Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The allocation of ecosystem net primary productivity in tropical forests

The allocation of the net primary productivity (NPP) of an ecosystem between canopy, woody tissue and fine roots is an important descriptor of the functioning of that ecosystem, and an important feature to correctly represent in terrestrial ecosystem models. Here, we collate and analyse a global dataset of NPP allocation in tropical forests, and compare this with the representation of NPP allocation in 13 terrestrial ecosystem models. On average, the data suggest an equal partitioning of allocation between all three main components (mean 34 ± 6% canopy, 39 ± 10% wood, 27 ± 11% fine roots), but there is substantial site-to-site variation in allocation to woody tissue versus allocation to fine roots. Allocation to canopy (leaves, flowers and fruit) shows much less variance. The mean allocation of the ecosystem models is close to the mean of the data, but the spread is much greater, with several models reporting allocation partitioning outside of the spread of the data. Where all main components of NPP cannot be measured, litterfall is a good predictor of overall NPP (r2 = 0.83 for linear fit forced through origin), stem growth is a moderate predictor and fine root production a poor predictor. Across sites the major component of variation of allocation is a shifting allocation between wood and fine roots, with allocation to the canopy being a relatively invariant component of total NPP. This suggests the dominant allocation trade-off is a ‘fine root versus wood’ trade-off, as opposed to the expected ‘root–shoot’ trade-off; such a trade-off has recently been posited on theoretical grounds for old-growth forest stands. We conclude by discussing the systematic biases in estimates of allocation introduced by missing NPP components, including herbivory, large leaf litter and root exudates production. These biases have a moderate effect on overall carbon allocation estimates, but are smaller than the observed range in allocation values across sites.
Sample size in validity studies of personnel selection

This report presents the results of several meta-analyses in which samples in the articles published in Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Personnel Psychology from 1983 to 1994 were integrated. The findings show that in the last decade a small increase in sample size has been observed in relation to sample size of studies published two or three decades ago. However, the mean sample continues to be of a small size. This last finding suggests that sampling error continues to be the most important artifactual error for explaining the variability of validity coefficients. Some implications for the confidence intervals and power analysis are discussed.
A compact memory space of dynamic full-text search using Bi-gram index

Full-text search is widely used for various services of the Internet. A more high-speed and a more efficient full-text search technology are necessary because of the amount of increasing handled document and corresponding document data every day. This work proposes an adaptive block management algorithm that is efficient for dynamic, data management method. This algorithm is applied for inverted file searching. The new method is speeding up character string retrieval by first making the full-text search of Uni-gram and by the full-text search of Bi-gram. This work proposes a method of enhancing the static full-text search system of Bi-gram to the dynamic full-text search system of Bi-gram. Moreover, This work presents an efficient achievement method of the dynamic full-text search system of Bi-gram using effectiveness of the adaptive block management structure.
Recognition of cloned vesicular stomatitis virus internal and external gene products by cytotoxic T lymphocytes

It has generally been assumed that most if not all CTL specific for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-infected cells recognize the viral glycoprotein (G), an integral membrane protein abundantly expressed on infected cell surfaces. Using recombinant vaccinia viruses containing copies of cloned VSV genes to examine CTL recognition of VSV, we have confirmed that G is recognized by VSV-specific CTL. More interestingly, however, we have also found that nucleocapsid protein (N), an internal virion protein, can be detected on infected cell surfaces using mAb, and serves as a major target antigen for VSV-specific CTL. In contrast to the highly serotype-specific recognition of G, N is recognized by a major population of CTL able to lyse cells infected with either the Indiana or New Jersey VSV serotypes. Using target cells expressing a cloned MHC class I gene, we could directly show that CTL recognition of N occurs in the context of the MHC Ld molecule.
DC programming based ellipsoid bounding algorithm for guaranteed state estimation

This paper presents a new ellipsoid bounding algorithm in the framework of the set-membership filter for real-time state estimation of nonlinear systems with bounded-error assumptions. The nonlinear model of the system is linearized as the normal extended Kalman filter does, but the linearization errors are taken into account and outer bounded strictly by DC programming approach, which will be propagated to the model errors with ellipsoidal approximations. An ellipsoid bounding algorithm composed of ellipsoid summing and iterative ellipsoid-strip intersection steps is proposed to give the feasible set estimation of the states in which they are guaranteed to lie, with some approximations to keep the trade-off between the computation complexity and conservativeness of the whole algorithm. Simulation results are given by comparing our proposed algorithm to the extended set-membership algorithm to show the performance improvements of the new algorithm.
Caenorhabditis elegans Histone Methyltransferase MET-2 Shields the Male X Chromosome from Checkpoint Machinery and Mediates Meiotic Sex Chromosome Inactivation

