Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial and temporal variations in DOM composition in ecosystems: The importance of long‐term monitoring of optical properties

[1] Source, transformation, and preservation mechanisms of dissolved organic matter (DOM) remain elemental questions in contemporary marine and aquatic sciences and represent a missing link in models of global elemental cycles. Although the chemical character of DOM is central to its fate in the global carbon cycle, DOM characterizations in long-term ecological research programs are rarely performed. We analyzed the variability in the quality of 134 DOM samples collected from 12 Long Term Ecological Research stations by quantification of organic carbon and nitrogen concentration in addition to analysis of UV-visible absorbance and fluorescence spectra. The fluorescence spectra were further characterized by parallel factor analysis. There was a large range in both concentration and quality of the DOM, with the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration ranging from less than 1 mgC/L to over 30 mgC/L. The ranges of specific UV absorbance and fluorescence parameters suggested significant variations in DOM composition within a specific study area, on both spatial and temporal scales. There was no correlation between DOC concentration and any DOM quality parameter, illustrating that comparing across biomes, large variations in DOM quality are not necessarily associated with corresponding large ranges in DOC concentrations. The data presented here emphasize that optical properties of DOM can be highly variable and controlled by different physical (e.g., hydrology), chemical (e.g., photoreactivity/redox conditions), and biological (e.g., primary productivity) processes, and as such can have important ecological consequences. This study demonstrates that relatively simple DOM absorbance and/or fluorescence measurements can be incorporated into long-term ecological research and monitoring programs, resulting in advanced understanding of organic matter dynamics in aquatic ecosystems.
Based Home Automation for the Physically Disabled

Paralysis and motor-impairments can greatly reduce the autonomy and quality of life of a patient while presenting a major recurring cost in home-healthcare. Augmented with a noninvasive wearable sensor system and home-automation equipment, the patient can regain a level of autonomy at a fraction of the cost of home nurses. A system which utilizes sensor fusion, lowpower digital components, and smartphone cellular capabilities can extend the usefulness of such a system to allow greater adaptivity for patients with various needs. This thesis develops such a system as a Bluetooth enabled glove device which communicates with a remote web server to control smart-devices within the home. The power consumption of the system is considered as a major component to allow the system to operate while requiring little maintenance, allowing for greater patient autonomy. The system is evaluated in terms of power consumption and accuracy to prove its viability as a home accessibility tool. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council.
Interactive comment on “MATCH–SALSA – Multi-scale Atmospheric Transport and CHemistry

The implementation of the aerosol dynamics model SALSA in the regional atmospheric chemistry transport model MATCH for modeling of particle number concentrations on European scale is presented. Importantly, the manuscript identifies issues with the model and areas of future development. The rather comprehensive evaluation of the model with observation data of number size distribution, total PNC, EC, OC, PM1, and PM2.5 is greatly appreciated. The manuscript gives an overview of the new model, but many details on the respective processes are not provided in the manuscript. Instead, it is referred to the Supplement, which turns out be a rather long SMHI report by the
Special Issue Article: Environmental DNA Using environmental DNA methods to improve detectability in a hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) monitoring program

Isolation of environmental DNA (eDNA) is becoming a valuable tool for detecting presence of rare or secretive aquatic species. The recent use of quantitative PCR (qPCR) with eDNA sampling presents the possibility of using this method to infer population abundance and status. This approach would be especially useful for species such as the Eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis), a declining, secretive, aquatic salamander that requires intense field survey effort to study. In 2012, we conducted eDNA sampling at sites across the range of the species in North Carolina. Our objectives were to assess presence across 61 sites, test for a correlation of abundance and biomass with eDNA estimates at a subset of 23 sites, and sample at multiple spatial and temporal scales in three river systems. Overall, we detected hellbender eDNA at 33 sites, including all sites with 2012 hellbender records, 71% of all recent or historic sites with hellbender presence, and at nine sites that lack species occurrence records. We did not find a correlation between eDNA estimates and field survey counts of individuals or biomass. We detected a strong temporal increase in eDNA during the September breeding period, but no consistent evidence of a spatial relationship with eDNA. Overall, our results demonstrate the efficacy of eDNA for detecting hellbender populations. Furthermore, the potential utility of qPCR to assess population status in hellbenders requires further study and testing, although it may be promising for determining population reproductive status.
BREEDING NEW COTTON VARIETIES TO FIT THE DIVERSITY OF CROPPING CONDITIONS IN AFRICA: EFFECT OF PLANT ARCHITECTURE, EARLINESS AND EFFECTIVE FLOWERING TIME ON LATE-PLANTED COTTON PRODUCTIVITY

