Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conservation genetics and ecology of four red listed vascular plant species in the high arctic archipelago of Svalbard

Nearly one third of the vascular plant species of the remote high arctic archipelago of Svalbard are listed on the regional Red List for Svalbard, and there is a need for information to evaluate their conservation status, and improve conservation management. Here I study distribution, population sizes, ecology, and threats in Carex capillaris, Comastoma tenellum, Puccinellia angustata ssp. palibinii, and Tofieldia pusilla which are all restricted to some of the warmest local areas of Svalbard. Further, I use Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) to evaluate whether the Svalbard populations are genetically depleted compared to other arcticalpine populations of the species, investigate their phylogeographic history, and resolve taxonomic problems. All species have larger populations than previously assumed and new populations of C. tenellum and T. pusilla were discovered. Carex capillaris is thriving, and is associated with high substrate moisture and temperature at its only Svalbard locality. Local expansion potential was indicated. The population is genetically depleted, and forms a distinct genetic subgroup of ssp. fuscidula, with N Norway as the most likely source region. The results indicate that C. capillaris may have colonized Svalbard during the warmer early-middle Holocene, but a more recent introduction is also possible. Possible threats include reduced evolutionary potential, inbreeding depression, and stochastic events. Comastoma tenellum is growing in bird cliff vegetation at its three known localities. The populations are genetically depleted, and although clearly related to the most probable source region, NW Russia, they form a distinct genetic subgroup. This suggests an early-middle Holocene introduction of the species to Svalbard, associated with a strong founder effect. Possible threats include reduced evolutionary potential, inbreeding depression, and fluctuating population sizes. The population of P. angustata ssp. palibinii in Bockfjorden has been erroneously classified and belongs to the Svalbard endemic P. svalbardensis. This species exhibits a highly specialized ecology and is locally abundant in other parts of Svalbard. High levels of genetic diversity were detected, and no genetic threats are apparent. Tofieldia pusilla is found in different types of habitats, but temperature might restrict local expansion. The populations are not notably genetically depleted, which indicates that T. pusilla is doing comparatively better than many other thermophilous vascular plants in Svalbard. Based on the results, C. capillaris and C. tenellum were downgraded to less critical Red List categories, and T. pusilla was taken out of the Red List. As temperature probably is the limiting factor to C. capillaris, C. tenellum and T. pusilla in Svalbard, they are expected to benefit from a warmer climate.
Ethical Leadership and Organizational Culture: Literature Perspective

Ethical leadership begins at the top with the chief executives championing every ethical activity for then followers to emulate them and respect the ethical behaviour within an organization. Ethical leadership has been found to be positively and significantly associated with transformational leadership and transformational culture of the organization. This comes in the background of unethical and financial scandals and leadership failures of nations in recent history. Organizational culture in this study refers to the underlying assumptions, beliefs, values, attitudes and expectations shared by an organization’s members, including unwritten codes of conduct and behaviour. The study examines ethical leadership in relationship to organizational culture. A detailed review of extant literature is undertaken relevant to ethical leadership and organizational culture. Underpinning theories aligned to the study topic are examined and a conceptual model described. The study culminates with suggestions on the benefits of ethical leadership.
The use of humor and laughter in research about end-of-life discussions

