Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early uptake of specific symbionts enhances the post-settlement survival of Acropora corals

For corals that establish symbioses with dinoflagellate Symbiodinium spp. at the lar- val stage or later through horizontal transmission, the ecological significance of the early uptake of algal symbionts remains unknown. It has been hypothesized that early uptake of symbionts is an advantage for long-distance dispersal. Here, we tested the hypothesis that early acquisition of symbionts enhances post-settlement survival. We used a cultured strain of clade A Symbiodinium that was isolated from wild Acropora spat as the algal symbiont. Symbiotic and aposymbiotic Acropora larvae were prepared in the laboratory and settled on experimental plates in the field. The survival of settlers was monitored for 15 mo. Our results showed that more larval-stage set- tlers harbouring symbionts survived than those without, even when there was no difference in the initial density of settled larvae. We analysed the Symbiodinium clades harboured by the corals at 1 mo after settlement, and found that clade A was less abundant in the corals that grew from aposymbiotic larvae than in those that developed from symbiotic larvae. There was also a marked difference in coral survival between aposymbiotic and symbiotic larvae over this period. The higher survival rate of 'early uptake' corals was more pronounced on shaded plates. These results suggest that the early uptake of specific symbionts enhances post-settlement survival in dark places such as reef crevices, which are sites commonly settled by coral larvae.
Tactical Business& Marketing Planning by Scientific Owner Managers (A Case Study: Leather Industry)

Business & Marketing Organizations (BMO) influence whether or not those organizations engage in Tactical Business & Marketing Planning (TBMP). The focus is primarily on the environmental characteristics of Scientific Owner Managers (SOM) such as education and prior experience rather than those characteristics derived from personality traits. Data are drawn from a survey of the BMO in business and industrial zones of North West of Iran that around onesixth the samples of SOM engage in TBMP. The SOM characteristics showing a significant association with a commitment to TBMP include an above average level of education, experience and running organization in sectors outside their previous experience. TBMP showed a positive association with those SOM with a growth orientation. It is concluded that SOM characteristics can be important in explaining the TBMP within the BMO.
Do Social Networking Sites Behaviour and Self-esteem Predict Young People’s Delinquent Behaviour in Their Actual Lives?

This study attempted to investigate the predictive effects of self-concept, social networking site (SNS) intensity on delinquency. A total of 216 secondary school students from Hong Kong completed the Chinese Adolescent Self-Esteem Scales (CASES), the Facebook Intensity Scale and a daily behaviour checklist. Findings revealed that usage of Social Network Sites (SNS) and some facets of self-esteem had direct and moderating effects on predicting delinquency and minor deviant behaviour, but global self-esteem did not have significant predictive effects on delinquency. Different effects were found between domain-specific self-concepts and delinquency, such that intellectual, moral and family self-concepts had linear negative relationship with delinquent behavior, whereas engaging in delinquent behaviour were associated with higher appearance self. Use of SNS contributed to higher rates of both delinquent behaviour and minor deviant behaviour. In particular, time spent in SNS was a very strong predictor of delinquent behaviour, and moderated the effect of appearance self-concept. Discussion of findings were enlightened by the notion of “threatened ego” and the “self-derogation theory”.
Estimating efficiency in domestic and foreign Islamic banking and its determinants among three neighboring countries - Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei

This study attempts to investigate the technical efficiency (TE) of domestic and foreign Islamic banks and its determinants for three neighborhood countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei that spans over the period from 2006 to 2014.This study employs a two stage procedure involving data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach to measure banks’ efficiency while the parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (Mann-Whitney [Wilcoxon] and Kruskall-Wallis) to guage the difference in the efficiency between the domestic and foreign Islamic banks. Then, ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions is utilized to analyzed the determinants of technical efficiency. The results show that domestic Islamic bank for all countries exhibit significantly higher technical efficiency than foreign Islamic banks, which is consistent with home field advantage theory. The regressions on determinants results indicate that bank size and management quality have a negative and significant relationship with technical efficiency of Islamic banks, whereas market power and liquidity indicate a significantly positive relationship with technical efficiency of Islamic banks. The findings of this study give the banks’ stakeholders, regulators, banks’ managers and investors an important insight about the technical efficiency of Islamic banks and its significant determinants.
A Variational Formula for the Lyapunov Exponent of Brownian Motion in Stationary Ergodic Potential

