Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rainfall Mechanisms for One of the Wettest Tropical Cyclones on Record in Australia—Oswald (2013)

Tropical Cyclone Oswald (2013) is considered to be one of the highest-impact storms to make landfall in northern Australia even though it only reached a maximum category 1 intensity on the Australian category scale. After making landfall on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula, Oswald turned southward, and persisted for more than 7 days moving parallel to the coastline as far south as 30°S. As one of the wettest tropical cyclones (TCs) in Australian history, the favorable configurations of a lower-latitude active monsoon trough and two consecutive midlatitude trough–jet systems generally contributed to the maintenance of the Oswald circulation over land and prolonged rainfall. As a result, Oswald produced widespread heavy rainfall along the east coast with three maximum centers near Weipa, Townsville, and Rockhampton, respectively. Using high-resolution WRF simulations, the mechanisms associated with TC Oswald’s rainfall are analyzed. The results show that the rainfall involved different rainfall mechanisms at each stage. The land–sea surface friction contrast, the vertical wind shear, and monsoon trough were mostly responsible for the intensity and location for the first heavy rainfall center on the Cape York Peninsula. The second torrential rainfall near Townsville was primarily a result of the local topography and land–sea frictional convergence in a conditionally unstable monsoonal environment with frictional convergence due to TC motion modulating some offshore rainfall. The third rainfall area was largely dominated by persistent high vertical wind shear forcing, favorable large-scale quasigeostrophic dynamic lifting from two midlatitude trough–jet systems, and mesoscale frontogenesis lifting.
Contrasting size-dependent life history strategies of an insular lizard

Abstract In many species with continuous growth, body size is an important driver of life-history tactics and its relative importance is thought to reflect the spatio-temporal variability of selective pressures. We developed a deterministic size-dependent integral projection model for 3 insular neighboring lizard populations with contrasting adult body sizes to investigate how size-related selective pressures can influence lizard life-history tactics. For each population, we broke down differences in population growth rates into contributions from size-dependent body growth, survival, and fecundity. A life table response experiment (LTRE) was used to compare the population dynamics of the 3 populations and quantify the contributions of intrinsic demographic coefficients of each population to the population growth rate (λ). Perturbation analyses revealed that the largest adults contributed the most to the population growth rate, but this was not true in the population with the smallest adults and size-independent fertility. Although we were not able to identify a single factor responsible for this difference, the combination of the demographic model on a continuous trait coupled with an LTRE analysis revealed how individuals from sister populations of the same species follow different life strategies and showed different compensatory mechanisms among survival, individual body growth, and fertility. Our results indicate that body size can play a contrasting role even in closely-related and closely-spaced populations.
Nonlinear Response of the Cross Polar Cap Potential to Solar Wind Density Under Northward Interplanetary Magnetic Field

It is commonly believed that the magnitude and orientation of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) together with the solar wind (SW) velocity have the most important impact on the cross polar cap potential (φpc), so that little attention has been given to the effect of SW density, especially under northward IMF conditions. Previous studies have shown that φpc increases with SW density as a response to the changes in magnetosheath force balance, while our study shows that φpc has more complicated responses to the SW density depending on the magnitude of IMF rather than a simple linear response as reported previously. The φpc may be insensitive to SW density increasing at moderate IMF Bz (cf. 8 nT) and at intense Bz (20 nT) under large‐density conditions. The different behavior of SW density in regulating φpc is mainly due to the competing effects originated from viscous interaction and magnetic reconnection. Further, the physical mechanisms are explored, including the driving sources of the viscous potential and affecting factors of reconnection potential. These results pave the way for better understanding of the SW density effects on solar wind‐magnetosphere‐ionosphere (SW‐M‐I) interactions.
Intelligent Spectrum Assignment Based on Dynamical Cooperation for 5G-Satellite Integrated Networks

