Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining Probability Forecasts by Isotonic Recursive Partitioning

Accurate forecasts are very important for large parts of the economy for avoiding high costs and damages. In the last years, there is a growing belief that predictions have to be in form of probabilistic forecasts. In many situations, we have access to the forecasts of several organizations and institutes. Therefore, it seems favorable to aggregate these individual forecasts for generating calibrated and sharp forecasts. Unfortunately, the most intuitive method, the linear opinion pool, lacks calibration if the individual forecasts are calibrated. In this thesis, we investigate and compare two methods, isotonic recursive partitioning and beta-transformed linear opinion pool, in the context of calibration, sharpness and from a computational viewpoint, by implementing the approaches in R. The methods are illustrated by a simulation study and a case study. The case study uses statistical and National Weather Service temperature and probability of precipitation forecasts. We find that both methods can generate calibrated and sharp forecasts even if the individual forecasts are not calibrated. Additionally, we expand the theory of isotonic recursive partitioning.
Steppe development on the Northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from Paleogene ephedroid pollen

Abstract Steppe vegetation represents a key marker of past Asian aridification and is associated with monsoonal intensification. Little is, however, known about the origin of this pre-Oligocene vegetation, its specific composition and how it changed over time and responded to climatic variations. Here, we describe the morphological characters of Ephedraceae pollen in Eocene strata of the Xining Basin and compare the pollen composition with the palynological composition of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits of the Xining Basin and the Quaternary deposits of the Qaidam Basin. We find that the Late Cretaceous steppe was dominated by Gnetaceaepollenites; in the transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleocene, Gnetaceaepollenites became extinct and Ephedripites subgenus Ephedripites dominated the flora with rare occurrences of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites; the middle to late Eocene presents a strong increase of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites; and the Quaternary/Recent is marked by a significantly lower diversity of Ephedraceae (and Nitrariaceae) compared to the Eocene. In the modern landscape of China, only a fraction of the Paleogene species diversity of Ephedraceae remains and we propose that these alterations in Ephedreaceae composition occurred in response to the climatic changes at least since the Eocene. In particular, the strong Eocene monsoons that enhanced the continental aridification may have played an important role in the evolution of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites triggering an evolutionary shift to wind-pollination in this group. Conceivably, the Ephedraceae/Nitrariaceae dominated steppe ended during the Eocene/Oligocene climatic cooling and aridification, which favoured other plant taxa.
Dynamic Instabilities of Simulated Hurricane-like Vortices and Their Impacts on the Core Structure of Hurricanes. Part I: Dry Experiments

Abstract A series of numerical simulations of dry, axisymmetric hurricane-like vortices is performed to examine the growth of barotropic and baroclinic eddies and their potential impacts on hurricane core structure and intensity. The numerical experiments are performed using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) with a 6-km horizontal grid. To examine internal effects on the stability of vortices, all external forcings are eliminated. Axisymmetric vortices that resemble observed hurricane structures are constructed on an f plane, and the experiments are performed without moist and boundary layer processes. Three vortices are designed for this study. A balanced control vortex is built based on the results of a full-physics simulation of Hurricane Floyd (1999). Then, two other axisymmetric vortices, EXP-1 and EXP-2, are constructed by modifying the wind and mass fields of the control vortex. The EXP-1 vortex is designed t.
A comparison of robotically-assisted endoscopic versus sternotomy approach for myxoma excision: A single-center experience.

