Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decentralized Multi-Agents by Imitation of a Centralized Controller

We consider a multi-agent reinforcement learning problem where each agent seeks to maximize a shared reward while interacting with other agents, and they may or may not be able to communicate. Typically the agents do not have access to other agent policies and thus each agent is situated in a non-stationary and partially-observable environment. In order to obtain multi-agents that act in a decentralized manner, we introduce a novel algorithm under the popular framework of centralized training, but decentralized execution. This training framework ﬁrst obtains solutions to a multi-agent problem with a single centralized joint-space learner, which is then used to guide imitation learning for independent decentralized multi-agents. This framework has the ﬂexibility to use any reinforcement learning algorithm to obtain the expert as well as any imitation learning algorithm to obtain the decentralized agents. This is in contrast to other multi-agent learning algorithms that, for example, can require more speciﬁc structures. We present some theoretical bounds for our method, and we show that one can obtain decentralized solutions to a multi-agent problem through imitation learning.
Using Web Scraping In A Knowledge Environment To Build Ontologies Using Python And Scrapy

: Web scraping, or web data extraction is data scraping used for extracting data from websites. Web scraping software may access the World Wide Web directly using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or through a web browser. While web scraping can be done manually by a software user, the term typically refers to automated processes implemented using a bot or web crawler. It is a form of copying, in which specific data is gathered and copied from the web, typically into a central local database or spreadsheet, for later retrieval or analysis. In this paper, among others kind of scraping, we focus on those techniques that extract the content of a Web page. In particular, we adopt scraping techniques in the Web e-commerce field. To this end, we propose a solution aimed at analyzing data extraction to exploiting Web scraping using python and scrapy framework .
Nursing Professional Values and Factors Associated with Its Development: Nursing students' perspectives

Nursing professional values are the moral knowledge which promote the ethical attitude of nurses, and guide their interaction with patients, colleagues, and community. These values affect the patient's safety and the quality of care. Therefore, it is important to consider its development within nursing education. Aim: identify nursing professional values and factors associated with its development: nursing students' perspective. Design: Descriptive research design was used . Setting: Faculty of Nursing, Alexandria University . Subjects: The subjects comprised of 314 students selected from second academic semester of the year 2018-2019. Tools: I Nursing Professional Values Scale Revised, II Factors associated with nursing professional values development from the students' perspectives. Results: It was found that 57.6% of the nursing students had a high perspective regarding the importance of nursing professional values, and 72.6% of them had a high perspectives regarding the factors associated with the development of nursing professional values, statistically significant correlation was detected between nursing students' demographic , academic data and their levels of perspectives regarding the importance of nursing professional values, in relation to age, residence, academic semester, and academic achievement in previous years (GPA). Conclusion: nursing students perceive caring, justice, and activism to be more important than trust and professionalism as nursing values. Also factors which affect nursing values development are; respectful relationship with nurse educators, work conscience, valuing nursing as a profession, the nursing staff as a role model, educational degrees. Recommendations: Educational workshops about methods of teaching of nursing ethics and values should be given to nursing educators.
Low kilovoltage computed tomography to reduce contrast medium dose in patients at risk of acute kidney injury

Background: Patients with reduced renal function may be at risk of contrast medium-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) following intravenous iodine contrast medium (CM) enhanced computed tomography (CT). Reducing the CM dose may reduce this risk. Decreasing the X-ray tube potential (kilovoltage, kV) from commonly used 120 to 80 kV results in higher CM attenuation due to the photoelectric properties of iodine, which may permit reduction of the iodine dose while keeping the attenuation unchanged. Lower tube potential, however, increases image noise which may be controlled by increasing the X-ray tube loading (milliampere seconds, mAs) to keep image quality, e.g. contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) unchanged. Complete compensation of tube loading increases the radiation dose to the patient, but the introduction of noise reducing iterative reconstruction algorithms may prevent this. Aim: To investigate if low-kV CT with reduced CM doses is a feasible alternative in examinations of the thorax and abdomen in patients considered at risk of CI-AKI. Material and methods: In three cross-sectional studies 80-kV CT protocols with 40-50% reduction of CM dose and increased tube loading to control image noise was compared with standard 120-kV protocols, in two studies to diagnose pulmonary embolism and in one hepatic study. Based on a phantom study and a clinical hepatic CT study, iterative reconstruction algorithms were used to control image noise with no increase in tube loading. Image quality was evaluated objectively and subjectively. Results: Using 80-kV CT protocols with reduced CM doses (40-50%) and mAs compensation seems to provide satisfactory diagnostic quality in pulmonary CT angiography and hepatic CT for patients with GFR <45-50 mL/min and a body mass index <30 kg/m2. However, the use of iterative reconstruction algorithms to control image noise without increased mAs resulted in inferior subjective image quality. Conclusion: Using low-kV CT protocols with reduced CM dose could benefit patients at risk of CI-AKI. The usefulness of iterative reconstruction algorithms to control image noise and not increase radiation dose remains unclear.
Stress, Development, and Well-being