The development of 5G-satellite integrated networks suffers from limited spectrum resources. In this paper, we investigate how to assign spectrum intelligently based on dynamical cooperation among primary users (PUs) and cognitive users (CUs) for 5G-satellite integrated networks. Firstly, we propose the cooperative transmission ability model. The effective time for users to communicate with satellites is formally measured. Based on this model, then, we formulate the intelligent spectrum assignment problem. Next, we propose the spectrum assignment mechanism PU4CU to maximize the throughput of CUs, including our random-based and greedy-based algorithms. Finally, we propose the stable matching-based cooperative spectrum assignment algorithm with the aim of maximizing the overall throughput, where CUs not only request spectrum from PUs but also transmit a part of the traffic of PUs. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that our three algorithms significantly improve spectrum utilization ratio and system performance.
Vitex ferruginea Schumach. Et. Thonn. subsp. amboniensis (Gürke) Verdc.: glandular trichomes micromorphology, composition and antifungal activity of the essential oils

Abstract The morphology and distribution of the glandular trichomes of Vitex ferruginea Schumach. et Thonn. subsp. amboniensis (Gürke) Verdc. from Mozambique were investigated as well as the chemical composition and the antifungal activity of its essential oil. Scanning electron microscopy of vegetative and reproductive organs revealed non-glandular and two types of glandular trichomes. Glandular trichome Type I has a multicellular head of eight cells and Type II a multicellular head of four cells. The oils obtained by hydrodistillation were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The oils were rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, being germacrene D the major compound (26.8–34.9%). Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal lethal concentration (MLC) were used to evaluate the antifungal activity against yeasts (C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. guillermondii, C. krusei, Crytococcus neoformans), Aspergillus (A. niger, A. fumigatus, A. flavus) and dermatophyte strains (Microsporum canis, M. gypseum, Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, Epidermophyton floccosum). The oils exhibited significant antifungal activity against dermatophyte strains with MIC between 0.16–0. 64μL/mL.
Ultrastructure and Phylogenetic Significance of Notaspidean Spermatozoa (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Opisthobranchia)

Spermatozoa of five notaspidean opisthobranchs [Berthellina citrina, Berthella ornata, Pleuro‐branchus peroni, Pleurobranchaea maculata, Umbruculum sinicum] were examined using TEM. In all five species, the acrosome (sensu lato) consists of an apical vesicle (the acrosomal vesicle) and acrosomal pedestal. The acrosomal pedestal overlaps the nuclear apex, and in P. peroni (and possibly B. ornata) is periodically banded—‐the first reported incidence of this type of substructure in any euthyneuran acrosome. Although sperm nuclei of P. peroni, B. ornata and B. citrina differ in length and also the number of keels present (nucleus 7 μm long with four/five keels present in Pleurobranchus; 17 μm long with one keel in Berthella; 15 μm long with a very weak keel in Berthellina), the basal invagination to which the centriolar derivative, axoneme and coarse fibres are attached is always poorly developed, and very little overlap between nucleus and midpiece occurs. In P. maculata and U. sinicum, the nucleus forms a helical cord around the axoneme and mitochondrial derivative such that it is not possible to recognize exclusively ‘nuclear’ and ‘midpiece’ regions of the spermatozoon. In all notaspideans investigated, (1) the axoneme, coarse fibres and glycogen helix are enclosed by the paracrystalline and matrix components of the mitochondrial derivative and (2) a dense ring structure (attached to the plasma membrane) and glycogen piece are observed. While the glycogen piece is very short (0.85–1.43 μm) with a very degenerate axoneme in B. citrina, B. ornata and P. peroni, this region of the spermatozoan is well developed (30–35 μm long) in U. sinicum and exhibits a fully intact 9 + 2 axoneme. The ‘glycogen piece’(or its presumed homologue) in P. maculata spermatozoa is very short (0.65 μm), devoid of any axonemal remnant and constructed of a hollow, internal cylinder attached to an outer (incomplete) shell, and contains scattered (glycogen) granules. Spermatozoal structure supports a close relationship between the genera Berthellina, Berthella and Pleurobranchus. These three genera have more distant links with Pleurobranchaea, while Umbraculum maintains an isolated, specialized position within the Notaspidea.
Defences of a Neotropical harvestman against different levels of threat by the recluse spider

