Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decadal and long-term boreal soil carbon and nitrogen sequestration ratesacross a variety of ecosystems

Abstract. Boreal soils play a critical role in the global carbon (C) cycle; therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control soil C accumulation and loss for this region. Examining C & nitrogen (N) accumulation rates over decades to centuries may provide additional understanding of the dominant mechanisms for their storage, which can be masked by seasonal and interannual variability when investigated over the short term. We examined longer-term accumulation rates, using 210Pb and 14C to date soil layers, for a wide variety of boreal ecosystems: a black spruce forest, a shrub ecosystem, a tussock grass ecosystem, a sedge-dominated ecosystem, and a rich fen. All ecosystems had similar decadal C accumulation rates, averaging 84 ± 42 gC m−2 yr−1. Long-term (century) C accumulation rates were slower than decadal rates, averaging 14 ± 5 gC m−2 yr−1 for all ecosystems except the rich fen, for which the long-term C accumulation rates was more similar to decadal rates (44 ± 5 and 76 ± 9 gC m−2 yr−1, respectively). The rich fen also had the highest long-term N accumulation rates (2.7 gN m−2 yr−1). The lowest N accumulation rate, on both a decadal and long-term basis, was found in the black spruce forest (0.2 and 1.4 gN m−2 yr−1, respectively). Our results suggest that the controls on long-term C and N cycling at the rich fen is fundamentally different from the other ecosystems, likely due to differences in the predominant drivers of nutrient cycling (oxygen availability, for C) and reduced amounts of disturbance by fire (for C and N). This result implies that most shifts in ecosystem vegetation across the boreal region, driven by either climate or succession, will not significantly impact regional C or N dynamics over years to decades. However, ecosystem transitions to or from a rich fen will promote significant shifts in soil C and N storage.
Comparison of canine sperm quality under different temperature storage

iii RESUMO IV PART I. ASSESSMENT OF CANINE SEMEN AFTER CHILLING AND FREEZING: A REVIEW 1 1. SEMEN COLLECTION 4 2.1 METHODS OF SEMEN COLLECTION 7 2. THE SEMEN 8 3. THE SEMEN QUALITY 9 3.1 SEMEN ASSESSMENT 10 3.1. 1 CLASSICAL METHODOLOGY 10 3.1. 2 ADVANCED METHODOLOGY 15 3.2 SPERM MOTILITY ASSESSMENT 16 3.3 HYPO-OSMOTIC SWELLING TEST 17 4. HEAT SHOCK 19 4.1 HEAT SHOCK PROTEINS 20 PART II. COMPARISON OF CANINE SPERM QUALITY UNDER DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE STORAGE: EXPERIMENTS 21
Loop Block Profiling with Performance Prediction

— With increase in the complexity of High Performance Computing systems, the complexity of applications has increased as well. To achieve better performance by effectively exploiting parallelism from High Performance Computing architectures, we need to analyze/identify various parameters such as, the code hotspot (kernel), execution time, etc of the program. Statistics say that a program usually spends 90% of the time in executing less than 10% of the code. If we could optimize even some small portion of the 10% of the code that takes 90% of the execution time we have a high probability of getting better performance. So we must ﬁnd the bottleneck, that is the part of the code which takes a long time to run which is usually called the hotspot. Proﬁling provides a solution to the question: which portions of the code should be optimized/parallelized, for achieving better performance. In this research work we develop a light-weight proﬁler that gives information about which portions of the code is the hotspot and estimates the maximum speedup that could be achieved, if the hotspot is parallelized.
Augmentation of Life Insurance Services with the Help of Information Technology Enabled Services

Globalization and emergence of information technology has changed the customers' socio-economic culture and human interactions are now significantly being replaced by the interactions of human-technology where information technology is playing the most important role in providing variety of services to the customers in order to satisfy them. Like any other companies, life insurance companies are also trying to gain the maximum utilization of the information technology in most efficient and effective way in the business operation especially at the time of delivery of different types of services to the customers in the competitive market where customers are fully aware of their needs and requirements, expectations, information technology, information technology enabled services. In the present context, the researcher in this paper tried to understand how life insurance services can be augmented with the help of information technology enabled services with special reference to the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LICI) in Burdwan district, West Bengal.
Validity in outcomes-based assessment

Because validity is universally accepted as one of the most important aspects of sound assessment practices, it is important that educators understand the concept and know how to use it as a quality control measure in their teaching. This paper outlines the evolving definition of the concept of validity, considers different types of evidence of validity and suggests how the concept might be applied in outcomes-based education. It argues that the common view that test items are valid if they measure what they are intended to measure, provides a necessary, but insufficient basis for considering validity. The paper develops the idea that test item per se can never be valid or invalid and explains why it is necessary to focus on evidence from which valid inferences can be made about learning.
Novel Compact Dual-Band Branch-Line Couplers with Half Elliptical-Ring Impedance Stub Lines

