Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Tidal Inundation on CO 2 Exchange between Salt Marshes and the Atmosphere

Abstract. Salt marshes are among the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Earth and globally sequester an average of 210 g C m−2 yr−1. To understand the role of this ecosystem in the carbon cycle and its changes as a result of rapid climate change and human disturbance, a baseline record particularly on carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange between this ecosystem and atmosphere needs to be established. The goal of this study is to determine the effects tide events on the exchange of CO2 in a salt marsh ecosystem dominated by Spartina alterniflora using the eddy-covariance method near Sapelo Island, GA. Two eddy-covariance systems were set up in July 2013 to capture 10 Hz data of CO2. Results show that during daytime high tide events, a reduction of CO2 exchange was observed. The conditions with a high tide to vegetation ratio had smaller CO2 exchange when compared to conditions with a low tide ratio. Total daytime monthly reduction of CO2 exchange for August 2014 was 15 %. A greater total reduction of CO2 exchange of 40 % was recorded for high tide events with tide ratio of 0.75–1.0. In comparison of the effect of neap tide and spring tide on CO2 exchange, neap tide days showed a greater CO2 exchange as compared to spring tide days for May and October 2014, respectively. The inclusion of such results has implications to quantify the carbon budget and its changes as sea level rises.
2289-2117 ( O ) / 2289-2109 ( P ) Measuring Takaful Agents ’ Understanding Towards The Objectives and Concepts of Takaful Marhanum

As the Takaful industry increasingly taking innovative steps to improvise their marketing efforts, the introduction of Wakala system (agency system) is further enhanced. Takaful agents not only oblige to sell Takaful products, but they are also responsible to educate public pertaining to the objective and importance of Takaful products. Without excellent and proper understanding, the Takaful agents would fail to fulfill their responsibility to market the Takaful products. This study thus, investigates the Takaful agents’ understanding towards the objective and concept of Takaful besides the factors that contribute to their understanding. In addition, it is done to confirm the measurement items constructed to examine the agents’ knowledge on Takaful objectives and concept. Self constructed survey questionnaire was distributed to agents of Prudential Bsn Takaful Bhd. A descriptive statistic analysis and factor analysis was utilised to measure the level of understanding among the agents and also the factors contributed to their understanding. Results indicated that the level of understanding among the Takaful agents still discontented. Furthermore, learning culture has become the most influential factor to enhance the agents’ understanding. Overall, the results of this study would reflect the Takaful industry to prepare an effective learning environment to their agents in order to strengthen their marketing efforts. © 2013 The IIUM Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance.
Analysis of the National Childhood Obesity Database 2005-06

This report looks at the first year of data collection on childhood obesity and the difficulties of this project. This report summarises the data available and provides high level analysis of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the children measured in 2005-06. The report was produced for the Department of Health by the South East Public Health Observatory on behalf of the Association of Public Health Observatories, and published in December 2006.
Designing a Control System for an Airplane Wing Flutter Employing Gas Actuators

The wing flutter is a dynamic instability of a flight vehicle associated with the interaction of aerodynamic, elastic, and inertial forces (aeroelastics phenomena). In this study, just the primary control is investigated. Also, in order to control the two-dimensional wing flutter, the force jet and pulse width pulse frequency (PWPF) are suggested. The PWPF modulator has the advantage of almost linear operation, low jet gas consumption, flexibility in addressing various needs, and good accuracy in presence of oscillations. This scheme makes use of quasi-steady dynamic premises and incompressible flow, as well as the thin airfoil theory. It should be noted that, to justify the application of the aerodynamic theory, we have speculated that the thruster jet ejected through a nozzle with a diameter smaller than several millimeters has a supersonic regime (with Mach number of the order of ). Consequently, the interference of the thruster jet in the boundary layer, flow, and circulation around the airfoil which are characterized by low speed would be negligible. The operation of the jet as a thruster is handled by the PWPF modulator, and the process output is fed back to the system via a PD controller. In order to control the wing flutter oscillation, the location of installing the actuator on the airfoil is investigated.
Microseismic and seismic denoising via ensemble empirical mode decomposition and adaptive thresholding

Random and coherent noise exists in microseismic and seismic data, and suppressing noise is a crucial step in seismic processing. We have developed a novel seismic denoising method, based on ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) combined with adaptive thresholding. A signal was decomposed into individual components called intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). Each decomposed signal was then compared with those IMFs resulting from a white-noise realization to determine if the original signal contained structural features or white noise only. A thresholding scheme then removed all nonstructured portions. Our scheme is very flexible, and it is applicable in a variety of domains or in a diverse set of data. For instance, it can serve as an alternative for random noise removal by band-pass filtering in the time domain or spatial prediction filtering in the frequency-offset domain to enhance the lateral coherence of seismic sections. We have determined its potential for microseismic and reflection seismic denoising by comparing its performance on synthetic and field data using a variety of methods including band-pass filtering, basis pursuit denoising, frequency-offset deconvolution, and frequency-offset empirical mode decomposition.
Closed-loop surface-related multiple elimination and its application to simultaneous data reconstruction

Surface-related multiple elimination (SRME) is one of the most commonly used methods for suppressing surface multiples. However, to obtain an accurate surface multiple estimation, dense source and receiver sampling is required. The traditional approach to this problem is performing data interpolation prior to multiple estimation. Although appropriate in many cases, this methodology fails when big data gaps are present or when relevant information is not recovered, e.g., near-offset data in shallow-water environments. We have developed a solution in which multiple estimation was performed simultaneously with data reconstruction, such that data reconstruction helped obtain better multiple estimates and in which the physical primary-multiple relationship helped constrain the data interpolation. To accomplish this, we proposed to extend the recently introduced closed-loop SRME (CL-SRME) algorithm to account for primary estimation in the case of coarsely sampled data. We achieved this by introducing a focal-domain parameterization of the primaries in a sparsity-promoting CL-SRME method. Results proved that the method was capable of reliably estimating primaries data in case of shallow water and with large undersampling factors.
Calcium hydroxide curing for accelerated carbonation testing of high volume fly ash cementitious blends

The authors wish to acknowledge the team of the Laboratory of Building Materials of University of Minho and the Unit for Research and Development Materials of ESTG from Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo in this research collaboration. Also thank Secil SA, BASF SA and Mota Engil by its kindly supply of cement, superplasticizer and fly ash, respectively. SEM and XRD facilities were funded by FEDER Funds through QREN - Aviso SAIECT- IEC/2/2010, Operacao NORTE-07-0162-FEDER-000050.
NEURAL NETWORK BASED STUDIES ON SPEITROSCOPIC ANALYSIS AND IMAGE PROCESSING CHAPTER 4 LEARNING BASED SUPER- RESOLUTION OF BINARY IMAGES WITH DISCRETE COSINE TRANSFORMS

Super-resolution is the process of obtaining an imagc at a resolution higher than that afforded by the physical sensor. Supcrresolution has been used in obtaining high quality image prints and has found applications in areas such as surveillance and automatic target recognition. This chaptcr aims the issue of image magnification (in optical images the issue is refcncd as interpolation, zooming, enlargement ete) from a finite set of collected data sampled at Nyquis\ rate. Cunently, there are many algorithms capable of achicving superresolution. The best known super-resolution algorithms is first publishcd by Gerchberg (1974) and later by Papoulis (1975). For the reconstruction of the image j(x, y), these algorithms rely on the prior knowledge of the original object which is the major disadvantage of these algorithms. In most of the cases a priori knowledge of the object is not known. A different supencsolution algorithm, known as Poissonmaximum a posteriori ( Poisson-MAP or PMAP), was developed by Hunt (1974). It is also an iterative algorithm that constructs the Baycs MAP
H–C NMR spectra

Background: Interest in the detailed lignin and polysaccharide composition of plant cell walls has surged within the past decade partly as a result of biotechnology research aimed at converting biomass to biofuels. High-resolution, solution-state 2D H–C HSQC NMR spectroscopy has proven to be an effective tool for rapid and reproducible fingerprinting of the numerous polysaccharides and lignin components in unfractionated plant cell wall materials, and is therefore a powerful tool for cell wall profiling based on our ability to simultaneously identify and comparatively quantify numerous components within spectra generated in a relatively short time. However, assigning peaks in new spectra, integrating them to provide relative component distributions, and producing color-assigned spectra, are all current bottlenecks to the routine use of such NMR profiling methods. Results: We have assembled a high-throughput software platform for plant cell wall profiling that uses spectral deconvolution by Fast Maximum Likelihood Reconstruction (FMLR) to construct a mathematical model of the signals present in a set of related NMR spectra. Combined with a simple region of interest (ROI) table that maps spectral regions to NMR chemical shift assignments of chemical entities, the reconstructions can provide rapid and reproducible fingerprinting of numerous polysaccharide and lignin components in unfractionated cell wall material, including derivation of lignin monomer unit (S:G:H) ratios or the so-called SGH profile. Evidence is presented that ROI-based amplitudes derived from FMLR provide a robust feature set for subsequent multivariate analysis. The utility of this approach is demonstrated on a large transgenic study of Arabidopsis requiring concerted analysis of 91 ROIs (including both assigned and unassigned regions) in the lignin and polysaccharide regions of almost 100 related 2D H–C HSQC spectra. (Continued on next page) * Correspondence: rchylla@wisc.edu DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, The Wisconsin Energy Institute, 1552 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726, USA Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin Madison, 433 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2013 Chylla et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Chylla et al. Biotechnology for Biofuels 2013, 6:45 http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels. com/content/6/1/45
Interventions for successful recycling of nutrients and energy from food waste - How can Swedish municipalities overcome barriers for a sustainable food waste management system?

One of the interim targets in the Swedish national Good Built Environment objective states that biological treatment of source separated food waste should be a priority. The goal of biologically treating 35 percent of all municipal food waste in 2010 was not achieved, and a proposed target for 2015 raises the bar even further (40 percent). The way the proposed milestone target is phrased excludes composting as a treatment option by stating that nutrients and energy from food waste should be utilised, a requirement satisfied by anaerobic digestion (biogas production). This study assesses barriers experienced by municipalities and other waste actors in terms of implementing food waste collection systems. By interviewing a rather large sample of municipalities, waste companies and waste/biogas experts, and by organising the findings by help of an analytical framework, suggestions for policy interventions have been made. The study concludes that the national government must announce a clear vision for biogas production by including a measurable target, along with other policies like continued tax exemptions on biogas (used as vehicle fuel) and investment grants to support the production and demand for biogas. Successful biogas production paves the way for increased food waste collection. A tax on incineration of food waste should be introduced to make anaerobic digestion more attractive. Municipalities should collaborate more across borders as well as with other actors for knowledge sharing and to help raise investment funding. Finally, a mixture of policy instruments such as including food waste collection in the municipal waste disposal plan (administrative instrument), using environmentally differentiated waste charges as financial incentives (economic instrument) and assessing information activities (informative instrument) comprehensively forms the base of a successful policy intervention on the local level.
Spreading function representation of operators and Gabor multiplier approximation

Modication of signals in the time-frequency domain are used in many applications. However, the modication is often restricted to be purely multiplicative. In this paper, it is shown that, in the continuous case, a quite general class of operators can be represented by a twisted convolution in the short-time Fourier transform domain. The discrete case of Gabor transforms turns out to be more intricate. A similar representation will however be derived by means of a special form for the operator’s spreading function (twisted spline type function). The connection between STFT- and Gabor-multipliers, their spreading function and the twisted convolution representation will be investigated. A precise characterization of the best approximation and its existence is given for both cases. Finally, the concept of Gabor multipliers is generalized to better approximate \overspread" operators.
Homotopy groups and twisted homology of arrangements R

Now M is the complement of a real codimension two subset of R and so has numerous topological properties of interest. Here we focus on the homotopy theory of the complement. Since the fundamental group of the complement D 1.M /is fairly rich in structure, it makes sense to look at covers of the complement. Equivalently one may look at homology or homotopy with coefficients in RD ZŒ  modules or at local system homology. Two results motivate this study. The first is found in Randell [10]; the untwisted Hurewicz homomorphism hW k.M /! Hk.M IZ/ is trivial for k > 1. On the other hand, Yoshinaga [12] has shown that the twisted Hurewicz homomorphism maps onto certain twisted homology for nonresonant local systems, in the case that M is a generic section of another hyperplane arrangement. In this work we generalize both these results while giving a unified treatment.
An evaluation of frailty factors among elderly and their mutual links in elderly women in the Olomouc region

Background: Ageing has a significant impact on the functional status and capacity in physical, cognitive, sensory and nutritional areas. The age-related changes include changes in body composition as well as changes in the musculoskeletal system including a significant loss of muscle mass and demineralization of bone. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between selected parameters of frailty factors in older women from the Olomouc region. Methods: The research group consisted of 225 women (aged 60-81 years) attending University of the Third Age at the Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University Olomouc and women from senior clubs in Olomouc. Body composition was assessed by multifrequency bioelectrical impedance. Muscle strength in the hand flexors was evaluated using a digital pinch grip. Information on bone density was obtained through local densitometer. To verify the strength of relation between variables Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. Results: Relationship between body composition, muscle strength and bone density proved to be statistically significant. Moderate positive correlation was found between the grip strengths of both hands, bone density of both calcaneus and the amount of fat-free mass, muscle mass, cell mass and the size of the basal metabolic rate in range from . 41 to . 49. The relationship between muscle strength and bone density was weak (r < .30) but statistically significant. Conclusions: These results confirm the relationship between aspects of the frailty of elderly women, especially the relationship between muscle strength, bone density and selected parameters of body composition.
2-17516 p001-12 Nemdj

