Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assimilate, process and analyse thermal dissipation sap flow data using the TREX r package

A key ecophysiological measurement is the flow of water (or sap) along the tree's water‐transport system, which is an essential process for maintaining the hydraulic connection within the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. The thermal dissipation method (TDM) is widespread in the scientific community for measuring sap flow and has provided novel insights into water use and its environmental sensitivity, from the tree‐ to the forest‐stand level. Yet, methodological approaches to determine sap flux density (SFD) from raw TDM measurements remain case‐specific, introducing uncertainties and hampering data syntheses and meta‐analyses. Here, we introduce the r package TREX (TRee sap flow EXtractor), incorporating a wide range of sap flow data‐processing procedures to quantify SFD from raw TDM measurements. TREX provides functions for (a) importing and assimilating raw measurements, (b) data quality control and filtering and (c) calculating standardized SFD outputs and their associated uncertainties according to different data‐processing methods. A case study using a Norway spruce tree illustrates TREX's functionalities, featuring interactive data curation and generating outputs in a reproducible and transparent way. The calculations of SFD in TREX can, for instance, use the original TDM calibration coefficients, user‐supplied calibration parameters or calibration data from a recently compiled database of 22 studies and 37 species. Moreover, the package includes an automatic procedure for quantifying the sensitivity and uncertainty of the obtained results to user‐defined assumptions and parameter values, by means of a state‐of‐the‐art global sensitivity analysis. Time series of plant ecophysiological measurements are becoming increasingly available and enhance our understanding of climate change impacts on tree functioning. TREX allows for establishing a baseline for data processing of TDM measurements and supports comparability between case studies, facilitating robust, transparent and reproducible large‐scale syntheses of sap flow patterns. Moreover, TREX facilitates the simultaneous application of multiple common data‐processing approaches to convert raw data to physiological relevant quantities. This allows for robust quantification of the impact (i.e. sensitivity and uncertainty) of user‐specific choices and methodological assumptions, which is necessary for process understanding and policy making.
When Extinction Is Warranted: Invasive Species, Suppression-Drives and the Worst-Case Scenario

ABSTRACT Most current techniques to deal with invasive species are ineffective or have highly damaging side effects. To this end suppression-drives based on clustered regularly inter-spaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) have been touted as a potential silver bullet for the problem, allowing for a highly focused, humane and cost-effective means of removing a target species from an environment. Suppression-drives come with serious risks, however, such that the precautionary principle seems to warrant us not deploying this technology. The focus of this paper is on one such risk – the danger of a suppression-drive escaping containment and wiping out the target species globally. Here, I argue that in most cases this risk is significant enough to warrant not using a gene-drive. In some cases, however, we can bypass the precautionary principle by using an approach that hinges on what I term the ‘Worst-Case Clause’. This clause, in turn, provides us with a litmus test that can be fruitfully used to determine what species are viable targets for suppression-drives in the wild. Using this metric in concert with other considerations, I suggest that only three species are currently possible viable targets – the European rabbit, ship rat and Caribbean Tree Frog.
Magnetic Energy Balance in the Quiet Sun on Supergranular Spatial and Temporal Scales

Small-scale magnetic fields are ubiquitous in the quiet solar photosphere and may store and transfer huge amounts of energy to the upper atmospheric layers. For this reason, it is fundamental to constrain the energetics of the quiet Sun. By taking advantage of a 24 hr long magnetogram time series acquired by the Hinode mission without interruption, we computed, for the first time, the average rate of change of magnetic energy density on supergranular spatial and temporal scales. We found that the regions where this quantity is positive correspond with the longest magnetic field decorrelation times, with the latter being consistent with the timescales of magnetic energy density variation. This suggests that, on average, the energy provided by photospheric electric and magnetic fields and current density is effective in sustaining the magnetic fields in the network.
Precision Agriculture Technology: A Literature Review

This study is a survey on state-of-the-art methods based on artificial intelligence and image processing for precision agriculture on Crop Management, Pest and Disease Management, Soil and Irrigation Management, Livestock Farming and the challenges it presents. Precision agriculture (PA) described as applying current technologies into conventional farming methods. These methods have proved to be highly efficient, sustainable and profitable to the farmer hence boosting the economy. This study is a survey on the current state of the art methods applied to precision agriculture. The application of precision agriculture is expected to yield an increase in productivity which ultimately ends in profit to the farmer, to the society increase sustainability and also improve the economy.
An Overview of Speaker Recognition and Implementation of Speaker Diarization with Transcription

