Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of impurities and cryoconite on the optical properties of the Morteratsch Glacier (Swiss Alps)

Abstract. The amount of reflected energy by snow and ice plays a fundamental role in their melting processes. Different non-ice materials (carbonaceous particles, mineral dust (MD), microorganisms, algae, etc.) can decrease the reflectance of snow and ice promoting the melt. The object of this paper is to assess the capability of field and satellite (EO-1 Hyperion) hyperspectral data to characterize the impact of light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) on the surface reflectance of ice and snow of the Vadret da Morteratsch, a large valley glacier in the Swiss Alps. The spatial distribution of both narrow-band and broad-band indices derived from Hyperion was analyzed in relation to ice and snow impurities. In situ and laboratory reflectance spectra were acquired to characterize the optical properties of ice and cryoconite samples. The concentrations of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC) and levoglucosan were also determined to characterize the impurities found in cryoconite. Multi-wavelength absorbance spectra were measured to compare the optical properties of cryoconite samples and local moraine sediments. In situ reflectance spectra showed that the presence of impurities reduced ice reflectance in visible wavelengths by 80–90 %. Satellite data also showed the outcropping of dust during the melting season in the upper parts of the glacier, revealing that seasonal input of atmospheric dust can decrease the reflectance also in the accumulation zone of the glacier. The presence of EC and OC in cryoconite samples suggests a relevant role of carbonaceous and organic material in the darkening of the ablation zone. This darkening effect is added to that caused by fine debris from lateral moraines, which is assumed to represent a large fraction of cryoconite. Possible input of anthropogenic activity cannot be excluded and further research is needed to assess the role of human activities in the darkening process of glaciers observed in recent years.
A simple spectrofluorometric estimation of psoralen from Psoralea corylifolia (L.) (Bavchi) seeds.

A simple, accurate ,precise, sensitive spectrofluorometric method was developed for estimation of psoralen in methanolic extract of Psoralea corylifolia seeds. It showed strong intense blue fluorescence having excitation and emission wavelength 290nm and 427.66 nm, respectively. Linear relationship for the fluorescence intensity was obtained in the range 50-100 μg /mL. Limit of detection and limit of quantification was found to be 6.51 μg /mL and 19.75 μg /mL, respectively. The method was statistically validated and found suitable for estimation of psoralen in a methanol extract of plant Psoralea corylifolia.
Characterizing population structure of coral-associated fauna from mesophotic and shallow habitats in the Caribbean

Symbiotic relationships are a common phenomenon among marine invertebrates, forming both obligatory and facultative dependencies with their host. Here, we investigate and compare the population structure of two crustacean species associated with both shallow and mesophotic ecosystems: an obligate symbiont barnacle (Ceratoconcha domingensis), of the coral Agaricia lamarcki and a meiobenthic, free-living harpacticoid copepod (Laophontella armata). Molecular analyses of the Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I (COI) gene revealed no population structure between mesophotic and shallow barnacle populations within south-west Puerto Rico (ΦST = 0.0079, P = 0.33). The absence of population structure was expected due to the pelagic naupliar larvae of the barnacles and the connectivity patterns exhibited by the coral itself within the same region. Laophontella armata exhibited significant structure based on the mitochondrial COI gene between the mesophotic reef ecosystem of El Seco, Puerto Rico and mangrove sediments of Curaçao (ΦST = 0.2804, P = 0.0). The El Seco and Curaçao copepods shared three COI haplotypes despite the obligatory benthic development of harpacticoid copepods and the geographic distance between the two locations. Three other COI haplotypes from El Seco exhibited higher than expected (up to 7%) intra-species variability, potentially representing three new cryptic species of harpacticoid copepods or rare, deeply divergent lineages of L. armata. This result is evidence for the urgent need of a deeper investigation into the meiofauna diversity associated with mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs), arguably the most diverse metazoan component of MCEs.
MANAGEMENT INDICATORS, INCENTIVES, MOTIVATION AND ETHICS IN MANAGEMENT CONTROL

Recent business scandals have undermined confidence in companies and their managers. In many countries, special legislation has been introduced to tighten controls, and this is expected to improve things in the future. In this paper we argue that there is unlikely to be any improvement unless changes are made elsewhere, in areas less to do with board-level corporate governance than with the control system that evaluates people’s performance day to day and determines rewards and punishments. The systems currently in place, based on large monetary incentives, are one of the causes of the problem. What is really needed is a change of mentality among managers and management theorists and a greater emphasis on cooperation between people than on systems based exclusively on economic variables. * Professor, Accounting and Control, IESE
High-resolution Observations in the Western Mediterranean Sea: The REP14-MED Experiment

