Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical modelling of alternate bar formation, development and sediment sorting in straight channels

A two‐dimensional shallow water hydro‐sediment‐morphodynamic model is applied to investigate alternate bar formation, development and sediment sorting in straight channels. The model is coupled, explicitly incorporating the flow–sediment–bed interactions by using the full mass and momentum conservation equations, which are numerically solved by a well‐balanced version of the finite volume Slope Limiter Centred (SLIC) scheme. The model is first tested against a flume experiment on alternate bars formed over a uniform sediment bed, which clearly exhibits processes of bar formation, migrating and finally approaching an equilibrium state. Then it is applied to another flume experiment on alternate bars due to non‐uniform sediment transport. The computational results are evaluated, with a focus on the longitudinal and vertical sediment sorting. It is argued for the first time that the inconsistent sediment sorting patterns observed in previous studies are determined by different sediment transport conditions, i.e. full versus partial transport. When a condition of full transport is achieved, under which all size fractions are fully mobilized and transported, the longitudinal surface sediment shows a sorting pattern of coarse‐on‐head and fine‐in‐pool, and the vertical substrate sediment exhibits an immobile‐fine‐coarse structure upwards. In contrast, for a partial transport condition, under which only finer fraction participates in the transport process, an opposite longitudinal pattern (i.e. fine‐on‐head and coarse‐in‐pool) and a different vertical structure (i.e. immobile‐coarse‐fine) are observed. Concurrently, numerical experiments with specified conditions show that the critical aspect ratio for the formation of migrating alternate bars is approximately equal to 12. With the increase of the aspect ratio, the bar length grows gradually, while the bar height increases rapidly for moderate values of the aspect ratio and then keeps nearly stable. The bar celerity, however, is weakly sensitive to the variation of this ratio. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prevalence of Long COVID Syndrome and its Association With Blood Group: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) virus pandemic rapidly spread across the globe since 2020. It was characterized by a number of acute signs and symptoms. There were, however, some new-onset signs and symptoms labelled as “Long COVID”. This study was conducted to study its prevalence and associations with blood group. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted in Islamabad for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2020-2021. Information was collected through an online and physical questionnaire regarding personal demographics, symptoms during and after COVID-19, and blood group. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0 (Released 2017; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States). Results:The study identified 196 participants out of which 48.5% were male and 51% were female, with a median age of 30. Most participants (62.2%) belonged to the Punjabi ethnicity. The mean BMI was 25.56 kg/m2. The majority of the study participants reported having blood group B (n=76) followed by A (n=52). Acute symptoms were experienced by 95.4% of participants, with fatigue being the most persistent symptom at four weeks (45.9%). After four weeks, 63.3% of participants reported new symptoms like hair loss. Females were found more likely to experience long COVID symptoms. The perceived severity of acute infection was significantly associated with long COVID symptoms (p=<0.01). There was no association found between long COVID and blood group (p=0.158). Conclusion: There was no association found between long COVID and ABO blood groups. Females were more likely than males to experience long COVID. Long COVID was found to be more likely to develop in those with perceived severe acute infection, highlighting the need for further research regarding aggressive care from the onset of COVID-19 infection.
Effect of Time of Nitrogen Application on Growth, Yield and Quality of Four Forage Sorghum Cultivars

