Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multifunctionality of a peri-urban landscape: exploring the diversity of residents’ perceptions and preferences

ABSTRACT Developing successful policies for sustainable land use requires understanding the perspectives of different actors. This study explored how residents – an often under-represented and un-organized group – vary in their valuation of ecosystem services (ES) and perception of multifunctionality in a peri-urban setting. We conducted 127 interviews in the Kromme Rijn region of the Netherlands guided by an interactive, visual canvas tool (STREAMLINE). We addressed four research questions: (1) Is there variation among residents regarding preferences for ES? (2) Which competing interests do residents see in this landscape? (3) Where are hotspots of perceived multifunctionality? and (4) Can the level of perceived multifunctionality be explained by its location on the rural–urban gradient? Our findings demonstrate that while the majority of ES are important to residents of a peri-urban landscape, there is variation in relative preference towards a subset of ES (mainly provisioning services). A typology of preferences distinguishes three groups: (A)‘I want it all’ – all ES (very) important; (B)‘I want most of it’ – majority of ES important; and (C)‘I want some’ – several ES not important at all. The majority of competing interests identified by respondents were between biodiversity and either a provisioning or cultural service. Universal hotspots of perceived multi-functionality overlapped with the area around residential areas, whereas natural (grassland) areas and water were considered multifunctional by only a small share of respondents. These perceptions and preferences do not necessarily align with current policy and management efforts, it is advised that residents’ perceptions and values are better accounted for in landscape governance.
Modular transformation and bosonic/fermionic topological orders in Abelian fractional quantum Hall states

The non-Abelian geometric phases of the robust degenerate ground states were proposed as physically measurable defining properties of topological order in 1990. In this paper we discuss in detail such a quantitative characterization of topological order, using generic Abelian fractional quantum Hall states as examples. We find a way to determine even the pure U(1) phase of the non-Abelian geometric phases. We show that the non-Abelian geometric phases not only contain information about the quasi-particle statistics, they also contain information about the chiral central charge Delta c mod 24 of the edge states, as well as the Hall viscosity. Thus, the non-Abelian geometric phases (both the Abelian part and the non-Abelian part) provide a quite complete way to characterize 2D topological order.
LONG-TERM EVOLUTION OF MASSIVE BLACK HOLE BINARIES. IV. MERGERS OF GALAXIES WITH COLLISIONALLY RELAXED NUCLEI

We simulate mergers between galaxies containing collisionally relaxed nuclei around massive black holes (MBHs). Our galaxies contain four mass groups, representative of old stellar populations; a primary goal is to understand the distribution of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) after the merger. Mergers are followed using direct-summation N-body simulations, assuming a mass ratio of 1:3 and two different orbits. Evolution of the binary MBH is followed until its separation has shrunk by a factor of 20 below the hard-binary separation. During the galaxy merger, large cores are carved out in the stellar distribution, with radii several times the influence radius of the massive binary. Much of the pre-existing mass segregation is erased during this phase. We follow the evolution of the merged galaxies for approximately three central relaxation times after coalescence of the massive binary; both standard and top-heavy mass functions are considered. The cores that were formed in the stellar distribution persist, and the distribution of the stellar-mass BHs evolves against this essentially fixed background. Even after one central relaxation time, these models look very different from the relaxed, multi-mass models that are often assumed to describe the distribution of stars and stellar remnants near a massive BH. While the stellar BHs do form a cusp on roughly a relaxation timescale, the BH density can be much smaller than in those models. We discuss the implications of our results for the extreme-mass-ratio inspiral problem and for the existence of Bahcall–Wolf cusps.
Dirichlet integral point-source harmonic interpolation over ${\mathbb{R}}^3$ spherical interiors: DIDACKS II

This article addresses the interpolation of harmonic functions over the interior of a $\mathbb{R}^3$ unit sphere by linear combinations of fundamental-solution point-source basis functions, where all the sources are assumed to be outside the sphere. Since the source and field points are in different domains, the fundamental-solution basis functions are bounded and can be regarded as defining a new type of kernel space that is related to reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS), but is different from it and which is labeled a Dirichlet integral dual-access collocation-kernel space (DIDACKS). DIDACKS theory has direct implications for the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) and some for the fast multipole method (FMM) and boundary element method (BEM).
Determinants influencing performance of employees in public organizations: The case of Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is a socioeconomic center in Vietnam with more than 122,111 public employees estimated in 2020. With the purpose of increasing performance of public servants, the research concentrates on public employees' perception of factors affecting their performance in the public sector in this city. From April 1st to April 30th, 331 survey forms were delivered to the low and middle public employees by two ways including 251 online and 80 offline surveys. Only 256 questionnaires were considered appropriate for analysis. The research used a quantitative approach and utilized descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, EFA, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression via SPSS version 20. This study show that there is a statistically significant (0.05) relationship between the factors of recruitment and selection process, leadership, organizational culture, and reward management have a statistically significant impact on employee performance while there was no evidence to depict any association between working environment, training and development, and employee performance (p > 0.05). This study concludes that more attention and readjustment to reward management factors, organizational culture, recruitment and selection processes, and leadership are able to improve employee performance in public organizations.
Participatory co-design of science communication strategies for public engagement in the US and Ecuador around health behaviour change

