Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Ground‐Based X‐Band Radar Reflectivity: Attenuation Correction and its Comparison With Space‐Borne Radars Over the Western Ghats, India

Reflectivity measurements from X‐band ground‐based radar (GR) are assessed using observations from the Ku‐band space‐borne radars (SRs) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and Global Precipitation Measurement satellites as a reference. The GR is at Mandhardev (18.04°N, 73.86°E) in the Western Ghats region, and the evaluation period is from June to September of 2014 and 2018. At X‐band, the rainfall‐induced attenuation leads to significant signal loss. The rain attenuation correction of GR is performed based on the relationship between specific attenuation and reflectivity. Using T‐matrix scattering simulations, the specific attenuation and reflectivity are derived from the disdrometer data. Further, the systematic differences between reflectivity measured by GR and SR are minimized by performing the frequency scaling using scattering simulation. The comparison between corrected reflectivities of GR and SR is achieved by matching the resolution volumes and viewing geometry of both radars. The evaluation between corrected reflectivities of GR and SR shows reasonable agreement between them, indicating that the attenuation correction performs reasonably for GR. In rain regions, the GR bias lies between −2.6 and −1.8 dB for stratiform cases, while for convective samples, the GR bias varies from −2.4 to −0.7 dB relative to SR observations. The GR shows smaller reflectivity compared to SR at all heights. This study aims to implement the attenuation correction to long‐term X‐band radar data available in the Western Ghats region to study the orographic precipitation and convective system during monsoon.
Rainfall and temperature trends at three representative agroecological zones of Bihar.

Rainfall and temperature trends were investigated at four stations representing three agroecological zones of Bihar using 45 years data except for Sabour (34 years) and Madhepura (43 years). Monthly, seasonal and annual precipitations as well as temperature (Tmax and Tmin) were analyzed for climate variability and possible trends using nonparametric Mann-Kendal statistic test. The results showed an increasing trend in rainfall and minimum temperature, on the contrary a decreasing trend for maximum temperature in the study area.
Dome‐Patterned Metamaterial Sheets

The properties of conventional materials result from the arrangement of and the interaction between atoms at the nanoscale. Metamaterials have shifted this paradigm by offering property control through structural design at the mesoscale, thus broadening the design space beyond the limits of traditional materials. A family of mechanical metamaterials consisting of soft sheets featuring a patterned array of reconfigurable bistable domes is reported here. The domes in this metamaterial architecture can be reversibly inverted at the local scale to generate programmable multistable shapes and tunable mechanical responses at the global scale. By 3D printing a robotic gripper with energy‐storing skin and a structure that can memorize and compute spatially‐distributed mechanical signals, it is shown that these metamaterials are an attractive platform for novel mechanologic concepts and open new design opportunities for structures used in robotics, architecture, and biomedical applications.
Supervoxel-Based Region Growing Segmentation for Point Cloud Data

Point cloud segmentation is a crucial fundamental step in 3D reconstruction, object recognition and scene understanding. This paper proposes a supervoxel-based point cloud segmentation algorithm in region growing principle to solve the issues of inaccurate boundaries and nonsmooth segments in the existing methods. To begin with, the input point cloud is voxelized and then pre-segmented into sparse supervoxels by flow constrained clustering, considering the spatial distance and local geometry between voxels. Afterwards, plane fitting is applied to the over-segmented supervoxels and seeds for region growing are selected with respect to the fitting residuals. Starting from pruned seed patches, adjacent supervoxels are merged in region growing style to form the final segments, according to the normalized similarity measure that integrates the smoothness and shape constraints of supervoxels. We determine the values of parameters via experimental tests, and the final results show that, by voxelizing and pre-segmenting the point clouds, the proposed algorithm is robust to noises and can obtain smooth segmentation regions with accurate boundaries in high efficiency.
pH Buffering in Pine Bark Substrates as a Function of Particle Size

