Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term forest degradation surpasses deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Degradation by logging, fire, and fragmentation is increasing as a spatially distinct disturbance in the Amazon landscape. Degradation exceeds deforestation Forest degradation is a ubiquitous form of human disturbance of the forest landscape. Activities such as selective logging and extraction fall short of total deforestation but lead to loss of biomass and/or fragmentation. On the basis of remote sensing data at 30-meter spatial resolution, Matricardi et al. analyzed the extent of forest degradation across the entire Brazilian Amazon over a ∼22-year period up to 2014. They found that the extent and rate of forest degradation was equal to or greater than deforestation, which has important implications for carbon, biodiversity, and energy balance. Science, this issue p. 1378 Although deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon are well known, the extent of the area affected by forest degradation is a notable data gap, with implications for conservation biology, carbon cycle science, and international policy. We generated a long-term spatially quantified assessment of forest degradation for the entire Brazilian Amazon from 1992 to 2014. We measured and mapped the full range of activities that degrade forests and evaluated the relationship with deforestation. From 1992 to 2014, the total area of degraded forest was 337,427 square kilometers (km2), compared with 308,311 km2 that were deforested. Forest degradation is a separate and increasing form of forest disturbance, and the area affected is now greater than that due to deforestation.
Regional and seasonal variation in nutrient limitation of river biofilms

Benthic biofilms have multiple functions in stream and river ecosystems, and their growth and productivity are often limited by dissolved inorganic nutrient availability, particularly N or P. We deployed nutrient diffusing substrata (NDS) in 5 rivers in each of 3 regions: the Mountain West, the Arid West, and the Midwest, to assess regional and seasonal variation in nutrient limitation of river biofilms and to quantify which environmental factors control nutrient limitation. We constructed NDS with either inorganic or organic substrata to compare nutrient limitation of autotrophic and heterotrophic biofilms, and we explored inorganic N preference of biofilms by comparing results of NO3− and NH4+ amendments. During summer deployments, autotrophic and heterotrophic biofilms in Mountain Western rivers were commonly limited by N or colimited by N and P, whereas nutrient limitation was less common in Arid Western and Midwestern rivers. We deployed NDS seasonally in Midwestern rivers and found no obvious seasonal patterns of nutrient limitation, probably because background nutrient concentrations were consistently high. Heterotrophic biofilm responses in Midwestern rivers suggested a preference for NO3− over NH4+. The magnitude of the autotrophic biofilm response, calculated as response ratios for gross primary production and chlorophyll a, were inversely related to % developed lands in the surrounding watershed and background NO3− availability, whereas heterotrophic response ratios were related to river temperature. Patterns of nutrient limitation for autotrophic biofilms in rivers were similar to those in headwater streams, suggesting that biofilms in lotic ecosystems of varying size are similarly sensitive to nutrient amendments from the landscape. Clarifying the nutrient-limitation status of autotrophic and heterotrophic biofilms across a variety of rivers expands our understanding of nutrient limitation in lotic ecosystems and enables improved management of autotrophic and heterotrophic biofilms.
Low-scatter galaxy cluster mass proxies for the eROSITA all-sky survey

The on-going X-ray all-sky survey with the eROSITA instrument will yield large galaxy cluster samples, which will bring strong constraints on cosmological parameters. In particular, the survey holds great promise to investigate the tension between CMB and low-redshift measurements. The current bottleneck preventing the full exploitation of the survey data is the systematics associated with the relation between survey observable and halo mass. Numerous recent studies have shown that gas mass and core-excised X-ray luminosity exhibit very low scatter at fixed mass. We propose a new method to reconstruct these quantities from low photon count data and validate the method using extensive eROSITA-like simulations. We find that even near the detection threshold of ~50 counts the core-excised luminosity and the gas mass can be recovered with 20-30% precision, which is substantially less than the scatter of the full integrated X-ray luminosity at fixed mass. When combined with an accurate calibration of the absolute mass scale (e.g. through weak gravitational lensing), our technique reduces the systematics on cosmological parameters induced by the mass calibration.
Analysis of Economic-Biological Traits of Hull-Less Barley and Creation of Source Material for Resistance to Environmental Stress Factors

