Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impacts of climate change on environmental flows in West Africa's Upper Niger Basin and the Inner Niger Delta

Modified water regimes due to climate change are likely to be a major cause of freshwater ecosystem alteration. General Circulation Model (GCM)-related uncertainty in environmental flows at 12 gauging stations in the Upper Niger Basin and flooding within the Inner Niger Delta is assessed using the Ecological Risk due to the Flow Alteration method and a hydrological model forced with projections from 12 GCM groups for RCP 4.5 in the 2050s and 2080s. Risk varies between GCM groups and stations. It increases into the future and is larger for changes in low flows compared to high flows. For the ensemble mean, a small minority of GCM groups projects no risk for high flows in the 2050s (low risk otherwise). This reverses for the 2080s. For low flows, no risk is limited to three stations in the 2050s and one station in the 2080s, the other experience either low or medium risk. There is greater consistency in the risk of change in flood extent, especially in the dry season (medium risk for all groups and the ensemble mean). Some (low or medium) risk of change in peak annual inundation is projected for most groups. Changing flood patterns have implications for wetland ecology and ecosystem services.
Effectiveness of vitamins C and E adjuvant to standard triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori in a cohort from the Peruvian Amazon

Received: 17/09/18 Accepted: 18/12/18 Abstract Introduction and Objectives: Adjuvant therapy with vitamins C and E has been proposed to increase standard triple therapy’s Helicobacter pylori eradication rate. This study tested this hypothesis in a cohort of patients from the Peruvian Amazon. Material and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated a cohort of 50 patients at Tarapoto Hospital who were treated for H. pylori infections from July to December 2016. Of these, 25 were randomly selected to receive standard triple therapy of 1 g amoxicillin, 500mg clarithromycin and 20mg omeprazole twice a day for 14 days plus adjuvant vitamins C and E. The other 25 only received standard triple therapy. The effectiveness of both treatments was estimated and compared using a general linear regression model using the Poisson family of distributions and log link with H. pylori eradication confirmed by histopathology as the outcome of interest. Results: A comparison of the two groups found no significant differences in their baseline symptoms, histopathological diagnoses, ages (38 ± 11 years vs. 36 ± 10 years) or genders (65% male vs. 63% male). A comparison of the effectiveness both treatments found a non-significant increase in eradication rates of 9.5% (91% vs. 82%, incidence rate ratio = 1.11; 95% confidence interval: 0.92 to 1.36). Conclusions: Adjuvant therapy with vitamins C and E may help increase the effectiveness of standard triple therapy for H. pylori in patients in the Peruvian Amazon, although this hypothesis needs to be confirmed in a clinical trial.
Towards investigating the influence of probabilistic robot motion parameters on archerfish behavior in fish-robot interactions

To investigate the sensitivity of a mixed ﬁsh-robot population to parameters governing the stochastic motion of a robotic constituent, this paper explores a robot motion model struc- ture that facilitates the exploration of naturalistic changes in robot activity level. This model is intended for use in ex- periments involving interactions between a robot and a single Banded Archerﬁsh (T. jaculatrix ). The robot motion frame- work consists of a two-state Markov chain coupled with an autoregressive motion model. The parameters governing the robot’s motion are tuned to match those of actual individual archerﬁsh, and can be manipulated to change robot activity level. This framework is being used in ongoing experiments designed to investigate the inﬂuence of robot activity level on an archerﬁsh’s behavioral response to the robot.
Improving Competence via Iterative State Space Refinement

Despite considerable efforts by human designers, accounting for every unique situation that an autonomous robotic system deployed in the real world could face is often an infeasible task. As a result, many such deployed systems still rely on human assistance in various capacities to complete certain tasks while staying safe. Competence-aware systems (CAS) is a recently proposed model for reducing such reliance on human assistance while in turn optimizing the system’s global autonomous operation by learning its own competence. However, such systems are limited by a fixed model of their environment and may perform poorly if their a priori planning model does not include certain features that emerge as important over the course of the system’s deployment. In this paper, we propose a method for improving the competence of a CAS over time by identifying important state features missing from the system’s model and incorporating them into its state representation, thereby refining its state space. Our approach exploits information that exists in the standard CAS model and adds no extra work to the human. The result is an agent that better predicts human involvement, improving its competence, reliability, and overall performance.
Do Covid-19 patients needing ICU admission have worse 6 months follow up outcomes when compared with hospitalized non-ICU patients? A prospective cohort study

