Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analysis of solar power satellite systems to support a moon base

This paper compares different concepts for a space-based power system to support a lunar base: a solar power satellite (SPS) with a microwave wireless power transmission system (WPT), a hybrid configuration where two solar reflector satellites (SRS) fly in formation with the SPS and concentrate sunlight onto the SPS, and the CASSIOPeiA SPS system. Sizing of the transmitting and receiving antennae is conducted for a WPT concept utilising high frequency microwaves. Design of the microwave generator is based on gyrotron technology, with parabolic reflectors, and an array of rectifying patch antennae. The WPT solution consists of a number of satellites with solar arrays and transmission capabilities to provide continuous power to the receiving array. Solar reflectors alleviate the issue of day-night cycles, for ground-based solar arrays, by providing constant sunlight. This concept could be extended by increasing the irradiance provided by the reflecting satellite, thus decreasing the size of the ground solar array required. However, reflective satellites struggle with efficiency stemming from the size of the footprint they create, which is dependent on the angular subtense of the Sun. This paper demonstrates that a hybrid design, utilizing both the reflector satellites and the WPT, would provide the greatest power to weight ratio - decreasing the size of the solar array required. An important aspect in the effectiveness of solar powered satellites are their distance from the ground receiver, determined directly by their orbit. Smaller orbits allow for reduced distances between the satellite and ground; reducing receiver sizes. However, larger orbits increase transmission windows, reducing the required energy transfer rate. Another important consideration is the stability of the orbit. Stability is affected by the Solar Radiation Pressure, the gravitational pull of the Earth, and the effects of the non-spherical gravity field of the Moon. Thus, when designing the orbit, these effects have been considered alongside the trade-off between larger and smaller orbits. The solutions have been scaled and compared to the CASSIOPeiA concept architecture of a similar nature which has been investigated to demonstrate the effectiveness of the concept provided.
Assurance And Impression Management Of Sustainability Reporting In Malaysia

Three years after the enforcement of mandatory sustainability reporting in Malaysia, due to the qualitative nature in reporting, the creditability of the information disclosed is still being questioned. Impression management is a concern faced by stakeholders given the issue of genuineness with regards to sustainability information disclosed and legitimacy. One of the ways to overcome such issue will be through assurance of the reporting to enhance the creditability of the sustainability reporting prepared by the firm. Institutional theory is employed to construct the research framework of this study which intended to explore the relationship between sustainability assurance and impression management level of sustainability reporting. Without legal requirement and lack of reference provided, firms would rather be influenced by mimetic and normative isomorphism while having the sustainability reporting assured. Content analysis will be done to have a preliminary analysis on the current impression management in sustainability reporting while interview is proposed to understand the complexity of relationship between the assurers and preparers of sustainability reporting. The result obtained from the proposed framework would provide some understanding on the importance of assurance in relation to sustainability reporting in Malaysia. 2357-1330 © 2020 Published by European Publisher.
On the Validity of Pareas macularius Theobald, 1868 (Squamata: Pareidae) as a Species Distinct from Pareas margaritophorus (Jan in Bocourt, 1866)

The genus Pareas Wagler, 1830, consists of about fifteen species of small snail-eating snakes distributed in China, South and Southeast Asia. Until recently, two Pareas-species ornamented with characteristic bicolored spots were recognized, P. margaritophorus (Jan in Bocourt, 1866) and Pareas macularius Theobald, 1868. However, P. macularius was synonymized with P. margaritophorus by Huang (2004), reducing the speciosity of the bicolored-spotted snail-eaters to a single species. This claim was tested by examining more than 60 fresh road-killed specimens of bicolored-spotted snail-eaters from northern Thailand. They were either completely smooth-scaled, or had rows of weakly keeled dorsals. The smooth-scaled specimens differed significantly from the keeled-scaled in a number of characters. The holotype of P. margaritophorus corresponded closely to the smooth-scaled specimens, whereas the holotype of Pareas macularius corresponded to the keeledscaled ones. It was, thus, shown that P. macularius is a valid species and the synonymization as claimed by Huang (2004) was refuted. P. macularius is distinguished from P. margaritophorus by having the 7–13 most median rows of dorsal scales feebly keeled at midbody, by the form and color of the nuchal collar, its larger size, the larger number of ventral shields, and the high incidence of an intense black blotch on the last, largest supralabial. A preliminary distribution map for the two species is provided.
House fly (Diptera: Muscidae) resistance to permethrin in a Georgia caged layer poultry operation

