Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low levels of genetic diversity depicted from mitochondrial DNA sequences in a heavily exploited marine fish (Cynoscion acoupa, Sciaenidae) from the Northern coast of Brazil

The acoupa weakfish (Cynoscion acoupa - Sciaenidae) is a marine species of croaker with estuarine-dependent behavior, found in the western Atlantic from Panama to Argentina. It is one of the most exploited food fish on the northern coast of Brazil. In this study, DNA sequences were determined from the entire control region (D-loop) of the mitochondrial genome of 297 individuals collected during seven different months between December 2003 and August 2005 on the northern coast of Brazil (Amapa and Para). Genetic variability expressed by haplotype (h = 0,892) and nucleotide (p = 0,003) diversities were low compared to other heavily exploited marine fish species from the western Atlantic and eastern Asia. AMOVA depicted a lack of genetic structuring among the samples from different years, indicating the presence of a single stock of C. acoupa within the sample area. The possible reasons for the low levels of genetic diversity are discussed. These results demonstrate a need for the monitoring of C. acoupa harvesting and the preservation of the estuaries within its geographic range, considering that this large fish depends on estuarine ecosystems during part of its life cycle.
Distribution of mental stresses during conceptual design activities

In this paper, we study how different mental stress levels are distributed in a conceptual design process. Firstly, we reviewed a Stroop Test experiment conducted earlier in our lab to confirm the use of heart rate variability (HRV) as a reliable index of mental stress. Secondly, we reported our experiment on seven designers; HRV data and body movements were recorded along with design processes. Design data was segmented and HRV parameter as indicator of mental stress was computed for each segment. Then the mental stresses were classified into seven levels. The result showed that most of the activities in a design process were performed at low levels of mental stress. The design activities reduce as the level of mental stress increases. No correlation was found between types of design activities and mental stress.
Optical data processing in the context of the picmar project

The inspection of the seafloor is a fundamental task during the implantation, maintenance and dismantling of marine and oceanic infrastructures. The PICMAR project is intended to overcome the existing limitations of the current inspection systems. In the developed framework, the whole sensor-data processing is treated, improving the state of the art in topics such as multimodal data registration and 2D / 3D data blending, and going beyond in others such as automatic data classification and change detection. In this paper, the image processing pipeline is explained, involving preprocessing, geometrical and photometrical registration and change detection, and some of the obtained results are shown.
The Impact of Organic Selenium Supplementation on Rooster Semen Quality in Liquid Condition

© 2013 PSJ. All Rights Reserved Abstract Article history: Received: May 13, 2012 Accepted: August 20, 2012 Available online: January 1, 2013 This research was carried out to investigate the effects of various levels of dietary organic selenium supplementation (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 mg/Kg) on reproductive traits of rooster. Semen was collected using abdominal massage and samples were mixed together. Sperm characteristics including percentage of motile, viable and abnormal sperms were assessed. This experiment was carried out based on a completely randomized design. Results showed that the organic selenium supplementation had significant effects on sperm motility and viability in liquid condition (P 0.05). In conclusion, the use of organic selenium supplementation (0.3 mg/Kg) in diet of rooster could be recommended to improve semen quality. Corresponding author: Bahman Parizadian, M.Sc. bahman.kavan@gmail.com
Allozyme variation of the endemic and vulnerable Dyera lowii Hook.f. in Central Kalimantan: Implications for genetic resources conservation

Dyera lowii is an endemic and vulnerable tree species of commercial value as chewing gum found in peat swamp forests, scatteredly distributed in Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Peninsular Malaysia. Their existence is now under severe threat due to habitat conversion. This study is aimed to assess genetic diversity within four natural populations (Hampangen, Parahangan, Sebangau, Selat Nusa ) and one plantation in Central Kalimantan based on allozyme variation. Electrophoresis procedures were conducted with an isoelectric focusing polyacrylamide slab gel system. The result showed high genetic diversity (HE=0.52) and gene fl ow (3.402) seemed to be effective. A total of 14 alleles were found among all the analysed population. Mean number of alleles per locus (Aa) was 3.206, and the effective number of alleles per locus (Ae) was 2.21. Genetic differentiation between populations (FST) was signifi cant at the moderately level (0.0685). Most allozyme variation was found within population (93.2%). Special attention is essential to conserve a private allele of Got-1-e (9%) at Selat Nusa population. Sebangau population missed the alleles of Est-2-b and Got-1-a, as found in other populations. Selat Nusa population is expected to enhance the effective management for genetic resources conservation of this vulnerable species in the future.
Automated dictionary construction for information extraction from text

