Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review of water quality index models as river quality evaluation tool: insight from various rivers in Indonesia

As industrial activities grow and increase, it is directly proportional to the wastewater produced, which is disposed of into the river. One of the calculation models commonly used for evaluating surface water quality is the water quality index (WQI). The method produces uncertainty in the conversion and is site specific dependent. The data collected for the last five years used a comparative method to assess the status classification of those rivers’ quality. In addition, this study also aims to classify the river quality status and evaluate the WQI model in determining the impact of industrial activities on Sumatra Island and Kalimantan Island, the five longest rivers in Indonesia. This paper uses the WQI to review the water quality condition of Indonesia’s five longest rivers, i.e., Kapuas River, Mahakam River, Barito River, Batanghari River, and Musi River, where the community heavily uses these rivers for their daily needs. This review study concluded that the WQI of a river could vary depending on the measurement data used in calculating the WQI value. The data describing the WQI of a river is a momentary WQI or periodic WQI. The study is expected to be used as a basis for developing a sustainable water pollution control strategy to maintain the grade status of a river according to its classification.
Long-term abstinence reduces optimal energy required for transitions from the exogenous networks to the frontoparietal network in methamphetamine addicts

Methamphetamine (MA) addiction is a chronic neurotoxic brain disorder that places a significant burden on public health, with a high relapse risk. Long-term abstinence can significantly reduce craving, yet the potential alterations caused by long-term abstinence still remain unclear. In this study, a total of 62 MA users who underwent longitudinal follow-up during their period of long-term abstinence (duration of long-term abstinence: 347.52 ± 99.25 days) were enrolled. For the first time, we employed a promising framework known as network control theory to explore the impact of long-term abstinence on MA addicts. Our observations indicated that long-term abstinence led to a decline in the control energy required for transitions from the visual network, and somatomotor network to the frontoparietal network, suggesting a reduced barrier for triggering executive control response to the drug cues. Furthermore, we identified the orbitofrontal cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as crucial regions involved in facilitating these transitions. Notably, we discovered significant associations between the influence of long-term abstinence on brain regions and the spatial distribution of key biological factors, such as DAT, 5HTT, D2, MOR, VAChT, and NET. Overall, our findings not only provide a novel perspective on understanding the impact of long-term abstinence in MA addicts but also link this process to biological factors.
Nitrogen Nutrient Balance and Load in Agro-ecosystem of Miyun Fangshan County in Beijing

N nutrient is important indicators of soil fertility,then excessive N fertilization in intensive agricultural areas of China has resulted in serious environmental problems because of atmospheric,soil,and water enrichment with reactive N of agricultural origin.N nutrient bal-ance and load in Agro-ecosystem of Miyun Fangshan County in Beijing were studied in this paper.Based on the theory of conservation of substance"input = output + surplus"in substance flow analysis(SFA)method,N nutrient balance model of agro-ecosystem was built.Data obtained from Miyun and Fangshan statistical report in 2007 and parameters acquired from recent references.Input,output and surplus of N nutrient in agro-ecosystem were estimated for appraising environmental effect.The result indicated:N loss enters in atmospheric and the wa-ter environment were 4 255.26 t and 7 728.95 t in 2007,N surplus were 7 320.51 t and 14 566.64 t in agro-ecosystem,and high environmen-tal risk arose by these two county of N nutrient existing in east regions.Meanwhile,comparing the research between two area,the dynamic changing tendency of N loss and surplus was analyzed.The reason of the potential tendency of pollution was excessive N fertilization pactices,and the regulating ways relevant was given.A better N balance can be achieved without sacrificing crop yields but significantly reducing en-vironmental risk by adopting optimum N fertilization techniques,controlling the primary N loss pathways,and improving the performance of the agricultural Extension Service.
Wet-dry cycle of expansive soil stabilized with fly ash and waste foundry sand on bearing capacity and swelling potential

The behavior of expansive soil, which is sensitive to water, makes it susceptible to moisture content changes, resulting in the soil becoming soft during the rainy season and soil shrinkage during the dry season. This research aims to study the effects of the wet-dry cycle on the bearing capacity and swelling potential of stabilized expansive clay soil using two types of industrial waste, namely Fly Ash (FA) and Waste Foundry Sand (WFS), as soil improvement and industrial waste management efforts. The wet-dry cycle is assumed to represent the changes in the environment due to seasonal variations. The wetting cycle is conducted by immersing the soil samples in water, while the drying cycle is achieved by allowing them to air dry at room temperature. The FA content is set at 9% and the WFS content at 15% by weight of dry soil. The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test is performed after the completion of the wet-dry cycle, while the swelling test is conducted during the wet-dry cycle. Each sample undergoes one, two, and three cycles of wetting and drying. The results showed that the CBR value increased with the addition of FA and WFS. The CBR value of natural soil is 8.89% while the CBR value of soil+9%FA+15%WFS is 16.02%. During the wetting phase, the CBR value decreases with increasing moisture content. After undergoing the third cycle, the CBR value and development potential tend to remain constant.
Design Challenges and Opportunities of Fossil Preparation Tools and Methods

