Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Validation and Modification of the Van Genuchten Model for Eroded Black Soil in Northeastern China

The soil water characteristic curve is highly related to soil physical characteristics, which may be affected by the soil erosion degree. To explore the applicability of the soil moisture characteristic curve model in northeastern China, two erosion degrees, (1) lightly and (2) severely eroded black soil sampled from 15 sites, were collected. The soil water contents at eight soil water suctions were measured and the parameters of the Van Genuchten (VG) model were estimated. Then, two input sets—SSCBD (sand, silt and clay percentages and bulk density) and SSCBDθ33θ1500 (SSCBD, and water contents at 33 and 1500 kPa suction) based on the Rosetta model were compared for the VG model prediction. The results showed that the parameters in the VG model had significant difference under the two eroded soils of the saturated water content (θs), but the opposite was true for the residual water content (θr), the scale parameter (α) and the shape parameter (n). In addition, the θs and θr had no significant differences but the opposite was true for the α and n under the two input sets. The simulated soil water content values of the VG model parameters derived from the Rosetta model underestimated the measured ones, except the water contents at 0 kPa. Therefore the relationships between m and n were modified for accuracy. The validation results showed that the VG model performed well when the sand content was less than 80% for the input set of SSCBD. Using the input set of SSCBDθ33θ1500 can lead to higher simulation accuracy and wider applicability compared with SSCBD under black soil.
Camera traps provide valuable data to assess the occurrence of the Great Curassow Crax rubra in northeastern Costa Rica

The Great Curassow (Crax rubra) is an endangered species in Costa Rica due to habitat loss and hunting pressure. Little is known about the spatial ecology of cracids and there is a need to assess their distribution to establish efficient conservation strategies. In this study, we integrated camera trapping data with occupancy models to examine landscape factors that affect the distribution of the Great Curassow in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor in Northeastern Costa Rica. We established remote camera traps at 38 sites within the corridor between July 2009 and July 2011. The Great Curassow was detected on 56 occasions at 19 of the 38 sites. Eight of the 19 occupancy models contained plausible support to predict Great Curassow occurrence, but distance to villages and forest cover were the most important factors positively related to their occurrence. These results suggest the distribution of the Great Curassow is largely susceptible to forest loss and human disturbance in the corridor. Both camera traps and occupancy analyses are useful tools to study medium to large terrestrial birds in the Neotropics.
Students’ experiences and perceptions of online collaborative learning in two Kenyan universities

Modern advancements in technology have diffused into the higher education sector with electronic communication platforms being used for learning in these institutions. While course instructors are utilizing these platforms in Kenyan universities, there is a dearth of evidence on students’ experiences and perceptions of online collaborative learning tools. As such, this study sought to establish the experiences and the perceptions students have of one of the tools, namely blogs, as a learning and collaborative tool. A questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions was administered to 71 students from a public and a private university in the country. The findings indicate that blogging enhanced interaction among fellow students and instructors and encouraged students to research further outside the classroom. However, students also experienced challenges in blogging, such as a lack of adequate infrastructure and slow internet speed. The study recommends that instructors should adopt the use of collaborative learning tools as teaching and learning moves from physical interaction to online platforms. In addition, institutions should mitigate the challenges faced by the students. This is especially so considering that students have a positive perception towards online collaborative learning. Keywords: Online learning, Collaborative learning, Blogging, Students experiences, University teaching and learningHow to cite this article:Kiarie, C. & Muindi, B. 2020. Students’ experiences and perceptions of online collaborative learning in two Kenyan universities. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. 4(2): 138-159. https://doi.org/10.36615/sotls.v4i2. 130.This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Antioxidant, free radical scavenging activities and total polyphenolic content of aqueous extracts from seven blueberry cultivars grown in New Zealand

ABSTRACT Antioxidant activity in blueberries or other fruits is an appealing characteristic to consumers and food industries. The antioxidant properties of aqueous extracts prepared from the berries of five rabbiteye (Vaccinium ashei) and two highbush (V. corymbosum) cultivars of blueberry grown in New Zealand, were studied using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and scavenging DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical assays. Their ferrous ion chelating activities and total polyphenol contents (TPC) were also determined. Significant differences were found in antioxidant/antiradical activities and TPC among various cultivars of blueberries. The results showed that the highest TPC among the highbush cultivars were detected in the extracts from the berries of Jersey while the lowest TPC were detected in the extracts from the berries of Dixi. Similarly, the antioxidant/antiradical activity was significantly higher in Jersey than in Dixi cultivar which indicates that the antioxidant activity is related to the total phenolic contents. Among the rabbiteye cultivars, Centurion had the highest TPC followed by cultivars Maru, Rahi, Tifblue, and Ono. Regarding the antioxidant activity among the rabbiteye cultivars, it was in accordance with the results of TPC for all cultivars studied in that Centurion had the highest FRAP value and Ono cultivar had the lowest. A similar trend of activity was observed regarding the DPPH radical scavenging capacities. This may confirm that the phenolic compounds found in the blueberry extracts are the main contributors of the antioxidant/antiradical activities. In general, rabbiteye cultivars had significantly higher TPC (P < 0.01), higher antioxidant (P < 0.05) and free-radical scavenging activity (P < 0.05) than highbush cultivars.
Refining image‐velocimetry performances for streamflow monitoring: Seeding metrics to errors minimization

