Centre For Advanced Studies Research Articles

Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota

Objective and ApproachPrior research has found that experiences of homelessness are associated with an increased likelihood of child protection involvement, and vice-versa. However, it is not clear how involvement with the child welfare system may impact family housing stability during and after their involvement. The objective of this study was to more deeply understand the housing stability of families involved with child welfare over time. To examine this issue, we linked administrative data from Minnesota’s Homelessness Management Information System with social services data from the Department of Human Services (e.g., receipt of food support, childcare or housing assistance, child welfare), for families involved with child welfare in Minnesota between 2019 and 2021. ResultsApproximately a quarter of child welfare-involved families experienced homelessness during their involvement with the child welfare system. Rates of homelessness were similarly high in the two years prior to and following child welfare involvement. Although a large proportion of families experienced homelessness before and during their child welfare involvement, we saw no increase in the proportion of families receiving housing support after their involvement in the system. Conclusions and ImplicationsOur findings indicate that involvement with the child welfare system and the resources provided through this involvement do not have a significant impact on family’s experiences of homelessness. This suggests the need for closer collaboration between the child welfare system and housing services to identify more effective solutions for housing instability among families within the child welfare system.

The bacterial profile and antibiotic susceptibility in skin and soft tissue infections at a tertiary care hospital of Quetta, Pakistan.

To determine the bacterial profile and antibiotic susceptibility in skin and soft tissue infections among patients in a tertiary care setting. The cross-sectional cohort study was conducted at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan, from June 2021 to May 2022, and comprised bacteriainfected skin samples that were collected from the Bolan Medical Complex Hospital, Quetta, and the Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta. The swab samples were immediately cultured, and positive samples were evaluated for biochemical tests, antibiotic susceptibility test and polymerase chain reaction. Data was analysed using SPSS 22. Of the 800 samples, 598(74.7%) tested positive for pathogenic bacteria. Staphylococcus aureus accounted for 316(39.5%) infections, followed by clostridium perfringens 18.96(2.37%), escherichia coli 120(15.12%), pseudomonas aeruginosa 98(12.25%) and klebsiella pneumoniae 44(5.5%). Among all the infected samples, 380(47.5%) belonged to males, 218(27.25%) to patients aged 5-20 years, 448(56%) to the uneducated subjects, and 462(57.87%) to patients having lower socioeconomic status. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed the highest level of resistance against all antibiotics. Regular surveillance and proper use of antibiotics should be encouraged in hospitals to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance against pathogenic bacteria.

Examining the Effects of Diverse Irrigation Regimens and Planting Timelines on Wheat Growth, Yield, and Yield Characteristics

In the Rabi season spanning 2021 to 2022, a field trial was carried out on sandy loam soil. at a research station near the Center for Advanced Studies on Climate Change, Dr. RPCAU, Pusa, Bihar (India). Positioned at a latitude of 25°98' N and a longitude of 85°66' E. the experimental plot ascended to an elevation of 52.3 meters above mean sea level. The primary objective was to assess the effects of different irrigation levels and planting dates on the development, yield, and yield characteristics of wheat. The investigation included four irrigation management protocols (irrigation at 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 IW/CPE) assigned to the main plot, along with four sowing dates (15 Nov, 30 Nov, 15 Dec, and 30 Dec) allocated to the sub plot. This layout was replicated thrice in a split-plot configuration. The results indicated that the maximum values of growth factors (specifically plant height), yield factor (effective tillers/m2), and yield (both grain and straw) were observed when irrigation was administered at 1.2 IW/CPE (I4). This method, statistically comparable to irrigation at 1 IW/CPE (I3), exhibited notable superiority over the other treatments. Conversely, the minimum values of plant height, effective tillers/m2, grain yield, and straw yield were documented under the irrigation regimen of 0.6 IW/CPE (I1).

Drug susceptibility, Prevalence and effect of Pseudomonas aeruginosa on wound healing of burn patients.

