Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development and evaluation of a soil water evaporation model to assess the effects of soil texture, tillage and crop residue management under field conditions

Abstract. A number of mathematical models to predict soil water evaporation are available in the literature which generally require complex input data. In the present study, a simple parametric model has been developed by coupling existing and newly developed equations to assess soil water evaporation and drainage under field conditions in relation to potential evaporation rate, soil texture, time and depth of tillage and crop residue management. The model has moderate input data requirements and predicts well the effects of tillage and crop residue management practices on soil water loss (evaporation+drainage) with multi‐drying and ‐wetting cycles prevailing under natural conditions. The root mean squares of deviations between observed and predicted cumulative water loss at different periods of study were 0.82, 2.04, 2.31 and 1.74 cm for untreated, residue‐mulch, tillage and residue‐incorporated treatments, respectively. Simulation analysis on cumulative evaporation and evaporation rate has shown that the evaporation reduction with different combinations of tillage and crop residue followed the order of residue‐undercut>residue‐mulch>residue‐incorporated>tillage. Thus, the magnitude of beneficial effects of crop residues and tillage on soil water evaporation reduction are associated with amount of residues, mode of residue management (mulched or incorporated in the soil) and time and depth of tillage.
Using Autoregressive with Exogenous Input Models to Study Pulsatile Flows

The content of this paper shows the first outcomes of a supplementary method to simulate the behavior of a simple design formed by two rectangular leaflets under a pulsatile flow condition. These problems are commonly handled by using Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations; however, one of its main limitations are the high computational cost required to conduct short time simulations and the vast number of parameter adjustments to simulate different scenarios. In order to overcome these disadvantages, we propose a system identification method with hereditary computation—AutoRegressive with eXogenous (ARX) input method—to train a model with FSI simulation outcomes and then use this model to simulate the outputs that are commonly measured from this kind of simulation, such as the pressure difference and the opening area of the leaflets. Numerical results of the presented methodology show that our model is able to follow the trend with significant agreement with the FSI results, with an average correlation coefficient R of Rtr=90.14% and Rtr=92.27% in training; whereas for validation, the average R is Rval=93.31% and Rval=83.08% for opening area and pressure difference, respectively. The system identification model is efficiently capable of estimating the outputs of the FSI approach; however, it is not intended to substitute FSI simulations, but to complement them when the requirement is to conduct many repetitions of the phenomena with similar conditions.
Disentangling the latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in community composition induced by climate change: The case of riparian birds

This study investigates whether, and how, the composition of riparian bird communities has been affected by climate warming and habitat change. Although these two forces act separately, their respective contributions are rarely examined. Moreover, while the response of a given community may be a function of latitude and altitude, most studies have focused on these gradients separately. Riparian ecosystems are an opportunity to investigate community change along latitudinal and elevational gradients.
A New Generalized Log-Logistic Erlang Truncated Exponential Distribution with Applications

We introduce a new distribution via the Marshall-Olkin generator called the Marshall-Olkin Log-logistic Erlang-Truncated Exponential (MOLLoGETE) distribution. Some structural properties of the distribution including series expansion of the density function, sub-models, hazard function, moments, conditional moments, mean deviations, distribution of order statistics, R´enyi entropy and maximum likelihood estimates are presented. The new density function is an infinite linear combinations of Burr XII-Erlang-Truncated Exponential distributions. The new generalization is applied to real data sets to evaluate the model performance.
Labanotation-Based Motion Literation Teaching Materials To Diagnow Intelligent Kinestetic Students In Junior High Schools Through E-Learning

This study aims to produce labanotation-based motion literacy teaching materials to diagnose the kinesthetic intelligence of students in junior high schools through e-learning. This research method uses a design procedure with validation of eligibility by six experts in the learning materials of labanotation-based motion literacy through qualitative e-learning. The level of agreement (reliability) among the six assessors can be explained by calculating the reliability coefficient between the assessors using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (by using the SPSS version 16 program assistance). The results of the study suggest thnis educational approach can be utilized by arts and culture teachers in dance learning, using learning media and communication media with students to discover kinesthetic intelligence in a fun way. Keywords: teaching materials, motion literacy, labanotation
Bridging the gap between assessment and action: recommendations for the effective use of LCA in the building process

Environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) witnesses increasing popularity in the built environment. LCA stimulates among others an efficient use of natural resources and a reduction of carbon emissions through quantification of material and energy inputs and emissions in the building life cycle. Thereby, LCA aspires to contribute to SDG12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns. Despite high ambitions, the actual influence of LCA in construction projects is often modest. The mere application of LCA methodology in a building project is insufficient to produce a more environmentally friendly building. To better understand the practical conditions under which an LCA may induce change in a building project, we propose to analyse the use of LCA from a processual perspective. This paper presents a case study of a building product development project in which a processual perspective is applied on LCA. Using a longitudinal ethnographic methodology, key actors are followed through environmentally relevant episodes as the building project matures. A progressive LCA quantifies the potential environmental impact of the project as it progresses through different stages of the building process. Based on the learnings from this study, recommendations are presented to support the effective use of LCA in sustainable building practices, and contribute to SDG12 on sustainable consumption and production patterns.
Step-Wise Deep Learning Models for Solving Routing Problems

