Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Neural Network Driven Automated Underwater Object Detection

Object recognition and computer vision techniques for automated object identification are attracting marine biologist’s interest as a quicker and easier tool for estimating the fish abundance in marine environments. However, the biggest problem posed by unrestricted aquatic imaging is low luminance, turbidity, background ambiguity, and context camouflage, which make traditional approaches rely on their efficiency due to inaccurate detection or elevated false-positive rates. To address these challenges, we suggest a systemic approach to merge visual features and Gaussian mixture models with You Only Look Once (YOLOv3) deep network, a coherent strategy for recognizing fish in challenging underwater images. As an image restoration phase, pre-processing based on diffraction correction is primarily applied to frames. The YOLOv3 based object recognition system is used to identify fish occurrences. The objects in the background that are camouflaged are often overlooked by the YOLOv3 model. A proposed Bi-dimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (BEMD) algorithm, adapted by Gaussian mixture models, and integrating the results of YOLOv3 improves detection efficiency of the proposed automated underwater object detection method. The proposed approach was tested on four challenging video datasets, the Life Cross Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) benchmark from the F4K data repository, the University of Western Australia (UWA) dataset, the bubble vision dataset and the DeepFish dataset. The accuracy for fish identification is 98.5 percent, 96.77 percent, 97.99 percent and 95.3 percent respectively for the various datasets which demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed automated underwater object detection method.
Diversity and nutritional status of edible insects in Nigeria: A review

Information on insects as food in Nigeria was collected by reviewing the literature of what scientists have done locally in the country. A list of 22 edible insect species from six orders were compiled. Of these, 77.3% were Lepidoptera (27.3%), Coleoptera (27.3%), Orthoptera (22.7%) and 22.7% Isoptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera. These insects are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. Some anti-nutritional factors are detected from some insects but the contents are below toxic level to man. Edible insects have a wide range of host plants from forest trees to agricultural crops and their consumption stages are available at different periods of the year. They are collected by hand picking, digging of soil and luring into water traps at night. Processing of collected insects could be carried out by boiling, sun drying, frying and roasting methods. To manage insects in the interest of food security, more attention should be given to environmentally sustainable collecting methods. These insects could be made better available throughout the year by developing improved conservation methods or by raising them as a minilivestock. Considering the economic, nutritional and ecological advantages of this traditional food source, its promotion deserves more attention both from national governments and assistance programmes. Key words: Diversity, Nigeria, edible insects, collection, insects as food, conservation.
Maximum Power From Fluid Flow: Results From the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics

The heat transfer principle of power maximization in power plants with heat transfer irreversibilities was cleverly extended by Bejan [1] to fluid flow, by obtaining that the energy conversion efficiency at maximum power is ηmax = 1/2(1 − P2/P1). This result is analog to the efficiency at maximum power for power plants, ηmax = 1 − (T2/T1)1/2 which was deduced by Curzon and Ahlborn [2]. In this paper, the analysis to obtain maximum power output delivered from a piston between two pressure reservoir across linear flow resistance is generalized by considering the piston cylinder friction, by obtaining relations of maximum power output and optimal speed of the piston in terms of first law efficiency. Expressions to relate the power output, cross sectional area of the chamber and first law efficiency, were deduced in order to evaluate the influence of the overall size constraints and fluid regime in the performance of the piston cylinder system. Flow in circular ducts and developed laminar flow between parallel plates, are considered to demonstrate that when two pressure reservoirs oriented in counterflow, with different and arbitrary cross sectional area, must have the same area in order to maximize the power output of the system. These results introduce some modifications to the results obtained by Bejan [1] and Chen [3]. This paper extends the Bejan and Chen’s work by estimating under turbulent regime the lost available work rate associated with the degree of irreversibilities caused by the flow resistances of the system. This analysis is equivalent to evaluate the irreversibilities in an endoirreversible Carnot heat engine model caused by the heat resistance loss between the engine and its surrounding heat reservoirs. This paper concludes with an application to illustrate the practical applications by estimating the lost available work of an actual steady-flow turbine and the layout pipes upstream and downstream of the same device.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Molecular physiology of chemical defenses in a poison frog

