Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Non‐uniformity of 15n labelling in plant material

Abstract Data illustrating the diluting effect of distillation of “blank nitrogen”; on the 15N enrichment of aliquots containing small amounts of ammonium sulphate are presented. Non‐uniformity of 15N‐labelling of plant material is illustrated by two examples. In one, significant variation in 15N enrichment is shown for various parts of wheat plants grown in soil to which single addition of labeiled nitrate had been made. In a second example, the enrichment of Rhodesgrass plants grown in sand was found to be lower than that of the labelled nitrogen source, which constituted the only nitrogen added by the experimenter.
Photo-oxidation of 6-mercaptopurine in aqueous solution

Irradiation of oxygenated aqueous solutions of 6-mercaptopurine with near-u.v. light leads to purine-6-sulphinate as primary product. The sulphinate is itself unstable to u.v. light and is further oxidized to purine-6-sulphonate. Hypoxanthine is a minor product (<10%) of direct photolysis, but also arises from degradation of the sulphonate. Sensitized photo-oxidation using dyes (Methylene Blue, Rose Bengal, or Rhodamine B) gives the same products, and reaction in D2O occurs at a greater rate, indicating that the primary photoreaction occurs via addition of singlet molecular oxygen.
Influence of Sulfide Inhibition of Nitrification on Nitrogen Regeneration in Sediments

Nitrification, a central process in the nitrogen cycle, converts ammonium to nitrite or nitrate. In experiments with estuarine sediment, addition of 60 and 100 μM hydrogen sulfide (HS−) reduced nitrification by 50 and 100 percent, respectively. Aerobic incubation of ammonium-enriched sediment slurries showed that previous HS− exposure reduced nitrification for at least 24 hours; nitrification rates recovered slowly after one-time HS− exposure. Sulfide inhibition of nitrification could limit nitrogen loss through coupled nitrification-denitrification and may contribute to the previously observed difference in net nitrogen cycling between freshwater and marine sediments. This interaction could also exacerbate eutrophication in coastal environments.
CL-MOT: A Contrastive Learning Framework for Multi-Object Tracking

The ﬁeld of Multi-Object Tracking (MOT) has seen tremendous progress with the emergence of joint detection and tracking algorithms. Nevertheless, these approaches still rely on supervised learning schemas with prohibitive annotation demands. To this end, we present CL-MOT, a semi-supervised contrastive learning framework for multi-object tracking. By clustering object embeddings from different views of static frames, CL-MOT learns to discriminate between objects in a scene without relying on identity labels. This simple, yet profound pre-text learning paradigm enables one to transform any object detector into a tracker with no additional annotation labor. We evaluate the proposed approach on the MOT Challenge benchmark, ﬁnding that CL-MOT performs on par with supervised trackers and signiﬁcantly outperforms other self-supervised meth-ods. Interestingly, we even set a new state-of-the-art in re-identiﬁcation metrics such as IDF1 score, suggesting that CL-MOT learns a more effective feature space than its counterparts. These results demonstrate that our within-frame contrastive learning framework can signiﬁcantly reduce the annotation demands of tracking while recovering if not sur-passing the performance of previous approaches. The code for this work is publicly available at https://github.com/danielzgsilva/CL-MOT
Multi-anvil, high pressure apparatus: a half-century of development and progress

H. Tracy Hall and the cubic-anvil apparatus which he developed at Brigham Young University to produce diamonds without the belt apparatus. [Courtesy of the H. Tracy Hall Foundation]. In 1958, Tracy Hall invented the first multi-anvil, high pressure apparatus: a tetrahedral-anvil device capable of attaining simultaneous pressures of 10 GPa and temperatures above 3000 K. In the past half-century, multi-anvil apparatus (MAA) have evolved progressively and can now reach pressures close to 100 GPa at high temperatures. Many of these high pressure devices have been utilized in conjunction with in situ X-ray diffraction, especially with the advent of synchrotron radiation facilities in the early 1980s. There are a variety of technological approaches to generating high pressures in the laboratory, primarily motivated by the desire to study the behavior of materials at elevated pressures and temperatures; many of these approaches have been developed in the Earth science community due to the desire to replicate in the laboratory the P–T conditions of the Earth's deep interior. In addition to the dynamic techniques of shock-wave experiments, there have been two static techniques to achieve these goals: the diamond-anvil cell and the MAA. Although these two static techniques have occasionally been viewed as competitive, they are both useful and very complementary. The purpose of this paper is to review the development and progress in MAA.
Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Clinical Tool For Intervention with Families and for Exploring Intergenerational Impacts

