Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Response of residual native species after two-way chaining and seeding in Utah

Pinyon-juniper woodlands have dramatically increased in both tree density and distribution over the last 150 years. This change led to depleted native herbaceous understory in pinyon-juniper woodlands. One method to increase herbaceous understory is to remove the trees and aerially seed. The objective of this study was to determine how variations of seed mixes used in past revegetation projects have affected residual native species.
Static stress changes due to the 1998 and 2004 Krn Mountain ( Slovenia ) earthquakes and implications for future seismicity

In this paper we examine the Coulomb (static) stress pattern following the two moderate magnitude earthquakes in NW Slovenia during 1998 and 2004. These earthquakes ruptured patches of the NW-SE striking Ravne fault that crosses the Krn Mountain. The objective is to investigate the seismicity patterns for this area of Slovenia given that future earthquakes may be triggered as a result of stress changes along neighbouring faults. Our findings include: a) stress levels have increased along the active Ravne fault for all models discussed b) stress levels have decreased along the active, NW-SE striking Idrija fault and c) stress levels throughout the crust have increased along the E-W direction but have decreased in the N-S direction (stress shadow effect). We also mapped a better correlation of the off-fault aftershock locations with stress maps incorporating the regional stress field.
Analytical Analysis of the Dynamic Buckling Load of a Geometrical Imperfect Column Lying on a Nonlinear Elastic Foundation Trapped By a Time Dependent Load

Dynamic stability and dynamic buckling loads of elastic structures have gained numerous interest in recent research. It is because of its wide area of application in many fields of engineering such as civil engineering, architectural engineering and nuclear power plant engineering. Dynamic buckling load of a geometrically imperfect column lying on a nonlinear elastic foundation trapped by a time dependent load is discussed here. Regular perturbation method and asymptotic expansions are applied to solve the differential equation. The effect of damping and geometric imperfections on the dynamic buckling load at different modes are x-rayed. The result shows that increase in geometric imperfections decreases the dynamic buckling load and that damping alters the vibration amplitude of the dynamic buckling load. For the mode, as it increases, the dynamic buckling load reduces.
First principles calculations of the structural, electronic and vibrational properties of the clathrates Ba8Al16Ge30 and Ba8Al16Si30

We have studied the structural, electronic and vibrational properties of the clathrates Ba8Al16Ge30 and Ba8Al16Si30 using the local density approximation (LDA). The equilibrium structures that we have obtained for these materials show that the Si-containing compound Ba8Al16Si30 is energetically more stable than its Ge counterpart Ba8Al16Ge30 by −0.38 eV per atom. We also find that Ba8Al16Si30 is a narrow gap semiconductor with an indirect LDA energy band gap of 0.37 eV along the Γ–M high symmetry direction in the Brillouin zone and that Ba8Al16Ge30 is a direct band gap semiconductor with an energy gap of 0.43 eV. We have also calculated the lattice vibrational modes of these materials and have identified the low frequency ‘rattler’ modes produced by the motion of the Ba atoms that are loosely bound in the cages of the Al–Ge or Si framework. These low lying Ba modes are thought to play a part in reducing the thermal conductivities of these materials.
Magnetic Field Generation on Super-Earths and Sub-Earths

The last 15 years of astronomical observation have revealed a universe filled with planets. The observational techniques still limit the possibility to detect smaller, Earth-sized planets. New missions such as Kepler and Corot, next generation telescopes such as Darwin and TPF, and improved techniques in radial velocity measurements will lower this limit and make it possible to even detect Earth-sized planets in the near future. We study the ability of planets with different masses to generate a magnetic dynamo.
Enhanced hydrogen generation by alcohols photoreforming using soluble cobalt phthalocyanine and ascorbic acid under ultrasonic treatment

