Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Hybrid Downlink Scheduling Approach for Multi-Traffic Classes in LTE Wireless Systems

The developments in wireless technology and applications in recent years have increased the interest in downlink scheduling and resource allocations among researchers. Moreover, fair scheduling and balanced Quality of Service (QoS) delivery for various forms of traffic are needed for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless systems. This paper proposes hybrid QoS-aware downlink scheduling approaches that aim to address different traffic classes and balance the QoS delivery with improvements to the overall system performance under channel and bandwidth constraints. Moreover, this research introduces a taxonomy that classifies the scheduling algorithms into four main classes: delay aware, queue aware, target bit-rate aware and hybrid aware. The latter class is the scheduling class that is proposed in this paper; it considers channel, queue and delay parameters in its scheduling metric. Using simulations, we compare and analyze different downlink scheduling rules for their network-centric performance metrics, e.g., average packet loss ratio, average throughput, average packet delay, system fairness, and system spectral efficiency. The simulation results show that the queue-aware and delay-aware scheduling rules deliver the best QoS performance for video traffic classes, whereas our proposed hybrid scheduling rules deliver balanced QoS for various types of traffic classes. Employing QoS balancing scheduling rules in an LTE downlink is suggested to provide high QoS delivery for different traffic classes.
Sub-Synchronous Control Interaction in Grid-Forming VSCs with Droop Control

This paper analyzes the sub-synchronous control interaction of droop-controlled grid-forming voltage-source converters (VSCs). The complex-valued impedance model of the droop-controlled VSC in the stationary frame is proposed first, based on which the grid-VSC interaction is characterized. It is revealed that the sub-synchronous resonances can be induced in stiff grids, owing to the interactions of inner voltage control loop and the outer power control loop. Experimental tests corroborate the theoretical analysis.
Fishery Production and the Mississippi River Discharge

Abstract There is strong circumstantial evidence worldwide that nutrient enriched riverine discharge enhances fishery production on adjacent continental shelves, and this appears to be the case with the Mississippi River where 70–80% of Gulf of Mexico fishery landings come from waters surrounding the Mississippi delta. Two major species groupings, estuarine dependent species (e.g., red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus; spot, Leiostomus xanthurus; and Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias undulatus) and coastal species, (e.g., king mackerel, Scomberomorus calvalla; Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus maculatus; and bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix) are most likely to be influenced by riverine discharge. While riverine enhancement of fishery production seems clear, the exact mechanisms through which this occurs are not. Because recruitment makes the greatest contribution to fish stock biomass, it is by enhancing recruitment that fishery production is influenced most. Waters influenced by the river discharge are a rich environm.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS‐IRRADIANCE RELATIONSHIPS IN PHYTOPLANKTON FROM THE PHYSICALLY STABLE WATER COLUMN OF A PERENNIALLY ICE‐COVERED LAKE (LAKE BONNEY, ANTARCTICA) 1

The perennially ice‐covered lakes of Antarctica have hydrodynamically stable water columns with a number of vertically distinct phytoplankton populations. We examined the photosynthesis‐irradiance characteristics of phytoplankton from four depths of Lake Bonney to determine their physiological condition relative to vertical gradients in irradiance and temperature. All populations studied showed evidence of extreme shade adaptation, including low Ik values (15–45 μE · m−2· s−1) and extremely low maximal photosynthetic rates (PBm less than 0.3 μg C ·μg chl a−1· h−1). Photosynthetic rates were controlled by temperature as well as light variations with depth. Lake Bonney has an inverted temperature profile within the trophogenic zone that increased from 0° C at the ice‐water interface to 6° C from 10 to 18 m. Deeper phytoplankton (10 m and 17 m) were found to have photosynthetic capacities (PBm) and efficiences (α) three to five times higher than those at the ice‐water interface. However, Q10 values were only ca. 2 for PBm (no temperature dependence was evident for α), suggesting that a simple temperature response cannot explain all the differences between populations. Lake Bonney phytoplankton (primarily cryptophytes and chlorophytes) had photosynthetic characteristics similar to diatoms from other physically stable environments (e.g. sea ice, benthos) and may be ecologically analogous to multiple deep chlorophyll maxima.
Complex Competitive Relationships Among Genotypes of Three Perennial Grasses: Implications for Species Coexistence

