Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Empirical Model for Rainfall Maximums Conditioned to Tropospheric Water Vapor Over the Eastern Pacific Ocean

One of the most difficult weather variables to predict is rain, particularly intense rain. The main limitation is the complexity of the fluid dynamic equations used by predictive models with increasing uncertainties over time, especially in the description of brief, local, and high intensity precipitation events. Although computational, instrumental and theoretical improvements have been developed for models, it is still a challenge to estimate high intensity rainfall events, especially in terms of determining the maximum rainfall rates and the location of the event. Within this context, this research presents a statistical and relationship analysis of rainfall intensity rates, total precipitable water (TPW), and sea surface temperature (SST) over the ocean. An empirical model to estimate the maximum rainfall rates conditioned to TPW values is developed. The performance of the maximum rainfall rate model is spatially evaluated for a case study. High-resolution TRMM 2A12 satellite data with a resolution of 5.1 × 5.1 km and 1.67 s was used from January 2009 to December 2012, over the Eastern Pacific Niño area in the tropical Pacific Ocean (0–5°S; 90–81°W), comprising 326,092 rain pixels. After applying the model selection methodology, i.e., the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), an empirical exponential model between the maximum possible rain rates conditioned to TPW was found with R2 = 0.96, indicating that the amount of TPW determines the maximum amount of rain that the atmosphere can precipitate exponentially. Spatially, this model unequivocally locates the rain event; however, the rainfall intensity is underestimated in the convective nucleus of the cloud. Thus, these results provide an additional constraint for maximum rain intensity values that should be adopted in dynamic models, improving the quantification of heavy rainfall event intensities and the correct location of these events.
The ecological impact of oceanic island colonization – a palaeoecological perspective from the Azores

Aim In many cases, human colonization drastically modified the ecosystems of remote oceanic islands before scientists arrived to document the changes. Palaeoecological records before and after human colonization provide insights into the original ecosystems and an assessment of subsequent human impact. We used pollen analysis to compare the impact of 15th century colonization of the Azores with that of natural disturbances such as volcanic eruptions and climate changes.
Synthesis, Characterization and Invivo Evaluation of Poly Sulfoxy Amine Grafted Xanthan Gum

Natural polymers are hydrophilic in nature, economic, chemically inert, easily available, biodegradable, and non-toxic. Following problems associated with the use of gums include uncontrolled rates of hydration, pH dependent solubility, thickening, drop in viscosity on storage, and the possibility of microbial contamination. Chemical modification of gums not only minimizes these drawbacks but also alter their physicochemical properties. Recently, researchers have been modifying properties of natural gums to explore its more applicability. Aim of the current study was to explore Xanthan gum’s applicability in mucoadhesive and other property by doing its Chemical modification. Sulfoxy amine modification of xanthan gum was carried out by reacting xanthan gum with thionyl chloride and further treated with ammonia. FTIR, elemental DSC, XRD and SEM were studied for confirmation of the modification. The modified xanthan gum showed improvement in the mucoadhesion, water uptake capacity, gelling property as well as viscosity as compared to unmodified xanthan gum. The results of X-ray diffraction study confirms the finding of DSC study. X-ray diffractogram confirmed XG is typical of amorphous substance while that of MXG is typical of crystalline substance with the characteristic peak appearing at 14.79, 25.66, 29.63 and 31.82 2θ. The 0.6% w/v of modified xanthan gum showed gelling property. The 0.6% w/v of modified Xanthan Gum showed gelling property where as Xanthan Gum required more than 1% w/v , it indicate that gelling property of Xanthan Gum has improved due to its modification. Mucoadhesive strength of modified xanthan gum was found to be 4±0.56 gm which is more than xanthan gum i.e. 1.5±0.94 gm. The ionic interactions may be taken place in between negatively charged mucus with cationic modified polymer and superior mucoadhesion can be achieved. Rapid and constant swelling behavior was observed by modified Xanthan gum. The SEM image of MXG showed that the grafting of Polysulfoxyamine onto XG brings about the change in the shape and size of the XG particles. The enhanced viscosity and gelling capacity of modified xanthan gum were also observed as compared to xanthan gum. In vivo acute toxicity study of Poly sulfoxy amine grafted xanthan gum was performed. The toxicological effects were observed in terms of mortality and expressed as LD50. Results of Acute toxicity study shows LD50 value was more than 2 gm/kg indicating the low toxicity. These findings proved that modified xanthan gum may be used as promising excipient in various drug delivery systems.
Response of Brassica napus to Plasmodiophora brassicae Involves Salicylic Acid-Mediated Immunity: An RNA-Seq-Based Study

Clubroot, caused by the obligate parasite Plasmodiophora brassicae, is an important disease of the Brassicaceae and poses a significant threat to the $26.7 billion canola/oilseed rape (Brassica napus) industry in western Canada. While clubroot is managed most effectively by planting resistant host varieties, new pathotypes of P. brassicae have emerged recently that can overcome this resistance. Whole genome analyses provide both a toolbox and a systemic view of molecular mechanisms in host-pathogen interactions, which can be used to design new breeding strategies to increase P. brassicae resistance. We used RNA-seq to evaluate differential gene expression at 7, 14 and 21 days after inoculation (dai) of two B. napus genotypes with differential responses to P. brassicae pathotype 5X. Gall development was evident at 14 dai in the susceptible genotype (the oilseed rape ‘Brutor’), while gall development in the resistant genotype (the rutabaga (B. napus) ‘Laurentian’) was limited and not visible until 21 dai. Immune responses were better sustained through the time-course in ‘Laurentian’, and numerous genes from immune-related functional categories were associated with salicylic acid (SA)-mediated responses. Jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated responses seemed to be mostly inhibited, especially in the resistant genotype. The upregulation of standard defense-related proteins, like chitinases and thaumatins, was evident in ‘Laurentian’. The enrichment, in both host genotypes, of functional categories for syncytium formation and response to nematodes indicated that cell enlargement during P. brassicae infection, and the metabolic processes therein, share similarities with the response to infection by nematodes that produce similar anatomical symptoms. An analysis of shared genes between the two genotypes at different time-points, confirmed that the nematode-like responses occurred earlier for ‘Brutor’, along with cell metabolism and growth changes. Additionally, the susceptible cultivar turned off defense mechanisms earlier than ‘Laurentian’. Collectively, this study showed the importance of SA in triggering immune responses and suggested some key resistance and susceptibility factors that can be used in future studies for resistance breeding through gene-editing approaches.
Gradient search in the space of permutations: an application for the linear ordering problem

Gradient search is a classical technique for optimizing differentiable functions that has gained much relevance recently due to its application on Neural Network training. Despite its popularity, the application of gradient search has been limited to the continuous optimization and its usage in the combinatorial case is confined to a few works, all which tackle the binary search space. In this paper, we present a new approach for applying Gradient Search to the space of permutations. The idea consists of optimizing the expected objective value of a random variable defined over permutations. Such a random variable is distributed according to the Plackett-Luce model, and a gradient search over its continuous parameters is performed. Conducted experiments on a benchmark of the linear ordering problem confirm that the Gradient Search performs better than its counterpart Estimation of Distribution Algorithm: the Plackett-Luce EDA. Moreover, results reveal that the scalability of the Gradient Search is better than that of the PL-EDA.
Book Reviews

Although work on language policy that aims principally to describe the current status of languages in a particular region can have a certain informative value, it is my contention that work on language policy is only as good as its ability to relate language to social, economic and political concerns in complex ways. The critique of academic work on language policy delivered ten years ago by Luke et al. (1990) is still worth recalling in this context. As they explain, language planning as an academic area grew up at the same time as the more general social scientific orientation towards positivism, and thus its practitioners have tended to work with the belief that questions of language policy could be solved by the application of scientific and technical models: ‘many linguists and educational planners saw their task as an ideologically neutral one, entailing the description and formalisation of language(s) (corpus planning) and the analysis and prescription of the sociocultural statuses and uses of languages(s) (status planning)’ (Luke et al., 1990: 26). Thus, while maintaining a ‘veneer of scientific objectivity’ language planning has ‘tended to avoid directly addressing larger social and political matters within which language change, use and development, and indeed language planning itself are embedded’ (Luke et al., 1990: 27). One of the editors of the book under review makes a similar point in a recent review (Ricento, 1999) of Kaplan & Baldauf’s (1997) Language Planning: From Practice to Theory, suggesting that their model
SECURE MULTIPLE WATERMARKING TECHNIQUE BASED ON DWT, DCT AND SVD

-A calculation for various watermarking in view of discrete wavelet transforms (DWT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) has been proposed for social insurance applications. For personality verification reason, the proposed technique utilizes three watermarks as restorative Lump picture watermark, the specialist signature/ID code and demonstrative data of the patient as the content watermarks. Keeping in mind the end goal to enhance the strength execution of the picture watermark, Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) is connected to the separated picture watermark to lessen the commotion impacts on the watermarked picture. The security of the picture watermark is likewise improved by utilizing Arnold change before installing into the cover. Promote the side effect and mark content watermarks are additionally encoded by lossless number juggling pressure strategy and Hamming mistake revision code separately. The packed and encoded content watermark is then implanted into the cover picture. In this paper we proposed usage and execution investigation of two distinctive watermarking plans in view of DCT-DWT-SVD. Both are non-daze strategies. One depends on SVD of DC coefficients utilizing second level DWT deterioration and other is consider SVD of all DCT estimations of second level DWT creation of cover picture. To check effectiveness of both techniques for Imperceptibility and robustness PSNR and NCC parameters are used.
Mimicking Infants’ Early Language Experience Does Not Improve Adult Learning Outcomes

ABSTRACT Adult learners know that language is for communicating and that there are patterns in the language that need to be learned. This affects the way they engage with language input; they search for form-meaning linkages, and this effortful engagement could interfere with their learning, especially for things like grammatical gender that often have at least a partial phonological basis. Children learning their first language do not face this interference initially, which may facilitate the learning of some grammatical patterns. In this study I ask whether learning outcomes could be improved in adults encouraged to engage with input in a more infant-like way. Across five experiments, adults were exposed to a miniature artificial language with grammatical gender-like patterns. Exposure either included both speech and meaning throughout, or initially, just the speech, followed by exposure to both speech and meaning. Sound-only initial exposure did not improve learning outcomes in adult learners.
Crayfish in Italy: distribution, threats and management.

Many populations of indigenous crayfish species (IC S) are at serious risk of extinction in Italy due t o the growing number of threats to their integrity. These mostly derive from various forms of anthropogenic pressure, dramatically increased in the last 50 years. The distribution of the most wid espread ICS in Italy, Austropotamobius pallipes , is noticeably smaller than in the last century and the number of A. torrentium and Astacus astacus populations is today small. On the contrary, Italy has been invaded by several non-indigenous cr ayfish species (NICS), particularly the North Ameri can Procambarus clarkii , Orconectes limosus , and Pacifastacus leniusculus. The distribution of a fourth NICS, the Ponto-Caspia n Astacus leptodactylus , is still limited, probably due to its susceptibil ity to the oomycete Aphanomyces astaci, whereas the marbled crayfish, Procambarus sp. , and the Australian Cherax destructor have already appeared in the wild. Any interventio n aimed at the conservation of ICS should rely on a b road-spectrum actions; in any case, a crucial step will be to restore and maintain the integrity of the natural habitats that will be accomplished also by reducing environmental stresses, including those induced by NICS. The management of crayfish populations require guidelines firmly based on the g rowing body of scientific knowledge on the biology and ecology of the target species. Finally, special attention shou ld be paid to informing, educating, and raising awareness among non-specialists, whose support and participation are essential prerequisites for the success of any intervention.
THREE-PHASE MULTILEVEL CASCADED H-BRIDGE PV INVERTER WITH FUZZY BASED MPPT FOR GRID- CONNECTED APPLICATIONS

Photovoltaic energy conversion becomes main focus of many researches due to its promising potential as source for future electricity and has many advantages than the other alternative energy sources like wind, solar, ocean, biomass, geothermal etc. In Photovoltaic power generation multilevel inverters play a vital role in power conversion. The modular cascaded multilevel topology helps to improve the efficiency and flexibility of PV systems. To realize better utilization of PV modules and maximize the solar energy extraction, a distributed maximum power point tracking control scheme is applied to both singleand three-phase multilevel inverters, which allows independent control of each dc-link voltage. For three-phase grid-connected applications Here we are using the fuzzy controller compared to other controllers i.e. The fuzzy controller is the most suitable for the human decision-making mechanism, providing the operation of an electronic system with decisions of experts. In addition, using the fuzzy controller for a nonlinear system allows for a reduction of uncertain effects in the system control and improve the efficiency. Fuzzy Logic based Intelligent Controller has been implemented for voltage regulation at Point of Common Coupling of Grid connected PV Power System. Simulation results are presented to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.
PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF THREE PHASE PWM RECTIFIER USING FUZZY AND PI HYSTERESIS CURRENT CONTROLLER

- The research work presents hysteresis current controlled 3-phase PWM converter. The switching control is applied on three-phase bi-directional switches, to attain sinusoidal input current at unity pf. such a rectifier can also operate as unity p.f. converter which is presented in this paper. The rectifier input current controller can be operated with either fixed frequency or variable frequency both with their merits and demerits. The current study includes the current controller and voltage controller implementation with: (i) conventional hysteresis current control (random frequency) (ii) fuzzy controller and PI controller. The various design problems and the performance of the current modulation strategies are investigated & then compared. Rectifier performance parameters, that is, THD and PF are computed.The dc-link voltage is controlled by outer loop fuzzy controller and PI controller. The converter can be used for bi-directional power flow. The bi-directional switches operate at low frequency, crossover zero voltage (at turn-on) and conduct for 1/12 th of line voltage cycle. The THD analysis of the controlled input phase current shows significant reduction in the THD as compared to the uncontrolled input phase current in Fuzzy HCC and PI HCC. The dc-link voltage follows the reference value.
Venezuelan migrant population in Colombia: health indicators in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals

Background: The number of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia has dramatically increased over the past years, which poses great challenges to the Colombian health system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare some health indicators related to the Sustainable Development Goals between the Venezuelan migrant population and the Colombian population. Methods: A longitudinal, descriptive analysis of the maternal mortality ratio; the neonatal, infant and under-five mortality; the proportionate mortality due to undernourishment; and the rates of alleged sexual felony, intimate partner violence and domestic violence in the Venezuelan migrant population in Colombia and in the Colombian population in the 2015-2019 period was conducted. Maternal and child health and undernourishment indicators were estimated for the 2015-18 period, while the gender-based violence indicators were obtained only for 2018-19, since those were the years with information available for each of these indicators. Data was extracted from official sources, such as the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF) and Migración Colombia. The categorical and numerical variables were described through percentages and rates, respectively. Results: Venezuelan migrants in Colombia had higher rates of maternal, neonatal, infant and under-five mortality, as well as proportionate mortality due to undernourishment, than the Colombian population throughout the study years, although the difference between them decreased at the end of the period. As for the gender-based violence indicators, the Colombian population showed higher rates than the Venezuelan migrants, and both Colombian and Venezuelan female victims showed higher rates in these violence indicators than their male counterparts of the same nationality. Conclusions: Some apparent inequalities still persist despite the efforts of the Colombian government to attend to the health needs of the Venezuelan migrant population. Colombia must keep and strengthen migratory inclusion in its public policies to impact on migrants’ health.
Changepoint analysis: a new approach for revealing animal movements and behaviors from satellite telemetry data

While telemetry is an invaluable tool for tracking animal movement patterns, the data generated by this technique is often challenging to interpret. Here, we addressed this issue by developing a novel method, based on changepoint analysis, which incorporated both the horizontal and vertical movement metrics and compared this output to that from a switching state-space model (SSSM) that categorized behavior based on horizontal movement metrics. We deployed 20 satellite transmitters on postnesting loggerhead turtles at Rethymno, Crete, Greece between 2010 and 2011 to monitor their at-sea behavior. We used both models to identify behavioral changes, such as the switches from migration to foraging, and from foraging to overwintering. The satellite-tracked turtles exhibited three discrete migratory strategies, with 9 turtles migrating southwards to the coast of northern Africa, 6 turtles migrating northwards into the Aegean Sea, and 4 turtles remaining resident in the waters of Crete. The SSSM readily identified the switch from transiting to ARS behavior in most animals, but the CPA model was able to distinguish multiple modes and more subtle shifts in behavior corresponding with shifts from migration to foraging to overwintering behaviors. We have shown that by incorporating vertical movement metrics into the analysis of telemetry data, previously hidden shifts in behavior can be revealed. The resulting increase in ability to discern complex behavioral patterns of animals remotely will likely yield better management and conservation decisions for a wide array of organisms.
CONTROL OF A STAND-ALONE MICROGRID WITH ACTIVE MANAGEMENT SCHEME

This paper presents an optimal load sharing strategy between several generation units in a stand-alone MicroGrid in order to have minimum power loss in the system and with consideration of normal buses voltage and rating of generation units. Simulation results in a typical distribution system show that the proposed method can meet the requirement of the system and DG units rating in standalone operations. In this way the system is managed in an optimal and reliable situation that guarantee continuity of power to loads in stand-alone mode of a MicroGrid.
Doug Altman: Driving critical appraisal and improvements in the quality of methodological and medical research

Doug Altman was a visionary leader and one of the most influential medical statisticians of the last 40 years. Based on a presentation in the “Invited session in memory of Doug Altman” at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Society for Clinical Biostatistics (ISCB) in Leuven, Belgium and our long‐standing collaborations with Doug, we discuss his contributions to regression modeling, reporting, prognosis research, as well as some more general issues while acknowledging that we cannot cover the whole spectrum of Doug's considerable methodological output. His statement “To maximize the benefit to society, you need to not just do research but do it well” should be a driver for all researchers. To improve current and future research, we aim to summarize Doug's messages for these three topics.
δ15N in riverine food webs : effects of n inputs from agricultural watersheds

We examined the use of the natural abundance of nitrogen stable isotopes (δ15N) as a tracer of anthropo genic perturbations of the nitrogen (N) cycle at the watershed scale in 82 river sites draining 13 watersheds in the St. Lawrence Lowlands in Quebec. Mean δ15N values of aquatic primary consumers varied greatly among sites (+2 to +15), most of this variation (88%) being attributable to site effects. Variation in δ15N values among functional feeding groups of primary consumers within sites was comparatively lower (<1). Within watersheds, δ15N values of primary consumers (and organisms of higher trophic levels) tracked longitudinal changes in the percentage of agricultural area. Overall, the percentage of total watershed area under agriculture explained up to 69% of the variation in mean primary consumer δ15N values. Similar positive correlations were observed for predatory invertebrates and non-piscivorous fish. In general, our results show that δ15N in riverine food webs reacts strongly to spatial pa.