Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) simulated hydrological impacts of land use change from temperate grassland to energy crops: A case study in western UK

When considering the large‐scale deployment of bioenergy crops, it is important to understand the implication for ecosystem hydrological processes and the influences of crop type and location. Based on the potential for future land use change (LUC), the 10,280 km2 West Wales Water Framework Directive River Basin District (UK) was selected as a typical grassland dominated district, and the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrology model with a geographic information systems interface was used to investigate implications for different bioenergy deployment scenarios. The study area was delineated into 855 sub‐basins and 7,108 hydrological response units based on rivers, soil type, land use, and slope. Changes in hydrological components for two bioenergy crops (Miscanthus and short rotation coppice, SRC) planted on 50% (2,192 km2) or 25% (1,096 km2) of existing improved pasture are quantified. Across the study area as a whole, only surface run‐off with SRC planted at the 50% level was significantly impacted, where it was reduced by up to 23% (during April). However, results varied spatially and a comparison of annual means for each sub‐basin and scenario revealed surface run‐off was significantly decreased and baseflow significantly increased (by a maximum of 40%) with both Miscanthus and SRC. Evapotranspiration was significantly increased with SRC (at both planting levels) and water yield was significantly reduced with SRC (at the 50% level) by up to 5%. Effects on streamflow were limited, varying between −5% and +5% change (compared to baseline) in the majority of sub‐basins. The results suggest that for mesic temperate grasslands, adverse effects from the drying of soil and alterations to streamflow may not arise, and with surface run‐off reduced and baseflow increased, there could, depending on crop location, be potential benefits for flood and erosion mitigation.
Numerical Study on the Effect of Gravity on Modal Analysis of Thin-Walled Structures

Summary Computational modal analysis is usually carried out without consideration of gravity forces. This is well motivated for many structures. However, the vibrational properties of thin-walled plane or shallow shell structures are very sensitive with respect to small modiﬁcations of the shell geometry and with respect to in-plane stress and reinforcement. One reason for these in-plane stresses and geometric modiﬁcations consists in gravity. This becomes an important issue when using test data obtained under the presence of gravity to update a simulation model where the inﬂuence of gravity is neglected. This study investigates the inﬂuence of gravity on the modal parameters of a thin rectangular plate and of a thin-walled cubic box. For that, di ﬀ erent simulation models are used. While all of them utilize the ﬁnite element method, linear and non-linear approaches are compared. The latter take into account geometrical nonlinearities due to large deformations and the inﬂuence of gravity induced stress.
TEXT CLUSTERING USING INCREMENTAL FREQUENT PATTERN MINING APPROACH

Text mining is an emerging research field evolving from information retrieval area. Clustering and classification are the two approaches in data mining which may also be used to perform text classification and text clustering. The former is supervised while the later is un-supervised. In this paper, our objective is to perform text clustering by defining an improved distance metric to compute the similarity between two text files. We use incremental frequent pattern mining to find frequent items and reduce dimensionality. The improved distance metric may also be used to perform text classification. The distance metric is validated for the worst, average and best case situations [15]. The results show the proposed distance metric outperforms the existing measures.
Customer Orientation of B2B Firms in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Russia

While the field of customer orientation (CO) has been studied extensively since the 1990s, there have hardly been any attempts to review the concept with consideration of the specifics of B2B markets, especially in the context of the emerging economy. This paper explores the specifics of B2B firms’ CO on the example of Russia’s emerging economy. The empirical survey of 272 Russian B2B firms represents the platform for applying well-established CO measurement tools as an integrated complex measure. The results of factor analysis identify a critically important aspect of CO, which helps to differentiate the customer oriented firms from those with “declared” CO. The study indicates a need to revisit well-established marketing concepts and their measurement approaches in B2B markets on the example of CO in Russia.
Harmful neutrophil subsets in patients with ischemic stroke

Objective To better understand the functional state of circulating neutrophils in patients with ischemic stroke (IS) for planning future clinical trials. Methods We analyzed by flow cytometry activation state of circulating neutrophils and the distribution of neutrophil peripheral subsets in 41 patients with acute IS less than 6 hours before admission and compared them with 22 age-matched healthy controls. Results Our results demonstrated continuous basal hyperactivation of circulating neutrophils during acute IS, characterized by lower l-selectin expression and higher CD11b expression at the cell surface, increased ROS production by neutrophils, and greater circulating levels of neutrophil elastase. Neutrophil hyperactivation was associated with deregulation of the equilibrium between apoptotic and necrotic. Patients also had higher percentages than controls of the overactive senescent (CXCR4bright/CD62Ldim) neutrophil subset and increased percentage of neutrophils with a reverse transendothelial migration (CD54highCXCR1low) phenotype. Importantly, neutrophil alterations were associated with the clinical severity of the stroke, evaluated by its NIH Stroke Scale score. Conclusion Altogether, our results indicate that during acute IS, the inflammatory properties of circulating neutrophils rise, associated with the expansion of harmful neutrophil subsets. These changes in neutrophil homeostasis, associated with disease severity, may play an instrumental role by contributing to systemic inflammation and to the blood-brain barrier breakdown. Our findings highlight new potential therapeutic approaches of stroke by rebalancing the ratio of senescent to immunosuppressive neutrophils or decreasing reverse neutrophil transmigration or both.
The FRAIL-FIT study: Frailty’s relationship with adverse-event incidence in the longer term, at one year following intensive care unit treatment – A retrospective observational cohort study