Novel compact dual-band branch-line couplers are presented. By using a half elliptical-ring impedance stub as a basic unit, dual-band branch-line couplers are obtained. Since a couple of half elliptical-ring impedance stubs can be folded inward to its enclosed area without overlap, the branch-line coupler can be miniaturized. In order to verify the effectiveness of the half elliptical-ring impedance stub, two different branch-line couplers operating at 2.4/5.8 GHz are designed, fabricated and tested. Measured results agree well with simulated ones. Compared with the stepped-impedance-stub branch- line couplers, sizes of the proposed couplers are reduced by 43% and 30%, respectively.
Evaluation of Economic Load Dispatch Problem in Power Generating Stations by the Use of Ant Colony Search Algorithms

Power utilities in the world are required to ensure that electrical energy demands from the customer aremet in accordance with the policy of the country. They are also to ensure that the electrical power is generated within minimal cost when serving the load demands of the country. Thus, the total load demand must be approximately shared among the generating units with an objective to minimize the total generation cost for the system in order to satisfy the economic operation of the system. Economic load dispatch is a procedure to determine the electrical power to be generated by the committed generating units in a power system so that the total generation cost of the system is minimized, while satisfying the load demand, equality and inequality constraints simultaneously. This paper presents the economic load dispatch problem solved using Ant Colony Search Algorithm(ACSA) technique. ACSA is a meta-heuristic algorithm for solving hard combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, the proposed algorithm was written in MATLAB code and was tested using Egbin Thermal Power Station in Nigeria as our case study with six generating units. The result obtained using ACSA was compared with the Lambda method. The results revealed that the proposed algorithm has the merit in achieving optimal solution for addressing the operating cost and power loss problems.
SEARCH FOR GAMMA-RAYS FROM THE UNUSUALLY BRIGHT GRB 130427A WITH THE HAWC GAMMA-RAY OBSERVATORY

The first limits on the prompt emission from the long gamma-ray burst (GRB) 130427A in the >100 GeV energy band are reported. GRB 130427A was the most powerful burst ever detected with a redshift z ≲ 0.5 and featured the longest lasting emission above 100 MeV. The energy spectrum extends at least up to 95 GeV, clearly in the range observable by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory, a new extensive air shower detector currently under construction in central Mexico. The burst occurred under unfavorable observation conditions, low in the sky and when HAWC was running 10% of the final detector. Based on the observed light curve at MeV–GeV energies, eight different time periods have been searched for prompt and delayed emission from this GRB. In all cases, no statistically significant excess of counts has been found and upper limits have been placed. It is shown that a similar GRB close to zenith would be easily detected by the full HAWC detector, which will be completed soon. The detection rate of the full HAWC detector may be as high as one to two GRBs per year. A detection could provide important information regarding the high energy processes at work and the observation of a possible cut-off beyond the Fermi Large Area Telescope energy range could be the signature of gamma-ray absorption, either in the GRB or along the line of sight due to the extragalactic background light.
Controls of primary productivity and nutrient cycling in a temperate grassland with year‐round production

Net primary production (NPP) and nutrient dynamics of grasslands are regulated by different biotic and abiotic factors, which may differentially affect functional plant groups. Most studies have dealt with grasslands that have extremely low or zero production over a significant period of the year. Here we explore the relative importance of a few environmental factors as controls of aerial and below-ground plant biomass production and nutrient dynamics in a grassland that is active throughout the year. We investigate their effect on the response of three main plant functional groups (warm- and cool-season graminoids and forbs). We conducted a factorial experiment in a continuously grazed site in the Flooding Pampa grassland (Argentina). Factors were seasons (summer, autumn, winter and spring), and environmental agents (mowing, shade, addition of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N)). N addition had the largest and most extended impact: it tripled aerial NPP in spring and summer but had no effect on below-ground biomass. This positive effect was accompanied by higher N acquisition and higher soil N availability. Mowing increased aerial NPP in winter, increased root biomass in the first 10 cm during autumn and winter and promoted N and P uptake by plants. Shading did not affect aerial NPP, but stimulated N and P uptake by plants. P addition had no effect on aerial NPP, but increased shallow root biomass and its N content in spring, and tripled P accumulation in plant biomass. The three plant functional groups differentially accounted for these ecosystem-level responses. Graminoids explained the greater biomass production of N-fertilized plots and mowing tended to promote forbs. These results suggest that the environmental controls of aerial NPP in this grassland vary among seasons, differentially impact the major floristic groups, and affect the energy and nutrient transfer to herbivores.
Pre-mining stress model for subsurface excavations in southern Africa

