Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Harp Seals: Monitors of Change in Differing Ecosystems

Harp seals are the most abundant marine mammal in the north Atlantic. As an ice obligatory predator, they reflect changes in their environment, particularly during a period of climatic change. As the focus of a commercial hunt, a large historic data set exists that can be used to quantify changes. There are three populations of harp seals: White Sea/Barents Sea, Greenland Sea and Northwest Atlantic. The objective of this paper is to review their current status and to identify the factors that are influencing population dynamics in different areas. Although important historically, recent catches have been low and do not appear to be influencing trends in either of the two northeast Atlantic populations. Massive mortalities of White Sea/Barents Sea seals occurred during the mid 1980s due to collapses in their main prey species. Between 2004 and 2006, pup production in this population declined by 2/3 and has remained low. Body condition declined during the same period, suggesting that ecosystem changes may have resulted in reduced reproductive rates, possibly due to reduced prey availability and/or competition with Atlantic cod. The most recent estimate of pup production in the Greenland Sea also suggests a possible decline during a period of reduced hunting although the trend in this population is unclear. Pupping concentrations are closer to the Greenland coast due to the reduction in ice in the traditional area and increased drift may result in young being displaced from their traditional feeding grounds leading to increased mortality. Reduced ice extent and thickness has resulted in major mortality of young in the Northwest Atlantic population in some years. After a period of increase, the population remained relatively stable between 1996 and 2013 due to increased hunting, multiple years with increased ice-related mortality of young seals, and lower reproductive rates. With a reduction in harvest and improved survival of young, the population appears to be increasing although extremely large interannual variations in body condition and fecundity have been observed which were found to be influenced by variations in capelin biomass and ice conditions. Each of these populations has been impacted differently by changes in their ecosystems and hunting practices. By identifying the factors influencing these three populations, we can gain a better understanding of how species may respond to changes that are occurring in their ecosystems.
Causality Condition in Electromagnetics and Negative Consequences of Ill-Posed Source Models

The source in Applied Electromagnetics and Antennas is the important hardware, defining the causality condition, and solution results. In scattering problems, it is normally defined as a simple voltage or current source. This is acceptable if the interaction between the source and scatterer is negligible, which may not be the case when their separation distance is small. In antenna problems, this becomes more serious, as the source and antenna are directly connected and interact strongly. It is shown in this paper that, in such cases the source must be defined more accurately, and include its impedance characteristics. Otherwise, serious difficulties can be experienced in obtaining correct solutions, in particular, whenever internal resonances occur that cause rapid impedance variations.
Diversity, Thinking Styles, and Infographics

This paper examines a fundamental issue, the way a scientist thinks, and considers whether thinking styles are a factor in determining who participates successfully in science. The paper presents a framework for discussion of diversity in thinking styles. Academic tradition supports one style, while feminist literature advocates the adoption of another. The paper scrutinizes thinking processes in science, and questions assumptions by both scientists and non-scientists about the relative merits of the different styles. The analysis shows that diversity supports merit in science. A new concept, infographics, is introduced to facilitate the examination of information trends in STEM and the implications of different thinking styles. The infographic forecast provides the strongest argument for diversity in science. The results of the present analysis are general principles for education and policy entirely consistent with those already being applied in specific sectors by informed advocates for women's participation. The added value of the present approach is: a) it counters the perceived tension between granting access and maintaining quality in STEM; b) it provides guidance for efforts to open 'alternate paths' to STEM; c) it helps to explain and learn from the variations in women's participation in different STEM sectors.
Trajectory tracking control for a class of LPV systems based on dynamic inversion and passivity

Abstarct: This paper proposes a trajectory tracking control method for linear parameter-varying (LPV) systems containing invertible nonlinear transformation in the output derivatives. The systems investigated comprise the simplified dynamic models of road and aerial vehicles used typically in autonomous navigation and cooperative control. The proposed control structure is based on the dynamic inverse of the system and it is completed with an outer stabilizing controller designed by using error feedback and passivity.
Experiments and Modeling on the Influence of Interfacial Tension on Imbibition Height of Low-Permeability Reservoir

