Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MobiCom : G : Battery-free Visible Light Sensing

We present the first visible light sensing system that can sense and communicate shadow events while only consuming tens of μWs of power. Our system requires no modification to the existing lighting infrastructure and can use unmodulated ambient light as a sensing medium. We achieve this by designing a sensing mechanism that utilizes solar cells, and an ultra-low power backscatter based transmission mechanism we call Scatterlight, which can communicate sensor readings without the use of any energy-expensive computational block. Our results demonstrate the ability to sense and communicate various hand gestures at peak power consumption of tens of μWs at the sensor, which represents orders of magnitude improvement over the state-of-the-art.
Staff Utilization and Commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education, Nigeria

The study determines the relationship between staff utilization and staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education, Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to determine: the level of staff utilization in Borno State Colleges of Education, the level of staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education and the relationship between staff utilization and staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education. Two research questions were raised and answered as one hypothesis was tested. The study adopted correlation research design. The population of the study comprised 739 academic staff in Colleges of Education in Borno State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 148 academic staff from the three Colleges of Education in Borno State. The data collected through questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistic of frequency and percentage counts to answer research questions 1 and 2 while Pearson Product Movement Correlation Coefficient was used to test the hypothesis. The result of the study revealed that the level of staff utilization in Borno State Colleges of Education was relatively high, the level of staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education was low, there was no significant relationship between staff utilization and staff commitment in Borno State Colleges of Education. It was recommended that there is the need for increased and sustained staff welfare so as to enhance and improve staff commitment in Colleges of Education in Borno State and that there should be flexibility on the part of Colleges of Education authorities in creating conducive atmosphere for college staff to desire to work and freely get involved and committed to their work. Keywords: Staff Utilization, Staff Commitment, Effectiveness, Colleges of Education
Single-photon generation and detection

The detection and generation of single photons has seen an upsurge in interest in recent years as new scientific fields of research, for example quantum information processing, have been established. This review serves to provide an overview of progress in these areas, describing some of the main candidates for single-photon components for use in emerging fields of research.
EVALUATION OF A STATISTICAL SHAPE MODEL BASED APPROACH FOR RECOVERING THE 3 D LV SHAPE FROM PROJECTIVE X-RAY IMAGES

Recovering the 3D shape of the left ventricle from contrast-enhanced bi-planar x-ray image sequences is a challenging task. The inherently sparse and noisy data available for reconstruction and the ill-posed nature of the problem necessitate the incorporation of prior knowledge about the ventricular anatomy. Our novel approach reconstructs the endocardial surface from two projections using a statistical shape model that is learned from high-resolution multi-slice CT data. A non-rigid 2D/3D registration method fits the deformable model to the recorded x-ray images by calculating simulated projections of the model and minimizing the difference between simulated and real projections. The presented algorithm is evaluated based on simulated and real patient data using volumetric and geometric similarity measures. For the first time, bi-planar and CT images of the same patient are used to compare the recovered LV shape with the actual shape.
ANURAN TEMPORAL OCCUPANCY IN A TEMPORARY POND FROM THE ATLANTIC RAIN FOREST , SOUTH-EASTERN BRAZIL

Temporal distribution, reproductive mode and pattern, and calling activity were recorded for an anuran community during 13 months in a temporary pond in south-eastern Brazil. Nineteen species from four families (Bufonidae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae and Microhylidae) were recorded at the pond. Hylidae was represented by the most species, followed by the family Leptodactylidae. The reproductive diversity of the community was represented by five reproductive modes, and three reproductive patterns (prolonged, explosive and opportunistic breeders). Reproductive temporal analysis showed an anuran succession along different conditions of the pond (dry, flooded, and drying pond), probably related to specific reproductive mode and physiological tolerance to temperature and precipitation. Leptodactylid frogs were the first breeders, reproducing before the pond filled up, followed by species that lay eggs in the vegetation above water, and lastly the largest aggregation of Hylidae took place. Stereocyclops incrassatus (Microhylidae) was the unique explosive breeder in the community, congregating in the pond just after the first heavy rain at the beginning of the rainy season. Multiple regression analysis showed that air temperature, pond depth, and weather condition were the best predictors to explain the calling activity in anuran species. Hylid and leptodactylid frogs responded in a different way to environmental factors: in general, positive associations for hylid frogs, and negative associations for leptodactylid frogs. There were also species-specific differences in chorus attendance related to environmental factors within each family.
The Impacts of Emission Control and Regional Transport on PM2.5 Ions and Carbon Components in Nanjing during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games