Typically, when we experience stress, our physiological and social resources allow us to regulate and adapt effectively, which tends to prevent maladaptive outcomes associated with those experiences. A complex network of stress response systems maintains physiological and behavioral allostasis, or stability through change in their activity. The social relationships we have, particularly those with attachment figures, allow us to maintain this balance even if the stress would otherwise be outside our regulatory capacity. This is particularly critical early in life when we cannot regulate on our own. When these social relationships are absent, inconsistent, or of low quality, chronic activation of stress response systems can result in dysregulated stress reactivity and regulation. This puts children at increased risk for poor physiological and psychological outcomes and overall lower well-being across the life span.
Disentangling the Effects of Vapor Pressure Deficit and Soil Water Availability on Canopy Conductance in a Seasonal Tropical Forest During the 2015 El Niño Drought

Water deficit in the atmosphere and soil are two key interactive factors that constrain transpiration and vegetation productivity. It is not clear which of these two factors is more important for the water and carbon flux response to drought stress in ecosystems. In this study, field data and numerical modeling were used to isolate their impact on evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary productivity (GPP) at a tropical forest site in Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama, focusing on their response to the drought induced by the El Niño event of 2015–2016. Numerical simulations were performed using a plant hydrodynamic scheme (HYDRO) and a heuristic approach that ignores stomatal sensitivity to leaf water potential in the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model (ELM). The sensitivity of canopy conductance (Gs) to vapor pressure deficit (VPD) obtained from eddy‐covariance fluxes and measured sap flux shows that, at both ecosystem and plant scale, soil water stress is more important in limiting Gs than VPD at BCI during the El Niño event. The model simulations confirmed the importance of water stress limitation on Gs, but overestimated the VPD impact on Gs compared to that estimated from the observations. We also found that the predicted soil moisture is less sensitive to the diversity of plant hydraulic traits than ET and GPP. During the dry season at BCI, seasonal ET, especially soil evaporation at VPD > 0.42 kPa, simulated using HYDRO and ELM, were too strong and will require alternative parameterizations.
Effect of culture time on the growth curve and power performance in a microbial fuel cell at a fixed amount of liquid culture

ABSTRACT The microbial fuel cell uses the microorganism biochemistry to carry on the energy conversion. Concerning the experimental precision, the colony culture would be replaced by a fixed amount of liquid culture for Microbial fuel cell of Escherichia coli. The anode and cathode chambers whose each volume is 100 mL were utilized, the effective surface area of proton exchange membrane Nafion-117 is about 9 cm2. In addition, the electrode area of carbon cloth is 20 cm2. Three kinds of Escherichia coli, named as BCRC No. 10322, 10675 and 51534, respectively, would be selected. Results show that the electricity performance of Escherichia coli of BCRC No.51534 is better than the other microorganism studied because of having a larger open circuit voltage of 1.01 V and limiting current 22 mA, the maximum power density of 1342 mW/m2, and average working power density of 295 mW/m2 would be produced. These results would be useful to improve the performance of microbial fuel cell.
Up to Date Clinical Assessment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of The Larynx in Iraq

The larynx is located in the upper anterior portion of the neck. It lies between the 3 and 6 cervical vertebrae. The incidence of Squamous cell carcinoma (SSC) of the larynx is about 25% of all head and neck malignancies. The most common age involved is middle and old age (between 50 to 70 years). Unfortunately, it has been found that the tumour presents with advance stages at the time of diagnosis. This prospective literature has been done in the department of Otolaryngology in Alkindy Hospital in Iraq. Forty two patients with laryngeal tumour (SCC) at variable stage has been involved in the study. History taking using a special quastionair, proper ENT examination and radiological imaging has been taken from all participated patients. Our results shows that hoarseness of voice is the most common symptoms. Furthermore, men are more affected than women and the most common site involved by the tumour in the larynx is the supraglottic part. Further studies is required for accurate staging of the tumour using both clinical evaluation and radiological imaging.
Factors Influencing an Organisations ability to Manage Innovation: a Structured Literature Review and Conceptual Model