Low-permeability reservoirs have tiny pores with winding and complicated pore throats. The oil recovery efficiency of low-permeability reservoirs can be enhanced through the displacement of reservoir oil through imbibition. In the present study, experiments were conducted to investigate variations in the imbibition height of hydrophilic and weakly-hydrophilic rock samples under different interfacial tensions. An imbibition model considering imbibition resistance and bending of pore throats was established based on fractal theory. According to the experimental results, variations in the imbibition height of low-permeability rock samples with time can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, the capillary force plays a dominant role, while the viscous force and gravity have very slight effects. The imbibition height first increases rapidly and then levels off to a constant rate. With the increase in interfacial tension, the imbibition rate in the first stage increases, the ultimate imbibition height increases initially and then decreases, and the contribution of the imbibition height in the first stage to the ultimate imbibition height becomes greater. There is an optimal interfacial tension that causes the ultimate imbibition height to reach its maximum. The calculated results obtained from the proposed imbibition model are consistent with the experimental results, indicating that the model can accurately reflect the change in the imbibition height in low-permeability reservoirs in the first stage.
Analyzing Digital Image Processing Capabilities while Growing Crops

Global technological development in the world has created new competitive conditions for farmers. Therefore, today cultivation of different crops cannot be imagined without modern means of control and processing of biometric information about the plant. Data that serve as criteria for evaluating such information include a number of visual and biological attributes. If the biological signs of plant diseases cannot be determined without special analyzes, then the visuals are effectively captured by digital imaging tools. In addition, carrying out special biological analyzes is a rather painstaking and complicated procedure, which requires not only time but also considerable resources. And the most important problem in such studies can be considered the inability to grasp the entire acreage of plants, if not separate miniature greenhouse complexes. In contrast to biological assessment of the condition of plants, visual gives a number of advantages in the cost of such studies, the speed of their conduct, and the ability to reach the entire acreage. However, the disadvantage of this approach is the quality of plant evaluation, which depends primarily on digital imaging technologies, the correctness of the application of an algorithm for recognizing a particular disease, the effectiveness of video surveillance hardware and the speed of transmission of digital images. Therefore, it is precisely the methods and tools for digital image processing that are the subject of research in this work, and also have a high relevance in the agro-industrial field.
Circulating MicroRNAs: Biogenesis and Clinical Significance in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) causes many deaths around the world. Early diagnosis can prevent the development of AMI and provide theoretical support for the subsequent treatment. miRNAs participate in the AMI pathological processes. We aim to determine the early diagnostic and the prognostic roles of circulating miRNAs in AMI in the existing studies and summarize all the data to provide a greater understanding of their utility for clinical application. We reviewed current knowledge focused on the AMI development and circulating miRNA formation. Meanwhile, we collected and analyzed the potential roles of circulating miRNAs in AMI diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic strategies. Additionally, we elaborated on the challenges and clinical perspectives of the application of circulating miRNAs in AMI diagnosis. Circulating miRNAs are stable in the circulation and have earlier increases of circulating levels than diagnostic golden criteria. In addition, they are tissue and disease-specific. All these characteristics indicate that circulating miRNAs are promising biomarkers for the early diagnosis of AMI. Although there are several limitations to be resolved before clinical use, the application of circulating miRNAs shows great potential in the early diagnosis and the prognosis of AMI.
CONCIERGE

The problem of finding an item-set of maximal aggregated utility that satisfies a set of constraints is at the cornerstone of many e-commerce applications. Its classical definition assumes that all the information needed to verify the constraints is explicitly given. In practice, however, the data available in e-commerce databases on the items is often partial. Hence, adequately answering constrained search queries requires the completion of this missing information. A common approach to complete missing data is to employ Machine Learning (ML) algorithms. However, ML is naturally error-prone. More accurate data can be obtained by asking the items' sellers to complete missing data. But as the number of items in the repository is huge, asking sellers about all items is prohibitively expensive. CONCIERGE, our presented system, assists the e-commerce platform in identifying a bounded-size set of items whose data should be manually completed, as these items are expected to contribute the most to the constrained search queries in question. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system on real-world data and scenarios taken from a large e-commerce system by interacting with the VLDB'20 participants who act as both analysts and the sellers.
A drop-in middleware for serializable DB clustering across geo-distributed sites

Many geo-distributed services at web-scale companies still rely on databases (DBs) primarily optimized for single-site performance. At AT&T this is exemplified by services in the network control plane that rely on third-party software that uses DBs like MariaDB and PostgreSQL, which do not provide strict serializability across sites without a significant performance impact. Moreover, it is often impractical for these services to re-purpose their code to use newer DBs optimized for geo-distribution. In this paper, a novel drop-in solution for DB clustering across sites called Metric is presented that can be used by services without changing a single line of code. Metric leverages the single-site performance of an existing service's DB and combines it with a cross-site clustering solution based on an entry-consistent redo log that is specifically tailored for geo-distribution. Detailed correctness arguments are presented and extensive evaluations with various benchmarks show that Metric outperforms other solutions for the access patterns in our production use-cases where service replicas access different tables on different sites. In particular, Metric achieves up to 56% less latency and 5.2x higher throughput than MariaDB and PostgreSQL clustering, and up to 90% less latency and 26x higher throughput than CockroachDB and TiDB, systems that are designed to support geo-distribution.
Investigation of Performance for a Two Regions Superstructure Fiber Bragg Grating