The authors have developed a tool called AutoSlog that automatically constructs domain-specific dictionaries given a set of annotated training texts. Using AutoSlog, a first-year graduate student who had minimal experience with the CIRCUS sentence analyzer on which AutoSlog is based, created a dictionary for the domain of terrorism in 8 hours. In the experiments, the 8-hour AutoSlog dictionary achieved 90% of the performance of a hand-crafted dictionary that required 1500 person-hours of effort by 2 advanced graduate students who were highly skilled with the sentence analyzer. <<ETX>>
Inter-Individual Variations in Cadmium and Zinc Biodynamics in the Scallop Chlamys Nobilis

Intraspecific variability in the bioaccumulation of metals has been widely recorded in marine invertebrates, including marine bivalves. In the present study, we used biokinetic modelling and metal subcellular partitioning approaches to understand the intraspecific variability of metal bioaccumulation (Cd and Zn) in the scallop Chlamys nobilis as a model organism. Significant individ- ual differences in metal body burdens were found in C. nobilis. Cd concentrations varied by 3-fold and concentrations of Zn varied by 10-fold for individuals with similar body sizes. Contrasting metal biokinetics and metal subcellular partitioning were observed in different individuals. There was no significant relationship between the metal body burden and the dissolved metal uptake rate or the dietary assimilation efficiency in the individual scallops. However, a significant negative relationship was found between the metal efflux rate and the respective metal body burden, suggesting that efflux rate plays a key role in determining the intraspecific differences in the metal body burden in the tissues of scallops. Subcellular partitioning was closely related to the metal body burden in the scallops as well. A lower efflux rate or a higher proportion of metals stored in non-toxic form con- tributed to higher metal body burdens in individual scallops. Intrinsic variation may provide a popu- lation with more plasticity to counteract spatially or temporally abrupt environmental changes, and may be important for survival of microevolutionary events. Our results provide important information for interpreting the variability observed in natural environments.
Impact of Trading Activity on Price Volatility: Case of Tunisian Stock Market

This paper aims at examining how trading activity impacts price volatility. We propose first to estimate the return volatility following Jones, Kaul and Lipson (1994) and Chan and Fong (2000). Second, we will attempt to detect the best measure of the trading activity that better explains the price volatility. For this reason, we use a sample of 48 listed firms in the Tunisian Stock Exchange i°the BVMTi± during the period from 02/01/2015 to 29/05/2015. Results show the significance of the size of trades beyond that of the number of trades and traded capitals. We rank the stocks into three trade size categories based on their market capitalization in order to examine whether daily price volatility increases more with the number of shares traded in a particular size category than with other size categories. We found a negative relation between trading activity and price volatility for large and medium size firms and a positive relation for the smallest stocks.
Enhancing Security of ATM Machines using One Time Password and Biometrics using Elliptic Curve Cryptography

— Security of ATM Machines is necessary because nowadays most of the applications are performed with the help of this mechanism.Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) needs key size of 224-255 bits.Cryptographic keys are often kept in unsecured way that can either be prevailed through brute force attacks. This becomes a weak link and leads wholeness issues of sensitive data in a security model. To overcome the above problem, biometrics is combined with cryptography for acquiring strong security model. This paper suggests an enhancing security of OTP using ECC with finger vein biometric.This model also suggests improve security with lesser key size than other prevalent public key crypto-model. The cryptographic keys are also not required to learn or keep anywhere, these keys are generated as and when needed. In this paper we have implemented an improved protocol based on elliptic curve cryptography to solve security problems. A new password authenticated key agreement protocol with user interface has been proposed in this paper. In addition, protocol also provides some unique features such as user anonymity, no password table needed, revoking lost smart-card conveniently and password updating freely.
Experience-based learning in Entrepreneurship Education - a comparative study of four programmes in Europe

Research has argued that in order to learn the practice of entrepreneurship, individuals must engage in entrepreneurial processes in order to gain experiential knowledge, often stated as ‘learning by doing’. Practitioners also emphasize that learning to be entrepreneurial is typically experiential. Today, an extensive and steadily growing number of entrepreneurship educations respond to the identified needs for experiential learning but studies on such programmes have often been single case descriptions. This paper investigates the experience-based learning practices across entrepreneurship programmes in four countries, in order to identify common and divergent trends. While the programmes have different structural frameworks, address different groups (ex. engineers, designers, business students), and deliver experiential situations through different means, the programmes share an emphasis on putting the learner centre-stage in the process, and requiring that the learner take shared responsibility for learning from the experience, particularly in regards to setting boundaries for engagement.
Effect of ice particles on the mesospheric potassium layer at Spitsbergen (78°N)

