Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implementation of the Multiplierless Parallel Multiprocessor Interpolating Filter

— A fast processing approach is presented to convert the digital data gathered at lower sampling-rate into high sampling rate by utilizing the sampling rate changes algorithms using interpolation. A high speed low complexity interpolation filter is implemented at a very low hardware cost using the polyphase form, distributed arithmetic and lookup-tables. The proposed algorithm is used to processes the input data in parallel using a few shift and add operations, which make it very fast. The method allows for the multiplication of the original information stored during digitization of the analog signal at lower computational cost. Therefore, it is an interesting alternative for more sophisticated methods of performance enhancement of sampled analogue signals.
The effects of demand planning on the negative consequences of operational risk in supply chains

Background: Although extant studies have highlighted the importance of specific demand planning practices in risk mitigation, there is a scarcity of research that shows the simultaneous effects of demand planning practices on the disruptions induced by operational risks in supply chains. In order to reduce this gap, this paper aims to explore the impact of the demand planning process on operational risk, and thereby reveal if operational risk factors and their negative consequences may be mitigated through the application of specific demand planning practices in supply chains. Methods: The study involves two stages of multivariate statistical analysis. In stage one, independent and dependent variables are reduced through factor analysis in order to highlight the main, underlying, multi-item factors. In the second stage of the study, a multiple regression analysis is conducted to compare the general contribution to variance in operational risk accounted for by demand planning practices and their combinations. The conducted analysis provided regression models for particular operational risks. Results: The study reveals that all activities in the demand planning process contribute more or less to lower operational risk in the examined supply chains. In particular, there are strong relationships between demand planning practices and both control and demand risks. On the other hand, the lesser effects of demand planning may be observed in process and supply risks. Conclusions: The study shows that different managerial instruments, which are not inherently dedicated to risk management, when appropriately applied, may have an indirect impact on the mitigation of supply chain risk. In particular, the concept of demand planning might be very helpful for managers when dealing with demand and control risks.
User Satisfaction without Task Completion

Figure 1 presents an interesting result. We implemented a spoken dialog system that provided directory assistance, gave some subjects a set of tasks to do using the system, and then measured their user satisfaction with a standard HCI tool. We then gave the system some ‘social intelligence’ and re-ran the trial with the same tasks and with subjects from the same population. The graph shows a result that is not only significant (0.95) but also dramatic in that the experience was generally seen as positive, contrasting with the reaction to the control case and with popular opinion of IVR systems in general. A good result but, more importantly, note the experimental system did not work any better. The tasks were chosen such that only 20% were achievable no matter how good the interface. It seems better user satisfaction can be attained without making the system work better.
The effects of water table manipulation and elevated temperature on the net CO2 flux of wet sedge tundra ecosystems

In situ manipulations were conducted in a naturally drained lake on the arctic coastal plain near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (70 °21.98′ N, 148 °33.72′ W) to assess the potential short‐term effects of decreased water table and elevated temperature on net ecosystem CO2 flux. The experiments were conducted over a 2‐year period, and during that time, water table depth of drained plots was maintained on average 7 cm lower than the ambient water table, and surface temperatures of plots exposed to elevated temperature were increased on average 0.5 °C. Water table drainage, and to a lesser extent elevated temperature, resulted in significant increases in ecosystem respiration (ER) rates, and only small and variable changes in gross ecosystem productivity (GEP). As a result, drained plots were net sources of ≈ 40 gC m–2 season–1 over both years of manipulation, while control plots were net sinks of atmospheric CO2 of about 10 gC m–2 season–1 (growing season length was an estimated 125 days). Control plots exposed to elevated temperatures accumulated slightly more carbon than control plots exposed to ambient temperatures. The direct effects of elevated temperature on net CO2 flux, ER, and GEP were small, however, elevated temperature appeared to interact with drainage to exacerbate the amount of net carbon loss. These data suggest that many currently saturated or nearly saturated wet sedge ecosystems of the north slope of Alaska may become significant sources of CO2 to the atmosphere if climate change predictions of increased evapotranspiration and reduced soil water status are realized. There is ample evidence that this may be already occurring in arctic Alaska, as a change in net carbon balance has been observed for both tussock and wet‐sedge tundra ecosystems over the last 2–3 decades, which coincides with a recent increase in surface temperature and an associated decrease in soil water content. In contrast, if precipitation increases relatively more than evapotranspiration, then increases in soil moisture content will likely result in greater carbon accumulation.
Measuring Various Biochemical Concentration Using Micro-Ball Lens Probe

