Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Biological invasions: are they dependent on disturbance?

We utilize literature surveys to examine the relationship between establishment of exotic species and human or natural disturbances of ecosystems. Of the 133 papers published in 10 ecological journals between 1993 and 1995, 63 reported on field studies involving 299 and 103 successful, nonredundant plant and animal introductions, respectively. Invasions of terrestrial ecosystems dominated (>97%) the surveyed literature. Disturbance was associated with establishment of exotic species in 56% of these studies, though its importance differed among papers describing plants (68%) and animals (28%). Plants species (86%) were significantly more dependent on disturbance for establishment than were animals (12%). However, animals and plants that were dependent on disturbance for establishment were almost equally dependent (58 versus 68%) on it for range expansion. In a second survey, 402 plant and 103 animal taxa were identified that explicitly linked establishment of exotic species to disturbance. Human activities were attributed with establishment of species in 97 and 57% of these cases, respectively. Common mechanisms associated with establishment of exotic animals included ballast water discharge, intentional releases, and residential development. Establishment of exotic plants was associated with animal activities (e.g., grazing, seed introduction), soil disturbance, forestry, fire, agriculture, and human activities. In contrast to invasions theory, our survey indicates that the association between establishment and spread of exotic species and disturbance ought not be assumed a priori. Some animals repeatedly invade new habitats once geographic barriers are circumvented, indicating that communities may be more receptive to exotic species than previously acknowledged. By contrast, introduced plants established most often in disturbed habitats.
Numerical modeling of surface wave development under the action of wind

Abstract. The numerical modeling of two-dimensional surface wave development under the action of wind is performed. The model is based on three-dimensional equations of potential motion with a free surface written in a surface-following nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinate system in which depth is counted from a moving surface. A three-dimensional Poisson equation for the velocity potential is solved iteratively. A Fourier transform method, a second-order accuracy approximation of vertical derivatives on a stretched vertical grid and fourth-order Runge–Kutta time stepping are used. Both the input energy to waves and dissipation of wave energy are calculated on the basis of earlier developed and validated algorithms. A one-processor version of the model for PC allows us to simulate an evolution of the wave field with thousands of degrees of freedom over thousands of wave periods. A long-time evolution of a two-dimensional wave structure is illustrated by the spectra of wave surface and the input and output of energy.
CLOUD COMPUTING FRAMEWORK FOR AGILE DEVELOPMENT

The emergence of cloud computing is influencing how businesses develop, re-engineer, and implement critical software applications. The cloud requires developers to elevate the importance of compliance with security policies, regulations and internal engineering standards in their software development life cycles. Cloud computing and agile development methodologies are new technologies that have come with new approaches in the way computing services are provisioned and development of quality software respectively. However, the synergy between the two is bonded with technical and non-technical challenges. In this paper, a conceptual framework is proposed to support the process of migration of South African small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) who are using agile software development methodologies to cloud computing environment. The framework is also analysed based on critical cloud computing adoption factors as recommended from previous studies on SMMEs adoption practices.
Effects on Mortality of Biochemical and Limnological Properties on Some Fish Species in Sultansuyu Dam Lake (Malatya), Turkey

In this study, hematological and biochemical investigations were carried out on Cyprinus carpio, Leuciscus cephalus, Capoeta trutta ve Capoeta capoeta umbla fish species living in Sultansuyu Dam Lake (Malatya). The physical, chemical and microbiological features of the reservoir were specified and heavy metal analyses were also conducted. As a result of hematological investigation, a statistical increase of P<0.05 in total leukocyte count, and a decrease of P<0.05 in erytrocyte, hemoglobin and hematocrit values were observed. With respect to microbiological analysis, the presence of Enterococcus shows the drainage of domestic wastes into the reservoir. With water analyses, it was found out that the water quality was second rate and the sulphur content in the water was above standard levels. The existence of large amount of sulphur was presumed to be the result of apricot processing. Significant heavy metal pollution was not observed.
Novel Sgmentation Technique for Synthetic Aperture Radar Target Tracking using Hybrid PSO Method

In remote sensing applications, it is evidently electromagnetic imaging has more advantages than optical imaging due to its horizon. In such a contest synthetic aperture radars (SAR) plays a vital role. In SAR image processing, segmentation is a key step in identifying and tracking targets, terrain features. Hence, this paper, we present an Improved hybrid PSO method proposed based on multilevel threshold for enhancing the image for segmentation. Experimental results indicate, the proposed methods enhance the edge features effectively with compare to Otsu, Modified Otsu and Region Based Active contour methods.
Skinnable graph drawing

