Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Study on Social Support and Motivation

Abstract This paper analyzes whether there is a correlation between student motivation and perceived social support. The determination of the effects of the perceived social support provided by the students’ families, friends, and other important people on the students’ motivations will contribute to an explanation of the motivation to learn. This study was conducted with a total of 716 student teachers. The “Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support” was used to determine social support perceived by the student teachers and the “Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire” was used to determine motivation. Results indicate that there was a correlation between the elements of social support and the levels of use of motivational strategies by the student teachers. The study showed that there was a positive correlation amongst the levels of external motivation, internal motivation, and motivation for subject value of the individuals who received sufficient social support from their environment.
Diabetic retinopathy through retinal image analysis: A review

In this paper, the recent advancement in the Digital Image Processing Aspects in the Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) were been discussed. The major approaches in DR are categorized into four classes namely Preprocessing, Optic Disk Detection, Blood Vessel Extraction and supervised classification. The optic disk, blood vessels and exudates gives more analytical details about the retinal image, segmentation of those features are very important. Further these approaches are classified into finer classes based on the methodologies accomplished in the respective schemes. The details of the database those used for testing the proposed algorithms is also illustrated in this paper. The details of performance metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, recall and F-measure are also discussed through their mathematical expressions.
Compact Circularly Spiral Planar Inverted-F Antenna for Medical Implant Application

A combination technique to reduce the physicaldimension of device to be more compact is proposed in this paperto design an antenna for medical implant application. Two designtechniques, i.e. planar inverted-F and geometry modification, arecombined and implemented to construct a compact circularlyspiral planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) to operate aroundfrequency of 920MHz. The antenna is deployed on an FR4Epoxy dielectric substrate with the thickness of 0.8mm. Before thehardware realization, the parameters of antenna including reflectioncoefficient, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), gain, andradiation pattern as well as its physical dimension are investigatednumerically to obtain the optimum performance design. Fromexperimental characterization, it shows that the realized antennain circular shape which has the diameter of 18mm resonatesat frequency of 911MHz with measured bandwidth and gain of20MHz and -29.82dBi, respectively.
Investigations on aluminum nitride thin film properties and design considerations for smart high frequency ultrasound sensors

Basic investigations were carried out on the usability of aluminum nitride thin films for the manufacturing of ultrasound transducers. Some design considerations were performed for different sensor designs, electrode sizes and substrate materials in this work. It could be shown that the electrode size can be smaller than 1 mm square for use as high frequency sensors. Different substrate materials are principle usable, like e.g. silicone, aluminum oxide or quartz. Additional tests showed that these sensors can also be used for high temperature application up to 200 °C. The reason is the very good temperature resistance of the AlN thin films. The sensor design was varied for these investigations and simulations based on a MASON model assisted the material considerations. Ultrasonic microscopes are frequently used for the non- destructive evaluation of micro-technical components and structures; because of their versatility and efficiency. The frequency of an ultrasonic test system defines the attainable resolution and the penetration depth into a material. The higher the frequency is, the better is the resolution and the smaller is the penetration depth. The efficiency of conventional microscopes can be enhanced by a combination with high frequency phased array (PA) techniques. With the use of segmented transducers (~ into pixels divided sensors), it is possible to evaluate the whole volumes of specimen in 3 dimensions. The advantage is that the ultrasonic transducer does not need to be manipulated mechanically by a scanner. The shape and the sound beam direction can be controlled on a large scale since each of the array elements can be pulsed with appropriate time delays. At present PA ultrasonic sensors with working frequencies up to 20 MHz are available, but frequencies above 50 MHz are necessary for the applications that require a high resolution. Therefore new high frequency PA sensors need to be developed. A promising alternative piezoelectric material is
Spinel group minerals in carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites

Meteorites are easily altered in the oxygen-rich environment on the Earth surface. Fossil meteorites are thus uncommon and in the ones, which are found, almost all minerals are secondary. However, the spinel group mineral chromite is resistant to alteration and has successfully been used as a proxy for ordinary chondrites in sediment. The frequency and composition range of spinel group minerals in carbonaceous chondrites are not known well enough to be used as proxies for carbonaceous chondrites. Two carbonaceous chondrites NWA 4428 (CM2) and Allende (CV3) have been systematically investigated in order to determine the frequencies of the spinel group minerals in each chondrite, where in the chondrites the spinel group minerals are located and size and composition of the minerals. The long term aim of this project is to establish a method for detecting spinel group minerals from carbonaceous chondrites in sediment, thus being able to constrain the flux of carbonaceous chondrites further. For references and to compare with previous studies two ordinary chondrites, Jilin (H5) and Mbale (L5/6) were studied in the same way. Spinel is the most common spinel group mineral in the two carbonaceous chondrites investigated here, whereas chromite is the most common spinel group mineral in the two ordinary chondrites. Spinel is not present in the ordinary chondrites. Chromite is present in the carbonaceous chondrites but is considerably smaller than chromite in the ordinary chondrites (~25 μm compared to ~270 μm). Carbonaceous chondritic chromite also has a larger variety in composition than ordinary chondritic chromite, which is due to the higher amount of thermal metamorphism on the ordinary chondrite parent bodies than the carbonaceous chondrite parent bodies. Spinel in NWA 4428 is essentially pure MgAl2O4 whereas spinel in Allende varies from pure MgAl2O4 to FeO contents as high as 24.0 wt%. Magnetite is present in Allende and in Mbale; in Allende, both as spherule and as poorly defined grains with a secondary nature. In Mbale, magnetite only occurs as grains with a secondary nature. In Jilin (H5) Cr-spinel occurs in one aggregate. To detect extraterrestrial spinel group minerals in sediment, these have to differ from their terrestrial equivalents. To distinguish the CM2 and CV3 spinel analysed here from terrestrial spinel on compositional bases is probably not possible. The carbonaceous chondritic chromite displays a larger variety of compositions than chromite in ordinary chondrites and is therefore probably less suitable as a proxy than chromite in ordinary chondrites. Magnetite spherules in Allende (CV3) appear to have a composition distinct from terrestrial magnetite. Magnetite might however be unsuitable as a proxy due to oxidation on the Earth surface. Further studies are needed in order to get a clear picture of the compositions of spinel group minerals in carbonaceous chondrites.
A Flexible Mixed Reality Simulation Framework for Software Development in Robotics

In recent years robots have dramatically improved in functionality, but as a result their designs have also become more complicated. The increase in the complexity of the tasks and the design of the robot result in a challenging and time-consuming robot development cycle. This paper identifies requirements for improving the robot development process, focusing on facilitating a safe and reliable transition process from simulation to real world tests. We propose that, by applying the concept of Mixed Reality (MR) to robot simulation, it is possible to create a realistic, synthetic environment that enables robot software developers to experiment freely and safely. The new simulation approach, named MR simulation, offers the flexibility of creating simulation environments composed of real and virtual objects that seamlessly interact with one another. This paper contributes a generic, conceptual MR framework which is demonstrated to provide a common, standardised simulation environment for experimentation involving real and virtual objects. An MR robot simulator is implemented based on the framework, integrating standardised data interfaces in its design to increase interoperability. Evaluation results demonstrate that the MR robot simulator is reusable in three different applications. It improved simulation reliability, reduced development cost, and increased efficiency.
A Power Market Forward Curve with Hydrology Dependence - An Approach Based on Artificial Neural Networks

This paper develops an hourly forward curve for power markets where the intra-day and intra-week shapes (profiles) depend on the level of the hydrological balance. The shaping model is based on a feed-forward Artificial Neural Network (ANN), which is trained on a historical data set of hourly electricity spot prices from the Nord Pool market and weekly measurements of the Nordic hydrological balance. The yearly seasonal cycle is estimated with historical electricity forward prices from the Nasdaq OMX Commodities exchange. We calibrate the shaping model to prevailing electricity forward prices and proceed to demonstrate its most important properties. By using comparative static analysis we particulary focus on the hydro dependence of the shapes. We conclude the paper with a real world valuation task. By combining our proposed forward curve with a simple Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process we price a strip of hourly call options on the electricity spot price under different hydrological scenarios.
Weak Values Obtained in Matter-Wave Interferometry

Weak values of the spin operator Sz of massive particles, more precisely neutrons, have been experimentally determined by applying a novel measurement scheme. This is achieved by coupling the neutron's spin weakly to its spatial degree of freedom in a single-neutron interferometer setup. The real and imaginary parts as well as the modulus of the weak value are obtained by a systematical variation of pre- and post-selected ensembles, which enables to study the complex properties of spin weak values.
Lense-Thirring precession in ULXs as a possible means to constrain the neutron star equation-of-state.

The presence of neutron stars in at least three ultraluminous X-ray sources is now firmly established and offers an unambiguous view of super-critical accretion. All three systems show long-time-scale periods (60-80 d) in the X-rays and/or optical, two of which are known to be super-orbital in nature. Should the flow be classically super critical, i.e. the Eddington limit is reached locally in the disc (implying surface dipole fields that are sub-magnetar in strength), then the large scale-height flow can precess through the Lense-Thirring effect which could provide an explanation for the observed super-orbital periods. By connecting the details of the Lense-Thirring effect with the observed pulsar spin period, we are able to infer the moment of inertia and therefore equation of state of the neutron star without relying on the inclination of or distance to the system. We apply our technique to the case of NGC 7793 P13 and demonstrate that stronger magnetic fields imply stiffer equations of state. We discuss the caveats and uncertainties, many of which can be addressed through forthcoming radiative magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) simulations and their connection to observation.
Bivariate Assessments of Real Exchange Rates Using PPP Data

