Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil Moisture Characteristics and Their Affecting Factors in the Rocky Desertification Process of Karst Regions,Southwest China

Through the analyses of the moisture characteristics of the typical soils in the rocky desertification process,the soil water parameter,moisture capacity and their affecting factors were studied.The results were as follows. (1) Soil water characteristic curve in karst region showed steep in the beginning and slower in the end.When soil water suction was less than 300 KPa,the soil water content(θm) declined sooner,soil moisture released quickly,and the released water quantity was large.When soil water suction was between 300 KPa and 1.5 MPa,θm changed smoothly,soil moisture released slowly,and the released water quantity was little. (2) The field capacity and available water capacity of rendzina in Libo forest were 587.8 g/kg and 435.8 g/kg,higher than the other soils that had been affected by rocky desertification.Soil bulk density,soil porosity,the soil organic content and soil particle composition were the important impact factors to soil water parameter. (3) The important reasons of soil degradation and drought in lime region were that the soil layerwas thin,and the total moisture capacity and available capacity were little.The proportion of the penetrated capacity in total capacity was non-degraded rendzina in Libo forest potential rocky desertification rendzina in Puding low-growing bushes,terra fusca in Puding corn farmland light rocky desertification yellow-red soil in Libo corn farmland,and the development of rocky desertification decreased the capability of soil resisting erosion.The main affecting factors on soil moisture capacity were soil layer thickness,soil organic content,soil particle composition and soil 0.3~0.03 mm porosity.
What Are We Measuring in the Zooarchaeological Record of Prehispanic Fishing Strategies in the Georgia Bight, USA?

ABSTRACT People promote environmental change through behaviors such as habitat alteration and over-exploitation; they adapt to environmental changes for which they are not responsible; and they implement cultural changes that may be either causes or consequences of local environmental conditions. Thus, communities and populations could be impacted by interactions and feedbacks to stimuli and responses of both anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic origin. Given the complexity of these phenomena, many archaeologists and ecologists focus on one or two variables. Due to growing interest in the long-term historical record offered by archaeological data, it is timely to pose the question: “What are we measuring in the zooarchaeological record of fishing strategies? ” Our answer is that we are measuring interrelated social and ecological patterns and processes influencing long-term social and ecological dynamics. We demonstrate the complexity of these measurements with a case study focusing on zooarchaeological data that show a trend for increasing diversity and decreasing mean trophic level in fishes between 2500 BC to AD 1565 in the Georgia Bight (USA). The conceptual framework we follow identifies gaps in our knowledge that limit our ability to distinguish between correlations and causal factors underlying this trend; but the framework itself enables us to clearly identify weaknesses that need to be resolved in order to explain the trends themselves.
Stochastic Coverage Analysis for Multi-Altitude LEO Satellite Networks

While leading companies will soon have launched their low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations with different orbital characteristics, e.g., altitude and inclination, the analytical understanding of these networks with satellites flying on varying altitudes is only limited to specific network setups, e.g., polar orbits. In this letter, we derive the coverage probability of a generic multi-altitude LEO network with the satellites being distributed uniformly on inclined circular orbits at varying altitudes. To maintain tractability of our derivations, we firstly model the satellites as a binomial point process assuming their altitude to be an arbitrarily distributed random variable. Secondly, we take into account the latitude-dependent distribution of satellites over the orbits through finding the effective number of satellites. The coverage probabilities of four multi-altitude benchmark constellations are evaluated in terms of different constellation parameters as well as the user’s latitude. The numerical results reveal that after a certain limit, the coverage probability improves only slightly with increasing the constellation size; therefore, the costly over-sizing of LEO networks is not always recommendable.
Present-Day and Last-Glacial-Maximum Ocean Thermohaline Circulation in a Zonally Averaged Coupled Ocean-Sea-Ice-Atmosphere Model

