Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photoevaporated Disks around Massive Young Stars

We present a parametric model of an isothermal photoevaporating wind from a Keplerian disk around a young massive star. The wind is produced by high-energy photons (hν > 13.6 eV) from the massive central star that ionize and heat the material of the circumstellar disk, as discussed several years ago by Hollenbach and coworkers. The model gives the velocity and density structure of the ionized winds. Because of its simplicity, it is very useful to explore the physical conditions of this type of wind. The model can also describe the photoevaporation of disks around low-mass young stars. We obtain the free-free continuum emission of the photoevaporated flows and compare with the spectral energy distribution of the known bipolar sources MWC 349 A and NGC 7538 IRS 1.
Action rule induction from cause-effect pairs learned through robot-teacher interaction

In this work we propose a decision-making system that efficiently learns behaviors in the form of rules using natural human instructions about cause-effect relations in currently observed situations, avoiding complicated instructions and explanations of long-run action sequences and complete world dynamics. The learned rules are represented in a way suitable to both reactive and deliberative approaches, which are thus smoothly integrated. Simple and repetitive tasks are resolved reactively, while complex tasks would be faced in a more deliberative manner using a planner module. Human interaction is only required if the system fails to obtain the expected results when applying a rule, or fails to resolve the task with the knowledge acquired so far. I. INTRODUCTION N this work we are facing the problem of decision making for a multitask robot embedded in a human environment that should rapidly learn to perform tasks by interacting with humans, in an on-line way, and without any previous knowledge of the world dynamics or the tasks to be performed. From a very general point of view, we must consider two alternative approaches to the goal of building an intelligent agent: the deliberative and the reactive approaches. The deliberative approach began with the very birth of AI, and it is based on the principle of rationality (1), which states that "If an agent has knowledge that one of its actions will lead to one of its goals, then the agent will select that action. ". The proponents of the knowledge-based systems using the principle of rationality soon realized that there are a number of important shortcomings with this approach, ranging from the frame problem (2), the difficulty of building a large enough database of knowledge providing the grounds for common sense, and the theorems stating the complexity of planning for even some of the simplest kinds of logical problems.
Pfeiffer An innovative and comprehensive framework for Social Vulnerability Assessment

Nowadays security attacks greatly rely on the human vulnerabilities, hence is fundamental to include the human factor into corporate risk analysis. However, is it possible to evaluate this risk through a specific type of vulnerability assessments? Since 2010, we have been working on the extension of traditional security assessment, going beyond the technology and including the “Social” context. In these years, we assessed several big European enterprises, understanding the impact of these activities on the relations among employees and employer, both from ethical and legal points of view. We developed a innovative methodology for Social Driven Vulnerability Assessments (SDVAs) that we present in this paper beside the early results. As part of their Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) programs, we performed more than 15 SDVAs in big enterprises with a gross number of 12.000 employees; this gave us a first-hand sight on the real vulnerabilities against modern non-conventional security threats.
A TaqI polymorphism of vitamin D receptor is associated with Alzheimer ’ s disease in Korean population : a case-control study

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, although its symptoms, causes, and risk factors were discovered only in the last 30 years. Several studies have investigated the associations between vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and the risk of AD. In addition, a recent meta-analysis suggested that ApaI and TaqI polymorphisms are associated with the risk of AD. In this study, the associations between four VDR polymorphisms and the risk of AD in a Korean population were investigated. Also, the association between VDR polymorphisms and the risk of AD was subjected to meta-analysis. The study enrolled 144 AD patients and 335 healthy controls without dementia. The four VDR gene polymorphisms were genotyped by PCR sequencing. The meta-analysis was performed using the PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases up to December 2015 using the search terms “vitamin D receptor or VDR” and “variant or polymorphism or SNP” in combination with “Alzheimer’s disease”. The results showed that only the TaqI polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk of AD in Koreans. Furthermore, the meta-analysis indicated that the TaqI polymorphism was significantly associated with an increased risk of AD in the overall population. Therefore, the TaqI polymorphism of VDR may be closely associated with the risk of AD, and so could facilitate monitoring of AD. Large-scale studies are necessary to evaluate further the association between VDR gene polymorphisms and the risk of AD. Furthermore, various environmental risk factors for AD should be examined.
Understanding User Engagement with Entertainment Media: A Case Study of the Twitter Behaviour of Game of Thrones (GoT) Fans