To determine the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility and effect of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in relation to burn patients. The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan, from March 2018 to May 2021, and comprised pus swab cultures were isolated from inpatients with 2nd and 3rd degree burns aged up to 60 years at Bolan Medical Complex Hospital and Sandeman Provinical Hospital, the two main government tertiary care hospitals in Quetta. The samples were immediately cultured, and evaluated using biochemical tests, antibiotic susceptibility and molecular identification using polymerase chain reaction. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. Of the 720 burn wound samples, 424(58.9%) were positive for Pseudomonas aeruginosa; 304(42%) males and 120(16%) females (p<0.02). The overall mean age of the patients was 27.7±6.2 years (range: 1-60 years). The mean total burn surface area was not significantly different in positive 29.6±6.2% and negative 30.3±6.2% cases (p>0.05). The time leading to skin grafts in positive patients was 29.5±6.5 days compared to 22.3±6.3 days for negative patients (p< 0.007), and the time required for wound healing was 25.0±4.7 days and 16.7±5.2 days, respectively (p<0.001). Length of hospital stay of Pseudomonas aeruginosa positive patients was 38.0±7.8 days compared to 32.1±6.8 days for negative patients (p<0.001). Nosocomial infections and multidrug resistance species were observed frequently at the burn wound site. P. aeruginosa.

Editorial

The Foundation for Scientific and Technological Development (FUNDECIT), in partnership with the Center for Advanced Studies in Education and Medical Training (CEDUMED) of the Faculty of Medicine of Agostinho Neto University (FMUAN), took the initiative to organize the Workshop on Integrity and Ethics in Scientific Research. The event brought together professionals from various fields with the aim of promoting dialogue on ethical and bioethical issues related to scientific research. These topics were intended to cover different lines of research coexisting in this area, revealing the epistemological heterogeneity in the field of science and technology, leading to interdisciplinary analysis, both theoretical and methodological. The event allowed researchers to reassess their actions and practices within their institutions and scientific projects with ethical and moral implications. As the first event with this focus and with guiding themes for good functioning, academics, researchers, and scientists from various countries such as Angola, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Mozambique, and Portugal were present. The event allowed for an examination of different realities and to verify if the path that the country is following is the most appropriate. Held in a hybrid format (in-person and remote) on March 30 and 31, 2023, at the Epic Sana Hotel, the workshop was aimed at managers of higher education institutions and the entire scientific community in general. The event consisted of two days of lectures and constructive debates between renowned national and foreign guests and participants, where contributions led to reflection on professional teaching practice with an ethical character, aiming to describe the stages of building a scientific project that focuses on addressing the problems and aspirations of the population. Respecting its morality (habits and customs), so that it can be feasible in various dimensions. Along with all these issues, it became clear that each country needs an ethical regulatory instrument to guide research in its territory because international devices cannot cover all the issues inherent in its culture. Hence, in some communications, it was evident that the creation of an entity that would create the same devices and another that would control the investigations carried out (National Ethics Committee and a National Bioethics Advisory Council), with one being deliberative and the other advisory in character. The event also brought to light the need to conform academic and research institutions to the best international practices and recommendations regarding ethical issues in science, technology, and innovation. Without forgetting the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR), which is a significant document for the analysis of scientific research protocols. The results presented point to the importance of paying close attention to double standards of research protocol for clinical trials in developing or peripheral countries. Consequently, the speakers raised the urgent need for South-South cooperation to discuss ethical and bioethical problems in the face of the common reality of peripheral countries. Institutional contexts may be definitive and timely in the analysis of the works published by these researchers. By discussing science, technology, and innovation as a parameter for discussion, which will contribute to the realization of paradigm shifts in this area of socio-discursive production (Ethics and Bioethics), this meeting also allowed for networking among speakers from various national and foreign institutions and event participants.

ESTIMATION OF WHEAT CROP PRODUCTIVITY OF DISTRICT NAWAB SHAH USING METRIC EEFLUX IMAGERY

Water scarcity and food security are global concerns, which require morefood production from less water. Therefore, for effective management of water resources and improved food production, identification of Crop water Productivity (CWP) is of prime importance. Current study was conducted at Center for Advanced Studies in Water, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan during year 2020 estimates CWP of wheat during the Rabi season (winter season) in the Nawab Shah District of Sindh (located in Rorhi canal command area) using Mapping Evapotranspiration at High Resolution with internalized calibration (METRIC) - Earth Engine Flux (EEFLUX) application. Cloud corrections were applied where cloud cover was approximately 50% and missing data were interpolated. Actual evapotran spiration (ETa ) for each season (initial, development, mid and late, required for estimating CWP) were calculated from reference evapotranspiration (ETr ) by evapotranspiration factor (ETr F) which were available at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) website, using geographical information system software package (ARC-GIS). Total ETa for the entire season came out to be 367.57 mm. Inshort, wheat crop productivity can be assessed by using matric EEFLUX imagery

