Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting Helminth Abundances in Synanthropic Rodents of an Urban Environment

Current levels of urbanization cause changes in the ecology of hosts, the pathogens, or both, promoting the proliferation of zoonotic diseases. Rodents are a good biological model for the development of pathogen transmission models because it presence is often related to a none-adequate environmental management. The main goal of this paper was to study the changes in the abundance of helminth populations in synanthropic rodents of an urban landscape. A total of 92 R. norvegicus and 65 M. musculus were captured in the City of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and were screened for parasites. The variations in helminth abundances were studied at host population scale to determine the factors, such as the type of environment, meteorological conditions and demographic parameters of the hosts, which have an effect on helminth infection rates. Parasites with intermediate hosts or free living larval stages in their life cycle were the most affected. It was found how rodents’ use of the habitats in the different urban environments has an effect on the helminth infection levels. Besides, the importance of season on helminth abundance was determined, suggesting that climatic conditions are crucial for parasite survival and transmission. This information is relevant because it not only allows us to deepen the ecological dynamics of parasites in urban rodents, but also shows that environmental conditions are determinants for the persistence of helminth populations in a city.
Person Re-identification by Mid-level Attribute and Part-based Identity Learning

Existing deep models using attributes usually take global features for identity classification and attribute recognition. However, some attributes exist in local position, such as a hat and shoes, therefore global feature alone is insufficient for person representation. In this work, we propose to use the attribute recognition as an auxiliary task for person re-identification. The attributes are recognised from the local regions of mid-level layers. Besides, we extract local features and global features from a high-level layer for identity classification. The mid-level attribute learning improves the discrimination of high-level features, and the local feature is complementary to the global feature. We report competitive results on two large-scale person re-identification benchmarks, Market-1501 and DukeMTMC-reID datasets, which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Critical Factors in Reading Comprehension Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities: A Research Synthesis

This review examined the effectiveness of critical factors in instruction for improving the reading comprehension of middle school students with learning disabilities. Five critical factors were identified: (i) type of instructional methods, (ii) self–monitoring, (iii) components of reading incorporated, (iv) fidelity of instruction (scripted vs. nonscripted and researcher vs. teacher), and (v) group size. Fourteen studies published between 1990 and 2010 were reviewed. The findings indicated that interventions incorporating strategy instruction, specifically, main idea and summarization, yielded high effects on comprehension. The use of self–monitoring combined with main idea strategy improved comprehension performance. It was found that both, instruction targeting comprehension alone, as well as comprehension that incorporated other reading components such as vocabulary had significant effects on comprehension. Researcher–delivered instruction with script yielded higher effects across intervention types. One–on–one instruction or instruction in pairs was more effective than large group instruction across intervention types.
A probability based hybrid energy-efficient privacy preserving scheme to encounter with wireless traffic snooping in smart home

Application of pervasive computing devices in smart homes are rising sharply and due to this matter, demands for efficient privacy protection are increasing urgently. Possibility of interference in wireless networks is proved by previous work. Adversaries can discover contextual information because of traffic monitoring and classifying transmitters based on their radio fingerprints while data packets are encrypted or content is not important for attackers. To conceal communication patterns various approaches have been investigated. They are mainly based on injection of dummy packets into the network traffic and adding delay to transmission time. In this paper, we introduce a hybrid energy-efficient privacy preserving scheme for generating and sending dummy packets through a decision-making algorithm which works based on probability to maximize confusion of attacker in clarifying the real pattern of network traffic
Arch'n'Smile: A Jump'n'Run Game Using Facial Expression Recognition Control For Entertaining Children During Car Journeys

Children can be a distraction to the driver during a car ride. With our work, we try to combine the possibility of facial expression recognition in the car with a game for children. The goal is that the parents can focus on the driving task while the child is busy and entertained. We conducted a study with children and parents in a real driving situation. It turned out that children can handle and enjoy games with facial recognition controls, which leads us to the conclusion that face recognition in the car as a entertaining system for children should be developed further to exploit its full potential.
A solar-like magnetic cycle on the mature K-dwarf 61 Cygni A (HD 201091)

