Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interactions between non‐native plant species and the floristic composition of common habitats

1 We investigated the role of non‐native species (neophytes) in common British plant communities using botanical data from two stratified random surveys carried out in 1990 and 1998. 2 We found that from 16 851 plots surveyed in 1998 there were 123 non‐native species found mostly in arable, tall grass/herb and fertile grassland habitats. Invasive non‐native species, e.g. Fallopia japonica, Impatiens glandulifera and Rhododendron ponticum, were uncommon in this survey. 3 Between 1990 and 1998 the total number of non‐native species increased but the mean number of species per sample plot decreased. The mean cover of non‐natives increased from 1.2% to 1.9%. 4 There were positive spatial and temporal relationships between non‐native and native species diversity. However, there was a weak negative relationship between changes in non‐native cover and native diversity. 5 The species composition and ecological traits of communities containing non‐natives were very different from those that did not contain them. 6 In the British countryside non‐native species were mainly found in habitats with anthropogenic associations, high fertility, high number of ruderal species and high diversity. There is also an indication that successional shifts where competitive invasive species dominate involve non‐native species. 7 National‐scale changes in plant community composition are likely to be closely correlated with external land‐use impacts. Changes such as eutrophication, nitrogen deposition and increased fertility in infertile habitats are likely to benefit both native and non‐native invasive species; however, currently these trends benefit native species much more often than non‐natives. 8 Non‐native species are known to have significant effects on native species at local scales in many countries; however, at the landscape scale in Great Britain they are best considered as symptoms of disturbance and land‐use change rather than a direct threat to biodiversity.
Multipartite graph decomposition: cycles and closed trails

This paper surveys results on cycle decompositions of complete multipartite graphs (where the parts are not all of size 1, so the graph is not K _ n ), in the case that the cycle lengths are “small”. Cycles up to length n are considered, when the complete multipartite graph has n parts, but not hamilton cycles. Properties which the decompositions may have, such as being gregarious, are also mentioned.
A LEARNING OBJECT SUCCESS STORY

This paper outlines an approach to designing a course entirely in learning objects. It provides a theoretical basis for the design and then presents evaluation data from a master’s level course using this design. It also describes several re-uses of the learning objects on other courses and in different contexts. Each learning object is conceived as a whole learning experience, thus avoiding many of the problems associated with assembling components of disparate kinds.
Markerless assisted rehabilitation system

The project focuses on the use of modern technology to analyze human movement. This analysis turns out to be useful aid for physicians in rehabilitation of patients with limb injuries. This method is more precise than simple observation of the patient through the organ of sight. The proposed system allows markerless determination of deviations between the selected bones and joints, and as a result do not require specialized and expensive equipment. The implemented application presents instructional animation of the exercises and verify the correctness of its performance in real time. The equipment that meets the requirements of the project is the Microsoft Kinect, which is nowadays widely used in the medical field.
Knot types of generalized Kirchhoff rods

Kirchhoff energy is a classical functional on the space of arclength-parameterized framed curves whose critical points approximate configurations of springy elastic rods. We introduce a generalized functional on the space of framed curves of arbitrary parameterization, which model rods with axial stretch or cross-sectional inflation. Our main result gives explicit parameterizations for all periodic critical framed curves for this generalized functional. The main technical tool is a correspondence between the moduli space of shape similarity classes of closed framed curves and an infinite-dimensional Grassmann manifold. The critical framed curves have surprisingly simple parameterizations, but they still exhibit interesting topological features. In particular, we show that for each critical energy level there is a one-parameter family of framed curves whose base curves pass through exactly two torus knot types, echoing a similar result of Ivey and Singer for classical Kirchhoff energy. In contrast to the classical theory, the generalized functional has knotted critical points which are not torus knots.
Public Sector Corruption and Trust in the Private Sector