Through a discussion of the seminal Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACEs), this thesis will explore the impact that early life experiences have on physical and mental well-being with an underlying emphasis on optimal child development and the essential nature of a stable, nurturing caregiver-child relationship. This thesis focuses first on the existing literature on child development, the attachment relationship, and the connection between adverse childhood experiences and adult behavioral and physical health. Then, this thesis provides an overview of the current efforts to assess adverse childhood experiences, including the impact of adverse experiences in the present moment, the connection between parental ACEs and offspring development, and the mechanisms by which ACEs are associated with poor outcomes. Then, this paper expands on some of the limitations of the original conceptualization of the ACEs’ use as a clinical tool. These limitations include the lack of generalizable data, a limited definition of adversity, the dichotomous nature, and the exclusion of protective factors. Throughout, this thesis examines the ACE Study and its subsequent modifications through the lens of the next generation, with the goal of outlining why a particular attachment-based intervention is beneficial for aiding vulnerable populations in reaching the best possible outcomes. ACES AS A CLINICAL TOOL FOR INTERVENTION WITH FAMILIES iii . the trajectories of the entire life course are set largely in those first few, irreplaceable years, which come and go like the tender green leaves of passing seasons. What happens in early life is never confined in its influence to the first few years, like the events of infancy that no one can remember. What happens in childhood never, ever stays simply in childhood. (Boyce, 2019, pp. 171-172) ACES AS A CLINICAL TOOL FOR INTERVENTION WITH FAMILIES iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.ii QUOTATION.ii
Wool bleaching with reducing agents in the presence of sodium laurylsulphate. Part 2 — bleaching with non‐stabilised hydrosulphite

Wool bleaching with non-stabilised hydrosulphite in the presence of sodium laurylsulphate (SLS) at a concentration of 5 g/l provides far better whites than when bleaching without this surfactant. In addition to better whiteness and lower yellowness index, wools bleached with SLS incorporated into the bath have a cysteine content some 20–30% lower.
re LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND AUTOMATIC SCORING OF APTIS SPEAKING PERFORMANCES

The purpose of this study is to investigate linguistic features of spoken performances on Aptis, which can be automatically extracted and further utilised for automated speaking assessment, and to actually predict Aptis English proficiency levels through an automated scoring system. The project aims to adapt automatic speaking proficiency rating software, initially developed by the research team, which automatically scores unconstrained English speech proficiency (e.g., Johnson, Kang & Ghanem, 2016; Johnson & Kang, 2016; Kang & Johnson, 2015; 2018). The current project further plans to augment the existing computer model to employ lexico-grammatical features along with suprasegmental/fluency measures to predict speaking proficiency scores in the Aptis speaking test. The project provides validity evidence for the Aptis speaking test by demonstrating automatically extracted speaking features aligned with speaking criteria in Aptis. Findings of the study inform the development of automated scoring systems in the Aptis speaking exam. The project improves the computer model’s capability to automatically score unconstrained English speech in second language testing and assessment with increased reliability and accuracy. It further helps better understand test-takers’ speech properties in testing and assessment contexts.
Wood Ash Application Reduces Bryophyte Cover and Changes Species Composition in a Norway Spruce (Picea abies) Plantation