This work reports the hydrogen production by homogeneous photoreforming assisted with ascorbic acid and ultrasound using a theraphthal, a water-soluble cobalt phthalocyanine salt. The homogeneous reactions were evaluated using mixtures of ethanol–water and isopropanol–water (50/50 v/v) under UV irradiation. A linear production of hydrogen through time was observed, showing higher generation using ethanol. The hydrogen amount keeps stable during three cycles of irradiation (~ 32 µmol). The H2 production is doubled with the combinative use of sonochemistry and UV irradiation, being related to the synergy effect between sonolytic and photolytic combined effects. Oxygen evolution in similar amounts was also observed. Proposed mechanism for hydrogen generation using Theraphthal Proposed mechanism for hydrogen generation using Theraphthal
Genetic Diversity Analysis and Breeding of Geese Based on the Mitochondrial ND6 Gene

To explore the differences in body-weight traits of five goose breeds and analyze their genetic diversity and historical dynamics, we collected body-weight data statistics and used Sanger sequencing to determine the mitochondrial DNA of 100 samples of five typical goose breeds in China and abroad. The results indicated that Lion-Head, Hortobagy, and Yangzhou geese have great breeding potential for body weight. Thirteen polymorphic sites were detected in the corrected 505 bp sequence of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ND6 gene, accounting for approximately 2.57% of the total number of sites. The guanine-cytosine (GC) content (51.7%) of the whole sequence was higher than the adenine-thymine (AT) content (48.3%), showing a certain GC base preference. There were 11 haplotypes among the five breeds, including one shared haplotype. We analyzed the differences in the distribution of base mismatches among the five breeds and conducted Tajima’s D and Fu’s Fs neutral tests on the historical dynamics of the populations. The distribution of the mismatch difference presented an unsmooth single peak and the Tajima’s D value of the neutral test was negative (D < 0) and reached a significant level, which proves that the population of the three species had expanded; the Lion-Head goose population tends to be stable. The genetic diversity of Lion-Head, Zhedong White, Yangzhou, and Taihu geese was equal to the average diversity of Chinese goose breeds. The Hortobagy goose is a foreign breed with differences in mating line breeding and hybrid advantage utilization.
An Investigation of the Effect of Embedded Gold Nanoparticles in Different Geometric Shapes on the Directivity of THz Photoconductive Antennas

This study aims to show how Terahertz (THz) Photoconductive Antennas (PCAs) affect the radiation directivity when gold nanoparticles of various geometric shapes are embedded in the gap region between the electrodes of THz PCAs. Three different PCAs, in the frequency range of 0.1 to 2 THz, conventional and after the addition of cylindrical, triangular, square, and hexagonal geometric gold nanoparticles to the antenna gap region between the electrodes, were built and simulated. The antenna directivity increased from 4.71 dBi to 4.92 dBi when square nanoparticles were added to the bowtie PCA, from 4.33 dBi to 4.45 dBi when triangular nanoparticles were added to the dipole PCA, and from 7.18 dBi to 7.52 dBi when square nanoparticles were added to the Vivaldi PCA.
Differences in resting-state brain networks and gray matter between APOE ε2 and APOE ε4 carriers in non-dementia elderly

Background Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2 and APOE ε4 are the most distinct alleles among the three APOE alleles, both structurally and functionally. However, differences in cognition, brain function, and brain structure between the two alleles have not been comprehensively reported in the literature, especially in non-demented elderly individuals. Methods A neuropsychological test battery was used to evaluate the differences in cognitive performance in five cognitive domains. Independent component analysis (ICA) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were used separately to analyze resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data and the structure MRI data between the two groups. Finally, correlations between differential brain regions and neuropsychological tests were calculated. Results APOE ε2 carriers had better cognitive performance in general cognitive, memory, attention, and executive function than APOE ε4 carriers (all p < 0.05). In ICA analyses of rs-fMRI data, the difference in the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between two groups is shown in 7 brain networks. In addition, VBM analyses of the T1-weighted image revealed that APOE ε2 carriers had a larger thalamus and right postcentral gyrus volume and a smaller bilateral putamen volume than APOE ε4 carriers. Finally, differences in brain function and structure may be the reason that APOE ε2 carriers are better than APOE ε4 carriers in cognitive performance. Conclusion These findings suggest that there are significant differences in brain function and structure between APOE ε2 carriers and APOE ε4 carriers, and these significant differences are closely related to their cognitive performance.
Theoretical and experimental study of multi-mode thermal states with subtraction of a random number of photons

