Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
REVISÃO DO CONHECIMENTO SOBRE OS MAMÍFEROS AQUÁTICOS DA COSTA NORTE DO BRASIL 1

RESUMO: A costa norte do Brasil representa uma nova fronteira para o avanco do conhecimento sobre a fauna de mamiferos aquaticos. A ausencia de dados preteritos sobre os mamiferos aquaticos nessa regiao e a propria dificuldade logistica de monitoramento resultou, ate muito recentemente, numa lacuna de conhecimento. A fim de reverter este quadro, o Projeto Piatam vem incentivando a formacao de grupos de pesquisa sobre mamiferos aquaticos da costa amazonica. Como resultado dos esforcos recentes, foi reunido um conjunto relevante de informacoes ineditas ou complementares sobre as 22 especies de mamiferos aquaticos registradas ate o momento na regiao. Destacam-se as areas de ocorrencia do peixe-boi-marinho no litoral dos Estados do Maranhao, Para e Amapa, as quais poderiam garantir a manutencao destas populacoes criticamente ameacadas. Merece destaque ainda a ocorrencia do boto-cinza em toda costa amazonica e sua problematica de interacao com a pesca artesanal e o comercio de pecas anatomicas. Sugere-se uma ampla campanha de conscientizacao e a promocao de campanhas educativas visando uma nova tomada de atitude em relacao aos mamiferos aquaticos e seus habitats, respeitando os valores tradicionais e o conhecimento etnoecologico das comunidades costeiras. Palavras-chave: Mamiferos aquaticos. Costa norte. Conservacao. Brasil.
Composite Indicators of Business Activity for Poland Based on Survey Data

The paper presents a set of composite indicators of economic activity for Poland based on qualitative data from business and consumer surveys. They refer to the concept of economic sentiment indicator (ESI) used in EU countries, but some alternative concepts proposed by the author are tested as well. Time series of the indicators have been calculated for the period 1994-2001, using four alternative formulas and two different sets of survey data. Statistical properties of the indicators are analysed and business tendencies revealed by their evolution are compared with the actual economic developments, as reflected by GDP and industrial production index. The ultimate purpose is to assess the performance of such indicators in business cycle analysis.
Mastocytosis: A Review

Abstract: Mastocytosis refers to a spectrum of clinical and laboratory abnormalities attributable to tissue infiltration by large numbers of mast cells and to the discharge of various biologically active substances by these cells. It most commonly results in cutaneous manifestations during childhood but may develop at any age or involve almost any organ system. The treatment of mastocytosis has become considerably more practicable in recent years with the availability of agents that directly inhibit mast cells or temporarily reduce their quantity in the skin.
Scene Normalization Mechanisms in Humans

Using a variety of complex displays these experiments compare human image processing with photographic, hybrid and electronic imaging systems. These experiments measure human responsiveness to changes in averages and maxima, as well as test for evidence of long-distance spatial interactions. The result of this comparison is that imaging systems would have improved color and tone-scale performance if they mimicked human vision.
3‐Nitrotyrosine, a marker of nitrosative stress, is increased in breath condensate of allergic asthmatic children

Background: Asthmatic patients have high exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels. NO‐mediated inflammatory actions are mainly due to NO conversion into reactive nitrogen species, which can lead to nitrotyrosine formation. The aim of this study was to assess 3‐nitrotyrosine (3‐NT) levels in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) of asthmatic and healthy children and to investigate whether there is any relationship with exhaled NO (FENO) and lung function.
Coloring the cloud for predictable performance

Motivation and Contribution The commodity multicores that power cloud infrastructures hide memory latency through deep memory hierarchies, with the last-level cache (LLC) usually shared among cores. While a shared LLC improves utilization of on-chip resources, it may also lead to unpredictable performance of colocated virtual machines (VMs) as a result of unanticipated contention. Past research showed that the operating system page allocator can favor performance predictability on a physically-addressed shared LLC through page coloring [4, 8, 9]: a software technique that can work on commodity multicores, unlike hardware approaches [2, 7]. The main drawback of page coloring is the high cost of modifying allocations (i.e., recoloring), making this technique almost impractical for applications with varying memory footprints [6].
Clinical relevance of frailty trajectory post myocardial infarction