SUMMARY In most cotton-growing regions of West and Central Africa where rainfed conditions prevail, cropping conditions are highly diversified since the crop is planted over an extended period. We studied production and development patterns in 10 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) varieties to determine the most efficient strategies that could be transformed into breeding traits. Four trials were carried out between 2002 and 2003 in two cotton-growing areas in Benin to compare the 10 varieties at three stand densities and two planting dates. The parameters monitored were the mean first flower opening date (FF), effective flowering time (EFT), plant height at harvest (HH), height to node ratio (HNR), length of fruiting branch (LFB), number of vegetative branches (NVB) and average boll retention at the first position of the fruiting branches (RP1). We identified two ideotypes that yielded better than the others: (i) Mar 88-214 performed well under late planting–high stand density conditions and was characterized by low vegetative growth and early flowering onset, a short flowering period and low RP1; (ii) H 279-1 performed especially well under early planting–low stand density conditions and was characterized by high vegetative growth, late flowering, long EFT and high RP1. We propose a breeding strategy for both ideotypes based on seven indicators with high heritability (FF, HH, HNR, and LFB) or medium heritability (NVB, EFT, and RP1).
Absorption by Spinning Dust: A Contaminant for High-redshift 21 cm Observations

Spinning dust grains in front of the bright Galactic synchrotron background can produce a weak absorption signal that could affect measurements of high-redshift 21 cm absorption. At frequencies near 80 MHz where the Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) has reported 21 cm absorption at z ≈ 17 , absorption could be produced by interstellar nanoparticles with radii a ≈ 50 Å in the cold interstellar medium (ISM), with rotational temperature T ≈ 50 K. Atmospheric aerosols could contribute additional absorption. The strength of the absorption depends on the abundance of such grains and on their dipole moments, which are uncertain. The breadth of the absorption spectrum of spinning dust limits its possible impact on measurement of a relatively narrow 21 cm absorption feature.
High-level secured signature scheme

Fan and Lei proposed an user efficient blind signature scheme based on quadratic residues. The main merit of this scheme is that only a few number of arithmetic modular operations are required for a user to get a legal signature. Therefore, it is very suitable for commerce applications. However, Shao pointed out that this scheme did not achieve the unlinkability property. Furthermore, he also proposed an improved blind signature scheme to remedy this weakness and reduce the computations for requests. In this article, we presents a linking strategy to show that this improved version is also not a true blind signature scheme.
Response to Connelly. Response from the Behavior Change Consortium Representativeness and Translation Work Group: the issue is one of impact, not of world view or preferred approach

Professor Connelly raises a number of important issues in his critique (Connelly, 2002) of the ongoing Behavior Change Consortium (BCC) projects. Several of the larger philosophy of science and methodological issues are addressed in the accompanying response by Williams (Williams, 2002) and will not be discussed here due to space limitations.Ourwork group basically agrees with Professor Connelly’s point that greater attention to social, contextual and economic factors related to unhealthy behaviors is a useful approach (McLeroy et al. , 1988; Bronfenbrenner, 1989; Dzewaltowski, 1997; Estabrooks, 2000; Glasgow, 2000; Glasgow and Bull, 2001; Institute of Medicine, 2001; Berkman and Kawachi, 2002). However, we also believe in the fundamental tenet of ecological theory that it is the interaction between an individual AND her/his environment that produces behavioral outcomes (Bronfenbrenner, 1989). Professor Connelly suggests that projects in the BCC are too focused on individual choice and too limited by a ‘subpersonal cognitive psychology’. None of
Post-Fledging Habitat Selection by the Slender-Billed Parakeet (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) in a Fragmented Agricultural Landscape of Southern Chile

Abstract. Despite the importance of the post-fledging period in avian population dynamics, little is known about habitat use during this life stage. We examined habitat selection by radio-tracked juvenile Slender-billed Parakeets (Enicognathus leptorhynchus) at multiple spatial scales in a fragmented agricultural landscape of southern Chile. Using home ranges versus study area (home-range selection) and locations versus combined home range (habitat-type selection), we based spatial analyses of habitat selection on the population level. Slender-billed Parakeets made similar habitat choices across the hierarchical levels examined, except for riparian and native second-growth forests, which they avoided at the level of overall home-range selection but used in proportion to availability at the level of habitat-type selection. Farmland and pastures with high densities of scattered mature trees were the only habitats positively selected at multiple spatial scales, adding to the increasing amount of literature highlighting the value of such trees for native fauna in highly modified areas. These trees appeared to be important for the birds during the post-fledging period as sites for feeding, perching, and roosting and to facilitate movement through open agricultural landscapes.
FDTD Analysis of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in an Inhomogeneous Ionosphere under Arbitrary-Direction Geomagnetic Field

The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model was developed to analyze electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation in an inhomogeneous ionosphere. The EM analysis of ionosphere is complicated, owing to various propagation environments that are significantly influenced by plasma frequency, cyclotron frequency, and collision frequency. Based on the simple auxiliary differential equation (ADE) technique, we present an accurate FDTD algorithm suitable for the EM analysis of complex phenomena in the ionosphere under arbitrarydirection geomagnetic field. Numerical examples are used to validate our FDTD model in terms of the reflection coefficient of a single magnetized plasma slab. Based on the FDTD formulation developed here, we investigate EM wave propagation characteristics in the ionosphere using realistic ionospheric data for South Korea.
Effect of Neem (Azadirachta indica) oil on the progressive growth of a spontaneous T cell lymphoma

SUMMARY The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of in vivo administration of neem oilintra-peritoneally (i.p.) to mice bearing a progressively growing transplantable T cell lymphomaof spontaneous origin, designated as Daltons lymphoma (DL), on the tumor growth. Mice wereadministered various doses of neem oil mixed in groundnut oil, which was used as a dilutingvehicle or for administration to control DL-bearing mice. Administration of neem oil resulted inan acceleration of tumor growth along with a reduction in the survival time of the tumor-bearinghost. Neem oil administered DL-bearing mice showed an augmented apoptosis in splenocytes,bone marrow cells and thymocytes along with an inhibition in the anti-tumor functions of tumor-associated macrophages. Thus this study gives an altogether a novel information that neem oilinstead of the popular belief of being anti-tumor and immunoaugmentary may in some tumor-bearing conditions, behave in an opposite way leading to an accelarated tumor progression alongwith a collapse of the host’s anti-tumor machinery. These observations will thus have long lastingclinical significance, suggesting caution in use of neem oil for treatment of cancer.Key words: Neem oil; Tumor growth; Tumor-associated macrophages
PERFORMANCE OF SIMPLE CONDENSATIONMODEL IN HIGH-PRESSURES

In this article we deal with the numerical solution of two-phase flow with nonequilibrium condensation in high pressures. We test how simple homogeneous non-equilibrium mixture model (single-fluid model) performs in high-pressure conditions. For this purpose we used our inhouse CFD code with the following limitation: time-dependent compressible Euler equations in 2D for mixture of dry steam and water droplets, standard method of moments for liquid phase, simple fitting of liquid saturation data, so-called special gas equation provided by Wagner and Pruss (IAPWS-95) used as real equation of state for both superheated and supersaturated dry steam, classical nucleation theory and droplet growth model with appropriate corrections. As a test case we used rapid expansion of high-pressure steam in convergent-divergent nozzle with supersonic outlet in which condensation occurs in the divergent part. Test cases come from work of Bakhtar et al [1], [2]. We used all three nozzle geometries and two distinct cases for each (six test cases in total). Results of our simulations are in a reasonable accordance with the experimental data, several simplifications taking into account.
Knowledge Construction and Dissemination in Graduate Education.

In this article we report research on the culminating seminar of an all-course Master of Education program. The seminar, a credit course, required students to construct and disseminate knowledge through an iterative process of critical dialogue and collegial critique. The research question was: Does this research seminar facilitate knowledge construction and dissemination? Our findings confirm that students constructed knowledge through interaction during web conferences. They created new understandings while drawing on previous and current personal and professional experiences and knowledge, and engaged in meaningful dissemination activities in their schools and communities.
L-arabinose and D-xylose catabolism in Aspergillus niger.

SUMMARY: A mutant of Aspergillus niger unable to grow on d-xylose and l-arabinose has been isolated. Genetic analysis revealed that the mutation is located on linkage group IV. Enzymic analysis revealed a deficiency in d-xylulose kinase activity. After transfer of growing mycelium to a medium containing either d-xylose or l-arabinose, the mutant accumulates large amounts of arabitol and xylitol, as shown by 13C NMR spectroscopy. These data and an analysis of enzyme activities induced by d-xylose and l-arabinose in the wild-type strain led to the following catabolic pathway for d-xylose: d-xylose - xylitol - d-xylulose - d-xylulose 5-phosphate; and for l-arabinose: l-arabinose - l-arabitol - l-xylulose - xylitol - d-xylulose - d-xylulose 5-phosphate. The reduction steps of the sugars to the corresponding polyols are all NADPH dependent. The oxidation steps of the polyols to the sugars are all NAD+ dependent. Fractionation of cell-free extracts gave information about the specificity of the enzymes and showed that all the reactions are catalysed by different enzymes.
A three-dimensional full vectorial beam propagation method for z-dependent structures

A full vector beam propagation method based on the split-operator approach is developed for 3-D z-dependent structures. The inherent coupling of the three electric field components found in the vector wave equation, which stems from the variation of the refractive index along the axial z/spl circ/ direction, is fully taken into consideration. Three distinct procedures are proposed for the numerical implementation based on the FFT, Pade approximation, and alternating direction implicit (ADI), respectively. Typical integrated optics applications are considered in order to verify and assess the applicability of the method.
Numerical tools for three dimensional simulations of the rotating detonation engine in complex geometries

This paper describes the development of a computational code REFLOPS USG (REactive FLOw solver for Propulsion Systems on UnStructured Grids) based on the Favre averaged Navier-Stokes equations with chemical reactions for semi-ideal multicomponent gas to predict the structure and dynamics of three-dimensional unsteady detonation as it occurs in the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE). This work provides an overview of second order accurate in time and space finite volume method applied to conservation equations and its implementation on unstructured self-adaptive tetrahedral or hexahedral three-dimensional cell-centred meshes. The inviscid fluxes are given by the Riemann solver and stabilization is ensured by the proper limiters inherited from the TVD theory or gradient based limiters. The stiff equations of chemical kinetics are solved by use of implicit DVODE (Double precision Variablecoefficient Ordinary Differential Equation solver, with fixed-leading-coefficient implementation) routine or by explicit Chemeq2 routine. Additional improvements are incorporated into the code such as parallelization in OpenMP and implementation of NVIDIA CUDA technology. REFLOPS USG has become a fundamental numerical tool in the research of RDE at the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw, in frame of Innovative Economy project UDA-POIG.01. 03.01-14-071 ‘Turbine engine with detonation combustion chamber’ supported by EU and Ministry of Regional Development, Poland. The simulations presented in this paper are based on inviscid or viscous multicomponent semi-ideal gas flow with chemical reactions. Due to high computational costs only simple chemical reaction mechanisms are used here.
EFFECT OF STRENGTHENING EXERCISES ON SERUM C-REACTIVE PROTEIN AFTER CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFTS

Background: Strengthening exercises are not favored in the rehabilitation of patients after coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) for concerns over potential adverse effects. However, patients often present with weakened skeletal muscles post CABG due to disuse. Methods: We studied the effects of aerobic and strengthening exercises on the serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and blood pressure in 79 post CABG patients aged 40-60 years. Patients were randomly assigned to one of four programs five days per week, consisting of either aerobic exercises alone (controls) or combined with strengthening exercises (experimentals) at moderate intensity. The serum CRP levels were quantified at the beginning, 12 th and 24 th sessions, and at 3-month follow-up. Patients’ blood pressure was measured before and after each exercise session. Patients were re-evaluated at 3month follow-up. Results: There was a mild but significant increase in the CRP levels at 12 th session in all groups. Patients systolic blood pressures declined by 2%-7% at 12 th and 24 th sessions, respectively. There was no significant difference in changes of blood pressure among the groups. Conclusion: The results suggest that the four exercise programs were equally safe in low-risk, post CABG patients. Exercises did not promote a systemic inflammatory response. These beneficial effects were still evident at 3-month follow-up.
Proposal of Machine Learning Approach for Identification of Instant Messaging

Identification of Internet protocol from either raw network traffic or either network flows plays a crucial role at maintaining and improving the security of computer systems. A significant amount of research is carried out while exploiting a variety of identification techniques. Although certain level in success at detection of network protocols for unencrypted traffic has been achieved, accuracy and performance is rather poor for encrypted traffic. Considering technological trends, new and existing applications have been adopted to use encryption mechanism to protect information and privacy. Therefore, classification of encrypted network traffic is mandatory for ensuring security. Moreover, while performing network forensic investigation, labelling of network protocols/applications is a must to accomplish. In this study, we propose a method to automatically identify instant messaging applications from raw network traffic. To this end, we first extract flow based static features from network capture and then apply machine learning algorithms. The proposed method is evaluated with fairly large dataset. The dataset compromise of publicly available NISM dataset and the network traffic of 9 popular instant messaging applications collected in a controlled environment. The dataset overall contains 716607network flows belonging to 20 application categories. The proposed method classifies network flows of instant messaging applications into their corresponding application categories with the accuracy over 0.99 and F1-score of 0.99.