Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Respiration and emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from a boreal peatland complex comprising different land-use types

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from pristine peatlands and peatlands drained for agriculture, forestry or peat extraction have been studied intensively. However, few studies have compared GHG emissions from peatlands under different land-use type within the same peatland area. This study examined methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions and respiration (CO2) from a peatland complex in northern Finland, including a peatland used for grass cultivation, a Pinus sylvestris and Betula pubescens dominated forested peatland, a peat-extraction site and a pristine mire. Gas fluxes were measured in 2011 and 2012 with chambers during the snow-free period, and using the snow-gradient method in winter 2012/2013. Soil respiration was highest in the cultivated site (median during growing season 350 mg CO2 m –2 h–1), and lower in the forest site and in the peat-extraction site (median for growing season 49 and 130 mg CO2 m –2 h–1, respectively). The peat-extraction site and the cultivated site were large sources of N2O during the growing season (median 89 and 28 μg m–2 h–1, respectively) and during the winter (median 56 and 460 μg m–2 h–1, respectively). The pristine site was a large source of CH4 during the growing season (median 0.98 mg m–2 h–1), whereas CH4 emissions from the drained sites during the growing season were minor. However, during winter, the peat-extraction site and the cultivated site emitted CH4 (median 0.58 and 0.029 mg m–2 h–1, respectively). The cultivated site had the highest estimated CO2 equivalent emissions, due to the high CO2 and N2O fluxes, but the peat-extraction site also had large annual emissions, mainly as N2O. The study suggests that rising groundwater level from 60 to 40 cm could potentially mitigate the emissions from the cultivated site.
The Austrian System of Individual Pension Accounts – An Unfinished Symphony

The new Austrian pension system based on individual accounts is a clear improvement over the former system. A serious shortcoming of the new system, however, is that it does not react to demographic changes, in particular to increases in life expectancy. I contrast the Austrian and the Swedish pension account systems to demonstrate how and why the latter is able to react to demographic changes. I also show how the Austrian system could be adapted to include such an automatic adjustment mechanism. In particular, this would require a continuous modification of the “key formula” 80/65/45 (80% replacement rate after 45 contribution years at a retirement age of 65). In a next step I argue why an increase in the average retirement age seems to be the most appropriate and viable reaction to the increase in life expectancy and why alternative adjustment policies have their limits. Finally, I discuss some commonly expressed objections to this adjustment strategy. I also sketch how a system of individual accounts could be amended in order to take some of these objections into account.
Compilation of the Scale of College Students’ Attitudes towards Three-self-determination PE Class and Norm Construction

College students’ attitudes towards three-self-determination PE class are preceded the theoretical construction and the scale of college students’ attitudes towards three-self-determination PE class is compiled by comprehensively applying literatures, discussions, and questionnaire. With Partial Least Squares (PLS) to select information and explore theories, it reveals that college students’ attitudes towards three-self-determination PE class are composed of 7 dimensions of attitudes towards course cognition, attitudes towards social behavior, attitudes towards health and safety, attitudes towards leisure life, attitudes towards sports knowledge, attitudes towards sports technique, and attitudes towards physical development; and, the fit of attitude model is favorable. With Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the structure of the scale of college students’ attitudes towards three-self-determination PE class is supported, and the scale presents good reliability, validity, and stability. What is more, the national overall, gender, and grade norms are also constructed.
A pilot study into the use of global navigation satellite system technology to quantify the behavioural responses of sheep during simulated dog predation events

The predation of sheep (Ovis aries) by wild and domestic dogs (Canis lupis) is a major issue in Australia, causing serious welfare issues to inflicted animals. The estimated cost of sheep and cattle production losses caused by wild dogs when combined with an extensive range of control measures, costs the Australian economy AU$66 million annually. Spatio-temporaldataderivedfromglobalnavigationsatellitesystem(GNSS)deviceswereusedtoquantifythebehavioural responsesof two flocksof15Merinoewesrangingfrom2to8yearsold(average4.5years)duringsimulated dogpredation events. Each sheep was fitted with a GNSS collar, and the behavioural responses of the sheep were video recorded during six trials (three per flock). The behavioural data collated from video recordings were then compared with the movement metrics derived from the GNSS collars. Derived metrics include the spatial distribution of flock members, speed of animal movement and specific behavioural changes including centripetal rotation (circling behaviour of the flock, with individual sheep seeking the centre). While the spatial distribution data did not appear to be specific enough to enable identification of a predation event, the velocity of sheep was higher (P < 0.001) during compared with before and after a simulated dog predation event. Centripetal rotation occurred in 80% of the simulated predation events during this study, and may provide a means for identifying predation. The spatio-temporal data from GNSS devices have potential as a research tool to assist in understanding sheep movement patterns during a dog attack. While further research and mathematical modelling of predation events is clearly required, the application of remote sensing technology has the potential to improve future livestock monitoring.
Regional-scale lateral carbon transport and CO 2 evasion in temperate stream catchments

