Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing hotspots within hotspots to conserve biodiversity and support fisheries management

The decline of marine biodiversity can negatively affect the ocean's resilience, goods and services. Consequently, the identification and protection of biodiversity hotspots is often a pri- ority in marine spatial planning. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can also be designated as fish- eries management tools to promote sustainable fisheries. However, the integration of fisheries and biodiversity objectives is still the cause of much debate, and challenging to achieve in a simple, straightforward manner. In this study, generalised additive models of (1) various biodiversity indices and (2) an intrinsic vulnerability index of fishes to fishing were applied to produce predic- tive maps to identify hotspots of biodiversity and fisheries vulnerability, respectively, and com- bined hotspots of both parameters for shallow coastal fish assemblages surrounding 2 islands in the Azores archipelago, northeast Atlantic Ocean. Individually, hotspots of biodiversity and vul- nerability covered up to half of the study area and were quantitatively well represented in the existing MPA network. Although similar levels of representativeness were found for shared hotspots that included both criteria, more importantly, they were substantially smaller than indi- vidual hotspots, highlighting the importance of their complete protection to ensure the ecological functioning of multi-objective MPAs. This case study demonstrates a novel use of a fish vulnera- bility index in support of marine spatial planning. It can be combined with biodiversity patterns that alone may not represent well the areas of higher need for conservation. MPA design and adaptive management processes may use this straightforward approach to identify hotspots within larger areas of high conservation value, especially in data-limited situations that may ben- efit from predictive modelling.
Robust Object Recognition Through Symbiotic Deep Learning In Mobile Robots

Despite the recent success of state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms in object recognition, when these are deployed as-is on a mobile service robot, we observed that they failed to recognize many objects in real human environments. In this paper, we introduce a learning algorithm in which robots address this flaw by asking humans for help, also known as a symbiotic autonomy approach. In particular, we bootstrap YOLOv2, a state-of-the-art deep neural network and train a new neural network, that we call HHELP, using only data collected from human help. Using an RGB camera and an onboard tablet, the robot proactively seeks human input to assist it in labeling surrounding objects. Pepper, located at CMU, and Monarch Mbot, located at ISR-Lisbon, were the service robots that we used to validate the proposed approach. We conducted a study in a realistic domestic environment over the course of 20 days with 6 research participants. To improve object detection, we used the two neural networks, YOLOv2 + HHELP, in parallel. Following this methodology, the robot was able to detect twice the number of objects compared to the initial YOLOv2 neural network, and achieved a higher mAP (mean Average Precision) score. Using the learning algorithm the robot also collected data about where an object was located and to whom it belonged to by asking humans. This enabled us to explore a future use case where robots can search for a specific person's object. We view the contribution of this work to be relevant for service robots in general, in addition to Pepper, and Mbot.
Speech Recognition System of Slovenian Broadcast News

Speech is the most natural form of expression which is why it accounts for the majority of communication and information around the world. Media monitoring is a crucial activity today. For the most part today’s methods are manual, with human reading, listening and watching, annotating topics and selecting items of interest for the user. The huge amount of data we can access nowadays in different formats (audio, video, text) and through distinct channels revealed the necessity to build systems that can efficiently store this data and retrieve this data automatically. Unavoidable component of such systems is speech recognition engine. Different types of speech and speech environments pose different challenges and, therefore, require different engines to accurately process the speech. Speech recognition of broadcast news (BN ASR) is designed for news-oriented content from either television or radio and it readily processes broadcasts that include news, multispeaker roundtable discussions and debates and even open-air interviews outside of the studio. BN ASR is a challenging task for many years and different languages. This chapter summarizes our key efforts to build BN ASR system for Slovenian language. BN ASR system open the possibility for many applications where the use of automatic transcriptions is a major attribute. One of applications is live subtitling (Brousseau et al., 2003; Imai et al., 2000; Lambourne et al., 2004), were BN ASR system processes audio input and creates closed captions (Figure 1). Another task is speaker tracking, which can be used to find parts of speech belonging to specific speaker (Leggetter et al., 1995) in an audio input (Figure 2). Speech content search and retrieval is also a very useful functionality, which can be applied based on speech recognition. Based on some key terms a user can index audio/video to create a searchable repository to find the exact clip they need and its transcript. Yet another challenging field is topic detection and topic tracking. The goal is to use the system for continuously monitoring a TV channel, and searching inside their news programs for the stories that match the profile of a given user. The chapter describes in detail our Speech Recognition System of Slovenian Broadcast News (UMB BNSI system), which is still under development. The chapter is organized as follows. First in section 2 we overview research work on broadcast news speech recognition. Properties of the Slovenian language make transcribing Slovenian broadcast news a more challenging task than for example English language. In section 3 basic differences are outlined. Section 4 summarizes the speech and text corpora used for training and testing the
Charge-density analysis and electrostatic properties of 2-carboxy-4-methylanilinium chloride monohydrate obtained using a multipolar and a spherical-charges model

