Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Low-Power Multichannel Time-to-Digital Converter Using All-Digital Nested Delay-Locked Loops With 50-ps Resolution and High Throughput for LiDAR Sensors

This article presents a low-power, all-digital multichannel time-to-digital converter (TDC) for light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors. The proposed TDC architecture measures the time interval through a coarse counter, middle, and fine delay line-based interpolation technique (the Nutt method). Automatic calibration by middle and fine all-digital delay-locked loops (ADDLLs) is provided to ensure the stability of the generated time slots. Charge pump, loop filter, and voltage-controlled delay line inside the conventional analog delay-locked loops (DLLs) are replaced by an accumulator (ACC) and digitally controlled delay line (DCDL). This makes the design particularly compact, low power, and suitable for multichannel applications. The presented architecture can generate information for amplitude variation (walk error) compensation. This information is generated by measuring the pulsewidth and position of three successive STOP pulses inside each channel within a single-shot measurement. A low-jitter injection-locked frequency multiplier (ILFM) generates a 625-MHz internal clock signal out of 25-MHz external reference oscillator, which shrinks the number of delay elements to cover one period of the reference clock and improves the precision of the TDC. Operation at higher frequency provides high throughput and short conversion time (less than 3 ns). The three-level TDC offers 13.1- $\mu \text{s}$ maximum input range and 50-ps resolution. The measured DNL and INL of the TDC circuit are 0.47 and 0.71 LSB, respectively. The TDC circuit is implemented in a 180-nm standard CMOS process with a die size of 1.5 mm $\times1.5$ mm. The total power consumption of the multichannel TDC is 87.6 mW.
A window to teachers’ ICT practices: Discerning between teaching and the complex science of pedagogy

Resumo Utilising Loughran’s notion of the complexity of teaching, this study set out to explore how teachers used information and communication technology (ICT) in their classroom practices. The study is grounded in qualitative research methods. Data capture included a mix of semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Data was analysed using content analysis methods. Findings were fourfold. First, small pockets of innovative teachers changed their pedagogy. Second, teachers’ beliefs suggest (mis)understandings about their ICT induced teaching, which they perceived as changed pedagogy, but actually only their mode of curriculum delivery changed. Third, most teachers seemed to reposition their practice using technology to facilitate the demands of a scripted curriculum, thus merely changing their teaching practice. Fourth, teachers’ apprenticeship of observation is further perpetuated through pre-service training that does not promote pedagogical experiential change.
Plant functional types : their relevance to ecosystem properties and global change

List of contributors Preface Part I: 1. What are functional types and how should we seek them? H. Gitay and I. R. Noble 2. Plant and ecosystem functional types H. H. Shugart Part II: 3. Plant functional types: towards a definition by environmental constraints F. I. Woodward and C. K. Kelly 4. Can we use plant functional types to describe and predict responses to environmental change? R. J. Hobbs 5. Functional types in non-equilibrium ecosystems B. H. Walker 6. Categorizing plant species into functional types M. Westoby and M. Leishman 7. Functional types: testing the concept in Northern England J. P. Grime, J. G. Hodgson, R. Hunt, K. Thopson, G. A. F. Hendry, B. D. Campbell, A. Jalili, S. H. Hillier, S. Diaz and M. J. W. Burke Part III: 8. Plant functional types and ecosystem change in arctic tundras G. R. Shaver, A. E. Giblin, K. J. Nadelhoffer and E. B. Rastetter 9. Functional types for predicting changes in biodiversity: a case study in Cape Fynbos W. J. Bond 10. Defining functional types for models of desertification J. F. Reynolds, R. A. Virginia and W. H. Schlesinger 11. Plant functional types in temperate semi-arid regions O. E. Sala, W. K. Lauenroth and R. A. Golluscio 12. Interactions between demographic and ecosystem processes in a semi-arid and an arid grassland: a challenge for plant functional types W. K. Lauenroth, D. P. Coffin, I. C. Burke and R. A. Virginia 13. Plant functional types in African savannas and grasslands R. J. Scholes, G. Pickett, W. N. Ellery and A. C. Blackmore Part IV: 14. Using plant functional types in a global vegetation model W. Cramer 15. The use of plant functional type classifications to model the global land cover and simulate the interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere R. Leemans Part V: 16. Examining the consequences of classifying species into functional types: a simulation model analysis T. M. Smith 17. Ecosystem function of biodiversity: the basis of the viewpoint H. A. Mooney 18. Defining plant functional types: the end view F. I. Woodward, T. M. Smith and H. H. Shugart Index.
MICRO-CELEBRITIES’ CONCEPT OF HIJRAH: A CRITICAL METAPHOR ANALYSIS