The threat sensitive hypothesis predicts that animals modulate the defensive behaviour with the level of threat. Therefore, responses to predator cues may differ from responses to the actual predator in close range. Also, in high threat situations, prey would be expected to use their most dangerous defences. The recluse spider Loxosceles gaucho (Araneae, Sicariidae) is known to prey upon well defended harvestmen such as the laniatorid Mischonyx cuspidatus (Opiliones, Gonyleptidae), which has been reported to use tanathosis, chemical defences, pinching with sharp apophyses on legs, chelicerae and pedipalps. Because of harvestmen’s dependence on chemical stimuli, we tested if M. cuspidatus would change its locomotory behaviour in the presence of chemicals of the recluse spider (low threat situation: spider vs blank vs chemical control; one at a time). Subsequently, we tested harvestmen behaviour in the presence of the spider in close range, a high-threat situation. Finally, we looked at the survival rate of spiders after being pierced by sharp apophyses that M. cuspidatus have on legs IV. The harvestmen only showed defensive behaviours in the high threat situation. Surprisingly, their mostly known defensive behaviours (chemical defence, tanathosis, pinching with chelicerae and pedipalps) were not seen even in the high threat situation. This is the first evidence that these behaviours are not used against a natural predator that has an almost 80% predation success when attacking harvestmen. Pinching with the sharp legs IV apophyses may perforate but do not kill the spiders. We highlight the importance of the traditional descriptive approach with natural predators to understand the specificities of defensive behaviours against different types of predator.
Technical Efficiency of Smallholder Agriculture in Developing Countries: The Case of Ethiopia

The efficient use of inputs is indispensable in many developing countries, such as Ethiopia. This study assesses the level and determinants of technical efficiency of smallholder farmers using the true fixed effects (TFE) model. The TFE model separates inefficiency from unobserved heterogeneity. Empirical data come from four rounds of panel data (1994–2009) from the Ethiopian rural household survey (ERHS). A one-step maximum likelihood estimator was employed to estimate the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function and factors influencing technical efficiency. The results indicated that the major variables affecting technical efficiency are policy responsive, albeit to varying degrees: education of the household head, family size, farm size, land fragmentation, land quality, credit use, extension service, off-farm employment, and crop share. The analyses also identify variables amenable to policy changes in the production function: labor, traction power, farm size, seeds, and fertilizer. The mean household-level efficiency for the surveyed farmers is 0.59, indicating that farmers could improve technical efficiency. This implies that smallholder farms in Ethiopia can reduce the input requirement of producing the average output by 41% if their operations become technically efficient. This study recommends that the above policy variables be considered to make Ethiopian smallholder farmers more efficient.
Growth of aflatoxigenic moulds and aflatoxin formation in Brazil nuts

The present study aimed at gaining more knowledge of the growth of aflatoxigenic moulds and aflatoxin production in Brazil nuts in relation to humidity conditions and storage time. For this purpose, the growth of aflatoxigenic moulds and the increase in aflatoxin levels in Brazil nuts was studied in the laboratory at temperature and humidity conditions that are relevant for the Amazon region. Fresh unprocessed Brazil nuts in shell were inoculated with an aflatoxin producing strain of Aspergillus nomius previously isolated from Brazil nuts. The nuts were stored at 27 °C in combination with 97, 90 or 80% surrounding relative humidity in a respirometer for up to 3 months. The General Linear Model (GLM) was used for evaluation of the effect of water activity and time on aflatoxigenic mould levels and on aflatoxin levels, as well as the relationship between mould and aflatoxin levels. During storage at the highest relative humidity (97%) aflatoxin formation occurred rapidly, whereas storage at 90% relative hum.
Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamic Study of Two Viral Proteins Associated with SARS-CoV-2 with Ivermectin