The new crystal structure of 2-carboxy-4-methylanilinium chloride monohydrate was determined by X-ray diffraction and refined using three different electron-density models. In the first model, the ELMAM2 multipolar electron-density database was transferred to the molecule. Theoretical structure factors were also computed from periodic density functional theory calculations and yielded, after multipolar-atoms refinement, the second charge-density model. An alternative electron-density modelling, based on spherical atoms and additional charges on the covalent bonds and electron lone-pair sites, was used in the third model in the refinement versus the theoretical data. The crystallographic refinements, structural properties, electron-density distributions and molecular electrostatic potentials obtained from the different charge-density models were compared. As the number of variables refined in the different models is the same, the R factor is a good indicator of refinement quality. The R factor is best for multipolar modelling, presumably because of the greater flexibility and larger number of parameters to model the electron density compared to the spherical-charges model. The electrostatic potentials around the molecule show a high correlation coefficient between the three models.
Chemical Groups and Structural Characterization of Lignin via Thiol-Mediated Demethylation

Abstract A new approach to increase the reactivity of lignin by thiol-mediated demethylation was investigated in this study. Demethylated lignin was characterized by the changes in its hydroxyl and methoxyl groups, molecular weight, and other properties using titration and spectroscopy methods including FT-IR, 1H NMR, UV, and GPC. The total, phenolic, and aliphatic hydroxyl contents in lignin increased while the methoxyl content decreased after demethylation reaction, which indicated the occurrence of demethylation reaction. The results from FT-IR and UV analysis also indicated that the kraft lignin in this study contains mainly guaiacyl moiety and demethylated lignin has a higher guaiacyl content than original lignin. The average molecular weight of lignin decreased after demethylation reaction due to the cleavage of ether linkages in lignin macromolecules. No severe degradation of lignin was observed during the demethylation reaction.
Parametric model to estimate clear‐sky longwave irradiance at the surface on the basis of vertical distribution of humidity and temperature

[1] The surface downwelling longwave irradiance in clear-sky situations is an important component of the global radiation balance. It can be measured directly using ground-based pyrgeometers or computed using a radiative transfer code given precise information on atmospheric composition (water vapor, ozone, and aerosols) and temperature. Discrepancies between instantaneous observed and simulated values of the clear-sky longwave irradiance are typically at the 3–10 W m−2 level (root-mean-square error). The discrepancies depend both on pyrgeometer and atmospheric composition uncertainties. Over the past century, many authors have worked on deriving control parameters to simulate the clear-sky longwave irradiance using simple parameterizations. The most common control parameters found in the literature are screen-level temperature, screen-level water vapor density, and column integrated precipitable water. We show that reference parameterizations are able to simulate the clear-sky longwave irradiance with an uncertainty of about 10 W m−2. Uncertainties are greater during nighttime than daytime periods. We propose a new parameterization that uses the standard input parameters and their diurnal variations to account for important effects of their vertical distribution on the simulation of clear-sky longwave irradiance. The new parameterization allows us to reduce uncertainties in clear-sky surface downwelling longwave irradiance simulations to better than 5 W m−2 for both daytime and nighttime situations.
Inflation Targeting: A ThreeDecade Perspective 1

Using cross-country data for period 1980-2007, we study the effects of “Inflation Targeting” on the levels and the volatilities of inflation, GDP growth and fiscal imbalances in both developed and developing countries. We find that the targeting developing countries manage to bring inflation to lower and more stable levels, and also experience higher and more stable GDP growth. As for developed nations, we find evidence for higher GDP growth and conduct of more disciplined fiscal policy after adopting the regime. The improvements in the budget balances are at least partly attributed to the attempts to achieve the announced inflation target.
Potential of VlmybA1-2 as a Candidate Marker for Visual Identification of Transgenic Plants: Induced Anthocyanin Production in Arabidopsis and Tobacco

