Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Life on the edge: habitat fragmentation limits expansion of a restored carnivore

The successful recovery of imperiled species is dependent on knowledge of how demographic drivers mediate population growth and expansion. One of the largest species restoration projects has been the reintroduction of swift foxes Vulpes velox to southern Canada, where 947 foxes were released between 1983 and 1997. Swift foxes have since increased and expanded their range into northern Montana (USA), but have experienced a population decline and stall in recolonization over the past 10 years. The objective of this study was to estimate the survival and reproductive rates of swift foxes in northern Montana, which constitutes the southern edge of this population. In addition, we evaluated support for two different hypotheses of how environmental factors and several demographic factors influence survival. Although our length of monitoring was relatively short, we found that adult and juvenile annual survival rates were 54% and 74%, respectively, and fecundity was 0.85. We found the most support for the hypothesis that the percentage of native grassland at the 1‐km scale influenced survival and found that survival increased, on average, 2.1% for every 5% increase in grassland. Compared to previous estimates of swift fox population growth immediately following the release, our data suggest the population is currently stable. The long‐term successful recolonization and connectivity of swift fox populations in this region will likely be dependent on maintaining large tracts of contiguous grassland. Comparing the estimates of demographic rates among different points in space and time should help managers better understand the population dynamics and inform restoration strategies for recovering populations.
Study of 3D calorimetry based on LYSO or LaBr3:Ce crystals for future high energy precision physics

Prototype calorimeters based on LYSO and LaBr3:Ce have been simulated, assuming different crystal sizes, from the currently available ones with a length of {16} {cm} and a diameter of {7} {cm} to an ultimate size of about {10} Molière radii and {15} radiation lengths. These crystals are coupled to O(100) silicon photomultipliers for the available crystals. The response to {55} {MeV} photons was studied, a typical energy to be expected in charged lepton flavour violation experiments with muon decays. Simulations of the available size crystals show an energy resolution around {1.7}% for LYSO and {2.5}% for LaBr3:Ce as well as a timing resolution around {30} {ps} and a position resolution of O(5 mm) for both crystals. The simulations for the largest crystals indicated resolutions significantly below {1}%, with clearly better values for LaBr3:Ce. Such performances pose these future calorimeters at the technology forefront and make them eligible candidates for upcoming experiments.
Understanding the Link Between Family Economic Hardship and Children’s Bullying Behavior

Past research has revealed a link between family economic hardship and children’s bullying involvement, yet research has not examined the kinds of factors that may mediate this relationship. Our study used data from the National Survey of Children’s Health and consisted of a sample of 15,797 children from 12 to 17 years of age who lived with their mothers. We found that family economic hardship was directly related to a child’s bullying behavior. Indirect associations were also found between child’s bullying and family economic hardship, violence in the home, and mother’s parental frustration. Implications for research are discussed.
Research on Conflict Resolution Method of Production Evaluation Index in Flexible Manufacturing Field Based on Multiplayer Cooperative Game

Multiple local assignment rules are common in production lines with complex production elements to direct the production process. Different local assignment rules have different degrees of impact on each production evaluation index, which aggravates the conflict between each production evaluation index. In order to solve the problem of increasing conflict among multiple production evaluation indexes in complex production scheduling process, based on the mathematical model of flexible flow shop with limited buffer and public buffer (FFSP-PB), game elements such as game player, game strategy and game order are established according to the idea of multiplayer cooperative game, and design the corresponding game strategy selection method to predict and control the game behavior of each player in the problem. Then a conflict resolution method of production evaluation index based on multiplayer cooperative game is proposed to solve the conflict between multiple production evaluation indexes, and then improve each production evaluation index. Finally, according to the actual production data of a bus manufacturing enterprise based on flexible manufacturing mode, several simulation schemes are designed to analyze and verify the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method in resolving the conflicts between production evaluation indexes, and provides a reliable new solution for the conflict resolution of production evaluation index in the field of flexible manufacturing.
Recent progress in flexibility effects on wing aerodynamics and acoustics

