Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population genetic structure in a deepwater fish Coryphaenoides rupestris: patterns and processes

We observed significant genetic structure in a widely distributed North Atlantic demersal deepwater fish, the roundnose grenadier Coryphaenoides rupestris (Pisces: Macro - uridae). The overall estimate of genetic differentiation, based on 6 microsatellite loci (FST = 0.0152; p < 0.0001), was elevated by samples from the periphery of the species' range, off Norway and Canada. Samples from the central area of distribution showed less pronounced genetic structure, indicating more extensive dispersal and gene flow. Simulations were run to assess expected pat- terns of genetic differentiation under 2 major hypotheses of gene flow: passive larval drift and demographic diffusion. In spite of the relatively long duration of the pelagic egg and juvenile phases, no correlation was found between observed pairwise FST values and those predicted under the hypothesis of drift of progeny by ocean currents. The observed pattern may instead arise from a combination of bathymetric barriers limiting deep pelagic mixing and advection, early life ontogenetic changes in vertical distribution, and limited migration once a benthopelagic life style has been established.
HEIGHT GROWTH OF PINUS RADIATA IN NEW ZEALAND

Top-height growth components and site index curves, based on permanent sample plot data for New Zealand Pinus radiata D. Don, were were used in growth models stratified into eight growth modelling regions. The application of an age adjustment based on seasonal growth patterns helped to reduce variation caused by different measurement dates and the rapid and sustained growth of P. radiata throughout the year. Global and local parameters in a stochastic differential equation version of the BertalanffyRichards model were estimated simultaneously by maximum-likel ihood. Various parameterisations were tried. The procedure has worked reliably, giving satisfactory predictions and making full use of the available data. Comparison of the models obtained showed significant differences across regions, justifying the initial regionalisation and indicating that a broader aggregation would not be advisable.
Identifying genes underlying quantitative traits

Quantitative Genetic approaches have been highly successful in animal improvement across all livestock species. More recently the addition of genomic information has, where the right criteria were met, further enhanced the approach. The best example is the Holstein dairy breed, where the addition of genomic profiling (using the Illumina BovineSNP50 beadchip), coupled with the existing phenotype recording system, has both improved the accuracy of selection and decreased the generation interval. The result has been a doubling of the rate of genetic gain in Holstein dairy cattle. Further to this, industry adoption of the technology in North America took less than 12 months from the availability of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chip. This is certainly an impressive piece of innovation; however significant barriers exist within the beef cattle sector, as each breed and population needs to have specific equations developed in order to calculate accurate GEBVs on any trait. A GEBV at best could achieve is the prediction power equivalent to the heritability of a phenotypic trait. This is compounded by the lower accuracy of the phenotypes assembled for developing GEBVs compared to the dairy industry. However successful this approach is to predicting GEBVs, the “Black Box” approach of treating every marker equally does not inform us about the underlying biology. While current GWAS approaches on the other hand have, with some notable exceptions, failed to identify genes of even moderate effect on whole animal phenotypes, it would seem that the interaction between genes is as important as the variation within the genes themselves. This paper examines possible approaches to improving the success in gene mapping and gene network analysis in tropically adapted Bos indicus cattle. Component traits such as fatty acid composition and reproductive traits will be used as successful examples.
Perceived risk on goods and service purchases

The variable perceived risk has been studied since the 1960s, mainly for its influence on consumer behaviour in the decision making process. The extension of marketing to the service arena has led researchers to analyse this variable which is assumed in the literature to exert a higher influence on service purchases due to the inherent features of service. However, results from this empirical research do not confirm this premise. A consumer may consider the purchase of certain goods as riskier than certain services, so there are other aspects in addition to the different nature of services that can play an important role on risk perception in the purchase of both goods and services.
Removal of ammonia from polluted waters using new bio-sorbents.

The bio-sorbents derived from leaves of Achyranthes aspera, Hsibisuc rosa-sinensis and Tribulus terrestris have been studied for their sorption nature towards ammonia from polluted waters with respect to various physicochemical parameters such as pH, sorbent concentration and equilibration time. The conditions for maximum removal of Ammonia from polluted waters have been optimized. The interference of common anions and cations that present in natural waters on the % of extraction of ammonia under optimum conditions has been studied. It is found that anions like Chlorides, Fluorides, Sulphate, Phosphate and Carbonates have marginal interferenc while Cations like Ca2+, Mg2+, Cu2+, Zn2+and Ni2+ interfered to some extent. The adoptability of the methodologies developed in this work are tested with diverse samples collected from industrial effluents and naturally existing polluted lakes and it is found that the procedures are remarkably successful in removing the substantial amounts of ammonia from waste waters.
Development of an IoT system for students' stress management