[1] This paper quantitatively evaluates the influence of ice particles on the K layer by using radar and lidar measurements. The methodology involves determination of the volumetric surface area [Aice] of the ice particles in a noctilucent cloud by combining a microphysical ice particle model with a charging model to produce an empirical proxy for polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE) based on the properties of the charged aerosol particles. The altitudinal variation of [Aice] reveals peak values of about 2.2 × 10−8 cm−1 around 85 km. The first-order loss rate of atomic K due to uptake on the ice particles maximizes close to 2.2 × 10−4 s−1 at 85 km. To examine the variability of [Aice] on background parameters, a sensitivity study showed that a ±10% variation in [Aice] can result from either a ±5 K shift in the temperatures relative to a background profile or from a ±30% change in the water vapor concentration. We found that the peak [Aice] remains constant for a change of +4 to –6 K temperature fluctuations over the altitude range of 83–85 km. Finally, a new atmospheric model of potassium predicts profiles of the K layer in early May and July that are in good agreement with the observations, when the seasonally averaged K ablation flux at 79°N is set to 160 atom cm−2 s−1. This study reveals that both the vertical wind and ice particles play a significant role in controlling the K layer distribution at high latitudes.
Lipid-based Biomimetics in Drug and Vaccine Delivery

Lipids provide adequate matrixes for supporting important biomolecules (proteins, DNA, oligonucleotides and polysaccharides) on model surfaces (latex, silica, silicon wafers, selfassembled monolayers, metals, polymers, insoluble drugs, biological cells and viruses). For example, biomolecular recognition between receptor and ligand can be isolated and reconstituted by means of receptor immobilization into supported lipidic bilayers on silica. This is an overview on novel lipid-based assemblies for drug and vaccine delivery. Especial emphasis will be on assemblies produced from the cationic, synthetic and unexpensive lipid dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB). DODAB vesicles interacted with negatively charged prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells with high affinity changing the cell surface charge from negative to positive and reducing cell viability. DODAB effects on cell viability (bacteria, fungus and cultured mammalian cells) revealed its high antimicrobial activity and differential cytotoxicity in vitro. DODAB bilayer fragments were combined with drugs, biomolecules or particles producing novel lipid-based biomimetics to deliver difficult drugs or design vaccines. Hydrophobic drug granules or aggregated recombinant antigens became well dispersed in water solution via lipid adsorption on drug particles as nanocapsules or protein adsorption onto supported DODAB bilayers. In other instances, hydrophobic drug molecules were attached as monomers to borders of lipid bilayer fragments yielding drug formulations effective in vivo at low drug-to-lipid-molar ratio. Cationic biomimetic particles from silica or latex covered with one cationic lipid bilayer proved effective for adsorption, presentation and targeting of biomolecules in vivo. Thereby antigens were effectively presented to the immune system by particles at defined and controllable sizes. The problem of delivering drugs, antigens or biomolecules to their targets in vivo is central and multidisciplinary and biomimetic assemblies are a major asset to improved and less toxic drug and vaccine delivery.
Healthcare provider perception and knowledge of equine-assisted psychotherapy : a survey of providers in Oregon

A study was conducted to evaluate healthcare providers’ knowledge and perception of equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP). The knowledge transfer model was utilized to develop the project and to identify areas for future inquiry. For the study, a literature review was conducted and mental health specialists were queried to identify common misconceptions about the therapy. Out of this exploration, a survey was developed that asked questions specific to these fallacies. The project was vetted and approved by the Oregon Health & Science University institutional review board (IRB), an Oregon-based hospital’s IRB, and the administration of a local clinic. The survey was then sent to approximately 650 medical and mental healthcare providers throughout the state of Oregon. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. At completion of the survey, the participants received an informational handout about EAP to save for their files. The survey yielded a 15% response rate. Results were compiled and released in aggregate form through SurveyMonkey and analyzed anonymously using SurveyMonkey tools. Descriptive statistics were displayed in chart form and compared responses to EAP questions with participant demographics. The survey revealed that the majority of healthcare providers were misinformed about how the therapy is conducted, how it is covered financially, how it varies from other animal-assisted therapies, and who conducts the therapy. Medical providers and those in practice more than 10 years were more likely to have misinformation about the treatment. Limitations of the study were addressed, and recommendations were made for future studies.
Design and Implementation of Behavior Recognition System Based on Convolutional Neural Network

We build a set of human behavior recognition system based on the convolution neural network constructed for the specific human behavior in public places. Firstly, video of human behavior data set will be segmented into images, then we process the images by the method of background subtraction to extract moving foreground characters of body. Secondly, the training data sets are trained into the designed convolution neural network, and the depth learning network is constructed by stochastic gradient descent. Finally, the various behaviors of samples are classified and identified with the obtained network model, and the recognition results are compared with the current mainstream methods. The result show that the convolution neural network can study human behavior model automatically and identify human’s behaviors without any manually annotated trainings.
Inflation differentials, determinants, and convergence: Evidence from Indonesia subnational data

