Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of age on kinematic analysis of functional reach test: a cross-sectional study

Purpose. Ageing is associated with deterioration and alterations in physical function, affecting community mobility, balance, skills, or daily living activities. The aim of the study was to kinematically analyse the influence of age on balance in young and older adults, as well as to compare the kinematics of the trunk and lumbar regions during Functional Reach Test (FRT). Methods. The cross-sectional study involved 5 healthy older adults and 6 healthy young adults. Each participant performed FRT instrumentalized with 2 inertial sensors attached in the trunk (T7) and lumbar (L5-S2) regions. Direct (time and displacement) and indirect (velocity and acceleration) kinematic variables, as well as mid-range achieved in FRT were analysed. Results. The participants’ mean age was 73.04 ± 3.58 years among the older adults and 23.5 ± 1.52 years among the young adults. Significant differences in time (trunk: –7.61 ± 2.14 s; lumbar: –6.40 ± 1.06 s) and displacement (trunk: 16.33 ± 4.21°) were identified; in the lumbar region, no significant displacement differences were observed ( p > 0.05). Similarly, in the partial intervals analysed during FRT (from starting position to maximum displacement/imbalance, and return to the initial position), significant differences ( p < 0.05) were revealed in all direct and indirect variables. Conclusions. When comparing FRT performance in healthy young and elderly subjects from a kinematic point of view, significant differences were found in the vast majority of kinematic variables analysed in both lumbar and trunk region.
An ELM-Based Semi-Supervised Indoor Localization Technique With Clustering Analysis and Feature Extraction

In this article, a new indoor localization technique with extreme learning machine (ELM) is proposed where only a small number of received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurements are labeled. In the off-line learning phase, the iterative self organizing data analysis techniques algorithm (ISODATA) is used to divide the RSSI measurements into some measurement data subsets. Then the multi-kernel ELM (MK-ELM) method is utilized to perform classification learning and obtain the RSSI measurement classification function. For each RSSI measurement subset, a two-stage feature extraction algorithm using the kernel principal component analysis, the deep learning network and ELM method is proposed for RSSI measurement feature extraction. At last, the position regression function of each subset is obtained by the semi-supervised regression learning. In the on-line position estimation phase, using the measurement classification and feature extraction of the received RSSI measurement, the position is estimated based on the corresponding position regression function. The field tests show that the proposed algorithm can obtain more accurate position estimation than other existing ELM based localization approaches do.
Good or Mediocre? A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach for Taxi Revenue Efficiency Optimization

Recently, with the rapid expansion of cities, optimizing taxi driving routes for improving taxi revenue efficiency has become the core issue of taxi system. However, most current research focuses on increasing platform revenue instead of improving drivers’ revenue in a centralized dispatch taxi system just like DiDi, which results in a slower driver income growth and greater difficulties for recruiting drivers. To solve this problem, we propose a strategy of deep reinforcement learning based on driver mode. Firstly, the sequence selection process of drivers is modeled as markov decision-making process in driver mode. Then, we propose a learning scheme based on deep Q network to optimize the driver's decision-making strategy. We know that the real selection of historical taxi drivers is very helpful to the selection of current taxi drivers, so we choose the historical record of the current location as the edge data to update the edge network. Finally, we used a real data set generated by more than 1,400 taxis in Changsha. The simulation experiments show that our scheme reduced cruising time of taxis and improved the driver's income by 4-5%. The carbon emissions are obviously reduced by saving almost 6% fuel consumption, which contributes significantly to green mobility.
Screening for Bioflocculant-Producing Bacteria from the Marine Environment of Sodwana Bay, South Africa

Abstract Flocculants are chemicals that mediate flocculation process, by aggregating colloids from suspension to form floc. Chemical flocculants are hazardous to the environment, which inform the search for safer and eco-friendly alternatives from microorganisms. Bacterial strains were isolated from water and sediment samples collected from Sodwana Bay, South Africa, and physiological properties of the bacterial strains were observed. Flocculation test using kaolin clay suspension was done on all isolates and the ones that showed flocculating activity were identified molecularly using 16 rRNA gene sequence analysis. Forty marine bacteria isolates were gotten from sediments and water samples collected from Sodwana Bay. Most of the isolates exhibited a range of colony pigmentation (pink, creamy, yellow, and white). After purification of individual isolates, they were screened for their potential to produce bioflocculant. The result revealed that isolates marked SOD3, SOD10, SOD12, SOD26, SOD27, SOD28, SOD32, SOD33 and SOD34 produced bioflocculants as shown by the flocculating activities from their crude extract. All these isolates showed good flocculation of kaolin clay suspension above 60% (flocculating activity) except SOD12. These bioflocculant producing isolates were identified as Pseudoalteromonas sp, Alcaligenes faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Bacillus stratosphericus. The results showed Sodwana Bay, South Africa as a reservoir of bacteria with potential to produce flocculants. However, further studies on the optimisation of culture conditions for bioflocculant production, extraction, characterisation and application of isolates is on the way to underscore the biotechnological importance of these microbes as producers of substitutes to harmful chemical flocculants commonly used in water and wastewater treatment.
Ocean Surface Connectivity in the Arctic: Capabilities and Caveats of Community Detection in Lagrangian Flow Networks

