Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A 523 Jari Ilmonen BENTHIC MACRO-INVERTEBRATE AND BRYOPHYTE ASSEMBLAGES IN BOREAL SPRINGS : DIVERSITY , SPATIAL PATTERNS AND CONSERVATION

In this thesis, I studied the patterns in the assemblage composition as well as the biogeography and ecology of spring macroinvertebrates and bryophytes in Finland. My main objectives were to assess the importance environmental variables to macroinvertebrate and bryophyte assemblage composition in springs at the level of multiple spatial scales. In addition, I assessed the importance of springs in the boreal mire landscape, and sought the ecological and environmental determinants of a key species in boreal springs. In a large-scale study, I also examined the concordance between macroinvertebrates and bryophytes across boreal ecoregions, and assessed how macroinvertebrate assemblage variation corresponds to terrestrially-based ecoregions. Locally, spring macroinvertebrate assemblage structure displays high variation between different kinds of mesohabitats within springs, highlighting the importance of careful sampling of all habitat types in spring surveys. Helocrenes and other aquatic-terrestrial ecotone habitats harbour the highest species diversity and most spring-dependent species among spring habitat types. Further, spring-influenced mire patches were shown to have distinct cranefly assemblages in the mire landscape and to harbour higher cranefly diversity than mire types with lower trophic status, emphasising the importance of springs for mire biodiversity. Regionally, a red-listed spring-dependent caddisfly species appeared to be a surrogate for a high spring conservation value, indicating high overall species diversity and the occurrence of additional red-listed species. On a large geographical scale, intersecting the boreal ecoregions, a pattern of gradual change of benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage composition from south to north was detected, largely corresponding to terrestrially-derived ecoregions. However, the physical attributes of springs also need to be taken into account in bioassessment studies. Macroinvertebrate assemblage variation also correlated with physical habitat-scale variables, but not with changes in water chemistry. In contrast, spring bryophyte assemblages showed a distinct response to variation in water chemistry, but not to variation in physical habitat characteristics. Bryophytes and insect assemblages were concordant with each other on the large geographical scale, although the concordance was rather weak. Because of their different kind of responses to the physical and chemical variables, insects and bryophytes of springs are poor surrogates for each other in boreal springs.
Integrating social vulnerability to floods in a climate change context

Considering the number of flood events during the past 20 years, a significant increase can be observed globally. (Dartmouth Flood Observatory 2007) Within the climate change context, the recently released reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reconfirmed the expectation that flood risks will increase since frequency and intensity of precipitation events are very likely to increase. (Kundzewics and Mata 2007) In addition, human settlements, river modifications and land use changes are responsible for increasing flood risks as well. Floods may cause enormous havoc to society and need to be prevented. In contrast to the other driving forces, the problem of climate change cannot be dealt with locally and climate change mitigation measures are confronted with time lag effects. Therefore, additional to mitigation policy, adaptation policy needs to be implemented, ‘aiming to adjust natural or human systems in response to actual or expected effects which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities’. (McCarthy et al. 2001) The awareness of climate change effects is growing in flood risk management. Hydraulic models are developed to forecast the flood event probability and the surface of flood risk areas within climate change scenarios. (Willems et al. 2007; Booij 2005) In addition, methodologies for ex-ante
Phylogenetic placement of Podolotus suggests independent origin of lomentaceous fruits in Coronilla and Hippocrepis (Leguminosae: Loteae).

