Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Systematic Comparison of Biosurfactant Effects on Physicochemical Properties and Growth Rates of P. aeruginosa MM1011 and TMU56: A Bioremediation Perspective

The main objective of this research was to focus on enhancing the substrate uptake rate of P. aeruginosa using various biosurfactants as well as carbon sources in the medium culture. While hexadecane and Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) were chosen as hydrophobic carbon sources, the effects of glucose on two strains of P. aeruginosa , MM1011 and TMU56, were evaluated. Two kinds of biosurfactants, including surfactin and rhamnolipid at higher and lower than the critical micelle concentrations were added into the medium. After that, the response of bacterium based on cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) was measured through the BATH assay. General full factorial technique was used to organize the experiments and analyze the effects of input factors on CSH. Although the both strains showed similar growth trend under conditions of different carbon sources, the order of affinity between the various substrates and the specific growth rates was as PCBs> glucose> nutrient broth> hexadecane. The analysis of variance showed that both type of carbon source and the biosurfactant had a significant effect on the CSH of P. aeruginosa TMU56. However, the P. aeruginosa MM1011 strain had no meaningful reaction in the presence of biosurfactant. High value of coefficient of determination (R 2 =0.95) indicated a good agreement between experimental data and predicted values by models. Moreover, SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that the variation in hydrophobicity was a result of fluctuation in the amount of major proteins on the bacteria cell wall. The significant effect of biosurfactant on the P. aeruginosa TMU56 at concentration under critical micelle point was related to the release of more outer membrane proteins (OMPs).
Automatic Interesting Object Extraction from Images based on Edge Information and Texture Analysis

Tracking moving objects in video sequence is an important problem in computer vision, with applications in several fields, such as video surveillance and target tracking. As the shadows attached along with the moving object also have the same motion that of objects, the detection of shadows as foreground objects is very common and produce large errors in object localization and recognition. This paper introduces an effective method which uses the edge information to detect moving cast shadows for traffic sequences. The proposed method initially removes the boundary of the cast shadow, preserving object’s interior edges. The coarse object shapes are then reconstructed using the object interior edges. Finally, the cast shadow is detected by subtracting the reconstructed moving object from the change detection mask. The method is implemented and tested using three benchmark videos. The efficiency of the proposed method is compared with five other popular shadow detection methods and the results proved its superiority over others. Keywords—Saliency region extraction; visual attention; visually impaired people; saliency map; saliency cut; image enhancement;
Statistical Testing of Randomness: New and Old Procedures

The study of randomness testing discussed in this chapter was motivated by attempts to assess the quality of different random number generators which have widespread use in encryption, scientific and applied computing, information transmission, engineering, and finance. The evaluation of the random nature of outputs produced by various generators has became vital for the communications and banking industries where digital signatures and key management are crucial for information processing and computer security. A number of classical empirical tests of randomness are reviewed in Knuth (1998). However, most of these tests may pass patently nonrandom sequences. The popular battery of tests for randomness, Diehard (Marsaglia 1996), demands fairly long strings (2 bits). A commercial product, called CRYPT-X, (Gustafson et al. 1994) includes some of tests for randomness. L’Ecuyer and Simard (2007) provide a suite of tests for the uniform (continuous) distribution. The Computer Security Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) initiated a study to assess the quality of different random number generators. The goal was to develop a novel battery of stringent procedures. The resulting suite (Rukhin et al, 2000) was successfully applied to pseudo-random binary sequences produced by current generators. This collection of tests was not designed to identify the best possible generator, but rather to provide a user with a characteristic that allows one to make an informed
Species sorting drives variation of boreal lake and river macrophyte communities

Metacommunity paradigms are increasingly studied to explain how environmental control and spatial patterns determine variation in community composition. However, the relative importance of these patterns on biological assemblages among different habitats is not well known. We investigated the relative roles of local, catchment and spatial variables based on overland and watercourse distances in explaining the variation of community structure of lake and river macrophytes in two large river basins at two spatial extents (within and across river basins). Partial redundancy analysis was used to explore the share of variability in macrophyte communities attributable to local environmental conditions, catchment land cover and space (generated with Principle Coordinates of Neighbour Matrices). We found that local variables had the highest effect on both lake and river macrophyte communities, followed by catchment variables. Space had no or only marginal influence on the community structure regardless of used distance measure. Total phosphorus, conductivity and turbidity of the local variables contributed most for lake macrophytes, whereas pH and color had largest independent contribution for variation in river macrophytes. Size of catchment area and proportion of lakes and agriculture were the most important catchment variables in both habitats. The strong importance of environmental control suggests that both lake and river macrophyte communities are structured by species sorting. This finding gives support to the validity of assessment systems based on the European Water Framework Directive.
Employing STEM Curriculum in an ESL Classroom: A Chinese Case Study