Humor is known to normalise sensitive issues and reduce stress and depression. By studying the spontaneous use of humor in research we aimed to discover its role and impact to inform future researchers and clinicians who engage with patients in discussions at the end-of-life. Semi-structured interviews with 51 patients with cancer who were being interviewed about end-of-life decision-making were taped and transcribed. Reading and rereading and a qualitative software package were employed to identify the sections of the interviews where speech was associated with laughter or humor. The interviewer typically used laughter at the beginning of the interview when issuing instructions to the relatives that the focus of the interview was on the patient’s views, during the interview when clarifying issues that a patient was having difficulty understanding, and at the end when affirming the value of the patient’s co-operation. Humor was also used as a personal response to the patient’s humor or embarrassment. Patients used humor or laughter most commonly when they were uncertain about an answer, when embarrassed at discussing personal or family issues or physical symptoms, or when making broad generalisations. Patients told amusing anecdotes or used colloquialisms for sensitive concepts like death, as well as laughing in response to the humor of the interviewer. The topics most associated with patients’ use of laughter were death, euthanasia, funerals (particularly their own), hope, religion, and when they described complementary and alternate therapies. Humor is appropriate for researchers, and thereby clinicians, to use to help humanise and enhance communication about sensitive issues at the end of life.
Gas discharge visualization – historical developments, research dynamics and innovative applications

Abstract: Gas discharge visualization (GDV) is a method for entire diagnosis, which is based on natural physical phenomena in human body. Since the invention of GVD, till present, there is an inscreased interest in its application in different areas of life. The most important use of GVD is in medicine. GVD has a possibility for quantitative measurement of human physical and psychological well-being. It is used in medicine, psychology and sport for diagnosis, prevention and monitoring. The purpose of this article is to summarize the dynamics of scientific interest in GDV application in medicine, psychology and sport and to present current concepts and techiques in the use of this device in alternative medicine. Matherial and methods: research of the publishing activity in application of GVD in medicine, psychology and sport during last 70 years. Results: We observed an increasement of the scientific intreset in GVD use in medicine, alternative medicine, psychology and sport with progression for each decade, from 1950 - till now. GVD is a focus of large number of clinical studies in three dimentions of medicine - prevention, diagnosis and treatment, with culmination of publishing activity in all of the fields during last year. Conclusion: Although GVD is not well known in our country, the results of our survey are in prove of the uniqueness of GVD as a device for diagnosis, prevention and monitoring of illness. The opportunity for application of this method in conventional medicine, alternative medicine, pshychology and sport, is a beginning of new perspectives for personalized healthcare.
The complexity of rapid learning in discrete event simulation

Sensitivity analysis and optimization of discrete event simulation models require the ability to efficiently estimate performance measures under different parameter settings. One technique, termed rapid learning, aims at enumerating all possible sample paths of such models. There are two necessary conditions for this capability: observability and constructability. This paper shows that the verification of the observability condition is an NP-hard search problem; this result encourages the development of heuristic procedures to validate the applicability of rapid learning. Further implications are also discussed.
In search of colloidal hard spheres

We recently reviewed the experimental determination of the volume fraction, ϕ, of hard-sphere colloids, and concluded that the absolute value of ϕ was unlikely to be known to better than ±3–6%. Here, in a second part to that review, we survey effects due to softness in the interparticle potential, which necessitates the use of an effective volume fraction. We review current experimental systems, and conclude that the one that most closely approximates hard spheres remains polymethylmethacrylate spheres sterically stabilised by polyhydroxystearic acid ‘hairs’. For these particles their effective hard sphere diameter is around 1–10% larger than the core diameter, depending on the particle size. We argue that for larger colloids suitable for confocal microscopy, the effect of electrostatic charge cannot be neglected, so that mapping to hard spheres must be treated with caution.
A join point model for fine-grained aspects

Crosscutting concerns, defined at the finest level of granularity for statements and expressions, considerably improves expressiveness of pointcut descriptions, making possible to address applications that cannot be approached otherwise. In this paper is introduced a join point model for fine-grained aspects based on path expressions defined upon the Abstract Syntax Tree of the method body. The model includes local variable crosscutting for getting and setting values within an expression. We show the capabilities of this model for an annotation processing concern.
Researching climate change and community in neoliberal contexts: an emerging critical approach