Tribe Loteae has major diversity centres in the Mediterranean region and in California. However, four monospecific genera are restricted to other parts of Africa and Asia. This paper is focused on the monospecific Asian genus Podolotus, which is crucial for understanding evolution of Loteae. Evidence from four DNA markers (nrITS, psbA-trnH, petB-petD and rps16 intron) is used to infer phylogenetic relationships of Podolotus. Analysis of the combined data set strongly suggests that Podolotus is closest to Coronilla. These two genera share several important morphological features but differ in fruit type (dehiscent vs. lomentaceous). Traditionally, Coronilla was thought to be closest to two other genera with lomentaceous fruits, Hippocrepis and Scorpiurus. Our data support the view that lomentaceous fruits evolved in Coronilla independently from all other members of Loteae that bear this fruit type. At least five independent origins of lomentaceous fruits took place in evolution of Loteae. Molecular phylogenetic rooting of the tribe Loteae is discussed.
The 27‐day variations in stratospheric ozone and temperature: New MLS data

We use new data obtained by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) onboard of Aura spacecraft to investigate variations in stratospheric ozone and temperature concurrent with the 27‐day variations of solar UV irradiance, measured simultaneously by the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) during the declining phase of solar activity. Using Empirical Mode Decomposition we determine the latitudinal and height distributions of the 27‐day modes for ozone and temperature and find that these modes are enhanced in the lower tropical stratosphere, and at high latitudes in winter.
Flexible antenna design for semi-passive HF RFID transponder in ink-jet technology

The synthesis process of flexible antenna dedicated to semi-passive transponders of HF RFID system with inductive coupling is presented in the paper. The problem of antenna matching to a chip is considered in details. The emphasis is put on the possibility of manufacturing the antenna in the ink-jet technology. The impact of technology on antenna parameters is also discussed as it is important for transponder operation in a target application. The validation study of the synthesis method and samples behaviour in inhomogeneous magnetic field has been carried out. Streszczenie. W artykule omowiono proces syntezy elastycznej anteny dedykowanej do pracy w polpasywnych, indukcyjnie sprzezonych systemach RFID pasma HF. Szczegolowej analizie poddano problem dopasowania anteny i chipu. Przeanalizowano takze mozliwośc wykonania zaprojektowanej anteny w procesie druku strumieniowego, zwracając szczegolną uwage na wplyw parametrow technologicznych na dzialanie identyfikatora w docelowej aplikacji systemu RFID. W artykule omowiono rowniez proces syntezy ukladow testowych oraz ich prace w niejednorodnym polu magnetycznym. (Projekt elastycznej anteny polpasywnego identyfikatora RFID pasma HF realizowanej w procesie druku strumieniowego).
Affect-Adaptive Activities in a Personalised Ubiquitous Learning System

Many literatures have shown the importance of emotion in learning because of their effect on learner’s performances thereby giving reasons why learners’ affective states are crucial to learning. In this light, this research work aims to identify affect-adaptive activities that would improve learning in a personalised ubiquitous learning system by detecting learning style and affective states through some patterns of behaviours. In the study, learners’ preference are determined, learners affective states such as confidence, effort, independence and confusion are investigated. The ant colony clustering algorithm is used to determine learners’ activities. The four affective states are determined from the learners’ forum threads, content activities, assessment, timing, and discussion through learners’ engagement. The result of this research on two separate courses, Course A (Affect) and Course B (Non-Affect) shows that the four affective states influence learning. The average mean and standard deviation (SD) value for Course A (Mean=276.23, SD=272.27) over Course B (Mean=200.58, SD=210.51) showed an improvement in learning performance and the t-Test carried out between the courses suggested that students’ performance is dependent on their affective states. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.17. 7.3
Brush-Painting and Photonic Sintering of Copper Oxide and Silver Inks on Wood and Cardboard Substrates to Form Antennas for UHF RFID Tags

Additive deposition of inks with metallic inclusions provides compelling means to embed electronics into versatile structures. The need to integrate electronics into environmentally friendly components and structures increases dramatically together with the increasing popularity of the Internet of Things. We demonstrate a novel brush-painting method for depositing copper oxide and silver inks directly on wood and cardboard substrates and discuss the optimization of the photonic sintering process parameters for both materials. The optimized parameters were utilized to manufacture passive ultra high frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tag antennas. The results from wireless testing show that the RFID tags based on the copper oxide and silver ink antennas on wood substrate are readable from ranges of 8.5 and 11 meters, respectively, and on cardboard substrate from read ranges of 8.5 and 12 meters, respectively. These results are well sufficient for many future wireless applications requiring remote identification with RFID.
Parenting and educational aims in a cross cultural perspective: how culture affects early interactions with the child