Introduction Studies focus on pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, and complications during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Long-term outcomes of COVID-19 patients who discharge intensive care unit (ICU) are unclear. Objectives We investigated the effect of COVID-19 on lung structure, pulmonary functional, exercise capacity and quality of life in patients discharge from ICU and medical ward. Methods A prospective single-centre study conducted in PCR confirmed COVID-19 patients who has been discharged from University of Health Sciences, Dr. Suat Seren Chest Disease and Thoracic Surgery Teaching and Research Hospital between 15 January and 5 March 2021. Patients who followed up for more than 48 hours in ICU and more than 72 hours in medical ward were included the study. Computed tomography scores, pulmonary functional tests (PFT), 6-min walking distance and health related quality of life by SF-36 were compared between ICU and medical ward patients at 6 months after discharge. Results Seventy patients were included final analyses and 31 of them discharged from ICU. ICU patients had higher CT scores than non-ICU patients at admission (17 vs 11) and follow up visit (6 vs 0). Two-three of ICU patients had at least one abnormal finding at control CT. Advanced age (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.02-1.15) and higher CT score at admission (OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.01-1.27) were risk factors for having radiological abnormalities at control CT. Conclusion A number of COVID-19 survivors especially with severe disease could not fully recover after 6 months of hospital discharge.
An alternative confusion matrix implementation for PreCall

In this work, we examine literature on creating visualizations for the performance of machine learning classiﬁers, with our target group being users with limited machine learning experience. The underlying data is taken from Wikipedia, and more speciﬁcally ORES - Wikimedia’s service, which employs a machine learning model to score edits and articles. The interface also expands on PreCall’s implementation, and features multiple interactive components allowing the user to dynamically adjust parameters and see the immediate change in the classiﬁer’s performance. After providing a summary of the relevant literature, we go over the ORES API and its relevant endpoints and parameters. Then, we outline the most popular ways to visualize a machine learning classiﬁer’s performance. Following that is a thorough description of our target group, goals, and requirements, as well as the reasoning behind each design decision. Finally, there is an overview of the design and development process and we conduct a feedback session with a machine learning expert with background in ORES, and the feedback we receive is mostly positive, with some suggestions for improvement.
Etablierung der FISRE (Free-Ion Selective Radiotracer Extraction)-Technik zur Bestimmung der kinetischen Stabilitäten von Radionuklidkomplexen

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Anwendung, Modifikation und Diskussion der sogenannten Free-Ion Selective Radiotracer Extraction (FISRE)-Technik zur Bestimmung der kinetischen Stabilitat und Speziation von Metallkomplexen mit radiopharmazeutischer Relevanz – im Einzelnen sind dies die Komplexe Y-EDTA, Y-DTPA, Y-DOTA sowie Y-DOTATOC (unter Verwendung von Yttrium-90), Tb-DOTATOC und Derivate (Terbium-161) sowie eine Auswahl an Rheniumtricarbonyl-Komplexen (Rhenium-188).
Synthesis of Ternary Semiconductor Silver Bismuth Telluride by Chemical Bath Deposition

In this study, the synthesis of the ternary semiconductor sensitized silver bismuth telluride (AgBiTe2: SBT) particles was produced in the solution of AgNO3, Bi (NO3)3×5H2O and Na2O3Te by using a chemical bath deposition (CBD) method and annealing at 200°C for 1 h. According to scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the particle size of SBT after annealing was bigger than before annealing. Based on X-ray diffraction, the SBT after annealing for 1h became more crystalline. In addition, the XRF data also demonstrated that the SBT powder consists of Ag, Bi, and Te as dominant elements. The XRD result confirms a successful growth of the SBT particles with rhombohedral crystal structure. Based on the obtaining results, the SBT particles were successfully synthesized and potentially applied for solar cell application.
Preventive effect of goby fish protein hydrolysates on hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular disease in Wistar rats fed a high-fat/fructose diet