Rock conditions and the distribution of payable ore underground control the mining strategy adopted and the resulting mine layout. Mine stability then depends on the relationship between the strength of the rock mass and the total field stresses, which result from the mine layout. Since the field stresses are always the sum of the primitive stresses and the mining-induced stresses, both must be known to a reasonable degree of accuracy, since the risk of instability may need to be estimated both during mining and after mining has ceased. Either the primitive stresses must be obtained from in situ stress tensor measurements or from a good pre-mining stress model (initially limited to the depth of mining of 4 km), while the mining-induced stresses come from numerical models of the mine and the rock mass structure. Rock stress data from in situ measurements is scarce because it is both difficult and expensive to obtain. Workable stress measurement technology became available to mining only during the 1960s (Leeman, 1965, 1968; Pallister, 1969). At the same time, means to calculate stress changes induced by mining were being introduced (Salamon, 1965; Salamon et al. 1965; Ortlepp and Nicoll, 1965). There are no good premining stress models because of the difficulty and cost of obtaining stress data. This paper demonstrates that the pre-mining stress models currently used in rock mechanics are inadequate, and addresses the problem of deducing a generic primitive stress model for mining from the Southern African Stress Database. The Southern African Stress Database is a good source of primitive stress data, compiled from stress measurements made all over southern Africa from May 1966 to October 1997 (Stacey and Wesseloo, 1998a). The compilers state that the database should be used for this purpose by the mining industry, but to date none of the data has appeared in the literature. There is another stress database known as the World Stress Map, which is built up from earthquake data worldwide (Heidbach et al., 2009). This database contains only eight records for South Africa, and none is suitable for building a primitive stress model for mining purposes. Pre-mining stress model for subsurface excavations in southern Africa
Integral Farkas Type Lemmas for Systems with Equalities and Inequalities

A central result in the theory of integer optimization states that a system of linear diophantine equations Ax = b has no integral solution if and only if there exists a vector in the dual lattice, y T A integral such that y T b is fractional. We extend this result to systems that both have equations and inequalities {Ax = b, Cx d}. We show that a certificate of integral infeasibility is a linear system with rank(C) variables containing no integral point.
Impact of initial densities of the convergent lady beetle on tobacco aphid populations in tobacco.

Field cage studies were conducted to determine the impact of various initial ratios of the convergent lady beetle (CLB), Hippodamia convergens GuerinMeneville, to tobacco aphid (TA), Myzus nicotiarlae Blackman, on CLB and TA populations and cured leaf yield in flue-cured tobacco. Initial ratios of CLB:TA (L:25, 1:50, 1.:100, L:200 and 1:30O) were established on the flue-cured toba@ confined under field cages. The initial CLB:TA ratim were compared to uninfested tobacco and tobacco infested with TA but with CLB excluded' CLB suppressed TA population development, especially during the first 40 days after TA became estabtished. The initial CLB:TA ratios did not influen@ the ovipositional rate of CLB, but the lower ratio of 1:300 in 1.985 and 1:200 in
Cryptic diversity of the acrothoracican barnacle Armatoglyptes taiwanus in the Indo-Pacific waters, with description of a new species from the Mozambique Channel collected from the MAINBAZA cruise

ABSTRACT Cirripedes of the superorder Acrothoracica are normally found as epizoic borings on marine calcareous substrates. Armatoglyptes taiwanus (Utinomi, 1950) is a lithoglyptid acrothoracican barnacle reported from different parts of the Indo-Pacific. Recent studies have demonstrated phylogenetic breaks between the Indian and Pacific Oceans populations in widespread Indo-Pacific marine organisms due to isolation events during the Pleistocene glaciations. It is possible that A. taiwanus represents a cryptic species complex in the Indo-Pacific, which the previous studies have failed to identify from morphology alone. In the present study, we analyzed the morphology and the sequence divergence of the 12S rDNA of A. taiwanus from the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan and the Philippines in the Pacific, and Phuket Island (Thailand) and the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean, to test whether A. taiwanus is a cryptic species across its geographical range. The results showed that A. taiwanus has a homogeneous population structure in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Phuket Island (sequence divergence < 1%). Specimens from the Mozambique Channel, although morphologically similar to A. taiwanus, have a greater sequence divergence of 9.4% from A. taiwanus in the Pacific, and thus appeared to represent a new species, described herein as Armatoglyptes flexuosus n. sp. Although both species are morphologically similar, A. flexuosus n. sp. has more strongly bent/recurved posterior processes of the opercular bars and feebler armament of the orificial knob than does A. taiwanus from Taiwan (type locality). Phylogenetic analysis showed that populations of A. flexuosus n. sp. from the Mozambique Channel and A. taiwanus from the Pacific region are indeed closely related. Populations of their common ancestor may have become isolated and underwent speciation during the Pleistocene glaciations.
A pr 2 01 8 Covariant-differential formulation of Lagrangian field theory