This paper presents an overview of the generic process of a speaker recognition system and an implementation of its usage in a speaker diarization process. The motivation behind this paper is to present a simple implementation of a speaker diarization system that inculcates the usage of speaker recognition, speech segmentation and speech transcription. On the basis of various speech features such as Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefﬁcients (MFCCs), Joint Factor Analysis (JFA), i-vectors, Probabilistic Linear Discriminant Analysis (PLDA), etc., speaker modelling is done to train Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs), Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and to use clustering. Speaker diarization is then implemented to get speakers speech segments which are then converted into text for the user. The methods discussed, and thus implemented, emphasize on maximum identiﬁcation rate and minimal error in order to develop the functionality of speaker diarization and audio transcription and are aimed at helping the user to create a manuscript of the conversations that take place between multiple people.
Competency‐based clinical pharmacogenomics activities during an advanced pharmacy practice experience

Clinical pharmacogenomics is a required element in the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) curriculum. However, pharmacogenomics is not widely adopted into clinical practice and as such, considerable variability in clinical teaching and learning activities within pharmacogenomic advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPE) exist. Among other places in the University of Florida's Pharm.D. curriculum, practical applications of clinical pharmacogenomics are covered during the APPE year through an elective 6‐week Clinical Pharmacogenomics APPE.
Estimation of biomedical optical properties by simultaneous use of diffuse reflectometry and photothermal radiometry: investigation of light propagation models

The estimation of optical properties of highly turbid and opaque biological tissue is a difficult task since conventional purely optical methods rapidly loose sensitivity as the mean photon path length decreases. Photothermal methods, such as pulsed or frequency domain photothermal radiometry (FD-PTR), on the other hand, show remarkable sensitivity in experimental conditions that produce very feeble optical signals. Photothermal Radiometry is primarily sensitive to absorption coefficient yielding considerably higher estimation errors on scattering coefficients. Conversely, purely optical methods such as Local Diffuse Reflectance (LDR) depend mainly on the scattering coefficient and yield much better estimates of this parameter. Therefore, at moderate transport albedos, the combination of photothermal and reflectance methods can improve considerably the sensitivity of detection of tissue optical properties. The authors have recently proposed a novel method that combines FD-PTR with LDR, aimed at improving sensitivity on the determination of both optical properties. Signal analysis was performed by global fitting the experimental data to forward models based on Monte-Carlo simulations. Although this approach is accurate, the associated computational burden often limits its use as a forward model. Therefore, the application of analytical models based on the diffusion approximation offers a faster alternative. In this work, we propose the calculation of the diffuse reflectance and the fluence rate profiles under the δ-P1 approximation. This approach is known to approximate fluence rate expressions better close to collimated sources and boundaries than the standard diffusion approximation (SDA). We extend this study to the calculation of the diffuse reflectance profiles. The ability of the δ-P1 based model to provide good estimates of the absorption, scattering and anisotropy coefficients is tested against Monte-Carlo simulations over a wide range of scattering to absorption ratios. Experimental validation of the proposed method is accomplished by a set of measurements on solid absorbing and scattering phantoms.
Coarse Temporal Attention Network (CTA-Net) for Driver’s Activity Recognition

There is significant progress in recognizing traditional human activities from videos focusing on highly distinctive actions involving discriminative body movements, body-object and/or human-human interactions. Driver’s activities are different since they are executed by the same subject with similar body parts movements, resulting in subtle changes. To address this, we propose a novel framework by exploiting the spatiotemporal attention to model the subtle changes. Our model is named Coarse Temporal Attention Network (CTA-Net), in which coarse temporal branches are introduced in a trainable glimpse network. The goal is to allow the glimpse to capture high-level temporal relationships, such as ‘during’, ‘before’ and ‘after’ by focusing on a specific part of a video. These branches also respect the topology of the temporal dynamics in the video, ensuring that different branches learn meaningful spatial and temporal changes. The model then uses an innovative attention mechanism to generate high-level action specific contextual information for activity recognition by exploring the hidden states of an LSTM. The attention mechanism helps in learning to decide the importance of each hidden state for the recognition task by weighing them when constructing the representation of the video. Our approach is evaluated on four publicly accessible datasets and significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art by a considerable margin with only RGB video as input.
Piezoelectric actuator-based cell microstretch device with real-time imaging capability

Cellular response to physical stretch has been extensively studied as a regulator of various physiological functions. For live cell microscopy combined with stretch experiments, cells are typically seeded on an extensible elastomer sheet. In this case, the position of the cells of interest tends to shift out of the field of view upon stretch, making real-time imaging of identical cells difficult. To circumvent this situation, here we describe a robust methodology in which these cell shifts are minimized. Cells are plated in a custom-designed stretch chamber with an elastomer sheet of a small cell culture area. The cell-supporting chamber is stretched on an inverted microscope by using a piezoelectric actuator that provides small, but precisely controlled displacements. Even under this small displacement within the filed of view, our device allows the cells to undergo physiologically relevant levels of stretch. Identical cells can thus be continuously observed during stretching, thereby potentially enablin.
Prediction of vessels locations and maritime traffic using similarity measurement of trajectory

ABSTRACT Maritime traffic prediction is a crucial task for increasing the efficiency of port operations and safety, especially in congested regions. A huge amount of automatic identification system (AIS) data is constantly transmitting from vessels to receivers that contain information about vessels’ movements and characteristics. These historical AIS data can be utilized in movement analyses of vessels. This paper proposes a novel point-based model for location and traffic prediction using vessels’ trajectories adapted from AIS measures. The location prediction procedure is setup based on similarity analysis of historical AIS data. The model is applied to a real dataset of hundreds of vessels’ trajectories in the Strait of Georgia, USA. The correlation results of 0.9976, 0.9887, and 0.9794 for the next 10, 20, and 30 minutes, respectively, imply sufficient correspondence between predicted and actual coordinates. The traffic prediction procedure considers the probability of the appearance of new vessels inside an area of interest (AoI) at different time intervals. The Sorenson similarity index (SSI) is used to measure the accuracy of the traffic prediction model. The SSIs for time intervals of 10, 20, and 30 minutes are 70%, 66%, and 59%, respectively, which show the robustness of the model to predict hot spots inside the AoI.
Does PMS influence the strategy pillars: OPP relationship? Evidence from HEIs in Indonesia

PurposeThis study aims to investigate whether strategy pillars have a positive direct effect on organizational productivity performance (OPP) in the Indonesian HEI (Higher Education Institutions) research setting and, if so, whether the effect is mediated by a performance management system (PMS). Design/methodology/approachThis study used quantitative research employing partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses. A mediation model of the research framework was developed to investigate the mediating role of PMS.FindingsUsing a sample of 182 Indonesian HEI managers, the results indicate that strategy pillars have a positive effect on OPP. Further analysis shows that PMS partially mediates the strategy pillar–OPP relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations. Firstly, the sample size used was relatively small and this may raise the issue of generalization. Secondly, it used a Likert scale and therefore may raise the issue of judgment bias. Lastly, this study is context-specific for Indonesia and caution should be used when generalizing it to other countries.Practical implicationsTo enhance the HEIs productivity performance, the HEI managers should develop strong strategy pillars for the purpose of effective strategy formulation and execution.Social implicationsThis study provides a model showing how to improve the HEIs productivity performance by employing strategy pillars and a PMS. The better the performance of the HEIs, the better the quality of life of society in the era of the knowledge economy.Originality/valueStrategy pillars have rarely been researched. This study is therefore one of the few studies on strategy pillars. This study also provides new elements related to measuring strategy pillars, PMS and OPP in the context of HEIs in Indonesia as an emerging economy.
Next‐generation Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) incorporated nanofibre wound dressings

The skin is the most exposed organ and, therefore, vulnerable to injury and wounds (Nguyen & Soulika, 2019). Wound healing is a complex tissue repair process, and failing to manage it could result in the formation of scars (Landén et al., 2016; Takeo et al., 2015). Tissue repair involves the partial tissue regeneration involving restitution of tissue components during the wound healing process (Atkin et al., 2019; Gonzalez et al., 2016). Wound healing is a dynamic process consisting of four phases: inflammation, proliferation, DOI: 10.1002/mds3.10144
The Role of Effective Leadership in Application of E-Human Resources Management System Applied research at Baghdad International Airport

The research acquires its importance by motivating the behavioural side of the employees to apply modern technology in the work, because of its great importance in increasing the efficiency of employees’ performance and excellence. The research was based on two main hypotheses to show the relationship and impact between the variables through the adoption of a questionnaire to collect data and information related to the research, which consisted of (50) people from administrators working at different levels, based on personal interviews and field visits to collect research data. The data collection process was subjected to statistical analysis using the statistical program (SPSS) (Statistical package for social science) to reach a set of results which showed a positive correlation between the variable of effective leadership and the variable of (E-HRM). The research was conducted at (Baghdad International Airport). It’s included questionnaire distribution on the research sample, collecting the questionnaire, field visits and analysis of the results. The research also concluded that effective leadership should have a role in change the behaviour of employees and improving their level of performance, and train them to use technology at work. The research also presented several suggestions, including the importance of training employees with the adoption of material and moral incentives for those who are distinguished in the application and use of modern technology, as well as providing all the tools physical requirements for the application and success of the (E-HRM) and processed. Paper type Field research
The Implementation of Sustainable Manufacturing Practice in Textile Industry: An Indonesian Perspective

The intention of this paper is to give a better understanding about the implementation of sustainable manufacturing practice in the textile companies in Indonesia as one of the promising sectors in the manufacturing industry. The data was collected by taking a case study approach in one of the leading textile companies in Indonesia. Questionnaire and interview techniques were used to gather in-depth information about the implementation of a sustainable concept in the company. The result reveals that the extent of the implementation of Sustainable Manufacturing Practices (SMP) in the companies are at a level of moderate to high. From the three dimensions measured which are environment, economy, and social dimensions, the evaluation result shows good performance in terms of the implementation of sustainable concepts, like low level of gas emission, high percentage of renewable energy usage, cost reduction rate, high quality of life, etc. From this result, the authors then develop a sustainable manufacturing model in the wider coverage to be implemented not only in the textile industry but is expected to be implemented in manufacturing sectors as well. This model consists of at least seven basic archetypes which are divided into three dominant areas: technological innovation, economical, and social areas which aim to bring better performance in the manufacturing industry of Indonesia.
Design of Three-Phase V-Shaped Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor for Air Conditioning Compressor of Electric Vehicle

Air conditioning system of electric vehicles has new change as the internal combustion engine is being replaced with electrified AC motor. With large amount of batteries installed at the bottom of frame, the conventional compressor, which is belt-driven, can be removed, and another AC motor can play the role for air conditioning in electric vehicles. From this change, the system efficiency would be improved since it is possible to control the electrified compressor independently from traction system in contrast with the belt-driven compressor. As a result, by applying the electrified compressor for air conditioning system, the whole system can achieve better efficiency and longer driving distance, which is most important in electric vehicles. In this paper, 3-phase interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) was designed using lumped-parameter model and finite element method.
Histopathological effects and biomarker response of earthworms, Eisenia fetida, after exposure to crude oil contaminated soils

Earthworms are the most abundant invertebrates in the soils and are permanently in close contact with soil particles. Therefore, they are significantly affected by the pollutants that reach the soil system. The study was aimed at evaluating the effect of exposure to crude oil contaminated soil on Eisenia fetida using cellular antioxidant enzymes and tissue organization as biomarkers. E. fetida were exposed to different concentrations of crude oil contamination of 1 mL, 2 mL. and 3 mL (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75%) for 14 days. The antioxidant/oxidant parameters were analysed in the muscle and liver tissues. The results showed that only the reduced glutathione (GSH) of earthworms exposed to 1 mL were not significant (p>0.05) from the control, while the other concentrations (2 mL – 0.50% and 3 mL – 0.75%) were significantly different (p<0.05) from the control. The activity of catalase (CAT) with respect to the total protein content was highest in the liver of earthworms exposed to 1 mL (0.25% conc.) on day 7 (51.84 μmol/mg pro) while the least CAT activity with respect to the total protein content was reported in the liver of control earthworms after 14 days (19.51 μmol/mL/min). A significant increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase at all the concentrations (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75%) after 14 days were also observed. Significant histopathological alterations were observed in E. fetida from the three concentrations. Severe disruptions in the arrangement of their body wall muscle layers, distorted internal viscera, as well as cellular degeneration, pigments, moderate to severe areas of lesion, and distortion of the shape of circular and longitudinal muscles, eroding of internal and external tissues leading to total destruction of body wall were observed. In conclusion, the study revealed that crude oil even at lower concentration induced biomarker responses in E. fetida such as higher levels of Malondialdehyde in E. fetida after exposure crude oil due its toxicity. Histopathological alterations such as cellular degeneration, moderate to severe areas of necrosis, areas of inflammation, inclusion bodies, pigments, and distortion of the shapes of circular and longitudinal muscles also showed the adverse impacts of crude oil pollution in the soils.