Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Scales and arrangements of large wood in streams of the Blue Ridge Mountains

The project purpose is to examine large wood variability in streams of the Blue Ridge Mountains as a function of landscape characteristics at different spatial and temporal scales. Riparian forested area was analyzed latitudinally by buffer width and longitudinally upstream with additional land cover and geomorphic variables to identify factors and scales that most influence wood distributions. The 10 m riparian buffer of the reach is most important for predicting wood loads, although forest cover and development upstream also correlate with large wood. The relationship between riparian vegetation and wood weakens in bigger streams, as fluvial transport becomes more common and people are less likely to clear channels. An appropriate buffer width is not evident, but even one-tree buffers maintain some wood by discouraging wood removal. Resurveys demonstrate that large wood is most dynamic in forested reaches and primarily changes function in floods to store sediment and organic matter. INDEX WORDS: Large wood, Riparian vegetation, Buffer width, Blue Ridge Mountains SCALES AND ARRANGEMENTS OF LARGE WOOD IN STREAMS OF THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS
Expression and hypermethylation of JAM and EPB41L3 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma: Clinical significance and applications.

This study aimed to explore the expression and hypermethylation of EPB41L3 and JAM3 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) and to investigate their clinical significance. JAM3 and EPB41L3 mRNA expression was analyzed using a public database, and protein expression was detected using immunohistochemistry. The methylation status of JAM3 and EPB41L3 was detected in CSCC tissues and cervical cytological specimens using a quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP). JAM3 and EPB41L3 mRNA were downregulated in CSCC. The JAM3 protein was positively detected in 39.4% of CSCC tissues and frequently expressed in those with lower FIGO stage and no lymph node metastasis. EPB41L3 was expressed in 18.9% of CSCC tissues. The hypermethylation of JAM3 was detected in 52.3% of CSCC tissues and related to higher FIGO stage and lymph node metastasis. EPB41L3 hypermethylation was detected in 72.7% of CSCC tissues and related to older ages and lymph node metastasis. In cervical cytological specimens, no methylation of JAM3 and EPB41L3 was found in normal or inflamed cervical epithelial cells. The methylation of JAM3 was detected in 0%, 8.3%, and 6.3% of ASCUS, LSIL, and HSIL samples, while EPB41L3 was detected in 12.5%, 42.9%, and 71.4%, respectively. The sensitivity of the combination of JAM3 and EPB41L3 methylation detection in ASCUS, LSIL, and HSIL was 8.3%, 15.6%, and 85.7%, respectively. The specificity of the combination of JAM3 and EPB41L3 methylation detection was 100%. Downregulation of JAM3 and EPB41L3 by hypermethylation was detected in CSCC. JAM3 and EPB41L3 hypermethylation are potential biomarkers for cervical cancer screening.
A Biologically Inspired Robot for Lunar Exploration and Regolith Excavation

by PHILIP ALAN DUNKER In order for a long-term lunar base to be successful, resources must be gathered from its surroundings (in situ resource utilization). One of the most important resources for any human space mission is oxygen, which can be extracted from regolith on the lunar surface. The purpose of this research was to design, fabricate, and test a robot prototype for a lunar rover that would be able to explore the surface of the Moon, excavate a quantity of lunar regolith, and transport the regolith to a central oxygen extraction station. The cockroach-inspired WhegsTM robotic platform, which combines wheeled and legged locomotion using six three-spoked "wheel-leg" appendages, is well-suited for negotiating the rocky obstacles and loose material on the lunar surface. A new prototype robot was designed and constructed based upon the WhegsTM platform, and its performance on loose substrates was quantified.
Digital Soil Mapping for Functional Analysis of Site Characteristics in Complex Terrain

