Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population, morphometric and biomechanical studies of three understory kelps along a hydrodynamic gradient

Kelps (benthic algae in the order Laminariales) live in a highly dynamic fluid environ- ment, and exhibit many adaptations to meet the challenges imposed by hydrodynamic forces. We examined flow effects (direct and indirect) on understory kelp population dynamics, morphology and biomechanics along gradients of current velocity and wave accelerations in the San Juan Archipel- ago, Washington. Costaria costata, Agarum fimbriatum, and Laminaria complanata all exhibited sig- nificantly higher mortalities at wave-impacted sites, but no gradient was detectable in the effects of tidal currents on survival, despite the strong tidal signal in waters of the archipelago. This pattern stands in contrast to that reported earlier for the surface-canopy bull kelp Nereocystis luetkeana in these waters; N. luetkeana mortality was strongly correlated with current, but not wave energy. The higher wave-driven mortalities of the understory species occur, even though a suite of morphological and biomechanical attributes (thallus size and thickness, holdfast area and biomass, stipe cross- sectional area, holdfast strength, blade toughness) indicate that kelps at sites characterized by high flow energy are better adapted to resist the forces imposed by waves and currents. While the forces imposed by strong currents have little effect on survival, they do have significant effects on morphol- ogy and biomechanical strength. We propose that morphological plasticity in A. fimbriatum and C. costata ameliorates the effects of both currents and waves on their survival.
UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE PERNAMBUCO

Information on biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in caatinga areas is scarce, in spite of its abundance of legume species. In natural ecosystems, the recommended methodology to study BNF is based on N abundance variations (δN), which allows identification of fixing plants and estimations of N fixed quantities. Precision of these estimations depends on the isotopic signs in the system. Non-fixing plants should have high δN values and fixing plants signs that significantly differ from those of nonfixing plants. No data are available on the isotopic signs of caatinga plants. Determining these signs can provide the bases for BNF studies and a qualitative idea of N losses and N cycling within the system and their relationship with local soil and climate conditions. N concentrations in caatinga native fixing (legume) and non-fixing (legume and non legume) trees were determined, in order to evaluate if the δN of nonfixing plants were high and uniform enough to allow precise calculations of BNF, if there are any climatic and spatial patterns associated to the δN signs and to estimate BNF of legume species. Four sites were chosen in four municipalities in Pernambuco and Paraíba, two in the Agreste region (Caruaru in Pernambuco and Remígio in Paraíba) and two in the Sertão region (Serra Talhada in Pernambuco and Santa Terezinha in Paraíba), which differ in water availability. Non-fixing tree leaves were quite enriched in N and this enrichment was uniform, both spatially and among species. This isotopic pattern is adequate for the use of the natural abundance methodology because it facilitates the choice of reference species, the sampling procedure and the detection of significant differences between fixing and non-fixing plants. In the Agreste sites, with their lower average (about 700 mm) but more uniform annual rainfall distribution (6 months), the averages δN of non-fixing plants were 9.4 and 10.1‰, among the highest reported in the world literature. These averages were significantly higher than those in the Sertão sites (6.5 and 6.3‰), which have higher averages but a more concentrated annual rainfall distribution (3 months). The higher isotopic enrichment of non-fixing plants in the Agreste could result from higher losses
The Function of Dysfunction

1. ABSTRACT Integrin receptors mediate cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions in many different cell types, including neuronal cells. Earlier studies have shown a clear role for integrins in axon extension and cell adhesion/migration in CNS inflammation. Here we summarize more recent work that shows integrin functions in many phases of neural development, from neuroblast migration to synapse formation. Integrins of the beta-1 and alpha-v family are widely expressed on neurons at many stages of development, and their activity is regulated. Integrins are also important in the adult nervous system, since they have been implicated in synaptic plasticity involved in memory and learning. In addition, several diseases of the nervous system appear to involve beta-1, beta-2, and alpha-v integrins on leukocytes and glial cells. Research future include understanding functions of specific integrin heterodimers and identifying the relevant integrin ligands
The Effect of the Core Training to Physical Performances in Children

The aim of is this study is to analyze the effect of the core training on physical performances in young football players. Experimental group consists registered football players in a professional football club’s football academy (n=20, age=13,17±0,86 year, height= 134,7±10,04 cm, kilo=45,11±7,75 kg) and control group (n=20 age=13,03±0,50 year, height= 136,7±10,04 cm kilo=46,11±6,12 kg), totally (n=40) athletes voluntarily participated. In order to analyze the effect of the applied core training on the children, two groups from similar aged children have been formed in the same group by having permission from the parents. Before the studies, test measurements of the groups (sit-up, push-up, 20mt sprint, plank, vertical jump, throwing medicine ball, standing long jump and balance) have been taken. Core training to the experimental group and normal football training have been applied for 12 weeks. In the end of the 12 weeks, post-test measurements have been taken. By being computerized the gathered data; averages (X), standard deviation (SD) have been taken and the correlation between the pre and post-test measurements viewed with test “t” in significance level of p<0.05. In conclusion, the core trainings in addition to football trainings have provided positive development (p<0.05) in measured physical characteristics of the football players. Keywords: Football player, performance, core training, , motor skills, children
Multiscale modeling and decoding algorithms for spike-field activity