Since the theoretical aeroelasticity for flapping-wing aerodynamics was introduced in the 1920s, the effects of flexibility on aeroelasticity have been paid more attention to aerodynamic design. In recent years, the trait of the wing flexibility is applied for small-scale wings of biomimetic flyers including micro air vehicles and mini unmanned aerial vehicles. Until now, the aerodynamic performance and great agility of these flyers, which are beneficially used for military missions and other civilian applications, have been improved through surrogate flapping wings with the favorable effects of the flexibility. As per the aeroelasticity principle for the forward flying, the chordwise flexibility of an elastic flapping wing can generate thrust and lift redistributions, whereas the spanwise flexibility can result in variations of the angle of attack and the shift of phase along the wingspan direction. Consequently, all vortices generated by the flapping wing i.e. (1) leading-edge vortices, (2) tip vortices, and (3) trailing-edge vortices are blended supportively, thereby improving the aerodynamic performance and agility. Hence, the growth of research and development of the aerodynamic performance and agility for these flyers under the influence of flexible wings increases through experimental and computational studies dynamically and rapidly. This review aims to highlight the important role of the flexibility in the recent progress in wing aerodynamics of these flyers through several wing models done by famous groups of experts in this field. In addition, this review includes the acoustics of the wings under the flexibility effects which is considered as a new key for better flyer design and improvement. A comprehensive understanding of the integrated aerodynamics and acoustics under the wing flexibility is, therefore, needed.
Critical ‘intercultural awareness’ enhancement: Effects of using asynchronous online discussion with Thai tertiary students

In the globalized era, the interaction between people from different cultures increases dramatically. This affects the way the English language is used, and how the language is taught at all levels of education. Regarding this, English language teachers are recommended to reconsider their current classroom practices in light of the above issue. One basic recommendation is to incorporate other cultural aspects besides just the American and British models commonly used today. However, research on developing learners’ critical ‘intercultural awareness’ (ICA) is rare in the literature, particularly regarding the use of asynchronous online discussion (AOD) at the Thai tertiary level. This study aimed to investigate the AOD use to develop critical ICA and to examine the effects of such AOD use on the learning of Thai students. Twelve ICA-enhanced AOD tasks were developed as instructional instruments. From these, research instruments were developed, including a pretest, a posttest, a self-reported questionnaire, and an in-depth interview. Two groups of Thai students with different English proficiency levels were selected to join the experiment, classified as a high proficiency (HP) group and a low proficiency (LP) group. After AOD implementation, their performances were assessed. Findings revealed improvements in the performances of both groups, with the mean posttest scores being higher in both groups, with the HP group demonstrating better performance. In addition to posttest scores, the participants provided positive perceptions of the AOD tasks, with no significant differences in the perceptions between groups. The interview responses revealed the students’ perceptions that the AOD tasks were challenging, but provided them with an opportunity to think critically about the culturally related questions. This study highlights the benefits of developing critical ICA in an ELT classroom with the AOD use, especially HP students, even though it may not work very well with LP students.
Environmental Screening Assessment of Perchlorate Replacements

Abstract : A screening level assessment of the fate, transport, and toxicity of four potential replacements for perchlorate was performed. Resulting data will allow for evaluation and minimization of the potential environmental liability associated with the use of energetic compounds as propellants. This report details methods used and assessment findings. Inorganic oxidizer ammonium di(nitramido)amine (ADNA); cyclic nitramine/ gem-dinitro compound 1,3,5,5-tetranitrohexahydropyrimidine (DNNC); 1,3,3,5,7,7-hexanitro-1,5-diazacyclooctane (HCO); and diammonium di(nitramido)dinitroethylene (ADNDNE) were evaluated. Their respective analogue compounds also were evaluated: ammonium dinitramide (ADN); hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX); octahydro-1,3,5,7- tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX); and 1,1-diamino-2,2-dinitroethene (FOX-7). Evaluations of ammonium perchlorate (AP) provide a point of comparison. From an environmental fate and transport perspective, it appears ADNA, ADNDNE, DNNC, and HCO may have some characteristics similar to AP. However, it is possible HCO and DNNC are much less soluble in water than AP, thereby reducing the likelihood of environmental transport. It also is anticipated that ADNA, ADNDNE, DNNC, and HCO will readily photodegrade. However, rates of degradation in subsurface soil, groundwater, deep surface water, and sediment appear highly variable and may be dependent on covariables not evaluated for this assessment. Because of uncertainty with the model predicted results, recommendations for additional analysis, which could yield compound-specific data and reduce uncertainty, are provided.
Masked Heterogeneity in Aggregation: Incorporating Beliefs and Geographic Information into Consumer Willingness to Pay for State Brands

