Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accelerometry reveals limits to use of an energy‐saving anthropogenic food source by a threatened species: A case of Carnaby's cockatoos (Zanda latirostris) and canola

Abstract The use of anthropogenic resources is becoming increasingly common as species adapt to human‐induced environmental changes, but their use can expose species to new risks. Understanding how animals exploit these resources is important for guiding conservation management, particularly where species are threatened. The introduction of canola cropping to breeding areas of endangered Carnaby's cockatoo (Zanda latirostris) has been attributed to an increase in the birds' reproductive success; however, the seed may be protein‐limiting for nestling growth and its use by cockatoos has been implicated in the emergence of a new disease. We used high‐resolution accelerometer‐capable GPS tags to track eight birds. Accelerometer data were used to calculate overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), a proxy for energy expenditure, and to identify and quantify canola and native vegetation foraging behaviours. We used linear mixed models to determine which factors affected patterns of resource use and to determine whether, and to what extent, canola use was associated with reduced energetic and movement costs. We then compared the energetic content of canola seed and native food sources to inform patterns of behaviour and habitat use revealed by our tracking data. Use of canola was associated with reduced movement costs and energy expenditure. However, there was an apparent reluctance to increase foraging on canola above a threshold of time, even when conditions reduced time available to utilise native food sources. While anthropogenic resources may appear to improve population trends in some cases, careful investigations of patterns of resource use are necessary to guide appropriate conservation management efforts. For Carnaby's cockatoos, conservation efforts should focus on retention, protection and expansion of native food sources.
The value of utility payment history in predicting first-time homelessness

Homelessness is a costly and traumatic condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people each year in the U.S. alone. Most homeless programs focus on assisting people experiencing homelessness, but research has shown that predicting and preventing homelessness can be a more cost-effective solution. Of the few studies focused on predicting homelessness, most focus on people already seeking assistance; however, these methods necessarily cannot identify those not actively seeking assistance. Providing aid before conditions become dire may better prevent homelessness. Few methods exist to predict homelessness on the general population, and these methods use health and criminal history information, much of which may not be available or timely. We hypothesize that recent financial health information based on utility payment history is useful in predicting homelessness. In particular, we demonstrate the value of utility customer billing records to predict homelessness using logistic regression models based on this data. The performance of these models is comparable to other studies, suggesting such an approach could be productionalized due to the ubiquity and timeliness of this type of data. Our results suggest that utility billing records would have value for screening a broad section of the general population to identify those at risk of homelessness.
Transition of care of patients with chronic diseases and its relation with clinical and sociodemographic characteristics

Objective: evaluate the transition of care from the perspective of people living with chronic diseases and identify its relation with clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. Method: cross-sectional study with 487 patients who were discharged from a hospital. Clinical and sociodemographic characterization instruments were used, as well as the Care Transitions Measure-15, which measures Preparation for self-management, Secured preferences, Understanding about medications and Care plan factors. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Results: the transition of care was satisfactory (76.8±10.4). Average of the factors: Preparation for self-management (82.2±10.8), Secured preferences (84.7±14.3), Understanding about medications (75.7±13.7) and Care plan (64.5±13.2). Female patients had a higher average in the understanding about medications factor. Whites and residents in the urban area better evaluated the Care plan factor. The highest mean was observed for the Secured preferences factor (84.7±14.3) and the lowest for the Care plan factor (64.5±13.2). In all factors, significant differences were found in the variables (surgical patient, carrying clinical artifacts and not being hospitalized for COVID-19). Patients hospitalized for up to five days showed statistical difference in Preparation for self-management and Understanding about medications factors. In patients who were not readmitted within 30 days of discharge, Preparation for self-management was better. The better the Preparation for self-management, the lower the 30-day readmission rates. Conclusion: in patients living with chronic diseases, sociodemographic and clinical variables are associated with the transition of care. Patients who better evaluated preparation for self-management had fewer readmissions within 30 days.
Landscape controls on nitrate removal in stream riparian zones

We examined how landscape hydrogeologic characteristics influence groundwater nitrate removal by eight stream riparian sites on glacial till and outwash landscapes in southern Ontario, Canada. During high water table periods in 2000–2002, mean NO3−‐N input concentrations from adjacent cropland to the riparian sites ranged from 0.15 to 44.7 mg L−1. Seven of the eight sites had a mean nitrate removal efficiency of >90%. This removal occurred within the first 15 m of the riparian zone at three sites with loamy sand and sandy loam soils overlying a shallow confining layer at 1–2 m. However, at four of five sites with more conductive sand and cobble sediments the width required for 90% nitrate removal varied from >25 m to a maximum of 176 m at a site with a confining layer at 6 m. Sites linked to an extensive thick (>6 m) upland aquifer with a slope gradient of >15% at the riparian perimeter had high nitrate inputs throughout the year and were large nitrate sinks. Sites with gentle topography (<4–5%) and <2 m of permeable sediments were minor nitrate sinks because of small nitrate inputs that were limited to the late autumn‐spring period. A conceptual model linking landscape hydrogeologic characteristics to riparian zone nitrate removal capacity is developed to understand and predict the effectiveness of riparian buffers at the landscape scale.
Factors that influenced the course of the mpox outbreak in the Netherlands, 2022-2023

