Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring the contribution of community members to functional diversity

Although the contribution of community members to functional diversity is a key question of conservation ecology, its measurement and interpretation are rather problematic. In this paper, we suggest a novel method for decomposing functional diversity. To do this we consider functional units (i.e. species or a group of species with identical traits) as the functional building blocks of communities. Then we propose the use of a recently developed measure of functional diversity (called modified functional attribute diversity or MFAD) and suggest additive decomposition of MFAD into functional values contributed by the functional units. We point out that functional values are related to changes in MFAD if the functional unit is removed from the community. This property of decomposition allows the quantification of the contribution of community members to functional diversity. By studying artificial and actual communities we compare the performance of our new method with other recently developed contribution measures, which are based on dendrograms and ordinations. Both theoretical considerations and analyses of artificial and actual data sets suggest that the proposed method of calculating functional values expresses more explicitly the contribution of community members to functional diversity and hereby can be used as a simple, yet efficient method for searching for functional keystones in ecological communities or for quantifying the contribution of community members to functional diversity.
A Machine Learning Approach to Predict Movie Revenue Based on Pre-Released Movie Metadata

With the growth of the movie industry, it is becoming increasingly important for the stakeholders to get an idea about the probable profit made by the movie in the box office. In fact, among movies produced between 2000 and 2010 in the United States, only 36% had box office revenues higher than their production budgets, which further highlights the importance of making the right investment decisions. To address this issue, different machine learning algorithms like Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) are used in this study to predict the box office return of a movie based on the data available before the release of the movie. The models use 35 movie parameters from 3200 movies as inputs to predict the profit made by a movie and classify the success of a movie from “flop” to “blockbuster” based on the generated revenue. An analysis of different machine learning architectures is also presented in this research. Finally, a system is proposed that produces comparable results with existing researches in this field and it can predict the profit generated by a movie with a “one class away” accuracy of 85.31% without using any sales information.
Two New Species of the Asian Genus Tripterospermum (Gentianaceae)

Abstract This paper presents descriptions and illustrations for two new species of Gentianaceae, Tripterospermum maculatum from Sichuan Province (China) and T. tanatorajanense from Sulawesi (Indonesia). Based on literature search, Tripterospermum maculatum is morphologically close to T. pingbianense and T. lanceolatum, and T. tanatorajanense resembles T. luzonense and T. alutaceifolium. To test if the new species differ from their morphologically most similar species, we measured various traits on herbarium specimens and performed a principal component analysis (PCA). This analysis showed that the new species differ from similar species in gross morphology for several diagnostic traits. Tripterospermum maculatum differs from T. pingbianense and T. lanceolatum by having calyx lobes longer than calyx tubes, a whitish-yellow corolla maculated with purple dots, and a gynophore shorter than the ovary. Tripterospermum tanatorajanense is distinct from T. luzonense by having a narrowly winged calyx. It differs from T. alutaceifolium and T. luzonense by having a shorter ovary and a slightly longer gynophore. A key including all species of Tripterospermum is provided.
Economy of Innovation and Technological Change: A Theoretical Approach of Schumpeter

In the current economic dynamics, the leading role of technological innovation in business competitiveness, development and economic growth is widely recognized and accepted. The objective of this article is to focus on the field of economic and business analysis of the process of innovation and technological change, as a socio-economic process, an objective that is developed from a review of the theoretical contributions, which can well be called the father of an economy of innovation of technological change.
Exhibiting Ancient Africa at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: “Ancient Nubia Now” and Its Audiences

Museum exhibits provide some of the most significant opportunities for archaeology to reach broad audiences. A major exhibition at a large museum can draw 100,000 visitors or more, yet this outreach potential is often overlooked in the field as a whole. As an example, museums were not even mentioned in two recent plenary addresses at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) that focused on archaeology and its public audiences.1 Moreover, the kinds of engagement that museum visitors have with ancient objects are qualitatively different from experiences in classrooms, reading books, or watching documentaries. Learning in museums is directed by visitors themselves, is often done in small groups of friends or family, and provides firsthand experiences with ancient objects in a way that other media cannot.2 It is thus a pleasure to review an important and visually spectacular exhibition on the relatively little-known cultures of ancient Nubia at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). 3 “Ancient Nubia Now” was on view at the MFA from 13 August 2019 through 20 January 2020. Presenting some 400 works of ancient Nubian art, it was curated by Denise Doxey, Rita Freed, and Lawrence Berman (respectively: curator, chair, and senior curator of Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art). The MFA holds the finest collection of antiquities from ancient Nubia outside Egypt and Sudan. The collection largely derives from a remarkable series of excavations conducted under the supervision of the American
The spatio-temporal trend of rapeseed yields in Ukraine as a marker of agro-economic factors influence

