Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of unprotected and privately protected areas for ocelot conservation: densities in Colombia and Brazil

The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) is a widely distributed, medium-sized felid in the Americas with declining population size. We estimated ocelot densities and home ranges in one agricultural area in the Magdalena River valley in Colombia, a private reserve and cattle ranch in the Colombian Llanos, and a private reserve in the Serra do Amolar in the Brazilian Pantanal. We used camera trapping (39–52 stations) and spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) models. Density estimates (individuals/100 km2) were 11.0 ± 2.7 (SE) in the Magdalena River valley; 13.2 ± 3.2 (SE) in the Llanos, and 10.3 ± 2.9 (SE) in the Serra do Amolar. Overall, despite an impact of agriculture and human disturbance, our results highlight the importance of unprotected areas and privately protected ranching areas for ocelot conservation. As agriculture continues to expand across the tropics causing habitat loss, and negatively affecting ocelot densities, we recommend land use planning and best agricultural practices to maintain natural habitats, thereby limiting human impacts on ocelot conservation. El ocelote (Leopardus pardalis) es un felino de tamaño mediano ampliamente distribuido en las Américas con un tamaño de población descendente. Estimamos las densidades del ocelote y sus áreas de acción en una zona agrícola en el valle del río Magdalena en Colombia, una reserva privada y rancho ganadero en los Llanos colombianos, y una reserva privada en la Serra do Amolar en el Pantanal brasileño. Usamos cámaras trampa (39–52 estaciones) y modelos de captura-recaptura espacialmente explícitos (SECR). Las densidades estimadas (individuos/100 km2) fueron de 11.0 ± 2.7 (SE) en el valle del río Magdalena, 13.2 ± 3.2 (SE) en los Llanos, y 10.3 ± 2.9 (SE) en la Serra do Amolar. En general, a pesar del impacto de la agricultura y la perturbación humana, nuestros resultados destacan la importancia de las áreas no protegidas y las áreas ganaderas privadas protegidas en la conservación del ocelote. A medida que la agricultura continúa expandiéndose en los trópicos causando pérdida de hábitat y afectando negativamente las densidades de ocelotes, recomendamos la planificación del uso de la tierra y mejores prácticas agrícolas para mantener los hábitats naturales en dichas áreas, limitando el impacto antrópico sobre la conservación del ocelote.
Comparing predictions of IUCN Red List categories from machine learning and other methods for bats

Consisting of over 1,400 species, bats are the second most diverse group of mammals. Many species are currently threatened, while another ∼244 species are currently listed as Data Deficient by International Union for Conservation Science (IUCN) Global Red List. IUCN assessments can be vital for early conservation intervention and would be aided by a rapid preliminary tool to determine priority for further research and full IUCN Red List assessments. While some tools currently exist to generate extinction risk predictions for bats, they generally require difficult to obtain data, such as phylogenies and trait data. New approaches exist that utilize machine learning algorithms, such as random forest and neural networks, and can accomplish the same task using easier to obtain occurrence-derived data. Here, I fit models that can predict a species' potential IUCN Red List category using prior assignments (critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, and least concern) grouped into binary categories of “Not Threatened” and “Threatened” as training data and applied the best approach to some Data Deficient bat species. These classifications can be used to prioritize investments in conservation for these species. Methods used included index-based approaches (ConR and rCat) and machine learning (IUC-NN and random forest). The best performing model used a random forest algorithm and could accurately predict IUCN binary categories (“Threatened” and “Not Threatened”) 86.9% of the time. While the overall accuracy is similar to the other approaches used here, it vastly outperforms when looking at other metrics like false-negative rate (incorrectly listing a “Threatened” species as “Not threatened”). As a result, this approach could be used as a first step to predict possible IUCN categories for bats that could be used to prioritize conservation research and is not a replacement for full IUCN Global Red List assessment into extinction risk categories.
Experimental dynamic response of spherical friction-based isolation devices