Stability of substrate pH in container-grown crops is important for proper nutrient management. The objective of this research was to determine the pH buffering capacity of pine bark substrates as a function of particle size and compare those results to sphagnum peat. The weight equivalent of 100 cm3 for fine, medium, and coarse pine bark and sphagnum peat, either as a whole or partitioned into several particle size ranges, was placed in a 250-mL glass jar and filled with 100 mL of an acid or base solution ranging from 0 to 50 meq·L−1 in 10 meq·L−1 increments. After 24 hours, pH was measured. An experiment was also conducted in the greenhouse. The weight equivalent of 500 cm3 of sphagnum peat, fine pine bark, or coarse pine bark was filled into 10-cm plastic pots and irrigated with one of the following: tap water or 10 meq·L−1 of HCl, NaOH, H2SO4, or KHCO3 and with or without a water soluble fertilizer. Substrate pH was determined 4 and 8 weeks after potting using the pour-through method. In all experiments, sphagnum peat had less buffering capacity than pine bark against pH changes from acidic solutions, whereas pine bark had less buffering capacity than sphagnum peat to pH changes from basic solutions. Substrate pH buffering in pine bark increased with decreasing particle size, whereas pH buffering in sphagnum peat was less responsive to particle size. These results will help growers and substrate manufacturers understand how substrate components contribute to pH management during crop production.
Predictors of perceived teachers’ and school counsellors’ work stress in the transition period of online education in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate the predictors of work stress in elementary and upper-secondary school teachers and school counsellors in the initial period of online education in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 964 school professionals (90.7% teachers; 9.3% school counsellors) participated in the study. The results indicated that school professionals who reported higher ICT self-efficacy, had more positive attitudes towards distance education and perceived higher level of supervisor support experienced less stress. In addition, the participants that reported taking care of their own preschool or younger school children during the schools’ closure reported higher levels of stress.
Biocompatibility and adhesion response of magnesium-hydroxyapatite/strontium-titania (Mg-HAp/ Sr-TiO2) bilayer coating on titanium

ABSTRACT Anodisation with electrochemical cathodic deposition method was employed to modify the surface of Ti implants with a bilayer coating made of Sr- doped titania (Sr-TiO2) and hydroxyapatite doped with magnesium (Mg-HAp). The Mg-HAp/Sr-TiO2 bilayer coating was compared with pure TiO2 and Sr-TiO2 single-layer coating. The Sr incorporation into TiO2 and Mg substitution into HAp strengthened their bioactive properties. The tensile test indicated increase in the mechanical strength of the bilayer coated substrate compared to pure TiO2 substrate. Moreover, the study indicated that the Sr and Mg ions were uniformly incorporated into the Mg-HAp/Sr-TiO2 bilayer coating with significantly higher roughness and hydrophilicity compared to the control. In vitro studies with osteoblasts cells had a superior response to the Mg-HAp/Sr-TiO2 bilayer surface. It was found that a bilayer Mg-HAp/Sr-TiO2 coating on Ti implants promotes bioactivity and has superior adhesion strength necessary for osseointegration and bone healing.
Biología reproductiva y conservación de dos endemismos del noroccidente ibérico: Petrocoptis grandiflora Rothm. y Petrocoptis viscosa Rothm. (Caryophyllaceae)

El trabajo aborda el estudio de diferentes aspectos de la biologia reproductiva y conservacion de petrocoptis grandiflora y petrocoptis viscosa caryophyllaceae-. Se presta especial atencion a las caracteristicas demograficas de las poblaciones estudiadas, a las caracteristicas morfologicas que mayor importancia tienen en el exito reproductivo, los sistemas de reproduccion y fenologia de las poblaciones estudiadas. Se hace un estudio detallado de las relaciones planta polinizador y se analiza la arquitectura de la inflorescencia y su importancia en la redistribucion de recursos. Se estudia, asimismo la morfologia floral y su relacion con el exito reproductivo de las plantas. De forma general el trabajo se enfoca hacia un conocimiento de la situacion de ambas especies de cara a su conservacion y se discuten los diferentes apartados con vistas a suministrar informacion que permita tomar medidas adecuadas para garantizar la conservacion de las poblaciones existentes de ambas especies, limitadas al noroccidente iberico.
Illuminating centimeter-level resolution stratum via developed high-frequency sub-bottom profiler mounted on Deep-Sea Warrior deep-submergence vehicle