This work is devoted to the theoretical and experimental study of quantum states of light conditionally prepared by subtraction of a random number of photons from the initial multimode thermal state. A fixed number of photons is subtracted from a multimode quantum state, but only a subsystem of a lower number of modes is registered, in which the number of subtracted photons turns out to be a non-fixed random variable. It is shown that the investigation of multiphoton subtracted multimode thermal states provides a direct study of the fundamental quantum-statistical properties of bosons using a simple experimental implementation. The developed experimental setup plays a role of a specific boson lototron, which is based on the fundamental link between the statistics of boson systems and the Polya distribution. It is shown that the calculation of the photon number distribution based on the Polya‟s urn scheme is equivalent to a calculation using statistical weights for boson systems. A mathematical model based on the composition of the Polya distribution and thermal state is developed and verified. The experimental results are in a good agreement with the developed theory.
Holocene Environmental and Water Circulation Changes: Foraminifer Morphogroups Evidence in Flamengo Bay (SP, Brazil)

Foraminiferal morphogroups were studied in 5 cores (ranging from 1.64 m to 4.50 m long) from a semi-confined bay, at depth between 2 m and 6 m. Except at the base of the longest cores where the sands are almost azoic with only rare typical shelf tests, the microfauna is characteristic of a coastal bay. The small sized tests found in the upper 2 meters of the cores are mainly free-living, infaunal, detritivorous or herbivorous-detritivorous. Their morphology indicates a prevalence of low oxygen environments during the progressive filling of the bay during the Holocene transgression. An increase of the percentage of low oxygen and infaunal morphogroups occurs between 1.5 m and 0.5 m. It corresponds to a change in bottom water circulation beginning about 5,000 years BP, and leading to a low oxygen period and probably to an increase of organic matter within the sediments. This change might result from an inversion of the dominant wave front direction due to changes in atmospheric circulation. Such a phenomenon was reported in the Doce River mouth area (19° N latitude), for example. The period of reversed dominant wave front direction (5,100 to 3,900 years BP) observed in this region seems to be contemporaneous with the period of low oxygen conditions observed in Flamengo Bay.
A COMPARISON OF THE WEAK-FORM EFFICIENCY OF THE ASEAN STOCK MARKETS BEFORE AND DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

This paper aims to examine the weak-form efficient market hypothesis (EMH) for the ASEAN stock markets before and during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is a tremendous threat to the health condition and mortality of the world population. An important prevention step undertaken was to have social distancing at different levels of strictness. The ongoing pandemic has caused some negative consequences, including businesses enduring a period of hardship and stock market declines. It seems to be expected that a recession is coming ahead and therefore some people are unwilling to invest in the stock market. On the other hand, some people are optimistic about the economy of ASEAN countries and may think that the declines in stock markets are opportunities to invest. They believe in mean reversion that the falls in stock prices are only temporary and the prices will rebound after some time. If this is true, the market is inefficient and stock prices can be predicted. Conversely, if stock price movements are random walks, shocks to prices will be permanent and prices will reach new equilibrium aftershocks. Hence the market is efficient and stock prices are unpredictable. This study analyses the movements of ASEAN stock markets’ composite indices before and during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic to find out whether the markets are efficient and thus cannot be predicted. We found that some ASEAN stock markets were efficient in both periods, while some others were showing decreased or increased efficiency from the period before the pandemic to the period during the pandemic.
Effects of Sea Level Rise on Tidal Marshes