This paper shows the development of an IoT system for students' stress management. The IoT system is developed in an open architecture and is an integral part of the educational ecosystem. The system is composed of two elements: the one that enables measurement of vital parameters for identifying stress in students, and the other for stress control. The system for stress control consists of a mobile health application featuring relaxation content. Such system should minimize the excitement and have an impact on reducing future stress. The IoT system for stress management was evaluated in a real environment, during students’ thesis defense on Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. The results show that time spent using mobile health application with relaxing content can reduce students’ physiological arousal and excitement during thesis defense.
The Fixed Effects Estimator of Technical Efficiency New Insights and Developments

Firms and organizations, public or private, often operate on markets characterized by non-competitiveness. For example agricultural activities in the western world are heavily subsidized and electricity is supplied by firms with market power. In general it is probably more difficult to find firms that act on highly competitive markets, than firms that are not. To measure different types of inefficiencies, due to this lack of competitiveness, has been an ongoing issue, since at least the 1950s when several definitions of inefficiency was proposed and since the late 1970s as stochastic frontier analysis. In all three articles presented in this thesis the stochastic frontier analysis approach is considered. Furthermore, in all three articles focus is on technical inefficiency. The ways to estimate technical inefficiency, based on stochastic frontier models, are numerous. However, focus in this thesis is on fixed effects panel data estimators. This is mainly for two reasons. First, the fixed effects analysis does not demand explicit distributional assumptions of the inefficiency and the random error of the model. Secondly, the analysis does not require the random effects assumption of independence between the firm specific inefficiency and the inputs selected by the very same firm. These two properties are exclusive for fixed effects estimation, compared to other stochastic frontier estimators. There are of course flaws attached to fixed effects analysis as well, and the contribution of this thesis is to probe some of these flaws, and to propose improvements and tools to identify the worst case scenarios. For example the fixed effects estimator is seriously upward biased in some cases, i.e. inefficiency is overestimated. This could lead to false conclusions, like e.g. that subsidies in agriculture lead to severely inefficient farmers even if these farmers in reality are quite homogenous. In this thesis estimators to reduce bias as well as mean square error are proposed and statistical diagnostics are designed to identify worst case scenarios for the fixed effects estimator as well as for other estimators. The findings can serve as important tools for the applied researcher, to obtain better approximations of technical inefficiency.
Ecological response to MPA zoning following cessation of bait harvesting in an estuarine tidal flat

Research in marine protected areas (MPAs) needs to focus beyond targeted species to the functional value of MPAs in maintaining ecosystem services and ecological diversity. Estuarine tidal flats are speciose and provide vital ecosystem services but are largely neglected in MPA research. Here, the ecological effect of an MPA on an estuarine tidal flat was determined by quantifying patterns in macroinvertebrate assemblages and sediment variables over a 3 yr period: 1 yr prior to and 2 yr following MPA zoning. An asymmetrical beyond BACI (before after control impact) design was used with 1 protected and 2 reference tidal flats. Following the exclusion of humans targeting callianasid crustaceans for bait, significant changes in the assemblages were observed in the no-take zone compared to reference locations. These shifts were maintained for the 2 yr of sampling following zoning. Relatively immobile, suspensionand deposit-feeding species increased up to 6-fold in abundance, especially juvenile bivalves (e.g. Eumarcia fumigata and Soletellina alba) and small polychaetes. In contrast, there was a reduction in some of the highly mobile, predatory and scavenging species (e.g. the amphipod Urohaustorius metungi and the polychaete Sigalion ovigerum). We observed an increase in spatial homogeneity in the assemblage as well as increases in the silt and clay content at the protected flat, while patchiness was maintained at the reference sites. Importantly, these results add to the growing body of evidence that MPAs also significantly affect non-target fauna and produce shifts in beta-diversity. Our findings imply that MPAs are an effective tool for conservation management.
Abundance ratios of red giants in low-mass ultra-faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies

Low mass dwarf spheroidal galaxies are key objects for our understanding of the chemical evolution of the pristine Universe and the Local Group of galaxies. Abundance ratios in stars of these objects can be used to better understand their star formation and chemical evolution. We report on the analysis of a sample of 11 stars belonging to 5 different ultra faint dwarf spheroidal galaxies (UfDSph) based on X-Shooter spectra obtained at the VLT. Medium resolution spectra have been used to determine the detailed chemical composition of their atmosphere. We performed a standard 1D LTE analysis to compute the abundances. Considering all the stars as representative of the same population of low mass galaxies, we found that the [alpha/Fe] ratios vs [Fe/H] decreases as the metallicity of the star increases in a way similar to what is found for the population of stars belonging to dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The main difference is that the solar [alpha/Fe] is reached at a much lower metallicity for the UfDSph than the dwarf spheroidal galaxies. We report for the first time the abundance of strontium in CVnI. The star we analyzed in this galaxy has a very high [Sr/Fe] and a very low upper limit of barium which makes it a star with an exceptionally high [Sr/Ba] ratio. Our results seem to indicate that the galaxies which have produced the bulk of their stars before the reionization (fossil galaxies) have lower [X/Fe] ratios at a given metallicity than the galaxies that have experienced a discontinuity in their star formation rate (quenching).
Carbon dioxide emission and soil microbial respiration activity of Chernozems under anthropogenic transformation of terrestrial ecosystems

