Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meta Matrix Factorization for Federated Rating Predictions

With distinct privacy protection advantages, federated recommendation is becoming increasingly feasible to store data locally in devices and federally train recommender models. However, previous work on federated recommender systems does not take full account of the limitations of storage, RAM, energy and communication bandwidth in the mobile environment. Their model scales are too big to run easily in mobile devices. Moreover, existing federated recommenders need to fine-tune recommendation models in each device, which makes them hard to effectively exploit collaborative filtering (CF) information among users/devices. Our goal in this paper is to design a novel federated learning framework to rating prediction (RP) for this environment that operates on par with state-of-the-art fully centralized RP methods. To this end, we introduce a novel federated matrix factorization (MF) framework, named meta matrix factorization (MetaMF), that is able to generate private item embeddings and RP models with a meta network. Given a user, we first obtain a collaborative vector by collecting useful information with a collaborative memory (CM) module. Then, we employ a meta recommender (MR) module to generate private item embeddings and a RP model based on the collaborative vector in the server. To address the challenge of generating a large number of high-dimensional item embeddings, we devise a rise-dimensional generation (RG) strategy that first generates a low-dimensional item embedding matrix and a rise-dimensional matrix, and then multiply them to obtain high-dimensional embeddings. Finally, we use the generated model to produce private RPs for the given user in her device. MetaMF shows a high capacity even with a small RP model, which can adapt to those limitations in the mobile environment. We conduct extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets to compare MetaMF with existing MF methods and find MetaMF can achieve competitive performance. Moreover, we find MetaMF achieves higher RP performance over existing federated methods by better exploiting CF among users/devices.
A large carbon pool and small sink in boreal Holocene lake sediments

Model‐based estimates suggest that lake sediments may be a significant, long‐term sink for organic carbon (C) at regional to global scales. These models have used various approaches to predict sediment storage at broad scales from very limited data sets. Here, we report a large‐scale direct assessment of the standing stock and sedimentation rate of C for a representative set of lakes in Finland. The 122 lakes were selected from the statistically selected Nordic Lake Survey database, they cover the entire country and the water quality represents the average lake water quality in Finland. Unlike all prior estimates, these data use sediment cores that comprise the entire sediment record. The data show that within Finland, aquatic ecosystems contain the second largest areal C stocks (19 kg C m−2) after peatlands (72 kg C m−2), and exceed by significant amounts stocks in the forest soil (uppermost 75cm; 7.2 kg C m−2) and woody biomass (3.4 kg C m−2). Kauppi et al. (1997). The Finnish estimate extrapolated over the boreal region gives a total C pool in lakes 19–27 Pg C, significantly lower than the previous model‐based estimates.
Maturação da maçã 'Gala' com a aplicação pré-colheita de aminoetoxivinilglicina e ethephon

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of preharvest applications of aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and ethephon on the maturation of the 'Gala' apple harvested on differents dates. The treatments were: control, ethephon (140g ha-1), AVG (125g ha-1), AVG (125g ha-1) + ethephon (140g ha-1), AVG (95g ha-1) and AVG (95g ha-1) + ethephon (140g ha-1). These treatments were combined with 4 harvest date (131, 138, 145 and 152 days after full bloom). The application of AVG, combined or not with ethephon, maintained higher flesh firmness, greener peel color, lower starch index, ethylene and CO2 production. However, AVG retarded the development of the red color of the fruit. The application of ethephon in AVG-treated plants increased the red color of the fruit that was similar to control fruit without influencing effect of AVG on the control of maturation. Delaying harvested fruit showed more yellowing skin color, higher starch index and ethylene production and lower titratable acidity.
Genetic Evidence for Global Dispersal in the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) and Affinity with the Taita Falcon (Falco fasciinucha)