Poor control of house fly (Musca domestica Linnacus) was observed in a caged layer operation with a 2 year history of pennethrin U8C. Surveys of adult fly numbers and pesticide use indicated a weakening of what had previously been excellent control. Topical testing of F. & Fs showed this strain to be approximately X 36 le88 susceptible to permethrin (LDso) than a USDA susceptible strain. To our knowledge this is the first case of house fly resistance to permethrin under field conditions in the United States. An alternate management strategy emphasizing sanitation and the possible combination of cyromazine larvicide and adulticides is proposed.
User engagement with smart wearables: Four defining factors and a process model

This study aims to construct an empirical model of user engagement with smart wearables, focusing on wrist-worn wearable devices. Using survey data of current smartwatch and smart fitness tracker users (N = 457), four factors—physical interaction, interface assessment, cognitive absorption, and digital outreach—were examined as the main components of user engagement. Results showed that the four concepts reliably constituted the measurement model of user engagement. The proposed user engagement scale showed convergent validity with user attitudes toward wrist-worn wearables and usage intention. In addition, the four aspects of user engagement consisted of a process model, where physical interaction predicted interface assessment, interface assessment predicted cognitive absorption, and cognitive absorption predicted digital outreach.
Research on a line-expanded visual odometry in dynamic environment

The Point feature and line feature have been widely used in visual SLAM(simultaneous localization and mapping) algorithm. But most of these methods assume that the environments are static, ignoring that there are often dynamic objects in real world, which can degrade the SLAM performance. In order to solve this problem, a line-expanded visual odometry is proposed. It calculates optical flow between two adjacent frames to identify and eliminate dynamic point features in dynamic objects, and use the rest of point features to find the collinear relationship to expand line features for visual SLAM algorithm based on point features. Final it use the rest of point features and line features to estimate the camera pose. The proposed method not only reduces the influence of dynamic objects, but also avoids the tracking failure caused by few point features. The experiments are carried out on a TUM dataset. Compared with state-of-the-art methods like ORB (oriented FAST and rotated BRIEF) method and ORB add optical flow method, the results demonstrate that the proposed method reduces the tracking error and improve the robustness and accuracy of visual odometry in dynamic environments.
A ventral nerve cord CPG may underlie locomotion in C. elegans

Despite the relative simplicity of C. elegans, its locomotion machinery is not yet well understood. We focus on the generation of dorsoventral body bends. While central pattern generators are commonly involved in animal locomotion, their presence in C. elegans has been questioned due to a lack of an evident neural circuit to support it. We developed a computational model grounded in the available neuroanatomy and neurophysiology and we used an evolutionary algorithm to explore the space of possible configurations of the circuit that matched the neural traces observed during forward and backward locomotion in the worm. Our results demonstrate that it is possible for the rhythmic contraction to be produced by a circuit present in the ventral nerve cord.
Rate fluctuations not steps dominate LIP activity during decision-making

The idea that lateral intraparietal cortex (LIP) integrates information for and against a decision, is one of the most popular models in neuroscience. However, a recent statistical analysis has suggested that LIP does not integrate information but that individual neurons’ activities jump. The result was based on a model comparison, which is often hard to interpret. There are two worries that can render comparisons problematic. (1) Important aspects of variance are contained in neither model. (2) The analysis is complicated, making it hard to verify. We thus followed up with a simple approach for model comparison: crossvalidation. We find evidence that baseline fluctuations describe much of the variance, which are properly modeled by neither the original paper’s drift-diffusion model, nor simple ramp or step models. Moreover, we find that our straightforward analysis strategy prefers ramping models, both with and without trial-by-trial baseline fluctuations. Our analysis, implementable in a few lines of code, suggests the importance of simple analyses.
Mining sequencing and SNP array data for sex chromosome count

The human sex chromosomes differ from the autosomes in many ways due to the fact that males have two different sex chromosomes instead of a pair. Because of this difference the sex chromosomes are viewed differently in genetic research and the Y chromosome often excluded from association studies. Defining high quality regions of the X and Y chromosomes could benefit association studies and genetic studies in general. In this thesis we attempt to refine the regions used to study the sex chromosomes, develop methods to determine the sex chromosome numbers of sequenced and SNP chip genotyped individuals. The sex chromosome count of individuals could then be used to fix incorrectly reported sex values. We use those sex chromosome numbers to find individuals with human sex chromosome aneuploidy to establish a data set of aneuploidy cases that is not biased against asymptomatic individuals. We used data at deCODE genetics, for 31,918 whole genome sequenced individuals and 162,797 chip genotyped. We compared our results against reported frequencies of three aneuploidy syndromes and at what frequencies different meiotic errors cause trisomy syndromes. The methods developed appear to determine the X chromosome count accurately, and the Trisomy X frequency in the data set is close to the previously reported values. The Y chromosome count appears to be underestimated using these methods and the Turner syndrome frequency is therefore higher and Klinefelter syndrome frequency is lower than expected.
Circulating nucleic acids as biomarkers of breast cancer