The total soil CO 2 emission (EM) and portion of microbial respiration were measured ( in situ ; May, June, July 2015) in Chernozems typical of virgin steppe, oak forest, bare fallow and urban ecosystems (Kursk region, Russia). In soil samples (upper 10 cm layer), the soil microbial biomass carbon (C mic ), basal respiration (BR) and fungi-to-bacteria ratio were determined and the specific microbial respiration (BR / C mic = q CO 2 ) was calculated. The EM was varied from 2.0 (fallow) to 23.2 (steppe) g СО 2 m -2 d -1 . The portion of microbial respiration in EM was reached in average 83, 51 and 60% for forest, steppe and urban, respectively. The soil C mic and BR were decreased along a gradient of ecosystems transformation (by 4 and 2 times less, respectively), while the q CO 2 of urban soil was higher (in average by 42%) compared to steppe, forest and fallow. In urban soil the C mic portion in soil С org and С fungi -to-С org ratio were by 2.6 and 2.4 times less than those for steppe. The relationship between microbial respiration and BR values in Chernozems of various ecosystems was significant (R 2 = 0.57).
Joint optimization of multiple responses based on loss functions

Most of the existing methods for the analysis and optimization of multiple responses require some kind of weighting of these responses, for instance in terms of cost or desirability. Particularly at the design stage, such information is hardly available or will rather be subjective. Kuhnt and Erdbrügge (2004) present an alternative strategy using loss functions and a penalty matrix which can be decomposed into a standardizing (data-driven) and a weight matrix. The effect of different weight matrices is displayed in joint optimization plots in terms of predicted means and variances of the response variables. In this article, we propose how to choose weight matrices for two and more responses. Furthermore we prove the Pareto optimality of every point that minimizes the conditional mean of the loss function.
The impact of weather and atmospheric circulation on O 3 and PM 10 levels at a rural mid-latitude site

In spite of the strict EU regulations, concentrations of surface ozone and PM 10 often exceed the pollution standards for the Netherlands and Europe. Their concentrations are controlled by (precursor) emissions, social and economic developments and a complex combination of meteorological actors. This study tackles the latter, and provides insight in the meteorological processes that play a role in O 3 and PM 10 levels in rural mid-latitudes sites in the Netherlands. The relations between meteorological actors and air quality are studied on a local scale based on observations from four rural sites and are determined by a comprehensive correlation analysis and a multiple regression (MLR) analysis in 2 modes, with and without air quality variables as predictors. Furthermore, the objective Lamb Weather Type approach is used to assess the influence of the large-scale circulation on air quality. Keeping in mind its future use in downscaling future climate scenarios for air quality purposes, special emphasis is given to an appropriate selection of the regressor variables readily available from operational meteorological forecasts or AOGCMs (Atmosphere-Ocean coupled General Circulation Models). The regression models perform satisfactory, especially for O 3 , with an ( R 2 of 57.0% and 25.0% for PM 10 . Including previous day air quality information increases significantly the models performance by 15% (O 3 ) and 18% (PM 10 ). The Lamb weather types show a seasonal distinct pattern for high (low) episodes of average O 3 and PM 10 concentrations, and these are clear related with the meteorology-air quality correlation analysis. Although using a circulation type approach can provide important additional physical relations forward, our analysis reveals the circulation method is limited in terms of short-term air quality forecast for both O 3 and PM 10 ( R 2 between 0.12 and 23%). In summary, it is concluded that the use of a regression model is more promising for short-term downscaling from climate scenarios than the use of a weather type classification approach.
Composite Heuristic Algorithm for Clustering Text Data Sets

Document clustering has become a frequent task in business. Current topic modeling and clustering algorithms can handle this task, but there are some ways to improve the quality of cluster analysis, for example, by introducing some combined algorithms. In this paper, we will conduct some experiments to define the best clustering algorithm among LSI, LDA and LDA+GS combined with GMM and find heuristics to improve the performance of the best algorithm.
PERIODIC TIME-VARYING NOISE IN CURRENT- COMMUTATING CMOS MIXERS