Fossil preparation is the activity of processing paleontological specimens for research and exhibition. Alongside traditional mechanical extraction methods, fossil preparation presently comprises non-destructive digital techniques within the emerging field of virtual paleontology. Despite significant technological advances, traditional and digital preparation remain cumbersome and time-consuming. However, this field has received scarce attention from a human-computer interaction standpoint. This study aims to present the current state of paleontological fossil preparation, highlighting its key challenges and initiating a dialogue about innovative designs to address current issues. Our research comprises a qualitative study involving technical preparators and virtual paleontologists. The study consists of two main parts: Firstly, a focus group session brought together preparators and researchers to discuss their workflows, obtain a preliminary understanding of their issues, and ideate solutions based on their counterparts’ experiences. Subsequently, a series of contextual inquiries involved direct observations and semi-structured in-depth interviews. By transcribing and analyzing the data through theoretical and inductive thematic analysis, we clustered emerging themes and applied concepts from human-computer interaction and related fields. Our findings report on challenges traditional and digital fossil preparators encounter, shedding light on potential opportunities to enhance their tools and workflows. This work contributes a novel analysis of fossil preparation from an HCI perspective.
The importance of software for the stereometric analysis of artworks. A case study with Pieter Saenredam

This paper, which is a development of a part of our Ph.D. project, completed in 2008, tells us the importance of using computer-aided design software in the analysis of works of art and particularly in easel paintings that show compositions with geometric perspective. In the text we emphasize the importance of the computer-aided drawing tool that allows for verifying the coherence of the construction of the perspective representation of certain paintings from a certain historical period. In this way, we try to demonstrate that computer-aided design has the advantage of being able to signal with great accuracy the coherence of the geometric lines of certain painting compositions that represent real or illusory spaces and, in this way, classify the degree of erudition of certain workshops and artistic currents. In summary, we show in this article that computer-aided drawing can be an excellent tool for art historians, allowing them to conclude results in relation to the preparatory drawing that was practiced in the pictorial workshops of one or several historical times. Finally, in the text we present a case study with the analysis of a painting by the Dutch artist Pieter Saenredam. This artist is a paradigmatic example of the exhaustive use of linear perspective drawing that organises the composition of his paintings. For this reason, we present him here as a case study.
Is Average Worrying? A Mixed Method Study of Malaysian Public University Administrative Staff’s Workplace Communication Apprehension

Even when employed, English oral communication skills proficiency continues to be an asset; mastering the skill is advantageous. The notion has driven comprehensive studies on communication, including apprehension, yet the focus on workplace contexts remains minimal. Therefore, this investigation aims to discern communication apprehension’s effect on staff’s communication skills, their administrative tasks, and the institution, to support the skill enhancement. Utilizing the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension instrument and a purposive sampling, the study’s explanatory sequential mixed method design sampled institution’s one hundred fifteen administrative staff. The staff communication apprehension levels were recorded as moderate, with the highest in delivering public speeches. Nevertheless, interview results proved differently to extend worrying trends among staff. The trend could jeopardize staff’s personality and productivity in the long run. The mediocre level also hinted at skill’s stagnant inclination or deterioration if it is not consistently used in conducting workplace tasks or events. The need for an impactful lifelong learning professional development plan to improve staff English oral communication skills is apparent by the University. The university's plan also need to include supporting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for their employees.
Effects of different levels of dried onion powder on nutrient digestibility, biochemical parameters, and nitrogen balance in Wistar albino rats with induced hyperuricemia