English) . i Abstract (Arabic). iii Dedication . iv Acknowledgement . v Table of contents . vi List of tables. viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. 3 2.1 Forage sorghum . 3 2.1. 1 Forage sorghum C.V. Abusabien . 4 2.1. 2 Sudangrass (Sorghum sudanense) . 6 2.1. 3 Forage hybrids Sorghum-Sudangrass . 8 2.2 Nitrogen fertilization . 9 2.3 Time of nitrogen application. 12 CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS . 15 3.1 General description of the experimental site . 15 3.2 Land preparation . 16 3.3 Treatments . 16 3.4 Cultural practices . 16 3.5 Parameters measured . 17 3.5.1 Plant population . 17 3.5.2 Plant height (cm) . 17 3.5.3 Number of leaves per plant . 18 3.5.4 Stem diameter (mm) . 18 3.5. 5 Leaf area (cm) . 18 3.5. 6 Leaf area index . 18 3.5. 7 Days to 50% flowering . 18 3.5. 8 Fresh and dry yield (tons/ha) . 19 3.5. 9 Proximate analysis . 19 3.6 Cultural practices for the ratoon crop . 19 3.7 Statistical analysis . 19 Page CHAPTER 4: RESULTS . 20 4.1 Growth parameters . 20 4.1. 1 Plant population . 20 4.1. 2 Plant height (cm) . 20 4.1. 3 Stem diameter (mm) . 24 4.1. 4 Number of leaves per plant . 24 4.1. 5 Leaf area (cm) . 27 4.1. 6 Leaf area index (LAI). 30 4.2 Days to 50% flowering. 30 4.3 Forage yield (tons/ha) . 33 4.3.1 Fresh yield (tons/ha) . 33 4.3.2 Dry matter yield (tons/ha) . 33 4.3.3 Ratoon crop fresh yield (tons/ha) . 34 4.3.4 Ratoon dry matter yield (tons/ha) . 34 4.4 Forage quality . 36 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION. 39 5.1 Growth attributes. 39 5.1. 1 Varietal differences . 39 5.1. 2 Effect of nitrogen and time of nitrogen application on the growth parameters. 41 5.2 Days to 50% flowering. 43 5.3 Forage yield (tons/ha) . 44 5.4 Forage quality . 47 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION . 48 REFERENCES . 50 APPENDICES . 59
Improving sub-pixel imperviousness change prediction by ensembling heterogeneous non-linear regression models

: In this work nine non-linear regression models were compared for sub-pixel impervious surface area mapping from Landsat images. The comparison was done in three study areas both for accuracy of imperviousness coverage evaluation in individual points in time and accuracy of imperviousness change assessment. The performance of individual machine learning algorithms (Cubist, Random Forest, stochastic gradient boosting of regression trees, k-nearest neighbors regression, random k-nearest neighbors regression, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines, averaged neural networks, and support vector machines with polynomial and radial kernels) was also compared with the performance of heterogeneous model ensembles constructed from the best models trained using particular techniques. The results proved that in case of sub-pixel evaluation the most accurate prediction of change may not necessarily be based on the most accurate individual assessments. When single methods are considered, based on obtained results Cubist algorithm may be advised for Landsat based mapping of imperviousness for single dates. However, Random Forest may be endorsed when the most reliable evaluation of imperviousness change is the primary goal. It gave lower accuracies for individual assessments, but better prediction of change due to more correlated errors of individual predictions. Heterogeneous model ensembles performed for individual time points assessments at least as well as the best individual models. In case of imperviousness change assessment the ensembles always outperformed single model approaches. It means that it is possible to improve the accuracy of sub-pixel imperviousness change assessment using ensembles of heterogeneous non-linear regression models.
Predawn plasma bubble cluster observed in Southeast Asia

Predawn plasma bubble was detected as deep plasma depletion by GNU Radio Beacon Receiver (GRBR) network and in situ measurement onboard Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F15 (DMSPF15) satellite and was confirmed by sparse GPS network in Southeast Asia. In addition to the deep depletion, the GPS network revealed the coexisting submesoscale irregularities. A deep depletion is regarded as a primary bubble. Submesoscale irregularities are regarded as secondary bubbles. Primary bubble and secondary bubbles appeared together as a cluster with zonal wavelength of 50 km. An altitude of secondary bubbles happened to be lower than that of the primary bubble in the same cluster. The observed pattern of plasma bubble cluster is consistent with the simulation result of the recent high‐resolution bubble (HIRB) model. This event is only a single event out of 76 satellite passes at nighttime during 3–25 March 2012 that significantly shows plasma depletion at plasma bubble wall. The inside structure of the primary bubble was clearly revealed from the in situ density data of DMSPF15 satellite and the ground‐based GRBR total electron content.
Faults in Our Bus: Novel Bus Fault Attack to Break ARM TrustZone