User Engagement in digital experiences is a fundamental concern for technology developers, educators, businesses, TV networks and marketing agencies. However, engagement remains a confusing concept with cognitive, emotional and behavioural dimensions, that depends on a large number of technical and human interrelated factors. This study contributes to our understanding of User Engagement at a behavioural level, through an analysis of a HBO Game of Thrones (GoT) fans' Twitter dataset, collected over a six-month period. This analysis across the GoT universe: literary, screen, and media extensions, found users are most engaged in discussions around the TV show, and predictably most particularly the season premiere and finale, on the day after it is aired using mobile devices to post their status updates. Additionally, an initial hash tag analysis reveals users are engaged in both user generated conversations and in corporate TV network campaigns, while initial semantic analysis of tweets reveals TV locations and GOT characters to be the most tweeted about topics. This characterisation of user behaviours presents opportunities to content developers to maximise and capitalise on this active social interaction in a timely manner, keeping the brand alive and also to mine this user feedback in real time to inform the development of forthcomina content.
Electric Power from Rice Paddy Fields

One of the largest innovations in the twentieth century is the use of petroleum (and other fossil fuels, such as, coal, and natural gases) for the energy source that supports the human society. Petroleum is an easy-to-use, energy-intensive fuel as well as a material for a variety of chemical products. It is produced by pumping-up from natural underground reservoirs. In 2006, petroleum and other fossil fuels support 86% of the total energy supply for the human society (Energy Information Administration 2007), indicating that they are currently indispensable for us. Recently, however, humans face problems associated with the use of fossil fuels. One of such problems is the limitation in fossil fuels stored in our planet. It is known that fossil fuels (as the name indicates) had been mostly generated by long-term geochemical reactions with ancient plants and algae as original resources and accumulate in underground reservoirs. Such reactions may also occur currently, while the recent consumption of fossil fuels is much faster than that, resulting in the rapid decrease in the amounts of fossil fuels in underground reservoirs. In addition, a large fraction of petroleum stored in easily accessible reservoirs is considered to have already been consumed, and engineers predict that the cost for producing petroleum will dramatically increase in the 21th century. Another problem results from the combustion of fossil fuels; this process generates carbon dioxide that is released and accumulates in the air, resulting in the green-house effect and global warming. According to an assessment report in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18°C during the 20th century (IPCC 2007). This increase corresponds to an increase in the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere (from 0.03% to 0.037%) in the 20th century (Global Warming Art 2007). We therefore consider that the use of fossil fuels is such a process that converts underground carbons into carbon dioxides and release them into the atmosphere. Under such circumstances, energy sources alternative to fossil fuels are strongly desired for supporting human activities in the 21th century, particularly those that are renewable and not associated with the global warming. The primary important is the solar energy. It has been estimated that the amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth every hour (~4.3×1020 J) is approximately equal to the total amount of energy consumed by human society every year (Donohue & Cogdell 2006). Hence, global energy needs can be substantially satisfied even with a small fraction of the available solar energy, and the use of photovoltaic solar cells (Fahrenbruch & Bube 1983) is currently expanding. We also consider that biomass is another important renewable energy source. Biomass includes all biologically synthesized
Scrambling in the Dicke model

The scrambling rate $\lambda_L$ associated with the exponential growth of out-of-time-ordered correlators can be used to characterize quantum chaos. Here we use the Majorana Fermion representation of spin $1/2$ systems to study quantum chaos in the Dicke model. We take the system to be in thermal equilibrium and compute $\lambda_L$ throughout the phase diagram to leading order in $1/N$. We find that the chaotic behavior is strongest close to the critical point. At high temperatures $\lambda_L$ is nonzero over an extended region that includes both the normal and super-radiant phases. At low temperatures $\lambda_L$ is nonzero in (a) close vicinity of the critical point and (b) a region within the super-radiant phase. In the process we also derive a new effective theory for the super-radiant phase at finite temperatures. Our formalism does not rely on the assumption of total spin conservation.
Transcriptional Repression of BRCA 1 FOXP 3 Regulates Sensitivity of Cancer Cells to Irradiation by Updated

FOXP3 is an X-linked tumor suppressor gene and amaster regulator in T regulatory cell function. This gene has been found to be mutated frequently in breast and prostate cancers and to inhibit tumor cell growth, but its functional significance in DNA repair has not been studied. We found that FOXP3 silencing stimulates homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair and also repair of g-irradiation-induced DNA damage. Expression profiling and chromatin-immunoprecipitation analyses revealed that FOXP3 regulated the BRCA1-mediated DNA repair program. Among 48 FOXP3-regulated DNA repair genes, BRCA1 and 12 others were direct targets of FOXP3 transcriptional control. Site-specific interaction of FOXP3with the BRCA1 promoter repressed its transcription. Somatic FOXP3 mutants identified in breast cancer samples had reduced BRCA1 repressor activity, whereas FOXP3 silencing and knock-in of a prostate cancer-derived somatic FOXP3 mutant increased the radioresistance of cancer cells. Together our findings provide a missing link between FOXP3 function and DNA repair programs. Cancer Res; 73(7); 2170–80. 2012 AACR.
Potential Use of Radar Differential Reflectivity Measurements at Orthogonal Polarizations for Measuring Precipitation