Transformer With Bidirectional GRU for Nonintrusive, Sensor-Based Activity Recognition in a Multiresident Environment

Several techniques for human activity recognition (HAR) in a smart indoor environment have been developed and improved along with the rapid advancement of sensor technologies. However, recognizing multiple people’s activities is still challenging due to the complexity of their activities, such as parallel and collaborative activities. To address these challenges, we propose a transformer with a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (GRU) deep learning (DL) method, called TRANS-BiGRU, to efficiently learn and recognize different types of activities performed by multiple residents. We compare the proposed model with the state-of-the-art models and various DL models, such as Ensemble2LSTM (Ens2-LSTM), bidirectional GRUs (Bi-GRU), and traditional machine learning (ML) models, such as support vector machine (SVM). Our experimental results based on the center for advanced studies in adaptive system and ARAS public data sets show that our model significantly outperforms the existing models for complex activity recognition of multiple residents.

Organizational and Methodological Support of Teaching Staff on the Use of Simulation Techniques in Additional Professional Education of Medical Specialists

The experience of conducting organizational and methodological measures with teachers of simulation training in the GAU DPO RB "Center for Advanced Studies" during simulation classes is presented.

Introduction

In June 2020, the Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe) at the University of Lancaster (UK) and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Mobility &amp; Humanities (MoHu) at the University of Padua (Italy) co-hosted an international conference on the theme of “Unruly Landscapes.” As a result of the pandemic, the two-day event had to be moved online, but participants nevertheless enjoyed two days of inspiring discussion as the speakers engaged with the intersection of landscape and mobility from a variety of disciplines and approaches.

Robert Allen Gardner (1930-2021).

Memorializes Robert Allen Gardner (1930-2021). Gardner and his late wife and research partner, Beatrix "Trixie" Gardner, are best known for their ground-breaking cross-fostering project with the chimpanzee Washoe, the first nonhuman to learn a human language (American Sign Language). Between 1972 and 198, Allen and Trixie replicated their success with four additional infant chimpanzees. Allen cofounded and was a psychology fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Nevada in Reno, and served as director from 1990 to 1993. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Adjuvant osimertinib treatment in patients with early stage NSCLC (IB-IIIA): pathological pathway adaptations.

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common type of lung cancer. Around 30% of patients are diagnosed with early disease and 60% after the tumour has spread to a different part of the body. The earlier NSCLC is diagnosed, the better the chances of prolonging survival. Recent years have seen striking improvements in cancer treatment outcomes through increased use of molecular diagnostics. Therapy decisions are now based on a combination of genetic testing and genetically matched targeted therapies. The positive results obtained with the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including osimertinib, in the metastatic disease, coupled with recent data in early stage disease support the importance of molecular testing in this setting. In this overview we discuss factors paramount in pathological pathways to ensure optimal management of early stage NSCLC and also provide an overview of requirements/recommendations. Critical issues in the pre-analytical phases regarding both cytology/biopsy samples and surgically resected tissues are highlighted and solutions are proposed to guarantee accuracy, adequacy and sustainability in the innovative approach to be introduced in clinical practice for NSCLC patients.

Introduction — Unruly Landscapes

In June 2020, the Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe) at the University of Lancaster (UK) and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Mobility &amp; Humanities (MoHu) at the University of Padua (Italy) co-hosted an international conference on the theme of “Unruly Landscapes.” As a result of the pandemic, the two-day event had to be moved online, but participants nevertheless enjoyed two days of inspiring discussion as the speakers engaged with the intersection of landscape and mobility from a variety of disciplines and approaches.It was striking that this was a theme that attracted scholars from diverse scholarly and artistic communities, and we have attempted to reproduce the freshness of these dynamic, cross-disciplinary perspectives in the way we have grouped the articles here. Indeed, in order to maximize the diversity of the contributions. We sought approval from the Transfers editors to publish twelve shorter articles of 5,000 words each across two special sections. We trust that readers of the journal will enjoy our purposefully “unruly” juxtaposition of disciplines and approaches, including the different ways that our contributors have understood and conceptualized the mobile landscape. However, both here and in our Introduction to Unruly Landscapes No. 2, we have sought to make sense of what is going on in each article and to indicate how it contributes to the recent debates that most interest readers of this journal. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Tim Ingold for his keynote lecture at the conference which spoke about his recent work on landscape as “palimpsest”—as well as artist Jen Southern (Lancaster University) for allowing us to use her formulation of the “unruly” for our event.

