Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antidepressants and Morphological Plasticity of Monoamine Neurons

In the 1950s, the monoamines 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) (Woolley & Shaw, 1954), noradrenaline (NA) (Vogt, 1954), and dopamine (DA) (Carlsson, 1958) were identified in the brain. After this discovery, it was identified that the tricyclic compound imipramine and the antituberculosis drug iproniazid were effective in the treatment of clinical depression, and that these drugs can increase the extracellular concentration of monoamines by inhibiting the re-uptake of 5-HT and NA and by blocking monoamine oxidase (MAO) respectively. These findings have led to the catecholamine hypothesis of depression (Schildkraut, 1965), followed by the monoamine hypothesis (Coppen, 1967), which propose that depression is caused by deficiencies within the central catecholaminergic or monoaminergic systems respectively. At present, it is understood that all antidepressants increase monoamine levels in the brain. Other evidence supporting the monoamine hypothesis has also been put forward: reserpine, which depletes monoamines in the synaptic cleft, caused depressive symptoms in some patients taking it for the treatment of hypertension. 5-HIAA, the primary metabolite of 5-HT, was seen as reduced in the cerebrospinal fluid of clinically depressed patients. All these findings suggest that monoamine concentrations in the brain are reduced in depressive patients.
The Fifthnet Chroma Extractor

Deep Learning (DL) is commonly used in music processing tasks such as Automatic Chord Recognition (ACR), for which Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are popular tools. Compression of CNNs has become a research topic of interest, focused on post-pruning of learnt networks and development of less expensive network elements. CNNs assemble high level structure in data from small simple patterns. Music signals are often processed in the spectral domain where much known structure is present. We propose the FifthNet, a neural network for chroma-based ACR that incorporates known spectral structures in its design through data manipulation. We find that FifthNet is competitive with popular ACR networks while using only a small fraction of their network parameters
Application of Landsat 8 OLI for monitoring the coastal waters of the US Virgin Islands

ABSTRACT Previous studies in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) have shown that land-based sources of pollution associated with watershed development coupled with climate is causing coral reef degradation. A good indicator that can be used to assess stress on these environments is the water quality. Conventional assessment methods based on in-situ measurements are timely and costly. Satellite remote sensing techniques offer better spatial coverage and temporal resolution to accurately characterize the dynamic nature of Water Quality Parameters (WQPs, chlorophyll-a), total suspended sediments (TSM), and coloured-dissolved organic matter). However, the interference of multiple optically active WQPs that characterize the water column as well as reflectance from the bottom substrates poses a challenge especially in shallow coastal environments such as the USVI. The optical properties of USVI waters are a function of multiple WQPs with chlorophyll-a values ranging from 0.10 to 2.35 μg L−1 and TSM values from 8.97 to 15.7 mg L−1. In this study, field data were combined with NASA’s Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor data to specifically model chlorophyll-a variability in the USVI waters based on spectral indices approach. Landsat OLI spectral-based model produced promising results for characterizing the variability of chlorophyll-a in the USVI (coefficient of determination (R 2) = 0.70; root-mean-square error (RMSE) = 0.042 μg L−1). Model developed in this study will significantly improve near-real time and long-term water quality monitoring in USVI and this will potentially help to provide insight to factors contributing to coral reef decline.
Proximal Distance Algorithm for Nonconvex QCQP with Beamforming Applications

This paper studies nonconvex quadratically constrained quadratic program (QCQP), which is known to be NP-hard in general. In the past decades, various approximate approaches have been developed to tackle the QCQP, including semidefinite relaxation (SDR), successive convex approximation (SCA), the variable splitting approach, to name a few. While these approaches are effective under some circumstances, they have to either lift the variable dimension or require a feasible starting point, thereby not suitable for the large-scale QC-QP or lack of a feasible starting point. In light of this, this work aims at developing an efficient approach to the QCQP without the above mentioned drawbacks. The crux of our approach is the proximal distance algorithm (PDA), which merges the idea of the penalty method and majorization minimization (MM) to provide an efficient (closed-form) iterative algorithm. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the PDA, we test it on the multicast beamforming applications in wireless communications. Simulation results show that the PDA outperforms state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of delivering a better solution with much less running time.
Entrepreneurship: Push and Pull Factors towards Youth Involvement in Radicalization Activities in Mombasa County – Kenya