This paper focuses on assessments of real exchange rates using PPP data and examines their limitations when these are based exclusively on bivariate estimations. It begins by presenting an analytical framework of the real exchange rate that shows that these estimations make many restrictive assumptions. In turn, the empirical evidence presented shows that the estimates are not robust to changes in sample, such as those that arise from differences in incomes per capita. The conclusion is that the bivariate assessment of real exchange rates do not control for the heterogeneity that exists across countries, thus limiting their usefulness. This critique of bivariate estimations does not apply however to multivariate approaches such as utilized by CGER
USAGE OF THERMOGRAPHY AS INDIRECT NON-INVASIVE METHOD OF EVALUATION OF PHYSICAL EFFICIENCY. PILOT STUDY

Annotation. Introduction. One of main features deciding on functional abilities and agility of a man is his conative efficiency. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of physical effort on changes of skin temperature of each body areas and the analysis of dependence between the body temperature and the level of maximum absorption of oxygen (VO2max). Material and methods: The study group consisted of 7 women at about average age of 23.86 (±0.69) years. All participants of the study were healthy, did not have overweight nor chronic illnesses. They also did not do sport professionally. During the research each participant performed the effort in the form of 6 – 8-minute-long step Astrand – Rhyming test and then 10-12-minute-long run on the athletic track. Before and after the effort the women were examined by means of thermo visual cameras (temperature in front and back of the body). In the moment of effort ending studied persons had heart rate measured with heart rate monitor. Results. Statistically non-exchangeable temperature reduction of body surface on thighs, forearms, arms, trunk (both in front as well as the back) and behind shins was observed during the study. The greatest drop of about -1.13 °C, appeared behind shoulders, least, about -0.04 °C, on the back surface of the trunk. Only on front side of shins the temperature increased in non-exchangeable manner, about +0.06 °C. The important dependence (p<0.05) between the change of temperature in front (r=-0.82) and the back of the trunk (r=-0.78) as well as VO2max was shown. Conclusions: The higher pulse was measured at the studied participant the lower VO2max values were. There is dependence between the thermal reaction and the efficiency – the greater drop of temperature on the trunk the higher VO2max was. Thermal observation can be therefore helpful as indirect estimation of the efficiency in medicine and rehabilitation.
Intra-population SNP analysis identifies signatures for grazing stress tolerance in Egyptian local goats

Small Ruminant Genetics and Genomics Group, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), P. O. Box 5689 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. j.mwacharo@cgiar.org (Corresponding author) Animal Production Research Institute (APRI), Agriculture Research Centre (ARC), Ministry of Agriculture. Nadi Elsaid Street, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt. Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University 2255 Kildee Hall, Ames, IA 50011-3150. USA.
Road proximity and traffic flow perceived as potential predation risks: evidence from the Tibetan antelope in the Kekexili National Nature Reserve, China

Context. The risk-disturbance hypothesis predicts that animals exhibit risk-avoidance behaviours when exposed to human disturbance because they perceive the disturbance as a predatory threat. Aims. This study aimed to examine whether Tibetan antelopes (Pantholops hodgsoni) exhibit risk-avoidance behaviour with proximity to a major highway and with increasing traffic flow consistent with the risk-disturbance hypothesis. Methods. Focal-animal sampling was used to observe the behaviour of Tibetan antelopes. The behaviours were categorised as foraging, vigilance, resting, moving, or other. The time, frequency, and duration of foraging and vigilance were calculated. Key results. As distance from the road increased, time spent foraging and foraging duration increased while foraging frequency, time spent being vigilant and vigilance frequency decreased, indicating that there is a risk perception associated with roads. Tibetan antelopes presented more risk-avoidance behaviours during high-traffic periods compared with lowtraffic periods. Conclusions.Tibetan antelopes exhibited risk-avoidance behaviour towards roads that varied with proximity and traffic levels, which is consistent with the risk-disturbance hypothesis. Implications.Theconsequencesofrisk-avoidancebehaviourshouldbereflectedinwildlifemanagementbyconsidering human disturbance and road design.
Scalable multi-GPU implementation of the MAGFLOW simulator