Management literature prescribes innovation as a st imulus for sustained competitive advantage in companies however the nature of the de v lopment in this field has resulted in the literature being broad and fragment ed. This paper focuses on the body of literature concerned with the factors which infl uence innovation management in organisations. The aim of this research is to pres ent a holistic view of the factors that effect innovation management. Using a systematic l iterature review approach, using over 100 papers, this research identifies 9 key fac tors that impact on an organisations ability to manage innovation. These 9 factors have be n identified as management style and leadership, resources, organisational str ucture, corporate strategy, technology, knowledge management, employees and inn ovation process. The paper then discusses the inductively derived model that p resents the important relationships identified between the factors to present a holisti c view of innovation management. From this we open up the debate on innovation manag ement as a systemic approach rather than being focused on the singular factors. We can therefore conclude that a number of dominant relationships exist between the factors with the innovation process being the only endogenous factor within the model.
Greenness as a Differentiating Strategy

In a vertical differentiation model, we study a market where consumers, depending on their level of environmental consciousness, value the greenness of the product they consume and are distributed according to a Kumaraswamy distribution. Three scenarios are studied: only one firm takes some green measures and firms compete upon prices; only one firm takes some green measures, and this firm acts as the leader of the price competition; and finally, both firms choose their level of greenness and compete upon their location and price. The results suggest that as consumers become more environmentally conscious, the marginal consumer and the greener firm’s location move to the right. In contrast, the less green firm’s response is non-monotonic. In fact, when the two firms choose their location along with their prices, the latter firm chooses to produce a less green product in response to more environmentally conscious consumers. In the extreme case where all consumers are fully environmentally conscious, the latter firm produces a brown product and sells it at a price equal to its marginal cost. In this case, the greener firm’s price and location choices make the consumers indifferent between the two products. These results could explain why despite all the improvements in the consumers’ environmental consciousness, brown (in its general term) products are still widely produced and consumed, even by environmentally conscious consumers.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF BOCCIA BALL THROWING TEST INSTRUMENTS ON PALSY CEREBRAL ATHLETES

Boccia is a accuracy game for cerebral palsy athletes. In the boccia game, the player will throw a red or blue leather ball with a target of the white ball (jack) target. The score of game is the closest colored ball to the white ball (jack) which counts points. Athletes experience throwing problems in approaching the white ball (jack), so it is necessary to develop instruments to measure throwing skills. This development research purpose was determined the boccia ball throwing test instrument in cerebral palsy athletes. The research subjects were 10 athletes. The research uses a development method through 4 stages such as data collection, product planning, model testing and validation. Research Analysis was used corrected item-total correlation analysis in SPSS through validity and reliability testing. The results showed tht the instrument validity by 6 throws testing, that is in the first throwing the validity value is 0.754; second throwing the validity value is 0.828; third throwing the validity value is 0.859; forth throwing the validity value is 0.742; fifth throwing the validity value is 0.789; and on sixth throwing the validity value is 0.779. The instruments reliability value is 0.918. The research conclusion is the development of boccia ball throwing tests instrument are valid and reliable so that it can be used to measure the accuracy of athletes’ skills in balls throwing of boccia.
Friendship, Participation, and Site Design in Interest-Driven Learning among Early Adolescents

Increasingly, learning scientists are recognizing the importance of studying and analyzing learning across the multiple settings of youths' lives. We hypothesize that the potential for positive long-term outcomes for youth in interest-powered learning environments is shaped by the degree to which programs cultivate personal connections that can expand access and strengthen participation in settings rich with resources for interest development. To investigate this hypothesis, we draw on evidence collected by youth researchers as part of a study of five learning environments that aim to support cross-setting pursuit of interests. Findings from this study support claims that youth do facilitate access to valued learning spaces for their peers, and that friendships can be central to sustaining interest in activities. The data from this youth ethnographic study supports placing a priority on relationships, as well as content, within sites for interest driven learning.
THE NOCTURNAL BEHAVIORS OF YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS BY MARK GERALD ALESSI THESIS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

At night, most diurnally active birds are assumed to be inactive and presumably sleeping; however, some diurnally active species engage in nocturnal behaviors, including singing and foraging. One behavior that has been largely investigated during the day, but not at night, is movement outside of one’s territory (extra-territorial forays). Traditionally, birds with radio transmitters are frequently tracked by hand only during the day. Many of these studies have found that females and males engage in extra-territorial forays, and often, females engage in extra-pair copulations while foraying. I used an automated radio telemetry system to quantify the nocturnal movements of male and female Yellow-breasted Chats (Icteria virens). Both males and females moved significantly more at night when the female was fertile. Individuals moved most often on dark nights when the moon was least illuminated. There was no indication that birds engage in more movements at a certain time of night or during a specific part of the breeding season. On average birds engage in one or two movements per night, and these movements average 170 m. This behavior is consistent with females engaging in extra-territorial forays for extra-pair copulations. Engaging in extra-territorial forays on dark nights may reduce the chances of their social mate harassing or even being aware of the female’s behavior. Male chats may be foraying themselves or moving between song posts attempting to attract foraying females on dark nights.
What is All the FaaS About? - Remote Exploitation of FPGA-as-a-Service Platforms