It focused on the push and pull factors that motivate youth towards involvement in radicalization activities in Mombasa County – Kenya, especially the pull factors of entrepreneurship. Radicalization is a global phenomenon and a growing social problem in many different communities. The overall objective has established the state of radicalization interventions being undertaken in the County with the aim of enabling policy environment to effectively plan and execute youth radicalization related programs that can lead to adaptation and mitigation measures at both the National government, County government, and Civil Society organization levels. We hope the study will strengthen both levels of government and institutional capacities to effectively respond to the challenge of youth radicalization and enhancing target communities' capacity mechanisms and options in the reduction of radicalization levels. The study was undertaken in the six constituencies with representation from all the wards that make up Mombasa County.
Cyber-physical security for on-going smart grid initiatives: a survey

The smart grid is an upgraded concept of electricity network with tight coupling among information, control, and bi-directional communication technologies. Along with the silent features of the on-going smart grid, cyber–physical security appears to be a deep concern due to its significant dependence on sensing technologies, complex networks of computers, intelligence, and wide-area communication infrastructures. Moreover, the smart grid is an extensive critical infrastructure and vulnerable to coordinated cyber–physical attacks. As a result, cyber–physical attacks cause significant threats to the confidentiality and integrity of the power data, including power outages, cascading failures, and unnecessary expenditure. In this study, security issues of smart grid, including cyber–physical interdependency, attack varieties, detection methods, requirements, standards, challenges, and future prospects, are taken into consideration for both cyber and physical systems, aiming to provide an extensive understanding of vulnerabilities and solutions for the smart power grid. By revealing the inherent features of cyber–physical security in the smart grid, this survey study is addressed to facilitate future research in these two areas.
A Novel Framework of Real-Time Regional Collision Risk Prediction Based on the RNN Approach

Regional collision risk identification and prediction is important for traffic surveillance in maritime transportation. This study proposes a framework of real-time prediction for regional collision risk by combining Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) technique, Shapley value method and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). Firstly, the DBSCAN technique is applied to cluster vessels in specific sea area. Then the regional collision risk is quantified by calculating the contribution of each vessel and each cluster with Shapley value method. Afterwards, the optimized RNN method is employed to predict the regional collision risk of specific seas in short time. As a result, the framework is able to determine and forecast the regional collision risk precisely. At last, a case study is carried out with actual Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, the results show that the proposed framework is an effective tool for regional collision risk identification and prediction.
Genetic diversity of a marine foundation species, Laminaria hyperborea (Gunnerus) Foslie, along the coast of Ireland

ABSTRACT Worldwide, kelp populations are stressed by warming, increased storms and other anthropogenic disturbances. Marine population distributions are projected to retreat poleward with climate change if they cannot adapt to changing conditions, which would potentially lead to a regime shift in subtidal habitats. In Northern Europe, Laminaria hyperborea is a subtidal ecosystem engineer whose distribution has shifted over millennia, leaving predicted areas of high genetic diversity from the last glacial maximum (LGM) near its southern distribution limit in the Iberian Peninsula. In Ireland, L. hyperborea structures communities by supporting diverse faunal assemblages and producing large quantities of organic carbon throughout the year. We investigated the genetic diversity of eight populations, ranging from the southern coast to the north-west of Ireland, using nine microsatellite loci. Diversity was found to be highest in Lough Hyne, a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), near the predicted climate refugium. We found evidence of isolation by distance, with high connectivity between populations that were geographically close, probably driven by short range dispersal of L. hyperborea propagules. Genetic diversity (measured as expected heterozygosity and allelic richness) was highest at Lough Hyne, and decreased northwards, as predicted from past range shifts. Expected heterozygosity was highest at Lough Hyne (0.706) and decreased northward, with the lowest value at Bridges of Ross (0.283). Based on these patterns, further fine-scale investigation into population diversity, dispersal and potential resilience in Irish kelp forests are necessary as warming and non-native species are observed more and more frequently.
Assessing the Correlation between Parental Incarceration and Relational Aggression: Factor Structure of the Diverse Adolescent Relational Aggression Scale (DARAS)

