Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nuclear Physics News

Correspondents Argentina: O. Civitaresse, La Plata; Australia: A. W. Thomas, Adelaide; Austria: H. Leeb, Vienna; Belgium: G. Neyens, Leuven; Brasil: M. Hussein, São Paulo; Bulgaria: D. Balabanski, Sofia; Canada: J.-M. Poutissou, TRIUMF; K, Sharma, Manitoba; C. Svensson, Guelph: China: W. Zhan, Lanzhou; Croatia: R. Caplar, Zagreb; Czech Republic: J. Kvasil, Prague; Slovak Republic: P. Povinec, Bratislava; Denmark: K. Riisager, Århus; Finland: M. Leino, Jyväskylä; France: G. De France, GANIL Caen; M. MacCormick, IPN Orsay; Germany: K. Langanke, GSI Darmstadt; U. Wiedner, Bochum; Greece: E. Mavromatis, Athens; Hungary: B. M. Nyakó, Debrecen; India: D. K. Avasthi, New Delhi; Israel: N. Auerbach, Tel Aviv; Italy: M. Ripani, Genova; L. Corradi, Legnaro; Japan: T. Motobayashi, RIKEN; Mexico: J. Hirsch, Mexico DF; Netherlands: G. Onderwater, KVI Groningen; T. Peitzmann, Utrecht; Norway: J. Vaagen, Bergen; Poland: B. Fornal, Cracow; Portugal: M. Fernanda Silva, Sacavém; Romania: V. Zamfir, Bucharest; Russia: Yu. Novikov, St. Petersburg; Serbia: S. Jokic, Belgrade; South Africa: S. Mullins, Cape Town; Spain: B. Rubio, Valencia; Sweden: J. Nyberg, Uppsala; Switzerland: K. Kirch, PSI Villigen; United Kingdom: P. Regan, Surrey; USA: D. Geesaman, Argonne; D. W. Higinbotham, Jefferson Lab; M. Thoenessen, Michigan State Univ.; H. G. Ritter, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; G. Miller, Seattle.
The curvature interpolation method for surface reconstruction for geospatial point cloud data

ABSTRACT Surface reconstruction for scattered data is an ill-posed problem and most computational algorithms become overly expensive as the number of sample points increases. This article studies an effective partial differential equation (PDE)-based algorithm, called the curvature interpolation method with iterative refinement (IR-CIM). The new method iteratively utilizes curvature-related information which is estimated from an intermediate surface of the nonuniform data and plays a role of driving force for the reconstruction of a reliable image surface. The IR-CIM is applied for digital elevation modelling for geospatial point cloud data of overlapping strip scans acquired by light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology. This article also introduces an effective initialization strategy for large areas of missing data and a robust method for the elimination of the Moiré effect over strip overlaps. The resulting algorithm converges to a piecewise smooth image, with little dependence on sample rates, outperforming inverse-distance weighting methods in both efficiency and accuracy.
Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, and Human Wellbeing: An Ecological and Economic Perspective

In an age of accelerating biodiversity loss, this timely and critical volume summarizes recent advances in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research and explores the economics of biodiversity and ecosystem services. The book starts by summarizing the development of the basic science and provides a meta-analysis that quantitatively tests several biodiversity and ecosystem functioning hypotheses. It then describes the natural science foundations of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research including: quantifying functional diversity, the development of the field into a predictive science, the effects of stability and complexity, methods to quantify mechanisms by which diversity affects functioning, the importance of trophic structure, microbial ecology, and spatial dynamics. Finally, the book takes research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning further than it has ever gone into the human dimension, describing the most pressing environmental challenges that face humanity and the effects of diversity on: climate change mitigation, restoration of degraded habitats, managed ecosystems, pollination, disease, and biological invasions.However, what makes this volume truly unique are the chapters that consider the economic perspective. These include a synthesis of the economics of ecosystem services and biodiversity, and the options open to policy-makers to address the failure of markets to account for the loss of ecosystem services; an examination of the challenges of valuing ecosystem services and, hence, to understanding the human consequences of decisions that neglect these services; and an examination of the ways in which economists are currently incorporating biodiversity and ecosystem functioning research into decision models for the conservation and management of biodiversity. A final section describes new advances in ecoinformatics that will help transform this field into a globally predictive science, and summarizes the advancements and future directions of the field. The ultimate conclusion is that biodiversity is an essential element of any strategy for sustainable development.
Cold-Water Corals: The Biology and Geology of Deep-Sea Coral Habitats

Preface 1. History and research approaches 2. Cold-water corals 3. Biology 4. Reefs and mounds 5. Habitats and ecology 6. Palaeontology 7. Corals as archives 8. Impacts and conservation 9. References Glossary Index.
Can Computers Create Humor?