ABSTRACTHighly time-resolved measurements of water soluble ions, organic and elemental carbon concentrations in the particle diameter size range Dp < 2.5 µm (PM2.5) were performed at a downwind urban site in Nanjing in the western part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in eastern China during the 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). In this study, we discuss the impacts of emission control in Nanjing and the surrounding areas during the YOG and regional/long-range transport on PM2.5 pollution in Nanjing. The average concentrations of NO3–, SO42–, NH4+ were 12.1 ± 9.9, 16.5 ± 9.2, 9.0 ± 5.4 µg m–3 during the YOG, and increased 34.3%, 53.7%, 43.9% after the YOG, respectively. The control of construction or on-road soil dust and control of industry led to the decrease of Ca2+ concentration by 55% and SO2 concentration by 46%. However, SO42– concentrations remained at relatively high levels, suggesting a significant impact of regional pollution to secondary fine particles in Nanjing. Strong correlations between OC and EC were observed during and after the YOG. A higher percentage (41%) of secondary organic carbon in Nanjing during the YOG periods was consistent with high potential photochemistry and low contributions from coal combustion. Lagrangian dispersion modelling results proved that the city clusters along the Nanjing and Shanghai axis were the major source region for high PM2.5 pollution in upwind Nanjing. This work shows that short-term strict control measures could improve the air quality, especially that affected by the primary pollutants; however, regional collaborative control strategy across administrative borders in the YRD is needed for a substantial improvement of air quality.
Action FP 1105 : effect of raw materials and pulping conditions on the characteristics of dissolved

The composition, molecular weight (MW), and chemical structure of technical lignins as byproducts of pulping influence their application in terms of physical and chemical properties, reactivity, and performance. It is important to know how the analytical data of technical lignins are influenced by the wood species and the parameters of pulping. The present study focuses on kraft pulping and how the wood species (eucalyptus, pine, and spruce) and variable cooking times influence the characteristics of dissolved lignins. The black liquor (BL) was recovered after three different cooking times and the precipitated lignin was characterized by total acid hydrolysis including the determination of the acid insoluble part (Klason lignin, KL) and the sugars in the hydrolysate, elemental analysis, 31P NMR spectroscopy, analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), thermogravimetry (TG), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results indicate that the phenolic OH content, MW and glass transition temperature increased with longer cooking times for the softwood (SW) lignins. These lignins had also a higher MW (Mw 5500–8000 g mol-1), than the eucalyptus lignin (Mw 2200–2400 g mol-1). Eucalyptus lignin had higher sulfur content compared to SW.
The Costs and Benefits of Caring: Aggregate Burdens of an Aging Population

There has been recent attention to the increasing costs to individuals and families associated with caring for people who are afflicted with diseases such as dementia, including Alzheimer’s. In this paper we ask, what are the quantitative implications of these trends for important aggregates, including going forward in time. We develop an overlapping generations general equilibrium model that features government social insurance, idiosyncratic old-age health risk, and transfers of time on a market of informal hospice care from young agents to old agents. The model implies that the decline in annual output growth in the United States since the 1950s can be partly attributed to decreases in the working-age share of the adult population. When accounting for the time young people spend caring for sick elders, positive Social Security + Medicare taxes lead to reductions in the growth rate of annual output of approximately 20 basis points. Relative to an economy with no old-age insurance systems, Social Security + Medicare taxes lead to future reductions in output of 6% by 2056 and 17% by 2096. We show that depending on the working-age share of the adult population, eliminating Social Security + Medicare is not necessarily Pareto improving, leaving those afflicted by welfare-reducing diseases worse off. Placed in the context of an aging United States population, these phenomena could have dramatic or muted impacts on future economic outcomes depending on the prevalence rate of high-cost diseases and the rate at which labor is taxed to fund old-age consumption under a pay-as-you-go social insurance system.
Creating Better Action Plans for Writing Tasks via Vocabulary-Based Planning

While having a step-by-step breakdown for a task-an action plan-helps people complete tasks, prior work has shown that people prefer not to make action plans for their own tasks. Getting planning support from others could be beneficial, but it is limited by how much domain knowledge people have about the task and how available they are. Our goal is to incorporate the benefits of having action plans in the complex domain of writing, while mitigating the time and effort costs of creating plans. To mitigate these costs, we introduce a vocabulary-a finite set of functions pertaining to writing tasks-as a cognitive scaffold that enables people with necessary context (e.g. collaborators) to generate action plans for others. We develop this vocabulary by analyzing 264 comments, and compare plans created using it with those created without any aid, in an online study with 768 comments (N=145) and a lab study with 96 comments (N=8). We show that using a vocabulary reduces planning time and effort and improves plan quality compared to unstructured planning, and opens the door for automation and task sharing for complex tasks.
Quantization-Based Image Watermarking by Using a Normalization Scheme in the Wavelet Domain