An analytical approach based on linear periodic time- varying theory, is developed to analyze the noise characteristics of current-commutating CMOS mixers. Based on the derived transfer functions with memory efiect of tail capacitance, the frequency- dependent noise transforming factors for individual stages in the mixers are numerically computed to rigorously describe the noise output. A unifled noise expression considering both the thermal noise and the ∞icker noise is proposed. It enables the noise analysis of the mixers particularly for a high LO frequency with difierent IF characteristics, and is verifled by measurements.
Promise and perils of electronic public engagement

There is currently a trend in democratic societies towards greater involvement of the public in the policy setting of official bodies. Numerous mechanisms have been developed to enable such involvement, ranging from traditional forms, such as the public meeting, to more novel forms, such as the consensus conference. This paper considers the use of modern technologies, particularly computer, or internet-based, as the structural basis of novel engagement mechanisms. To many sponsors of engagement exercises, such technologies appear to provide solutions to specific public engagement problems. In this paper, however, we argue that a number of potential perils also await those who would use these technologies. We conclude with a call for more research into the effectiveness of technology-based engagement mechanisms. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
An overview of a highly versatile forward and stable inverse algorithm for airborne, ground-based and borehole electromagnetic and electric data

We present an overview of a mature, robust and general algorithm providing a single framework for the inversion of most electromagnetic and electrical data types and instrument geometries. The implementation mainly uses a 1D earth formulation for electromagnetics and magnetic resonance sounding (MRS) responses, while the geoelectric responses are both 1D and 2D and the sheet’s response models a 3D conductive sheet in a conductive host with an overburden of varying thickness and resistivity. In all cases, the focus is placed on delivering full system forward modelling across all supported types of data. Our implementation is modular, meaning that the bulk of the algorithm is independent of data type, making it easy to add support for new types. Having implemented forward response routines and file I/O for a given data type provides access to a robust and general inversion engine. This engine includes support for mixed data types, arbitrary model parameter constraints, integration of prior information and calculation of both model parameter sensitivity analysis and depth of investigation. We present a review of our implementation and methodology and show four different examples illustrating the versatility of the algorithm. The first example is a laterally constrained joint inversion (LCI) of surface time domain induced polarisation (TDIP) data and borehole TDIP data. The second example shows a spatially constrained inversion (SCI) of airborne transient electromagnetic (AEM) data. The third example is an inversion and sensitivity analysis of MRS data, where the electrical structure is constrained with AEM data. The fourth example is an inversion of AEM data, where the model is described by a 3D sheet in a layered conductive host. We present an overview of a mature and general algorithm for inversion of most electromagnetic and geoelectrical data, ground-based and airborne. The implementation uses a 1D formulation for electromagnetics and MRS responses, geoelectric responses are 1D and 2D, and the 3D sheet’s response implements an overburden of varying thickness and resistivity.
A mobile vibro-robot for locomotion through pipelines

The subject of our work is the creation of different designs of mobile robots for the movement through pipelines and similar technical systems. Using the transversal vibrations of an elastic bristle body, allows us to develop a new crawling vibro-robot. The motion is mainly realized by anisotropic friction forces. For the design process, we use the well-known construction principle of combination of alternative systems. It enables the transfer of structural characteristics (i.e. its kinematics) from one object to another, leading to new desirable characteristics or optimisations of existing technical objects. An analytical model of the motion of the bristles is presented.
Women's job search propensity and selection effect in European labour markets

The aim of this paper is to explore the main determinants of women's job search propensity and the mechanism underlying the selection effect into labour markets. The analysis compares the European countries, sharing the lowest female activity rates, with the well-developed economies of North Europe, traditionally characterized by the highest levels of female labour force participation. The potential selection bias due to the overlap in some unobserved characteristics is addressed via a bivariate probit model. Significant selection effects in women's job search process of opposite signs are found for Greece, on the one side, and for the Polish and the Norwegian labour markets, on the other one.
Abundance of viruses in deep oceanic waters

Vertical distributions of bactena and viruses were Investigated in the oceanic stations located in subarctic (Stn A) and subtropical (Stn B) areas of the Paciflc using the direct count technique and transmission electron microscopy. Small DAPI-positive, virus-like particles (VLP) were found to be distributed throughout the water column down to 5000 m a t both of the stations. The abundance of VLP ranged from 38 X 10' ml-' a t 50 m depth to 0.6 X 10' ml-' at 5000 m depth a t Stn A. The ratio of VLP to bacteria-like particle (BLP) ranged from 1.1 to 7.4 a t Stn A and 1.0 to 8.7 at Stn B in the entire water column. The maximum ratio was recorded at Stn B from the deepest sample, collected at a depth of 5000 m. The electron microscopic investigation Indicated that the major proportion of VLP were probably viruses.