Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Basic densities as a parameter for estimating the amount of carbon removal by forests and their variation

Basic densities of wood from 10 species (572 trees) of softwoods and 50 species (440 trees) of hardwoods were measured as parameters for estimating the amount of carbon removal by forests following the guidelines described in the Kyoto Protocol and Marrakesh Accord. The basic densities of individual trees were averaged for each species and 95% confi dence limits were calculated for quality control. Furthermore, variations in the mean basic densities within species were assessed by analysis of variation and the effects of stand ages or tree ages on the basic densities were also evaluated. The average and 95% confi dence limits of the basic densities in most species that were collected for a certain number of sample trees converged and most species showed low uncertainty up to 5 %. Some species, such as Larix kaempferi, Picea jezoensis and Picea glehnii, showed signifi cant differences among plots, while other species, such as Chamaecyparis obtusa and Abies sachalinensis did not. When the basic densities were averaged for regional groups, the regional mean did not show signifi cant difference. Thus, the differences found between plots might not have been caused by regional variation. Moreover, neither the tree age nor the stand age showed signifi cant correlation with the basic densities; the basic densities of younger stands (younger than 20 years old) did not differ from those of the older stands. These results suggest that using basic densities as a parameter for estimating carbon removal by forests does not require the preparation of values for districts or age classes.
Integrated Reporting, Sustainable Development Goals and the Role of Regional Information System

Purpose: The purpose of this research article is to assess what information should be connected and how its information can be connected based on integrated thinking fit within integrated reporting into information system of regional investment potential (ISRIP) of regional government. To develop insight into how it can be implemented over changes of investment climate due to the top down pressures to fulfill sustainable development goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach: we conducted research for regional governments (province/district/city) in Indonesia with investment characteristics of the potential, priorities and opportunities of regional investment units by taking samples for 100 regional investment units. Measurement used nominal scale with chi-square test for goodness of fit to get the measurement of observation frequency (OF) and compared with the expected frequency (EF). Findings: the measurement results showed observed frequency (OF) with a value of 137.97. Afterwards, for expected frequency (EF), with degrees of freedom (6-1) (7-1) and a significance level of 0.05, within the chi- square showed the value of 43.77. Due to OF > EF, this result indicated for being of corresponding between integrated thinking of regional investment within implementation of information system of regional investment potensial (ISRIP). The level of integrated thinking relationships with integrated reporting in the role of 'ISRIP' has a Pearson contingency coefficient of 0.4057, as a moderate relationship. Originality: This research article contributes to the growing debate about the benefits of integrated reporting as a voluntary reporting initiative, and in which another organization have adopted as a mandatory initiative for the mode of reporting up to date; more specifically, in the efforts of regional governments to adopt an integrated thinking that is in line with the role of an integrated reporting system, in communicating of regional investment units. Practical implications: To be as an early adopter of reporting practices towards the implementation of the information system of regional investment potential (ISRIP). We imply that the six capital with strategic communication will enhance performance of ISRIP, through fundamental way and as regional strategic wisdom. To meet the values of accountable organization within regional investment units' management. In line with national alignment in global megatrends with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) accomplishment.
GROUND SURFACE AMPLIFICATION FOR CANYON TOPOGRAPHIES EXCITED WITH BI-DIRECTIONAL EARTHQUAKE RECORDS

It is well established that topographic irregularities influence the surface ground motion. A number of case histories have shown aggravation of the ground motion in terms of amplitude, frequency content and elongation of the recorded duration in the vicinity of irregular topography. Several parametric studies have been performed on the subject, illustrating its importance and the main parameters that control the ground surface response based on different geometry configurations, ground stratigraphies and characteristics of the input motion. Most of the existing numerical studies focus on the impact of vertically propagating shear waves considering only one horizontal component of the ground motion. This paper considers the impact of both the horizontal and vertical components of the ground motion for the case of an empty canyon located in a soil layer above rigid bedrock. A parametric, time domain finite element (FE) study has been performed with the simultaneous imposition of the horizontal and the vertical components of 30 carefully selected earthquake records and wavelet pulses as input motions. The computed ground surface response is compared to the response obtained when considering only one component of the same suite of motions showing the impact of the bi-directional excitation.
A Traffic Engineering Solution for Gmpls Networks: a Hybrid Approach Based on Off-line and On-line Routing Methods