Introduction Frailty is a syndrome of decreased reserve and heightened vulnerability. Frailty scoring has potential to facilitate more informed decisions in the intensive care unit. To validate this, its relationship with outcomes must be tested extensively. This study aimed to investigate frailty’s impact on adverse outcomes after intensive care unit admission, primarily one-year mortality. Methods This single-centre retrospective observational cohort study examined prospectively collected data from 400 intensive care unit patients. Frailty was assessed using the Clinical Frailty Scale and defined as Clinical Frailty Scale ≥ 5. Unadjusted and adjusted analyses tested the relationships of frailty, covariates and outcomes. Results Of 400 eligible patients, 111 (27.8%) were frail and 289 (72.3%) were non-frail. Compared to non-frail patients, frail patients were older (62 vs. 56, p < 0.001) and had higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores (22 vs. 19, p < 0.001). Females were more likely to be frail than males (34.1% vs. 22.9% frail, p = 0.018). Frail patients were less likely to survive the intensive care unit (p = 0.03), hospital (p = 0.003) or to one year (p < 0.001). Frailty significantly increased one-year mortality hazards in unadjusted analyses (hazard ratio 1.96; 95% confidence interval 1.41–2.72; p < 0.001) and covariate adjusted analyses (hazard ratio 1.41; 95% confidence interval 1.00–1.98; p = 0.0497). Frail patients had more hospital admissions (p = 0.014) and longer hospital stays within both one year before (p = 0.002) and one year after intensive care unit admission (p = 0.012). Conclusions Frailty was common and associated with greater age, female gender, higher sickness severity and more healthcare use. Frailty was significantly associated with greater risks of mortality in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Frailty scoring is a promising tool which could improve decision making in intensive care.
Development of New Predictive Equations to Estimate Basal Metabolic Rrates in Iranian Adults: A Study Protocol

Background and Objectives: Studies indicate over-estimation of basal metabolic rate (BMR) using common equations for the Asian people. The present study aims to develop new predictive equations for the Iranian people and to compare these equations with commonly used formulas. Materials and Methods: Total, 150healthy subjects aged 18-60 yrare invited to the Laboratory of Nutrition Research, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute. Demographic data are gathered using a questionnaire. Then, anthropometric measures are taken and blood sampling is done for thyroid function tests. If the subject merits all the inclusion criteria, indirect calorimetry will be performed. The value of BMR will be predicted using common equations (Harris-Benedict, FAO/WHO/UNU, Miffilin). Differences between predicted (using equations) and measured (using indirect calorimetry) values are estimated. Correlations between the two sets of data is performed using Pearson or Spearman coefficients. Between-method agreement is checked using Bland-AltmanPlot. Accuracy of the predicted values using equations isconsidered as the proportion of participants whose calculated BMR is 90-110% of their measured BMR. Multiple regression analysis is employed to develop new predictive equations for the BMR based on the independent variables. Conclusions: Since facilities for the measurement of BMR may not be accessible in many clinical or research settings, BMR is usually estimated using predictive equations. However, several studies have reported inaccuracy of these equations for certain populations. Therefore, development of new population-specific predictive equations seems reasonable. These equations could hopefully reduce the energy estimation errors both in clinical nutritional interventions and community-based nutrition researches.
Modelling and analysis of an analogue MPPT‐based PV battery charging system utilising dc–dc boost converter

Nowadays, the research is being devoted to the development of rapid and precise maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for various photovoltaic (PV) applications. However, the constraints imposed by size, cost, efficiency, and tracking performances essentially limit the application of conventional MPPT techniques and their analysis methodologies. This study recommends a fast and robust analogue PV MPPT for the battery charging system using dc-dc boost converter. The fast dynamic performances with absolute robustness are ensured here by fast-scale stability analysis of actually switched boost converter using the concepts based on non-linear dynamics and bifurcation theory. Such concepts not only provide the information to design an efficient MPPT system under rapidly changing environmental conditions but also guarantee the system to operate either in period-1 or chaotic mode. The theoretical and mathematical analyses are experimentally verified using a prototype PV battery charging system utilising dc-dc boost converter. It is presented that operating the MPPT system in chaos not only yields the broader power spectrum with reduced spectral peaks at the multiples of converter's switching frequency but also exhibits high overall conversion efficiency.
The problem of non-truth-conditional, lower-level modifiers: a Functional Discourse Grammar solution

