Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A three-stage framework for clustering mixed data

: - A three-stage framework and a simple implemented algorithm for clustering mixed data are proposed. In the framework, the mixed dataset is divided into several subsets according to the different types of attributes, and each subset is clustered using according off-the-shelf algorithms, the results are combined as a new categorical dataset and then be clustered. The final result is the answer for clustering the original mixed dataset. The experimental results show that the proposed framework and the implemented algorithm can be used to cluster the mixed dataset efficiently and it is prior to the k-prototypes.
Relevant concepts of developing entrepreneurship competence in future specialists in physical education and sport

The article highlights that the increasing quality of goods and services in physical education depends on human resourcing and indicates the need to improve the quality of physical education and training of specialists for successful self-realization in the modern labour market. The author considers sports entrepreneurship to be a special kind of business, which is specified by relevant value orientations, knowledge and skills in certain activities in sports and commerce. Therefore, there appears to be a need not only for professional training of future athletes, physical education teachers and coaches as specialists but also as entrepreneurs. In this context, the article analyzes socioeconomic and legal education in order to develop entrepreneurship competence in the participants in the educational process. Thus, the conducted research proves the need to enhance professional training of future specialists in physical education and sport in higher education institutions. However, sports entrepreneurship is regarded as a special type of business, whose successful implementation requires the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills. The author believes that an entrepreneurial approach enables the integrity of forming entrepreneurship competence in future specialists in physical education and sport.
Saffire: Context-sensitive Function Specialization against Code Reuse Attacks

The sophistication and complexity of recent exploitation techniques, which rely on memory disclosure and whole-function reuse to bypass address space layout randomization and control flow integrity, is indicative of the effect that the combination of exploit mitigations has in challenging the construction of reliable exploits. In addition to software diversification and control flow enforcement, recent efforts have focused on the complementary approach of code and API specialization to restrict further the critical operations that an attacker can perform as part of a code reuse exploit. In this paper we propose Saffire, a compiler-level defense against code reuse attacks. For each calling context of a critical function, Saffire creates a specialized and hardened replica of the function with a restricted interface that can accommodate only that particular invocation. This is achieved by applying static argument binding, to eliminate arguments with static values and concretize them within the function body, and dynamic argument binding, which applies a narrow-scope form of data flow integrity to restrict the acceptable values of arguments that cannot be statically derived. We have implemented Saffire on top of LLVM, and applied it to a set of 11 applications, including Nginx, Firefox, and Chrome. The results of our experimental evaluation with a set of 17 real-world ROP exploits and three whole-function reuse exploits demonstrate the effectiveness of Saffire in preventing these attacks while incurring a negligible runtime overhead.
A TMA 4DT CD/CR causal model based in path shortening/path stretching techniques

— In the present paper a discrete event model for Conflict Detection and Conflict Resolution algorithm in a TMA 4D trajectory scenario in presented which focuses mainly on the arrival phase. This arises from the overcrowding of airspace near large airports and the need to more efficiently land and take off larger numbers of aircraft. Some attempts to alleviate airspace congestion such as the reduced vertical separation minima, negotiation of voluntary reductions in scheduled service, and the construction of additional runways at major airports, have been done, however, there is still a pending matter to be solved regarding how to improve available airspace capacity avoiding non efficient procedures such as the use of holding trajectories. A deep knowledge about all the events that take place in the management of 4DT and their interactions in a TMA is essential to remove non-effective operations, to avoid delay propagation between arrivals and optimize the occupancy of the runway. The causal model developed considers different alternative pre-defined turning points for each flight evaluating path shortening/path stretching of all trajectories upwards the merging point in a TMA.
Desenvolvimento inicial e repartição de biomassa de Amburana cearensis (Allemao) A.C. Smith, em diferentes condições de sombreamento