Background In this study, we present our single-center experience in robotically-assisted endoscopic surgery versus conventional median sternotomy approach in patients undergoing cardiac myxoma excision. Methods Between January 2011 and September 2019, a total of 46 patients (24 males, 22 females; mean age 54.1±12.5 years; range, 25 to 79 years) who had a confirmed diagnosis of isolated cardiac myxoma were included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups as those undergoing robotic-assisted surgery (n=16) and those undergoing conventional median sternotomy (n=30). Clinical characteristics, operative, and postoperative outcomes were compared. Robotic approach to right or left-sided tumors and postoperative pain scores were also analyzed. Results There was no mortality or major complication. No conversion to sternotomy was needed in robotic procedures. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamp times were significantly shorter in the median sternotomy group (p=0.001 for both). The mean ventilation time and the length of hospital stay were significantly shorter in robotic surgery than sternotomy group (p=0.043 and p=0.048, respectively). The mean amount of postoperative blood loss and transfusion rate were significantly lower in robotic surgery patients (p=0.001 and p=0.022, respectively). The mean postoperative pain scores were significantly lower in patients undergoing robotic surgery (p=0.022). Conclusion Robotic-assisted endoscopic surgery can be performed safely and effectively for cardiac myxoma excision with shorter hospital stay, less pain, and less amount of blood product use, as well as more favorable cosmetic results compared to conventional median sternotomy.
A Prediction Methodology of Electrical Tree Propagation in Solid Dielectrics

In predicting electrical tree growth behavior of practical insulation materials under operating voltages, one must consider the effects of mechanical tensile residual stresses, electrical field stresses and the voids distribution to the electrical tree growth. In this study a general model of electrical tree propagation is firstly proposed depend on voids location in the polymer, combines both the mechanical tensile residual stresses and the electrical field distribution in the medium using charge simulation method in combined with genetic algorithms to describe the local damage features around the tree tip, and enables this effect of compressive to predict the electrical tree dynamic growth. The obtained results have been assessed through comparison with available experimental data.
Teacher Thinking & Professional Action

Part 1. Conceptual Frames for Teacher Thought and Action 1. The Place of Process-product Research in Developing the Agenda for Research on Teacher Thinking 2. Perspectives on the Teaching Profession or Relative Appraisal 3. The 'Collective Student as the Cognitive Reference Point of Teachers' Thinking about their Students in the Classroom 4. A Contrast of Novice and Expert Competence in Math Lessons Part 2. Methods and Approaches to the Study of Teacher Thought and Action 5. Strategies and Methods in Research on Teacher Thinking 6. The Ground of Professional Practice 7. Case Study in Research on Teaching: A ground for reflective practice 8. Teachers' Personal and Professional Ideals about Practice 9. Computer Simulation as a Tool in Studying Teachers' Cognitive Activities During Error Diagnosis in Arithmetic Part 3. Teacher Judgment and Evaluation of Students 10. Goal Dependent Perception in Relations between Teachers and Students 11. Grading as a Quasi-rational Judgment Process 12. Analyzing Teachers' Thoughts Prior to Student Assessment 13. Teachers' Causal Attributions in Problematic Situations 14. Teachers' Need for Pupil Information in Special Education Part 4. Teacher Thinking and Teacher Education 15. Asking the Right Questions about Teacher Preparation: Contributions of research on teacher thinking 16. Using Textbooks and Teachers' Guides: What beginning elementary teachers learn and what they need to know 17. Supervision Conferences and Student Teachers' Thinking and Behaviour 18. Examining Complexity of Thought in Secondary Student Teachers 19. Knowing, Thinking and Doing in Learning to Teach: A research framework and some initial results
Inference of phylogenetic relationships among key angiosperm lineages using a compatibility method on a molecular data set

Phylogenetic relationships among the five key angiosperm lineages, Ceratophyllum, Chloranthaceae, eudicots, magnoliids, and monocots, have resisted resolution despite several large-scale analyses sampling taxa and characters extensively and using various analytical methods. Meanwhile, compatibility methods, which were explored together with parsimony and likelihood methods during the early development stage of phylogenetics, have been greatly under-appreciated and not been used to analyze the massive amount of sequence data to recon- struct the basal angiosperm phylogeny. In this study, we used a compatibility method on a data set of eight genes (mitochondrial atp1, matR, and nad5, plastid atpB, matK, rbcL, and rpoC2, and nuclear 18S rDNA) gathered in an earlier study. We selected two sets of characters that are compatible with more of the other characters than a random character would be with at probabilities of p M<0.1 and p M<0.5 respectively. The resulting data matrices were subjected to parsimony and likelihood bootstrap analyses. Our unrooted parsimony analyses showed that Cerato- phyllum was immediately related to eudicots, this larger lineage was immediately related to magnoliids, and monocots were closely related to Chloranthaceae. All these relationships received 76%-96% bootstrap support. A likelihood analysis of the 8 gene p M<0.5 compatible site matrix recovered the same topology but with low support. Likelihood analyses of other compatible site matrices produced different topologies that were all weakly sup- ported. The topology reconstructed in the parsimony analyses agrees with the one recovered in the previous study using both parsimony and likelihood methods when no character was eliminated. Parts of this topology have also been recovered in several earlier studies. Hence, this topology plausibly reflects the true relationships among the five key angiosperm lineages.
Carbon budget of the Harvard Forest Long‐Term Ecological Research site: pattern, process, and response to global change