New Generation networks will have to cope with a huge growth of IP traffic and with a need of flexibility to promptly react to traffic changes. In order to meet such requirements, a traffic engineering solution for new generation multi-layer networks based on the GMPLS paradigm is proposed. The proposed approach is based on a hybrid solution for the routing, taking advantage of a combined use of off-line and on-line routing strategies to improve network performance, so as to optimise the use of the network resources. Specifically, a global paths computation according to an expected traffic matrix is off-line accomplished through a multi-layer provisioning function aiming at minimizing the use of network resources. Actual traffic requests are on-line accommodated by means of a dynamic routing function in order to timely react to traffic changes due to the unpredictable component of IP traffic. The performance of the proposed hybrid approach is evaluated for different correlation levels between estimated and actual traffic patterns.
Squirt flow in partially saturated cracks: a simple analytical model

Obtaining the seismic response of rocks containing cracks whose scales are much smaller than the prevailing wavelengths is a classic and important problem in rock physics. Seminal analytical models yield the seismic signatures of cracked rocks saturated with a single fluid phase. However, in a wide variety of practically relevant scenarios, cracks may be partially saturated with multiple immiscible fluids of contrasting compressibilities, such as gas and water. When a passing seismic wave deforms the medium, fluid pressure gradients arise within such partially saturated cracks, which, in turn, tend to relax through a process commonly known as squirt flow. The corresponding viscous dissipation may greatly affect the seismic amplitudes and velocities, as well as the anisotropic behaviour of the medium. To date, extensions of classical analytical models to include squirt flow occurring within isolated partially saturated cracks remain limited either in the saturation or in the frequency range. In this work, we present a simple analytical model to compute the seismic response of rocks containing partially saturated aligned cracks accounting for squirt flow effects. First, we solve the linearized Navier–Stokes equations within a partially saturated penny-shaped crack subjected to an oscillatory strain. Then, we obtain a closed analytical expression for a complex-valued frequency-dependent effective fluid bulk modulus which accounts for the stiffness variations of each crack due to squirt flow. Using classic effective medium models, together with such an effective saturating fluid, we retrieve the effective compliance matrix of the probed partially saturated cracked rock. The proposed analytical solution is validated by comparison with corresponding 3-D numerical simulations and existing analytical models.
HOUSING STRUCTURE ANALYSIS FOR EARTHQUAKE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS

The damage done in earthquake disasters is correlated to what types of housing structures are present. In the last two decades of urbanization in Dhaka, rapid growth without proper planning has been a major concern. This study evaluates the performance of the decision tree and random forest techniques to predict structures’ vulnerability factors for buildings as a step in improving earthquake disaster preparedness. Applying the decision tree algorithm to locations (wards) in Dhaka North city corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South city corporation (DSCC), we observed some important predictors of earthquake damage. Decision tree analysis reveals that the most important predictor for structures that fare well in earthquakes is the use of reinforced concrete and a common factor among the most vulnerable structures is the soft story building style in the DNCC and DSCC areas. The random forest technique also showed reinforced concrete as being the most important factor lowering the risk for housing structures, with the model having a 24.19% Out-of-bag (OOB) error. As for vulnerability, soft story construction was a significant factor in estimating earthquake susceptibility (40.32% OOB error). The findings reveal that building materials in the DNCC are stronger than those in the DSCC but soft story buildings are more common in the DNCC, which make it one of the weakest parts of the area and point to the need to make plans to seismically retrofit soft story buildings.
Production of acoustic waves from pulsed thermal radiation

Generation of acoustic waves from a pulsed thermal radiation beam was experimentally investigated in this paper. Unlike other TACs (thermal acoustic converters), acoustic wave frequencies and phases of this type of TACs can be easily adjusted and controlled—a feature essential to the synchronization of TACs in an array. The TACs we developed were made up of a cylindrical aluminum housing, a glass cover, and metallic wool for effective thermal‐to‐acoustic energy conversion. Radiation emitted from an infrared heater was chopped at a constant frequency prior to entering the converter through the glass cover. The metallic wool was periodically heated by the pulsed radiation beam and cooled because of heat losses to the surroundings. Experiments were conducted for different converter designs and metallic wools, as well as different chopper speeds and radiation intensities. The amplitudes of generated sound waves were found to be dependent on the radiation intensity, the grade and properties of the metallic wool, and the cooling rate of the wool. Higher radiation intensities and thinner wools of lower thermal conductivity produced sounds of higher amplitude. More effective cooling of the metallic wool also helped. Acoustic energy output can also be enhanced by reducing the amount of air in the converter. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Every Byte Matters