Every culture has its own needs, its own conceptions of parenting norms, and its own modes of implementing parenting practices: cultural forces influence the way in which universally-occurring parental behaviors are expressed. Child rearing practices help to prepare an infant to adapt to a social system, and condition the course and eventual outcome of individual development. The differences in the ways in which societies both conceptualize parenting and care for their offspring can be evident from the earliest activities and interactions of parents with their infants. This review examines, in an ecological perspective, similarities and differences in early parental behaviors, by analyzing the variations that may be moderated by culture.
Analysis of the Risk in Information Technology (IT) outsourcing In Public Organisations

Acquisition of Information Technology infrastructure is critical to the realization of good service delivery in public organizations, yet the ability to muster enough resources to mount viable IT infrastructure is lacking. The next viable option for public organizations is to outsource IT. However, IT outsourcing is not without its risk. The study through extensive literature review assesses the risk associated with IT outsourcing in public organizations. The paper concludes that that if due diligence is demonstrated in the pursuit of IT outsourcing by public organizations, the benefits of IT outsourcing could outweigh the risk involved.
Presence of substitute diets alters plant resistance to specialist and generalist herbivores: a meta‐analysis

How herbivores respond to resource heterogeneity is important for predicting plant resistance to herbivores. Experimental studies thus far have revealed that herbivore responses differ depending on whether herbivores are offered single or multiple plant types, but the reports have rarely been combined. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of 47 publications on choice and no-choice experiments to reveal how the presence/absence of multiple plants (i.e., choice/no-choice conditions) alters the extent of behavioral avoidance by herbivores. The herbivore diet breadth and response traits (feeding, growth, or oviposition) explained a significantly large amount of heterogeneity in the herbivore response under choice and no-choice conditions. In contrast, a small amount of heterogeneity was explained by the herbivore types (vertebrates, exophagous, or endophagous invertebrates), plant resistance traits (chemical or nonchemical), plant life form, and relatedness of plant pairs (intraspecific or interspecific) as well as interactions between the herbivore and plant characteristics. Compared with the no-choice conditions, specialist herbivores further avoided suboptimal plants under choice conditions. Generalist herbivores more evenly utilized optimal and suboptimal plants under choice conditions. The avoidance of suboptimal plants under choice conditions was the most prominent in oviposition response. Thus, our meta-analysis found that herbivore characteristics rather than plant traits were more responsible for driving behavioral avoidance by herbivores to a particular plant. The contrasting response between specialist and generalist herbivores to plant heterogeneity may be more ubiquitous than previously thought.
A GPR POLARIZATION EXPERIMENT ON STORGLACIÄREN

Ground Penetrating Radar has been used for many years to study the internal structure of glaciers and has proved to be an excellent tool. Polarization is an important consideration when designing a GPR survey strategy because most GPR antennas are dipoles that radiate linearly polarized waves and are sensitive to the polarization of waves reflected from buried targets, and because some targets reflect waves preferentially depending on the polarization of the incident wave. In this report, the polarization scattering properties of two important GPR targets, the flat plane and the long circular cylinder, as well as their analogies in glaciology, are compared and contrasted. Following this, a modest GPR polarization experiment conducted during the GlacioEuroLab5 winter course on Storglaciären, a small valley glacier in northern Sweden, is presented and discussed. Knowledge of the depolarizing properties of specific targets or sources of clutter may be used to design the optimal GPR antenna configuration for a specific study. Does the same apply to glacial studies?
Determination of Shearing Properties for Tubular Pinewood under Torsion

