Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distribution and habitat use of small cetaceans off Abrolhos Bank, eastern Brazil

An eight year summary of opportunistic sightings of small cetaceans in Abrolhos Bank, eastern Brazil, is provided with reference to species distribution, habitat use and group size. Data were gathered from 1997 to 2004 during research cruises (more than 500 days of sampling effort) aiming to study the biology of humpback whales, and were analyzed using a geographic information system (GIS). Dolphin species were identified on 151 sightings: estuarine dolphin, Sotalia guianensis - 49%; rough- toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis - 16%; and bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus - 9%. These small cetaceans did not use the area similarly. Distance from coast, distance from nearest river entrance, distance from nearest coral reef, and depth significantly differed among the three species (p < 0.05). Estuarine dolphin distribution was more coastal and concentrated near Caravelas and Doce Rivers. Rough-toothed dolphin distribution was concentrated near the coral reefs in the northern region of the Abrolhos Bank, whereas bottlenose dolphins were widely distributed across the Bank, along various depth ranges. Although the three species coexisted in the northern region of the Abrolhos Bank, our data suggest each showed specific habitat use patterns. RESUMO: Um periodo de 8 anos de observacoes oportunistas de pequenos cetaceos no Banco de Abrolhos, costa leste do Brasil, foi analisado com referencia a distribuicao de cada especie, uso de habitat e tamanho de grupo. Os dados foram coletados entre 1997 e 2004 durante cruzeiros de pesquisa sobre a biologia da baleia jubarte, totalizando mais de 500 dias de esforco amostral, e foram analisadas utilizando um sistema de informacoes geograficas (SIG). Tres especies de golfinhos foram identificadas em 151 avistagens: boto-cinza, Sotalia guianensis - 49%; golfinho-de-dentes-rugosos, Steno bredanensis - 16%; e golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa, Tursiops truncatus - 9%. As tres especies utilizaram a area de formas diferentes. Todas as variaveis ambientais mensuradas (distância da costa, distância da foz de rio mais proxima, distância do recife de coral mais proximo e profundidade) apresentaram diferencas significativas entre as tres especies de golfinhos (p < 0.05). A distribuicao do boto-cinza foi a mais costeira e concentrada em duas areas distintas, proximas ao Rio Doce e ao Rio Caravelas. O golfinho-de-dentes-rugosos apresentou distribuicao concentrada proxima aos recifes de coral da regiao norte do Banco dos Abrolhos, enquanto o golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa foi a especie mais amplamente distribuida ao longo do banco, explorando areas de profundidades mais variadas. Apesar das tres especies coexistirem na regiao norte do Banco dos Abrolhos, nossos dados sugerem padroes de uso de habitat distintos entre as diferentes especies de golfinhos.
Web Content Mining Framework for Discovering University Formations’ Compatibility with the Market Needs

This paper aims to provide a decision tool for both academia and business in order to better reach convergence between the qualifications offered and demanded for fresh graduates. The study discovers the IT market’s request of capabilities by applying web-mining techniques on the main Romanian job web portals. Then, the study gathers information about the specific qualifications provided to students in both undergraduate and master computer science programs in five representative Romanian universities. Based on these findings, we propose a model to evaluate the degree of alignment of these two sets. The model is useful for all stakeholders: universities, companies including small and medium size enterprises, as a tool of career planning and it can be adapted to assess the best mobility program for students, as further discussed in the paper.
Growth of ZnO nanowires in aqueous solution by a dissolution-growth mechanism

A novel methodology based on the dissolution-growth mechanism was developed to prepare ZnO nanowire films. The film morphology and structure were investigated by using field emission scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis methods. The results show that the ZnO nanowires are single crystalline c-oriented wurtzite. The ZnO rod crystals were eroded to provide the growth primitive of ZnO nanowires, which formed on top of the rod crystals when the erosion reaction got the equilibrium. The length of the resultant nanowires is rather large because the successive erosion of the rod crystals maintains the low concentration of Zn2O(OH)2n-2 in the aqueous solution.
Spitzer lightcurves of WASP-18 3 some hot