This article discusses two groups of prosodically and linearly integrated modifiers: evaluative (‘subject-oriented’) adverbs (e.g. cleverly, stupidly and recklessly) and non-restrictive prenominal modifiers (e.g. old as in my old mother). What these two groups of elements have in common is the rather puzzling fact that both are (or have been analysed as) relatively low-level modifiers (i.e. as part of the proposition), while at the same time being non-truth-conditional/non-restrictive (suggesting they are non-propositional). In this article it is argued that although there is indeed compelling syntactic evidence that these elements modify a relatively low layer in the clause (proposition or lower), this need not be incompatible with their non-truth-conditional/non-restrictive status. Using the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), an analysis is proposed in which these elements are not part of the proposition expressed by the clause in which they occur, but instead form part of a separate proposition, in which they function as non-verbal predicates taking a specific layer of analysis (e.g. a proposition, State-of-Affairs, entity or property) as their argument. The analysis proposed not only reconciles the specific semantic and syntactic properties of the modifiers in question, but also reveals the similarities between the two groups of modifiers discussed.
Phenol-formaldehyde resins with suitable bonding strength synthesized from “less-reactive” hardwood lignin fractions

Abstract The substitution of phenol by lignin in phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins is one of the most promising end uses of lignin valorization. Lignin from grasses and softwood has been the focus of the studies in this field as they present a higher number of theoretical reactive sites for resin synthesis. Herein we examined the composition and chemical reactivity of “less-reactive” hardwood lignin fractions and their performance in PF resins, synthesized by substituting 50 wt% of the phenol with lignin. Before resin synthesis, the samples were hydroxymethylated and the maximum formaldehyde consumption was recorded. By doing so, we observed that hardwood fractions consumed formaldehyde close to the theoretical calculation, whereas the reference softwood lignin consumed only about ¼ of the theoretical value. In the resin synthesis, we added formaldehyde to the formulation according to the measured maximum formaldehyde consumption. Thus, low values of free formaldehyde in lignin-PF (LPF) resins were achieved (<0.23%). Moreover, the resin bonding strength displayed similar performance irrespective of whether the LPF resins were made with softwood or hardwood lignin (range of 3.4–4.8 N mm−2 at 150°C and 45–480 s of press time). Furthermore, we concluded that hardwood kraft lignins present no disadvantage compared to softwood lignins in PF resin applications, which have significant practical implications.
Patterns of Floodplain Spatial Heterogeneity in the Southern Rockies, USA

Floodplain spatial heterogeneity describes the three‐dimensional patchiness of floodplain substrate, surface elevation, and land cover. This heterogeneity results primarily from lateral channel migration and avulsion and decreases under diverse forms of management. Heterogeneity influences floodplain storage time, resilience to disturbance, and biodiversity. We use a data set of 37 floodplain segments covering a range of drainage areas and channel geometries from sites in the Southern Rocky Mountains to examine correlations between floodplain spatial heterogeneity and lateral valley confinement, drainage area, channel planform, and river management. We hypothesized that heterogeneity correlates most strongly with channel planform but found that the best explanatory statistical model included drainage area, planform, and gradient. Pairwise comparisons of means indicate that straight channels have the least heterogeneous floodplains and meandering channels have the greatest, while braided and anastomosing channels have intermediate values. Pairwise comparison of managed and unmanaged river corridors indicates that these populations are significantly different.
Phase-dependent Spectral Variability in 4U 1907+09

We report on ASCA, RXTE, and archival observations of the high-mass X-ray binary pulsar 4U 1907+09. Spectral measurements of the absorption and flux were made at all phases of the X-ray pulsar orbit, including the first spectral measurements of an extended period of low flux during two of the ASCA observations. We find that a simple spherical wind model can fit the time-averaged light curve as measured by the RXTE All-Sky Monitor but does not fit the observed changes in the absorption column or account for the existence of the phase-locked secondary flare. An additional model component consisting of a trailing stream can account for the variations in column depth. However, these models favor a high inclination angle for the system, suggesting a companion mass more consistent with an identification as a Be star. In this case, an equatorially enhanced wind and inclined neutron star orbit may be a more appropriate interpretation of the data.
An Emotion-Embedded Visual Attention Model for Dimensional Emotion Context Learning