Binary Sensors-Based Privacy-Preserved Activity Recognition of Elderly Living Alone Using an RNN.

The recent growth of the elderly population has led to the requirement for constant home monitoring as solitary living becomes popular. This protects older people who live alone from unwanted instances such as falling or deterioration caused by some diseases. However, although wearable devices and camera-based systems can provide relatively precise information about human motion, they invade the privacy of the elderly. One way to detect the abnormal behavior of elderly residents under the condition of maintaining privacy is to equip the resident’s house with an Internet of Things system based on a non-invasive binary motion sensor array. We propose to concatenate external features (previous activity and begin time-stamp) along with extracted features with a bi-directional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) neural network to recognize the activities of daily living with a higher accuracy. The concatenated features are classified by a fully connected neural network (FCNN). The proposed model was evaluated on open dataset from the Center for Advanced Studies in Adaptive Systems (CASAS) at Washington State University. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperformed state-of-the-art models with a margin of more than 6.25% of the F1 score on the same dataset.

PREFACE

The Conference on Sustainable Energy, Environment and Green Technologies (ICSEEGT 2021) organized by the department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering along with Applied Sciences, Poornima College of Engineering, Jaipur, India was the first International Conference on this theme. We are happy to that we could organize it with the publication support of SCOPUS indexed IOP Conference series Earth and Environmental Engineering. The objective of this conference was to bring together researchers from academia, government agencies, research laboratories and the corporate sector to present their research works carried out in sustainable energy, environment and green technologies.Initially the conference was planned in offline mode. Due to Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and worldwide lockdown, organizers were having difficulties conducting in offline mode. It was difficult for the keynote speakers and participants to reach the location of a conference in such a pandemic situation. Further, the predictions during on Covid-19 pandemic indicated that the influence will be for a long time and the long distance interactions through digital mode would be the best way in that condition. Considering all these situations and an enthusiastic response by the authors for the participation in online mode, organizers decided to conduct this conference in virtual mode instead of postponed. The conference was conducted through zoom and google meet platforms. The feedback of participants and appreciations during the feedback session clearly indicated that it was organized in a well-planned way.The Conference began with its Inaugural Session seeking the blessings of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Saraswati. The session witnessed addresses of dignified persons, Dr. Damir Brdanovic, Professor of Sanitary Engineering IHE Delft for Water Education, The Netherlands who was the Chief Guest of the programme, (Guest of Honor) Mr. Sunil Rajavaram, Senior Global WASH Advisor, The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, Calgary, Albreta, Canada and (Guest of Honor) Dr. L.M. Das, Former Professor, Indian institute of Technology, Delhi, India.The Inaugural session was followed by a Keynote session of Dr. Damir Brdanovic, on the topic, “From Idea to Innovation: The Shit Killer”. Two technical sessions were also organized on the first day where authors and participants from various universities around the world participated and presented their papers. Overall, 122 papers were received for ICSEEGT 2021 from various organizations all over the world, out of which 42 papers were selected for presentation by our expert team of Reviewers. The research papers from various participants were divided into three tracks viz. Sustainable Energy, Environment and Green Technologies. The presenters and attendees participated with full enthusiasm during the entire sessions. 22 papers were accepted and presented in the technical sessions on the first day. The sessions were chaired by Dr. Salifu Tahiru Azeko, Tamale Technical University, Ghana, Dr. T.N. Verma, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal’. Dr. Payal Bansal, and Mr. Vikas Sharma, PCE were the moderators for the session.The day came to an end with another keynote session on “Advances in Materials for Green Energy Storage Technologies” by Prof. M.V. Reddy, Institute of Research Hydro-Quebec, Centre of Excellence in Transportation Electrification and Energy Storage (CETEES), Hydro Quebec, Canada.On the second day of the International Conference, ICSEEGT 2021, two more technical sessions were organized where about 20 more accepted papers were presented. The sessions were chaired by Dr. Pankaj Gupta, MNIT, Jaipur, and Dr. Pradeep Kumar Gautam, National Institute of Technology, Meghalaya. Dr. Payal Bansal, and Mr. Vikas Sharma, PCE were the moderators for the session. Two keynote sessions, One on the title, “Green Technology, Innovative Nano-materials and Eco Sustainability” by Dr. Alka Sharma, Centre for Advanced Studies, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur and another on the title, “Green Energy Technologies for Sustainable Development” by Dr. K.S. Reddy, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras were also organized on the second day of the conference. On the contrary, the event turned out to be a great success with addresses and sessions of learned persons, wholehearted participation from all our authors, co-authors, attendees, and an expert team of reviewers, coordinators, staff members, organizers and last but not the least, the most powerful pillars of ICSEEGT 2021, the Management.List of Steering Committee, Organizing Committee, Advisory Committee, Technical Program Committee, Reviewer(s) and this titles are available in this pdf.