The paper demonstrates the applicability of several statistical methods to the analysis and interpretation of the average rapeseed yield data. It proves our hypothesis that the general trend of rapeseed yield variations in Ukraine during 1991–2017 occurred due to agro-economic and agro-technological factors, which are the determinants of the revealed general trend. The temporal trend of rapeseed yield in most administrative districts can be described by a fourth-degree polynomial, namely, its characteristic points enabled us to describe and interpret the dynamics of rapeseed yields. The absolute term of the polynomial shows the initial conditions of the process, and its mapping allows us to identify the areas with the most favorable soil-climatic conditions for the rapeseed cultivation. Indicators of the maximum rate of growth and decrease of yields are the markers of stability of agro-ecosystems to the external influences. Therefore, the mapping of the maximum rate of decline and increase of yields reveal areas in which yields respond rapidly (increasing / falling) to the changes in agro-economic and agro-technological conditions, as well as areas where yields are more stable and change gradually. Thus, the form of the yield trend is determined by the influence of agro-technological and agro-economic factors, whose contribution to the fluctuation in rapeseed yields varies from 53% to 90%.
Collisional Effects in Non-stationary Plasma Expansions along Convergent-Divergent Magnetic Nozzles

The electron-electron collisional effect on the nonstationary expansion of a plasma in a convergentdivergent magnetic nozzle is studied. Under paraxial and fully magnetized plasmas approximations, an Eulerian code has been adapted to solve Poisson’s equation coupled with the kinetic transport equations for plasma species, i.e. a Vlasov equation for singly-charged ions and a Boltzmann equation with a Bhatnagar-Gross-Kook operator for electrons. The study is focused on weakly collisional plasma plumes, which have a collisional time scale larger than the transit time in the nozzle of typical electrons. A kinetic analysis shows that phasespace regions of isolated, doubly-trapped electrons that are nearly empty in the collisionless case are progressively populated due to the electron-electron collisions. Such a higher density of trapped electrons modifies the profile of the electrostatic potential, which keeps almost unaltered the density of free electrons and decreases the density of the reflected ones. As compared with the collisionless case, the collisions decrease the length of the downstream sheath and the parallel electron temperature while increasing the normal one. Therefore the steady plasma state is more isotropic. The simulations show that collisions erase the time history of the system and, unlike the collisionless case, the steady state is unique.
Instrumental Variable Methods in Real Estate Data Analysis

Although linear models enjoy widespread use in economics, due in part to their simple but flexible form, real estate data generally violates many of their standard assumptions. This paper presents some methods that have allowed applied researchers to conduct more principled analyses with real estate data, while still using linear models. We begin with a review of the motivation behind instrumental variables and the two-stage least squares estimator. Then, we explore some instrumental variable methods and, briefly, an application, under four settings. The first is spatial dependence, which remains relevant within the two topics that follow: quantile regression and simultaneous equation models. Finally, we give a brief overview of instrumental variable estimation for probit regression, where the response is explicitly modeled as binary. This paper may be of interest to those looking to survey how the familiar two-stage least squares estimator has been adapted and generalized to less restrictive settings over the past few decades, with many of the methods discussed remaining in active use.
Habitat Fragmentation the Temperate Zone: Perspective

Habitat fragmentation occurs when a large, fairly continuous tract of vegetation is converted to other vegetation types such that only scattered fragments of the original type remain. Problems associated with habitat fragmentation include overall habitat loss, increase in edge habitat and edge effects (particularly higher parasitism and nest predation rates), and isolation effects. Birds show variable responses to fragmentation, with the most conservation concern focused on so-called "area sensitive" species that remain only on large habitat fragments. Management responses to fragmentation include preservation of large tracts of habitat with minimal amounts of edge.
Improving High-dimensional Simulation-driven Optimization