Amburana cearensis has a wide geographical distribution throughout the seasonal forests and transition zones forest/savanna (Cerrado) and forest/dry seasonal forests (Caatinga) in the North, Northeast and Central Brazil. It is under threat due to over exploitation of its valuable timber and the massive convertion of the forests into agricultural land. Little is known on the growth and biomass allocation of the seasonal forests species. The hypothesis is that those species show some degree of phenotipic plasticity due to the strong seasonal light gradient found under natural conditions, in addition to those variations usually found under the canopy. This study can contribute to a better understanding of the functioning of the seasonal forest ecosystems and also to the silviculture of this species. The objective of this work was to study the growth and biomass allocation of seedlings of A. cearensis under full sun and three shading levels, in nursery conditions. The shading levels averaged 0%, 50%, 70% and 90% of the full sunlight. The experimental design was randomized with 25 replicates per treatment. Height, stem base diameter, number of leaves and leaflets were monitored from four months till 16 months of age, and dry matter was analyzed at 19 months of age. Biomass accumulation was affected by the shading levels. The total biomass was higher under full sunlight (10,55g), followed by 50%, and 70% shading, while the lowest average was found under 90% (4,59g). Eighty percent of total biomass was found in the roots for the unshaded plants. This pattern of biomass partioning predominantly to roots occurred in all treatments. The initial development under nursery conditions indicates that this species could be introduced during the early stages of a program to reclaim degraded seasonal forests, as well as used in plantation trials.
Agricultural Wastes For Electricity Generation Using Microbial Fuel Cells

The voltage measurements for the onion-based cell showed an upward trend that reaches a peak of 1.01 volts on the last day. Moreover, the greatest current generation was observed in onion cells, in which the current gradually increases from 10.2 to 24.7 mA on the last day. On the other hand, in all substrates, pH ranged from 7.5 and 10, which indicates the slightly alkaline behavior of the solutions.
Supplementary Materials for: RetinaFace: Single-shot Multi-level Face Localisation in the Wild

300VW [4] aims at the evaluation of 2D facial landmark localisation and tracking under variations of pose, expression, illumination, background, occlusion, and image quality. The test set of 300VW includes three scenarios (Scenario 1: 31 videos, Scenario 2: 19 videos, and Scenario 3: 14 videos) with incremental difficulty. In Fig. 2, we show one frame of the whole 300VW dataset. The proposed RetinaFace can not only predict accurate 3D vertices but also estimate precise pose.
Speech Augmentation using Online Algorithms

— Speech Augmentation aims to improve speech quality by using various techniques and algorithms . Minimising the intervening noise in a speech signal is a challenging task for many years. Compared to traditional unsupervised speech enhancement methods, e.g., Wiener filtering supervised approaches, such as algorithms based on hidden Markov models (HMM), lead to higher-quality enhanced speech signals. However, the main practical difficulty of these approaches is that for each noise type a model is required to be trained a priori. In this paper, we investigate a new class of supervised speech de noising algorithms using nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF). We propose a novel speech enhancement method that is based on a Bayesian formulation of NMF BNMF). To circumvent the mismatch problem between the training and testing stages, we propose two solutions. Firstly, HMM is used in combination with BNMF (BNMF-HMM) to derive a minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimator or the speech signal with no information about the underlying noise type. Secondly,a scheme is suggested to learn the required noise BNMF model online, which is then used to develop an unsupervised speech enhancement system.Extensive experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed methods under different conditions.
Handbook of Venoms and Toxins of Reptiles