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) used as hardware accelerators in the cloud domain allow end-users to accelerate their custom applications while ensuring minimal dynamic power consumption. Cloud infrastructures aim to maximize profit by achieving optimized resource sharing among its cloud users. However, the FPGAs’ reconfigurable nature poses unique security and privacy challenges in a shared cloud environment. In this paper, we aim to understand the interactions between FPGA and the host servers on the cloud to analyze FaaS platforms’ security. We propose a vulnerability taxonomy based on the runtime attributes of the FaaS platforms. The taxonomy aims to assist the identification of critical sources of vulnerabilities in the platform in allowing focused security verification. We demonstrate the proof-of-concept by characterizing the potential source of vulnerabilities in the Stratix-10 FaaS platforms. We then focused on only one major source to perform more focused verification. The proof-of-concept is demonstrated by identifying the potential source of vulnerabilities in the Stratix-10 FaaS platforms. Then, to conduct more focused verification, we narrowed our focus to only one major source. It aided in the identification of several low-level software vulnerabilities. The discovered vulnerabilities could be remotely exploited to cause denial-of-service and information leakage attacks. The concerned entities have released software updates to address the vulnerabilities.
An Agent Based Model for assessing spread and health systems burden for COVID-19 in Rangareddy district, Telangana state, India

Objectives: To evaluate the transmission dynamics and health systems burden of COVID-19 with and without interventions, using an Agent Based Modeling (ABM) approach on a localized synthetic population. Study design: A synthetic population of Rangareddy district, Telangana state, India, with 5,48,323 agents and simulated using an ABM approach for three different scenarios. Methods: The patterns and trends of the COVID-19 in terms of infected, admitted, critical cases requiring intensive care and/ or ventilator support, mortality and recovery were examined. The model was simulated over a period of 365 days for a no lockdown scenario and two Non-Pharmaceutical Intervention (NPI) scenarios i.e., 50% lockdown and 75% lockdown scenarios. Sensitivity Analysis was performed to compare the effect of change of parameters on disease dynamics. Results: Results revealed that the peak values and slope of the curve declined as NPI became more stringent. The peak values could facilitate policymakers to plan the required capacity to accommodate influx of hospitalizations. Conclusions: ABM provides better insight into projections compared to compartmental models. The results could provide a platform for researchers and modelers to explore using ABM approach for COVID-19 projections with inclusion of interventions and health system preparedness.
SIGNATURE BASED KEY AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL FOR WIRELESS BODY SENSOR NETWORKS

: Providing strong security is mandate to prevent unauthorized and corrupted messages from forwarding into the network. Real time data access from nodes is essential for critical applications in Wireless Body Sensor Networks (WBSN). A novel scheme, which includes Data Encryption and Signature based Authentication protocol (DESA) is proposed here and the objective is to provide reciprocated authentication based on signature verification ID. To offer secured communication with low overheads this mechanism is proposed in order to ensure the secrecy of the sensed data within the WBSN entities. Sender sends the encrypted message text labeled with the set of attributes and the signature ID is assigned properly to indicate node authentication. The authorized signature ID is verified and the data encryption is done at the receiver end. Therefore proposed DESA scheme has the capability to tolerate a number of security attacks, provides high security compared existing security mechanisms.
A Zero-Touch Solution for Transport Layer Adaptation to Applications and Networks

TCP is not necessarily suitable for all contexts. It is well-known that, in some context, the “simple” fact of replacing TCP with another Transport protocol clearly improves the performance of the application, especially in terms of throughput. However, TCP remains the most widely used Transport layer (L4) protocol on the Internet: nearly 90% of applications are based on it. Why? Our analysis is that the need to rewrite the TCP application before using any new protocol “partly” explains the low adoption of new protocols despite TCP's performance limits. Indeed, constant modification of the application is tedious and, above all, a potential source of instability. This raises a second major question: can we, transparently to the application, replace at runtime TCP with another protocol X more suitable to the application requirements and the actual network condition? In this paper, we design and implement VTL to provide a concrete and practical answer to this question, i.e., the TCP reconfiguration at the runtime and the choice of the best alternative to it. Based on a series of experimental scenarios, we show the correctness of VTL and that it significantly improves TCP applications' performances.