Background Frailty describes the heterogeneity of vulnerability in older people and has been shown to predict mortality, disability, and institutionalization. Little is known about the clinical relevance of frailty post myocardial infarction (MI). Design The Rockwood frailty index, based on accumulation of deficits, was adapted in a cohort of MI survivors followed up for 20 years, in order to assess trajectory and predictive value for clinical outcomes. Methods Participants were 1521 patients aged ≤65 years admitted to one of eight Israeli hospitals with first acute MI between 1992 and 1993. A frailty index (on a 0–1 continuous scale) was developed comprising 32 variables, including self-rated health, functional limitations, comorbidity, weight loss, and physical activity. Frailty was assessed at baseline and 10–13 years after MI. Results Median frailty score increased from 0.08 to 0.19 during follow up. Participants in the frailest group (≥0.25) at baseline had twice the multivariable-adjusted mortality risk of those in the least frail group (<0.10) (hazard ratio, HR, 2.02, 95% CI 1.46–2.79). Frailty index modelled as a time-dependent variable showed a substantially stronger association (HR 3.61, 95% CI 2.82–4.63) and provided incremental value in risk discrimination beyond clinical and socio-demographic variables (p < 0.001 for improvement in c-statistic). The frailest patients were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized during follow up compared to the least frail (adjusted rate ratio 2.14, 95% CI 1.63–2.81). Conclusions Frailty, calculated via an index of deficits, was associated with mortality and hospitalizations following MI. Beyond predictive value, accurate identification of frailty may indicate which individuals will benefit most from preventive interventions.
Domain-specific ontology-based approach for Arabic question answering

Automatic Question Answering (QA) is the process of identifying exact answer in response of question asked by the user. Several QA approaches have been proposed for many languages. One of such languages is Arabic which spoken by nearly 200 million people. Approximately 90% of Arab people are Muslims. Many Muslims need religious consultations toward specific issues. Such consultations have to be acquired from a legitimate source such as Islamic scholars. The response toward these consolations is called a Fatwa, which is considered as an Islamic point of view toward such issues. Therefore, there is a vital demand to present a QA system that has the ability to answer Muslims questions based on a collection of Fatwas. Several research efforts have been implemented to provide QA for Islamic domain. However, such efforts have used simple lists of lexicons as a source of knowledge, which leads to several limitations in terms of the correctness of the answers. This is due to the process of analyzing question would not be guided with a rich source of knowledge. Hence, this study aims to propose an ontology-based question answering approach for the domain of Islamic Fatwa. The ontology has been constructed using a collection of Fatwas, which has been collected from Ibn Uthaymeen-Prayer Fatwas. Several pre-processing tasks have been applied in order to eliminate the irrelevant data (e.g. numbers, non-Arabic letters and punctuation). Furthermore, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TFIDF) has been used in order to provide the main concepts of the domain for ontology construction. The proposed ontology-based QA has been evaluated by comparing it with QA approach that uses simple semantic lexicon as a source of knowledge. The proposed method has outperformed the other approach by obtaining an approximately 90% of Fmeasure. This demonstrates that the use of ontology as a source of knowledge for QA would enrich the process of extracting the answers.
A Comparison Study of a Generic Coupling Methodology for Modeling Wake Effects of Wave Energy Converter Arrays

Wave Energy Converters (WECs) need to be deployed in large numbers in an array layout in order to have a significant power production. Each WEC has an impact on the incoming wave field, by diffracting, reflecting and radiating waves. Simulating the wave transformations within and around a WEC array is complex; it is difficult, or in some cases impossible, to simulate both these near-field and far-field wake effects using a single numerical model, in a time- and cost-efficient way in terms of computational time and effort. Within this research, a generic coupling methodology is developed to model both near-field and far-field wake effects caused by floating (e.g., WECs, platforms) or fixed offshore structures. The methodology is based on the coupling of a wave-structure interaction solver (Nemoh) and a wave propagation model. In this paper, this methodology is applied to two wave propagation models (OceanWave3D and MILDwave), which are compared to each other in a wide spectrum of tests. Additionally, the Nemoh-OceanWave3D model is validated by comparing it to experimental wave basin data. The methodology proves to be a reliable instrument to model wake effects of WEC arrays; results demonstrate a high degree of agreement between the numerical simulations with relative errors lower than 5 % and to a lesser extent for the experimental data, where errors range from 4 % to 17 % .
Current injection for active islanding detection of electronically-interfaced distributed resources

This paper presents an active islanding detection method for electronically-interfaced distributed resource units at the distribution voltage level. The proposed method is based on injecting a disturbance signal into the system through either the direct axis (d-axis) or the quadrature axis (q-axis) current controllers of the interface voltage-sourced converter. Signal injection through the d-axis controller modulates the amplitude of the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC), whereas signal injection through the q-axis controller causes a frequency deviation at PCC, under islanded conditions. Monitoring strategies to detect islanding are also presented for the proposed injection method. The feasibility of the proposed method is evaluated under the UL1741 anti-islanding test configuration. The studies reported in this paper are based on time-domain simulations in the PSCAD/EMTDC environment. The studies show that the proposed islanding detection method succeeds in detecting the islanding phenomenon as fast as 33.3 ms for the parameter setting of the test system, and always meets the two-second UL detection requirement. The paper also concludes that the proposed method has the salient feature of offering a potential application in a micro-grid scenario, where fast "islanding detection" and not necessarily the "anti-islanding function" is required.
SIP Robustness Testing for Large-Scale Use