Routing problems are very important in intelligent transportation systems. Recently, a number of deep learning-based methods are proposed to automatically learn construction heuristics for solving routing problems. However, these methods do not completely follow Bellman's Principle of Optimality since the visited nodes during construction are still included in the following subtasks, resulting in suboptimal policies. In this article, we propose a novel step-wise scheme which explicitly removes the visited nodes in each node selection step. We apply this scheme to two representative deep models for routing problems, pointer network and transformer attention model (TAM), and significantly improve the performance of the original models. To reduce computational complexity, we further propose the approximate step-wise TAM model by modifying one layer of attention. It enables training on larger instances compared to step-wise TAM, and outperforms state-of-the-art deep models with greedy decoding strategy.
Plateauing of Chinese female mid-career EFL teacher educators at regional teacher education universities

ABSTRACT Professional development of teacher educators has received growing attention in recent years owing to their important role in preparing teachers for schools and universities, however, female-dominated mid-career EFL teacher educators in regional teacher education universities remain underexplored. This study examined 18 female experienced teacher educators’ professional state, teaching beliefs and competence in a non-elite teacher education university. A combination of longitudinal observations, questionnaires, individual interviews, and official documents was employed to gather data. The results reveal the participants’ plateauing indicated by their teaching-focused professional identity and the lack of personal and collective agency for professional development and organisational improvement. Personal and contextual factors were found to have caused their perceived lack of professional expertise, research inactivity in the pervading ‘publish or perish’ climate. The study yields implications to teacher educators, policymakers, and researchers in different educational and cultural contexts.
Changes in rhizosphere concentration of mineral elements as affected by differences in root uptake and plant growth of five cowpea genotypes grown in mixed culture and at different densities with sorghum.

Aims: To evaluate the effect of planting density and cropping systems on the changes in rhizosphere concentration and uptake of mineral elements of five cowpea genotypes (i.e. Bensogla, ITH98-46, Sanzie, TVu1509 and Omondaw). Study Design: 3-factorial randomized complete block design. Original Research Article American Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 4(2): 193-214, 2014 194 Place and Duration of Study: Nietvoorbij (33o54S, 18o14E), Stellenbosch, South Africa during 2005 and 2006 summer seasons. Methodology: A field experiment involving two cowpea plant densities (83,333 and 166,666 plants.ha), two cropping systems (monocropping and intercropping) and five cowpea genotypes (i.e. Bensogla, ITH98-46, Sanzie, TVu1509 and Omondaw). Results: The data for 2005 and 2006 were similar, and therefore pooled for statistical analysis. The concentrations of P, K, S, Na, Cu, and Zn were lower in rhizosphere of cowpea relative to bulk soil, while those of Ca and Mg were greater in the rhizosphere compared with bulk soil. With sorghum, only K, S, and Na were lower in the rhizosphere, in contrast to P, Ca, Mg, Cu, and Zn, which were higher in the rhizosphere. These differences in mineral concentration were due to alteration in rhizosphere pH, which was increased by cowpea but unchanged by sorghum. The data also showed that high plant density (166,666 plants.ha) and mixed culture significantly decreased rhizosphere soil pH, resulting in low availability of P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, S, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn and B in the rhizosphere of cowpea and sorghum compared with low plant density (83,333 plants.ha) or monocropping. The results also showed significant differences in rhizosphere concentration of minerals between and among the five cowpea genotypes, with cv. Sanzie consistently indicating much lower levels of P and Ca as a result of higher root uptake, which was evidenced by the higher tissue content of P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, S, Fe, Zn, Mn and B in cv. Sanzie. Conclusion: N2-fixing cowpea significantly lowered the concentration and increased the uptake of mineral elements from the rhizosphere soil relative to sorghum.
Electronic modification of Cu-based chalcopyrite semiconductors induced by lattice deformation and composition alchemy

Using first principles calculation, we systematically investigate the electronic modification of Cu-based chalcopyrite semiconductors induced by lattice deformation and composition alchemy. It is shown that the optical band gap Eg is remarkably sensitive to the anion displacement μ, resulting from the opposite shifts of conduction band minimum and valence band maximum. Meanwhile, the dependence of structural parameters of alloyed compounds on alloy composition x is demonstrated for both cation and anion alloying. The d orbitals of group-III cations are found to be of great importance in the calculation. Abnormal changes in the optical band gap Eg induced by anion alloying are addressed.
The Varying Effects of Dual Tasks on the Performance of Motor Skills across Practice

Abstract Numerous previous studies using the dual-task methodology have indicated that the effect of attentional direction on the performance of motor skill differs as a function of skill levels. Whereas previous studies relied mostly on inter-individual comparisons, this study focused on how the effects of different attentional conditions change within individuals with practice. Participants were instructed to learn a short and a long keying sequence (three versus six keys) and then practiced under two block-wise alternating dual-task conditions. In each trial, a tone, either low- or high-pitched, was presented at one of the three/six keys and participants had to indicate either the pitch of the tone (extraneous dual task) or the key with which the tone was presented (skill-focused dual task) after finishing the execution of the keying sequence. Motor task performance was assessed by reaction time (RT) and movement duration (MD), and the concurrent cognitive task performance was assessed by the error rate. RT was faster in the skill-focused dual-task condition at the beginning of practice, whereas a generally shorter MD was found in the extraneous dual-task condition. The error rate in the extraneous dual task decreased with practice, whereas in the skill-focused dual task, it increased with practice. These results show that the effects of attentional direction differ not only as a function of the amount of practice but also as a function of the stage of information processing. Furthermore, our results indicate that the direction of attention alone does not explain the different patterns of performance at different skill levels seen across dual-task studies; rather, the skill levels, the nature of cognitive demands, the difficulty level of dual tasks, and the complexity of the motor skill could all drive performance differences.
Adaptive Threshold Estimation of Open Set Voiceprint Recognition Based on OTSU and Deep Learning

Aiming at the problem of open set voiceprint recognition, this paper proposes an adaptive threshold algorithm based on OTSU and deep learning. The bottleneck technology of open set voiceprint recognition lies in the calculation of similarity values and thresholds of speakers inside and outside the set. This paper combines deep learning and machine learning methods, and uses a Deep Belief Network stacked with three layers of Restricted Boltzmann Machines to extract deep voice features from basic acoustic features. And by training the Gaussian Mixture Model, this paper calculates the similarity value of the feature, and further determines the threshold of the similarity value of the feature through OTSU. After experimental testing, the algorithm in this paper has a false rejection rate of 3.00% for specific speakers, a false acceptance rate of 0.35% for internal speakers, and a false acceptance rate of 0 for external speakers. This improves the accuracy of traditional methods in open set voiceprint recognition. This proves that the method is feasible and good recognition effect.
Raman Spectral Studies of the Effects of Temperature on Water Structure

Integrated Raman intensities of the spectral contour arising from the intermolecular librational motions of pure water have been obtained in the temperature range of ∼10°—95°C. In addition, integrated intensities of nearly symmetric librational components centered near ∼475 and ∼710 cm−1 were obtained from manual contour analysis according to two components. However, contour analysis was also accomplished by means of a special‐purpose analog computer, and three Gaussian librational components having average frequencies of 439, 538, and 717 cm−1 were thus revealed. The total contour intensity, the manually determined component intensities, and the Gaussian component intensities were found to have the same temperature dependence, and that dependence was found to be in excellent quantitative agreement with the previously reported temperature dependence of the hydrogen‐bond‐stretching intensity [J. Chem. Phys. 44, 1546 (1966)]. Integrated Raman intensities of pure water were also obtained in the temperature r.
An Efficient of Direct Torque Control of Indirect Three Level Matrix Converter Fed Dual Stator Induction Motor Based on Synergetic Controller

As know, Direct Torque Control (DTC) suffers from the high ripples of the torque and flux, caused by the variable switching frequency. Torque ripple in DTC drives can be reduced if an Indirect Three-Level Matrix Converter (ITLMC) is employed instead of a conventional Two-Level Indirect Matrix Converter. Nevertheless, this problem can be still large if low switching frequencies are used. In order to overcome this problem, a Constant Switching Frequency controller (CSFC) is proposed to replace the five-level hysteresis torque comparator for reducing the ripples and improving the flux regulation in low and zero speed operation. Furthermore, the control scheme performance is enhanced by inserting a robust Synergetic Controller (SC) in the outer loop for speed regulation. Simulation results with a comparative analysis have indicated the special merit of the proposed scheme, which makes it competitive with the existing control strategies.
Perception and Quality of Life in Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients

Introduction: Cancer has been most feared among all the significantly increasing chronic diseases, and is widely assumed to be fatal. The quality of life (QOL) of the patient pertaining to physical, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being is altered, which ultimately affects the QOL of the family caregivers. The study was conducted to assess the QOL among family caregivers of cancer patients and how cancer changes and alters the vision about life for the patient as well as the family caregivers. Objective: The objective was to assess the QOL among family caregivers of the cancer patients. Methodology: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted after the protocol was approved by the institutional ethics committee and obtaining written informed consent from the participants. Two sets of validated questionnaire were used to assess the awareness and QOL of the family caregivers of the cancer patients. The filled questionnaires were received from the participants, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Nearly 74% (148/200) of the participants responded, with majority of the caregivers being females (71.62%). Majority (72.9%) expressed that cancer cannot spread from one person to another and were positive (70.9%) toward cancer cure. The caregivers (76.3%) opined that the diagnosis of cancer should be informed to the family members. Approximately 50% of the participants were aware that environmental toxins and tobacco would predispose to cancer. Although most of them (87.8%) believed that the cancer treatment cause ill effects, they (93.2%) were satisfied with the hospital facilities. Among the QOL parameters, most of the participants had complaint of decreased general physical health, difficulty to cope, reduced concentration, anguish over the first treatment, disease, and interference in household activities. Among the spiritual parameters, the participants expressed sufficient support from religious activities, prayer, and general spiritual well-being. Conclusion: Majority of the caregivers had awareness regarding the cancer and carcinogens from the environmental toxins. The QOL among caregivers of cancer patients is affected in all dimensions of life, with more emphasis on the social and psychological dimensions.
Trends in COVID-19 Publications: Streamlining Research Using NLP and LDA

Background: Research publications related to the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 are rapidly increasing. However, current online literature hubs, even with artificial intelligence, are limited in identifying the complexity of COVID-19 research topics. We developed a comprehensive Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model with 25 topics using natural language processing (NLP) techniques on PubMed® research articles about “COVID. ” We propose a novel methodology to develop and visualise temporal trends, and improve existing online literature hubs. Our results for temporal evolution demonstrate interesting trends, for example, the prominence of “Mental Health” and “Socioeconomic Impact” increased, “Genome Sequence” decreased, and “Epidemiology” remained relatively constant. Applying our methodology to LitCovid, a literature hub from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, we improved the breadth and depth of research topics by subdividing their pre-existing categories. Our topic model demonstrates that research on “masks” and “Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)” is skewed toward clinical applications with a lack of population-based epidemiological research.
Effect of Elemental Sulfur Supply on Cadmium Uptake into Rice Seedlings When Cultivated in Low and Excess Cadmium Soils

Effects of sulfur (S) (0, 30 mg S kg−1 soil) supply on cadmium (Cd) uptake into rice when cultivated in low-Cd soil [38.8 μg kg−1 for diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)–extractable Cd] and in excessive-Cd soil (748.7 μg kg−1 for DTPA-extractable Cd) were investigated in a combined soil–sand culture experiment. The significant difference in the Cd uptake into rice between –S and +S treatments were observed in relation to soil Cd levels. When rice was exposed to excessive Cd soil, application of S restrained the uptake of Cd into rice, the S supply tended to increase Cd uptake into rice when cultivated in low-Cd soil. The possible mechanisms explaining the interactions among soil Cd level, S supply, and Cd accumulation in rice are proposed. These results suggest that S fertilization may be important for the development approaches to reducing Cd accumulation in rice when cultivated Cd-contaminated soils.
Awareness of Preservice Mathematics Teachers about Prehistoric and Ancient Number Systems

This study seeks to analyse the awareness of the pre-service teachers on the counting methods, systems and tools used in the prehistoric method and the Ancient period and to examine the distribution of this awareness by gender. A total of 42 sophomore-level students studying at a university in the Western Black Sea region, Turkey, participated in this exploratory case study. The data were obtained through a form consisting of 6 questions, one of which is open-ended, after the 14-week course of history of mathematics. The data collection tool included questions on the counting methods used in the pre-historic period and the Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Roman, Babylonian, Ancient Greek and Mayan number systems. The data were analysed through descriptive analysis and content analysis. The findings indicated that the pre-service teachers most reported the methods of tallying, tying a knot, token, circular disc. Also, the question on the Ancient Egyptian number system was answered correctly by all pre-service teachers, the lowest performance was observed in the question on the Mayan number system. Analysis of the answers by gender revealed that the male pre-service teachers were more likely to give false answers compared to the female pre-service teachers.
Lattice Anomaly of MgB (h-BN) and Related Compounds under Various Compression Conditions

We study hexagonal materials of MgB (h-BN) and related compounds under various compression conditions. We found the anomalous behavior of lattice constants a (b) for MgB (h-BN) and HBC. Lattice constants a of MgB (h-BN) and HBC contract under c-axis compression. This means that the Poisson ratio is negative. The lattice contraction of a-axis is 0.0017 nm for MgB (h-BN) when P z=50 GPa, 0.0002 nm for HBC when P z=20 GPa. The contraction of HBC is quite small.