ABSTRACT:This paper is aimed to examine co-movements and heterogeneity in inflation dynamics of different regions across Indonesian provinces to improve the understanding of the nature of inflation characteristics in the context of the Indonesian monetary union. Having employed a factor analysis approach, our model is able to decompose regional inflation dynamics that are explained by country wide and district (zone) specific factors as well as an idiosyncratic local factors. An interesting finding here is that common (national) factors are almost equally important together with local (regional) factors in explaining sources of inflation differentials across Indonesian economies. The second objective of this study is to investigate determinant factors of regional inflation differentials, and our findings suggest that the differences are mainly related to their structural economic characteristics namely economic structures, market competition, degree of openness, cost of input factors, and local specific factors. Given the fact that the significances of those local variables in explaining regional inflation variations may assert that economic integration within Indonesia is currently still difficult, considering that its geography are vastly distributed throughout regions, while its infrastructure and connectivity conditions are limited. The final objective of this study is to examine long run convergence of regional inflations, and in turn our model is able to find and show the existence of convergences. Overall, this paper illuminates the importance of disaggregate regional inflation information, as summarised by the local factors, in explaining aggregate national inflation rates, even after conditioning on macroeconomic variables. Accordingly, the relevant policy actions and coordinations based on subnational and local level play a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of the monetary policy conducts in Indonesia that is primarily directed to targeting inflation.
Genetic erosion in crops: concept, research results and challenges

The loss of variation in crops due to the modernization of agriculture has been described as genetic erosion. The current paper discusses the different views that exist on the concept of genetic erosion in crops. Genetic erosion of cultivated diversity is reflected in a modernization bottleneck in the diversity levels that occurred during the history of the crop. Two stages in this bottleneck are recognized: the initial replacement of landraces by modern cultivars; and further trends in diversity as a consequence of modern breeding practices. Genetic erosion may occur at three levels of integration: crop, variety and allele. The different approaches in the recent literature to measure genetic erosion in crops are reviewed. Genetic erosion as reflected in a reduction of allelic evenness and richness appears to be the most useful definition, but has to be viewed in conjunction with events at variety level. According to the reviewed literature, the most likely scenario of diversity trends during modernization is the following: a reduction in diversity due to the replacement of landraces by modern cultivars, but no further reduction after this replacement has been completed.
Experimental Investigation Into Vortex-Induced Vibrations of Yawed Cylinders with One and Two Degrees-of-Freedom

Vortex-Induced Vibrations (VIV) experiments were carried out with yawed cylinders. The purpose is investigating the validity of the Independence Principle on properly describing the flow characteristics and the dynamics of structures subjected to oblique flow. Five yaw angles in relation to the direction perpendicular to the free stream velocity were tested, namely θ = 0,10,20,30 and 45 degrees. Both the upstream and downstream orientations were tested. The models were mounted on a leaf spring apparatus that allows experiments with one or two degrees-of-freedom. The Reynolds number based on the component normal to the cylinder axis falls in the range 3× 103 < Ren < 1.5× 104. Time histories of displacement and hydrodynamic forces were acquired. The results of amplitude and forces coefficients agree very well for yaw angles up to 30◦ for both one and two degreesof-freedom experiments. Differences in the results for upstream and downstream were observed and were more evident for the higher yaw angle.
Remote sensing of wave roller lengths in the laboratory

[1] The optical intensity signals from surf zone waves in a laboratory flume are analyzed using several different phase-averaging techniques, and a methodology is developed for estimating wave roller lengths and local wave dissipation. The intensity signals (i.e., phase-averaged intensity profiles) of individual breaking waves are compared with the wave profiles measured by in situ wave gauges, and the optical signal of the wave roller is shown to ramp up from the toe of the wave roller on the front face of the wave to a maximum intensity at the wave crest. The remote sensing observations capture the growth, equilibrium, and decay phases of the roller as it propagates over a fixed bed arranged in a bar/trough morphology. Next, for the regular wave conditions considered here, the local maxima of the phase-averaged intensities are shown to better indicate the initial onset of wave breaking and the occurrence of wave breaking in the bar trough, as compared to the more commonly used time-averaged mean intensity. In addition, the phase-averaged profiles are used to measure the size of the roller, and these measurements are compared to previous observations of smaller-scale rollers in equilibrium. The observed roller lengths are shown to agree with predictions from a wave roller model and to provide a new physical link between the remotely sensed signal and roller dissipation. Finally, as an example application of these new data, a simple wave height inversion model is presented that allows an estimation of surf zone wave heights from the remotely sensed roller lengths.