Abstract Sub-bottom profiling traditionally uses low-frequency signals (less than 20 kHz) to examine layered structures of the bottom sediment in large depth, but it has some limitations in deep-sea surveying. The surficial sediment within several meters under the water–sediment boundary in the deep sea cannot be distinguished clearly. In this study, a high-frequency sub-bottom profiler (HFSBP) was developed and applied to a manned deep-submergence vehicle (DSV), named Deep-Sea Warrior, to obtain a centimeter-level resolution stratum of several meters in the deep-sea surficial sediment. Twelve diving tests were carried out, the diversity of surficial benthic profiles on the northern slopes of the South China Sea was shown up for the first time and as many as four layers profiles were obtained in the low bending canyon region, rock surface profiles, discontinuous stratum structures and thick surficial sediment in the deeper region. Continuous and clear stratum structures within a range of about 2 m on the seabed surface sediment were obtained in 11 of the 12 dives. As the dive sites took a certain dispersive distribution, it reflected that the stratum structure of surficial sediment was prevalent in the northern slopes area of the South China Sea for the most part. To verify the effectiveness of HFSBP, a laboratory test in an anechoic tank was performed, and the experiment results verified the layered ability and the thickness measurement stability of it. The comparison was performed with shipboard data of deep-sea sub-bottom profiler (SBP) Bathy-2010, and the HFSBP results were obviously better than those of Bathy-2010 measurement. The clear and continuous fine layered data obtained by HFSBP may help scientists in new area research in marine geophysics.
Diversity of Prokaryotic Communities Indigenous to Acid Mine Drainage and Related Rocks from Baiyin Open-Pit Copper Mine Stope, China

ABSTRACT Metagenomic approach permits us to obtain the latent resources from culturable and unculturable microorganisms in ecosystem. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was practiced to comprehensively probe prokaryotic community within extreme acidic environment of Baiyin open-pit mine stope, which varied in pH and other physicochemical parameters. Bioinformatics analysis was further accomplished to process millions of Illumina reads and analyzed alpha and beta diversities, and prokaryotic community profile in different samples obtained from the acidic mine stope. Diversity indices such as ACE, Chao, Shannon, and Simpson were varied among samples. Both taxon richness and evenness were significantly higher in the solid samples than that of the water samples. Taxonomic diversity was unexpectedly higher within confined pit ecosystem. Most of the sequences were assigned to phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Acidobacteria. In archaea, Euryarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota were major phyla reported, however, archaea occupied very little share in the metagenome. At class level, variation in community structure was higher within samples. Among iron- and sulfur-related acidophiles, 30.8% of the sequences were unidentified at genera level, while the remaining were dominated by sulfur and/or iron oxidizing Acidithiobacillus and heterotrophic Acidiphilum related groups. The community profile of solid and water groups was different and metagenomic biomarkers were higher in solid, while acidophiles and archaea were reported only in water group by using LEfSe. Among samples, community structure and abundance was varied in terms of OTUs abundance, which clearly indicates spatial variation and proposed the influence of physicochemical and geochemical properties on phylogenetic diversity. This study offers numerous treasured datasets for better understanding the community composition under the influence of geochemical and physicochemical factors and possible novelty in terms of taxonomic/phylogenetic diversity in acidic ecosystem.
Transmission of funding liquidity shocks in the options market: evidence from India