How, where, and why carbon (C) moves into and out of an ecosystem through time are long-standing questions in biogeochemistry. Here, we bring together hundreds of thousands of C-cycle observations at the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts, USA, a mid-latitude landscape dominated by 80–120-yr-old closed-canopy forests. These data answered four questions: (1) where and how much C is presently stored in dominant forest types; (2) what are current rates of C accrual and loss; (3) what biotic and abiotic factors contribute to variability in these rates; and (4) how has climate change affected the forest’s C cycle? Harvard Forest is an active C sink resulting from forest regrowth following land abandonment. Soil and tree biomass comprise nearly equal portions of existing C stocks. Net primary production (NPP) averaged 680–750 g C m 2 yr ; belowground NPP contributed 38–47% of the total, but with large uncertainty. Mineral soil C measured in the same inventory plots in 1992 and 2013 was too heterogeneous to detect change in soil-C pools; however, radiocarbon data suggest a small but persistent sink of 10–30 g C m 2 yr . Net ecosystem production (NEP) in hardwood stands averaged ~300 g C m 2 yr . NEP in hemlock-dominated forests averaged ~450 g C m 2 yr 1 until infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid turned these stands into a net C source. Since 2000, NPP has increased by 26%. For the period 1992–2015, NEP increased 93%. The increase in mean annual temperature and growing season length alone accounted for ~30% of the increase in productivity. Interannual variations in GPP and NEP were also correlated with increases in red oak biomass, forest leaf area, and canopy-scale lightuse efficiency. Compared to long-term global change experiments at the Harvard Forest, the C sink in regrowing biomass equaled or exceeded C cycle modifications imposed by soil warming, N saturation, and hemlock removal. Results of this synthesis and comparison to simulation models suggest that forests across the region are likely to accrue C for decades to come but may be disrupted if the frequency or severity of biotic and abiotic disturbances increases. Manuscript received 23 January 2020; accepted 22 May 2020. Corresponding Editor: Yude Pan. 16 Corresponding Author. E-mail: aabarker@fas.harvard. edu Article e01423; page 1 Ecological Monographs, 90(4), 2020, e01423 © 2020 by the Ecological Society of America
Elucidating the recycling mechanism of ER resident proteins with ERD2

One of the key steps for maintaining the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi interface in the early secretory pathway is the receptor-mediated recycling of abundant soluble ER residents containing K/HDEL signals from the Golgi apparatus. The receptor was identified in yeast by screening for ER retention defective (ERD) mutants, and the ERD2 gene product was shown to mediate both the specificity and the capacity of ER retention in yeast. Since its discovery in 1990, ERD2 homologues have been identified from numerous eukaryotes including plants, and it is currently believed that it directly regulates the formation of retrograde transport vesicles from the Golgi. However, it is not understood how it recycles efficiently between the ER and the Golgi, and how it avoids leakage from the Golgi to later compartments. Although the recycling principle has been used as an argument to explain how few receptors could retain many ligands in the ER, it is unclear how receptors recycle to the Golgi faster than the unspecific anterograde bulk flow. Here I establish a quantitative receptor-ligand interaction study to determine the receptor to ligand ratio in vivo. Using the model cargo α-amylase-HDEL (Amy-HDEL) and co-expressed ERD2 I succeeded in up regulating the retention capacity of plant cells. This bioassay has been developed into a quantitative method using internal reference markers for normalising gene transfer, and tagging of receptors and ligands to permit simultaneous detection. Results are complemented by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) which demonstrates the ERD2 mediated ER retention. The activity assay was also used to identify critical amino acids in ERD2 function. Unexpectedly, the cytosolic C-terminus was found to be essential in maintaining the ability of ERD2 to retain HDEL proteins, in contrast to previous studies based on in vitro peptide binding assays. In addition to loss-of-function mutations, I also identified a new class of ERD2 mutant that causes induced secretion of HDEL proteins. These mutant classes are currently tested with respect to the sorting characteristics of the receptor, to distinguish between ligand-binding mutants and protein sorting mutants.
Validity and Acceptability of Image-based Food Record in Assessing Nutrient Intake among selected Malaysian Undergraduates

