Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atlantic surfclam larval transport, population connectivity, and physical drivers on the Middle Atlantic Bight and Georges Bank

OF THE DISSERTATION . ii Acknowledgements . iv Table of Contents . vi List of Tables . viii List of Figures . ix CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 2. MODEL DEVELOPMENT, LARVAL DISPERSAL AND METAPOPULATION CONNECTIVITY . 8 2.1 Introduction . 9 2.2 Model development . 11 2.2.1 Physical circulation model . 11 2.2.2 Surfclam larval individual-based model (Scl-IBM) . 13 2.2.2.1 Growth sub-model . 14 2.2.2.2 Behavioral sub-model . 17 2.3 Model simulations and analysis . 19 2.3.1 Physical circulation . 19 2.3.2 Larval release strategies . 20 2.3. 3 Larval transport, connectivity, and behavioral sensitivity . 21 2.4 Results . 23 2.4. 1 Model validation . 23 2.4. 1.1 Physical circulation model . 23 2.4. 1.2 Larval model validation . 25 2.4. 2 Larval transport and population connectivity . 25 2.4. 3 Larval drifting distances and behavior effects . 27 2.5 Discussion . 29 2.5. 1 Larval transport and connectivity . 29 2.5. 2 Larval drifting distances and behavioral effects . 32 2.5. 3 Coupled modeling system . 35 2.6 Model limitations . 39 CHAPTER 3. PHYSICAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING LARVAL TRANSPORT AND SETTLEMENT VARIATIONS . 53 3.1 Introduction . 54 3.2 Methods . 58
Standardization of processing parameters and color of gels aiming to replace citric pectin by mesocarp flour or pectin of passion fruit

The processing of passion fruit generates a huge quantity of wastes, reaching 50% in mass of rind. The main use of the rinds is to produce rind flour or to be source of pectin as a gelling agent. This work develops a standard procedure to evaluate jelly products subjected to the same temperature histories and content of soluble solids along the processing time of the gel-based product, using different concentrations of mesocarp flour and pectin. The gels were evaluated by color patterns aiming to verify the applicability of mesocarp flour as substitute of commercial pectin in jelly of fruits. The quantitative analysis of the data for temperature histories and content of soluble solids enabled to confirm the standardization of the parameters used in the production of the gels, which is important to warrant the same processing conditions during the elaboration of the different types of gels. The gels made with passion fruit’s mesocarp flour have less translucent shades and a more yellowish color than the gels produced with commercial citric pectin, however, these small differences may not interfere in the final color of fruit jelly.
Measurement of CO2 Emission from Bio-Char-Amended Rice Paddy Field in the Coastal Savannah Zone of Ghana

xiv CHAPTER ONE . 1 1.0 INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.2 Problem statement . 3 1.3 Aim . 4 CHAPTER TWO . 5 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW . 5 2.1 Climate Change . 5 2.2 Soil CO2 efflux . 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug. edu.gh
Unraveling the parameters and biological mechanisms of CO2 laser therapy for acute pain relief

Acute pain-related pathology is a significant challenge in clinical practice, and the limitations of traditional pain-relief drugs have made it necessary to explore alternative approaches. Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy using CO2 laser has emerged as a promising option. In this study, we aimed to identify the optimal parameters of CO2 laser irradiation for acute pain relief through in vivo and in vitro experiments. First, we validated the laser intensity used in this study through bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) experiments to ensure it will not adversely affect stem cell viability and morphology. Then we conducted a detailed evaluation of the duty cycle and frequency of CO2 laser by the hot plate and formalin test. Results showed a duty cycle of 3% and a frequency of 25 kHz produced the best outcomes. Additionally, we investigated the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of CO2 laser by immunohistochemical staining, and found evidence to suggest that the opioid receptor may be involved in its analgesic effect. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the optimal parameters and underlying mechanisms of CO2 laser therapy for effective pain relief, thereby paving the way for future clinical applications.
ARPHYSIO: USANDO REALIDADE AUMENTADA PARA ANÁLISE DO MOVIMENTO HUMANO

This paper aims to present ARPhysio, a system that supports the work of the physiotherapists in human movement analysis. To achieve this, Augmented Reality techniques are used to capture images of the patient, track the evolution of the movements executed by him and then superimpose over the image, in real time, information relative to the executed task. The architecture and the features of the system are detailed and a case study related to an analysis of the ankle movement is presented.
Optimal Frequency Ratio Design Method for Multifrequency Phase Unwrapping of UAV InSAR