The paper summarizes the experimental data from field and laboratory experiments on the study of the collection material of hull-less barley from ICARDA (Hordeum vulgare L.) on saline soils of the Kyzylorda region. The influence of the type of ripening of the variety and weather conditions of vegetation on the formation and variability of the grain yield of spring hull-less barley is shown. Traits less affected by external factors, such as plant height, spike length, number of spikelets per spike, and number of productive spikes per 1 m2, are determined. It has been established that during the selection, stabilization on such traits occurs in early generations, which increases the efficiency of selection of adaptive varieties. At the present stage, using in hybridization the best hull-less forms ICNBF8-611/Aths, DeirAlla106/Strain205//Rhn-03/3/BF891M-582, Atahualpa/4/Avt/Attiki//Aths/3/Giza121/Pue, Atahualpa/4/Harrington/3/WI2291/Roho//WI2269, and HIGO/LINO with local recognized varieties, 20 hybrid populations have been obtained, and 150 lines selected from them, identified that donors of valuable traits are of particular interest for creating productive cereal varieties.
Elevation promotes long-term survival of Pinus elliottii var. densa, a foundation species of the endangered pine rockland ecosystem in the Florida Keys

The pine rockland community in southern Florida, which supports numerous state- and federally listed flora and fauna species, is considered endangered. Without its foundation spe- cies, Pinus elliottii var. densa, habitat and species diversity are lost to tropical hardwood ham- mock. Here, we investigate the landscape factors that contribute to the long-term persistence of pine rocklands on the 2 islands that contain the largest remaining habitat in the Florida Keys: Big Pine Key and No Name Key. Plot-level biophysical data and island-scale remotely sensed vegeta- tion data were collected from pine rockland savannas and examined with multi-dimensional analysis. On both islands, vegetation plots located at higher elevations contain the greatest basal area and the oldest and largest-diameter trees. In contrast, the lowest-elevation plots contain more standing dead trees and downed logs. Change-detection analysis of the normalized difference vegetation index between 2001 and 2011 supports the notion that habitat areas at lower elevations experience more vegetation change compared to those at higher elevations during the time period (p < 0.05). Trees rooted at higher elevations frequently exceeded 200 yr in age, which is uncom- mon in this highly disturbed sub-tropical region. Although elevation range on the 2 islands was only ca. 0 to 3 m, these results demonstrate that higher elevations can act as a refuge for the salt- intolerant P. elliottii var. densa during storm surge events, which promotes long-term develop- ment of old-growth savanna structure and aids the long-term persistence of pine rocklands in the Florida Keys.
EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH, VOL

The experiment was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of Trichoderma harzianum fungus (T.26) and two isolation of Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria (Pf.I) and (Pf.n) inoculums and their combinations on the growth and yield of sweet corn plant under field conditions. Sweet corn sown plot were with drip irrigation, at harvest, plant biomass, yield and N, K, P, Mn and Fe and other agronomic parameters were measured. The results showed significant superiority of all bio fertilization treatments comparison to control treatment to all character of growth parameters such as contain length stem, number of leaves, the concentration of total chlorophyll, and shoot fresh and dry weight of shoots. Also uptake of N, P, K, Fe and Mn and yield quantity contain and number of ears per plant, number and weight of seeds in ears. The results also showed the significant superiority of the treatments combination between the Trichoderma harzianum (T.26) treatment and Pseudomonas fluorescence (Pf.I) in all the qualities of Falih Hasan Saeed, Usama Abdalla Alwan, Khalid A. Jasim, Hikmat K. Jasim, I. OrtaşThe efficiency of bio-fertilization in the growth and yield of Sweet corn (Zea mays var. regosa) EUROPEAN ACADEMIC RESEARCH Vol. IV, Issue 4 / July 2016 4009 growth, absorption elements and productivity studied comparable with single bio fertilizer treatments and comparison treatment.
PII: S0031-9201(02)00032-8