Background In 2022-2023 a global outbreak of mpox affected mostly gay, bisexual and other men having sex with men (GBMSM). Outbreak control in the Netherlands included isolation, quarantine, post-exposure prophylaxis vaccination, and primary preventive vaccination (PPV). We describe the course of the outbreak, the vaccination programme, vaccine effectiveness (VE) of full vaccination against symptomatic disease, and trends in behaviour to generate hypotheses about factors that influenced the outbreak's decline. Methods Observational study. Data on notified cases, number of PPV invitations, and PPV doses administered were collected from public health services. PPV uptake and coverage were calculated. Monthly trends in behavioural data of GBMSM visiting Sexual Health Centres (SHC) were analysed for all consultations in 2022. VE was estimated using the screening method. Findings A total of 1,266 mpox cases were reported until August 1, 2023. The outbreak peaked early July 2022 and sharply declined afterwards. PPV started July 25, 2023; in total 29,851 doses were administered. 45.8% received at least one dose, 35.4% was fully vaccinated. Estimated VE was 68.2% (95% CI 4.3%-89.5%). In our analyses of behavioural data, we did not observe an evident decrease in high-risk behaviour. Interpretation It is unlikely that PPV was a driver of the outbreak's decline, as incidence started to decline well before the start of the PPV programme. The possible impact of behavioural change could not be demonstrated with the available indicators. We hypothesise that infection-induced immunity in high-risk groups contributed most to the decline. Funding Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Value-Based Integrated Care: A Systematic Literature Review

Background: Healthcare services worldwide are transforming themselves into value-based organizations. Integrated care is an important aspect of value-based healthcare (VBHC), but practical evidence-based recommendations for the successful implementation of integrated care within a VBHC context are lacking. This systematic review aims to identify how value-based integrated care (VBIC) is defined in literature, and to summarize the literature regarding the effects of VBIC, and the facilitators and barriers for its implementation. Methods: Embase, Medline ALL, Web of Science Core Collection and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails databases were searched from inception until January 2022. Empirical studies that implemented and evaluated an integrated care intervention within a VBHC context were included. Non-empirical studies were included if they described either a definition of VBIC or facilitators and barriers for its implementation. The Rainbow Model of Integrated Care (RMIC) was used to analyse the VBIC interventions. The quality of the articles was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results: After screening 1328 titles/abstract and 485 full-text articles, 24 articles were included. No articles were excluded based on quality. One article provided a definition of VBIC. Eleven studies reported -mostly positive- effects of VBIC, on clinical outcomes, patient-reported outcomes, and healthcare utilization. Nineteen studies reported facilitators and barriers for the implementation of VBIC; factors related to reimbursement and IT infrastructure were reported most frequently. Conclusion: The concept of VBIC is not well defined. The effect of VBIC seems promising, but the exact interpretation of effect evaluations is challenged by the precedence of multicomponent interventions, multiple testing and generalizability issues. For successful implementation of VBIC, it is imperative that healthcare organizations consider investing in adequate IT infrastructure and new reimbursement models.
Daily temperature extremes as an indicator of high temperature stress

Theory outlining a general relationship between stress experienced by an organism exposed to supra-optimal temperatures and daily temperature extremes is discussed. It is shown that useful nomograms relating Tmax, Tmin, Tcritical, and high temperature stress can be developed and that these nomograms are not particularly sensitive to changes in daylength (caused by changes in time of year or latitude). Sensitivity of high temperature stress to changes in Tmin is also considerably less than that to changes in Tmax, suggesting that in situations where Tmin, does not vary greatly, Tmax alone can be used as an indicator of high temperature stress. Application of these concepts is illustrated by analyses of high temperature stress in pre-emergent maize seedlings. Results show that Tmax alone can account for more than 90% of the variation in the reduction of shoot length due to the occurrence of supra-optimal temperatures.
Estimating Effective Soil Hydraulic Properties Using Spatially Distributed Soil Moisture and Evapotranspiration

