Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teaching Sample Survey Design—A Project Using a Virtual Population

Abstract Sample survey design is a topic usually taught to students undertaking a minor or major in statistics in the latter part of their bachelor’s degree. This article describes an assessment project that fosters active learning and helps to develop a set of essential skills for statistical practice. The project is completed in pairs and submitted in two parts. This allows feedback from the first part to be acted upon for the second part. Ideally, students would gain experience sampling from an actual population. However, the time involved in obtaining approval from the university’s ethics committee may not be feasible for a short course. An alternative is to use an online virtual population such as the Islands, which provides students with an experience in setting up a sampling frame, requesting consent from potential participants, and collecting data. Proficiency in written communication and teamwork are highly valued by employers of statistics graduates. This project encourages collaborative learning in the design of the sample survey, statistical analysis of data collected, and the development of a final written report. It can easily be adapted for first year students and also be extended to suit Honors or Masters level students.
STUDIES ON BIO EFFICACY OF WEEDS IN TANJORE DISTRICT, TAMILNADU, INDIA Research Article

The present study was aimed to investigate the bio efficacy i.e., antibacterial, antifungal and free radical scavenging activity of ten common weeds which were collected in Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu. The selected weeds were Acalypha indica, Amaranthus spinosus, Argemone mexicana, Cardiospermum halicacabum, Cassia angustifolia, Corchorus olitorius, Euphorbia pulcherrima, Hyptis suaveolens, Leucas aspera and Solanum trilobatum. The weeds were initially screened for the presence of various phytoconstituents using aqueous extracts. Methanolic extracts of the samples were prepared by cold percolation technique. Antibacterial activity was carried by disc diffusion method against Bacillus subtilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella typhi and Vibrio cholerae in which Acalypha indica and Leucas aspera showed significant activity against 3 out of 4 strains used. Antifungal activity was carried out by well diffusion method against Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Candida albicans in which none of the methanolic extracts of the weeds showed any activity. The free radical scavenging activity (FRSA) was tested against DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1picryl hydrazyl) and the highest FRSA was found for Cardiospermum halicacabum with an IC 50
A place for place: Modelling and analysing platial representations

This editorial presents a special collection of papers addressing the concept of place and its use in geographical information science (GIScience). The concept of place is a topic of increasing interest among GIScience scholars. First attempts to formalise platial information have been made and it is increasingly held that user‐generated data sets in particular are often more platial than spatial in nature. At the same time, and especially when compared to geometric spatial concepts, the concept of place is ambiguous, complex and difficult to capture in formal and analytical terms, suggesting the need for interdisciplinary approaches. This collection presents articles covering a wide range of place‐related aspects, including both conceptual and more applied contributions. In the present editorial we summarise these and comment on their individual contributions, and hope that the readership of Transactions in GIS will find the special collection inspiring and informative.
Splitting Asperula (Rubiaceae): a proposal for consistency purposes within sections Cynanchicae, Thliphthisa and Hexaphylla

Abstract Authors report 139 new nomenclatural combinations in the sections Cynanchicae, Thliphthisa and Hexaphylla of the genus Asperula L. (Rubiaceae). These changes were deemed necessary as a consequence of numerous molecular phylogenetic studies which have provided abundant evidence on the polyphyletic nature of the genus. As the complete species-level phylogeny of the tribe Rubieae, and especially, of the genus Galium L. is not available as yet, the authors preferred to instigate changes only in the sections of Asperula whose phylogenetic position is deemed stable.
Scattering and absorption cross sections of light diffusing materials retrieved from reflectance and transmittance spectra of collimated radiation

Four-flux radiative transfer models have been extensively used to describe reflectance and transmittance (R&T) spectra of light scattering and absorbing (S&A) media. Solutions to the differential equations corresponding to the collimated fluxes are obtained by subsequent application of boundary conditions. Explicit expressions for the collimated R&T of light are reported, when considering a light S&A medium contained between two glass slides, an experimental arrangement which is appropriate for liquid suspensions and viscous matrices containing solid particles. A spectral simulated annealing method is applied to retrieve, from measured R&T spectra of collimated light under normal incident radiation, the scattering and absorption coefficients of the composite medium. First, the accuracy of the method is established by applying it to synthetic collimated R&T data. Secondly, we apply the method to experimental data and use it to determine the S&A coefficients of a layer of TiO2 particles dispersed in a PVP/water matrix.
Air Gesture Recognition Using WLAN Physical Layer Information