In a 2011 contribution to this journal, Walker examined the ways that community is routinely employed in carbon governance, suggesting the need for more critical approaches. Here, we characterize an emerging, critical approach to researching climate change and community in neoliberal contexts, focusing attention principally on the global north, where this body of research has emerged. This work recognizes communities as sites of contestation, difference, tension, and distinction, in which action on climate change can be designed to meet a range of political and public ends. It aims to uncover the political and social context for community action on climate change, to be alert to the power relations inside and outside of communities, and to the context of neoliberalism, including individualism, the will to quantify, and competition. Furthermore, research in this space is committed to understanding both the lived experience of the messy empirical worlds we encounter, and the potential agency coalescing in community responses to climate change. Much of the work to date, discussed here, has focused on communities working on climate change mitigation in the global north, in which the idea of community as a space for governance is gaining traction. We also comment on the positioning of these arguments in the context of long‐standing debates in the fields of ‘community‐based’ development, natural resource management, and adaptation in the global South. This discussion establishes a foundation from which to progress learning across fields and geopolitical boundaries, furthering critical thinking on ‘community. ’ WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e463. doi: 10.1002/wcc.463
Urchin-Flower like Hierarchical LaNiO3 Spheres: Structural Characteristics and Photocatalytic Activity

Urchin-flowerlike hierarchical LaNiO3 spheres were synthesized by a modified coprecipitation method from vesicle solutions. The LaNiO3 spheres’ structure and catalytic activity were elaborately studied by varying the mole ratio of La and Ni. Both samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and XPS, the results revealed a variety of urchin-flowerlike hierarchical LaNiO3 spheres with different La/Ni molar ratios (n(La): n (Ni)=1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1) were prepared by self-assembly method, and all the catalysts provided typical diffraction patterns for the LaNiO3 rhombohedral structure characteristics. Urchin-flowerlike hierarchical LaNiO3-3 spheres (~20 µm to 30 µm diameter) shows a typical urchin-flowerlike hierarchical sphere structure, which was composed of ~100-nm-thickultrathin sheets. The LaNiO3-3 has a better morphology, crystal configuration, photocatalytic activity (95.63%) for RB under ultraviolet light.
Management of Exporter-Overseas Channel Intermediary Relationships

The relationship between an exporter and its overseas channel intermediary (an agent or direct importer) needs to be carefully managed by the exporter. Research from relationship marketing and agency theory suggest that the performance of an exporter/foreign channel intermediary relationship can be explained by a combination of relationship and control influences. Relational factors in the form of commitment and the development of trust are positive influences on the relationship, and commitment increases along with international experience. Agency theory suggests that the presence of opportunistic behaviour has a negative influence on performance. We test these assertions using data from a sample of Australian exporters using structural equation modelling. We find that goal congruence and experience both have direct effects on perceived relationship performance, and that commitment and trust have an indirect impact on perceived performance through their impacts on monitoring activity and goal congruence.
A New Secure Strategy in Small-Scale IEEE 802.11 Wireless Local Area Networks with Web Authentication and Virtual Local Area Network

as the main secret-key encryption techniques of the wireless local area network (WLAN) have been proven to be unsafe, wireless network security is faced with serious challenges. It is unpractical for home users and small companies to purchase expensive network equipments to improve the network security. Therefore, the secure strategy for wireless network needs to be changed. In this paper, we first introduce secure issues of the main secret- key encryption techniques currently adopted by the most popular commercial wireless routers. Then we describe our initial designs and propose a new strategy for small-scale IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network which can strengthen the network security. The new secure strategy is based on web authentication with unshared key and virtual local area network (VLAN) in wireless network. It can provide protection against practical attacks which are popular nowadays. Moreover, it is simple, easy to use and price moderate. At last, we evaluate the performance of the new secure strategy and give our conclusions.
Avaliação da atividade antioxidante e identificação dos ácidos fenólicos presentes no bagaço de maçã cv. Gala