Epidemic and PCR-based identification of vibrio cholera through OmpW gene from diarrhoeal patients admitted at different hospitals of Baluchistan.

To study the different epidemiological and polymerase chain reaction-based identification of vibrio cholera. The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Center for Advanced Studies in Vaccinology and Biotechnology, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan, from January 5 to December 6, 2019, and comprised faecal / rectal swab samples from patients with a history of untreated severe diarrhoea of <12-hour duration. The samples were collected from suspected cholera patients at different hospitals of the province. The isolates were examined and identified on the basis of colony characters on thiosulfate-citrate-bile salts-sucrose agar. Susppected colonies were subjected to gram staining, biochemical tests and polymerase chain reaction-based identification. Data was analysed using SPSS 19. Of the 444 samples, 33(7.43%) were positive for vibrio cholera and 411(92.56%) were negative. The incidence was higher in individuals aged 1-20 years 12(2.7%); males 18(4.05%); Balochs 18(4.05%); lower socioeconomic class 18(4.05%); and illiterates 26(5.85%). The incidence was more in summer 19(4.27%) and spring 8(1.80%) seasons. Polymerase chain reaction was highly effective diagnostic approach, with findings showing clear bands of 588bp of ompW gene. Surveillance for diarrhoeal disorders is necessary to control future outbreaks of cholera in the region.

THE INFLUENCE OF GRADUATES OF EDUCATIONAL CENTERS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Educational centers in the Islamic world from Islamic universities, ancient schools and research centers have contributed to the formation and graduation of many professors, researchers and scientists from around the world, including graduates from the Balkan region, especially from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who have accumulated scientific and practical experience and expertise during their postgraduate studies in these centers, which was quite sufficient for their participation as soon as they returned to their country, each to their own position and responsibilities, in establishing and developing a scientific and educational model that takes into account their specificities and largely in line with the changes their country is going through throughout its bitter history, and in several respects. Regarding the establishment of educational and religious institutions and centers, they have the honor of having many Islamic academies in the country and abroad, including the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Sarajevo, Islamic Pedagogical Faculty in Zenica, Islamic Pedagogical Faculty in Bihac, and many others. educational, research, religious, educational, pedagogical, and social centers, of which the Nawabada Center in Prosatsu in Akhsar, the Center for Advanced Studies, the Wasatia Center for Dialogue, the Nahla Center for Women, the Et-Tarika-sh-Shaziliya Center in Sarajevo are many and others, who have contributed to the establishment and development of religious, educational, scientific and social aspects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in laying the scientific and cultural foundations for understanding modern Islam in the region. At the teaching level, these graduates work on the development of many educational and pedagogical practices, based on the tasks they perform as professors at the faculty, are creative in selecting appropriate academic content, and in developing methods and techniques for teaching Islamic sciences and Arabic language and its methods. choosing the appropriate educational resources and choosing the best methods and techniques of testing knowledge, realizing the weight of their responsibilities and the nobility of their mission. As a result of this effort and all contributions, they have clearly contributed to the Islamic scientific awakening that the Balkans have known since the second half of the 20th century, and they have also enriched Islamic libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina and abroad with their scientific products in various fields.