The integration between the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the pragmatic aspect of the metaphor usage has resulted in the emergence of the Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) approach to examine metaphors in public discourse. By applying this approach, the present study explores the types of metaphors in Ustadz Hanan Attaki (henceforth UHA) and Ustadz Abdul Somad (Henceforth UAS) both English and Indonesian speech corpora on economic discourses and their possible latent ideologies. The results also indicate that some (linguistic) realizations of conceptual mappings of the metaphors in UHA and UAS’ corpus are used to evoke the emotion and the soul of their audiences. Further, the current study also shows that both UHA and UAS share similar collectivism/jama’ah ideological values manifested through the journey and battle metaphors dataset.
Predicting Toddlers’ Problematic Behaviors: the role of poverty, parenting, and childcare

ABSTRACT Our study extends the understanding of how three distinct environments including home, childcare, and neighbourhood may influence young children’s problematic behaviours among a sample of predominantly unmarried mothers residing in urban communities in the United States. With a sample of 791 mothers we examined whether neighbourhood disadvantage and poverty were associated with maternal self-efficacy and parenting stress, the level of cooperativeness between parents and early childcare educators, and the quality of childcare, and whether these factors are in turn associated with toddler behaviour problems. Parent-educator cooperation and the quality of childcare were modest, yet significant protective factors for toddlers’ problematic behaviours while maternal parenting stress was the strongest risk factor. Mothers’ self-efficacy was indirectly associated with problematic behaviours. Neighbourhood poverty was also identified as a risk factor. Our study highlights the importance of cooperative parent-educator relationships for families with lower incomes and the need to account for the neighbourhood context.
Diurnal Endogenous Triglyceride Lipase Activities in Plasma from Men on a High-Carbohydrate Diet Followed by a High-Fat Diet

The diurnal change in endogenous plasma triglyceride lipase (TGL) activity has not yet been studied in detail together with lipid-apoprotein profiles in man. Therefore, this study was conducted to observe the fluctuations from morning to night in the TGL activity including lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic lipase (HL) activities in 8 healthy subjects, first on a high-carbohydrate diet (carbohydrate, 360 g; protein, 60 g; fat, 20 g) and then on an isocaloric high-fat diet (carbohydrate, 180 g; protein, 60 g; fat, 100 g). Each diet was divided into 3 similar portions and given at 8:00, 12:00, and 18:00 h. Blood sampling was done every 2 h. Plasma glucose showed no definite change during the day of each test diet, while plasma insulin levels were much higher with the high-carbohydrate diet than with the high-fat one. Plasma triglyceride (TG) in chylomicron (Chyl) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) revealed a significantly greater increment with the high fat diet than with the high-carbohydrate diet. Levels of plasma apoproteins C-II, C-III, and E increased only with the high-fat diet. The diurnal endogenous plasma TGL activity as measured by a sensitive method was raised with both diets in parallel with the Chyl-VLDL-TG levels, and the elevated TGL activity was mostly due to the accelerated release of HL, and not to that of LPL. Unexpectedly no correlation existed between diurnal plasma TGL activity and insulin secretion. Interestingly, however, a remarkable positive correlation (r=0.744, p <0.01) was found between the diurnal sum of plasma TGL activity changes and the diurnal sum of plasma Chyl-VLDL-TG changes. Thus, the diurnal TG increment in the carrier lipoproteins induced by meals seems to accelerate the release of TGL, and therefore HL, from the hepatic capillaries into circulation, independent of insulin secretion.
Ecological niche of the Asiatic Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) in the arid environment of Iran (Mammalia: Felidae)