The global pandemic caused by the new SARS-COV-2 coronavirus makes it necessary to search for drugs for its control. Within of this research it has been known that the ivermectin drug, a FDA-approved drugs which is formulated as an 80:20 mixture of ivermectin B1a and B1b and used commonly for parasitic infections, has an inhibitory effect on viruses, includes SARS-COV-2 at in vitro level. In the particular case of SARS-COV-2 its mechanism of action remains elusive and controversial. Interestingly, the energy of interaction of ivermectin with any of the proteins the SARS-CoV-2 and the possible structural alterations at the protein level that this drug can cause have not been reported. In this sense, we carried out a bioinformatics study with docking strategies and molecular dynamics to predict the binding and disturbance induced by ivermectin in proteins associated with SARS-CoV-2. We use DockThor and Molegro docking scores. The DockThor server and myPresto software were used to build complexes and dynamics studies, respectively. The results obtained suggested that ivermectin is capable of docking with the 3CL protease and the HR2 domain, and may promote structural changes in these proteins by inducing unfolding/folding. Specifically, ivermectin brings protease to a significantly more deployed conformational state and the HR2 domain to a more compact state compared to the native state. Finally, it is shown that B1a and B1b macrocyclic lactones have a behavior different from to each target protein. These results suggest a possible inhibitory effect against SARS-CoV-2 due to a synergistic role of this drug to spontaneously bind to two important proteins involve in the proliferation of this virus. However, more studies are required on this possible mechanism of action.
Reduction of work accidents through the implementation of containers for solid waste collection

The activity of waste collection is fundamental for preserving human health and the environment. As the world population increases, so does the waste production, consequently leading to a higher number of professionals involved in the collection activity. The objective of this study was to identify the main causes of accidents in urban waste collection and to verify if the implementation of containers would reduce the number of accidents in the sector. The causes were identified by analyzing accidents in two waste-collection companies for 4 years. Company A had 3,859 employees with 756 registered accident cases, while company B had 2020 workers with 189 cases. In total, it was analyzed 945 accident cases from urban waste collection. One municipality from company A which implemented the highest number of containers was studied thoroughly to verify if the implementation of containers reduces the number of accidents. The analysis shows that the household collection had the highest accident rate, with 65.61%. Sharp materials and falls were the leading causes of accidents, representing 53% in the company A and 62% in the company B. After containers implementation, the number of accidents caused by sharp materials and falls decreased from 37 without the container in 2014, to 18 with the container in 2015, and 11 with the container in 2016. It was concluded that the implementation of containers improves occupational safety and health during the urban cleaning process. Further studies should be conducted in order to improve the working conditions in the urban cleaning sector.
Heritability estimates in contrasting environments as influenced by the adaptation level of barley germ plasm

Low heritability estimates in marginal or stress environments have often been used as one of the main justification for conducting selection work in environments with optimum or near-optimum conditions for plant growth and grain yield. In this study, we have examined the relationships between grain yield and broad-sense heritability in four groups of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) obtained from four barley crosses derived from parents differing in adaptation to stress. The RILs and the parents were grown in 13 combinations of years and locations (environments) in Syria and Jordan. Grain yields ranged from about 30 kg ha -1 to nearly 4000 kg ha -1 and genotype x environment interactions explained about half of the total variance for environmentally standardised data. Broad-sense heritability in the individual year-location combinations varied from 0 to 0.68 and both the simple correlation and the rank correlation coefficients between grain yield and heritability were not significant. Genotype x years within individual locations, which measures the repeatability of a location in discriminating between genotypes, was also independent from the yield level, confirming that low-yielding locations can be reliable selection environments. Also, there was no relationship between the type of cross and the magnitude of heritability in the various environments, but, as expected, the magnitude of heritability was significantly associated with the genetic distance between the parents. It is concluded that, holding all other factors affecting response to selection constant, concerns about the magnitude of heritability at low-yielding locations are not justified and should not prevent them from being used as selection sites.
Miles Vs. Trane: Computational and Statistical Comparison of the Improvisatory Styles of Miles Davis and John Coltrane

ABSTRACT Much has been written about John Coltrane and Miles Davis, from autobiographical works to detailed musicological analyses and cultural/sociological accounts of their lives, work, and legacy. Fewer publications are concerned with a direct comparison of both artists' approach to improvisation. I introduce a new analytical perspective, developed in the context of the Jazzomat Research Project, by using computational and statistical methods. Based on a large set of solo transcriptions taken from the Weimar Jazz Database spanning different stylistic phases for both artists (20 solos by Coltrane and 19 solos by Davis), I identify common and differing stylistic traits. This approach utilizes a set of 143 musical features extracted from the solos. Results indicate that both players differ in quite many aspects. Clichés of the “extroverted” style of Coltrane and the “introverted” style of Davis are evidenced by vastly different note densities and overall spacing of phrases. Some surprising and subtle differences also showed up. For instance, Davis has a tendency to avoid the third of the underlying chord and also major and minor third intervals, whereas Coltrane has a preference for playing out chords. Furthermore, both players seem to have no large overlap in their respective pattern vocabularies.
Hjorteviltpåkjørsler i Norge: Årsaksforhold, lokalisering, risiko og datakvalitet.