Introduction: Onions (Allium cepa L.) are excellent sources of bioactive compounds and phytochemicals such as allicin, quercetin, fisetin, and other sulfurous compounds. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the effects of dried onion powder on growth performance, nitrogen balance, and biochemical parameters in Wistar albino rats with induced hyperuricemia. Methods: A total of 24 rats were randomly divided into four groups, with six in each group: HU (positive control) and HOT1, HOT2, and HOT3 groups, which received a diet containing onion powder at concentrations of 11.13, 14.84, and 18.61 g/100 g, respectively. Hyperuricemia was induced in rats by administering a new formulation intraperitoneally (250 mg/kg potassium oxonate) and orally (40 mg/kg potassium bromate) daily for 14 days. After confirmation of hyperuricemia induction, rats were fed with onion-treated diets with various concentrations of quercetin for 21 days. Results: Significant decreases (p ≤ 0.05) in serum uric acid, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein were observed. An increasing trend (p ≤ 0.05) in the levels of hemoglobin (Hb), white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), and platelet count was observed. An improvement in the levels of serum high-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, serum total protein and neutrophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes was observed. A positive progress (p ≤ 0.05) was observed in growth performance and nutrient digestibility. Conclusion: In conclusion, a significantly lower uric acid level was observed in rats fed with HOT2 diet. Based on the ratio of the surface area (human/rat), the best recommended dose of onion for the incidence and prevention of hyperuricemia is 189.95 g, corresponding to the dose of 204 mg/day of quercetin in humans.
Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks on Domestic and Foreign Banks Lending in Tanzania

This study investigated the effect of monetary policy shocks on bank loans extended by domestic and foreign banks in Tanzania over the period from 2006 to 2020. It adopted the impulse response functions and the variance decomposition analysis to study the responses of these types of lending to monetary policy shocks. The studyfound out that foreign banks do not react negatively to a monetary policy shock, supporting the view that foreign banks in Tanzania did not abandon the domestic market in times of economic distress. The policy implication was that the foreign banks in Tanzania had been supportive of the domestic economy even in times of economic distress. Empirical evidence provided by this study supported the positive role played by the foreign banks in contributing to the financial and economic stability of the Tanzanian economy. The theoretical contribution of the study is that despite a tight monetary condition, the foreign banks continued to resume lending, implying that the “capital flight” argument did not apply to the foreign banks' operations in Tanzania.
Carvacrol-Induced Vacuole Dysfunction and Morphological Consequences in Nakaseomyces glabratus and Candida albicans

With the prevalence of systemic fungal infections caused by Candida albicans and non-albicans species and their resistance to classical antifungals, there is an urgent need to explore alternatives. Herein, we evaluate the impact of the monoterpene carvacrol, a major component of oregano and thyme oils, on clinical and laboratory strains of C. albicans and Nakaseomyces glabratus. Carvacrol induces a wide range of antifungal effects, including the inhibition of growth and hyphal and biofilm formation. Using biochemical and microscopic approaches, we elucidate carvacrol-induced hyphal inhibition. The significantly reduced survival rates following exposure to carvacrol were accompanied by dose-dependent vacuolar acidification, disrupted membrane integrity, and aberrant morphology. Germ tube assays, used to elucidate the relationship between vacuolar dysfunction and hyphal inhibition, showed that carvacrol significantly reduced hyphal formation, which was accompanied by a defective C. albicans morphology. Thus, we show a link between vacuolar acidification/disrupted vacuole membrane integrity and compromised candidal morphology/morphogenesis, demonstrating that carvacrol exerts its anti-hyphal activity by altering vacuole integrity.
Rats did not show evidence of prospective information-seeking: a pilot study

Information-seeking behavior often features in research on metacognition in non-human animals; some species seek more information when they do not know the location of a food reward. Rats are known to do this in situations of uncertainty, but it is still unclear if they seek information prospectively for solving a later problem. In this study, we investigated rats’ information-seeking responses in two areas that presented different cognitive challenges (N = 4). In one area, a memory task was presented in which rats could access a cue for a food reward during the information-seeking phase of a trial, but the cue was removed before the subsequent test phase. In the other area, a discrimination task presented a cue that was available in both the information-seeking and the test phases, so that it was not necessary to seek information prospectively. The memory and discrimination test trials were given in quasi-random order (Experiment 1). Rats explored in the memory task area no more than in the discrimination task area during the information-seeking phase, even after extensive training. When they were exposed exclusively to the memory task over multiple sessions (Experiment 2), they developed a strategy of exploring the available object cues. In Experiment 3, rats were found to stay longer in an area, which had an object than in other, less potentially informative areas; they were sensitive to the presence of information. Although these results did not support the existence of prospective information-seeking in rats, they do not necessarily imply that rats lack related abilities. This consideration is due to the constraints of the small sample size and the limited scope of the testing environment. Accumulating not only positive but also negative evidence would further understanding of the factors influencing metacognitive responses in non-human animals.
Effect of Potassium Fertilization and Irrigation Intervals on Growth and Yield of Egg Plant Solanum melogena L.