ABSTRACT The extant literature examines the interactions between funding liquidity and market volatility on the equity market. This paper extends the literature and investigates the interactions between funding liquidity and market volatility in the options market. The paper employs the Bayesian structural vector autoregression framework to examine the effects of funding liquidity shock to volatility demand, uncertainty, and risk aversion. We find that positive feedback exists between contraction in funding liquidity and volatility demand, uncertainty, and risk-aversion. Our results are robust to alternate specifications of uncertainty and risk-aversion measures, and alternative ordering of variables.
Revisiting the mechanism of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction using isolated perfused/ventilated mouse lung

Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction (HPV) is an important physiological mechanism of the lungs that matches perfusion to ventilation thus maximizing O2 saturation of the venous blood within the lungs. This study emphasizes on principal pathways in the initiation and modulation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction with a primary focus on the role of Ca2+ signaling and Ca2+ influx pathways in hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. We used an ex vivo model, isolated perfused/ventilated mouse lung to evaluate hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Alveolar hypoxia (utilizing a mini ventilator) rapidly and reversibly increased pulmonary arterial pressure due to hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction in the isolated perfused/ventilated lung. By applying specific inhibitors for different membrane receptors and ion channels through intrapulmonary perfusion solution in isolated lung, we were able to define the targeted receptors and channels that regulate hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. We show that extracellular Ca2+ or Ca2+ influx through various Ca2+-permeable channels in the plasma membrane is required for hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Removal of extracellular Ca2+ abolished hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction, while blockade of L-type voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels (with nifedipine), non-selective cation channels (with 30 µM SKF-96365), and TRPC6/TRPV1 channels (with 1 µM SAR-7334 and 30 µM capsazepine, respectively) significantly and reversibly inhibited hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. Furthermore, blockers of Ca2+-sensing receptors (by 30 µM NPS2143, an allosteric Ca2+-sensing receptors inhibitor) and Notch (by 30 µM DAPT, a γ-secretase inhibitor) also attenuated hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. These data indicate that Ca2+ influx in pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells through voltage-dependent, receptor-operated, and store-operated Ca2+ entry pathways all contribute to initiation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. The extracellular Ca2+-mediated activation of Ca2+-sensing receptors and the cell–cell interaction via Notch ligands and receptors contribute to the regulation of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction.
The importance of phylogenetic model assessment for macroevolutionary inference

Several fields in biology rely on inference of evolutionary timescales using phylogenetics. As more data become available, estimates of phylogeny and evolutionary timescales can be used to answer long-standing questions in biology. Some examples include the resolution of deep taxonomic relationships or the causes of geographic gradients in species richness. Importantly, answering these questions largely depends on phylogenetic and timescale estimation methods that can reliably recover the molecular evolutionary process. If the methods used in phylogenetics suffer from systematic bias, the inferences that are now routinely made in several fields of biology might be misleading. For this reason, it is critical to identify the processes that can bias phylogenetic inference, and to propose solutions that can be used in practice. In this thesis, I apply empirical tests and simulation analyses to explore the way that molecular processes at the level of DNA sequences link with the inference of phylogeny and evolutionary timescales, and with broad macroevolutionary and macroecological patterns of biodiversity. In chapter 2 I use a published estimate of the phylogeny of the birds to address one of the major questions in biogeography: the causes of the latitudinal diversity gradient. I find support for the hypothesis that dispersal across latitudes is limited and higher latitudes are likely to contain younger clades, such that they have had less time available to accumulate diversity compared to tropical clades. Chapter 2 provides an example of the use of phylogenetic estimates to test hypotheses in macroevolution. However, macroevolutionary processes themselves might have an effect on the inference of phylogenetic timescales. In chapter 3, I use a data set for the plant family Proteaceae to demonstrate a link between the rate of diversification and the rate of molecular evolution. I find in chapter 4 that this link between the rate of diversification and the rate of molecular evolution could cause systematically biased estimates of evolutionary timescale. I also find in chapter 5 that phylogenetic imbalance, a phylogenetic pattern that arises from variation in macroevolutionary processes across lineages, can also be a source of systematic bias in estimates of evolutionary timescales. Finally, in chapter 6 I propose a method to assess the absolute performance of phylogenetic methods to estimate evolutionary timescale, as opposed to assessing the relative performance among methods. In this thesis, I show that despite the prominence and progress in methods to estimate phylogeny and evolutionary timescales, there is work to be done towards accounting for the effect of possible sources of bias. Methods to assess absolute model performance might provide a fruitful way forward to improve phylogenetic and…
Evolutionary algorithms deceive humans and machines at image classification: an extended proof of concept on two scenarios

