Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Super-Resolution of Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Imaging Based on Multisimilarity

Intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM) is a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that can detect both diffusion and pseudo perfusion microscopic tissue information. However, it requires to acquire the diffusion-weighted (DW) images with multiple b-values, which leads to long acquisition time. To reduce the time, the spatial resolution of IVIM is usually not high enough to reflect the image details. To solve this problem, in this study, a multi-similarity block-based super-resolution reconstruction (SRR) method for IVIM was proposed. The fact that the image block similarity of DW images occurs not only across or within the images at different scales, but also the adjacent slices with the same b-values. The intra-slice and inter-slice similarity at multi-scales is defined as multi-similarity in this work. To fully explore the multi-similarity patches to assist SRR, a chain of Gaussian pyramids of a given image slice and the corresponding adjacent slices with the same b-value are established first, and then a random search strategy is used to find and identify the most similar blocks in low resolution (LR) image pyramids. Next, the matched blocks are mapped to high resolution (HR) image pyramids and then unwrapped by inverse affine transformation to replace original LR blocks. Finally, the super-resolution images are obtained through an iterative back-projection algorithm. To evaluate the performance of proposed method, we compared the brain and liver IVIM reconstruction results with several state-of-art methods. The results indicate that the multi-similarity-based method can achieve the best reconstruction results in both DW images and the corresponding IVIM parameter maps.
Microalgal sediment biostabilisation along a salinity gradient in the Eden Estuary, Scotland: unravelling a paradox

Microalgal biostabilisation of cohesive sediments via the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) has been well documented in intertidal ecosystems and represents a key ecosystem service with respect to the regulation of sediment transport. However, recent ecosystem comparison studies have uncovered a paradox in which sediment stability is commonly observed to be lower in freshwater ecosystems (compared with estuarine ecosystems) even though sediment EPS concentrations and microalgal biomass are high. Using a combination of freshwater and estuarine field and mesocosm techniques, the relative and interactive roles of salinity and the production of EPS (carbohydrate concentration) by benthic microalgae in the mediation of sediment stability in the Eden River catchment (river, mudflat and saltmarsh) were assessed. Sediment stability apparently increased with salinity from river (42.43 N m–2 surface stagnation pressure; salinity 0) to mudflat (98.65 N m–2; salinity 25) to saltmarsh (135.48 N m–2; salinity 46). The opposite trend was observed in sediment chlorophyll a and carbohydrate concentrations, indicating that salinity is the main variable driving sediment stability across the ecosystems under moderate EPS concentrations. Observations from mesocosm experiments highlighted the individual and combined importance of salinity and EPS in biostabilisation, with the largest increase in sediment stability observed following combined additions (25-fold increase compared with the control). The biogeochemical processes responsible, and their role in buffering phosphorus transport across the freshwater–saltwater transitional zone, are discussed.
Serbian spruce, a narrow endemic, contains much genetic variation

Serbian spruce (Piceaomorika (Pancic) Purk. ) is reputedly a self-fertile and morphologically uniform species with a natural distribution restricted to a total area of less than 60 ha in central Yugoslavia. This has led to the conclusion that the species lacks genetic variation. In this study, genetic variation at 19 enzyme loci was investigated in two populations: a natural Yugoslavian population and a cultivated Finnish population. The average expected heterozygosities over 19 loci were 0.13 and 0.15 in the two populations, which are similar to those observed in other conifers. Heritabilities of four seedling traits were estimated on the basis of a progeny trial. They varied from 0.34 to 1.23, with standard deviations of 0.17–0.37. Because of maternal effects, these are probably inflated estimates, but they show that there may be considerable genetic variation in quantitative traits, as well. The observed amount of genetic variation in Serbian spruce is unexpectedly high considering its self-fertility an.
Overexpression of Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ Coactivator-1α Down-regulates GLUT4 mRNA in Skeletal Muscles*

Exercise training increases mitochondria and GLUT4 in skeletal muscles. Recent studies indicate that an increased expression of the transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α) by exercise may promote mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation. To examine whether increased PGC-1α expression was also responsible for an increase of GLUT4 expression, transgenic mice that overexpress PGC-1α in skeletal muscles driven by a human α-skeletal actin promoter were made. PGC-1α was overexpresssed in skeletal muscles including type I and II fiber-rich muscles but not in the heart. With an increase of PGC-1α mRNA, type II fiber-rich muscles were redder, and genes of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism were up-regulated in skeletal muscles, whereas the expression of GLUT4 mRNA was unexpectedly down-regulated. In parallel with a decrease of GLUT4 mRNA, an impairment of glycemic control after intraperitoneal insulin administration was observed. Thus, an increase of PGC-1α plays a role in increasing mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation but not in increasing GLUT4 mRNA in skeletal muscles.
Prediction of Road Lanes for Driver Assistance System