Return of wood ash from power plants to plantations makes it possible to recycle nutrients, counteract acidification, and to reduce economically costly waste deposition of the wood ash. However, current legislation restricts the amount of wood ash that can be applied and it is desirable to increase the allowed application dose, if possible, without negative effects on the plantation ecosystems. Here, we applied wood ash in levels corresponding to 0, 3, 9, 15, 30, and 90 t ash ha−1 and monitored the effect of the different ash doses on bryophytes in a Norway spruce (Picea abies) plantation with a dense bryophyte cover dominated by Hypnum jutlandicum, Dicranum scoparium, and Pleurozium schreberi. We used two complementary methods, image analysis, and pinpoint registration during a three-year period. To our knowledge, we are the first to apply this combined effort, which provides a much more exhaustive description of the effects than the use of each method separately. Moreover, the inclusion of a wide range of different wood ash levels enabled us to establish detailed dose-response relationships, which previous authors have not presented. The bryophyte cover decreased with increasing ash level with concomitant changes in species composition. At ash doses above the currently allowed 3 t ha−1, the ash significantly reduced the bryophyte cover, which only re-established very slowly. With increasing wood ash dose, the dominating species changed to Brachythecium rutabulum, Ceratodon purpureus, and Funaria hygrometrica. We conclude that application of more wood ash in spruce plantations than currently allowed will reduce total cover of bryophytes and cause a pronounced change in bryophyte species composition. These changes will in particular harm bryophyte species with specific environmental requirements and generally impair the bryophyte cover as habitat for invertebrates and its economic value for moss harvesting.
Elastic behavior, phase transition, and pressure induced structural evolution of analcime

Abstract Elastic and structural behavior of a natural cubic analcime (space group: Ia3 . d) from Sardinia (Italy) was investigated at high pressure by in situ single-crystal X-ray diffraction. A first-order phase transition is observed in the pressure range between 0.91(5) and 1.08(5) GPa. Unit-cell constants and reflection conditions confirm that the space group of the HP-polymorph is P1̄. No further phasetransition has been observed at least up to 7.14 GPa. Fitting the volume data of the cubic polymorph with a second-order BM-EoS we obtain: V0 = 2571.2(4) Å3, KT0 = 56(3) GPa, and K’ = 4 (fixed). For the triclinic polymorph, a third-order EoS gives: V0 = 2607(9) Å3, KT0 = 19(2) GPa, and K’ = 6.8(7). Axial bulk moduli of the triclinic polymorph, calculated with a linearized BM-EoS, are: KT0(a) = 29(2) GPa, with K’(a) = 4.9(6) and a0 = 13.727(10) Å; KT0(b) = 20(1) GPa, with K’(b) = 5.2(5), and b0 = 13.751(15) Å; KT0(c) = 11(1) GPa, with K’(c) = 12.6(6) and c0 = 13.822(31) Å. The elastic behavior of the HP-polymorph appears to be strongly anisotropic, being KT0(a):KT0(b):KT0(c) = 2.64:1.82:1.00. The relevant structural variations in response to the cubic → triclinic phase transition are due to tetrahedral tilting. The tetrahedral framework distortion gives rise to a change of the eight- and six-ring channels ellipticity and of the extra-framework topological configuration: it appears in fact that for the high-pressure triclinic polymorph the coordination number of some of the Na atoms is seven (2H2O + five framework O atoms) instead of six (2H2O + four framework O atoms).
Inductively coupled plasmas in oxygen: Modeling and experiment

Simulation results and experimental measurements in an oxygen ICP are used to examine transport and reaction in oxygen inductively coupled plasmas. The trends of plasma characteristics with pressure and rf power are considered. We show that the balance between gas phase O2 dissociation and surface O recombination controls the plasma characteristics under the investigated conditions. Neutral density profiles are primarily the result of diffusive transport in balance with fast surface reactions. According to the model, the O(1D), O2(a1Δ), and O2(b1Σ) metastable states play an important role in dissociation, ionization, and attachment kinetics. The O(1S) metastable is not kinetically important.
Asset Pricing Using Block-Cholesky GARCH and Time-Varying Betas

Starting from the Cholesky-GARCH model, recently proposed by Darolles, Francq, and Laurent (2018), the paper introduces the Block-Cholesky GARCH (BC-GARCH). This new model adapts in a natural way to the asset pricing framework. After deriving conditions for stationarity, uniform invertibility and beta tracking, we investigate the finite sample properties of a variety of maximum likelihood estimators suited for the BC-GARCH by means of an extensive Monte Carlo experiment. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of the BC-GARCH in two empirical applications. The first tests for the presence of beta spillovers in a bivariate system in the context of the Fama and French (1993) three factor framework. The second empirical application consists of a large scale exercise exploring the cross-sectional variation of expected returns for 40 industry portfolios.
A Priori and a Posteriori Error Analysis of the Crouzeix–Raviart and Morley FEM with Original and Modified Right-Hand Sides