Skinning is a recent concept emerging from long lasting efforts to separate look-and-feel from core functional aspects in software engineering or web design. In this paper, we propose skinnable graph drawing as a process that takes a general graph G(V, E) and computes a drawing from a skin compatible with a signature of G. Skinnable graph drawing is designed to address the drawing of general graphs having no particular node labeling. Skinnable graph drawing motivations include (1) enable reuse and share of customized drawings, (2) preserve mental maps by maintaining some visual graph structures invariant and (3) facilitate the use of different conventional drawings for the same graphs to reconcile different visual perspectives on similar graph structures. In this paper, we revise useful definitions for skinnable graph drawing and report the results of a case study based on sixteen well-known graphs as an illustration of signature computations and a proof of concept of the skinnable graph drawing approach.
ON SCINTILLATION CONSIDERING INNER-AND OUTER-SCALES FOR LASER BEAM PROPAGATION ON THE SLANT PATH THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE

Based on both the modified Rytov method and the altitude-dependent model of the ITU-R slant atmospheric turbulence structure constant, the uniform model of scintillation index considering innerand outer-scales is derived form weak to strong fluctuation regions with Gaussian beam propagation on the slant path, and can be degenerated to the result of the horizontal path with atmospheric structure constant is a fixed value. The numerical conclusions indicate the smaller wavelength, the inner-scale has a stronger impact on scintillation than outer-scale. But, in strong fluctuation, the outerscale effect is prominence. Finally, the numerical results are compared and verified with the experimental data.
A Novel Mechanism for Mechanosensing by Endothelial Cells

The formation of new vasculature is an essential process, but can also be utilized by cancerous cells. Angiogenesis requires the directed migration of the endothelial cells lining the nascent blood vessels. This process is largely mediated by integrin, which plays a key role in the interplay between sensing a force in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and transducing this signal, a process termed mechanotransduction. Through cell-ECM focal adhesions, integrin mediates the signaling both into and out of the cell, promoting growth of focal adhesions and subsequent cell spreading and migration. In order to study focal adhesion dynamics related to force, we observed cells on three different substrates: polyacrylamide gels, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) micro pillars, and polyacrylamide gels containing fluorescent beads. The mobility of integrin on the different substrates was assessed using fluorescent recovery after photo-bleaching (FRAP) and analyzed along with cell traction force measurements. These studies serve to further the understanding of our knowledge of integrin and its role in mechanotransduction and migration. It will, therefore, aid in the advancement of both tissue engineering and cancer treatment
Nanotechnology: Safety paradigms

The versatile utilization of nanotechnology in a variety of products used in different spheres of daily life has made it quite popular. This is attributed due to the enhanced surface related properties of the nanoparticles. But these enhanced properties also make nanoparticles, biologically more active leading to unexpected and unanticipated consequences on interaction with biological systems which may be deleterious to the living organisms. There may be different kinds of pathological conditions arising due to the exposure of nanoparticles, depending on their type, size and route of exposure. Consequently for the risk assessment there is a need for safety evaluation procedure which should be based on various hazardous aspects. The safety evaluation and toxicological assessment of nanoparticles can be further improved by collaboration between the research groups working on similar aspects of nanotechnology, establishment of guidelines along with the standard protocols for developing uniformity in experimental approaches related to nanotoxicology studies, which will help in the development of safer nanoproducts for the benefits of mankind. Thus, safety issues need to be impressed upon the industries and regulators simultaneously, to reduce the lag phase for the development of sustainable nanotechnology. Keywords: Agglomeration, characterization, inflammation, nanotoxicology, nanoparticles, nanoencapsulation, reactive oxygen species.
Effective methods of preserving SCWL-diseased sugarcane leaves for genomic DNA extraction and molecular detection of phytoplasma

Simple and economical methods to preserve sugarcane leaf tissues infected with sugarcane white leaf (SCWL) phytoplasma for later detection of SCWL using nested- PCR analysis were described. Diseased leaf tissues were preserved by air-drying and stored at room temperature or stored fresh at 4 or -20°C in two types of bags: brown paper bags and plastic bags with punctured holes. Leaf materials were stored for up to 32 days prior to DNA extraction. The best storage condition was placing fresh leaves at -20°C and air-drying leaves in paper bags at room temperature. High molecular weight plant genomic DNA bands were detected in all stored infected tissues. Genomic DNAs were used as templates for nested- PCR which showed a single band of 210 bp in the 16S-23S intergenic spacer region specific to SCWL phytoplasma. Nested-PCR was also performed on genomic DNA extracted from diseased leaves heattreated in a microwave oven and the SCWL-specific bands were effectively detected. Therefore, treating diseased sugarcane leaves by air-drying, freezing, refrigeration or microwave heat treatment were all effective for molecular detection of SCWL phytoplasma. However, air-drying and storage in paper bags was the most economical and practical, especially when large numbers of samples are to be stored or transported from the fields to a distant laboratory or exchanged among laboratories. Key words : Sugarcane white leaf phytoplasma, nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), preservation, 16S- 23S intergenic spacer region.
Transmission and properties of a new luteovirus associated with chickpea stunt disease in India

