Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvement of Growth and Viability of Oreochromis niloticus in a Biofloc System Using Chlorella vulgaris

This study aimed to enhance Nile Tilapia growth using Chlorella vulgaris as a food additive in the biofloc system. Different concentrations of C. vulgaris were tested in four different treatments compared to control. The growth rate of Nile tilapia was parallel with C. vulgaris addition to the treatments. The best productive value (growth performance) for Nile Tilapia was recorded in T1 that was distinctly superior to the other treatments. The use of C. vulgaris in the biofloc system decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) values; whereas the most significant value was observed at T1. Phytoplankton structure in Nile Tilapia gut was predominated with C. vulgaris representing 67.7% of the total phytoplankton crop. Statistical analysis also approved that the most important factor affecting Nile Tilapia growth was C. vulgaris addition, and some other chemical variables that affect phytoplankton’s growth such as PO4. In addition, muscle protein ratio of Nile Tilapia increased with increasing C. vulgaris concentrations. Our data concluded that increasing C. vulgaris concentration improved the growth performance of Nile Tilapia under the biofloc condition.
Generative Compositional Augmentations for Scene Graph Prediction

Inferring objects and their relationships from an image in the form of a scene graph is useful in many applications at the intersection of vision and language. We consider a challenging problem of compositional generalization that emerges in this task due to a long tail data distribution. Current scene graph generation models are trained on a tiny fraction of the distribution corresponding to the most frequent compositions, e.g. . However, test images might contain zero- and few-shot compositions of objects and relationships, e.g. . Despite each of the object categories and the predicate (e.g. ‘on’) being frequent in the training data, the models often fail to properly understand such unseen or rare compositions. To improve generalization, it is natural to attempt increasing the diversity of the training distribution. However, in the graph domain this is non-trivial. To that end, we propose a method to synthesize rare yet plausible scene graphs by perturbing real ones. We then propose and empirically study a model based on conditional generative adversarial networks (GANs) that allows us to generate visual features of perturbed scene graphs and learn from them in a joint fashion. When evaluated on the Visual Genome dataset, our approach yields marginal, but consistent improvements in zero- and few-shot metrics. We analyze the limitations of our approach indicating promising directions for future research.
Crossmodal Clustered Contrastive Learning: Grounding of Spoken Language to Gesture

Crossmodal grounding is a key technical challenge when generating relevant and well-timed gestures from spoken language. Often, the same gesture can accompany semantically different spoken language phrases which makes crossmodal grounding especially challenging. For example, a gesture (semi-circular with both hands) could co-occur with semantically different phrases ”entire bottom row” (referring to a physical point) and ”molecules expand and decay” (referring to a scientific phenomena). In this paper, we introduce a self-supervised approach to learn representations better suited to such many-to-one grounding relationships between spoken language and gestures. As part of this approach, we propose a new contrastive loss function, Crossmodal Cluster NCE, that guides the model to learn spoken language representations which are consistent with the similarities in the gesture space. This gesture-aware space can help us generate more relevant gestures given language as input. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on a publicly available dataset through quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Our proposed methodology significantly outperforms prior approaches for gestures-language grounding. Link to code: https://github.com/dondongwon/CC_NCE_GENEA.
Image Generators with Conditionally-Independent Pixel Synthesis

In this section we provide additional information about the default version of our CIPS generator (Fig. 1). In total, its backbone contains 15 fully connected layers. The first layer projects concatenated coordinate embeddings and Fourier features into the joint space with the dimension of 512. Next, the following layer pattern is repeated seven times: the representation is put through two modulated fully-connected layers and a projection to RGB color space is computed. The projections coming from the seven iterations are summed together to create the final image. Similarly to StyleGANv2 we add properly broadcasted noise maps of size H ×W in every ModFC layer (not shown in Fig. 1). We also adopt from StyleGANv2 other settings, including leaky ReLU activation with the slope 0.2, NTKparameterization, exponential moving average for weights, antialiased bilinear down/upsampling. Our model is trained with a standard non-saturating logistic GAN loss with R1 penalty [6] applied to the discriminator D. The discriminator has a residual architecture, described in [3] (we have deliberately kept the discriminator architecture intact). Networks were trained by Adam optimizer [4] with learning rate 2× 10−3 and hyperparameters: β0 = 0, β1 = 0.99, = 10−8. The number of parameters for the different modifications of the CIPS generator discussed in the paper are given in Tab. 1.
Optimization Model and Method of Variable Speed Limit for Urban Expressway