Background: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer and the second cause of cancer death among women. Two circulating biomarkers microRNAs (miRNAs) and circulating cell-free tumour DNA (cf-DNA) are currently under active investigation as a liquid biopsy for their utility in screening and management of breast cancer. Aims: The aim was to profile circulating miRNAs in plasma of breast cancer and compare to healthy controls to determine whether there were any miRNAs that differentially expressed in cancer. A second aim was to compare different methods to detect PIK3CA and TP53 mutations in breast cancer tissues DNA and cf-DNA. Methods: The expression level of 384 miRNAs in pooled plasma of breast cancer was compared to healthy controls using TaqMan microRNA array, followed by validation of specific miRNAs in single cancer and control plasma, using qPCR. Multiple different methods (qPCR, HRMC, ddPCR and Sanger sequencing) were compared for detection of PIK3CA or TP53 mutations in breast cancer tissue and matched plasma (cf-DNA). Results: 49 miRNAs (12.8%) showed significant expression change between pooled breast cancer plasma and controls. 11 of these were upregulated (P<0.05) in individual cancer plasma but there was wide variation in expression in controls. Overall, the ddPCR technology had higher sensitivity in detecting PIK3CA (0.1%) or TP53 (0.01%) mutations in cell line and breast cancer tissue than that achieved with other methods and overall 18 of 26 samples had a mutation in one or other gene. Conclusions: There was expression difference of a number of miRNAs in plasma of breast cancer compared to healthy controls, which needs further validation in other cohorts. The ddPCR was able to detect PIK3CA or TP53 mutations in breast cancer tissues with higher sensitivity than the other methods tested.
Can Zeolite Application Decrease the Need for Nitrogen in Silage Corn?

The effects of applications of zeolite, nitrogen and zeolite + nitrogen on yield, quality and some morphological traits of silage corn was researched at the Research Station of the Agriculture Faculty, University of Ataturk, Eastern Turkey, during 2012 and 2013. Treatments included a control, three zeolite (Z1: 500, Z2: 1000, Z3: 1500 kg ha-1), three nitrogen (N1: 50, N2: 100, N3: 150 kg ha-1) and nine combinations of zeolite + nitrogen. The experimental design was randomized complete blocks with three replications. The application of zeolite + nitrogen application enhanced silage yield by 5.8-18.9%, dry matter yield by 4.5-21.4%, corncob rate by 6.6%, plant height by 3.0-16.1% and leaf rate by 17.5%. Further, the application of zeolite + medium or low nitrogen application produced similar silage yield, dry matter yield, dry matter rate, crude protein content, ADF, NDF, corncob rate, stem rate, plant height and leaf rate in comparison to the highest level nitrogen application. The results indicate that the application of zeolite + nitrogen can be used to increase efficiency of nitrogen and to decrease nitrogen requirements in silage corn for yield and other parameters.
Managing ICT for Sustainable Education: Research Analysis in the Context of Higher Education

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the benefit of the environment favors the development of a sustainable education, which will help to train more responsible and aware students. The management of educational technology in the context of a sustainable higher education must achieve the internalization of ethics and the sustainable development of humanity. The main objective of this study is to, at a global level, examine the research during the period 2000–2019 on the management of ICTs for sustainable education in the context of higher education. Global research trends on this topic during the period 2000–2019 have been analyzed. Consequently, bibliometric techniques have been applied to a sample of 1814 articles selected from the Scopus database. The results provided data on the scientific productivity of the journal, authors, research institutions, and countries that contribute to the development of this topic. The evidence reveals an exponential trend, mainly in the last five years. In addition, current and future lines of research have been identified. Research at an international level presents a growing trend of publication that allows determination of the relevance of research on ICT management to achieve sustainable education in the context of higher education. This study makes it possible to establish the relationship between science, sustainability, and technology in higher education institutions, and to base the decision-making process for the driving agents of this area of knowledge.
Fiber-laser-based cantilever-type vector sensor for acoustic motion measurement