We present new lightcurves of the massive hot Jupiter system WASP-18 obtained with the Spitzer spacecraft covering the entire orbit at 3. 6μm and 4. 5μm. These lightcurves are used to measure the amplitude, shape and phase of the thermal phase effect for WASP-18b. We find that our results for the thermal phase effect are limited to an accuracy of about 0.01per cent by systematic noise sources of unknown origin. At this level of accuracy we find that the thermal phase effect has a peak-to-peak amplitude approximately equal to the secondary eclipse depth, has a sinusoidal shape and that the maximum brightness occurs at the same phase as mid-occultation to within about 5 degrees at 3. 6μm and to within about 10 degrees at 4. 5μm. The shape and amplitude of the thermal phase curve imply very low levels of heat redistribution within the atmosphere of the planet. We also perform a separate analysis to determine the system geometry by fitting a lightcurve model to the data covering the occultation and the transit. The secondary eclipse depths we measure at 3. 6μm and 4. 5μm are in good agreement with previous measurements and imply a very low albedo for WASP18 b. The parameters of the system (masses, radii, etc.) derived from our analysis are in also good agreement with those from previous studies, but with improved precision. We use new high-resolution imaging and published limits on the rate of change of the mean radial velocity to check for the presence of any faint companion stars that may affect our results. We find that there is unlikely to be any significant contribution to the flux at Spitzer wavelengths from a stellar companion to WASP-18. We find that there is no evidence for variations in the times of eclipse from a linear ephemeris greater than about 100 seconds over 3 years.
BENTHIC FLUXES MEASUREMENT OF MERCURY AND METHYLMERCURY IN PIALASSA BAIONA (RAVENNA, ITALY)

Previous research on mercury (Hg) showed strong contamination of the Piallassa Baiona (P.B.) lagoon, near Ravenna. The lagoon received between 100 and 200 tons of Hg generated by an acetaldehyde factory in 1957-1977. In this study, the Hg cycling at the sediment-water interface in the P.B. lagoon was investigated by means of an in situ benthic chamber. The 8-h integrated flux of the methylated form was extremely low and estimated to be only 7% of the result obtained for a summer experiment performed in a similar Hg-contaminated environment (Grado lagoon). Conversely, the in situ flux of Hg accounted for a comparable amount to that observed in the Grado lagoon, although Hg contents in its sediments are almost 50% lower than in P.B. lagoon. Hg mobilization and sequestration in the system, limiting its bioavailability despite the high contents of metal buried in the bottom sediments, seem related to extremely anoxic conditions.
Long-run exchange rate pass-through: evidence from new panel data techniques

This paper examines the exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into import prices using recent panel data techniques. For a sample of 27 OECD countries, panel cointegration tests provide an evidence for the existence of long-run equilibrium relationship in pass-through equation. Following Pedroni (2001), we employ both FM-OLS and DOLS estimators and show that long-run ERPT elasticity does not exceed 0.70%. Individual estimates of ERPT are heterogeneous across 27 OECD countries, ranging from 0.23% in France to 0.98% in Poland. When we look for macroeconomic determinants of this long-run heterogeneity, we implement a panel threshold methodology as introduced by Hansen (2000). Our results indicate a regime-dependence of ERPT, that is, countries with higher inflation regime and more exchange rate volatility would experience a higher degree of pass-through.
Parametric Analysis of Energy Requirements of In-Flight Ice Protection Systems

Recent attention is being paid to optimizing the performance of in-flight ice protection systems. This requires a thorough understanding of the parameters that control energy requirements, be they influenced by atmospheric, meteorological, operational, structural or geometrical parameters. Numerous experimental analyses must be performed to determine the influence of these parameters. Numerical simulation can also be used as a complementary analysis tool. The current CFD study investigates the different phenomena and mechanisms of energy transfer involved in anti-icing systems and provides an estimate of the energy requirements and their sensitivity with respect to ambient temperature, airspeed, angle of attack, mean volumetric diameter, liquid water content and wing skin temperature. This study has relevance in the design and optimization of hot-air and electrothermal ice protection systems.
Mast cell stabilizing effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Jasminum sambac leaves against compound 48/80-induced degranulation

