Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) status review

The mission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment and to conserve and manage coastal and oceanic marine resources and habitats to help meet our Nation's economic, social, and environmental needs. As a branch of NOAA, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) conducts or sponsors research and monitoring programs to improve the scientific basis for conservation and management decisions. NMFS strives to make information about the purpose, methods, and results of its scientific studies widely available. NMFS' Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) uses the NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS series to achieve timely dissemination of scientific and technical information that is of high quality but inappropriate for publication in the formal peer-reviewed literature. The contents are of broad scope, including technical workshop proceedings, large data compilations, status reports and reviews, lengthy scientific or statistical monographs, and more. NOAA Technical Memoranda published by the PIFSC, although informal, are subjected to extensive review and editing and reflect sound professional work. Accordingly, they may be referenced in the formal scientific and technical literature. received a petition from WildEarth Guardians requesting that the bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) be listed as endangered or threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS reviewed the petition, decided that the petition presented adequate scientific or commercial information indicating that an ESA listing may be warranted, and committed to conducting an ESA status review. NMFS formed a Biological Review Team (BRT; Team) made up of federal scientists to compile the best available scientific and commercial information and assess the status of the species. This document reports the results of this compilation and assessment. The BRT qualitatively assessed the severity, geographic scope, and level of certainty of potential individual threats to bumphead parrotfish. Because the severity and scope of individual threats may change over time, each threat was evaluated based on its historical impact, its current impact, and its future potential for impact. Additionally, synergistic cumulative impacts were considered. The factors that are believed to have had the greatest potential to contribute to the decline of bumphead parrotfish are overharvesting, loss of juvenile habitat, and recruitment variability. The BRT acknowledged that significant levels of uncertainty are present for all aspects of bumphead parrotfish biology, e.g., reproductive biology, abundance, trends in abundance, and threats. The Team decided to explicitly treat variation in team member opinions by using a plausibility …
Vocational Education and Active Citizenship Behavior in Cross-National Perspective

Educational systems should provide students with job-relevant skills as well as prepare students for active citizenship. These two core functions of schools may be in conflict with each other, as diversified and vocationally specific educational systems usually do well in terms of labor market preparation (e.g. reduce youth unemployment) but may be detrimental to (commonality in) citizenship education. Yet, there has been no cross-national research that examines the relationship between educational track (vocational or general) and citizenship behavior. This paper investigates whether track placement affects political interest and participation in voluntary organizations for 17 countries, using IALS data and employing multilevel models. It was shown that people educated in vocational programmes were less active citizens than people educated in general education. Moreover, these differences were stronger in strongly stratified educational systems relative to comprehensive systems, indicating that vocationally oriented schooling systems prepare less well for active citizenship than for the labor market.
Characterization and fluid flow simulation of naturally fractured Frontier sandstone, Green River Basin, Wyoming

Significant gas reserves are present in low-permeability sandstones of the Frontier Formation in the greater Green River Basin, Wyoming. Successful exploitation of these reservoirs requires an understanding of the characteristics and fluid-flow response of the regional natural fracture system that controls reservoir productivity. Fracture characteristics were obtained from outcrop studies of Frontier sandstones at locations in the basin. The fracture data were combined with matrix permeability data to compute an anisotropic horizontal permeability tensor (magnitude and direction) corresponding to an equivalent reservoir system in the subsurface using a computational model developed by Oda (1985). This analysis shows that the maximum and minimum horizontal permeability and flow capacity are controlled by fracture intensity and decrease with increasing bed thickness. However, storage capacity is controlled by matrix porosity and increases linearly with increasing bed thickness. The relationship between bed thickness and the calculated fluid-flow properties was used in a reservoir simulation study of vertical, hydraulically-fractured and horizontal wells and horizontal wells of different lengths in analogous naturally fractured gas reservoirs. The simulation results show that flow capacity dominates early time production, while storage capacity dominates pressure support over time for vertical wells. For horizontal wells drilled perpendicular to the maximum permeability direction a high target production rate can be maintained over a longer time and have higher cumulative production than vertical wells. Longer horizontal wells are required for the same cumulative production with decreasing bed thickness.
Hepatitis C virus non-structural proteins modulate cellular kinases for increased cytoplasmic abundance of host factor HuR and facilitate viral replication