We establish a variational formula for the exponential decay rate of the Green function of Brownian motion evolving in a random stationary and ergodic nonnegative potential. Such a variational formula is established by Schroeder in 'Green's Functions for the Schr\"odinger Operator with Periodic Potential', J. Funct. Anal. 77 (1988), for potentials on compact spaces and is generalised in the present article to a non-compact setting. We show exponential decay of the Green function implicitly. This formula for the Lyapunov exponent has several direct implications. It allows to compare the influence of a random potential to the influence of the averaged potential. It also leads to a variational expression for the quenched free energy.
Bcl-2 AND Bax EXPRESSION IN RAT MYOCARDIUM AFTER ACUTE EXERCISE AND ENDURANCE TRAINING

Some factors, as reactive oxygen species (ROS), glucocorticoids, catecholamines, and others can induce apoptosis. In contrast, it was shown that some free radicals attenuate apoptosis. Strenuous exercise modulates several factors, which may alter apoptosis. We studied the capability of two different types of exercise - acute and chronic, to influence anti- and pro- apoptotic proteins (Bcl-2, Bax) and corresponding Bcl-2/Bax-ratio in myocardium. Male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: One group was trained on the treadmill for 8 weeks, the other group of untrained rats was subjected to incremental running test at the end of the experiment, and the last group was sedentary. For the immunohistochemically detection of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2 and Bax, polyclonal rabbit antibodies were used. The highest Bcl-2/Bax-ratio was determined in endurance trained group in comparison with sedentary (P<0.001) and acute exercised rats (P<0.01). The reaction for Bcl-2 was strongest in the smooth muscle cells of vessels in the endurance trained (ET) group. Such alterations in these anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins possibly suppress apoptosis in heart and prevent cardiomyocytes loss and damage of myocardial vessel wall in case of oxidative stress.
Regional Assessment of Sampling Techniques for More Efficient Dynamical Climate Downscaling

Dynamicaldownscalingisacomputationallyexpensivemethodwherebyfinescaledetailsoftheatmosphere may be portrayed by running a limited area numerical weather prediction model (often called a regional climatemodel)nestedwithinacoarse-resolutionglobalreanalysis orglobalclimatemodeloutput.Thegoalof this study is to assess using sampling techniques to dynamically downscale a small subset of days to approximatethestatisticalpropertiesoftheentireperiodofinterest.Twosamplingtechniquesareexplored:one where days are randomly selected and another where representative days are chosen (or targeted) based on a set of selection criteria. The relative merit of using random sampling versus targeted random sampling is demonstrated using daily mean 2-m air temperature (T2M). The first two moments of dynamically downscaled T2M can be approximated within 0.3K using just 5% of the population of available days during a 20-yr period. Targeted random sampling can reduce the mean absolute error of these estimates by as much as 30% locally. Estimation of the more extreme values of T2M is more uncertain and requires a larger sample size. The potential reduction in computational cost afforded by these sampling techniques could greatly benefit applications requiring high-resolution dynamically downscaled depictions of regional climate, including situations in which an ensemble of regional climate simulations is required to properly characterize uncertainty in the model physics assumptions, scenarios, and so on.
Nutritionally Desirable Fatty Acids Including Cla of Cow's Milk Fat Explained by Animal and Feed Factors

KALA ROBERT, SAMKOVÁ EVA, KOUBOVÁ JANA, HASOŇOVÁ LUCIE, KVÁČ MARTIN, PELIKÁNOVÁ TAMARA, ŠPIČKA JIŘÍ, HANUŠ OTO. 2018. Nutritionally Desirable Fatty Acids Including Cla of Cow’S Milk Fat Explained by Animal and Feed Factors. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, 66(1): 69 – 76. This study evaluated the effects of four factors (breed, parity, month of lactation and feeding ration) on the total explained variation (R2) determining composition of nutritionally important fatty acids. Individual milk samples were collected four times over an entire year (March, June, September, and December, respectively) on a conventional farm from two breeds: Czech Fleckvieh (dual-purpose, local) and Holstein (dairy, worldwide). In total, 145 samples (36; 38; 35 and 36, respectively) were analysed. Within the R2, feeding ration and month of lactation were the main factors affecting milk fatty acids composition, whereas breed and parity showed a low effect. A high percentage of the R2 was observed in rumenic acid (52 %), for example, whereas a low percentage was observed in both palmitic acid (30 %) and oleic acid (30 %). This may be due to intra-breed variability affected by different genetic predisposition of each cows, their performance or individual response to changes in feeding ration.
PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTED TREATMENT WETLANDS: MODEL-BASED EVALUATION AND IMPACT OF OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE

‘Constructed wetlands’ (CWs) zijn door de mens aangelegde moerassen waarin het natuurlijke zelfreinigende vermogen van een dergelijk aquatisch ecosysteem door middel van een doordacht ontwerp en een aangepaste bedrijfsvoering geoptimaliseerd wordt. Uit veelvuldig onderzoek sinds de jaren 1970 en vooral ook uit praktijkervaring blijkt dat CWs in veel situaties voor een degelijke zuivering zorgen die evenwel afhankelijk is van factoren zoals temperatuur, organische en hydraulische belasting, . Wat de mechanismen achter deze waarnemingen zijn, is echter nog grotendeels een vraagteken. En in zoverre bepaalde mechanismen wel opgehelderd zijn, bestaat er nog steeds onduidelijkheid over hun interacties en hun respectievelijk aandeel in de zuivering van afvalwater. Een eerste doelstelling van dit doctoraat was dan ook de ‘black box’ die CWs tot nog toe zijn doorzichtiger te maken, enerzijds door aangepaste metingen, anderzijds door middel van mechanistische dynamische modellen. Allereerst werden hoog-frequente metingen uitgevoerd als aanvulling op een bestaande dataset met wekelijkse metingen van influent en effluentconcentraties van een tweetraps pilootschaal CW. Op die manier werd een optimaal beeld bekomen van trage en snelle processen en hun respectievelijke dynamiek. Verder werd ook een nieuw model van een wortelzone CW ontwikkeld waarin acht verschillende microbiele gemeenschappen, samen met de rietplanten en een aantal fysische processen, interageren en voor zuivering van afvalwater zorgen. De respectievelijke submodellen werden opgebouwd naar analogie met bestaande actief slib modellen en anaerobe vergistingsmodellen. Kalibratie van een dergelijk uitgebreid model is een zeer complexe taak en zou veel meer gegevens vereisen dan wat realistischerwijze kan worden verkregen. Daarom werden van alle gevalideerde submodellen telkens de standaard parameterwaarden gebruikt, waarna het model werd uitgetest op twee datasets van respectievelijk een experimenteel (0,55 m2) en een pilootschaal (55 m2) CW. Met inachtneming van alle onzekerheden bleek het model toch behoorlijk goed in staat om de effluentkwaliteit te voorspellen en liet het vooral toe om de experimentele resultaten beter te verklaren en om nieuwe richtingen voor experimenteel onderzoek aan te geven. Alhoewel een degelijk ontwerp logischerwijze aan de basis ligt van een goede performantie, zijn de daaropvolgende bedrijfsvoering en onderhoud eveneens van cruciaal belang. Praktijkervaring uit Vlaanderen en het Verenigd Koninkrijk toonde evenwel aan dat CWs vaak als ‘build-and-forget’ oplossingen worden beschouwd. Op basis van experimenteel onderzoek kon evenwel duidelijk aangetoond worden dat doeltreffend onderhoud bijdraagt tot een langere levensduur van CWs.
Potential to increase the area under paddy cultivation with domestic and municipal wastewater irrigation in Kurunegala District.

