Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Central Lancashire Online Knowledge (CLoK)

Information-centric networking (ICN) has long been advocating for radical changes to the Internet, but the upgrade challenges that this entails have hindered its adoption. To break this loop, the POINT project proposed a hybrid, IP-over-ICN, architecture: IP networks are preserved at the edge, connected to each other over an ICN core. This exploits the key beneﬁts of ICN, enabling individual network operators to improve the performance of their IP-based services, without changing the rest of the Internet. This paper ﬁrst provides an overview of POINT and outlines how it can improve upon IP in terms of performance and resilience. It then describes a trial of the POINT prototype in a production network, where real users operated actual IP-based applications. As part of the trial, we carried out experiments to evaluate the Quality of Experience (QoE) for video services oﬀered via either HLS or IPTV, using either IP or POINT as a substrate. The results from the trial verify that the IP-over-ICN approach of POINT oﬀers enhanced QoE to the users of these video services, compared to traditional IP, especially under exceptional network conditions.
Using Virtual Reality to Improve Classroom Behavior in People With Down Syndrome: Within-Subjects Experimental Design

Background: People with Down syndrome face various learning challenges. Introducing new and enjoyable experiences in learning settings may improve learning outcomes. Immersive and interactive technologies such as virtual reality can be used to deliver rich visual experiences in classrooms. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and benefits of virtual reality exposure for people with Down syndrome in learning settings. Methods: To address this aim, we used a within-subjects design to assess the effect of a brief virtual reality drawing experience and conventional drawing experience on subsequent behavior in 16 participants. Results: Large positive effects were found for virtual reality drawing ( t 15 =5.020, P <.001) and conventional drawing ( t 15 =3.720, P =.002) in improving subsequent behavior in a learning setting. Irrespective of the intervention, the participant’s mood, attention, and overall behavior significantly improved. No significant differences were found between the interventions ( t 15 =– 0.648; P =.53). Conclusions: This study’s results are encouraging for researchers and educators interested in using virtual reality for people with Down syndrome, as virtual reality was found to be highly feasible. Recommendations are made for researchers and educators interested in providing virtual reality experiences for people with Down syndrome.
Robust adaptive active fault‐tolerant control of UAH with unknown disturbances and actuator faults

This paper proposes a robust active fault‐tolerant control (AFTC) approach for medium‐scale unmanned autonomous helicopter (UAH) with rotor flapping dynamics in the presence of unknown external disturbances and actuator faults. The robust items are adopted to improve the disturbance rejection capability of the UAH system. The adaptive fault observers are developed to estimate the fault parameters and the fault detection (FD) algorithms are presented to detect the actuator faults in different loops. In order to obtain satisfactory trajectory tracking performance, a backstepping‐based robust AFTC scheme is designed for the simplified 6‐degree‐of‐freedom (DOF) UAH nonlinear dynamics model and the global stability of the closed‐loop system is proved by using the Lyapunov method. Several groups of numerical simulation results are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the developed method.
Coastal infrastructure alters behavior and increases predation mortality of threatened Puget Sound steelhead smolts

Fundamental movements of migratory species can be substantially influenced by marine habitat disruptions caused by coastal infrastructure. The Hood Canal Bridge (HCB) spans the northern outlet of Hood Canal in the Salish Sea, extends 4.6 m (15 ft) underwater, and forms a partial barrier for steelhead migrating from Hood Canal to the Pacific Ocean. Spatial mark – recapture survival models using acoustic telemetry data indicate that only 49% (2017; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 40% – 58%) and 56% (2018; 95% CI = 48% – 65%) of the steelhead smolts encountering the HCB survived past the bridge and 7 km to the next array. We studied fine-scale movements of more than 300 steelhead smolts to understand how migration behavior was affected across the entire length of the HCB and to quantify spatial and temporal patterns of mortality. Individually coded acoustic telemetry transmitters implanted in juvenile steelhead were used in conjunction with an extensive array of acoustic receivers surrounding the HCB to obtain approximations of the path each steelhead took as they encountered the bridge structure. Steelhead survival past the HCB appeared unaffected by tidal stage, population-of-origin, approach location, current velocity, or time of day, but was influenced by week of bridge encounter. Behavioral data from transmitters with temperature and depth sensors ingested by predators are consistent with high levels of marine mammal predation. This study confirms the considerable impact of the HCB on Endangered Species Act-listed steelhead smolt survival, and provides detailed information on the behavior of steelhead smolts and their predators at the HCB for use in planning recovery actions.
Facts or Ideology: What Determines the Results of Econometric Estimates of the Deterrent Effect of the Death Penalty? A Meta-Analysis