Several luteoviruses are involved in the chickpea stunt disease (CpSD) etiology. Earlier surveys identified a new luteovirus, Chickpea stunt disease-associated virus (CpSDaV), widely associated with CpSD in India. This study investigated its properties and host range, and the aphid vector species involved in its transmission. Purified CpSDaV preparations have typical luteovirus properties: isometric particles of 28 nm in diameter, a single coat-protein of 24.2 kDa and one RNA species of c. 5 kb. Polyclonal antiserum produced to purify CpSDaV preparations was useful for virus detection. CpSDaV which is serologically related to Beet western yellows virus (BWYV), has a host range distinct from that of BWYV, and is vectored by Aphis craccivora. Based on these properties and sequence homology, CpSDaV is a new species in the genus Polerovirus, family Luteoviridae. CpSDaV inoculated chickpea plants developed typical stunt disease symptoms, confirming its role in CpSD etiology.
The impact of dimensions of transformational leadership on post-acquisition performance of acquired company

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are the important mechanisms through which companies can achieve growth, gain access to new markets and diversify their activities. Although companies engage themselves in M&As with optimism, empirical evidence shows that many M&A transactions are not successful. Therefore, research is often focused on the identification of the ways to improve post-acquisition performance. One of the key success factors of M&A is to provide adequate transformational leadership during the process of change, especially in the critical phase of the post-acquisition integration. A transformational leader should provide incentives and support to the employees in order for them to accept changes and focus on achieving challenging goals. This paper explores the impact of the different dimensions of transformational leadership on the post-acquisition performance based on the example of a company operating in the Republic of Serbia’s retail sector, which was the subject of a cross-border acquisition. In order to ensure the adequate representativeness of the sample, a questionnaire was distributed in all parts of the company throughout the Republic of Serbia. The results of this study show that all the dimensions of transformational leadership positively impact post-acquisition performance. The “individual consideration” dimension of transformational leadership has the strongest impact on post-acquisition performance, whereas the “intellectual simulation” dimension has the weakest.
Analyzing Persuasive Mobile Healthcare Architecture Using Systematic Process Design

More broadly within the healthcare domain, the prospective value of persuasive mobile technology is seen in changing individuals by incorporating persuasion features into the design of mobile phone technology. In this regard, most of the researchers have paid attention to develop persuasive applications, but they yet failed to provide guidance on how the persuasive guidelines can be implemented, in particular in software architecture. Hence, the studies existed before did not follow any systematic processes into software architecture for analysis and designing the persuasive technology applications. Therefore, the distinct gap in the previous researches relating to transform the persuasive components into software requirements and functionalities. In light of those major reasons, this paper proposes a general systematic process to analyze the customers’ significant requirements of the software to be used independently of the problem domain. One of these domains is an obesity problem among Malaysian children, and the most significant treatment of this case is parents’ involvement. To this end, this paper applied a systematic process in monitoring the children’s obesity status among parents. Findings showed that systematic process is suitable and convincing for collecting required requirements from stakeholders to set final software design in the right way.
Shaping practice: worksheets as social artefacts

Part of a broader research project on the development of mathematical understanding in primary classrooms, the research reported in this paper focused on how opportunities to learn about percentage in two classrooms were shaped by worksheets. The words in the text, the way that the teachers replicated these orally, a grid used to illustrate the concept of percentage, the genre of both mathematical and non-mathematical aspects of the worksheet's presentation, and the calculation methods presented were all potentially influential aspects. It is argued that the "knowledge" conveyed by the texts of the worksheets was distributed over a much wider field than the classrooms involved.
Monitoring Cryptographic Strength of Wireless Sensor Networks using ZKP