Objective. Behavior is encoded across multiple spatiotemporal scales of brain activity. Modern technology can simultaneously record various scales, from spiking of individual neurons to large neural populations measured with field activity. This capability necessitates developing multiscale modeling and decoding algorithms for spike-field activity, which is challenging because of the fundamental differences in statistical characteristics and time-scales of these signals. Spikes are binary-valued with a millisecond time-scale while fields are continuous-valued with slower time-scales. Approach. We develop a multiscale encoding model, adaptive learning algorithm, and decoder that explicitly incorporate the different statistical profiles and time-scales of spikes and fields. The multiscale model consists of combined point process and Gaussian process likelihood functions. The multiscale filter (MSF) for decoding runs at the millisecond time-scale of spikes while adding information from fields at their slower time-scales. The adaptive algorithm learns all spike-field multiscale model parameters simultaneously, in real time, and at their different time-scales. Main results. We validated the multiscale framework within motor tasks using both closed-loop brain–machine interface (BMI) simulations and non-human primate (NHP) spike and local field potential (LFP) motor cortical activity during a naturalistic 3D reach task. Our closed-loop simulations show that the MSF can add information across scales and that the adaptive MSF can accurately learn all parameters in real time. We also decoded the seven joint angular trajectories of the NHP arm using spike-LFP activity. These data showed that the MSF outperformed single-scale decoding, this improvement was due to the addition of information across scales rather than the dominance of one scale and was largest in the low-information regime, and the improvement was similar regardless of the degree of overlap between spike and LFP channels. Significance. This multiscale framework provides a tool to study encoding across scales and may help enhance future neurotechnologies such as motor BMIs.
Between Professional Ambivalence and Multidisciplinary Harmony: A Qualitative Study on Sexologist as a Profession

This study is part of a larger research project that explore the evolution of sexology profession in Sweden, and additionally compare some of these trends with other European sexologists. More specific, this study aims to get in-depth knowledge of Swedish sexologist’s own descriptions of themselves and their profession. Data was collected through qualitative research interviews with 34 professionally active sexologists and members of The Swedish Association for Sexology, [SFS], 26 women and 8 men, aged 34–88 years. Results show that the informants can be divided into medical and therapeutical sexologists, all of whom identify strongly with their primary profession prior to becoming sexologists. Physician as sexologist has given way to healthcare professionals such as social workers and nurses, whereby sexology has been transformed into a female-dominated field in Sweden as well as in other European countries. This paradigm shift has has created tensions between different approaches. Based on varying skills and educational backgrounds, different groups of sexologists have emerged: pioneers, competence sexologists, entrepreneurs, research sexologists and the non-professionals. Competition is not experienced toward others within the interdisciplinary realm of sexology, but rather between those who have professional authority and those non-professionals who strive for legitimacy in the field. Sexologist as a profession 3
System dynamics approach to the analysis of interaction of foreign direct investment and employment in Thailand

This research studies the effect of FDI policy on the wages and employment in Thailand. A system dynamics model that simulates the interaction between labor market and foreign direct investment in Thailand is used. The results show that having an FDI policy results in higher FDI in the short term but lower FDI in the long term. The effect of the policy on unemployment in the short term is not significant but the unemployment ratio is higher than it would be without such policy in the long term. Regarding the salary, having an FDI policy results in having higher average salary in both the short-term and the longterm.
THE “TRUE” JUVENILE OFFENDER: AGE EFFECTS AND JUVENILE COURT SANCTIONING

Age is the only factor used to demarcate the boundary between juvenile and adult justice. However, little research has examined how age guides the juvenile court in determining which youth within the juvenile justice system merit particular dispositions, especially those that reflect the court's emphasis on rehabilitation. Drawing on scholarship on the court's origins, attribution theory, and cognitive heuristics, we hypothesize that the court focuses on youth in the middle of the range of the court's age of jurisdiction--characterized in this article as "true" juveniles--who may be viewed as meriting more specialized intervention. We use data from Florida for court referrals in 2008 (N = 71,388) to examine the decision to proceed formally or informally and, in turn, to examine formally processed youth dispositions (dismissal, diversion, probation, commitment, and transfer) and informally processed youth dispositions (dismissal, diversion, and probation). The analyses provide partial support for the hypothesis. The very young were more likely to be informally processed; however, among the informally processed youth, the youngest, not "true" juveniles, were most likely to be diverted or placed on probation. By contrast, among formally processed youth, "true" juveniles were most likely to receive traditional juvenile court responses, such as diversion or probation. Language: en
Lessons about best interests duty

