Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vegetation composition and dynamics along degradation gradient of Kiang'ombe hill forest in the drylands of Kenya.

Kiang'ombe hilltop forest is overexploited for fuel wood, charcoal, timber and non-wood forest products, thus threatening its biodiversity conservation role. The extent of forest degradation is not yet quantified and this impedes rehabilitation interventions. This study was conducted to evaluate the status of Kiang'ombe forest resources to initiate rehabilitation interventions and to support sustainable forest management. Remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) were used to determine trends of spatial and temporal vegetation changes over 25 years. Image analysis revealed high, moderate and low categories of forest degradation over the assessment period. Thirty two nested sample plots were used for vegetation inventory in the three degradation gradient clusters. Additional data was obtained from local informants through focused discussions and field observations. A total of 155 plant species belonging to 58 families were identified. Shannon Weiner diversity index of seedling and sapling were higher in low and moderate than in high degraded areas. Based on species importance values, the candidate trees for rehabilitation of degraded areas were Croton macrostachyus, Acacia hockii, Combretum molle and Faurea saligna whereas Enteropogon macrostachys, Cymbopogon sp. , Eragrostis superba and Hyparrhenia rufa were the most suitable grass species for reseeding expansive glades. The recommended rehabilitation techniques are enrichment tree planting in water catchments areas, enhancing natural regeneration through protection and grazing management, gully healing at the hill slopes and establishment of woodlots plantations and boundary planting in the surrounding farmlands. Key words: Hilltop forest, geographic information systems (GIS), vegetation inventory, rehabilitation techniques.
Identified versus introjected approach and introjected avoidance motivations in school and in sports: The limited benefits of self- worth strivings

On the basis of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), the authors examined whether 2 different types of introjected motivation-an avoidant type aimed at avoiding low self-worth and an approach type aimed at attaining high self-worth-are both associated with a less positive pattern of correlates relative to identified motivation-acting because one identifies with the value of the action. Two studies focusing on the academic and sports domains (N = 1,222) showed that children and adolescents differentiated between the 2 types of introjected motivation. Although introjected avoidance motivation was associated with a more negative pattern of affective and performance correlates than was introjected approach motivation, identified motivation was associated with a much more positive pattern of correlates than both types of introjected motivation. Furthermore, being high on introjected approach motivation did not yield any benefits even when combined with high identified motivation. Results suggest that past findings portraying introjected motivation as being less desirable than identified motivation cannot be ascribed to the avoidance component of introjected motivation. Findings are consistent with the view that even an approach-oriented introjected motivation has very limited benefits when compared with identified motivation.
Fabrication and Study of ZnO Micro- and Nanostructures

Morales-Maśıs, Mónica. M.S., Department of Physics, Wright State University, 2007. Fabrication and Study of ZnO Microand Nanostructures. ZnO micro-structures and nano-structures have been grown on two types of substrate by reacting condensed Zn vapor with oxygen. The source material was either pure zinc powder or zinc acetate which was either evaporated or decomposed. This was done in the temperature range 500 ◦C to 650 ◦C, in a flowing Ar plus oxygen ambient at atmospheric pressure. Variations in the carrier gas composition, gas flow rate and the position of the substrate in the furnace were found to control the formation and the morphology of the nanostructures. Scanning electron microscopy images of samples grown from a Zn powder source show forested needles approximately 100 nm in diameter by 1 μm long, and faceted rods from 500 nm to 700 nm thick. Samples grown from Zn acetate show the formation of nano crystals (from ∼ 100nm to ∼300nm) dispersed across the substrates. Photoluminescence measurements at 4.2K show a dominant line at ∼3.36 eV with additional features at 3.32 and 3.37 eV. The line widths are ∼3.5 meV indicating good quality material. The usual green-band emission is also observed. Hall measurements and CV profiling were attempted but they were unsuccessful due to the inability to make good contacts.
Aquaporins as targets for stress tolerance in plants: genomic complexity and perspectives

As a multigene family, plant aquaporins function not only in water transport but also in transport of small elements that are important for vegetative and reproductive growth of plants. Increasing evidence exhibits the relevance of aquaporins to tolerance against abiotic and biotic stresses such as drought, nutrient deficiency, and herbivore attack. With the accumulation of crop genome sequencing, it is suggested that several aquaporin genes are conserved in subchromosomal locations as tandem duplicated members. In this review, we will discuss the compelling nature of aquaporins as multifunctional transport channels that are often encoded in clustered regions of genomes and relevant to stress resistance in plants.
Probing the active galactic nucleus unified model torus properties in Seyfert galaxies