In recent years, the researchers have witnessed the important role of air gesture recognition in human-computer interactive (HCI), smart home, and virtual reality (VR). The traditional air gesture recognition method mainly depends on external equipment (such as special sensors and cameras) whose costs are high and also with a limited application scene. In this paper, we attempt to utilize channel state information (CSI) derived from a WLAN physical layer, a Wi-Fibased air gesture recognition system, namely, WiNum, which solves the problems of users’ privacy and energy consumption compared with the approaches using wearable sensors and depth cameras. In the process of recognizing the WiNum method, the collected raw data of CSI should be screened, among which can reflect the gesture motion. Meanwhile, the screened data should be preprocessed by noise reduction and linear transformation. After preprocessing, the joint of amplitude information and phase information is extracted, to match and recognize different air gestures by using the S-DTW algorithm which combines dynamic time warping algorithm (DTW) and support vector machine (SVM) properties. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that under two different indoor scenes, WiNum can achieve higher recognition accuracy for air number gestures; the average recognition accuracy of each motion reached more than 93%, in order to achieve effective recognition of air gestures.
A New Computing Paradigm for Off-Grid Direction of Arrival Estimation Using Compressive Sensing

In this paper, a method for solving grid mismatch or off-grid target is presented for direction of arrival (DOA) estimation problem using compressive sensing (CS) technique. Location of the sources are at few angles as compare to the entire angle domain, i.e., spatially sparse sources, and their location can be estimated using CS methods with ability of achieving super resolution and estimation with a smaller number of samples. Due to grid mismatch in CS techniques, the source energy is distributed among the adjacent grids. Therefore, a fitness function is introduced which is based on the difference of the source energy among the adjacent grids. This function provides the best discretization value for the grid through iterative grid refinement. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified through extensive simulations for different number of sources.
Slope Intercept Model Estimation for MIMO–OFDM system in the WiMAX Environment

: - Channel fading in complex as well as in erratic manner, a rare spectrum of radio type, restrictions on the energy and the dimensions of mobile nodes are the prime restraints in communications of wireless type. Centred on these limitations novel schemes are put forth. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a promising domain to pursue work for wireless communication of broadband type, amidst a variety of emerging schemes. The scheme of WiMAX is a consistent method among IEEE 802.16d and among the principal of the WiMAX schemes, one can name Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) as the core. A model of practical channel is needed to analyse the WiMAX method’s performances. Inclusive of Stanford University Interim (SUI) channel also known as slope intercept model, several models of channel are suggested to replicate the global situation. Lime light shone on this scheme prompting many a researchers to pursue in the recent past. Employing a variety of SUI models of channel, this paper analyses the performances in the context of Normalized Means Square Error (NMSE) of IEEE 802.16d. By analysing performance of different algorithms, proficient channel estimation scheme is arrived.
An RBF approach for oil futures pricing under the jump-diffusion model

In this paper, our concern is to present and solve the problem of pricing oil futures. For this purpose, firstly we suggest a model based on the well-known Schwartz's model, in which the oil futures price is based on spot price of oil and convenience yield, however, the main difference here is that we have assumed that the former was imposed to some jumps, thus we added a jump term to the model of spot price. In our case, the oil future price model would be a Partial Integral Differential Equation (PIDE). Since, no closed form solution can be suggested for these kind of equations, we desire to solve our model with an appropriate numerical method. Although Finite Differences (FD) or Finite Elements (FE) is a common method for doing so, in this paper, we propose an alternative method based on Radial Basis Functions (RBF).
The Impact of the Coronavirus Disease-2019 Pandemic on the Psychological Status and Quality of Life of Myasthenia Gravis Patients

Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the largest pandemic of our times. We wanted to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological status, quality of life (QoL) and quality of sleep (QoS) of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. Methods: Data on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of MG were collected. We used a self-designed questionnaire (consisting of 12 questions), a revised 15-item Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life Questionnaire (MGQOL15r), a 36-item health survey of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF36), Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), Hamilton scales for the assessment of anxiety (HAM-A), and depression (HAMD) were used. We reassessed patients who were tested three years ago using the same questionnaires. Results: The study included 64 MG patients. We noticed a statistically significant difference between the results obtained three years ago and the results from April 2020 in PSQI scores (P < 0.01). MGQOL15r, SF36, and PSQI scores correlate with severe clinical manifestation, high scores on HAM-A and HAM-D (P < 0.01). Higher scores on HAM-D and fear that MG symptoms will be worse if the patient gets an upper respiratory infection were independent predictors of the lower SF36 scores. Regarding MGQOL15r-independent predictors of the higher score were higher scores on HAM-D. Conclusions: There is a significant impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the psychological status and especially on the quality of sleep of MG patients. Healthcare organizations need to provide professional therapeutic advice and psychosocial support for this population of patients during the pandemic.
Organizational Characteristics Associated With ICU Liberation (ABCDEF) Bundle Implementation by Adult ICUs in Michigan