In this study, tubular pinewood (Pinus sylvestris L.) specimens are tested and shear strain measurements are performed by applying torsion in z direction in the consideration of light weight aircraft engineering. The objective of this paper is to contribute and generate the nonlinear material model in terms of shear modulus presented with power functions under the consideration of nonlinear behavior of wood under torque. Strain gauge measurements are performed for the maximum shear stresses which develop on the tubular specimen, along the radial r(rin, rout), circumferential Φ(Φin, Φout) and z directions, in a point-wise manner. The data is gathered and examined for the determination of the local variations of empirical shear modulus functions on transversely isotropic surfaces of the specimens. The coordinate dependent shear modulus functions of GzΦ(r), GzΦ(Φ), GzΦ(z) are derived for GzΦ(r, Φ, z)as the function of r, Φ and z, respectively, by analyzing the gathered data. It is proposed to represent the shear modulus functions, GzΦ(Φ) and GzΦ(z) with the parabolic polynomials, and, to represent the shear modulus function GzΦ(r) with a linear equation.
Exploring Consistency of Student Performance on Holistically Scored Writing Tasks

A study examined college students' responses to writing tasks that were created by their instructors--writing tasks that constituted an important part of the instructors' course designs and that were presented to students as an integral part of the curriculum. In all, approximately 4800 independent evaluations of 796 essays were analyzed. The essays were written by 241 first-year writing students at 2 colleges. The writing samples were scored by raters who were encouraged to use criteria they normally employ in their grading, rather than a special set of criteria imposed by the researchers. Results indicated that the correlation in quality among successive essays written by the same student was quite low; and raters did not tend to grade essays written later in the semester better than esays written earlier in the semester. Findings suggest that the consistency of writing performance in more naturalistic settings may be even lower than previous estimates of writing consistency have indicated. (Contains 10 notes, 14 references, and 2 tables o, data. Appendixes present the ranking worksheet and a survey
CEO remuneration, board composition and firm performance: Empirical evidence from Australian listed companies

Classical economic theories establishing a relationship between CEO remuneration and firm performance has paid particular attention to solve conflict of interest between managerial team and firm shareholders, by designing an optimum CEO remuneration that motivate executives to work in the best interest of shareholders. Many international and less Australian empirical researches suggest that there is overwhelming evidence that firm performance is strongly linked with CEO remuneration. In this paper, we reassess the association of firm performance and CEO remuneration variables using dynamic econometric models and comprehensive data from Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). We find a positive and strong association between CEO pay of top 200 Australian public listed companies and company performance. Obtained findings are similar to USA, UK and Canada studies results. We further test the effect of board and ownership features on CEO remuneration-performance sensitivity in the top 200 Australian public companies listed on ASX. Specifically, for the period of 2003-2007, our results highlight the importance of ownership structure in influencing remuneration-performance relationship. Monitoring block holders boost the responsiveness of long term incentives (LTI) remuneration to performance, thus straightening shareholder and manager welfares. However, based on a short term investment horizon strategy, insider block holders increase (decrease) the sensitivity of short-term incentives remuneration (long term incentives pay). Surprisingly, for the period 2008-2013, our findings suggest that ownership and board features did not influence significantly CEO pay-performance sensitivities. Finally, we find that larger boards increase (decrease) the responsiveness of CEO's known remuneration (long term incentives) to performance.
Correlates of rheumatoid arthritis among women in Albania

Aim: Our aim was to assess the association of rheumatoid arthritis with socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors among women in transitional Albania. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 2012-2013 including a sample of 2198 women aged 30 years and above who attended the Rheumatology services at primary health care clinics in Tirana municipality (mean age: 60.2±9.7 years; overall response rate: 95%). The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was based on the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) 2010 criteria. In addition, a structured questionnaire was administered to all study participants including information on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and behavioral factors. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association of rheumatoid arthritis with covariates. Results: Overall, 437 (19.9%) women were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (both incident and prevalent cases). In multivariable-adjusted models, rheumatoid arthritis was positively and significantly related to older age (OR=1.8, 95%CI=1.3-2.6), a lower educational attainment (OR=1.4, 95%CI=1.1-1.9), smoking (OR=1.5, 95%CI=1.1-2.0), alcohol intake (OR=1.9, 95%CI=1.2-3.1) and overweight and obesity (OR=1.5, 95%CI=1.2-2.0 and OR=1.6, 95%CI=1.2-2.0, respectively). Conclusion: This study provides useful evidence about selected correlates of rheumatoid arthritis among women attending specialized primary health care services in Albania. Health professionals and policymakers in Albania should be aware of the magnitude and consequences of this chronic condition in the adult population.
PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE IN LOCAL CHICKEN AFTER FIVE GENERATIONS OF CROSSING AND SELECTION FOR HIGH LIVE BODY WEIGHT