Abstract. Inland waters play an important role in regional to global-scale carbon cycling by transporting, processing and emitting substantial amounts of carbon, which originate mainly from their catchments. In this study, we analyzed the relationship between terrestrial net primary production (NPP) and the rate at which carbon is exported from the catchments in a temperate stream network. The analysis included more than 200 catchment areas in southwest Germany, ranging in size from 0.8 to 889 km2 for which CO2 evasion from stream surfaces and downstream transport with stream discharge were estimated from water quality monitoring data, while NPP in the catchments was obtained from a global data set based on remote sensing. We found that on average 13.9 g C m−2 yr−1 (corresponding to 2.7 % of terrestrial NPP) are exported from the catchments by streams and rivers, in which both CO2 evasion and downstream transport contributed about equally to this flux. The average carbon fluxes in the catchments of the study area resembled global and large-scale zonal mean values in many respects, including NPP, stream evasion and the carbon export per catchment area in the fluvial network. A review of existing studies on aquatic–terrestrial coupling in the carbon cycle suggests that the carbon export per catchment area varies in a relatively narrow range, despite a broad range of different spatial scales and hydrological characteristics of the study regions.
A Conservation Institution for the 21st Century: Implications for State Wildlife Agencies

Abstract The wildlife conservation institution (Institution) needs to reform to maintain legitimacy and relevancy in the 21st century. Institutional reform is inherently slow. Limitations resulting from historical and resource dependencies between state wildlife agencies and hunters have left the Institution poorly positioned to meet changing ecological and social complexities. In this paper, we suggest that an ideal Institution would have the following 4 components: broad-based funding, trustee-based governance, multidisciplinary science as the basis of recommendations from professional staff, and involvement of diverse stakeholders and partners. Our suggestions reflect the fundamental tenets of the Public Trust Doctrine, which we believe is the foundation of the Institution. In bringing forth these ideas, we hope to encourage discussion about how the Institution should reform to meet the changing needs of society.
Seasonal and circadian variation of the sexual behavior of Morada Nova rams in tropical environment

The objective of this study was to evaluate the seasonal and daily variation in sexual behavior of Morada Nova breeders raised in the Brazilian semi-arid region. The data were collected from four rams and 114 ewes of the Morada Nova breed - 55 females in the dry season and another 59 in the rainy season. Observations were performed in the dry and rainy seasons, divided into four times of the day: morning (05:01 h to 11.00 h), afternoon (11.01 h to 17.00 h), evening (17.01 h to 23:00 h), and dawn (23:01 h to 05.00 h). Sexual behavior was assessed for a period of 24 h/day, in a breeding season. One ram was used each three days. The behavioral patterns of the rams in view of females were observed during the recognition (sniffing the female urine, bouts of anogenital sniffing, and flehmen reaction), preparatory (exposure of tongue and penis, leg-kicking, and low-pitched bleats), and copulatory (number of mounts, number of ejaculations, and refractory period) phases. The rams were more active during daytime. The animals in the rainy season showed more efficient sexual behaviors by the lower frequency of mounts per ejaculation and greater number of ejaculations in a shorter time. In contrast, courting behaviors such as exposure of tongue, number of mounts, low-pitched bleats, and leg-kicking were more frequent in the dry season. In the semi-arid region with latitudes close to 7°N, Morada Nova rams have a higher intensity of precopulatory behaviors and lower frequency of ejaculations in the dry season.
Emotional Intelligence: A Panacea to Language Teaching

As emotional intelligence plays an important role in peoples’ lives, it can also be extended to language teaching. In this regard, it is indispensable for teachers to know how to develop emotional intelligence. The present paper made an endeavor to provide the ways to develop emotional intelligence. Although the achievement of success is variously defined by different theories, in this theory (i.e., emotional intelligence) success will be achieved when students can control their emotions. What the paper attempts has been to cast lights upon our perception in the behavior that the teachers can employ in order to help students to control their emotions.
Optimized features selection for gender classification using optimization algorithms

Optimized feature selection is an important task in gender classification. The optimized features not only reduce the dimensions, but also reduce the error rate. In this paper, we have proposed a technique for the extraction of facial features using both appearance-based and geometric-based feature extraction methods. The extracted features are then optimized using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and the bee algorithm. The geometric-based features are optimized by PSO with ensemble classifier optimization by the genetic algorithm. Using this approach, we have obtained promising results in terms of the classification error rate and computation time minimization. Moreover, our optimized feature-based method is robust to illumination, noise, and occlusion changes.
Comparative Analysis of Bayes and Lazy Classification Algorithms