<div><span>To identify barriers to transport in a fluid domain, community detection algorithms from network science have been used to divide the domain into clusters that are sparsely connected with each other. In a previous application to the closed domain of the Mediterranean Sea, communities detected by the <em>Infomap</em> algorithm have barriers that often coincide with well-known oceanographic features. We apply this clustering method to the surface of the Arctic and subarctic oceans and thereby show that it can also be applied to open domains. First, we construct a Lagrangian flow network by simulating the exchange of Lagrangian particles between different bins in an icosahedral-hexagonal grid. Then, <em>Infomap </em>is applied to identify groups of well-connected bins. The resolved transport barriers include naturally occurring structures, such as the major currents. As expected, clusters in the Arctic are affected by seasonal and annual variations in sea-ice concentration. An important caveat of community detection algorithms is that many different divisions into clusters may qualify as good solutions. Moreover, while certain cluster boundaries lie consistently at the same location between different good solutions, other boundary locations vary significantly, making it difficult to assess the physical meaning of a single solution. We therefore consider an ensemble of solutions to find persistent boundaries, trends and correlations with surface velocities and sea-ice cover. </span></div>
Production of alcohol fuels via acid-hydrolysis extrusion technology

Pilot plant data obtained using a modified single screw grain extruder to facilitate the conversion of raw cellulosic materials into fermentable monosaccharides via acid hydrolysis are analyzed. The following are discussed: cellulose availability and cost, cellulose conversion theory, cellulose conversion performance of extrusion technology, system analysis, and economics. (MHR)
USVSEG: A robust segmentation of rodents’ ultrasonic vocalization

Rodents’ ultrasonic vocalization (USV) provides useful information to assess their social behaviors. Despite of previous efforts for classifying subcategories of time-frequency patterns of USV syllables to associate with their functional relevances, detection of vocal elements from continuously recorded data have remained to be not well-optimized. We here propose a novel procedure for detecting USV segments in continuous sound data with background noises which were inevitably contaminated during observation of the social behavior. The proposed procedure utilizes a stable version of spectrogram and additional signal processing for better separation of vocal signals by reducing variation of the background noise. Our procedure also provides a precise time tracking of spectral peaks within each syllable. We showed that this procedure can be applied to a variety of USVs obtained from several rodent species. A performance test with an appropriate parameter set showed performance for detecting USV syllables than conventional methods.
Enhanced Photon-Emitter Coupling in Micro/Nano Photonic Structures

The strong confined electromagnetic field in the micro/nano photonic structures brings new opportunities for the research of interaction between light and matter. By designing optical modes, light can be controlled to realize reversible or inreversible energy exchange between photons and emitters at the micro/nano scale. Here, we review the basic principles of the interaction between light and matter in cavity quantum electrodynamics and their recent advances in strong coupling based on micro/nano photonic structures such as plasmon nanostructures, whispering gallery resonators and photonic crystals. These works opening the research of quantum nanophotonics will have great influence on the on-chip quantum devices and quantum informations.
Wideband Circularly Polarized Planar Antenna Array for 5G Millimeter-Wave Applications

A novel wideband circularly polarized (CP) planar array antenna is proposed in this article for the upcoming fifth-generation (5G) millimeter-wave (mm-wave) applications. The antenna element is fed by a slot etched on the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) for convenient integration. It consists of two additional semicircle patches and two suspend metal posts which are working as the newly proposed polarizers for broadband CP operation. The combined patch, post, and slot generate totally four CP modes which greatly expand the antenna 3 dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. The antenna operating mechanism and the design procedure are illustrated in detail. The simulated results for the antenna element show an AR bandwidth of 41.28% from 25.66 to 39.01 GHz, an impedance bandwidth of wider than 44.62% from 24.41 to 38.43 GHz, and a gain of 7.25 ± 1 dBic over the frequency band. The antenna shows a stable pattern and wide AR/impedance overlapping bandwidth (25.66–38.43 GHz), which covers most of the current 5G mm-wave bands. To enhance the antenna gain for practical application, a planar $4 \times 4$ antenna array fed by a fully incorporated SIW network is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results for the array demonstrate an AR bandwidth of 36.51% from 25.3 to 36.6 GHz, an impedance bandwidth of 40.21% from 24.42 to 36.71 GHz, and a peak gain of 19 dBic. The proposed antenna features a novel broadband CP working principle, low profile, and good radiation performance, which is well suited for 5G mm-wave applications.
Intelligence and Socioeconomic Context on Childhood: Comparisons by Place of Residence and School Type