Competitive relationships were studied among genotypes of Agropyron repens, Poa pratensis, and Phleum pratense collected from a grassland community in southeastern Ontario. Field surveys revealed no significant correlations of abundance among the three species within randomly placed survey plots. The greater performance of target plants in removal plots versus control plots for all three species in a vegetation-removal experiment, however, suggests that each of these three species was suppressed by competitive interactions in the field. One clone (genotype) of each species was collected from each of 10 sites (7-cm2 neighborhoods) within the community. Each genotype was propagated vegetatively and grown in the greenhouse in monocultures and in pairwise mixtures with all other genotypes collected from the community. Differences in relative competitive ability among species or genotypes were measured as significant differences between the yield-suppression coefficients of the two components of a mixture. A significant interaction of target site of origin and associate site of origin (i.e., mixture effect) for yield-suppression coefficients of intraspecific mixtures for each species suggests genotypic variability among the collected clones. Competitive relationships at the species level were transitive. Genotypes collected from the same neighborhood exhibited competitive standoffs or transitive competitive relationships. Competitively subordinate genotypes from different neighborhoods, however, belonged to different species. Competitive relationships at the genotype level (across neighborhoods) were complex and often intransitive. These data provide preliminary support for the competitive-combining-ability hypothesis for species coexistence, which predicts that intransitive competitive abilities at the genotype level (spanning taxonomic boundaries) may prevent competitive exclusion at the whole-population level and hence contribute to the maintenance of both species and genotypic diversity within vegetation.
MRI Restoration Using Edge-Guided Adversarial Learning

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images acquired as multislice two-dimensional (2D) images present challenges when reformatted in orthogonal planes due to sparser sampling in the through-plane direction. Restoring the “missing” through-plane slices, or regions of an MRI image damaged by acquisition artifacts can be modeled as an image imputation task. In this work, we consider the damaged image data or missing through-plane slices as image masks and proposed an edge-guided generative adversarial network to restore brain MRI images. Inspired by the procedure of image inpainting, our proposed method decouples image repair into two stages: edge connection and contrast completion, both of which used general adversarial networks (GAN). We trained and tested on a dataset from the Human Connectome Project to test the application of our method for thick slice imputation, while we tested the artifact correction on clinical data and simulated datasets. Our Edge-Guided GAN had superior PSNR, SSIM, conspicuity and signal texture compared to traditional imputation tools, the Context Encoder and the Densely Connected Super Resolution Network with GAN (DCSRN-GAN). The proposed network may improve utilization of clinical 2D scans for 3D atlas generation and big-data comparative studies of brain morphometry.
Ammonia emissions from dairy cattle manure under variable ventilation rates

Abstract The effect of variable ventilation rates on ammonia emission rates from manure was determined through mass flow measurements in a laboratory test unit and the possibility of reducing ammonia emissions by regulating the intensity of the ventilation in cowsheds. The air exchange rate represents an important determinant of ammonia emissions. A 4.5 times increase in ventilation rate causes ammonia emission to increase by 1.7-2.5 times. The effect of ventilation rate on ammonia emission from manure was found to increase under the condition of extremely high airflow rates, i.e. over 250 m3 h-1 m-2. Under the recommended ventilation rate of 105-420 m3 h-1 per cow, ammonia emission will vary from 2016 to 3195 mg h-1, respectively. The ammonia emissions can be significantly reduced in dairy cattle barns by reducing ventilation rates provided the air quality indicators remain in conformity with the requirements. The ammonia emissions can also be reduced in barns by controlling and diverting air flows inside the barns by preventing the clean air from reaching fresh manure as much as possible while reducing the vertical concentration gradient of ammonia.
Isolation And Identification Of An Antioxidant Peptide Prepared From Fermented Peanut Meal Using Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation

In order to recover and utilize peanut protein resource, peanut meal was fermented using Bacillus subtilis to prepare antioxidant peptides in this study. The antioxidant activities of the peanut peptides were evaluated via six in vitro tests, namely, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) scavenging activity, inhibition of linoleic acid autoxidation, reducing power, and metal chelating capacity. The peanut peptides showed 63.28% of scavenging effect on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical, 70.67% of scavenging effect on 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and 39.32% of superoxide anion radical scavenging activity at 1.0 mg/ml, and 62.69% of inhibition on linoleic acid autooxidation at 0.8 mg/ml. Besides, the peanut peptides exhibited 32.8% of reducing power and 60.44% of Fe2+-chelating capacity at 2 mg/ml. Then the peanut peptides were desalted with macroporous resin; the fraction eluted with 75% ethanol showed the highest scavenging activity on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical. This fraction was subject to further purification using gel filtration chromatography and reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography. At last, a peptide was gained, and it was identified to be Tyr-Pro with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The results indicated that it is feasible to prepare natural antioxidants from peanut meal using B. subtilis fermentation.
Evaluation of Biofunctional Compounds Content from Brewed Coffee

Coffee, one of the most popular beverages worldwide, is an infusion of ground, roasted coffee beans. Today, coffee is considered a functional food, especially due to its high content of compounds that exert antioxidant and other beneficial biological properties. The annual consumption exceeds 5 billion kilograms of coffee, which corresponds to 500 billion cups. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the content in total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, caffeine as well as the antioxidant activity of three brewed coffee samples in order to assess the amount of these bioactive compounds in a cup of coffee. The quantification of total phenolic compounds was achieved by Folin-Ciocalteu method, while the flavonoids content was determined using a chromogenic system of NaNO2-Al(NO3)3-NaOH based spectrophotometric method. The caffeine was extracted from brewed coffee samples with dichlormethane and then was quantified by measuring the absorbance of the extract at 260 nm. The antioxidant capacity of each coffee sample was assessed by evaluating their radical scavenging activity on DPPH radical. Even though Arabica coffee variety is appreciated for its fine aroma profile, Robusta variety has proved to be richer in phenolic compounds, flavonoids and caffeine. The larger amount of compounds with antioxidant properties found in Robusta brewed coffee was also confirmed by the obtained antioxidant capacity values.
Insights on the Breakdown Characteristics of PPLP Under Different Test Protocols and Temperatures

The electrical breakdown strength of insulation material is very important for the design of a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cable. This article investigates the breakdown characteristics of polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP) film samples, which are widely used in an HTS cable. Various test conditions, such as different modes of increasing voltage, voltage types, and ambient temperatures, are used. It is found that the breakdown strength of the PPLP film samples varies greatly with the aforementioned experimental conditions. Based on the existing research, the key reasons for the experimental phenomenon are analyzed. The experimental results provide the reference experimental data for the insulation design of the HTS cable.
Modeling, Quantifying and Visualizing Media Bias on Twitter

News media garner a lot of attention regarding the subjectivity of their reporting. News media bias is of immense interest to various individuals, as the systematic preference of an entity can invoke its support and public actions. These inclinations, although apparent, hinder the true facts. The identification and quantification of media bias is one of the most important metrics in reference to bias assessment in media and general public. In this paper, we present a principled approach to quantify media bias along with insightful visualizations for popular media sources using their tweets. We use the concept of a mini-world of N $\times $ M matrix to model the sources and entities of interest, where the tweet counts and respective polarities over a specified time period are the values. Direct comparisons between these two are not as meaningful due to the neglection of inherent characteristics of sources and entities. Thus, we define coverage and statement scores as properly normalized measures of tweet counts and polarity rates. Furthermore, we present a statistically consistent model of neutral tweet counts and polarity rates, using which we define the absolute coverage and statement bias of each source-entity pair. We illustrate our approach on two data sets capturing tweets on 1) Prime minister candidates of top political parties of Pakistan in the 2018 general election 2) Paris and Beirut bombings in 2015 by different news sources. The results indicate that our model is generalizable i.e. it can be applied to different entities/sources and in consistent with previous studies.
Color Image Encryption Algorithm Based on DNA Coding and Double Chaos System