Abstract We analyzed variation in cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA sequences in 11 subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), three samples of the Taita Falcon (F. fasciinucha) from Africa, and several other Falco and outgroup species, to assess haplotype diversity in the Peregrine Falcon on a worldwide basis. We identified 16 haplotypes from 31 Peregrine Falcon samples, of which 11 were unique and 5 were shared among two or more subspecies. There was neither concordance between cytochrome b variation and taxonomic designation at the subspecies level, nor any phylogeographic pattern in the genetic data. The Taita Falcon was nested within the Peregrine Falcon clade. Percent sequence divergence between the Taita Falcon and the Peregrine Falcon (0.4–1.2%) overlapped that among subspecies of the Peregrine Falcon (0.0–1.0%), suggesting very close genetic affinity between the two species. We hypothesize that historical and recent dispersal, combined with rapid morphological evolution, contributed to the lack of concordance between variation in cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA sequences and phylogeography in the Peregrine Falcon. EVIDENCIA GENÉTICA DE DISPERSIÓN GLOBAL DE FALCO PEREGRINUS Y SU AFINIDAD CON FALCO FASCIINUCHA Analizamos la variación en el citocromo b de secuencias de ADN mitocondrial en 11 subespecies de Falco peregrinus, en tres muestras de F. fasciinucha de África y en otros Falco y especies fuera del grupo para determinar la diversidad de haplotipos en F. peregrinus a escala mundial. Identificamos 16 haplotipos en 31 muestras de F. peregrinus, de las cuales 11 fueron únicas y 5 estuvieron compartidas entre dos o más subespecies. No hubo concordancia entre la variación del citocromo b y la designación taxonómica a nivel de subespecie, ni en el patrón filogeográfico en los datos genéticos. F. fasciinucha estuvo anidado dentro del clado de F. peregrinus. La divergencia porcentual de secuencia entre F. peregrinus y F. fasciinucha (0.4–1.2%) se superpuso con la de subespecies de F. peregrinus (0.0–1.0%), sugiriendo una afinidad genética muy cercana entre las dos especies. Hipotetizamos que la dispersión histórica y reciente, combinada con una evolución morfológica rápida, contribuyó a la falta de concordancia entre la variación en el citocromo b de secuencias de ADN mitocondrial y la filogeografía en F. peregrinus.
Morphological and Molecular Diversity of Tunisian Chickpea

K. Khamassi1,2), L. Bettaiëb Ben Kaab3), S. Khoufi4), R. Chaabane1), Jaime A. Teixeira Da Silva5), I. J. Mackay6) and M. Ben Naceur1) (1)National Agronomic Research Institute of Tunisia, Ariana, Tunisia, 2)National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, Tunis, Tunisia, 3)Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, El Manar University, Tunisia, 4)Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, Sfax University, Tunisia, 5)Faculty of Agriculture and Graduate School of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kagawa, Japan and 6)National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge, UK. )
Molecular detection of Cryptosporidium spp. in captive snakes in Thailand

Cryptosporidiosis is an important cause of gastro-intestinal disease in snakes and distributed worldwide. The objective of this study was to detect and identify Cryptosporidium spp. in captive snakes based on molecular technique. A Total of 32 fecal samples of eight snake species were examined, including boa constrictor (Boa constrictor constrictor), corn snake (Elaphe guttata), ball python (Python regius), milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum), king snake (Lampropeltis getula), rock python (Python sebae), rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria) and carpet python (Morelia spilota). Cryptosporidium oocysts were analyzed by DMSOModified acid fast stain and molecular method based on nested PCR and sequencing amplification of the 18s rRNA gene. DMSO-Modified acid fast stain detected the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts in 5 out of 32 (15.2%) samples, whereas PCR detected 17 (50%) samples. BLASTn and phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences showed Cryptosporidium parvum as the most common species with 11 samples (34.4%) from Boa constrictor constrictor, Elaphe guttata, Lampropeltis triangulum, Python regius and Morelia spilota followed by C. muris with 3 samples (9.4%) from Python regius. These results suggested that the mammalian Cryptosporidium was not the pathogenic species in snake.
Mite Faunas and Morphology of Acarinaria on Japanese and Taiwanese Large Carpenter Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