In this paper we use data from the Afrobarometer surveys to demonstrate that there is an undesirable spill-over from petty corruption in the public sector to trust in private sector institutions. Our results show that experiencing bribery in the course of one’s interactions with the public sector lowers one’s trust in big private corporations, small businesses, and local traders. This finding holds even when we allow for perceptions of political corruption to enter the specification. We do not find any significant association between a measure of interpersonal trust and bribery experience which suggests that our findings with regards to market institutions are not driven by corruption lowering trust in general. Having to pay a bribe for household services, which is perhaps the setting most like a private sector transaction, is the corrupt interaction most strongly associated with the decline in private sector trust. We find some evidence that the spill-over is larger in democracies than in non-democratic regimes. Given the importance of trust in market institutions for the efficient functioning of an economy, our findings thus point to a previously unknown and potentially substantial cost of corruption and add to the case for anti-corruption efforts.
The Utilization of Soybean Meal in Formulated Diet for Marble Goby, Oxyeleotris marmoratus

Marble goby, Oxyeleotris marmoratus is a carnivorous fish that highly demanded in Asia region and has great potential in aquaculture industry. A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the possibility of replacing fishmeal with soybean meal in the diet for marble goby juvenile. Fish (initial body weight and length 0.28±0.01 g and 2.60±0.04 cm respectively) were fed with four isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets, which contained 0%, 10% and 20% of defatted soybean meal (SB0, SB10 and SB20, respectively) and 20% of soybean meal supplemented with 2000 FTU/kg phytase (SB20+P). The fish were randomly distributed into 12L aquariums and hand-fed till apparent satiation twice daily. After 40-day of feeding trial, highest growth was observed in fish fed SB0, without significant difference with fish fed SB10; both groups were significant better than juveniles fed SB20 and SB20+P. Treatment SB20+P obtained slightly higher growth than those fed SB20. Similar trend was observed in the specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and nitrogen retention efficiency. Protein efficiency ratio of fish fed SB0, SB10 and SB20+P was significant higher than fish fed SB20. The body lipid content was significantly reduced in higher soybean meal level diet partly due to starvation as the fish were reluctant to feed on experimental diet. No distinct enteritis symptoms was observed in juveniles fed SB0 and SB10 while juveniles fed SB20+P had better intestinal morphology than in SB20. In conclusion, young marble goby juvenile can utilize 10% of defatted soybean meal in their diet without affecting its growth, nutrient utilization and intestinal condition.
Progress and prospects of marker assisted backcrossing as a tool in crop breeding programs

Marker assisted backcrossing (MAB) is one of the most anticipated and frequently cited benefits of molecular markers as indirect selection tools in breeding programs. However, routine implementations of MAB in ongoing plant breeding programs are still scarce. Currently MAB of single gene is perhaps the most powerful approach that uses DNA markers effectively. Improvement of quantitative traits loci (QTLs) through MAB resulted to variable results ranging from limited success and/or even a failure to a few highly successful stories. A major constraint to the implementation of MAB in pragmatic breeding programs has been the high relative cost compared to conventional phenotypic selection. It is a popular misconception that a ‘DNA fingerprint’ is always to be preferred. To be useful to plant breeders, gains made from MAB must be more cost-effective than gains through traditional breeding or MAB must generate significant time savings, which justifies the additional cost involved. Currently, most national agricultural research systems (NARS) in Africa have either no or very limited facilities, skilled manpower, and financing for integrating molecular markers as part of their breeding programs. Therefore, conventional breeding methods remain the main option for NARS for many years to come, but targeted use of MAB may become a supplement if well-validated markers are developed or available through collaboration with the international agricultural research centers. This paper provides detail review of the current literature on MAB, including requirements and selected experimental results.
Comment on terminology used in my JOGO articles [ 1 , 2 ]