Apple processing to obtain juice produces a great amount of discarded material constituted by peel and seed. Several substances, including phenolic compounds, to which antioxidant activity is attributed, are found in these fractions. This work aimed at evaluating total phenolic compounds and in vitro antioxidant activity of extracts and phenolic fractions (free, soluble esterified and insoluble esterified) of apple, cv. Gala, residues. The methodologies used were DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS [2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid] to evaluate antioxidant activity and gas chromatography to determine phenolic acids. Extraction with 75% acetone (v/v) in water was the most efficient to obtain total phenolic compounds. The antioxidant activity in this extract was 4.83 and 25.46 µmol TEAC.g-1 by the ABTS method and 7.43 and 39.15 µmol TEAC.g-1 by the DPPH method for wet and dry samples, respectively. Flavanol contents in the same samples were 11.05 and 58.20 mg.100 g-1 for wet and dry samples, respectively. A positive correlation between total phenolics and antioxidant activity (r2 = 0.9283) was observed. In the three fractions used, the following phenolic acids were identified: salicylic, gallic, propyl gallate and synaptic acid, being the first present in the highest amount in all the fractions studied. The results obtained showed the antioxidant potential of apple pomace.
Self-Trapping of G-Mode Oscillations in Relativistic Thin Disks, Revisited

We examine by a perturbation method how the self-trapping of g-mode oscillations in geometrically thin relativistic disks is affected by uniform vertical magnetic fields. Disks which we consider are isothermal in the vertical direction, but are truncated at a certain height by presence of hot coronae. We find that the characteristics of self-trapping of axisymmetric g-mode oscillations in non-magnetized disks is kept unchanged in magnetized disks at least till a strength of the fields, depending on vertical thickness of disks. These magnetic fields become stronger as the disk becomes thinner. This result suggests that trapped g-mode oscillations still remain as one of possible candidates of quasi-periodic oscillations observed in black-hole and neutron-star X-ray binaries in the cases where vertical magnetic fields in disks are weak.
Serpentine-nontronite-vermiculite mixed-layer clay from the Weches Formation, Claiborne Group, middle Eocene, northeast Texas

The Weches Formation of the Claiborne Group (Eocene) in northeast Texas consists of clayey sandstones and mudrocks, both with variable proportions of dark green to brown clay peloids deposited in a marginal to open marine setting on the Gulf Coast margin. The composition of the dark green peloids, from two localities, has been investigated using X-ray diffraction, back-scattered electron microscopy with X-ray analysis, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), Mössbauer spectroscopy, chemical analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. These peloids were previously described on the basis of their color as glauconite (Yancey and Davidoff, 1994); our results, however, show that the dark green indurated pellets are predominantly composed of mixed-layer clays with a high proportion of Fe-rich 7 Å serpentine layers coexisting with a mixed-layer phase containing glauconite, nontronite and vermiculite layers, in addition to discrete illite and kaolinte. Analyses by EELS of single particles with a chemical composition consistent with them being the Fe-rich clay indicate that the Fe is >95% ferric, while Mössbauer analyses of the bulk magnetically separated fraction for the same samples indicates a ferric iron content of ∼60–70%, despite the variable relative proportions of expandable and 7 Å layers. Taking into account that there is a significant amount of 2:1 layers containing ferric Fe, we interpret these data as indicating that the Fe in the 7 Å layers has a significant amount of Fe2+ even taking into account the high ferric Fe ratio from the EELS analysis when the coexisting 2:1 layers are considered. Thus, these 1:1 layers are closer to berthierine in composition than to odinite. The vermiculite layers in the Texas clay may indicate partial ‘verdinization’ of expandable 2:1 clay. A possible reaction is smectite → vermiculite → berthierine-like phase. We estimate a temperature of 20°C for the seawater in which the Texas clay formed, the lower end of the range for modern occurrences of odinite.
System zur Erfassung kardialer Aktivität mittels Impedanzplethysmographie am Handgelenk