To improve the invisibility and robustness of quantization-based image watermarking algorithms, we developed an improved quantization image watermarking method based on the wavelet transform and normalization strategy used in this study. In the process of watermark encoding, the sorting strategy of wavelet coefficients is used to calculate the quantization step size. Its robustness lies in the normalization-based watermark embedding and the control of its amount of modification on each wavelet coefficient by utilizing the proper quantization parameter in a high entropy image region. In watermark detection, the original unmarked image is not required, and the probability of false alarms and the probability of detection are discussed through experimental simulation. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed watermarking. Furthermore, the proposed method has stronger robustness than the alternative quantization-based watermarking algorithm.
Economic Sustainability Assessment of Groundwater Resources: Case Study of Hanoi, Vietnam

The most useful indicators should be established, designed and customized based on local issues of a target area. In order to establish groundwater sustainability indicators for the Vietnam capital, Hanoi, in this study, the sustainability assessment framework of groundwater resources from an economic perspective is proposed for the first time with the focus of Hanoi current groundwater problems. An AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) approach is employed to generate the main components (aspects and indicators) of this framework, because development of composite indicators is considered to be a best approach for sustainability evaluation. To do this, the current problems of Hanoi groundwater resources were carefully reviewed and explored to propose three main aspects (quantity, quality and management) and appropriately construct their 9 MESIs (Macroeconomic Sustainability Indicators). As for the results, the sustainability indices of the quantity, quality and management aspects were appropriately assessed as good, excellent and good sustainability levels, respectively. As a result, the sustainability of Hanoi groundwater resources development is economically good, indicating that there has been a big effort to improve the groundwater sustainability from both sides, the local government and communities.
Using local–regional richness plots to test for species saturation: pitfalls and potentials

1. Plots of local versus regional species richness are an exciting new tool for testing for species saturation in ecological communities. In this method, the local richness of a community is plotted as a function of its regional richness for different biogeographical regions. A proportional relationship between local and regional richness is interpreted as evidence for an unsaturated community, that is, a community with strong evolutionary limits to local richness. There will be no correlation between local and regional richness in a saturated community, that is, a community whose local species richness is limited largely by ecological processes. 2. Although at least 36 data sets have now been analysed using local–regional richness plots, there has not been much critical evaluation of the method. This paper provides such a critique, focusing on the selection of communities for comparison, the prevalence of pseudoreplication and multiple null models, and the effects of differing region size. 3. Local–regional richness plots are best suited for comparing similar habitats between different regions, not different habitats in a single region. In the latter, taxa effects and species pool effects are confounded. 4. Four very different types of local–regional richness plots have been published. Each type of plot has important underlying assumptions which are often not addressed by ecologists. 5. Of the 36 data sets reviewed in this paper, 13 were spatially pseudoreplicated, and 2 were temporally pseudoreplicated. Furthermore, ecologists differ in their choice of null model, with the result that the same local–regional plot could be interpreted as evidence for saturation by one ecologist, and for lack of saturation by another. 6. Differences in region size can result in pseudosaturation, the appearance of saturation by an unsaturated community. A simple model demonstrates this phenomenon. Other sources of error in estimating the regional species pool are also of concern. 7. In conclusion, local–regional richness plots are a potentially useful tool for distinguishing saturated from unsaturated communities, but should be used cautiously, and in conjunction with other supporting evidence (such as the presence or absence of competitive exclusion, resource limitation, density compensation and the effects of species invasions).
Model Testing : Pareto , Pareto II ( q ) , and other Distributions

Models of point-data such as power laws and other distributions, if done correctly, allow accurate tests of fit. We test two maximum likelihood estimators for the q-exponential (Pareto II distribution) against other models (exponential, stretched exponential, lognormal; and nested models such as power law plus exponential cut-off). A newly derived MLE provides a single-parameter estimation for q which is compared to the previous MLE solution from for the Pareto II. Fit for the q-exponential strongly outperforms the power law for continuous distributions (populations of cities, sales of books, forest fire sizes, blackouts) studied by Clauset, Shalizi and Newman (2007) in their review of likelihood methods for testing univariate distributions.
Analysis of Long Period Variable Stars With Nonparametric Tests for Trend Detection

