Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hunter characteristics and preferences for harvest control rules

My thesis is concerned with improving harvest management of ptarmigans and red deer by increased understanding of hunters’ preferences and by developing hunter typologies. These species where chosen to illustrate two contrasting management situations, since the number of harvested willow ptarmigan has been steadily declining, while the red deer harvest is rapidly increasing. Data is collected by using questionnaires to ptarmigan and red deer hunters. I have measured factors related to hunting success, preferences for different kinds of harvest regulations and the effect of environmental attitudes on harvest regulations by using the NEP scale. CPUE is commonly used as a descriptor of game abundance. I found no significant relationship between CPUE and estimated ptarmigan density prior to hunting season. My results illustrates that using game abundance measured as bird density per km alone, not necessarily are an adequate measure to adjusting harvest rates for ptarmigan. I found hunting success to be complicated by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors. For example, the number of ptarmigan observed per day was a better predictor than estimated ptarmigan density on hunting success. A quota strategy was the most preferred harvest principle among ptarmigan hunters. Secondly, hunters preferred a reduction in number of hunters or dividing the season into short periods. Shortening the length of hunting season was the least preferred principle. Translated into ptarmigan management, mangers should develop regulations based on annual quotas or quotas over a longer time span than a daily limit. Environmental orientation correlated positively with higher acceptance of regulatory management actions, while socio-demographic variables had limited effect on the relationship between environmental concern and attitudes toward management actions. I identified several typologies useful for management purposes. Some characteristics related to the consumptive orientation, i.e. the importance of meat and the bag size. Also regarding hunting effort, the hunters grouped into distinct typologies. This eagerness related mostly to the respondents’ catch-orientation and should be considered in situations where population reduction/control is an important task. On the other hand, in situations where avoiding overexploitation is the focus, hunters with strong catch orientation and high effort should be
SMART AUTHENTICATION USING FACE RECOGNITION

In this paper, we propose an application that locates the students during classroom lecture. Our application keeps record of In-time and Out-time using face recognition. However, the above feature is difficult to estimate precisely using result of face recognition independently because the face detection rate is not sufficiently high. Here, we put forth a method for estimating the attendance precisely using an android system. The system will contain all the information of student which will be used while comparing with the results of face recognition. The students will be notified about their attendance by Notification system. This system uses cloud for working. Continuous record improves the performance for the estimation of the attendance. We constructed this system based on face recognition for systematic tracking of the students. The result shows that continuous observation improved the performance for the estimation of the attendance.
MUTANTS OF HUMAN FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR HAVING INCREASED STABILITY AND/OR MITOGENC POTENCY RELATED APPLICATION

(54) MUTANTS OF HUMAN FIBROBLAST (51) Int. Cl. GROWTH FACTOR HAVING INCREASED C07K 4/50 (2006.01) STABILITY AND/OR MITOGENC POTENCY CI2N 15/18 (2006.01) A61 K38/18 2006.O1 (75) Inventors: Michael Blaber, Tallahassee, FL (US); (52) U.S. Cl. sons C. 's 435/69451479.1 Vikash Kumar Dubey, Guwahati (IN) (58) Field of Classification Search . None (73) Assignee: Florida State University Research See application file for complete search history. Foundation, Inc. Tallah FL (US oundation, Inc., Tallahassee, FL (US) (56) References Cited
Clinics in diagnostic imaging ( 175 )

A 54-year-old man presented with change in behaviour, nocturnal enuresis, abnormal limb movement and headache of one week’s duration. The diagnosis of butterfly glioma (glioblastoma multiforme) was made based on imaging characteristics and was further confirmed by biopsy findings. As the corpus callosum is usually resistant to infiltration by tumours, a mass that involves and crosses the corpus callosum is suggestive of an aggressive neoplasm. Other neoplastic and non-neoplastic conditions that may involve the corpus callosum and mimic a butterfly glioma, as well as associated imaging features, are discussed.
Correspondence of f ( R , ∇ R ) Modified Gravity with Scalar Field Models

This paper is devoted to study the scalar field dark energy models by taking its different aspects in the framework of f(R, ∇R) gravity. We consider flat FRW universe to construct the equation of state parameter governed by f(R, ∇R) gravity. The stability of the model is discussed with the help of squared speed of sound parameter. It is found that models show quintessence behavior of the universe in stable as well as unstable modes. We also develop the correspondence of f(R, ∇R) model with some scalar field dark energy models like quintessence, tachyonic field, k-essence, dilaton, hessence, and DBI-essence. The nature of scalar fields and corresponding scalar potentials is being analyzed in f(R, ∇R) gravity graphically which show consistency with the present day observations about accelerated phenomenon.
Sustainable Design in Space Structures