Host protein HuR translocation from nucleus to cytoplasm following infection is crucial for the life cycle of several RNA viruses including hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major causative agent of hepatocellular carcinoma. HuR assists the assembly of replication-complex on the viral-3′UTR, and its depletion hampers viral replication. Although cytoplasmic HuR is crucial for HCV replication, little is known about how the virus orchestrates the mobilization of HuR into the cytoplasm from the nucleus. We show that two viral proteins, NS3 and NS5A, act co-ordinately to alter the equilibrium of the nucleo-cytoplasmic movement of HuR. NS3 activates protein kinase C (PKC)-δ, which in-turn phosphorylates HuR on S318 residue, triggering its export to the cytoplasm. NS5A inactivates AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) resulting in diminished nuclear import of HuR through blockade of AMPK-mediated phosphorylation and acetylation of importin-α1. Cytoplasmic retention or entry of HuR can be reversed by an AMPK activator or a PKC-δ inhibitor. Our findings suggest that efforts should be made to develop inhibitors of PKC-δ and activators of AMPK, either separately or in combination, to inhibit HCV infection.
China’s ethnic policies: political dimension and challenges

Dramatic developments in Tibet and Xinjiang since 2008 have highlighted the challenges to China’s ethnic policies. The pillar of China’s ethnic policies is regional autonomy for ethnic minorities. Ethnic areas enjoy limited administrative autonomy and have witnessed faster economic growth than the country as a whole. However, China still adheres to a “unitary multiethnic state” and has responded firmly to recent riots in Tibet and violence in Xinjiang.
Memory, dementia, and the functional role of the parietal cortex

Autobiographical memories are the mind's definition of self. The neural substrates of memory are therefore of tremendous scientific interest. Moreover, the impairment or loss of memory in dementia is a personal catastrophe that reverberates throughout the community and incurs enormous financial and emotional costs. The present dissertation addresses scientific and clinical interests in memory with a particular focus on an area of the brain- -the parietal cortex--that is active in memory retrieval and selectively vulnerable to dementia pathology. Chapter one describes a study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) that revealed an immediate parietal response in episodic retrieval. Chapter two discusses a repetition of the first study with another neuroimaging technique, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results from MEG and fMRI were combined to provide a more precise picture of the timing and localization of retrieval-related parietal activity, which onset simultaneously with a cue to retrieve and was most prominent in the intraparietal sulcus. Chapter three presents a novel method for analyzing the interregional functional correlations of the parietal cortex. This method preserves the unique anatomical features of individual subjects, allowing more accurate comparisons of functional correlations between healthy individuals and those with dementia. Chapter four describes results from application of the new analysis method to longitudinal data. Parietal and non-parietal functional correlations were contrasted in preclinical Huntington's disease and healthy adults, and the long-term stability of these correlation patterns was assessed in both populations. There proved to be little effect of preclinical Huntington's disease on functional correlations, but highly consistent group-level results over a one-year period in each population point to the potential of this technique as a quantitive clinical biomarker in dementia. Chapter five also reports results from application of the new method, in this case to resting fMRI data from patients with Parkinson's disease and Parkinson-related dementia. The strength of resting interregional fMRI correlations in demented patients was decreased relative to equivalent measurements in unimpaired elderly subjects, particularly within corticostriatal regions
Confronto tra metodologie di stima della necromassa legnosa in un ceduo invecchiato di leccio

Abstract: Comparison among methods for the assessment of deadwood volume in a former holm oak coppice. The paper aims to compare three methods for the assessment of deadwood volume, i.e., LIS (Line Intersect System), FAS (Fixed Area Sampling), and WM (Weighings Method). The control data are represented by the outputs of Xylometric measurement. The study was carried out in a former holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) coppice located in the nature park of Montioni in southern Tuscany. LIS and FAS overestimated significantly the quantity of deadwood (+12% and +50%, respectively). The error become higher as the minimum threshold sampling increases. The WM, besides the operational complexity of its application, led to more promising and precise results.
Lake sediment records on climate change and human activities since the Holocene in Erhai catchment, Yunnan Province, China

According to high-resolution analyses on multi-proxy of sediment core from the Er-hai Lake, Yunnan Province, the sequence of climatic and environmental change since the Holocene has been reconstructed based on accurate dating. The results show that climate had transited from cold-wet to warm-wet during ca. 12950-8399 aBP in this area, and the transition happened in ca. 10329 aBP. Due to the enhancing southwest Asian monsoon and increasing precipitation, the lake-level of the Erhai Lake began to rise after ca. 10329 a BP. Climate in the catchment was warm and wet during the mid-Holocene, and the warmest stage appeared in ca. 8399-6371 a BP. The lake-level descended in the mid-Holocene because of the decrease of effective moisture in the basin. Human activities appeared in ca. 6371 a BP, and the initial manner mainly focused on deforestation. Up to ca. 2139 a BP, due to the amount of immigration into this area, the cultivation was developed widely, which was followed by mining (coal mine).
A prospective follow-up study of the association of radiation exposure with fatal and non-fatal stroke among atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (1980–2003)