Abstract The potential use of differential reflectivity measurements at orthogonal polarizations to determine rain-fall rate is examined. The method involves measurements of ZH and ZV, the radar reflectivity factors due to horizontally and vertically polarized incident waves respectively. The differential reflectivity, ZDR = 10 log (ZH/ZV), which should be precisely determinate, occurs as a result of the distortion of raindrops as they fall at terminal velocity. The approximate theory of Gans for electromagnetic scattering by spheroids is applied to the distorted raindrops. Assuming a general exponential form for the raindrop size distribution, equations are derived relating the distribution parameters to the measurements. The determination of rainfall rate follows directly. Finally, the sensitivity of the distribution parameters to radar inaccuracies is examined, and several methods of implementing the measurements are suggested. It is concluded that good estimates of rainfall rate using a single non-att.
Pattern of Diversity among Pistillate Scales of the Western Himalayan Carex L. (Cyperaceae): Micromorphological and Molecular Inferences

Carex L. , representing approximately 2,100 species, is one of the world’s largest angiosperm genera and nearly cosmopolitan in distribution. However, limited studies are conducted on this genus in the Western Himalayas, from both a molecular and a morphologic perspective. In this study, Carex species were explored across the Western Himalayan range to identify Carex species previously unknown from the region and to contextualize collected plants in a large barcoding dataset generated by the Global Carex Group. Phylogenetic relationships among collected specimens were estimated using maximum likelihood (ML) analysis of three barcoding genes (the external and internal transcribed spacer regions of nuclear ribosomal DNA, ETS and ITS respectively, and the plastid matK gene). Micromorphological traits including epidermal features of the pistillate scale were inspected using light and scanning electron microscopy. Eighteen Carex species were sampled from the Western Himalayan region of Pakistan. Among these, Carex simpliciuscula Wahlenb. (1803: 141), previously with doubtful record in the Flora of Pakistan, was confirmed for the region. Further, 12 range extensions for Carex species were identified in the Western Himalayas. Additionally, ten variable microand macromorphological characters of pistillate scale were evident that may serve useful for future taxonomic work and identification of the genus in the region; combinations of hooks, prickles, papillae and various trichomes under the scanning electron microscope. These results have great implications for understanding taxonomic and floristic scope of Carex species in the Western Himalayas region particularly in global climate change and its associated impacts. © 2019 Friends Science Publishers
The New Economic Case for Migration Restrictions: An Assessment

For decades, migration economics has stressed the effects of migration restrictions on income distribution in the host country. Recently the literature has taken a new direction by estimating the costs of migration restrictions to global economic efficiency. In contrast, a new strand of research posits that migration restrictions could be not only desirably redistributive, but in fact globally efficient. This is the new economic case for migration restrictions. The case rests on the possibility that without tight restrictions on migration, migrants from poor countries could transmit low productivity ("A" or Total Factor Productivity) to rich countries – offsetting efficiency gains from the spatial reallocation of labor from low to high-productivity places. We provide a novel assessment, proposing a simple model of dynamically efficient migration under productivity transmission and calibrating it with new macro and micro data. In this model, the case for efficiency-enhancing migration barriers rests on three parameters: transmission, the degree to which origin-country total factor productivity is embodied in migrants; assimilation, the degree to which migrants' productivity determinants become like natives' over time in the host country; and congestion, the degree to which transmission and assimilation change at higher migrant stocks. On current evidence about the magnitudes of these parameters, dynamically efficient policy would not imply open borders but would imply relaxations on current restrictions. That is, the new efficiency case for some migration restrictions is empirically a case against the stringency of current restrictions.
Acceleration of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current by Wind Stress along the Coast of Antarctica

The influence of wind forcing on variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is investigated using a series of eddy-permitting ocean–sea ice models. At interannual and decadal time scales the ACC transport is sensitive to both the mean strength of westerly winds along the ACC circumpolar path, consistent with zonal momentum balance theories, and sensitive to the wind stresses along the coast of Antarctica, consistent with the “free mode” theory of Hughes et al. A linear combination of the two factors explains differences in ACC transport across 11 regional quasi-equilibrium experiments. Repeated single-year global experiments show that the ACC can be robustly accelerated by both processes. Across an ensemble of simulations with realistic forcing over the second half of the twentieth century, interannual ACC transport variability owing to the free-mode mechanism exceeds that due to the zonal momentum balance mechanism by a factor of between 3.5 and 5 to one. While the ACC transport may not accelerate significantly owing to projected increases in along-ACC winds in future decades, significant changes in transport could still occur because of changes in the stress along the coast of Antarctica.
Fractions of Copper , Chromium and Arsenic during the aerobic composting process of chicken manure and CCA-treated wood