The long-term monitoring of magnetic cycles in cool stars is a key diagnostic in understanding how dynamo generation and amplification of magnetic fields occur in stars similar in structure to the Sun. We investigate the temporal evolution of a possible magnetic cycle, determined from its large-scale field, of 61 Cyg A over its activity cycle using spectropolarimetric observations and compare it to the solar case. We use Zeeman Doppler imaging (ZDI) to reconstruct the large-scale magnetic geometry over multiple observational epochs spread over a time span of nine years. We investigate the time evolution of the different components of the large-scale field and compare it with the evolution of its chromospheric activity by measuring the flux in three different chromospheric indicators: Ca II H&K, H-alpha and Ca II infra red triplet lines. We also compare our results with the star's coronal activity using XMM-Newton observations. The large-scale magnetic geometry of 61 Cyg A exhibits polarity reversals in both poloidal and toroidal field components, in phase with the chromospheric activity cycle. We also detect weak solar-like differential rotation with a shear level similar to the Sun. During our observational time span of nine years, 61 Cyg A exhibits solar-like variations in its large-scale field geometry as it evolves from minimum activity to maximum activity and vice versa. During its activity minimum in epoch 2007.59, ZDI reconstructs a simple dipolar geometry which becomes more complex close to activity maximum in epoch 2010.55. The radial field flips polarity and reverts back to a simple geometry in epoch 2013.61. The field is strongly dipolar and the evolution of the dipole component of the field is reminiscent of the solar behaviour. The polarity reversal of the large-scale field indicates a magnetic cycle that is in phase with the chromospheric and coronal cycle.
Chemical, physical, and optical evolution of biomass burning aerosols: a case study

Abstract. In-situ chemical composition measurements of ambient aerosols have been used for characterizing the evolution of submicron aerosols from a large anthropogenic biomass burning (BB) event in Israel. A high resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-RES-TOF-AMS) was used to follow the chemical evolution of BB aerosols during a night-long, extensive nationwide wood burning event and during the following day. While these types of extensive BB events are not common in this region, burning of agricultural waste is a common practice. The aging process of the BB aerosols was followed through their chemical, physical and optical properties. Mass spectrometric analysis of the aerosol organic component showed that aerosol aging is characterized by shifting from less oxidized fresh BB aerosols to more oxidized aerosols. Evidence for aerosol aging during the day following the BB event was indicated by an increase in the organic mass, its oxidation state, the total aerosol concentration, and a shift in the modal particle diameter. The effective broadband refractive index (EBRI) was derived using a white light optical particle counter (WELAS). The average EBRI for a mixed population of aerosols dominated by open fires was m = 1.53(±0.03) + 0.07 i (±0.03), during the smoldering phase of the fires we found the EBRI to be m = 1.54(±0.01) + 0.04 i (±0.01) compared to m = 1.49(±0.01) + 0.02 i (±0.01) of the aged aerosols during the following day. This change indicates a decrease in the overall aerosol absorption and scattering. Elevated levels of particulate Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) were detected during the entire event, which suggest possible implications for human health during such extensive event.
Network Intrusion Analysis using Clementine

Data mining is an extensive branch of computer science which garnered enormous interest from both academic and industry circles in the last decade. In this work, I would like to present our understanding of data mining under CRISP-DM framework and the use of data mining tool called Clementine, which is widely used in the industry. This paper is basically focuses on using Clementine software to detect anomalies such as odd access time of the machines inside the network from the external machines used in the DARPA simulation by analyzing the tcpdump list file. General Terms Data Mining, Detection Systems
The complex relationship between government and NGOs in international development cooperation: South Korea as an emerging donor country

Abstract The South Korean government has sought an active partnership with domestic NGOs in pursuing international development cooperation. Their partnership can be categorized in two ways. One, the more common type, is that NGOs work with government offices by participating in established programs. In the second type of partnership, NGOs take a more independent position when important policy agendas are determined and often push the government to move in certain directions. Vibrant Korean NGOs usually align with more liberal rules and norms of foreign aid governance and advocate for these to their own government. The relationship between the government and NGOs in the area of development cooperation is essentially a partnership, as technical expertise and overseas aid allocation move their interaction away from divisive domestic politics. We named this partnership a “complex relationship” in which both functional and critical interactions occur. Three different types of relations – supplementary, complementary, and sometimes adversarial – co-exist across four interactive areas: volunteering services, development project implementation, development education, and policy advocacy.
Pumpellyite from the oceanic crust, DSDP/ODP Hole 504B

Abstract Pumpellyite has been found in doleritic basalt of a sheeted dyke complex drilled from 2072.1 m below sea floor in DSDP/ODP Hole 504B, south of the Costa Rica Rift, eastern Pacific. It occurs as fine- grained crystal aggregates accompanied by albite, chlorite and chalcopyrite, which partially replace a plagioclase phenocryst (An85−88) that is also associated with primary magnetite. Chemical compositions of the pumpellyite vary antithetically in relation to Fe* and Al as well as Fe* and Mg, indicating the dominant substitution of Fe3+ by Al with the minor substitution of Fe2+ by Mg. Such compositional variations overlap with those of prehnite-pumpellyite facies rocks dredged from other oceanic ridges and intra-oceanic arcs, and those of similar facies rocks from ophiolites, but are aluminous compared with those of zeolite facies metabasites in ophiolites. These observations suggest that the breakdown of the plagioclase phenocryst and magnetite in the presence of a Cu- and S-bearing fluid phase led to the formation of pumpellyite + albite + chlorite + chalcopyrite during oceanic ridge hydrothermal alteration.
Use of mangroves by fish: new insights from in-forest videos

