pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Changing year-round habitat use of extensively grazing cattle, sheep and pigs in East-Central Europe between 1940 and 2014: Consequences for conservation and policy

Abstract Many habitats in Europe have been managed by grazing for thousands of years. However, extensive grazing systems are becoming increasingly rare in the region, and there is a lack of understanding of the functioning of these systems. We carried out 147 structured interviews in 38 landscapes throughout the Carpathian Basin, with 3–5 informants/landscape. The number of actively grazing cattle, sheep and pigs, their year-round habitat use and the proportion of herds actively tended were documented for four characteristic historical periods (before, during and after socialist cooperatives and after EU Accession). The numbers of grazing cattle and sheep had decreased substantially by 2010 (by 71% and 49%, respectively), while pig grazing almost disappeared by the 1970s. Cattle primarily grazed habitats with taller vegetation. Sheep grazed dry pastures and stubbles, while pigs were driven into marshes and forests. In general, the importance of dry and wet grasslands increased, while the significance of marshes, stubble fields, vegetation along linear elements, second growth on hay meadows, wood-pastures and forests decreased over time. Approximately half of the grazed habitats were not typical pasture grasslands, and functioned as supplementary pastures during droughts, autumn and winter. The number of habitat types grazed per month per site dropped, and herding decreased substantially, in particular in the case of cattle and pigs. Contributing factors of the economic and social changes of the examined period included the collapse of the communist-era legal framework, the intensification of livestock husbandry, EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regulations, and the rise of a nature conservation ethic. We conclude that agricultural policies should take into account the full spectrum of habitat types necessary for the effective operation of extensive grazing systems. We argue that conservation-oriented extensive grazing should use the traditional wisdom of herders but adapted to the present situations
Synthesis and Characterization of Amide Stationary Phases for the Determination of Sulfonamides by Sequential Injection Chromatography

Producción CientíficaThe synthesis of amide (butyl, cyclohexyl, and phenyl) modified silica and the use as stationary phases in sequential injection chromatogra-phy are described. The system was tested on the isocratic separation of seven sulfonamides (sulfachloropyridazine, sulfadimethoxine, sulfame-thazine, sulfamethoxazole, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfaquinoxaline, and sulfathiazole) using each stationary phase with mobile phases composed of acetonitrile/water at a flow rate of 0.45 mL min−1. A mixed mode retention mechanism of sulfonamides in the stationary phases was obtained, including dipole-dipole, π-π, and hydrogen bonding interactions. The most appropriate phase for the separation of sulfonamides was phenylamide. The chromatographic behavior was confirmed using density functional theory of the interaction between sulfamethoxazole and the stationary phases.Junta de Castilla y León Proyecto VA171U1
Liberal market economies, business, and political finance: Britain under New Labour

The extent and nature of business financing of parties is an important feature of political finance.  Britain’s transparent and permissive regulatory system provides an excellent opportunity to study business financing of parties.  Business donations have been very important to the Conservative party over the last decade, and of only marginal importance to Labour.  Unlike other Conservative contributors, business donors are more likely to contribute when the party is popular.  In contrast to the previous period of Conservative government, the biggest British businesses tended to abstain from political finance under New Labour.  However, their bias towards the Conservatives is affected by the party’s popularity and the closeness of an election.  Britain shares the political importance of business financing of parties and its mixture of ideological and pragmatic motivations with other liberal market economies.  However, in Britain the bias towards the right is much stronger and the role of big business more marginal
Autonomous vehicle control systems for safe crossroads

This article presents a cooperative manoeuvre among three dual mode cars – vehicles equipped with sensors and actuators, and that can be driven either manually or autonomously. One vehicle is driven autonomously and the other two are driven manually. The main objective is to test two decision algorithms for priority conflict resolution at intersections so that a vehicle autonomously driven can take their own decision about crossing an intersection mingling with manually driven cars without the need for infrastructure modifications. To do this, the system needs the position, speeds, and turning intentions of the rest of the cars involved in the manoeuvre. This information is acquired via communications, but other methods are also viable, such as artificial vision. The idea of the experiments was to adjust the speed of the manually driven vehicles to force a situation where all three vehicles arrive at an intersection at the same time
Twist-stretch profiles of DNA chains

Helical molecules change their twist number under the effect of a mechanical load. We study the twist-stretch relation for a set of short DNA molecules modeled by a mesoscopic Hamiltonian. Finite temperature path integral techniques are applied to generate a large ensemble of possible configurations for the base pairs of the sequence. The model also accounts for the bending and twisting fluctuations between adjacent base pairs along the molecules stack. Simulating a broad range of twisting conformation, we compute the helix structural parameters by averaging over the ensemble of base pairs configurations. The method selects, for any applied force, the average twist angle which minimizes the molecule's free energy. It is found that the chains generally over-twist under an applied stretching and the over-twisting is physically associated to the contraction of the average helix diameter, i.e. to the damping of the base pair fluctuations. Instead, assuming that the maximum amplitude of the bending fluctuations may decrease against the external load, the DNA molecule first over-twists for weak applied forces and then untwists above a characteristic force value. Our results are discussed in relation to available experimental information albeit for kilo-base long molecules
About the effect of plastic dissipation in heat at the crack tip on the stress intensity factor under cyclic loading