Abstract This article on nonconforming schemes for m harmonic problems simultaneously treats the Crouzeix–Raviart ( m = 1 {m=1} ) and the Morley finite elements ( m = 2 {m=2} ) for the original and for modified right-hand side F in the dual space V * := H - m ⁢ ( Ω ) {V^{*}:=H^{-m}(\Omega)} to the energy space V := H 0 m ⁢ ( Ω ) {V:=H^{m}_{0}(\Omega)} . The smoother J : V nc → V {J:V_{\mathrm{nc}}\to V} in this paper is a companion operator, that is a linear and bounded right-inverse to the nonconforming interpolation operator I nc : V → V nc {I_{\mathrm{nc}}:V\to V_{\mathrm{nc}}} , and modifies the discrete right-hand side F h := F ∘ J ∈ V nc * {F_{h}:=F\circ J\in V_{\mathrm{nc}}^{*}} . The best-approximation property of the modified scheme from Veeser et al. (2018) is recovered and complemented with an analysis of the convergence rates in weaker Sobolev norms. Examples with oscillating data show that the original method may fail to enjoy the best-approximation property but can also be better than the modified scheme. The a posteriori analysis of this paper concerns data oscillations of various types in a class of right-hand sides F ∈ V * {F\in V^{*}} . The reliable error estimates involve explicit constants and can be recommended for explicit error control of the piecewise energy norm. The efficiency follows solely up to data oscillations and examples illustrate this can be problematic.
Origins of Mutual Fund Skill: Market versus Accounting Based Asset Pricing Anomalies

We investigate the information source of active U.S. equity mutual funds’ value added using 234 public asset pricing anomalies. On average, mutual funds add value through their positive exposures to anomalies based on market information (e.g., momentum and liquidity risk) and lose value through their negative exposures to anomalies based on accounting information of firm fundamentals (e.g., investment and profitability), corroborating that both the semi-strong and weak forms of the efficient market hypothesis do not hold. We also find weak evidence that mutual funds profit from their private information, supporting the rejection of the strong form efficient market hypothesis.
Oscillation and Non oscillation of Solutions of Generalized Nonlinear Difference Equation of Second Order

In this paper, the authors discuss oscillation and nonoscillation of solutions of the generalized nonlinear difference equation ∆`(p(k)∆u(k)) + f(k)F (k, u(k),∆`u(k)) = g(k, u(k),∆`u(k)), (1) k ∈ [a,∞), where the functions p, f, F and g are defined in their domain of definition and ` is a positive real. Further, p(k) > 0 for all k ∈ [a,∞) for some a ∈ [0,∞) and for all j = k − a− [ k−a ` ] `, Ra+j,k →∞, where Rt+j,k = k−1 ∑ n=n0 1 p(n) , t ∈ [a,∞) and k ∈ N`(t + j + `).
Steady state measurements of the quasiparticle lifetime in superconducting aluminium

We report details of the steady state measurements of the quasiparticle lifetime (τ) in superconducting aluminium which were published previously. We begin with a synopsis of the relevant background, followed by an explanation of our experimental procedure. Included are some aspects of the experiments not primarily related to the lifetime measurements. It is shown that the process responsible for the excess current found by Burstein and Taylor in aluminium tunnel junctions for Δ 4Δ we observe enhanced injection of quasiparticles. We show that the effect of heating on the lifetime measurements is negligible at low temperatures and can be accounted for near the transition temperature (Tc). Near Tc there is another recombination process in which the excess energy is absorbed by another quasiparticle. Very near Tc there are indications that τ becomes very long. As the temperature decreases much below Tc, τ approaches a constant value due to recombination in regions of flux penetration.
Bark particle sizes and the modification of the physical properties of peat substrates

