Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Participatory Design with Preschool Children: A Smartphone Application Concept

This paper presents experiences of the design process of a mobile application concept addressed to children of 5-6 years old. The work was an attempt to approach an interaction design problem from a child-centered design perspective within the scope of a student project. The project was realized during an 8 weeks course run by the Gothenburg Working Group for Interaction Design and Children. Several methods aimed for the intended user group were employed and adapted for the project’s needs, such as “Mission from Mars” and peer tutoring. The process involved participation of young users in co-design and evaluation sessions, that both took place in the natural setting of a preschool. A concept for a Christmas calendar application was developed during the project. The application consists of simple click and play mini-games, that are revealed day-by-day as time progresses. The games aim to encourage children exploration and counting skills as well as they build continuous narrative around Christmas related characters. The project was aimed to apply child-centered methods and to learn from their realization in context of a concept development of an application addressed to children.
A REDUNDANCY ALLOCATION PROBLEM WITH THE CHOICE OF REDUNDANCY STRATEGIES BY A MEMETIC ALGORITHM

This paper proposes an efficient algorithm based on memetic algorithm (MA) for a redundancy allocation problem without component mixing (RAPCM) in a series-parallel system when the redundancy strategy can be chosen for individual subsystems. Majority of the solution methods for the general RAPCM assume that the type of a redundancy strategy for each subsystem is pre-determined and known a priori. In general, active redundancy has traditionally received greater attention; however, in practice both active and cold-standby redundancies may be used within a particular system design. The choice of the redundancy strategy then becomes an additional decision variable. Thus, the problem is to select the best redundancy strategy, component and redundancy level for each subsystem in order to maximize the system reliability under system-level constraints. Due to its complexity and NP-hardness, it is so difficult to optimally solve such a problem by using traditional optimization tools. To validate the performance of the proposed MA in terms of solution quality, a number of test problems are examined and the robustness of this algorithm is then discussed. Finally, the related results are reported and it is shown that the proposed MA performs well.
Comprehensive Assessment of Usage of Biosensors in Biomedics

There are various types of biosensors such as enzyme-based, tissue-based, immune sensors, DNA biosensors, thermal and piezoelectric biosensors have been deliberated here to highlight their indispensable applications in multitudinous fields.Some of the popular fields implementing the use of biosensors are food industry to keep a check on its quality and safety, to help distinguish between the natural and artificial; in the fermentation industry and in the scarification process to detect precise glucose concentrations; in metabolic engineering to enable in vivo monitoring of cellular metabolism. Biosensors and their role in medical science including early stage detection of human interleukin-10 causing heart diseases, rapid detection of human papilloma virus, etc. are important aspects. Fluorescent biosensors play a vital role in drug discovery and in cancer. Biosensor applications are prevalent in the plant biology sector to find out the missing links required in metabolic processes. Other applications are involved in defence, clinical sector, and for marine applications.
OBSERVATIONS OF CRAB GIANT PULSES IN 20–84 MHz USING LWA1

We report the detection and observed characteristics of giant pulses from the Crab Nebula pulsar (B0531+21) in four frequency bands covering 20–84 MHz using the recently completed Long Wavelength Array Station 1 (LWA1) radio telescope. In 10 hr of observations distributed over a 72 day period in fall of 2012, 33 giant pulses having peak flux densities between 400 Jy and 2000 Jy were detected. Twenty-two of these pulses were detected simultaneously in channels of 16 MHz bandwidth centered at 44 MHz, 60 MHz, and 76 MHz, including one pulse which was also detected in a channel centered at 28 MHz. We quantify statistics of pulse amplitude and pulse shape characteristics, including pulse broadening. Amplitude statistics are consistent with expectations based on extrapolations from previous work at higher and lower frequencies. Pulse broadening is found to be relatively high, but not significantly greater than expected. We present procedures that have been found to be effective for observing giant pulses in this frequency range.
Gender Bias of Government Agencies and NGOs in the Provision of Services to the Rural Poor in Bangladesh.

