Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Carbohydrate Polymers

One-step synthesis of size-tunable silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) incorporated into electrospun nanoﬁbers was achieved. Initially, in situ reduction of silver salt (AgNO 3 ) to Ag-NP was carried out in aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Here, PVA was used as reducing agent and stabilizing polymer as well as electrospinning polymeric matrix for the fabrication of PVA/Ag-NP nanoﬁbers. Afterwards, hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP (cid:2) CD) was used as an additional reducing and stabilizing agent in order to control size and uniform dispersion of Ag-NP. The size of Ag-NP was ∼ 8 nm and some Ag-NP aggregates were observed for PVA/Ag-NP nanoﬁbers, conversely, the size of Ag-NP decreased from ∼ 8 nm down to ∼ 2 nm within the ﬁber matrix without aggregation were attained for PVA/HP (cid:2) CD nanoﬁbers. The PVA/Ag-NP and PVA/HP (cid:2) CD/Ag-NP nanoﬁbers exhibited surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. Moreover, antibacterial properties of PVA/Ag-NP and PVA/HP (cid:2) CD/Ag-NP nanoﬁbrous mats were tested against Gram-negative ( Escherichia coli ) and Gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus ) bacteria. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effect of visual display height on modelled upper and lower cervical gravitational moment, muscle capacity and relative strain

Head and neck posture is an important factor in neck pain related to computer use; however, the evidence for an optimal posture is unconvincing. This study measured the 3-D postures of 36 young adults during use of three different display heights. Cervical extensor muscle strain was estimated using modelled gravitational load moments and muscle capacities. The influence of more or less upper vs. lower cervical movement was also explored across a broad range of potential postures. Overall cervical extensor muscle capacity diminished away from a neutral posture whilst gravity moment increased with flexion. Overall cervical extensor muscle strain increased with head flexion but remained stable into head extension. Individual differences in the amount of upper and lower cervical movement had an important effect on strain, particularly for some muscles. Computer display height guidelines are an important component of ergonomics practice, yet the relative strain on neck extensor muscles as a function of display height has not been examined. The current findings provide more detailed biomechanical evidence that ergonomists can incorporate with usability and other evidence to determine appropriate display height recommendations.
Simulation-Guided Testing for Autonomous Aerial Robotics Applications

—The deployment of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is rapidly increasing due to their ability to perform a variety of tasks, including industrial inspection, search and rescue, and transportation. To ensure the safe and efficient operation of UAVs, simulation testing is essential for identifying and mitigating potential risks. In some applications, such as industrial inspections, performing real flight experiments on the final installations is complicated or even risky, such as wind turbines or photovoltaic panels. In this case, being able to perform real flights using simulated data from the final application allows more thorough testing of the robotic system without putting expensive industrial devices at risk. In this paper, we show how the use of the Aerostack2 framework eases the step between simulation and final application using simulation data for real flight experiments.
A Rapid Solar Transition is not only Possible, it is Imperative!

Catastrophic climate change (C3) is inevitable if carbon emissions to the atmosphere are not rapidly reduced and the now unsafe atmospheric level (400 ppm) CO2 (and rising) is not brought down by sequestration technologies to below 350 ppm. C3 prevention is possible with the replacement of global fossil fuel supplies by wind, concentrated solar power and photovoltaics, with the main obstacle being the political economy of global capitalism, specifically the Military Industrial (Fossil Fuel, Nuclear, State Terror) Complex. C3 prevention likely requires global demilitarization, agroecologies replacing industrial/genetically modified organism (GMO) agriculture, solarization, and democratic, bottom-up governance. Energy poverty in the global South must end, reaching a rough minimum of 3.5 kilowatt/person. This solar transition is achievable in 20 to 30 years using less than 40% of the proven reserves of conventional petroleum, while supplying sufficient energy to sequester CO2 from the atmosphere using agroecologies and burial of carbonate in the crust, thereby maximizing the possibility of reaching a safe atmospheric CO2 level in time to prevent C3.
Thematic labelling from hyperspectral remotely sensed imagery: trade-offs in image properties