The physical quality of peat mixes is in part related to the capacity of the substrate to store and supply air and water to plant roots. During manufacturing, the mixing of various substrate components modifies the substrate characteristics. The objective of this study was to assess the changes in air storage and supply properties caused by varying the particle size of the substrate components. The substrate was composed of 40% wood bark (WB), 50% peat, and 10% coarse gravel (volume basis). Wood bark particle size was varied in a first (0–2, 2–4, 4–8 and 8–25 mm) and a second (1–2, 2–4, 4–8 and 8–16 mm) experiment. When increasing bark particle sizes to 8–25 mm or 8–16 mm, air supply characteristics, as assessed with gas diffusivity measurements, decreased to 0.78 or 0.45 its value for the 2–4 or 1–2 mm average bark particle size. This occurred despite no significant changes in air storage, as assessed from air-filled porosity measurements. Key words: Gas diffusivity, pore tortuosity, air-filled porosity,.
Pineapple And Kumquat Powders Used To Combat The Oxidation Stress Induced By Potassium Bromate In Male Albino Rats

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the etiology and pathogenesis of many chronic diseases. Dietary intake of antioxidants can inhibit or delay the oxidation of susceptible cellular substrates so prevent oxidative stress. The present study was designed to investigate potential protective and ameliorate effects of pineapple and kumquat powders against potassium bromate (KBrO3)-induced oxidative stress using experimental rats. Whole kumquat (seedless), kumquat seeds, pineapple flesh and pineapple leaves were analyzed for phenolic compounds. Measurement of potential of cytotoxicity against the liver carcinoma cell line (HEPG2) carried out by SRB assay of the ethanolic extract of whole kumquat seedless, kumquat seeds, whole kumquat, pineapple flesh, pineapple leaves, pineapple (flesh +leaves) and mixture of them.
Ellipsometric studies of ErMnO 3 single crystals

A temperature controlled product shipper includes a phase change material bladder which can be filled at the point of packaging. The shipper includes an internal product box and an outer box where the product box is received within the outer box. The phase change material bladder is received within a cavity defined between the outer surface of the product box and the inner surface of the outer box. The shipper may also include an insulated liner which is received between the product box and the bladder.
Symbolic Search for Total-Order HTN Planning

Symbolic search has proven to be a useful approach to optimal classical planning. In Hierarchical Task Network (HTN) planning, however, there is little work on optimal planning. One reason for this is that in HTN planning, most algorithms are based on heuristic search, and admissible heuristics have to incorporate the structure of the task network in order to be informative. In this paper, we present a novel approach to optimal (totally-ordered) HTN planning, which is based on symbolic search. An empirical analysis shows that our symbolic approach outperforms the current state of the art for optimal totally-ordered HTN planning.
Assessment of undergraduates’ adoption of mobile technologies for learning

The study examines the influence of the undergraduates’ perceived usefulness and ease of use of mobile technologies in relation to their adoption for learning. The study was designed to give a sharper focus on two research questions. Simple random sampling technique was used to select four hundred (400) undergraduates from two universities in Ogun State, South West Nigeria. The study employed multiple regressions in the analysis of the data collected. In the light of the results obtained, it was found out that students’ perceived usefulness ( 𝛽 = 0.305, t = 3.867, p<.05) has significant contribution to adoption of mobile technologies. Also, the study found that undergraduate students’ perceived ease of use ( 𝛽 = 0.151, t = 1.992, p<.05) has significant contribution on the adoption of mobile technologies for learning. The study revealed that the students’ perception on the usefulness and ease of use significantly contributed to the adoption of mobile technology. All in all, the study recommended the need to encourage undergraduates to adopt mobile technologies for learning instead of social media only.
Trade-offs of Local SGD at Scale: An Empirical Study

As datasets and models become increasingly large, distributed training has become a necessary component to allow deep neural networks to train in reasonable amounts of time. However, distributed training can have substantial communication overhead that hinders its scalability. One strategy for reducing this overhead is to perform multiple unsynchronized SGD steps independently on each worker between synchronization steps, a technique known as local SGD. We conduct a comprehensive empirical study of local SGD and related methods on a large-scale image classification task. We find that performing local SGD comes at a price: lower communication costs (and thereby faster training) are accompanied by lower accuracy. This finding is in contrast from the smaller-scale experiments in prior work, suggesting that local SGD encounters challenges at scale. We further show that incorporating the slow momentum framework of Wang et al. (2020) consistently improves accuracy without requiring additional communication, hinting at future directions for potentially escaping this trade-off.