Please cite this article as:
Ranc, N., Palin-Luc, T., Paris, P.C., Saintier, N., About the effect of plastic dissipation in heat at the crack tip on the stress intensity factor under cyclic loading, International Journal of Fatigue (2013).Because of the reverse cyclic plastic zone at the crack tip, there is plastic dissipation in heat at the crack tip under cyclic loading. That creates a heterogeneous temperature field around the crack tip. A thermo-mechanical model is proposed in this paper for evaluating the consequence of this temperature field on the Mode I stress intensity factor. Two cases are studied: (i) the theoretical problem of an infinite plate with a semi-infinite through crack under Mode I cyclic loading, and (ii) a finite specimen with a central through crack. In the first case, the main hypothesis and results are presented from the literature but no heat loss is taken into account. In second case, heat loss by convection is taken into account with a finite element analysis, while an analytical solution exists in the literature for the first case. In both cases, it is assumed that the heat source is located in the reverse cyclic plastic zone. The heat source within the reverse cyclic plastic zone is quantified by experiments on a mild steel under R=0.1. It is shown that the crack tip is under compression due to thermal stresses coming from the heterogeneous temperature field around the crack tip. The effect of this stress field on the stress intensity factor (its maximum, minimum and its range) is calculated. This paper shows that experiments have to be carried out to determine the heat source within the reverse cyclic plastic zone. This is the key parameter to quantify the effect of dissipation at the crack tip on the stress intensity factor
Trees, slices, and wheels: On the floorplan area minimization problem

Hierarchical approaches to floorplan design usually use trees to represent hierarchical floorplans, defining topological relations between a set of components to be placed on a (circuit) board. This placement is then optimized to minimize chip area, perimeter, or other such cost measurements. This work places the problem of minimizing hierarchical floorplans of order k within the appropriate theoretical framework and presents an algorithm that uses exclusively the k-ary representation tree to determine the best or minimal solution to a conflicting bicriteria problem. The algorithm does not need predefined partitioning schemes and determines the orientation of each individual component. It can deal both with five-module wheels, as well as slices, and can handle an arbitrary number of realizations for each individual component. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/net.1007
A bicriterion approach for routing problems in multimedia networks

Routing problems in communication networks supporting multiple services, namely, multimedia applications, involve the selection of paths satisfying multiple constraints (of a technical nature) and seeking simultaneously to ldquooptimizerdquo the associated metrics. Although traditional models in this area are single-objective, in many situations, it is important to consider different, eventually conflicting, objectives. In this paper, we consider a bicriterion model dedicated to calculating nondominated paths for specific traffic flows (associated with video services) in multiservice high-speed networks. The mathematical formulation of the problem and the bicriterion algorithmic approach developed for its resolution are presented together with computational tests regarding an application to video-traffic routing in a high-speed network. The algorithmic approach is an adaptation of recent work by Ernesto Martins and his collaborators, namely, the MPS algorithm. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/net.1007
Test-retest reliability and longitudinal analysis of automated hippocampal subregion volumes in healthy ageing and Alzheimer's disease populations

The hippocampal formation is a complex brain structure that is important in cognitive processes such as memory, mood, reward processing and other executive functions. Histological and neuroimaging studies have implicated the hippocampal region in neuropsychiatric disorders as well as in neurodegenerative diseases. This highly plastic limbic region is made up of several subregions that are believed to have different functional roles. Therefore, there is a growing interest in imaging the subregions of the hippocampal formation rather than modelling the hippocampus as a homogenous structure, driving the development of new automated analysis tools. Consequently, there is a pressing need to understand the stability of the measures derived from these new techniques. In this study, an automated hippocampal subregion segmentation pipeline, released as a developmental version of Freesurfer (v6.0), was applied to T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of 22 healthy older participants, scanned on 3 separate occasions and a separate longitudinal dataset of 40 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Test-retest reliability of hippocampal subregion volumes was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), percentage volume difference and percentage volume overlap (Dice). Sensitivity of the regional estimates to longitudinal change was estimated using linear mixed effects (LME) modelling. The results show that out of the 24 hippocampal subregions, 20 had ICC scores of 0.9 or higher in both samples; these regions include the molecular layer, granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus, CA1, CA3 and the subiculum (ICC > 0.9), whilst the hippocampal fissure and fimbria had lower ICC scores (0.73-0.88). Furthermore, LME analysis of the independent AD dataset demonstrated sensitivity to group and individual differences in the rate of volume change over time in several hippocampal subregions (CA1, molecular layer, CA3, hippocampal tail, fissure and presubiculum). These results indicate that this automated segmentation method provides a robust method with which to measure hippocampal subregions, and may be useful in tracking disease progression and measuring the effects of pharmacological intervention
Non-destructive laboratory-based X-ray diffraction mapping of warpage in Si die embedded in IC packages