The effect of spatial, spectral and noise degradations on the accuracy of two highly contrasting thematic labelling scenarios was investigated. The study used hyperspectral imagery of a site near Falmouth, UK, to assess the effect of the data degradations on the accuracy of supervised classification when the H-resolution scene model was applicable and on labelling when an L-resolution scene model was applicable and no ground data were available. In both scenarios, the spatial, spectral and noise degradations affected the accuracy of labelling. However, over the range of degradations investigated, the noise content of the data was consistently noted to be a major variable affecting the accuracy of labelling.
T‐Matrix computations of zenith‐enhanced lidar backscatter from horizontally oriented ice plates

Zenith‐enhanced backscattering (ZEB) of a lidar beam by cirrus clouds is a remarkable phenomenon usually explained in terms of specular reflection from large plane facets of horizontally oriented ice plates. Since the standard geometric optics approximation (GO) may be inapplicable in many cases, especially in analyzing infrared measurements, and ignores physical optics effects, we use the recently improved exact T‐matrix method to compute the scattering of light by ice plates at visible and infrared wavelengths. Computations for horizontally and randomly oriented thin disks and oblate spheroids with size parameters up to 50 show that while all particles produce a strong Fraunhofer diffraction peak centered at exactly the forward‐scattering direction, a strong and narrow ZEB peak can be produced only by horizontally oriented disks but not by horizontally oriented spheroids or particles in random orientation. This finding demonstrates that ZEB can be produced even by particles which are not in the GO domain of size parameters and supports the traditional interpretation of ZEB. Also, we have found that the angular width of the ZEB peak for horizontally oriented disks is equal to half the width of the Fraunhofer diffraction peak. This result can be used in practice to derive a lower estimate of ice particle sizes from high angular resolution measurements of ZEB. We show that our exact T‐matrix computations can explain the peculiar zenith‐angle dependence of depolarization observed by Platt et al. [1978] in the visible and can be interpreted qualitatively in terms of the modified Kirchhoff approximation.
Community resilience following extreme disturbances: The response of ground beetles to a severe summer flood in a Central European lowland stream

Extreme environmental events are predicted to increase in future due to global climate change. However, their effects on biodiversity still remain insufficiently understood because of the rarity and consequently the difficulty of studying the effects of extreme events. Here, we investigate the impacts on ground beetles of an unpredictable catastrophic flood event of the Elbe River in Germany in the year 2002 using pre‐ and post‐flood data. We analysed the response of grassland communities differentially exposed to flooding and focused on the question of how long their response lagged behind this extreme flood.
Welfarism and the multidimensionality of welfare state legitimacy

Is it possible that citizens who support a substantial role for government in the provision of welfare are, at the same time, critical about speciﬁc aspects of such provision? Based on conﬁrmatory factor analyses, and using a 2006 Dutch survey, this study shows that welfare state legitimacy is indeed multi- dimensional, i.e. that opinions tend to cluster together in several dimensions referring to various aspects of the welfare state. There is partial evidence for the existence of a single, underlying welfarism dimension which consists basically of views regarding the range of governmental responsibility, as well as of the idea that these governmental provisions do not have unfavourable repercussions in economic or moral spheres. However, the separate dimensions cannot be reduced entirely to this overall welfarism dimension. This is illustrated by the ﬁnding that the various attitude dimensions are affected differently by socio-structural position and ideological dispositions.
Document Version : Publisher ' s PDF , also known as Version of record Queen ' s University Belfast-Research Portal : Link to publication record in Queen ' s University Belfast Research Portal