Abstract. The observational part of the REP14-MED experiment was conducted in June 2014 in the Sardo-Balearic Basin west of Sardinia (western Mediterranean Sea). Two research vessels collected high-resolution oceanographic data by means of hydrographic casts, towed systems, and underway measurements. In addition, a vast amount of data was provided by a fleet of 11 ocean gliders, time series were available from moored instruments, and information on Lagrangian flow patterns was obtained from surface drifters and one profiling float. The spatial resolution of the observations encompasses a spectrum over 4 orders of magnitude from 𝒪(101 m) to 𝒪(105 m), and the time series from the moored instruments cover a spectral range of 5 orders from 𝒪(101 s) to 𝒪(106 s). The objective of this article is to provide an overview of the huge data set which has been utilised by various studies, focusing on (i) water masses and circulation, (ii) operational forecasting, (iii) data assimilation, (iv) variability of the ocean, and (v) new payloads for gliders.
Late Neoproterozoic volcanism in the southern Eastern Desert, Egypt: petrological, structural and geochemical constraints on the tectonic-magmatic evolution of the Allaqi Dokhan volcanic suite

The Dokhan volcanic rocks, most abundantly occurring in the northern part of Eastern Desert of Egypt, represent late Neoproterozic products of Pan-African volcanism in the ArabianNubian Shield. The Dokhan volcanic rocks in Wadi Allaqi of the southern Eastern Desert of Egypt comprise two rock units: (1) a mafic volcanic unit (MVU) of mostly basalts, basalticandesites and andesites and (2) a felsic volcanic unit (FVU) of mostly dacites. The investigated Dokhan volcanic rocks are characterized by a wide range of major and trace elements. They range from low-K variety for the MVU to medium-K calc-alkaline character for the FVU. They define a continuous composition with respect to SiO2, MgO, CaO, TiO2, Fe2O3 * , Cr, V and Y, and all litholigies are considered co-magmatic. The low Mg#, Ni and Cr contents of the Allaqi Dokhan volcanic rocks, together with the curvilinear trends displayed by some major and trace element variations indicate that the rocks evolved by fractional crystallization processes. The fractionated phases were pyroxene, amphibole, plagioclase, titano-magnetite and apatite. Their wide variations in the Rb/Sr ratios indicate that they have randomly assimilated crustal rocks during their evolution. Eruption of the Dokhan volcanics coincided with the late stages of the Pan-African events and it was probably synchronous with deposition of the basal sediments of the Hammamat Group and emplacement of the post-orogenic A-type younger granitoids. We propose that the synchronous timing of the Dokhan volcanics and post-orogenic A-type younger granitoids with the Najd strike-slip fault system and their undeformed character preclude a subduction-related (compressional) tectonic setting at the time of the Dokhan volcanics formation. Thus, the Dokhan volcanics were produced during post-orogenic transpression-/extensional-related tectonics.
Potentials for denumerable Markov chains

A unified treatment of potentials for general Markov chains is presented. Basic properties of potentials associated with transient chains are reviewed; these behave like Newtonian potentials. Potentials for recurrent chains are developed; they behave like logarithmic potentials. The discrete analog of the Newtonian potential classical theory is obtained by applying these results to random walls in 3 dimensions. Since the results are applicable to Markov chains in general, discrete versions of the more general theory are obtained. (L.N.N.)
“Who Are You?…I Really Wanna Know”: Product Meaning and Competitive Positioning in the Nascent Synthesizer Industry

It is well established that firms make a series of positioning choices that shape how they compete within an industry. However, much of this work has examined competition within established industries where performance attributes are well understood. By contrast, we know little about how firms position their products within nascent industries, which often are characterized by extreme uncertainty about what the product even is. We address this gap through an inductive study of the emergence of the music synthesizer, drawing upon a unique data set of four leading firms’ complete product offerings and advertisements from 1975 through 1986 as well as interviews with professional musicians over the same time period. We discover that conventional dimensions of competitive positioning, such as features and price, do not capture important distinctions in how firms framed their products. Rather, firms projected two distinct meanings for the synthesizer: a new instrument that enables a musician to create and/or play new “synth” sounds, or an emulator of acoustic instruments. These meanings were also salient amongst professional musicians. The fundamental differences in meaning were distinct from both the product label as well as the technical “reality” of each synthesizer, and shaped the ways in which firms positioned and thus differentiated their products. Specifically, our analysis reveals three meaning-based strategies for positioning new products: meaning-focusing, meaning-spanning, and meaning-mixing. We also consider the implications of our findings for the literatures on emergent categories and on the social construction of technology.
Application of Functionalized Graphene Oxide Nanosheet in Gas Separation

