Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variability of benthic assemblages in relation to the hydrological pattern in Mediterranean salt marshes (Empordà wetlands, NE Iberian Peninsula)

The structure and composition of benthic assemblages (organisms > 100 μm) and the main factors which control them were studied in the coastal basins of the Emporda wetlands (NE Iberian Peninsula). Five coastal basins were sampled in three different conditions during one hydroperiod (1997-1998): (1) one month after the main autumnal inundation when the water level was high; (2) in the middle of the hydroperiod; and (3) when the basins were close to desiccation. Based on the hydrological pattern, three types of basins were distinguished: non-disturbed permanent waters (type 1), non-disturbed temporary waters (type 2), and disturbed temporary waters (type 3). These three types are in agreement with the classification result from the benthic assemblage composition. The type 1 basins, where more stable environmental conditions were found, had an assemblage characterised by a high density of individuals, total biomass and diversity. The assemblage of type 2 basins had lower richness and diversity values with little temporal variability. The high frequency of freshwater inputs in type 3 basins causes a high taxonomic singularity and high temporal variability of species richness and diversity. The main environmental parameters (salinity, sand percentage, total phosphorus from the sediment, and total organic carbon from the water) related to the structure of benthic assemblages, also discriminating three groups, were coincident with the three types derived from distinct hydrological patterns. Thus, water regime summarises the physical factors which ultimately determine benthic fauna.
Learning rewards for robotic ultrasound scanning using probabilistic temporal ranking.

This paper addresses a common class of problems where a robot learns to perform a discovery task based on example solutions, or \emph{human demonstrations}. As an example, this work considers the problem of ultrasound scanning, where a demonstration involves an expert adaptively searching for a satisfactory view of internal organs, vessels or tissue and potential anomalies while maintaining optimal contact between the probe and surface tissue. Such problems are often solved by inferring notional \emph{rewards} that, when optimised for, result in a plan that mimics demonstrations. A pivotal assumption, that plans with higher reward should be exponentially more likely, leads to the de facto approach for reward inference in robotics. While this approach of maximum entropy inverse reinforcement learning leads to a general and elegant formulation, it struggles to cope with frequently encountered sub-optimal demonstrations. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach to cope with the class of problems where sub-optimal demonstrations occur frequently. We hypothesise that, in tasks which require discovery, successive states of any demonstration are progressively more likely to be associated with a higher reward. We formalise this \emph{temporal ranking} approach and show that it improves upon maximum-entropy approaches to perform reward inference for autonomous ultrasound scanning, a novel application of learning from demonstration in medical imaging.
A Comparative Analysis of Reinforcement Learning Applied to Task-Space Reaching With a Robotic Manipulator With and Without Gravity Compensation

OF THESIS A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF REINFORCEMENT LEARNING APPLIED TO TASK-SPACE REACHING WITH A ROBOTIC MANIPULATOR WITH AND WITHOUT GRAVITY COMPENSATION Advances in computing power in recent years have facilitated developments in autonomous robotic systems. These robotic systems can be used in prosthetic limbs, wearhouse packaging and sorting, assembly line production, as well as many other applications. Designing these autonomous systems typically requires robotic system and world models (for classical control based strategies) or time consuming and computationally expensive training (for learning based strategies). Often these requirements are difficult to fulfill. There are ways to combine classical control and learning based strategies that can mitigate both requirements. One of these ways is to use a gravity compensated torque control with reinforcement learning (RL). We present an analysis of torque control with and without gravity compensation when coupled with RL in a reaching task using a simulated seven-degree-of-freedom robotic arm. The results of our experiments demonstrate that gravity compensation coupled with RL (while requiring that only the gravity vector be modeled) reduces the training required in some (but not all) reaching tasks. Specifically, the benefits of training with gravity compensated torque control appear to be contingent on goal location. We show that when the goal location is high, gravity compensation has a grater advantage while with a low goal location gravity compensation has less advantage or has a disadvantage in training.
Non-local memory-dependent heat conduction in a magneto-thermoelastic problem

