Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperoxia avoidance and aggregation behavior in C. elegans

Living in the soil, C. elegans can move in three dimensions in search for food. To navigate, it partly uses oxygen levels as a description of its habitat. Oxygen tension may indicate presence of microbial food and location with respect to the surface, where oxygen is 21%. The N2 groups of C. elegans strains differ in their oxygen responses from other strains of this species collected in the wild. This difference is due to a polymorphism in the NPY receptor homologe, NPR-1. The result is two distinct feeding strategies; solitary feeding and feeding in groups (aggregation). NPR-1 antagonizes hyperoxia avoidance on food and N2-like strains, carrying a gain of function mutation in the receptor, feed alone and do not respond strongly to changes in ambient oxygen. In contrast, strains carrying the ancestral form of the receptor, NPR-1 215F, exhibit robust hyperoxia avoidance. These animals aggregate on food, at least in part because animals create a low oxygen environment as they form groups. In paper I we examined how hyperoxia avoidance can trigger aggregation. We showed that when animals encounter a rise in oxygen they initiate a reversal and turn. We showed that similar behaviors direct the animal to stay in an aggregate, and that aggregated animals create a sharp oxygen gradient. We further showed that soluble guanylate cyclases, expressed in the body cavity neurons, and TRPV channels expressed in the nociceptive neurons ASH and ADL, regulate these behaviors. ---text removed from public version--In paper III we showed that a polymorphic locus, encoding the neuroglobin glb-5, regulates hyperoxia avoidance. The ancestral allele, glb-5(Haw), acts in the body cavity neurons and tunes the dynamic range of these neurons to a narrow range close 21% oxygen. --text removed from public version--The data presented in this thesis thus provide novel insights into oxygen sensing in a metazoan, and highlight how oxygen responses promote aggregation behavior of a nematode.
THE BIOSULFIDE PROCESS: INTEGRATED BIOLOGICAL/CHEMICAL ACID MINE DRAINAGE TREATMENT - RESULTS OF LABORATORY PILOTING

The need for an economically viable treatment alternative to lime neutralization of acid mine drainage (AMD) has led to the investigation of many processes, including those utilizing biological sulfate reduction. Realization of the limitations imposed by conventional sulfate reduction motivated the development of the Biosulfide process over the last six years. The Biosulfide process separates the chemical precipitation of sulfides from the biological conversion of sulfate to sulfide. Metals can be removed selectively and separately, allowing for the recovery of saleable products and the isolation of hazardous sludges. This paper concerns the evaluation of the process in a 75 hour continuous pilot run of a 100 L system at the Triton Development Corporation laboratory. The objective of this demonstration was to operate and evaluate a continuous, integrated chemical/biological AMD treatment system depending solely on microbially-generated products for stream treatment. Results are included that demonstrate the effectiveness of the process in treating a strong AMD sample (pH 2.45, 20 g/L S04", 4 g/L total metals) to strict discharge requirements while isolating metal co-products. In addition to being an effective AMD treatment method, the Biosulfide process has also demonstrated exceptional reliability and ease of operation through more than a year of uninterrupted bioreactor operation, and ten months of semi-continuous and continuous chemical stage operation in the 100 L pilot system. Additional
Internet of things based intelligent street lighting system for smart city

This project aims for designing and executing the advanced development in embedded systems for energy saving of street lights. Currently, we have a manual system where the street lights will be switched ON in the evening before the sunsets and they are switched OFF in the next day morning after there is sufficient light on the outside[1]. But the actual timing for these lights to be switched ON is when there is absolute darkness. With this, the power will be wasted up to some extent. This project gives solution for electrical power wastage [2]. Also, the manual operation of the lighting system is completely eliminated. The proposed system provides a solution for energy saving. This is achieved by sensing and approaching a vehicle using an IR transmitter and IR Receiver couple. Upon sensing the movement the sensor transmits the data to the microcontroller which furthermore the Light to switch ON [4]. Similarly, as soon as the vehicle or an obstacle goes away the Light gets switched OFF as the sensor senses an object at the same time the status(ON/OFF) of the street light can be accessed from anywhere and anytime through the internet. This project is implemented with the smart embedded system which controls the street lights based on detection of vehicles or any other obstacles on the street.W he never the obstacle is detected on the street within the specified time the light will get automatically ON/OFF according to the obstacle detection and the same information can be accessed through the internet. The real-time information of the street light(ON/OFF Status) can be accessed from any time, anywhere through internet.
"Do non-R&D intensive industries benefit of spillovers from public research? The case of the Agro-food industry