Within Bangladesh there is evidence of gender discrimination which causes a lack of empowerment and poverty among women, particularly in rural areas. Thus, women in rural areas require improved service delivery with personal and customised services from the service providers (government and non-government organisations) of poverty alleviation programs to better combat poverty. To explore the differences in opinion between male and female beneficiaries in assessing the service delivery effectiveness of providers, the researcher has developed a multi-dimensional effectiveness scale. The methodology is based on primary data collected from 78 randomly chosen villages in Bangladesh. Significant differences of opinion between male and female beneficiaries have been identified. In most geographic areas, female beneficiaries reported a need for improvement across the entire scale of items measuring the effectiveness of service delivery. This suggests that they do not receive the same level of service as their male counterpart, a finding which carries the hallmarks of gender discrimination.
Characterization of the Preovulatory Period in Dairy Cows

The periovulatory period of productive Holstein cows was studied, through their hormone levels, ovarian dynamic, characteristics of the cervical flow and their behavior; observed and registered throughout two consecutive periods. Results showed that during ovulation, the most evident changes were: animal behaviour (from being restless and unquiet to being quieter and allow to be mounted); the reduction of the size of their vulva together with a loss of the labia turgidity; a decrease in the quantity of flow and this one appeared as a transparent and noticeable secretion, one which kept the vulva humid and lubricated. The pH of the flow got higher (7-20- 7.50) and the degree of crystallization was reduced to 1.5-2, among the kinds of estrogenic flow, ovulation coincided with the presence of certain arrangements corresponding to type S3, P2 and P6. P flow is associated to the time of maximum fertility. The peak of the luteinizing hormone was detected on the ovulation day (1.90mUI/mL) and 24 hours afterwards the level was low; estrogens increased on the preovulatory days (0.80-0.97 pg/mL) causing the sexual behaviour, the stimulating follicle hormone accompanied the follicular growth and progesterone reached its highest increase consistent with the establishment of the corpus luteum (1.45ng/mL). The vulvar characteristics and the analysis of the cervical flow become complementary tools in order to determine the ideal moment for insemination.
Price Setting in Online Grocery Markets: The Case of Chocolate

Online markets are developing rapidly in many industrialized countries and have already reached a rather mature status for some product categories. This, however, is not the case in the food sector. In Germany, the online food market captured still less than 1 % of total food sales in 2014. Despite this small share of the online market, the segment is clearly increasing and major players on the offline grocery market engage themselves on the online market, too, or they plan to do so. It is intended in this paper to contribute to our knowledge on competitive strategies of multichannel suppliers and pure online traders which are active on this growing market segment. A major element of competitive strategies on the online market for foods is pricing. We concentrate on pricing strategies of multichannel firms and pure online traders on the German online market and present evidence for the product group chocolate. More and quicker price information for consumers will become available with the development of online markets. Theory suggests that buyers’ search costs will be lowered and market efficiency will be improved. With lower search costs, it is expected that price dispersion will be reduced, i.e. markets will tend towards the law of one price for identical goods, and that the price level will decline and adjust rapidly. It may, however, happen that online markets induce new search costs for consumers as the variety of products offered will also increase substantially. It is an empirical question whether the level and the dispersion of prices will actually fall as the online supply of foods grows. The increasing empirical evidence on non-food markets indicates that remarkable differences between various suppliers persist with the growing importance of online markets and prices remain relatively rigid over time. Different explanations for these patterns are offered in the literature including a growing importance of product differentiation and non-price strategies on online and offline markets.
Effect of drying and harvest time on the physicochemical properties of the most common Korean persimmon leaves

Persimmon is a plant that is native to the Republic of Korea. It leaves are rich in antioxidants and minerals. This study set out to investigate the moisture, color, vitamin C, and mineral contents of five of the most common Korean persimmon leaves (‘Sangju-dungsi’, ‘Sangam-dungsi’, ‘Cheongdobansi’, ‘Gabjubaekmok,’ and ‘Suhong’), and how they varied with the applied drying technique (freeze-drying or hot-air drying at 100℃ for 30 min) and harvesting time (late May or late June). Persimmon leaves were first collected, and then blanched and dried. Our results revealed that freeze-drying was the most effective method in terms of the mineral content, while no significant difference in the vitamin C content was observed regardless of the drying method. The concentration of Mg, Ca, K, and Mn increased from May to June, while the opposite trend was observed for Na, Fe, Cu, and Zn. Persimmon leaves collected in late May had a higher vitamin C content than those harvested in late June. Ultimately, the ‘Sangam-dungsi’ persimmon leaf was found to have the highest mineral content, whereas ‘Gabjubaekmok’ leaves were richer in color (lightness, redness, and yellowness) and had the highest vitamin C content among the analyzed cultivars.
Familiarized QoS in Distributed Routing Protocol for Synthesis Based Wireless Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) comprise of groups of tiny sensor nodes that are deployed for collaborative missions such as environmental monitoring, target tracking and surveillance. Due to the miniature size of the nodes, they are typically deployed in large numbers and communicate via multiple hops through a wireless shared communication channel. The successful implementation of such networks is dependent on the enabling technologies (such as digital electronics and wireless communications), as well as the provisioning of Quality of Service (QoS) in the network. While there have been many efforts in QoS provisioning in traditional networks such as the Internet and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs), these networks have very different characteristics from that of WSNs. Consequently, the QoS models and protocols that have been designed for the Internet and MANETs cannot be directly applied to WSNs. In this paper, we look at some of the existing QoS mechanisms in the networking literature, and the inherent characteristics of WSNs which make it challenging to provision for QoS in the network. We then identify some key performance metrics for WSN QoS and outline some mechanisms to achieve QoS in the sensor network. Finally, we propose WISER – a framework to enhance QoS in WIreless SEnsoR networks. Index Terms — Wireless Sensor Networks; Quality of Service; Network Lifetime; Coverage; Spatial Accuracy; Delay; Topology Management
INVOLVED IN THE ESTROGEN MODULATION OF THE PROLACTIN RESPONSE TO ORPHANIN FQ / NOCICEPTIN by Brandi Nicole Johnson The role of estrogen in modulating Orphanin