Ketonebodies are themost energy-efficient fuel andyieldmoreATPpermoleof substrate thanpyruvate and increase the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis. Elevation of circulating ketones via high-fat, lowcarbohydrate diets has been used for the treatment of drug-refractory epilepsy and for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease. Ketones may also be beneficial for muscle and brain in times of stress, such as endurance exercise. The challenge has been to raise circulating ketone levels by using a palatable diet without altering lipid levels.We found that bloodketone levels can be increasedand cholesterol and triglycerides decreased by feeding rats a novel ketone ester diet: chow that is supplementedwith (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate as 30% of calories. For 5 d, rats on the ketone diet ran 32% further on a treadmill than did control rats that ate an isocaloric diet that was supplementedwith either corn starch or palm oil (P < 0.05). Ketone-fed rats completed an 8arm radial maze test 38% faster than did those on the other diets, making more correct decisions before making a mistake (P < 0.05). Isolated, perfused hearts from rats thatwere fed the ketone diet had greater free energy available from ATP hydrolysis during increased work than did hearts from rats on the other diets as shown by using [P]NMRspectroscopy.Thenovelketonediet, therefore, improvedphysical performance and cognitive function in rats, and its energy-sparing properties suggest that it may help to treat a range of human conditions with metabolic abnormalities. —Murray, A. J., Knight, N. S. , Cole, M. A. , Cochlin, L. E. , Carter, E. , Tchabanenko, K. , Pichulik, T. , Gulston,M.K. ,Atherton,H. J., Schroeder,M.A.,Deacon,R.M. J.,Kashiwaya,Y. ,King,M.T. ,Pawlosky,R. ,Rawlins, J. N. P., Tyler, D. J., Griffin, J. L. , Robertson, J., Veech, R. L. , Clarke, K. Novel ketone diet enhances physical and cognitive performance. FASEB J. 30, 000–000 (2016). www.fasebj. org
Climate Change Impacts on the Water Balance of the Colorado Headwaters: High-Resolution Regional Climate Model Simulations

AbstractA high-resolution climate model (4-km horizontal grid spacing) is used to examine the following question: How will long-term changes in climate impact the partitioning of annual precipitation between evapotranspiration and runoff in the Colorado Headwaters? This question is examined using a climate sensitivity approach in which eight years of current climate is compared to a future climate created by modifying the current climate signal with perturbation from the NCAR Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3), model forced by the A1B scenario for greenhouse gases out to 2050. The current climate period is shown to agree well with Snowpack Telemetry (SNOTEL) surface observations of precipitation (P) and snowpack, as well as streamflow and AmeriFlux evapotranspiration (ET) observations. The results show that the annual evaporative fraction (ET/P) for the Colorado Headwaters is 0.81 for the current climate and 0.83 for the future climate, indicating increasing aridity in the future despite a p.
The Magical Mystery Four

Working memory storage capacity is important because cognitive tasks can be completed only with sufficient ability to hold information as it is processed. The ability to repeat information depends on task demands but can be distinguished from a more constant, underlying mechanism: a central memory store limited to 3 to 5 meaningful items for young adults. I discuss why this central limit is important, how it can be observed, how it differs among individuals, and why it may exist.
B-RAIL : Risk analysis and specification

: In the European railways standards (CENELEC EN 50126 [4], EN 50128 [5], EN 50129 [6]), it is required to obtain evidence of safety in system requirements specifications. The focus of this paper is on the development of system requirements specifications with respect to fulfilling demands of European railways standards. In spite of progress carried out in software development, designing a complex system while respecting its safety requirements, remains very hard. Ambiguities and defects in system requirements specification may have consequences on the whole system development.
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Object-centric interactions provide rich learning moments for young children, including opportunities to discover word meanings. Children’s ﬁrst-person object handling experiences, in particular, form a key source of input—one that varies across cultures and across development. Using daylong photo streams from child-worn cameras, we analyze > 17k images to identify the frequency and targets of child object handling across the ﬁrst four years in two small-scale subsistence farming communities on opposite sides of the globe (Rossel Papuan and Tseltal Mayan). Overall, we see general consistency in the distribution of object categories (e.g., consumables, mealtime tools, natural objects, etc.) handled by children across cultures and age, likely reﬂecting stable properties of children’s physical environments and day-to-day routines. However, the exact objects available to children vary both within and across communities and diversify with age. These various distributions of handling patterns are discussed in their relation to potential consequences for early learning.
COEVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM BASED APPROACH TO THE COLLABORATIVE NETWORK DESIGN IN EXPRESS DELIVERY SERVICES USING COALITIONAL GAME THEORY