Science communication research and practice currently promote strategies oriented towards creating audience engagement around scientific content. Consequently, science communication needs to continually explore new methodologies that enable audiences’ participation in order to meet their interests and needs. The present study combines qualitative and participatory action research (PAR) methods guided by decolonial epistemologies to develop a co-designed project with public health, nutrition and sports science researchers to recruit young audiences from Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and from Cuenca, Ecuador. The main goal of this study was to create strategies to motivate young audiences’ engagement and interest in adopting healthy habits. This article focuses on the study’s research design in order to provide guidelines and procedural recommendations for facilitating a co-design approach for developing science communication initiatives targeting children and teenagers in Ecuador and the United States. As we demonstrate, the PAR approach for co-design leads to useful outcomes: (1) the incorporation of decolonial theory guidelines in participatory research; and (2) the development of science communication strategies that combine online and offline activities to put in dialogue scientists and their audiences, ultimately resulting in mutual learning, thus allowing scholars and practitioners to explore in practical terms how to co-design improved strategies.
Forcing homogeneous turbulence in direct numerical simulation of particulate flow with interface resolution and gravity

We consider the case of finite-size spherical particles which are settling under gravity in a homogeneous turbulent background flow. Turbulence is forced with the aid of the random forcing method of Eswaran and Pope [“An examination of forcing in direct numerical simulations of turbulence,” Comput. Fluids 16(3), 257-278 (1988)], while the solid particles are represented with an immersed-boundary method. The forcing scheme is used to generate isotropic turbulence in vertically elongated boxes in order to warrant better decorrelation of the Lagrangian signals in the direction of gravity. Since only a limited number of Fourier modes are forced, it is possible to evaluate the forcing field directly in physical space, thereby avoiding full-size transforms. The budget of box-averaged kinetic energy is derived from the forced momentum equations. Medium-sized simulations for dilute suspensions at low Taylor-scale Reynolds numberReλ = 65, small density ratio ρp/ρf = 1.5, and for two Galileo numbers Ga = 0 and 120 are carried out over long time intervals in order to exclude the possibility of slow divergence. It is shown that the results at zero gravity are fully consistent with previous experimental measurements and available numerical reference data. Specific features of the finite-gravity case are discussed with respect to a reduction of the average settling velocity, the acceleration statistics, and the Lagrangian auto-correlations.
Foliar application of mannitol as an effective approach to ameliorate the salt stress-induced toxicity in two varieties of maize (Zea mays L.)

The present research work was done to assess the role of mannitol in the amelioration of adverse effects of NaCl stress on two maize varieties i.e. Salaar (V1) and LS-787(V2). For this purpose, a pot experiment with Completely Randomized Design (CRD) was conducted at Botanical Garden of University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan. For this study, 64 pots, half (32) for V1 and half (32) for V2 were filled with river sand. There were four replicates for each treatment. NaCl stress (100mM) was applied at the time of sowing. Full strength Hoagland‘s nutrient solution was given once in a week. After two weeks of germination, foliar application of mannitol was applied in three levels (25mM, 50mM. 75mM). Data was collected for biochemical, physiological and yield parameters after one month of foliar application of mannitol. Data was analyzed using COSTAT software for Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and mean values were compared with DMRT. Results indicated a considerable decrease in chlorophyll pigments, antioxidant activities (SOD, POD and CAT), protein and carbohydrate accumulation, anthocyanin contents and yield of both varieties which were not treated with mannitol spray under induced salt stress (100mM NaCl) as compared to the plants that were treated with foliar spray of mannitol under salt stress. There was a rise in the electrolyte leakage in the presence of induced salt stress. Physiological activities of maize were also reduced by the salt stress. This indicated a positive role of mannitol in the amelioration of harmful effects of salt stress in maize.
$L^1$-Stability of Vortex Sheets and Entropy Waves in Steady Compressible Supersonic Euler Flows over Lipschitz Walls