DOPAMINERGIC MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN THE ESTROGEN MODULATION OF THE PROLACTIN RESPONSE TO ORPHANIN FQ/NOCICEPTIN by Brandi Nicole Johnson The role of estrogen in modulating Orphanin FQ/Nocicpetin (OFQ/N) induced prolactin secretion and the involvement of hypothalamic dopaminergic neurons involved in this response were investigated. In ovariectomized Sprague-Dawley rats, estrogen treatment produced an increase in basal circulating prolactin levels and pituitary prolactin content. The prolactin response to OFQ/N was 6-8 times greater in estrogen-replaced rats compared to placebo-treated controls. Also, OFQ/N produced a rapid, transient inhibition of tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic (TIDA) neuronal activity which preceded the prolactin secretory response in the estrogen-replaced rats only. The results of this study indicate that estrogen is necessary for the prolactin response to OFQ/N and estrogen mediates this effect at the pituitary and hypothalamic levels by increasing pituitary prolactin content and sensitizing TIDA neurons to OFQ/N-induced inhibition of activity. These results suggest that estrogen is responsible for the gender differences in the prolactin response to OFQ/N. DOPAMINERGIC MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN THE ESTROGEN MODULATION OF THE PROLACTIN RESPONSE TO ORPHANIN FQ/NOCICEPTIN
Monitoring Electromagnetic Field Emitted by High Frequencies Home Utilities

The aim of this study is to provide measurements of the electromagnetic field due to the ‘electrosmog’ emitted by some home electronic devices in the range of microwaves frequencies. The enormous increase in the use of mobile telephony throughout the world, microwave ovens, cordless phones and other high frequency home utilities suggests accurate measures of microwaves power density emitted by such devices to check that the exposure limits suggested by the In-ternational Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection are not exceeded. Measurements were carried out by a Narda SRM 3000. Spectrum analysis mode was chosen as a preliminary analysis to quantify the frequencies intensities of electromagnetic waves. Time analysis was successively conducted to operate selective and continuous measurements at a fixed frequency, allowing temporal check of power density and the related electromagnetic field components emitted by high frequencies home electronic devices.
Identification of the variability of a common bean collection through morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular relationships

The present study was carried out in Corpoica, C.I. Tibaitata (Mosquera, Colombia) at an altitude of 2,540 m a.s. l. in six environments composed of different seasons and at an altitude of 1,485 m a.s. l. in the International Center of Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Calima, Colombia. Morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular descriptors were used to estimate the genetic variability between 36 Colombian bean accessions, of which four were wild and the others cultivated. Diacol Calima (Nueva Granada from the Andean gene pool) and ICA Pijao (Mesoamerican from the mesoamerican gene pool) were used as controls. The combined analysis of the qualitative and quantitative variables was carried out with Gower distance and an unified data matrix with 315 descriptors. The relationships between the genetic distances differentiated the bean collection into two genetic groups: Andean and Mesoamerican. The following groups of characteristics presented high association: total morphology with qualitative morphology ( P =0.91), physiological evaluation with grouped evaluation of morphological, quantitative, and physiological characteristics ( P =0.91), characterization of isoenzymatic and molecular markers with respect to just molecular markers ( P =0.99) and the characterization of all the studied markers in relation to the molecular and isoenzymatic markers ( P =0.88).
Belowground Carbohydrate Reserves of Mature Southern Pines Reflect Seedling Strategy to Evolutionary History of Disturbance

