Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blue Carbon Storage Capacity of Temperate Eelgrass (Zostera marina) Meadows

Despite the importance of coastal ecosystems for the global carbon budgets, knowledge of their carbon storage capacity and the factors driving variability in storage capacity is still limited. Here we provide an estimate on the magnitude and variability of carbon stocks within a widely distributed marine foundation species throughout its distribution area in temperate Northern Hemisphere. We sampled 54 eelgrass (Zostera marina) meadows, spread across eight ocean margins and 36° of latitude, to determine abiotic and biotic factors influencing organic carbon (Corg) stocks in Zostera marina sediments. The Corg stocks (integrated over 25‐cm depth) showed a large variability and ranged from 318 to 26,523 g C/m2 with an average of 2,721 g C/m2. The projected Corg stocks obtained by extrapolating over the top 1 m of sediment ranged between 23.1 and 351.7 Mg C/ha, which is in line with estimates for other seagrasses and other blue carbon ecosystems. Most of the variation in Corg stocks was explained by five environmental variables (sediment mud content, dry density and degree of sorting, and salinity and water depth), while plant attributes such as biomass and shoot density were less important to Corg stocks. Carbon isotopic signatures indicated that at most sites <50% of the sediment carbon is derived from seagrass, which is lower than reported previously for seagrass meadows. The high spatial carbon storage variability urges caution in extrapolating carbon storage capacity between geographical areas as well as within and between seagrass species.
The Foundations of Macroprudential Regulation: A Conceptual Roadmap

This paper examines the conceptual foundations of macroprudential policy by reviewing the literature on financial frictions from a policy perspective that systematically links state interventions to market failures. The method consists in gradually incorporating into the Arrow-Debreu world a variety of frictions and sources of aggregate volatility and combining them along three basic dimensions: purely idiosyncratic vs. aggregate volatility, full vs. bounded rationality, and internalized vs. uninternalized externalities. The analysis thereby obtains eight"domains,"four of which include aggregate volatility, hence call for macroprudential policy variants grounded on largely orthogonal rationales. Two of them emerge even assuming that externalities are internalized: one aims at offsetting the public moral hazard implications of (efficient but time inconsistent) post-crisis policy interventions, the other at maintaining principal-agent incentives continuously aligned along the cycle. Allowing for uninternalized externalities justifies two additional types of macroprudential policy, one aimed at aligning private and social interests, the other at tempering mood swings. Choosing a proper regulatory path is complicated by the fact that the relevance of frictions is likely to be state-dependent and that different frictions motivate different (and often conflicting) policies.
Limits of applicability of the advection‐dispersion model in aquifers containing connected high‐conductivity channels

The macrodispersion model from stochastic transport theory is demonstrated to be of limited utility when applied to heterogeneous aquifer systems containing narrow connected pathways. This is so even when contrasts in hydraulic conductivity (K) are small and variance in ln K is less than 0.10. We evaluated how well an advection‐dispersion model (ADM) could be used to represent solute plumes transported through mildly heterogeneous three‐dimensional (3‐D) systems characterized by a well‐connected dendritic network of 10 cm wide high‐K channels. Each high‐K channel network was generated using an invasion percolation algorithm and consisted of ∼10% by volume high‐K regions. Contrasts in K between the channels and matrix were varied systematically from 2:1 to 30:1, corresponding to ln K values ranging from 0.04 to 1.05. Simulations involved numerical models with 3‐D decimeter discretization, and each model contained 2–4 million active cells. Transport through each channel network considered only the processes of advection and molecular diffusion. In every case, the temporal change in the second spatial moment of concentrations was linear, with R2 values ranging from 0.97 to 0.99. The third spatial moment, or alternatively, the skewness coefficient values, indicated significant tailing downstream of the plume center. For each case, a corresponding ADM was used to simulate transport through the system. The corresponding ADM employed the effective mean hydraulic conductivity that reproduced the total discharge through the channel network system under an identical ambient gradient. Dispersivity values used in the ADM were obtained from the temporal change in the second spatial moments of concentrations for the plumes in the channel network systems and ranged from 0.014 m to 0.85 m. The results indicate that as the conductivity contrast between the channels and matrix increased, the simulated plumes in the channel network system became more and more asymmetric, with little solute dispersed upstream of the plume center and extensive downstream spreading of low concentrations. Distinctly different spreading was found upstream versus downstream of the plume center. The ADM failed to capture this asymmetry. Comparison of each plume in the channel network system with the corresponding plume produced using the corresponding ADM showed a maximum correlation of only 0.64 and a minimum fractional error of 0.29 for cases in which the log K variance was ∼0.20 (ln K variance was ∼1.0). At early times the correlations were as low as 0.40. The greatest correlation occurred at late times and for cases in which a wide source was considered.
Repositioning the Academic Library in Support of Nigerian University Educational Programme: A Case Study of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Olusegun OKE Library, Ogbomoso, OYO State