Even in some of the best-studied areas, there has been little direct evaluation of how extensively mangroves are used by fish, or the extent of their penetration through mangrove forests. As a result, paradigms about the utilisation and value of mangroves have not been fully tested. We used an array of unbaited underwater videos to investigate the extent to which fish used mangroves in north-eastern Australian estuaries. Only a small subset of estuarine species were observed entering the mangroves, and patterns of utilisation differed from those expected based on standard paradigms. In particular, trophic groups such as planktivores occurred rarely even 1 m inside the seaward mangrove margin, with utilisation dominated by a few species known to specialise on mangrove-associated prey. Of the species that did enter the mangroves, only a few penetrated through to the landward edge. The limited use of mangroves by fish in these systems suggests a need to reconsider the ways in which mangroves provide refuge and the extent to which they are used as foraging sites. The fact that mangrove use was more restricted than expected implies that the nursery value of these systems is likely to be conferred at a whole-ecosystem scale, and emphasises the need for a detailed, region-specific understanding of the specific values of the different components of mangrove ecosystems.
Finding Boundary Layer Top: Application of a Wavelet Covariance Transform to Lidar Backscatter Profiles

Several recent studies have utilized a Haar wavelet covariance transform to provide automated detection of the boundary layer top from lidar backscatter profiles by locating the maximum in the covariance profiles. This approach is effective where the vertical gradient in the backscatter is small within and above the boundary layer, and where the inversion is sharp and well defined. These near-ideal conditions are often not met, particularly under stable stratification where the inversion may be deep and is sometimes ill defined, and vertical gradients are common. Here the effects of vertical gradients and inversion depth on the covariance transform are examined. It is found that a significant dilation-dependent bias in the determination of the boundary layer top may result when using the published method. An alternative approach is developed utilizing multiple wavelet dilations, and is capable of identifying both the upper and lower limits of the backscatter transition zone associated with the inversion while remaining insensitive to mean vertical gradients in the background signal. This approach enables more detailed information on the small-scale structure of the inversion and entrainment zone to be retrieved than is possible using existing techniques.
Control Performance Assessment for ILC-Controlled Batch Processes Based on MPC Benchmark

In this article, direct at the batch process controlled by iterative learning control (ILC), it proposes a more reasonable benchmark for the control performance assessment (CPA): the model predictive control (MPC) benchmark. First, ILC-controlled batch process is converted to a 2-D Fornasini-Marchesini (FM) model. On this basis, the cost function is constructed and the optimal learning law can be found. Then the 2D MPC performance tradeoff surface for assessment is obtained. Finally, a set of simulation experiments prove the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed method.
Nanoparticles: Advances in Drug Delivery Systems

Breakthroughs in nanotechnology promise in revolutionize drug manufacturing, drug delivery medical diagnostics. Nanoparticles have unique properties as compared to micro and macro particles. Nanotechnology is expected to bring revolutionary changes in the field of life sciences including drug delivery, diagnostics, nutraceuticals and production of bio–materials. Different types of nanoparticulate materials used in electronics, magnetic pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, energy, catalytic and materials industries. The US FDA specifies that nanotechnology involves: research and technology development at atomic, molecular or macromolecular levels, in the length scale of approximately 1-100 nm ;creating and using structures, devices and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small and/or intermediate size; and the ability to control or manipulate on atomic scale. Nanoparticles have range of potential application in short term in new cosmetics, textiles and paints. These technologies can increase the potency of traditional small molecules of drugs in addition to potentially providing a mechanism for treating previously incurable diseases. This paper focus on the types of nanoparticles, their advantages, disadvantages and applications.
A Novel Rule-Based Root Extraction Algorithm for Arabic Language

Non-vocalized Arabic words are ambiguous words, because non-vocalized words may have different meanings. Therefore, these words may have more than one root. Many Arabic root extraction algorithms have been conducted to extract the roots of non-vocalized Arabic words. However, most of them return only one root and produce lower accuracy than reported when they are tested on different datasets. Arabic root extraction algorithm is an urgent need for applications like information retrieval systems, indexing, text mining, text classification, data compression, spell checking, text summarization, question answering systems and machine translation. In this work, a new rule-based Arabic root extraction algorithm is developed and focuses to overcome the limitation of previous works. The proposed algorithm is compared to the algorithm of Khoja, which is a well-known Arabic root extraction algorithm that produces high accuracy. The testing process was conducted on the corpus of Thalji, which is mainly built to test and compare Arabic roots extraction algorithms. It contains 720,000 word-root pairs from 12000 roots, 430 prefixes, 320 suffixes, and 4320 patterns. The experimental result shows that the algorithm of Khoja achieved 63%, meanwhile the proposed algorithm achieved 94% of accuracy.
Microfabrication of bulk PZT transducers by dry film photolithography and micro powder blasting

