Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temporal Matrices Mapping-Based Calibration Method for Event-Driven Structured Light Systems

Strong ambient illumination severely degrades the performance of conventional structured light 3D imaging systems due to the limited sensor bandwidth and light source power. In contrast, event-driven structured light techniques fully take advantage of laser-galvanometer scanning and event-detection property, which can achieve robust 3D reconstruction under such challenging scenarios. However, the low measurement accuracy of such systems severely hinders their extensive applications, as no accurate calibration method has yet been developed for them. In this work, we propose a novel Temporal Matrices Mapping (TMM) based calibration algorithm for event-driven structured light systems. The crucial step of our method is establishing the pixel correspondences between the galvanometer and event camera image planes with two temporal matrices. Specifically, we 1) scan a front-parallel plane vertically and horizontally to attain two temporal matrices; 2) estimate the coordinates of feature points on the galvanometer image plane through the temporal matrices and corresponding scanning speeds. In order to make the most of our calibration method, we present a disparity correction approach for depth calculation. We developed a prototype system to validate the proposed algorithms. Experimental results demonstrate that the calibration algorithm can reach sub-pixel precision, and the system’s measurement error can achieve 0.2%, which outperforms the typical 1.0% of the state-of-the-art.
Pathological effect of infectious bronchitis disease virus on broiler chicken trachea and kidney tissues

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the pathological effects of the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) on chicken trachea and kidney tissues and also desired to diagnose the virus genome using a molecular tool. Materials and Methods: Twenty trachea and kidney samples collected from one broiler farm contain 10,000 chickens at Tikrit city. The chickens showed signs of gasping and mortality (20%) at early ages (20 days old), the presence of IBV investigated using conventional reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique with routine histopathological study to tracheal and renal tissue. Results: Postmortem lesion showed severe respiratory inflammation with abscesses at tracheal bifurcation lead to airway blog. Molecular results showed two genotypes of IBV, one of them not included in primer designer research. The histological study showed different stages of inflammation, degeneration, and necrosis to the renal and tracheal tissues. Conclusion: The respiratory and renal pathological effect of the virus responsible for the symptoms appeared on the affected chicks that caused mortality, with a high probability of presence of a new viral genotype added to the untranslated region.
Robust Stabilization of a Class of Nonlinear Systems Controlled Over Communication Networks

The article deals with the stabilization of nonlinear systems in which the loop is closed over a lossy nonacknowledged communication network. Given a regional input-to-state (ISS) stabilizing state-feedback control law, designed without accounting for the network-induced delays, we propose a nonacknowledged communication policy that allows to deploy the above controller over the network without any modification, while preserving the regional ISS property. The time-varying delays and packet dropouts occurring on both the uplink and the downlink are compensated through a model-based prediction scheme and a packet-management policy based on time-stamping. The consistency of the prediction, which is a major issue in the context of nonlinear systems with an embedded networked controller, is guaranteed through the exploitation of a novel move-blocking strategy for computing the command sequence to be forwarded to the actuators.
How Can People Express Their Trait Self-Esteem Through Their Faces in 3D Space?

Background Trait self-esteem reflects stable self-evaluation, and it affects social interaction patterns. However, whether and how trait self-esteem can be expressed through behaviors are controversial. Considering that facial expressions can effectively convey information related to personal traits, the present study investigated the three-dimensional (3D) facial movements related to self-esteem level and the sex differences therein. Methods The sample comprised 238 participants (46.2% males, 53.8% females). Their levels of trait self-esteem were evaluated by employing the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES) (47.9% low self-esteem, 52.1% high self-esteem). During self-introductions, their facial movements in 3D space were recorded by Microsoft Kinect. Two-way ANOVA was performed to analyze the effect of self-esteem and gender on 3D facial movements. Additionally, Logistic regression models were established to describe the relationship between 3D facial movements and self-esteem levels in both genders. Results The results of two-way ANOVA revealed a main effect of trait self-esteem level for cheeks and lips’ movements. Meanwhile, there was a significant interaction between trait self-esteem and gender on the variability of lips’ movements. In addition, the combination of facial movements can effectively identify trait self-esteem in men and women, with 75.5 and 68% accuracy, respectively. Conclusion The present results suggest that the 3D facial expressions of individuals with different trait self-esteem levels were different, and such difference is affected by gender. Our study explores a possible way in which trait self-esteem plays a role in social interaction and also provides the basis for automatic self-esteem recognition.
Identity and Agency Development in a CLIL-based Teacher Education Program