We establish the well-posedness of compressible vortex sheets and entropy waves in two-dimensional steady supersonic Euler flows over Lipschitz walls under a $BV$ boundary perturbation. In particular, when the total variation of the incoming flow perturbation around the background strong vortex sheet/entropy wave is small, we prove that the two-dimensional steady supersonic Euler flows containing a strong vortex sheet/entropy wave past a Lipschitz wall are $L^{1}$--stable. Both the Lipschitz wall (whose boundary slope function has small total variation) and incoming flow perturb the background strong vortex sheet/entropy wave. The weak waves are reflected after nonlinear waves interact with the strong vortex sheet/entropy wave and the wall boundary. Using the wave-front tracking method, the existence of solutions in $BV$ over Lipschitz walls is first shown, when the incoming flow perturbation of the background strong vortex sheet/entropy wave has small total variation. Then we establish the $L^{1}$--contraction of the solutions with respect to the incoming flows. To achieve this, a Lyapunov functional, equivalent to the $L^{1}$--distance between two solutions containing strong vortex sheets/entropy waves, is carefully constructed to include the nonlinear waves generated both by the wall boundary and from the incoming flow. This functional is then shown to decrease in the flow direction, leading to the $L^{1}$--stability, as well as the uniqueness, of the solutions. Furthermore, the uniqueness of solutions extends to a larger class of viscosity solutions.
A RADIO PERSPECTIVE ON THE WET MERGER REMNANT NGC 34

We present Very Large Array observations of the neutral hydrogen and radio continuum of NGC 34 (= NGC 17 = Mrk 938). This object is an ideal candidate for studying the fate of gas in mergers, since, as shown by an optical study done by Schweizer & Seitzer, it is a gas-rich (“wet”) merger remnant of two disk galaxies of unequal mass hosting a strong central starburst and a weak active galactic nucleus (AGN). We detect H i emission from both tidal tails and from nearby galaxies, suggesting that NGC 34 is actually part of a gas-rich group and might have recently interacted with one of its companions. The kinematics of the gas suggests this remnant is forming an outer disk of neutral hydrogen from the gas of the northern tail. We also detect broad H i absorption (514 ± 21 km s−1 wide) at both negative and positive velocities with respect to the systemic velocity. This absorption could be explained by the motions of the tidal tails or by the presence of a circumnuclear disk. In addition, we present radio-continuum images that show both nuclear (62.4 ± 0.3 mJy) and extra-nuclear emission (26.5 ± 3.0 mJy). The extra-nuclear component is very diffuse and in the shape of two radio lobes, spanning 390 kpc overall. This emission could be a signature of an AGN that has turned off or it could originate from a starburst-driven superwind. We discuss the possible scenarios that explain our observations, and what they tell us about the location of the gas and the future evolution of NGC 34.
Time Period Analysis of Orthotropic Skew Plate with 2-D Circular Thickness and 1-D Circular Density

In the present study, the time period of vibration of an orthotropic parallelogram plate with 2 − D (two-dimensional) circular thickness under the effect of 2 − D parabolic temperature is investigated for the first time. The different edge conditions are C C C C , C C C F , C F C F , C S C F , and S F S F boundary conditions, where C, S, and F stands for clamped, simply supported, and free edges of the plate, respectively. The variation in density of plate material is considered to be 1 − D (one-dimensional) circular. The Rayleigh–Ritz technique is used to solve the differential equation and evaluate the time period for the first two modes of vibration. A convergence study of an orthotropic parallelogram, rectangle plate, and square plate for modes of frequency at various edge conditions is also carried out. The authors performed a comparative analysis of the time period and modes of frequency of orthotropic parallelogram, rectangle plate, and isotropic square plate with the available published results at various edge conditions. The main conclusion which we made from this study is that by choosing the above-mentioned plate parameters, we obtained fewer modes of frequency in comparison to other variations mentioned in the literature. Also, the study suggests that the variation in modes of frequency is less in comparison to other variations.
Role of Governance, Trade, and Tourism in Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

