Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy improvement program for VMap 1 to Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program ( MGCP ) using artificial neural networks

Deeply committed and involved in international geospatial production military groups, like the Multinational Geospatial Co-production Program (MGCP), the Army Geographic Institute is assessing the spatial accuracy of Vector Smart Level 1 (VMap 1), so that product can serve as the base for the production of the Portuguese national territory, according to the standards approved by all MGCP nations. In order to evaluate the positional, attribute and temporal accuracy of the data, a process was developed to check the suitability in relation to a densification from the base information required by 1: 100k scale MGCP project cells. Simultaneous tests were made in order to determine the uncertainty of positional and attribute elements in the main features of VMap 1, to evaluate the applicability of the data in both products. An expert system using Artificial Neural Networks to improve the accuracy of data from VMap1 database and allowing its integration with MGCP database, in a common environment, is proposed and analyzed.
Morphology, metabolism and behaviour: responses of three fishes with different lifestyles to acute hypoxia

SUMMARY 1. Behavioural responses to changing environments affect community composition, so the identiﬁca-tion of associations between environmental gradients, behavioural traits and physiological traitsmakes a signiﬁcant contribution to the quest for trait-based rules of community change.2. We tested the hypothesis that ﬁsh morphology and lifestyle are associated with metabolic rate,hence oxygen demand, and behavioural response to gradual hypoxia [low dissolved oxygen (DO)],using respirometry and behavioural experiments. Three species fell along different points of thefast–slow lifestyle continuum: Melanotaenia ﬂuviatilis, a pelagic ﬁsh adapted to endurance swimming,lies at the fast end of the lifestyle continuum, while Mogurnda adspersa, a benthic ﬁsh adapted to burstswimming, lies at the other end. The benthopelagic Hypseleotris sp. has an intermediate lifestyle.3. Standard and routine metabolic rates varied strongly among the species and were associated withlifestyle according to the inequality M. ﬂuviatilis > Hypseleotris > M. adspersa. As DO declined,aquatic surface respiration behaviour also varied signiﬁcantly among the species and indicated asensitivity to hypoxia described by the same inequality. As hypoxia ensued, changes in habitat werealso linked to lifestyle, but changes in activity level among species were not neatly correlated withlifestyle.4. Overall, our experiments imply that there are signiﬁcant links between morphology, lifestyle,metabolism and behavioural response to hypoxia in these three species of ﬁsh. Keywords: animal behaviour, community ecology, ecophysiology, fresh water, functional traits
Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Recognizing System‐Initiated Engagement as Interaction Type

We posit that the well‐established interaction type “toolbox” currently providing the four interaction types Instructing, Conversing, Manipulating, and Exploring should be expanded to include a fifth interaction type, Responding, that accounts for user engagements in response to a system‐initiated engagement request. This expansion reflects that increasingly, smart systems request input from users without having been prompted by them, which is the essence of the existing interaction types. Systems utilizing the Responding interaction type proactively seek input from users in situations where said input is required.
Oxidation of extracellular cysteines by mercury chloride reduces TRPV1 activity in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons

Transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) receptor plays an important role as a molecular detector of noxious signals in primary sensory neurons. Activity of TRPV1 can be modulated by the change in the environment such as redox state and extracellular cations. In the present study, we investigated the effect of the mercury chloride (HgCl2) on the activity of TRPV1 in rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons using whole-cell patch clamp technique. Extracellular HgCl2 reversibly reduced the magnitudes of capsaicin-activated currents (I cap ) in DRG neurons in a dose-dependent manner. The blocking effect of HgCl2 was prevented by pretreatment with the reducing agent dithiothreitol (DTT). Inhibition of I cap by HgCl2 was abolished by point mutation of individual cysteine residues located on the extracellular surface of TRPV1. These results suggest that three extracellular cysteines of TRPV1, Cys616, Cys634 and Cys621, are responsible for the oxidative modulation of I cap by HgCl2.
Determinants of hunting rental prices: A hedonic analysis

Abstract The right to hunt on a specific area is a complex leisure good including a number of elements, each of which is itself a tangible or intangible consumer good. This article examines factors influencing the price of area-specific hunting rentals as revealed through the accounts of 120 private Danish forest enterprises. Three hedonic models are presented. They include five or six parameters, their adjusted R 2 values range from 0.46 to 0.50 and the standard deviations of the residuals are €12.77–13.86 ha−1. Evidence was found that the price of hunting rentals increases with the proportion of oak and other broadleaves, indicating that hunters appreciate structural diversity in the forest. In addition, the average rent per hectare was observed to decrease when the proportion of the area rented out for hunting increases.
Potential Reproductive Rates and the Operation of Sexual Selection