Professor A. Strekalovsky (Irkutsk) has made me aware of the fact that in [4], Comtet merely reformulates (with proper credit) the Motzkin/Straus result [7] on the connection between the Maximum Clique Problem and global solutions to a certain standard quadratic optimization problem (QP), the so-called Motzkin/Straus program. Motivated by an (overly modest? ) citation in [5], I erroneously related Comtet to the regularization of the Motzkin/Straus program put forward in my articles [1, 2]. To the best of my current knowledge, however, the first references to which this regularization can be related is indeed the 1988 textbook by Hofbauer and Sigmund itself [5] and (independently as it seems) the article by Cannings and Vickers [3] (note that [3] is cited in the follow-up 1998 book by Hofbauer and Sigmund [6]). While Hofbauer and Sigmund explicitly introduce in [5, 6] what I termed Comtet-regularized adjacency matrix ÂG in [1, 2], Cannings and Vickers use in [3] the matrix A = 2ÂG −E instead, and in a slightly different context (E denotes the suitable all-ones matrix). Obviously the standard QPs based on both
Contextualisation d'un détecteur de piétons : application à la surveillance d'espaces publics

La democratisation de la « videosurveillance intelligente » necessite le developpement d’outils automatiques et temps reel d’analyse video. Parmi ceux-ci, la detection de pietons joue un role majeur car de nombreux systemes reposent sur cette technologie. Les approches classiques de detection de pietons utilisent la reconnaissance de formes et l’apprentissage statistique. Elles souffrent donc d’une degradation des performances quand l’apparence des pietons ou des elements de la scene est trop differente de celle etudiee lors de l’apprentissage. Pour y remedier, une solution appelee « contextualisation du detecteur » est etudiee lorsque la camera est fixe. L’idee est d’enrichir le systeme a l’aide d’informations provenant de la scene afin de l’adapter aux situations qu’il risque de frequemment rencontrer. Ce travail a ete realise en deux temps. Tout d’abord, l’architecture d’un detecteur et les differents outils utiles a sa construction sont presentes dans un etat de l’art. Puis la problematique de la contextualisation est abordee au travers de diverses experiences validant ou non les pistes d’amelioration envisagees. L’objectif est d’identifier toutes les briques du systeme pouvant beneficier de cet apport afin de contextualiser completement le detecteur. Pour faciliter l’exploitation d’un tel systeme, la contextualisation a ete entierement automatisee et s’appuie sur des algorithmes d’apprentissage semi-supervise. Une premiere phase consiste a collecter le maximum d’informations sur la scene. Differents oracles sont proposes afin d’extraire l’apparence des pietons et des elements du fond pour former une base d’apprentissage dite contextualisee. La geometrie de la scene, influant sur la taille et l’orientation des pietons, peut ensuite etre analysee pour definir des regions, dans lesquelles les pietons, tout comme le fond, restent visuellement proches. Dans la deuxieme phase, toutes ces connaissances sont integrees dans le detecteur. Pour chaque region, un classifieur est construit a l’aide de la base contextualisee et fonctionne independamment des autres. Ainsi chaque classifieur est entraine avec des donnees ayant la meme apparence que les pietons qu’il devra detecter. Cela simplifie le probleme de l’apprentissage et augmente significativement les performances du systeme.
MAR-Mediated Dystrophin Expression in Mesoangioblasts for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Cell Therapy

A cornerstone of autologous cell therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the engineering of suitable cells to express dystrophin in a stable fashion upon differentiation to muscle fibers. Most viral transduction methods are typically restricted to the expression of truncated recombinant dystrophin derivatives and by the risk of insertional mutagenesis, while non-viral vectors often suffer from inefficient transfer, expression and/or silencing. Here we addressed such limitations by using plasmid vectors containing nuclear matrix attachment regions (MAR). Using in vitro transfection and intra muscular transplantation in nude and immunosuppressed mdx mice, we show that clones of mesoangioblast skeletal muscle progenitors can be generated to mediate stable expression from MAR-containing vectors, while maintaining their ability to differentiate in vitro and in vivo and to express dystrophin after transplantation in dystrophic mouse muscles. We conclude that the incorporation of MARs into plasmid vectors may improve non-viral plasmid-based cell therapy feasibility.
Group actions on stacks and applications to equivariant string topology for stacks