The repositioning of our academic libraries in Nigeria is desirable to make them perform expected role effectively in the information environment/society. An effective and efficient academic library is an essential component of any high profile of academic institution to serve the students, lecturers as well as other researchers. This study investigated the repositioning of academic libraries to support the university educational program me. This study adopted descriptive survey design. The population for the study consists of all academic library users (registered members) Four hundred (400) questionnaire were distributed from which three hundred and sixty four (364) were returned, which shows that 91% 0f the questionnaire were answered by the respondents. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and mean. The analyzed data were summarized in a tabular form to facilitate the interpretation of the findings. The findings revealed that academic libraries will continue to play a key role in the repositioning and enhance educational development of a society. Based on the findings of the study, it recommends that Information Literacy Skills such as technical, computers and multi-media, communication, and marketing skills should be acquired by all users and staff of academic libraries. This will assist in repositioning and support educational programme in Nigerian Universities. Information literacy will allow the users to develop life-long learning and to become independent learners, motivated learners and critical thinkers.
Computational topology of equivariant maps from spheres to complements of arrangements

The problem of the existence of an equivariant map is a classical topological problem ubiquitous in topology and its applications. Many problems in discrete geometry and combinatorics have been reduced to such a question and many of them resolved by the use of equivariant obstruction theory. A variety of concrete techniques for evaluating equivariant obstruction classes are introduced, discussed and illustrated by explicit calculations. The emphasis is on D 2n -equivariant maps from spheres to complements of arrangements, motivated by the problem of finding a 4-fan partition of 2-spherical measures, where D 2n is the dihedral group. One of the technical highlights is the determination of the D 2n -module structure of the homology of the complement of the appropriate subspace arrangement, based on the geometric interpretation for the generators of the homology groups of arrangements.
33RD EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR MEDICAL ONCOLOGY (ESMO) CONGRESS

First-line therapy with sunitinib achieved more than two years overall survival in patients with metastatic RCC and was superior to standard therapy with interferon-α (IFN-α), according to final survival results of a Phase III study presented at ESMO at a poster session by Sylvie Negrier of the Department of Medical Oncology, Centre Leon Berard Lyon, France . “Sunitinib remains a reference standard of care for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic RCC,” Prof. Negrier stated.
Pharmaceutical Use and Expenditure for Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke

This study presents the results of a joint analysis of patterns of consumption, expenditure, and unit expenditure for a core set of drugs aimed at preventing and treating cardiovascular disease. The current study examines the relationships among three pharmaceutical variables (expenditure, volume of drug use, and unit expenditure) classified according to eight therapeutic categories which are specific for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease and stroke. It covers an 11-year time period, and specifies relevant country-specific structural features in a sample of 12 OECD countries. The data presented in this report show how the three descriptive pharmaceutical variables vary across these countries. The study also contains a preliminary exploration of factors associated with variation in these variables across countries and through time. Findings for each of the eight cardiovascular disease and stroke drug therapeutic categories investigated in this study are .
Redundancy Optimization Based on Compressive Sensing for IndustrialWireless Sensor Networks

A routing algorithm, based on a dual cluster head redundant mechanism combined with compressive sensing data fusion algorithm, is proposed to improve reliability and reduce data redundancy of the industrial wireless sensor networks. The dual cluster head alternation mechanism is adopted to balance the energy consumption of cluster head nodes, and it helps to eliminate redundancy through the compressive sensing data fusion technology, and improve the network throughput of the sensor network effectively. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is able to enhance the networks performance, especially in reducing the number of lost packets, and prolonging the network’s lifetime.
D e-Infrastructures Area