Title of Thesis: EFFECTS OF SEA LEVEL RISE ON TIDAL MARSHES Jennifer Holly Bryan, Master of Science, 2014 Thesis directed by: Assistant Professor Lora Harris University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science There is growing concern regarding the potentially negative impacts of sea level rise (SLR) on tidal wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. In Chapter one, I investigate the phenotypic plasticity and biomechanical properties of Zizania aquatica under experimental inundation treatments. At lower elevations and higher inundation designed to simulate SLR, Zizania aquatica did indeed respond with phenotypic changes such as increased height and stem thickness, and decreased stem density, areal aboveground biomass, and modulus of elasticity. In Chapter two, I investigate the nitrogen removal role of Chesapeake Bay tidal wetlands under current and simulated long-term SLR. I also examine nitrogen removal at smaller scales in Maryland, comparing restoration goals for nitrogen loading reductions with the loss of nitrogen removal services expected by 2025. Tidal wetlands are expected to decrease in the Bay and Maryland and associated loss of nitrogen removal services may affect attainment of restoration
AN INDEXED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CENOZOIC VERTEBRATE TRACKS

A bibliography of 584 references describing Cenozoic or Holocene vertebrate tracks and trackways with a world-wide distribution is presented. We have analyzed the reports by decade; there has been a steady increase in the publication of such studies since the first verifiable report of a Cenozoic track in 1859. We show all described occurrences on two maps, one for the Paleocene to Miocene, and another for the Pliocene and Pleis- tocene, with map symbols for each Epoch. We provide an extensive cross-index by categories of age, geographical location and taxa. Finally, we list all described Cenozoic vertebrate ichnotaxa known to us.
Multiplex Detection of Biogenic Amines for Meat Freshness Monitoring Using Nanoplasmonic Colorimetric Sensor Array

Biogenic amines (BAs) were presented as significant markers for the evaluation of the spoilage of meat and meat products. In this work, a colorimetric sensor array was developed for the discrimination and detection of spermine (SP), spermidine (SD), histamine (HS), and tryptamine (TP) as important BAs in food assessment. For this aim, two important spherical plasmonic nanoparticles, namely gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), were utilized as the sensing elements of the probes. The cross-reactive interaction of the target biogenic amines and the plasmonic nanoparticles caused the aggregation-induced UV–Vis spectra changes, which were accompanied by visual color variation in the solution. The collected responses were analyzed by principal component analysis-linear discrimination analysis (PCA-LDA) to classify the four BAs. This colorimetric sensor array can also discriminate between the individual BAs and their mixture accurately. Partial least squares regression (PLS-R) was also utilized for quantitative analysis of the BAs. The wide linear concentration ranges of 0.1–10.0 µM for the four BAs and desirable figures of merits (FOMs) showed the potential of the developed sensor for quantitative detection of the BAs. Finally, the practical ability of the developed probe was studied by the determination of the BAs in the meat samples, which successfully proved the potential of the colorimetric sensor array in a food sample.
Brain tumor image segmentation based on prior knowledge via transformer

Many researchers use AI to improve the accuracy of early diagnostic techniques. However, as a result of the tumor's uneven shape, fuzzy borders and too few data, existing tumor segmentation methods do not propose accurate segmentation results. We innovative introduces the prior knowledge learned to filter the noise information and guide the final network to generate a more accurate segmentation model. First, we introduce a classification network with an attention block to highlight the potential location of the brain tumor and also obtain the rough diagnosis result as the prior knowledge. Second, we provide a novel image fusion network consisting of a transformer with cross attention to merge tumor localization information with brain MRI images. Third, we propose a novel multilayer transformer experience information fusion network to combine the classic U‐Net network to handle the guiding of prior knowledge. The higher performance of the suggested method is demonstrated by comparison with contemporary methods.
Genetic architecture of well-being: cumulative effect of serotonergic polymorphisms