Klink, V. P., G. W. Lawrence, P. D. Matsye, and K. C. Showmaker. 2010. The application of a developmental genomics approach to study the resistant reaction of soybean to the soybean cyst nematode. Nematropica 40:1-11. The infection of plants by parasitic nematodes is a ubiquitous problem of agriculture. While all plant tissues can be parasitized by plant parasitic nematodes, the root parasites are the most important, economically. Infections are either compatible, resulting in a susceptible reaction or incompatible, resulting in plant resistance to the nematode. During a compatible reaction, nurse cells that the nematode feeds from are stimulated to form. The nematode can successfully complete its life cycle because ample nourishment is available to the nematode from the nurse cell. In contrast, the resistant reaction that leads to nematode mortality is localized to the nurse cell and sometimes the cells directly surrounding the nurse cell. During the resistant reaction the anatomy of the cells fed on by the nematode initially resemble cells undergoing a compatible reaction. However, a variety of cellular changes occur that results in the collapse of the nurse cell leading to nematode mortality. Gene expression analyses point to jasmonic acid being an important signaling event, locally in the syncytium, during the resistant reaction. This review focuses in on cell isolation procedures and genomics tools that have assisted in the analyzing gene expression of these feeding cells as they undergo a resistant reaction in an agricultural model system soybean-soybean cyst nematode.
A lot of managing, a little leading : the work of newly appointed secondary deputy principals and assistant principals : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration at Massey University

This study examines the perceptions of a group of newly appointed, New Zealand secondary deputy and assistant principals. The study is set against two dominant educational discourses of the last two decades: the reforming discourse of the 1990s, which positioned school principals as chief executive officers with business and management skills; and a leadership discourse which emphasises leadership over management and the role of the principal as the educational leader of the school. The focus of the latter is on improving student achievement and developing and maintaining an effective school. In both discourses the importance of the principal has been established and reinforced through legal and policy decisions and initiatives. The review of the literature shows, however, few studies about DPs/APs and their professional work in either discourse. The purpose of the research is to undertake a qualitative case study of newly appointed secondary DPs/APs in 2006 and their perceptions of their work as leaders and managers as they began their new work and then six months later. The study used two questionnaires, and in-depth interviews with six DPs/APs. The first questionnaire collected demographic information about this group, as well as to their understandings of the work they would do as they took up their new positions. In-depth interviews of six DPs/APs were carried out to explore their leadership and management work six months into the job, which was supplemented with a follow-up questionnaire to the other participants. It is intended that the research will provide greater understandings of the work of a group of school leaders and managers about who little is known and whose voice is not heard in the educational leadership discourse. Many findings in this study reinforced previous findings from a small number of other studies. In particular, the work of DPs/APs was heavy, reactive and largely managerial, although the extent of this was largely unanticipated. Many of these newly appointed DPs/APs wanted a greater balance between the leadership and management aspects of their work. The principal remained the most important influence on their professional work, which was largely learnt on the job without any formal professional development. The importance of previous experience acting in the role emerged as important in understanding and gaining confidence in the position. By far the greatest challenge facing these newly appointed DPs/APs was staff relationships, which highlighted issues of power and authority that arose moving from a predominantly teaching role to that of a senior manager.
A weak formulation for a rate-independent delamination evolution with inertial and viscosity effects subjected to unilateral constraint

We consider a system of two viscoelastic bodies attached on one edge by an adhesive where delamination process occurs. We study the dynamic of the system subjected to external forces, suitable boundary conditions, and an unilateral constraint on the jump of the displacement at the interface between the bodies. The constraint arises in a graph inclusion, while the delamination coefficient evolves in a rate-independent way. We prove the existence of a weak solution to the corresponding system of PDEs.
An Unusual Hailstorm on 24 June 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. Part I: Mesoscale Setting and Radar Features

Abstract An unusual, isolated hailstorm descended on Boulder, Colorado, on the evening of 24 June 2006. Starting with scattered large, flattened, disk-shaped hailstones and ending with a deluge of slushy hail that was over 4 cm deep on the ground, the storm lasted no more than 20 min and did surprisingly little damage except to vegetation. Part I of this two-part paper examines the meteorological conditions preceding the storm and the signatures it exhibited on Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) displays. There was no obvious upper-tropospheric forcing for this storm, vertical shear of the low-level wind was minimal, the boundary layer air feeding the storm was not very moist (maximum dewpoint 8.5°C), and convective available potential energy calculated from a modified air parcel was at most 1550 J kg−1. Despite these handicaps, the hail-producing storm had low-level reflectivity exceeding 70 dBZ, produced copious low-density hail, exhibited strong rotation, and generated three extensive bo.