Wearable devices such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, and blood-pressure monitors process, store, and communicate sensitive and personal information related to the health, life-style, habits and interests of the wearer. This data is typically synchronized with a companion app running on a smartphone over a Bluetooth (Classic or Low Energy) connection. In this work, we investigate what can be inferred from the metadata (such as the packet timings and sizes) of encrypted Bluetooth communications between a wearable device and its connected smartphone. We show that a passive eavesdropper can use traffic-analysis attacks to accurately recognize (a) communicating devices, even without having access to the MAC address, (b) human actions (e.g., monitoring heart rate, exercising) performed on wearable devices ranging from fitness trackers to smartwatches, (c) the mere opening of specific applications on a Wear OS smartwatch (e.g., the opening of a medical app, which can immediately reveal a condition of the wearer), (d) fine-grained actions (e.g., recording an insulin injection) within a specific application that helps diabetic users to monitor their condition, and (e) the profile and habits of the wearer by continuously monitoring her traffic over an extended period. We run traffic-analysis attacks by collecting a dataset of Bluetooth communications concerning a diverse set of wearable devices, by designing features based on packet sizes and timings, and by using machine learning to classify the encrypted traffic to actions performed by the wearer. Then, we explore standard defense strategies against traffic-analysis attacks such as padding, delaying packets, or injecting dummy traffic. We show that these defenses do not provide sufficient protection against our attacks and introduce significant costs. Overall, our research highlights the need to rethink how applications exchange sensitive information over Bluetooth, to minimize unnecessary data exchanges, and to research and design new defenses against traffic-analysis tailored to the wearable setting.
Influence of Sibling Relationships on Development of Maladjusted Behaviour among Pupils in Public Primary Schools in Yatta Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of sibling relationships on the development of maladjusted behaviour among pupils in public primary schools in Yatta Sub-County, Machakos County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Ecological Systems Theory. A mixed methodology was applied and the concurrent triangulation design in which the researcher implemented the quantitative and qualitative methods during the same timeframe and with equal weight. The target population consisted of 64 headteachers, 128 teacher-counsellors, 512 parents’ representatives and 4352 pupils in classes VI & VII all totalling 5056. Using the Central Limit Theorem, 12 public primary schools (18.8%) of 64 and 200 respondents were sampled. Stratified sampling was used to create four strata based on the number of zones in the Yatta Sub-County. From each zone, three headteachers, three parents’ representatives, 18 teacher-counsellors and 26 pupils in classes VI & VII were selected using simple random sampling to eliminate bias. This procedure enabled the researcher to sample 12 headteachers and 72 teacher-counsellors. Data analysis began by identifying common themes. Qualitative data were analysed thematically along with the objectives and presented in narrative forms. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively using frequencies and percentages and inferentially using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Analysis with the help of Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS Version 23) and presented using tables. The study established that cases of maladjusted behaviours among pupils are on the rise with sibling relationships and interactions being the main determinant. In other words, activities that siblings engage in such as modelling juniors, playing together, engaging in social interaction activities and punishing juniors contribute to the development of maladjusted behaviours among pupils. Thus, the study recommends that parents should design age-appropriate tasks for older siblings to undertake which may enable them to act as role models for their juniors.
Carpobrotus Management in a Mediterranean Sand Dune Ecosystem: Minimum Effective Glyphosate Dose and an Evaluation of Tarping

At a global scale, biological invasions represent one of the most important threats to biodiversity conservation. The Carpobrotus (Aizoaceae) genus, which is native to South Africa, has been introduced into five different continents and is particularly invasive in many coastal habitats. The application of glyphosate avoids some problems associated with manually controlling Carpobrotus over large spatial scales. However, before this practice can be extended and its impact minimized, its effectiveness under different application conditions must be assessed first. Thus, glyphosate was sprayed at different concentrations (0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05 g/m2) on experimental plots with 100% Carpobrotus coverage to determine the minimum effective dose. Tarping was also evaluated as an alternative method for Carpobrotus management over reduced areas. Thus, four different weed-control fabric types were tested: black anti-weed fabric, sewn felt, black G-300 polyethylene, and Fijavert coconut-anti-weed matting on experimental plots with 100% Carpobrotus coverage. The obtained results showed that the minimum effective dose of glyphosate which prevents Carpobrotus regrowth in dune ecosystems was 0.4 g/m2. It was also shown that at least three months of tarping were required under winter conditions to produce complete Carpobrotus plant wilting and thus, prevent their regrowth. No significant effect on Carpobrotus growth was observed in terms of the fabric type used for the tarping tests. The presence of native species seedlings in the experimental plots after the death of the Carpobrotus plants following the application of herbicides or tarping was also monitored.
Sputum Conversion as a Predictor to Treatment Outcome in Tuberculosis Control in Kenya