We studied the physical parameters of a sample comprising of all Spitzer/IRS public spectra of Seyfert galaxies in the mid-infrared (5.2-38$\mu$m range) under the active galactic nuclei (AGN) unified model. We compare the observed spectra with $\sim10^6$ CLUMPY model spectral energy distributions, which consider a torus composed of dusty clouds. We find a slight difference in the distribution of line-of-sight inclination angle, $i$, requiring larger angles for Seyfert 2 (Sy2) and a broader distribution for Seyfert 1 (Sy1). We found small differences in the torus angular width, $\sigma$, indicating that Sy1 may host a slightly narrower torus than Sy2. The torus thickness, together with the bolometric luminosities derived, suggest a very compact torus up to $\sim$6 pc from the central AGN. The number of clouds along the equatorial plane, $N$, as well the index of the radial profile, $q$, are nearly the same for both types. These results imply that the torus cloud distribution is nearly the same for type 1 and type 2 objects. The torus mass is almost the same for both types of activity, with values in the range of $M_{tor}\sim$10$^{4}-$10$^{7}\rm M_{\odot}$. The main difference appears to be related to the clouds' intrinsic properties: type 2 sources present higher optical depths $\tau_V$. The results presented here reinforce the suggestion that the classification of a galaxy may depend also on the intrinsic properties of the torus clouds rather than simply on their inclination. This is in contradiction with the simple geometric idea of the unification model.
Embedded Kinetic Simulation of Ganymede's Magnetosphere: Improvements and Inferences

The largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede, is also the only moon known to possess a strong intrinsic magnetic field and a corresponding magnetosphere. Using the new version of Hall magnetohydrodynamic with embedded particle‐in‐cell model with a self‐consistently coupled resistive body representing the electrical properties of the moon's interior, improved inner boundary conditions, and the flexibility of coupling different grid geometries, we achieve better match of magnetic field with measurements for all six Galileo flybys. The G2 flyby comparisons of plasma bulk flow velocities with the Galileo Plasma Subsystem data support the oxygen ion assumption inside Ganymede's magnetosphere. Crescent shape, nongyrotropic, and nonisotropic ion distributions are identified from the coupled model. Furthermore, we have derived the energy fluxes associated with the upstream magnetopause reconnection of ∼10−7W/cm2 based on our model results and found a maximum of 40% contribution to the total peak auroral emissions.
1.MI-Dessy Natalia

*Corresponding author; Phone: +62-22-2502103, Email:dessy@chem.itb. ac.id Hepatitis B virus infection can cause a chronic liver disease. It is estimated that 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B and more than 786 000 people die every year due to complication of hepatitis B, including cirrhosis and liver cancer (World Health Organization c2015). In Indonesia, there are about 28 million people infected with hepatitis B and 14 million people are potentially becoming chronic with 10% progress into hepatocellular carcinoma (Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia 2013). The most effective approach to control and prevent the spreading of hepatitis B is by vaccination (WHO 2010). In Indonesia, hepatitis B vaccine has been integrated into national immunization programmes since 1997 (Kementerian Kesehatan Republik Indonesia 2013). Therefore, in order to fulfill the need of hepatitis B antigen, here we report the production of local recombinant small hepatitis B surface antigen (sHBsAg) using Hansenula polymorpha expression system. H. polymorpha expression system offers more advantages than non-methylotrophic yeast expression system, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. H. polymorpha expression system has a strong and tightly-regulated alcohol oxidase (AOX) inducible promoter, and a high-frequency of non-homologous recombination (Kang and Gelissen 2005). Moreover, H. polymorpha does not hyperglycosylate protein, is able to grow in simple medium, and has thermotolerant property (Kang and Gelissen 2005; Reinders et al. 1999). Recombinant small hepatitis B surface antigen (sHBsAg) is used as a vaccine component to prevent hepatitis B virus infection. As an attempt to produce local recombinant sHBsAg, a PCR-amplified DNA fragment encoding Indonesia sHBsAg which belongs to B genotype and adw2 subtype was cloned into Hansenula polymorpha expression vector pHIPX4 by using recombination method. The resulted pHIPX4-sHBsAg was integrated into the alcohol oxidase locus of H. polymorpha NCYC495 genome and the sHBsAg expression was regulated under the control of H. polymorpha AOX promoter. H. polymorpha NCYC495 carrying the sHBsAg coding sequence was grown in mineral medium and methanol 0.5% (v/v) was added to induce the expression of recombinant sHBsAg. The expression of sHBsAg was detected by HBsAg diagnostic kit test, ELISA, and Western blot analysis.
Does Paired Mentoring Work? A Study of the Effectiveness and Affective Value of Pairing Students Aged 16 with Undergraduate Students in England