A new record of absolute palaeointensity was obtained from drill core Scientific Observation Hole 1 (SOH1) on Kilauea volcano, Hawaii. Kilauea’s high eruption rate resulted in a relatively continuous record and stratigraphic constraints preserved the chronological order. Three hundred and sixty samples were studied with the Thellier–Thellier technique, which gave 195 successful palaeointensity and 271 successful inclination determinations. Three geomagnetic excursions were observed, which exhibited intensity reductions of about 50%. Initial age control from K–Ar and Ar/Ar dating only constrained the total age between 20 and 120 ka. The final age model was obtained by stretching the SOH1 record relative to other Hawaiian palaeomagnetic data. This gave an age range of 0–45 ka for the flows and identified the excursions as the Hilina Pali, Mono Lake and Laschamp events. The SOH1 record of the Hilina Pali event is the most detailed ever, incorporating data from around 40 flows. This age model suggests that Kilauea had a burst of activity at the SOH1 site around 20 ka. All available data was combined to form a composite record of palaeointensity and inclination on Hawaii for 0–45 ka. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Antimicrobial susceptibility of selected Essential Oils and their compounds against Streptococcus suis

Background: Streptococcus suis is an emerging zoonotic pathogen causing different diseases, in both humans and pigs. Generally, the control of diseases caused by this pathogen is based on antimicrobial therapy, but the development of bacterial resistance has led to look for new options. In this sense, the Essential Oils (EOs) constitute an alternative to the use of conventional antimicrobials. The activity of oregano, cinnamon, common thyme and red thyme EOs and their main active compounds (carvacrol, cinnamaldehyde and thymol) against 56 S. suis isolates from pigs (n=50) and human (n=6) was determined by broth microdilution. MIC50-90, MBC50-90 and the bactericidal index (MBC/MIC) were calculated. Also, the time-kill curve of each product against the S. suis P1/7 European reference strain was determined. Results: No differences in the MIC or MBC values were observed between all the tested products, which suggest a homogenous behaviour of S. suis, independently of their origin, organ of isolation or resistance profile. All the products showed a concentration-dependent and time-dependent killing activity and achieved the virtual eradication of S. suis (reduction of ≥ 4 log10) at suprainhibitory (2x-4x MIC) concentrations within the first 5 minutes of exposure, except cinnamaldehyde, that showed only bacteriostatic effect (reduction of < 3 log10). Conclusions: While all the tested products demonstrated an antimicrobial activity, red thyme and cinnamon followed by thymol showed the best results. It suggests that these products would be recommended as antimicrobials in veterinary medicine for the control of this zoonotic pathogen, although more pharmacology, toxicology, tolerability and formulation studies are necessary.
Book Review: Beyond sport for development and peace: Transnational perspectives on theory, policy and practice

In many settings, people with disabilities are marginalised from the socio-economic activities of their communities and are often excluded from development activities, including sport for development programmes. Sport is recognised as having unique attributes, which can contribute to the development process and play a role in promoting the health of individuals and populations. Yet there is little evidence, which demonstrates whether and how sport for development can be disability-inclusive. The aim of this qualitative research was to address this knowledge gap by documenting the enablers and barriers to disability inclusion within sport for development programmes in the Pacific, and to determine the perceived impact of these programmes on the lives of people with disability. Qualitative interviews and one FGD were conducted with implementers, participants with and without disability, and families that have a child with disability participating in sport. Participation in sport was reported to improve self-worth, health and well-being and social inclusion. Key barriers to inclusion included prejudice and discrimination, lack of accessible transport and sports infrastructure, and disability-specific needs such as lack of assistive devices. Inclusion of people with disabilities within sport for development was enabled by peer-to-peer encouragement, leadership of and meaningful engagement with people with disabilities in all aspects of sports programming.
Language of Thesis : English Secondary language : Slovak Title : Models of dynamics of large quantal systems