For development of a safe and efficient in vivo marker for plant transformation, an myb -related gene of anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway, VlmybA1-2 from grape, was introduced into anthocyanin producing tobacco and Arabidopsis , and non- anthocyanin producing spinach under the control of CaMV 35S promoter. Except for the distinguishable purple color, transformed calli and plants of tobacco were not different from controls. RNA gel blot hybridization confirmed the expression of VlmybA1-2 in purple tobacco seedlings. Completely purple T1 Arabidopsis seedlings could not survive as high anthocyanin levels may affect normal growth; Surviving T1 seedlings could produce viable seeds of two distinguishable colors: purple and brown (similar to wild type). Purple seeds germinated on kanamycin medium providing an easy method of transgenic seed identification in Arabidopsis . T2 and T3 completely purple seedlings produced purple flowers and seeds. Putative transgenic spinach was not different to control in color, although presence of VlmybA1- 2 was confirmed by DNA gel blot hybridization. VlmybA alone, without the aid of an myc -related gene partner, could induce complete pigmentation in tobacco and Arabidopsis indicating its potential over previously used myb - and myc -related genes. Key words : Anthocyanin; Arabidopsis ; In vivo marker; Tobacco; VlmybA1-2 DOI: 10.4038/tare.v12i1. 1982 Tropical Agricultural Research & Extension 12(1):2009 35-41
Hope in the Face of Climate Change: Associations With Environmental Engagement and Student Perceptions of Teachers’ Emotion Communication Style and Future Orientation

Is hope concerning climate change related to environmental engagement, or is it rather associated with unrealistic optimism and inactivity? This study on Swedish high school students identified two kinds of hope: constructive hope and hope based on denial. Constructive hope was positively associated with engagement and a perception that teachers respect students’ negative emotions concerning societal issues and have a future-oriented, positive, and solution-oriented communication style. Students who felt hope based on denial instead were less inclined to behave pro-environmentally and perceived their teachers as not taking their emotions seriously and as communicating in a pessimistic way. Boys perceived their teachers as less accepting of negative emotions, which explained why they felt more hope based on denial than girls. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.
The Effects of an Individual Empowerment Program on Behavioral Outcomes in In-Hospital Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

227 Correspondence to: Sawanyawisuth K, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand. Phone & Fax: +66-43-363664 E-mail: kittisak@kku.ac. th J Med Assoc Thai 2017; 100 (Suppl. 6): S227-S231 Full text. e-Journal: http://www.jmatonline. com The Effects of an Individual Empowerment Program on Behavioral Outcomes in In-Hospital Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Impact of seasonal temperature and pressure changes on methane gas production, dissolution, and transport in unfractured sediments

A one‐dimensional reaction‐transport model is used to investigate the dynamics of methane gas in coastal sediments in response to intra‐annual variations in temperature and pressure. The model is applied to data from two shallow water sites in Eckernforde Bay (Germany) characterized by low and high rates of upward fluid advection. At both sites, organic matter is buried below the sulfate‐reducing zone to the methanogenic zone at sufficiently high rates to allow supersaturation of the pore water with dissolved methane and to form a free methane gas phase. The methane solubility concentration varies by similar magnitudes at both study sites in response to bottom water temperature changes and leads to pronounced peaks in the gas volume fraction in autumn when the methanic zone temperature is at a maximum. Yearly hydrostatic pressure variations have comparatively negligible effects on methane solubility. Field data suggest that no free gas escapes to the water column at any time of the year. Although the existence of gas migration cannot be substantiated by direct observation, a speculative mechanism for slow moving gas is proposed here. The model results reveal that free gas migrating upward into the undersaturated pore water will completely dissolve and subsequently be consumed above the free gas depth (FGD) by anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). This microbially mediated process maintains methane undersaturation above the FGD. Although the complexities introduced by seasonal changes in temperature lead to different seasonal trends for the depth‐integrated AOM rates and the FGD, both sites adhere to previously developed prognostic indicators for methane fluxes based on the FGD.
Drug loaded magnetic nanoparticles for cancer therapy

Magnetic nanoparticles have been investigated for biomedical applications for more than 30 years. In medicine they are used for several approaches such as magnetic cell separation or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The development of biocompatible nanosized drug delivery systems for specific targeting of therapeutics is the focus of medical research, especially for the treatment of cancer and diseases of the vascular system. In an experimental cancer model, we performed targeted drug delivery and used magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles, bound to a chemotherapeutic agent, which were attracted to an experimental tumour in rabbits by an external magnetic field (magnetic drug targeting). Complete tumour remission could be achieved. An important advantage of these carriers is the possibility for detecting these nanoparticles after treatment with common imaging techniques (i.e. x-ray-tomography, magnetorelaxometry, magnetic resonance imaging), which can be correlated to histology.
Computer simulation of polymer solar cells

Computer simulations are shown to be a powerful tool in predicting the response of polymer solar cells. In particular, we show how a drift-diffusion model can capture the transient behaviour of electron, hole and exciton concentrations in heterogeneous devices. Furthermore, computer simulations can reveal interesting new insights into the role of concentration fluxes and internal electric fields. We demonstrate this approach by considering bilayer devices but where the interface is sinusiodal, not planar. To highlight the predictive capabilities of these computer simulations we consider the systematic variation of device morphologies and the effect this has on photovoltaic performance. In this manner, we can correlate the device performance with the device's internal structure and predict how the polymer morphology might be tailored to meet photovoltaic needs.
Temporal dimensions and measurement of neighbourhood effects