The Primal objective of this research is to reveal the role of governance, tourism, and trade in the stimulation of FDI inflows in Pakistan. These forces have been integrated for empirical methodology after a detailed examination of past studies. The study took data set for selected variables from World Development Indicators (WDI) and World governance indicators (WGI) for the past two decades (2000-2021). Except for governance, tourism, and trade, this research incorporates macroeconomic stability and financial development as the stimulators of FDI inflows in Pakistan. In statistical data estimation, after using the ADF test, the ARDL technique is applied based on the variable's cointegration order. Both short and long-run estimates of ARDL confirmed the statistical significance of all studied variables that are governance (GOVEF), tourism (LTRSM), trade (TD), gross savings (GS), and broad money (BM). Bound test and CUSUM disclosed that there is long-run cointegration and the examined model is statistically significant and stable. Overall findings disclosed that GOVEF and trade are positively correlated, while LTRSM confirmed a negative association with FDI inflows for the case of Pakistan.
Association of Organizational Learning with Leadership, Job Satisfaction and Engagement in an EFL Setting

The present study investigated the relationship between organizational learning, department leadership, teacher leadership, job satisfaction and engagement in a higher education language institution. It was designed as a quantitative study. 96 Turkish English language instructors participated in the research. The data were collected in a Turkish higher education language institution. Four scales were used to collect data. The data were analyzed through samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s r correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The findings indicated that there were not statistically significant differences between participants in terms of their genders, Bachelor’s degrees, status of masters of art, and the departments they worked, but of their teaching experiences with regard to organizational learning, department leadership, teacher leadership, job satisfaction, and engagement. They also showed that there were statistically significant relationships among engagement, job satisfaction, teacher leadership, organization learning, and department leadership. Besides, they revealed that department leadership and job satisfaction could predict organizational learning positively and explain the 74% of the variance in organizational learning. Department leadership can have a central role in promoting organizational learning in a higher education language institution through creating a working environment which supports and values teacher leadership, so teachers/instructors can feel more engage and satisfied.
The Progress a Pre-Service English Language Teacher Made in Her Feedback Giving Practices in Distance Teaching Practicum

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching practicum has been conducted in online learning settings in Turkey, which, in return, has made pre-service English language teachers do their practicums online. The lack of research into the effect of distance teaching practicum on pre-service English language teachers’ practices of giving feedback prompted the researcher to carry out this research. This instrumental case study aims to investigate the changes in a pre-service English language teacher’s feedback giving practices in the English lessons she taught in the distance teaching practicum and her views about how the distance teaching practicum affected her skills of providing feedback. The results obtained from the analysis of the data collected from the researcher’s notes on the pre-service English language teacher’s provision of feedback in the four online lessons she taught, post-lesson telephone interviews and end-of-study semi-structured interview indicated her teaching experiences helped her make a considerable progress in her skills in giving effective feedback. The findings pointed to the significance of distance teaching practicum in developing pre-service English language teachers’ feedback giving practices.
Uniformly Flat Semimodules

We revisit the notion of flatness for semimodules over semirings. In particular, we introduce and study a new notion of uniformly flat semimodules based on the exactness of the tensor functor. We also investigate the relations between this notion and other notions of flatness for semimodules in the literature.
Error Estimates of Integral Deferred Correction Methods for Stiff Problems

In this paper, we present error estimates of the integral deferred correction method constructed with stiffly accurate implicit Runge-Kutta methods with a nonsingular matrix $A$ in its Butcher table representation, when applied to stiff problems characterized by a small positive parameter $\varepsilon$. In our error estimates, we expand the global error in powers of $\varepsilon$ and show that the coefficients are global errors of the integral deferred correction method applied to a sequence of differential algebraic systems. A study of these errors and of the remainder of the expansion yields sharp error bounds for the stiff problem. Numerical results for the van der Pol equation are presented {to} illustrate our theoretical findings. Finally, we study the linear stability properties of these methods.
Development of written L2 French: a longitudinal study of learners in the Norwegian school context

This paper presents a longitudinal multiple case study that focused on the development of the written interlanguage of four learners over their three years of learning French as a second language (L2) in upper secondary school in Norway. The development of macro-level syntactic complexity and the development of micro-level measures of accuracy in morphosyntactic features specific to written French were examined. In order to trace development of syntactic complexity, we used two well-established measures in the SLA literature: T-unit length and the number of dependent clauses per T-unit (Wolfe-Quintero et al., 1998; Verspoor et al., 2017), whereas the morphosyntactic features representing the basis for our analysis of accuracy were gender and number in the noun phrase in French. The results illustrated that the written French of all four learners clearly became more syntactically complex over the three years of the study. As regards the development at the morphosyntactic level, progress was less straight forward in the individual learners, and the developmental tendencies varied according to the nature of the features studied.