Introduction: Recognising the limitations of present dietary assessments method, recent attention had been drawn to image-based food record (IBFR) to assess dietary intake of the population. Thus, the present study aimed to compare nutrient intake assessed using IBFR with 24-hour diet recall (24DR) among nutrition and dietetics student. Method: There were 46 nutrition and dietetic undergraduates participated in the study, and information on the socio-demographic background and acceptability toward IBFR were obtained. Respondents were trained to complete one-day IBFR, and they were interviewed by researchers on the following day for their 24DR. Result: The mean age of respondents was 21.4±1.7 years old. The present study revealed that there were significantly higher protein and beta-carotene, but lower vitamin C reported by IBFR compared to 24DR. Medium to strong correlations were found between IBFR and 24DR for energy and nutrients intakes. The Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated a good level of agreement between IBFR and 24DR for energy and macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein and fat), respectively. The mean differences between IBFR and 24DR were -36 kcal for total daily energy intake, while mean differences of -12.24g, 0.79g, and 1.52g were reported for carbohydrates protein, and fat, respectively. Moderate level of agreement toward acceptability was demonstrated, and most of them (67.4%) preferred IBFR method. Conclusion: The present study revealed that IBFR showed a good level of agreement with 24DR in assessing nutrient intake. However, more extensive works should be considered to improve IBFR in assessing the energy and nutrients intake for the general population.
Effect of Early Feed Restriction on Muscle Growth and Myofiber Types in Broiler Chickens

For exploring the effect of early feed restriction on muscle growth and myofiber types in broiler chickens, newly hatched broiler chickens were allocated randomly into control and early feed restriction(ER) groups. Chickens in control group were fed ad libitum for the whole period of investigation, while the ER group were subjected to intermittent feed restriction with feed provided on alternate days from hatch to 14 days of age (14 d), followed by ad libitum feeding till the end of the experiment on 63 d. Twenty chickens from each group were sacrificed on 14 and 63 d respectively, lateral gastrocnemius muscle was taken for myofiber typing by relative quantification of mRNA expression for three different types of myosin heavy chain(MyHC): slow myofiber MyHC (SM MyHC), red fast-twitch myofiber MyHC (FRM MyHC) and white fast-twitch myofiber MyHC (FWM MyHC) by RT-PCR using 18S rRNA as an internal-standard. The body weight and the lateral gastrocnemius muscle weight were significantly lower in ER group on 14 d and 63 d (P 0.05, n =20). ER group exhibited significantly higher SM (P 0.01, n =10) and FRM (P 0.05, n =10) MyHC mRNA expression but lower FWM (P 0.05, n =10) MyHC mRNA compared with their control counterparts on 14 d. On 63 d however, a significant down-regulation was observed in ER group for SM MyHC expression(P0.05, n =10), whereas no significant differences were detected for both FRM and FWM MyHC mRNA expression between two groups(P 0.0, n =105). These results indicate that, 1) early feed restriction may delay the conversion from slow-twitch myofiber to fast-twitch myofiber, resulting in retarded muscle growth that may account for the decreased body weight, 2) the influence of early feed restriction on myofiber types is long-lasting, significant difference still seen after 7 weeks when chickens reach the marketing age.
Dust Attenuation and Maintenance-Mode Feedback in the 6 Gyr old Universe and Now