The change in heavy metal fractions during the aerobic composting process of sawdust from chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-treated wood and chicken manure was determined by sequential extraction procedure. A study was performed in a 1m3 composting unit over a period of 140 d. Four proportions of CCA-treated wood sawdust – 0%, 33%, 66% and 100% by weight – were utilized in creating compost piles. Temperatures were measured daily, while compost characteristics were monitored weekly. The results showed that microorganisms could degrade the organic matter in all compost piles. The compost pile with no CCA-treated wood was found to be more mature, compared with the piles containing CCA-treated wood. The results of sequential extraction showed that during the composting process, arsenic was mainly redistributed into the mobile fraction, whereas copper and chromium had an affinity for the stable fraction. KeywordsComposting; CCA treated wood; chicken manure; arsenic; copper; chromium; sequential extraction
Reflectarray Antenna Design With Arbitrary Incident and Reflection Beam Angle

Accurate unit-cell analysis and reflectarray synthesis are two key issues in reflectarray antennas design. In unit-cell analysis, forced linked boundary condition (FLBC) is proposed to emulate quasi-periodic reflectarray environment. We demonstrate that both incident and reflection angles affect the reflection phase of reflectarray elements. In reflectarray synthesis, a novel modes superposition synthesis method (MSSM) based on linear superposition of the unit TE and TM mode responses is proposed. The MSSM can take the real incident angles, polarizations of incident fields, and the quasi-periodic reflectarray environment into account. Two reflectarrays are designed to justify the proposed FLBC and MSSM. The first one is a low-profile broadside-radiating flat Cassegrain reflectarray featuring a 0.5 dB gain improvement after accounting for the effects of incident angle. The second is an offset-fed reflectarray achieving a 1.2 dB gain enhancement and lower sidelobes after taking the effects of both incident and reflection angles into account.
The Influence of Fire on Rodent Abundance at the N'washitshumbe Enclosure Site, Kruger National Park, South Africa†

The relative population numbers of rodents were studied in nine habitats in and outside the N'washitshumbe enclosure site, Kruger National Park, before and after burning the firebreaks that surround the enclosure. Trap success was exceptionally high, and the field work is suspected to have coincided with a Mastomys population explosion. This genus dominated the small mammal communities before and after the burn, and never disappeared from the burnt patches. Its numbers also did not crash directly after the burn, as have been reported in most other studies. Movement from the burnt areas was observed, which may have had a significant impact on the numbers of rodents caught both inside the enclosure and in the more natural areas outside. Our study suggests that fire can be investigated as a tool to keep rodent densities down in areas where they are nuisance animals, especially when used in conjunction with models that forecast outbreaks of Mastomys. It also emphasizes the value of long-term studies informing management strategies for animal damage control and biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.
Importance of Good Business Writing Skills

Effective communication is important for every company's success, today more than ever. As our workplace becomes more and more global in focus, the need to be understood efficiently and correctly has become imperative. Whether the communication is internal or external among customers, clients, or contractors, success in business depends upon mastering good communication skills.
Investigation of hydrological time series using copulas for detecting catchment characteristics and anthropogenic impacts

Abstract. Global climate change can have impacts on characteristics of rainfall–runoff events and subsequently on the hydrological regime. Meanwhile, the catchment itself changes due to anthropogenic influences. However, it is not easy to prove the link between the hydrology and the forcings. In this context, it might be meaningful to detect the temporal changes of catchments independent from climate change by investigating existing long-term discharge records. For this purpose, a new stochastic system based on copulas for time series analysis is introduced in this study. A statistical tool like copula has the advantage to scrutinize the dependence structure of the data and, thus, can be used to attribute the catchment behavior by focusing on the following aspects of the statistics defined in the copula domain: (1) copula asymmetry, which can capture the nonsymmetric property of discharge data, differs from one catchment to another due to the intrinsic nature of both runoff and catchment; and (2) copula distances can assist in identifying catchment change by revealing the variability and interdependency of dependence structures. These measures were calculated for 100 years of daily discharges for the Rhine River and these analyses detected epochs of change in the flow sequences. In a follow-up study, we compared the results of copula asymmetry and copula distance applied to two flow models: (i) antecedent precipitation index (API) and (ii) simulated discharge time series generated by a hydrological model. The results of copula-based analysis of hydrological time series seem to support the assumption that the Neckar catchment had started to change around 1976 and stayed unusual until 1990.