The agro-food industry is a sector in which the percentage of firms which have done innovation in the past three years is high, whereas they have a low research capacity. According to an innovation survey (1986-90) in France, 70% of agro-food firms which responded in the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), reported innovations while less than 5% of them had internal research capacities. Our paper models estimates of determinants of innovation in the agro-food industry. Based on the comparison of several French databases (annual survey on firms, on innovation, on R&D in firms, on R&D in academic labs), it explores the determinants of innovation: sources of innovation (as defined in CIS), spillovers from public research and spillovers from other firms. Since agro-food firms have a low absorptive capacity, we assume that the transfer of knowledge from public research or from large firms to agro-food firms is based on geographical proximity. The paper presents three main results: 1. Intensity of innovation (defined as radical innovation versus incremental innovation) is linked with the presence of public research in life science in the same region. 2. Spillovers form academic laboratories do exist even if firms have no absorptive capacity.
A Survey on Various Manet Routing ProtocolsBased on Anonymous Communication

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are a self configurable, Wireless and infrastructure independent network for mobile devices. MANETs have grown to be a challenging and attracting choice for disaster-response and military operations. Due to its ad hoc behaviour of networks, it permits fast operation and doesn’t necessitate predefined network infrastructure. In such networks anonymous communications is a challenging topic which permits to exchange messages over communication parties on a network by without disclosing their identifiers of network to each other or to third parties. This type of Anonymous communications can be revealed by means of traffic analysis. Traffic analysis is an advanced approach which exposes relationships between users of anonymous communication systems. In this paper several anonymity enhancing techniques are surveyed for the protection of anonymity communication in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The present survey includes various attacks and its corresponding protocols used for mitigating anonymous communication in MANETs. Finally comparative measures of each method are presented which provides the significance and limitations of each protocol on various attacks in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs).
Sleep Hygiene Index: reliability and validity of the Persian version in the male population

Introduction: Inadequate sleep hygiene may result in difficulties in daily functioning; therefore, reliable scales are important to measure sleep hygiene. The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) in the male population. Methods: In this study, 787 men, who were selected by cluster random sampling, filled out the SHI, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). A subset of the participants (20%) completed SHI after a 4–6 week interval to measure test–retest reliability. Then, the Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients of SHI against PSQI, ESS, and ISI were computed to demonstrate the construct validity of SHI. The factor structure of SHI was evaluated by explanatory factor analysis. Results: The interclass correlation coefficient was 0.85, and SHI was found to have a good test–retest reliability (r = 0.86, p < 0.01). The SHI was positively correlated with the total score of PSQI (r = 0.62, P < 0.01), ESS (r = 0.63, P < 0.01) and ISI (r = 0.61, P < 0.01). Exploratory factor analysis extracted three factors, namely “sleep–wake cycle behaviors” (four items), “bedroom factors” (three items), and “behaviors affecting sleep” (six items). Conclusion: The Persian version of SHI can be considered a reliable tool for evaluating sleep hygiene in the male population in Persian countries.
Perelman's entropy functional at Type I singularities of the Ricci flow

We study blow-ups around fixed points at Type I singularities of the Ricci flow on closed manifolds using Perelman's W-functional. First, we give an alternative proof of the result obtained by Naber and Enders-M\"{u}ller-Topping that blow-up limits are non-flat gradient shrinking Ricci solitons. Our second and main result relates a limit W-density at a Type I singular point to the entropy of the limit gradient shrinking soliton obtained by blowing-up at this point. In particular, we show that no entropy is lost at infinity during the blow-up process.
Governance, CEO Power, and Acquisitions

We examine whether governance matters for acquisitions. Acquisitions are frequently beneficial to the CEO of the acquiring firm, but can often be value-destructive to acquirer shareholders and other stakeholders such as employees. We find that corporate governance does not appear to influence whether a firm will become an acquirer after controlling for CEO power, but superior governance is associated with greater relatedness between the target and acquirer. We also find that the effect of CEO power on a firm’s acquisition activity varies according to the source of that power. Our results suggest that the relationships between governance, CEO power, and acquisition activity are complex.
Evaluation of the scientific impact, productivity and biological age based upon the h‐index in three Latin American countries: the materials science case

We discuss the scientific impact of Latin American scientists in the field of materials science. The analysis is based on the h‐index as the scientometric index used to quantify the scientific productivity of an individual. In particular, we focus our analysis in México, Chile and Colombia. We compare the level of productivity between all these countries. We also analyzed the h‐index as function of the biological age, by using the first year of publication of a given scientists as a reference and discussed the general distribution of its quantification. We do not find a clear relationship between these two quantities. Based in our results we propose some political measures that these countries could implement to improve productivity as well as scientific development in this field.
Design of a Fiber Bragg Based Measurement System for Strain and Temperature Monitoring

The design of a fiber optic sensing system will be presented. The goal is to develop a measurement system that will be deployed in a manufacturing or field environment. The sensing elements will be formed from Bragg gratings and from Fabry‐Perot interferometers constructed from fiber Bragg gratings. The novelty of the method presented in this study lies in the simplicity and speed in which stress and temperature can be simultaneously measured.
GENE FLOW IN FOREST TREES: HOW FAR DO GENES REALLY TRAVEL? 1

Gene flow is one of the most important factors shaping the genetic structure of populations. In recent decades, a number of studies have addressed issues of contemporary gene flow in forest trees, including pollen and seed dispersal, and gene immigration into natural and breeding populations (primarily seed orchards). Gene flow might be considered either beneficial or deleterious from the point of view of a conservation geneticist or a tree breeder. Extensive gene dispersal within local populations promotes panmixis and reduces family structuring in natural regeneration, thus reducing the potential for inbreeding. However, gene flow may reduce fitness of offspring if genes come from populations maladapted to the habitat of offspring establishment. Furthermore, substantial gene flow limits divergence among populations that might otherwise occur because of genetic drift and directional selection, and may enhance genetic diversity within populations. The robustness and discriminatory power of parentage analysis have been significantly improved in recent years due to advances in molecular marker technology and analytical techniques. However, knowledge of gene flow in forest trees is still unsatisfactory due to continued shortcomings of available markers, inherent limitations of statistical models, and the anecdotal nature of many gene flow studies, which are typically limited in scope. Another limitation is that pollen gene flow is usually estimated by sampling seeds from a number of mother trees. Restricting sampling to seeds seems adequate when evaluating gene flow in seed collections to be used for artificial reforestation. However, in naturally regenerating populations, the most important parameter is the proportion of immigrant alleles in established seedlings. If natural selection favours local genotypes, this should be reflected in the difference between potential gene flow measured at the seed stage and realized gene flow measured in established seedlings. Realized gene flow is a complex phenomenon that depends on a large number of deterministic and stochastic variables. Profound understanding of effective gene flow observed at the landscape level may require joint efforts in population genetics, ecology, advanced multivariate statistics, and spatial simulation modelling.
Software Agents to Suport Decision Making in Design and Execution Planning

One of the particular advantages of the Last Planner System is to bring downstream players, for example construction firms, into upstream design and planning phases in order to make optimal use of all available knowledge. This procedure is actually hindered in many countries by the existing governmental contracting rules. To overcome this problem and to be able to include downstream knowledge in earlier phases of the project a solution based on software agents is proposed. The objective is to devise the software architecture for a decision support system incorporating the Last Planner System as communication platform. As the software agents shall act for persons not available during a Last Planner session they must be integrated in the collaborative process. The paper discusses a concept for this problem based on a Multi-Agent System (MAS) modelling the communication process, and a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to provide different functionalities needed. The concept provides a corner stone for a computer-based simulation of the knowledge of actors who are not available in phases of the Last Planner process.
Leadership Level and Motivation of School Headship to Treatment of Teacher's Performance at High School 2 Seunagan

The research in this thesis is motivated by the leadership style of the principal. The most important element in realizing education progress in the school environment is the principal. Where the success of the school in improving the quality of education is the success of the principal in playing its role in the managerial side. A successful school principal is if he is able to understand the existence of the school as a complex and unique organization and is able to carry out the role of the principal as a person who is given the responsibility to lead the school. Furthermore, a very important element in education is the teacher. Teachers are a key element in the education system, especially in schools. So that with the leadership style of the teacher's principal, supervision and performance of a teacher will be a professional educator. The formulation of the problem in this thesis is how are the leadership style and motivation of the principal towards improving teacher performance at SMA Negeri 2 Seunagan. Research method: this research uses descriptive-analytic method with qualitative approach. The population in this study were all teachers at SMA Negeri 2 Seunagan. Data collection methods are in the form of conservation, questionnaire. Data analysis used is descriptive analysis. From the results of this study, the authors concluded that: (1) In his leadership the principal of SMA Negeri 2 Seunagan conducted several strategies to improve teacher performance, namely EDS (School Self Evaluation), Planning for teacher quality improvement in order to improve teacher performance. (2) The principal runs his function as a top manager, organizer, administrator, and supervisor so that he has carried out his duties well, giving encouragement to the teachers to actively work according to certain procedures and methods, so that the work runs smoothly and reaches the target. (3) A teacher does not only deliver the subject matter, but the teacher also motivates the students. At SMA Negeri 2 Seunagan, the teachers have provided motivation to the students, both those who have no achievements and those who have achieved achievements.
Temperature checks the Red Queen? Resistance and virulence in a fluctuating environment

Numerous studies have revealed genetic variation in resistance and susceptibility in host–parasite interactions and therefore the potential for frequency-dependent selection (Red Queen dynamics). Few studies, if any, have considered the abiotic environment as a mediating factor in these interactions. Using the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, and its fungal pathogen, Erynia neoaphidis, as a model host–parasite system, we demonstrate how temperature can mediate the expression of genotypic variation for susceptibility and virulence. Whilst previous studies have revealed among-clone variation in aphid resistance to this pathogen, we show that resistance rankings derived from assessments at one temperature, are not conserved across differing temperature regimes. We suggest that variation in environmental temperature, through its nonlinear impact on parasite virulence and host defence, may contribute to the general lack of evidence for frequency-dependent selection in field systems.
Racial Context, Black Immigration and the U.S. Black/White Health Disparity

The United States' black/white health gap is an important consequence of racial inequality. The gap is large, shows little signs of declining, and explanations have been limited by lack of theory and data. A new direction that offers potential for theoretical development is a focus on black immigrants, a group that shares the same racial status as U.S.-born blacks but experiences significantly better health. Using new data on the 2000-2002 National Health Interview Surveys, we disaggregate black immigrants by region of birth and develop a thesis that emphasizes the interplay of selectivity and racial context of origin for understanding health disparities among black Americans, namely that majority white contexts have deleterious health effects. The results indicate that grouping together foreign-born blacks conceals important health differentials among this population. Compared to U.S.-born blacks, black immigrants from minority white (Africa, South America) and racially mixed (West Indies) regions have superior health, while those from majority white (Europe) regions fare no better. A similar gradient exists among black immigrants, with Africans faring the best, followed by South Americans, then West Indians, with European blacks having the poorest health. Though these findings are not the definitive test of our theory, they are suggestive. They point us to understanding the mechanisms in the United States – racial context – that worsen the health and well being of black Americans, foreign- and native-born alike.
Powder Characterization and Optimization for Additive Manufacturing

Achieving the optimal quality for Additive Manufactured (AM) parts does not only depend on setting the right process parameters. Material feedstock also plays an important role when aiming for high performance products. The metal AM processes that are most applicable to industry, Powder Bed Fusion and Directed Energy Deposition, use metal powder as raw material. Therefore, controlling the quality and correctly characterizing the particles used in the process is a key step to successfully apply metal AM techniques. A correct flow of the powder and a constant apparent density over the build plate/substrate ensure a smooth process, less porosity and better surface resolution. In the present paper a methodology for AM powder characterization will be proposed, based on parameters like particle size distribution and shape, and experimental results will be presented. A series of representative materials from the above-mentioned techniques are studied to find the optimal particle parameters required in the metal AM processes.