We have developed a robust and scalable multi-GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) version of the cellular-automaton-based MAGFLOW lava simulator. The cellular automaton is partitioned into strips that are assigned to different GPUs, with minimal overlapping. For each GPU, a host thread is launched to manage allocation, deallocation, data transfer and kernel launches; the main host thread coordinates all of the GPUs, to ensure temporal coherence and data integrity. The overlapping borders and maximum temporal step need to be exchanged among the GPUs at the beginning of every evolution of the cellular automaton; data transfers are asynchronous with respect to the computations, to cover the introduced overhead. It is not required to have GPUs of the same speed or capacity; the system runs flawlessly on homogeneous and heterogeneous hardware. The speed-up factor differs from that which is ideal (#GPUs×) only for a constant overhead loss of about 4E−2 · T · #GPUs, with T as the total simulation time.
Gene Expression Analysis using Bayesian Networks for Breast Cancer Prognosis

Hypothesis testing using Bayesian networks has been proven time and again to be very useful for various applications. One of these application areas is gene expression analysis. Gene expression analysis using Bayesian networks is widely researched topic since the early '90s. Gene expression can be used for prognosis of various diseases including cancer. This paper proposes modeling gene expression data using Bayesian networks for breast cancer prognosis with the help of DNA microarray data. Gene expression data has been used to build a Bayesian Network to study gene regulation in tumor samples. The model has been built using Grow-Shrink algorithm, Hill Climbing algorithm and Incremental Association Markov Blanket algorithm. The Markov blanket of the outcome of the Bayesian network can assist with breast cancer prognosis as well help in deciding the right therapy for patients.
The Empirical Investigation of Relationship between Return, Volume and Volatility Dynamics in Indian Stock Market

This paper examines the empirical relationship between return, volume and volatility dynamics of stock market by using daily data of the Sensitive Index (SENSEX) during the period from October 1996 to March 2006. The empirical analysis provides evidence of positive and significant correlation between volume and return volatility that is indicative of the both mixture of distribution and sequential arrival hypothesis of information flow. Causality from volatility to volume can be seen as some evidence that new information arrival might follow a sequential rather than a simultaneous process. In addition, GARCH (1,1) documents the small declines in persistence of variance over time if one includes trading volume as a proxy for information arrivals in the equation of conditional volatility and ARCH and GARCH effects remain significant, which highlights the inefficiency in the market. This finding supports the proposition that volume provides information on the precision and dispersion of information signals, rather than serving as a proxy for the information signal itself.
Progeny Release of Species B Human Adenoviruses Is Not Mediated By Early Region 3 Proteins 20.1K, 20.5k, and 10.9k

The early region 3 (E3) of the human adenovirus (HAdV) genome encodes proteins that regulate the host immune response to viral infection. The E3 region also exhibits the highest level of genetic diversity among the genomes of the six (A-F) species of HAdV. This diversity in genetic content is found primarily between the highly conserved E3-gp19K and RIDα open reading frames (ORFs). It has been previously shown that HAdV-C encodes the adenovirus death protein (ADP) in this location. ADP is an 11.6kDa, transmembrane protein that localizes to the nuclear membrane, and facilitates the efficient release of progeny virions. HAdV-B1 encodes three ORFs, E3-20.1K, E3-20.5K and E3-10.9K, in the analogous region of the viral genome. Since ADP and the three novel HAdV-B1 proteins share several structural characteristics and location in the E3 region, we hypothesized that one or more of these unique ORFs play a similar role to ADP in facilitating viral progeny egress. Reverse transcriptase PCR showed that transcripts of the novel ORFs are expressed at
Little genetic divergence of the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum from far-eastern Asia, with a preliminary report on genetic differentiation of R. ferrumequinum from Eurasia and northern Africa examined from cytochrome b sequences

We obtained cytochrome b complete sequences (1140 bp) of the greater horseshoe bat Rhinolophus ferrumequinum from Korea (Jeju Island and mainland Korea), and these sequences were compared to corresponding sequences of R. ferrumequinum, obtained from GenBank, in order to examine genetic divergence among populations within R. ferrumequinum from far-eastern Asia and other parts of the range. Specimens from four populations in far-eastern Asia (Jeju, mainland Korea, northeastern China, and Japan) formed a far-eastern clade and were little differentiated, indicating that our results support a former subspecies classification, recognized R. f. korai and R. f. quelpartis as synonyms of R. f. nippon. In addition, we found that the eastern China clade from Henan is genetically distinct from the far-eastern clade, although individuals from Japan, northeastern China, and eastern China are known as R. f. nippon, and we propose further analyses with additional specimens from China to examine whether or not the eastern China clade is a subpopulation within R. f. nippon. On the other hand, R. ferrumequinum from Eurasia and northern Africa was found to be composed of four clades (far-eastern Asia, eastern China, central China, and western Asia - Europe - northern Africa), and average nucleotide distances between the first and other three clades were 2.15%, 4.10%, and 5.37% respectively. Thus, we found that genetic distances between these clades are correlated with geographic distances between them, and we concluded that further analysis of cytochrome b and other markers from additional specimens of R. ferrumequinum across distributional range is necessary to reexamine its population structure and subspecies classification.