Reliability issues as a consequence of thermal/mechanical stresses created during packaging processes have been the main obstacle towards the realisation of high volume 3D Integrated Circuit (IC) integration technology for future microelectronics. However, there is no compelling laboratory-based metrology that can non-destructively measure or image stress/strain or warpage inside packaged chips, System-on-Chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP), which is identified as a requirement by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). In the work presented here, a triple-axis Jordan Valley Bede D1 X-ray diffractometer is used to develop a novel lab-based technique called X-ray diffraction 3-dimensional surface modeling (XRD/3DSM) for non-destructive analysis of manufacturing process-induced stress/warpage inside completely encapsulated packaged chips. The technique is demonstrated at room temperature and at elevated temperatures up to 115C by in situ XRD annealing experiments. The feasibility of this technique is confirmed through the charactersation of die stress inside encapsulated commercially available ultra-thin Quad Flat Non-lead (QFN) packages, as well as die stress in embedded QFN packages at various stages of the chip manufacturing proces
Do we speak the same language?: terminology strategies for (software) engineering environments based on the elcat model - innovative terminology e-learning for the automotive industry

This paper addresses the need for correct and consistent use of concepts and terms in engineering environments. It provides guidance on how to formulate a corporate terminology policy as a pre-requisite for managing corporate language, designing and implementing a terminology process, and eventually writing definitions and creating new terms. The strategy presented in this paper follows the elcat model, an innovative e-learning initiative that focusses on content development of terminology management modules for the automotive industries. The authors suggest that the role of terminology management is to bring some order to support consistent and more precise language adoption for a period of time. Effective medium to long term terminology management is thereafter enabled through the introduction of a terminology change management procedure
Visual 3-D SLAM from UAVs

The aim of the paper is to present, test and discuss the implementation of Visual SLAM techniques to images taken from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) outdoors, in partially structured environments. Every issue of the whole process is discussed in order to obtain more accurate localization and mapping from UAVs flights. Firstly, the issues related to the visual features of objects in the scene, their distance to the UAV, and the related image acquisition system and their calibration are evaluated for improving the whole process. Other important, considered issues are related to the image processing techniques, such as interest point detection, the matching procedure and the scaling factor. The whole system has been tested using the COLIBRI mini UAV in partially structured environments. The results that have been obtained for localization, tested against the GPS information of the flights, show that Visual SLAM delivers reliable localization and mapping that makes it suitable for some outdoors applications when flying UAVs
Finite size effects near the onset of the oscillatory instability

A system of two complex Ginzburg - Landau equations is considered that applies at the onset of the oscillatory instability in spatial domains whose size is large (but finite) in one direction; the dependent variables are the slowly modulated complex amplitudes of two counterpropagating wavetrains. In order to obtain a well posed problem, four boundary conditions must be imposed at the boundaries. Two of them were already known, and the other two are first derived in this paper. In the generic case when the group velocity is of order unity, the resulting problem has terms that are not of the same order of magnitude. This fact allows us to consider two distinguished limits and to derive two associated (simpler) sub-models, that are briefly discussed. Our results predict quite a rich variety of complex dynamics that is due to both the modulational instability and finite size effects
Special Issue on Global Flow Instability And Control

This special issue is intended to provide a snapshot of current research in the area of “Global Flow Instability and Control”. The original papers, and to a certain extent the topic itself, are intimately linked with the series of symposia by the same name that were held in Crete, Greece, between 2001 and 2009. As members of the organizing committees of the Crete symposia, we invited all past participants to contribute, and all papers were reviewed following the strict standards of the journal. This preface gives a brief historical account of events that have shaped ideas in the field over the past decade, followed by a synopsis of the papers published herein
Connexin-43 prevents hematopoietic stem cell senescence through transfer of reactive oxygen species to bone marrow stromal cells

Hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) aging has become a concern in chemotherapy of older patients. Humoral and paracrine signals from the bone marrow (BM) hematopoietic microenvironment (HM) control HSC activity during regenerative hematopoiesis. Connexin-43 (Cx43), a connexin constituent of gap junctions (GJs) is expressed in HSCs, down-regulated during differentiation, and postulated to be a self-renewal gene. Our studies, however, reveal that hematopoietic-specific Cx43 deficiency does not result in significant long-term competitive repopulation deficiency. Instead, hematopoietic Cx43 (H-Cx43) deficiency delays hematopoietic recovery after myeloablation with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). 5-FU-treated H-Cx43-deficient HSC and progenitors (HSC/P) cells display decreased survival and fail to enter the cell cycle to proliferate. Cell cycle quiescence is associated with down-regulation of cyclin D1, up-regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors, p21cip1. and p16INK4a, and Forkhead transcriptional factor 1 (Foxo1), and activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), indicating that H-Cx43-deficient HSCs are prone to senescence. The mechanism of increased senescence in H-Cx43-deficient HSC/P cells depends on their inability to transfer reactive oxygen species (ROS) to the HM, leading to accumulation of ROS within HSCs. In vivo antioxidant administration prevents the defective hematopoietic regeneration, as well as exogenous expression of Cx43 in HSC/P cells. Furthermore, ROS transfer from HSC/P cells to BM stromal cells is also rescued by reexpression of Cx43 in HSC/P. Finally, the deficiency of Cx43 in the HM phenocopies the hematopoietic defect in vivo. These results indicate that Cx43 exerts a protective role and regulates the HSC/P ROS content through ROS transfer to the HM, resulting in HSC protection during stress hematopoietic regeneration
Broadband electronically tunable reflectionbased\ud
phase shifter for active-steering microwave\ud
reflectarray systems in Ku-band

This document provides the design of an electronically reconfigurable microwave phase shifter for reflectarray systems. The phase shifter is based on a hybrid coupler with reflective circuits in three ports. Each reflective circuit introduces a phase variation that can be modified due to the variable capacity value of a varactor inserted in it. The phase shifting process includes three different stages of phase shifting for the incoming signal in its way through the phase shifter: the signal is conducted through the device towards the reflective circuits in four different ways. The input port of the device is also the output one, providing the desired reflective phase shifting effect. This device is of great interest in reflectarray applications in order to provide more than 360° of controllable phase shifting at each array element. The document includes the complete design of the phase shifter along with its design parameters and circuital behaviour
Oxygen fluxes beneath Arctic land-fast ice and pack ice: towards estimates of ice productivity

Sea-ice ecosystems are among the most extensive of Earth’s habitats; yet its autotrophic and heterotrophic activities remain poorly constrained. We employed the in situ aquatic eddy-covariance (AEC) O2 flux method and laboratory incubation techniques (H14CO3−, [3H] thymidine and [3H] leucine) to assess productivity in Arctic sea-ice using different methods, in conditions ranging from land-fast ice during winter, to pack ice within the central Arctic Ocean during summer. Laboratory tracer measurements resolved rates of bacterial C demand of 0.003–0.166 mmol C m−2 day−1 and primary productivity rates of 0.008–0.125 mmol C m−2 day−1 for the different ice floes. Pack ice in the central Arctic Ocean was overall net autotrophic (0.002–0.063 mmol C m−2 day−1), whereas winter land-fast ice was net heterotrophic (− 0.155 mmol C m−2 day−1). AEC measurements resolved an uptake of O2 by the bottom-ice environment, from ~ − 2 mmol O2 m−2 day−1 under winter land-fast ice to~ − 6 mmol O2 m−2 day−1 under summer pack ice. Flux of O2-deplete meltwater and changes in water flow velocity masked potential biological-mediated activity. AEC estimates of primary productivity were only possible at one study location. Here, productivity rates of 1.3 ± 0.9 mmol O2 m−2 day−1, much larger than concurrent laboratory tracer estimates (0.03 mmol C m−2 day−1), indicate that ice algal production and its importance within the marine Arctic could be underestimated using traditional approaches. Given careful flux interpretation and with further development, the AEC technique represents a promising new tool for assessing oxygen dynamics and sea-ice productivity in ice-covered regions
Ion beam analysis of as-received, H-implanted and post implanted annealed fusion steels

The elemental distribution for as-received (AR), H implanted (AI) and post-implanted annealed (A) Eurofer and ODS-Eurofer steels has been characterized by means of micro Particle Induced X-ray Emission (μ-PIXE), micro Elastic Recoil Detection (μ-ERD) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). The temperature and time-induced H diffusion has been analyzed by Resonance Nuclear Reaction Analysis (RNRA), Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS), ERDA and SIMS techniques. μ-PIXE measurements point out the presence of inhomogeneities in the Y distribution for ODS-Eurofer samples. RNRA and SIMS experiments evidence that hydrogen easily outdiffuses in these steels even at room temperature. ERD data show that annealing at temperatures as low as 300 °C strongly accelerates the hydrogen diffusion process, driving out up to the 90% of the initial hydrogen