—The ever-increasing growth of Internet-of-Things (IoT) has led to wide-scale deployment of high-frequency, highly complex Systems-on-a-Chip (SoCs), which are capable of running a full-fledged operating system (OS). The presence of OS and other software countermeasures make SoCs resilient against the traditional fault attacks that are relevant on FPGAs and microprocessors. In this work, we present the first practical implications of targeting an orthogonal aspect of SoC’s architecture: the system bus . We inject electromagnetic pulses onto the system bus during the execution of instructions involving processor-memory interaction. We show how address bus faults compromise software implementations of masked implementations of ciphers, illustrated using implementations of state-of-the-art post-quantum cryptography (PQC) schemes, leaking entire secret keys with a single fault . We also demonstrate that data bus faults can be controlled and exploited to launch Differential Fault Analysis (DFA) attacks on table-based implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Furthermore, we demonstrate that the impact of such bus faults can be far-reaching and mislead the security guarantees of the popular and widely used ARM TrustZone. We use data-bus faults (along with loopholes in the GlobalPlatform API specification) to mislead the signature verification step to load a malicious Trusted Application (TA) inside the TrustZone. We follow this up with address bus faults to steal symmetric encryption keys of other benign TAs in the system, leading to complete breakdown of security on TrustZone. We note that since the attack relies upon loopholes in the GlobalPlatform API specification, it is portable to any TEE following this specification. To emphasize upon this portability of the attack, we demonstrate successful installation of malicious TAs on two TrustZone implementations (OP-TEE and MyTEE) on two different platforms (Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi 4). Finally, we propose countermeasures that can be integrated into the SoC environment to defend against these attack vectors.
Growth Pattern and Sexual Maturation Rate in β-Thalassemia Major Patients from Thalassemia Center Erbil

INTRODUCTION: The thalassemias are inherited disorders of Hemoglobin (Hb) synthesis resulting from an alteration in the rate of globin chain production. Mutations in globin genes causes thalassemia. These mutations result in the impaired synthesis of the β globin . A decrease in the rate of production of a certain globin chains (α, β, γ, and δ) impedes Hb synthesis and creates an imbalance with the
The Abyssal Ocean's Contributions to the Global Energy and Sea Level Budgets Between the 1990s and 2000s

The Abyssal Ocean’s Contributions to the Global Energy and Sea Level Budgets Between the 1990s and 2000s Sarah Michelle Goldstein Purkey Chair of Supervisory Committee: Dr. Gregory C. Johnson Affiliate Professor, Oceanography Over the past three decades, Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), a cold, dense water-mass produced around Antarctica that feeds the bottom limb of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC), has warmed, freshened, and declined in volume. Using highly accurate, fulldepth, ship-based, conductivity-temperature-depth measurements taken along repeated oceanographic sections between 1981 and 2013, combined with satellite altimetry and gravity data, we quantify water-property changes in the deep Southern Ocean and the abyssal global ocean and evaluate the relative contribution of these abyssal changes to the global energy and sea level rise budgets. We find a strong warming trend throughout the deep (greater than 1000 m) Southern Ocean and abyssal (greater than 4000 m) global oceans. The abyssal warming follows AABW
BreakSPF: How Shared Infrastructures Magnify SPF Vulnerabilities Across the Internet