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of selection on the productive performance of local chicken line, Giza M-2 line, after 5 generations of selection for increasing 6-week live body weight (LBW). The performance of Giza M-2 and Random Bred Control (RBC) lines; LBW, LBW at sexual maturity (BWSM), egg number (EN), egg weight (EW), and first egg weight (FEW) were evaluated at the 3 (G3), 4 (G4), and 5 (G5) generations. The Random Bred Control line (RBC) was used as a control group. The results could be summarized as follow: There was significant improvement in 6-week LBW for Giza M-2 line from one generation to the next. The difference between Giza M-2 line and RBC line was 358 g after five generations of selection for increasing 6-week LBW. Also, females of Giza M-2 line had significantly higher BMSW, EN, EW, and FEW with comparison to the RBC line for all generations. In conclusion, there was positive response in LBW and egg productive performance in Giza M-2 line associated with our breeding program. Also, selection in Giza M-2 line may had large impact on frequency of genes controlling economically important traits, such as LBW and reproduction. In Giza M-2 line, future generations, to achieve proper meat production, we will focus on genetic selection of traits relevant to modern broiler breeding.
Upper mantle seismic discontinuities: topography variations beneath Eastern Europé

The structure of the mantle transition zone between two seismic discontinuities at depths near 410 and 660 km is one of the most important issues to understand the Earth’s dynamics. Most of what we know about this zone is based on seismic interpretation. Seismic waves observed in the distance range of about 15-28° turn in the transition zone and give us information about structural details of penetrated region. We present new results on the upper mantle velocity structure beneath Eastern Europe obtained from individual earthquakes for which seismic data has been collected during two passive experiments, TOR and SVEKALAPKO. Comparison with the earlier models describing the upper mantle velocity structure allowed to study lateral changes in the topography of the 410 ∗) TOR Working Group consists of: U. Achauer, J. Ansorge, R. Arlitt, A. Berthelsen, M. Budweg, H. Busche, N. Cotte, M. Grad, S. Gregersen, A. Guterch, J. Gossler, S. Hock, R. Kind, E. Kissling, M. Korn, K. Mosegaard, H. Paulssen, H. Pedersen, L.B. Pedersen, T. Pedersen, J. Plomerova, W. Rabbel, R.G. Roberts, H. Shomali, H. Thybo, P. Voss, F. Waldhauser, M. Wilde-Piorko, I. Woelbern, P. Ziegler and M. Zuchniak. SVEKALAPKO Working Group consists of: U. Achauer, A. Alinaghi, J. Ansorge, G. Bock, M. Bruneton, W. Friedrich, M. Grad, A. Guterch, S. E. Hjelt, T. Hyvonen, J.P. Ikonen, E. Kissling, K. Komminaho, A. Korja, P. Heikkinen, E. Kozlovskaya, M.V. Nevsky, N. Pavlenkova, H. Pedersen, J. Plomerova, T. Raita, O. Riznichenko, R.G. Roberts, S. Sandoval, I.A. Sanina, N. Sharov, J. Tiikkainen, S.G. Volosov, E. Wielandt, K. Wylegalla, J. Yliniemi and Y. Yurov. M. ŚWIECZAK et al. 252 and 660 discontinuities. Variations in the average thickness of the transition region are thought to reflect variations in the mantle temperature. We cannot exclude non-thermal effects occurring in the Earth’s mantle but the thickness of the transition zone may be a useful thermometer for indication of lateral temperature variations. The size of velocity jumps could be translated into chemical composition, mainly for olivine content at discontinuity.