This paper combines DNA computing with double-chaos systems and proposes an algorithm for color image encryption at the bit level. First, we use Arnold algorithm to scramble the three components of the color image, and the number of iterations was determined by the average of the three components, which improved the scrambling effect of Arnold algorithm. Secondly, after a lot of experiments, we propose a double-chaos system composed of Lorenz chaotic mapping with variable parameters and fourth-order Rossler hyperchaotic mapping to generate three sets of chaotic sequences for diffusion operation. The double-chaos system compensates the pseudo-randomness of the two types of chaotic mappings, making chaotic sequences more difficult to predict. Then, we transform the chaotic component images and chaotic sequences into DNA sequences in accordance with eight DNA coding rules, and the coding rules are determined by plaintext information or generated chaotic sequences. We also perform addition, subtraction, and XOR operations on them. DNA computation can realize color image bit-level diffusion and reduce the computational cost. The plaintext information is embedded in the encryption process to achieve “One-Time Pad”. Simulation experiments and detailed analysis are conducted with the proposed encryption scheme to prove that the algorithm has good security performance and can effectively resist all types of attacks, indicating that the proposed algorithm is competitive.
Preventing Bitcoin Selfish Mining Using Transaction Creation Time

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that is based on a blockchain technology. All transactions in bitcoin recorded in the blockchain and the transactions are validated through mining. When mining, honest miners are rewarded in proportion to their computing power. However, it has been proven that selfish mining can get more mining rewards beyond computing power. Selfish mining intentionally makes block fork of the blockchain and wastes the computing power of honest miners. In this paper, we analyze selfish mining and existing countermeasures, and propose a new method to prevent selfish mining by adding the transaction creation time to the transaction data structure. The proposed method is the highest threshold compared to existing methods, which is 33% threshold required for successful selfish mining. The threshold is also the most optimized result with the probability of an honest miner mining in selfish mining pools to zero.
Grazing effects on patchy dryland vegetation in northern Patagonia

In this study the spatial patterns and dynamics of vegetation patches along a grazing gradient in the steppe ofLarrea divaricataandStipaspp. in NE Patagonia (Argentina) are described. A general effect of grazing is the reduction of total plant cover resulting from the decrease in cover of perennial grasses (Stipa speciosa, Poa ligularis, Stipa tenuis) and some tall shrubs (Chuquiraga hystrix, Bougainvillea spinosa, Lycium chilense). Dwarf shrubs (Nassauvia fueguianaandJunellia seriphioides) increase their cover under medium and/or high grazing pressures. Plant species are spatially grouped into patches which alternate with areas of bare soil. Eleven types of vegetation patch differing in the dominant plant functional type or species, floristic richness and size were identified with different relative frequency along the grazing gradient. Based on these results, it is postulated that grazing forces the replacement of large patches dominated by tall shrubs with high species richness, byLarrea divaricatapatches or small dwarf shrub patches with low species richness and the extinction of grass patches. This results from: (1) disruption of local balances of species deletions and additions; (2) fragmentation of large patches; and (3) formation of new vegetation patches. These changes lead to differing plant spatial organization and heterogeneity along the grazing gradient which may be described by characteristic arrays of vegetation patches.
Effect of gap harvesting on epiphytes and bark-dwelling arthropods in the Acadian forest of central Maine

