Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interspecific variation in tropical tree height and crown allometries in relation to life history traits

Abstract. Tree allometric relationships are widely employed to estimate forest biomass and production, and are basic building blocks of dynamic vegetation models. In tropical forests, allometric relationships are often modeled by fitting scale-invariant power functions to pooled data from multiple species, an approach that fails to reflect finite size effects at the smallest and largest sizes, and that ignores interspecific differences in allometry. Here, we analyzed allometric relationships of tree height (9884 individuals) and crown area (2425) with trunk diameter using species-specific morphological and life history data of 162 species from Barro Colorado Island, Panamá. We fit nonlinear, hierarchical models informed by species traits and assessed the performance of three alternative functional forms: the scale-invariant power function, and the saturating Weibull and generalized Michaelis-Menten (gMM) functions. The relationship of tree height with trunk diameter was best fit by a saturating gMM model in which variation in allometric parameters was related to interspecific differences in sapling growth rates, a measure of regeneration light demand. Light-demanding species attained taller heights at comparatively smaller diameters as juveniles and had shorter asymptotic heights at larger diameters as adults. The relationship of crown area with trunk diameter was best fit by a power function model incorporating a weak positive relationship between crown area and species-specific wood density. The use of saturating functional forms and the incorporation of functional traits in tree allometric models is a promising approach to improve estimates of forest biomass and productivity. Our results provide an improved basis for parameterizing tropical tree functional types in vegetation models.
Resource allocation improvement in the tasks of airport ground handling operations

It is a global trend for the airport ground handling market to become liberalised. Fiercer competition lead to the necessity to improve efficiency and minimise costs. A mathematical model of optimal resource allocation by aircraft ground handling company using duality theory has been suggested. The numerical results for the solution of the task under the question which were obtained with the relevant software package, proved validity of the specified theoretical preconditions and allowed to improve the work schedule of the experimental aircraft ground handling company in accordance with a specified efficiency criterion.
RSS and Spatial Correlation Based Approach to Detect and Localize Spoofing Attackers in Wireless Networks

Wireless networks are vulnerable to attacks due to shared medium and mobility besides resource constrained nature. Spoofing attacks are one kind of attacks that can be launched easily on wireless networks. Cryptography can be used to overcome this problem. However, conventional security approaches cannot be directly used with wireless networks as they cause overhead. Without depending on cryptography, recently Yang et al. proposed a method that uses spatial information to detect spoofing attacks, find number of attackers involved in the attacks and also localizing the adversaries. Spatial correlation of received signal strength is used in order to achieve this. SVM and cluster based mechanism are used to know number of attackers and improve accuracy of detection. In this paper we build a prototype network application that simulates the wireless networks. It is used to demonstrate the detection and localization of spoofing attackers. The empirical results reveal that the proposed application is capable of detecting attacks besides localizing attackers.
Evaluation of genetic variability, correlation and path coefficients analysis for yield attributing traits in field pea [Pisum sativum (L.) var. arvense]

An experiment was conducted in randomized complete block with 12 field pea genotypes to study the genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation, heritability, genetic advance, correlation among the yield contributing traits and their effect on number of seeds per pod of field pea. The phenotypic correlation coefficient (PCV) values were marginally bigger than genotypic correlation coefficient (GCV), revealing tiny sway of environment in character expression. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance and high GCV were observed for length of branch from main axis, number of seeds/plant and weight of 100 seeds indicating the multitude of additive gene action. Selection stranded on these characters will be worthwhile. Results of genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients showed significant positive correlation of stem circumference, number of seeds/plant, number of pods/plant, weight of 100 seeds, number of seeds/pod with each other and other yield attributes. The component characters and path-coefficient analysis revealed positive direct effect of plant height at maturity and number of leaves/plant on the number of seeds/pod. The analysis suggests that the above mentioned parameters were sufficient for direct selection of genotypes for yield attributing characters. However, the high residual effect and relatively moderate level of genetic parameters revealed the requirement of more number of yield attributing parameters under consideration for improvising in crop breeding pipeline of field pea.
The Relation between Stock Prices and Inflationary Expectations: The International Evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on the relation between stock returns and inflationary expectations for nine countries over the period 1971-80. The Fisherian assumption that real returns are independent of inflationary expectations is soundly rejected for each major stock market of the world. Using interest rates as a proxy for expected inflation, our data provide consistent support for the Geske and Roll model whose basic hypothesis is that stock price movements signal (negative) revisions in inflationary expectations. Finally, a weak real interest rate effect was found for some of these countries.
Autonomy, Respect, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Crisis