A facile fabrication process for bulk PZT microsystems using dry film photoresist and micro powder blasting is presented. Bulk PZT and dry film photoresist etching characteristics are evaluated as a function of process parameters and mask dimensions using 127 µm thick PZT substrates. The resulting process simplifies microscale patterning of bulk PZT compared with existing methods, with selection of suitable etching parameter providing excellent etch rate, selectivity and anisotropy. The technique is used to fabricate two different cantilever microactuator topologies based on piezoelectric d31 and d33 mode actuation, demonstrating the capabilities of the patterning method for applications in bulk PZT microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
Polyglot speech generation with WaveNet

WaveNet like deep learning architectures are capable of generating high quality speech while the control parameters of synthesis may be changed continuously. One of the possible parameters can be the language of the current sentence, phrase, word or phoneme. In this paper we show an experiment with WaveNet architecture that combines three languages (English, German and Hungarian) in one model. In our work a conditioned WaveNet was trained and tested with monoand bilingual sentences. This kind of polyglot speech generation is used e.g. in railway station announcement systems where the language may vary within the sentence.
Biscogniauxia nummularia infecting beech (Fagus sylvatica) trees and sympatric plants of the sedge Carex brevicollis

Summary Biscogniauxia nummularia is known for its association with beech (Fagus sylvatica), on which it occurs as a saprotroph and a pathogen causing strip cankers following water stress. This fungus has also been reported as a dominant endophytic species in plants of the sedge Carex brevicollis growing in the understory of beech forests and adjacent grasslands in Sierra de Urbasa (Navarre, Spain). In this area, stromata of B. nummularia were observed in dead and living wood of beech trees at several locations where plants of C. brevicollis also contained the fungus as an endophyte. Pure cultures obtained from stromata of B. nummularia on F. sylvatica trees were compared to endophytic isolates from symptomless C. brevicollis. Culture morphology and micromorphology as well as rDNA sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions were identical, suggesting that B. nummularia from beech can also live endophytically in C. brevicollis. It is unknown whether the endophytic strains of Carex might have a role as an inoculum source for the infection of beech trees, or whether they represent a dead end in the life cycle of the fungus.
Iodine chemistry in the eastern Pacific marine boundary layer

Observations of gas‐phase iodine species were made during a field campaign in the eastern Pacific marine boundary layer (MBL). The Climate and Halogen Reactivity Tropical Experiment (CHARLEX) in the Galápagos Islands, running from September 2010 to present, is the first long‐term ground‐based study of trace gases in this region. Observations of gas‐phase iodine species were made using long‐path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP‐DOAS), multi‐axis DOAS (MAX‐DOAS), and resonance and off‐resonance fluorescence by lamp excitation (ROFLEX). These measurements were supported by ancillary measurements of ozone, nitrogen oxides, and meteorological variables. Selective halocarbon and ultrafine aerosol concentration measurements were also made. MAX‐DOAS observations of iodine monoxide (IO) display a weak seasonal variation. The maximum differential slant column density was 3.8 × 1013 molecule cm−2 (detection limit ~7 × 1012 molecule cm−2). The seasonal variation of reactive iodine IOx (= I + IO) is stronger, peaking at 1.6 pptv during the warm season (February–April). This suggests a dependence of the iodine sources on the annual cycle in sea surface temperature, although perturbations by changes in ocean surface iodide concentration and solar radiation are also possible. An observed negative correlation of IOx with chlorophyll‐a indicates a predominance of abiotic sources. The low IO mixing ratios measured (below the LP‐DOAS detection limit of 0.9 pptv) are not consistent with satellite observations if IO is confined to the MBL. The IOx loading is consistent with the observed absence of strong ozone depletion and nucleation events, indicating a small impact of iodine chemistry on these climatically relevant factors in the eastern Pacific MBL.
Viability selection against highly ornamented males

Hypothesis: Variation in ornamental traits, such as plumage coloration, is maintained by the opposing forces of sexual selection (increased ornamentation) and natural selection (decreased ornamentation). Organisms: A wild population of western bluebirds (Sialia mexicana) in northwestern Oregon — the subject of longitudinal population studies since 1988. Methods: We necropsied 47 adult birds recovered dead in 2002. We measured their plumage coloration with an Ocean Optics S2000 reflectance spectrophotometer. Using Mann-Whitney U-tests with Bonferroni correction, we compared these data to measurements collected from 43 adults recaptured alive. Results: Necropsies suggested that birds died of an epidemic during 2002. Dead females did not differ from survivors in morphology or plumage. Dead males were significantly more highly ornamented (darker, redder breast patch) than males