v Zusammenfassung . vii Acknowledgements . ix List of figures . xv List of tables . xvii Chapter 1 Synopsis . 1 1.1 Soil nutrients in the mountainous ecosystem: background . 1 1.2 Digital soil mapping . 3 1.2. 1 Supervised learning methods: correlation modelling . 3 1.2. 2 Environmental predictors: terrain analysis and remote sensing . 6 1.2. 3 Scale: neighbourhood size effects . 7 1.3 Soil nutrient dynamics of mountainous ecosystems under nitrogen deposition . 8 1.4 Complex TERRain and ECOlogical heterogeneity (TERRECO) . 11 1.5 Overview of this thesis . 11 1.5. 1 Objectives . 11 1.5. 2 Study area . 13 1.5. 3 Methods and results . 15 1.6 Conclusions and discussion . 19 1.6. 1 Supervised learning methods: What is the best prediction model for digital soil mapping? (Manuscript 1 and 3) . 19 1.6. 2 Scale issues: What can we learn from scale for digital soil mapping? (Manuscript 1, 2, and 3) . 20 1.6. 3 Soil-vegetation-topography interactions for nutrient dynamics (Manuscript 2 and 3) . 23 1.7 List of manuscripts and specification of individual contributions . 24 1.8 References . 27 Chapter 2 Spatial soil nutrients prediction using three supervised learning methods for assessment of land potentials in complex terrain . 41 2.
A Combined Semantic Search and Machine Learning Approach for Address Entity Resolution

We have developed a comprehensive prototype solution for a specific use case involving entity resolution for mailing addresses of financial institutions. Our objective was to find matches between user entry of misspelled or inaccurate addresses of business entities and their corresponding entries in a “gold copy” of complete and accurate mailing addresses (dictionary). Three distinct matching methods (PySolr, SoDA and Record Linkage) were used for a preliminary, yet diverse scheme of lookups in finding matches. These lookup processes may optionally be followed by search via a hybrid machine learning (ML) model via regularized logistic regression and hierarchical clustering using Dedupe. Our experimental results of elapsed times for searches using the three lookup methods on a variety of match types suggest that majority of the simpler matches are detected extremely fast (elapsed times: ~ 6 – 48 milliseconds) at the lookup stage, making it suitable for detecting simple and possibly most common errors in user entries for mailing addresses. The performance of ML models, on the other hand, is comparatively slower (elapsed times: ~ 174 – 201 milliseconds). Nevertheless, the hybrid ML model seems most suitable in cases where multiple ambiguities exist in user entry of addresses, and, as a result, the preliminary lookup methods may fail to detect possible matches. The precision and recall of the ML model on a sizeable test dataset are 0.89 and 0.94, respectively. These high scores on model performance suggest that the ML models can be applied successfully to entity resolution of mailing addresses. Our combined solution can be integrated with any enterprise software applications in order to provide both efficient and robust address matching service in cases where users enter mailing addresses as free-form texts that may carry inaccuracies. Keywords—semantic search, natural language processing, machine learning, deep learning, entity resolution.
Reaction of Improved Maize (Zea mays L.) Varieties to Grey Leaf Spot (Cercospora zeaemaydis ) in South and Southwest Ethiopia