Using a long-term silvicultural experiment, we (i) investigated how epiphyte and arthropod communities were affected by height on the stem, bark texture, and stem diameter of red maple (Acer rubrum L.) trees, (ii) examined how harvest gaps influenced epiphyte and arthropod communities on red maple boles, and (iii) explored whether these effects influenced the relationship between the epiphyte and arthropod communities. Arthropod and epiphyte assemblages dwelling on the bark of red maple trees located in undisturbed forest and harvest gaps varied with height. Bryophytes, Cladonia spp. , and cyanolichens were most abundant near the base of the tree, while noncyano, foliose lichens and fruticose lichens were most abundant 4–6 m above the ground. Acari, Araneae, and Collembola were most abundant near the base of the tree, while Diptera were most abundant above 2 m. A previously undocumented assemblage of dipterans (flies), primarily in the suborder Nematocera, was found. Gap harvesting reduced the abundance of.
Assessment of Exposure to Sexually Explicit Materials and Substance Abuse among High-School Adolescents in North Shewa Zone: Application of Logistic Regression Analysis

Background The use of substances such as cigarettes, khat, alcohol, and other illicit drugs like hashish, heroine, cannabis, and cocaine is a global major public threat, which affects young adult people particularly in developing countries. This study aims to assess the risk factors associated with substance use and exposure to sexually explicit materials among high-school adolescents in north Shewa zone, Oromia region. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess substance use and exposure to sexually explicit materials among high-school adolescents in North Shewa zone, Oromiya, Ethiopia, using a structured self-administered questionnaire adapted from the 2008 “Community That Care Youth Survey” for adolescent substance use and problem behaviors. The study used descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis to identify the significant factors associated with substance use and exposure to sexually explicit materials among high school adolescents in the study area. Result The prevalence of lifetime and current substance use was 47.7% (95% CI: 0.427, 0.527) and 30.4% (95% CI: 0.258, 0.350), respectively. 17.8% use khat in their life and 16.6% used khat in the past 30 days; 42.2% ever used alcohol and 26.1% currently uses alcohol; 4.8% and 4.5% used cigarette in lifetime and in the past 30 days, while 16.4% use other illicit drugs in lifetime and 8.4% use illicit drugs in the past 30 days, respectively. Distributions of substance use by sex indicate that male adolescents are more like likely 61.1% use substances than females. While, the prevalence of exposure to sexually explicit materials among high school adolescents was 35.8% (95% CI: 0.310, 0.406). Factors positively associated with increased substance use were being male (OR = 2.334, 95% CI: 1.549, 9.926), living through high level of family conflict (OR = 6.25, 95% CI: 1.745, 10.00), poor family management OR = 27.084, 95% CI: 1.624, 45.56), peer pressure (OR = 12.882, 95% CI: 1.882, 88.153), poor academic performance (OR = 14.48, 95% CI: 1.290, 162.58), and low school commitment (OR = 11.951, 95% CI: 1.418, 100.73). While, being male (OR = 7.52, 95% CI: 2.611, 21.739), age 14–16 (OR = 0.201, 95% CI: 0.071, 0.565), friends watch/read sexually explicit materials (OR = 5.376, 95% CI: 1.010, 28.571), and khat chewing (OR = 12.5, 95% CI: 2.924, 25.632) were factors significantly associated with high-school adolescents exposure to sexually explicit materials. Conclusion The magnitude of prevalence for substance uses and exposure to sexually explicit materials in the study area was still higher. Therefore, interventions that focus on family management, peer pressure, and school commitment are required to decrease the prevalence of substance uses and exposure to sexually explicit materials among high-school adolescents.
Impact of a multimodal intervention program on hand hygiene compliance at Bangkok Tertiary Care Hospital

a,* Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand b Center of Excellence for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand c Division of Critical Care, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Division of Hematology-Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand Infection Control Department, Department of Nursing, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand Department of Pediatrics, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand