Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic behaviour of photosynthesis-irradiance curves determined from oxygen production during variable incubation periods

Production and consumption of oxygen were analysed in phytoplankton populations using a fast biomass-concentration technique. The variation of productivity with irradiance was studied using different incubation penods, from minutes to hours The influence of the exposure time on the photosynthesis-irradiance ( P / I ) curve parameters was analysed. The results show that dissolved oxygen concentration in the water does not increase linearly with time and that PE,, (maximum biomassspecific production rate and I,,,, (optimal light intensity) are time-dependent. Exponential and linear expressions were proposed to describe P:,, and I,,, as a function of time. A model was built to investigate the importance of static (steady-state) vs dynamic (time-dependent) simulation in the prediction of phytoplankton production under different light intensities. The results show the importance of using dynamic expressions for the P/Irelationship, especially in a mixed water column.
Mechanistic effects of low-flow hydrology on riverine ecosystems: ecological principles and consequences of alteration

Abstract. Alterations to the natural flow regime affect the structure and function of rivers and wetlands and contribute to loss of biodiversity worldwide. Although the effects of flow regulation have been relatively well studied, a lack of synthesis of the ecological consequences of low flows and droughts impedes research progress and our grasp of the mechanistic effects of human-induced water reductions on riverine ecosystems. We identified 6 ecologically relevant hydrological attributes of low flow (antecedent conditions, duration, magnitude, timing and seasonality, rate of change, and frequency) that act within the temporal hierarchy of the flow regime and a spatial context. We synthesized the literature to propose 4 principles that outline the mechanistic links between these low-flow attributes and the processes and patterns within riverine ecosystems. First, low flows control the extent of physical aquatic habitat, thereby affecting the composition of biota, trophic structure, and carrying capacity. Second, low flows mediate changes in habitat conditions and water quality, which in turn, drive patterns of distribution and recruitment of biota. Third, low flows affect sources and exchange of material and energy in riverine ecosystems, thereby affecting ecosystem production and biotic composition. Last, low flows restrict connectivity and diversity of habitat, thereby increasing the importance of refugia and driving multiscale patterns in biotic diversity. These principles do not operate in isolation, and many of the ecological pathways that are affected by low flows are likely to overlap or occur simultaneously, potentially resulting in synergistic and complex effects. Last, we outlined major human-induced threats to low-flow hydrology and how they act upon the ecologically relevant hydrological attributes of low flow to affect potential changes in riverine ecosystem integrity. The mechanistic links described in this synthesis can be used to develop and test hypotheses of low-flow hydrological–ecological response relationships in a cause–effect framework that will have value for both research and river flow management. Continued experimental research and ongoing consolidation of ecological information will improve our understanding and ability to predict consequences of low-flow alteration on river, floodplain, and estuarine ecosystems.
The Combined Effect of Salary Restrictions and Revenue Sharing in Sports Leagues

Many major sports leagues are characterized by a combination of cross-subsidization mechanisms like revenue-sharing arrangements and payroll restrictions. Up to now, the effects of these policy tools have only been analyzed separately. This article provides a theoretical model of a team sports league and analyzes the combined effect of salary restrictions (caps and floors) and revenue sharing. It shows that the effect on club profits, player salaries, and competitive balance crucially depends on the mix of these policy tools. Moreover, the invariance proposition does not hold even under Walrasian-conjectures if revenue sharing is combined with a salary cap or floor.
Evaluating Potential Climate Change Impacts on Water Resource Systems Operations: Case Studies of Portland, Oregon and Central Valley, California

Since its initial report in 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has consistently noted that climate is changing (IPCC, 1990; 1996; 2001). These reports, the studies upon which they are based, and other studies indicate that water resources are particularly susceptible to the impacts of climate change (Frederick and Major, 1997; Gleick et al., 2000). The most significant impacts of climate change on U.S. water resources are expected to occur in the midlatitudes of the West, where the runoff cycle is largely determined by snow accumulation and melt patterns (Cohen et al., 2000). It is well documented that the effects of warmer climates on the seasonality of runoff in these regions will likely shift a portion of spring and summer melt runoff earlier in the year (Smith and Tirpac, 1989; Piechota and Dracup, 1996; Piechota and Dracup, 1997; Lettenmaier et al., 1999; IPCC, 2001). Despite the high degree of regulation in many western U.S. water supply systems, the impact of these shifts on runoff seasonality is generally negative. This is due to the significant water storage in snowpack that, under normal climates, is relied upon to augement low streamflows during relatively dry summers (Hamlet and Lettenmaier, 1999; VanRheenen et al., in review).
Understanding Otoacoustic Emissions Generation

The primary function of the ear is to convert acoustic stimuli to neural signals. The pressure from sound waves reaches the ear and is transformed into mechanical energy. This is done by forcing the vibration of stereocilliary bundles in the inner ear, or cochlea. This mechanical energy is then transformed into electrical energy and neural impulses to be sent to the brain [1]. Surprisingly, the cochlea is also capable of producing and emitting sound. These sounds are known as otoacoustic emissions (OAEs). They can be spontaneous or evoked by an external stimulus. The generation mechanisms of these OAEs is unclear, but one hypothesis is that they originate from the outer hair cells located in the cochlea [2]. The distortion product emissions (DPOAEs) are one form of evoked OAEs. For this type of emission, the inner ear is stimulated by two tones at frequencies f1 and f2. A spectral analysis can be performed on the resultant sound wave revealing the DPOAE. The resultant distortion products are predictable. They are dependent on one or both of the input signals. The goal of this research is to investigate whether the behavior of the otoacoustic emissions for the non-monotonic growth functions can be explained as the result of a single source mechanism or if more mechanisms are necessary.
Peer-to-Peer Approach for Eduroam

Nowadays, the use of mobile devices is increased in academic world. Almost all mobile devices have wireless connectivity facility to easily get access to network everywhere. The eduroam is a secure worldwide wireless network which allows users to access the Internet with their own credentials at visiting institution during roaming. The eduroam is based on hierarchical structured RADIUS proxy servers. However, the RADIUS based tree structured approach of eduroam has some scope for improvements. Existing RADIUS based tree structure of edoroam is not self configurable; Joining/leaving of node is not automatically handled by existing approach and an authentication process takes high communication delay. In this paper, we propose peer-to-peer approaches for eduroam in two types: flat layer model with domain mapping table and DHT(Distributed Hash Table) based model, in order to improve the scalability of eduroam with self configurable feature and reduce authentication delay.
Effects of Whole Body Vibration on Muscle Strength and Quality of Life in Health Elderly: A Meta-Analysis

Introduction: The literature presents different findings about the vibration training efficacy on muscle performance, even using protocols with similar parameters. Objective: The purpose of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of whole body vibration (WBV) on strength and quality of life in health elderly people, presenting a meta-analisys. Methods: PubMed, CINAHL, SciELO, LILACS and PEDro databases were systematically searched for studies that used WBV in healthy elderly. These searches were supplemented with material identified in references and a qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed to summarize the findings. The search was performed by two independent researchers with a third was selected to solve problems of search disagreement, data collection, and quality score. Results: Nine studies with strength outcome and two studies with quality of life outcome were identified, with sample ranging 21 to 220 elderly, all studies had control groups performing exercises or guidelines. Some studies have shown significant improvements in muscle strength, muscle power, vertical jump height, timed get up and go test and quality of life. Conclusion: The meta-analysis of the findings in these studies shows that WBV could benefit health elderly, increasing muscle strength and improving the quality of life mainly in functional capacity. The number of publications found in the databanks searched is small, with limitations in design of protocols with a weakness to the interpretation of the findings, suggesting the need of investigation with WBV with well-designed protocols and controlled parameters into the effects of WBV training in elderly people.
Research on Inverse Kinematics Program Optimization of 6R Decoupled Robot

: According to complex analytic formula for the six degrees of freedom decoupled robot, a detailed analysis of the six degrees of freedom decoupled robot analytic formula of export process, as well the causes of multiple solutions. The method of increasing the local variables to avoid processor running the same statement repeatedly is proposed. The method to find the most frequency formula appeared in analytic solution replaced with local variables facilitate the use of loop to reduce the amount of code. It effectively reduces the computation time, optimize the computing process. Finally, taking PUMA560-like robot as an example, the calculation result is verified and simulated in Robotics Toolbox of MATLAB. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.
Adaptive Simulation of Monitoring Behavior : The Adaptive Information Expectancy Model

Human attention is a fundamental but limited resource. Especially when performing safety critical tasks a suitable distribution of attention is essential for safe operation. E.g., changes in task relevant information have to be recognized in time in order to react adequately. This paper presents the Adaptive Information Expectancy (AIE) model, which simulates the scheduling of attention within cognitive architectures. It can be used for model-based evaluations of interactive human-machine systems. Results of a first evaluation study are shown based on a simple laboratory monitoring task. An overview on the AIE model is given and it is shown how it was integrated in the Cognitive Architecture for Safety Critical Task Simulation (CASCaS). A formal model for the laboratory task was developed and then simulated using CASCaS. Several aspects of the AIE model are evaluated on the basis of the simulations of this agent in two main steps. The first step of the evaluation compares the agent behavior with results from the studies conducted by Senders. In this step two alternative AIE model variants are compared to participants’ behavior. The second evaluation step explores parameter sensitivity and the convergence behavior of the model. Keywords-Event expectancy; cognitive model; attention allocation; monitoring behavior;
Thallium Uptake and Translocation in Barley and Sunflower Grown in Hydroponic Conditions

Thallium (Tl) is highly toxic to humans compared with other heavy metals and metalloids, but the risk of its bioaccumulation has not been adequately considered. Thus, Tl uptake and translocation in barley and sunflower under hydroponics with the applications of diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) and citric acid were investigated. Thallium concentrations in roots of both the plants were higher than those in the shoots. Translocation index (TLI) of Tl in barley decreased from 14.9 to 10.0% with increasing Tl treatments in barley, but it increased from 5.9 to 7.5% in sunflower. The concentration of Tl in the barley tissues increased with DTPA applications, but it decreased with citric acid treatments. In contrast, Tl in the sunflower tissues decreased with DTPA treatments, while it increased with the applications of citric acid. However, Tl concentrations in the tissues of both plants were not significantly different between the two concentrations (5.0 and 30 mg/kg) of DTPA and citric acid applications.
Heuristic Authorship Obfuscation

Authorship verification is the task of determining whether two texts were written by the same author. We deal with the adversary task, called authorship obfuscation: preventing verification by altering a to-be-obfuscated text. Our new obfuscation approach (1) models writing style difference as the Jensen-Shannon distance between the character n-gram distributions of texts, and (2) manipulates an author’s subconsciously encoded writing style in a sophisticated manner using heuristic search. To obfuscate, we analyze the huge space of textual variants for a paraphrased version of the to-be-obfuscated text that has a sufficient Jensen-Shannon distance at minimal costs in terms of text quality. We analyze, quantify, and illustrate the rationale of this approach, define paraphrasing operators, derive obfuscation thresholds, and develop an effective obfuscation framework. Our authorship obfuscation approach defeats state-of-the-art verification approaches, including unmasking and compression models, while keeping text changes at a minimum.
Efficiency and Security Gains via Randomness Reuse Across Different Cryptographic Primitives

The use of random coins in the implementation of cryptographic algorithms is needed in order to achieve higher security levels. This can however be costly in terms of bandwidth and computation. Minimizing the amount of fresh randomness required is important for an overall efficiency but could also lead to security flaws. Therefore, randomness reuse is an optimization that must be carefully studied on a theoretical level in order to attain the necessary security. In this dissertation we look at how randomness reuse can be applied across different cryptographic primitives. We focus our attention on joint signature and encryption, as well as on the KEM-DEM paradigm, where randomness reuse can, in specific circumstances, provide not only efficiency gains, but also additional security guarantees.
Destination Brand Experience and its relationship with Tourists Satisfaction and Intention to Recommend : A Conceptual Model

The objective of the article is to suggest the conceptual model which talks about the relationship between the brand experience (sensory, affective, behavioural, and intellectual dimensions) on tourist’s satisfaction through the available literature. The research is qualitative in nature and the data has been collected by using the online resources like Ugc inflibnet, Ebsco host and Google Scholar. The literature clearly states that brand experience is very important than other brand constructs, in building up eloquent and long-lasting relationship with consumers. Literature available on tourist’s satisfaction is also reviewed and reveals that satisfaction of tourist is an important factor for any place to emerge as leading destination around the world.
The Effect of Climate Change on Plant Genetic Resources and Agriculture in Oman

The Sultanate of Oman is the country of vast biodiversity in the Arabian Peninsula, which reflects Oman’s unique place between two geographic regions northern part closely resembles Asia whereas southern part has similarity to Africa in its climate and physiographic regions. It is clear from the findings of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)that the Sultanate of Oman is vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change like the ones being experienced as increased average temperatures, less and more erratic precipitation, sea level rise (SLR) and desertification. In 2007 and 2010 Oman suffered heavily from severe tropical cyclonic storms named as Gonu and Phet. They had a significant adverse effect and caused heavy damages on agriculture and plant genetic resources (PGR) which in turn affected the country’s economy. The objectives of this study are to highlight the general information of the climate change and its impact on agriculture and its plant genetic resources (PGR) in Oman. Besides, this report emphasizes on the most important activities of various ministries and national institutions/ organizations related to the environment and climate change and their role on mitigating the risk of these changes. The Ministries and other national institutes/ organizations have carried out rapid assessment and initiated preliminary studies on the identification of climate change impacts which indicated that Oman is likely to be affected by climate changes in future. From the review of reports and other documents it can be concluded that Oman is vulnerable to climate change, its agriculture and plant genetic resources are under increasing pressure and increasing population, urbanization and other factors along with their interaction with climate change and the environment are playing significant roles in causing impacts on both agriculture and
Effects of Endocrine Disruptors Chemicals on the immune response of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.)

Endocrine disruptors chemicals (EDCs) exert their effects via agonistic/antagonistic interactions with hormone receptors or by interfering with the normal synthesis, transport, metabolism, and secretion of endogenous hormones [1]. EDCs, from the pharmaceutical industry, such as 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and tamoxifen (Tmx,), have been founded in the aquatic environment. EE2 is used in most oral contraceptive pills and in hormone replacement therapy, while Tmx is an estrogen receptor ligand used in cancer therapy. This study aims to investigate the effects of the dietary intake of EE2 (5 μg/g food) or Tmx (100 μg/g food) on the immune response of gilthead seabream species, a marine protandrous teleost, with a great commercial value in the Mediterranean area.
PORTABLE ASSISTIVE GLOVE TO FACILITATE HAND REHABILITATION

Stroke patients often have flexor hypertonia and finger extensor weakness, which makes it difficult to open their affected hand for functional grasp. Because of this impairment, hand rehabilitation after stroke is essential for restoring functional independent lifestyles. The goal of this study is to develop a passive, lightweight, wearable device to assist with hand function during performance of activities of daily living. The device, HandSpring Operated Movement Enhancer (HandSOME), assists with opening the patient’s hand using a series of elastic cords that apply extension torques to the finger joints and compensates for the flexor hypertonia. Device design and calibration are described as well as functional and usability testing with stroke subjects with a wide range of hand impairments.There was some decrease in grip strength with the HandSOME device at the subject’s ideal setting.Overall HandSOME shows promise as a training tool to facilitate repetitive task practice for improving hand function in stroke patients. HandSOME can be used as part of a home-based therapy program, or as an orthotic for replacing lost function.
Impact of Intangible Factors on Business Value

The global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 has caused a significant drop in business efficiency. Today’s management model of the overwhelming majority of companies is oriented towards satisfying the interests of owners and business groups, while the interests of clients, creditors, state and society are not sufficiently taken into account. This creates barriers to the growth of business value, which today has become a generally recognized indicator of the success, sustainability and investment attractiveness of companies. It is the reason for the introduction of the policy of value-oriented management of a company aimed at preserving and increasing the value of business, harmonizing the economic interests of all its stakeholders.
IN SEARCH OF THE ETHNOCENTRIC CONSUMER : EXPERIENCING “ LADDERING

One of the most exciting developments in the literature on advertising research has been the development of laddering, or means-end chaining theory. Whereas conventional attitude research focuses on superficial consumer predispositions towards products and brands, laddering links these attitudes with a deeper chain of motives, revealing different motives behind the same attitude. This, in turn, provides a rich body of material for developing advertising strategy. This paper applies laddering theory to the illusive concept of consumer ethnocentrism, developing an experiential exercise that will immerse students in a simulated cross-national advertising research project.
The Number of Bank Relationships, Borrowing Costs and Bank Competition

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of bank competition on the cost of lending, in an environment of reduced information asymmetries between firms and banks. We construct a simple model linking the number of bank relationships, the cost of lending and bank competition. Banks are exposed to more competition if the firm has many ongoing bank relationships that improve her threat point when negotiating borrowing costs. Moreover, increased competition in the banking sector might mitigate (substitute) or amplify (complement) this effect. Using a unique data set from Portugal, we find that when a firm borrows from one additional bank, the interest rate on bank loans for this firm becomes 9 to 20 basis points lower on average. In addition, we find that when local bank competition is more intense firms can benefit more from simultaneously engaging in several banking relationships, hence providing evidence of complementarity between competition and the number of bank relationships. However, we do not observe these effects for the smallest and youngest firms.
Development of a Highly Sensitive, Fast and Efficient Screening Technique for the Detection of 2,3-Butanediol by Thin Layer Chromatography

The interest in microbial production of 2,3-butanediol is based on the awareness that 2,3 butanediol is a promising bulk chemical due to its extensive industrial applications. Here, we report a novel method for the detection of 2,3-butanediol. The proposed method has a wide applicability to harness the commercial potential of microorganisms which produce 2,3-butanediol as the end product. Experimentally 32 bacterial strains were screened for 2,3-butanediol production. After 72 h the samples were spotted on thin-layer chromatography plates and ran in a solvent system comprising of hexane:ethyl-acetate:glacial acetic acid in the ratio of 70:30:1.5, followed by colour development using vanillin reagent. The appearance of a blue-colored spot of 2,3-butanediol with a retention factor (Rf) of 0.68 corresponds to the Rf value of the standard 2,3-butanediol which forms the basis for the selection of 2,3-butanediol producers. Apart from being a rapid detection system the proposed method is highly sensitive as it was able to detect a concentration as low as 1.0 mg/ml and its authenticity was reconfirmed by GC and GC-MS. Low cost of this method provides an effective support for 2,3-butanediol detection at any scale.