Use of domestic wastewater for agriculture was a traditional practice in Sri Lanka where leafy vegetables and medicinal plants were cultivated in backyards. The use of domestic and municipal wastewater could be an environmentally sound means of wastewater disposal and could reduce environmental pollution if utilized for paddy irrigation. This practice could also help to increase the economic productivity of the water and land. Therefore a study was conducted in selected Divisional Secretariat Divisions in Kurunegala District in order to explore the potential for land to be brought under paddy cultivation with the utilization of municipal and domestic wastewater. The quantity of wastewater generated was estimated based on the population and water consumption data. Data on the extent of paddy land under minor irrigation and rain-fed agriculture, potential cultivable land extent (known as asweddumized area), land area cultivated in maha (wet) and yala (dry) seasons, and the areas harvested were collected from the District Agriculture Department. It is noted that not all the available lands were cultivated and harvested in both the maha and yala seasons. The area of land that is not used for any crop production is higher in the yala season than in the maha season. In addition, only a part of the land area is harvested from the total area sown. Major reasons for crop failure are inadequate rainfall and shortage of supplementary irrigation water. The difference between the cultivable (asweddumized) extent and harvested extent shows the land that can potentially be brought under irrigation using municipal and domestic wastewater. The amount of land that can be so irrigated is much higher closer to the city where the storm water and other forms of wastewater are drained through common canal systems. Depending on the quantity and quality, and the availability of fresh irrigation water, municipal wastewater can be either diluted with irrigation water to meet the total irrigation water requirement, or can be used without any dilution. In addition to the increment of the land area under cultivation, there is a possibility of increasing the cropping intensity.
Numerical Analysis of Stability for Temporal Bright Solitons in a PT-Symmetric NLDC

(Received 2 Jul. 2017; Revised 29 Jul. 2017; Accepted 25 Aug. 2017; Published 15 Sep. 2017) Abstract: PT-Symmetry is one of the interesting topics in quantum mechanics and optics. One of the demonstration of PT-Symmetric effects in optics is appeared in the nonlinear directional coupler (NLDC). In the paper we numerically investigate the stability of temporal bright solitons propagate in a PT-Symmetric NLDC by considering gain in bar and loss in cross. By using the analytical solutions of perturbed eigenfunctions and corresponding eigenvalues the stability of temporal bright solitons is studied numerically. Three perturbed eigenfunctions corresponding to the two eigenvalues are examined for stability. The results show that the two degenerate eigenfunctions are unstable while other one is stable which have important result that the eigenfunctions are equilibrium function but not stable for all cases. Stability is tested by using energy of perturbed soliton that propagate thought the length of NLDC. In addition, the behavior of solitons under instable perturbation in a PT-Symmetric NLDC can be used to design integrated optics at Nano scales, for ultrafast all optical communication systems and logic gates.
The Promise of Social Perspective Taking to Facilitate Teacher-Student Relationships.

This research was supported by generous funding through a grant from the Spencer Foundation and an Early Career Research Award by Division 15 of the American Psychological Association to Hunter Gehlbach. The authors are particularly grateful for the generous assistance of the participating schools. Special thanks also go to Hahrie Han and Judith Hall for their sage feedback on the manuscript. Rebecca Zazove provided invaluable assistance in helping to collect these data. Please address all correspondence to Hunter Gehlbach: Hunter_Gehlbach@gse.harvard. edu.
RESISTANCE CHARACTERIZATION OF WILD RELATIVES OF RICE IN RESPONSE TO BACTERIAL BLIGHT

Bacterial blight (BB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae is becoming a potential threat to rice crop in many regions of the world. In order to identify resistant sources to virulent isolates of bacterial blight, an experiment comprising 14 species of wild rice (Oryza sp.) and three widely used cultivated varieties of rice in Pakistan was conducted in the greenhouse of National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad during 2005. Adult plants were inoculated with virulent isolates of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae prevailing in NWFP, Pakistan i.e., Xo-103, Xo107, Xo-139, Xo-143, Xo-304, Xo-351 and MNR-4. Of all the wild relatives of rice, O. nivara, O. longistaminata and O. grandiglumis showed resistance to all isolates. O. nivara even didn’t show any lesion against any isolate. Remaining wild species showed differential response to the isolates used in the study. These species were resistant to one or few isolates but expressed susceptibility to others. Bas-385, IR-6 and KSK-282, the cultivated varieties of Pakistan used in study were found susceptible to most of the isolates. The use of resistant wild species O. nivara, O. longistaminata and O. grandiglumis is, therefore, recommended in rice breeding programs for transfer of bacterial blight resistant genes to cultivated varieties.
Simple robustness measures for control of MISO and SIMO plants