The sustainable design approach presented in this paper supports an increased commitment to environmental stewardship and conservation, and results in an optimal balance of cost, environmental, societal, and human benefits while meeting the mission and function of the intended space structure. The aim of this paper is to develop the guidelines that could be applied in the design of a space structure in order to achieve the optimal overall lifetime performance of the space structure. Space structures are more than inanimate hunks of metal, glass and fabric. Every space structure that we design as structural engineers is like a child — a child that is conceived with a passionate vision of its form, structure and purpose; nurtured through the schematic design phase and the development of construction documents; and cared for during the labor pains of plan check corrections, requests for information, shop drawing review, and construction observation. Like children, our space structures mature, perform necessary functions during their lives, and eventually, grow old and die. The design of a sustainable space structure is a much more challenging and cross-disciplinary process than in the past and therefore it is necessary that the space structure is viewed as an integrated system and that all members of the design team work in a fully integrated fashion.
An optimal policy for a two depot inventory problem with stock transfer

Multiple depot inventory systems with stock transfer are used by many companies especially when demand is high relative to storage capacity. The key issues in such systems are how many of each item to hold at each depot and what to do if there is a demand for an item at a depot that has none of that item in stock. This study was motivated by the inventory problem faced by a UK car part retailer that groups its depots into pairs. The company's policy for dealing with a demand at a depot that cannot be satisfied from local stock is to either transfer the item from the other depot in the group or to place an emergency order. The object of this paper is to characterise an optimal policy for this problem and to propose a method of calculating the parameters of such a policy.
Comments on the Harrison-Rutherford-Tarr CGE Model with Imperfect Competition and Increasing Returns to Scale

Harrison, Rutherford and Tarr (1997) use a multiregional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model with a CES multistage demand system, imperfect competition, increasing returns to scale (IRS), and two endogenous price elasticities of demand perceived by a firm in each national market, in order to quantify the reforms of the Uruguay Round, when firms compete in a quantity setting oligopoly with constant conjectures. This paper argues that the derivation of the price markups is based on two incorrect assumptions, which might affect their empirical results, especially on output and welfare.
The price efficiency of South African exchange traded funds

ABSTRACT Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trade at a market-determined price which may differ from their Net Asset Value (NAV). This study examines the price deviations of four domestic and three foreign South African-listed ETFs. Five of these funds were found to trade at a premium to their NAV on average and two at a discount. These differences however do not persist for more than two trading days and thus the opportunity for arbitrage opportunities for investors is limited. However, the deviations do contain important information about the following day's returns on ETFs, in contravention of weak-form market efficiency. A trading strategy is developed in order to profit from this information and this is found to be successful for three of the funds after accounting for transaction costs.
A Study via Interviews of the Chinese Bouyei College Learners' EFL Classroom Anxiety Coping Strategies

The present study aims to investigate EFL classroom anxiety coping strategies employed by the Chinese Bouyei college students through semi-structured individual interviews of 25 Chinese Bouyei college students from five colleges located in the southern and southwestern areas of Guizhou Province, China. The findings demonstrate five categories of the participants’ reported EFL classroom anxiety coping strategies, i.e., preparation, help/peer seeking, relaxation, resignation, and positive thinking, which were mostly supportive to the results of the rotated component matrix of factor analysis for the FLCACSQ conducted in the researchers’ previous study. In addition, implications were made on the research findings.
PHYSICS OF MAGNETIC PHENOMENA AND PHYSICS OF FERROICS

M. TAHIRI, A. JENNANE, N. MASAIF, E.M. LEMDEK, E.M. LOTFI 5 1 Univ. Hassan 2, Laboratory of LBGIM, Research Team-Nanomaterial’s Physics (ENS – Casablanca, Morocco; e-mail: tahisimo@yahoo.fr) 2 Univ. Hassan 1, Laboratry of RM&I, Research Team-Matter Physics and Modeling, Faculty of Sciences and Technics (26000 Settat, Morocco) 3 Univ. Ibn Tofail, Physics Department, Faculty of Sciences (Kenitra, Morocco) 4 Univ. CD E2M-LCCA, Chemistry Department, Faculty of Sciences (El Jadida, Morocco) 5 Univ. Mohammed V-Souissi, Department of Mechanical Engineering (ENSET, B.P.: 6207, Rabat Instituts, Morocco)
Morphometry and abnormality evaluation of sex-sorted sperm of spotted buffalo (Tedong bonga)