In the present analysis, the non-local behavior during thermal lagging is studied to accommodate the effect of the thermomass for a piezoelastic half-space due to the influence of magnetic field in the context of dual-phase-lag model of generalized thermoelasticity, defined in an integral form of a common derivative on a slipping interval. Simultaneous existence of the nonlocality (in space) and lagging (in time) behaviors give rise to a new type of thermal waves, which can be of major significance. In the current analysis, Danilovskaya's problem has been solved in which, the thermal shock is employed on the boundary of the half-space, which is traction-free. Employing the Laplace transform, the problem has been solved and the solution in the space-time domain is achieved on applying Riemann-sum approximation technique. According to the graphical representations corresponding to the numerical results, conclusions about the new theory is constructed. Several graphical representations are shown to analyze the effects of different parameters and to mark the variation of this non-local model with previously existing models. Excellent predictive capability is demonstrated due to the presence of magnetic filed, memory-dependent derivative, the electric displacement and time-delay parameter, and the effect of correlating length is also reported.
Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 mediates collagen deposition in experimental glomerulonephritis by transforming growth factor-β

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 mediates collagen deposition in experimental glomerulonephritis by transforming growth factor-βbgr;. Background Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) plays a significant role in the recruitment of monocytes/macrophages in experimental glomerulonephritis (GN). Because recent evidence points to possible profibrogenic effects of leukocyte-derived factors in GN, this study was designed to evaluate the role of the chemokine MCP-1 in the fibrogenesis of experimental GN. Methods Rats with an anti-thy-1–induced GN were treated with a neutralizing antiserum against MCP-1. Glomerular collagen type IV, as a marker of glomerular matrix deposition, was assessed by Northern and Western blotting and immunohistology. Transforming growth factor-βbgr; (TGF-βbgr;), an important mediator of this matrix expansion, was studied by Northern and Western blotting. Results The induction of GN resulted in a significant increase of glomerular collagen type IV deposition and TGF-βbgr; synthesis. The neutralization of MCP-1 significantly reduced the enhanced collagen type IV protein synthesis and deposition without affecting collagen mRNA expression. However, both the enhanced transcription and protein synthesis of TGF-βbgr; were inhibited by anti–MCP-1 antiserum in nephritic animals. Conclusions In this model of GN, MCP-1 has a fibrogenic effect through the stimulation of TGF-βbgr;. MCP-1 is thus not only important for the recruitment of inflammatory cells, but also mediates glomerular matrix accumulation.
LE-OLSR protocol performance evaluation in various energy conditionsof mobile Ad-hoc and sensor wireless networks

A mobile Ad hoc and sensor wireless network commonly includes various mobile devices and sensors with limited resources. In such network, energy constraint and link stability are the most critical parameters to take into consideration when deploying routing mechanisms, to assure reliable communication between nodes.These requirements are due to the network scalability and the absence of a fixed infrastructure, which may cause a rapid depletion of the nodes batteries and leads onto network link breakages. LE-OLSR (Lifetime Enhancement - Optimized Link State Protocol) is a variant of the existing OLSR. This latter is widely used as routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc and wireless sensor networks. LE-OLSR implements a new load balancing algorithm; it takes into account energy constraints of a node when selecting routers, responsible for forwarding data packets over the entire network. The aim of our work is to study and simulate the LE-OLSR protocol behavior in realistic mobile environments, including scenarios with various residual energy constraints schemes. The performed simulations had shown that LE-OLSR performances decrease compared to the case of ideal mobile network. Nevertheless, LE-OLSR had shown persistence and fair results in the realistic environment.The obtained results show that LE-OLSR protocol is an adequate and a prime solution for dense mobile ad hoc networks.
Maternal Inheritance of U’s Triangle and Evolutionary Process of Brassica Mitochondrial Genomes