The Asiatic Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus venaticus, is a species of global conservation concern and a small population occurs in Iran in fragmented habitats located in the central parts of the country with a continental, arid climate. Naybandan Wildlife Refuge (NWR) holds the largest population in Iran. To understand better the factors which determine the occurrence of cheetahs in these areas, we applied an Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) to assess the relationship between occurrences of cheetahs across the NWR and topographic, biological, and anthropogenic factors. ENFA analysis results suggested that cheetahs have a tendency to inhabit areas different from the mean conditions of the study area and live in a narrow set of conditions. They prefer mountainous habitats far from flat areas, habitats near to water resources, and habitats with high prey densities. 13% of the NWR can be classified as suitable habitat for the cheetah, indicating a high conservation value of this reserve for the species.
Joint Learning of User Representation With Diffusion Sequence and Network Structure

Information sharing behavior and social link building behavior have shown strong correlation on social media. The aim of this article is to explore this correlation for simultaneously modeling and predicting sharing behavior in information diffusion sequences and linking behavior in social network, which correspond to information diffusion prediction and social link prediction problems. To achieve this goal, we propose a joint user representation learning model to characterize the two correlated behaviors in a shared latent space. The proposed model learns user representations via two maximum likelihood estimation objectives defined on observed information diffusion sequences and social network structure respectively and incorporates them in a unified framework. A multi-task learning algorithm is designed for efficient model optimization. Based on the learned representations, the model can be directly applied to predicting diffusion processes and inferring unobserved social links at the same time. We evaluate the proposed model on two real social media datasets with extensive experiments. The model consistently achieves significant improvements over the state-of-the-art approaches on diffusion prediction and link prediction tasks. The better robustness of our model in further ablation studies demonstrates that capturing the behavior correlation in the shared representation space is beneficial.
Evolution of free amino acids and amines during ripening of Iberian cured ham

Fifty-eight hams were obtained from Iberian pigs and were traditionally processed into dry cured products. Free amino acids and amines from semimembranosus and biceps femoris muscles were detected and quantified by HPLC. The larger increases of free amino acids took place in the drying cycle. Glutamic acid, alanine, leucine, and glycine were the free amino acids present in higher quantities in the final product. The amines with higher concentrations were not in the toxic range. Most amino acids increased according to their proportion in porcine skeletal muscle, except for some basic amino acids that may be involved in the formation of volatile compounds and amines
Sexual dimorphism in the Neotropical lizard, Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata, Tropiduridae)

Abstract. We describe the sexual dimorphism in coloration, body shape, and body size in Tropidurus torquatus ,awidelydistributed lizard species in central Brazil. Adult males have colored patches varying from yellow to yellow-and-black, andblack on the abdomen, ventral aspect of the thighs, and pre-cloacal sap. Adult females lack ventral colored patches. Duringontogeny, there is a gradual darkening of the patches, but no modiÞcation either in patch size or color is associated with thereproductive cycle. Adult males have wider heads and thinner bodies than females of the same body size. Males and femalesgrow at the same rate prior to sexual maturity, but males take longer to reach sexual maturity, maturing at a larger body sizethan females. IntroductionSexual dimorphism is a widespread featureamong lizards, as in many other groups ofanimals. Male and female lizards may dif-fer in many traits, such as coloration, bodyshapeandsize.Thesedifferenceshavegenerallybeen attributed to the effects of sexual selec-tion (Andersson, 1994), but other mechanisms,such as ecological divergence (Schoener, 1967;Schoener and Gorman, 1968; Shine, 1991) andfecundity selection (Shine, 1992; Olsson et al.,2002), offer alternative explanations for sexualdimorphism (Shine, 1989). Color patterns can be linked to several as-pects of the ecology of a species (Cooper andGreenberg, 1992). For example, dorsal col-oration has often been associated with anti-predatoryandthermoregulatorybehaviors(Nor-ris and Lowe, 1964; Porter and Tracy, 1983),whereas ventral and lateral colors seem to beemployed in intra- (Lemos-Espinal et al., 1996;Cuadrado,2000;Galan,2000)andinter-speciÞcsignaling (Losos, 1985). In adult males, ven-tral and lateral coloration is often conspicvous,being exhibited in intra-speciÞc encounters asdominance displays (Zucker, 1989) or as an aidin sexual identiÞcation (Cooper and Vitt, 1988;
Enantio- and diastereoselective conjugate borylation/Mannich cyclization†