—Email spoofing attacks pose a severe threat to email systems by forging the sender’s address to deceive email recipients. Sender Policy Framework (SPF), an email authentication protocol that verifies senders by their IP addresses, is critical for preventing email spoofing attacks. However, attackers can bypass SPF validation and launch convincing spoofing attacks that evade email authentication. This paper proposes BreakSPF, a novel attack framework that bypasses SPF validation to enable email spoofing. Attackers can actively target domains with permissive SPF configurations by utilizing cloud services, proxies, and content delivery networks (CDNs) with shared IP pools. We leverage BreakSPF to conduct a large-scale experiment evaluating the security of SPF deployment across Tranco top 1 million domain names. We uncover that 23,916 domains are vulnerable to BreakSPF attacks, including 23 domains that rank within the top 1,000 most popular domains. The results underscore the widespread SPF configuration vulnerabilities and their potential to undermine the security of email systems. Our study provides valuable insights for detecting and mitigating SPF vulnerabilities and strengthening email system security overall.
Rwanda’s Ingando camps: liminality and the reproduction of power

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, reconciliation and the building of a unified nation have become key challenges for the new Rwandan political elite. To this end, over almost two decades, the government has introduced a variety of supposedly ‘traditional,’ ‘local’ and ‘participatory’ activities ranging from the well-studied gacaca courts (‘justice on the grass’) (see e.g., Clark 2010, Ingelaere 2009, Rettig 2008, Oomen 2006) to very little known activities such as ingando camps, itorero schools, ubudehe ‘mutual assistance’ schemes, ubusabane ‘get-together’ festivals, abakangurambaga or local ‘promoters,’ among many others. The present paper could have focused on a number of the recently-introduced ‘unity and reconciliation’ activities since all but gacaca have received almost no scholarly attention. Ingando camps, however, should interest us for many reasons, many of which will become apparent throughout the analysis below. Just as with the other activities, ingando offers insights into the performative aspect of nation-building—the ways in which a nation/unity is being ‘enacted,’ what type(s) of ‘unities’ are thus actually being built in Rwanda and how they are being built (official versions versus those that arise from enaction), and what other (non-stated) objectives might be served in the name of ‘nation-building. ’ But unlike other activities, the camps provide a unique insight into the way in which spatial and symbolic aspects, especially ‘liminality’ (a camp as a transient and transitional space), are being used to reproduce power (a structural set of relations).
Prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of extended spectrum beta lactamase producing Escherichia coli isolated from urinary tract infection

Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) due to extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing bacteria including Escherichia coli has become widespread. Studies have shown a trend toward higher mortality, longer hospitalization, greater hospital expenses and reduced rates of clinical and microbiologic response in ESBL UTI. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determinate the prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of ESBL producing E. coli isolated from UTI. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 3126 samples. Urine specimens were cultured on Eosin Methylene Blue (EBM) and blood agar. The disk diffusion standard method (Kirby Bauer) was used to test the susceptibility of the drug on MullerHinton agar plates and results were reviewed based on Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) criteria. The reviewing of ESBL-producing uropathogens was carried out using Combined Disk Test (CDT) by using cefotaxime (CTX; 30 µg) and cefotaximeclavulanic acid (CTX; 30 µg /CA:10 µg) disks and CLSI protocol. Results: Out of 291 E. coli isolates, 108 (37.11%) are ESBL-producer and 183 (62.89%) are non–ESBL-producer. Among ESBL-producing E. coli, the highest antibiotic resistance was observed with cefotaxime (100%), amoxicillin (97.22%) and piperacillin (96.3%) and the highest antibiotic sensitivity was observed with meropenem (93.5%), nitrofurantoin (81.48%) and gentamicin (55.56%). Conclusion: We recommended that cephalosporins, penicillins and cotrimoxazole are not suggested in the treatment of ESBL-producing E. coli. On the other hand, carbapenems as a first line and aminoglycosides as the next step in the treatment of ESBL-producing E. coli are recommended.
DISTRIBUTION AND BIOLOGY OF PACIFIC SARDINES (SARDINOPS SAGAX) OFF BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA

Pacific sardines (Sardinops sagax) in the northeastern Pacific Ocean once supported one of the largest fisheries in the world, with catches off the west coast of Canada averaging 40,000 t annually from the mid-1920s to the mid-1940s. The stock collapsed in the late-1940s and disappeared from Canadian waters. In 1992, sardines were once again captured off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Abundance continued to increase off British Columbia, and by the mid-1990s experimental fisheries were initiated. Evidence of spawning was observed, and in some years sardines remained in Canadian waters year-round. The northern distribution of sardines continued to expand, and in the 1997‐98 El Nino years sardines were found as far north as Alaska. In recent years, fish have been found infrequently in offshore areas but are abundant in the several large inlets on the west coast of Vancouver Island. In this paper we examine the distribution, biology, and ecology of sardines in British Columbia since 1992 and discuss sardine dynamics in relation to ocean temperature.
Variations of nutrient and chlorophyll-a in the Çanakkale Strait (Dardanelles).

Variations of nutrient and chlorophyll-a in the Çanakkale Strait (Dardanelles). In this study, annual variations of nutrient (NO-2+NO-3, PO-34 and SiO4) and chlorophyll-a connected with physicochemical parameters of the surface waters in a station next the Çanakkale Marina between March 2001 and March 2002 were determined. Temperature, salinity, pH, conductivity, ÇO (dissolved oxigen), ORP (Oxidation Reduction Potential), TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) parameters of surface water in Dardanelles were also measured. Nitrit+nitrat (NO-2+NO-3) peaks were noticed in three separate time such as November (1.606 μM), January (2.320 μM) and March (1.3003 μM). However, peaks of phosphate (PO-34) were noticed in June (0.700 μM), October (0.400 μM) and January (0.500 μM). Like other nutrient concentrations, there were three different peaks in silicate (SiO4), March (3.70 μM), October (4.40 μM) and January (4.45 μM). Except February (1.503 μM), silicate was no lower than 2.500 μM during the year. Like nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll-a is a indicator of phytoplankton activity demonstrated three different peaks during the year. These peaks occurred in July (3.3431 μg l-1), January (1.7543 μg l-1) and May (1.0757 μg l-1). In correlation coefficient between bio-physicochemical parameters, there were very important negative correlations between temperature and salinity (r= 0.8587), between DO and temperature (r= -0.5177) and between TDS and temperature (r= -0.8532). However, there were very important positive correlations between salinity and conductivity (r= 0.5374) and between salinity and TDS (r= 0.9863). But, there were no important correlations between nutrient concentration, other physicochemical parameters (temperature, salinity e.g.) and chlorophyll-a. An important positive correlation between silicate and phosphate (r= 0.5190) was found, only. Results showed that seasonal variations in the physico-chemicals, nutrients and chlorophyll-a are effected with the counter flows in the Dardanelles. In addition, there were very important differences (10-15 times) between minimum and maximum concentration in nitrit+nitrat during the sampling period. But, variations in phosphate and silicate were lower than nitrit-nitrat variations.
A Comparative Electromyographic Analysis of Masticatory Muscles Between Skeletal Class II and Skeletal Class I Malocclusion: A Cross-Sectional Study on a Syrian Population

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether there was a difference in the muscular activity of the masticatory muscles between patients with skeletal Class II and skeletal Class I malocclusion. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a sample of 56 selected patients referred to the Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry at the University of Damascus, Damascus, Syria. An electromyographic device measured the myoelectric activity of the perioral muscles on patients in the two created groups: the skeletal Class I malocclusion group (n=28 patients) and the skeletal Class II malocclusion group (n=28 patients). Results: The study found a similarity in the muscular activity between the right and left sides within the same group, without significant differences between both sides for each muscle (P>0.05). The Class II group had significantly greater activity in the buccinator and digastric muscles than the Class I group (p<0.05). On the other hand, the Class I group had significantly greater activity in the orbicularis and mentalis muscles than the Class II group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Patients with skeletal Class II malocclusion and skeletal Class I showed differences in muscular activity. The buccinator and digastric muscles were more active in skeletal Class II patients, while orbicularis oris and mentalis were less active. The temporalis and masseter muscles showed similar activity in both groups.