ABSTRACT This article presents a summary of the experimental dynamic response of curved surface sliders as resulting from more than 1000 dynamic tests on about 60 different types of devices performed at the laboratory of the EUCENTRE foundation. Two different kinds of low-friction sliding materials have been employed in the devices, derived from polyamide (PA), or polyethylene (PE) materials. The rate of change of the dynamic friction coefficient as a function of sliding velocity and contact pressure is assessed and the transition phase between dynamic and static friction, with the consequent possible evidence of static/stick-slip phenomena, has been carefully considered.
WebAssembly as a Common Layer for the Cloud-edge Continuum

Over the last decade, the cloud computing landscape has transformed from centralised architecture made of large data centres to a distributed and heterogeneous architecture embracing edge and IoT processing units. This shift has created the so-called cloud-edge continuum, which closes the gap between the large datacentres and the end-user devices. Existing solutions are, however, dominated by proprietary silos and incompatible technologies, built around dedicated devices and run-time stacks. In this position paper, we motivate the need for interoperable solutions that would run seamlessly across hardware devices and software environments, while achieving good performance and a high level of security-a critical requirement for code and data processed off-premises. We argue that the technology provided by WebAssembly running on modern virtual machines and shielded within trusted execution environments, combined with a core set of services and support libraries, allows us to meet both goals. We also present preliminary results from a prototype built with these technologies and deployed on the cloud-edge continuum.
Unseen Food Segmentation

Food image segmentation is important for detailed analysis on food images, especially for classification of multiple food items and calorie amount estimation. However, there is a costly problem in training a semantic segmentation model because it requires a large number of images with pixel-level annotations. In addition, the existence of a myriad of food categories causes the problem of insufficient data in each category. Although several food segmentation datasets such as the UEC-FoodPix Complete has been released so far, the number of food categories is still limited to a small number. In this study, we propose an unseen class segmentation method with high accuracy by using both zero-shot and few-shot segmentation methods for any unseen classes. we make the following contributions: (1) we propose a UnSeen Food Segmentation method (USFoodSeg) that uses the zero-shot model to infer the segmentation mask from the class label words of unseen classes and those images, and uses the few-shot model to refine the segmentation masks. (2) We generate segmentation masks for 156 categories of the unseen class UEC-Food256, totaling 17,000 images, and 85 categories in the Food-101 dataset, totaling 85,000 images, with an accuracy of over 90%. Our proposed method is able to solve the problem of insufficient food segmentation data.
Practical Efficient Microservice Autoscaling with QoS Assurance

Cloud applications are increasingly moving away from monolithic services to agile microservices-based deployments. However, efficient resource management for microservices poses a significant hurdle due to the sheer number of loosely coupled and interacting components. The interdependencies between various microservices make existing cloud resource autoscaling techniques ineffective. Meanwhile, machine learning (ML) based approaches that try to capture the complex relationships in microservices require extensive training data and cause intentional SLO violations. Moreover, these ML-heavy approaches are slow in adapting to dynamically changing microservice operating environments. In this paper, we propose PEMA (Practical Efficient Microservice Autoscaling), a lightweight microservice resource manager that finds efficient resource allocation through opportunistic resource reduction. PEMA's lightweight design enables novel workload-aware and adaptive resource management. Using three prototype microservice implementations, we show that PEMA can find efficient resource allocation and save up to 33% resources compared to the commercial rule-based resource allocations.
Wear leveling in SSDs considered harmful

We argue that wear leveling in SSDs does more harm than good under modern settings where the endurance limit is in the hundreds. To support this claim, we evaluate existing wear leveling techniques and show that they exhibit anomalous behaviors and produce a high write amplification. These findings are consistent with a recent large-scale field study on the operational characteristics of SSDs. We discuss the option of forgoing wear leveling and instead adopting capacity variance in SSDs, and show that the capacity variance extends the lifetime of the SSD by up to 2.94×.
The Nexus of Financial Development and Economic Growth Across Developing Economies

Abstract The relationship between financial development and economic growth has been discussed in the literature, but there is no consensus on it. This study aims to examine the relationship between financial development and economic growth in terms of developing countries. The data of 19 developing countries were analyzed individually in an attempt to reveal which of the views explaining the relationship between financial development and economic growth is predominantly valid. In the analysis, the bounds test developed by Pesaran et al. (2001) was used to determine the cointegration relationship, and the Toda Yamamoto causality test (1995) was used to determine the causality relationship. As a result, causality was determined from economic growth to financial development in four countries and from financial development to economic growth in four countries. In 11 countries, no causality was found. The results support the view that no approach is valid for every country.
The Objectification of Women in V. Shantaram’s Films

This essay looks at Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955; hereafter JJPB), and Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne (1964; hereafter GGPN), both made by the legendary Indian filmmaker, Rajaram Vankudre Shantaram (1901–90; generally known as V. Shantaram). These two commercial films are both based on the male protagonist’s artistic talents, supported by their female counterparts’ heroic sacrifices. We introduce and then analyze their plots, using Nussbaum’s concept of objectification—personal relationships involving a constant struggle over freedom as one either treats others as objects (so undermining their freedom) or allows them to be treated by others as an object (undermining their own freedom). Either way, someone’s freedom is compromised. The films demonstrate how the female protagonists are expected to sacrifice their careers and lives for their partners—a theme first broached with the role of Sīta in the R am ayana more than two millennia ago.
Investigations into the Fundamental Characteristics and Operating Performances of Side rIlftt

Model experiments are made on the configurations of the ducted-impeller-type side-thruster unit and performance tests of the hulls equipped wit/i a model unit are made in order to obtain a sound basis for side-thruster design. Manoeuvre trials are made wit/i the free-running models to visualize the possibility of efficient ship operations by the use of side-thruster and the required capacity of the unit is estimated. Simplified considerations are made on the performance of th.e ship equipped with a side-thruster and simplified in-ethods are proposed for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the unit.
DISSOCIATING THE IMPACT OF SENSORY AND MOTOR NOISE IN HUMAN SACCADES

Eyes rarely land exactly on target. Here we investigated to which extent sensory (visual) or motor (execution) noise in neural signals determines the imprecision of saccades. We compared the variability of saccades recorded in human subjects to the predictions of a stochastic feedback optimal model of the oculomotor system. From the spatiotemporal development of the variability along the trajectories, we derived plausible estimates of the noise in sensory and motor signals.
The Ingredients for Innovation : impacts for practice and the education of health service managers i 15

Objective: Objective: Dental emergencies are a significant impact on the health system. The resource needs are complex and consume services in the tertiary health sector. It is important that we examine the reasons and types of attendances to look for ways to mitigate this demand. The aim was to identify the rate of dental emergencies according to age groups, genders and Indigenous status. Method: A retrospective analysis of dental emergencies at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH; tertiary children hospital in Perth) was
Concolic Execution for WebAssembly

WebAssembly (Wasm) is a new binary instruction format that allows targeted compiled code written in high-level languages to be executed by the browser’s JavaScript engine with near-native speed. Despite its clear performance advantages, Wasm opens up the opportunity for bugs or security vulnerabilities to be introduced into Web programs, as pre-existing issues in programs written in unsafe languages can be transferred down to cross-compiled binaries. The source code of such binaries is frequently unavailable for static analysis, creating the demand for tools that can directly tackle Wasm code. Despite this potentially security-critical situation, there is still a noticeable lack of tool support for analysing Wasm binaries. We present WASP, a symbolic execution engine for testing Wasm modules, which works directly on Wasm code and was built on top of a standard-compliant Wasm reference implementation. WASP was thoroughly evaluated: it was used to symbolically test a generic data-structure library for C and the Amazon Encryption SDK for C, demonstrating that it can find bugs and generate high-coverage testing inputs for real-world C applications; and was further tested against the Test-Comp benchmark, obtaining results comparable to well-established symbolic execution and testing tools for C. Security and privacy Formal methods theory of test for the
in genetic

The role of physical barriers in promoting population divergence and genetic structuring is well known. While it is well established that animals can show genetic structuring at small spatial scales, less well-resolved is how the timing of the appearance of barriers affects population structure. This study uses the Panama Canal watershed as a test of the effects of old and recent riverine barriers in creating population structure in Saguinus geoffroyi , a small cooperatively breeding Neotropical primate. Mitochondrial sequences and microsatellite genotypes from three sampling localities revealed genetic structure across the Chagres River and the Panama Canal, suggesting that both waterways act as barriers to gene ﬂow. F -statistics and exact tests of population differentiation suggest population structure on either side of both riverine barriers. Genetic differentiation across the Canal, however, was less than observed across the Chagres. Accordingly, Bayesian clustering algorithms detected between two and three populations, with localities across the older Chagres River always assigned as distinct populations. While conclusions represent a preliminary assessment of genetic structure of S. geoffroyi, this study adds to the evidence indicating that riverine barriers create genetic structure across a wide variety of taxa in the Panama Canal watershed and highlights the potential of this study area for discerning modern from historical inﬂuences on observed patterns of population genetic structure.
An Almost Optimal Algorithm for Unbounded Search with Noisy Information

Given a sequence of integers, S = s 1 , s 2 , . in ascending order, called the search domain , and an integer t , called the target , the predecessor problem asks for the target index N such that s N is the largest integer in S satisfying s N ≤ t . We consider solving the predecessor problem with the least number of queries to a binary comparison oracle . For each query index i , the oracle returns whether s i ≤ t or s i > t . In particular, we study the predecessor problem under the UnboundedNoisy setting, where (i) the search domain S is unbounded , i.e., n = |S| is unknown or infinite, and (ii) the binary comparison oracle is noisy . We denote the former setting by Unbounded and the latter by Noisy . In Noisy , the oracle, for each query, independently returns a wrong answer with a fixed constant probability 0 < p < 1 / 2. In particular, even for two queries on the same index i , the answers from the oracle may be different. Furthermore, with a noisy oracle, the goal is to correctly return the target index with probability at least 1 − Q , where 0 < Q < 1 / 2 is the failure probability . Our first result is an algorithm, called NoS , for Noisy that improves the previous result by Ben-Or and Hassidim [FOCS 2008] from an expected query complexity bound to a worst-case bound. We also achieve an expected query complexity bound, whose leading term has an optimal constant factor, matching the lower bound of Ben-Or and Hassidim. Building on NoS , we propose our NoSU algorithm, which correctly solves the predecessor problem in the UnboundedNoisy setting. We prove that the query complexity of NoSU is P k i =1 (log ( i ) N ) / (1 − H ( p )) + o (log N ) when log Q − 1 ∈ o (log N ), where N is the target index, k = log ∗ N , the iterated logarithm, and H ( p ) is the entropy function. This improves the previous bound of O (log( N/Q ) / (1 − H ( p ))) by reducing the coefficient of the leading term from a large constant to 1. Moreover, we show that this upper bound can be further improved to (1 − Q ) P k i =1 (log ( i ) N ) / (1 − H ( p ))+ o (log N ) in expectation, with the constant in the leading term reduced to 1 − Q . Finally, we show that an information-theoretic lower bound on the expected query cost of the predecessor problem in UnboundedNoisy is at least (1 − Q )( P k i =1 log ( i ) N − 2 k ) / (1 − H ( p )) − 10. This implies the constant factor in the leading term of our expected upper bound is indeed optimal.
(2013) Current progress with serological assays for exotic emerging / re-emerging viruses. Future Virology, 8 (8). pp. 745-755.