Strategies to capitalize on enolate intermediates generated from stereoselective conjugate borylation to α,β-unsaturated carbonyl systems are surprisingly rare despite the ubiquity of Michael acceptors, and the potential to generate valuable scaffolds bearing multiple stereocenters. Herein, we report a mild and stereoselective copper-catalyzed conjugate borylation/Mannich cyclization reaction. This strategy is feasible with a broad range of Michael acceptors, and can be leveraged to generate versatile borylated tetrahydroquinoline scaffolds bearing three contiguous stereocenters. The synthetic potential of these complex heterocycles has been explored through a series of derivatization studies.
Characterization and typology of goat production systems in West Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Goat farming is one of the important activities for the community in West Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi Province, that contributes to the social and economic development of this region. The present study aimed at characterizing the goat farming and its typology. The study was conducted in West Muna Regency with the land area of ± 906.28 km2 or ± 90.628 ha. Fifty-five goat farmers were surveyed. The collected data related to the production method and the farm characteristics covering six main topics, namely a) education, b) labor number, c) goat size and structure, d) facility and equipment, e) feed management and grazing, and f) breed. The data were analyzed descriptively using percentages for each observed variable. The result of the study could classify the goat production system in West Muna Regency as a family system and as one of the subsystems, with the average ownership was six goats. The farming mostly is done using an intensive method (76.36%) with traditional housing technology and low feeding technology application. The study found that farmers’ educational background was low; also, there was no investment and technical assistance for developing goat farming in this region. Thus, it is necessary to conduct an economic study to find out the economic status of the business. It is suggested to establish a farmer association and provide technical assistance to enhance business productivity.
ETAS: an instrument for measuring attitudes towards learning English with technology

ABSTRACT Information and communication technology (ICT) increasingly is utilised in second-level English education, aiming to engage students, yet quantitative instruments for evaluating the impact of technology-mediated learning experiences are lacking. This article presents the rationale, development and psychometric analysis of the English and Technology Attitudes Scale (ETAS): a 19-item instrument designed to evaluate students’ attitudes towards English and technology and monitor changes. Five constructs are measured: behavioural engagement; technology confidence; English confidence; emotional engagement; and learning with technology. Using the ETAS, this study revealed insights to Irish students’ (n = 419) attitudes that can inform approaches to teaching and learning with ICT. Despite strong technology confidence, a high proportion of students report poor attitudes towards learning English with technology. Moreover, males have significantly more positive attitudes towards learning English with technology, yet females have significantly higher engagement in English. These findings demonstrate both the need for and the usefulness of this instrument.
An Automated Obstacle Detector and Path Finder Robotic Car

This is to present you a simple and cost-efficient obstacle detecting mobile robot. Here a controlled rotating sonar sensor has been used to measure distance. With this robot the angular and distance values are being sampled with the system support and being simplified to get a correct way through the given algorithm. The system was implemented in C++ type Arduino coding Software. Inputting the data and processing it in Arduino; all were digitally maintained; the digital pins of Arduino were used. And the outputs were controlled by the Arduino which were pre-given. This simple, cost efficient and mostly accurate project can be used in farming as well as defense and security sector of any country.
THE ECONOMICS OF GETTING HIGH: DECISIONS MADE BY COMMON GULLS DROPPING COCKLES TO OPEN THEM

Common gulls drop cockles onto hard sand to open them. Gulls dropped cockles 2.9 ± 0.36 times to open them, from a mean height of 24.68 ± 1.74 m. Drop heights decreased significantly during a dropping sequence. Opened cockles had a mean shell-length of 32.22 ± 0.59 mm, which was similar to the size of available cockles. An economic model showed that gulls should drop cockles of average size twice from a mean height of 31.22 m to maximise their net rate of energy gain. The model showed that intake rates were similar for two-drop strategies with a mean drop height of 31.22 m, irrespective of the distribution of drop heights within the sequence, provided the first drop was less than the height at which cockles reached terminal velocity. The combination of number of drops and drop heights varied between cockle sizes, but model results were general - the optimum economic dropping strategy for a given size consisted of a number of drops from a constant height. Model predictions were, therefore, significantly different from observed behaviour. A risk of kleptoparasitism was added to the economic model by assuming gulls lost their cockle to a parasite if it was dropped above a threshold height immediately prior to opening. This showed that the number of drops in a sequence increased and mean drop height decreased compared with the average economic optimum. Drop heights within a sequence were also predicted to decrease in the presence of kleptoparasitism because the final drop was constrained to be lower than the height at which kleptoparasitism occurs. Previous drops in the sequence have to be increased in height as a result to ensure the cockle experiences sufficient impact energy to open. The inclusion of a risk of kleptoparasitism, therefore, increased the correspondence between model predictions and observed behaviour. The role of kleptoparasitism in decision making by gulls in the wild is discussed.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide enrichment reduces carbohydrate and nitrogen reserves in overwintering Picea mariana

Abstract Elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) can directly affect the cold hardening process in evergreens through their effect on the accumulation of carbon and nitrogen reserves. This study investigated the biochemical responses of black spruce [Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.] seedlings to CO2 enrichment during growth, cold hardening and dehardening. Seedlings were grown under 350 (ambient) or 710 (elevated) ppm of CO2 for 12 months in eight mini-greenhouses. Photoperiod and temperature were gradually lowered in autumn to induce cold hardening, and the conditions were reversed in spring to promote dehardening. At regular intervals, cold tolerance was assessed and sugars, starch and amino acid concentrations were measured. The freezing tolerance differed between the two treatments only in early autumn, with seedlings growing under high CO2 being more tolerant. The northern ecotype was more cold tolerant with concomitant higher concentrations of sucrose, fructose, pinitol, glucose and total soluble sugars. The concentration of soluble sugars increased in needles and roots of black spruce along with cold hardening, and the concentrations of the cryoprotective sugars sucrose and raffinose were lower under elevated CO2. Amino acid concentrations were also lower under elevated than under ambient CO2. The lower level of reserve did not translate into a lower level of freezing tolerance.
The Relationship Between Digital Human Resource Management and Organizational Performance

— Digital Human Resource Management (HRM) is a digital transformation of HR practices and processes through the use of electronic media, mobile, analytics and information technology (IT) to make HRM more efficient. In other words, digital HRM is basically doing or managing all the human resource work using soft technologies, applications and internet. Digitization or digital transformation is something that all the organizations have to bring in order to be efficient and relevance in future. Otherwise they will lag behind other organizations in the market industry. This study reviews of several studies and discuss about the concept and various aspects of the digital HRM. This study mainly relied on secondary data only. The findings would be important for organization in assisting them to implement digital HRM effectively and thus improve their performance. In addition, the findings would be able to help researchers by providing the basis to understand the impact of digital HR on organizational performance.