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Objectives: The ICU Liberation (ABCDEF) Bundle can help to improve care and outcomes for ICU patients, but bundle implementation is far from universal. Understanding how ICU organizational characteristics influence bundle implementation could inform quality improvement efforts. We surveyed all hospitals in Michigan with adult ICUs to determine whether organizational characteristics were associated with bundle implementation and to determine the level of agreement between ICU physician and nurse leaders around ICU organizational characteristics and bundle implementation. Design: We surveyed ICU physician and nurse leaders, assessing their safety culture, ICU team collaboration, and work environment. Using logistic and linear regression models, we compared these organizational characteristics to bundle element implementation, and also compared physician and nurse leaders’ perceptions about organizational characteristics and bundle implementation. Setting: All (n = 72) acute care hospitals with adult ICUs in Michigan. Subjects: ICU physician and nurse leader pairs from each hospital’s main ICU. Interventions: We developed, pilot-tested, and deployed an electronic survey to all subjects over a 3 month period in 2016. Results: Results from 73 surveys (28 physicians, 45 nurses, 60% hospital response rate) demonstrated significant variation in hospital and ICU size and type, organizational characteristics, and physician/nurse perceptions of ICU organization and bundle implementation. We found that a robust safety culture and collaborative work environment that uses checklists to facilitate team communication are strongly associated with bundle implementation. There is also a significant dose-response effect between safety culture, a collaborative work environment, and overall bundle implementation. Conclusions: We identified several specific ICU practices that can facilitate ABCDEF Bundle implementation. Our results can be used to develop effective bundle implementation strategies that leverage safety culture, interprofessional collaboration, and routine checklist use in ICUs to improve bundle implementation and performance.
Plasma Biomarkers as Potential Predictors of Functional Dependence in Daily Life Activities after Ischemic Stroke: A Single Center Study

Objective: Despite advances made in the treatment of ischemic stroke, it still remains one of the leading causes of mortality and disability worldwide. The main objective of this study was to identify from a panel of 10 inflammatory markers and chemokines those biomarkers that have a potential predictive role in the evolution of disability and functional dependence in daily activities after an ischemic stroke. Methods: The study included 116 patients with ischemic stroke and 40 healthy volunteers matched for gender and age. Stroke severity was assessed by the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) on admission and during hospitalization and functional mobility in daily activities by Barthel index (BI). Multiplex panel with 10 biomarkers [brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-AA, PDGF-AB/BB, neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), cathepsin D, soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM), soluble intercellular cell adhesion molecule (sICAM), myeloperoxidase (MPO), regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1] was analyzed on days 1 and 5 after admission using the xMAP technology. Results: Plasma concentrations of RANTES and NCAM were significantly lower in patients with ischemic stroke compared with healthy controls, while MPO and sICAM were significantly higher in patients versus controls. Plasma concentrations of sICAM, sVCAM, and RANTES significantly decreased during the analyzed period. For the first-day measurement, the bivariate analysis revealed the association of NIHSS on admission with sVCAM, and on discharge negative association with PDGF-AA, PDGR-AB/BB, BDNF, and RANTES. Plasma levels of PDGF-AA, PDGF-AB/BB, BDNF, and RANTES were found to be significantly lower in patients with BI ≤ 80, on day 5 after disease onset. PDGF-AA, PDGF-AB/BB, and BDNF were univariate and multivariate predictors for functional dependence in daily life activity (BI ≤ 80), having a protective effect (odds ratio < 1). Conclusion: Plasma levels of BDNF, PDGF-AA, and PDGF-AB/BB are independent predictors for functional dependency in daily life activities and may be useful prognostic markers in the evaluation of ischemic stroke patients.
De novo isolation of 17 microsatellite loci for flat periwinkles (Littorina fabalis and L. obtusata) and their application for species discrimination and hybridization studies

Joao Carvalho1,2,3, Carolina Pereira1, Graciela Sotelo3, Diana Costa3,4, Juan Galindo1 and Rui Faria3,5 Departamento de Bioquimica, Xenetica e Inmunoloxia, Facultade de Bioloxia, Universidade de Vigo, Campus de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; Departamento de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciencias da Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal; CIBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, InBIO, Laboratorio Associado, Universidade do Porto, Campus Agrario de Vairao, 4485-661 Vairao, Portugal; Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciencias, Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal; and IBE, Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF), Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Doctor Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Effects of Acetaldehyde and Tannins on the Color and Chemical Age of Red Muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia) Wine