Grey leaf spot (GLS) is one of the most important diseases that constrain maize production and productivity in maize-growing areas of Ethiopia where a warm humid environmental condition prevails. Thus, this study was conducted to evaluate the reaction of 12 maize varieties to maize grey leaf spot under field conditions in Hawassa and Jimma, south and southwest Ethiopia, in 2014 and 2015 cropping seasons. The treatments consisted of twelve maize varieties. The experiment was laid out as a randomized complete block design (RCBD) and replicated three times per treatment. Disease severity was assessed as the proportion of leaf area affected by the disease on 10 randomly tagged plants in the middle two rows. The area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) and disease progress rates were estimated from the percent severity index (PSI). Similarly, grain yield was determined after harvest and converted into yield per hectare. The results revealed that the final disease severity varied from 37.33 to 84.83 PSI and 39.5 to 81.83 PSI at Jimma; 35.67 to 78.12 PSI and 35.67 to 78.12 PSI at Hawassa in 2014 and 2015 main cropping seasons, respectively. AUDPC varied from 1426.67 to 3281.67%-days in Jimma and from 1476.67 to 3225%-days in Hawassa in 2014 main cropping season; 1176.17 to 3031.67%-days in Jimma and 1226.67 to 2975%-days in Hawassa in 2015 main cropping season. The varieties Gibe-2, BH-543 and Local-K exhibited high disease severity, high AUDPC and high infection rate and were categorized as highly susceptible maize varieties. The results also indicated that BH-660 and BH-670 were considered resistant to grey leaf spot across the two locations and had low disease severity as well as low AUDPC values. It is concluded that under field conditions, different maize varieties responded differently to grey leaf spot and the disease severity was strongly affected by the use of different resistance levels of maize varieties and difference in the environmental conditions. It is therefore, promising to use the two maize varieties, such as BH-660 and BH-670, were considered as resistant under field conditions and that are recommended to be used by farmers in the study areas and elsewhere with similar agro-ecologies in Ethiopia.
Livelihoods Fieldwork. A practical guide on data collection methods in pastoral regions in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper presents a practical guide on relevant methods to be applied when carrying out research on pastoral livelihoods. It is apparent in the discussions that no single method could provide a holistic approach in understanding how pastoral households are able to sustain their livelihoods in increasingly arid conditions where they occupy. Combinations of different methods are discussed where each serves a different but complementary role within the overall research design. The research methods includes: documentary review, observation and informal interview, key informant interview, household survey, and case histories and mapping. It is documented that the collection of information concerning livelihoods of pastoral communities requires a good level of trust between the researcher and the respondents. Informal discussion with villagers and local leaders during the reconnaissance period, prior to conducting formal interviews is used as a way of achieving this trust among villagers. Furthermore, identifying research assistants who are resident in the research area also improves trust by village members. Using different methods and asking different people the same questions is a means of ensuring reliability of the information collected. The use of open-ended questions is aimed at obtaining a deeper and clearer understanding of the livelihood responses of different groups, with different level of access and rights to socio-economic resources. It is argued that analysis of pastoral livelihoods using the documented methods could lead to a successful development of strategic short, mid-term and long term interventions which may enhance the existing livelihoods strategies of the pastoral communities.
Changes in fish distribution in the eastern North Atlantic: Are we seeing a coherent response to changing temperature?

T he tem perature o f the upper 300 m o f the N orth A tlantic increased by abou t 0.57°C between 1984 and 1999. but this underlying trend was overlain with substantial geographic and in terannual variability. N orthw ard shifts occurred in the distribution o f m any commercial and non-com m ercial fish species in the N E Atlantic during the 1990s. New records were established for a num ber o f M editerranean and N W African species on the south coast o f Portugal. R ed mullet (M ullus surmuletus) and bass (D icentrarchus labrax) extended their ranges northw ard to western N orw ay and catches o f the form er increased th roughout the 1990s in the N orth Sea. A bundance or relative abundance o f w arm -w ater commercial species o f gadoids and flatfish gener­ ally increased during the 1990s, bu t like the warm ing trend the changes in distribution and abundance were by no m eans uniform and there was considerable in terannual variability. There were also examples o f southw ard shifts lo r some species, which can be related to local hydrographic conditions, such as upwelling. Inform ation on distri­ bution and abundance o f G reenland cod (Gadus morhua L.) and N orw egian springspaw ning herring (Clupea harengus) during a previous warm ing period in the late 1920s and 1930s is also presented and com pared with changes in the 1990s.
Transformations of sensory information in the brain suggest changing criteria for optimality