Abstract Serotonin influences mental health and well-being. To understand the influences of genetic variations in serotonin pathway on well-being, we examined the effects of seven serotonergic polymorphisms on subjective well-being (i.e. affective balance and global life satisfaction) and psychological well-being (i.e. optimal psychological functions in the face of existential challenges) in a larger sample. Results indicated that the cumulative genetic score, but single genetic effects of serotonergic polymorphisms, was related to individual differences in well-being. Specifically, individuals with a greater cumulative genetic score, which is related to a low risk of depression, tended to exhibit high levels of subjective well-being and psychological well-being. These findings suggest that the overall serotoninergic genetic profile, rather than a specific genetic polymorphism, could greatly influence the individual differences in well-being.
A modified Jarvis model to improve the expressing of stomatal response in a beech forest

The Jarvis‐type model, which incorporates stress functions, is commonly used to describe the physiological behaviour of stomatal response in various vegetation species. However, the model has been criticized for its empirically formulated multiplicative equation, which may not accurately capture the mutual impact of intercorrelated stress factors, for example, vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and air temperature (Ta). This study proposed a modified Jarvis model that introduces reduction factors in the stress functions of VPD and Ta to provide the description of canopy conductance. We used sap flow data from a beech forest in the mid‐latitude region of Centre Europe to inversely estimate the canopy conductance with optimized stress functions. Our findings reveal that two recommended parameterization strategies for general deciduous broadleaf forest (DBF) significantly overestimated the transpiration rate, with a maximum value of ~2 mm/day on rainless days. This suggested that the beech forest exhibited a distinct stomatal response compared to the general DBF category. By applying boundary line analysis to fit the parameters, both the unmodified and modified Jarvis models provided better simulations of transpiration, with relatively high Nash‐Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values of 0.75 and 0.77, respectively. These results indicated that modelling transpiration can be improved by refining the parameterization of canopy conductance, particularly for vegetation species with unique stomatal behaviours that deviated from the characteristics of their general vegetation type. The modified Jarvis model offers a more accurate description of canopy conductance and enhances the modelling of transpiration in vegetated areas, especially under dry environment conditions with relatively high VPD.
Students’ Perceptions on Using Rubrics as a Peer and Self-Assessment Tool in EFL Speaking Courses

This study explores how rubrics can be used as a tool for students to self-assess and peer-assess their speaking performance in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes by examining the perceptions of freshmen English language teaching majors (N=96). Data was collected using a survey questionnaire consisting of 38 questions organized into six clusters, covering the quality of rubrics, their usefulness in assignment preparation, peer and self-assessment, language learning, quality of feedback, and challenges in utilizing them. After completing a listening and speaking module that included practice in using rubrics for peer and self-evaluation of speaking performances, students were asked to rate their perceptions on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from "totally disagree" to "totally agree". Consistent with previous research in the same area, the findings suggest that students perceive rubrics to be of high quality and useful. However, the study also highlights the challenges that students face while using rubrics for peer and self-assessment, which is in contrast to the conclusions drawn by some other researchers.
Influence of hygrothermal conditions on milk production in a free stall barn during hot weather

Presented are results of a study on the influence of air temperature and humidity on milk production by 174 Holstein-Friesian cows kept in a free stall barn. Occurrence of heat stress in three technological groups of cows with help of temperature-humidity index (THI) was specified. The result of heat stress was a decrease in milk yield. There was a strong correlation found (P=0.05) between minimum THI, temperature and milk yield. Delay of decrease in milk production as related to maximum temperature (T
Systems for non-reflexive consequence

Substructural logics and their application to logical and semantic paradoxes have been extensively studied, but non-reflexive systems have been somewhat neglected. Here, we aim to (at least partly) fill this lacuna, by presenting a non-reflexive logic and theory of naïve consequence (and truth). We also investigate the semantics and the proof-theory of the system. Finally, we develop a compositional theory of truth (and consequence) in our non-reflexive framework.