This experiment was conducted during 2004/ 2005 season in two locations, Al-Eshaki Agricultural Research Station (EARS) that belongs to the Iraqi Industrial Crop Company, and a private farm in Al- Rashdia, north of Baghdad. The experiment was adopted as split plot design with three replicates by two factors, three irrigation intervals (4, 8 and 12 days) during growing season (main plots) and three levels of potassium fertilizer (potassium sulfate) (K2O, 46%). Those levels were (0, 92 and 184 Kg K2O/h) (Sub plots). Irrigation every 8 days during growing season significantly increased plant height, number of main branches per plant, leaf area index and dry weight of leaves and stems in the second location (Al- Rashdia). Meanwhile, there was no significant effect for irrigation period on the above parameters in the first location. Moreover, total plant chlorophyll content was increased significantly in both locations when the irrigation period was 8 days. Mean fruit weight and plant yield were significantly increased in both locations with the treatment of 8 days irrigation to 159.06 and 178.63 kg/plant and 59.68 and 61.22 t/h for both locations, respectively. Potassium fertilization by 92 kg K2O/h resulted in significant increase in plant leaf area index, dry weight for both leaves and stems and total plant chlorophyll content as compared with plants that were not fertilized which gave the lowest values. The above potassium fertilizer increased significantly the main fruit weight and total plant yield to 156.68 and 169.02 kg/plant and 58.63 and 59.33 t/h as compared to control that produced the least values. Interaction effect between the two factors showed that irrigation each 8 days and fertilization with potassium resulted in the highest values for the above vegetative and yield parameters.
Development of An Audio Frequency Meter with Arduino and MAX4466 Sound Sensor

Sound is one of the areas of study in physics education. Based on the data, it was found that there were difficulties in students' understanding and misconceptions in studying the concept of sound and its parameters. The aim of this research is to design a sound frequency measuring instrument that can visualize one of the parameters in the sound concept: frequency. The research carried out is a type of development research with a 4D model. The results of this research are a series of sound frequency measuring instruments based on Arduino and a Max4466 sound sensor. The validity of the tool was tested with an average validation value of 0.95 in a very good category. The results of calibration using a tuning fork show that the Audio Frequency Meter can consistently measure sound frequencies with an average measurement deviation of 0.514 Hz. Through the results of this research, it is hoped that it can become a reference in developing practical tools for sound concepts.
Effect of Grazing in Spring-Summer on Soil Seed Bank and Vegetation in Southern Part of Gurbantunggut Desert

Gurbantunggut desert is the largest fixed and semi-fixed desert in China,and its vegetation species is relatively multiple.The semi-fixed longitudinal dune area in the desert was winter pasture in history,but recently grazing entered the desert even in spring and summer.Therefore,it changes the density and composition of soil seed bank and vegetation.The comparing results show that there are 24 seed banks under winter grazing and 20 seed banks under spring-summer grazing,and their corresponding seed bank density is(355.1±88) viable seeds·m-2 and(189.1±23) viable seeds·m-2,respectively.The annual herbages dominate in both grazing sites,with the similarity coefficient of soil seed bank being 0.711. The similarity coefficients of soil seed bank vary in a range of 0.429~0.600 at different parts of a same sand dune.The plant species in winter grazing dune and spring-summer grazing dune are 36 and 26 species respectively.The species number of every life form in spring-summer grazing dune is less than that in winter grazing dune.There are lower biodiversity index and evenness index in spring-summer grazing dune,but with a higher dominance index.Regression analysis shows that difference in seed bank density accounts for 21% of the variance of standing vegetation density in winter grazing dune and for 51% of that in spring-summer grazing dune.It indicates that the density of seed bank and standing vegetation in winter grazing dune has weak correlation,and grazing during spring and summer would enhance the relationship between them remarkably.
Binary Representation Embedding and Deep Learning For Binary Code Similarity Detection in Software Security Domain

Binary Code Similarity Detection (BCSD) is the process of analyzing the binary representations of two functions, programs, or related entities to generate a quantitative output that signifies the similarity score between them. This task encompasses a wide range of applications, including addressing the binary search problem, which involves searching for code segments within a binary file that are similar to a specified binary code segment. These capabilities open up numerous potential applications within the domain of binary code analysis such as software vulnerability detection, clone detection, and malware analysis. In this paper, we introduce BiSim-Inspector, a BCSD tool based on Deep Learning (DL). This tool leverages the Bytes2vec method, which we develop to transform the bytecode of binary functions into vectors, which are then fed into the Convolutional Neural Network - Gated Recurrent Unit (CNN-GRU) model. Additionally, we conducted a series of experiments to assess the effectiveness of our method by comparing it with existing state-of-the-art (SOTA) tools. We use a large-scale, well-structured, and diversified dataset, BinaryCorp, for the task of BCSD. The results show that our framework achieves a Recall rate of 89%, which is 25% higher than existing SOTA methods, without compromising the training and prediction time.