Abstract A simple ocean–atmosphere model suitable for long-term paleoclimate studies is presented. It consists of a three-basin zonally averaged ocean model coupled to an energy moisture-balance atmospheric model and a thermodynamic sea-ice model. The model is used to simulate the “present-day” climate conditions and the conditions resembling those of the last glacial maximum (LGM). In the first case, the model has an ocean thermohaline (THC) circulation in which the overturning in the North Atlantic is slightly more than 15 Sv. Two methods are used to spin up the model to the LGM climate. First, a cool state is obtained by running the coupled model with a reduced model greenhouse effect and increased albedo, but without making any explicit changes to the hydrological cycle. In the second approach, the model is directly set up for LGM conditions, in a manner similar to the method used to simulate the present-day climate. In both cases the computed LGM sea surface temperatures are reasonable, but only in t.
Geomagnetic field excursion recorded 17 ka at Tianchi Volcano, China: New 40Ar/39Ar age and significance

New 40Ar/39Ar dating of a comenditic lava atop Tianchi Volcano, China, indicates eruption at 17.1 ± 0.9 ka. The flow interior records a pair of transitional virtual geomagnetic poles and a low paleointensity of ~25 μT. Thus, it records a geomagnetic field excursion that is younger than the 41 ka Laschamp or 32 ka Auckland excursions. Implications are: (1) following a repose of several tens of kyr, Tianchi Volcano became highly active immediately following termination of the last glaciation maximum. The flare‐up of silicic eruptions may reflect rapid deglaciation of the edifice. (2) A 17 ka age for the Tianchi excursion provides the first direct radioisotopic evidence that excursional behavior, which is imprecisely dated and less well documented magnetically at several other sites, is a global feature of geodynamo behavior. (3) During the Brunhes chron, 13 well‐dated excursions cluster into two periods, including seven between 17 and 212 ka, and six between about 530 and 730 ka.
The Impact of Industry Concentration on Stability: The Case of Indonesian Islamic-Commercial Banks

This study aims at investigating the impact of the banking industry’s concentration on the stability of Islamic commercial banks in Indonesia. This study used a single country setting of 14 Islamic-commercial banks in Indonesia from 2011 to 2020. The data utilized in this study comprised all Islamic-commercial banks' assets in Indonesia, excluding commercial banks with Islamic business units. The influence of concentration level on the stability of Islamic-commercial banks was investigated using a panel data model. According to Hausman's test, the fixed-effect model is more suitable than the random-effect model. The findings indicate that the “concentration-stability” hypothesis was supported-robust using two concentration level measurements: CR4 and HHI. It is implied that banks tended to be more stable at the higher competition level. From the bank’s specific characteristics, only the cost-to-income ratio significantly influenced the bank's stability, as expected. Other bank-specific characteristics, such as bank size, credit risk, and income diversity, had no substantial influence on observed bank stability. A robustness check was performed by estimating new models that included multiple control variables that did not change the effect of concentration level on the bank’s stability. This study adds to the literature by demonstrating the “concentration-stability” hypothesis in the Indonesian Islamic-commercial banking industry. Moreover, this study’s results confirm the previous study’s findings using different methods and measures of industry concentration. In addition, this study is relevant in the context of the merger action of three large Islamic commercial banks.
Tibolone Improves Locomotor Function in a Rat Model of Spinal Cord Injury by Modulating Apoptosis and Autophagy

Spinal cord injury (SCI) harms patients’ health and social and economic well-being. Unfortunately, fully effective therapeutic strategies have yet to be developed to treat this disease, affecting millions worldwide. Apoptosis and autophagy are critical cell death signaling pathways after SCI that should be targeted for early therapeutic interventions to mitigate their adverse effects and promote functional recovery. Tibolone (TIB) is a selective tissue estrogen activity regulator (STEAR) with neuroprotective properties demonstrated in some experimental models. This study aimed to investigate the effect of TIB on apoptotic cell death and autophagy after SCI and verify whether TIB promotes motor function recovery. A moderate contusion SCI was produced at thoracic level 9 (T9) in male Sprague Dawley rats. Subsequently, animals received a daily dose of TIB orally and were sacrificed at 1, 3, 14 or 30 days post-injury. Tissue samples were collected for morphometric and immunofluorescence analysis to identify tissue damage and the percentage of neurons at the injury site. Autophagic (Beclin-1, LC3-I/LC3-II, p62) and apoptotic (Caspase 3) markers were also analyzed via Western blot. Finally, motor function was assessed using the BBB scale. TIB administration significantly increased the amount of preserved tissue (p < 0.05), improved the recovery of motor function (p < 0.001) and modulated the expression of autophagy markers in a time-dependent manner while consistently inhibiting apoptosis (p < 0.05). Therefore, TIB could be a therapeutic alternative for the recovery of motor function after SCI.
The Classification Characteristics and Developing Factors of the Sandwaves at the Mouth of Jiaozhou Bay

The most recent SeaBeam data show the characteristics and classification of the sand waves in Jiaozhou Bay.There are two types of sand waves,2-dimensional linear sand waves,3-dimensional cuspate sand waves at the mouth of Jiaozhou Bay.The developing factors are discussed based on the current velocity,seabed tectonics and sediment distribution.The gentle slope of the sand waves does not all develop downstream of the dominant flow,so that the sand waves are variational,they can only develop under strong tidal currents, and under both the flood and ebb currents because of their large velocities;The sediment is the key factor of the distribution of the sand waves,which show that the 2-dimensional linear sand waves are mainly located along the tectonic zone where more sediment was trapped because of the existence of a concave trough.
Modeling Long-Term Multimodal Representations for Active Speaker Detection With Spatio-Positional Encoder

In this study, we present an end-to-end framework for active speaker detection to achieve robust performance in challenging scenarios with multiple speakers. In contrast to recent approaches, which rely heavily on the visual relational context between all speakers in a video frame, we propose collaboratively learning multimodal representations based on the audio and visual signals of a single candidate. Firstly, we propose a spatio-positional encoder to effectively address the problem of false detections caused by indiscernible faces in a video frame. Secondly, we present an efficient multimodal approach that models the long-term temporal contextual interactions between audio and visual modalities. Through extensive experiments on the AVA-ActiveSpeaker dataset, we demonstrate that our framework notably outperforms recent state-of-the-art approaches under challenging multi-speaker settings. Additionally, the proposed framework significantly improves the robustness against auditory and visual noise interference without relying on pre-trained networks or hand-crafted training strategies.
Agroforestry tree mulches: effects on runoff, soil loss, soil physical properties and maize performance on a lixisol in a semi arid area of Machakos, Kenya

The effects of mulch from the foliage of Grevillea robusta, Cassia siamea and Gliricidia sepium on selected soil physical properties, runoff, soil erosion and maize performance on a lixisol in Machakos, a semi arid area of Kenya, were investigated. The study covered five rain seasons from October 1993 to March 1996 and was based on a randomized complete block design of seven treatments replicated four times. The seven treatments were; Maize crop with no mulch as the control, maize crop with 2.24 and 4.48 t ha'1 dry Grevillea robusta mulch, maize crop with 2.24 and 4.48 t ha'1 fresh Cassia siamea mulch, and maize crop with 2.24 and 4 48 t ha1 fresh Gliricidia sepium mulch. Surface mulch was applied once, at the beginning of each season but in order to investigate the residue effects of mulching, no mulch was applied during the last season of the experiment. Results showed that surface mulch cover reduction is dependent on many factors and is highly variable regardless of the mulch type and application rate. It is equally difficult to predict surface mulch cover reduction although a general trend can be established. The experiment further showed that throughout the seasons, Cassia siamea retained the highest surface mulch cover followed by Gliricidia sepium and lastly, Grevillea robusta. Soil surface mulching has the potential to improve some soil physical properties but at a rather slow rate and depending on the mulch characteristics. For the study site, soil temperature and soil moisture evaporation were effectively regulated when percentage mulch cover was high. Soil moisture release by the soil matrix improved with mulching as did water infiltration. In terms of crop performance and the grain and biomass yields, the plots under Gliricidia sepium had the best results followed by Cassia siamea plots, then the
Digital Collectibles: Exploring Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) Through Twitter Messages

The growing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has created a new digital collectibles asset class and market. NFTs are unique digital tokens built on blockchain technology that can represent anything from art, property rights, certificates of authentication to sports collectibles. The use of blockchain provides the framework for digital ownership and brings the notion of scarcity to the digital NFT asset class. With the emerging NFT market and growing consumer base little work has investigated the factors behind NFT interest and participation. Using a dataset of 26,444 tweets on NBA Top Shot, one of the largest and most popular NFT platforms for digital sport collectibles, we use exploratory data and content analysis to generate insights from NFT Twitter messages. Our results suggest that both hedonic and utilitarian factors are driving NFT tweets and should be considered by NFT platforms to encourage participation. Our results show that consumer messages on NFTs are based on the ability to demonstrate ownership, compete against other collectors, provide personal enjoyment and for the opportunity to receive financial returns. This research is one of the first to examine the factors exploring NFT Twitter messages and our results provide early insights for practitioners and academics interested in exploring NFT digital collectibles.
Selective 6D grasping with a collision avoidance system based on point clouds and RGB+D images

Abstract In recent years, deep learning-based robotic grasping methods have surpassed analytical methods in grasping performance. Despite the results obtained, most of these methods use only planar grasps due to the high computational cost found in 6D grasps. However, planar grasps have spatial limitations that prevent their applicability in complex environments, such as grasping manufactured objects inside 3D printers. Furthermore, some robotic grasping techniques only generate one feasible grasp per object. However, it is necessary to obtain multiple possible grasps per object because not every grasp generated is kinematically feasible for the robot manipulator or does not collide with other close obstacles. Therefore, a new grasping pipeline is proposed to yield 6D grasps and select a specific object in the environment, preventing collisions with obstacles nearby. The grasping trials are performed in an additive manufacturing unit that has a considerable level of complexity due to the high chance of collision. The experimental results prove that it is possible to achieve a considerable success rate in grasping additive manufactured objects. The UR5 robot arm, Intel Realsense D435 camera, and Robotiq 2F-140 gripper are used to validate the proposed method in real experiments.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE ON ANNUAL RUNOFF IN THE KAMO RIVER BASIN

According to an observation record, long-term discharge at Fukakusa station in the Kamo River basin has been decreasing, which may affect water-related landscapes and the ecosystem. This study conducts a forensic analysis to investigate the dominant reasons for the streamflow reduction and attempt to quantify the contribution of each factor based on water balance analysis, trend analysis and hydrologic model simulation. The results suggest that the decreasing trend is primarily caused by the increase of drainage areas of the sewage system in Kyoto city and the reduction of intake from Lake Biwa canal to the Kamo River. These effects diminish the impact of slight increase in the annual precipitation and suppress the increase in evapotranspiration in the Kamo River basin.
Bone Health, Body Composition and Physiological Demands in 70–85-Year-Old Lifelong Male Football Players

The effects of lifelong football training on bone health, body composition and physiological demands were evaluated. A total of 20 veteran football players (VPG; 73.4 ± 3.7 years) and 18 untrained age-matched men (CG; 75.6 ± 4.2 years) were enrolled. Whole-body and regional dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans of arms, legs, proximal femur and lower spine (L1-L4) were recorded in all participants. We observerd higher bone mineral density (BMD) in the whole-body, arms and femoral regions and higher bone mineral content (BMC) in the legs and lower spine compared to the CG (p < 0.05), also higher total lean body mass (p < 0.05) and lower total body fat percentage (p < 0.05), were found. No differences in food habits were evidenced between the VPG and the CG, as evaluated using 3-day food records. Resting heart rate (RHR), blood pressure (BP) and activity profile during a football match were recorded using a global positioning system only in the VPG. The mean heart rate (HR)of theoretical maximal HR (ThHRmax), and peak of ThHRmax were 83.9 ± 8.6% and 98.6 ± 10.2%, respectively; the mean of total distance covered was 3666 ± 721 m, and the means of accelerations and decelerations were 419 ± 61 and 428 ± 65, respectively. Lifelong participation in football training improves regional BMD and BMC in legs, femur and lumbar spine compared to the CG. A high number of intense actions in term of HR and accelerations and decelerations suggests an elevated energy expenditure that in turn correlates to the healthier body composition observed in the VPG compared to the CG.
Association between Butter, Margarine, and Olive Oil Intake and Asthma Symptoms among School Children: Result from a Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Study

Background There are conflicting results about the association between dietary fat intake and asthma symptoms. Since few studies in the Middle East have been explored the relation between dietary fat consumption and risk of asthma, the present study was conducted to investigate the association between the consumption of butter, margarine, and olive oil and asthma risk in school children living in central Iran. Method In this cross-sectional study, out of 10,240 participants, asthma and its symptoms and dietary intake of butter, margarine, and olive oil of 7,667 children and adolescents were assessed using a validated International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire. The relationship between fat subtypes and asthma was assessed using logistic regression. Results The prevalence of asthma confirmed by a doctor in the study population was 4.22%. An inverse association was found between butter and margarine consumption once or twice a week and odds of current asthma and wheezing in the past 12 months (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.28–0.96; OR = 0.7, 95% CI: 0.55–0.88, respectively); however, those with higher consumption did not have a higher chance for developing wheezing or asthma. Conclusion We found that margarine and butter intake one or two times a week might have an inverse association with asthma and its symptoms among children. Prospective cohort studies are recommended to confirm these findings.
Medical Cannabis Alleviates Chronic Neuropathic Pain Effectively and Sustainably without Severe Adverse Effect: A Retrospective Study on 99 Cases

Introduction: Medical cannabis may provide a treatment option for chronic neuropathic pain. However, empirical disease-specific data are scarce. Methods: This is a retrospective observational study including 99 patients with chronic neuropathic pain. These patients received medical cannabis by means of inhaling dried flowers with tetrahydrocannabinol content of <12–22% at a maximal daily dose of 0.15–1 g. Up to six follow-ups were carried out at intervals of 4–6 weeks. Pain severity, sleep disturbance, general improvement, side effects, and therapy tolerance at the follow-up consultations were assessed in interviews and compared with the baseline data using non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Within 6 weeks on the therapy, median of the pain scores decreased significantly from 7.5 to 4.0 (p < 0.001). The proportion of patients with severe pain (score >6) decreased from 96% to 16% (p < 0.001). Sleep disturbance was significantly improved with the median of the scores decreased from 8.0 to 2.0 (p < 0.001). These improvements were sustained over a period of up to 6 months. There were no severe adverse events reported. Mild side effects reported were dryness in mucous tissue (5.4%), fatigue (4.8%), and increased appetite (2.7%). Therapy tolerance was reported in 91% of the interviews. Conclusion: Medical cannabis is safe and highly effective for treating neuropathic pain and concomitant sleep disturbance.
How do Student Leaders in a Teachers’ College Cope with Stress?

As stress becomes disturbingly high among college students, it becomes one of the common problems that is brought about by their demanding schedules. This qualitative-descriptive research aims to describe how student leaders in a Teachers' College cope with stress. Eight (8) student leaders were identified using purposeful sampling. A duly-validated semi-structured interview guide was used to gather data through online-in depth interviews. Three (3) significant themes and thirteen (13) meaningful categories emerged after using a thematic approach to analyze the data, namely: (1) stressors (organizational, academic, mental, financial, and academic-related support); (2) effects of stress (emotional, physical, and academic); and, (4) coping strategies (emotional support, spiritual coping, goal setting, physical care, and recreational coping). As student leaders balance both academic and leadership roles, they have to skillfully manage stress through their effective coping strategies.