As an essential component of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) measurements, phase unwrapping (PU) is a critical process that significantly impacts the accuracy and reliability of topography and deformation measurements. As an effective approach that can overcome the limitations of the Itoh condition, the multi baseline (MB) PU method is widely used in PU; however, when it comes to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) InSAR systems that use a single antenna and repeat-pass mode for interferometric measurements, the time-varying baseline can pose a challenge since the airflow disturbance can prevent the repeat flight paths from remaining parallel. This makes the combination of baselines more complicated, which can impede the feasibility of using the MB PU for the UAV InSAR. As a result, using the relationship between different frequencies for PU is a promising alternative method. This article demonstrates that the frequency ratio design is a crucial factor in the success of the multifrequency (MF) PU method. An optimal frequency ratio design method for MF PU that maximizes the minimum Euclidean distance between the intersection vectors determined by the integer ambiguity vectors is proposed. The proposed method is validated using the simulated and experimental datasets, which provide evidence that PU accuracy can be greatly enhanced with the optimal frequency ratio.
Dual variational generative model and auxiliary retrieval for empathetic response generation by conversational robot

Empathy in human-robot conversations aims to endow the robot with the ability to comprehend user emotion and experience, and then respond to it appropriately. Generally, empathy is embodied in the aspects of both contextual understanding and affective expression, which occur when there exist content and emotion consistencies between context and response. However, previous studies only focus on either aspect. In this paper, we propose a dual variational generative model (DVG) for empathetic response generation to achieve both. Specifically, we integrate an emotion classifier and a variational autoencoder (VAE) into a dual response and context generative model to learn the emotion and content consistencies efficiently. DVG utilizes VAE to mimic the process of context/response understanding. In addition to the generative model, our model can effectively switch to another retrieval system as a fallback solution. Automatic and human evaluations on Japanese and English EmpatheticDialogue datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our method for empathetic response generation. Furthermore, we evaluate our model's ability in general response generation, which is not specific to empathetic but also chitchatting dialogue system. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Cerebrolysin in Patients with Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (SAH) is one of the acute neurological conditions that is associated with high mortality and recovery failure rates. In recent years, due to the development of endovascular and classical techniques, the mortality rate after SAH has decreased. Currently, more research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying SAH. Methods of treatment are investigated in order to obtain the best treatment result, not only survival. One of the drugs used in stroke, including SAH, is Cerebrolysin. It is a mixture of neuropeptides that has similar properties to neurotrophic factors. Its positive impact on strokes has been analyzed; however, there are no meta-analyses concerning only the subpopulation of patients diagnosed with SAH in the current literature. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis of available clinical trials to evaluate the effect of Cerebrolysin on the treatment outcome. The data suggest a positive effect of Cerebrolysin on the mortality of SAH patients. However, further randomized clinical trials with larger groups of patients are needed to draw final conclusions.
The Earthquake Potential of the New Madrid Seismic Zone

The fault system responsible for New Madrid seismicity has generated temporally clustered very large earthquakes in A.D. 900 100 years and A.D. 1450 150 years as well as in 1811-1812. Given the uncertainties in dating liquefaction features, the time between the past three New Madrid events may be as short as 200 years and as long as 800 years, with an average of 500 years. This advance in understanding the Late Holocene history of the New Madrid seismic zone and thus, the contemporary tectonic behavior of the associated fault system was made through studies of hundreds of earthquake-induced liquefaction features at more than 250 sites across the New Madrid region. We have found evidence that prehistoric sand blows, like those that formed during the 1811-1812 earthquakes, are probably com- pound structures resulting from multiple earthquakes closely clustered in time or earthquake sequences. From the spatial distribution and size of sand blows and their sedimentary units, we infer the source zones and estimate the magnitudes of earth- quakes within each sequence and thereby characterize the detailed behavior of the fault system. It appears that fault rupture was complex and that the central branch of the seismic zone produced very large earthquakes during the A.D. 900 and A.D. 1450 events as well as in 1811-1812. On the basis of a minimum recurrence rate of 200 years, we are now entering the period during which the next 1811-1812-type event could occur.
Anticorrosion and Supercapacitor Applications of Polypyrrole Coated Graphite Nanocomposites

The present investigation reports the successful incorporation of Graphite into the PPy matrix via a chemical in-situ polymerization technique. Obtained composites were thoroughly studied by using powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The corrosion inhibition response of the composites on mild steel (MS), treated in acid media was analysed through atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), impedance, Tafel diagram (potentiodynamic polarization) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The results have revealed better inhibitory properties of these composites in the premeditated acid media. The Tafel and impedance curves revealed the dependency of polymer compounds on the corrosion protection of MS steel. The surface of MS is examined through the SEM technique (before and after corrosion). The synthesized materials were further studied for supercapacitor applications using electrochemical Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Galvanostatic Charging and Discharging studies (GCD) measurements. The supercapacitor and corrosion properties can be further optimized to develop effective PPy/G structures.
Effects of microplastics contamination on marine biota