Despite the fact that AI has always been adventurous in trying to elucidate complex aspects of human behaviour, only recently has there been research into computational modelling of humor. One obstacle to progress is the lack of a precise and detailed theory of how humor operates. Nevertheless, since the early 1990s, there have been a number of small programs that create simple verbal humor, and more recently there have been studies of the automatic classification of the humorous status of texts. In addition, there are a number of advocates of the practical uses of computational humor: in user-interfaces, in education, and in advertising. Computer-generated humor is still quite basic, but it could be viewed as a form of exploratory creativity. For computational humor to improve, some hard problems in AI will have to be addressed.
Evaluación de rizobacterias promotoras del crecimiento bajo diferentes esquemas de fertilización en el cultivo de maíz variedad HIMECA-95

Bacteria previously isolated, characterized as diazotrophic and inorganic phosphate solubilizers were evaluated under field conditions as plant growth promoters on the maize production when soil fertility was changed. The strains MF1b and MF5, alone and in consortium, were inoculated on maize seeds (HIMECA-95), and these were sown under the following chemical fertility conditions: K, NK, PN, RK, NPK, and NRK (R: phosphate rock). Total dry weight, and N and P contents of the grain were determined at the end of the experiment; also, the % of relative agronomic efficiency (RAE) was calculated. Results showed that inoculation with the strain MF5 alone and in consortium, with the addition of NK fertilizer increased the % RAE in 130 and 403 for the dry weight, in 463 and 116 for the N content, and in 152 and 376 for the P content, respectively, allowing an increase in both production and grain quality. Moreover, it was observed variations among the evaluated parameters which could be related to the low N and P status of the soil, the soil fertility changes after the addition of the highly soluble chemical fertilizers, and the interaction between autochthonous microbial communities and the introduced
INTRODUCTION TO THE FLORA, LIFE FORM AND CHOROLOGY OF HORMOZ ISLAND PLANTS, S. IRAN

Hormoz Island with 41 km³ area located in south of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan Province in 27o 2´ to 27o 6´ N and 56o 25´ to 56o 31´ E geographical position. In this study, 191 species are introduced. These species belong to 44 families (One family of Angiosperms, 40 families of Dicotyledones and 3 families of Monocotyledones) and 142 genera. Of the species recognized, nine species (4.7%) are endemic to Iran. Papilionaceae with 26 species, Gramineae with 23 species and Compositae with 20 species are main families of this region. Life forms by using Raunkier method showed that, Therophytes with 47.6% (91 species) of species are the most frequent life forms. Chamaephytes with 22.5%, Hemichryptophytes with 17.3% and Phanerophytes with 9% are other life forms. High percentage of Therophytes indicates that, the area has dry and deserty climate. Geophytes with 6 species and Helophytes with one species are less important. Investigation on geographical distribution of plants species showed 44.5% (85 species) of species belong to Saharo-Sindian, 40.8% of species are common between Saharo-Sindian with others zones, 2.6% (5 species) to Irano-Touranian and 3.7% percent (7 species) to Cosmic zones.
Crystallization experiments on a Gusev Adirondack basalt composition