Abstract Different aspects of the socioeconomic context can affect intelligence. This study investigated the intellectual performance of children from different places of residence and school types. The analyses compared children from the outskirts (n = 169) and the central region (n = 110) from Porto Alegre; and children from private (n = 49) and public (n = 61) schools. Data collection included the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) and sociodemographic record. Analysis of covariance (between groups) and Analysis of Variance for repeated measures (within-group) were used. Children from the outskirts region showed poorer performance on all WASI scores and, in the within-group comparison, lower results on verbal tasks - which did not occur in the central region group. Children from public and private schools differed in all WASI scores but had a similar within-group performance.
Magnetoresistance Behavior of Cryogenic Temperature Sensors Based on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

We report on the experimental investigation of the magnetoresistance behavior of cryogenic temperature sensors based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as a function of temperature and magnetic flux density; one sensor was based on layers/networks of unsorted SWCNT of various chiralities, and one on SWCNTs layers of (7,6) chirality. SWCNT-based sensors were fabricated according to a straightforward method, and the electrical properties were measured from room temperature down to 2 K using a Quantum Design Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). The two sensors present different magneto-transport behavior, with the magnetoresistance dependence on the magnetic field being a sum of two terms with positive and negative contributions respectively. The expression for magnetoresistance is derived together with its experimentally determined coefficients. For both sensors, the electrical resistance dependence on temperature below the 80 K mark is explained by Mott’s law of variable-range hopping. The experimentally obtained hopping dimension ${d}$ values of 2.67 for the system comprised of purified (7,6) chirality SWCNTs and 2.97 for the system comprised of unsorted SWCNTs are in good agreement with the theory. As a second step, the magnetic field was kept constant and at different values, while the temperature was scanned over the investigated domain.
The Employer Perspective of Managing Access to Federated Systems and the Need for an Ontological Approach

Identification, authentication, and authorization (IAA) play a significant role in federated identity management for disparate information systems (IS) within an organization. Although all three components are vital to system access control processes and help minimize unauthorized access to resources, authorization is the most cumbersome and time-consuming process (relative to identification and authentication) in many organizations today. However, most prior studies focus on the user perspective and only address authentication issues (e.g., single sign-on). In order to fill a gap in the literature, our work studies the organizational perspective of managing IS access and aims to address the issues associated with managing the authorization process. In doing so, we develop an ontology-based design artifact, called Onto-IAA, describing how disparate IS perform authorization natively. Via this ontology, organizations can significantly reduce the effort required to manage the authorization processes. Onto-IAA operationalization is demonstrated for two real IS, and its utility is evaluated using an observational approach in a global retail chain with approximately 25 disparate IS and over 5000 employees. Additionally, the experimental approach is used to test its effectiveness to control access to other IS, which are not utilized to “train” or develop the ontological model.
Hiya distans (Dennstaedtiaceae), a new combination for an Australasian fern previously classified in Hypolepis

ABSTRACT Three tropical fern species previously treated in the Dennstaedtiaceae genus Hypolepis were recently segregated in a new genus, Hiya, based on phylogenetic analysis of chloroplast DNA sequences and assessment of their morphology. That study specifically mentioned the uncertain placement of the Australasian species Hypolepis distans, which has long been regarded as anomalous within Hypolepis. Using phylogenetic analysis of rbcL and rpl16 sequences, along with morphological and cytological characters, we show that Hypolepis distans is best placed in Hiya, and make the new combination Hiya distans. However, this requires a significant adjustment in the morphological characterisation of Hiya. It can be recognised by the adaxial sulcus of the primary pinnae being confluent with the rachis, veins which reach the lamina margin at an indentation, and the primary pinnae arising at ± 90° from the rachis. It is also a significant ecological extension of Hiya, from the tropical highlands of Malesia and Central and South American to the lowlands of temperate Australasia.
Overexpression of Chitinase A Gene from Serratia marcescens in Bacillus subtilis and Characterization of Enhanced Chitinolytic Activity