Meiosis is a specialized form of cellular division that results in the precise halving of the genome to produce gametes for sexual reproduction. Checkpoints function during meiosis to detect errors and subsequently to activate a signaling cascade that prevents the formation of aneuploid gametes. Indeed, asynapsis of a homologous chromosome pair elicits a checkpoint response that can in turn trigger germline apoptosis. In a heterogametic germ line, however, sex chromosomes proceed through meiosis with unsynapsed regions and are not recognized by checkpoint machinery. We conducted a directed RNAi screen in Caenorhabditis elegans to identify regulatory factors that prevent recognition of heteromorphic sex chromosomes as unpaired and uncovered a role for the SET domain histone H3 lysine 9 histone methyltransferase (HMTase) MET-2 and two additional HMTases in shielding the male X from checkpoint machinery. We found that MET-2 also mediates the transcriptional silencing program of meiotic sex chromosome inactivation (MSCI) but not meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin (MSUC), suggesting that these processes are distinct. Further, MSCI and checkpoint shielding can be uncoupled, as double-strand breaks targeted to an unpaired, transcriptionally silenced extra-chromosomal array induce checkpoint activation in germ lines depleted for met-2. In summary, our data uncover a mechanism by which repressive chromatin architecture enables checkpoint proteins to distinguish between the partnerless male X chromosome and asynapsed chromosomes thereby shielding the lone X from inappropriate activation of an apoptotic program.
Dichotomy in the Emotional Approaches of Caretakers of Free-Roaming Cats in Urban Feeding Groups: Findings from In-Depth Interviews

ABSTRACT Although the occurrence of cat-caretaking of free-roaming cats is widespread, particularly so in countries with a climate suitable for cats to reproduce year-round, our knowledge of this relationship is still incomplete. People who engage in daily activities of feeding and caring for groups of free-roaming cats (cat caretakers) are known to be devoted to their cats and invest considerable resources in their care, including neutering and veterinary care. These caretakers often encounter difficulties, such as resentment by neighbors and lack of cooperation or financing by the municipal veterinary services. Despite the fundamental understanding of these caretakers' high daily commitment, and sometimes strong bond with the cats, detailed knowledge is still lacking regarding the nature of this bond, the difficulties that ensue from this daily occupation, and the relationship between the two. The purpose of this study was thus to acquire a deeper understanding, by means of an in-depth interview with cat caretakers. The study has identified, for the first time, two distinct emotional approaches that accompany extensive caretaking for free-roaming cats: emotional attachment and emotional detachment. We show how these two different responses affect both social and financial aspects in the caretakers' lives, and report on the ways in which these individuals experience cat caretaking. Our findings provide a first systematic understanding of the relationship between the level of technical caretaking (feeding, medical care, etc.) and the level of emotional involvement, and reveal the ambivalence often inherent in human–animal relations in general and the caretaker–cat bond in particular. The understanding acquired here can be put into practice to reduce the emotional and technical difficulties experienced by cat caretakers, as well as to improve free-roaming cat management efforts and cat welfare. By increasing public and municipal awareness of the possible contribution of cat caretakers to cat management, and of the emotional and technical difficulties they experience, both the caretakers and other community members can benefit.
Enhanced Perception of User Intention by Combining EEG and Gaze-Tracking for Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs)

Speller UI systems tend to be less accurate because of individual variation and the noise of EEG signals. Therefore, we propose a new method to combine the EEG signals and gaze-tracking. This research is novel in the following four aspects. First, two wearable devices are combined to simultaneously measure both the EEG signal and the gaze position. Second, the speller UI system usually has a 6 × 6 matrix of alphanumeric characters, which has disadvantage in that the number of characters is limited to 36. Thus, a 12 × 12 matrix that includes 144 characters is used. Third, in order to reduce the highlighting time of each of the 12 × 12 rows and columns, only the three rows and three columns (which are determined on the basis of the 3 × 3 area centered on the user's gaze position) are highlighted. Fourth, by analyzing the P300 EEG signal that is obtained only when each of the 3 × 3 rows and columns is highlighted, the accuracy of selecting the correct character is enhanced. The experimental results showed that the accuracy of proposed method was higher than the other methods.
Gender-controlled measures of socially desirable responding.