ABSTRACT Poison frogs sequester small molecule lipophilic alkaloids from their diet of leaf litter arthropods for use as chemical defenses against predation. Although the dietary acquisition of chemical defenses in poison frogs is well documented, the physiological mechanisms of alkaloid sequestration has not been investigated. Here, we used RNA sequencing and proteomics to determine how alkaloids impact mRNA or protein abundance in the little devil frog (Oophaga sylvatica), and compared wild-caught chemically defended frogs with laboratory frogs raised on an alkaloid-free diet. To understand how poison frogs move alkaloids from their diet to their skin granular glands, we focused on measuring gene expression in the intestines, skin and liver. Across these tissues, we found many differentially expressed transcripts involved in small molecule transport and metabolism, as well as sodium channels and other ion pumps. We then used proteomic approaches to quantify plasma proteins, where we found several protein abundance differences between wild and laboratory frogs, including the amphibian neurotoxin binding protein saxiphilin. Finally, because many blood proteins are synthesized in the liver, we used thermal proteome profiling as an untargeted screen for soluble proteins that bind the alkaloid decahydroquinoline. Using this approach, we identified several candidate proteins that interact with this alkaloid, including saxiphilin. These transcript and protein abundance patterns suggest that the presence of alkaloids influences frog physiology and that small molecule transport proteins may be involved in toxin bioaccumulation in dendrobatid poison frogs. Highlighted Article: Chemically defended wild poison frogs have gene expression and protein abundance differences across several tissue systems compared with poison frogs reared on an alkaloid-free diet.
Direct measurement of piezoelectric shear coefficient

Piezoelectric materials exhibit electromechanical coupling which has led to their widespread application for sensors, actuators, and energy harvesters. These materials possess anisotropic behavior with the shear coefficient, and have the largest electromechanical coupling coefficient. However, the shear mode is difficult to measure with existing techniques and thus has not been fully capitalized upon in recent devices. Better understanding of the full shear response with respect to the driving electric field would significantly help the design of optimized piezoelectric shear devices. Here, a simple and low cost direct measurement method based on digital image correlation is developed to characterize the shear response of piezoelectric materials and its nonlinear behavior as a function of external field. The piezoelectric shear coefficient (d15) of a commercial shear plate actuator is investigated in both bipolar and unipolar electric fields. Two different nonlinearities and hysteresis behaviors of the ac.
”I Like You, as a Friend”: Voice Assistants’ Response Strategies to Sexual Harassment and Their Relation to Gender

Sexual harassment towards voice assistants continues to be prevalent with up to 10% of interactions being abusive – often with sexual overtones. Voice assistants are predominantly modeled as female and often respond positively to sexual harassment, which according to UNESCO has the potential to reinforce negative gender biases and stereotypes. In the following, we evaluate alternative responses to sexual harassment and their relation to the assistants’ gender. In an online study, 77 participants rated the appropriateness of the assistants’ responses to sexual harassment while the gender of the artificial voice was manipulated and compared the ratings to appropriateness scores collected with no voice-based gender information present, i.e. text-only. Results showed an interaction between gender and the appropriateness level of a response. In particular, we were only able to confirm the previous results for male voices. We found that the perceived appropriateness changed as expected when spoken by a male voice, in accordance to previous no-voice ratings. However, we observed no clear difference in appropriateness levels when spoken by a female voice. We assume that this relationship is due to conflicting expectations regarding females’ responses to sexual harassment. Possibly, unrealistic stereotypical expectations towards females resulted in neither response being considered appropriate.
The influence of various excitation mechanisms on groundvibration from trains

Ground vibration from trains is an increasingly important environmental problem. This study investigates the various excitation mechanisms of ground vibration. An existing semi-analytical model, TGV, which considers both the quasi-static excitation due to moving axle loads and the dynamic excitation due to vertical rail irregularities, has been validated by an extensive measurement campaign. This involved the determination of soil properties at two sites with soft clay soil. These were found to exhibit an inversion of the wave speed profile. Good agreement was found between measurements and predictions of vibration due to train pass-bys. The relative importance of the dynamic and quasi-static excitation mechanisms has been investigated for a range of conditions including changes to track and vehicle parameters. The dynamic excitation mechanism is found to dominate the results above about 10 Hz and at all frequencies for distances beyond 10 m from the track. In order to study other excitation mechanisms a new hybrid model has been developed. This combines a wheel/track interaction model working in the time-spatial domain and an axisymmetric layered ground model working in the wave number-frequency domain. In the time domain model a ‘circular’ track is introduced to allow longer responses to be calculated. The model is then validated by comparison with the existing TGV model. A reasonable agreement is found. The hybrid model has then been used to investigate the relative importance of quasi-static loads, dynamic loads and some other excitation mechanisms for trains running on the ground. The sleeper-passing effect is investigated for both constant and variable sleeper spacing but it is found to give much lower responses than those due to roughness. Variable ballast stiffness is also investigated and found not to be significant. Impact forces caused by the passage of wheels over dipped welds and stepped joints are found to generate ground responses that are considerably larger than roughness excitation in the region close to these track defects. However the response decays more rapidly with distance than that due to roughness.
The impact of delayed differentiation in make-to-order environments