Carbohydrate reserves provide advantages for mature trees experiencing frequent disturbances; however, it is unclear if selective pressures operate on this characteristic at the seedling or mature life history stage. We hypothesized that natural selection has favored carbohydrate reserves in species that have an evolutionary history of frequent disturbance and tested this using three southern pine species that have evolved across a continuum of fire frequencies. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) roots exhibited higher maximum starch concentrations than slash (P. elliottii) and loblolly (P. taeda), which were similar. Longleaf also relied on starch reserves in roots more than slash or loblolly, depleting 64, 41, and 23 mg g−1 of starch, respectively, between seasonal maximum and minimum, which represented 52%, 45%, and 26% of reserves, respectively. Starch reserves in stems did not differ among species or exhibit temporal dynamics. Our results suggest that an evolutionary history of disturbance partly explains patterns of carbohydrate reserves observed in southern pines. However, similarities between slash and loblolly indicate that carbohydrate reserves do not strictly follow the continuum of disturbance frequencies among southern pine, but rather reflect the different seedling strategies exhibited by longleaf compared to those shared by slash and loblolly. We propose that the increased carbohydrate reserves in mature longleaf may simply be a relic of selective pressures imposed at the juvenile stage that are maintained through development, thus allowing mature trees to be more resilient and to recover from chronic disturbances such as frequent fire.
The need of data harmonization to derive robust empirical relationships between soil conditions and vegetation

Abstract Question: Is it possible to improve the general applicability and significance of empirical relationships between abiotic conditions and vegetation by harmonization of temporal data? Location: The Netherlands. Methods: Three datasets of vegetation, recorded after periods with different meteorological conditions, were used to analyze relationships between soil moisture regime (expressed by the mean spring groundwater level – MSLt calculated for different periods) and vegetation (expressed by the mean indicator value for moisture regime Fm). For each relevé, measured groundwater levels were interpolated and extrapolated to daily values for the period 1970–2000 by means of an impulse-response model. Sigmoid regression lines between MSLt and Fm were determined for each of the three datasets and for the combined dataset. Results: A measurement period of three years resulted in significantly different relationships between Fm and MSLt for the three datasets (F-test, p < 0.05). The three regression lines only coincided for the mean spring groundwater level computed over the period 1970–2000 (MSLclimate) and thus provided a general applicable relationship. Precipitation surplus prior to vegetation recordings strongly affected the relationships. Conclusions: Harmonization of time series data (1) eliminates biased measurements, (2) results in generally applicable relationships between abiotic and vegetation characteristics and (3) increases the goodness of fit of these relationships. The presented harmonization procedure can be used to optimize many relationships between soil and vegetation characteristics.
Immunochromatography versus microscopy for the identification of Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvum in human feces.

The purpose of this study has been to evaluate the benefits of rapid immunochromatographic qualitative assays, compared to classic microscopy, in the diagnosis of giardiasis. From a total number of 960 specimens received for ova & parasites examination during one year, 61.98% (95% CI 58.91-65.05%) arrived at our laboratory with a presumptive diagnosis of lambliasis/giardiasis. Only for 0.94% (95% CI 0.33-1.55%) of the total 960 specimens this diagnosis has been confirmed by microscopy and RIDA Quick Cryptosporidium/Giardia Combi – immune chromatography qualitative assay. There was a 100% concordance both in sensitivity and specificity between assays, when a total number of 3-4 samples/patient were analyzed by microscopy. The benefits of using a rapid assay were its higher sensitivity when a single sample (rapidity) was analyzed, due to antigen detection even when difficult to identify cysts, with modified morphology, were present. The limits of rapid assays were both objective, due to antigen persistence several days after treatment, and subjective, due to the low concordance between presumptive clinical diagnosis and certified parasitological diagnosis. In turn, the limits of microscopy were the need for an experienced microscopy technician and the fact that microscopy is a time consuming procedure.
Cultural Dance and Health

Abstract Physical activity has many physical and mental health outcomes. However, physical inactivity continues to be common. Dance, specifically cultural dance, is a type of physical activity that may appeal to some who are not otherwise active and may he a form of activity that is more acceptable than others in certain cultures. The purpose of this paper is to summarize literature describing the health benefits of cultural dance. Several databases were searched to identify articles published within the last 15 years, describing physical and mental health outcomes of cultural dance or interventions that incorporated cultural dance. In the seven articles reviewed there is evidence to support the use of cultural dance for preventing excessive weight gain and cardiac risk, reducing stress, and increasing life satisfaction. Cultural dance is a practical form of physical activity to promote physical and mental health among subgroups of populations that often have lower amounts of participation in physical activity. There is a need for additional research to isolate how and in what ways cultural dance can be offered to promote physical activity. Practitioners should consider nontraditional forms of physical activity, offered in partnership with community organizations.