Field of Reptile Toxinology: Snakes, Lizards, and Their Venoms, S.P. Mackessy Recent Advances in Venomous Snake Systematics, A. Quijada-Mascarenas and W. Wuster Reptile Venom Glands: Form, Function, and Future, S.A. Weinstein, T.L. Smith, and K.V. Kardong Snake Venom Metalloproteinases, J.W. Fox and S.M. T. Serrano Snake Venom Metalloproteinases: Biological Roles and Participation in the Pathophysiology of Envenomation, J.M. Gutierrez, A. Rucavado, and T. Escalante Thrombin-like Snake Venom Serine Proteinases, D.J. Phillips, S.D. Swenson, and F.S. Markland, Jr. Snake Venom Nucleases, Nucleotidases, and Phosphomonoesterases, B.L. Dhananjaya, B.S. Vishwanath, and C.J.M. D'Souza Snake Venom Phospholipase A2 Enzymes, R. Doley, X. Zhou, and R.M. Kini Snake Venom Acetylcholinesterase, M. Ahmed, J.B. T. Rocha, V.M. Morsch, and M.R. C. Schetinger Snake Venom L-Amino Acid Oxidases, N. -H. Tan and S. -Y. Fung Hyaluronidases, a Neglected Class of Glycosidases from Snake Venom: Beyond a Spreading Factor, K. Kemparaju, K. S. Girish, and S. Nagaraju Enzyme Inhibitors in Reptile Venoms and Innate Immunity to Snake Venoms, A.G. da Costa Neves-Ferreira, R.H. Valente, J. Perales, and G.B. Domont Snake Venom Three-Finger Toxins, R.P. Hegde, N. Rajagopalan, R. Doley, and R.M. Kini Sarafotoxins, the Snake Venom Homologs of the Endothelins, A. Bdolah Fasciculins: Toxins from Mamba Venoms That Inhibit Acetylcholinesterase, A.L. Harvey Cysteine-rich Secretory Proteins in Reptile Venoms, W.H. Heyborne and S.P. Mackessy Snake Venomics and Disintegrins: Portrait and Evolution of a Family of Snake Venom Integrin Antagonists, J.J. Calvete, P. Juarez, and L. Sanz Reptile C-type Lectins, X. -Y. Du and K.J. Clemetson Snake Venom Nerve Growth Factors, M.F. Lavin, S. Earl, G. Birrell, L. St. Pierre, J. de Jersey, and P. Masci The Role of Purine and Pyrimidine Nucleosides in Snake Venoms, S.D. Aird Envenomation: Prevention and Treatment in Australia, J. White Snakebite in Africa: Current Situation and Urgent Needs, J.-P. Chippaux Envenomations by Reptiles in the United States, J. Smith and S. Bush Snakebite Envenomation in Central America, J.M. Gutierrez Index
CO2-induced seawater acidification affects physiological performance of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Abstract. CO2/pH perturbation experiments were carried out under two different pCO2 levels (39.3 and 101.3 Pa) to evaluate effects of CO2-induced ocean acidification on the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. After acclimation (>20 generations) to ambient and elevated CO2 conditions (with corresponding pH values of 8.15 and 7.80, respectively), growth and photosynthetic carbon fixation rates of high CO2 grown cells were enhanced by 5% and 12%, respectively, and dark respiration stimulated by 34% compared to cells grown at ambient CO2. The half saturation constant (Km) for carbon fixation (dissolved inorganic carbon, DIC) increased by 20% under the low pH and high CO2 condition, reflecting a decreased affinity for HCO3– or/and CO2 and down-regulated carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM). In the high CO2 grown cells, the electron transport rate from photosystem II (PSII) was photoinhibited to a greater extent at high levels of photosynthetically active radiation, while non-photochemical quenching was reduced compared to low CO2 grown cells. This was probably due to the down-regulation of CCM, which serves as a sink for excessive energy. The balance between these positive and negative effects on diatom productivity will be a key factor in determining the net effect of rising atmospheric CO2 on ocean primary production.
In vitro mutagenesis in Rosa hybrida using oryzalin as a mutagen and screening of mutants by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA ( RAPD ) marker