The sequences and genomic structures of plant mitochondrial (mt) genomes provide unique material for phylogenetic studies. The nature of uniparental inheritance renders an advantage when utilizing mt genomes for determining the parental sources of hybridized taxa. In this study, a concatenated matrix of mt genes was used to infer the phylogenetic relationships of six cultivated Brassica taxa and explore the maternal origins of three allotetraploids. The well-resolved sister relationships between two pairs of diploid and allotetraploid taxa suggest that Brassica carinata (car) possessed a maternal origin from Brassica nigra, while Brassica juncea (jun) was maternally derived from Brassica rapa (cam). Another allotetraploid taxon, Brassica napus (cv. Wester) may have been maternally derived from the common ancestor of B. rapa and Brassica oleracea (ole), and/or have undergone (an) extra hybridization event(s) along its evolutionary history. The characteristics of Brassica mt genomic structures also supported the phylogenetic results. Sinapis arvensis was nested inside the Brassica species, sister to the B. nigra–B. carinata lineage, and possessed an mt genome structure that mostly resembled B. nigra. Collectively, the evidence supported a systematic revision that placed S. arvensis within Brassica. Finally, ancestral mt genomes at each evolutionary node of Brassica were reconstructed, and the detailed and dynamic evolution of Brassica mt genomes was successfully reproduced. The mt genome of B. nigra structurally resembled that of the Brassica ancestor the most, with only one reversion of a block, and the Brassica oleracea underwent the most drastic changes. These findings suggested that repeat-mediated recombinations were largely responsible for the observed structural variations in the evolutionary history of Brassica mt genomes.
Isolation of Arsenic Resistant and Arsenopyrite Oxidizing Acidithiobacillus Species from pH Neutral Colombian Mine Effluents

Abstract Inactive mines provide a great source of bacterial diversity for studying acidophilic communities and their biotechnological applications, but prospecting of these anthropogenic environments in Colombia has been limited. Conventional microbiological methods were used to isolate acidophilic bacterial strains from effluents emanating from the Colombian gold mine ‘El Zancudo’ (Titiribí, Antioquia). Despite the drainage waters having circumneutral pH, all of the isolated strains were phylogenetically related to the extreme acidophile Acidithiobacillus genus. However, based upon 16S rRNA gene sequences the mesophilic sulfur-oxidizing indigenous strains could not be assigned to a species. Pure cultures were selected by screening in medium with soluble inorganic arsenic (III) and their mineral-oxidative activity was evaluated at 30 °C in Erlenmeyer flasks with arsenopyrite ore under rotary shaking conditions. The indigenous strains were able to catalyze arsenopyrite oxidation in a mixed culture with a pulp density of 10%, maintaining their growth in the presence of >80 mM leached arsenic. This research provides information regarding the isolation of arsenic resistant bacterial communities from neutral effluents from El Zancudo mine and the possibility of the isolated strains to be useful in the biooxidation pretreatment of refractory gold-bearing arsenopyrite ores and concentrates.
Joint Channel Estimation and Data Rate Maximization for Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Terahertz MIMO Communication Systems

