Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and Development of Biosensors for the Detection of HeavyMetal Toxicity

Many compounds (including heavy metals, HMs) used in different fields of industry and/or agriculture act as inhibitors of enzymes, which, as consequence, are unable to bind the substrate. Even if it is not so sensitive, the method for detecting heavy metal traces using biosensors has a dynamic trend and is largely applied for improving the “life quality”, because of biosensor’s sensitivity, selectivity, and simplicity. In the last years, they also become more and more a synergetic combination between biotechnology and microelectronics. Dedicated biosensors were developed for offline and online analysis, and also, their extent and diversity could be called a real “biosensor revolution”. A panel of examples of biosensors: enzyme-, DNA-, imuno-, whole-cell-based biosensors were systematised depending on the reaction type, transduction signal, or analytical performances. The mechanism of enzyme-based biosensor and the kinetic of detection process are described and compared. In this context, is explainable why bioelectronics, nanotechnology, miniaturization, and bioengineering will compete for developing sensitive and selective biosensors able to determine multiple analytes simultaneously and/or integrated in wireless communications systems.
Silanization and sorption of crystalline CotA particles from highly oxidative Bacillus sp. LPG-1 spores on slide and perlite for oxidase activities

Spores are the resting form of bacteria exhibiting resistance to extreme conditions so they are suitable particles for use in industry and elimination of hazardous material from environment. Bacterial spores have several enzymatic activities that the most of them are because of the crystalline CotA protein. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to detect enzymatic activities of different bacterial spore forms and compare them with immobilized spores on silanized glass slide and perlite granules. To determine enzyme activities of the spores, spectrophotometery methods were used. In this study for the first time, we analyzed catalase activity using an easy quantitative colorimetric method. Also, X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was used to determine crystalline structure of CotA obtained from broken spore. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was applied as a rapid and easy method to differentiate spore and crystalline cotA particles. Crystalline CotA particles of Bacillus LPG-1 that was prepared by heating represented higher enzymatic activities (laccase, catalase, phenol oxidase) than the other forms of spore. Because of covalent attachment of spores on silanized glass slide and perlite, enzymatic activities of immobilized spores slightly decreased in comparison with free spores.
First report of the non-native freshwater nereidid polychaete Namalycastis hawaiiensis (Johnson, 1903) from a private goldfish aquarium in eastern Japan

The aquarium trade poses a great risk of aquatic invasion worldwide, but little attention has been paid to unintentionally introduced species. The present study reports the occurrence of the freshwater polychaete Namalycastis hawaiiensis for the first time from a private home aquarium in Japan, which was a considerable distance away from the native distribution of the species (tropical/subtropical regions). We concluded that the species was unintentionally introduced via the aquarium trade. As the specimens were collected from an aquarium of the common goldfish, which is one of the most popular ornamental fish in the world, it is possible that a cryptic invasion has already expanded worldwide.
The Unequal Incidence of Non-Standard Employment Across Occupational Groups: An Empirical Analysis of Post-Industrial Labour Markets in Germany and Europe

The paper addresses an often neglected question in labour market research: to which extent do outcomes aggregated on the national level disguise occupational diversity in employment conditions? In particular, how and why do occupational groups differ with regard to the incidence of non-standard employment? To explore these questions, the paper derives a detailed occupational scheme from the literature, capturing the variety of labour market outcomes within countries. In a second step, the scheme is theoretically linked to the topic of non-standard work. It is argued that different degrees of skill specificity across occupational groups produce diverging incentives for flexible and long-term employment, respectively. This leads to the expectation of (some) service-sector occupations showing stronger tendencies towards non-standard employment than those in the industrial sector. Based on European and German micro data, the categorisation is used to decompose various labour market indicators. The results clearly demonstrate the unequal incidence of non-standard employment along the lines of the suggested categorisation. Moreover, the longitudinal perspective suggests that traditionally functioning occupational groups will be crowded out by more destandardised ones.
Mechanical Properties and Strengthening Mechanism of Pure Ti Powder Composite Material Reinforced with Carbon Nano Particles