: This paper explains about detecting lanes width. Width of lane is calculated by using lane detection algorithm. Vision system is deployed in autonomous vehicle system because the camera sensor provide of the encompassing environment the developed project obtained during human operation. Other than camera’s exact viewpoint along with the track thickness is received by active standardization. The preferred point of view uses predicting track transforming thickness and therefore the process of tracing to trace track spotting and explain location of track markings on each parts effectively when other part is obstructed. The travelable lane knowledge is very important specific in unorganized structure.
The Composition and Foraging Ecology of Mixed-Species Flocks in Pine Forests of Hispaniola

We determined the flocking propensity of 48 species of birds occurring in native pine forest in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic, and the species composition of 180 mixed-species flocks. Flocks were unusually ubiquitous, with 46 species occurring in at least one flock, 11 species regularly present, and all insectivorous species and all migrant species participating. Most birds encountered were permanent residents, but winter residents (Nearctic migrants) were an important component of the flocks and, as a group, had the highest flocking propensity. Flocks were cohesive and the resident insectivore, the Black-crowned Palm Tanager (Phaenicophilus palmarum) often served as the nuclear species. Censuses suggest species richness within flocks reflects the species present in the habitat, but agonistic interactions indicate that intraspecific aggression may limit the number of individuals of a species in these flocks. Species co-occurrence data indicate that species do not occur independently of one another in flocks. Positive associations were far more common than negative co-occurrences, suggesting mutual habitat dependencies or species interactions within flocks. A non-random association of nearest neighbors also indicated that species may be gaining feeding benefits from flocking by associating as close neighbors with an individual of another species, but we were not able to rule out the possibility that predation is an important selective agent. Intraspecific comparisons of foraging behavior between flocking and solitary birds provides some evidence that individuals modify foraging locations and foraging tactics upon joining mixed-species flocks, and that their foraging behavior tends to converge with the feeding behavior of the nuclear species. An increase in the feeding rate was recorded for one species. These data suggest that at least some species may accrue feeding advantages as flock participants.
Species abundance distributions of moth and beetle assemblages in a cool‐temperate deciduous forest

Species abundance distributions of moth and beetle assemblages, in addition to beetle feeding guilds, were examined using data collected by light traps in a cool‐temperate deciduous forest at Hokkaido, Japan. Four types of species abundance distributions with a continuous shift in shape (broken stick, log‐normal, power function, and dispersal‐limited multinomial) were fitted and compared, and then the deviation of observed data from that expected for the neutral model (dispersal‐limited multinomial distribution) was tested using species evenness and richness. Significantly better fits were obtained for the neutral model than for the other models for all assemblages and all beetle guilds. This result implies that the better fits of the neutral model might be characteristic of transient assemblages having an excess of rare species. The evenness of species abundance distributions for assemblages and guilds, except for moths associated with the understorey and predatory beetles, significantly deviated from that expected by the neutral model. The departure of beetle guilds (detritivores, herbivores, and xylophages) from the neutral model suggests their microhabitat dependence. The neutral model may prove to be a viable null hypothesis for examining the species abundance distributions of insect assemblages. In this study, we found that although stochastic dynamics appeared to have an increasing influence on insect community assembly, there are also complex biological processes still likely to be present. The fits of the neutral model suggest that habitat connectivity and microhabitat diversity are potentially important for conserving moth and beetle diversity in a temperate forest.
Karyotypes of Brazilian Species of Rhipidomys (Rodentia, Cricetidae)

Cytogenetic analyses were performed on representatives of four Brazilian species of Rhipidomys: R. leucodactylus from Amazonia, another species from Lagoa Santa, from the type locality of R. mastacalis , plus Rhipidomys sp. and R. cearanus from the Brazilian Atlantic forest. All four species had a diploid number of 44. The fundamental numbers (FN), however, were different: 48 in R. leucodactylus , 50 in Rhipidomys sp. , and 74 in R. mastacalis . G-banding comparisons revealed that Rhipidomys sp. (FN = 50) and R. leucodactylus (FN = 48) differ by one pericentric inversion whereas Rhipidomys sp. and R. leucodactylus (FN = 74) differed by at least 7 inverted chromosomes.
Structural and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO thin films produced by magnetron sputtering