Article 12(2) of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities guarantees persons with disabilities ‘the right to legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life. ’ In its General Comment on Article 12, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities claims that this guarantee necessitates the abolition of the world's dominant approach to mental capacity law. According to this approach, when a person lacks the mental capacity to make a particular legal decision at the material time, the state authorises a third-party to make it on her behalf. The Committee declares such substituted decision-making a violation of the Convention's guarantee of legal capacity on an equal basis, and therefore demands it be replaced by an allegedly non-discriminatory alternative called supported decision-making. This article argues that we should reject the Committee's demand in its current form, because the most influential version of the new approach to supported decision-making suffers from serious conceptual flaws that make it inferior to the mental capacity approach. However, I then argue that the Committee's demand stems from a legitimate ethical concern with respect and equality that ought to inform the CRPD's implementation process.
Various Perspectives on Performance Appraisals in the Health Service

Background: The health services are facing many new challenges, including a growing number of elderly patients, and an increasing use of technology in the work place. These challenges might require flexible and reflective conversations with the employees. Aim: This study examines whether some performance appraisals (PAs) are more efficient and more effective than others. The study also shows how some performance appraisals are more suitable for home care and nursing homes in municipal health services. Methods: Two datasets are used: 1) a questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample of 600 health personnel in Norway; and 2) a questionnaire was distributed to a representative sample of 60 employees (test-group: 10 groups; control-group: 30 employees), in pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2. SPSS. Findings: Managers are the only ones who receive training in PA techniques (factory perspective). Nurses versus auxiliary nurses experience more frequent dyadic relationships and exchanges in PAs (family perspective). PAs for employees from nursing homes are fairer than those administered to home care employees (jungle perspective). In organizations closest to carnival perspectives, employees participating in group-PAs are more active in the conversations than employees who have individual conversations in PAs. Conclusions: Health personnel involved in PAs experience different effects of the conversational, and employees working as a member of a team in the organization need to experience a high quality of relationships (family), justice (jungle), and participation in group-conversation (carnival) during performance appraisals.
Interveillance: A New Culture of Recognition and Mediatization

The everyday uses of networked media technologies, especially social media, have revolutionized the classical model of top-down surveillance. This article sketches the contours of an emerging culture of interveillance where non-hierarchical and non-systematic monitoring practices are part of everyday life. It also introduces a critical perspective on how the industrial logics of dominant social media, through which interveillance practices are normalized, resonate with social forces already at play in individualized societies. The argument is developed in three steps. Firstly, it is argued that the concept of interveillance is needed, and must be distinguished from surveillance, in order to critically assess the everyday mutual sharing and disclosure of private information (of many different kinds). Secondly, it is argued that the culture of interveillance responds to the social deficit of recognition that characterizes highly individualized societies. Finally, it is argued that the culture of interveillance constitutes a defining instance and even represents a new stage of the meta-process of mediatization. The dialectical nature of interveillance integrates and reinforces the overarching ambiguities of mediatization, whereby the opportunities for individuals and groups to achieve growing freedom and autonomy are paralleled by limitations and dependences vis-a-vis media.
The effect of sewage sludge doses on manganese content in the ecosystem luvosoil and field crops.

The sewage sludge from urban waste water treatment plants can be used as organic fertilizer due to its high content of over 25% OC (organic carbon), tN (total nitrogen) between 2-3 % and neutral pH (6,93-7,17). Besides, sludge contains manganese which, together with the one in the cultivated soil, could create conditions for occurrence of phyto-toxicity in cultivated plants. To observe the evolution of Mn contents both in the soil and the plants, we used increasing doses of sludge: 0 t.ha, 5 t.ha, 10 t.ha, 25 t.ha and 50 t.ha together with chemical fertilizers doses on intervals 0, 1⁄2 and 1/1 of the specific need for: maize, winter wheat and soybeans. By using processed sludge doses (anaerobically digested and dewatered) together with chemical fertilizers, no statistically significant increases of total forms of Mn in the soil were recorded, as compared with the check plot, which received no sludge and chemical fertilizers. The only exception was observed for soils cultivated with soybeans. The mobile forms of manganese (Mn) showed evident increases after sludge application. However, the three crops absorbed Mn only in the needed and specific quantities. Thus, the maize absorbed the least Mn, with leaves containing at flowering 6.0 mg.kg d.w. , and mature grains 6.7 mg.kg d.w. The sludge and especially the chemical fertilizers contributed to the growth of plants with bigger biomass, which absorbed more Mn ions, so that the correlation between the total biomass of maize and the Mn content was positive and significant. Soybeans showed a positive but not significant association between total biomass and Mn concentration and in winter wheat Mn concentration was not correlated with total biomass.
Impact of Serum Thyroid Hormones and Estrogen Status on the Risk of Breast Cancer in Kashmiri Women