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das Messprinzip der Bioimpedanzplethysmographie detailliert analysiert und ein darauf aufbauendes Konzept fur einen tragbaren Sensor zur kontinuierlichen Langzeitmessung des Blutvolumenpulses am Handgelenk vorgestellt. Das entwickelte Sensorkonzept berucksichtigt hierbei sowohl regulatorische Rahmenbedingungen bzgl. des maximalen Patientenstroms als auch messtechnische Herausforderungen wie unbekannte bzw. variierende Elektroden-Haut-Ubergangsimpedanzen oder Gewebeimpedanzen. Den Kern des Sensors bildet hierzu eine Arbeitspunktregelung, die in Abhangigkeit der vorliegenden Messbedingungen den Patientenstrom und die Messverstarkung adaptiert. Des Weiteren wird ein Verfahren zur robusten Detektion der Pulswellen aus dem erfassten Impedanzsignal vorgestellt und die Eignung des Sensors bzgl. der Erfassung derPRV wahrend des nachtlichen Schlafes evaluiert. Die zentrale Fragestellung, der hierbei nachgegangen wird, ist, ob sich schlafphaseninduzierte Anderungen der HRV auch mithilfe des entwickelten Sensors und der damit gemessenen PRV abbilden lassen. Hierzu findet am Ende der Arbeit ein detaillierter Vergleich von HRV- und PRV-Parametern auf Basis einer durchgefuhrten Studie (insgesamt 18 Nachtmessung unterschiedlicher Probanden) statt.
Oral AntiPlatelet Therapy for Acute Coronary Syndrome

In recent days, medical treatment of coronary artery disease, and more specifically acute coronary syndrome with and without revascularization, has seen significant improvement in outcomes driven by the discovery of newer P2Y12 receptor antagnosists leading to more consistent inhibition of platelet function and fewer ischemic and/or thrombotic events. This review will address a thorough analysis of this medical breakthrough.
M of a Kind: A Multivariate Approach at Pairs Trading

Pairs trading is a popular trading strategy that tries to take advantage of market inefficiencies in order to obtain profit. Such approach, on its classical formulation, uses information of only two stocks (a stock and its pairs) in the formation of the trading signals. The objective of this paper is to suggest a multivariate version of pairs trading, which will try to create an artificial pair for a particular stock based on the information of m assets, instead of just one. The performance of three different versions of the multivariate approach was assessed for the Brazilian financial market using daily data from 2000 to 2006 for 57 assets. Considering realistic transaction costs, the analysis of performance was conducted with the calculation of raw and excessive returns, beta and alpha calculation, and the use of bootstrap methods for comparing performance indicators against portfolios build with random trading signals. The main conclusion of the paper is that the proposed version was able to beat the benchmark returns and random portfolios for the majority of the parameters. The performance is also found superior to the classic version of the strategy, Perlin (2006b). Another information derived from the research is that the proposed strategy picks up volatility from the data, that is, the annualized standard deviations of the returns are quite high. But, such event is “paid” by high positive returns at the long and short positions. This result is also supported by the positive annualized sharpe ratios presented by the strategy. Regarding systematic risk, the results showed that the proposed strategy does have a statistically significant beta, but it isn’t high in value, meaning that the relationship between return and risk for the trading rules is still attractive.
Balancing Complexity and Rent-Seeking in Multi-Attribute Conservation Procurement Auctions: Evidence from a Laboratory Experiment

Conservation procurement auctions are implemented under conditions that deviate from those assumed to derive predictions of bidder behavior. Existing research has emphasized the sensitivity of auction performance and bidder behavior to auction design choices. In the conservation context, procuring agencies must decide how to provide bidders with information about the environmental quality of different conservation practices to manage the trade-off between an increased probability of selecting the optimal practice and increased rent-seeking behavior associated with this information. We utilize an induced-value laboratory experiment to explore how access to quality information and variation in the bid-submission protocol can best be combined to improve auction performance. We nd that the auction performs best when a bid-menu format, in which subjects submit bids for all their practices, is combined with information about the environmental quality rank of available conservation practices.