Kaiin EM, Gunawan M, Maulana T. 2017. Morphometry and abnormality evaluation of sex-sorted sperm of spotted buffalo (Tedong bonga). Nusantara Bioscience 9: 175-180. This research aimed to determine the morphometry and the abnormality of the spotted buffallo (Tedong bonga) sperm after the separation of X and Y-chromosome-bearing sperms. Semen was collected from the spotted buffalo bull by using an artificial vagina.The semen quality was evaluated macro- and microscopically. Semen that met the required standard were subjected to separation by using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) 5% and 10% column method. The quality of sex-sorted sperm was evaluated microscopically, including motility, concentration, viability, abnormality and intact plasma membrane. Smear preparation using Eosin-Nigrosin dyes was made for sperm morphometry and abnormality evaluation.The evaluation of sperm morphometry and abnormality was conducted on 200 sperm cells for each observation and repeated in triplicates of observation, by using Axiovision Imager Z microscope at objective and ocular magnifications 40x and 10x, respectively.The morphological parameters observed were including the length and the width of head sperm and the head area of sperm X or Y. The abnormality parameter consisted of primary and secondary abnormalities. The data were analyzed descriptively. The results showed that the head size of the Y sperm of spotted buffalo (27.16 I¼m2) was smaller than that of the X sperm (29.86 I¼m2) with the abnormality of the Y sperm (7.85%) was also lower than that of the X sperm (9.7%).
New records of Xestospongia species (Haplosclerida: Petrosiidae) from the Curacao reefs, with a description of a new species

Three species of the sponge genus Xestospongia (Haplosclerida) are newly recorded for the south Caribbean island of Curacao, Xestospongia arenosa n. sp. , X. caminata Pulitzer-Finali (1986) and X. deweerdtae Lehnert & Van Soest (1999). The species are described and compared with Xestospongia species already known from Curacao and other Caribbean localities. A key to the Curacao species of Xestospongia is provided.
Comparison between Twelve and Six Sets of High Load Leg Extension on Muscle Strength

There are many studies about muscle strength after eccentric exercise. However, muscle strength after weight resistance exercise including the concentric and eccentric phases, which are usually performed in resistance training, has not been fully investigated. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effects of mid- and high-volume weight resistance exercise on muscle strength. Sixteen subjects were divided into a high-volume group who performed 12 sets (12SET, n=8) and a mid-volume group who performed 6 sets (6SET, n=8). They performed leg extension on the first day. The exercise load was 4~6 RM. The rest between sets was 3 minutes. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), isokinetic strength (30°/ sec.: ISOK30, 60°/ sec.: ISOK60, 150°/ sec.: ISOK150, 240°/ sec.: ISOK240), muscle soreness, and thigh circumference were measured before (PRE), after (POST), and 1 day, 2 day, 3 day, 5 day, and 7 day after exercise. The only significant effect was time in all measurements. Although MVC decreased at POST, it recovered to the level of PRE by1 day after exercise. ISOK150 and ISOK240 showed similar results to MVC. ISOK30 showed a lower value at 1 day after exercise. ISOK60 did not change throughout the experiment. Muscle soreness was higher at POST, 1 day and 2 days after exercise. Peak muscle soreness was higher for 12SET than for 6SET. Thigh circumference was higher at POST and 1 day after exercise. These results indicated that muscle damage was lower than previously reported after eccentric exercise. In addition, there was no difference between 12 sets and 6 sets of weight resistance exercise except for peak muscle soreness. Our results suggest that muscle strength after leg extension recovers by two days irrespective of whether 12 sets or 6 sets of high load leg extension are performed.
Adaptive control and data fusion using EKF for wheeled robots with parametric uncertainties

This paper presents a new adaptive motion control system including on-line Extended Kalman's filter (EKF) for wheeled robots with nonholonomic constraints on the motion. The presence of uncertainties both in the kinematics and in the dynamics is treated using adaptation laws where the Lyapunov's stability of the motion errors is proved. Now, if data from incremental encoders are used for the feedback directly, errors can damage the performance of the motion control. Therefore an EKF is inserted in the adaptive control system suitably. The filter above, through recursive predictions and corrections, fuses data provided by multiple proprioceptive sensors to obtain good estimations of the feedback signals in terms of cartesian positions and orientation. The control algorithm efficiency is confirmed through simulation experiments.
Emotions That Constitute Daily Pleasure In Music And Pictures : Intensity And Modality Specific Features

Ideas, contentions, and life events are communicated ever increasingly through images, music, and audiovisual materials in various digital media, and are an extensive part of daily life. The online contents are constantly uploaded, downloaded, and shared in various platforms, raising the need to explore how such consumption of images and music are emotionally experienced. Both music and images hold power to evoke the perceivers’ emotions for the use of the information provider. Yet, we are able to say little about the emotional, social or cognitive impact because there is a lack of theoretical understanding of the mechanisms through which these behaviors impact our experience. This study approached the complex issue of an individual's emotional engagement by exploring the experience of pleasure induced by daily auditory and visual objects. The main objective was to specify which emotions contained within the daily stream of visual and auditory stimuli engage us by inducing pleasure. Modality-specificity was also explored by comparing the object types of music and visual images. Participants (n=109) were asked to choose either a visual object or a piece of music that produces pleasure in their daily life, and then answer questions about particular emotions evoked by the chosen object. The analysis consisted of descriptive and correlational statistics. The results indicate that while both object types hold great potential in providing pleasure, they may typically do so in combination with slightly different emotional contents.
Bacterial community structure and biogeochemical activity in an aquifer contaminated with pesticides