The urban expressway network is the main part of the urban traffic network carrying most of the city’s traffic pressure for its continuity and rapidity, but the control method of the traffic flow was too simple to other control methods in application in addition to the ramp control and the fixed speed control. In this paper, the theory of variable speed limit (VSL) was used to develop an optimal control model based on the improved traffic flow simulation model according to the characteristics of urban expressway traffic flow. The objective of the proposed model is to minimize the delay and maximize the traffic flow. It can adjust the traffic flow on the network in space time so that the whole network is in a state of equilibrium which not only is conducive to the control of the local traffic congestion and avoids the spread of congestion but also improves the traffic safety. The SPSA-based solution algorithm was proposed by taking into account the needs of real-time online applications. It can not only ensure the accuracy of the solution but also meet the requirements of the simulation time. The simulation results show that the variable speed limit can be optimized in moderate demand, and the proposed model and algorithm are effective and feasible in this paper. The conclusions are useful to help the traffic management department to formulate reasonable traffic control strategies.
Phase transitions of hyperbolic black holes in anti-de Sitter space

We find analytic solutions of hyperbolic black holes with scalar hair in AdS space, and they do not have spherical or planar counterparts. The system is obtained by taking a neutral limit of an Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton system whose special cases are maximal gauged supergravities, while the dilaton is kept nontrivial. There are phase transitions between these black holes and the hyperbolic Schwarzschild-AdS black hole. We discuss two AdS/CFT applications of these hyperbolic black holes. One is phase transitions of Rényi entropies, and the other is phase transitions of QFTs in de Sitter space. In addition, we give a C-metric solution as a generalization of the hyperbolic black holes with scalar hair.
Improving outpatient medication counselling in hospital pharmacy settings: a behavioral analysis using the theoretical domains framework and behavior change wheel

Background: Despite the importance of medication counselling for patients, it is common knowledge that it is often sub-optimally carried out by pharmacy staff. While some interventions have been designed to help improve counselling, no study till date has used the Capability Opportunity and Motivation behavior model (COM-B) or Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) as a basis for identifying evidence-based intervention strategies to improve medication counselling. Objective: To understand barriers/facilitators to optimal medication counselling by conducting a behavioral analysis using the COM-B model and TDF, and use the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) as a basis for identifying evidence-based intervention strategies and policy categories that could be used to improve outpatient medication counselling by pharmacy staff in hospital settings located within Northwest Nigeria. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from 25 purposively sampled pharmacy staff working at eight major public hospitals, from January till March 2020. Data from the interviews were then transcribed and deductively coded using the COM-B model and TDF. These findings were then used to identify areas requiring change, as well as the intervention type and policy functions required to support these changes. Results: Findings from the behavioral analysis revealed shortfalls in pharmacy staff capability, opportunity and motivation with respect to outpatient medication counselling. To improve their counselling behaviors, change was identified as necessary in eight TDF domains namely ‘knowledge’, ‘interpersonal skills’, ‘memory’ ‘environmental context’, ‘social influences’, ‘intentions’, ‘reinforcement’ and ‘beliefs about capabilities’. Seven intervention functions including ‘education’, ‘training’, ‘modelling’, ‘enablement’ and ‘environmental restructuring’, in addition to three policy categories (‘guidelines’, ‘regulations’ and ‘environmental/social planning’) were also identified as relevant to future intervention design. Conclusions: Various factors were identified as affecting medication counselling by the pharmacy staff, with several of them requiring changes if counselling was to be improved upon. Multi-component interventions combining several of these intervention functions are recommended for hospital authorities and other relevant stakeholders to improve outpatient medication counselling.
When Does Diffusing Protest Lead to Local Organization Building? Evidence from a Comparative Subnational Study of Russia’s “For Fair Elections” Movement