To cope with the challenges of product proliferation, many firms are shifting their supply chain structures from make-to-stock (MTS) to make-to-order (MTO). An MTO strategy comes at a price however, as customers must wait longer for their configured products. Incorporating delayed differentiation (DD) in an MTO environment offers the potential of reducing the customer's waiting time, since the generic part/component of the products is made available before receiving customer orders. In this paper, we quantify the trade-offs involved in implementing DD in an MTO environment using both customer waiting time and system cost as performance metrics. We show that under common conditions, the introduction of DD results in shorter waiting times and higher cost over a pure MTO strategy. These results are as expected. However, we also derive conditions where DD results not only in shorter customer waiting time but also lower cost, thus dominating a pure MTO strategy. Through a simulation experiment, we test the robustness of our results for the case where the customer arrivals and production times are generally distributed. For firms with the capability of estimating the customer waiting cost, we derive the optimal base-stock level of the generic component to minimise the total cost.
Spatially coherent postprocessing of cloud cover ensemble forecasts

Statistical postprocessing is commonly applied to reduce location and dispersion errors of probabilistic forecasts provided by numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. If postprocessed forecast scenarios are required, the combination of ensemble model output statistics (EMOS) for univariate postprocessing with ensemble copula coupling (ECC) or the Schaake shuffle (ScS) to retain the dependence structure of the raw ensemble is a state-of-the-art approach. However, modern machine learning methods may lead to both, a better univariate skill and more realistic forecast scenarios. In this study, we postprocess multi-model ensemble forecasts of cloud cover over Switzerland provided by COSMO-E and ECMWF-IFS using (a) EMOS + ECC, (b) EMOS + ScS, (c) dense neural networks (dense NN) + ECC, (d) dense NN + ScS, and (e) conditional generative adversarial networks (cGAN). The different methods are verified using EUMETSAT satellite data. Dense NN shows the best univariate skill, but cGAN performed only slightly worse. Furthermore, cGAN generates realistic forecast scenario maps, while not relying on a dependence template like ECC or ScS, which is particularly favorable in the case of complex topography.
Assessing Soil and Plant Pollution by Abandoned Rural Waste Dumping Sites in Ningbo, China

This paper reports the concentration of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb) in the soils and rices surrounding the abandoned rural waste dumping sites in Ningbo. Igeo (geoaccumulation index) was calculated to assess the contamination degree of heavy metals in soils. The mean contents of Cr, Cu, Cd, Zn and Pb of soils were 33.3, 24.1, 1.5, 118.9 and 45.6 mg/(kg DW) (dry weight), respectively. All of them were much higher than that of the reference value (i.e. CK), but there were no coherent trend of the metal contents within 1-120m distance from the dumping site. Igeo of heavy metals reveals the order of Cd>Cu>Cr>Pb>Zn, and the contamination assessment of soils using Igeo indicate the moderate Cd pollution, while the soils were unpolluted-moderately overall by Cr, Cu, Zn as well as Pb. The heavy metal contents in root, stem & leaf and rice grains were all remarkable higher than that of the CK at 20-120 m distances, and the heavy metal contents in root were evidently much higher than other plant parts, while those in rice grain were lowest, indicating the great bioaccumulation trend of heavy metals. Although the metal contents in the rice grain were within the legislation limit, its bioaccumulation trend of heavy metals was remarkable, whose contents were 4.38-fold for Cr, 1.76-fold for Cu, 1.28-fold for Zn, 2.67-fold for Cd and 3.03-fold for Pb higher than that of reference value, respectively. Finally, we proposed a decentralized in-situ restoration approach for the dumping sites.
Capturing the dynamics of attention control from individual to distributed systems: the shape of models to come

New technology presents opportunities for enhancing the performance of human systems that are tasked to meet multiple, often competing demands. Yet, mistakes in designing and deploying these technologies can create complexities that make human systems more brittle. To many stakeholders, the answer to this challenge is increase situation awareness. But what these advocates refer to when they talk about enhancing situation awareness varies tremendously. Over 15 years ago, the authors commented on how the label was ill defined. Today, the label is more popular than ever but the range of situations and the kinds of awareness are now so diverse that the label is better referred to as multiply defined. This paper returns to basic concepts and findings about human perception and the control of attention and the critical role that these processes play in individual as well as joint and distributed activity–how people know where to focus next in changing situations. This paper also briefly reviews recent studies on the neurobiology of the control of attention that help explain how people find what is relevant despite the fact that this is highly context sensitive. Together, the findings from this research can be synthesised into new models that capture how human systems can fluently and dynamically shift focus as context, goals and situations change. These models are needed to be able to understand, predict and support the processes involved in assessing situations and achieving situation awareness. They can be scaled up to address environments where technology is used to extend human perception into distant scenes and where technology connects multiple interdependent agents (both human groups and machine agents) over new temporal and spatial scales.
Participative Web And User-Created Content: Web 2.0 Wikis and Social Networking