Objective Use of medical radiotherapy has increased markedly in recent decades. Whether the consequence includes an increased risk of cardiovascular disease remains to be determined. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between radiation exposure and the incidence of stroke among Japanese atomic bomb survivors. Design A prospective follow-up study. Setting and participants Radiation exposure from the atomic bombing was assessed in 9515 subjects (34.8% men) with 24-year follow-up from 1980. Subjects were free of prevalent stroke when follow-up began. Outcome measures Stroke events and the underlying cause of death were reviewed to confirm the first-ever stroke. Subtypes (ischaemic and haemorrhagic events) were categorised based on established criteria according to the definitions of typical/atypical stroke symptoms. Results Overall mean radiation dose (±SD) in units of gray (Gy) was 0.38±0.58 (range: 0–3.5). During the study period, 235 haemorrhagic and 607 ischaemic events were identified. For men, after adjusting for age and concomitant risk factors, the risk of haemorrhagic stroke rose consistently from 11.6 to 29.1 per 10 000 person-years as doses increased from <0.05 to ≥2 Gy (p=0.009). Incidence also rose within the dose range <1 Gy (p=0.004) with no dose threshold. In women, the risk of haemorrhagic stroke rose with increasing radiation exposure but not until doses reached a threshold of 1.3 Gy (95% CI 0.5 to 2.3). Among women, for doses <1.3 Gy, differences in stroke risk were modest (13.5 per 10 000 person-years), while it increased to 20.3 per 10 000 person-years for doses that ranged from 1.3 to <2.2 Gy and to 48.6 per 10 000 person-years for doses that were higher (p=0.002). In both sexes, dose was unrelated to ischaemic stroke. Conclusion While the risk of haemorrhagic stroke increases with rising radiation exposure for both sexes, effects in women are less apparent until doses exceed a threshold at 1.3 Gy.
My Science Tutor: A Conversational Multimedia Virtual Tutor.

My Science Tutor (MyST) is an intelligent tutoring system designed to improve science learning by elementary school students through conversational dialogs with a virtual science tutor in an interactive multimedia environment. Marni, a lifelike 3-D character, engages individual students in spoken dialogs following classroom investigations using the kit-based Full Option Science System program. MyST attempts to elicit self-expression from students; process their spoken explanations to assess understanding; and scaffold learning by asking open-ended questions accompanied by illustrations, animations, or interactive simulations related to the science concepts being learned. MyST uses automatic speech recognition, natural language processing, and dialog-modeling technologies to interpret student responses and manage the dialog. Sixteen 20-min tutorials were developed for each of 4 areas of science taught in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. During summative evaluation of the program, students received one-on-one tutoring via MyST or an expert human tutor following classroom instruction on the science topic, representing over 4.5 hr of tutoring across the 16 sessions. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare average learning gain for 3 groups: human tutoring, virtual tutoring, and no tutoring. Learning gain was measured using standardized assessments given to students in each condition before and after each science module. Results showed that students in both the human and virtual tutoring groups had significant learning gains relative to students in the control classrooms and that there were no significant differences in learning gains between students in the human and MyST human tutoring conditions. Both teachers and students gave high-positive survey ratings to MyST.
On the Causal Relationship between Trade-Openness and Government Size: Evidence from 23 OECD Countries

In the literature on the effects of economic globalisation, the compensation hypothesis predicts a positive relationship between trade openness and the size of the public sector, as governments perform a risk mitigating role in the face of internationally generated risk and economic dislocations. Statistically, support for the compensation hypothesis should entail a positive causality running from trade-openness to government size. We use time series data - for 23 industrialised OECD countries over the 1948-1998 period - to test this hypothesis within the framework proposed by Sims and Granger. Our findings fail to provide overwhelming support for it.
A bootstrap calculation of confidence regions for proportions of sediment contributed by different source areas in a ‘fingerprinting’ model

When ‘fingerprinting’ is used to identify what proportions Ps (s = 1, …, g) of suspended sediment come from g different source areas, measures of the uncertainties in estimates of the Ps are also required. These uncertainties are influenced by two kinds of correlation whose effects are rarely recognized in the literature. These are (i) correlation between the estimated Ps because they must add to 1 and (ii) correlation between the geochemical tracers measured in sediment samples. This paper uses bootstrap procedures to identify joint confidence regions for the estimated proportions [responding to correlation of type (i)] and to explore alternatives to the ‘standard’ least‐squares criterion used to estimate the proportions when tracer measurements are correlated [correlation of type (ii)].
The distribution of epistasis on simple fitness landscapes