Estrogen involvement in breast cancer has been established; however, the association between breast cancer and thyroid diseases is controversial. Estrogen-like effects of thyroid hormone on breast cancer cell growth in culture have been reported. The aim of our study was to investigate a possible correlation between the genesis of breast cancer and the levels of serum thyroid hormones. we measured the percentage of free estradiol (E2) and the amounts of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and thyroid hormones in serum samples from Kashmiri patients with breast cancer (n=50) and normal controls (n=25). The patients were found to have significantly higher free E2 and significantly lower SHBG than controls. Moreover, the serum levels of free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) were lower in the patients than in controls, while the serum levels of TSH and TBG in the patients were not significantly different from those in controls. These results suggest that the reduction in the serum FT3, and FT4 levels, which is independent of changes in the serum level of free E2, may be one of the risk factors for breast cancer in Kashmir.
PTSD and Cardiometabolic Disease: Improving causal inference to inform practice

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been declared “a life sentence” based on evidence that the disorder leads to a host of physical health problems. Some of the strongest empirical research —in terms of methodology and findings—has shown that PTSD predicts higher risk of cardiometabolic diseases, specifically cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Despite mounting evidence, PTSD is not currently acknowledged as a risk factor by cardiovascular or endocrinological medicine. This view is unlikely to change absent compelling evidence that PTSD causally contributes to cardiometabolic disease. This review suggests that with developments in methods for epidemiologic research and the rapidly expanding knowledge of the behavioral and biological effects of PTSD the field is poised to provide more definitive answers to questions of causality. First, we discuss methods to improve causal inference using the observational data most often used in studies of PTSD and health, with particular reference to issues of temporality and confounding. Second, we consider recent work linking PTSD with specific behaviors and biological processes, and evaluate whether these may plausibly serve as mechanisms by which PTSD leads to cardiometabolic disease. Third, we evaluate how looking more comprehensively into the PTSD phenotype provides insight into whether specific aspects of PTSD phenomenology are particularly relevant to cardiometabolic disease. Finally, we discuss new areas of research that are feasible and could enhance understanding of the PTSDcardiometabolic relation, such as testing whether treatment of PTSD can halt or even reverse the cardiometabolic risk factors causally related to CVD and T2D.
Application of a nonparametric approach to analyze ΔpCO 2 data from the Southern Ocean

In this paper we discuss the application of a classical nonparametric inference approach to analyse ? pCO2 measurements from the Southern Ocean, which is a novel method to analysing data in this area, as well as comparing results with the regular parametric approach. pCO2 is the difference between atmospheric and ocean partial pressure of CO2. Oceans are estimated to absorb about 40% of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and can act as both a carbon sink as well as a carbon source. The Southern Ocean, which comprises a large part of world oceans, thus plays a crucial role in the balance of atmospheric CO2. However, the region south of Africa is largely unanalysed due to data from the region being only very recent. In this paper we analyse in situ measurements of ? pCO2 data obtained from the Antarctic to Cape Town leg of the SANAE 49 trip during February 02 - 22, 2010. We use a nonparametric approach to understand the behaviour of the distribution of the in situ ? pCO2 measurements as analysis reveals that the distribution of the data is not unimodal, indicating that traditional parametric methods may not capture its distribution well.
Multivariate Regression Modeling for Functional Data

We propose functional multivariate regression modeling, using Gaussian basis functions along with the technique of regularization. In order to evaluate the model estimated by the regularization method, we derive model selection criteria from information-theoretic and Bayesian viewpoints. Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to investigate the efficiency of the proposed model. We also apply our modeling strategy to the analysis of spectrometric data.
Analysis of a power plant investment opportunity under a carbon neutral world

We study investment opportunities for the two types of base load power plant technologies burning different fuels such as coal and uranium in the context of emission allowance trading mechanism. We apply the real options approach to evaluate investment opportunities contingent on, at least, two underlying assets featuring different price evolution behaviors. As main pricing skeletons, we adopt a mean reversion model for electricity price evolution to include its inherent feature of seasonality, and the geometric Brownian motion model for CO2 allowance and the construction cost of the nuclear power plant. In order to approximate investment values, we use the Monte Carlo simulation approach to overcome a limitation of the analytic approach and to reach appropriate results. Our research shows a Nuclear Power Plant could play a timely role as an alternative to fossil fuel plants and change the map of the energy mix across the world, should we consider impacts of Green House Gas emission factors which are now provoking much attention from scholars and the public.
Transport limitations and bistability for in situ CO oxidation at RuO2(110): First-principles based multiscale modeling