In astronomy the study of variable stars—that is, stars characterized by showing significant variation in their brightness over time—has made crucial contributions to our understanding of many phenomena, from stellar birth and evolution to the calibration of the extragalactic distance scale. In this article, we develop a method for analyzing multiple, (pseudo)-periodic time series with the goal of detecting temporal trends in their periods. We allow for nonstationary noise and for clustering among the various time series. We apply this method to the long-standing astronomical problem of identifying variable stars whose regular brightness fluctuations have periods that change over time. The results of our analysis show that such changes can be substantial, raising the possibility that astronomers’ estimates of galactic distances can be refined. Two significant contributions of our approach, relative to existing methods for this problem, are as follows: 1. The method is nonparametric, making minimal assumptions about both the temporal trends themselves but also the covariance structure of the nonstationary noise. 2. Our proposed test has higher power than existing methods. The test is based on inference for a high-dimensional normal mean, with control of the false discovery rate to account for multiplicity. We present theory and simulations to demonstrate the performance of our method. We also analyze data from the American Association of Variable Star Observers and find a monotone relationship between mean period and strength of trend similar to that identified by Hart, Koen, and Lombard (2007).
Birnessite polytype systematics and identiÞ cation by powder X-ray diffraction

Abstract The polytypes of birnessite with a periodic stacking along the c* axis of one-, two-, and threelayers are derived in terms of an anion close-packing formalism. Birnessite layers may be stacked so as to build two types of interlayers: P-type in which basal O atoms from adjacent layers coincide in projection along the c* axis, thus forming interlayer prisms; and, O-type in which these O atoms form interlayer octahedra. The polytypes can be categorized into three groups that depend on the type of interlayers: polytypes consisting of homogeneous interlayers of O- or P-type, and polytypes in which both interlayer types alternate. Ideal birnessite layers can be described by a hexagonal unit cell (ah = bh ≈ 2.85 Å and γ = 120°) or by an orthogonal C-centered cell (a = √3 b, bh ≈ 2.85 Å, and γ = 90°); and, hexagonal birnessite polytypes (1H, 2H1, 2H2, 3R1, 3R2, 3H1, and 3H2) have orthogonal analogs (1O, 2O1, 2O2, 1M1, 1M2, 3O1, and 3O2). X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns from different polytypes having the same layer symmetry and the same number of layers per unit cell exhibit hkl reflections at identical 2θ positions. XRD patterns corresponding to such polytypes differ only by their hkl intensity distributions, thus leading to possible ambiguities in polytype identification. In addition, the characteristics of the birnessite XRD patterns depend not only on the layer stacking but also on the presence of vacant layer sites, and on the type, location, and local environment of interlayer cations. Several structure models are described for birnessite consisting of orthogonal vacancy-free or of hexagonal vacancy-bearing layers. These models differ by their stacking modes and by their interlayer structures, which contain mono-, di-, or trivalent cations. Calculated XRD patterns for these models show that the hkl intensity distributions are determined by the polytype, with limited influence of the interlayer structure. Actual structures of phyllomanganates can thus be approximated by idealized models for polytype identification purpose. General rules for this identification are formulated. Finally, the occurrence of the different polytypes among natural and synthetic birnessite described in the literature is considered with special attention given to poorly understood structural and crystalchemical features.
Whistle-Blowing Intentions of Prospective Teachers: Education Evidence

This study investigates whistle-blowing intentions of prospective teachers. Firstly, overall ethical awareness of the participants was examined, and then their underlying ethical reasons of whistle-blowing were investigated. Besides, impact on the intention to blow whistle to internal or external parties offering their job guarantee were searched. Three ethical dilemmas were constructed in three scenarios, and The Multi-dimensional Ethics Scale was used in the study. The results revealed that the students’ overall ethical awareness is high, and justice provides strong explanation power for whistle-blowing intention of the participants. While there have been many studies examining whistle-blowing with different factors, there has not been any intention for examining it in education. Thus, this paper aimed to contribute to the extant literature by choosing Turkey and education as context as most studies have been conducted in the Western cultures, and in accounting or marketing service.
Random Walks with Bivariate Lévy-Stable Jumps in Comparison with Lévy Flights

In this paper we compare the Lévy flight model on a plane with the random walk resulting from bivariate Lévy-stable random jumps with the uniform spectral measure. We show that, in general, both processes exhibit similar properties, i.e. they are characterized by the presence of the jumps with extremely large lenghts and uniformly distributed directions (reflecting the same heavy-tail behavior and the spherical symmetry of the jump distributions), connecting characteristic clusters of short steps. The bivariate Lévy-stable random walks, belonging to the class of the well investigated stable processes, can enlarge the class of random-walk models for transport phenomena if other than uniform spectral measures are considered.