Graphene oxide nanosheet (GONS) can be a suitable membrane for gas separation with high permeability and selectivity. Separation of N2/CO2 using functionalized GONS was investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. The simulated systems were comprised of two types of GONS with a pore in their center, N2 and CO2 molecules. The selectivity and permeability of these molecules can be controlled by drilling various pores with different sizes and functionalized factors in the edge of pores of GONS. Modification of pores using attaching functional groups to the carbon atoms at the edge of pores leads to very different outcomes. Using hydroxyl group at the edge of GONS pore (pore 1) leads to a substantial increase in the selectivity for N2 over CO2 and using fluoride atoms at the edge of GONS pore (pore 2) actually inverts the selectivity. When the pore size further increases, selective separation of molecules does not happen and both molecules propagate through the pores. Due to the interactions between molecules and membrane pores, the energy barrier for gas molecules in two pores was different, so that, the low energy barrier was in the pore 1 for N2 and in the pore 2 for CO2 molecules. If the energy barrier difference between two types of molecules is high, complete separation occurs. The present research is valuable for designing the novel GONS membranes for gas separation.
EURASIAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Business reality, as well as IT literature, is indicating the shift towards data-driven societies. However, business research is lacking the conceptualizations and explanations in this regard. The common denominator of these perspectives is the key role of customer integration. This can be ensured by efficient managing of customer knowledge. At the same time, online activity of companies provides a possibility to generate customer behavioral data, which potential can be unveiled using specific techniques and tools, such as predictive analytics. Given the peculiarity of such knowledge assets, generated via analytics, it has to be specifically addressed within customer knowledge management. Using resource-based view as a theoretical lens, this study first deduces research propositions which then analyses against the empirical findings from case studies. Findings indicated specific nature of analytics-generated customer knowledge that challenges the frontiers of customer knowledge management towards integration with data management and information management.
NOCUST - A Non-Custodial 2nd-Layer Financial Intermediary

Bitcoin is meant to offer a payment system where the users are custodians of their funds instead of entrusting a trusted financial institution. The limited transaction throughput of such permissionless blockchains, however, results for example in volatile transaction prices that hardly fit into traditional service level agreements required by professional institutions and cannot accommodate microtransactions. We present a novel non-custodial 2nd-layer financial intermediary solution secure against double-spending that guarantees users control of funds through leveraging a smart contract enabled decentralized blockchain ledger as a means of dispute resolution. Twoparty payment channels networks have been proposed as building blocks for trust-free payments that do not exhaust the resources of the blockchain; however, they bear multiple fundamental limitations. NOCUST is a specification for secure N-party payment hubs with improved transaction utility, cheaper operational costs and leaner user enrollment.
A Cholesterol-Sensitive Regulator of the Androgen Receptor

Abstract : Published studies from our laboratory have shown that critical mediators of tumor cell physiology and behavior reside in cholesterol-rich, lipid raft membranes of prostate cancer cells. This project focuses on the RNA binding protein heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP-K) as a novel regulator of the androgen receptor (AR). We have found that hnRNP-K lies within the cholesterol-sensitive PI3K/Akt/PTEN/mTOR pathway and that hnRNP-K connects ErbB receptor/Akt-derived signals with androgenic signals, thereby directly linking peptide hormone and steroid hormone signal transduction mechanisms. Our hypothesis is that hnRNP-K mediates androgen sensitivity and growth and survival in prostate cancer cells by a mechanism involving the regulation of AR mRNA translation. The specific aims are: Aim 1. Determine the mechanism(s) underlying the effects of hnRNP-K on androgen sensitivity in prostate cancer cells. Aim 2. Determine whether changes in expression and/or subcellular localization alter the function of hnRNP-K and assess the physiologic consequences of these changes in prostate cancer cells.
Comparison of DNA marker order and floral trait evolution among diploid and tetraploid genomes of Gossypium

Scientific information on the A genome species of Gossypium is limited due to their decline as crop species and low levels of marker polymorphism. As the A subgenome of the allotetraploid species of Gossypium is contributed by A genome progenitors, studies on the A genome will help us understand the evolution of polyploids. We compared DNA marker order along the chromosomes of A, D and At genomes of Gossypium by constructing a comprehensive A genome RFLP linkage map from an interspecific F2 population of G. arboreum x G. herbaceum. Chromosomal structural rearrangements are more pronounced among A and At than A and D genomes, perhaps owing to the higher level of repetitive DNA in A and At genomes. We also compared QTL governing the floral morphological variation among diploid and tetraploid interspecific F2 populations. Our study indicated possible silencing and subfuntionalization of homeologous QTL in the tetraploid genome. Index words: Comparative mapping, comparative QTL mapping, genome evolution, Gossypium, homeologs, inversions, intergenomic interactions, orthologs, petal spot, polyploidy, RFLP, subfunctionalization, translocations, tetraploid subgenomes. COMPARISON OF DNA MARKER ORDER AND FLORAL TRAIT EVOLUTION AMONG DIPLOID AND TETRAPLOID GENOMES OF GOSSYPIUM
Implications of Various Fake Profile Detection Techniques in Social Networks