We examined structures of acarinaria and phoretic mite faunas of the large carpenter bees Xylocopa amamensis, X. flavifrons, X. albinotum, and X. ogasawarensis from Japan, and compared them with those of X. tranquebarorum and X. ruficeps from Taiwan. While the first three Japanese Xylocopa bees had acarinaria both on the mesosoma and on the first metasomal tergum like the common Japanese large carpenter bee, X. appendiculata circumvolans, X. ogasawarensis did not have distinctive mesosomal acarinaria. Xylocopa tranquebarorum, which nests in bamboo, did not have either kind of acarinarium. Of the species examined, only X. ruficeps had a distinctive metasomal acarinarium, which was a deep, round cavity that opened on the first metasomal tergum. All mites except for Dinogamasus were collected from host's mesosoma, wing base furrows, mesosomal acarinaria and the metasomal acarinarium. We collected mites of two Sennertia spp. (alfkeni, japonica) and Horstia helenae from the Japanese bees. The Taiwanese bees also carried Sennertia and Horstia mites but probably of different species. Only X. ruficeps carried mesostigmatid mites (Dinogamasus sp.) in the metasomal acarinarium. We suggest that Sennertia deutonymphs are well adapted to be phoretic on the large carpenter bees with specialized body structures such as attachment organs and hook-like pretarsal claws as seen in other astigmatids phoretic on bees. In contrast, putatively beneficial mites, such as those of the genus Dinogamasus, have possibly been specialized to settle in the distinctive acarinaria in the course of mutualistic evolution with the host.
PASTURE DRY-MATTER RESPONSES TO THE USE OF A NITRIFICATION INHIBITOR: A SUMMARY OF A NATIONAL SERIES OF NEW ZEALAND FARM TRIALS

The use of a nitrification inhibitor, such as eco-nTM, to reduce nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions in grazed pastures has become increasingly commonplace, especially on NZ dairy farms. Reducing these types of N losses has a potential benefit to boost dry-matter production but results have varied. We collated pasture response data from a national series of farm trials conducted in 132 paddocks on 37 farms in the North (NI) and South (SI) Islands of New Zealand where paddocks were randomly split into two halves and one half treated with eco-n whilst the other half was not. Measurements were made using pasture plate meters and conformed to a strict protocol. There was a highly significant overall DM response to eco-n use of 19% across all trials (14% NI; 21% SI) although full year responses were more variable between NI regions (427%) than SI regions (12-31%). Generally, DM responses were greater than those demonstrated by previous small-scale experimental trials and this may indicate the influence of a farm-system effect. We speculate several reasons for this effect but further research is required to identify the factors involved.
Safety Assessment of Roundup Ready Corn Event NK603

Using modern biotechnology, Monsanto Company has developed Roundup Ready corn plants that confer tolerance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup agricultural herbicides, by the production of the glyphosate-tolerant CP4 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3phosphate synthase (EPSPS) proteins. Glyphosate kills plants by inhibiting the enzyme EPSPS. This enzyme catalyzes a critical step in the shikimic acid pathway for the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in plants and microorganisms, and its inhibition leads to the lack of growth in plants. The CP4 EPSPS proteins have a low affinity for glyphosate compared to the wild-type EPSPS enzyme. Thus, when corn plants expressing the CP4 EPSPS proteins are treated with glyphosate, the plants continue to grow. The continued action of the tolerant CP4 EPSPS enzyme provides the plant’s need for aromatic acids. Aromatic amino acid biosynthesis is not present in animals. This explains the selective activity in plants and contributes to the low mammalian toxicity of glyphosate. Two copies of the cp4 epsps gene were introduced into the corn genome to produce Roundup Ready corn event NK603. The cp4 epsps gene derived from the common soil bacterium Agrobacterium sp. strain CP4 encodes for the naturally glyphosate-tolerant EPSPS protein.
NEBULA: A Neuromorphic Spin-Based Ultra-Low Power Architecture for SNNs and ANNs

Brain-inspired cognitive computing has so far followed two major approaches – one uses multi-layered artificial neural networks (ANNs) to perform pattern-recognition-related tasks, whereas the other uses spiking neural networks (SNNs) to emulate biological neurons in an attempt to be as efficient and fault-tolerant as the brain. While there has been considerable progress in the former area due to a combination of effective training algorithms and acceleration platforms, the latter is still in its infancy due to the lack of both. SNNs have a distinct advantage over their ANN counterparts in that they are capable of operating in an event-driven manner, thus consuming very low power. Several recent efforts have proposed various SNN hardware design alternatives, however, these designs still incur considerable energy overheads.In this context, this paper proposes a comprehensive design spanning across the device, circuit, architecture and algorithm levels to build an ultra low-power architecture for SNN and ANN inference. For this, we use spintronics-based magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) devices that have been shown to function as both neuro-synaptic crossbars as well as thresholding neurons and can operate at ultra low voltage and current levels. Using this MTJ-based neuron model and synaptic connections, we design a low power chip that has the flexibility to be deployed for inference of SNNs, ANNs as well as a combination of SNN-ANN hybrid networks – a distinct advantage compared to prior works. We demonstrate the competitive performance and energy efficiency of the SNNs as well as hybrid models on a suite of workloads. Our evaluations show that the proposed design, NEBULA, is up to 7.9× more energy efficient than a state-of-the-art design, ISAAC, in the ANN mode. In the SNN mode, our design is about 45× more energy-efficient than a contemporary SNN architecture, INXS. Power comparison between NEBULA ANN and SNN modes indicates that the latter is at least 6.25× more power-efficient for the observed benchmarks.
Stock Identification: Materials and Methods

Various population parameters and physiological, behavioral, morphometric, meristic, calcareous, biochemical, and cytogenetic characters have been used to identify fish stocks. We define a stock as an intraspecific group of randomly mating individuals with temporal or spatial integrity. Each character set and the associated methodology relates to specific aspects of the stock definition. Population parameters are useful primarily for the recognition of putative stocks at the practical fisheries management level. Physiological and, to some degree, behavioral characters are used primarily to study differences in the adaptation of stocks to different environments. Behavioral characters are also important for the recognition of stocks and the study of their spatial and temporal discreteness. Morphological characters, including morphometric measurements, meristic counts, and the shape, size, and type of zonation in calcareous structures provide data that are useful for the precise description of and differenti.
Molecular analysis of the para-sodium channel gene in the pyrethroid-resistant diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Yponomeutidae)

Resistance to pyrethroids in the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella, has been shown to be conferred by nerve insensitivity. In the present study, amino acid sequences corresponding to the domain IIS4–IIS6 region of the para-sodium channel, which is known to be significant for nerve insensitive pyrethroid resistance in a variety of insects, were compared between pyrethroid-resistant (R) and non-selected (NS) strains. Thr to Ile and Leu to Phe substitutions were identified in R strain at the IIS5 and IIS6 regions, respectively. Although the resistant Ile and Phe residues were also shared by the NS strain at the same amino acid positions, frequency of the resistant amino acid residues in the population was lower than that in the R strain. Amino acid sequences corresponding to the domain IS6 region and the linker region of the domains III–IV, which were recently shown to be involved in the pyrethroid resistance in particular lepidopteran insects, were also compared between the R and NS strains. However, no amino acid substitution was observed in the R strain at either region. These results suggest that Thr to Ile and Leu to Phe substitutions in the domain IIS4–IIS6 were associated with the pyrethroid resistance in DBM.
WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE SELF-DISCLOSURE ON SNS? BASED ON FEATURES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media is an open online platform that allows individuals to share their thoughts, opinions, experiences, and information on social network based on the advent of the era of Web 2.0 and to create or expand relationship with others. Social Network services is also included in social media. This study aims to identify why people use SNS for Facebook. The purpose of this study is to understand why people use social networking through the characteristics of social media. Finally, we analyze 287 data by structural equation model and use AMOS 18.0 for analysis. As a result, two of the six hypotheses were rejected and four hypotheses were adopted. Users are posing posts on Facebook and self-disclosure them for communication others and their identity. Thus, users are using Facebook in order to share various information. There are implications that the reasons for using Facebook by an empirical test. Therefore, Facebook will have to try to make it a space where users can communicate more effectively and establish their identity.
Shades of Skin, Shades of Power: Social Constructionism as the Grand Theory for the Structure/Agency and Reality/Identity Conundrums

