Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphology, Biometry and Distribution of Difflugia biwae Kawamura, 1918 (Protozoa: Rhizopoda)

The freshwater testate amoeba Difflugia biwae Kawamura, 1918, isolated from Mulan Lake, Hubei Province, China is investigated using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The morphology, biometry and distribution of this little known species are supplied. After careful comparison with three other similar species, including D. delicatula Gauthier-Livre et Thomas, D. elegans Penard and D. oblonga caudata Stepanek, we believe that the characteristics of smooth fusiform shell, conspicuous great collar flare (always larger than body-width) around the aperture, constriction behind the aperture and a somewhat curved aboral horn set D. biwae apart from all other Difflugia species. This species shows a great diversity in total length, collar height and aboral horn length which have high variability (CV between 11.76 and 24.52). However, body width, collar diameter, neck width, body length and aperture diameter are fairly constant with low variability (CV between 5.34 and 8.79) which shows a remarkable uniformity of D. biwae. Also, the size frequency distributions of both body width and body length yield bell-shaped (normally distributed) curves and indicate that D. biwae is a size-monomorphic species, characterized by a main-size class and a small size range. D. biwae is probably endemic to East Asia (China and Japan) because it has such a large size (165-306 mu m) that it would have been easily found in Europe and North America, if it were there. Consequently, D. biwae must have a restricted geographical distribution, disproving the old hypothesis that microscopic organisms are cosmopolitan.
CHARACTERIZATION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF PHYTOSYNTHESISED SILVER NANOPARTICLES USING CALENDULA OFFICINALIS EXTRACT

The present paper describes an eco-friendly bottom-up approach to design metallic nanoparticles with biomedical potential. The aim of the study was to characterize in terms of antioxidant activity the silver nanoparticles obtained using Calendula officinalis petals extract. First of all, a visual inspection confirmed the formation of silver nanostructures by colour changing of the sample. The bioreduction of silver ions was analyzed by modern analytical techniques (UV‐VIS, FTIR (Fourier transformed IR spectroscopy), XRF (energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy)). Antioxidant activity of the silver nanostructures was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) method. The antioxidant activity of the phytosynthesised nanoparticles proved to be superior to the results of the extract. Rezumat Lucrarea descrie o abordare eco-friendly, de tip bottom-up, pentru obținerea nanoparticulelor metalice. Scopul acestui studiu a fost de a caracteriza din punct de vedere al activității antioxidante nanoparticulele de argint obținute, folosind extract de petale de Calendula officinalis. In primul rând, vizual s-a confirmat formarea de nanostructuri de argint prin schimbarea culorii probei. Bioreducerea ionilor de argint a fost analizată prin tehnici analitice moderne (UV-VIS, FTIR (spectroscopie IR u transofrmata Fourier), XRF (energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence) și SEM (microscopie electronică de baleiaj)). Activitatea antioxidantă a nanostructurilor de argint a fost evaluată prin metoda DPPH (2,2difenil-1-picril-hidrazil-hidrat). Activitatea antioxidantă a nanoparticulelor fitosintetizate s-a dovedit a fi superioară celei obținute in cazul extractului.
Emotion regulation, depression and self-harming behaviours in people with borderline personality disorder: the moderating role of action vs. state orientation

results In people with borderline personality disorder, the level of emotion regulation (action vs. state orientation), reasons for living and depression are predictors of self-harming behaviour. The experience of a depressive episode or lack thereof does not have a relationship with the increase of self-harming. Analysis of the interaction between variables showed that the reasons for living and the action orientation after failure are related to the reduction of self-harming behaviour in all subjects. In depressed people, state orientation is associated with an increase in the action orientation with decreased self-destructive behaviours.
The Effect of Glycinebetaine on the Heat Stability of Photosynthetic Reactions in Thylakoid Membranes

Heat inactivation of various photosynthetic electron transport reactions were investigated in the presence/absence of glycinebetaine (betaine) in unstacked thylakoid membranes from spinach. The activity of Photosystem II (PS II) is more sensitive to heat than that of Cytochrome bf (cyt.bf) and Photosytem I (PS I) complexes. The data obtained clearly demonstrated the protection of PS II and PS I electron transfer by betaine under high temperatures. The phenomena observed are probably related to the stabilization of the higher-order structures of PS II and PS I by betaine.
Multiple BiV Stimulation Combinations by using Two RV Leads Improve Potential for Response to CRT: Results of the TriV HF ICD Study

Aims: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) nonresponder rates continue to be approximately 30%. To demonstrate the potential benefit of multiple pacing site combination options, the effect of three CRT pacing configurations with differing right ventricular (RV) lead placements were evaluated. Methods: This single center, randomized, feasibility trial evaluated three CRT pacing configurations with two RV lead positions-RV-apex (“BiV Apex”), RV-septum close to His Bundle (“BiV His”) and RV-apex+RV-septum close to His Bundle (“TriV”)-with a left ventricular (LV) lead. Changes in intraoperative LV dP/dtmax were evaluated and acute response was defined as an increase of ≥10% versus intrinsic rhythm. Chronic measures included the Packer Heart Failure Composite Response score, 6 minute hall walk (6MHW); echocardiographic, electrocardiographic and exercise tolerance parameters, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and Quality of Life. Results: Acute hemodynamic testing was completed in 34/39 patients and resulted in significant increases in LV dP/dtmax in each CRT configuration. Choosing the best of the tested BiV configurations 85% of all patients showed at least one configuration with significant dP/dtmax rise. During follow up, Packer scores improved for the majority (73%) of patients, which was consistent with improvements in QRS width, 6MHW, BNP, ejection fraction, mitral regurgitation, NYHA class, quality of life, CPX workload and peak VO2, but overall there were no significant differences in either acute or chronic response rates between the three configurations. Conclusions: Concomitant multisite pacing at the RV apex and septum nearby His bundle is feasible and effective and may provide an additional option for CRT nonresponders.
DISCOVERY OF A CANDIDATE FOR THE COOLEST KNOWN BROWN DWARF

We have used multi-epoch images from the Infrared Array Camera on board the Spitzer Space Telescope to search for substellar companions to stars in the solar neighborhood based on common proper motions. Through this work, we have discovered a faint companion to the white dwarf WD 0806-661. The comoving source has a projected separation of 130″, corresponding to 2500 AU at the distance of the primary (19.2 pc). If it is physically associated, then its absolute magnitude at 4.5 μm is ∼1 mag fainter than the faintest known T dwarfs, making it a strong candidate for the coolest known brown dwarf. The combination of M4.5 and the age of the primary (1.5 Gyr) implies an effective temperature of ∼300 K and a mass of ∼7 MJup according to theoretical evolutionary models. The white dwarf's progenitor likely had a mass of ∼2 M☉, and thus could have been born with a circumstellar disk that was sufficiently massive to produce a companion with this mass. Therefore, the companion could be either a brown dwarf that formed like a binary star or a giant planet that was born within a disk and has been dynamically scattered to a larger orbit.
Fatigue Crack Growth Rates in Pipeline Steels Using Curved

This study presents fatigue data for two different ferrite-pearlite pipeline steels. A fatigue crack growth test for full-thickness curved pipeline samples was developed using a middle tension (M(T)) specimen. Also, finite element analyses (FEAs) were carried out to show the M(T) curvature effects on the fatigue crack growth results. The two steels showed similar fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) behavior. However, the ferrite-pearlite steel without banding had slightly better fatigue properties than the ferrite-pearlite banded steel. Uncertainty in the fatigue crack growth rates was analyzed by attributing all the fatigue scatter to the Paris law parameter C. The FEA based simulations, based on curved geometries, of the compliance relationship more accurately predicted both fatigue crack growth data and true crack lengths. Nevertheless, the ASTM E647-05 compliance relationship accurately predicted the crack length for the M(T) geometry, although its use leads to slightly conservative fatigue crack growth trends and a slight overestimation of the true final crack length.
Atmospheric Data Assimilation with an Ensemble Kalman Filter: Results with Real Observations

Abstract An ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) has been implemented for atmospheric data assimilation. It assimilates observations from a fairly complete observational network with a forecast model that includes a standard operational set of physical parameterizations. To obtain reasonable results with a limited number of ensemble members, severe horizontal and vertical covariance localizations have been used. It is observed that the error growth in the data assimilation cycle is mainly due to model error. An isotropic parameterization, similar to the forecast-error parameterization in variational algorithms, is used to represent model error. After some adjustment, it is possible to obtain innovation statistics that agree with the ensemble-based estimate of the innovation amplitudes for winds and temperature. Currently, no model error is added for the humidity variable, and, consequently, the ensemble spread for humidity is too small. After about 5 days of cycling, fairly stable global filter statistics are ob.
Late Holocene glacial activity of Bridge Glacier, British Columbia Coast Mountains

Bridge Glacier is a prominent eastward-flowing valley glacier located on the east side of the Pacific Ranges within the southern British Columbia Coast Mountains. The terminus of Bridge Glacier has retreated at rates up to 125 m/year over the last 50 years and currently calves into proglacial Bridge Lake. Field investigations of the recently deglaciated terrain and moraines led to the discovery of detrital boles and glacially sheared stumps. Dendroglaciological analyses of this subfossil wood produced five radiocarbon-controlled floating tree-ring chronologies. The relative age and stratigraphic location of these samples revealed that Bridge Glacier experienced at least four periods of significant advance during the late Holocene: a Tiedemann-aged advance ca. 3000 14C years BP, an unattributed advance ca. 1900 14C years BP, a first millennium advance ca. 1500 14C years BP, and a Little Ice Age advance beginning ca. 700 14C years BP. Lichenometric investigations at eight terminal and lateral moraine comple.
M ay 2 01 4 Polarizations of χ c 1 and χ c 2 in Prompt Production at the LHC

Hua-Sheng Shao, Yan-Qing Ma, Kai Wang, Kuang-Ta Chao (a) School of Physics and State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China (b) Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA (c)Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing 100871, China (d) Center for High Energy Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Quantifying prey preferences of free-ranging Namibian cheetahs : research article

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) has long been regarded as a significant threat to the interests of farmers of both game and livestock in Namibia and for this reason has been removed in large numbers. However, the diet of these cheetahs has not been documented; such documentation is an important component of any effective conservation plan. We performed feeding trials to relate more accurately the remains found in cheetah scats to the number of prey animals consumed. Using scat analysis techniques, we found that cheetah prey size ranged from birds and hares to large antelope. They rarely preyed on domestic stock, with apparent selection towards common, indigenous game species. Information gathered from aerial sightings of kills was significantly biased towards larger prey species. Data on the number of times cheetahs were seen near livestock or game were found to not be representative of the type of prey taken when compared to corrected scat analysis. Due to the diurnal nature and wide-ranging habits of cheetahs, they are sighted relatively frequently near stock, which may contribute to an exaggerated perception of their predation on stock. From the results of this study, livestock predation by cheetahs was estimated to account for at least 0.01 calves and 0.004 sheep per kmlsupg2l/supg on the Namibian farmlands, and may be substantially more depending on cheetah density. Any stock losses as a result of cheetahs and other predators can have economic impacts for farmers, and management techniques for mitigating such losses are suggested. The use of controlled feeding trials and subsequent calculation of a correction factor for scat analysis could be a valuable tool for gaining a more accurate estimate of carnivore diet in future studies.
Understanding the Objectives of Pigs Farming Development in Arfak Tribe Farmers, West Papua

The multifunction of pigs for the Papuan are divergences and interelated. This study was aimed to seek the objectives of keeping pigs by Arfak tribe and to find the trend relationships of economical and socio-cultural components determining the development of pig farming systems in Manokwari. A one-month field research was done at Manokwari Barat district. Quiztionaire was the tool used to record and collect the data. Snowball method was applied to chose the pig farmer participants and 60 respondents were participated. Several variables were quantified to measure the percentages of socio-cultural and economicalobjectives. The finding shown that income generation, savings barter were the subsequent components shaping the economic objectives and while organic fertilizer and biofertilizer resulted from manure were not applied yet. Although dung was frequently produced and spreaded at the pig house and around backyard. Socio-culture was done in the means of merrital prices, peaceness, gift and parties, respectively. The other findings were that the alternation of pig development indicated by herd size had positive relationship with the two motives. Similar relationship was shown by number of aided farmers. Hence, the changes of pig farming systems, e.g. extensive to semi-intensive and/or intensive to semi-intensive had shown weak relationship.
Evaluation of Factors Influencing the Biomass of Soil Microorganisms and DNA Content

The aim of the study was the statistical evaluation of the impact of water potential (pF), oxygen availability (ODR) and the way of land use on microbial biomass (MB) and soil DNA content. Soil was extracted from the surface (0 - 20 cm) and subsurface (20 - 40 cm) layers of Mollic Gleysol. Soil material was collected in July 2009 from the village Kosiorow (SE part of Poland), from the two distinct neighbouring areas: agriculturally exploited (AE), and fallow land (FL), which served as the control area. Moisture content was determined for a range of pF values (0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0), which corresponded to availability of water usable by microorganisms and plant roots. Finally, our results revealed significant (p < 0.001) positive relationship between DNA and soil MB content, and negative correlations between soil MB and both pF and ODR. Importantly, MB seemed significantly dependent on the different way of land use, and higher MB content was noted in the soil agriculturally exploited (p < 0.05) in contrast to the control area.
Environmental Determinants of Public Sector Innovation: A study of innovation awards in Canada

Abstract In this article, we conduct an empirical study of administrative innovation in the Canadian public sector by examining applications to the Innovative Management Award of the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). After a review of the literature on innovation in the public sector and of the history of this award, we come to the conclusion that the relationship between innovation and environment has been studied only sparingly, which explains the focus of our research and our hypotheses. Through an analysis of award applications over 21 years, and of award finalists and winners, we demonstrate that such environmental variables as strength of the economy, size of the civil service, deficits, unemployment rate, investment in R&D, and type of government have important consequences for administrative innovation in the public sector. We also suggest some implications of our findings for future research on this subject.
METACOGNITIVE THERAPY AND DEPRESSION OF WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER

Objective: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy on decreasing depression in women with breast cancer. A single-case design was employed in this research. Methods: An AB form of single-subject experimental design was used in this study with 3 baselines (every 10 days) before intervention stage and two measurements during intervention stage and one follow-up (after two month). Our statistical population was chosen from women who had referred to radiotherapy department of Imam Hussein Hospital in Tehran. Out of them, 3 patients whose age range was 20 to 55 years, with non-metastatic tumor, no prior history of psychiatric disorders before cancer, scored >20 (moderate depression) by Beck Depression Inventory, were selected through purposeful sampling. Intervention included 8 sessions of 60 minutes of metacognitive therapy once a week, which has been designed to suit of the patients with specific needs. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), and Depression Metacognitive Beliefs Scale (DMB-S) were employed to collect the data. Results: The result of the analysis showed that the highest level of improvement in depression was 56% and the lowest level was 37%. In addition, the highest percentage of improvement in ‘thought rumination’ was 35%, while the lowest percentage of improvement was 21%. Finally, the highest percentage of improvement in ‘depression metacognitive beliefs’ was 87%, whereas the lowest percentage was 58%. In summary, the results indicated that metacognitive therapy would result in decrease of depression scores (in BDI scale), ‘thought rumination’ and ‘depression metacognitive beliefs’ (in DMB scale) and this effectiveness was persistent after two months follow-up. Conclusion: It seems that metacognitive therapy can help women with breast cancer to reduce their depression and ‘thought rumination. ’ A B S T R A C T
Wideband, Multiband, Tunable, and Smart Antenna Systems for Mobile and UWB Wireless Applications

With the advent of high data rate 3G and 4G wireless communication systems and the app-based use paradigm, wireless connectivity through multiple air interfaces has become a common requirement in the RF architecture of new generation mobile communication devices.Themodern wireless handset easily incorporates three or more antennas to enable cellular, Wi-Fi, and GPS connectivity, frequently over multiple bands. Multiple antenna systems are frequently designed to implement diversity or spatial multiplexing schemes, as in the case of WCDMA and LTE, to increase the resiliency and capacity of wireless links, and even to operate multiple voice/data links simultaneously. Concurrently, ultrawideband (UWB) systems used in short range communications, remote sensing, and through-the-wall radar imaging have introduced a new paradigm in antenna designwhere the mitigation of pulse distortion is of the essence, thus requiring a shift in antenna design approach and the introduction of novel radiating systems. This special issue is intended to reflect current R&D trends and novel approaches in the analysis and synthesis of antenna systems for the new generation of mobile communication devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers as well as for UWB communication systems and radars. A particular emphasis has been paid to the analysis and design of broadband, multiband, and reconfigurable antennas for wireless and UWB applications, as well as to the identification of integration techniques with the host platform. Important efforts have been devoted to the characterization of the radio channel for MIMO systems. The special issue is composed of 18 contributions that can be divided into the following 8 clusters.
The first resolved imaging of milliarcsecond-scale jets in Circinus X-1

We present the first resolved imaging of the milliarcsecond-scale jets in the neutron star X-ray binary Circinus X-1, made using the Australian Long Baseline Array. The angular extent of the resolved jets is ~20mas, corresponding to a physical scale of ~150au at the assumed distance of 7.8kpc. The jet position angle is relatively consistent with previous arcsecond-scale imaging with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The radio emission is symmetric about the peak, and is unresolved along the minor axis, constraining the opening angle to be 15) flow previously inferred to exist in this system.
Economic Interests, Company Values and Local Institutions: Shaping Soft Work Practices in a Multinational's Subsidiaries in Western and Central Eastern Europe

How can we understand similarities and differences between work practices in multinational companies’ (MNCs) subsidiaries in different host country conditions? The paper addresses this question by studying selected soft work practices, namely work systems and fringe benefits, in a Dutch MNC and its subsidiaries in Western and in Central Eastern Europe. Acknowledging institutional variation across the studied host countries, the paper explores how the MNC’s economic interest and company values interact with host-country institutions in shaping subsidiary work practices. It is argued that the MNC’s rational behaviour is contextualized in local socio-institutional conditions, as well as it is informed by company values. Interaction between the profit interest, values and institutions yields subsidiary work practices that are neither fully standardized across the subsidiaries, nor extensively adapted to local work standards. Instead, soft work practices are embedded in, but only selectively adapted to, host-country standards.