Terahertz (THz) communications recently attract significant attention and become an emerging technology pillar for sixth generation (6G) wireless systems. Due to the serious path attenuation of THz signals, THz communication is applicable for the short-distance indoor scenarios. However, the THz waves are easily blocked by obstacles, leading to a communication interruption. To this end, an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), which interacts with incident THz waves in a controlled manner by adjusting the discrete phase shifts of the IRS elements, is considered as a promising technology to mitigate blockage vulnerability and enhance coverage capability for indoor scenarios. In light of graphene-enabled hardware structure of an IRS, the IRS-assisted THz multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system model is developed. Moreover, an iterative atom pruning based subspace pursuit (IAP-SP) scheme is developed for channel estimation. Compared to the classical subspace pursuit (SP) scheme, the proposed IAP-SP algorithm can substantially reduce the computational complexity while maintaining accurate channel recovery. With the estimated channel, a data rate maximization problem is formulated, which can be converted to a discrete phase shift search problem. The exhaustive search method is firstly proposed to obtain the optimal transmission rate but endure extremely high computational burden. Then, a local search method is proposed to decrease the number of possible discrete phase candidates of IRS while undergoes obvious performance loss. Interestingly, a novel feedforward fully connected structure based deep neural network (DNN) scheme is put forward, which has the ability to learn how to output the optimal phase shift configurations by inputting the features of estimated channel. Simulation results demonstrate that, in contrast with the exhaustive search scheme and the local search scheme, the proposed DNN-based scheme achieves a near-optimal communication rate performance. Meanwhile, the DNN-based scheme enormously alleviates the computational complexity and allows for dynamic parameter adaption in rapid-varying channel conditions.
A Transient-Enhanced Output-Capacitorless LDO With Fast Local Loop and Overshoot Detection

An output-capacitorless low-dropout regulator (OCL-LDO) with simple structure and fast transient response is proposed for system-on-chip (SoC) applications. A super source follower is inserted into a cascoded flipped voltage follower to drive the power transistor, which forms a fast-local loop for quick turn-on. A robust overshoot detection circuit consuming only leakage current is proposed for fast turn-off. The combination of these two techniques significantly reduce the overshoot/undershoot voltages and achieve fast settling time during load steps. A simple yet effective additional turn-around stage is added in the error amplifier to improve the positive phase slew rate for potential dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) function in battery-operated systems. The LDO is implemented in a 65 nm CMOS process and it can deliver a 20 mA load current with 0.9 V regulated output and 150 mV dropout voltage. It occupies an active area of 0.01 mm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\mathbf {2}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and can work stably in a load range from 0 to 20 mA with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$65~\mu \text{A}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> quiescent current. The measured results show a settling time about 100 ns for load steps from <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$100~\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula> A to 20 mA as well as V<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\mathbf {REF}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and V<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$_{\mathbf {IN}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> steps.
Leaf tissues degradation of signalgrass hay pretreated with urea and submitted to in vitro digestion

An experiment using signalgrass hay treated with increasing urea levels (0, 20, 40, and 80 g/kg of dry matter), and submitted to in vitro digestion times (0, 6, 12, 24 or 72 hours) was conducted to evaluate the effects of ammoniation rates and digestion times on leaf blade tissue degradation. A completely randomized design with a 4 × 5 factorial treatment arrangement, with three replicates was used. Data were submitted to multivariate analysis. Urea-treated hay presented smaller proportion of remaining tissues measured in leaf blades cross-sections after in vitro digestion. Tissues more affected by urea treatment degradation were parenchyma bundle sheath and sclerenchyma. The hay treated with 80 g urea/kg DM and in vitro digested for 24 or 72 hours showed smallest proportion of tissues with thick and lignified cell walls such as parenchyma bundle sheath and sclerenchyma. The treatment with urea also reduced the time necessary to tissue degradation. The urea-treated hay in vitro digested for 12 hours, showed the same tissue proportion found in untreated hay submitted to 24 or 72 hours of in vitro digestion. The epidermis and lignified vascular tissue showed the smallest degradation following in vitro digestion. Results indicated that treatment of signalgrass hay with urea contributed to cell wall structure disruption, enhancement of tissues microbial degradation and reduction of the time necessary to digestion.
Geographic and seasonal distribution of a little-known Brazilian endemic rail (Aramides mangle) inferred from ocurrence records and ecological niche modeling