Financial advice is essentially a credence good, whose value is hard to assess. Yet in the Australian context the need for quality advice is growing, with self-sufficiency a growing trend and individuals facing significant complexity in their financial affairs. Recent regulatory proposals and reforms have been offered as a means to provide some comfort for consumers about the quality advice that they might receive, yet the challenge remains about what is meant by ‘quality’ in this area. By referring to recent high profile collapses, we describe some factors and features that are generally considered as examples of poor quality advice. In this manner, we offer bounds on what quality can be represented by, and outline factors that can be considered by individuals when assessing the quality of any service being offered.
Biosensor‐assisted engineering of a high‐yield Pichia pastoris cell‐free protein synthesis platform

Cell‐free protein synthesis (CFPS) has recently undergone a resurgence partly due to the proliferation of synthetic biology. The variety of hosts used for cell‐free extract production has increased, which harnesses the diversity of cellular biosynthetic, protein folding, and posttranslational modification capabilities available. Here we describe a CFPS platform derived from Pichia pastoris, a popular recombinant protein expression host both in academia and the biopharmaceutical industry. A novel ribosome biosensor was developed to optimize the cell extract harvest time. Using this biosensor, we identified a potential bottleneck in ribosome content. Therefore, we undertook strain engineering to overexpress global regulators of ribosome biogenesis to increase in vitro protein production. CFPS extracts from the strain overexpressing FHL1 had a three‐fold increase in recombinant protein yield compared with those from the wild‐type X33 strain. Furthermore, our novel CFPS platform can produce complex therapeutic proteins, as exemplified by the production of human serum albumin to a final yield of 48.1 μg ml −1. Therefore, this study not only adds to the growing number of CFPS systems from diverse organisms but also provides a blueprint for rapidly engineering new strains with increased productivity in vitro that could be applied to other organisms.
Responding to transnational corporate bribery using international frameworks for enforcement: Anti-bribery and corruption in the UK and Germany

Transnational corporate bribery is complexly organized at a multi-jurisdictional level. However, enforcement remains at the local, national level where investigators and prosecutors are pressured to respond using frameworks for enforcement created by intergovernmental organizations. These legal frameworks are incorporated into national laws which result in legal convergence between jurisdictions but the ‘functional equivalence’ approach of intergovernmental organizations enables divergence in enforcement practices. This article analyses two theoretically comparable anti-corruption enforcement systems, those of the UK and Germany, to evidence an understanding of policy responses at the operational level. Irrespective of the enforcement system implemented (centralized or decentralized, use of corporate criminal liability or not, among other dimensions), enforcement faces significant structural, legal, procedural, evidential and financial obstacles, even where the will to enforce the law is high. Consequently, criminal law enforcement is currently implausible.
Marital Closeness: Psychological Differences among Ibibios and Yorubas of Nigeria

The paper investigated marital closeness between two Nigerian socio-lingual groups: the Ibibios and the Yorubas, using a number of psychosocial factors as independent variables. Two comparative studies with 129 and 91 participants respectively, were carried out using the survey design. Correlation analysis indicated that attachment style and attitude towards marriage, as psychosocial variables, showed no relationship with marital closeness in the two cultural settings. However, there was a significant relationship between marriage work with friends and marriage work with spouse and marital closeness in the Yoruba and Ibibio cultural groups respectively. A test of prediction in the direction of marriage work was then performed using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in the two cultural settings. Results indicate that though marriage work was important within the two groups, marital closeness was more significantly enhanced by marriage work with friends in the Yoruba group than with marriage work with spouse. On the other hand, marriage work with spouse significantly promoted marital closeness among the Ibibios more than marriage work with friends. Further analysis using hierarchical regression confirmed these results, with an additional explanation that marital closeness was independent of the length of marriage and age of marital partners. It was recommended that couples’ routine promotion of balance in honest exchanges between their friends and spouses will serve as a reservoir of wellness in their union.
Provisional chapter Reconfigurable Microstrip Antennas for Cognitive Radio

According to the current spectrum allocation regulations, specific bands are assigned to particular services, and only licensed users are granted access to licensed bands. Cognitive radio (CR) is expected to revolutionize the way spectrum is allocated. In a CR network, the intelligent radio part allows unlicensed users (secondary users) to access spectrum bands licensed to primary users, while avoiding interference with them.
Characterization of putatively connected cells to different retinal ganglion cell terminals in the zebrafish brain