A consensus exists in applied linguistics that agency and identity are key concepts in understanding teacher development. Although a large body of research has focused on studying language teacher and learner identity and agency separately, less attention has been paid to the relationship of these concepts in individual development. In this contribution, we use an ecological perspective to explore and illustrate the interplay between and development of agency and identity. The participants in the study were primary school teacher students specializing in foreign language pedagogy for younger learners and studying in a CLIL-based teacher education program. The qualitative data were collected through reflective essays focusing on the Finnish student teachers’ past, present, and future relationships with the English language during different phases of their bachelor’s studies.
The Effect of Acupuncture and Foot Reflexotherapy on Palmar Hyperhidrosis in a Young girl: A Case Report

Introduction: Palmar hyperhidrosis is the excessive and unpredictable sweating on the palms, which results in severe distress in occupational and social life of the sufferer. Pharmacological and surgical interventions, which are the mainstay of treatment, are invasive or associated with multiple side effects. Furthermore, efficacy of therapy is not guaranteed. Alternative techniques may have positive effects on palmar hyperhidrosis. However, there is severe lack of data on the application alternative therapy on palmar hyperhidrosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acupuncture and foot reflexotherapy in a young girl with palmar hyperhidrosis. Case: The subject of the present study was a 19-year female University student diagnosed with palmar hyperhidrosis. She was treated with acupuncture and foot reflexotherapy 4 times, once each week (i.e. 4 weeks of treatment sessions). Palmar sweating significantly improved with therapy and by the fifth-sixth week from treatment onset, the patient reported no palmar perspiration. Conclusion: Acupuncture and foot reflexotherapy may be safe and effective alternative therapeutic techniques that can decrease the intensity of sweating in palmar hyperhidrosis to acceptable degree.
Lessons from Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah for Today’s Foreign Language Teacher

The Muqaddimah, a massive 14th century text by Arab historian Ibn Khaldun, while primarily a history, in the later chapters deals with linguistics and pedagogy. Multiple publications on what his work contributes to the field of education exist. But surprisingly, only two papers have appeared specific to teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL): one decades old, the other primarily arguing an early case for communicative language teaching (CLT) is presented. Ibn Khaldun lived in a kind of global world, an Islamic one: cosmopolitan, and having its own international language. Analogies with today’s globalism and English are obvious. This article therefore reviews the total Muqaddimah, comparing its content to dominant ideas and figures in contemporary English language teaching (ELT), and showing it is still relevant to ELT. Congruences include Ibn Khaldun’s constructivist-like conception of identity and realization of second language learner (L2) identity’s role and formation process. Also, what would today be called Whorfianism, leading to concluding a language should be taught together with its discourses—but English is no longer viewed as just Anglo-American or native-speaker—Ibn Khaldun’s case is saved by reimagining English as global and cosmopolitan, which TESOL exactly has. It will also be shown that not CLT, but rather study abroad or immersion education is being portrayed. The importance of affect, a case made for both learner and teacher autonomy, together with other issues, all current in TESOL today, make Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah a rediscovered source of inspiration for the milieu of modern ELT.
Estimate zebra mussel veliger density from the riverbanks, lotic stretch and reservoir, in two Mediterranean rivers (E Spain)

Larval detection is the most commonly used procedure for monitoring the presence of Zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorha. Different filtering techniques carried out on the banks of the Ebro (EB) and Júcar (JU) rivers (Eastern Spain) in different water conditions are compared. Low volume water filtration from the banks is a method sensitive enough to detect variations in larval density due to water temperature and flow rates. The EB densities were lower and related to the temperature of the water. In JU, different spawning strategies and a much extended period of larval releasing into the water occurred in two consecutive years. The presence of larvae in both rivers was constant for many months of the year, during which various reproductive cycles occurred, facilitated by high water temperatures during mid-spring to late fall. Shoreline surveys can be easily used for allowing the early warning of the presence of this dangerous invasive species, mitigating damages and preventing its spread into new areas. However, it is important to choose a suitable location for capturing the larvae on the banks of reservoirs and in flowing rivers.
Resolving Recalcitrant Clades in the Pantropical Ochnaceae: Insights From Comparative Phylogenomics of Plastome and Nuclear Genomic Data Derived From Targeted Sequencing

Plastid DNA sequence data have been traditionally widely used in plant phylogenetics because of the high copy number of plastids, their uniparental inheritance, and the blend of coding and non-coding regions with divergent substitution rates that allow the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships at different taxonomic ranks. In the present study, we evaluate the utility of the plastome for the reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships in the pantropical plant family Ochnaceae (Malpighiales). We used the off-target sequence read fraction of a targeted sequencing study (targeting nuclear loci only) to recover more than 100 kb of the plastid genome from the majority of the more than 200 species of Ochnaceae and all but two genera using de novo and reference-based assembly strategies. Most of the recalcitrant nodes in the family’s backbone were resolved by our plastome-based phylogenetic inference, corroborating the most recent classification system of Ochnaceae and findings from a phylogenomic study based on nuclear loci. Nonetheless, the phylogenetic relationships within the major clades of tribe Ochnineae, which comprise about two thirds of the family’s species diversity, received mostly low support. Generally, the phylogenetic resolution was lowest at the infrageneric level. Overall there was little phylogenetic conflict compared to a recent analysis of nuclear loci. Effects of taxon sampling were invoked as the most likely reason for some of the few well-supported discords. Our study demonstrates the utility of the off-target fraction of a target enrichment study for assembling near-complete plastid genomes for a large proportion of samples.
Overexpression of DBF-Interactor Protein 6 Containing an R3H Domain Enhances Drought Tolerance in Populus L. (Populus tomentosa)