A Superstructure Fiber Bragg Grating (SFBG) with a two grating regions has been studied experimentally and analytically. Both transmitted and reflected spectra for SFBG were investigated in a constant temperature (room temperature). Data that archived by Spectrometer & Detector was analyzed. In the same circumstances, a set of equations considered to simulate the experimental configuration. The SFBG spectrum characterized by important parameters: Bragg wavelength, bandwidth and efficiency. Bragg wavelength is very popular and has been used by the researchers to determine the physical quantities, it represent the reflected wavelength which satisfy Bragg condition. The behavior of these spectral parameters are presented and studied in this paper. The effect of grating region on the bandwidth and efficiency of SFBG was also studied. The SFBG has been found worked as a filter for the laser source wavelengths, which is used. Furthermore, this special FBG can be developed to optimize a sensor for temperature and pressure.
Horizontal and Vertical Crustal Deformation profiles of a simple Convergent plate margin using Contact Analysis

The process of crustal deformation depends on the type of tectonic plate interactions viz. convergent, divergent and transform. For all the three cases, the topography effect is different. However, higher elevations and huge compressions are measured at convergent plate margins. Past observations reveal that these margins are very much prone to great earthquakes especially at the locations where oceanic plate is subducting underneath a continental plate. For the purpose of understanding horizontal and vertical displacement profiles on both the plates, a study considering the interaction between oceanic and continental plate which are resting on lithosphere mantle is carried out. Two dimensional finite element models were developed and analyzed using commercially available software ABAQUS. Contact properties are defined between plates so that effect of friction is calculated. All plates have an elastic rheology and slip is allowed at the interfaces. The models demonstrate that inclination angles leading to subduction or collision affects the length of vertical and horizontal displacements. Also, increasing the coefficient of friction decreases the vertical deformation but increases the amount of subsidence. This study concludes that the inclination angle and coefficient of friction plays a vital role for the development of varied crustal deformations at convergent plate margins.
GAP-43 and BASP1 in Axon Regeneration: Implications for the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) and brain acid-soluble protein 1 (BASP1) regulate actin dynamics and presynaptic vesicle cycling at axon terminals, thereby facilitating axonal growth, regeneration, and plasticity. These functions highly depend on changes in GAP-43 and BASP1 expression levels and post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation. Interestingly, examinations of GAP-43 and BASP1 in neurodegenerative diseases reveal alterations in their expression and phosphorylation profiles. This review provides an overview of the structural properties, regulations, and functions of GAP-43 and BASP1, highlighting their involvement in neural injury response and regeneration. By discussing GAP-43 and BASP1 in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, we also explore the therapeutic potential of modulating their activities to compensate for neuron loss in neurodegenerative diseases.
Curing Temperature Effects on the Tensile Properties and Hardness of γ−Fe2O3 Reinforced PDMS Nanocomposites

,e mechanical properties of plain polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and its nanocomposites have been exploited for various theranostic biomedical applications. Although several research groups have investigated the effects of preparation conditions—especially curing temperature and time—on bulk mechanical properties of plain PDMS, there are no reported similar studies for its nanocomposites. In this study, mechanical properties of PDMS reinforced by different volume fractions (φmnp � 0–2 vol. %) of c-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) were investigated and quantitative data presented for different curing temperatures (25, 100, and 150°C). To a large extent, c-Fe2O3 NPs were uniformly dispersed in the PDMS matrix with no primary chemical bonds formed. For the temperatures tested, the data showed an increase for Young’s modulus (E) of about 170% (1.36–3.71MPa) and a decrease of the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of about 65% (6.48–2.93MPa) with increasing concentration of the NPs. Furthermore, hardness (Shore A) (H) increased with curing temperature but decreased with concentration. Based on the findings, we conclude that the linear relationship between the calculated mechanical properties (E, UTS, H) and small φmnp is independent of the curing temperature. ,e experimental data provide useful background information for the selection of processing parameters for PDMS nanocomposite fabrication.
Dual Hydrogen- and Oxygen-Transport Membrane Reactor for Solar-Driven Syngas Production