This study was carried out to investigate the hypolipidemic, cardioprotective and anticoagulant properties of fish goby protein hydrolysates (GPHs) in rats fed a high fat and fructose diet (HFFD). Wistar rats were fed with HFFD for 2 months, coupled with the oral administration of GPHs and undigested goby protein (UGP). Compared with the standard diet, HFFD induced dyslipidemia and liver structure alterations, and increased pancreatic lipase activity. In addition, HFFD caused a significant increase in body weight. Interestingly, administration of UGP and GPHs to HFFD fed rats was efficacious in lowering serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) as well as hepatic TC and TG, and increased the serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) content. Moreover, all treatments significantly decreased the atherogenic index and coagulant factor levels (thrombin and prothrombin). UGP and GPH administration also significantly decreased pancreatic lipase activity, which mitigates lipid accumulation. Similarly, UGP and its hydrolysates showed cardioprotective potential revealed by decreasing the risk of atherogenic and coronary artery disease and improving the liver architecture. The ex vivo plasma clotting test showed that GPHs exert a great therapeutic anticoagulant potential. The overall results demonstrated that GPH supplementation can counteract high-fat/fructose diet-induced obesity.
Spectral Analysis of Rocket Wake Flow–Jet Interaction by Means of High-speed Schlieren Imaging

The wake flow field of a generic rocket launcher geometry at Mach 0.8, with a supersonic exhaust jet at stagnation conditions from 288 to 919 K was analyzed regarding its spectral content by means of highspeed Schlieren imaging and pressure measurements. The spectral analysis captured typical wake flow frequencies and their characteristic mode shape for the cross-flapping and swinging motion of the ambient shear layer at SrD = 0.19 and 0.35. At certain conditions, a strong amplification of the swinging motion was observed, which is probably governed by a coupling of the dynamic wake flow modes and the acoustic chamber properties.
Climate change shifts forward flowering and reduces crop waterlogging stress

Climate change will drive increased frequencies of extreme climatic events. Despite this, there is little scholarly information on the extent to which waterlogging caused by extreme rainfall events will impact on crop physiological behaviour. To improve the ability to reliably model crop growth and development under soil waterlogging stress, we advanced the process-basis of waterlogging in the farming systems model Agricultural Systems Production Systems sIMulator. Our new mathematical description of waterlogging adequately represented waterlogging stress effects on the development, biomass and grain yield of many commercial Australian barley genotypes. We then used the improved model to examine how optimal flowering periods (OFPs, the point at which long-term abiotic stresses are minimal) change under historical and future climates in waterlogging-prone environments, and found that climate change will reduce waterlogging stress and shift forward OFP (26 d earlier on average across locations). For the emissions scenario representative concentration pathway 8.5 at 2090, waterlogging stresses diminished but this was not enough to prevent substantial yield reduction due to increasingly severe high temperature stress (−35% average reduction in yield across locations, genotypes and sowing dates). It was shown that seasonal waterlogging stress patterns under future conditions will be similar to those occurring historically. Yield reduction caused by waterlogging stress was 6% and 4% on average across sites under historical and future climates. To adapt, both genotypic and management adaptations will be required: earlier sowing and planting waterlogging tolerant genotypes mitigate yield penalty caused by waterlogging by up to 26% and 24% under historical and future climates. We conclude that even though the prevalence of waterlogging in future will diminish, climate change and extreme climatic events will have substantial and perverse effects on the productivity and sustainability of Australian farms.
The Influence of the Building Mass Configuration of Settlements around the UNNES Campus on Environmental Carrying Capacity