Under what conditions do nation-wide mass protests in authoritarian regimes produce new local activist organizations? Based on sixty-five interviews and over 1,000 media reports, internal documents, and social media posts, I compare the organization-building process in the “For Fair Elections” (FFE) protests of 2011–2012 across four Russian regions. I argue that mass protests are more likely to leave behind new social movement organizations (SMOs) when the local and the national interact, i.e., when long-standing activists on the ground perceive an opportunity to use the protests for their ongoing local struggles. Where new SMOs are established, their composition, activity pattern, and inner structure follow the tactical and organizational repertoires of veteran activists that were shaped by their local political environments. This argument illuminates the functioning of electoral authoritarian regimes from a subnational perspective and identifies conditions under which a bottom-up challenge to an authoritarian political system can drive local civil society development.
PELVIC ABSCESS MISTAKEN FOR MALIGNANT OVARIAN TUMOR IN A POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMAN. CASE REPORT

Received: 11/05/2020 Accepted: 05/08/2020 Corresponding author Edith Ángel-Müller. Departamento de Obstetricia y Ginecología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Bogotá D.C. Colombia. E-mail: eangelm@unal.edu. co. Edgar Páez-Castellanos Ariel Iván Ruiz-Parra Edith Ángel-Müller Universidad Nacional de Colombia Bogotá Campus Faculty of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Bogotá, D.C. Colombia. https://doi.org/10.15446/cr.v7n1. 87199
THE EFFECT OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP ON JOB STRESS

The uncertainties experienced in the tourism sector together with the Covid-19 pandemic have created an important source of stress on the employees. In order to increase service quality and ensure organizational success, this stress on employees must be reduced. In the research, the effect of the authentic leadership, which motivates the employees in such chaotic environments, was investigated. In accordance with the research purpose, a questionnaire was applied to hotel employees in the Alanya (n= 311). The data analyzed using SPSS 23.0 package program. The results of the analysis show that all sub-dimensions of authentic leadership (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and internalized moral perspective) reduce work stress in employees. The research findings are of interest to managers in the tourism sector. In addition, the findings obtained as a result of this research will be a resource for the research in hotel industry. (English) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Kovid-19 pandemisi ile beraber turizm sektorunde yasanan belirsizlikler, calisanlar uzerinde onemli bir stres kaynagi olusturmustur. Hizmet kalitesini artirmak ve orgutsel basariyi saglamak icin calisanlarda olusan bu stresin azaltilmasi gerekmektedir. Arastirmada, bu tur kaotik ortamlarda calisanlarini motive etmeyi basaran otantik liderligin, is stresi uzerindeki etkisi arastirilmistir. Arastirma amacina uygun olarak Alanya'daki otel calisanlarina anket uygulamasi yapilmistir (n=311). Elde edilen veriler SPSS 23.0 paket programi kullanilarak analiz edilmistir. Analiz sonuclari otantik liderligin tum alt boyutlarinin (oz farkindalik, iliskisel seffaflik, bilgiyi dengeli degerlendirme, icsellestirilmis ahlak anlayisi) calisanlarda is stresini azalttigini gostermektedir. Arastirma bulgulari, turizm sektorundeki yoneticilerin ilgisi cekecek niteliktedir. Ayrica arastirma sonucunda elde edilen bulgular, otelcilik sektorune yonelik yapilacak olan calismalara kaynak niteligi tasimaktadir. (Turkish) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Electronic Journal of Social Sciences is the property of Electronic Journal of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Substitution of Kudzu Starch for Cornstarch Results in Dairy-Based Vanilla Pudding with Similar Texture and Consumer Acceptability