In most animals, members of one sex compete more intensely for mates than members of the other sex, and show a greater development of secondary sexual traits. The relative intensity of mating competition in the two sexes depends on the operational sex ratio (OSR) (the ratio of males that are ready to mate to females that are ready to mate) at the site and times when mating occurs. The extent and direction of biases in the OSR is closely related to the potential rates of reproduction that individual males and females can achieve, although the distribution of the two sexes in space and time, sex differences in development time or life expectancy, and biases in the sex ratio at birth or hatching can also be important. The potential rates of reproduction in the two sexes are, in turn, affected by the proportion of time and energy expended by male and female parents on their progeny, though other factors may constrain reproductive rate in one or both sexes. We outline a simple model of the factors affecting the OSR, where relative parental expenditure by the two sexes and the adult sex ratio are fixed, and a more complex model where the adult sex ratio varies in relation to the reproductive activity of the two sexes. This framework for relating sex differences in mating competition to the OSR, potential reproductive rates, and parental expenditure differs from Triver's concept of the relation between parental investment and mating competition in three ways: first, it identifies the OSR as the immediate factor determining which sex completes most intensely for mates; second, it recognizes that factors other than the future fitness costs of rearing offspring can affect the potential reproductive rate of the two sexes; third, it suggests an empirical measure (potential reproductive rate) that can be estimated in natural populations and used to predict the distribution of mating competition.
Firsthand Opiates Abuse on Social Media: Monitoring Geospatial Patterns of Interest Through a Digital Cohort

In the last decade drug overdose deaths reached staggering proportions in the US. Besides the raw yearly deaths count that is worrisome per se, an alarming picture comes from the steep acceleration of such rate that increased by 21% from 2015 to 2016. While traditional public health surveillance suffers from its own biases and limitations, digital epidemiology offers a new lens to extract signals from Web and Social Media that might be complementary to official statistics. In this paper we present a computational approach to identify a digital cohort that might provide an updated and complementary view on the opioid crisis. We introduce an information retrieval algorithm suitable to identify relevant subspaces of discussion on social media, for mining data from users showing explicit interest in discussions about opioid consumption in Reddit. Moreover, despite the pseudonymous nature of the user base, almost 1.5 million users were geolocated at the US state level, resembling the census population distribution with a good agreement. A measure of prevalence of interest in opiate consumption has been estimated at the state level, producing a novel indicator with information that is not entirely encoded in the standard surveillance. Finally, we further provide a domain specific vocabulary containing informal lexicon and street nomenclature extracted by user-generated content that can be used by researchers and practitioners to implement novel digital public health surveillance methodologies for supporting policy makers in fighting the opioid epidemic.
Spouses of Patients with Dementia

Abstract Caregiver spouses struggle to cope with the multiple demands of caregiving and complexities of medical care. In this article, the emotional, marital, attachment, and spiritual aspects of spousal caregiving for patients with dementia are addressed. This paper explores what keeps spouses together during this devastating illness. The literature has been reviewed to identify value systems that enable spouses to continue caregiving in these challenging circumstances. Articles were targeted that focus on the psychological and spiritual meaning of the marital bond, and its disruption when a spouse develops dementia. Recommendations for the clinical management of caregiver burden emerge from a pluralistic understanding that encompasses such constructs as “quid pro quo”; commitment and family solidarity; holding on to the familiar versus “letting go”; rupture and repair of the marital bond; mastery of separation-individuation; spirituality; changes in the sexual relationship; and reaching out for emotional support. Techniques are highlighted to help couples deal with loss, and changes in communication and intimacy. A multidimensional approach by the geriatric mental health team is emphasized in order to provide optimal care to caregiver spouses.
Changes in home range size of African lions in relation to pride size and prey biomass in a semi-arid savanna

Within-population studies are needed to investigate the extent of, and the factors underlying, intraspecific variation in home range size. We used data from 12 female and 8 male adult lions instrumented with GPS radio-collars to describe the ranging behaviour of lions in a population from a dystrophic semi-arid savanna, Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. We measured prey availability at the home range scale in 2003, 2004, and 2005. For females, home range size increased as pride biomass increased, which is strongly suggestive of expansionism. Once controlled for pride biomass, home range size decreased as prey biomass increased. Pride ranges responded to changes in food abundance on an annual timescale rather than on a seasonal timescale. Female home range size was influenced by the abundance of kudu in the early dry season, whereas it was influenced by buffalo and young elephant abundance in the late dry season. This study shows that female home range size is mainly driven by the size of the pride, but also by prey abundance. Furthermore, female seasonal home range size may be determined, not only by prey abundance, but also by prey dispersion in the landscape. Home range size of males was driven by both prey biomass and the density of female prides.
Wearable Device for Blind