The impact of the development of the UNNES Campus in Sekaran, a suburb of Semarang City, has become a trigger for the growth of new activities which require the provision of new spaces, especially settlements. This phenomenon shows the growth of settlements that ignore the environment. This study aims to examine the influence of the building mass configuration of settlements around the UNNES Sekaran Campus on environmental carrying capacity as a buffer zone for Semarang City. This studi uses descriptive exploratory method which aims to describe the state of a phenomenon in the field. The results of this study are the influence of the building mass configuration of settelements on environmental carrying capacity. The configuration of the building mass that does not pay attention to rainwater infiltration and reduction of sun exposure has an impact on reducing the supporting capacity of the environment and reducing occupant comfort.
Overexpression, extraction, purification and characterisation of DppA from Escherichia coli

Components such as protein within the periplasmic space serve some vital purposes: such asÂ buffering against the outside environment, processing of essential nutrients for transport into theÂ cytoplasmic space, and cell wall biosynthesis. Dipeptide binding protein a (DppA) is a memberÂ of a family of ABC proteins and is involved in the transportation of potentially beneficialÂ dipeptides as nutrient source through the periplasmic space and into cell. DppA was successfullyÂ cloned into expression vectors and over expressed in Escherichia coli, extracted, purified, andÂ characterized. DppA was subjected to biophysical characterization using mass spectrometry. Â Mass spectrometry (ms) analysis and analytical ultra-centrifugation were used to evaluate theÂ recombinant DppAâ€™s molecular weight. The findings presented in this study highlighted theÂ ability to overexpress, extract and purify the recombinant DppA and reflect the differencesÂ techniques to asses its purity.
EGL-4 promotes turning behavior of C. elegans males during mating

During mating, C. elegans males whose tails have reached the head or tail of their intended mates are able to switch to scanning the other side by performing a turn during which the male’s tail curls ventrally all the while keeping in contact with the hermaphrodite. The ability to execute turns efficiently is dependent upon serotonergic neurons in the posterior ventral nerve cord that stimulate diagonal muscles by activating a serotonin receptor, SER-1. Here we show that turning behavior is abnormal in males lacking a cGMP-dependent protein kinase, EGL-4. egl-4 mutant males are also resistant to ventral tail curling induced by exogenous serotonin.
Foundations of modelling of nonequilibrium low-temperature plasmas

This work explains the need for plasma models, introduces arguments for choosing the type of model that better fits the purpose of each study, and presents the basics of the most common nonequilibrium low-temperature plasma models and the information available from each one, along with an extensive list of references for complementary in-depth reading. The paper presents the following models, organised according to the level of multi-dimensional description of the plasma: kinetic models, based on either a statistical particle-in-cell/Monte-Carlo approach or the solution to the Boltzmann equation (in the latter case, special focus is given to the description of the electron kinetics); multi-fluid models, based on the solution to the hydrodynamic equations; global (spatially-average) models, based on the solution to the particle and energy rate-balance equations for the main plasma species, usually including a very complete reaction chemistry; mesoscopic models for plasma–surface interaction, adopting either a deterministic approach or a stochastic dynamical Monte-Carlo approach. For each plasma model, the paper puts forward the physics context, introduces the fundamental equations, presents advantages and limitations, also from a numerical perspective, and illustrates its application with some examples. Whenever pertinent, the interconnection between models is also discussed, in view of multi-scale hybrid approaches.
Effect of Addition of Antioxidant Flaxseed Polypeptide on the Rheological Properties of Native Maize Starch

Abstract Effects of adding antioxidant flaxseed peptides (FP) on rheological properties of native maize starch (NMS) were investigated using temperature sweep and frequency sweep tests. The NMS concentration of 15 % (w/w) and FP concentrations of 0.2–1.0 % (w/w) were used. The FP samples were prepared by controlled hydrolysis flaxseed protein isolate with pepsin. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity (53.25 %) was achieved at 22 % of hydrolysis. The onset gelatinization temperature (Tonset) increased from 67°C to 76°C when the 1 % FP was present in the NMS–FP mixture. The storage modulus (G′) decreased significantly in the presence and increased in concentration of FP. The variation of G′ and loss modulus (G″) of NMS–FP mixtures with angular frequency was fitted well (R2>0.97) Power law type models. The consistency coefficient (K′ and K″) decreased in the presence and increased in the concentration of FP. While the n′ increased with the presence FP, the n″ decreased. The NMS–FP mixtures produced physical gels (G′>G″). NMS-FP mixtures showed non-Newtonian shear thinning behavior in steady shear flow.
Development of Vegetable Seeds Incorporated Cookies: Nutrient Composition, Functional Properties, Mineral Analysis and Sensory Evaluation