The strengthening mechanisms of titanium-carbon black (CB) nano particle composite materials were investigated quantitatively in the present study. The titanium matrix composite (TMC) specimens were prepared via a powder metallurgy (P/M) route including the wet coating process for composite titanium (Ti) powders with un-bundled CB nano particles, consolidation by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and subsequent hot extrusion. The extruded TMC, with carbon content of 2.66 at. %, exhibited excellent tensile strength of 837 MPa in 0.2%YS, 899 MPa in UTS and 18.7% in elongation at ambient temperature. In this composite, some of additive CB nano particles were dissolved into the Ti matrix as a solid solution element. The other CBs and Ti matrix were chemically reacted when sintering, and resulted in the in-situ formed titanium carbide (TiC) compounds, which were uniformly distributed throughout the Ti matrix. These TiC dispersoids promoted the dynamic recrystallization during hot extrusion process, and resulted in the Ti grain refinement. Consequently, carbon solid solution hardening, TiC dispersion strengthening and grain refinement enhanced the mechanical performance of the TMC. In particular, the effect of TiC reinforcements, accounting for about 60% of the whole strengthening behavior, played the most significant role.
Cross‐scale impact of climate temporal variability on ecosystem water and carbon fluxes

While the importance of ecosystem functioning is undisputed in the context of climate change and Earth system modeling, the role of short‐scale temporal variability of hydrometeorological forcing (~1 h) on the related ecosystem processes remains to be fully understood. Various impacts of meteorological forcing variability on water and carbon fluxes across a range of scales are explored here using numerical simulations. Synthetic meteorological drivers that highlight dynamic features of the short temporal scale in series of precipitation, temperature, and radiation are constructed. These drivers force a mechanistic ecohydrological model that propagates information content into the dynamics of water and carbon fluxes for an ensemble of representative ecosystems. The focus of the analysis is on a cross‐scale effect of the short‐scale forcing variability on the modeled evapotranspiration and ecosystem carbon assimilation. Interannual variability of water and carbon fluxes is emphasized in the analysis. The main study inferences are summarized as follows: (a) short‐scale variability of meteorological input does affect water and carbon fluxes across a wide range of time scales, spanning from the hourly to the annual and longer scales; (b) different ecosystems respond to the various characteristics of the short‐scale variability of the climate forcing in various ways, depending on dominant factors limiting system productivity; (c) whenever short‐scale variability of meteorological forcing influences primarily fast processes such as photosynthesis, its impact on the slow‐scale variability of water and carbon fluxes is small; and (d) whenever short‐scale variability of the meteorological forcing impacts slow processes such as movement and storage of water in the soil, the effects of the variability can propagate to annual and longer time scales.
Learning Human-Like Movement Behavior for Computer Games

Modern Computer Game AI still relies on rulebased approaches, so far failing to develop a convincing, human-like opponent. Towards the development of more human-like computer game agents, we propose an approach for learning strategies by observation of human players, principally viewing the design of a computer game agent as a problem of pattern recognition. First we introduce a Neural Gas based grid learning of an internal representation of the 3D game-world. Then we discuss the use of a learning potential fields approach, establishing a mapping from world state vectors to corresponding potential field forces for agent guidance. The training data being used is acquired by observation of human players acting in the 3D game environment of a commercial computer game. Finally, some experiments are presented.
Good Sequences, Bijections and Permutations

In the present paper we study general properties of good sequences by means of a powerful and beautiful tool of combinatorics—the method of bijective proofs. A good sequence is a sequence of positive integers k = 1, 2, . such that the element k occurs before the last occurrence of k + 1. We construct two bijections between the set of good sequences of length n and the set of permutations of length n. This allows us to count good sequences as well as to calculate generating functions of statistics on good sequences. We study avoiding patterns on good sequences and discuss their relation with Eulerian polynomials. Finally, we describe particular interesting properties of permutations, again using bijections.
COVARIANCE ADJUSTMENT IN STUDIES INVOLVING OBSERVATIONAL FACTORS OR COVARIATES INFLUENCED BY TREATMENTS

We extend the definition of adjusted treatment means in the analysis of covariance to deal with the case where some of the covariates are influenced by treatments or where some of the factors are observational. In these cases, comparison of treatment means adjusted to a common value of the covariate may be inappropriate. Partially adjusted means are defined and it is shown that special cases include the usual adjusted means (adjusted to a common value for each of the covariates) and unadjusted means. In fact, in a multifactorial experiment, one can, by appropriate choice of adjustment, compare adjusted means for one factor but unadjusted means for the second factor. Partially adjusted means can be computed by any linear models software which will estimate linear combinations of the parameters.
Natural ocean acidification at Papagayo upwelling system (north Pacific Costa Rica): implications for reef development