A simple sensor design is proposed and demonstrated using polymeric micro ball-lens (MBL) at the cleaved tip of microfiber couple (MFC) for detection of different concentration of biochemical solutions. A beaker with a mirror attached to it was used to contain the biochemical with various concentrations. The MBL probe is fixed perpendicular to a flat mirror which is placed at the bottom of the biochemical container at a fixed distance of 1.3 mm throughout the experiment. The micro-ball lens was first immersed in deionized water to measure the output voltage of a 0 ppm solution concentration, followed by glucose, sodium chloride, and uric acid solution with concentrations vary from 100 to 500 ppm. The sensitivity of the sensor to the glucose solution is 0.011 dB / ppm and the slope shows a good linearity of more than 99%. For the sodium chloride and uric acid solution, the sensitivity of the sensor is 0.010 dB/ppm and 0.020 dB /ppm respectively.
Social structure of the declining resident community of common bottlenose dolphins in the Sado Estuary, Portugal

The resident population of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Sado Estuary, Portugal, has been declining at least during the past three decades. A complete photographic census produced a current count of 24 animals—19 adults, three subadults and two calves. It appears to be phylopatric and essentially closed, but given the likely importance that exchanges with neighbouring coastal groups may play, even if rare, the most adequate term to define this dolphin should be community and not population. Large groups with all age-classes are common in the community, possibly as a calf and subadult protection strategy, and this may be related to the fact that these age-classes have had high mortality rates in the last decade. Maternity of two calves was determined, and we found that the two mothers adopted different parenting strategies. While one mother spent more time alone with her calf, the other mother spent more time with her calf in larger groups. The average coefficient of association for this community is 0.45, quite high for this species. Associations and typical group size are similar between all individuals, with no patterning according to age-class or sex, which constitutes an atypical trait for dolphin societies. There are also no clear divisions in this community according to cluster analysis. Associations are preferred and long term, lasting approximately 34 days and fitting a pattern of casual acquaintances, where individuals associate for a period of time, disassociate and may reassociate after that. This reflects the fission–fusion character of the community, but in a more stable manner. We think this is caused by a combination of demographic characteristics and a stable and productive environment, which led to a decrease in competition between individuals.
Electrical Characterization of Concrete Using the Parallel Plate Capacitor Method

─ This article describes the measurement of the complex dielectric constant of pure concrete and a brick wall, in the frequency range up to 2 MHz, with a view towards more accurate material description in electromagnetic simulations. The measurement system is based on the use of the materials under test as the dielectric material placed inside a parallel plate capacitor, in series with an external known fixed resistor. The theory behind the measurement is covered, and the results of both real and imaginary relative dielectric constants for both materials are presented. Finally, an electromagnetic simulation showing the shielding effectiveness of a hollow box made of a brick wall is presented, using the measured data in comparison with data from a commercial simulator database. Index Terms ─ Electromagnetic compatibility, materials testing, numerical simulation, shielding.
Implementation of a National Marshbird Monitoring Program: Using Wisconsin as a Test of Program Study Design

Largely because of their secretive behavior and difficult-to-access habitats, marshbirds such as rails, bitterns, coots, and grebes are among the most poorly monitored bird groups in North America. Yet many species are of high conservation concern (e.g. American Bittern, King Rail, Yellow Rail), some are harvested (e.g. Sora, Virginia Rail, Wilson’s Snipe), and most are thought to be excellent indicators of wetland ecosystem quality (Conway 2009). Hence more information on their population status, trends, and habitat associations is greatly needed.
PWM CONTROL FOR HYBRID CLAMPED MULTILEVEL INVERTERS

A hybrid clamped multilevel inverter topology comprising active and passive clamping devices is presented in this paper. In this topology, the dc-link capacitor voltages can be balanced without additional circuitry or separated dc voltage sources, regardless of load characteristics. It can be used in real and reactive power conversion applications. The topology structure, operating principle and self-voltage balancing ability are analyzed. The PWM control method called higher and lower carrier cells alternative phase opposition PWM (HLCCAPOPWM) is employed for the hybrid-clamped multilevel inverter and it is based on the improvement of carrier phase disposition PWM (PDPWM). In this paper, the generated triangular carrier cells are made to have opposite phases with its neighbor carrier cells by 180 ̊. This method can effectively reduce the number of devices switching on or off within broad modulation index range, consequently reducing switching losses, and remarkably reduce the amplitude of lower harmonics. Simulation results of five-level inverter are also
Ethical issues in text mining for mental health

There is little doubt that we are in the midst of such a technological revolution in the psychological sciences today, given the convergence of massive amounts of readily available data and rapid advances in computational tools and methods. We agree with Moor that as the social impact of this revolution increases, ethical issues will become more varied and more pressing. One of the areas where this is most apparent, and thus, the focus of the present chapter, is the intersection of text mining and mental health. Indeed, a recent systematic review of Machine Learning (ML) approaches to health data, containing over 100 studies, found that the most investigated problem was mental health (Yin et al., 2019). Relatedly, recent estimates suggest that between 165,000 and 325,000 health and wellness apps are now commercially available, with over 10,000 of those designed specifically for mental health (Carlo et al., 2019). The American Psychiatric Association has even developed rating systems and evaluation models for these apps (APA, 2019).
Exploring the Use of Random Indexing for Retrieving Information

This report evaluates representations for documents for the purpose of searching textual corpora. These representations include novel proposals that do and do not incorporate textual structure through the use of holographic reduced representations (HRRs) which can encode relations between words (i.e. noun phrases, subject-verb, object-verb, and adverb-verb). A main focus is on documents that are indexed using random indexing, which uses co-occurrence information among words to generate semantic context vectors. Relations are then extracted from the text, encoded using HRRs, and added together to form the corresponding document vector. We show that this representation can be successfully used in information retrieval, and reduces the dimensionality of the traditional vector model. Unfortunately, it does not perform to the level of standard bag-of-words (BoW) methods. However, a simpler representation that uses only index vectors performs as well as BoW.
UNDERSTANDING INEQUALITY AND POVERTY TRENDS IN RUSSIA

The distribution of income in Russia changed significantly over the past 20 years. We observe an overall decrease of inequality, poverty and increase in levels of income. In this paper, we address the question of what factors were responsible for the fall in inequality and poverty during the last decide in the Russian Federation. We observe that the evolution of sociodemographic characteristics together with labour market employment had no impact on inequality and poverty. Changes in market returns, earnings and pensions, are the main drivers of changes in income distribution. Falling inequality and poverty is the result of decrease in dispersion of earnings and increase in levels of pensions at the lower part of income distribution.
Tolerance and Efficacy of a Probiotic Supplement Delivered in Capsule Form

Probiotic supplementation may promote a healthy microbiome, alleviate diarrhea and constipation, and improve some metabolic parameters. Bacillus subtilis, used in fermentation of some foods, may also be tolerated and effective in a concentrated supplement form. Forty healthy male and female adults (23 ± 3.9 years of age) were randomly assigned, in a double‐blind placebo‐controlled trial, to probiotic (approximately 1.9 x 109 CFU/capsule) or placebo groups for an average of 20 days. Subjects were instructed to maintain their usual diet and activity levels over the course of the study. Fecal and fasted serum samples were collected before and after capsule consumption. Dietary and daily bowel movement (BM) frequency and consistency records were reported by subjects. Fecal DNA was subject to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real‐time PCR (qPCR) for microbial detection and quantification. Metabolic, lipid, and C reactive protein levels remained within normal ranges from pre‐ to post‐ capsule consumption, however serum glucose was significantly reduced in the probiotic group (91.0 to 85.9 mg/dL, α 蠄 0.05; P = 0.012). A significant increase in average number of BMs reported per day was seen in the placebo group (α 蠄 0.05; P = 0.015). No significant differences in fecal microbe content were seen in qPCR analysis, though some trends were indicated with qPCR and fecal plate count analyses. Daily consumption of B. subtilis was well tolerated and may be effective as a supplement for those with glucose intolerance and diabetes, and promote regularity of bowel movements. Limitations of the study included lack of dietary and alcohol intake control and an inadequate number of fecal subsamples for follow‐up analyses. This study was funded by Deerland Enzymes Inc.
Colonization, Growth, and Density of a Pioneer Cooper's Hawk Population in a Large Metropolitan Environment

Abstract Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) have recently colonized many urban landscapes across North America, but data on breeding densities and trends in densities of these populations are lacking. We surveyed for woodland raptors throughout approximately 1000 km2 in the metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area over a 21-yr period, 1988–2008. We documented the natural colonization of this urban landscape by a pioneer Cooper's Hawk population and its subsequent growth from 1993–2008 (4 to 41 laying pairs, 4 to 55 occupied sites). Nearest-nest distances decreased and the number of Cooper's Hawk laying pairs increased while nesting surveys remained consistent temporally and spatially, indicating that density of breeding pairs was increasing in the metropolitan Milwaukee area. Approximately 15 yr after initial colonization, the breeding density of Cooper's Hawks in some localized areas averaged one laying pair per 330 ha (range: 68–587 ha). From 1996–2008, as breeding density increased, average annual productivity (number of young/laying pair) for Cooper's Hawks in Milwaukee County, a subset of the overall larger metropolitan study area, also increased. During the early years of colonization, a relatively high proportion of individuals or pairs of birds appeared to occupy nest sites but did not breed. Younger birds may have played a role in the colonization of this urban landscape. This population was likely increasing at a relatively rapid rate during the late 1990s and continued to increase throughout the remainder of our study.
Drifting away: implications of changes in ice conditions for a pack-ice-breeding phocid, the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus)

Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erxleben, 1777)) required drifting pack-ice for birth, nursing, and as a resting platform for neonates after weaning. Data on the yearly location of whelping patches in the Gulf of St. Lawrence collected between 1977 and 2011 were combined with ice cover data (thickness and duration) to examine whether female harp seals actively select particular ice features as a breeding platform and to describe how these ice features have varied over the last 40 years at three spatial scales: the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence, the southern gulf, and the “traditional whelping area” within the southern Gulf. From our analyses, harp seals prefer the thickest ice stages available in the Gulf: grey–white and first-year ice. Lower than normal ice coverage years were more frequent for the required grey–white and first-year ice than for the total ice cover and less frequent at the “traditional whelping area” scale close to the northwestern coast of the Magdalen Islands than at the Gulf of St.
Investigation of the effect of selenium on growth, antioxidant capacity and secondary metabolites in Melissa officinalis

Melissa officinalis is a plant of Lamiaceae family with medicinal properties which is important for its aromatic, synthetic, and secondary metabolites. The aim of this research was to study the effect of selenium on secondary metabolites and antioxidant properties of Melissa officinalis. For this purpose, an experiment was done in a completely randomized design with four replications. The plants were treated with selenium (0, 0.2., and 5 µM). The experimental factors included root and shoot fresh and dry weights, protein contents, ascorbic acid, enzymes (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase), peroxide hydrogen, caryophyllene, and caryophyllene oxide. Results showed that application of selenium had positive effects on the wet weight of shoots and roots, dried weight of roots, and ascorbic acid, protein, enzyme (catalase, ascorbate peroxidase), peroxide hydrogen, caryophyllene, and caryophyllene oxide contents of the plants under study (p≤0.05). Also, high concentration of selenium (5 µM) lead to increased z-citral, citral, and geranyl acetate contents of Melissa officinalis essential oils while caryophyllene oxide content increased as a result of low concentration (0.2 µM). Therefore, application of selenium is concluded to play an effective role in increasing secondary metabolites in Melissa officinalis. In general, the study suggests that low concentration of selenium increases the growth of Melissa officinalis plants and improves their growth factors and morphology.
Biodiversity change is scale-dependent: an example from Dutch and UK hoverflies (Diptera, Syrphidae)

We test whether temporal change in species richness (ΔS [%]) is scale-dependent, using data on hoverflies from the UK and the Netherlands. We analysed ΔS between pre-1980 and post-1980 periods using 5 grid resolutions (10×10, 20×20, 40×40, 80×80 and 160×160 km). We also tested the effect of data quality and of unequal survey periods on ΔS estimates, and checked for spatial autocorrelation of ΔS estimates. Using data from equal survey periods, we found significant increases in hoverfly species richness in the Netherlands at fine scales, but no significant change at coarser scales indicating a decrease in beta diversity. In the UK, ΔS was negative at fine scale, near zero at intermediate scales, and positive at coarse scales, indicating that the degree of spatial beta diversity increased between the time periods. The use of unequal survey periods (using longer periods in the past to compensate for lower survey intensity) tended to inflate past species richness, biasing ΔS estimates downwards. High data quality thresholds sometimes obscured dynamics by reducing sample size, but never reversed trends. There was little spatial autocorrelation of ΔS, implying that local drivers (land use change or environmental noise) are important in dynamics of hoverfly diversity. A second, sample agglomeration approach to measure scaling resulted in greater noise in ΔS, obscuring the NL pattern, while still showing strong evidence of fine-scale richness loss in the UK. Our results indicate that explicit considerations of spatial (and temporal) scale are essential in studies documenting past biodiversity change, or projecting change into the future.
HIBISCUS SABDARIFFA L A RICH SOURCE OF SECONDARY METABOLITES Research Article

Hibiscus sabdariffa is known for delicacy and also for medicinal properties. The present paper deals to study the phytochemical screening of Hibiscus sabdariffa for various medicinally important compounds and their quantification. In the present investigation it was found that phenols, alkaloids, tannins, flavanoids, Saponin are present in leaves, stem and root of the plant. TLC analysis also confirmed these results. Quantitative analysis of stem leaves and root shows best results in which phenolics have been found to be present more in leaf of the plant. However, alkaloids are present in all parts of the plant.