Abstract— Until recently, the SNC meteorites represented the only source of information about the chemistry and petrology of the Martian surface and mantle. The Mars Exploration Rovers have now analyzed rocks on the Martian surface, giving additional insight into the petrology and geochemistry of the planet. The Adirondack basalts, analyzed by the MER Spirit in Gusev crater, are olivine‐phyric basaltic rocks which have been suggested to represent liquids, and might therefore provide new insights into the chemistry of the Martian mantle. Experiments have been conducted on a synthetic Humphrey composition at upper mantle and crustal conditions to investigate whether this composition might represent a primary mantle‐derived melt. The Humphrey composition is multiply saturated at 12.5 kbar and 1375 °C with olivine and pigeonite; a primary anhydrous melt derived from a “chondritic” mantle would be expected to be saturated in orthopyroxene, not pigeonite. In addition, the olivine and pigeonite present at the multiple saturation are too ferroan to have been from a Martian mantle as is understood now. Therefore, it seems likely that the Humphrey composition does not represent a primary anhydrous melt from the Martian mantle, but was affected by mineral/melt fractionations at lower (crustal) pressures.
Correlated intermolecular interaction components from asymptotically corrected Kohn-Sham orbitals

The symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) that has the ability in decomposition of the total interaction energy into physically meaningful components is used to provide a more fundamental understanding of intermolecular forces. This work was motivated by the difficulty of standard SAPT in computing the intermolecular interactions for large energetic dimer systems. SAPT based on Kohn-Sham orbitals (SAPT(DFT)) proves computationally efficient for these large systems, but has been shown to perform poorly for interaction energy components. The deficiencies of SAPT(DFT) result from wrong asymptotical behaviors of commonly used exchange-correlation potentials. To remove the deficiencies, two asymptotic corrections by means of van Leeuwen and Baerends (LB) model potential and Fermi-Amaldi (FA) type potential were applied into three small test systems comprising He 2 , HF 2 and (N 2 ) 2 and a set of larger nitramide dimers at several separations. The results showed that when utilizing newly developed frequency-dependent density susceptibilities (FDDS) technique for computing dispersion energy, the FA asymptotic correction is very effective to circumvent these deficiencies in SAPT(DFT) and yields a good accuracy over the LB correction. The FA corrected SAPT(DFT) approach is capable of correctly predicting all the quantitative trends in binding energies for all test cases and substantially reduces computational cost as compared with the standard SAPT calculations. The successful application of the approach to nitramide dimer demonstrates that it potentially provides a good means to calculate accurately intermolecular forces in larger system such as energetic systems.
Food habits of the wildcat (Felis silvestris) in a peculiar habitat: the Mediterranean high mountain

The feeding spectrum of the wildcat Felis silvestris Schreber, 1777 was studied in two sites with different ecological characteristics, both situated in the same Mediterranean environment in the high mountain of the Sierra Nevada National Park, south-east Spain, where the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus is absent. Scat analysis (n=101 faeces; n=402 prey items) showed that the diet is based on rodents, fundamentally wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus, Mediterranean pine vole Microtus duodecimcostatus and south-western water vole Arvicola sapidus. Results showed strong differences between the two sites (χ2=74.04, d.f.=5, P<0.001), that is a predominance of voles in the mesic Chico river, whereas mice are predominant in the xeric Tejos ravine. Red-legged partridge Alectoris rufa and carrion also played an important role, especially in biomass terms. The overall diet differed essentially from that of the Mediterranean region, which surrounds the study area, since in these areas rabbits constitute the primary prey. However, the diet of the mountain wildcats is similar to that in the Eurosiberian floral region, despite its distance from the Sierra Nevada. In conclusion, the Iberian wildcat seems to behave as a facultative specialist, since it prefers rabbits whenever they are available, but rodents constitute most of its diet if rabbits are scarce or absent.
Seismic Attribute Analysis for Carbonate Reservoir

This paper provides an example of 3D seismic information and attribute analysis for a carbonate reservoir according seismic methods including seismic attribute (amplitude) analysis,3Dmove,Jason impedance Inversion,variance technology,energy absorption analysis.Statistics between known wells and the predicted attribute results show that a very good agreement is between the wells and 3D move,next is Jason impedance inversions and amplitude parameters,and energy absorption parameters and variance parameters is no good.The better carbonate reservoir in Shangfa hurried-hill is evaluated by combining the predicted attribution.
Regulation of voltage-gated K+ currents in motor neurons: activity-dependence and neuromodulation