River streamflow monitoring is currently facing a transformation due to the emerging of new innovative technologies. Fixed and mobile measuring systems are capable of quantifying surface flow velocities and discharges, relying on video acquisitions. This camera‐gauging framework is sensitive to what the camera can “observe” but also to field circumstances such as challenging weather conditions, river background transparency, transiting seeding characteristics, among others. This short communication paper introduces the novel idea of optimizing image velocimetry techniques selecting the most informative sequence of frames within the available video. The selection of the optimal frame window is based on two reasonable criteria: (a) the maximization of the number of frames, subject to (b) the minimization of the recently introduced dimensionless seeding distribution index (SDI). SDI combines seeding characteristics such as seeding density and spatial clustering of tracers, which are used as a proxy to enhance the reliability of image velocimetry techniques. Two field case studies were considered as a proof‐of‐concept of the proposed framework, on which seeding metrics were estimated and averaged in time to select the proper application window. The selected frames were analysed using LSPIV to estimate the surface flow velocities and river discharge. Results highlighted that the proposed framework might lead to a significant error reduction. In particular, the computed discharge errors, at the optimal portion of the footage, were about 0.40% and 0.12% for each case study, respectively. These values were lower than those obtained, considering all frames available.
Effects of 38 years of wildfires on tree density in the Blue Mountains, Australia

Forests are vital for biodiversity, carbon storage, and ecosystem services, but can 8 be potentially threatened by fires. Given the significance of forests and fire in a changing 9 climate, research into the long-term effects of fire on forests plays an important role in 10 understanding the global carbon cycle by the forests functioning as a large terrestrial 11 carbon sink or source. In this study, we used aerial photography from 1975 and 2013 to 12 count the change in the number of trees in 560 dry sclerophyll plots (40 × 40m) in the Blue 13 Mountains of Australia. We analyzed the relationship between the number of fires and 14 severe fires in that period on the change in numbers of trees. We found that the average 15 response was an increase of 1 tree per plot over 38 years. The number of fires had a small 16 positive effect on tree numbers; plots with 2 or 3 severe fires had 1 and 2 extra trees 17 respectively than those without fire. One exception was a severe fire in 2001 that did not 18 show this positive effect, probably because it corresponded with extensive drought. Our 19 findings suggest that number of forest canopy trees is resilient to the number of fires and 20 number of severe fires. 21
Effects of proportion of cassava and lactic acid-treated cassava in rations on rumen pH and plasma lipopolysaccharide-binding protein in beef cattle

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect of the proportion of cassava and lactic acid (LA)-treated cassava in rations on rumen fermentation parameters and plasma lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) in beef cattle. Four, rumen cannulated, beef cattle were randomly assigned to four experimental rations in a study with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement in a 4 × 4 Latin square with a 16-day adaptation period, followed by a 5-day experimental period. During the 5 days of experimental period, the cattle were subjected to 4 experimental treatments, i.e. rations that contained either a high proportion or a low proportion (50% versus 35% dry matter) of cassava either untreated or LA treated. Results showed that clinical signs of subacute laminitis were influenced (P = 0.001) by the proportion of cassava, but not by the treatment of cassava. The cow fed the high proportion of untreated cassava tended to reduce (P = 0.058) the mean postprandial rumen pH, increased (P = 0.032) the area under the curve (AUC) of rumen pH less than 5.80 and tended (P = 0.087) to increase the time that rumen pH was lower than 5.80. However, plasma LBP concentrations did not respond consistently to the experimental rations. The outcome of the current study supports the idea that the treatment of cassava with LA reduces the risk of rumen acidosis when cattle are fed rations with a high proportion of cassava.
FLIM-based pH measurements reveal incretin-induced rejuvenation of aged insulin secretory granules

Insulin is stored in dense-core secretory granules (SGs) and is released from beta cells in two distinct phases upon glucose stimulation. Newly synthesized insulin SGs are secreted preferentially, but the underlying mechanism of this phenomenon remains elusive. The relationship of SG age with their intraluminal pH is of particular interest: proinsulin conversion by prohormone convertases follows the acidification of immature SGs by the vacuolar proton-translocating ATPase (v-ATPase). v-ATPases may also participate in the formation of the fusion pore for SG exocytosis, with intraluminal alkalinization inhibiting membrane fusion. Previous studies examined the luminal pH of SGs on a population level only. Here we measured the pH-dependent lifetime changes of eCFP fused to the ICA512-RESP18 homology domain to assess for the first time the luminal pH of individual age-defined SGs in insulinoma INS-1 cells by fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy. We show that 2-4-hour-old young SGs have a pH of ~5.5, while 26-28-hour-old SGs have a pH of ~6.2. Remarkably, the GLP-1 receptor agonist Exendin-4 prompted the re-acidification of old SGs in a glutamate-dependent fashion, while it did not affect the pH of young SGs. This study demonstrates that insulin SGs change their pH over time - a change that is reversible by insulin secretagogues. Hence, it provides novel insight into the mechanisms accounting for aging and exocytosis of SGs and suggests that their ‘rejuvenation’ may be exploited to enhance insulin secretion in diabetes.
Extending interior‐point methods to nonlinear second‐order cone programming: Application to finite‐strain elastoplasticity

Interior‐point methods (IPMs) are well suited for solving convex nonsmooth optimization problems which arise for instance in problems involving plasticity or contact conditions. This work attempts at extending their field of application to optimization problems involving either smooth but nonconvex or nonsmooth but convex objectives or constraints. A typical application for such kind of problems is finite‐strain elastoplasticity which we address using a total Lagrangian formulation based on logarithmic strain measures. The proposed interior‐point algorithm is implemented and tested on 3D examples involving plastic collapse and geometrical changes. Comparison with classical, Newton‐Raphson/return mapping methods show that the IPM exhibits good computational performance, especially in terms of convergence robustness. Similar to what is observed for convex small‐strain plasticity, the IPM is able to converge for much larger load steps than classical methods.
Stability and Change: The Dark Factor of Personality Shapes Dark Traits

The Dark Factor of Personality (D) is conceptualized as the basic disposition out of which “dark” traits arise as specific manifestations. We herein critically test this conceptualization across nine dark traits in a 4-year longitudinal study with N = 1,261 (n = 470 at the second measurement occasion, employing full information maximum likelihood estimation) adults from the general population. Results strongly support the conceptualization of D. Specifically, D (1) showed high rank-order stability (higher than any of the dark traits), substantiating that it represents a basic disposition; (2) longitudinally predicted individual differences in all dark traits; and (3) accounted for personality changes in dark traits. Additionally, we investigated the pattern of mean-level change of D and the dark traits. In line with the maturity principle of personality development, D (and most dark traits) decreased with age.
Anthropogenic Modifications and River Ecosystem Services: A Landscape Perspective

The process of development has led to the modification of river landscapes. This has created imbalances between ecological, economic, and socio-cultural uses of ecosystem services (ESs), threatening the biotic and social integrity of rivers. Anthropogenic modifications influence river landscapes on multiple scales, which impact river-flow regimes and thus the production of river ESs. Despite progress in developing approaches for the valuation ecosystem goods and services, the ecosystem service research fails to acknowledge the biophysical structure of river landscape where ecosystem services are generated. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to synthesize the literature to develop the understanding of the biocomplexity of river landscapes and its importance in ecosystem service research. The review is limited to anthropogenic modifications from catchment to reach scale which includes inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, sub-surface modifications, groundwater abstractions, stream channelization, dams, and sand mining. Using 86 studies, the paper demonstrates that river ESs largely depend on the effective functioning of biophysical processes, which are linked with the geomorphological, ecological, and hydrological characteristics of river landscapes. Further, the ESs are linked with the economic, ecological, and socio-cultural aspect. The papers show that almost all anthropogenic modifications have positive impact on economic value of ESs. The ecological and socio-cultural values are negatively impacted by anthropogenic modifications such as dams, inter-basin water transfer, change in land-use pattern, and sand mining. The socio-cultural impact of ground-water abstraction and sub-surface modifications are not found in the literature examined here. Further, the ecological and socio-cultural aspects of ecosystem services from stakeholders’ perspective are discussed. We advocate for linking ecosystem service assessment with landscape signatures considering the socio-ecological interactions.
Seroprevalence of bluetongue virus infection and associated risk factors in domestic ruminants in the south of Iran

A cross-sectional study was designed and 3,872 blood samples were collected from apparently healthy sheep, goats and cows in Fars province, the south of Iran. The sera were screened for detection of bluetongue virus (BTV) antibodies using a commercially competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Overall prevalence rate of BTV antibodies among the domestic ruminants was 57.64% (70.93%, 55.70% and 19.77% for sheep, goat and cow, respectively). Associations between each independent variable, including ruminant type, age, sex, region, farming system and breed, and BTV infection were statistically significant (p<0.05). Females were 1.32 times more likely to exhibit seropositivity. Odds ratio for BTV infection was higher in older animals and traditional farming. The results revealed a wide spread of BTV infection in the domestic ruminants, especially in sheep and goat. Further studies of the distribution of Culicoides vectors in the region, virus isolation and genome sequencing of the isolated viruses are suggested.
A Novel Method for the Realization of Complex Logic Functions using Switching Lattices

Over the years, efficient algorithms have been proposed to realize logic functions on two-dimensional arrays of four-terminal switches, called switching lattices, using the fewest number of switches. Although existing algorithms can easily find a solution on logic functions with a small number of inputs and products, they can hardly handle large size instances. In order to cope with such logic functions, in this paper, we introduce SISYPHUS that exploits Boolean decomposition techniques and incorporates a state-of-art algorithm designed for the realization of logic functions using switching lattices. Experimental results indicate that SISYPHUS can find competitive solutions on logic functions with a small number of inputs and products when compared to those of previously proposed algorithms. Moreover, its solutions on large size functions are obtained using a little computational effort and are significantly better than the best solutions found so far.
Enhance Generative Adversarial Networks By Wavelet Transform To Denoise Low-Dose Ct Images

Computed Tomography (CT) has been widely used in clinical diagnosis, while its potential risk of X-ray radiation has attracted serious public concerns. Reconstructing high-quality images from low-dose CT devices is a promising solution. Whereas, existing methods mostly relied on the raw data of devices, and cannot be shared among different device suppliers. Inspired by the powerful learning ability of GAN and the structural information extraction ability of wavelet transform, we propose to combine the two together and design the WT-GAN, which extracts structure and noise information by wavelet transform and generates high-quality images by GAN. The two technologies are incorporated with each other by our well-designed loss functions. Experimental results show that the proposed WT-GAN achieves superior performance and can efficiently extract the noise while retaining the texture details. Furthermore, the WT-GAN is a postprocessing method imposed on full-size images, thus it is easy to integrate into any CT systems.
RISC-V2: A Scalable RISC-V Vector Processor

Machine learning adoption has seen a widespread bloom in recent years, with neural network implementations being at the forefront. In light of these developments, vector processors are currently experiencing a resurgence of interest, due to their inherent amenability to accelerate data-parallel algorithms required in machine learning environments. In this paper, we propose a scalable and high-performance RISC-V vector processor core. The presented processor employs a triptych of novel mechanisms that work synergistically to achieve the desired goals. An enhanced vector-specific incarnation of register renaming is proposed to facilitate dynamic hardware loop unrolling and alleviate instruction dependencies. Moreover, a cost-efficient decoupled execution scheme splits instructions into execution and memory-access streams, while hardware support for reductions accelerates the execution of key instructions in the RISC-V ISA. Extensive performance evaluation and hardware synthesis analysis validate the efficiency of the new architecture.
Determining β-Galactosidase Activity of Commercially Available Probiotic Supplements

Consumer interest in probiotics has dramatically increased in recent years due to improved knowledge of the significant benefits imparted on human health. A specific health issue in which probiotics have been found advantageous is lactose intolerance. Probiotics have demonstrated the ability to act on ingested lactose due to the presence of lactase. The objective of this study was to assess the β-galactosidase (β -gal) activity of commercially available probiotics supplements in the market. Ten supplements were used in this study. Two capsules of each supplement were allowed to activate in MRS broth for 10-12 h. Cultures were then inoculated into TPY broth with lactose (induced) or glucose (uninduced) then incubated at 37°C. After bacterial growth reached the mid log phase (optical density 0.7-0.9; 610 nm), the procedures as outlined by Miller were followed. Activity of β-gal was quantified using the o-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactoside (ONPG) assay. The activity of β-gal in the uninduced group ranged between 0 and 800 Miller unit, whereas there as the induced group ranged from 1 to 1,120 Miller units. When induced, supplement #5 exhibited the strongest enzyme activity at 1,120 Miller units and supplement #10 exhibited the lowest activity. Similarly, supplement #3 exhibited the highest (800 Miller unit) and supplements #1, #2 and #10 did not show any β-gal activity with glucose. These findings indicate that β-gal activity in the ten tested supplements varies. Our results suggest that not all of the commercially available probiotic supplements have the same health benefits.