With the development of many earth‐observing remote sensing (RS) platforms, spatially distributed remote sensing products are becoming critical inputs to many hydrologic and meteorological models. Remotely sensed soil moisture (SM) and evapotranspiration (ET) including ground‐based data have the potential to be used for estimating pixel‐scale soil hydraulic parameters. However, only a few studies have been conducted to better understand the impact of assimilating both SM and ET in estimating soil hydraulic properties of the root zone. In this study, we used inverse modeling based on the Noisy Monte Carlo Genetic Algorithm by linking RS SM and ET derived from the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land for estimating pixel‐scale effective soil hydraulic properties. Walnut Creek (Iowa), Brown (Illinois), and Lubbock (Texas) test sites were selected to assess the performance of this approach from point to satellite scales using synthetic and validation experiments. For comparison purposes, inverse modeling results were analyzed under three scenarios (ET only, SM only, and SM + ET in the optimization criteria). These results showed that considering both SM and ET components improved the estimations of effective soil hydraulic properties and reduced their uncertainties better than SM or ET only. Overall, although uncertainty exists, our proposed SM + ET based scheme performed well in estimating effective soil hydraulic properties at multiple spatial scales (point, airborne, and satellite footprints) under various hydroclimatic conditions.
Strength and Power Thresholds to Identify High and Low Linear Sprint Speed Performers in Collegiate American Football Players

Abstract Philipp, NM, Crawford, DA, Cabarkapa, D, and Fry, AC. Strength and power thresholds to identify high and low linear sprint speed performers in collegiate American football players. J Strength Cond Res 38(1): 74–79, 2024—Lower-body strength and power are commonly measured performance qualities across a number of sports. In recent years, more attention has been given to relationships, primarily between lower-body strength and linear speed performance. While still limited, evidence is in agreement that lower-body strength positively contributes to linear speed performance. However, what is less well understood is if there comes a point in an athlete's development, at which, further working on increasing maximal strength may not fully compliment additional gains in speed performance. Within this study, authors aimed to provide practitioners with lower-body strength and power thresholds that can discriminate between slow and fast performers, within a group of collegiate American football players. The sample was further divided into a high-body and low-body weight group, and authors hypothesized that by using logistic regression, supplemented with receiver operator curve analyses, optimal cut-off points (i.e., relative lower-body strength thresholds) that are able to significantly discriminate between slow and fast linear speed performers may be identified. Findings indicate that optimal cut-off scores differed between the groups of athletes, as well as the lower body strength and power tests. All models were able to significantly distinguish between slower and faster performers, and area under the curve values ranged from 0.695 to 0.903. Although thresholds will likely vary based on factors such as sex, training age, and sport, findings from this investigation may be used to benchmark athletes and to further individualize training aimed at improving linear speed performance.
Mapping Isolated Wetlands in a Karst Landscape: GIS and Remote Sensing Methods

GIS and remote sensing (RS) techniques using Landsat ETM+ and objectoriented segmentation were developed to identify depressional isolated wetlands in a >2,600 km2 mixed land use area of north-central Florida, USA. Both the standalone RS method and the combined GIS/RS method were successful at identifying isolated wetlands > 0.20 ha. Combining the GIS and RS methods yielded producer and user accuracies ranging from 93 to 100% and 86 to 95%, respectively. The methods utilized successfully mapped isolated wetlands and could be used to address questions surrounding national estimates and areal distribution of isolated wetlands.
Cyclic behaviour of a sand steel plate interface

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the mechanical behaviour of an interface between sand and a steel plate. A simple shear type interface apparatus is used. Tests are conducted under a two-way, displacement-controlled cyclic loading condition. The effects of the initial soil density, number of displacement cycles, magnitude of normal stress, and amplitude of tangential displacement on the cyclic response of the interface are investigated. The interface behaviour is presented in terms of the shear stress mobilized on the interface, the changes taking place in sample height, and the components of tangential displacements resulting from soil deformation and from slip between the soil and the steel plate during displacement cycles.Key words: cyclic behaviour, soilstructure interface, simple shear, slip, laboratory testing.
Analysis of fire events and controlling factors in eastern india using spatial scan and multivariate statistics