Data mining is the non-trivial extraction of implicit, earlier unknown and potentially useful information about data. There are several data mining techniques have been developed and used in data mining projects which includes classification, clustering, association rules, prediction, and sequential patterns. Data mining applications are used in various areas such as sales, marketing, banking, finance, health care, insurance and medicine. There are various research domains in data mining namely web mining, text mining, image mining, sequence mining, privacy preserving data mining, etc. Text mining is a technique which extracts information from both structured and unstructured data and also finding patterns which is novel and not known earlier. It is also known as knowledge discovery from text (KDT), deals with the machine supported analysis of text. Text mining is used in various areas such as information retrieval, document similarity, natural language processing and so on. Searching for similar documents is an important problem in text mining. The first and essential step of document similarity is to classify the documents based on their category. In this research work, we have analysed the performance of Bayesian and Lazy classifiers for classifying the files which are stored in the computer hard disk. There are two algorithms in Bayesian classifier namely BayesNet, and Naive Bayes. In lazy classifier has three algorithms namely IBL, IBK and Kstar. The performances of Bayesian and lazy classifiers are analysed by applying various performance factors. From the experimental results, it is observed that the lazy classifier is more efficient than Bayesian classifier.
Global atmospheric budget of simple monocyclic aromatic compounds

Abstract. The global atmospheric budget and distribution of monocyclic aromatic compounds is estimated, using an atmospheric chemistry general circulation model. Simulation results are evaluated with an ensemble of surface and aircraft observations with the goal of understanding emission, production and removal of these compounds. Anthropogenic emissions provided by the RCP database represent the largest source of aromatics in the model (≃ 23 TgC year−1) and biomass burning from the GFAS inventory the second largest (≃ 5 TgC year−1). The simulated chemical production of aromatics accounts for ≃ 5 TgC year−1. The atmospheric burden of aromatics sums up to 0.3 TgC. The main removal process of aromatics is photochemical decomposition (≃ 27 TgC year−1), while wet and dry deposition are responsible for a removal of ≃ 4 TgC year−1. Simulated mixing ratios at the surface and elsewhere in the troposphere show good spatial and temporal agreement with the observations for benzene, although the model generally underestimates mixing ratios. Toluene is generally well reproduced by the model at the surface, but mixing ratios in the free troposphere are underestimated. Finally, larger discrepancies are found for xylenes: surface mixing ratios are not only overestimated but also a low temporal correlation is found with respect to in situ observations.
On the Performance of Classification Techniques with Pixel Removal Applied to Digit Recognition

The successive loss of the outermost pixel values or frames in the digital representation of handwritten digits is postulated to have an increasing impact on the degree of accuracy of categorizations of these digits. This removal of frames is referred to as trimming. The first few frames do not contain significant amounts of information and the impact on accuracy should be negligible. As more frames are trimmed, the impact becomes more significant on the ability of each classification model to correctly identify digits. This study focuses on the effects of the trimming of frames of pixels, on the ability of the Recursive Partitioning and Classification Trees method, the Naive Bayes method, the k-Nearest Neighbor method and the Support Vector Machine method in the categorization of handwritten digits. The results from the application of the k-Nearest Neighbour and Recursive Partitioning and Classification Trees methods exemplified the white noise effect in the trimming of the first few frames whilst the Naive Bayes and the Support Vector Machine did not. With respect to time all models saw a relative decrease in time from the initial dataset. The k-Nearest Neighbour method had the greatest decreases whilst the Support Vector Machine had significantly fluctuating times.
Magmatism in the Garrett transform fault (East Pacific Rise near 13°27′S)

The Garrett transform is characterized by recent (zero age) volcanic activity located within the active tectonic domain of the transform valley at depths greater than the 3500 m. This intratransform volcanic activity contributed to the formation of constructional edifices forming ridges (>300 m in height) and small mounds (<20 m in height) built near slivers of serpentinized peridotites. The erupted lavas are depleted mid ocean ridge basalts (MORBs) with low ratios of K/Ti (0.02–0.11), Zr (30–100 ppm), Y (18–50 ppm), and (La/Sm)N (0.25–0.60). Their more depleted nature and smaller range of variability for the compatible elements (Ni = 70–180 ppm, Mg# = 0.58–0.71, where Mg# is the magnesium number (= Mg+2/Mg+2 + Fe+2)) are the main points of difference between the Garrett intratransform volcanics (GITV) and those from the ultrafast south East Pacific Rise (SEPR). However, ferrobasalts (Mg# = 0.41–0.55) were collected from the intratransform walls as well as at the EPR-transform intersection. The GITV are even more depleted in incompatible elements than lava from the north East Pacific Rise (21°N-11°26′N). The Garrett recent lava is believed to have erupted after the successive, incremental partial melting and discontinuous melt extraction of a composite lherzolitic mantle similar to that of the SEPR. The limited range of incompatible element ratios (Zr/Y = 1–2.5, (Ce/Yb)N = 0.4–1) and K/Ti ratios (<0.14) and the samples more porphyritic nature with respect to other SEPR rocks suggest that the intratransform volcanics from the Garrett are extracted from their source and channeled directly toward the surface without extensive mixing in magma chambers. In order to explain the restricted range of compositional variabilities and the absence of the enriched basalts produced by prior melting, we postulate that even though they were produced, these most enriched end-member lavas did not reach the surface; instead, we propose these melts contribute to the formation of impregnated mantle material in the lithosphere. We suggest that this same petrogenetic style of intratransform volcanism might also characterize other oceanic provinces associated with low magmatic to quasi-amagmatic regimes.
The Development of MyGSP: An Online Resource for Teaching Mathematics Based on Geometer’s Sketchpad (GSP)

