Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
General guidelines for invasive plant management based on comparative demography of invasive and native plant populations

Summary 1. General guidelines for invasive plant management are currently lacking. Population declines may be achieved by focusing control on demographic processes (survival, growth, fecundity) with the greatest impact on population growth rate. However, we often have little demographic information on populations in the early stages of an invasion when control can be most effective. Here we determine whether synthesis of existing demographic data on invasive and native plant populations can address this knowledge problem. 2. We compared population dynamics between invasive and native species using published matrix population models for 21 invasive and 179 native plant species. We examined whether the population growth rate responsiveness to survival, growth and fecundity perturbations varied between invasive and native species, and determined which demographic processes of invaders to target for reductions in population growth rate. 3. Invaders had higher population growth rates ( λ ) than natives, resulting in differences in demographic processes. Perturbations of growth and fecundity transitions (elasticities) were more important for population growth of invaders, whereas perturbations of survival had greater importance for population growth of natives. 4. For both invasive and native species, elasticities of λ to survival increased with life span and decreased with λ ; while elasticities to growth and fecundity decreased with life span and increased with λ . 5. For long-lived invaders, simulated reductions in either survival, growth or fecundity transitions were generally insufficient to produce population declines, whereas multiple reductions in either survival + growth or survival + fecundity were more effective. For short-lived invaders, simulated reductions in growth or fecundity and all pairwise multiple reductions produced population declines. 6. Synthesis and applications . Life history and population growth rate of invasive species are important in the selection of control targets. For rapidly growing populations of short-lived invaders, growth and fecundity transitions should be prioritized as control targets over survival transitions. For long-lived invaders, simultaneous reductions in more than one demographic process, preferably survival and growth, are usually required to ensure population decline. These general guidelines can be applied to rapidly growing new plant invasions and at the invasion front where detailed demographic data on invasive species are lacking.
NON-SITUATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF DEMONSTRATIVE NOUN PHRASES IN LINGALA (BANTU)

This paper examines the non-situational (i.e., non-exophoric) pragmatic functions of the three adnominal demonstratives, oyo, wâna, and yango in the Bantu language Lingala. An examination of natural language corpora reveals that, although native-speaker intuitions sanction the use of oyo as an anaphor in demonstrative NPs, this demonstrative is hardly ever used in that role. It also reveals that wâna, which has both situational and discourse-referential capacities, is used more frequently than the exclusively anaphoric demonstrative yango. It is explained that wâna appears in a wide range of non-coreferential expression types, in coreferential expression types involving low-salience referents, and in coreferential expression types that both involve highly salient referents and include the speaker’s desire to signal a shift in the mental representation of the referent towards a pejorative reading. The use of yango, on the other hand, is only licensed in cases of coreferentiality involving highly salient referents and implying continuation of the same mental representation of the referent. A specific section is devoted to charting the possible grammaticalization paths followed by the demonstratives. Conclusions are drawn for pragmatic theory formation in terms of the relation between form (yango vs. wâna) and function (coreferentiality vs. non-coreferentiality).
A Study of Uncertain Wind Power in Active-Reactive Optimal Power Flow

Wind power fluctuates with time and it is reasonable to regard it as a random variable. Recently, an active-reactive optimal power flow (A-R-OPF) method in active distribution networks with wind stations has been developed to handle the problem of wind power curtailment (WPC). Since the mentioned method is deterministic, it may fail to handle uncertain wind power (UWP). Therefore, our study in this paper will firstly discuss the issue of UWP and secondly develop a new strategy which can improve the A-R-OPF by considering UWP. The new strategy can be distinguished from the original so that: 1) it considers shorter time intervals, i.e., 15 minutes instead of one hour and 2) it can handle both UWP and WPC simultaneously. The effectiveness of the new strategy is shown by using a real case medium-voltage distribution network. Keywords-active-reactive optimal power flow (A-R-OPF); medium-voltage; uncertain wind power (UWP); wind power curtailment (WPC).
Algebraic Bethe Ansatz for the XXZ Gaudin Models with Generic Boundary

We solve the XXZ Gaudin model with generic boundary using the modified algebraic Bethe ansatz. The diagonal and triangular cases have been recovered in this general framework. We show that the model for odd or even lengths has two different behaviors. The corresponding Bethe equations are computed for all the cases. For the chain with even length, inhomogeneous Bethe equations are necessary. The higher spin Gaudin models with generic boundary is also treated.
Heritability of Life History and Morphological Traits in a Wild Pink Salmon Population Assessed by DNA Parentage Analysis