Fitness interactions between mutations can influence a population’s evolution in many different ways. While epistatic effects are difficult to measure precisely, important information about the overall distribution is captured by the mean and variance of log fitnesses for individuals carrying different numbers of mutations. We derive predictions for these quantities from simple fitness landscapes, based on models of optimizing selection on quantitative traits. We also explore extensions to the models, including modular pleiotropy, variable effects sizes, mutational bias, and maladaptation of the wild-type. We illustrate our approach by reanalysing a large data set of mutant effects in a yeast snoRNA. Though characterized by some strong epistatic interactions, these data give a good overall fit to the non-epistatic null model, suggesting that epistasis might have little effect on the evolutionary dynamics in this system. We also show how the amount of epistasis depends on both the underlying fitness landscape, and the distribution of mutations, and so it is expected to vary in consistent ways between new mutations, standing variation, and fixed mutations.
Effects of local, synoptic and large‐scale climate conditions on daily nitrogen dioxide concentrations in Auckland, New Zealand

As with many urban centres around the world, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is of concern in Auckland, New Zealand because of its possible link to respiratory and heart disease. It has also been associated with the frequent occurrence of brown haze in the region. This article examines quantitatively the differential effects of the local‐, synoptic‐ and large‐scale (El Niño‐Southern Oscillation—ENSO, Southern Annular Mode—SAM) climate conditions on daily NO2 concentrations in urban Auckland under the framework of generalized linear models. The local meteorology is found to be the most important driver of the daily NO2 concentrations in Auckland, primarily through the coupling of local‐scale atmospheric flow and stability conditions with local emissions and chemical processes. Both the synoptic circulation and large‐scale climate modes play significant roles in determining the local air pollution. Synoptic circulations, even after controlling for the local meteorological conditions, modulate the daily NO2 at a regional level via two main mechanisms: (1) blocking types facilitate the transport of clean oceanic air over the Auckland landmass, leading to generally low NO2 concentrations; (2) westerly cyclonic types contribute to region‐wide increases in NO2 concentrations due to the enhanced mixing‐in and/or downward transport of ozone (O3) from the upper troposphere or stratosphere. The large‐scale climate modes, ENSO and SAM, modulate the regional air quality through changing the frequency of occurrence and air‐mass characteristics of synoptic systems over New Zealand. Overall, this study demonstrates a holistic approach to understand how atmospheric circulations of different scales affect local air quality and thus provides useful information for the formulation of effective public health management and planning strategies in response to future climate variability and change.
Overview of an Urban Canopy Parameterization in COAMPS

The Coupled Atmosphere/Ocean Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) model (Hodur, 1997) was developed at the Naval Research Laboratory. COAMPS has been used at resolutions as small as 2 km to study the role of complex topography in generating mesoscale circulation (Doyle, 1997). The model has been adapted for use in the Atmospheric Science Division at LLNL for both research and operational use. The model is a fully, non-hydrostatic model with several options for turbulence parameterization, cloud processes and radiative transfer. We have recently modified the COAMPS code to include building and other urban surfaces effects in the mesoscale model by incorporating an urban canopy parameterization (UCP) (Chin et al., 2005). This UCP is a modification of the original parameterization of (Brown and Williams, 1998), based on Yamada's (1982) forest canopy parameterization and includes modification of the TKE and mean momentum equations, modification of radiative transfer, and an anthropogenic heat source. COAMPS is parallelized for both shared memory (OpenMP) and distributed memory (MPI) architecture.
Three‐dimensional P wave azimuthal anisotropy in the lithosphere beneath China

Seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle beneath East Asia has been studied extensively using shear wave (SKS) splitting measurements, which have provided important information on mantle dynamics in this region. However, SKS measurements have poor vertical resolution, and so their interpretations are usually not unique. In this work we use a large number of traveltime data from 34,036 local earthquakes recorded by 1563 seismic stations to determine the first model of 3‐D P wave azimuthal anisotropy in the lithosphere beneath China. Our results show that the fast velocity directions (FVDs) are generally correlated with the surface geologic features, such as the strikes of the orogens, active faults, and tectonic boundaries. The FVDs in the upper crust are normal to the maximal horizontal stress (σH) in regions with extensive compression such as the Tibetan Plateau, whereas they are subparallel to σH in strike‐slip shear zones such as the western and eastern Himalayan syntax. The comparison of the FVDs of P wave anisotropy with SKS splitting measurements indicates that beneath the Tibetan Plateau the seismic anisotropy in the lithosphere contributes significantly to the SKS splitting observations. In contrast, in east China the P wave FVDs in the lithosphere are different from the SKS splitting measurements, suggesting that the SKS splitting is mainly caused by the anisotropy in the deeper mantle such as the asthenosphere and the mantle transition zone under east China. These novel results provide important new information on the lithospheric deformation and mantle dynamics in East Asia.