The security mechanisms used for wired networks cannot be directly used in sensor networks as there is no user-controlling of each individual node, wireless environment, and more importantly, scarce energy resources. In this paper, we address some of the special security threats and attacks in Wireless Sensor Networks offer a powerful methodology to monitor environments, and have a lot of interesting applications, We propose a scheme for detection of distributed sensor cloning attack and use of zero knowledge protocol for verifying the authenticity of the sender sensor nodes. The cloning attack is addressed by attaching a unique fingerprint to each node that depends on the set of neighboring nodes and itself. The fingerprint is attached with every message a sensor node sends. The Zero knowledge protocol is used to ensure non transmission of crucial cryptographic information in the wireless network in order to avoid man-in-the middle attack and replay attack. The paper presents a detailed analysis for various scenarios and also analyzes the performance and cryptographic strength.
Energy and water dynamics of a central Amazonian rain forest

[1] This paper presents measurements of the energy and water budgets of a tropical rain forest near Manaus, Brazil, in central Amazonia, collected between September 1995 and August 1996. Fluxes of sensible and latent heat were measured using a three-dimensional eddy covariance system mounted above the forest canopy. Using a new approach to analysis of eddy covariance data, we found that the measured fluxes increased significantly when turbulent transport on timescales of 1 to 4 hours was taken into account. With this new analysis, the measured turbulent fluxes almost balanced the incoming net radiation, giving increased confidence in the accuracy of the measured fluxes. Of the 5.56 GJ m−2 yr−1 of solar radiation supplied over the year, 11% were reflected, 15% were lost as net thermal emission, 27% were transported through sensible heat convection, 46% used in evapotranspiration, and 0.5% were used in net carbon fixation. Total annual evapotranspiration was calculated to be 1123 mm, accounting for 54% of total precipitation. Seasonality was an important influence: limited water availability during the dry season caused evapotranspiration to reduce by 50%. Total canopy conductance was linearly correlated to soil moisture content, with typical midday values ranging between 0.8 mol m−2 s−1 in the wet season and 0.3 mol m−2 s−1 in the dry season. Such seasonal behavior is likely to be prevalent in most tropical forest regions, and correct description of dry-season evapotranspiration will require accurate modeling of plant and soil hydraulic properties and knowledge of root distributions.
Geographic Variation in Nests of Yellow Warblers Breeding in Churchill, Manitoba, and Elgin, Ontario

Abstract. Nesting structures are important for successful reproduction in most birds, and, because of this, geographic variation in nest morphology and composition are usually interpreted as adaptations to breeding in different environments. We compared the structure of nests of Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) breeding in Churchill, Manitoba, and Elgin, Ontario, Canada. Churchill is subarctic in habitat and typically much colder during the breeding season than Elgin. We compared temperature, rainfall, and wind speed at these two sites and then tested whether differences in nest structure corresponded to different environments. Yellow Warblers breeding in Churchill built larger, less porous nests that retained heat better but also absorbed more water and took longer to dry than Yellow Warbler nests from Elgin. We suggest that differences in the structure of Yellow Warbler nests represent adaptations to breeding in different environments because the differences in nest morphology and properties of heat retention and water loss correspond to differences between the sites in environmental challenges.
Antibacterial activity of honey: A review of honey around the world

Nectar is a natural product collected by bees from which honey is produced. Honey possesses antibacterial activity and is classified as peroxide and non-peroxide components. The contribution of these components is discussed briefly to ascertain their contribution to the antibacterial activity. Data of origin and floral sources of honey and antimicrobial activity against different bacteria species are summarized. It was concluded that inhibition of growth of bacteria is principally due to the peroxide effect, which is very common in honey wide world because it is a derivative compound from bees. Although the peroxide effect could be reduced when honey is processed, the application of hazard analysis and critical control points could prevent the reduction. The research carried out so far indicates that honey is successfully used to control some food pathogens and owing to this, it could be used in food preservation. Key words: Antibacterial activity, honey, peroxide activity, non-peroxide activity.
Cache Memory Access Patterns in the GPU Architecture

Data exchange between a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) can be very expensive in terms of performance. The characterization of data and cache memory access patterns differ between a CPU and a GPU. The motivation of this research is to analyze the cache memory access patterns of GPU architectures and to potentially improve data exchange between a CPU and GPU. The methodology of this work uses Multi2Sim GPU simulator for AMD Radeon and NVIDIA Kepler GPU architectures. This simulator, used to emulate the GPU architecture in software, enables certain code modifications for the L1 and L2 cache memory blocks. Multi2Sim was configured to run multiple benchmarks to analyze and record how the benchmarks access GPU cache memory. The recorded results were used to study three main metrics: (1) Most Recently Used (MRU) and Least Recently Used (LRU) accesses for L1 and L2 caches, (2) Inter-warp and Intra-warp cache memory accesses in the GPU architecture for different sets of workloads, and (3) To record and compare the GPU cache access patterns for certain machine learning benchmarks with its general purpose counterparts.