Abstract The robustness properties of multivariable plants with either a single input or single output (but not both) under feedback control can be represented succinctly in the frequency domain. Both the robust stability and robust performance of multi-input single-output plants are considered. These results are illustrated for internal model control design of mid-ranging systems. The robust stability of single-input multi-output plants is also considered.
HOW DO HOUSEHOLDERS INTERACT WITH THEIR HEATING CONTROLS

This paper presents measurements of householders' manual interaction with their heating controls. The results demonstrate the importance of measuring heating use behaviour directly rather than relying on thermostat and timer settings or inferring heating use from internal temperature measurements. This is the first time, to the author's knowledge, that manual heating interactions have been recorded. Heating controls will only save energy if used effectively, yet currently, little is known about how they are used. This paper describes an in-depth study of twelve UK residential properties that had new heating controls installed. Heating system interactions with these controls, energy consumption and room temperatures were monitored for ten months from July 2014 to April 2015 inclusive, covering autumn and spring shoulder months and the winter heating season. These measured data were supported by a series of qualitative interviews with the households. The paper reports details of the householders' heating system use, separating the occupants' manual interactions with the controls from their pre-programmed heating schedules. The findings show that the participants had many manual interactions with their heating systems, even during scheduled heating periods; changing heating durations and demand temperatures. The results also identify that manual interactions with heating controls occur more frequently during the winter season than in the shoulder months. The results have important implications relating to assumptions of set-point temperatures and schedule characteristics previously based only on self-reported use or measured internal temperature profiles.
Background aerosol over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau: observed characteristics of aerosol mass loading

Abstract. To investigate the atmospheric aerosols of the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP), an observation network was established within the region's various ecosystems, including at the Ngari, Qomolangma (QOMS), Nam Co, and Southeastern Tibetan (SET) stations. In this paper we illustrate aerosol mass loadings by integrating in situ measurements with satellite and ground-based remote sensing datasets for the 2011–2013 period, on both local and large scales. Mass concentrations of these surface atmospheric aerosols were relatively low and varied with land cover, showing a general tendency of Ngari and QOMS (barren sites) > Nam Co (grassland site) > SET (forest site). Daily averages of online PM2.5 (particulates with aerodynamic diameters below 2.5 µm) at these sites were sequentially 18.2 ± 8.9, 14.5 ± 7.4, 11.9 ± 4.9 and 11.7 ± 4.7 µg m−3. Correspondingly, the ratios of PM2.5 to total suspended particles (TSP) were 27.4 ± 6.65, 22.3 ± 10.9, 37.3 ± 11.1 and 54.4 ± 6.72 %. Bimodal mass distributions of size-segregated particles were found at all sites, with a relatively small peak in accumulation mode and a more notable peak in coarse mode. Diurnal variations in fine-aerosol masses generally displayed a bi-peak pattern at the QOMS, Nam Co and SET stations and a single-peak pattern at the Ngari station, controlled by the effects of local geomorphology, mountain-valley breeze circulation and aerosol emissions. Dust aerosol content in PM2.1 samples gave fractions of 26 % at the Ngari station and 29 % at the QOMS station, or ∼ 2–3 times that of reported results at human-influenced sites. Furthermore, observed evidence confirmed the existence of the aerodynamic conditions necessary for the uplift of fine particles from a barren land surface. Combining surface aerosol data and atmospheric-column aerosol optical properties, the TSP mass and aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) generally decreased as land cover changed from barren to forest, in inverse relation to the PM2.5 ratios. The seasonality of aerosol mass parameters was land-cover dependent. Over forest and grassland areas, TSP mass, PM2.5 mass, MISR-AOD and fine-mode AOD were higher in spring and summer, followed by relatively lower values in autumn and winter. At the barren site (the QOMS station), there were inconsistent seasonal patterns between surface TSP mass (PM2.5 mass) and atmospheric column AOD (fine-mode AOD). Our findings implicate that HTP aerosol masses (especially their regional characteristics and fine-particle emissions) need to be treated sensitively in relation to assessments of their climatic effect and potential role as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei.