Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MOQPSO-D/S for Air and Missile Defense WTA Problem under Uncertainty

Aiming at the shortcomings of single objective optimization for solving weapon target assignment (WTA) and the existing multiobjective optimization based WTA method having problems being applied in air and missile defense combat under uncertainty, a fuzzy multiobjective programming based WTA method was proposed to enhance the adaptability of WTA decision to the changes of battlefield situation. Firstly, a multiobjective quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with double/single-well (MOQPSO-D/S) algorithm was proposed by adopting the double/single-well based position update method, the hybrid random mutation method, and the two-stage based guider particles selection method. Secondly, a fuzzy multiobjective programming WTA model was constructed with consideration of air and missile defense combat’s characteristics. And, the uncertain WTA model was equivalently clarified based on the necessity degree principle of uncertainty theory. Thirdly, with particles encoding and illegal particles adjusting, the MOQPSO-D/S algorithm was adopted to solve the fuzzy multiobjective programming based WTA model. Finally, example simulation was conducted, and the result shows that the WTA model constructed is rational and MOQPSO-D/S algorithm is efficient.
The residential choices of foreign families living in Italy

At the close of 2007, about 4 million foreign people were living in Italy (20 years ago, the same could be said of only a few thousand), the majority of whom were employed in low paying of jobs refused by Italians. As the housing situation in Italy since 1975 has been predominantly characterized by homeownership, the purchase of a house for both Italian and foreign families has become a matter of both survival and "citizenship". In this paper, we use an exploratory approach to describe the housing arrangements of foreign families who have settled in Italy; we compare their situation to that of Italians, distinguishing by country of origin. Data come from the ITAGEN2, a statistically representative survey of students aged 11-13, living in 44 Italian provinces during the 2005-06 school year (10,537 Italians and 6,368 foreigners). Six pairs of multilevel logistic regression models (for both Italians and foreigners) are fitted to the data - clustering pupils by the 228 junior high schools - where the response-variables are: homeownership, spaciousness, and proximity to relatives. Parents of Italian children are often able to combine these three housing objectives while the few Italians who rent, on the other hand, frequently have to make due with smaller houses located far from their relatives. The foreigner, who decides to take the huge "leap" into buying a home, often has to give up living close to his/her relatives or is forced to be content with a very small house. This situation is particularly evident among the Asian community; almost 50% of those who have lived in Italy for more than 10 years own the house they live in. Foreigners who continue to rent more often turn to close relatives for support, or - as in the case of the Albanians - live in more spacious homes.
Identification to Gus Dur: study of pilgrimage of Indonesian foremost Ulama’s tomb in jombang Regency, Indonesia

The study applies self-expansion theory to understand the phenomenon of pilgrimage surge to the tomb of one of Indonesian foremost Ulama (Moslem preacher), Gus Dur. The attraction factor of Gus Dur is represented by “perceived identity synergy” that provides cognitive ground for identification. The study puts forward perceived values and support as antecedents of “perceived identity synergy”. By this way, this study allows two kinds of comparison. The first is comparison between relationship of perceived value and revisit intention with perceived identity synergy and identification as mediators and that without those mediators. The second is comparison between relationship of perceived value and revisit intention and that of perceived support and revisit intention both with perceived identity synergy and identification as mediators. The first result reveals that the relation is only possible through mediators. The second result reveals that perceived identity synergyand identification as mediators work much less to relationship between perceived support and revisit intention than to that between perceived value and revisit intention.
A new canker disease of apple, pear, and plum rootstocks caused by Diaporthe ambigua in South Africa.

Smit. W. A.t Viljoen. C. D. , Wingfield. B. D. Wingfield. M. 1. , and Calitz. F. J. 1996. A new canker disease of apple. pear, and plum rootstocks caused by Diaporrhe ambigua in South Africa. Plant Dis. 80:1331-1335. Diaporthe ambiguawas found to be the c:J.useof a newly recognized disease of apple. pear, and plum rootstocks in South Africa. The fungus was isolated from margins of cankers on rootstocks and branches of diseased trees, and from spores taken from perithecia and pycnidia imbedded in cankers. Characteristic symptoms included sunken, pointed lesions with marginal longitudinal cracks. Key identifying characters were perithecia, separate or in groups, with elongated necks protruding from the bark under moist conditions. and stromata delimited at the outer margins by broad, blackened zones. Pathogenicity tests were conducted on 3-year-old apple. pear, and plum rootstocks. Vegetative compatibility (YC) groups were identified by pairing isolates on oatmeal agar, and the sexual system was studied by inoculating single ascospores onto sterile apple twigs on water agar medium. D. ambigua was consistently associated with cankers on apple, pear, and plum rootstocks, and testing of Koch's postulates demonstrated its pathogenicity conclusively. The fungus was found to be homothallic. In addition, isolates from one rootstock tended to be of the same VC group, whereas those from adjacent rootstocks usually represented different genetic entities. Additional keywords: Malus domesrica, Prunus salicina, Pyrus communis
HyperSpark: A Software Engineering Approach to Parallel Metaheuristics

Metaheuristics are used to solve complex, untractable problems for which other approaches are unsuitable or unable to provide solutions in reasonable times. Although computing power has grown exponentially with the onset of Cloud Computing and Big Data, the domain of metaheuristics has not yet taken full advantage of this new potential. In this paper we address this gap by proposing HyperSpark, a metaheuristic optimization framework for the scalable execution of user-defined, computationally-intensive metaheuristics. HyperSpark provides a way to harness the benefits (e.g., scalability by design) and features (e.g., a simple programming model or ad-hoc infrastructure tuning) of state-of-the-art big data technology for the benefit of metaheuristic computation. We elaborate on HyperSpark and evaluate its efficiency and generality on several different metaheuristics for the Permutation Flow-Shop Problem (PFSP). We observe that HyperSpark results are comparable with the best solutions of the literature and this shows clearly the great potential behind the propsed approach.
Influence of Seed physical properties and speed on the external mechanical damage index and in-row spacing uniformity in an automatic potato planter

In this study, a new fully automatic potato planter was used in which the planting metering mechanism consists of cups and hold pins attached to the circumference of a vertical disc. In order to evaluate performance of the planting metering mechanism, in-row spacing uniformity and external mechanical damage index were determined (P<0.01). Also skips and doubles that caused deterioration of in-row spacing uniformity were investigated. In experiment, two potato varieties (Marfona and Agria) and two potato sizes (25-45 and 45-65 mm) were used. The ground speeds of potato planter were chosen as 3.5, 5.4 and 7.3 km h. The results obtained from the experiment indicated that the ground speeds and tuber physical properties significantly influenced tuber spacing accuracy and external mechanical damage index (P<0.01). While the ground speed increased, accuracy of tuber spacing decreased. The highest coefficient of variation (CV%) values were obtained from ground speed of 7.3 km h, Marfona variety, and tubers between 25-45 mm, with 26.80%, 25.58% and 26.27%, respectively. The highest damage index values were obtained from ground speed of 7.3 km h, Agria variety, and tubers between 45-65 mm, with 1.34, 1.18 and 1.23, respectively.
Enhanced thermal and electrical properties of epoxy composites reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets

We reported a facile approach to fabricate graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs)/epoxy composites with a novel blend method. The influence of GNPs on the thermal and electrical properties was investigated. Compounds with different GNPs content (0-8 wt%) were mixed with a Flacktek speedmixer at a speed of 3000 rpm for 5 min. The thermal conductivity of the epoxy composites with 8 wt% GNPs was 1.181 W/m K, which is increased by 627% compared with those of the neat epoxy. It is found that the thermal stability and electrical property also have a certain degree of improvement. Scanning electron microscopy images demonstrate that the structures of the composites have a closed relationship with their properties. In addition, the incorporation of GNPs in epoxy matrix indicated excellent Vickers hardness at the low weight fractions of GNPs. POLYM. COMPOS. 36:556-565, 2015. (c) 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers
Damage detection in Composite laminates by Fiber optic sensors

Historia del artículo: Recibido 5 de Mayo 2017 En la versión revisada 5 de Mayo 2017 Aceptado 31 de Mayo 2017 Accesible online 21 de Junio 2017 Los sensores de fibra optica, tanto los sensores puntuales tipo FBG como los sensores distribuidos basados en OFDR están aceptados y validados como sensores de temperatura y deformacion, con un alto TRL, estando ya en uso en muchas aplicaciones industriales.
The regional MiKlip decadal forecast ensemble for Europe

Funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) a major research project called MiKlip (Mittelfristige Klimaprognose, Decadal Climate Prediction) was launched and global as well as regional predictive ensemble hindcasts have been generated. The aim of the project is to demonstrate for past climate change whether predictive models have the capability of predicting climate on time scales of decades. This includes the development of a decadal forecast system, on the one hand to support decision making for economy, politics and society for decadal time spans. On the other hand, the scientific aspect is to explore the feasibility and prospects of global and regional forecasts on decadal time scales. The focus of this paper lies on the description of the regional hindcast ensemble for Europe generated by COSMO-CLM and on the assessment of the decadal variability and predictability against observations. To measure decadal variability we remove the long term bias as well as the long term linear trend from the data. Further, we applied low pass filters to the original data to separate the decadal climate signal from high frequency noise. The decadal variability and predictability assessment is applied to temperature and precipitation data for the summer and winter half-year averages/sums. The best results have been found for the prediction of decadal temperature anomalies, i.e. we have detected a distinct predictive skill and reasonable reliability. Hence it is possible to predict regional temperature variability on decadal timescales, However, the situation is less satisfactory for precipitation. Here we have found regions showing good predictability, but also regions without any predictive skill.
Fire Safety of Mass timber Buildings with CLT in USA

Multistory buildings using mass timber and cross-laminated timber (CLT) as the primary structural elements are being planned and constructed globally, with interest starting to gather momentum in the United States. Model building codes in the United States limit timber construction to a building height of 85 ft (25.9 m) because of concerns over fire safety and structural performance. Up to 85 ft, the mass timber can be exposed. Architects and developers in the United States are pushing boundaries, requesting mass timber structures are constructed as high-rises and that load-bearing mass timber such as CLT be exposed and not fully protected. This provides an opportunity for the application of recent fire research and fire testing on exposed CLT to be applied, and existing methods of analyzing the impact of fire on engineered timber structures to be developed further. Fire testing has shown that exposing large areas of CLT significantly impacts the heat release rate and fire duration. This article provides an overview of the code requirements for timber construction in the United States, provides methods for building approval for a high-rise timber structure, and summarizes recent CLT compartment fire testing that is informing the fire engineering process. Methods for solutions are also discussed.
Efficacy and Safety of a Food Supplement Containing L-cystine, Serenoa repens Extract and Biotin for Hair Loss in Healthy Males and Females. A Prospective, Randomized, Double-blinded, Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: Hair loss in both men and women can be a psychologically stressful condition. Dietary insufficiency of essential micronutrients has been associated with hair health and hair loss. Objective: The aim of this clinical trial was to investigate the safety of use and the efficacy of a food supplement containing L-cystine, Serenoa repens, Equisetum extract, zinc, and vitamins (Lambdapil® Anti Hair Loss capsules, ISDIN, Provencals, Barcelona, Spain) in improving hair loss in both women and men. Patients/Methods: Men with androgenic alopecia and women with acute telogen effluvium were randomized to receive two capsules per day of the test product or the placebo product during a 6 months treatment period. Hair resistance to pulling and count were measured in women and men, respectively, by pull testing and phototrichogram. The overall hair volume and overall hair appearance were assessed before and after the treatment as were subject’s self-assessment via a standardized questionnaire. Results: In women, the number of hairs removed in the pull test decreased earlier for test product treated group over the 6-month period with a significantly greater decrease (p<0.05) for the treated group (12.9 at baseline vs. 6.5 hairs at 6 M) compared to the placebo group (12.8 at baseline vs. 8.8 hairs at 6 M). For men, the anagen/telogen ratio increased in the Lambdapil® treated group by 23.4% over baseline (1.93 vs. 2.36 at baseline and 6 M, respectively) indicating that there were more hair in the growing phase vs. placebo treated group (1.81 vs 1.75 at baseline and 6 M, respectively; p<0.05). The hair volume and aspect in Lambdapil® treated group improved at 1, 3 and 6 months significantly more than placebo group (p<0.05). The treatment was well tolerated. Conclusion: Dietary supplementation with Lambdapil® Anti Hair Loss capsules for 6-months was safe and effective in both women and men suffering from hair loss.
Spatial and temporal variations of precipitation in Haihe River Basin, China: six decades of measurements

This study aims to determine temporal trends and spatial distribution of the annual and monthly precipitation in the Haihe River Basin, China, during 1951–2008. A significant decreasing trend was observed for the annual precipitation, mainly attributed to the abrupt decrease in the flood‐season precipitation (June–September) around the year of 1979. No significant trend was revealed for precipitation within Period I of 1951–1979 and Period II of 1980–2008. Results of this study indicated that the relative contributions of the flood‐season precipitation decreased temporally with time and spatially with elevation. This study also identified a potential movement of storm centers from east to west portions of the basin. In addition, analysis on the precipitation anomalies also suggested a redistribution of the non‐flood season precipitation over the study area. Compared with the west portion of the basin, generally, the east received relatively more precipitation during the non‐flood season, while similar trend of precipitation redistribution was not observed in the flood season. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Health Assessment of Raptors in Triage in Belo Horizonte, Mg, Brazil

Falconiformes (n=82), Strigiformes (n=84) and Cathartiformes (n=14) at a triage center (CETAS-Belo Horizonte, IBAMA, Brazil) were examined between 2008 and 2010 . No bird was reactive at hemagglutination- inhibition (HI) for antibodies against Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg). Two Caracara plancus (2/68) had HI titers (16-32) against Newcastle disease virus. No Chlamydophila psittaci DNA was detected in the liver (PCR; n=95). Blood smears (Giemsa; n=89) and spleen fragments (PCR; n=82) were 13.5% and 8.5% positive, respectively, for Haemoproteus only. Necropsy of Cathartiformes (n=10), Falconiformes (n=42) and Strigiformes (n=57) showed that trauma injuries were the main cause (63.3%) of admission and death, being fractures (38.5%) of the thoracic limbs (57.1%) the most frequent. Nematode (12.8%), cestode (1.8%), trematode (0.9%), and acanthocephalan (2.7%) parasite infections were relevant. Mites (Acari) were the most frequent (17.4%) external parasites, particularly Ornithonyssus sylviarum in Asio clamator and Amblyomma cajennense in Tyto alba. Chewing lice (10.1%) and Pseudolynchia spp. (9.2%) were also found. Histomonas spp. (6.4%) was found in the ceca of Bubo virginianus, Athene cunicularia, Tyto alba, and Asio clamator, but not in Falconiformes or Cathartiformes. Trichomonas spp. (oral cavity, pharynx and upper esophagus; 9.1%) was detected in Falconiformes and Strigiformes, but not in Cathartiformes. Trichomonas spp. were found in A. cunicularia, Asio clamator, Glaucidium brasilianum and Tyto alba (Strigiformes), and in Rupornis magnirostris, Milvago chimachima, Falco femoralis, Falco sparverius and Caracara plancus (Falconiformes). Coccidia (9.1%) (Sarcocystis spp., 6.4%) and mycosis were observed in most Tyto alba (70%). The evaluated Orders may not pose risks for commercial poultry production. Habitat loss and urban adaptation may be increasingly affecting raptors.
Forage Nutrition of Range Grasses Growing in Northeastern Mexico

There are many advantages of native grass species because they are drought-resistant and require low input costs. These characteristics make them very suitable for inclusion in a balanced and sustainable grazing system, particularly in low rainfall areas. Moreover, many native grasses are well adapted to surviving the heat and lack of moisture typical of many areas of northeastern Mexico and South Texas, U.S. (Ramirez
Critical thinking in the intercultural context: Investigating EFL textbooks

The multicultural world has made intercultural teaching necessary. It should focus on students’ ability to comprehend quickly and accurately, and then act appropriately and effectively in a culturally complex environment in order to achieve the desired goal. Intercultural competence is important for successful communication across cultures, and so is critical thinking since the two, if they are not “parallel” (Bennett, 2013), at least overlap (Deardorff, 2009). This article tries to shed light on the linkage between intercultural and critical thinking skills and reports on the findings of research done on whether and to what extent EFL textbooks used in Polish schools contribute to fostering critical thinking skills in students. The study analyzed the cultural content of 20 coursebooks to check whether they go beyond merely depicting the target culture, or various foreign cultures, and involve students in practicing critical thinking, that is, prompt them to explore intercultural encounters and processes, and scrutinize how diverse cultures influence their own understanding of reality. The research revealed an insignificant and limited capacity of the textbooks to develop students’ critical thinking.
Left behind: A qualitative study of Zimbabwean adolescents affected by parental migration

As a result of the Zimbabwean socio-economic and political crisis many Zimbabwean parents have out-migrated, joining the diaspora in many countries leaving their children behind in the home country (Zanamwe & Devillard, 2010). Qualitative research, in the form of in-depth semi-structured interviews which were thematically analysed, was carried out with seventeen adolescents whose parents work outside Zimbabwe. Their stories, presented in this paper, give us a better idea of how these adolescents view their situation and cope with the challenges they face in their home countries. The experiences of these young Zimbabweans do not appear to be unique as they are mirrored in similar studies carried out in other parts of the world, such as Latin America and countries affected by significant out-migration. Suggestions on how the findings of the study could benefit these adolescents and directions for further research in this field conclude this study.
A Performance Investigation on IoT Enabled Intra-Vehicular Wireless Sensor Networks

The concept of Internet of Things (IoT) can be utilised in vehicles, since the number of sensor nodes in vehicles is rising tremendously because of the uplifting demand of applications for security, safety and convenience. In order to establish the communication among these nodes inside a vehicle, a controller area network with wired architecture provides a prominent solution. However, this solution is not flexible because of the architectural complexity and the demand for a large number of sensors inside the vehicle; hence wired architectures are replaced by wireless ones. Moreover, scalability will be an important issue while introducing the IoT concept in Intra-Vehicular Wireless Sensor Networks (IVWSNs). In this paper, a comprehensive performance investigation on the IoT enabled IVWSNs (IoT-IVWSNs) to be carried out in order to address this issue. The overview of the IoT-IVWSNs with a comparative study of the existing technologies and the design challenges for such network are provided. The link design between an end-device and the control unit is analysed, and the performance of the network has been investigated and some open research issues are addressed. It reveals that the delay in packet transmission increases due to higher traffic loads and the number of end-devices. This result demonstrates that the existing MAC protocol works well for a small network (i.e., a network with a maximum number of 50 nodes) but is not suitable for a large network (i.e., a network with more than 50 nodes). The outcome of this research helps to design a smart car system.