ABSTRACT This study details the development of the Diverse Adolescent Relational Aggression Scale (DARAS), to examine the association between parental incarceration and relational aggression in a high school population. The sample was comprised of predominantly African American high school students (N = 191) between 14–18 years of age from a North Texas school district. Data were collected through survey completion: a demographics survey, the DARAS, the Index of Family Relations, and a relational aggression subscale. Exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis, and reliability tests were conducted. The results indicate average validity and reliability for the DARAS with this diverse sample. Although no association was found between relational aggression and parental incarceration, there was an association found between parental arrest and parental aggression. Overall, the findings provided support for the DARAS when studying this population. The use of this measure by student service personnel to assess relational aggression was discussed, along with implications for practice and continued research.
The Personal Potential of School Teachers: Primary, Basic and Secondary Education

In the article, personal potential is considered as creativity and productivity in accordance with the ideas of R. B. Kettell. The authors review the existing ideas of personal potential, and its structure. According to the authors, creativity and productivity are one of the essential indicators of personal potential. The article presents an empirical study of the personal potential of teachers of primary, basic and secondary levels of education. The study was carried out using R. B. Kettll’s technique modified by L.N. Sobchik, and method of Personal Orientation Inventory (E. Shostrom), adapted and standardized by N.F. Kalina for Russia. The dynamics of the development of personal potential of teachers at different levels of education is shown. The use of correlation analysis made it possible to identify self-actualization factors associated with high, medium, and low levels of personal potential development.
Determinants of Audit Sanctions Severity

This study investigates the effects of material weaknesses from auditing standards and of material misstatement from accounting standards on the audit sanctions severity. Using a unique database in the period 1983 – 2015, we find mixed results. Among the auditing standards, Internal Control Weaknesses lead to more severe audit sanctions than Quality Control, Other Auditors, Reporting and Audit Opinion Material Weaknesses Audit Sanctions, and to less severe audit sanctions than Professional Skepticism and Substantial Procedures. Among accounting standards, Fair Value misstatements are associated with more severe audit sanctions than Long-term investment, bank debts, and liquidity errors, and with lower severity of audit sanctions than Account receivables. Taken together, these findings suggest two main determinants of audit sanctions severity that auditors and accountants need to be aware: the area of internal control deficiencies and the area of fair value measurement. From these results, we learn that accounting and auditing standards errors have different likelihood of audit sanctions, and that auditors that aim to avoid sanctions need to invest mainly in the internal control assurance and in the fair value items of the financial reporting.
Seleção de planta hospedeira por Heliconius erato phyllis (Fabricius, 1775) (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiini), no SE do Brasil : uso, preferencia e desempenho larval