Experimental and theoretical investigations of the structure and optical properties of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films produced by magnetron sputtering under different values of electric current were conducted. The XRD results confirm the formation of the AZO thin films with hexagonal wurtzite structure, with preferential orientation along the crystallographic plane (002), direction c. The increment of electric current allowed an increase in average crystallite size. The FE-SEM and AFM images analyses of the AZO films revealed the occurrence of nucleation on the substrate surface that formed films with granular and rough structure. The higher substrate temperature caused by the higher value of electric current had influence on the grain size and thickness (ranging from 974 to 1500 nm) of the formed thin films. Due to the high absorption of free carriers, the optical transmittance of the AZO films was acceptable for the visible spectrum and limited to the near infrared region. The energy band gap values for both AZO films, measured from the optical transmission spectra, were ideal for semiconductor applications. The ab initio calculations using DFT and the method LSDA + U along with the correction of Hubbard were successfully applied to investigate the structural and optical effects. The band structures of the pure ZnO and ZnO:Al, calculated in this work, presented Eg values close to the experimental results. Therefore, these results imply that our methods are reliable and that the calculations are in accordance with the experimental results.
Práticas ágeis para gestão de projetos baseadas no PMBOK guide, no agile practice guide e na metodologia scrum

Considering the relevance of agile methodologies for project management, this work aimed to analyze the applicability of agile practices found in the 6th edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide, in the Agile Practice Guide published by the Project Management Institute (PMI ) and the Agile Scrum Methodology, as proposed by Assis (2018). For that, agile practices were analyzed and four structural and functional items proposed were evaluated based on these two guides and on the aforementioned methodology. In methodological terms, it is an exploratory and descriptive case study, with a qualitative and quantitative approach, which made use of an evaluation method adapted from SCAMPI (Standard CMMI® Appraisal Method for Process Improvement). As for technical procedures, a case study was carried out in a public organization in the State of Bahia. At the end of the study, it was concluded that both the guides and the Scrum methodology showed good applicability of their agile practices in a pilot project in the area of software development.
Enhanced Discrete Multi-Modal Hashing: More Constraints Yet Less Time to Learn

Due to the exponential growth of multimedia data, multi-modal hashing as a promising technique to make cross-view retrieval scalable is attracting more and more attention. However, most of the existing multi-modal hashing methods either divide the learning process unnaturally into two separate stages or treat the discrete optimization problem simplistically as a continuous one, which leads to suboptimal results. Recently, a few discrete multi-modal hashing methods that try to address such issues have emerged, but they still ignore several important discrete constraints (such as the balance and decorrelation of hash bits). In this paper, we overcome those limitations by proposing a novel method named “Enhanced Discrete Multi-modal Hashing (EDMH)” which learns binary codes and hashing functions simultaneously from the pairwise similarity matrix of data, under the aforementioned discrete constraints. Although the model of EDMH looks a lot more complex than the other models for multi-modal hashing, we are actually able to develop a fast iterative learning algorithm for it, since the subproblems of its optimization all have closed-form solutions after introducing a couple of auxiliary variables. Our experimental results on three real-world datasets have revealed the usefulness of those previously ignored discrete constraints and demonstrated that EDMH not only performs much better than state-of-the-art competitors according to several retrieval metrics but also runs much faster than most of them.
A New Continuum Model considering Driving Behaviors and Electronic Throttle Effect on a Gradient Highway

In order to explore the potential impact of sloping road on traffic flow, an improved car-following model considering electronic throttle (ET) dynamics and driver’s driving characteristics on slope is proposed. Based on the improved car-following model, a new continuum model is established through the conversion relationship between microscopic variables and macroscopic variables. Firstly, the stability condition of the model is obtained by using the linear stability theory, after that the evolution process of traffic flow density wave near the neutral stability curve is studied by using the nonlinear analysis method, and we also get the improved KdV-Burgers equation. At the same time, numerical experiments and experimental verification of the model are carried out; the theoretical analysis and numerical results show that the ET effect and aggressive driving of drivers play an important role in alleviating traffic congestion to a certain extent.
Exploring design process learning through two reflective prompts

Each student in a project-based engineering design course has a unique experience. Reflection is critical because it helps ensure thatstudents learn from these unique experiences. Two prompts aimed at encouraging reflection about engineering design are comparedin this work. Thirty-five students completed both prompts at the end of an introductory engineering design course. Results showthat one of the two prompts, the Design Process Knowledge (DPK) critique, focused reflections on topics related to themanagement of a design project: what activities to do when and for how long. This contrasts with the other prompt, called ‘‘Whatto Make of It’’ (W2MoI), which elicited meaning-making about the engineering designer themselves. Students reflected on themindsets of effective engineering designers, their emotional experiences with engineering design, and the role of teams and socialinteractions in engineering design. What to Make of It also engaged students in reflecting on design activities; but, instead offocusing on the management of those activities (as with the Design Process Knowledge critique), students more commonlyexpressed realizations about designers themselves (mindsets, emotions, and social interactions of designers). For example, W2MoIresponses such as ‘‘engineering is all about people’’ and ‘‘don’t get attached to your ideas’’ are contrasts to DPK responses like‘‘make sure to spend time engaging users’’ and ‘‘they should go back to brainstorming later’’. The most direct implication of thiswork is in the engineering design classroom, where these two reflective prompts can be used to guide students to make differentkinds of meaning from their experiences.
Aerobic Degradation of 3-Methylindole by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Gs Isolated from Mangrove Sediment