Abstract State marketing programs for food and agricultural products are largely driven by consumers’ desires to purchase in-state products. Evaluations of state marketing programs have largely ignored consumer location and proximity to surrounding states, measures of ethnocentrism, and the presence of other geographic marketing labels. This study examines willingness to pay for own and out-of-state labels for a generic commodity, milk, within an eight-state region. The results show that an aggregate model conceals consumer heterogeneity in marginal willingness to pay values for state brands as compared to a disaggregate model, even when using random parameter logit models.
Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Strategy for Sewage Sludge Management: Influence of Process Withdrawal Point on Hydrochar Properties

Conventional activated sludge systems, still widely used to treat wastewater, produce large amounts of solid waste that is commonly landfilled or incinerated. This study addresses the potential use of Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) to valorize sewage sludge residues examining the properties of hydrochars depending on HTC process conditions and sewage sludge withdrawal point. With increasing HTC severity (process residence time and temperature), solid yield, total Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and solid pH decrease while ash content increases. Hydrochars produced from primary (thickened) and secondary (digested and dewatered) sludge show peculiar distinct properties. Hydrochars produced from thickened sludge show good fuel properties in terms of Higher Heating Value (HHV) and reduced ash content. However, relatively high volatile matter and O:C and H:C ratios result in thermal reactivity significantly higher than typical coals. Both series of carbonized secondary sludges show neutral pH, low COD, enhanced phosphorous content and low heavy metals concentration: as a whole, they show properties compatible with their use as soil amendments.
VALIDACIÓN DE DOS PROGRAMAS DE INTERVENCIÓN PARA LA ENSEÑANZA DEL FÚTBOL ESCOLAR

The purpose of this study was to validate two intervention programs, corresponding to two didactic units, based in two different methodologies: Direct Instruction (DI) and Tactical Games Approach (TGA), for teaching school soccer. These two intervention programs were similar, with the same number of tasks, sessions, phases of play, specific contents and objectives. In the validation process participated 13 expert judges. Content validity was calculated by the coefficient of Aiken’s V and its confidence intervals. Also, internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach’s ? None of the 29 tasks of each intervention program was eliminated because they obtained values higher than the exact critical value (V ? .69). The internal consistency of the tasks, that formed both intervention programs together, was excellent (? = .97). For these reasons, both intervention programs are valid and reliable for teaching school soccer, as well as to compare the effects of these teaching methodologies.
Conflicting Bottom-up and Top-down Signals during Misrecognition of Visual Objects

Visual recognition involves integrating visual information with other sensory information and prior knowledge. In accord with Bayesian inference under conditions of unreliable visual input, the brain relies on the prior as a source of information to achieve the inference process. This drives a top-down process to improve the neural representation of visual input. However, the extent to which non-stimulus-driven top-down information affects processing in the ventral stream is still unclear. We conducted a perceptual decision-making task using blurred images, while conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging. We then transformed brain activity into deep neural network features to distinguish bottom-up and top-down signals. We found that top-down information unrelated to the stimulus had a minimal effect on lower-level visual processes. The neural representations of degraded stimuli that were misrecognized were still correlated with the correct object category in the lower levels of processing. In contrast, activity in the higher cognitive areas was more strongly correlated with recognition reported by the subjects. The results indicated a discrepancy between the results of processing at the lower and higher levels, indicating the existence of a stimulus-independent top-down signal flowing back down the hierarchy. These findings suggest that integration between bottom-up and top-down information takes the form of competing evidence in higher visual areas between prior-driven top-down and stimulus-driven bottom-up signals. These findings could provide important insight into the different modes of integration of neural signals in the visual cortex that contribute to the visual inference process.
Recent weakening of the southern stratospheric polar vortex and its impact on the surface climate over Antarctica

The variability in the southern stratospheric polar vortex (SSPV) and its downward coupling with the troposphere are known to play a crucial role in driving climate variability over Antarctica. In this study, SSPV weakening events and their impacts on the surface climate of Antarctica are examined using in-situ observation and reanalysis data. Combining criteria from several previous studies, we introduce a new detection method for SSPV weakening events. Based on the new criteria, the occurrence frequency of SSPV weakening events has exhibited a systematic increasing trend since the 2000 s. However, the weakened anomalies of individual SSPV events are not statistically different (95% confidence level) between the earlier (1979–1999) and later (2000–2017) periods examined in this study. The recent increase in the occurrence of SSPV weakening events is largely controlled by tropospheric mechanisms, i.e. the poleward heat flux carried by southern hemispheric planetary waves and associated vertical wave propagation. Among the various scales of planetary waves, the wavenumber 1 contributes most of the poleward eddy heat flux. We show that SSPV weakening events induce statistically significant cooling over the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region and warming over the rest of Antarctica. Typically, surface air temperature anomalies with large negative values smaller than − 0.6 °C and positive values larger than + 0.8 °C are observed over the east coast of the tip of the AP and King Edward VII Land, respectively. The influence of an SSPV weakening event on the surface lasts for approximately three months with higher height anomalies off western Antarctica, providing favorable conditions for the atmosphere to transport cold air from the interior of Antarctica to the AP via the Weddell Sea. Distinct positive surface air temperature anomalies over the rest of Antarctica are associated with the northerly circulation anomaly from the eastern Weddell Sea to east Antarctica.
ACCEPTED AUTHOR VERSION OF THE MANUSCRIPT: Effects of different salinity levels on water quality, growth performance and body composition of Pacific white shrimp ( Litopenaeus vannamei Boone, 1931) cultured in a zero water exchange heterotrophic system