Michal Širaň. Models of dynamics of large quantal systems. Diploma thesis. Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Theoretical Physics and Didactics of Physics. Thesis Advisor: doc. Ing. Pavel Bóna, CSc. Bratislava, May 2015, 34 p. This thesis deals with connections between “microscopic” and “macroscopic” systems in the framework of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. The emphasis is on the study of dynamics of these systems. The focus of the first part is an overview of the results of the paper by P. Bóna and the present author. A finite spin chain model coupled to a Fermi field is constructed. The Hamiltonian of the composite system allows the spin chain to emit a scalar fermion which, given enough kinetic energy, has capability to escape into infinity. In the limit of infinite time and for sufficient length of the spin chain this model can be thought of as an “effective” model of a “measurement process” in the sense proposed by K. Hepp. It is also related to the decoherence approach to the resolution of the “measurement problem” of W. Zurek. The second part focuses on a certain class of mean field theories arising as thermodynamic limits of copies of quantal systems given by a Lie group G of kinematic symmetries. The interaction between such copies is infinitely weak and infinitely long range. These models and their dynamics were studied in detail by P. Bóna. A generalization of some of the results for the case of a non-compact Lie group is presented. A central object of the considerations is a certain “mean field connection” which is a projector valued measure on the dual of the Lie algebra of G with values in the centre of the double dual of the C∗-algebra of the infinite quantal system. Particular emphasis is placed on the emergence of “macroscopic” observables and canonical state decompositions corresponding to them. Finally dynamics of the models are introduced for a large class of admissible Hamiltonians.
Three-dimensional computed tomographic analysis of the primary nasal deformity in 3-month-old infants with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the geometry of the primary cleft lip nasal deformity using three-dimensional computerized tomography in a group of 3-month-old infants with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate before surgical intervention. Coordinates and axes were reconfigured after the three-dimensional image was oriented into neutral position (Frankfurt horizontal, true anteroposterior, and vertical midline). Display and measurement of skin surface and osseous tissues were achieved by adjusting the computed tomographic thresholds. S-N, N-ANS, S-N-O, and S-N-ANS were measured from true lateral views. Biorbital (LO-LO), interorbital (MO-MO), intercanthal (en-en), and nasal (al-al) widths were measured from the anteroposterior view. The bony alveolar cleft width was measured from the inferior view. The study group was divided into two groups on the basis of skeletal alveolar cleft width: six patients with clefts narrower than 10 mm and six patients with clefts wider than 10 mm. Only the S-N-ANS angle differed between the two groups, i.e., it was greater in the group with the wider clefts (p < 0.05). Coordinates of six landmarks at the base of the nose [sellion (se), subnasale (sn), cleft-side and noncleft-side subalare (sbal-cl and sbal-ncl), and the most posterior point on the lateral piriform margins (PPA-CL and PPA-NCL)] were obtained for analysis of the nasal deformity. On average, the subnasale point was anterior to sellion and deviated to the noncleft side; the cleft-side sbal point was more medial, posterior, and inferior than the noncleft-side sbal point; and the PPA point on the cleft-side piriform margin was more lateral, posterior, and inferior than the PPA point on the noncleft side. These discrepancies were not universally observed. However, in all patients, four findings were observed without exception (p < 0.01): (1) subnasale (sn) was deviated to the noncleft side (mean distance from midline, 5.0 mm; range, 2 to 9.5 mm), (2) the cleft-side alar base (sbal-cl) was more posterior than the noncleft-side alar base (sbal-ncl) (mean difference, 3.6 mm; range, 1 to 5.5 mm), (3) the noncleft-side alar base (sbal-ncl) was further from the midline than the cleft-side alar base (sbal-cl) (mean difference in lateral distances of sbal-ncl and sbal-cl from the midline, 2.8 mm; range, 0.5 to 7 mm), and (4) the cleft-side piriform margin (PPA-CL) was more posterior than the noncleft side piriform margin (PPA-NCL) (mean difference, 2.1 mm; range, 0.5 to 4 mm). In conclusion, the nasal deformity in unilateral cleft lip and palate that has not been operated on is characterized by these four features and increased S-N-ANS angle with increased alveolar cleft width.
Stock Market Spillovers via the Global Production Network: Transmission of U.S. Monetary Policy

