Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Seasonal depletion of resources intensifies trophic interactions in subarctic freshwater fish communities

SUMMARY 1. Climate change in recent decades has resulted in an increase in both the density and diversity of consumers in subarctic freshwater ecosystems. Despite this, harsh winter conditions in the region limit productivity and may serve as a bottleneck driving trophic interactions within the fish community, potentially determining the outcome of climate change for resident biota. However, due to the difficulties in sampling during winter months, few studies have assessed seasonal variation in the ecological interactions between native and range-expanding species in subarctic regions. 2. We examined seasonal variation in activity, diet (stomach content) and resource use (d 13 C and d 15 N stable isotope ratios) of two fishes: the resident cold-water-adapted European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus L.) and the range-expanding cool-water-adapted ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua L.) in lakes with low and high consumer density. Results were contrasted with seasonal availability of benthic and pelagic resources and indirect measures of individual fitness, that is condition, growth and estimated lipid content (muscle elemental C : N ratio) of both species. 3. The effects of fish density were apparent in both the diet and resource use of whitefish, which altered their diet and displayed reduced stomach fullness during winter in high-density lakes. This was associated with an overall reduction in whitefish growth, condition and estimated lipid content in high-density lakes, which was especially pronounced during winter. 4. Ruffe utilised a greater proportion of profundal resources than whitefish in both summer and winter, potentially exploiting a vacant niche. Ruffe maintained condition and lipid reserves throughout the winter, highlighting the potential for further northward range expansion of the species. 5. Winter acts as a seasonal bottleneck in subarctic lakes, but assumptions that this bottleneck primarily selects against warmer-water-adapted invasive species such as ruffe may be too restrictive. The effects of seasonal resource depletion on fish condition and invertebrate density were most severe in lakes with a high density of fish, and in these conditions, the cold-water-adapted resident whitefish was most adversely affected.
A fire effects index for overall assessment of wildfire events in Greece

Greece is faced with increased wildfire activity on an annual basis. Large-scale wildfires along with limited economic resources do not allow application of rehabilitation measures for the vast majority of burned areas, and when restoration takes place it is not based on sound scientific evidence. A scientific approach is missing based on wildfire classification and overall assessment of fire effects. Severity of a wildfire is perceived by the authorities only from the total area burned. These facts prompted our research thoughts about the need for introducing a new ranking method that will be based on expert judgment, with scientific evaluation of what has happened and what it is expected to occur based on several fire related aspects and parameters. The backbone of our proposed Fire Ranking and Effects Index (FIRE Index) is the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) that is used to combine the scores of seven categories and 56 criteria that comprise them. These categories form two groups of effects: Environmental Fire Effects with three categories (Landscape and Vegetation; General Environment Impacts; Regeneration Potential/Vegetation Recovery); and Socioeconomic Fire Effects with four categories (Casualties and Fatalities; Destructions/Damages on Infrastructure; Economic Losses; Firefighting/Wildfire Confrontation). Each of the 56 criteria, along with four different general multipliers, describes a different anticipated fire effect. The magnitude of the effects is estimated by one or more persons/ assessors in a multi-level evaluation procedure. Then, AHP pair-wise comparisons are applied in two levels, i.e. within the criteria of each category and among the seven categories. Weighted scores of criteria are summed and normalized in a 0-100 scale; and the same procedure is applied on categories to calculate the final FIRE Index value. End-users are thus able to estimate the FIRE Index in a user-friendly, web-based platform that provides all the necessary feedback and literature justification, while conducting all the necessary calculations in the background.
Grassmannian Discriminant Maps (GDM) for Manifold Dimensionality Reduction with Application to Image Set Classification

In image set classification, a considerable progress has been made by representing original image sets on Grassmann manifolds. In order to extend the advantages of the Euclidean based dimensionality reduction methods to the Grassmann Manifold, several methods have been suggested recently which jointly perform dimensionality reduction and metric learning on Grassmann manifold to improve performance. Nevertheless, when applied to complex datasets, the learned features do not exhibit enough discriminatory power. To overcome this problem, we propose a new method named Grassmannian Discriminant Maps (GDM) for manifold dimensionality reduction problems. The core of the method is a new discriminant function for metric learning and dimensionality reduction. For comparison and better understanding, we also study a simple variations to GDM. The key difference between them is the discriminant function. We experiment on data sets corresponding to three tasks: face recognition, object categorization, and hand gesture recognition to evaluate the proposed method and its simple extensions. Compared with the state of the art, the results achieved show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
The Successional Change of Hollow Oaks Affects their Suitability for an Inhabiting Beetle, Osmoderma eremita

We assessed the presence/absence and population size of a threatened beetle, Osmoderma eremita, inhabiting hollow oaks (Quercus robur). Population sizes varied widely between trees (10% of the hollow trees hosted two thirds of the individuals), and increased with the volume of wood mould (= loose material of dead wood) and the height of the entrances. Population density (number of adult beetles per litre of wood mould) increased with decreasing growth rate of the trees. Trees with the largest O. eremita populations were 300–400 years old. Among hollow trees, the population sizes increased with tree age. This is at least partly due to the fact that the volume of wood mould increased with tree age. Both the size of the largest entrance hole and tree diameter were positively correlated with the estimated wood mould volume, and could thus be used as easily measured proxies for wood mould volume.
Logo Retrieval with Latent Semantic Analysis

The frequency and duration of the logo in broadcast are related to the measurement of advertisement effect. In this paper, we propose a novel logo retrieval approach based on latent semantic analysis. The 128 dimensional SIFT logo descriptors are extracted in the logo images to model the invariability against affine transformation, perspective transformations, occlusions and motion blur. The logo descriptors are clustered by k-means method to build the visual logo dictionary, and latent semantic indexing is used for logo retrieval. In addition, temporal continuity and dependency are considered to further improve the performance of logo retrieval. The experiments on the Worldcup 2006 sports video demonstrate the promising results of the proposed method.
Implementation of Monitoring System in Cloud Computing Using Agents

Scheduling and monitoring is the main challenge in cloud computing paradigm. Various methods have been proposed but they have their own pros and cons. The main challenge is distributive nature of the cloud computing that create the problem to implement the proper scheduling of the service (mainly SaaS) and their efficient monitoring. Various users have access the service of the cloud simultaneously and scheduling monitoring of at the same time is bit challenging. Proposed system has adopted the idea of software agent to gain the high efficiency in the same direction (scheduling and monitoring). This article presents the method for computing number of resources used and the solution for better elasticity and their efficient monitoring of the resources in the cloud which helps to gather analytical statistics of the resources currently held and will be used such a memory, number of instances and CPU. Proposed mechanism has influences from the working of Aneka framework. For evaluation of the proposed work, the components has been used, first the data set which is the web application (jsp) developed for testing in cloud environment. Then for monitoring and scheduling with software agent New Relic service has been used to customized the agent functionality to meet the propose systems requirement.
Associations and Conscious Beliefs Selective Exposure in Decided and Undecided Individuals : Differential Relations to Automatic

People often show a preference for information that confirms their attitudes and beliefs, and this tendency is reduced for opinions that are not held with conviction. The present study shows that both decided and undecided individuals show a tendency to selectively expose themselves to confirmatory information, albeit with different antecedents and consequences. Whereas selective exposure in decided participants was predicted by conscious beliefs and not by automatic associations, selective exposure in undecided participants was predicted by automatic associations and not by conscious beliefs. Moreover, selective exposure led undecided participants to adopt conscious beliefs that were in line with their preexisting automatic associations. Conversely, for decided participants, selective exposure shifted automatic associations in a direction that was in line with their preexisting conscious beliefs. Implications for decision making and mutual influences of automatic associations and conscious beliefs in attitude change are discussed.
Genetic diversity of Fusarium fujikuroi isolated from bakanae disease of rice on the basis of vegetative compatibility

Fusarium fujikuroi which was originally studied in Japan is a pathogen of bakanae disease of rice. The disease was recorded in almost all countries where rice is grown commercially, including Malaysia and Indonesia. A total of 79 strains of F. fujikuroi were isolated from rice plants showing typical bakanae symptoms from major granary areas in Malaysia and Indonesia. They were identified using morphological characteristics for species delimitation. The objective of this study was to investigate genetic diversity of the F. fujikuroi strains by generating nitrate nonutilizing (nit) mutants, followed by phenotyping on diagnostic media, and pairing the mutants on minimal media (MM). About 96.2% of the strains were identified as heterokaryon self-compatible (HSC) based on their ability to form a stable heterokaryon while the remaining 3.8% of the strains were classified as heterokaryon selfincompatible (HSI) based on their inability to form a heterokaryon, even after repeated attempts. Those HSC strains that paired by producing robust growth were classified in the same vegetative compatibility group (VCG). The bakanae strains of F. fujikuroi were grouped into 26 VCGs; the largest group was VCG A01 which comprised of 23 strains. Out of 26 VCGs, 12 VCGs contained more than one strain member, and 14 VCGs were represented by a single strain and were not compatible with other strains. The ratio of VCGs to strains of F. fujikuroi in these samples was 0.29. The strains of F. fujikuroi that caused bakanae disease of rice in Malaysia and Indonesia are genetically diverse based on their multiple VCGs.
ON DESCRIPTION OF COULOMB EFFECTS CAUSED BY DOPING IN AMORPHOUS AND DISORDERED ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTORS

Several attempts were devoted recently to theoretical interpretation of the experimentally established low efficiency of chemical doping in amorphous and organic semiconductors. Some of these attempts are based on calculations of the effect of Coulomb potentials of dopant species on charge carriers in the host material. We estimate the effect of the Coulomb centres introduced by doping on the charge carriers in localized states of the host system and show that there is very strong correlation between spatial positions of dopant ions and extra charge carriers, in particular, in lightly doped materials. Previous calculations carried out in the framework of such an approach neither take the charge neutrality of the system, nor screening effects into account.
A simple strategy to fabricate electrochemical sensor based on nickel nanoparticles modified glassy carbon electrode for the determination of glucose in urine

A non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor has been successfully fabricated using nickel nanoparticles as catalyst. Nickel nanoparticles were electrochemically deposited on a glassy carbon electrode surface by amperometric technique. Nickel nanoparticles modified glassy carbon electrode exhibited high catalytic activity for oxidation of glucose. The morphology of nickel nanoparticles was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Electrochemical behaviors of glucose were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry in alkaline aqueous solution. At the optimum conditions, the calibration curve for glucose determination was linear in the range of 0.05 – 5.00 mM and 5.00 – 17.5 mM and a low detection limit (S/N = 3) of 36 µM . Furthermore, the proposed sensor was successfully applied to analyze glucose level in human urine samples when compared with clinical laboratory measurements. The glucose sensor showed a strong potential as a sensitive non-enzymatic and may be used in the future for the clinical diagnostic tool.
The Influence of Perceived Service Quality on Relationship Marketing Orientations and Customers’ Buying Behavior in B2C Relationship from the Customer Perspective

Relationship marketing develops marketing productivity and builds up mutual values for customers and sellers by creating effective and long-lasting relationships. Considering factors that help to maintain such relationships can provide advantages for both parties. This study evaluates the impact of customer’s perceived service quality on relationship commitment, relationship satisfaction and trust as relationship marketing orientations and then examines the influence of these dimensions on customers’ buying behavior in a B2C relationship from the customer perspective in insurance industry. In order to conduct this study, a model is provided and empirically tested. Consequently, primary data has been collected by a properly designed questionnaire which was distributed among health insurance customers from three different hospitals in Malaysia and the secondary data has been collected through online data base such as Ebsco, Science Direct and Emerald. Afterward, SPSS (17.0) tool has been used and correlation and regression analysis determined the relationship between the model’s variables. Finally, results showed significant relationships between customers’ perceived service quality as independent variable and relationship satisfaction and trust as dependent variables. On the other hand, the relationship between customers’ perceived service quality and relationship commitment is not supported in this study. Meanwhile, based on the results, there is significant relationship between relationship commitment, relationship satisfaction and trust and the customers buying behavior in a B2C relationship.
Demonstration of silicon-on-insulator coherent receiver for radio-over-fiber applications

Jose D. SARMIENTO-MERENGUEL1*, Jochem VERBIST3, Jing ZHANG2,4, Bart MOENECLAEY3, Johan Bauwelinck3, Xin Yin3, Robert HALIR1, Alejandro ORTEGAMOÑUX1, Íñigo MOLINA-FERNÁNDEZ1, Gunther ROELKENS2,4. 1Universidad de Málaga, Dept. de Ingeniería de Comunicaciones, ETSI Telecomunicación, Campus de Teatinos s/n, Málaga, 29071, Spain 2Photonics Research Group, Dep. INTEC, UGent-imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium 3IDLab, Dep. INTEC, UGent-imec, 9052 Ghent, Belgium 4Center for Nanoand Biophotonics, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium *jdsm@ic.uma. es
Host-Specific Toxin Production by the Tomato Target Leaf Spot Pathogen Corynespora cassiicola

The culture filtrate (CF) of Corynespora cassiicola, the causal agent of target leaf spot of tomato, produced visible small, pinpoint, water-soaked lesions on the lower surface of wounded, detached leaves after incubation for 48 h. The extraction, isolation and purification of C. cassiicola tomato (CCT) toxin was achieved by anion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. Treatments of the CF with Diaion HP-20 resin and Cosmosil C18-OPN gel were found to be highly effective. The toxin purified partially by cosmosil gel filtration was highly active against the tomato cultivar Momotaro used in the bioassay test, and the fraction eluted with 50% methanol showed toxicity only on the tomato plant. However, in the bioassay of the fractions after Sephadex LH-20 gel filtration no toxicity could be detected. Moreover, methanol fractions (40% and 60%) of the culture filtrate extracted by Sep-Pak cartridge were subjected to high performance liquid chromatography systems. The bioactive fraction (40% methanol) selected for analysis was eluted as double peaks. The results showed that C. cassiicola produced a host-specific toxin during colonization of tomato leaves and disease incidence.
Nanotoxicity for E. Coli and Characterization of Silver Quantum Dots Produced by Biosynthesis with Eichhornia crassipes

Nanomaterials are widely used in health and biomedical applications, however, only a few studies investigate their toxic effects. The present report signifies a contribution to the study of the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on E. coli cells, which is a model organism of anthropogenic pollution. The toxicity of nanoparticles depends on their chemical and surface properties, shape and size. Nanoparticles that have the same chemical composition but different shapes or sizes might have different effects on cells. In this work, Ag nanoparticles were biosynthesized with an Eichhornia crassipes biomass, and it was demonstrated for the first time, that the amounts of hydrolysable tannins in this plant, are directly related to the size, shape, structure and composition of the Ag nanoparticles ; furthermore, the toxic effect was studied using E. coli cell culture. The EC was divided in three sections, i.e. roots, stems and leaves. Particle aggregation seems to be influenced by the amount of tannins present in the biomass. For each plant part, the amounts of hydrolysable tannins were determined, the highest amounts of these chemicals were present in the leaves, and hence these Ag nanoparticles dissolutions were used for the nanotoxicity experiments. The cytotoxicity of Ag nanoparticles in a suspension was tested using the Ag nanoparticles synthesized with leaves, against Escherichia Coli ATCC 25992 where the concentration that inhibited 100% of bacterial growth, was 5 mg/L in contrast with a commercial solution which needed 10mg/L of Ag. For the most part, the Ag nanoparticles seemed to be of a nearly spherical shape, although on closer examination were determined to be mainly polyhedral. Leaves biomass, produced mainly quantum dot nanoparticles with sizes below 10 nm and the Ag nanoparticles were mostly AgO. The cytotoxicity of Ag NPs in a suspension tested using the Ag nanoparticles on E. coli was highly effective towards inhibition of bacterial growth.
Development of Miniaturized Pneumatic Artificial Muscle for Surgical Device

Robotic surgical tools used in minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) require reliable actuators for precise positioning and control. Miniature pneumatic artificial muscles (MPAM) appear most suited for actuating surgical devices because of their inert nature, high force to weight ratio and fast actuation. However, MPAMs are not readily available and pose considerable challenge in their design and control. In this regard, we develop a miniaturized air muscles with outer diameter of ~1.2 mm. The developed MPAMs have high contraction ratio of about 22% and can provide pull force in excess of 5N at a supply pressure of 0.83 MPa. In this paper, we present the details of the developed experimental set-up, experimental data on contraction and force as a function of applied pressure and characterization of the MPAM. Furthermore, the details of the design and experiments with novel endoscopic surgical tool that uses the developed MPAMs for improved dexterity and position control are presented.
LV 2 Atoms : A Data Model for Real-Time Audio Plugins

This paper introduces the LV2 Atom extension, a simple yet powerful data model designed for advanced control of audio plugins or other real-time applications. At the most basic level, an atom is a standard header followed by a sequence of bytes. A standard type model can be used for representing structured data which is meaningful across projects. This model is currently used by several projects for various applications including state persistence, time synchronisation, and network-transparent plugin control. Atoms are intended to form the basis of future standard protocols to increase the power of host:plugin, plugin:plugin, and UI:plugin interfaces.
PORTABLE MICROFLUIDIC-OPTOELECTRONIC PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD FOR ISOTACHOPHORESIS APPLICATIONS

We demonstrate an integrated and portable USB powered micro-fluidic-opto-electronic printed circuit board to perform analytes separation and detection with isotachophoresis (ITP). The device is a biochemical lab-on-a-board consisting of a microfluidic layer, a high voltage generation chip for electrophoresis separation, LED light source with a CMOS image sensor and digital signal processing. The use of heterogeneous integration through lamination to integrate dissimilar materials and devices on printed circuit board (PCB) is demonstrated. Digital signal processing algorithms enabled fluorescence detection with a high signal to noise ratio without needing sophisticated extra optical components.
A Feature Extraction Method Based on VMD and RDT and Its Application in Engine Crankshaft Bearing Fault

The vibration signal of the engine contains strong background noise and many kinds of modulating components, which is difficult to diagnose. Variational mode decomposition (VMD) is a recently introduced adaptive signal decomposition algorithm with a solid theoretical foundation and good noise robustness compared with empirical mode decomposition (EMD). VMD can effectively avoid endpoint effect and modal aliasing. However, VMD cannot effectively eliminate the random noise in the signal, so the random decrement technique is introduced to solve the problem. Based on the crankshaft bearing fault simulation experiment, the four kinds of wear state vibration signals are decomposed by VMD, and the modal components with smaller permutation entropy are selected as fault components. Then the fault component is processed by the random decrement technique, and the Hilbert envelope spectrum of the fault component is obtained. Compared with the fault feature extraction method based on EMD and EEMD, the feature extraction results of the proposed method are better than those of the above two methods. The simulation analysis and the simulation test of the crankshaft bearing fault verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.