Within England there is a growing aim to improve the lives of secondary school students who are defined as disadvantaged as well as supporting these students’ attainment and improving their attitudes towards secondary school science. This project was designed to support disadvantaged students who were taking their compulsory public General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) science examination in their final year of secondary education in England (Year 11 – aged 15 to 16) by pairing them with undergraduate mentors from a university. The study, set up as a randomized control trial, involved 86 disadvantaged students across four secondary schools with half being involved in the intervention and half in the control – drawing on an inter and intra school comparison. The mentoring lasted for 23 weeks with an intensive six-hour mentoring session just prior to their GCSE examinations. Data was collected from the Year 11 students’ mock and actual GCSE examinations results as well as questionnaires from both Year 11 and undergraduates. The results found that mentored students did statistically better in terms of their attainment both in mock and actual GCSE examinations as well as a statistically greater improvement in their attitudes to science than un-mentored students. These findings demonstrate the impact and value of academically asymmetrical paired mentoring projects.
Mapping a Part of Neuquén Basin in Argentina by Global-phase H/V Spectral Ratio

We investigated the applicability of global phases (epicentral distances of ≥ 120° and ≥ 150°) for the H/V spectral ratio to identify the fundamental resonance frequency. We applied the method to delineate a part of Neuquen basin in Argentina without the need for active seismic sources. We obtained fairly identifiable fundamental resonance frequencies in the range 0.15 Hz to 2.5 Hz. Receiver-side resonances were pronounced by stacking the H/V spectral ratio over many earthquake recordings. By doing so, the same fundamental resonances were found by using different window (P and S-phases) as well as different epicentral distances (≥ 120° and ≥ 150°). Our result, assuming average velocity, shows identical features in comparison with both the Bouguer anomaly and the active seismic profile nearby, indicating that our method is reliable. The method we demonstrate here can be applied in the fields particularly when the seismic array of long-term purposes is available.
Distributed State-of-Charge Balance Control With Event-Triggered Signal Transmissions for Multiple Energy Storage Systems in Smart Grid

Modern power grid is increasingly integrated with battery energy storage systems (BESSs). This paper deals with the problem of state-of-charge (SoC) balance control for multiple distributed BESSs in smart grid. The BESSs are expected to work cooperatively to not only fulfil the overall power requirement but also meet the constraints of the same relative SoC variation rate. To achieve this objective, a distributed SoC balance control approach is presented with event-triggered signal transmissions. It is designed with the dynamic average consensus (DAC) mechanism for parameter estimations. The DAC enables distributed control of each BESS through communicating with its neighboring BESSs. Different from traditional periodic signal transmission, the event-triggered signal transmission embedded in our approach allows each BESS to transmit signal to its neighboring BESSs only when needed, thus reducing the communication traffic. Theoretical lower bounds are established for consecutive interevent intervals such that the Zeno behavior is excluded. Case studies are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the presented approach.
Estimating Abundance of Reef-Dwelling Sharks: A Case Study of the Epaulette Shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum (Elasmobranchii: Hemiscyllidae)1

ABSTRACT Benthic reef sharks play an important role in reef ecosystems, but little is known about their abundance or population dynamics. Abundance of the epaulette shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum (Bonnaterre), on Heron Island Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, was examined via a mark-recapture study. A total of 496 sharks was tagged between July 1994 and August 1997 in a 0.25-km2 area of reef flat, with 80 tagged sharks recaptured for a total of 102 recapture events. Captured individuals ranged in size from juveniles to adults (285–750 mm total length). Recaptured sharks were collected after 1–725 days at liberty and at distances of 0–329 m from their original capture point. The overall recapture rate was 20.6% with an estimated 17.5% tag loss. Population size was estimated using both closed and open population models. Closed population models produced various abundance estimates, with the Chao M(th) ranked best in model performance with an estimate of 2,224 sharks and 95% confidence intervals ranging from 1,730 to 2,916. Open population models produced lower estimates, with the Jolly D model producing an estimate of 559 individuals within the study site and confidence intervals ranging from 26 to 1,092. All models produced density estimations of 0.3 to 1.2 sharks per 100 m2. Based on thorough examination of model assumptions and results, open population models appear to provide the best population estimate within the study area.
Potato Marketing – Factors Affecting Organic and Conventional Potato Consumption Patterns

In producing potatoes the treatment for disease and pests could be more difficult and costly for organic producers than for conventional. Hence, consumers’ attitudes and willingness to pay for organic potatoes need to be considered in a grower’s choice of production technologies. A bivariate probit model and cluster analysis were applied to survey data to evaluate factors that influenced Germany consumers’ consumption patterns for conventional and organic potatoes. The results show that consumers associate organic potatoes with healthy ingredients, trustable origin and food safety. But a lack of varieties and inferior appearance of organic potatoes limit consumer interest in the organic products. With regard to socio-demographics, consumers with higher education level and with children in the household tend to consume organic potatoes more often than consumers with lower education and no children in the household. Cluster analysis results group potato consumers into three different market segments: “Trusting of industry”, “Health-oriented” and “Price-oriented” segments. These results suggest adopting different marketing strategies to promote fresh potatoes to the different market segments.
Analysis of the CRAX Vulnerability Automatic Utilization Process