This paper is a continuations of the project initiated in the book string topology for stacks. We construct string operations on the SO(2)-equivariant homology of the (free) loop space $L(X)$ of an oriented differentiable stack $X$ and show that $H^{SO(2)}_{*+dim(X) -2}(L(X))$ is a graded Lie algebra. In the particular case where $X$ is a 2-dimensional orbifold we give a Goldman-type description for the string bracket. To prove these results, we develop a machinery of (weak) group actions on topological stacks which should be of independent interest. We explicitly construct the quotient stack of a group acting on a stack and show that it is a topological stack. Then use its homotopy type to define equivariant (co)homology for stacks, transfer maps, and so on.
A study of nonspecific skeletal health indicators in two nonadult populations from western Britain

Skeletal health indicators are often employed to measure how past populations adapted to their physical environment. The skeletons of children provide a measure of population fitness, as the ability of a community to keep their younger inhabitants alive and in general good health attest their ability to adapt to their environment. In this study, skeletal remains of non-adults from foetal to 17 years of age (n=300) from two cemetery populations in western Britain, namely the early medieval site of Llandough in south Wales (n=204) and the multi-period site of St Oswald’s Priory in Gloucester (n=96), were assessed. Non-specific indicators of physiological stress (cribra orbitalia, porotic hyperosprotosis, dental hypoplasia) and non-specific infections (periosteal new bone formation and endocranial lesions) are compared. Results suggest that the children from the English site enjoyed better health than their counterparts in Wales, where there was an increase in physiological stress during childhood.
On the Taylor Expansion of Value Functions

We introduce a framework for approximate dynamic programming that we apply to discrete time chains on $\mathbb{Z}_+^d$ with countable action sets. Our approach is grounded in the approximation of the (controlled) chain's generator by that of another Markov process. In simple terms, our approach stipulates applying a second-order Taylor expansion to the value function to replace the Bellman equation with one in continuous space and time where the transition matrix is reduced to its first and second moments. In some cases, the resulting equation (which we label {\bf TCP}) can be interpreted as corresponding to a Brownian control problem. When tractable, the TCP serves as a useful modeling tool. More generally, the TCP is a starting point for approximation algorithms. We develop bounds on the optimality gap---the sub-optimality introduced by using the control produced by the "Taylored" equation. These bounds can be viewed as a conceptual underpinning, analytical rather than relying on weak convergence arguments, for the good performance of controls derived from Brownian control problems. We prove that, under suitable conditions and for suitably "large" initial states, (i) the optimality gap is smaller than a $1-\alpha$ fraction of the optimal value, where $\alpha\in (0,1)$ is the discount factor, and (ii) the gap can be further expressed as the infinite horizon discounted value with a "lower-order" per period reward. Computationally, our framework leads to an "aggregation" approach with performance guarantees. While the guarantees are grounded in PDE theory, the practical use of this approach requires no knowledge of that theory.
A MATLAB Toolbox for Optimization of Deep Borehole Heat Exchanger Arrays

Due to their slow thermal response arrays of borehole heat exchangers (BHE) represent suitable storage systems for seasonally fluctuating sources like solar energy. Excess heat is fed in during summer and extracted in winter. Certain requirements have to be met by such a system: the stored heat must remain in place and the working fluid must maintain an extraction temperature sufficiently high for the specific heating purpose at all times. Since drilling is the most critical cost factor, the required number of BHEs and their respective distance and length need to be optimized. For this purpose a MATLAB toolbox code was developed. It deploys a tetrahedron mesh-based finite element code, a thermal resistance and capacity model for BHE interaction and mathematical optimization techniques. It can effectively simulate and optimize a BHE heat storage system.
Analysis of tourism demand serial dependence structure for forecasting