Our objective was to assess the effect of cocktails of pesticides on groundwater microbial abundance, community structure and their nitrate reducing activity. We used two complimentary approaches: a 2-year monitoring at a catchment level (Ariege alluvial plain, France) and microcosm with groundwater collected in 2 parts of the aquifer and then spiked with selected herbicides having a high occurrence in this aquifer, atrazine (ATZ), desethylated atrazine (DEA) and ATZ+DEA. Abundance of the universal marker (16S rRNA) and of nitrate-reducing bacteria (narG and napA) was assessed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Diversity was assessed using fingerprinting technic, CE-SSCP (Capillary Electrophoresis-Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism). Pesticides in water were analyzed by LC-MS/MS following an on line-solid phase extraction, and samples for anions and cations were analyzed by ion chromatography. Preliminary results of the microcosm experiment show that biodiversity was higher in water historically contaminated than in pristine-like water and remained higher under laboratory incubations with ATZ, DEA or ATZ+DEA concentrations. Pesticide concentrations in the water historically contaminated often exceeded the legal EU threshold for groundwater and drinking waters (2-year mean: 0.09 ± 0.01 µg ATZ /L, 0.43 ± 0.06 µg DEA /L (n = 23)). On the other side, during microcosm incubation, biodiversity decreased when spiked-ATZ, -DEA or -ATZ+DEA increased from 1 to 10 µg/L. The undergoing analyses of the two-year monitoring at the catchment level will enable to refine boudaries within this complex relationship between biodiversity and pesticide contamination. ATZ, DEA or ATZ+DEA exhibited similar effect on the microbial community. The nitrate reducing bacterial community strongly decreased during the microcosm experiment. In situ samples are expected to clarify the effect of pesticide contamination on bacterial nitrate reducing activity and the possible risk of nitrate acumulation and/or the possible risk of inhibition effect of nitrate on pesticide biodegradation. Biomass was similar in all conditions, suggesting that this is not a sensitive endpoint to assess water quality. This study has the potential to provide sound-based arguments to be considered when improving the current strategy to manage water quality as well as when proposing end point to monitor the microbial community in the biodiversity objective under the European water directive framework.
Creating an Architectural Virtual Environment for the Visually Challenged

New architectural settings pose a physical hazard for the visually challenged. This thesis describes a project to create a multi-modal virtual environment that allows the visually challenged to pre-visit a virtual duplicate of the site before going to the actual location. Using VRML as the modeling platform in conjunction with the scanning laser ophthalmoscope and the PHANToM, the resulting architectural virtual environment is tailored to the visually challenged by providing both visual and haptic feedback. Thesis Supervisor: Stephen A. Benton Title: Allen Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Director, MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies
The Integrated Relationship among Organizational Learning, TQM and Firm’s Business Performance: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The methodology of the organizational learning and total quality management (TQM) in the industry is becoming crucial, but there are few empirical studies to investigate the relationship between organizational learning and TQM on business performance in non-life insurance industry. The purpose of this paper is to understand the integrated relationship between organizational learning and TQM as two sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The paper proposes several hypotheses related to the relationship among organizational learning, TQM and business performance. A survey method is used to collect empirical data from non-life insurance companies in Taiwan. In this study, 414 effective questionnaires are analyzed and structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to verify the research framework and hypotheses. The empirical findings indicate that: (1) Organizational learning has significant and positive effects on TQM, (2) Both organizational learning and TQM have significant and positive effects on business performance, (3) TQM fosters business performance and play a mediating role between organizational learning and business performance. Therefore, the study demonstrates that the model can integrate organizational learning and TQM practices and enhance business excellence in financial service organizations, and also extend the prior research and contribute to the existing body of literature.
Field and Laboratory-based Approach for the Determination of Friction Angle of Geological Discontinuities of Malaysian Granites

The basic friction angle, ? b for artificially sawn discontinuity planes for fresh granite, as determined by tilt testing, has an average value of 30o. For the natural rough discontinuity surfaces, a wide range of values have been determined for the peak friction angle, ? peak ranging from 47o to a maximum value of 80o, depending on the joint roughness coefficient (JRC). The average values of the friction angles for the different degrees of roughness were as follows: JRC 2–4 = 58°; JRC 6–8 = 60°; JRC 8–10 = 47°; JRC 12–14 = 60°; JRC 14–16 = 71° ; JRC 18–20 = 80°.