Drought is the primary disaster that endangers agricultural production, including animal husbandry, and affects the distribution, growth, yield, and quality of crops. Previous study had revealed that DIP, as a potential regulator of DBF activity, played an important role in response to drought stress in maize. In this study, a total of 67 DIPs were identified from seventeen land plants, including six tobacco DIPs (NtDIPs). NtDIP6 gene was further selected as a candidate gene for subsequent experiments based on the phylogenetic analysis and structural analysis. The transgenic tobacco and poplar plants over-expressing NtDIP6 gene were generated using the Agrobacterium- mediated method. Although there was not phenotypic difference between transgenic plants and wild-type plants under normal conditions, overexpression of the NtDIP6 gene in transgenic tobacco and poplar plants enhanced the drought tolerance under drought treatments in comparison with the wild type. The content of antioxidant defense enzymes peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and the photosynthetic rate increased in NtDIP6-Ox transgenic tobacco and poplar plants, while the content of malondialdehyde decreased, suggesting that the overexpression of NtDIP6 enhances the antioxidant capacity of transgenic poplar. Furthermore, the results of qRT-PCR showed that the level of expression of drought-related response genes significantly increased in the NtDIP6-Ox transgenic plants. These results indicated that NtDIP6, as a positive response regulator, improves drought stress tolerance by scavenging superoxide via the accumulation of antioxidant defense enzymes.
The Impact of Moral Leadership on Construction Employees' Psychological Behaviors

In construction companies, employee burnout rates and negative socioemotional behaviors (NSEBs) are severe problems for the management. Work-related problems are then visible in the employee's psychological behaviors and consequent outcomes. The literature on organizational behavior argues that moral leadership can evade burnout and NSEB. Following the arguments, this article attempts to examine the impact of moral leadership on the employee's burnout and NSEB through the mediating variables of job embeddedness, and distributive justice in the construction industry. By using the social exchange theory, this article analyzes the data of 302 employees from construction companies in Hong Kong to assess these relationships. The results showed a negative relationship between moral leadership and the construction employees’ burnout. This article provides construction companies and their managers with useful insights on the way the moral leadership mediate through job embeddedness and distributive justice to curtail the employees' burnout. The results of this article also motivate scholars to investigate the multidimensional role of moral leadership in their future research.
Is Metagenomic Analysis an Effective Way to Analyze Fish Feeding Habits? A Case of the Yellowfin Sea Bream Acanthopagrus latus (Houttuyn) in Daya Bay

Yellowfin seabream, Acanthopagrus latus, is one of the most important species in terms of stock enhancement in China. However, using metagenomic techniques to explore the feeding habits and stomach microbiome of yellowfin seabream is still rare. The objective of this work was to study the feeding habits and stomach microbiome of yellowfin sea bream from Daya Bay through metagenomic analysis of different weight classes (≤50, 50–100, and >100 g). Whole-metagenome shotgun sequencing and morphological observation were used to investigate the stomach contents. The dietary composition and the community composition of the stomach microbiome of A. latus were examined. In this study, 153 species were detected in the eukaryotic composition of the stomach contents of yellowfin sea bream. At the species level, Mytilus edulis was the only species identified by both metagenomic analysis and morphological observation. The proportion of fish and bivalves was over 98%, but the diet changed little with body size. Larimichthys crocea, Scophthalmus maximus, and Seriola dumerili were the most abundant species among all samples. In total, 285 species were identified in the stomach microbiome of yellowfin sea bream. Bacterium 2013Ark19i, bacterium 2013Arg42i and Acinetobacter baumannii, first reported in the stomach contents of yellowfin sea bream, were the most abundant species of the stomach microbiomes. There was no difference in the biodiversity of the stomach microbiomes among the different body sizes. Overall, the composition of the yellowfin sea bream diet mainly consists of fish and bivalves. The use of metagenomics techniques is a promising approach for assessing the feeding habits of yellowfin sea bream. The results derived from this study can provide important information for evaluating the feeding ecology of yellowfin sea bream in Daya Bay.
A Live Attenuated H9N2 Avian Influenza Vaccine Prevents the Viral Reassortment by Exchanging the HA and NS1 Packaging Signals