: Chitinase enzymes possess various usages in agriculture, biotechnology and medicine due to their chitin degrading property. Thus, efficient production of chitinase enzymes with desired properties has importance for its use. In this study, chitinase A ( chiA ) gene from Serratia marcescens Bn10 was cloned and heterologously overexpressed using pHT43 vector in Bacillus subtilis 168. The recombinant chitinase was characterized in terms of temperature, pH, and various effectors. The extracellular chitinase activity in recombinant B. subtilis was found 2.15-fold higher than the parental strain after 2 h of IPTG induction. Optimum temperature and pH for the extracellular chitinase activity in the recombinant B. subtilis were determined as 60 o C and pH 9.0, respectively. NaCl, Ca 2+ , Mn 2+ , Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ , sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Tween-20, and ethanol increased the chitinase activity whereas Mg 2+ caused an inhibition. The most notable increment on the chitinase activity was provided by Zn 2+ (3.2 folds) and then by SDS (2.9 folds). The chitinase, overproduced by the recombinant B. subtilis 168 heterologously expressing chiA , was determined to have optimum activity at high temperature and alkaline conditions as well as various effectors increase its activity. The extracellular chitinase of recombinant B. subtilis might be a promising source for agricultural, biotechnological and medical applications.
Rapid and Robust Adaptive Jaya (Ajaya) Based Maximum Power Point Tracking of a PV-Based Generation System

When subjected to partial shading (PS), photovoltaic (PV) arrays suffer from the significantly reduced output. Although the incorporation of bypass diodes at the output alleviates the effect of PS, such modification results in multiple peaks of output power. Conventional algorithms—such as perturb and observe (P&O) and hill-climbing (HC)—are not suitable to be employed to track the optimal peak due to their convergence to local maxima. To address this issue, various artificial intelligence (AI) based algorithms—such as an artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic control (FLC)—have been employed to track the maximum power point (MPP). Although these algorithms provide satisfactory results under PS conditions, a very large amount of data is required for their training process, thereby imposing an excessive burden on processor memory. Consequently, this paper proposes a novel optimization algorithm based on stochastic search (random exploration of search space), known as the adaptive jaya (Ajaya) algorithm in which two adaptive coefficients are incorporated for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) with a rapid convergence rate, fewer power fluctuations and high stability. The algorithm successfully eliminates the issues associated with existing conventional and AI-based algorithms. Moreover, the proposed algorithm outperforms other state-of-the-art stochastic search-based techniques in terms of fewer fluctuations, robustness, simplicity, and faster convergence to the optima. Extensive analysis of results obtained from MATLAB® is done to prove the above performance parameters under static insolation conditions (using a three, four and a five-module series-connected PV system), under dynamically varying insolation (using a four-module series connected system), by changing the PV module rating (using a four-module series connected system) and using an IEC standard.
Termination of non-coding transcription in yeast relies on both a CTD-interaction domain and a CTD-mimic in Sen1

Pervasive transcription is a widespread phenomenon leading to the production of a plethora of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) without apparent function. Pervasive transcription poses a risk that needs to be controlled to prevent the perturbation of gene expression. In yeast, the highly conserved helicase Sen1 restricts pervasive transcription by inducing termination of non-coding transcription. However, the mechanisms underlying the specific function of Sen1 at ncRNAs are poorly understood. Here we identify a motif in an intrinsically disordered region of Sen1 that mimics the phosphorylated carboxy terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II and characterize structurally its recognition by the CTD-interacting domain of Nrd1, an RNA-binding protein that binds specific sequences in ncRNAs. In addition, we show that Sen1-dependent termination strictly requires the recognition of the Ser5-phosphorylated form of the CTD by the N-terminal domain of Sen1. Furthermore, we find that the N-terminal and the C-terminal domains of Sen1 can mediate intra-molecular interactions. Our results shed light onto the network of protein-protein interactions that control termination of non-coding transcription by Sen1.
Self-Compassion as a Mediator in the Effect of Dispositional Mindfulness on Anxiety and Aggressiveness in College Students with Left-Behind Experience

Few studies have comprehensively explored the mechanism of the association between dispositional mindfulness and the process of internalization and externalization. Given that dispositional mindfulness can enhance the level of self-acceptance, the present study investigated the role of self-compassion in the effect of dispositional mindfulness on anxiety and aggressiveness among college students with left-behind experience (LBE). A total of 385 Chinese college students with LBE reported their level of dispositional mindfulness, anxiety symptoms, aggressiveness, and self-compassion. Dispositional mindfulness was negatively associated with anxiety and aggressiveness after controlling for gender, age, and whether they are the only child in family. Additionally, self-compassion partially mediated the link between dispositional mindfulness and anxiety, but it didn’t mediate the link between dispositional mindfulness and aggressiveness. The findings highlight the importance of dispositional mindfulness and selfcompassion on reducing internalizing and externalizing problems of college students with left-behind experience and also provide coping strategies for the intervention of this special group.