Introduction: Asthma is chronic inflammatory disease characterized by swollen airways, obstruction in respiration, etc. On exposure to the allergens, histamine is released from mast cells, which after activating H1 receptor causes contraction of the airways. An herbal approach which can inhibit the degranulation of mast cell can serve as safer and effective treatment for the management of asthma. Objective: The present experiment is designed with objectives to determine the physiochemical properties of Jasminum sambac leaves, perform acute oral toxicity studies as per the OECD 420 guideline, and assess the mast cell stabilizing effect of hydroalcoholic (50:50) extract of the plant. Results: Physicochemical parameters revealed the standard quality of plant leaves. Phytochemical evaluation showed the presence of phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, glycosides, steroids, saponins, tannins, terpenoids, and phenols. Hydroalcoholic (50:50) extract of J. sambac leaves showed no signs of toxicity at the dose of 2000 mg/kg body weight. The lethal dose of the drug is above 2000 mg/kg body weight. The extract showed significant (P < 0.05) inhibition of mast cell degranulation when compared to negative control. The percentage of degranulated mast cells was calculated and found to be 51.33 ± 3.01* and 43.0 ± 2.09* (P < 0.05), at doses of 25 mg/ml and 50 mg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: It can be concluded that Jasminum sambac may serve as the choice of treatment in the management of asthma. The rich phytochemical profile of the plant leaves might be responsible for its mast cell stabilizing action. Isolation of bioactive molecule can be suggested for the further studies.
Archimedean Copula Parameter Estimation with Kendall Distribution Function

Literaturde simdiye kadar Gumbel, Clayton ve Frank icin Kendall dagilim fonksiyonu hesaplanmis ve uygulamalari yapilmistir. Kendall dagilim fonksiyonu tesaduf vektorlerin stokastik siralamasini gosterir. Kendall dagilim fonksiyonunun amaci kullanilan veri seti icin uygun olan copula fonksiyonunu secmektir. Veri setinin bagimlilik yapisi icin parametrik olmayan Kendall Tau ve Spearman Rho degerlerini hesapladik. Bu yonteme bagli olarak, copula parametreleri elde edildi. Bu calismada Ali Mikhail Haq ve Joe copula icin arsimedyan copulanin uretec fonksiyonu yardimiyla Kendall dagilim fonksiyonunu hesapladik ve bununla ilgili simulasyon calismasi yaptik. Biz bu calisma icin bagimli genellestirilmis pareto (Gp(3,3,3)) dagilimindan uretilen veri seti kullandik. Bu degiskenler arasindaki bagimlilik yapisi icin Arsimedyan copula kullandik. Bununla baglantili olarak, copulanin temel ozellikleri tanitildi ve nonparametrik Kendall Tau ve Spearman Rho verildi. Bu calismada bu degiskenler arasindaki bagimlilik yapisini aciklamak icin bes Arsimedyan copula ailesi secildi; Gumbel, Clayton, Frank Joe ve Ali Mikhail Haq. Devaminda Kendall tau yardimiyla bu copulalarin parametrelerinin nonparametrik tahmini elde edildi. Kendall dagilim fonksiyonu degerleri ile veri seti icin uygun arsimedyan copula bulundu.
Behaviour of the Islamic Stock Market in a Prolonged Downturn in the Global Market: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