Computer simulations are being extensively used as a partial substitute for real-world experiments. Such simulations are often computationally intensive and hence metamodels are used to approximate them and to yield estimated output values more economically. While this setup can work well in low dimensional problems it can struggle in high-dimensional ones due to poor metamodel prediction accuracy. As such this study examines the application of dimensionality-reduction procedures during the search so that a simplified problems is formulated which is easier to solve and which could yield a better solution of the original one. An extensive performance analysis with both mathematical test functions and an engineering application shows the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Investigating the effects of Wnt/β-catenin Signalling on Melanoma Cell Metabolism and Mitochondrial Dynamics

Wnts are secreted morphogens that play pivotal roles in embryonic development, stem cell biology and a number of disease states including cancer. Most Wnts signal through a pathway that results in the stabilisation of an intracellular signalling molecule called β-catenin. In melanoma cells, Wnt/β-catenin signalling has been implicated as a key regulator of cellular invasion and metastasis. Using both transient and stable enhancement of Wnt/β-catenin signalling, I have found that mutation–based dysregulation of PI3K signalling dictates the invasive capacity of melanoma cell lines in response to Wnt3a stimulation. I demonstrate by confocal imaging that WNT3A facilitates perinuclear localisation of mitochondria with higher levels of mitochondrial networking and they show significant changes in the proteins of mitochondrial dynamics. Observed changes in mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins including MFN1, MFN2, OPA1 and DNM1L suggest that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling can increase mitochondrial fusion and decrease mitochondrial fission in melanoma cells. Cellular metabolic analysis using the Seahorse Bioscience XFe96 Analyzer suggests that Wnt/β-catenin mediated mitochondrial fusion may cause a global down-regulation of cellular energy metabolism in melanoma cells. This is supported by biochemical analysis of citrate synthase and lactate dehydrogenase activity. Knockout of -catenin removes the mitochondrial fusion effect in these cells and reverses any Wnt driven reduction in migration and metabolism suggesting that -catenin is able to control mitochondrial function and dynamics. We show that -catenin binds to the mitochondrial regulatory protein PARK2 in melanoma cells and subsequently blocks the autophagy dependency of melanoma cells. In summary, we demonstrate that activation of Wnt/β-catenin signalling in melanoma cells can lead to reduced cellular metabolism coupled with highly altered mitochondrial dynamics. This novel finding, controlled by -catenin, has potentially wide implications for understanding how certain context-dependent effects of Wnt/β-catenin signalling may be secondary to the regulation of mitochondrial dynamics and global cellular metabolism.
Germination characteristics of Artemisia ordosica (Asteraceae) in relation to ecological restoration in northern China

Artemisia ordosica Krasch. (Asteraceae) is the dominant psammophytic shrub species on the Ordos Plateau of northern China and is used for revegetation of semi-arid areas. Experiments were conducted to determine the effects of light intensity, constant temperature, alternating temperatures, and water potential on germination to determine why air-dispersed achenes fail to germinate well in the field. Achenes germinated within a wide alternating temperature window, except under the 5:15 °C (night:day) temperature regime in darkness. Final percent germination (FPG) was higher in darkness than in light at alternating temperature regimes, except under the 20:30 °C (night:day) temperature regime. Achenes subjected to a range of constant temperatures in the dark had high FPG over 76.8% except at 30 °C (8%). Photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFD) of 100 and 400 µmol·m -2 ·s -1 significantly lowered FPG under a 10:20 °C (night:day) regime, while at 0-25 µmol·m -2 ·s -1 PPFD, the FPG was over 92%. Few achenes germinated at -1.4 MPa. The most suitable temperature for germination of achenes placed under water stress was 20 °C. The best timing for air dispersal is mid-May, so seeds would become covered with sand at a time when temperature and soil moisture conditions were optimal for germination.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Study About Use of ORS in Diarrhea in Mothers with Children 02-05 Year Age Group Residing in Various Urban Slums of Bhopal City

Background: KAP study for use of ORS in Diarrhea in mothers with children 02-05 year age group. The objective of the study was to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice use of ORS in Diarrhea among mothers at various Urban Slums of Bhopal City. Subjects and Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among mothers having children 02-05 year age group. All mothers were interviewed through a self designed pretested structured questionnaire regarding use of ORS in Diarrhea of their infants and socio demographic profile. Results: Majority of the mothers were illiterate, and not aware about benefits of use of ORS. Although mother’s knowledge was lacking but most of mother use of ORS in Diarrhea in their children. Conclusion: Most of mothers do not follow practice of use of ORS in Diarrhea and had lack of knowledge. The knowledge regarding method of use of ORS for management of diarrhoea was found to be inadequate in this study. Though many mothers are aware that it is useful most are not aware of its method of use. More measures need to be adopted to improve this knowledge and make mothers aware about the method of use and availability of ORS.
MD3318 – Impedance Contribution of Secondary and Tertiary Col- limators