Wearable Assistive Devices for Blind is an embedded device dedicated for the blind or visually impaired people. Assistive devices represent potential aids for people with physical and sensory disabilities that might lead to improvements in the quality of life. For them, all that information, which exists in the daily life as newspapers, banknotes, schedule of train, books, postal letters, is not easily accessible. Our aim is to build an automatic text reading assistant which combines small-size, mobility and low cost price. The main aim of this system is to build an automatic text reading assistant using existing hardware associated with innovative algorithms. The project incorporates latest advancement in image processing and usage of QR codes in this process. Keywords—Optical Character Recognition, QR Code, Facial Recognition, Image Processing
Negotiation in International Politics

Two of the central issues in the study of international interactions concern how negotiations proceed and how they shape outcomes. The process of bargaining and negotiating is enormously complex. Not surprisingly, political scientists, economists, and international relations scholars of whatever disciplinary stripe have worked hard to develop and to test models of two-party and multiparty negotiations. This special issue of Conflict Management and Peace Science makes important contributions to research on negotiation in situations of actual or potential conflict (Mattes & Morgan; Wagner), in trade (Pahre), and in any twoparty political setting (Butler). What is more, in doing so, the papers here draw our attention specifically to differences in negotiations when international relations is viewed primarily as occurring at the level of interstate interactions or at the intersection of international and domestic politics. Among the prominent approaches to bargaining theory, four stand out as highly influential perspectives on two-party negotiations, with some generalizations of these approaches to more than two parties. John Nash’s (1950) bargaining solution projects the negotiator’s utilities for a completely divisible good onto a two-dimensional space, with each dimension representing the range of utilities for a given negotiator. The origin of the space is the location of the point of maximal disagreement at which both negotiators are unhappy. The Nash bargaining solution identifies the agreement that maximizes the product of the utility of the two bargainers. Nash’s bargaining solution has over the years been modified or refined by many researchers. Among the most significant refinements are the Kalai–Smorodinsky (1975) model and the Felsenthal–Diskin (1982) model. The former builds on Nash’s focus on the distance between outcomes, while allowing asymmetries in that distance across bargainers to influence their bargaining power by taking into account the alternatives that, through restrictions on one player’s utility function, have become irrelevant. This weakens the bargaining power of the actor with a truncated range of choices, which is not true for the Nash solution. The Felsenthal–Diskin approach substitutes a player’s minimum utility point given that an agreement is reached for the disagreement point that plays such a prominent role in the Nash and Kalai–Smorodinsky approaches. Thus, Felsenthal and Diskin assume an agreement will be reached, abandoning the possibility that negotiations break down without yielding a settlement. In a separate body of work, Rubinstein’s (1982)
Visual function and visual disability in glaucoma

The aims of this study were a) to identify what constitutes visual disability resulting from glaucoma by means of a questionnaire developed for this purpose, b) to examine visual function in glaucoma using a wide range of psychophysical tests and c) to assess the relationship between objective visual function and patients' perception of their visual disability. The study was carried out in two phases. Firstly, a pilot questionnaire on visual disability in glaucoma was tested on 63 glaucoma patients. Results suggested that there were four main areas of difficulty in the daily life of glaucoma subjects: outdoor mobility, glare and lighting, household tasks and personal care. A significant correlation between selfreported disability and a measure of visual field loss was shown. The questionnaire was subsequently modified for the purpose of the main study and completed by 49 glaucoma subjects with various degrees of visual field loss and 20 normal controls. A range of psychophysical tests was carried out including automated perimetry, contrast sensitivity, critical flicker frequency, glare sensitivity, stereoacuity, colour perception and dark adaptation. Using factor analysis, the most frequently reported problems were grouped into the following five categories: central and near vision, peripheral vision, dark adaptation and glare, personal care and household tasks and outdoor mobility. These five factors accounted for 79% of the variability in the patients questionnaire responses. Fifteen questions related to the factors dark adaptation and glare, peripheral vision, outdoor mobility and central and near vision were found to be significantly correlated with the extent of visual field loss (p= 0.0001, r = -0.6) and could discriminate between patients and normals and also between groups with mild and severe visual field loss. Patients with moderate visual field xvii loss did not experience significantly greater disability than patients with mild visual field loss (p= 0.08), although there was a trend towards significant difference. A strong relationship was found between the severity of visual field loss and all psychophysical tests (p<0.01), except colour vision. When comparing normals and early glaucoma patients, the best results were obtained for dark adaptation (p= 0.013), glare disability (p= 0.023) and the contrast sensitivity test (p= 0.039). When comparing objective visual function and self -reported visual disability, a strong relationship was found between the questionnaire performance index and all psychophysical tests (p <0.05), with the exception of colour vision. Glare disability (p<0.0001), contrast sensitivity (p <0.0001) and dark adaptation (p= 0.007) appear to be the tests that give the best information about quality of life issues. Glare disability, dark adaptation and contrast sensitivity appear to be the tests which give the best information about the quality of life in glaucoma. In addition these tests best separated early glaucoma from normal controls and deserve more attention in future research work on glaucoma.
β-Alanine Enhances Brain and Muscle Carnosine Levels in Broiler Chicks