By focusing on Malaysian data, this study investigates the response of the Islamic stock market to changes in major macroeconomic variables such as industrial output, money supply, unemployment rate, exchange rate and foreign interest rate. It focuses on the period from January 2010 to December 2014 to capture the period of a prolonged downturn in the global financial market due to the U.S. financial crisis which started in 2007. The study adopts the co-integration approach of the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model in order to capture the long-run relationship between the variables. The results show that the Islamic stock price reacts positively to the domestic factors, namely industrial activities, money supply, unemployment rate and real effective exchange rate disturbances. Interestingly, it reacts negatively to the foreign interest rate, suggesting investors’ “flight to quality” behaviour during a downturn in the global equity market.
Anonymous Multi-Hop Locks for Blockchain Scalability and Interoperability

—Tremendous growth in cryptocurrency usage is exposing the inherent scalability issues with permis-sionless blockchain technology. Payment-channel networks (PCNs) have emerged as the most widely deployed solution to mitigate the scalability issues, allowing the bulk of payments between two users to be carried out off-chain. Unfortunately, as reported in the literature and further demonstrated in this paper, current PCNs do not provide meaningful security and privacy guarantees [30], [40]. In this work, we study and design secure and privacy-preserving PCNs. We start with a security analysis of existing PCNs, reporting a new attack that applies to all major PCNs, including the Lightning Network, and allows an attacker to steal the fees from honest intermediaries in the same payment path. We then formally deﬁne anonymous multi-hop locks (AMHLs), a novel cryptographic primitive that serves as a cornerstone for the design of secure and privacy-preserving PCNs. We present several provably secure cryptographic instantiations that make AMHLs compatible with the vast majority of cryptocurrencies. In particular, we show that (linear) homomorphic one-way functions sufﬁce to construct AMHLs for PCNs supporting a script language (e.g., Ethereum). We also propose a construction based on ECDSA signatures that does not require scripts , thus solving a prominent open problem in the ﬁeld.
An Off-Season Brace-Free Neuromuscular Ankle Training Program Among Brace Reliant and Nonbrace-Reliant Division II Female Athletes

Background: Neuromuscular training (NMT) has been shown to be effective in preventing recurrent ankle injuries. However, the NMT effect during the off-season in athletes who wear and those who do not wear an ankle brace during their sport season remains undetermined. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an off-season bracefree neuromuscular ankle training program on ankle functional ability among female athletes who wore and those who did not wear an ankle brace during the sport season. Study Design: This study included a preand posttest 2-group cohort. Methods: In this study, division II female athletes (n = 31) participated: 15 wore an ankle brace during their competitive sports season (brace-reliant), whereas the remaining 16 had never worn an ankle brace (brace-naïve). Subjects completed a 4-phase, 6-week neuromuscular ankle training program incorporated into an off-season conditioning program. Subjects were provided instruction and were asked to complete the 10-minute progressive program 3 times per week for 6 weeks. Subjective and objective measures of ankle functional ability were collected before and after the 6-week intervention. Subjective measures involved the subjects completing the Foot and Ankle Ability Measures, including a global rating of condition and the TAMPA Scale for Kinesiophobia. Objective measures of ankle functional ability included single-leg hop distance and single-leg balance with eyes closed duration.
Energy Storage System for Reduction of Mid-line Voltage Variation of a DFIG Wind Turbine Connected to a Weak Grid

Penetration of wind power into electricity system is constantly increasing. Wind resources are usually distant from existing transmission lines. Wind farms are often connected to weak grids far from central generation stations. Maximum wind power extraction causes the more irregular and unpredicted power output of wind turbine, which has same nature as wind speed variation. The voltage in such long line is vulnerable with the consumption and generation imbalance. In a long line, the mid-line voltage is largely affected by the variation and the penetration of the wind fluctuating power. Fluctuating nature of wind power output and long transmission line have led to concern that the voltage disturbances impressed on the weak system may become unacceptable. Fluctuating power and X/R ratio are key contributors for unnecessary voltage fluctuation and variation along the feeder. Control of the wind power fluctuation and variation can prevent the excessive voltage fluctuation and variation in the system. The weak grid with a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbine has a higher probability of the voltage variation due to the fluctuations of the wind speed and load demands. To compensate the variation of power and voltage in a weak grid system, an energy storage system can be designed to provide fast controllable responses. In this paper, effect of energy storage system for reduction of voltage variations has been investigated. The investigation has been carried out through modelling of a doubly fed wind turbine and an energy storage system using SimPowerSystems tools of MATLAB. 1.
SFB 823 For efficiency , tax energy D iscussion P aper