Abstract Heritability estimates were calculated for body size and shape, day of entry onto the spawning grounds, and egg size for two brood years (1997 and 1998) of a wild population of pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha based on parentage analysis of DNA samples from breeding adults and their mature offspring in a small creek in Southeast Alaska. The majority of heritability estimates for size and shape were not significantly different from zero, probably as a result of the close association of these variables with fitness. The even- and odd-year brood lines are genetically isolated but heritability estimates from the two lines were significantly correlated, suggesting similar selection histories. Consistent with heritability estimates from controlled breeding and captive rearing of pink and other species of salmon, day of entry onto the spawning grounds had the highest heritabilities of the traits examined in this study, especially for males (h 2 = 0.6– 1.38). One plausible method for the maintenance of.
A Digital Multibeam Array With Wide Scanning Angle and Enhanced Beam Gain for Millimeter-Wave Massive MIMO Applications

A novel full-digital multibeam array with wide scanning angle and enhanced beam gain is proposed for millimeter-wave massive multiple-input multiple-output applications. The array consists of 16 dual exponentially tapered slot antenna (DETSA) elements. Each element is integrated with a radio frequency receiver, an intermediate frequency chain, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The H-plane radiation pattern of the proposed DETSA is very wide to enable the beam scanning in the azimuth plane. The beam gain is further enhanced by employing a 1-D multilayered planar lens that transforms the spherical wave into a plane wave in the E-plane for increasing the beam gain and keeping the phase compensation unaltered in the H-plane. Meanwhile, the planar lens is optimized to guarantee the wide scanning angle. In addition, all the signals received by the 16 independent channels are converted to a digital signal via ADC simultaneously and then used for synthesizing the multibeam patterns in the digital domain. Furthermore, the calibration and the verification of the synthesizing weights are discussed in detail. The measured results show that a scanning coverage of ±40° in the H-plane (or in horizontal plane) and an estimated maximum gain of 24.8 dBi with a gain tolerance of 3 dB can be achieved by the proposed 16-element array with a 1-D lens.
Language Processing of Seniors with Alzheimer’s Disease: From the Perspective of Temporal Parameters

Abstract—The present paper aims to examine the language processing of Chinese-speaking seniors with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) from the perspective of temporal cues. Twenty healthy adults, 17 healthy seniors, and 13 seniors with AD in Taiwan participated in this study to tell stories based on two sets of pictures. Nine temporal cues were fetched and analyzed. Oral productions in Mandarin Chinese were compared and discussed to examine to what extent and in what way these three groups of participants performed with significant differences. Results indicated that the age effects were significant in filled pauses. The dementia effects were significant in mean duration of pauses, empty pauses, filled pauses, lexical pauses, normalized mean duration of filled pauses and lexical pauses. The findings reported in the current paper help characterize the nature of language processing in seniors with or without AD, and contribute to the interactions between the AD neural mechanism and their temporal parameters.
Atmospheric controls on the annual cycle of North African dust

[1] Dust emitted from desert regions and transported in the atmosphere has been recognized for its potential to alter the Earth's climate and environments. Satellite data show that the largest source regions of dust (i.e., hot spots) are located in dry, nonvegetated areas of West Africa and central Chad. Dust emissions from these sources follow a distinct seasonal cycle. Whereas our understanding of processes controlling the dust cycle of the Chad dust source has been improved through recent studies, our understanding of the West African sources is limited because of the remoteness of the sources and lack of surface observations. Using a satellite-derived dust index and reanalysis atmospheric fields, we show that the annual dust cycle at the West African dust hot spots is not related to changes in mean surface wind strength but is linked to small-scale high-wind events. We find that the annual dust cycle correlates well with changes in near-surface convergence associated with the annual north-south movement of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Dust emissions in West Africa are highest in June coinciding with the crossing of the convergence zone on its northward bound over the dust hot spots. The increase in convergence leads to enhanced surface gustiness suggesting that dry convection associated with an increase in the occurrence of small-scale high-wind events and vertical velocity are the main processes controlling the annual dust cycle at the West African dust sources.
Impacts of Vitamin A and Essential Amino Acids on Growth Performance, Survivability, Carcass Characteristics and Profitability of a Crossbred Chicken (Gallus domesticus L.) in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