Carnosine and its methylated derivative anserine are dipeptides present in high levels in chicken muscles. They are antioxidants and putative neurotransmitters. If administration of β -alanine, one of the constituents of carnosine, could increase levels of these dipeptides in the brain and muscles, it may improve brain function and increase commercial values of the chicken meat. In the present study, we investigated whether orally administered β -alanine could increase these dipeptide levels in the brain, Musculus pectoralis superficialis , and plasma in broiler chicks. Broilers (2 days old) were given oral doses of β -alanine (0.176, 0.88, 4.4 and 22 mmol/kg) twice a day for 5 days. Carnosine levels were dose-dependently increased in the brain, Musculus pectoralis superficialis , and plasma while no influence of anserine was detected. These results suggest that supplemental β -alanine could be effective in increasing carnosine levels in the brain and muscle of broiler chicks.
Impacts of atmospheric nitrogen deposition: responses of multiple plant and soil parameters across contrasting ecosystems in long‐term field experiments

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is a global and increasing threat to biodiversity and ecosystem function. Much of our current understanding of N deposition impacts comes from field manipulation studies, although interpretation may need caution where simulations of N deposition (in terms of dose, application rate and N form) have limited realism. Here, we review responses to simulated N deposition from the UKREATE network, a group of nine experimental sites across the UK in a diversity of heathland, grassland, bog and dune ecosystems which include studies with a high level of realism and where many are also the longest running globally on their ecosystem type. Clear responses were seen across the sites with the greatest sensitivity shown in cover and species richness of bryophytes and lichens. Productivity was also increased at sites where N was the limiting nutrient, while flowering also showed high sensitivity, with increases and declines seen in dominant shrub and forb species, respectively. Critically, these parameters were responsive to some of the lowest additional loadings of N (7.7–10 kg ha−1 yr−1) showing potential for impacts by deposition rates seen in even remote and ‘unpolluted’ regions of Europe. Other parameters were less sensitive, but nevertheless showed response to higher doses. These included increases in soil %N and ‘plant available’ KCl extractable N, N cycling rates and acid–base status. Furthermore, an analysis of accumulated dose that quantified response against the total N input over time suggested that N impacts can ‘build up’ within an ecosystem such that even relatively low N deposition rates can result in ecological responses if continued for long enough. Given the responses have important implications for ecosystem structure, function, and recovery from N loading, the clear evidence for impacts at relatively low N deposition rates across a wide range of habitats is of considerable concern.
Short‐term thermal acclimation induces adaptive changes in the inner mitochondrial membranes of fish skeletal muscle

In the oxidative muscles (musculi laterales superficiales) of crucian carp Carassius carassius acclimated for 6 weeks to either 5 or 25° C, the volume density and the surface density of fibres per tissue did not differ significantly between the control and experimental groups. The correlation ratio (μ2) for these values was below 50, 39·3 and 43·9 respectively. After acclimation to 5° C, the surface density of outer mitochondrial membrane per fibre increased significantly from 0·93 to 1·23m2 cm−3 in the summer population but dropped from 0·94 to 0·67 m2 cm−3 in the winter population. The surface density of outer mitochondrial membrane per mitochondrion increased from 3·24 to 4·52 m2 cm−3 in summer fish. After acclimation to 25° C, the surface density of inner mitochondrial membranes per muscle fibre decreased from 4·04 to 1·79 m2 cm−3 in summer fish and from 3·86 to 1·07 m2 cm−3 in winter fish. The surface density of inner mitochondrial membranes per mitochondrion increased from 14·17 to 15·60 m2cm−3 in summer fish but dropped from 13·91 to 10·67 m2 cm−3 in winter fish. Correlation matrices demonstrate a negative correlation of the surface density of outer mitochondrial membrane per mitochondrion with the volume density of mitochondria per fibre and temperature, suggesting cold-induced proliferation of small mitochondria. It was concluded that short-term cold acclimation increased surface area of the inner mitochondrial membranes in summer fish.