REGULATION OF VOLTAGE-GATED K CURRENTS IN MOTOR NEURONS: ACTIVITY-DEPENDENCE AND NEUROMODULATION by Dalia Salloum Neuronal output is shaped by extrinsic modulation as well as modulation of intrinsic properties of individual neurons, mediated by activity-dependent changes in the expression levels of voltage-gated ionic currents. Activity-dependent regulation of ionic currents is a mechanism by which electrical output of a neuron feeds back onto the expression of its own ion channels to alter cellular excitability in response to stimuli. Neurons alter their intrinsic properties to achieve long lasting changes involved in development, learning and memory formation and vital functions of organ systems such as locomotion and digestion. At the same time, plasticity of neuronal excitability driven by previous experience requires mechanisms to promote stability to maintain physiological function, and many examples of this type of homeostatic plasticity changes have been reported. At the same time, neuromodulation can alter electrical output indirectly via ligand-gated receptors and second messenger pathways and potentially affect activity-dependent effects. Activity-dependent regulation of ionic currents functions to allow neurons to track their own electrical activity and adjust their intrinsic properties in response to changing synaptic drive or other inputs to maintain their functional output. This phenomenon has been demonstrated to occur over the course of minutes and is a relatively fast process. Neuromodulators exert long-term effects on ionic currents via activation of cellular signaling pathways that do not directly affect
Diazotrophic Endophytes of Poplar and Willow for Growth Promotion of Rice Plants in Nitrogen-Limited Conditions

rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most impor - tant staple food crops. Its cultivation requires a relatively high input of N fertilizers; however, rice plants do not absorb a significant proportion of added fertilizers, resulting in soil and water pol - lution. The use of diazotrophic (N-fixing) endo - phytes can provide benefits for rice cultivation by reducing the demand of N fertilizers. Diazo - trophic endophytes from the early successional plant species poplar ( Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray) and willow ( Salix sitchensis C. A. San- son ex Bong.) were added to rice seedlings. Inoculated rice plants were grown in N-limited conditions in the greenhouse, and plant physical characteristics were assessed. Endophyte-inoc - ulated rice plants had greater biomass, higher tiller numbers, and taller plant stature than mock- inoculated controls. Endophyte populations were quantified and visualized in planta within rice plants using fluorescent microscopy. The endo - phytes colonized rice plants effectively in both roots and foliage. These results demonstrated that diazotrophic endophytes of the eudicots poplar and willow can colonize rice plants and enhance plant growth in N-limited conditions.
Advances in Forecast Evaluation

This paper surveys recent developments in the evaluation of point forecasts. Taking West’s (2006) survey as a starting point, we briefly cover the state of the literature as of the time of West’s writing. We then focus on recent developments, including advancements in the evaluation of forecasts at the population level (based on true, unknown model coefficients), the evaluation of forecasts in the finite sample (based on estimated model coefficients), and the evaluation of conditional versus unconditional forecasts. We present original results in a few subject areas: the optimization of power in determining the split of a sample into in-sample and out-of-sample portions; whether the accuracy of inference in evaluation of multistep forecasts can be improved with the judicious choice of HAC estimator (it can); and the extension of West’s (1996) theory results for population-level, unconditional forecast evaluation to the case of conditional forecast evaluation.
Purpose, practice and theory: Teacher educators' beliefs about professional experience

The purposes of professional experience within initial teacher education programs are varied (Russell, 2005). However, there is limited literature explaining (a) university-based teacher educators' beliefs about its purposes and (b) how these purposes are reflected in practice. This study investigated these themes. A pragmatic mixed-method research design (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010) was developed to survey teacher educators from one Australian and one New Zealand university (n = 56). Participants were anonymously surveyed using a diamond ranking activity (requiring placement of 9 of 11 professional experience purpose statement cards, pre-determined from literature) and open response items seeking explanations of placement determining criteria and statement elimination. Following analysis of questionnaire data, focus groups were utilised to further explore the aggregated findings. Survey data were analysed by weighting frequencies of each statement. Analysis of the data indicated significant variation of perspectives amongst the teacher educators and resulted in the clustering of purposes into four groups. This paper presents these data from the Australian university cohort (n = 26). This study, the first of a series designed to elucidate understandings of teacher educators' purposes for professional experience, reinforces the importance of professional experience as authentic workplace learning within initial teacher education. The findings also reveal the complex beliefs that underpin teacher educators' practices when preparing, mentoring and supervising preservice teachers for and within professional experience.
ANALYZING SEDIMENT YIELDS IN THE CONTEXT OF TMDL'S