A novel thermochemical dual-membrane reactor is considered with the goal of efficiently converting CO2 to fuels using concentrated solar energy as the process heat source. In contrast to the temperature-swing redox cycle, in this isothermal system the thermolysis of H2O at above 1,800 K is assisted by removal of O2 across an oxygen-permeable membrane and of H2 across a hydrogen-permeable membrane. The latter is consumed by a stream of CO2 via the reverse water-gas shift reaction to re-form H2O and continuously generate CO. The net reaction is the splitting of CO2 to CO and 1 2 O 2 . Because reactions at such high temperature are expected to be thermodynamically controlled, thermodynamic models are developed to calculate the equilibrium limits of the proposed dual-membrane configuration. For comparison, two reference configurations comprising either a single oxygen-permeable membrane or a single hydrogen-permeable membrane are analyzed. At 1,800 K, 1 bar total pressure, and (not applicable for the hydrogen-membrane reactor) 10 Pa O2, the equilibrium mole fraction of fuel is 2% with a single oxygen membrane, 4% with a single hydrogen membrane, and 15% in the dual-membrane system. In all cases, total selectivity of CO2 to CO and O2 is obtained. Assuming thermodynamic equilibrium, the solar-to-fuel energy efficiency realistically attainable is 4% with a single oxygen membrane, 8% with a single hydrogen membrane, and 17% in the dual-membrane configuration at the aforementioned conditions. By increasing the pressure of the feed of steam to 100 bar, the dual-membrane model system could theoretically approach full mass conversion of CO2 and reach up to 26% solar-to-fuel energy efficiency. However, developing appropriate and stable ceramic materials for such a system poses a significant challenge.
A Multi-Domain Intervention Protocol for the Potential Reversal of Cognitive Frailty: “WE-RISE” Randomized Controlled Trial

Following the rapid increase of the aging population, health promotion and prevention of physical disability and dementia in older persons are essential for healthy aging. For example, there may be a potential to prevent or reverse cognitive frailty, the co-existence of both physical frailty and cognitive impairment in older persons. However, evidence-based interventions targeting the prevention or potential reversibility of cognitive frailty among community dwelling older adults are scarce. In this paper, we described the rationale, development and delivery of a multi-domain intervention comprising multi-component physical exercise prescription, cognitive training, dietary counseling and promotion of psychosocial support, called the WE-RISE trial. The aim of WE-RISE intervention is to potentially reverse cognitive frailty. This is a two-armed, single blinded, randomized controlled trial conducted over a duration of 6 months, at senior citizen activity centers within the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Ambulating, community dwelling older adults aged 60 years and above with cognitive frailty are randomized into two groups; (1) intervention group: which receives an instructor based “WE-RISE” intervention for the first 3 months, and then a home-based “WE-RISE at Home” intervention for the following 3 months; (2) control group: usual care with no modifications to their daily routine. Primary outcome is cognitive frailty status and secondary outcome include physical function, cognitive performance, nutritional status, psychosocial status and quality of life which are obtained during baseline screening and subsequent follow ups at 3rd and 6th month. Description of the intervention is done using the template for intervention description and replication (TIDieR) checklist. This trial protocol has received approval from Research Ethics Committee of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM PPI/111/8/JEP-2018-558) and the Department of Social Welfare Malaysia (MyResearch Reference: JKMM 100/12/5/2: 2018/405). Trial registration number: ACTRN12619001055190.
An Analysis of Machine Learning Techniques to Prioritize Customer Service Through Social Networks

The large amount of opinionated data made available by social networks allows the extraction of valuable information for a variety of applications. Sentiment analysis is a powerful tool in this sense, allowing to identify and classify opinions in texts according to the predominant polarity exposed in them. An interesting use of this technique is for companies to rank the messages from their clients in order to identify and attend the most dissatisﬁed ones ﬁrst, thus improving customer service. In this work, we evaluate the application of a range of diﬀerent machine learning techniques (including two deep learning ones) to the sentiment analysis of tweets in Brazilian Portuguese, aiming customer service prioritization. Our results show that the deep learning models are able to classify tweets more eﬃciently in this context, compared to traditional machine learning ones.
Investigating the Relation Between Companies with Topological Analysis of a Network of Stock Exchange in Brazil

B3 (Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão) is the official stock exchange in Brazil and plays a key role in the world financial market. Stock exchange allows people and companies to relate through the shareholding and the purchase and sale of shares. The study of the relationship between people and companies can reveal valuable information about the operation of the stock exchange and, consequently, the financial market as a whole. In this work, the relations in B3 are modeled as a network, in which the vertices represent companies and people and the edges represent shareholdings. From the built network, several analyzes are performed with the objective of understanding and characterizing the patterns found in relationships. Investigation on the topology of the network is performed under different perspectives, such as the centrality of the vertices, organization of vertices in communities, the robustness and the diffusion of influence. The results show a strong community structure in the B3 network and, even though the network is fragile for the removal of vetices, the definition of the criterion of vertices to be chosen as a target can be determinant in the characterization of the robustness.