5 Innhold . 7 Forord . 9 1 Innledning . 10 2 Materiale og metode . 13 2.1 Datagrunnlaget . 13 2.1.1 Hjorteviltregisteret . 13 2.2 Modellering av risiko for påkjørsel . 14 2.3 Tilfeldige kontrollpunkter for modellering og regulære punkter for predikering. 15 2.3.1 Kontrollpunkter – modell for hele Norge . 15 2.3.2 Kontrollpunkter – flerartsmodell . 16 2.3.3 Regulære punkter for kartprediksjoner av påkjørselsrisiko . 16 2.4 Miljøvariabler . 16 2.4.1 Habitatkart . 16 2.4. 2 Hjortevilttetthet. 17 2.4. 3 Vegbase . 18 2.4. 4 Snødybde . 18 2.4. 5 Sesong . 18 2.5 Statistiske analyser . 19 2.5. 1 Modellutvikling og modellseleksjon . 19 2.5. 2 Modellprediksjoner i kart . 19 2.5. 3 GIS-analyser . 20 3 Resultater . 21 3.1 Deskriptiv statistikk på kollisjonsstedet . 21 3.2 Modellering av risiko for påkjørsel av elg, hjort og rådyr. 22 3.2.1 Modell for hele Norge . 22 3.2.1.1 Risikomodell for elg. 22 3.2.1.2 Risikomodell for hjort . 24 3.2.1.3 Risikomodell for rådyr . 25 3.2.2 Modell for hele Norge uten vilttetthet . 26 3.2.3 Lokal risikomodell for utvalgte kommuner med påkjørsler av alle arter . 27 3.3 Modellprediksjoner . 28 3.3.1 Modellprediksjoner modell for hele Norge . 28 3.3.1.1 Elg. 28 3.3.1.2 Hjort . 31 3.3.1.3 Rådyr . 33 3.3.2 Modellprediksjoner flerartsmodell . 35 4 Diskusjon . 38 4.1 Komparative analyser av påkjørselsrisiko . 38 4.1.1 Modell for hele Norge . 38 4.1.1.1 Sesong . 38 4.1.1.2 Vilttetthet . 38 4.1.1.3 Landskapsvariabler . 39 4.1.1.4 Snødybde . 41
The Effect of Parasitization by Pimpla turionellae (L.) on the Emergence from the Pupal Case of its Host, Galleria mellonella (L.)

Abstract Parasitism of pupae of G. mellonella (L.) by P. turionellae (L.) was found to prevent adult emergence. The effect was manifest within 24 hours of parasitization. Experiments are described which indicated that the source of the factor preventing eclosion of the imago is the developing parasite egg.
Transmission Scheme and Performance Analysis of Multi-Cell Decoupled Heterogeneous Networks

Although uplink (UL) downlink (DL) decoupling (DUDe) brings significant gains in the UL throughput of decoupled user equipments (DeUEs) in heterogeneous networks, channel estimation and DL performance of DeUEs are worse than the coupled UEs due to the DUDe property and the cell edge effect. To address these fundamental problems, we propose a transmission scheme with data-aided (DA) minimum mean square error (MMSE) channel estimator and zero-forcing (ZF) interference nulling (IN) precoding for a two-tier multi-cell HetNet with DUDe. We first present a method to estimate the bit error rate (BER) of UL data, then, derive the form of DA MMSE estimator, which utilizes decoded UL data, estimated BER and known UL training sequences to jointly estimate the DL channels of DeUEs. ZF IN precoding uses the estimated channels of DeUEs to cancel the nearest DL interference without any cooperation and message transmission. Also, we derive a tight approximation to the achievable DL rate of DeUEs and analyze the benefits of the DA estimator and ZF IN precoding. Our simulations show that DA MMSE estimator outperforms the conventional MMSE counterpart, while the proposed scheme improves the DL performance of both DeUEs and macro UEs, though the rate gain may be degraded by pilot contamination and inter-cell interference.