Using household travel diary data collected in Germany between 1997 and 2012, we employ an instrumental variable (IV) approach to estimate fuel price and efficiency elasticities. The aim is to gauge the relative impacts of fuel economy standards and fuel taxes on distance traveled. We find that the magnitude of the elasticity estimates are statistically indistinguishable: higher fuel prices reduce driving by the same degree as higher fuel efficiency increases driving. This finding indicates an offsetting effect of fuel efficiency standards on the effectiveness of fuel taxation, calling into question the efficacy of the European Commission’s current efforts to legislate CO2 emissions limits for new cars given prevailing high fuel taxes. JEL classification: D13, Q41.
Managing the International Humanitarian and Development Health Workforce: A review of experiences and needs

The overseas development and humanitarian assistance provided by high income nations includes considerable investment directed at improving health in low and middle income countries. Governments, non-government organisations and consulting companies employ international health staff in low and middle income countries to deliver health interventions, manage programs and provide technical assistance. There are no reviews of evidence to guide the management, support and training of these staff, especially in relation to capacity building. We undertook a narrative synthesis of research to examine the needs and experiences of international health personnel engaged in development and humanitarian work. We found that altruism and a desire for professional and personal development motivated most international workers, however their roles are not always clear, affecting the delivery of quality care and services. Staff supply and skill-mix, short contracts, remuneration, leadership and workload were highlighted as issues. A lack of preparedness was also noted and staff identified strategies for coping in the field. Current efforts towards the professionalisation of health development and humanitarian staff may provide mechanisms to better support the workforce to respond and be accountable to the needs of countries. A performance management framework may need to be developed requiring research and validation.
Analysis of Propagation Delay for Multi-Terminal High Voltage Direct Current Networks Interconnecting the Large-Scale Off-Shore Renewable Energy

Voltage-source-converter-based multi-terminal high voltage direct current (MTDC) networks are extensively recognized as a viable solution for meeting the increasing demand of electrical energy and escalating penetration of renewable energy sources. DC faults are major limitations to the development of MTDC networks. The analysis of variable constraints has become mandatory in order to develop a reliable protection scheme. This paper contributes in assessing the propagation delay with the analytical approximation in MTDC networks. The propagation delay is analyzed in the time domain by taking only the forward traveling wave into account and considering the initial voltage step of magnitude at the fault position. Numerous simulations were carried out for different parameters and arrangements in Power System Computer Aided Design (PSCAD) to explore the proposed expressions. The results accurately depicted the time development of fault current. The results obtained from the real-time digital simulator (RTDS) confirmed that the proposed approach is capable of evaluating propagation delay in MTDC networks. Moreover, the influence of fault resistance is also taken into account for investigating its effect on the system parameters.
Aalborg Universitet Analysis of the Decoupled Access for Downlink and Uplink in Wireless Heterogeneous Networks

Wireless cellular networks evolve towards a heterogeneous infrastructure, featuring multiple types of Base Stations (BSs), such as Femto BSs (FBSs) and Macro BSs (MBSs). A wireless device observes multiple points (BSs) through whi ch it can access the infrastructure and it may choose to receive th e downlink (DL) traffic from one BS and send uplink (UL) traffic through another BS. Such a situation is referred to asdecoupled DL/UL access. Using the framework of stochastic geometry, we derive the association probability for DL/UL. In order to maximize the average received power, as the relative densit y of FBSs initially increases, a large fraction of devices cho oses decoupled access, i.e. receive from a MBS in DL and transmit through a FBS in UL. We analyze the impact that this type of association has on the average throughput in the system.