Various aspects of or associated with the skin, such as color, ethnicity and race, play a substantial role in health disparities and the limitation of agency, which is the capacity or power to act in order to obtain beneficial outcomes. Although many mechanisms by which these disparities manifest themselves have been proposed, the processes by which the agency of patients develops and is socially constructed surrounding issues of the skin are understudied. This paper analyzes the micro-social factors that sustain and contribute to the proliferation of disparities in healthcare systems by socially constructing the capacity of different patients to act within these systems, based on perceptions of their skin color or disease. The paper examines the evidence from the literature on the processes by which the agency of individuals interacting with the healthcare system has been socially constructed using the characteristics of the human skin, whether the latter presents itself in its biologically normal form or in a pathological state. Expanding on Berger and Luckmann’s social constructionist model, the author concludes that within healthcare systems, objective reality can be socially constructed through the transformation of perceptions into values, values into behaviors, behaviors into norms, and norms into institutions, and that individual identity or subjective reality can also be socially constructed by reversing this flow. This stepwise pathway is proposed as a possible theoretical mechanism that may explain how reality and identity can be socially constructed, using the skin as one of many modulators of social interactions. The implications of this proposed mechanism of social construction for healthcare systems and other social institutions, as well as individual agency and identity, are emphasized. Nuances de la peau, nuances de pouvoir : le constructivisme social en tant que théorie de la gestion des systèmes de santé et des énigmes de réalité / identité Yuri Tertilus Jadotte, MD, PhD, MPH, FRC
First record of Harpellales, Orphellales (Kickxellomycotina) and Amoebidiales (Mesomycetozoea) from Bulgaria, including a new species of Glotzia

Abstract This paper presents the results obtained from a short survey performed in Bulgaria, southeast Europe, where the trichomycetes (sensu lato), an ecological group of arthropod gut endosymbionts, were previously completely unknown. The present study initiates the comprehension of these cryptic organisms, members of the Kickxellomycotina (Harpellales, Orphellales) and the Mesomycetozoea (Amoebidiales), in this Balkan country. Eighteen new geographic records for Bulgaria are reported, including 10 species of Harpellales, three species of Orphellales and five species of Amoebidiales. Within the Harpellales, the species Glotzia balkanensissp. nov. is described. This new species is most related to the rare species G. centroptili Gauthier ex Manier & Lichtw. and G. stenospora White & Lichtw. , but is differentiated by spore and thallial characteristics. Photographs are provided and biogeographic implications of these records are discussed.
The FEAST Algorithm for Sparse Symmetric Eigenvalue Problems

The FEAST algorithm is a method for computing extreme or interior eigenvalues of a matrix or matrix pencil. Each step of this algorithm involves repeatedly solving linear systems (which are complex and generally ill-conditioned) along a contour in the complex plane. Most of the previous research done on the FEAST algorithm has used direct solvers for these systems. In this report, we consider instead using iterative solvers for FEAST. Focusing on the standard symmetric eigenvalue problem, we explore the use of MINRES, as well as GMRES with and without preconditioning. Through numerical experiments, we conclude that FEAST can be employed effectively with a preconditioned iterative solver to find eigenpairs of large, sparse matrices.