Neurons throughout the brain modulate their firing rate lawfully in response to sensory input. Theories of neural computation posit that these modulations reflect the outcome of a constrained optimization in which neurons aim to robustly and efficiently represent sensory information. Our understanding of how this optimization varies across different areas in the brain, however, is still in its infancy. Here, we show that neural sensory responses transform along the dorsal stream of the visual system in a manner consistent with a transition from optimizing for information preservation towards optimizing for perceptual discrimination. Focusing on the representation of binocular disparities—the slight differences in the retinal images of the two eyes—we re-analyze measurements characterizing neuronal tuning curves in brain areas V1, V2, and MT (middle temporal) in the macaque monkey. We compare these to measurements of the statistics of binocular disparity typically encountered during natural behaviors using a Fisher Information framework. The differences in tuning curve characteristics across areas are consistent with a shift in optimization goals: V1 and V2 population-level responses are more consistent with maximizing the information encoded about naturally occurring binocular disparities, while MT responses shift towards maximizing the ability to support disparity discrimination. We find that a change towards tuning curves preferring larger disparities is a key driver of this shift. These results provide new insight into previously-identified differences between disparity-selective areas of cortex and suggest these differences play an important role in supporting visually-guided behavior. Our findings emphasize the need to consider not just information preservation and neural resources, but also relevance to behavior, when assessing the optimality of neural codes.
Tailoring electronic and optical properties of TiO 2 : nanostructuring, doping and molecular-oxide interactions

Titanium dioxide is one of the most widely investigated oxides. This is due to its broad range of applications, from catalysis to photocatalysis to photovoltaics. Despite this large interest, many of its bulk properties have been sparsely investigated using either experimental techniques or ab initio theory. Further, some of TiO 2 ’s most important properties, such as its electronic band gap, the localized character of excitons, and the localized nature of states induced by oxygen vacancies, are still under debate. We present a uniﬁed description of the properties of rutile and anatase phases, obtained from ab initio state of the art methods, ranging from density functional theory (DFT) to many body perturbation theory (MBPT) derived techniques. In so doing, we show how advanced computational techniques can be used to quantitatively describe the structural, electronic, and optical properties of TiO 2 nanostructures, an area of fundamental importance in applied research. Indeed, we address one of the main challenges to TiO 2 -photocatalysis, namely band gap narrowing, by showing how to combine nanostructural changes with doping. With this aim we compare TiO 2 ’s electronic properties for 0D clusters, 1D nanorods, 2D layers, and 3D bulks using different approximations within DFT and MBPT calculations. While quantum conﬁnement effects lead to a widening of the energy gap, it has been shown that substitutional doping with boron or nitrogen gives rise to (meta-)stable structures and the introduction of dopant and mid-gap states which effectively reduce the band gap. Finally, we report how ab initio methods can be applied to understand the important role of TiO 2 as electron-acceptor in dye-sensitized solar cells. This task is made more difﬁcult by the hybrid organic-oxide structure of the involved systems.
Alterations in Dynamic Spontaneous Network Microstates in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A MEG Beamformed Dynamic Connectivity Analysis

Dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) analysis has attracted interest in the last years for the characterization of brain electrophysiological activity at rest. In this work, we investigated changes in mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) patients using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) resting-state recordings and a DFC approach. The activity of several well-known brain rhythms was first beamformed using linearly constrained minimum norm variance of the MEG data to determine ninety anatomical brain regions of interest. A DFC graph was formulated using the imaginary part of phase lag value which were obtained from 30 mTBI patients and 50 normal controls. Filtering each quasi-static graph statistically and topologically, we estimated a normalized Laplacian transformation of every single quasistatic graph based on the degree of each node. Then, the related eigenvalues of the synchronization of each node were computed by incorporating the complete topology. Using the neural-gas algorithm, we modelled the evolution of the eigenvalues for each group, resulting in distinct FC microstates (FCμstates). Using the so-called chronnectomics (transition rate, occupancy time of FCμstate, and Dwell time) and complexity index over the evolution of the FCμstates, we evaluated the level of discrimination and derived statistical differences between the two groups. In both groups, we detected equal number of FCμstates with statistically significant transitions in the δ, α, β, and γlow frequency bands. The discrimination rate between the two groups was very high in the θ and γlow bands, followed by a statistically significant difference between the two groups in all the chronnectomics and the complexity index. Statistically significant differences in the degree of several anatomical subnetworks (BAN – brain anatomical networks: default mode network; frontoparietal; occipital; cingulo-opercular; and sensorimotor) were revealed in most FCμstates for the θ, α, β, and γlow brain rhythms, indicating a higher level of communication within and between the BAN in the mTBI group. In our previous studies, we focused on intra- and inter-frequency couplings of static FC. Our current study summarizes a complete set of frequency-dependent connectomic markers of mTBI-caused alterations in brain connectivity that potentially could also serve as markers to assess the return of an injured subject back to normality.
Estudio de marcadores de disfunción endotelial en el síndrome metabólico : evaluación de la vía RhoA/ROCK como posible eje de señalización