A kind of fiber optic particle velocity sensor based on planar cantilever beam is studied. The fiber laser is attached to the surface of a cantilever. The cantilever beam is deformed by the acoustic field in the vertical direction of the surface, and the frequency of the output of the fiber laser is modulated, so as to realize the acoustic vector sensor. In particular, in viscous fluids, the cantilever is driven by an additional force proportional to the velocity of fluid particle. By selecting the appropriate liquid, the fluid viscous force will become the main driving force of the cantilever beam, making the sensor respond directly to the velocity of water particle, thus having a flat sound pressure sensitivity response curve. According to the cantilever beam equation in fluid, the theoretical simulation of the frequency response of the sensor shows that the acoustic pressure sensitivity is 104Hz/Pa and the acceleration sensitivity is 108Hz/g from 10Hz to 60Hz. The acoustic pressure sensitivity and acceleration sensitivity of the sensor in air and water are studied by experiment, and the results are consistent with the theoretical simulation. Compared with the traditional fiber optic accelerometer, the sensor of this structure has the advantages of small size, simple structure and high sensitivity, which is of great significance for application of vector hydrophone in low frequencies and is beneficial to constitute large scale hydrophone array.
Digital Gender Disidentifications: Beyond the Subversion Versus Hegemony Dichotomy and Toward Everyday Gender Practices

The 21st century has seen the emergence of new practices of gender diversity that eschew a rigid gender binary and proliferate new gender labels, including “nonbinary,” “genderfluid,” and “agender. ” Digital media have played a crucial role in this process as the new labels often originate and become popular in online social networks. Academic discussions on digital gender diversity suggest that the new labels either resist or reproduce the dominant gender ideology. I contribute to these discussions by challenging the subversion versus hegemony dichotomy, and by demonstrating a wide spectrum of practices of gender diversity. Drawing on six interviews with gender-diverse migrants and building on the concept of disidentification, I update the concept to include increasingly digital societies and new gender practices, challenge the dichotomous thinking about digital gender diversity, and stress the importance of cultural and media contexts for understanding how new gender labels are being practiced in everyday life.
Almost paradise: a floating sense of place through transient mobility among Romanians in the Canary Islands (Spain)

ABSTRACT This article contributes to the innovative literature on human mobility, highlighting the sense of place linked to transient mobility among people who live on an island. Drawing on 40 in-depth interviews with Romanians living in the Canary Islands, this paper introduces the concept of a ‘floating sense of place’ and advances understandings on how people of different generations use their experiences of mobility in time and space to construct and interpret their sense of place on the move. How is floating sense of place created and how does mobility affect the sense of belonging of people who live transiently on an island? I highlight that the socio-economic circumstances of mobile people together with the particular conditions of the island – especially the presence of the ocean – create corporeal and sensorial predispositions that contribute to the creation of the ‘floating sense of place’. I argue that mobility articulates multiple practices and imaginaries that connect people with the ocean – as both a real and symbolic element. In turn, this helps them bond with various places in their transitory movement, and influences the construction of a floating sense of place: a) living in a floating ‘paradise’ and moving for work or business; b) in-between floating; and c) on-the-move floating: between drift and search of place and future aspirations.
Simulation of Ocean Circulation of Dongsha Water Using Non-Hydrostatic Shallow-Water Model

A two-dimensional non-hydrostatic shallow-water model for weakly dispersive waves is developed using the least-squares finite-element method. The model is based on the depth-averaged, nonlinear and non-hydrostatic shallow-water equations. The non-hydrostatic shallow-water equations are solved with the semi-implicit (predictor-corrector) method and least-squares finite-element method. In the predictor step, hydrostatic pressure at the previous step is used as an initial guess and an intermediate velocity field is calculated. In the corrector step, a Poisson equation for the non-hydrostatic pressure is solved and the final velocity and free-surface elevation is corrected for the new time step. The non-hydrostatic shallow-water model is verified and applied to both wave and flow driven fluid flows, including solitary wave propagation in a channel, progressive sinusoidal waves propagation over a submerged bar, von Karmann vortex street, and ocean circulations of Dongsha Atolls. It is found hydrostatic shallow-water model is efficient and accurate for shallow water flows. Non-hydrostatic shallow-water model requires 1.5 to 3.0 more cpu time than hydrostatic shallow-water model for the same simulation. Model simulations reveal that non-hydrostatic pressure gradients could affect the velocity field and free-surface significantly in case where nonlinearity and dispersion are important during the course of wave propagation.