The H9N2 avian influenza virus is not only an important zoonotic pathogen, it can also easily recombine with other subtypes to generate novel reassortments, such as the H7N9 virus. Although H9N2 live attenuated vaccines can provide good multiple immunities, including humoral, cellular, and mucosal immunity, the risk of reassortment between the vaccine strain and wild-type virus is still a concern. Here, we successfully rescued an H9N2 live attenuated strain [rTX-NS1-128 (mut)] that can interdict reassortment, which was developed by exchanging the mutual packaging signals of HA and truncated NS1 genes and confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing. The dynamic growth results showed that rTX-NS1-128 (mut) replication ability in chick embryos was not significantly affected by our construction strategy compared to the parent virus rTX strain. Moreover, rTX-NS1-128 (mut) had good genetic stability after 15 generations and possessed low pathogenicity and no contact transmission characteristics in chickens. Furthermore, chickens were intranasally immunized by rTX-NS1-128 (mut) with a single dose, and the results showed that the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titers peaked at 3 weeks after vaccination and lasted at least until 11 weeks. The cellular immunity (IL-6 and IL-12) and mucosal immunity (IgA and IgG) in the nasal and trachea samples were significantly increased compared to inactivated rTX. Recombinant virus provided a good cross-protection against homologous TX strain (100%) and heterologous F98 strain (80%) challenge. Collectively, these data indicated that rTX-NS1-128(mut) lost the ability for independent reassortment of HA and NS1-128 and will be expected to be used as a potential live attenuated vaccine against H9N2 subtype avian influenza.
Transforming Product Catalogue Relational into Graph Database: a Performance Comparison

Due to the continuous expansion of telecom operators (TOs) services and subscriber’s base, a number of objects in TO product catalogue (PC) traditionally developed employing some relational database (RD) rapidly increase. This can result in degraded PC database performance in terms of reduced object visibility or slow query response time, which mandates a search for new types of databases that can cope with such challenges. A possible solution to these challenges is the transformation of RD into some graph database (GD), with visualisation and organisation capabilities that can cope with the increasing complexity of PC RDs. Hence, in this paper, a novel implementation concerning the transformation of a set of PC data and functions of the TO RD into ArangoDB GD is proposed. The proposed approach allows the upgrading of PC RD into a higher presentation layer through the implementation of the GD, which enables advanced data analysis and visualization. The developed solution shows that GD with appropriately structured queries, data and links between them, improves the visibility and simplifies the entire search process. Obtained results show that GD outperforms RD in terms of search query response time for different functions executed on an equal amount of database objects.
Correlation studies for green manuring traits in sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea (L.))

Genotypic correlation and path coefficient analysis were used to determine the effect of various traits as components of biomass yield in thirty sunnhemp [Crotalaria juncea (L.)] genotypes. The thirty sunnhemp genotypes were evaluated at research farm of department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari during kharif-2017. Randomized complete block design with three replicates was used for laying out the field experiments. Path coefficient analysis indicated the high positive direct effect of dry weight of root nodules per plant, days to fifty percent flowering, leaf length, root length, C:N ratio, primary branches per plant and leaf area on fresh weight of plant. These findings suggested that emphasis should be given on these traits for selecting elite genotypes and further breeding programme. The character plant height, internodes per plant, stem diameter, root nodules per plant and fresh weight of root nodules per plant exhibited negative direct effects on fresh weight of plant.
Comparison of acoustic and traditional point count methods to assess bird diversity and composition in the Aberdare National Park, Kenya

Afromontane forests, like those in the Aberdare National Park (ANP) in Kenya, sustain unique avifaunal assemblages. There is a growing need for biodiversity inventories for Afromontane forests, especially through the utilisation of unskilled observers. Acoustic surveys are a potential aid to this, but more comparisons of this technique with that of traditional point counts are needed. We conducted a systematic survey of the ANP avifauna, assessing whether acoustic and traditional surveys resulted in different species richness scores, and whether this varied with habitat and species characteristics. We also investigated the role of habitat and elevation in driving variation in species richness. The ANP provides habitat types including scrub, moorland, montane, hagenia and bamboo forests. Overall, the surveys yielded 101 identified species. The acoustic method resulted in higher species richness scores compared to the traditional method across all habitats, and the relative performance of the two methods did not vary with habitat type or visibility. The methods detected different species, suggesting that they should be used together to maximise the range of species recorded. We found that habitat type was the primary driver of variation in species richness, with scrub and montane forest having higher species richness scores than other habitats.
Lawless lawmaking in a COVID-19 world

India's management of the COVID-19 global pandemic has been marked by excessive centralisation, lawless lawmaking and non-consultative decision-making processes at the union government level This has created an atmosphere of confusion in the management of the disease, leading to India becoming one of the global hotspots and cases fast spiralling out of the control of local authorities