15 18 1 Introducción 21 1.1 Síndrome metabólico 21 1.2 La triada clásica del Síndrome Metabólico 22 1.2. 1 Obesidad 22 1.2. 2 Diabetes tipo 2 23 1.2. 3 Hipertensión 24 1.3 Moléculas circulantes en sujetos con síndrome metabólico 25 1.3. 1 Ácido Palmítico 26
Device for the assessment of occupational exposure to time‐varying magnetic field due to movement in magnetic resonance environments

Also according to the recent Directive by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, there is a need for a simple but reliable device to measure exposure to the magnetic field (MF) of magnetic resonance (MR) workers, especially given the continuing development of scanner using a higher static MF. Here the authors describe a novel device for assessing personal exposure to the MF. The time recording system can measure the static MF value at which the operator is exposed to and the field gradients due to his/her movements in the MR environment. The device does not require any cable for data management and transmission and it is able to record the instantaneous and cumulative exposition dose. The device can be used in all MR environments, for clinical or industrial applications.
Latitudinal MHC variation and haplotype associated differential survival in response to experimental infection of two strains of Batrachochytrium dendrobatitis (Bd-GPL) in common toads

While both innate and adaptive immune system mechanisms have been implicated in resistance against the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatitis, studies on the role of specific MHC haplotypes on Bd infection are rare. Here, we studied latitudinal variation in MHC Class IIB loci along a latitudinal gradient from southern to northern Sweden in common toads, Bufo bufo. Swedish toad populations had fewer MHC Class IIB haplotypes compared to a previous study of populations in Britain. Furthermore, we found MHC diversity to decline from south to the north within Sweden. The low diversity may compromise the ability of northern populations to fight emerging disease, such as the chytrid fungus Bd. In a laboratory experiment, we infected newly metamorphosed toads with two strains of the Global Pandemic Lineage of the fungus (Bd-GPL) and compared survival with sham controls. We found Bd-infected toads had lower survival compared to controls. Survival was dependent on Bd-strain and whether experimental toads where collected in the south or the north of Sweden with lower survival in northern individuals. MHC diversity was lower in toads of northern origin, all northern animals being monomorphic for a single MHC haplotype, whereas we found seven different haplotypes in southern animals. Survival of infected animals was dependent on both Bd-strain and MHC haplotype suggesting differential infection dynamics depending on both Bd-strain and host MHC characteristics.
Cultura e clima organizacionais: um estudo em indústrias de laticínios do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte Organizational culture and climate: a study in Rio Grande do Norte's dairy industries

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and the organizational climate in Rio Grande do Norte's dairy industries. An exploratory-descriptive and conclusive-causal study was carried out to examine a sample composed of 211 employees of all hierarchical levels of firms inves - tigated, corresponding to 25.6% of the total of this sector. Based on the data collected, the employees' personal characteristics, the predominant organizational culture profile, and the predominant organizational climate in the industries researched were identified. In order to analyze the organizational culture, the Competing Value Model (CAMERON; QUINN, 2006), with adaptations by Santos (2000) was used. In order to analyze the organizational climate, the Organizational Climate Measurement Scale, proposed by Martins et al. (2004) and Martins (2008), with modifications, was used. The data were submitted to quantitative statistical analyses that led to the following conclusions: the organizations' cultural profiles were considered well-balanced, with emphasis to "clan culture" and "market culture" profiles; the organizational climate was considered good, based on the Martins' (2008) classification, with emphasis to "support from the top management and organization" and "physical comfort", factors that are in agreement with the "clan culture" profile; and the cultural profiles showed influence on the organizational climate factors. Therefore, based on the results, it can be concluded that there are relationships between the cultural profiles and the organizational climate factors in the organizations studied.