We present a first-principles based multiscale modeling approach to heterogeneous catalysis that integrates first-principles kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of the surface reaction chemistry into a fluid dynamical treatment of the macroscale flow structures in the reactor. The approach is applied to a stagnation flow field in front of a single-crystal model catalyst using the CO oxidation at RuO2110 as representative example. Our simulations show how heat and mass transfer effects can readily mask the intrinsic reactivity at gas-phase conditions typical for modern in situ experiments. For a range of gas-phase conditions we furthermore obtain multiple steady states that arise solely from the coupling of gas-phase transport and surface kinetics. This additional complexity needs to be accounted for when aiming to use dedicated in situ experiments to establish an atomic-scale understanding of the function of heterogeneous catalysts at technologically relevant gas-phase conditions.
A Pilot Study on Cognitive Enhancement using Odor as Intervention

This article reports the outcomes of a pilot study made on 5 young healthy engineering students after being exposed to the of odor of lemon. The study observed the effect of this odoron emotions- happy and sad by computation of asymmetry indices for each subject. This concept is quantified by calculation and comparison of asymmetry indices pre and post the odor intervention. It could be concluded that on being exposed to olfactory stimulus of lemon frequently on regular basis the subjects tend to become emotionally more sensitive.
Boundedness in the Higher-Dimensional Parabolic-Parabolic Chemotaxis System with Logistic Source

We consider nonnegative solutions of the Neumann boundary value problem for the chemotaxis system in a smooth bounded convex domain Ω ⊂ ℝ n , n ≥ 1, where τ > 0, χ ∈ ℝ and f is a smooth function generalizing the logistic source It is shown that if μ is sufficiently large then for all sufficiently smooth initial data the problem possesses a unique global-in-time classical solution that is bounded in Ω × (0, ∞). Known results, asserting boundedness under the additional restriction n ≤ 2, are thereby extended to arbitrary space dimensions.
Determination of Flavonoid and Caffeine Content in Black and Oolong Teas

The world is blessed with tea for its health benefits and the hundreds of flavours to be chosen from. Flavonoid and caffeine is the most abundant type of phenolic compound and alkaloid found in tea respectively. These compounds can be extracted using various solvents, resulting in various concentration when compared with water as the solvent. This study was conducted by preparing tea infusion from both distilled water and organic solvents to observe the effect of solvents on the content of flavonoid and caffeine. Using spectrophotometric method, the content of flavonoid and caffeine in commercial black (Boh, Sabah, Lipton) and oolong (Oo Long Kee Zhong, Montea, Ten Ren) teas obtained from Malaysian market were determined. Sabah and Montea has the highest flavonoid (0.044 g/L) and caffeine (3.585 g/L) content in distilled water respectively. The final content of flavonoid and caffeine was found to be higher in organic solvents compared to distilled water, as well as when the steeping time is increased.
Joint searches for gravitational waves and high-energy neutrinos with the ANTARES, LIGO and VIRGO detectors

Cataclysmic cosmic events can be plausible sources of both gravitational waves (GW) and highenergy neutrinos (HEN), alternative cosmic messengers carrying information from the innermost regions of the astrophysical engines. Possible sources include long and short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) but also low-luminosity or choked GRBs, with no or low gamma-ray emissions. Combining directional and timing informations on HEN events and GW bursts through GW+HEN coincidences provides a novel way of constraining the processes at play in the sources. It also enables to improve the sensitivity of both channels relying on the independence of backgrounds in each experiment. A first search was performed with concomitant data from 2007, when ANTARES was half its final size. This contribution focuses on the second, optimised search performed with data taken in 2009-2010, during the Virgo VSR2-3 and LIGO L6 science runs (with improved sensitivity) and with ANTARES in its final configuration. While the 2007 search has allowed to place the first upper limits on the density of joint GW+HEN emitters, the 2009-2010 analysis will provide a significant improvement in sensitivity.
The concept map-based assessment system: functional capabilities, evolution, and experimental results

The paper is devoted to the concept map-based intelligent assessment system that promotes students' knowledge self-assessment and supports teachers in improvement of study courses through systematic assessment and analysis of students' knowledge on the basis of concept maps. During the last five years, both the system's functionality and knowledge assessment approach were improved persistently, and at the moment, certain level of maturity is reached in both directions. The paper focuses on general principles of functioning of the last prototype, tasks provided, teachers' and students' support, scoring and adaptation mechanisms. At the end of the paper, retrospection of the system's evolution and evaluation results is provided.