ABSTRACT The range of applications of Neural Networks encompasses image classification. However, Neural Networks are vulnerable to attacks, and may misclassify adversarial images, leading to potentially disastrous consequences. Pursuing some of our previous work, we provide an extended proof of concept of a black-box, targeted, non-parametric attack using evolutionary algorithms to fool both Neural Networks and humans at the task of image classification. Our feasibility study is performed on VGG-16 trained on CIFAR-10. For any category of CIFAR-10, one chooses an image classified by VGG-16 as belonging to . From there, two scenarios are addressed. In the first scenario, a target category is fixed a priori. We construct an evolutionary algorithm that evolves to a modified image that VGG-16 classifies as belonging to . In the second scenario, we construct another evolutionary algorithm that evolves to a modified image that VGG-16 is unable to classify. In both scenarios, the obtained adversarial images remain so close to the original one that a human would likely classify them as still belonging to .
Hemolymph composition, gene expressions in the gills, and thus the survival of euryhaline crabs are controlled by ambient minor cations according to osmotic condition‐dependent manner

Abstract Na+ and Cl− are the most abundant dissolved ions in seawater, constituting ~ 85% of total ions. They significantly affect the osmolality of body fluids of marine invertebrates. Seawater also contains minor ions such as Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, and SO4 2‐ , but their effects on marine organisms are unclear. This study analyzed the effects of Mg2+, Ca2+, and K+ (ambient minor cations) on survival, hemolymph ionic composition, and gene expression in the gills of three euryhaline crabs: Helice tridens, Macrophthalmus japonicus, and Chiromantes dehaani. Ambient minor cations were required for survival of H. tridens and M. japonicus under isosmotic conditions with seawater. The ambient minor cations also affected the osmolality and ionic composition of hemolymph by regulating expressions of specific genes in the gills required for Na+ uptake, such as Na+/K+ ATPase, cytoplasmic carbonic anhydrase, and Na+/H+ exchanger. Administration of carbonic anhydrase and Na+/H+ exchanger inhibitors increased the survival rate even if ambient minor cations did not exist. In contrast, under hypo‐osmotic conditions, ambient minor cations had different effects on crabs, a lethal effect on M. japonicus, and an increase of the hemolymph K+ concentration in H. tridens and M. japonicus. It is thus concluded that the effects of ambient minor cations are osmolality‐dependent. In contrast, in C. dehaani, the hemolymph ionic composition and survival rate were hardly affected by ambient minor cations, probably reflecting the habitat of this species. These results strongly indicated that C. dehaani is less susceptive to ambient minor cations compared to H. tridens and M. japonicus.
The Productivity Improvement in Technology Transfer and commercialization

Business incubation has been used for an entrepreneurship development throughout the global. And the policy to increase the evolution stimulation the collection of new firms and with their needs in the starting period, the concept of business incubation refers to an intensive, systematic effort to foster new firms in the early-stage of their activities. As a dynamic process, it offers a combination of infrastructure, development-support processes and expertise needed to assure the sustainable growth of incubatees into a target plan. However, there is still no consensus over what business incubation which factors contribute to successful business incubation. Moreover, the extent to Which business incubation performance were measured. Additionally, the developing countries also try to provide such services of incubating or technology transfer from research or academic institutes to new business in order to strengthen their operating within the limitation of their budget. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the extant literature on business incubation service effectiveness and to suggest a incubation management can provide an environment that supports the development of incubate entrepreneurs and their firms.