Given that as a whole the literature on the deterrent effect of capital punishment is inconclusive, the fact that individual authors persistently claim to have found solid evidence in one or the other direction raises two questions. Firstly, what are the causes of these different results? Do different data samples, estimation methods or time periods lead to different results or do the outcomes merely reflect prior convictions on the part of the authors? Secondly, to what extent is it possible to derive such divergent results by slightly changing the specification of the test equations without violating scientific standards? After conducting a survey of the more than forty available reviews of this literature, we present a meta-analysis of 102 deterrence studies published between 1975 and 2011. The only statistically significant explanatory variable in these studies turned out to be the profession of the author: Economists claimed significantly more often than members of legal or other social science departments to have found a significant deterrent effect. Furthermore, using a panel data set of U.S. states, we show how easy it is to derive contradictory results by employing alternative specifications. Thus, our results reinforce the claim that the empirical evidence presented to date is far too fragile to provide a basis for political decisions.
Growth, yield attributes, yield and economics of winter popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.) as influenced by planting time fertility level and plant population under late sown condition

The field experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications, assigning in 27 treatment combinations i.e. three sowing dates of Pop corn (Zea mays everta Sturt.)cv. V.L. Amber (15 Dec, 30 Dec and 15 Jan) arranged in main plots and three level of plant population (60000, 80000 and 100,000 plants ha-1) in sub plot. Three level of fertility (100:50:50, 150:65:65 and 200:85:85 kg of N: P2O5: K2O ha-1) apportioned in sub-sub plots at the Research farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, BHU, Varanasi (U.P.) during late winter (rabi) seasons of 2009-10 and 2010-11 to study the influenced of planting time, fertility level and plant population on yield attributes, grain yield and economics of winter popcorn (Zea mays everta Sturt.) under late sown condition. The popcorn sown on 15th December recorded highest plant height, leaf-area index, dry matter, popcorn growth rate, yield attributes and yield of pop corn were significantly (P<0.05) affected and recorded highest benefit cost ratio (3.78). While, the maintenance of 80,000 popcorn plants/ha proved optimum for pop corn as it significantly (P<0.05) recorded highest number of kernel cob-1,grain yield (32.61 q/ha) and shelling percentage against density of 60,000 plants, while remained at par in straw yield over 100,000 plants. Application of 200: 85: 85 kg N: P2O5: K2O/ha significantly (P<0.05) increased growth, yield attributes and grain yield over 100: 50: 50 and 150: 65: 65 kg N: P2O5: K2O/ha and fetched the highest B: C ratio (3.14).
Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE)

This paper explores the awareness and knowledge of cyberethics held by pre-service teachers across three European countries. The study was conducted via an online survey and yielded 1,131 responses from pre-service teachers in Malta, Norway, and Spain. The facets of cyberethics included in this study focused on behaving responsibly online, safeguarding privacy, respecting copyright, seeking consent of friends before posting images or videos on social media platforms, and considering their professional identity as future teachers when posting online. The findings indicate that pre-service teachers reported relatively similar levels of competence in applying copyright and respecting privacy rules with pre-service teachers in Malta and Norway reporting higher degrees of knowledge and awareness than their counterparts in Spain. Malta had the most participants who reported that they always considered the potential impact that posting media online may have on their professional teaching career, followed by Norway. Spain had the largest number of pre-service teachers who stated that they rarely or never thought about this impact on their teaching career. This indicates a lack of awareness of behaving in an exemplary manner online in a more public and professional capacity. Our findings highlight the need for pre-service teachers’ knowledge of cyberethics to be prioritised during Initial Teacher Education (ITE), especially at such a time when their professional identity is being shaped. A clear tension was noted between the perceived knowledge or competence and the declared practices of some pre-service teachers concerning the cyberethics items featured in the study. In light of our findings, we recommend that all ITE programmes include digital competence and cyberethics components in their curricula. This would enable pre-service teachers to develop an emerging professional and digital identity to face the challenges of becoming teachers in the 21st century. 1 Corresponding author: josephine.milton@um.edu. mt 19 Awareness and knowledge of cyberethics nordiccie.org NJCIE 2021, Vol. 5(4), 18–37
Improved Sparse matrix Denoising Techniques using affinity matrix for Geographical Images