In 1998, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board established a Water Quality Attainment Strategy for Sediment and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) for Redwood Creek, California. In the TMDL, a 10-year rolling average of sediment yield of 1900 t of total sediment/mi 2 /year (equivalent to about 500 Mg of suspended sediment/km 2 /yr) was used as a threshold of concern. We investigate the relevance of this value by analyzing trends in suspended sediment yields at two gaging stations in Redwood Creek, north coastal California. The TMDL reported that at both the upstream and downstream gaging stations, the 10-year rolling average exceeded the threshold between 1973 and 1992, and was below threshold from 1993-1996. A comparison of suspended sediment-discharge rating curves shows a significant shift from higher sediment transport rates in the 1970's (following large storms and extensive landslide activity) to lower rates in the 1980's and 1990's, and even lower rates in the 2000's. In recent years the upstream and downstream gaging stations, monitoring sediment transport from drainage areas of 175 and 725 km 2 , respectively, have similar sediment concentrations on a per unit area basis. This lack of a significant shift in sediment transport curves suggests that the trends in the TMDL rolling average are more dependent on flow magnitude rather than being indicative of changes in sediment transport relationships in the basin.
The increasing incidence of anal cancer: can it be explained by trends in risk groups?

BACKGROUND Anal cancer incidence is gradually increasing. The cause of this increase is not exactly known. This systematic literature review aimed to investigate the trend in time of anal cancer incidence and to find an explanation for the supposed increase. METHODS The TRIP database and PubMed were searched for trends in time in incidence of anal cancer in the general population, for risk factors and risk groups for anal cancer, and for incidence trends in time in these risk groups. RESULTS Age-adjusted incidence rates have increased in all Western countries during the last decades, up to 2.2% per year. Infection with the oncogenic human papilloma virus is the most important aetiological factor. Besides increasing age, other risk factors have been identified: smoking, sexual practices, in particular receptive anal intercourse, and being human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive. The standardised incidence ratio (SIR) is significantly increased in HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) (SIR 77.8), organ transplant recipients (SIR approx. 6) and women with a history of cervical cancer (SIR 6) or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (SIR 16). Absolute numbers of HIV-positive MSM and organ transplant recipients have increased significantly in the last decades. CONCLUSION The increasing incidence of anal cancer can be partially explained by an increase in the incidence rate in and absolute number of the most important risk group: HIV-positive MSM. The increasing number of renal transplant recipients probably also contributes. Further studies should answer the question whether these risk groups would benefit from preventive screening for anal cancer.
Transmembrane TNF and IFNγ Induce Caspase-independent Death of Primary Mouse Pancreatic Beta Cells

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is important in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes. It has an important role in immunological and inflammatory processes, and has also been shown to induce apoptotic cell death. We have shown that TNF+IFN n induce islet cell death in vitro . TNF exists as a biologically active transmembrane molecule (tmTNF), which is then cleaved to form soluble TNF (sTNF). We reasoned that sTNF, which has been used in previous studies, may not represent TNF in its physiological form. We compared the contributions of caspase activation and nitric oxide production to beta cell death induced by either tmTNF or sTNF together with IFN n . CHO cells transfected with a mutated TNF were used as a source of tmTNF. Either sTNF or tmTNF, together with IFN n, induced caspase-dependent cell death of the NIT-1 insulinoma cell line, as measured by DNA fragmentation and a fluorogenic caspase 3 activation assay. TNF+IFN n did not induce caspase 3 activation in primary mouse islets. Instead, iNOS gene expression was induced and cell death which was partly NO-dependent occurred. We conclude that the role of TNF in the development of type 1 diabetes is likely to be the activation of gene expression and not apoptosis. It appears that both tmTNF and sTNF act by a similar mechanism to induce beta cell death.