ABSTRACT 3-Methylindole (3MI), an N-heterocyclic aromatic compound also called skatole, is associated with animal waste and industrial processing. A pure culture of bacterium capable of using 3MI as the sole source of carbon and energy was isolated from mangrove sediment using an enrichment technique and identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa Gs based on 16S rDNA sequence. Microbial degradation of 3MI was studied in batch culture experiments for several factors, including initial substrate concentrations, pH, and salinity. The optimum pH and salinity was 7.0 and 5‰, respectively. Degradation of 3MI by P. aeruginosa Gs was quantified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Two metabolites of 3MI degradation were detected and proposed to be indoline-3-carboxylic acid and indoline-3-ol based on data obtained from HPLC/MS. Our results suggest that 3MI can be rapidly degraded by indigenous microorganisms found in mangrove sediment.
An Efficient Approach to Robust SDN Controller Placement for Security

Security is one of the critical issues in traditional networks. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) improves the security aspect by separating the control plane and the data plane of networks. To improve the performance of SDN, researchers have designed many advanced controller prototypes and considered the controller placement problem. However, link failures are critical security issues in networks and greatly impact SDN’s security. The controller placement problem for link failures is still challenging today. In this paper, we study the SDN controller placement problem for single-link and multi-link failures, respectively. For single-link failures, we develop a heuristic algorithm to address the controller placement problem. For multi-link failures, we introduce the Monte Carlo Simulation to reduce the computational overhead. We conduct experiments with real network topologies, and the simulation results show that the heuristic algorithm can save significantly more time than the optimal algorithm, while achieving good performance.
Rootstock and Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Combinatorial Effects on Eggplant Crop Performance and Fruit Quality under Greenhouse Conditions

The herbaceous grafting of fruiting vegetables is considered a toolbox for safeguarding yield stability under various distresses and for improving fruit quality. Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi seems also to be an efficient tool for increasing the assimilation, uptake and translocation of macroelements and microelements, for modulating plant secondary metabolism and for overcoming several forms of plant distress. The present work evaluated the combined effect of grafting the “Birgah” (B) eggplant onto its wild/allied relatives’ rootstocks (Solanum torvum (T), S. macrocarpon (M) and S. paniculatum (P)) and AM fungi (R. irregularis) on the yield, fruit quality, nitrogen use efficiency, mineral profile, and nutritional and functional quality. The B/T, B/M and B/P grafting combinations significantly increased the marketable fruit and fruit number compared with those in the ungrafted control. Furthermore, irrespective of the grafting combinations, AM fungi significantly enhanced the marketable fruit, fruit number and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) by 13.3%, 12.7% and 13.3%, respectively compared to those in the untreated control. Exposing the B/T and B/P grafted plants to the +AM treatment significantly increased the ascorbic acid contents by 17.2% and 10.4%, respectively, compared with those in the ungrafted control. Fruits from the combination B/P × +AM had a higher chlorogenic acid content than fruits from the ungrafted control plots. Finally, the B/T × +AM and B/P × +AM combinations decreased glycoalkaloids by 58.7% and 63.7%, respectively, compared with those in the ungrafted control, which represents a highly important target for eggplant fruit healthiness.
Mapping of Species Richness for Conservation of Biological Diversity: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

Biodiversity mapping (e.g., the Gap Analysis Program [GAP]), in which vegetative features and categories of land use are mapped at coarse spatial scales, has been proposed as a reliable tool for land use decisions (e.g., reserve identification, selection, and design). This implicitly assumes that species richness data collected at coarse spatio-temporal scales provide a first-order approximation to community and ecosystem representation and persistence. This assumption may be false because (1) species abundance distributions and species richness are poor surrogates for community/ecosystem processes, and are scale dependent; (2) species abundance and richness data are unreliable because of unequal and unknown sampling probabilities and species-habitat models of doubtful reliability; (3) mapped species richness data may be inherently resistant to scaling up or scaling down: and (4) decision-making based on mapped species richness patterns may be sensitive to errors from unreliable data and models, resulting in suboptimal conservation decisions. We suggest an approach in which mapped data are linked to management via demographic models, multiscale sampling, and decision theory. We use a numerical representation of a system in which vegetation data are assumed to be known and mapped without error, a simple model relating habitat to predicted species persistence, and statistical decision theory to illustrate use of mapped data in conservation decision-making and the impacts of uncertainty in data or models on the decision outcome.