VII Introduction . 1 Chapter 1 Contamination features influence the effects of microplastics of the mussel Perna perna (Bivalvia, Mytilidae) . 6 Introduction . 6 Methods . 9 Results . 18 Discussion . 28 Chapter 2 Chronic low-concentration exposure to microplastic does not cause physiological effects on cultivated mussel Perna perna . 37 Introduction . 37 Methods . 39 Results . 45 Discussion . 48 Chapter 3 From biotransference to biomagnification of microplastics: what really threatens marine predators from microplastics pollution? 55 Introduction . 55 Methods . 60 Results . 65 Discussion . 67
Validating a re-implementation of an algorithm to integrate transcriptome and ChIP-seq data

Transcription factor binding to a gene regulatory region induces or represses its expression. Binding and expression target analysis (BETA) integrates the binding and gene expression data to predict this function. First, the regulatory potential of the factor is modeled based on the distance of its binding sites from the transcription start sites in a decay function. Then the differential expression statistics from an experiment where this factor was perturbed represent the binding effect. The rank product of the two values is employed to order in importance. This algorithm was originally implemented in Python. We reimplemented the algorithm in R to take advantage of existing data structures and other tools for downstream analyses. Here, we attempted to replicate the findings in the original BETA paper. We applied the new implementation to the same datasets using default and varying inputs and cutoffs. We successfully replicated the original results. Moreover, we showed that the method was appropriately influenced by varying the input and was robust to choices of cutoffs in statistical testing.
Determining the factors influencing tourist souvenir expenditure: The case of Turkey

In this study, information will be explored that will contribute to increasing tourism income in destinations with low tourist expenditure per person. For this purpose, the souvenir expenditure of tourists in Turkey is examined. Souvenir stores in Sultanahmet and the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul were investigated using a qualitative case study research design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 souvenir sellers and 778 online comments of tourists shopping in souvenir stores were analyzed by netnography. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the efforts made to transform products based on the natural, historical and cultural richness of Turkey into brands, and thus increase local product diversity, play a critical role in increasing souvenir expenditure. On the other hand, the importance of the selection of high spending tourists as the target market and increasing the employment of qualified workers in the tourism sector has emerged.
Propuesta bayesiana para la elaboración de mapas genéticos

Recently, the advances in biotechnological research have allowed to manipulate specific genes or groups of genes in plants in order to produce crops with desirable characteristics. The final objective is the attainment of improved species with faster growth, able to a better adaptation to the environment, more resistant to diseases and pests or simply to produce more uniform fruits and better quality fruits. The research on molecular markers is contributing to the understanding of the results derived from the study of the inheritance of the quantitative traits and to develop more efficient plant and animal breeding methods. Marker assisted selection is an important strategy in breeding programmes and is based in the detection of factors responsible of the variation of the quantitative traits; that is, the QTLs. The location and the genetic effects of the QTLs can be inferred by combining the information on the genotype and phenotype of individuals form populations in linkage disequilibrium such as those of controlled crosses like backcross and F2 among others. QTL analysis relies in the correct estimation of the genetic map of the population under study. This requirement is the basis for the present doctoral thesis. The motivating aim of this research work is to develop a Bayesian methodology in order to accurately estimate genetic maps in three experimental scenarios: Backcross population, F2 populations with all codominant markers and F2 with both dominant and codominant markers. Additionally, the estimation of a genetic map implies the design of a strategy to assign markers to different linkage groups and then to define the ordination of the markers within each linkage group. These two phases have been investigated in the chapters of the present thesis. There exist very well defined and contrasted methodologies in the frequentist area (Chapter 1, section 1.4); however, none of them, by construction, attach a level of reliability of the map based on probabilities. Generally, the map is validated based on the location of the same markers in another similar population or on the existence of physical maps with anchored markers. On the other hand, very little attention has been given to Bayesian methods in the context (Chapter 1, section 1.6) so that the present study can be a step forward to solve this problem.
Association between isokinetic strength measures and functional performance in community-dwelling older adults

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown an association between lower limb muscle strength and functional performance, but a dose-response relationship between the strength of each lower limb muscle group and performance in daily life activities in older adults has not been well established. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the association between isokinetic muscle strength of all eight major lower limb muscle groups and functional performance in community-dwelling older adults. The muscle strength of the plantar flexors and dorsiflexors of the ankle, flexors and extensors of the knee, and flexors, extensors, adductors, and abductors of the hip were evaluated using a Biodex System 4 Pro® isokinetic dynamometer. Functional performance was evaluated in 109 participants using the five-times sit-to-stand test (STS) and 4-meter usual walking speed (UWS). The multiple linear regression analyses showed that the hip abductors strength predicted 31.3% of the variability for UWS (p=0.011), and the knee extensors strength (p=0.015) predicted 31.6% of the variability for the STS. We conclude that hip abductors and knee extensors could be the key muscle groups involved in sit to stand and walking speed performance in older adults.
Summer hydroclimatology of an extensive low-gradient wetland: Polar Bear Pass, Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada.