MyGSP was developed following various constraints faced by teachers to integrate the Geometer’s Sketchpad (GSP) software into mathematics lessons. Based on the Waterfall Design Model, the development of MyGSP started with the analysis of user needs through literature review and simple survey. From the analysis, three main constraints were identified: (1) insufficient time to prepare for GSP-aided lessons; (2) lack of training on GSP integration in lessons; and (3) lack of references for teaching mathematics using GSP. Therefore, taking into account the computer equipment currently available at schools, the researcher developed MyGSP to overcome these constraints. In the design phase, the researcher developed teaching materials for mathematics topics at secondary schools. Teaching strategies adopting higher order of thinking skills were applied in the teaching materials. Apart from this, video tutorials on GSP usage in teaching materials were also developed. In the implementation and unit testing phase, 30 pre-service Mathematics teachers participated by providing feedback on the materials developed. In the integration phase, the modules, i.e., Teaching Material Module, Download Module, Forum Module, and Video Tutorial Module, were combined into one system known as MyGSP. The MyGSP system was also updated and enhanced from time to time in the maintenance phase. It is hoped that MyGSP will be able to fulfill teachers’ needs for integrating GSP into their classrooms.
STRUCTURE FROM MOTION SYSTEMS FOR ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE. A SURVEY OF THE INTERNAL LOGGIA COURTYARD OF PALAZZO DEI CAPITANI, ASCOLI PICENO, ITALY

We present the results of a point-cloud-based survey deriving from the use of image-based techniques, in particular with multi-image monoscopic digital photogrammetry systems and software, the so-called “structure-from-motion” technique. The aim is to evaluate the advantages and limitations of such procedures in architectural surveying, particularly in conditions that are “at the limit”. A particular case study was chosen: the courtyard of Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, which can be considered the ideal example due to its notable vertical, rather than horizontal, layout. In this context, by comparing and evaluating the different results, we present experimentation regarding this single case study with the aim of identifying the best workflow to realise a complex, articulated set of representations—using 3D modelling and 2D processing—necessary to correctly document the particular characteristics of such an architectural object.
Slip Over a Lubricant Impregnated Surface in Pressure- Driven Flow

A novel non-wetting surface known as slippery liquid-infused porous surface (SLIPS) or lubricant impregnated surface (LIS) has been reported recently. This work aims to investigate effective slip or drag reduction arising from pressure-driven flow through a microchannel bounded by SLIPS. Numerical simulation was performed for the flow of both the lubricating and working fluids inside and immediately outside the microtextured surface. The multiphase problem is solved using the front tracking method. In this method the interface is replaced by a transitional narrow zone, which has a thickness comparable to the mesh size, and the fluid properties such as density and viscosity are constructed according to the distance from the interface. SLIPS with various pattern lengths and lubricant liquid with different viscosities are calculated and compared.
Three Essays on Robustness and Asymmetries in Central Bank Forecasting

This paper introduces asymmetric central bank forecasting into the standard New Keynesian model within the context of robust control theory. Asymmetric forecasting expresses policymakers f reservations about economic forecasts, and the degree of their reservations is reflected as an asymmetric preference whose existence warrants laying aside the assumption that policymakers f base decisions primarily on rational expectations. This study concludes that monetary policy becomes more aggressive because of policymakers f reservations about forecasts stemming from asymmetry, and preference for policies robust enough to overcome unanticipated situations. In addition, adopted policies will likely amplify economic fluctuations and significantly reduce social welfare.
Effect of training set selection when predicting defaulter SMEs with unbalanced data

We focus on credit scoring methods to separate defaulter small and medium enterprises from non-defaulter ones. In this framework, a typical problem occurs because the proportion of defaulter rms is very close to zero, leading to a class imbalance problem. Moreover, a form of bias may a ect the classi cation. In fact, classi cation models are usually based on balance sheet items of large corporations which are not randomly selected. We investigate how di erent criteria of sample selection may a ect the accuracy of the classi cation and how this problem is strongly related to the imbalance of the classes.