A red muscadine wine treated with 300 or 600 mg/L acetaldehyde had less browning, greater color intensity, and greater chemical age (levels of anthocyanin-tannin polymerization) than an untreated wine. Tannic acid had no major effect on browning or chemical age, but increased color intensity as compared to the control. A commercial "tannin" increased browning slightly, but did not affect color intensity or chemical age.
Assessment of Intracranial Atherosclerotic Plaques Using 3D Black‐Blood MRI: Comparison With 3D Time‐of‐Flight MRA and DSA

Noninvasive assessment of intracranial stenosis is important to manage ischemic stroke patients. However, few previous studies have compared 3D black‐blood MRI with 3D time‐of‐flight (TOF), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for intracranial artery plaque assessment.
Bacillus subtilis as a host for mosquitocidal toxins production

Aedes albopictus transmits several arboviral infections. In the absence of vaccines, control of mosquito populations is the only strategy to prevent vector‐borne diseases. As part of the search for novel, biological and environmentally friendly strategies for vector control, the isolation of new bacterial species with mosquitocidal activity represents a promising approach. However, new bacterial isolates may be difficult to grow and genetically manipulate. To overcome these limits, here we set up a system allowing the expression of mosquitocidal bacterial toxins in the well‐known genetic background of Bacillus subtilis. As a proof of this concept, the ability of B. subtilis to express individual or combinations of toxins of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) was studied. Different expression systems in which toxin gene expression was driven by IPTG‐inducible, auto‐inducible or toxin gene‐specific promoters were developed. The larvicidal activity of the resulting B. subtilis strains against second‐instar Ae. albopictus larvae allowed studying the activity of individual toxins or the synergistic interaction among Cry and Cyt toxins. The expression systems here presented lay the foundation for a better improved system to be used in the future to characterize the larvicidal activity of toxin genes from new environmental isolates.
Observations on the Seasonal and Spatial Distribution of Testacea (Protozoa: Rhizopoda) in Sphagnum

contrasting with the strong lacustrine influence of many of the northern sites. These field studies indicate that certain factors influence the distribution of Testacea, and preliminary experiments have been made with cultures of Difflugia tuberculata in an attempt to assess the importance of some of these factors. SEASONAL DISTRIBUTION The seasonal distribution of three species of Testacea has been studied in a fixed m2 quadrat on a Sphagnum recurvum flush at Valley Bog, Moor House National Nature Reserve (National Grid Reference NY (35) 758329). This is an area of Pennine mixed moor and blanket bog. The Sphagnum forms a complete sward in the quadrat. Juncus effusus and Polytrichum commune were also present in the sward but not in the quadrat.
The Pines of Mexico and Central America

Mexico has the greatest number of pine species of any country in the world. Because of the predominantly mountainous topography, the climates range from humid tropical on the narrow coastal plains of the south to cold temperate on the high mountains of the north to boreal on the high snow-capped peaks. This book brings together information from the author's 40 years of collecting trips, laboratory research, studies of herbarium specimens, and information published by botanists and foresters. All species and varieties are fully described. One particular feature is the very detailed directions to sites in the region where each species and variety may be found. There are distribution maps and more than 200 photographs of trees, leaves, and cones.Published at $35.95Our last copies available at $17.98
Spatial Autocorrelation Patterns of Understory Plant Species in a Subtropical Rainforest at Lanjenchi, Southern Taiwan

Many studies described relationships between plant species and intrinsic or exogenous factors, but few quantified spatial scales of species patterns. In this study, quantitative methods were used to explore the spatial scale of understory species (including resident and transient species), in order to identify the influential factors of species distribution. Resident species (including herbaceous species, climbers and tree ferns ＜ 1 m high) were investigated on seven transects, each 5-meter wide and 300-meter long, at Lanjenchi plot in Nanjenshan Reserve, southern Taiwan. Transient species (seedling of canopy, subcanopy and shrub species ＜ 1 cm diameter at breast height) were censused in three of the seven transects. The herb coverage and seedling abundance were calculated for each 5 × 5 m quadrat along the transects, and Moran's I and Galiano's new local variance (NLV) indices were then used to identify the spatial scale of autocorrelation for each species. Patterns of species abundance of understory layer varied among species at fine scale within 50 meters. Resident species showed a higher proportion of significant autocorrelation than the transient species. Species with large size or prolonged fronds or stems tended to show larger scales in autocorrelation. However, dispersal syndromes and fruit types did not relate to any species' spatial patterns. Several species showed a significant autocorrelation at a 180-meter class which happened to correspond to the local replicates of topographical features in hilltops. The spatial patterns of understory species at Lanjenchi plot are mainly influenced by species’ intrinsic traits and topographical characteristics.