Mixed methods action research was undertaken in a grade 6 classroom in Shanghai, China to identify the challenges of implementing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curriculum in an English Second Language (ESL) classroom. The research has shown that while students are well-motivated to learn through a child-centred problem-based approach, the schooling context has measurable deterrents linked directly to an assessment driven system. It was further determined that the language barrier sometimes mitigated the use of higher-order terminology to promote critical thinking as defined by Bloom’s taxonomy.
Evaluation of a tool for Java structural specification checking

Although a number of tools for evaluating Java code functionality and style exist, little work has been done in a distance learning context on automated marking of Java programs with respect to structural specifications. Such automated checks support human markers in assessing students' work and evaluating their own marking; online automated marking; students checking code before submitting it for marking; and question setters evaluating the completeness of questions set. This project developed and evaluated a prototype tool that performs an automated check of a Java program's correctness with respect to a structural specification. Questionnaires and interviews were used to gather feedback on the usefulness of the tool as a marking aid to humans, and on its potential usefulness to students for self-assessment when working on their assignments. Markers were asked to compare the usefulness of structural specification testing as compared to other kinds of support, including syntax error assistance, style checking and functionality testing. Initial results suggest that most markers using the structural specification checking tool found it to be useful, and some reported that it increased their accuracy in marking. Reasons for not using the tool included lack of time and the simplicity of the assignment it was trialled on. Some reservations were expressed about reliance on tools for assessment, both for markers and for students. The need for advice on incorporating tools in marking workflow is suggested.
Knowledge Guided Multi-instance Multi-label Learning via Neural Networks in Medicines Prediction

Predicting medicines for patients with co-morbidity has long been recognized as a hard task due to complex dependencies between diseases and medicines. Eﬀorts have been made recently to build high-order dependency between diseases and medicines by extracting knowledge from electronic health records (EHR). But current works failed to utilize additional knowledge and ignored the data skewness problem which lead to sub-optimal combination of medicines. In this paper, we formulate the medicines prediction task in multi-instance multi-label learning framework considering the multi-diagnoses as input instances and multi-medicines as output labels. We propose a knowledge-guided multi-instance multi-label networks called KG-MIML-Net where two types of additional knowledge are incorporated into a RNN encoder-decoder model. The utilization of structural knowledge like clinical ontology provides a way to learn better representation called tree embedding by utilizing the ancestors’ information. Contextual knowledge is a global summarization of input instances which is informative for personal prediction. Experiments are conducted on a real world clinical dataset which showed the necessity to combine both contextual and structural knowledge and the KG-MIML-Net performs better than baselines up to 4+% in terms of Jaccard similarity score.
From a discrete to a continuous model for interpulse interference with a frequency-comb laser

We have investigated correlation patterns generated by a frequency-comb laser in a dispersive unbalanced Michelson interferometer and apply the developed formalism to the case of distance metrology. Due to group velocity dispersion, the position of the brightest fringe of the correlation pattern, which is used for distance determination, cannot be derived by simply using the definition of group refractive index of the dispersive medium. It is shown that the discrete spectrum of the optical frequency comb gives rise to correlation functions which can be represented by a series, namely a discrete correlation series. We have developed a general formalism, valid for any pulse train, extending the discrete model to a continuous model of cross-correlation functions using the Poisson summation. Our model is relevant for any offset and repetition frequency of the frequency comb. From the continuous cross-correlation model we show that, even for a homogeneous dispersive medium the position of the brightest fringe varies nonlinearly for small delay distances and stabilizes for longer ones. We have compared the theoretical results to measurements of pulse propagation in air for path-lengths up to 200 m.
Seascape and metacommunity processes regulate fish assemblage structure in coastal wetlands

Faunal complexity is an impediment to understanding the function of fragmented coastal wetlands. Conceiving faunal communities as part of a larger network of communities (or a metacommunity) helps to resolve this complexity by enabling simultaneous consideration of local environmental influences and 'regional' dispersal-driven processes. We assessed the role of local vs. regional factors on the fish assemblage structure of a wetland system comprising 20 tidal pools. In equivalent freshwater metacommunities, regional factors often override local influences, result- ing in patterns of nestedness among patches as species and individuals are progressively filtered out along gradients of isolation. While the tidal pool assemblage was primarily structured by regional processes, patterns deviated from freshwater systems, as 2 faunal groups exhibited con- trasting responses to tidal connectivity. A subset of typical estuary channel fauna was restricted to better connected pools at lower elevations, which connect to the estuary channel or other pools on most neap high tides. Frequent connections among these pools subsequently enabled sorting of species relative to preferred environmental condition (including depth and substrate). Contradict- ing models of nestedness, a distinct faunal group including salt marsh residents and juvenile marine-spawned taxa occurred in greater abundances in more isolated, higher elevation pools, which connect to the estuary channel or other pools only on larger spring high tides. These higher elevation pools represent a functionally unique seascape component, and colonisation by marine- spawned taxa seems to reflect an innate drive to ascend upstream gradients to access them. This illustrates how seemingly similar patches within coastal wetlands may perform considerably dif- ferent nursery functions because of their position in the landscape. Together, metacommunity and seascape frameworks offer complementary perspectives in understanding the role of spatial eco - logy in structuring coastal ecosystem function and productivity.
Gambling on the market : who buys the stock of bankrupt firms ?