Received 04 Sep 2017, Revised 11 Sep 2017Accepted 18 Oct 2017, Online 30 Oct 2017 Abstract— In this paper, noise is removed from geographical images. In this method affinity matrix is used to find the similarity between pixels in an image then traverse the image. Initial position of the pixels applied affinity matrix to compare the adjacent pixels of the image. It is calculates the probability of the pixel store in a matrix. A dissimilar pixel means unwanted or noisy pixels removed from the image as well as denoised the image. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using Image Quality Measures (IQM) like Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) etc.Experimental results shown that the proposed method is better than Sparse Matrix method, Bayes Thresholding method and Bilateral Filter in terms of MSE, PSNR and SSIM.
Analytical Methods for Determination of Aflatoxin B1 in Animal Feeds and Feedstuffs*

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is an Aspergillus spp. produced mycotoxins which is identified as one of the key contaminant of feeds and toxic to some degree to all species tested to date. Because of its hepatocarcinogenic nature, AFB1 has obtained significant attention in past few years. A number of analytical, diagnostic and immunological procedures are available for assessment and estimation of AFB1 in different feeds such as enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and electrochemical immunosensors (ECI). All available analytical methods for determination of AFB1 principally included the same steps like, sampling, sample preparation, detection, confirmation, and finally risk assessment. HPLC approaches are most commonly used nowadays because of their high accuracy, precision and sensitivity. Since late 20 century, many countries including Turkey has imposed strict rules and regulations regarding AFB1 in food and animal feed related industry to protect the consumer from the detrimental effects of the toxin. In this article, a number of analytical techniques for determination of AFB1 in feeds and feedstuffs starting from sampling to risk assessment and international regulations are reviewed.
Intensi cation of conversion of glucose to lactic acid: equilibria and kinetics for back extraction of lactic acid using trimethylamine

Alamine 336 is an e;ective extractant for the recovery of lactic acid from aqueous solutions. An approach for regeneration and product recovery from such extracts is to back extract lactic acid with a water soluble, volatile tertiary amine such as trimethyl amine. Equilibrium data are presented that show near stoichiometric recovery of lactic acid from amine extract. Kinetics of back extraction of lactic acid from Alamine 336 in octanol into aqueous trimethyl amine (TMA) has been presented. Back extraction reaction in a stirred cell falls in Regime 3, extraction accompanied by a fast chemical reaction. The reaction has been found to be zero order in TMA and rst order in lactic acid with a rate constant equal to 16:67=s. The data reported in this work will be useful in designing the lactic acid recovery system. In thermal regeneration of TMA, 99% of TMA was removed at 200 mmHg from trimethylammonium lactate aqueous solution. 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Advancing Functional Understanding of Primary Production in Drylands: Insights from a Data-Integration Approach

Dryland ecosystems are highly vulnerable and degradation-prone regions, especially under the premises of global change. Since drylands are preponderantly used as rangelands for livestock production, reliable provision of natural resources and basic ecosystem services, such as forage, are indispensable for local livelihoods. Even though climate projections for drylands still exhibit considerable variation and uncertainty across scenarios and regions, there is a general trend that most dryland regions are facing unbeneficial changes. In particular, climatic aridity and variability are projected to increase even above the already high level of today. Simultaneously, population growth will further increase the demand for ecosystem services from drylands, with negative feedbacks on ecosystem functioning. Given the high natural variability in drylands, as well as future projections, the assessment of drylands’ current and future provision of ecosystem services is challenging, yet essential. The most common estimate for a major ecosystem service of dryland ecosystems (i.e. forage) is aboveground net primary production (ANPP). This cumulative dissertation aimed at advancing our understanding of dryland ecosystems’ functioning and ecosystem service provision, taking a global perspective. Particularly, data integration and standardization techniques were used to derive new insights from available data on drylands’ primary production. With this innovative approach, it could be shown that dryland primary production is mainly driven by precipitation and grazing, not only locally but also on a global scale (Chapter 2.1). Another important outcome was that effects of grazing and rainfall are not merely additive, but could mask each other (Chapter 2.1) or interact in complex ways (Chapter 2.3). Similarly, drought severity may influence primary production either linearly or non-linearly, depending on vegetation characteristics (Chapter 2.3). These findings underline the complex dynamics of dryland ecosystems. Besides these general findings, the established methodological toolbox as well as the assembled global database of dryland primary production are among the main merits of this dissertation. The combination of a large global database, the normalization of ANPP and precipitation data (Chapter 2.2), and the collection of additional site- or study-based information allowed the assessment of ecosystem functioning and stability on a global scale, which thus far could only be done on a theoretical or anecdotal basis.
SNE 32(4), December 2022

Many simulation models representing the longitudinal dynamics of a train are based on a single point-mass description. This leads to a second-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation, together with algebraic relationships. More complex multi-mass models may be used for models representing long trains involving many separate vehicles. However, in both cases, accuracy is limited by important underlying assumptions, approximations and parametric uncertainties. Another important aspect of train models concerns the direction of information flow. Input variables within conventional train models may represent power or tractive force, with acceleration, speed and distance travelled as output variables. However, inverse simulation methods can also be used, with the required speed or distance as inputs and tractive force, power, or energy as outputs. This allows energy requirements to be established for a given schedule and is useful when investigating fuel or energy economy. Inverse methods can also be used in powertrain design, such as for hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell/battery-electric trains. Issues of fitness for purpose are important in all such applications, both in terms of model uncertainties and in the additional insight offered by inverse simulation methods.
Analysis of Structural Changes in Land Use and Land Cover of Otamiri Watershed in Owerri, South East Nigeria

Otamiri watershed in Owerri, South East Nigeria is an urban watershed that is faced with serious ecological stresses due to intense landuse conversion. Siltation of the river, threatening gully erosion and devastating flooding are some of the consequences of this landuse and land cover change. This paper analyses the structural dynamics of land use changes in Otamiri watershed using the technologies of Remote sensing and GIS. Datasets were obtained from classified Aerial photographs of 1977, IKONOS satellite image of 2006 and 2012 Google Earth satellite image Extraction. Images were resampled and registered to Universal Transverse Mercator, zone 32. Post-classification change detection was employed, using vector data structure model. Analysis of structural land use changes was performed using land use transfer analysis, quantitative spatial position conversion and land use dynamicity models. Results show a dramatic fast rate of change in built-up land class in 2006 and 2012 time period with dynamicity indices of 11.51% and 10.11% respectively. Farmland/light vegetation and thick vegetation/shrubs were the most converted land use classes into built-up. In between 1977 and 2006, sand excavation class showed a dramatic fast rate of change with 25.78% dynamicity index. Riparian vegetation and water body landuse classes were converted more into excavation sites. The major driving forces for these changes were high population density, increase in economic activities and infrastructural developments. These factors results in various pressures and strong effects to change the quantity and quality of the land use. Keywords : landuse / landcover change, change detection, dynamics, geographic information systems
Functional status of community-dwelling older adults after inpatient rehabilitation

Factors that influence functional ability in older adults after rehabilitation are not well understood. The aim of this study was to investigate how older people function in their community after being discharged from inpatient rehabilitation. A cross-sectional study was undertaken of community-dwelling older adults (n=86, 75 ± 6 years) discharged from rehabilitation in the previous 12 months. Basic functional independence was assessed using the Functional Independence Measure and complex functional independence was assessed using the Frenchay Activities Index. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess any association between predetermined factors and function. Functional Independence Measure scores and physical activity levels after being discharged accounted for 50% of the variance in basic function (R2=0.50, F=40.75, P<0.001). Frenchay Activities Index scores, physical activity, age, sex and migrant status accounted for 68% of variance in complex function (R2=0.68, F=29.75, P<0.001). Clinicians are encouraged to implement strategies to improve function at discharge from rehabilitation and to promote physical activity among older people at risk of poor function following rehabilitation.
Botanica Marina

Three new non-geniculate coralline algal species from South Africa are described that were passing under the misapplied name, Spongites yendoi. Based on plastid encoded DNA sequences from psbA and rbcL markers, these species belong in the subfamily Chamberlainoideae. The DNA sequences, supported by themorphoanatomical character of tetrasporangial conceptacle roof development, placed all three species in the genus Chamberlainium and not Pneophyllum, the only other genus in Chamberlainoideae. In addition to the diagnostic DNA sequences, Chamberlainium capense sp. nov., C. glebosum sp. nov. and Chamberlainium occidentale sp. nov. may be distinguished by a combination of habit, habitat, geographic distribution, and several morpho-anatomical features. Biogeographically all three species are found in the Benguela Marine Province of South Africa, with C. occidentale being the most widespread. Chamberlainium glebosum also has a wide, but disjunct distribution and C. capense is another South African endemic nongeniculate coralline, whose range is restricted to a 43 km stretch of coastline. Thus far, DNA sequences from type specimens of non-geniculate corallines show that only those species whose type localities are from South Africa are correctly applied; all other non-geniculate coralline names are likely misapplied in South Africa.