The present study was aimed to evaluate the effects of different levels of salinity on water quality, growth performance, survival rate and body composition of Pacific white shrimp in a heterotrophic/biofloc technology (BFT). Shrimp post-larvae with an average weight of 74.46 mg were cultured in 300 L fiberglass tanks containing 130 L water at a density of 1 post-larva/L. Three treatments including different levels of salinity of 8, 21 and 32 ppt with three replicates were considered. The highest levels of body weight, growth rate, specific growth rate, increase in body length and survival rate were observed at high salinity level (32 ppt). The highest feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the lowest level of feed efficiency were obtained in shrimps cultured at lowest salinity level (P<0.05). Biochemical analysis of shrimp body composition showed an increase in protein, lipid and ash content as the salinity elevated (P<0.05). The zero-water exchange system used in this study had no significant effects on water quality parameters. The results of the present study concluded that high salinity level (32 ppt) improves the growth and survival of the biofloc supplemented Pacific white shrimp in a BFT system.
REDD+ as a Public Policy Dilemma: Understanding Conflict and Cooperation in the Design of Conservation Incentives

Command-and-control policies are often criticized as insufficient to tackle tropical deforestation. Over the past two decades, both academics and policy-makers have promoted incentive-based policies, notably REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), as attractive alternatives to curb forest loss, while also potentially contributing to the poverty reduction of forest-dwelling populations. Governments have been the driving force behind the largest incentive-based forest conservation programs in Latin America. Many science-based recommendations on how to design effective incentive-based policies have, however, not found much resonance within policy circles. To understand the gap between recommendations and practice, it is important to analyze how these schemes are designed towards achieving environmental and non-environmental outcomes. To this end, we analyzed the comprehensive history of governance dynamics behind two government-led incentive schemes in Ecuador and Peru. We found that electoral interests and bureaucratic politics exerted pressure on policy design teams, which eventually traded off long-term societal efficiency concerns against short-term administrative goals. Priority was often given to non-environmental concerns, due to perceptions of political feasibility, the influence of non-environmental government agencies, and beliefs in particular government roles or public response. These findings are especially relevant for scholars studying the design, implementation and impacts of incentive-based conservation policies, and for practitioners aiming to enhance policy efficiency.
ESTIMATION OF UKRAINE’S LAND RESOURSE BY THE EROSION PROCESSES DYNAMICS

1Professor, Dr. National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Soborna str. , 11, Rivne, Ukraine, E-mail address v.s. moshynskyi@nuwm.edu. ua 2Associate Professor, Dr. National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Rivne, Ukraine 3Associate Professor, Dr. National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Rivne, Ukraine 4Dr. , National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Rivne, Ukraine 5School of Economics and Management in Public Administration in Bratislava, Slovakia
The Non-linear Effects of the Fed's Asset Purchases

The Federal Reserve responded to the global financial crisis of 2008 with the deployment of new monetary policy tools, the most notable of them being the expansion of its balance sheet. In a recent paper, Weale and Wiladeck (2016) show that the asset purchases were effective in stimulating economic activity, inflation and asset prices. In this paper, we show that the results of asset purchases are state-dependent: large scale purchases are effective only when financial markets are impaired. Using an estimated threshold vector autoregressive model conditional on the volatility regime, we show that an increase in the balance sheet has expansionary effects on GPD and inflation when volatility is high, but not when it is low (in which case its effects become mostly insignificant). We argue that high volatility can be interpreted as a proxy of market dysfunction, and therefore only when this transmission channel is active is unconventional monetary policy particularly effective. This suggest that models of transmission mechanisms of unconventional policies that are based on asset purchases should focus more on the market functioning channel and not only on the portfolio rebalance channel.