Abstract. Numerous experiments have shown that ocean acidification impedes coral calcification, but knowledge about in situ reef ecosystem response to ocean acidification is still scarce. Bahia Culebra, situated at the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, is a location naturally exposed to acidic conditions due to the Papagayo seasonal upwelling. We measured pH and pCO2 in situ during two non-upwelling seasons (June 2012, May–June 2013), with a high temporal resolution of every 15 and 30 min, respectively, using two Submersible Autonomous Moored Instruments (SAMI-pH, SAMI-CO2). These results were compared with published data from the 2009 upwelling season. Findings revealed that the carbonate system in Bahia Culebra shows a high temporal variability. Incoming offshore waters drive intra- and interseasonal changes. Lowest pH (7.8) and highest pCO2 (658.3 µatm) values measured during a cold-water intrusion event in the non-upwelling season were similar to those minimum values reported from upwelling season (pH = 7.8, pCO2 = 643.5 µatm), unveiling that natural acidification also occurs sporadically in the non-upwelling season. This affects the interaction of photosynthesis, respiration, calcification and carbonate dissolution and the resulting diel cycle of pH and pCO2 in the reefs of Bahia Culebra. During the non-upwelling season, the aragonite saturation state (Ωa) rises to values of > 3.3 and during the upwelling season falls below 2.5. The Ωa threshold values for coral growth were derived from the correlation between measured Ωa and coral linear extension rates which were obtained from the literature and suggest that future ocean acidification will threaten the continued growth of reefs in Bahia Culebra. These data contribute to building a better understanding of the carbonate system dynamics and coral reefs' key response (e.g., coral growth) to natural low-pH conditions, in upwelling areas in the eastern tropical Pacific and beyond.
Handling with missing data in clinical trials for time-to-event variables

Missing data is often a major issue in clinical trials, especially when the outcome variables come from repeated assessments. In particular, time-to-event endpoints can be substantially affected by a too conservative treatment of missing data along the observation period. When neglected or not properly treated, missing data may bias the results, reduce power and lead to wrong study conclusions. The advantage of a more sophisticated statistical method versus the traditional clinical method, such as last observation carried forward (LOCF), is still under debate. We compare the two methods in a clinical study testing the efficacy of an anti-arrhythmic agent versus placebo on the time to Atrial Fibrillation (AF) recurrence, where the maintenance of normal heart rhythm or the occurrence of the AF event was to be daily evaluated by trans-telephonic ECG recorded by the patients. A Cox model is applied for the comparison between treatments. The dataset presents missing observations due to the fact that recording is missing or ECG is not assessable. Moreover a simulation is performed to provide an additional example. Both methods for handling missing data are applied. Multiple imputation in SAS uses PROC MI. We examined results and possible problems arising from the fact that PROC MI implements methods which are not suitable for this kind of data.
Effect of Non-Rubber Constituents on Guayule and Hevea Rubber Intrinsic Properties

To meet the increasing demand for natural rubber (NR), currently sourced from the tropical rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis , and address price volatility and steadily increasing labor costs, alternate rubber-producing species are in commercial development. One of these, guayule ( Parthenium argentatum ), has emerged on the market as a commercial source of high quality rubber. Non-rubber constituents play an important role in the physical properties of NR products. The intrinsic composition of the two NR materials differs and these differences may be a principal cause of the performance differences between them. We have compared the effect of non-rubber constituents, such as protein, lipids, resin and rubber particle membranes. Firstly, a film casting method was developed to obtain rubber films with a uniform thickness. Secondly, the glass transition temperature of different rubbers was determined by dynamic mechanical analysis, and tensile properties were tested for uncompounded materials. Guayule natural rubber (GNR), from which most of the membranes were removed while in latex form (MRGNR) was found to have higher intrinsic strength than GNR or gel-free NR (FNR). An acetone extraction was performed to quantify the resin and free lipids in the rubber samples.
A is induced in endothelial cell lines from the kidney and lung of the bottlenose dolphin , Tursiops truncatus

Marine mammals respond to the presence of polycyclic and planar halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH or PHAH) with the induced expression in endothelium of cytochrome P4501A1, regulated through the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) transcription factor. Physiological responses in other animals, such as edema and inflammation indicate that the endothelium may be compromised by exposure to AHR agonists, which are ubiquitous in the marine environment. In other mammals and fish the cellular and molecular consequences of exposure to AHR agonists have been elucidated in cultured endothelial cells. We have cultured and characterized cetacean endothelial cells (EC) and used them in induction studies. Endothelial cells were cultured from the lung and kidney of the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus and exposed to the AHR agonists β-naphthoflavone (βNF) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). βNF (1-3 μM) induced significant increases in CYP1A1(O-deethylation of 7-ethoxyresorufin to resorufin;EROD) activity to 3.6 and 0.92 pmol/mg/min in lung and kidney EC, respectively. TCDD was more potent than βNF, and more efficacious, with maximum induction of CYP1A1activity of 10.1 and 15.2 pmol/mg/min in lung and kidney EC at 3-10 nM TCDD. The differential response indicates that the lung and kidney endothelial cells in culture retain the ability to respond in a selective manner to specific stimuli. Both the molecular mechanisms of induction and the physiological consequences, especially in the vasculature, of toxicant exposure can be studied in this system.
A centralized secure plan for detecting and mitigation incidents in hybrid SDN