Polar Bear Pass (PBP) (75°40′N, 98°30′W) is considered a critical wetland area for migratory birds, caribou and muskox. Little is known of its climatology and hydrology. Here we evaluate both the short-term and long-term summer climatic record for this wetland. A 10 m high automatic weather station (AWS) was established here 27 years ago, and in 2007 this centrally located AWS was supplemented by three more weather stations placed across the wetland pass. The long-term climate record here indicates little significant departure when compared to the long-term climate means (1971–2005) at Resolute Bay, a government weather station lying 90 km to the southwest (74°43′N, 94°59′W). Exceptions exist for July minimum air temperature (PBP > Resolute) and number of days in June, July and August < 0°C (PBP < Resolute). Climate variability from year to year remains the norm. Radiation receipt, air temperature, humidity and wind speed vary little across the wetland pass, while terrain-modified fluxes do. The precipitation regime is similar to Resolute Bay but local site conditions modify the amounts. In 2007, July evaporation levels were twice as high as that of 2008; more akin to Low Arctic sites. As yet, no clear trend in long-term climatic signals can be established.
What goes in and what comes out: a scoping review of regenerative agricultural practices

ABSTRACT This scoping review examined peer-reviewed and gray literature to explore what a “no-to-low external input” statement means for regenerative agriculture. Five organic amendment inputs (compost extract, manure, mulch, biochar, food systems waste) and four land management processes (livestock management and integration, crop diversity, tillage reduction, comprehensive approach) were identified. Findings include “no-to-low external input” models arising from processes which function to displace external inputs (e.g., synthetic fertilizer). Organic amendment inputs and regenerative land management processes promote biology and improve nutrient cycling at soil, farm, and landscape scales. Regenerative agriculture overlaps with other farming practices including those associated with agroecology and conservation agriculture.
A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON SECURITY OPERATIONS CENTERS IN SAUDI ARABIA: CHALLENGES AND RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

The worldwide digital transformation of organizations in all sectors makes them depend increasingly on technology services which indirectly increases the risk of threats and cyber-attacks. Hence, organizations utilize Security Operation Centers (SOCs) to monitor their digital infrastructure for potential cyber incidents. SOC receives and collects information and consequently makes decisions and issues orders or commands. The increment utilization of SOC as a part of cyber security strategy has led to several studies in improving SOC operations. However, few studies have focused on challenges faced by the management and technical staffs working in SOCs. This paper aims to identify these challenges by conducting a qualitative study on SOCs in organizations from different industry sectors in Saudi Arabia. Analyzing the interview data determines the technical and non-technical issues that exist in SOC. The main challenges of SOCs are high false positive rate, low quality of threat intelligence, slow response speed, low visibility on devices and network, and insufficient automation level. Moreover, there are disagreements between managers and SOCs’ employee which could affect SOC efficiency and effectiveness if not addressed. The future research directions are presented highlighting the real-world needs of SOCs.
Security against space-restricted physical attacks

The dissertation introduces a new, defined by the author, model of cryptographic computation, called SBA–model. Characteristic features of the model are: space boundary, leakage and random oracle. The dissertation studies three schemes (one-time computable pseudorandom functions, key-evolution schemes and one-time programs) of cryptographic primitives. We show existence of these schemes in SBA–model. The results of this dissertation were presented in [19,24,25].
The Effects of Positive Valence and Intensity of Word-Of-Mouth and Advertising on Forming Beer Brand Equity and Purchase Intentions

ABSTRACT Brand communication activities and brand equity influence purchase intention; however, few studies have investigated the effects of the valence and intensity of brand communication activities on brand equity and purchase intention. The present study investigated how the intensity and valence (or attitude) of brand communication activities influenced brand awareness, brand image, and purchase intention in the beer market. Convenience sampling was used to collect beer consumer data, and valid data from 433 individuals were gathered. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Brand awareness and brand image were positively correlated with purchase intention, with brand image having the stronger association of the two. Furthermore, the intensity and valence of WOM and advertising attitude were associated with brand image, with advertising attitude having the stronger association of the three. Finally, advertising intensity and advertising attitude but not WOM intensity were associated with brand awareness.