Abstract. Vegetation fires are one of the most serious environmental problems in several ecoregions of India. The purpose of this study is to characterize spatio‐temporal characteristics of fire events in Orissa state, eastern India. In this study, ATSR satellite remote sensing data have been used to quantify fire events from 1997 to 2006. The spatial scan statistic that quantifies ‘hotspot’ areas of fire risk has been used to identify statistically significant fire clusters during the ten‐year time period. To assess the causative factors of fires, topographic, vegetation, climatic, anthropogenic and accessibility factors were used in a robust multivariate statistical framework. Results suggested a clear variation in hotspots of fire occurrences among districts. Of the several districts, the most likely cluster of fire events has been identified in Jharsuguda district followed by secondary clusters in Gajapati, Phulbani, Anugul, Debagarh, Balangir and Raygada. The first three principal components (PCs) from multivariate statistical analysis could explain 70.48% of variance in biophysical and socio‐economic indicators of fire events. The loadings were fairly large and highly positive for deciduous forest percentage, elevation, slope mean, aspect mean, and rural population density in the first PC explaining 40.21% of variance. The second PC included drought index, average temperature and illiteracy explaining nearly 19.2% variance. The third PC had a strong positive association with cropped area and forest cover explaining 10.98% of the total variance. Overall, by quantifying the disparities in fire events in space and time, this study demonstrates the utility of the spatial scan statistic in identifying priority areas of fire risk. Our results on fire hotspots and causative factors of risk can guide forest managers toward the best management strategies for avoiding damage to forests, human life, and personal property in the study area.
The Satellite Observation for Spatial Changes of Vegetation in Saemangum Tidal Flat

Abstract The aim of this study is to detection of changed vegetation area of Saemangeum tidal flat withcomparison of topography and surface sediments during the dyke construction. Sedimentaryfacies of four seasons of 2001 from inside Saemangeum tidal flat revealed homogeneous layers inthe upper part, however near sea side tidal flat were detecting with carried out rapid sedimentdeposition during the dyke construction using satellite image spatial analysis. The sedimentationtypes inside Saemangeum tidal flat were classified with vegetation types, which were wellmatched with the sedimentation pattern revealed by change in vegetation patterns.Keywords : Saemangeum tidal flat, Sediment types, Satellite image Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment, Vol. 23, No. 2(2014) pp.150~156http://dx.doi. org/10.14249/eia.2014. 23.2. 150 연구노트 Corres ponding Author: Jong-Chul Jeong, Dep. of GIS Namseoul University Phone:+82-41-580-2375 E-mail: jjc1017@gmail.comReceived ：11 December, 2013. Revised ：20 February, 2014. Accepted ：7 March, 2014.ISSN 1225-7184
Audio-induced medial prefrontal cortical dynamics enhances coadaptive learning in brain–machine interfaces

Objectives. Coadaptive brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) allow subjects and external devices to adapt to each other during the closed-loop control, which provides a promising solution for paralyzed individuals. Previous studies have focused on either improving sensory feedback to facilitate subject learning or developing adaptive algorithms to maintain stable decoder performance. In this work, we aim to design an efficient coadaptive BMI framework which not only facilitates the learning of subjects on new tasks with designed sensory feedback, but also improves decoders’ learning ability by extracting sensory feedback-induced evaluation information. Approach. We designed dynamic audio feedback during the trial according to the subjects’ performance when they were trained to learn a new behavioral task. We compared the learning performance of two groups of Sprague Dawley rats, one with and the other without the designed audio feedback to show whether this audio feedback could facilitate the subjects’ learning. Compared with the traditional closed-loop in BMI systems, an additional closed-loop involving medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity was introduced into the coadaptive framework. The neural dynamics of audio-induced mPFC activity was analyzed to investigate whether a significant neural response could be triggered. This audio-induced response was then translated into reward expectation information to guide the learning of decoders on a new task. The multiday decoding performance of the decoders with and without audio-induced reward expectation was compared to investigate whether the extracted information could accelerate decoders to learn a new task. Main results. The behavior performance comparison showed that the average days for rats to achieve 80% well-trained behavioral performance was improved by 26.4% after introducing the designed audio feedback sequence. The analysis of neural dynamics showed that a significant neural response of mPFC activity could be elicited by the audio feedback and the visualization of audio-induced neural patterns was emerged and accompanied by the behavioral improvement of subjects. The multiday decoding performance comparison showed that the decoder taking the reward expectation information could achieve faster task learning by 33.8% on average across subjects. Significance. This study demonstrates that the designed audio feedback could improve the learning of subjects and the mPFC activity induced by audio feedback can be utilized to improve the decoder’s learning efficiency on new tasks. The coadaptive framework involving mPFC dynamics in the closed-loop interaction can advance the BMIs into a more adaptive and efficient system with learning ability on new tasks.
Global‐scale gridded estimates of thermoelectric power and manufacturing water use

New global‐scale gridded estimates of industrial water use around 1995 are presented which, for the first time, distinguish between water use for cooling of thermal power stations and for manufacturing. Estimates of annual values of both water withdrawal and consumption are provided with a spatial resolution of 0.5° by 0.5°. Thermoelectric power water use is based on the geographical location of 63,590 thermal power stations. Manufacturing water use is computed by first estimating country‐specific water withdrawal values, which are then distributed as a function of city nighttime lights. A comparison to industrial water use in the 50 states of the United States and 89 regions in Russia shows that the developed data set represents thermoelectric power water use satisfactorily, while manufacturing water use remains highly uncertain.