Jackfruit and Okra are popular fruit crops grown in India. The seeds are the by-product obtained during the processing of these crops. Jackfruit seed possess disposal problem if not handled properly. Scientific data shows that jackfruit and okra seed powder has various health benefits like prevent cancer, lowers the risk of heart disease, improves digestive system, boost immunity in the body, maintains blood glucose levels and helps to increase bone mineral density. The seeds of these crops are particularly a rich source of proteins, starch, minerals and dietary fibres along with phytonutrients. The present study was designed to investigate proximate composition, functional properties and mineral analysis of the best composite flour. Randomization of variables were done along with their nutrient composition. The flour having the highest nutritional value was selected as the best composite flour. Sensory evaluation of the developed food product by incorporating Okra seed flour, Jackfruit seed flour and Wheat flour was also done. After that physical properties of the most acceptable food product were carried out. Results for proximate composition revealed that jackfruit seed flour had an appreciable amount of moisture and protein i.e. 9.08±0.6 and 5.12±0.43 and low amount of fat i.e. 3.6±0.3. While okra seed flour possesses a high amount of moisture and ash i.e. 6.7±0.07 and 6.61±0.4. Estimation of functional properties revealed that water absorption capacity i.e. 1.68±0.051 and oil absorption capacity i.e. 1.81±0.057 of the composite flour was high but the bulk density 0.95±0.02 was very low. Mineral analysis depicted the presence of higher amount of calcium i.e. 3.49±0.02 and iron i.e. 2.71±0.01 but low amount of potassium i.e. 1.46±0.02 in the best composite flour. Sensory evaluation of the product developed (Cookies) was carried out using 9-point hedonic scale with various attributes in four concentrations i.e. 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% and were compared with the standard. Sensory evaluation revealed that up to the level of 5% the developed products were more acceptable than standard. The physical properties with 5% level of incorporation were carried out. Results depicted that oil absorption capacity was high i.e. 4.88±0.02 and good amount in dispersibility i.e. 4.01±0.01 water absorption capacity i.e. 3.74±0.01 but low amount of percent solubility i.e. 1.66±0.01. Thus, the results signify that okra and jackfruits seeds are a good source of various nutrients, functional and mineral properties.
On NP-intermediate, Isomorphism problems, and Polynomial Hierarchy

Since being introduced, P and NP problems have been the main focus in complexity theory. Despite decades of eﬀorts being put, it remains as an open problem whether P = NP . However, most professionals hold the belief that the two classes diﬀer. In this paper, discussion on these two categories of problems will be hold, assuming P (cid:54) = NP . Work of Richard Ladner that shows the existence of NP - intermediate class of problems given P (cid:54) = NP will ﬁrst be discussed. Then, graph isomorphism problem, a commonly believed member of the intermediate class, and subgraph isomorphism problem will be discussed,primarily on a type of algorithm for them. Then, a brief discussion on polynomial hierarchy will be displayed, grounding on discussion of the isomorphism problems. At the end, a brief summary on signiﬁcance and hardness of P vs.NP problem will be put.
Observing the Learning Curve of NMT Systems With Regard to Linguistic Phenomena

In this paper we present our observations and evaluations by observing the linguistic performance of the system on several steps on the training process of various English-to-German Neural Machine Translation models. The linguistic performance is measured through a semi-automatic process using a test suite. Among several linguistic observations, we find that the translation quality of some linguistic categories decreased within the recorded iterations. Additionally, we notice some drops of the translation quality of certain categories when using a larger corpus.