Express delivery service companies (EDSCs) are in the middle of ﬁerce competition among each other in order to extend their own market share. This study addresses small and medium-sized EDSCs which are suﬀering with their low demand and under-utilized service centers and suggests two types of strategic alliance models to overcome their diﬃculties: merging service centers and sharing of consolidation terminals. Through the cooperation of consolidation terminals in EDSCs, participating companies will be able to improve their accessibilities to complementary resources which belong to other companies and increase eﬃciency of resource usages in a distribution system of goods. A newly developed coevolutionary algorithm can be implemented under a distributed decision-making scenario assumed in the alliance system. A coalitional game theory can also be applied to forming coalitions in express delivery services with equitable allocation to each participating company. The applicability and eﬃciency of the proposed models are demonstrated through a numerical example.
Towards Delivering a Coherent Self-Contained Explanation of Proximal Policy Optimization

Reinforcement Learning (RL), and these days particularly Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL), is concerned with the development, study, and application of algorithms that are designed to accomplish some arbitrary task by learning a decision-making strategy that aims for maximizing a cumulative performance measure. While this class of machine learning algorithms has become increasingly successful on a variety of tasks over the last years, some of the algorithms developed in this ﬁeld are sub-optimally documented. One example of a DRL algorithm being sub-optimally documented is Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), which is a so-called model-free policy gradient method (PGM). Since PPO is a state-of-the-art representative of the important class of PGMs, but can hardly be understood from only consulting the paper having introduced it, this report aims for explaining PPO in detail. Thereby, the report shines a light on many concepts generalizing to the wider ﬁeld of PGMs. Also, a reference implementation of PPO has been developed, which will shortly be introduced and evaluated. Lastly, this report examines the limitations of PPO and quickly touches upon the topic of whether DRL might lead to the emergence of General Artiﬁcial Intelligence in the future.
A comparison between three methods for the determination of cation exchange capacity and exchangeable cations in soils

L'objet de cet article est de comparer les resultats obtenus au moyen de trois methodes normalisees de determination de la capacite d'echange cationique des sols (CEC) et des cations echangeables (Ca, Mg, K). Les methodes examinees utilisent des reactifs d'echange differents : le chlorure de cobaltihexammine, le chlorure de baryum et l'acetate d'ammonium. Les procedures d'echange varient egalement : ce sont, la simple agitation, les extractions successives et la percolation. Les teneurs mesurees avec le chlorure de baryum et le chlorure de cobaltihexammine sont etroitement correlees et montrent l'uniformite des processus physicochimiques mis en jeu. De ce point de vue, les deux methodes peuvent etre considerees comme equivalentes. L'acetate d'ammonium, en tamponnant le pH du milieu d'extraction, induit des variations importantes dans les proportions de sites electronegatifs et en particulier, ceux lies a la matiere organique. La prise en compte du pH et de la teneur en carbone des echantillons nous a cependant permis de reduire les differences entre methodes. Les quantites de calcium et de potassium extraites varient egalement a cause de la dissolution d'especes carbonatees et l'aptitude particuliere de l'ammonium a s'echanger avec le potassium.
Photosynthetic rates derived from satellite‐based chlorophyll concentration