This report summarises the results of MD3318 about impedance measurements of individual LHC secondary and tertiary collimators. The measurements took place during the MD block III of 2018, on the afternoon of the 27 of October. Individual collimators impedance can be estimated from the tune shift induced by the collimator gap variation. The transverse damper was set-up to coherently excite the beam, and its oscillations were recorded with the ADT ObsBox, as done in previous MD activities. The beam was excited in quick successions, while varying the collimator gap, to mitigate the effect of tune drift and tune jitter. This method allows to measure tune shifts in the order of a few 10−5.
A review on numerical models and controllers for biped locomotion over leveled and uneven terrains

The evolution of bipedal robots was the foundation stone for development of Humanoid robots. The highly complex and non-linear dynamic of human walking made it very difficult for researchers to simulate the gait patterns under different conditions. Simple controllers were developed initially using basic mechanics like Linear Inverted Pendulum (LIP) model and later on advanced into complex control systems with dynamic stability with the help of high accuracy feedback systems and efficient real-time optimization algorithms. This paper illustrates a number of significant mathematical models and controllers developed so far in the field of bipeds and humanoids. The key facts and ideas are extracted and categorized in order to describe it in a comprehensible structure.
Electrophoresis of soluble proteins from two species of Xenorhabdus, bacteria mutualistically associated with the nematodes Steinernema spp. and Heterorhabditis spp.

SUMMARY: Mutualistically associated bacteria were isolated from two genera of nematodes: Xenorhabdus nematophilus from four species of Steinernema (= Neoaplectana) and X. luminescens from two species of Heterorhabditis. Mutualistic bacteria were also isolated from two unidentified species of heterorhabditid nematodes and were partially characterized by selected standard bacteriological tests. The soluble proteins obtained from the primary and secondary forms of these bacteria were subjected to electrophoretic examination on acrylamide gels. Total protein profiles and certain isoenzyme electrophoregrams were compared. The results revealed distinct subspecific differences in profiles of Af. nematophilus and suggested new subspecific groupings in X. luminescens.
Design considerations for charge-compensated power MOSFET in the medium-voltage range

Low-voltage power MOSFETs based on charge-compensation using a field-plate offer a significant reduction of the area-specific on-resistance. The extension of their blocking capability into the so-called medium-voltage range of 150 V 300 V promises devices with excellent properties being attractive for a wide range of applications. There are two approaches how this voltage-range extension can be realized. Both concepts are linked to different device performance and different development effort. This work discusses both concepts on example of the 150 V device class and compares the gained performance on device and application level.
Sensitive detection of pea seed borne mosaic potyvirus by dot blot and tissue print hybridisation assays

Dot blot and tissue print hybridisation assays were developed for the rapid and sensitive detection of pea seed borne mosaic virus (PSbMV). Radioactive (32P-labelled) and non-radioactive (DIG-labelled) random primed cDNA probes representing the entire genome of PSbMV were used in hybridisation assays. A comparison of detection sensitivity was made between these probes and they were found equally sensitive. PSbMV was readily detected in dot blots by their homologous cDNA probes to 50 fg in purified preparations and to a 1 : 3125 dilution in purfied total nucleic acid or crude sap from infected plants. The sensitivity of heterologous probes was significantly less than that of homologous probes in purified preparation but nearly the same in purified total nucleic acid or crude sap from infected plants. The virus was also specifically detected in tissue squashes by tissue print hybridisation using cDNA probes. Non-radioactive probes were found suitable for PSbMV diagnosis without significant loss of detection sensitivity. There was no non-specific hybridisation against the healthy control in hybridisation assays using either radioactive or non-radioactive probes.
Software Library for Authorship Identification

The aim of this paper is to review some methods for text authorship attribution and to discuss the development of a software library with tools for automatic authorship attribution. The presentation is focused on an analysis of two groups of tools oriented to: (1) methods for extraction of features and (2) methods for computing the distance between character strings based on data compression algorithms.