In the recent years, the fast development and the exponential utilization of social networks has prompted an expansion of social Computing. In social networks users are interconnected by edges or links. Facebook, twitter, linkedin are most popular social networks websites. In this paper focus is made on Facebook for detection of fake profile. Facebook is most used social networking site in which user can share messages, images and videos also users may add number of friends in their personal profiles. But it is difficult to find out whether the new person is genuine or not. May be it could be a malicious user. To detect malicious users or fake profiles different techniques has been proposed. In this paper an attempt has been made to analysis various existing techniques that includes comparison in perspective of various applications mapping various performance parameters.
Nitrate radicals and biogenic volatile organic compounds: oxidation, mechanisms, and organic aerosol

Oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) by the nitrate radical (NO3) represents one of the important interactions between anthropogenic emissions related to combustion and natural emissions from the biosphere. This interaction has been recognized for more than 3 decades, during which time a large body of research has emerged from laboratory, field, and modeling studies. NO3-BVOC reactions influence air quality, climate and visibility through regional and global budgets for reactive nitrogen (particularly organic nitrates), ozone, and organic aerosol. Despite its long history of research and the significance of this topic in atmospheric chemistry, a number of important uncertainties remain. These include an incomplete understanding of the rates, mechanisms, and organic aerosol yields for NO3-BVOC reactions, lack of constraints on the role of heterogeneous oxidative processes associated with the NO3 radical, the difficulty of characterizing the spatial distributions of BVOC and NO3 within the poorly mixed nocturnal atmosphere, and the challenge of constructing appropriate boundary layer schemes and non-photochemical mechanisms for use in state-of-the-art chemical transport and chemistry–climate models. This review is the result of a workshop of the same title held at the Georgia Institute of Technology in June 2015. The first half of the review summarizes the current literature on NO3-BVOC chemistry, with a particular focus on recent advances in instrumentation and models, and in organic nitrate and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation chemistry. Building on this current understanding, the second half of the review outlines impacts of NO3-BVOC chemistry on air quality and climate, and suggests critical research needs to better constrain this interaction to improve the predictive capabilities of atmospheric models.
Cultural conditions for maximum alpha-amylase production by Penicillium notatum IBGE 03 using shaken flask technique of submerged fermentation

Ever increasing biotechnological industries require an enlarged survey of microorganisms which might be useful for industries. In the present work optimization parameters for alpha amylase production by Penicillium notatum IBGE 03 in submerged fermentation were studied. Various agricultural based by-products (sunflower waste, cotton stalk, rice husk, date syrup and molasses) were used as sources of carbon. Optimal conditions for the production of α-amylase (6.58 U/mL) by P. notatum IBGE 03 were observed when the strain was grown on culture medium M1 containing corn steep liquor as a source of nitrogen, molasses as a source of carbon after 48 h of incubation at 30° C, initial pH 5.5, inoculum size of 5x10 conidia in 50 mL of culture medium and agitation rate of 150 rev/min. The strain was proved thermo (up to 60° C) and pH (up to 9.0) stable so it might be a potential strain for industrial utilization.
A tour of Marchenko redatuming: Focusing the subsurface wavefield

Marchenko redatuming can retrieve the impulse response to a subsurface virtual source from the single-sided surface reflection data with limited knowledge of the medium. We illustrate the concepts and practical aspects of Marchenko redatuming on a simple 1D acoustic lossless medium in which the coupled Marchenko equations are exact. Defined in a truncated version of the actual medium, the Marchenko focusing functions focus the wavefields at the virtual source location and are responsible for the subsequent retrieval of the downgoing and upgoing components of the medium's impulse response. In real seismic exploration, where we have no access to the truncated medium, we solve the coupled Marchenko equations by iterative substitution, relying on the causality relations between the focusing functions and the desired Green's functions along with an initial estimate of the downgoing focusing function. We show that the amplitude accuracy of the initial focusing function influences that of the retrieved Green's functions. During each iteration, propagating an updated focusing function into the actual medium can be approximated by explicit convolution with the broadband reflection seismic data after appropriate processing, which acts as a proxy for the true medium's reflection response.
Extended Model of the Natural Resource Input-Output Market: Game Meat in Latvia as an Example

This paper incorporates input and output markets into a traditional natural resource economics model which was developed in fishery economics, in the context of terrestrial wild animal management. This model enables the division of the total game meat under the cull limit into personal consumption and market circulation. It is indicated that the utilization of game meat depends on the limitations in the optimum resource levels and the input market prices. While overuse is a typical problem in fishery economics, underuse is an issue in the case of wild animals, and the model successfully explains this issue.