This study aims to extend knowledge of serial dependence structure in tourism demand modelling and make a contribution to tourism forecasting with the use of copula method. Analysis of serial dependence can reveal the impact of current tourism demand on the future. This is important for tourism demand forecasting, as the prediction of future tourism demand relies highly on the historical demand information. However, serial dependence, especially its structure, has received very little attention in previous tourism research. The copula method is flexible as it provides various functions to specify different serial dependence structures and allows arbitrary distributions of tourism demand. We used five types of copulas to analyse two-dimensional serial dependence structure for 10 arrivals series to Singapore. The empirical findings show that serial dependence structures of arrivals can be non-linear. Additionally, the Student-t copula generates forecasts of tourism demand with higher accuracy than the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and seasonal ARIMA models.
Embracing the threat: machine translation as a solution for subtitling

ABSTRACT Recent decades have brought significant changes in the subtitling industry, both in terms of workflow and in the context of the market for audiovisual translation (AVT). Machine translation (MT), whilst in regular use in the traditional localisation industry, has not seen a significant uptake in the subtitling arena. The SUMAT project, an EU-funded project which ran from 2011 to 2014, had as its aim the building and evaluation of viable MT solutions for the subtitling industry in nine bidirectional language pairs. As part of the project, a year-long large-scale evaluation of the output of the resulting MT engines was carried out by trained subtitlers. This paper reports on the impetus behind the investigation of MT for subtitling, previous work in this field, and discusses some of the results of this evaluation, in particular an attempt to measure the extent of productivity gain or loss for subtitlers using MT as opposed to working in the traditional way. The paper examines opportunities and limitations of MT as a viable option for work of this nature and makes recommendations for the training of subtitle post-editors.
Genomic Regions Affecting Cheese Making Properties Identified in Danish Holsteins

The cheese renneting process is affected by a number of factors associated to milk composition and a number of Danish Holsteins has previously been identified to have poor milk coagulation ability. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify genomic regions affecting the technological properties (rennet coagulation time (RCT) and curd firming rate (CFR)). Markers were genotyped in 373 Holstein cows using the bovine HD beadchip (Illumina Inc.). Two regions were identified for RCT explaining 6.1% and 7.8% of the phenotypic variation, respectively, and five regions were found for CFR explaining between 5.1% and 7.6% of the variation. The regions encompass, among others, the caseins (CN) and CSN3, coding for к-CN was selected as the candidate gene for a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) on chromosome 6. In addition, CWC15, MAP2K5 and LMAN1 were selected as potential candidate genes.
Macroeconomic forecasting with real-time data: an empirical comparison

Macroeconomic forecasting is not an easy task, in particular if future growth rates are forecasted in real time. This paper compares various methods to predict the growth rate of US Industrial Production (IP) and of the Composite Coincident Index (CCI) of the Conference Board, over the coming month, quarter, and half year. It turns out that future IP growth rates can be forecasted in real time from ten leading indicators, by means of the Composite Leading Index (CLI) or, even somewhat better, by principal components regression. This amends earlier negative findings for IP by Diebold and Rudebusch. For CCI, on the other hand, simple autoregressive models do not provide significantly less accurate forecasts than single-equation and bivariate vector autoregressive models with the CLI. This amends some of the more positive results for CCI recently reported by the Conference Board. Not surprisingly, all forecast methods improve considerably if `ex post' data are used, after possible data updates and revisions.
Iceland: Challenging Times for Monetary and Fiscal Policies

Monetary and fiscal policies face huge challenges: the banking sector has collapsed; the economy is in the midst of a deep recession; the exchange rate has plunged; capital flows have been frozen; inflation is elevated; public debt has risen; source of revenues have disappeared; social needs have increased; and the unemployment insurance fund has been nearly depleted. Against this difficult background, this paper discusses what policy makers should do in order to restore balance in the Icelandic economy and lay out the foundations for a sustainable recovery. The key recommendations are to seek entry in the euro area and implement the fiscal consolidation measures necessary to comply with the IMF programme.