Quoting the e-Infrastructure home page of the FP7 ICT Research Unit of the European Commission: “The e-Infrastructures activity, as a part of the Research Infrastructures programme, focuses on ICT-based infrastructures and services that cut across a broad range of user disciplines. It aims at empowering researchers with an easy and controlled online access to facilities, resources and collaboration tools, bringing to them the power of ICT for computing, connectivity, storage and instrumentation. This allows for instant access to data and remote instruments, ’in silico’ experimentation, as well as the setup of virtual research communities (i.e. research collaborations formed across geographical, disciplinary and organizational boundaries). ” In other words, e-Infrastructures support research infrastructures from the “virtual” perspective, by enabling community “actors” (researchers or their applications) to exchange their “resources” (research data and literature) by means of a controlled, regulated, digital environment. Specifically, researchers in the field of e-Infrastructure investigate solutions and methodologies enabling and facilitating the realization of e-Infrastructure platforms capable of supporting the activities of domain-specific research communities (e.g. Agriculture, ICT, Social Sciences). In general, e-Infrastructures can be considered as a combination of (i) established policies, standards and best practices and (ii) a set of technologies and tools, which together support an environment where researchers of a given domain can accomplish their daily activities in a collaborative and synergic fashion (Atkins et al., 2003; Ioannidis et al., 2005). The main purpose of this chapter is to report how researchers investigating in the area of e-Infrastructures organize their activities of “data and publica-
Using Telerehabilitation to Support Elders With Chronic Illness in Their Homes

As the number of persons with disabilities increases because of factors such as aging combined with chronic illnesses, the challenge of providing rehabilitation also increases. Unfortunately, financial considerations have shortened length of stay in acute and subacute settings and reduced rehabilitation services. With earlier discharges, there is an increased need to deliver services to patients in their homes in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Telerehabilitation is an emerging practice that uses communications technology for the remote delivery of rehabilitative care. The Low ADL Monitoring Program is a telerehabilitation program designed to deliver rehabilitation services through the provision of home environmental interventions, together with communications technology and care coordination.
The density of discriminants of quartic rings and fields

We determine, asymptotically, the number of quintic fields having bounded discriminant. Specifically, we prove that the asymptotic number of quintic fields having absolute discriminant at most X is a constant times X. In contrast with the quartic case, we also show that a density of 100% of quintic fields, when ordered by absolute discriminant, have Galois closure with full Galois group $S_5$. The analogues of these results are also proven for orders in quintic fields. Finally, we give an interpretation of the various constants appearing in these theorems in terms of local masses of quintic rings and fields.
Sexual selection and condition dependence of courtship display in three species of horned dung beetles

Sexual selection has traditionally been divided into competition over mates and mate choice. Currently, models of sexual selection predict that sexual traits are expressed in proportion to the condition of their bearer. In horned beetles, male contest competition is well established, but studies on female preferences are scarce. Here I present data on male mating success and condition dependence of courtship rate in three species of horn-dimorphic dung beetles, Onthophagus taurus, Onthophagus binodis, and Onthophagus australis. I found that in the absence of male contest competition, mating success of O. taurus and O. australis was unrelated to their horn length and body size, whereas in O. binodis horn size had a negative effect but body size had a positive effect on male mating success. Overall, in O. binodis major morph males had greater mating success than minor morph males. In all three species male mating success was affected by courtship rate, and the courtship rate was condition dependent such that when males were manipulated to be in poor condition they had lower courtship rates than males that were manipulated to be in good condition. My findings provide new insight into the mating systems of horned dung beetles and support an important assumption in indicator models of sexual selection. Copyright 2002.
Perceived health benefits of managed and unmanaged meadows in a mountain biosphere reserve – an experimental study in the Austrian Alps

Many societies are faced with a growing prevalence of poor health because of stress and sedentary lifestyles. Natural and semi-natural landscapes are increasingly seen as restorative settings, compensating for negative psycho-physiological effects on humans. The extent of these positive effects, however, may depend on the landscape’s degree of naturalness and perceptions of biodiversity, scenic beauty and restorativeness. We assessed the perceived health benefits for 22 participants (age M = 27 years) who twice visited a managed and an abandoned meadow in the Austrian Großes Walsertal Biosphere Reserve. This study found that perceived health benefits did not differ between the managed and unmanaged meadows; participants reported a positive effect of their stays in both meadows on attention restoration, stress reduction and well-being. However, differences between the meadow types did emerge in terms of perceptions of their naturalness and biodiversity, and of perceptions of them as restorative places. Potentially, these restorative benefits can be used for new health-related offers for visitors to mountain biosphere reserves. Profile
THE EDIACARA BIOTA: Neoproterozoic Origin of Animals and Their Ecosystems

▪ Abstract The Ediacara biota (575–542 Ma) marks the first appearance of large, architecturally complex organisms in Earth history. Present evidence suggests that the Ediacara biota included a mixture of stem- and crown-group radial animals, stem-group bilaterian animals, “failed experiments” in animal evolution, and perhaps representatives of other eukaryotic kingdoms. These soft-bodied organisms were preserved under (or rarely within) event beds of sand or volcanic ash, and four distinct preservational styles (Flinders-, Fermeuse-, Conception-, and Nama-style) profoundly affected the types of organisms and features that could be preserved. Even the earliest Ediacaran communities (575–565 Ma) show vertical and lateral niche subdivision of the sessile, benthic, filter-feeding organisms, which is strikingly like that of Phanerozoic and modern communities. Later biological and ecological innovations include mobility (>555 Ma), calcification (550 Ma), and predation (<549 Ma). The Ediacara biota abruptly disa.
Joining Technologies for Automotive Battery Systems Manufacturing