The study assessed the effects of supplementing vitamin A (VitA) and some essential amino acids (EAAs) to poultry feed on growth performance, survivability, carcass characteristics and profitability of a crossbred chicken called Sonali, derived from RIR ♂ × Fayoumi ♀. A total of 192 day-old Sonali chicks were divided into four dietary treatments in a 4×3×16 design as follows: T1 (control), T2 (control + 12500 IU VitA/kg feed), T3 (control + EAAs) and their combinations T4 (control +12500 IU VitA/kg feed + EAAs). The birds were reared in litters for eight weeks. Growth performance parameters such as feed intake (FI), live weight gain (LWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR), carcass characteristics like live weight (LW), skin weight (SW), abdominal fat (AFW), neck weight (NW), head weight (HW), giblet weight (GW) and dressing yield (DY); survivability (SB) and profitability index (PI) in terms of its six vital components viz., total cost of production (TCP), total revenue (TR), net profit (NP), cost-benefit ratio (CBR), rate of return on investment (RRI) and gross ratio (GR) were estimated. Both LWG and FCR, but not FI, varied significantly between dietary groups during the growth period (P<0.001). Similarly, all the carcass characteristics except DY enhanced significantly due to feeding treatments. Although overall SB of the experimental chickens did not differ between groups, that between T1 (89.53±3.61%) and T4 (100.00±0.00%) varied significantly (P<0.05). The PI along with all its components differed statistically between treatments (P<0.001), where PI of T3 was the highest. The findings therefore suggest that T4 had enhancing effects on growth performance, survivability and carcass characteristics, while T3 was capable of inducing increased PI in the crossbred chickens under study.
Vacancies, twins, and the thermal stability of ultrafine-grained copper

Ultrafine-grained metals have impressive strength but lack the thermal stability necessary for most applications. Nano-scale, deformation twinned copper microstructures exhibit a rare combination of strength and stability. While storing less energy in their interfaces than other nanostructured metals, they also exhibit lower vacancy supersaturations, reducing the driving force and mobility for microstructure evolution. From a thermal stability perspective, the nano-twinned microstructure may thus be preferred over the more commonly produced nano-scale equiaxed microstructures.
Robotic Arm and Imaging in Neurosurgical Stereotactic Interventions: Oblique Insular Electrodes Implanted in Patients with Epilepsy

The human insular lobe was initially described by the anatomist Reil JC (Reil, 1809). This lobe is the first in the cerebral cortex that develops and differentiates in the fetus (Streeter, 1912; Kodam, 1926; Afif et al., 2007). A recent study demonstrates that the formation of insular cortex begins by its inferior region that will later become the limen insula (Afif et al., 2007). This cortical development progresses in parallel with that of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and its branches in the superior and posterosuperior axis (Afif et al., 2007). The insula consists of three short and two long gyri separated by the central insular sulcus, which defines the anterior and posterior insula (Varnavas & Grand, 1999; Ture et al., 1999; Naidich et al., 2004; Afif & Mertens, 2010). The opercularization is the result of important development of the surrounding insular cortex (frontal, parietal and temporal lobes). Progressive development over the entire surface of the insular cortex encloses the sylvian fissure. Due to its deep anatomic position and dense surrounding vascular network, few studies involving direct electrical stimulation (ES) of the insular cortex during surgical procedures have been reported (Penfield & Jasper, 1954; Penfield & Faulk, 1955; Oppenheimer et al., 1992; Duffau et al. 2001, 2009). Immunocytochemistry, functional imaging, direct ES, and lesion studies suggest an important role for the insular cortex. Such roles include language production and grammatical processing (Raichle, 1991; McCarthy et al., 1993; Wise et al., 1999; Price, 2000, 2001; Ackermann & Riecker, 2004; Isnard et al., 2004; Riecker et al., 2005; Friederici et al., 2006; Kato et al., 2007; Afif et al., 2010a), pain modulation (Tarkka & Treede, 1993; Frot & Mauguiere, 1999; Ostrowsky et al., 2000; Peyron et al., 2004; Craig, 2004; Isnard et al., 2005; Brooks et al., 2005 ; Schreckenberger et al., 2005; Mazzola et al., 2006; Henderson et al., 2006, 2007; Afif et al., 2008b), visceral sensory processing (Ostrowsky et al., 2000; Dupont et al., 2003; Isnard et al., 2004), bradycardia (Seeck et al., 2003), dysphagia (Danieles & Foundas, 1997) and auditory processing (Manes et al., 1999; Lewis et al., 2000; Shergill et al., 2000; Bamiou et al., 2003; Afif et al., 2010b).
Biological and Clinicopathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most heterogeneous types of cancer and is characterized by several molecular subtypes. Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 137 confirmed BC cases at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) in Ethiopia from December 2015 to November 2016 to assess the biological and clinicopathological characteristics of BC in Ethiopian women patients. Socio-demographic characteristics of the study subjects was obtained with pretested structured interview and clinical data was collected from the Hospital records. Surgical specimens were analysed histopathologically with hematoxyline and eosin staining, and Immunohistochemistry analysis was conducted with specific antibodies to ER, PR and HER2. The mean and median age of the study participants were 47 and 46.7, respectively. More than 50% of the patients were categorized in the age group of 15-40. Sixty percent were in the age group of 41-100. Infiltrating ductal carcinoma was the most common type of BC (70%) in this study, followed by lobular carcinoma (8.5%). Almost all of the BC cases under study were at advanced stage of the disease: 48.5% were with stage III and 51% were grade II tumors. Half of the study participants belonged to T2 tumor size (2-5 cm) and 52.3% of the patients had axillary lymph node metastases. Sixty five percent were ER+, 58% were PR+ and 28% were HER2+. Luminal A was the most common tumor subtype (54%), followed by luminal B (22%) and TNBC (18%). Based on crude analysis, patients with family history of BC had a lesser likelihood of being ER+ as compared to those patients with no family history of BC [COR=0.10 (95% CI: 0.028, 0.34)]. None of the other risk factors were correlated with the prevalence of ER+ results. In conclusion, the age distribution of BC cases in this study suggests the need to create awareness and improvement of advanced diagnostic services and make available screening programs for younger people. In a resource poor setting like Ethiopia, the use of anti-estrogens (like tamoxifen) in treatment of BC cases with undetermined receptor status could be helpful as most BC cases are ER+ and hormonal therapy is relatively easily available.
A Method of the Non-Fragile Controller based on LMI

For the satellite system with two solar panels, a non-fragile controller design method based on linear matrix inequality (LMI) is presented in this paper. The controller design method based on observer is adopted, and the design of the observer and controller contains a linear fractional uncertainty disturbance, i.e., non-fragile control problem. The existence condition of the controller based on the observer is given in the form of linear matrix inequality, by using the effective matrix inequality transform technique and the Lyapunov function method. In the case of uncertainty perturbation, the design of the controller can guarantee the stability of the system. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by Matlab software.
Midwifery and neolithic Malta : interpreting and Contextualizing two terracotta figurines

The Maltese archipelago has a 5,000 year (pre)history of statuettes, votive offerings, and midwifery. Taking two examples of terracotta female figurines from the Neolithic, this study explores the possibilities for meaning and interpretation of these statuettes which lie outside the norm of prehistoric Maltese figurines. One figurine from the Tarxien temple complex shows a pregnant female whose body contains bits of bone and shell placed into particular anatomical parts while the clay was still wet. The other figurine examined is another pregnant female figurine, but this example was found with five clay “twists” that are commonly recognized as fetuses in varying stages of development. The usual interpretation of all prehistoric female figurines as representations of the “Great Mother Goddess” is herein avoided as an overarching theory with inadequate supporting evidence or anthropological value. Using the archaeological record, material culture studies, and ethnographic data, this paper proposes that these unique sculptures served as objects of sorcery by midwives on behalf of her client(s). a r t i C l e i n f o
Predictors and Typical Clinical Findings of Refractory Epilepsy

Purpose: Our purpose was to identify the predictors of refractory epilepsy (RE) and the typical clinical findings in Bulgarian patients with RE. Patients and Methods: We studied 70 adult patients with refractory epilepsy and 70 patients with pharmaco sensitive epilepsy. The Liverpool Seizure Severity Scale was completed by 84.29% of the patients with RE. Results: The typical clinical findings and significant predictors of RE on univariate analysis were: high initial seizure frequency (OR = 2.45), heredity for epilepsy (OR = 8.90), febrile seizures (OR = 4.50), partial epilepsy (OR = 5.98), low or lacking seizure reduction with the first AED (OR = 44.0), clusters of seizures and/or epileptic status in the disease course (OR = 16.5), childhood onset (OR = 8.0), great number of ineffective antiepileptic drugs (AED) – OR = 232.88, poly therapy (OR = 61.0). On multivariate analysis significant predictors of RE were poly therapy (B = 4.86), childhood onset (B = 2.79), and great number (> 4) of ineffective AED (B = 5.44). Frequent clinical findings were: moderate seizure severity, high seizure frequency despite the prescribed treatment, polymorphic seizures. Conclusion: The most significant predictors of RE are: great number of ineffective AED, treatment with poly therapy, and early disease onset. This conclusion may be useful for a timely identification of patients with epilepsy who are likely to be refractory to medical therapy.
WORKING PAPER SERIES RISK , UNCERTAINTY , AND EXPECTED RETURNS

A conditional asset pricing model with risk and uncertainty implies that the timevarying exposures of equity portfolios to the market and uncertainty factors carry positive risk premiums. The empirical results from the size, book-to-market, and industry portfolios as well as individual stocks indicate that the conditional covariances of equity portfolios (individual stocks) with market and uncertainty predict the timeseries and cross-sectional variation in stock returns. We find that equity portfolios that are highly correlated with economic uncertainty proxied by the variance risk premium (VRP) carry a significant, annualized 6 to 8 percent premium relative to portfolios that are minimally correlated with VRP. JEL classification: G10, G11, C13.