Items in various scales that measure socially desirable responding (SDR) appear to vary in significance in male and female respondents. Recent findings suggest that females are more sensitive to the contents of more than two-thirds of such items. As a result, scales that measure SDR cannot be considered gender balanced, not to mention gender free. We examined three levels at which SDR items can be construed as gender controlled and arrived at a formula for item selection in the development of gender-controlled scales. Application of the formula resulted in the 10-item Gender-Free Inventory of Desirable Responding (GFIDR), with an inter-item reliability of . 68, and the 12-item Gender Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (GBIDR), with an inter-item reliability of . 71. The distribution characteristics of the two scales suggested that gender differences in the higher moments should be considered in the interpretation of results based on otherwise gender-controlled scales.
Student Entrepreneurs as Agents of Organizational Change and Social Transformation: a Grassroots Leadership Perspective

The purpose of this article is to illustrate organizational change that is created through the grassroots leadership of socially-oriented student entrepreneurs. The implications of organizational change created by such student entrepreneurs who act as bottom-up leaders are explored at the institutional level (single university) and at the field level (higher education sector). The empirical point of analysis is the student-led emergence and establishment of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) in the Haas School of Business at the University of California – Berkeley. This competition has led to organizational change not only within the university, but also across the global higher education sector through contributions made to a larger student-led movement to influence social change and the betterment of society through entrepreneurship. Student entrepreneurship is explored in the context of a grassroots student movement that sometimes leverages the market and market-like conditions of colleges and universities to create both organizational change and social transformation. This study is particularly relevant to scholars interested in organizational change within contemporary market-oriented environments of higher education and in social movements that involve student leadership.
A survey of hard spectrum ROSAT sources – I. X‐ray source catalogue

We present a catalogue of 147 serendipitous X-ray sources selected to have hard spectra (alpha 10(-14) erg cm(-2) s(-1). If their N(S) continues to fainter fluxes, the hard sources will comprise similar to 40 per cent of sources with 5x10(-15)<S < 10(-14) erg cm(-2) s(-1). The population of hard sources can therefore account for the harder average spectra of ROSAT sources with S < 10(-14) erg cm(-2) s(-1). They probably make a strong contribution to the X-ray background at faint fluxes and could be the solution to the X-ray background spectral paradox.
Personality change in dementia of the Alzheimer type

Although cognitive impairment is the predominant feature of dementia, personality changes are also frequently reported. This study aimed to describe the nature of personality change in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and the relationship of this change to cognitive decline. An informant‐based instrument was developed based on a personality inventory designed by Lewis Goldberg for measuring personality in the normal population. Twenty‐eight clinicians used this inventory to rate the difference between people suffering from DAT and normal elderly people. Differences were found in all five factors of personality, with Conscientiousness and Intellect showing the most difference and Agreeableness showing the least difference. Based on the findings of this first study, a smaller questionnaire of 46 traits was developed. This was completed by 50 relatives of DAT patients, 50 relatives of controls and 167 carers of dementia sufferers recruited from Alzheimer’s Association support groups. Principal components analysis revealed a large factor which accounted for 33% of the variance suggesting a global change in personality. Rotation revealed three meaningful factors. Two of these factors were highly correlated to cognitive decline while the third showed only a moderate correlation. The significance of these results is discussed.
Strategic Planning in Highly Dinamic Competitive Contexts - A Study of Italian Mobile Network Operators

Strategic management formulation and implementation in highly dynamic competitive scenarios is a challenging task. This is the case of the Mobile Telephony segment of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. In this competitive setting, potentially disruptive changes in both marketing and technological dimensions are the norm, as attested by the recent decrease in voice-related revenues by Mobile Network Operators (MNO) and the consequent rise in mobile data traffic. In this context, this paper aims to contribute to the literature on Strategic Technology Management by proposing an interpretative framework to support strategic decision making in dynamic, competitive contexts characterized by disruptive changes in both technology and business dimensions. The proposed framework is based on empirical research conducted at the four MNOs operating in Italy and allows identifying drivers of potentially disruptive change and their implications on a firm’s business model. The framework use is illustrated through the analysis of the Italian Mobile Telephony industry. Finally, the research also highlighted the main strategic routes MNOs have at their disposal to face the turbulent competitive times ahead. These include specific strategic actions to cope with the issues of mobile bandwidth scarcity and decreasing voice-related revenues. A summary of MNOs future strategic positioning options is also
A 130-$\mu$ W, 64-Channel Neural Spike-Sorting DSP Chip