to New York in 1999 was due to air travel either transporting infected passengers or mosquito vectors from a region where the flavivirus is endemic. This is also a probable cause of the recent introduction of the novel Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus into the UK Recent decades have witnessed an unprecedented rise in the outbreak occurrence of infectious and primarily zoonotic viruses. Contributing factors to this phenomenon include heightened global connectivity via air travel and international trade links, as well as man-made environmental alterations, such as deforestation and climate change, which all serve to bring humans into closer contact with animal reservoirs and alter the habitat of vectors, thus facilitating the transmission of viruses between species. Serological assays are integral to tracking the epidemiological spread of a virus and evaluating mass vaccination programs by quantifying neutralizing antibody responses raised against antigenic epitopes on the viral surface. However, conventional serological tests are somewhat marred by equipment and reagent costs, the necessity for high-containment laboratories for studying many emerging viruses, and interlaboratory variability, among other issues. This review details ‘next-generation’ assays aimed at addressing some of the persistent problems with viral serology, focusing on how manipulating the genomes of RNA viruses can produce attenuated or chimeric viruses that can be exploited as surrogate viruses in neutralization assays. Despite the undoubted promise of such novel serological platforms, it must be remembered that these assays have to withstand rigorous validation and standardization measures before they can play an integral role in curtailing the severity of future emerging virus outbreaks.
Hydroxyapatite Coating on Titanium Alloy Ti-6Al-4V with Electrophoretic Deposition (EPD) for Dental Root Application

An α+β type titanium alloy, Ti-6Al-4V, has been coated with hydroxyapatite through electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method to improve quality of the alloy surface, in order to fulfill bioactivity requirement for orthodontic application as dental roots. The deposition process was conducted by EPD at different voltages (2 volts, 5 volts, and 10 volts) and time (2 minutes and 5 minutes). After deposition, the material was heated at temperature 700oC for 1 hour using a vacuum furnace. Coated samples analysis was conducted by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) to examine coating layer morphology and its chemical composition, respectively. Experimental results showed that the voltage and time deposition gives different effects to surface coverage and thickness of hydroxyapatite layers. Optimum layer for dental roots is obtained from the voltage of 5 volts for 5 minutes with 100% surface coverage value and 45. 55μm in thickness. With low voltage and short deposition time for making a uniform coating layer, this process is much cheaper than other processes, and it is predicted to be favorable for improving osseointegration of dental roots.
Local control of channels by PKC in arterial smooth muscle.

Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channels are Ca 2+ -permeable, nonselective cation channels expressed in multiple tissues, including smooth muscle. Although TRPV4 channels play a key role in regulating vascular tone, the mechanisms controlling Ca 2+ influx through these channels in arterial myocytes are poorly understood. Here, we tested the hypothesis that in arterial myocytes the anchoring protein AKAP150 and protein kinase C (PKC) play a critical role in the regulation of TRPV4 channels during angiotensin II (AngII) signaling. Super-resolution imaging revealed that TRPV4 channels are gathered into puncta of variable sizes along the sarcolemma of arterial myocytes. Recordings of Ca 2+ entry via single TRPV4 channels (“TRPV4 sparklets”) suggested that basal TRPV4 sparklet activity was low. However, Ca 2+ entry during elementary TRPV4 sparklets was  100-fold greater than that during L-type Ca V 1.2 channel sparklets. Application of the TRPV4 channel agonist GSK1016790A or the vasoconstrictor AngII increased the activity of TRPV4 sparklets in specific regions of the cells. PKC and AKAP150 were required for AngII-induced increases in TRPV4 sparklet activity. AKAP150 and TRPV4 channel interactions were dynamic; activation of AngII signaling increased the proximity of AKAP150 and TRPV4 puncta in arterial myocytes. Furthermore, local stimulation of diacylglycerol and PKC signaling by laser activation of a light-sensitive G q -coupled receptor (opto-  1 AR) resulted in TRPV4-mediated Ca 2+ influx. We propose that AKAP150, PKC, and TRPV4 channels form dynamic subcellular signaling domains that control Ca 2+ influx into