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol for Internet telephony, multimedia conferencing and instant messaging. We describe a method for assessing the robustness of SIP implementation by means of a tool that detects vulnerabilities. We prepared the test material and carried out the tests against a sample set of existing implementations. Many of the implementations available failed to perform in a robust manner under the test. Some failures had information security implications and should hence be considered as vulnerabilities. The results were reported to the respective vendors and, after a grace period, the test suite is now publicly available. By releasing the test material to the public, we hope to contribute to more robust SIP implementations.
Full-potential multiple scattering for core electron spectroscopies

We present a rigorous derivation of a real space full-potential multiple-scattering theory (FP-MST), valid both for continuum and bound states, that is free from the drawbacks that up to now have impaired its development, in particular the need to use cell shape functions and rectangular matrices. In this connection we give a new scheme to generate local basis functions for the truncated potential cells that is simple, fast, efficient, valid for any shape of the cell and reduces to the minimum the number of spherical harmonics in the expansion of the scattering wavefunction. This approach provides a straightforward extension of MST in the muffin-tin (MT) approximation, with only one truncation parameter given by the classical relation lmax = kRb, where k is the photo-electron wavevector and Rb the radius of the bounding sphere of the scattering cell. Some numerical applications of the theory are presented, both for continuum and bound states.
Application of Artificial Neural Network for Standardization of Digital Colorimeter

Digital Colorimeter is used to estimate concentration of dye solutions of the given samples. This method of analysis is time consuming process and hence further repetitive analysis of samples can be eliminated by developing a model using artificial neural network (ANN), which correlates the concentration of dyes in the aqueous solutions with its Colorimeter readings. The present paper deals with a novel technique of standardization of a digital instrument using ANN for various synthetically prepared aqueous dyes solutions. The artificial neural network architecture is initialized through its training and the parameters of the neural network are adjusted to minimize the difference between the simulated and the measured values. Simulation and experimental studies illustrate the potential of the proposed method of using artificial neural
An Infrastructure for Multi-Level Secure Service-Oriented Architecture (MLS-SOA) Using the Multiple Single-Level Approach

Abstract : SOA is the premier framework for integrating complex heterogeneous computing systems in business and government. To utilize SOA in sensitive military systems, however, the requirements for multi-level security (MLS) must be addressed. This paper presents a framework for adding MLS capabilities to existing SOA infrastructure. Specifically, it will allow clients in High to securely utilize services in Low. MLS issues including covert channels, release of identity information, and inference attacks are addressed. Our scheme uses the multiple singlelevels (MSL) approach to offer a practical solution that leverages existing technology. It can be deployed immediately without developing and certifying new high assurance MLS components. The MLS-SOA infrastructure can be installed cleanly on top of regular SOA and MLS components. Operations of existing infrastructure, services, and applications will not be affected. Capabilities provided by this scheme can also be applied to other non-MLS settings with similar requirements for separation and anonymity.
Interaction between paired‐pulse facilitation and long‐term potentiation in the projection from hippocampal area CA1 to the subiculum

STUDIES of the interaction between long-term potentiation (LTP) and paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) may throw light on the role of presynaptic factors in LTP. We examine here, for the first time, the nature of PPF in the CA1-subiculum projection. PPF peaks at a05ms interstimulus interval (ISI) and is evident at ISIs from 10 to 500 ms. There is no PPF effect at a 1000 ms ISI. PPF decreases in magnitude post-LTP induction across the middle range of ISI values tested (30, 50 and 100 ms). There is a positive correlation between initial PPF values and LTP; this correlation increases as the ISI increases. Initial values and the change in PPF post-LTP are also negatively correlated
Kuru prions and sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease prions have equivalent transmission properties in transgenic and wild-type mice

Kuru provides our principal experience of an epidemic human prion disease and primarily affected the Fore linguistic group of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Kuru was transmitted by the practice of consuming dead relatives as a mark of respect and mourning (transumption). To date, detailed information of the prion strain type propagated in kuru has been lacking. Here, we directly compare the transmission properties of kuru prions with sporadic, iatrogenic, and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) prions in Prnp-null transgenic mice expressing human prion protein and in wild-type mice. Molecular and neuropathological data from these transmissions show that kuru prions are distinct from variant CJD and have transmission properties equivalent to those of classical (sporadic) CJD prions. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that kuru originated from chance consumption of an individual with sporadic CJD.
A nonlinear system model for electrospinning sub-100 nm polyacrylonitrile fibres