The information technology sector has experienced phenomenal growth during recent years. To follow this development many new technologies have emerged to satisfy the expectations of businesses and customers, such as Cloud Computing, mobility, virtualization, Internet of things and big data. Traditional network cannot longer support this growth and suffers more and more in terms of misconfiguration, management and configurations complexity. Software defined network (SDN) architectures can be considered as a big revolution in the field of computer networks, because they offer a centralized control on infrastructure, services and the applications deployed which facilitate configuration and management on the network. The implementation of this type of architecture is not obvious and requires great expertise and good handling and management of network equipment. To remedy this problem the SDN architectures have evolved towards distributed and hybrid architectures. Despites the advantages of using SDN, security issues remain a real obstacle in front of the deployment of this type of architecture. The centralized architecture of this type of networks makes it vulnerable to several types of attacks and intrusions, and the implementation of security equipment generally causes a decrease in performance and increase latency.
VHR Very High Resolution MRF Markov Random Field SE Structuring Element MP Morphology Profile EMP Extended Morphology Profile DMP Differential Morphology Profile AF Attribute Filter AP Attribute Profile MAP Multivariate Attribute Profile EAP Extended Attribute Profile EMAP Extended Multivariate Attr

Just over a decade has passed since the concept of morphological profile was defined for the analysis of remote sensing images. From that time, the morphological profile has largely proved to be a powerful tool able to model spatial information (e.g., contextual relations) of the image. However, due to the shortcomings of using the morphological profiles, many variants, extensions and refinements of its definition have appeared stating that the morphological profile is still under continuous development. In this case, recently-introducedtheoretically-sound attribute profiles can be considered as a generalization of the morphological profile, which is a powerful tool to model spatial information existing in the scene. Although the concept of the attribute profile has been introduced in remote sensing only recently, an extensive literature on its use in different applications and on different types of data has appeared. To that end, the great amount of contributions in the literature that address the application of the attribute profile to many tasks (e.g., classification, object detection, segmentation, change detection, etc.) and to different types of images (e.g., panchromatic, multispectral, hyperspectral) proves how the attribute profile is an effective and modern tool. The main objective of this survey paper is to recall the concept of the attribute profiles along with all its modifications and generalizations with a special emphasize on remote sensing image classification and summarize the important aspects of its efficient utilization while also listing potential future works.
EFFICIENT LONG-PERIOD WAVE ABSORBING SUBMERGED MOUND STRUCTURE

In many Japanese ports, it has been reported that long-period waves with periods of 30 to 200s cause serious problems in cargo handling. As a countermeasure, wave absorbing mounds installed on the harbor side of breakwaters have been constructed. The crown heights of such rubble mounds are almost equal to those of the caissons. Although such structures can be expected to provide some wave absorbing performance, they are too large to apply to specific site conditions. It is important therefore to reduce the size of the structure to apply to specific site conditions. In our study, a slightly submerged mound type long-period wave absorbing structure is proposed. A series of hydraulic model experiments was carried out to evaluate the wave absorbing performance in port and stability characteristics of the armor units against wave overtopping from the sea side. Throughout this study, it became clear that submerged structures display a higher wave absorbing performance compared with those of conventional structures. Moreover, a prediction formula for the stability number for Tetrapods covering these submerged mounds is proposed.
Tampered Digital Image Recovery

A digital watermark is a kind of marker covertly embedded in a noise-tolerant signal such as an audio, video or image data. It is typically used to identify ownership of the copyright of such signal. Watermarking is the process of hiding digital information in a carrier signal; the hidden information should, but does not need to, contain a relation to the carrier signal. Digital watermarks may be used to verify the authenticity or integrity of the carrier signal or to show the identity of its owners. It is prominently used for tracing copyright infringements and for bank note authentication. We apply the wavelet transform and set partitioning in hierarchical transforms (SPIHT) source encoding method to efficiently compress the original image. Tampered area can be detected by using watermarking algorithm.