top of the atmosphere are discussed and compared to the results with the original isotropic boundary condition. In addition we discuss the impact of Rayleigh scattering and aerosol extinction on the reflected solar radiance field.
A NALYSIS OF THE INHIBITION OF PROTEOLYTIC MICROORGANISMS IN RED TILAPIA ( Oreochromis spp ) FILLETS PRESERVED WITH PROPOLIS ( Apis mellifera Linnaeus )

The food industry is focused on replacing chemical preservatives with organic alternatives for food preservation and safety. The present study seeks to analyze the use of propolis in the conservation of red tilapia ﬁllets. Propolis was applied in two concentrations (15% and 30%) and two impregnation times (1.5 and 3 hours) to red tilapia ﬁllets stored at 4-5 ◦ C for 30 days. Several parameters, including pH, water-holding capacity (WRC), and basic volatile nitrogen concentration (N-BVT), were evaluated at 10-day intervals. In addition, a microbiological analysis of mesophilic microorganisms and E. coli present was carried out. From day 20, signiﬁcant differences were observed in the color of the ﬁllet according to the chromatic coordinates L ∗ , a ∗ and b ∗ . The sensory analysis showed that the sensory properties were maintained when the acceptance values were higher than 6.5. The most effective treatment was propolis in a concentration of 15% with a soaking time of 1.5 hours and preserved for 20 days. This approach showed that propolis effectively extends the shelf life of ﬁllets by preventing proteolytic damage. In addition, it inhibits the proliferation of microorganisms by maintaining the load of mesophiles and E. coli , as well as the physicochemical parameters (pH, CRA and N-BVT) according to the NTE-INEN 183-2013 standard. In conclusion, propolis is a promising organic pre-servative for the food industry.
Going Cashless: Government’s Point Reward Program vs. COVID-19

Using credit card transaction data, we examine the impacts of two successive events that promoted cashless payments in Japan: the government’s program and the COVID-19 pandemic. We ﬁnd that the number of card users was 9-12 percent higher in restau-rants that participated in the program than those that did not. We present a simple framework accounting for the spread of cashless payments. Our model predicts that the impact of the policy intervention diminished as the use of cashless payments increased, which accords well with Japan’s COVID-19 experience. The estimated impact of COVID-19 was around two-thirds of that of the program