We assembled a dataset of 14C‐based productivity measurements to understand the critical variables required for accurate assessment of daily depth‐integrated phytoplankton carbon fixation (PP(PPeu)u) from measurements of sea surface pigment concentrations (Csat)(Csat). From this dataset, we developed a light‐dependent, depth‐resolved model for carbon fixation (VGPM) that partitions environmental factors affecting primary production into those that influence the relative vertical distribution of primary production (Pz)z) and those that control the optimal assimilation efficiency of the productivity profile (P(PBopt). The VGPM accounted for 79% of the observed variability in Pz and 86% of the variability in PPeu by using measured values of PBopt. Our results indicate that the accuracy of productivity algorithms in estimating PPeu is dependent primarily upon the ability to accurately represent variability in Pbopt. We developed a temperature‐dependent Pbopt model that was used in conjunction with monthly climatological images of Csat sea surface temperature, and cloud‐corrected estimates of surface irradiance to calculate a global annual phytoplankton carbon fixation (PPannu) rate of 43.5 Pg C yr‒1. The geographical distribution of PPannu was distinctly different than results from previous models. Our results illustrate the importance of focusing Pbopt model development on temporal and spatial, rather than the vertical, variability.
Improved quantitative real‐time PCR assays for enumeration of harmful algal species in field samples using an exogenous DNA reference standard

Quantitative real‐time PCR (QPCR) is a powerful and sensitive method for quantitative detection of microorganisms. Application of this methodology for enumeration of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species has the potential to revolutionize our approach to HAB research, making it possible to identify correlations between cell abundances and factors that regulate bloom dynamics. Its application to ecological studies, however, has produced mixed results. QPCR assays typically rely on the generation of standard curves from plasmids or laboratory cultures that may be unrealistic when compared to amplification of DNA extracted from field samples. In addition, existing methods often fail to incorporate controls to assess variability in extraction and amplification efficiencies, or include controls that are sequence‐specific and preclude the investigation of multiple species. Here, we describe the development and rigorous analysis of QPCR assays for two HAB species, Chattonella subsalsa and Heterosigma akashiwo, in which we introduce a known concentration of exogenous DNA plasmid into the extraction buffer as a reference standard. Since the target DNA is extracted in the presence of the reference standard, inherent variability in extraction and amplification efficiencies affect both target and standard equally. Furthermore, the reference standard is applicable to QPCR analysis of any microbial species. Using environmental bloom samples as calibrators, we evaluated the accuracy of the comparative Ct method for enumeration of target species in several field samples. Our investigation demonstrates that the comparative Ct method with an exogenous DNA reference standard provides both accurate and reproducible quantification of HAB species in environmental samples.
Multimedia Retrieval of Historical Materials

Historical material is a collection of history, archaeology, and folklore materials. With the rapid advancement of digitization, large-scale multimedia data of historical materials have become available on the web. As the data grows, it is difficult for researchers to study the relationship between historical images and text. Multimedia retrieval is a technique to perform retrieval tasks across multiple media. Recently, deep learning has accelerated research on natural language understanding and computer vision, with remarkable performance reported in multimedia retrieval tasks [6]. In this paper, we apply the state-of-the-art multimedia retrieval methods to Japanese historical materials and demonstrate the constructed multimedia retrieval system. Figure 1 shows an example of multimodal retrieval tasks of historical materials.
Title : Multiple facets of biodiversity drive the diversity-stability relationship

A significant body of evidence has demonstrated that biodiversity stabilizes ecosystem functioning in grassland ecosystems. However, the relative importance of the biological drivers underlying these relationships remains unclear. Here we utilized data from 39 biodiversity experiments and a structural equation modeling approach to investigate the roles of phylogenetic diversity, functional 106 diversity and community-level averages of ‘fast-slow’ traits, species richness, and asynchrony in 107 driving the diversity-stability relationship. The structural equation model explained 78% of 108 variation in asynchrony and 58% in ecosystem stability and showed that high species richness and 109 phylogenetic diversity stabilized biomass production via asynchrony and, surprisingly, that low 110 phylogenetic diversity enhanced ecosystem stability directly. The effects of functional diversity and 111 fast-slow traits on ecosystem stability were weak and highly variable across sites, respectively. 112 These results demonstrate that biodiversity influences ecosystem stability via multiple pathways, thus suggesting a more complex role of biodiversity in mediating ecosystem stability than 114 previously recognized. hypothesize