Kudzu, also known as kuzu, is a rapidly growing, vine invasive in the Southeastern United States following introduction for soil erosion control in the late 19th century. Native to Southeastern Asia, its roots are rich in starch which has been used in traditional Eastern cuisine as a sauce thickener. Use of kudzu starch in Western cuisine is limited. This study compared the consistency, percent sag, and consumer acceptability of whole milk vanilla pudding prepared with kudzu starch to vanilla pudding prepared with cornstarch, a more commonly used thickening agent in the United States (control). The consistency (Bostwick Consistometer; 50°C) and percent sag (4°C; 24h) of the puddings did not differ. In addition, fifty-one consumers evaluated appearance, smell, creaminess, flavor, aftertaste, and overall acceptability of the puddings using a hedonic scale (9=extremely like, 5= neutral, 1=extremely dislike). Willingness to purchase was also evaluated (9=definitely yes, 5=neutral, 1=definitely no). Overall acceptability of whole milk kudzu starch-thickened vanilla pudding was positive (7.0+/-1.3) and did not significantly differ from corn starchthickened vanilla pudding (6.2+/-1.8). Appearance, smell, creaminess, flavor, and aftertaste of both puddings were also liked (means+/-SD>5.0) and did not significantly differ. Finally, consumers were similarly willing to purchase (means+/-SD>5.0) both puddings. This work shows that kudzu starch is acceptable as a cornstarch substitute in dairy-based vanilla pudding and may be recommended by registered dietitians as a value-added alternative to corn starch in pudding preparation. Future studies will determine if kudzu starch is similarly acceptable when the fat content of puddings is varied. Thesis Mentor: _ Dr. Joelle Romanchik-Cerpovicz Honors Director:_______________________ Dr. Steven Engel May 2021 Health Sciences and Kinesiology University Honors Program Georgia Southern University
The value of routine measurement of serum calcitonin on insufficient, indeterminate, and suspicious thyroid nodule cytology

Routine calcitonin measurement in patients with nodular thyroid disease is rather controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of serum calcitonin measurement in the diagnostic evaluation of thyroid nodules with insufficient, indeterminate, or suspicious cytology. Out of 1668 patients who underwent thyroidectomy with the diagnosis of nodular thyroid disease and were screened, 873 patients with insufficient, indeterminate, or suspicious fine-needle aspiration biopsy results were included in the study. From the total number of patients in this study, 10 (1.1%) were diagnosed as medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) using histopathology. The calcitonin level was detected to be above the assay-specific cutoff in 23 (2.6%) patients ranging between 6.5 and 4450 pg/mL. While hypercalcitoninemia was detected in all 10 MTC patients, a false positive elevation of serum calcitonin was detected in 13 patients (1.5%). Of the MTC group, seven patients had cytology results that were suspicious for malignancy (Bethesda V), one patient’s cytology showed atypia of undetermined significance (Bethesda III), and two patient’s cytology results were suspicious for follicular neoplasm (Bethesda IV). Among the cases with non-diagnostic cytology (Bethesda I), none of the patients were diagnosed with MTC. In conclusion, routine serum calcitonin measurement can be performed in selected cases rather than in all nodular thyroid patients. While it is reasonable to perform routine calcitonin measurement in patients with Bethesda IV and Bethesda V, this measurement was not useful in Bethesda I patients. In Bethesda III patients, patient-based decisions can be made according to their calcitonin measurement.
Novel Ultrasound Elastography Imaging System for Breast Cancer Assessment

Most conventional methods o f breast cancer screening such as X-ray, Ultrasound (US) and MRI have some issues ranging from weaknesses associated with tumour detection or classification to high cost or excessive time of image acquisition and reconstruction. Elastography is a noninvasive technique to visualize suspicious areas in soft tissues such as the breast, prostate and myocardium using tissue stiffness as image contrast mechanism. In this study, a breast Elastography system based on US imaging is proposed. This technique is fast, expected to be cost effective and more sensitive and specific compared to conventional US imaging. Unlike current Elastography techniques that image relative elastic modulus, this technique is capable of imaging absolute Young's modulus (YM). In this technique, tissue displacements and surface forces used to mechanically stimulate the tissue are acquired and used as input to reconstruct the tissue YM distribution. For displacements acquisition, two techniques were used in this research: 1) a modified optical flow technique, which estimates the displacement o f each node from US preand post-compression images and 2) Radio Frequency (RF) signal cross-correlation technique. In the former, displacements are calculated in 2 dimensions whereas in the latter, displacements are calculated in the US axial direction only. For improving the quality of elastography images, surface force data was used to calculate the stress distribution throughout the organ of interest by using an analytical model and a statistical numerical model. For force data acquisition, a system was developed in which load cells are used to measure forces on the surface o f the breast. These forces are input into the stress distribution models to estimate the tissue stress distribution. By combining the stress field with the strain field calculated from the acquired displacements using Hooke's law, the YM can be reconstructed efficiently. To validate the proposed technique, numerical and tissue mimicking phantom studies were conducted. For the numerical phantom study, a 3D breast-shape phantom was created with synthetic US preand post-compression images where the results showed the feasibility o f reconstructing the absolute value of YM of tumour and background. In the tissue mimicking study, a block shape gelatineagar phantom was constructed with a cylindrical inclusion. Results obtained from this study also indicated reasonably accurate reconstruction o f the YM. The quality o f the obtained elasticity images shows that image quality is improved by incorporating the adapted stress calculation techniques. Furthermore, the proposed elastography system is reasonably fast and can be potentially used in real-time clinical applications.
A Novel Completeness Test and its Application to Side Channel Attacks and Simulators

Today’s side channel attack targets are often complex devices in which instructions are processed in parallel and work on 32-bit data words. Consequently, the state that is involved in producing leakage in these modern devices is large, and basing evaluations (i.e. worst case attacks), simulators, and assumptions for (masking) countermeasures on a potentially incomplete state can lead to drastically wrong conclusions. We put forward a novel notion for the “completeness” of an assumed state, together with an eﬃcient statistical test that is based on “collapsed models”. Our novel test can be used to recover a state that contains multiple 32-bit variables in a grey box setting. We illustrate how our novel test can help to guide side channel attacks and we reveal new attack vectors for existing implementations. We also show how the application of our statistical test shows where even the most recent leakage simulators do not capture all available leakage of their respective target devices.
Thermodynamics and Kinetic Studies for the Adsorption Process of Methyl Orange by Magnetic Activated Carbons

This study investigates the adsorption behavior of methyl orange (MO) by magnetic activated carbons (MACs) with different ratios of AC: Magnetite from aqueous solution. Batch experiments for MO adsorption were carried out for evaluating the thermodynamics and kinetics parameters onto the MAC adsorbents. Variables such as pH, initial concentration of the dye, contact time, and temperature have been analyzed. The physicochemical characteristics of MACs were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface area analyzer (BET), and X-ray power diffraction. The results of SEM and BET analysis showed that MAC adsorbents present a porous structure and large surface area, suitable conditions for the adsorption process. The X-ray diffraction patterns of MACs revealed that the adsorbents possess magnetite as magnetic material. Adsorption kinetic studies carried out onto MACs showed that the pseudo-second-order model provides a good description of the kinetic process. The adsorption equilibrium results were well adjusted to the Langmuir isotherm, showing that the maximum adsorption capacity was for MACs with a ratio 3:1 and 2:1 AC/magnetite. Thermodynamic analysis declares that the adsorption process was established as spontaneous, endothermic, and physical adsorption in nature. The results of the this study indicated that MAC adsorbents can be used successfully for eliminating MO from aqueous solution.