Building on the Utiyama principle we formulate an approach to Lagrangian field theory in which exterior covariant differentials of vector-valued forms replace partial derivatives, in the sense that they take up the role played by the latter in the usual jet bundle formulation. Actually a natural Lagrangian can be written as a density on a suitable “covariant prolongation bundle”; the related momenta turn out to be natural vector-valued forms, and the field equations can be expressed in terms of covariant exterior differentials of the momenta. Currents and energy-tensors naturally also fit into this formalism. The examples of bosonic fields and spin one-half fields, interacting with non-Abelian gauge fields, are worked out. The “metric-affine” description of the gravitational field is naturally included, too. 2010 MSC: 53B05, 53B50, 70Sxx.
Rehabilitation of earthquake damaged external RC beam‐column joints by joint enlargement using prestressed steel angles

The effectiveness of a rehabilitation method based on joint enlargement using prestressed steel angles to enhance the seismic behavior of damaged external reinforced concrete beam‐column joints was experimentally investigated. Three half‐scale joints having either non‐seismic or seismic reinforcement details were tested both before and after rehabilitation by applying lateral cyclic loading of increasing amplitudes. Two defects were considered for the two non‐seismic units, being the absence of transverse steel hoops and insufficient bond capacity of beam bottom steel reinforcing bars in the joint panel zone. The damaged specimens were rehabilitated by injecting epoxy grout into existing cracks and installing stiffened steel angles at the re‐entrant corners of the beam‐column joint, both above and below the beam, that were mounted and held in place using prestressed high‐tensile strength bars. The test results indicated that the seismic performance of the rehabilitated specimens in terms of strength, stiffness, and ductility was fully recovered and comparable with the performance of the seismically detailed specimen. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A multilevel approach to research ‘Obscure’ innovation processes and practices

The paper’s aim is to discuss a need for a multilevel research approach to investigate innovation practices in organisations. We argue that this approach overcomes some of the limitations of the single level research methods commonly used investigating innovation performance and success. Specifically, the multilevel research approach allows researchers and subsequently organisations to take into consideration ‘obscured’ practices within innovation processes. First, we put forward a motion that innovation processes permeate the formalised organisational structures and practices. Then, we outline a case where many of the practices associated with innovation are ‘obscured’. This is followed with discussion on how the commonly used single level research methods fail to take into consideration these obscured factors. We then introduce Activity Theory and propose a multilevel framework which aims to overcome the shortfalls of the previous analytical methods.
VLBI Constraints on Type I b/c Supernovae

Abstract Very long baseline interferometry observations of supernovae and gamma-ray bursts provide almost the only way of obtaining spatially resolved information about the sources. In particular, a determination of the expansion velocity of the forward shock, as well as the geometry of the fireball and its evolution with time are possible for relatively nearby events, provided they are radio bright. Monitoring the expansion of the shock front can provide information on the density profiles of both the circumstellar material and on the ejecta. Very long baseline interferometry observations can also potentially resolve gamma-ray burst jets which are not directed along the line of sight, providing crucial confirmation of relativistic expansion in such objects. This review gives an overview of recent results from supernovae, including the Type I b/c SNe 2011dh, 2009bb, and 2007gr, and discusses the prospects for future observations.
Choosing the Best Oral Diabetic Agents in T2 Diabetes Mellitus-Physicians Challenge

The therapeutic armamentarium of oral diabetic agents has expanded its horizon from sulfonylureas in 1995 the only drug available for treating type 2 diabetes mellitus at that time to eleven classes of oral diabetes agents at present ranging from biguanides, thiazolidinediones, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, alpha glucosidase inhibitors and sodium-glucose cotransporter (SGLT2) inhibitors. Despite the availability of so many options glycemic control remains suboptimal posing a real challenge for the clinicians to choose the best amongst them in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus. Before choosing the drugs it is important to know the recommendations of glycemic goals in adults. A reasonable glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C) goal in adult is <7%. However all glycemic goals should be individualized and customized. Setting individual glycemic goals needs consideration of several factors like risk of hypoglycemia and other adverse effects of drugs, disease duration, age and life expectancy of patients and other individual patient considerations like patients attitude resources and support system. Till today our approach towards diabetes management is GLUCOCENTRIC. The key component being how to achieve glycemic control with minimal side effects. While choosing drugs the factors considered are its efficacy (A1c reduction), risk of hypoglycaemia, effect on weight and other adverse effects, cost, ease of administration and patient’s preference. A patient-centered approach is of paramount importance while choosing the pharmacological agents rather that establishing a universally accepted algorithm as this will definitely improve the compliance. The advantages and disadvantages of each class of agents help the practitioners to choose the best options.