Spike sorting is an important processing step in various neuroscientific and clinical studies. Energy-efficient spike-sorting ASICs are necessary to allow real-time processing of multi-channel, wireless neural recordings. Spike-sorting ASICs have to meet stringent power-density constraints and must provide significant data-rate reduction for wireless transmission. Most existing designs either provide only spike detection for multi-channel processing, or they provide detection and feature extraction only for a single channel. In this paper, we demonstrate the design of a spike-sorting DSP chip that can perform detection, alignment, and feature extraction simultaneously for 64 channels. Spike-sorting algorithms chosen based on a complexity-performance analysis were implemented on ASIC using a MATLAB/Simulink-based architecture design framework. Energy-delay tradeoffs of the design were analyzed to identify the optimal degree of interleaving. The chip was implemented with a modular architecture, and can be configured to process 16, 32, 48, or 64 channels. Inactive cores are power-gated when the chip is operated to process a reduced number of channels. The chip, implemented in a 90-nm CMOS process, has a power dissipation of 130 μW (power density of 30 μW/mm2) when processing all 64 channels and provides a data-rate reduction of 91.25% (11.71 Mb/s to 1.02 Mb/s).
An eigenspace-based approach for human fall detection using Integrated Time Motion Image and Neural Network

Falls are a major health hazard for the elderly and a serious obstacle for independent living. Since falling causes dramatic physical-psychological consequences, development of intelligent video surveillance systems is so important due to providing safe environments. To this end, this paper proposes a novel approach for human fall detection based on combination of integrated time motion images and eigenspace technique. Integrated time motion image (ITMI) is a type of spatio-temporal database that includes motion and time of motion occurrence. Applying eigenspace technique to ITMIs leads in extracting eigen-motion and finally MLP Neural Network is used for precise classification of motions and determination of a fall event. Unlike existent fall detection systems only deal with limited movement patterns, we considered wide range of motions consisting normal daily life activities, abnormal behaviors and also unusual events. Reliable recognition rate of experimental results underlines satisfactory performance of our system.
The processing of case in near-native Spanish

This article reports a study that sought to determine whether non-native sentence comprehension can show sensitivity to two different types of Spanish case marking. Sensitivity to case violations was generally more robust with indirect objects in ditransitive constructions than with differential object marking of animate direct objects, even among native speakers of Spanish, which probably reflects linguistic differences in the two types of case. In addition, the overall outcome of two experiments shows that second language (L2) processing can integrate case information, but that, unlike with native processing, attention to a case marker may depend on the presence of a preverbal clitic as an additional cue to the types of postverbal arguments that might occur in a stimulus. Specifically, L2 readers showed no sensitivity to differential object marking with a in the absence of clitics in the first experiment, with stimuli such as Verónica visita al/el presidente todos los meses ‘Veronica visits the[ACC/NOM] president every month’, but the L2 readers in the second experiment showed native-like sensitivity to the same marker when the object it marked was doubled by the clitic lo, as in Verónica lo visita al/el presidente todos los meses. With indirect objects, on the other hand, sensitivity to case markers was native-like in both experiments, although indirect objects were also always doubled by the preverbal clitic le. The apparent first language / second language contrast suggests differences in processing strategy, whereby non-native processing of morphosyntax may rely more on the predictability of forms than does native processing.
Probing the Single Key Amino Acid Responsible for the Novel Catalytic Function of ent-Kaurene Oxidase Supported by NADPH-Cytochrome P450 Reductases in Tripterygium wilfordii

Tripterygium wilfordii produces not only ent-kaurene, which is an intermediate of gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis in flowering plants, but also 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane, whose physiological role has not been characterized. The two compounds are biosynthesized from the universal diterpenoid precursor (E,E,E)-geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) by diterpene synthases, which have been discovered and functionally characterized in T. wilfordii. Here, we described the functional characterization of four cytochrome P450 reductases (TwCPR) and one ent-kaurene oxidase (TwKO). Four TwCPRs were found to have relatively ubiquitous expression in T. wilfordii root, stem, leaf, and flower tissues. Co-expression of both a TwCPR and TwKO in yeast showed that TwCPR3 has a slightly better activity for providing the electrons required for these reactions, indicating that TwCPR3 is more suitable for use in the functional analysis of other cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. TwKO catalyzed the three-step oxidation of the C4α methyl of the tetracyclic diterpene intermediate ent-kaurene to form ent-kaurenoic acid as an early step in GA biosynthesis. Notably, TwKO could also convert 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane to 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurenoic acid, indicating an important function of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane in the anti-HIV principle tripterifordin biosynthetic pathway in planta. Homology modeling and molecular docking were used to investigate the unknown crucial active amino acid residue involved in the catalytic reaction of TwKO, and one key residue (Leu387) contributed to the formation of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurenoic acid, most likely by forming hydrogen bonds with the hydroxyl group (-OH) of 16α-hydroxy-ent-kaurane, which laid the basis for further investigation of the multifunctional nature of KO catalysis. Also, our findings paved the way for the complete biosynthesis of the anti-HIV principle tripterifordin.