Dimensional emotion recognition has attracted more and more researchers’ attention from various fields including psychology, cognition, and computer science. In this paper, we propose an emotion-embedded visual attention model (EVAM) to learn emotion context information for predicting affective dimension values from video sequences. First, deep CNN is used to generate a high-level representation of the raw face images. Second, a visual attention model based on the gated recurrent unit (GRU) is employed to learn the context information of the feature sequences from face features. Third, the $k$ -means algorithm is adapted to embed previous emotion into attention model to produce more robust time series predictions, which emphasize the influence of previous emotion on current effective prediction. In this paper, all experiments are carried out on database AVEC 2016 and AVEC 2017. The experimental results validate the efficiency of our method, and competitive results are obtained.
EFFECTS OF DIET’S ACIDIFYING ADDITIVES ON THE INTESTINAL HISTOMORPHOLOGY IN DUCKS

This study aimed at evaluating the effect of acidifying additives as formic and propionic acids on weight gain and on small intestinal macroscopic, microscopic and SEM morphology in ducks. A total of 30 Mulard ducklings were used in this study and they were randomly assigned to control (given standard commercial duck diets with no acidifiers added), 1% acidifiers added to the standard diet or 2% acidifiers added to the standard diet. After rearing the ducks for 52 days, their weight was recorded and then the length of the different parts of the small intestine was measured. Then, samples were taken for histological and scanning electron microscopical (SEM) examination of the small intestine. The present results found that addition of acidifying mixture to the diet significantly improved duck’s weight (P<0.05), also there were significant changes in length, histology and SEM characteristics of the small intestine between different duck groups. The observed effects were dose dependent, i.e. with more organic acids in the diet, the more the changes were noticeable. Our results indicate that, the addition of organic acids to duck’s diet increased small intestine’s length and increased the length of intestinal villi, possibly resulting in more surface area for digestion and absorption of the diet, and, therefore, greatly improved the final body weight of the study ducks. Key words : acidified diets; organic acids; histology; intestinal villi; SEM
Academic Business Intelligence: Can a Small and Medium-sized University Afford to Build and Deploy it within Limited Resources?

Background: For many years, researches on Business Intelligence (BI) development have been popular in primary industry (trading, telecommunication, and manufacturing). Nevertheless, the academic sector has not been the primary beneficiary. This lack of practices also means there has been limited knowledge relating to the development of BI in the academic sectorObjective: This study presents the development of an Academic Business Intelligence (ABI). Taking an actual ABI development project in a small and medium-sized university in Indonesia context, it specifically sought to understand as to why the university needed an ABI and how it could be developed within the limited resources (funding, IT infrastructure and expertise). Methods: Following the business intelligence development roadmap, this study was able to develop an ABI as an attempt to provide a smart way for generating valuable information from scattered data interactively. It also successfully deployed the newly developed ABI into the existing IT legacy and then run a series of pilot testing involving the intended users.Results: The results showed the acceptance rate was high (87.25%) and suggested that the system found to be usable for conducting students' performance assessment and decision making faster. In short, this study contributes to the growing body of BI development literature by providing empirical evidence on how to successfully develop a BI within the unique context of the academic sector.Conclusion: Considering the findings, this study also draws practical recommendations and highlights a few limitations from which future study could address, especially when developing BI or similar ABI in particular.
Semantic Parsing in Spoken Language Understanding using Abstract Meaning Representation

Semantic Parsing in Spoken Language Understanding using Abstract Meaning Representation A thesis presented to the Department of Computer Science Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts By Hongyuan Shen With the increasing interest in Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) related applications such as voice assistant and automated answering system, we aim to find a better system solution for such tasks, in particular, concentrating on the semantic parsing procedure that transforms the spoken language into a Meaning Representation Language (MRL) where only the semantic meaning and logistic relations in the word span are preserved. The viability of the stage in SLU known as "grounding" between our proposed MRL, Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) language, and computerinterpretable commands is also analyzed in this thesis. To assist with the planned experiments, the first AMR corpus that is populated with spoken language transcription iv is created by manual annotation, providing as a reference for future studies on SLUoriented AMR parsing tasks.
Creative Arts Therapists Report Lower Collective Self-Esteem but Higher Job Satisfaction Than Other Professionals

Abstract Some creative arts therapists see themselves as members of a marginalized profession compared to established health-care professions that have more political clout. This study compared job satisfaction and professional collective self-esteem (CSE) in a sample of 288 Israeli professionals: 158 creative arts therapists (of whom 48% were art therapists) and 130 clinical psychologists and social workers. Results confirmed that creative arts therapists reported significantly lower professional CSE but higher job satisfaction compared to the group of psychologists and social workers. Professional group affiliation moderated the association between job satisfaction and CSE, such that this association was only significant for psychologists and social workers. The study has implications for further demonstrating the effectiveness of the creative arts therapies and the necessity for legislative legitimization.