Solutions of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were electrospun using a range of process parameters, resulting in fibre diameters from 10 to 320 nm. A nonlinear neural network system model was used to analyse the dependence of the fibre diameter on the process parameters, and used to simulate conditions for electrospinning 40–60 nm diameter fibres. These results indicated that flow rate is most important for determining fibre diameter. It was not possible to find the appropriate conditions for electrospinning sub-25 nm fibres. Precise control of the ambient temperature and relative humidity will be critical to producing electrospun fibres that are sub-25 nm. Further, it is unlikely that sub-25 nm fibres will be produced without significant changes in the electrospinning apparatus, for example, by use of focusing and jet-steering fields, alternate carrier gases to modify the discharge characteristics, or patterned electrospinning.
Epidemiology of insect-venom anaphylaxis

Purpose of review Knowledge of the epidemiology, natural history and risk factors of insect-venom allergy is crucial for improving the clinical management of allergic patients. This review focuses on the recent research on these aspects of Hymenoptera-sting anaphylactic reactions. Recent findings The latest data from population-based studies of anaphylactic reactions due to Hymenoptera stings, as well as those extrapolated from studies of epidemiology of anaphylaxis due to any cause are reviewed. The topic of biphasic anaphylactic reactions due to insect stings is also examined. Although no parameter has been identified that can predict which sensitized individuals will have a future anaphylactic reaction, several factors associated with the severity of a systemic resting reaction are known and emphasized here. Summary As half of individuals with fatal sting reactions had no documented history of previous systemic reaction, we need to further improve the knowledge of the natural history and risk factors, especially in asymptomatic-sensitized individuals. Moreover, and no less important, the epidemiological studies on sting anaphylaxis conducted in the 2000s continue to reveal the poor management of allergic patients and the startling lack of awareness of the efficacy of venom immunotherapy. These findings indicate the urgent need to educate the general population and doctors on the management of venom-allergic patients.
Beidha: Early Neolithic Village Life South of the Dead Sea

Diana Kirkbride, after war service in the WRNS, read Egyptology at University College, London, and gravitated to prehistory via the Jericho excavations. She has lived and worked in Jordan for 16 years doing her own work and excavating for the Department of Antiquities. It was on jieldwork from archaeological excavation at Petra that she discovered Beidha which she describes here. In 1962 she was elected Wainwright Fellow in Near Eastern Archaeology of the University of Oxford. She is the wife of Dr Hans Helbaek, the Danish palaeoethnobotanist. This article is a general summary of her important work at Beidha.
The appeal of voluntary environmental programs: which firms participate and why?

Why do firms participate in the EPA's voluntary environmental programs? Possible reasons include: (1) to appeal to consumers who demand ‘green’ products; (2) to preempt government regulation; (3) to seek regulatory relief from the agency; and (4) to gain a competitive advantage over competitors. This article examines the determinants of participation in voluntary environmental programs, focusing on testing hypotheses 1 and 3. To test 2, a different approach is used than in previous literature. The focus is on a specified universe of firms (manufacturing firms in the Standard & Poor 500), and their participation in each of three EPA voluntary programs (33/50, Green Lights, and WasteWi$) referring to differently regulated pollutants is analyzed. Our empirical analyses reveal that (1) publicity is an important component of participation; (2) the worse the environmental track record of the firm, the more likely the firm is to participate, but only in programs directly related to highly regulated pollutants; and (3) firms that scrutinize their environmental performance more carefully are wary of newer programs with uncertain reach of the public and uncertain benefits. Firms appear to value the information/technology transfer aspect of joining a program.
DGridSim: a multi-model discrete-event simulator for real-time data grid systems

Data grid systems are utilized to share, manage, and process large data sets. On the other hand, an increasing number of applications with real-time constraints arise in several disciplines of science and engineering. The performance of a data grid system for real-time applications is highly dependent on the underlying job scheduling, data scheduling, and data replication algorithms and advance reservation mechanism. Thus, in the literature, there are numerous studies that propose solutions to the job/data scheduling, data replication, and advance reservation problems. In these studies, a number of simulators, emulators, or test beds have been used to evaluate the proposed algorithms. Furthermore, these simulators/emulators usually adopt fixed-grid models, which in turn dictate specific job/data scheduling and data replication mechanisms. In the literature, there is no unified framework for modeling grid systems with different architectures, which can allow researchers to develop new grid system models and evaluate them in a flexible manner. This paper presents a unique framework for modeling real-time data grid systems that attempts to unify a large class of job scheduling, data scheduling, and data replication algorithms based on several system services. Then, in order to enable the development of these algorithms under different system models, DGridSim is realized to be a multi-model discrete-event simulator, and its capabilities are exemplified by means of a set of simulation results. The main contribution of the research is DGridSim, which can model and simulate a variety of different data grid system models by means of several system services and their interactions.