This thesis addresses two distinct challenges in the galaxy formation and evolution theory. The first one is to accurately measure the dust attenuation. Understanding the global effects of dust on stellar light is crucial in deriving a number of galaxy physical properties. The second one is to explain how galaxies with the most massive halos remain passive. Models have implemented various feedback mechanisms to explain this phenomenon. Quiescence has been linked to the presence of radio-loud AGN through evidence gathered in the local universe. However, such observations were not feasible at high redshift up until recently. The first part of the thesis presents a novel approach to measure the attenuation of individual star forming galaxies at z ∼ 0.8 based on deep optical LEGA-C survey spectra and multi-band photometry. A new attenuation curve modeling technique, and a new prescription for a typical attenuation curve of z ∼ 0.8 galaxies are introduced. Using this technique, a large diversity among the main attenuation curve features (slope and UV bump strength) is observed, and the variation of those features with global galaxy properties is inspected. The main finding is that geometric effects dominate observed variations in attenuation. The second part of the thesis explores maintenance-mode feedback in quiescent galaxies through the incidence of radio-loud AGN, both in the local and high redshift (z ∼ 1) universe. A high incidence rate of radio-loud AGN among round quiescent galaxies is observed, based on a z ∼ 0.1 sample drawn from the SDSS/FIRST/NVSS surveys. On the other hand, radio-loud AGN are not seen among flat quiescent galaxies. This finding brings the general validity of the maintenance-mode feedback picture into question, as a different mechanism must be responsible for keeping these galaxies quiescent. This work is extended to z ∼ 1 for a radio-loud AGN sample drawn from LEGA-C/VLA. The finding is that radio-loud AGN preferentially reside in galaxies with large stellar velocity dispersions, old stellar populations and round shapes but a larger sample is required to explore the dependence on flattening.
Waste and Natural Materials for Hydrogen Storage Application

The hydrogen storage is one of the main problems to be solved because hydrogen is going to be the energy vector of the future. Among all developed methods, the H2 storage on solid materials (by chemical or physical sorption) is the most studied. For this aim, in the last years, the carbonaceous materials classes, such as carbon-based matrices, are analysed. Particular study is aimed at new carbon precursors, easy to prepare, cheap and environmentally friendly. All these materials show a direct correlation between the H2 adsorption capacity (77 K) and their surface area. Some of these carbonised organic materials, such as furfural, glucose, starch, cellulose and eucalyptus sawdust, are used as precursors to produce activated carbons (ACs) having a high surface area (up to 2700 m g) and a narrow size distribution pores in the range of 0,7-2 nm. Among the studied precursor a lot of these coming from different animal and vegetable wastes and interesting H2 storage values were obtained: chicken feather fibers (1,5 wt% at 77 K / 2 MPa), coffee beans (0,6 wt% at 298 K and 4 wt% at 77 K), cannabis roots (3,28 wt% at 77 K / 0,1 MPa), coconut shells (8 wt% at 77 K and 2,3 wt% at 298 K / 7 MPa), rice straw and mulberry paper (4,35 wt% at 77 K / 1 MPa), jute fibers (1,2 wt% at 303 K / 4 MPa). In this work, in addition to the above-mentioned materials, other classes will be considered, correlating their morphology and porosity with the H2 storage capacity.
Behavior of Cell Cultured on Micro Striped Pattern after Stimulation of Excess Gravity

The behavior of a single cell cultured on the micro striped pattern has been observed after stimulation of the excess gravity in vitro. The lines of parallel micro quadrangular ridges (0.7 μm height, 3 μm width, and 3 μm interval) are made on the surface of the plate as the scaffold to make orientation of each cell. Variation is made about the angle between the longitudinal direction of the ridge and the direction of the excess gravity: 0 degree, 45 degrees, and 90 degrees. To apply the excess gravitational force field (50 G, or 100 G) to the cells, the plate was set in the tube in a conventional centrifugal machine placed in an incubator. The contour of each cell at the time lapse images was traced for 24 hours and approximated to ellipse to analyze the angle between the longitudinal axis of the cell and the direction of the excess gravity, after the excess gravitational stimulation for 5 hours. The experiment shows that the longitudinal axis of C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line) tends to align to the direction of the excess gravity, and returns to the direction of longitudinal direction of micro pattern after stopping of the excess gravity.