Diese Arbeit beschaftigt sich mit der anatomischen Untersuchung der Neuronen die im neuronalen Netzwerks des Opto-Motor-Reflexes eine Rolle spielen, welches verantwortlich ist fur die Umsetzung von visuellem Input in Bewegungsmuster. Zu diesem Zweck werden Zebrafischlarven verwendet, die ein sehr gutes Modellsystem fur das Entschlusseln des visuellen Verhaltens und den zugrunde liegenden Nervenzellen bieten. Eine Reaktion auf visuelle Stimuli kann sobald Axone von retinalen Ganglienzellen ihre postsynaptischen Ziele erreichen, beobachtet werden. Am anderen Ende des neuronalen Netzwerks sitzen Zellen, die ihre Axone in die Wirbelsaule senden. Diese Nervenzellen sind verantwortlich fur die Bewegungsmuster (Schwimm – und Dreh-Bewegungen) welche dem Opto-Motor Reflex zu Grunde liegen. Die Nervenzellen, die sich im Tectum und Pretectum zwischen der Retina und den Zellen befinden, die in die Wirbelsaule projizieren, sind bis jetzt unbekannt. Meine Diplomarbeit zeigt auf, dass mehrere Kandidaten dieser tectalen und pretectalen Nervenzellen moglicherweise in dem bis jetzt noch nicht entschlusselten Opto-Motor Reflex involviert sind. Durch Photoaktivierung von photoaktivierbarem GFP in den Bereichen, die von mir genetisch markierten Ganglienzellen oder anders markierte Wirbelsaul-projizierende Zellen innervieren, beschreibe ich die Anatomie einer Population von Neuronen, die sich im Tectum und Pretectum befindet. Diese Arbeit versucht zu klaren, wie viele und welche Zellen mit den axonalen Enden der genetisch markierten Ganglienzellen verbunden sind. Um eine vollstandige Aufschlusselung der Funktionaltiat dieses Netzwerks zu erhalten, sind weitere Versuche notig, die diese von mir mittels genetischer Markierung und Photoaktivierung identifzierten pretectalen und tectalen Kandidaten auf ihre Aktivitat innerhalb des Opto-Motor-Reflexes testen.
Reducing GHG emissions by abandoning agricultural land use on organic soils - A cost assessment -

Roughly 4.9% of the German utilized agricultural area is located on organic soils (fens and bogs). Nevertheless, the drainage of these areas in order to allow their agricultural utilization causes roughly a third of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of the German agricultural sector, being equivalent to 2.3% of the total German GHG emissions. Obviously, German policies trying to reduce the GHG emissions successfully must tackle this issue. The abandonment of the cultivation of organic soils would be an effective policy to reduce the GHG emissions however the question remains whether it is an efficient measure compared with the other options? In the paper we assess the mitigation costs on the basis of the standard gross margin and tenure of the agriculturally used peatlands and with the sector model RAUMIS. Without engineering and transaction costs the mitigation costs are below 50 € per Mg CO2eq. This makes rewetting of peatlands at least in the medium and long run a fairly efficient options for reducing GHG emissions, especially as the implications on the sector due to reallocation affects are fairly small.
FOOD HABITS OF COYOTES INHABITING THE BLACK HILLS AND SURROUNDING PRAIRIES IN WESTERN SOUTH DAKOTA

We examined the relationship between coyote (Canis latrans) food habits and relative density indices (RD) in the Black Hills and surrounding prairies (westcentral and northwest) of western South Dakota. Relative density indices (RD = # scats/km/day) were estimated, and 150 scats were collected along 57 fecal line transects from February ‐ October 1998. Overall mean relative density indices were 57.9 in the Black Hills, 43.6 in the westcentral prairie, and 10.4 in the northwest prairie. Correction factors were used to associate relative frequencies of prey remains in feces to actual amount of prey consumed. In the Black Hills and prairie regions, mammals occurred most frequently, as measured by percent-of-scats, followed by vegetation, invertebrates, and birds. Mammals also comprised the greatest portion of coyote diets, as determined by fresh-weight-of-prey. Within the mammalian category, small mammals occurred most frequently, but white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) comprised the largest portion of diet by fresh weight in the Black Hills. This may be due to higher relative density indices of coyotes and increased vulnerability of a declining deer population in the Black Hills as compared to the surrounding prairie region. Conversely, small and medium-sized mammals occurred most frequently and comprised the largest portion of diet by fresh weight in the prairie region. An opportunistic predator such as the coyote may have adjusted its feeding strategy to meet local conditions in the Black Hills and prairie regions of South Dakota.