The Internet is becoming increasingly embedded in everyday life. Drawing on an expanding array of intelligent web services and applications, a growing number of people are creating, distributing and exploiting user-created content (UCC) and being part of the wider participative web. This study describes the rapid growth of UCC and its increasing role in worldwide communication, and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are the new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are the associated challenges? Is there a government role, and what form could it take?
Frequency of Psychosomatic-Prone Myofascial Pain Syndrome in Patients with Incurable Cancer and its Association with the Armchair Sign: A Secondary Analysis of A Prospective, Multicenter, Observational Clinical Study

Background Few studies have reported psychosomatic-prone functional damage in cancer patients. Because psychosomatic diseases are pathological conditions, it is difficult to identify their degrees. The armchair sign is a test used to assess voluntary muscle relaxation. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of psychosomatic-prone functional damage in cancer patients and its association with the armchair sign. Methods This was a secondary analysis of a prospective, multicenter, observational clinical study. We evaluated the frequency of psychosomatic-prone myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) in patients with incurable cancer who were at the start of palliative care and how it is associated with the armchair sign. Moreover, we assessed the usefulness of the armchair sign for the diagnosis of psychosomatic-prone MPS. Results A total of 101 patients were enrolled from March 2018 to December 2018, of whom 44 met MPS diagnostic criteria. Of these, 27 patients (61.3%) had psychosomatic-prone MPS. There was a significant association between the armchair sign and psychosomatic-prone MPS (p = 0.002). Sensitivity and specificity were 40.7% (95% confidence interval: 18.0–63.4) and 100.0%, respectively. The area under the curve score was 0.704 (95% confidence interval: 0.553–0.855). Conclusions MPS in patients with incurable cancer has a high frequency of psychosomatic pathology. The armchair sign may be useful as an ancillary test for the diagnosis of psychosomatic-prone MPS. Trial registration: UMIN000031338. Registered 16 February 2018.
Molecular detection of Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium spp . of some snakes in AL-Diwaniyah province/Iraq

The Molecular Study, used for the first time in Iraq to detect zoonosis parasites between snakes and humans, included two species of parasites: Toxoplasma gondii and Cryptosporidium spp. , the conventional polymerase chain reaction technique was used to investigate the gene 18S rRNA(382bp)for Toxoplasma gondii in the snake tissue of the liver, heart, kidney and brain , 5 samples gave positive result With a total infection rate %16.66 included 3(%60) samples of the E. jaculus and one sample(%20) of P. ventromaculatus and one sample(%20) of M. monspessulana respectively, and the highest percentage of the presence of the gene was recorded in liver of snakes(%80), and the percentage of the lowest in brain %20 The presence of the gene was not recorded in both the heart and the kidney. Cryptosporidium parasite where the conventional polymerase chain reaction technique was used as a first step to investigate the SSU rRNA(298bp) gene for the differentiation species of parasites and the DNA sequencer technique, The same gene was used to analyze the evolutionary tree of local isolators that represented C.parvum and (MEGA 6) to determine the ratios of convergence between local isolators and International isolators recorded at the International Gene Bank (NCBI). The results of the analysis of the genetic tree of local isolators showed three common ancestors of the genetic groups with the International isolators registered at the International Gene Bank. The samples recorded in NCBI under accession number MG878886, MG878885, MG878884, MG878437, MG878399, MG888048 & MG888047.
An Assessment of Challenges and Prospects of the Women’s Entrepreneurs in Hawassa City, Southern Nation Nationalities and People, Ethiopia

Women entrepreneur plays a decisive role in the economic and social development of the country. In spite of their position still, they are facing a range of challenges like lack of access to capital, inadequate managerial and marketing skills and their contribution is not yet recognized. Thus, this study aimed to assess the challenges and prospects of women's entrepreneur in Hawassa city. A graphic research design was conducted. Simple random sampling was used to select 42 women out of the total population. Both primary and secondary source of data was used. Primary data was collected using a scheduled questionnaire and structured interview. Regular supervision and follow up was made. The SPSS software version 20 was used to code, compile, and analyze data. Multivariate analysis was used to see the effect of the independent variable on the outcome variable. The finding of the study found that poor managerial and marketing skills, inexperience, and insufficient business related training were among the significant hampers of women entrepreneurs in Hawassa city. The result of the study also showed that educational background, market problem, lack of premises and lack of collateral were strongly associated with women entrepreneur at a p-value less than 0.05. Women who have collateral to access credit were about four times more likely to participate in business than women who do not have collateral (AOR 3.914 (95% CI ((0.370-41.394). Thus, it is recommended that the government should work to strengthen women entrepreneur via providing various skills training, finance support, business-oriented information and advising services.