We quantify the role of global production linkages in explaining spillovers of U.S. monetary policy shocks to stock returns of 54 sectors in 26 countries. We first present a conceptual framework based on a standard open-economy production network model that delivers a spillover pattern consistent with a spatial autoregression (SAR) process. We then use the SAR model to decompose the overall impact of U.S. monetary policy on stock returns into a direct and a network effect. We find that up to 80% of the total impact of U.S. monetary policy shocks on average country-sector stock returns are due to the network effect of global production linkages. We further show that U.S. monetary policy shocks have a direct impact predominantly on U.S. sectors and then propagate to the rest of the world through the global production network. Our results are robust to controlling for correlates of the global financial cycle, foreign monetary policy shocks, and to changes in variable definitions and empirical specifications.
Light Field Image Spatial Resolution Enhancement: A Review

Light Field (LF) cameras capture both spatial and directional information of light rays. Current LF cameras have a problem of a low spatial resolution. There have been lots of existing works carried out to improve the resolution of LF images. In this paper, those existing works will be divided into two categories: hardware-based approaches and software-based approaches, and we will look into and compare several experiment results in order for LF spatial resolution enhancement. Finally, the direction for the future spatial resolution enhancement will be suggested.
INTRACELLULAR CRYSTALLIZATION OF HEMOGLOBIN IN THE ERYTHROCYTES OF THE NORTHERN PIPEFISH, SYNGNATHUS FUSCUS

Crystallization of hemoglobin within the erythrocytes of the pipefish is described. This phenomenon is readily produced by slow drying, especially in a humid atmosphere.Preceding the appearance of the definitive crystals the erythrocytes lose their characteristic oval form and become angular, triangular and rhomboidal forms predominating. Then definite clefts appear, followed soon after by the appearance of typical crystals. The number of crystals within individual cells varies. Two, three, and four large crystals are most commonly encountered, but a more variable number of minute needle-like forms may also be present in the erythrocyte.It is of interest to note that the erythrocytes exhibit deformation due to the changing orientation of the hemoglobin molecules before any evidence of crystal formation can be detected with ordinary transmitted light.
Cognitive processing deficits in poor readers with symptoms of reading disabilities and ADHD: More alike than different?

The cognitive differences among poor-reading children with characteristics of reading disabilities (RD) and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when compared with children with comorbid symptoms (RD + ADHD) and slow learners (SL) on measures of phonological and executive processing were investigated. No significant differences in performance emerged between the ability groups in phonological processing. The SL + ADHD & slow learners performed better than RD groups (RD alone and RD + ADHD) on the visual-spatial working memory (WM) factor score and the RD-alone group was inferior to RD + ADHD, SL + ADHD, and SL-alone groups on the verbal WM factor score. The results support the notion that poor readers, whether suffering from RD or ADHD symptoms, share a common phonological core deficit.
Effects of Forage to Concentrate Ratio on Homeostasis of Rumen and Oxidative Stress in Cows

To explore effects of forage on oxidative stress and homeostasis of rumen,pH and anti-oxidative indexes of rumen,anti-oxidative indexes of serum were studied.Five Holstein cows during the dry period were used with 30 days in the first 8 periods,the last period was 3 days.Forage to concentrate ratio were 30∶70,35∶65,40∶60,45∶55,50∶50,55∶45,60∶40,70∶30,100∶0,respectively.The result indicated that rumen pH was the lowest in 100∶0(P0.05). The activities of SOD in the rumen was the highest in 55∶45(P0.05);The contents of MDA and OH·in the rumen was the lowest in 55∶45(P0.05);The activities of GSH-Px in the rumen was the lowest in 55∶45(P0.05);The activities of T-AOC in 55∶45 was higher than that in 30∶70,35∶65,40∶60,45∶55,50∶50,100∶0 remarkably in the rumen(P0.05). The activities of SOD,T-AOC in the serum was the highest in 55∶45(P0.01);The activities of GSH-Px in the serum was the lowest in 55∶45(P0.01);Compared with 50∶50 and 60∶40,the contents of MDA in the serum in 55∶45 had no significant difference(P0.05),but was lower than that in other concentrate ratio(P0.05);Compared with 60∶40,the contents of OH· in 55∶45 was not significantly different in the serum(P0.05),but was lower than that in other concentrate ratio(P0.05). The results indicated that forage to concentrate ratio significantly influenced the homeostasis of rumen and oxidative stress of body.