Uma comunidade de Heliconiini foi estudada no Parque Ecologico do Morro do Voturua, no municipio de Sao Vicente, SP. Cinco especies de plantas potencialmente hospedeiras (passifloras) estao disponiveis para a borboleta He/iconius erato phyllis. A relacao Heliconiini-Passiflora, sobretudo defesas quimicas, somadas a fatores ecologicos, geneticos, comportamentais, sazonais e fenologicos parecem governar a preferencia desta borboleta sobre suas hospedeiras. Observacoes de campo e testes em condicoes seminaturais compararam os padroes de uso (no campo) e preferencia (em insetario) das femeas, podendo envolver. atracao quimica. O desempenho larval sobre as passifloras, enfocou possiveis influencias destas plantas sobre o desenvolvimento da larva. O uso das hospedeiras no campo parece estar correlacionado com suas respectivas disponibilidades de acordo com a estacao do ano. Nos testes em cativeiro, ocorre uma tendencia de generalizacao na escolha das plantas a medida que se aproxima a primavera e uma rapida recuperacao da preferencia por Passiflora capsularis durante os meses de verao e outono. Os testes de desempenho larval apontaram uma coerencia entre a planta mais usada com um bom desempenho larval. Passiflora capsularis e P. edulis dividem os resultados de melhor desempenho apesar da segunda ser escassa no campo e pouco utilizada. Passiflora jileki, a mais abundante no campo, apresenta o segundo maior percentual de uso, provavelmente devido a sua grande disponibilidade, mas o desempenho das larvas sobre ela e inferior as duas primeiras. O balanco entre seus percentuais de emersao (baixas) e o numero. de P. jileki parece compensar seu uso no campo. Passiflora a/ata apresentou-se toxica para as larvas e poucas plantas foram usadas no campo e no cativeiro. Passiflora amethystina nao foi usada por nenhuma femea tanto no campo como no cativeiro e, portanto nao se apresentou como uma hospedeira potencial. Os periodos sazonais e a interacao destes com as especies de hospedeiras, tiveram grande influencia sobre o desempenho larval Abstract
Impact of Programming Exposure on the Development of Computational Thinking Capabilities: An Empirical Study

Today’s digital society has turned the development of students’ computational thinking capabilities into a critical factor for their future success. As higher education institutions, we need to take responsibility for this development in every degree course we offer, and provide students with the kind of subjects and activities that best contribute to this aim. In this paper, we study the impact of following an introductory programming course on the development of the computational thinking capabilities of university students. In order to achieve this aim, a concurrent cohort observational study was carried out in which we measured both the subjective and objective computational thinking capabilities of 104 participants (50 first year students enrolled on a Bachelor’s degree course in Psychology at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), and 54 first year students enrolled on a Bachelor’s degree course in Health Information Systems at the University of Alicante (UA)). The statistical procedures applied to test our hypotheses were a two-way mixed ANOVA, a paired-sample T-test and an independent-sample T-test. The data shows that the group at UA had an initial higher subjective perception of their computational capabilities than the group at UCAM. This perception was supported by their objective scores, which were also significantly higher. However, the subjective assessment of computational capability of the UA group diminished after exposure to the programming course, contrasting with the fact that their objective computational capabilities improved significantly. In the UCAM group, both subjective and objective capabilities remained constant over time. Based on these results, we can conclude that computational thinking capabilities are not developed naturally, but need to be trained. Providing such training to all our students, and not only to those enrolled on undergraduate degrees in engineering, is of paramount importance to allow them to face the challenges of their future professions. This paper empirically demonstrates the extent to which exposing subjects to a programming course may contribute to this aim.
GIS‐based niche models identify environmental correlates sustaining a contact zone between three species of European vipers