In recent years, the number of software vulnerabilities has been on the rise, and the harm of software vulnerabilities has become more and more serious. However, there are so many software vulnerabilities that simple manual analysis cannot meet the requirements. In view of the above problems, this paper introduces CRAX. CRAX is a new framework based on symbolic execution. And it is to act as a backend of static/dynamic program analyzers, bug finders, fuzzers, and crash report database. It can automatically, efficiently and quickly analyze software vulnerabilities and generate stable and efficient test cases. The paper analyzes CRAX's automatic analysis process of vulnerability program and the generation process of test cases in detail, and in chapter 3 and chapter 4, it emphatically introduces the constraint construction and reconstruction process in the process of CRAX's automatic analysis.
Financial Frictions in Data: Evidence and Impact

This paper investigates financial frictions in US postwar data to understand the interaction between the real business cycle and the credit market. A Bayesian estimation technique is used to estimate a large Vector Auto regression and New Keynesian models demonstrating how financial shocks can have a large and sluggish impact on the economy. I identify the default risk and the maturity mismatch channels of monetary policy transmission; I further employ a generalized-IRF to establish counter-cyclicality of risk spreads; and I show that the maturity mismatch shocks produce a stronger impact than the default risk shocks.
AC 2011-1877: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF A BIOMETRICS COURSE ON STUDENTS' DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING KNOWLEDGE

Shane Cotter is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Union College. He received his undergraduate degree (with first class honors) from University College Dublin in 1994. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on Digital Signal Processing from the Univerity of California at San Diego in 1998 and 2001 respectively. He worked at Nokia Mobile Phones as a senior design engineer between 2002 and 2004. In 2004-05, he worked as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Miami, Coral Gables. In Fall 2005, he joined the faculty at Union College. He teaches courses in introductory digital logic, digital design and computer networking. His principal research interests are in the areas of speech and image processing, wireless communications, computer networking, and biological signal processing.
Who Needs β-Carotene? A Focus on Embryonic Development

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that is required to support many crucial biological functions, including reproduction and embryonic development [1]. Mammals acquire retinoids (vitamin A and its derivatives) from the diet, either as preformed vitamin A (retinol, retinyl ester and small amount of retinoic acid) from meat and dairy products, or as provitamin A carotenoids (β-carotene, α-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin) from fruits and vegetables [1,2]. β-carotene is the most abundant and well characterized provitamin A carotenoid in human diet. In the Western countries, it contributes to about 30% of the vitamin A intake, and for certain populations it represents the most abundant source of vitamin A [3,4].
Australian community members' attitudes toward climate change impacts at the Great Barrier Reef

This research identified homogenous groups of Australian community members that share similar attitudes toward climate change impacts within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA). A questionnaire was administered to a random sample of adult residents living near the GBRWHA (n = 1,623) in order to assess public awareness of climate change, concern about associated impacts, and involvement in mitigation strategies. Five distinct segments of the survey population were identified using three attitudinal dimensions drawn from the Theory of Planned Behavior. Study findings illustrated that each group perceived a variety of social, commercial, and environmental threats to the health of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem and reported different levels of intended and carried-out environmentally responsible behaviors. Recommendations are provided for how to engage the identified groups of survey respondents in environmentally responsible behaviors.
EPSA1 AND VPF GENES EXPRESSION DURING EMBRYONIC AND LARVAL DEVELOPMENT PERIOD OF BELUGA, HUSO HUSO

Background: The Endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 (EPSA1) is the key transcriptional regulator of hypoxic response and Vascular Permeability Factor (VPF) is an important growth factor for vascular development and angiogenesis. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, the levels of the EPSA1 coding gene and VPF transcripts were evaluated during Larval development of Beluga, Huso huso. METHODS: Samples at 12 developmental time-points including 1, 2, 4 days before hatch (eyed eggs), fresh hatched larvae (0), and larvae 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 50 days post-hatching were collected and stored in a −80 °C freezer until RNA extraction. Changes in EPSA1 and VPF mRNA expression were studied and differences in normalized mRNA expression levels among the different developmental stages of H. huso were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). RESULTS: The transcripts of EPSA1 and VPF were detected in all developmental time-points of H. huso from embryos to fingerling fish. Our results revealed that the mRNA expression of EPSA1 and VPF was low during embryonic development and then upregulated significantly at the time of hatch and early larval time-points, whereas in the late larval development stages they started to decline. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that there is an association between the EPSA1 and VPF mRNA expression during larval development of H. huso. The up regulation of EPSA1 and VPF transcripts at the time of hatch and during yolk sac fry development of H. huso is likely tied to the role of them in vasculogenesis and angiogenesis.