This paper asks whether the stocks of bankrupt firms are correctly priced, and explores who trades the stocks of these firms, and why. Our sample consists of firms that enter into Chapter 11 and remain listed on the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ post-filing. We show that these stocks are heavily traded by retail investors who are also their main stockholders. We further document that these stocks have unique lottery-like characteristics, and that retail investors trade in such stocks as if they were gambling on the market. Buying and holding such securities leads, on average, to a negative realized abnormal return of at least -28% over the 12 months after the Chapter 11 filing. However, we find that arbitrageurs are not able to exploit this market-pricing anomaly due to implementation costs, and high attendant risks. We thus conclude that a combination of gambling-motivated trading by retail investors, and limits to arbitrage, seems to lead to the anomalous results we document. Our paper thus provides an answer to the FamaFrench recent question on their blog – “Bankrupt Firms: Who’s Buying? ”.
Stigma: A Contributing Factor to Depressive Symptoms in People with HIV Seeking Treatment at Gondar University Hospital

Stigma: A Contributing Factor to Depressive Symptoms in People with HIV Seeking Treatment at Gondar University Hospital Meheret M Endeshaw Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Research Assistant Professor, Deepa Rao Department of Global Health Introduction: Depression is the one of the most common mental health disorders that people with HIV experience, with some figures placing rates of depression among people with HIV as high as 50%. HIV related stigma has been associated with depressive symptoms in studies outside of Ethiopia. These studies have also shown that depressive symptoms and stigma lead to poor engagement to care and ultimately, poor health outcomes. This cross sectional study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between stigma of HIV/AIDS and depressive symptoms in Gondar, Ethiopia. Methods: Patients receiving routine antiretroviral treatment (ART) at Gondar University Hospital ART clinic were recruited to participate in the study. We interviewed 55 patients who presented for routine HIV care during the study period. We evaluated depressive symptoms and stigma of HIV/AIDS using standardized measures. Multiple regression was used to assess the relationship between depressive symptoms and HIV related stigma and gender. Results: Females made up 63.6% of study participants and males made up 36.4%. A large proportion of participants either had a 7-12 grade education (41.8%) or did not have any formal education (25%). The majority of participants (78%) reported experiencing stigma lately. Sixty percent of participants reported depressive symptoms ranging in severity from mild to moderately severe. We found that higher levels of HIV-related stigma were significantly associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (β = 0.464, p ≤ 0.001). However, gender was not associated with depressive symptoms (β = -0.027, p > 0.05).
L2 Writing Development and Tertiary Grade Level

Second language writing assessment is of great significance for second language researchers, teachers and learners. Studies of writing of different grade levels will provide detailed information about textual features in each grade and student’s writing development. In this study, a corpus of 124 second language writing texts (from freshmen to senior students) was used to find out the textual feature differences in terms of China’s English major students of the four grade levels based on the computational tool Coh-Metrix2.1. Results show that significant differences were found across the four tertiary grade levels in terms of a multiple indices such as basic textual features, cohesion, lexical sophistication, syntactic complexity, word frequency, readability as well as topic sentence-hood. However, not all linear patterns were shown in these indices across the four grade levels, some linear, some non-linear, and the period from the second year to the third year can be treated as a very important turning point that deserves our attention.
Exploring the Role of Natural Dynamics in Robotic Walking and Running

In order to achieve energetic economy, legged systems select different gaits at different speeds. We hypothesize that legged systems favor particular gaits because they take advantage of the underlying natural dynamics. In this work, we explore the role of those passive dynamics by comparing energetically optimal gaits of a nearly lossless bipedal robot model to its realistic counterpart. We find that the active model closely follows its underlying passive dynamics, even as losses and realistic mass distributions are introduced.
Optical Hall Effect of PV Device Materials

Electrical transport properties [carrier concentration (<italic>N</italic>), mobility (<italic>μ</italic>), effective mass (<italic>m</italic><sup>*</sup>), resistivity (<italic>ρ</italic>), and scattering time ( <italic>τ</italic>)] are deduced from free carrier optical absorption using noncontacting optical Hall effect measurements. Here, we use this technique to determine <italic>N</italic>, <italic>μ</italic>, and <italic>m </italic><sup>*</sup> for semiconductor absorber materials for photovoltaic (PV) devices. As case studies, PV component materials including thin-film methylammonium lead iodide, cadmium telluride, and copper indium diselenide as well as silicon wafers are characterized. Optical Hall effect measurements involve collecting long wavelength ellipsometric spectra under the application of an external magnetic field to determine <italic>N</italic> and <italic> μ</italic> for these thin films, and <italic>N</italic>, <italic>μ,</italic> and <italic>m</italic><sup>* </sup> for the silicon wafers. <italic>ρ</italic> and <italic>τ</italic> are also determined for each sample from <italic>N</italic>, <italic>μ</italic>, and <italic>m</italic><sup>*</sup> using the Drude model. In all cases, an additional transport parameter measurement is accessible relative to standard optical measurements alone even for the PV absorber materials having low free carrier absorption. As the technique is noncontacting, it could be very useful for the determination of transport properties of layers in complex multilayer stacks such as those in thin film and wafer-based PV devices.
FAST Diagrams : The Foundation for Creating Effective Function Models

Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) Diagrams have been around since 1965. They are a very useful tool to provide a graphical representation of how the various functions within a complex systems interact and interrelate to perform their primary function, and have been a mainstay in the Value Engineering community for over 40 years. This is a powerful tool that helps analyze the logical linkages between critical functions to promote a common understanding of how these complex systems work. As powerful as it is for the Value Management community, it is just the foundation for the building of useful and effective function models for the TRIZ community. This paper will provide instruction on how to build FAST Diagrams and integrate various enhancements to make them truly helpful in uncovering innovation opportunities.
Control of the boundary conditions of a dynamic knee simulator

At Ghent University a dynamic knee simulator to analyse the kinematics of a human knee has been developed. The rig is designed to perform tests on a mechanical hinge or on a human knee (with or without a prosthesis). The rig has one degree of freedom in a hip joint and four degrees of freedom in an ankle joint. There is currently one actuator that simulates the quadriceps forces. Two additional actuators are proposed in this paper to simulate the hamstrings forces. The magnitude and phase of the forces varies significantly during the movement (e.g. cycling or squatting). Literature indicates that the maximum muscle forces do not exceed 2000 N. An inverse dynamic analysis, using the musculoskeletal software AnyBody, is proposed to determine the evolution of these forces during the studied movements.
Faecal bacteria in Perna perna (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mollusca: Bivalvia) for biomonitoring coastal waters and seafood quality

O desenvolvimento urbano em areas costeiras e intenso e o aumento das descargas de esgoto e uma das consequencias. Assim, leis especificas que regulem limites para a contaminacao microbiologica das aguas e de alimentos de origem marinha sao necessarias. O objetivo deste estudo e avaliar a utilizacao de Enterococos e coliformes termotolerantes na carne de mexilhoes Perna perna como alternativa para o monitoramento da qualidade microbiologica de aguas costeiras. O estudo tambem considera relacoes alometricas aplicadas as taxas de "clearance" para entender a concentracao de bacterias pelo molusco. As densidades bacterianas obtidas no molusco foram de 50 a 4300 vezes maiores do que nas amostras de agua coletadas proximas dos moluscos e alguns foram considerados improprios para consumo, mesmo quando as aguas nao mostraram restricoes. A taxa de "clearance" media obtida para retencao de Enterococos foi 317.7 ml h-1 e essas taxas (CR) puderam ser relacionadas com o tamanho dos mexilhoes (L) pela equacao CR = 28.3229L1. 6421. Os resultados mostram que as densidades bacterianas nos tecidos dos mexilhoes podem refletir a contaminacao cronica do ambiente e que as taxas de "clearance" devem ser consideradas para a tomada de decisao em situacoes onde, por exemplo, se deseja implantar mexilhoes para cultivo.
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Psychosocial Factors at Work Among Healthcare Professionals

Aim: The study aims to examine the associations between leader–member exchange (LMX) and psychosocial factors at work. Methods: A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was undertaken at four units in two not-for-profit hospitals in southwestern Sweden. The study sample included 240 employees. Results: Significant correlations were found between LMX items and most of the psychosocial domains and dimensions. The strongest correlations were found between the LMX item affect and rewards/recognition, role clarity and predictability, and the LMX item loyalty and rewards/recognition. In sum, high-quality LMX was associated with good psychosocial work conditions experienced by the employees. Conclusions: The results support possible ways for managers and employees to strengthen their relationships and this may in turn lead to more sustainable systems in health care.