Apical and axillary meristems of Rosa hybrida Cv. First red were pretreated with various concentrations (0, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, 25.0 and 30.0 μM) of oryzalin (C12H18N4O6) to induce variation in vitro. The present results indicate that fifty percent survivability (LD50) was obtained in 20 μm oryzalin. Both the treated and untreated meristems were cultured in Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/l benzylaminopurine (BAP), 0.01 mg/l indole acetic acid (IAA), 25 mg/l adenine sulphate (Ads) and 20 μm oryzalin. The elongated shoots were rooted in the half strength MS basal medium supplemented with 0.25 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and about 60% rooted plants survived in the green house. A total of 28 mutants were obtained and evaluated by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers using control as untreated meristems. Out of the twenty-eight mutants, eight mutants, which deviate from the DNA banding pattern when compared with the control plants, were obtained. This result showed the efficiency of oryzalin to induce in vitro variability in hybrid rose and detect variation through molecular markers. This investigation will give a better understanding on the rose breeding program.
The use of population viability analysis to identify possible factors contributing to the decline of a rare ungulate population in south-eastern Zimbabwe

Populations that are vulnerable to decline are of particular concern to wildlife managers and uncovering the mechanisms responsible for downward trends is a crucial step towards developing future viable populations. The aims of this study were to better understand the mechanisms behind the historic decline of the sable antelope, Hippotragus niger , population at the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve (MWR), to assess its future viability and to use this analysis to determine key areas of breakdown in population growth and link these to potential limiting factors. VORTEX, a population viability model was used to assess the future viability of the sable antelope population and a sensitivity analysis was applied to identify the key areas of breakdown in growth. The sable population is currently viable, but remains highly vulnerable to changes in adult female survival, a factor which had the greatest influence on overall population fitness. Lion predation, impacting on the adult segment of the population, appeared to be the main factor responsible for the historic decline at the MWR. Conservation implications: Sable generally occur at low densities in the lowveld region of Zimbabwe and, as such, populations are vulnerable to increases in mortality rates. The role of lions in driving the decline at the MWR suggests a need to control their numbers and develop prey refuges through improved management of artificial water.
MULTISCALE, CROSS-SECTORAL SCENARIOS FOR NATURE FUTURES: THE POSITIVE VISIONS FOR BIODIVERSITY, ECOSYSTEM SERVICES, AND HUMAN WELL-BEING

1. The Executive Secretary is circulating herewith, for the information of participants in the twentyfirst meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice, a note on developing multiscale and cross-sectoral scenarios for Nature Futures. It describes a process for visioning new scenarios on biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human well-being, and provides a summary of progress made to date. The note has been prepared by the Expert Group on Scenarios and Modelling of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services led by Co-Chairs Dr Carolyn Lundquist (NIWA, New Zealand) and Prof. Henrique Pereira (iDiv) with inputs from Isabel M.D. Rosa and HyeJin Kim (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)), the Technical Support Unit based at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and the IPBES Secretariat.
Identification and characterization of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from Fragaria x ananassa expressed sequences.

The availability of expressed sequence data derived from gene discovery programmes enables mining for simple sequence repeats (SSRs), providing useful genetic markers for crop improvement. These markers are inexpensive, require minimal labour to produce and can frequently be associated with functionally annotated genes. This study reports on the development and characterization of expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSR markers in the cultivated strawberry, Fragaria x ananassa. Fourteen primer pairs were assessed for polymorphism in 13 F. x ananassa genotypes. The markers show reliable amplification and considerable polymorphism, demonstrating the utility of EST-SSRs for genetic analysis of commercial strawberry germplasm.
Evaluation of QoS Provisioning over Software Defined Network using Segment Routing

Provisioning quality of service (QoS) is a big deal to deliver different applications over the current internet. With the advancements of using multimedia applications, the necessity of Quality of Service (QoS) is increasing rapidly. As real-time applications increase, Software Defined Network (SDN) has emerged as a well-established paradigm for next generations networks. By utilizing the characteristics of SDN, this paper proposes QoS provisioning based segment routing (SR) over SDN framework to find the feasible path according to the QoS requirements. This QoS provisioning architecture includes monitoring of link states among switches and providing of flow’s QoS requirements. This QoS provisioning is the use of the available bandwidth to react to the network traffic. The routing algorithm solves the problem of inefficient bandwidth. If there is no available bandwidth path, the controller will be decided depending on the flows by using the proposed algorithm. Simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of QoS provisioning using OpenFlow/ONOS controller over SDN environment.
Introduction to the Symposium: What is Evolutionary Physiology?