We conduct a panel analysis quantifying the degree to which the mixture of low-, middle-and high-income males in the neighbourhood affect the subsequent labour income of individuals, and test the degree to which these effects vary by timing (lagging up to three years) duration (one to four years), and cumulative amount of exposure and to what extent these effects are persistent. We employ a fixed effects model to reduce the potential bias arising from unmeasured individual characteristics leading to neighbourhood selection. The empirical study applies individual-level data for the working-age population of the three largest cities in Sweden covering the period 1991-2006. The analyses suggest that there are important temporal dimensions in the statistical effect of neighbourhood income mix: recent, continued or cumulative exposure yields stronger associations than lagged, temporary ones, and there is distinct time decay (though some persistence) in the potential effects after exposure ceases, though with some gender differences.
Effect of Gas Diffusion on Bubble Entrainment and Dynamics around a Propeller

A multi-bubble dynamics code accounting for gas diffusion across the bubble wall was developed and used to study bubble nuclei population dynamics in the flow field of a propeller. The propeller flow field was obtained using a Reynolds-Averaged NavierStokes (RANS) solver and bubble nuclei populations was propagated in this field. The code developed enables one to investigate the possibility of generating behind a propeller long lasting visible bubble starting from an ocean nuclei size distribution. Large visible bubbles are seen to cluster in the tip vortices and in the wakes of the blades. Parametric investigation of the initial nuclei size distribution, the dissolved gas concentration, and the cavitation number were conducted to identify their effects on bubble entrainment, and void fraction and bubble distribution modification downstream from the propeller. Artificial turbulence-like fluctuations were also superimposed unto the RANS flow field to study whether RANS averaging significantly affects the results.
Visual Analytics for Semi-Automatic 4 D Crime Scene Reconstruction

During criminal investigations, every second saved can be valuable to catch a suspect or to prevent further damage. However, sometimes the amount of evidence that needs to be investigated is so large, that it can not be processed fast enough. Especially after incidents in public, the law enforcement agencies receive a lot of video and image material from persons and surveillance cameras. Currently, all these videos are viewed manually and annotated by criminal investigators. The goal of our tool is to make this process faster by allowing the investigators to watch a combination of several videos at the same time and giving them a common spatial and temporal reference.
Providing Flexible and Reliable on-Chip Network Communication with Real-Time Constraints

The same technology downscaling that enables Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs) has increased susceptibility to soft errors, giving rise to the so-called unreliable hardware. In this paper, we discuss the design of a central component of such architectures, the Network-on-Chip (NoC), and how to provide reliable on chip communication for real-time mixed-critical systems, applications with different requirements must be served, regarding e.g. time and reliability. We also discuss formal timing analyses for resilient MPSoCs architectures.
A younger, thinner Arctic ice cover: Increased potential for rapid, extensive sea‐ice loss

Satellite‐derived estimates of sea‐ice age and thickness are combined to produce a proxy ice thickness record for 1982 to the present. These data show that in addition to the well‐documented loss of perennial ice cover as a whole, the amount of oldest and thickest ice within the remaining multiyear ice pack has declined significantly. The oldest ice types have essentially disappeared, and 58% of the multiyear ice now consists of relatively young 2‐ and 3‐year‐old ice compared to 35% in the mid‐1980s. Ice coverage in summer 2007 reached a record minimum, with ice extent declining by 42% compared to conditions in the 1980s. The much‐reduced extent of the oldest and thickest ice, in combination with other factors such as ice transport that assist the ice‐albedo feedback by exposing more open water, help explain this large and abrupt ice loss.
Maternal Anxiety Associated with Newborn Hearing Screening

2Utah State University Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine if newborn hearing screening increases maternal anxiety. Mothers whose infants were screened for hearing were asked how worried they were prior to hospital discharge and again six weeks later. They were also asked if they were more concerned about their baby’s hearing than they were about other aspects of the infant’s health and behavior. Results showed that mothers worried as much or more about many other aspects of their infants’ health and behavior as about hearing. Mothers whose infants had a false positive screening result were initially more worried about hearing than other aspects of their infant’s health, but this effect disappeared within six weeks. There were no significant differences at Time 1 or Time 2 for maternal anxiety as measured by the STAI between mothers whose infants had a false positive hearing screen compared to mothers of infants who passed their initial hearing screen. Participation in newborn hearing screening is not associated with undue worry among mothers of newborns