ABSTRACT Regional, intratropical avian migrations have rarely been studied. Here, we employ an occurrence records review and ecological niche modeling tools to test the hypothesis that an understudied Neotropical bird, the Little Wood-Rail (Aramides mangle, Rallidae), seasonally migrates between the humid Atlantic coast and the dry Caatinga biome of interior northeastern Brazil. We divided records geographically between coastal and inland, and temporally between wet/breeding and dry/non-breeding seasons. Coastal records peak when inland records are fewest and vice-versa, and independence between season and region in which records were made was statistically rejected. However, ecological niche modeling shows that coastal regions are suitable habitats for A. mangle year-round, and models built with records from each season were considered statistically equivalent. It seems that this species neither performs erratic, unpredictable movements nor typical avian “to-and-fro” migration. Instead, it undergoes periodical expansion of its range and ecological niche to include the Caatinga, where it breeds, in addition to the coast. It might be counterintuitive that a species can occupy two seemingly so disparate habitats, but rails in general are known to be very adaptable and have wide ecological niches. Further study is needed in order to understand the exact nature of this species' movements and the life-cycle of individual birds. But given that most studies of avian movements have focused on temperate species, it is likely that common models of avian migratory behavior will not easily apply to A. mangle nor to other Neotropical species.
Fructan biosynthesis in excised leaves of Lolium temulentum L.: V. Enzymatic de novo synthesis of large fructans from sucrose.

Leaves of Lolium temulentum L. were induced to accumulate fructan by excision and continuous illumination. Enzyme extracts were prepared and protein was concentrated by precipitation with ammonium sulphate at 100% saturation. The preparation was incubated at a protein concentration equivalent to 3-4 g f.wt of tissue cm-3 with sucrose at an initial concentration of 400 mol-3 . The preparation catalyzed the synthesis of large fructans of apparent degree of polymerization (DP) ⩽20, based upon comparison with the chromatographic mobilities of oligoinulins on thin-layer chromatography (TLC). The products were formed at a rate approximating to rates of fructan accumulation in leaf tissue. The overall pattern of in vitro products, when separated on TLC, resembled that of the native leaf fructans though the relative abundances of some of the products differed from the in vivo pattern. The reaction did not catalyze the formation of the high molecular weight fructans (Mr > 3 kDa; DP > 20) characteristic of this tissue. Equivalent protein preparations derived from uninduced leaves exhibited negligible rates of fructan synthesis. Feeding cycloheximide to leaves prevented fructan synthesis both by the tissue and by protein extracts. Cycloheximide did not directly inhibit in vitro fructan synthesis, suggesting that its in vivo effect was at the translational level. The characteristics of the in vitro reaction are compared with the properties of in vivo fructan synthesis and are discussed with respect to its possible physiological relevance.
Revisiting the unholy alliance of health-care operations: payor–provider integration of occupational health services

PurposeTo investigate the effects of payor–provider integration on the operational performance of health service provision. The research explores whether integration governs agency problems and tilts the incentives of diverse actors toward more systematic outcomes.Design/methodology/approachA two stage multimethod case study of occupational health services. A qualitative stage aimed to understand the reasons, mechanisms, and outcomes of payor–provider integration. A quantitative stage evaluated the performance of the integrated hospital against fee-for-service partner hospitals with a sample of 2,726 patients.FindingsPayor–provider integration mitigates agency problems on multiple levels of the service system by complementing formal governance mechanisms with informal mechanisms. Compared to partner hospitals, the integrated hospital yielded 9% lower the total costs of occupational injuries achieved primarily by emphasizing conservative care and faster recovery.Research limitations/implicationsFocuses on occupational health services in Finland. Provides initial evidence of the effects of payor–provider integration on the operational performance.Practical implicationsVertical integration may provide systematic outcomes but requires mindful implementation of multiple mechanisms. Rigorous change management initiative is advised.Social implicationsFor patients, the research shows payor–provider integration of health services can be implemented in a manner that it reduces care costs while not compromising care quality and customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study provides a rare longitudinal analysis of payor–provider integration in health-care operations management. The study adds to the knowledge of operational performance improvement of health services.