Organisms in natural populations possess a number of physiological and morphological traits that appear to increase fitness in the natural environment. For example, with regard to cold tolerance these include long fur in Arctic mammals, subcutaneous fat in marine mammals, glycoprotein antifreezes in Antarctic fishes, and the capacity to hibernate in rodents subjected to long winters. Physiological ecologists have long been concerned with elucidating such characters and demonstrating their significance for the survival of organisms in the natural environments (Schmidt-Nielsen, 1990; Bartholomew, 1987). It is assumed that the presence of these traits in extant populations is the result of evolution of the traits in question. It is axiomatic that the adaptive traits evolved under selective pressures favoring organisms that are more fit in the corresponding environment. Considerable insight has been gained over the past two centuries regarding patterns of morphological evolution (Lauder, 1996). Morphological traits are often easily quantified and, if properly chosen, they are accessible in ancestral and extinct species in the form of preserved specimens and fossils. Even with these advantages, the picture emerging from the study of evolution of morphological traits is complex. The importance of genetic pleiotropies and phylogenetic constraints in contorting straightforward evolutionary "progress" is becoming clear. These present significant challenges to ecologists and evolutionary biologists in their attempts to understand the evolution of life history traits (Rose and Lauder, 1996).
The role of COMT and plasma proline in the variable penetrance of social deficits in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The Role of COMT and plasma proline in the variable penetrance of social deficits in 22q11.2 Abstract This paper examines how COMT 158 genotypes and plasma proline levels are associated with variable penetrance of social behavioral and cognitive problems in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). Quality of social functioning of 45 participants with 22q11DS (27 females) with a mean age of 13.3 (SD =2.7, range 9-18.5) was assessed using the Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised. Quality of face and facial emotion processing was evaluated to examine social cognitive problems. Associations with COMT 158 genotypes and proline levels were examined. High proline levels and poor face recognition in individuals with the COMT MET allele, together with poor facial emotion recognition, explained almost 50% of the variance in severity of autism symptomatology in individuals with 22q11DS. High proline levels and a decreased capacity to break down dopamine as a result of the COMT MET variant are both relevant in the expression of the social phenotype in patients with 22q11DS. This epistatic interaction effect between the COMT 158 genotype and proline on the expression of social deficits in 22q11DS demonstrates how factors other than the direct effects of the deletion itself can modulate the penetrance of associated cognitive and behavioral outcomes. The findings of this study are not only relevant to our insight into 22q11DS, but also provide a model to better understand the phenomenon of variable penetrance in other pathogenic genetic variants.
TGF-β1 Accelerates Wound Healing: Reversal of Steroid-Impaired Healing in Rats and Rabbits

AbstractTGF-β modulates events of normal wound healing through multiple pathways that influence cell infiltration, proliferation, angiogenesis, extracellular matrix synthesis and remodeling. The effects of topically applied TGF-β1 on wound healing in two models of healing were evaluated when the healing response was impaired by the administration of methylprednisolone to rats or rabbits. TGF-β1 increased the healing of linear incision wounds on rats, as measured by breaking strength, to that of normal rats. Full thickness open wounds were also created on the inner ears of rabbits to simulate a non-contracting wound with limited blood supply. Healing was further impaired by the administration of methylprednisolone. The single application of TGF-β1 improved the healing of open wounds. TGF-β1 stimulated increased granulation tissue formation, as well as reepithelialization. The amount of granulation tissue and epithelialization were similar to wounds from normal-healing control rabbits. The delayed healing c.