Introduction: Globally in 2017, the estimated tuberculosis (TB) morbidity stood at 10 million while 1.45 million people died due to TB. Among the contributors to the high number of adverse outcomes is delayed sputum conversion during treatment. However, little data about delayed sputum conversion in Kenya exists. The objective was to determine the relationship between month two smear conversion and treatment outcome and established associated risk factors. Method: This was a 3 year’ retrospective cohort study of Pulmonary TB patients using routinely collected data available at the National TB Program, Kenya. Non-conversion was defined as persistent sputum smear positive PTB cases at the end of two months of treatment. Chi-square test for linear trend. A multilevel binary logistic regression models was considered with county as the level-2 variable to evaluate the impact of demographic, clinical and therapeutic data on treatment outcome. Results: The average age was 35.10 (14.82). Female constituted 34%. Month 2 Sputum bacteriological non conversion was observed in 8.3% of the cases notified. The positive predictive value of the month 2 sputum smear non-conversion for unfavourable outcomes was 13.1% (95% CI: = [12.4 13.9]). Adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, the odds for unfavourable outcomes were 5.18 (95% CI: [4.799 5.595]) higher among those that had not converted at the second month of treatment. Other variables significantly associated with higher odds for unfavourable outcomes included treatment history (aOR1.909; 95% CI:[1.736 2.10]). Female gender aOR(0.752 ( 95%CI: [0.695 0.815]); HIV negative aOR(0.579 ( 95%CI: [0.535 0.626]) and Moderate malnutrition aOR(0.800 ( 95%CI: [0.730 0.878]), Normal aOR(0.601 ( 95%CI: [0.542 0.665]), Overweight aOR(0.463 95%CI: [0.354 0.608]), Obese aOR (0.478; 95%CI: [0.364 0.629]) all compared to severe malnutrition; are all protective of unfavorable outcomes. Conclusion: Bacteriologically confirmed cases, especially men and those with identified risk factors for non-conversion, should be closely monitored throughout their treatment period. National TB Program should robust the existing strategies to ensure patient adherence to mitigate smear non-conversion risk factors, and ensure treatment success.
Formation of Communicative Skills of Future Teachers in the Process of Studying at Higher Educational Institutions

Solving communication problems in the digital environment is becoming increasingly difficult for both teachers and students. The formation of communicative skills of future teachers in the learning process is also important from the standpoint of increasing relevance in the development of emotional intelligence of the personality. The purpose of the academic paper was to develop and test a model of formation of communicative skills of future teachers in the process of studying at higher educational institutions (HEI). The research methodology is qualitative and quantitative; it is based on a quantitative assessment of the formation success of communication skills in the process of teaching the course “Psychology” for 120 students of the Faculty of Philology in Ukraine. Qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the developed formation model of future teachers’ communicative skills involved observing the teachers’ and students’ behavior of control and experimental groups of the course. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed formation model of future teachers’ communicative skills in the process of studying at HEI. A liberal approach to teaching ensures the participation of students in discussions, confidence, lack of fear of making mistakes. As a result, the expression of false opinion does not reduce the level of participation in the communication process in the group. The teacher’s behavior forms his image and attitude to the course as a whole, the level of interest and ease of perception of information by students, regardless of the complexity level of the material. Feedback in the form of teacher – student – teacher is extremely effective in the formation of communication skills. The student-centered approach provided a better level of communication skills in the experimental group. In the control group, the traditional approach based on classical teaching
Interactive Visualization of Large Turbulent Flow as a Cloud Service

Many scientific communities today have community datasets that are continuously created, curated, and maintained for community use. Such datasets are often hosted and shared through cloud-based data repositories. In this work, we propose a lightweight and affordable visualization cloud service that can be deployed as a companion service of a community dataset. Our target visualization use case is parallel flow visualization, which is crucial for understanding planet-scale phenomena such as the Earth’s atmosphere and ocean. As a core research topic of scientific visualization, parallel flow visualization typically uses HPC computing platforms. It is complex to implement with scalability, deploy with efficiency, and is often considered an advanced form of scientific visualization. Because of the heterogeneous nature of cloud platforms, in this work, we use a swarm-based parallel design to replace traditional HPC designs that assume homogeneity and rely upon conventional methods such as Message Passing Interface (MPI). This design enables interactive visualization of large flow fields in a way that is lightweight, efficient and easily deployable as a cloud service. We demonstrate our proposed system using NOAA’s NCEP ensemble data, which captures turbulent planet-scale atmospheric flows in observed forms, as well as in forecast forms for varying time scales. We evaluate the performance and efficacies of our system on Amazon Web Services (AWS) for three use cases, where remote users can use their laptops to (i) interactively explore global atmospheric flow patterns in general, (ii) to specifically compare how a forecast is different from the observation, and (iii) to explore flow patterns in a typical information visualization dashboard.