The current range of European vipers is mostly parapatric but local‐scale allopatric distribution is common and few cases of sympatry are known. In the High Course of Ebro River, northern Spain, there is a contact zone between Vipera aspis, V. latastei, and V. seoanei. Sympatry was detected between aspis and latastei and also specimens with intermediate morphological traits. Presence‐data at a local scale (1 × 1 km) and ecological niche‐based models manipulated in a GIS were used to (1) identify how environmental factors correlate with the distribution of the three vipers and with the location of the sympatry area, and (2) identify potential areas for viper occurrence and sympatry. Ensemble for casting with 10 Maximum Entropy models identified a mixture of topographical (altitude, slope), climatic (precipitation, evapotranspiration, and minimum and maximum temperature), and habitat factors (land cover) as predictors for viper occurrence. Similar predicted probabilities according to the variation of some environmental factors (indicating probable sympatry) were observed only for aspis‐latastei and aspis‐seoanei. In fact, areas of probable occurrence of vipers were generally allopatric but probable sympatry between vipers was identified for aspis‐latastei in 76 UTM 1 × 1 km squares, for aspis‐seoanei in 23 squares, and latastei‐seoanei in two squares. Environmental factors correlate with the location of this contact zone by shaping the species range: some enhance spatial exclusion and constrain distribution to spatially non‐overlapping ranges, while others allow contact between species. The distribution in the contact zone apparently results from the balance between the pressures exerted by the different environmental factors and in the sympatry area probably by interspecific competition. Further ecological and genetical data are needed to evaluate the dynamics of the probable hybrid zone. GIS and niche‐modelling tools proved to be powerful tools to identify environmental factors sustaining the location of contact zones.
Weekly Variations in Phytoplankton Structure of a Harbour in Mersin Bay (north-eastern Mediterranean)

13 Abstract: Weekly variations in the phytoplankton composition of a harbour in Mersin Bay were studied with two methods: filtration for the assessment of >55 μm phytoplankton from July 1995 to June 1997; and sedimentation for the assessment of all phytoplankton (both>55 μm and <55 μm) between 15 February and 25 May in 1996. With both sampling methods, a total of 175 phytoplankton species were identified. In the filtered samples, the total diatom abundance was much higher than that of dinoflagellates. The highest diatom abundance was detected on 8 February 1996 (11.7x10 cells 1) and 19 June 1997 (11.1x10 cells 1), represent mainly by the species Asterionella japonica Cleve and Rhizosolenia alata Brightwell respectively. The highest dinoflagellate abundance (737 cell 1) in the filtered samples occurred on 4 April 1996. However, on the following day a dinoflagellate (Prorocentrum micans Ehrenberg) bloom was found in great numbers (90.9x10 cells 1) in the sedimented samples. When this number was compared with the P. micans abundance of the previous day (3.1x10 cell 1) in the sedimented samples, the growth rate of this species was calculated as ~3.37 day. In this study, two techniques of phytoplanton analysis (sedimentation and filtration through a 55 μm mesh) were compared, the advantages and disadvantages of both methods wete assessed, and it was concluded that both techniques should be applied during the process of phytoplankton enumeration. The contribution of small forms, mostly coccolithophorids and small flagellates (<20 μm), to the total phytoplankton abundance was found to be 37±21%.
Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium pseudograminearum caused the 2010 head blight epidemics in Australia

Wheat crops in southeast Queensland (Qld) and northern New South Wales (NSW) were infected with fusarium head blight (FHB)-like symptoms during the 201011 wheat growing season. Wheat crops in this region were surveyed at soft dough or early maturity stage to determine the distribution, severity, aetiology and toxigenicity of FHB. FHB was widespread on bread wheat and durum, and Fusarium graminearum and/or F.pseudograminearum were diagnosed from 42 of the 44 sites using species-specific PCR primers directly on spikelets or from monoconidial cultures obtained from spikelets. Stem base browning due to crown rot (CR) was also evident in some samples from both states. The overall FHB and CR severity was higher for NSW than Qld. Deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration of immature grains was more than 1 mg kg-1 in samples from 11 Qld and 14 NSW sites, but only 13 of 498 mature grain samples sourced from the affected areas had more than 1 mg kg-1 DON. DON concentration in straw also exceeded 1 mg kg-1 in eight Qld and all but one NSW sites but this was not linked to DON concentration of immature grains. The proportion of spikelets with positive diagnosis for F.graminearum and/or F.pseudograminearum and weather-related factors influenced DON levels in immature grains. The average monthly rainfall for AugustNovember during crop anthesis and maturation exceeded the long-term monthly average by 10150%. Weather played a critical role in FHB epidemics for Qld sites but this was not apparent for the NSW sites, as weather was generally favourable at all sites.