An automotive battery pack for use in electric vehicles consists of a large number of individual battery cells that are structurally held and electrically connected. Making the required electrical and structural joints represents several challenges, including, joining of multiple and thin highly conductive/reflective materials of varying thicknesses, potential damage (thermal, mechanical, or vibrational) during joining, a high joint durability requirement, and so on. This paper reviews the applicability of major and emerging joining techniques to support the wide range of joining requirements that exist during battery pack manufacturing. It identifies the advantages, disadvantages, limitations, and concerns of the joining technologies. The maturity and application potential of current joining technologies are mapped with respect to manufacturing readiness levels (MRLs). Further, a Pugh matrix is used to evaluate suitable joining candidates for cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic cells by addressing the aforementioned challenges. Combining Pugh matrix scores, MRLs, and application domains, this paper identifies the potential direction of automotive battery pack joining.
Electrospinning: processing technique for tissue engineering scaffolding

Electrospinning has attracted tremendous interest in the research community as a simple and versatile technique to produce synthetic polymeric ultrafine fibres with diameters ranging from a few micrometres to tens of nanometres. Recently, some natural origin polymers have also been successfully electrospun. Owing to their very small diameter, polymeric nanofibres exhibit unusual properties such as high specific surface area, flexibility in surface functionalities and superior mechanical properties. In addition, electrospun non-woven meshes could physically mimic the extracellular matrix structure of native tissues. These remarkable properties render electrospun nanofibres useful for many applications, particularly those related to the field of biomedical engineering. The first part of this review is intended to provide a fundamental survey of the electrospinning process (apparatus, governing parameters) and of recent improvements of the technique, including associated structural modifications of polymeric nanofibre meshes. The prospective tissue engineering/biomedical applications of electrospun polymeric nanofibres are then reviewed, namely, wound dressings, medical prostheses, drug delivery systems, DNA release and tissue engineering scaffolds. The essential properties of scaffolds in terms of the structural features of electrospun nanofibre meshes are discussed. Finally, the future perspectives for applications of electrospun nanofibres, particularly in the field of tissue engineering, are considered.
Avoiding dissipation in a system of three quantum harmonic oscillators

We analyze the symmetries in an open quantum system composed by three coupled and detuned harmonic oscillators in the presence of a common heat bath. It is shown analytically how to engineer the couplings and frequencies of the system so as to have several degrees of freedom unaffected by decoherence, irrespective of the specific spectral density or initial state of the bath. This partial thermalization allows observing asymptotic entanglement at moderate temperatures, even in the nonresonant case. This latter feature cannot be seen in the simpler situation of only two oscillators, highlighting the richer structural variety of the three-body case. When departing from the strict conditions for partial thermalization, a hierarchical structure of dissipation rates for the normal modes is observed, leading to a long transient where quantum correlations such as the quantum discord are largely preserved, as well as to synchronous dynamics of the oscillators quadratures.
1 INTRA-HOUSEHOLD GENDER-BIAS IN CHILD EDUCATIONAL SPENDING IN RURAL ETHIOPIA : PANEL EVIDENCE 1

Qualitative and quantitative evidence reveals pervasive gender discrimination in many social and economic aspects in least developing countries, including Ethiopia. Investment in child schooling is an important dimension of this discrimination, which has a lasting consequence on both the child and the country’s economic development as a whole. The main objective of this study is to uncover if there is any intrahousehold gender-bias in the decision to enrollment and allocation of resources to child education. Using a panel data set from Ethiopian Rural Household Survey (ERHS), spanning from 1994-2004, we applied a panel hurdle models consisting of random effects probit for the initial decision in enrollment and conditional linear autoregressive model for the proportion spent. We found statistically significant gender-bias during the initial decision to enrollment against girls, especially those corresponding to secondary school cycle. Since the bias occurs inside the household, public investments should not only focus on facilitating access to school but also work towards altering the demand side as parents have differential preference towards siblings’ education. Policies that increase returns to girl’s education, increasing intrahousehold productivity, legislations that prohibit early marriage, etc. could mitigate the observed level of intra-household gender-bias against girls aged 15-19 years. JEL Classification: D00; D13; I00; I20