Water consumption pattern and conservation measures in academic building: a case study of Jamshoro Pakistan

The building construction industry contribute substantially toward the exhaustion of most of the natural resources and water is one of them. Unsustainable water uses in buildings during its operation phase augmenting water resources consumption and degradation. To reduce resource consumption and harmful environmental impacts; green buildings construction is being promoted. Water conservation is one of the important components in the design of green buildings to save freshwater and satisfy the increasing demand for water. United States (U.S.) green building reference guide rating system contains 11 points out of 110 points for water efficiency for building design and construction. Considering these facts, this study aims to analyze water consumption and conservation potential in the Center for advanced studies during operational phase in the city Jamshoro. Water consumption by occupants during working hours has been assessed. Two scenarios were developed to assess and calculate water use in existing infrastructure and then compared with criteria provided by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines for new construction and design. It has been observed that currently no proper provision is provided for water reuse or recycling and ordinary water consumption fixtures are used. Results show that 33.50% of total consumed water can be saved by using LEED design and construction criteria. Moreover, grey water reuse can also reduce freshwater consumption 42–25% in both scenarios. Grey water reuse and reducing indoor water consumption in the building can help to conserve water. Such water usage systems will not only help to reduce energy cost but also contribute positively toward ensuring future availability of resources and improve environmental performance.

TRANSMISSÃO DA VARIAÇÃO DA TAXA DE CÂMBIO PARA OS PREÇOS DE EXPORTAÇÕES BRASILEIRAS DA CARNE BOVINA E DA CARNE DE FRANGO (1997-2019)

The objective of this work consisted of examining the relation between exchange rates in the Brazilian export prices of beef and chicken meat, relation defined as the pass-through of the exchange rate, having as reference the period from July, 1997 to March, 2019. The data were collected from the sites of Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics – CEPEA, the Institute of Applied Economics - IPEA, in WORLD BANK, and in the Bureau of Labor Statistics – BLS. In this sense, time series instrumentals were used, especially the Error Correction Vector Model. The results found indicated that the pass-through degree of the exchange rate for the export prices of beef occurred in a complete way, representing competitiveness. Yet, for chicken meat, the pass-through coefficient was incomplete, representing that the exchange rate depreciations do not translate themselves into significant gains in competitiveness, once that they reduce partially the export prices.

An assessment of the niche centroid hypothesis: Pteropus lylei (Chiroptera)

AbstractRecent ecological theories propose that species reach their highest abundance and genetic diversity in the center of their ecological niche and decline toward the edges. We assessed whether Lyle's flying fox, Pteropus lylei, abundance and genetic diversity were correlated with niche centroid distance using an ecological niche model as a proxy for fundamental niche (NF). Alternatively, we assessed whether P. lylei abundance and genetic diversity were correlated with fine‐scale environmental factors as a proxy of the species’ realized niche (NR). We examined relationships between abundance and environmental factors at coarse and fine scales as proxies of NF and NR, respectively. For coarse scale, ecological niche of P. lylei was modeled using all available occurrence records in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, coupled with climatic data. We conducted field measurements of P. lylei abundance and used genetic structure data across a large portion of the species’ range. We measured Euclidean distances between abundance and genetic data and the niche centroid in environmental dimensions. Spearman’s correlation was estimated between abundance and genetic diversity vs. distance to the niche centroid. Complementarily, for the fine‐scale test, we measured multiple regression models between abundance and genetic diversity versus the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), local temperature, percent area of waterbodies, human density, and number of Buddhist temples. We failed to detect relationships between abundance and genetic diversity with the distance to the niche centroid in the coarse‐scale model. When using the fine‐scale, landscape‐level data, we found negative correlation between genetic diversity and number of temples. The data available were unable to support niche centroid hypothesis for the current distribution and abundances of P. lylei. We note that our failure to find an association does not support nor reject the niche centroid hypothesis. Instead, our capacity to test the niche centroid hypothesis may be limited by our ability to use empirical data to accurately reconstruct NF from field observations only. Future research may require physiology‐based experimental approaches to explore relationships between species abundances and the niche structure.

Recognition of Daily Activities of Two Residents in a Smart Home Based on Time Clustering.

With the development of population aging, the recognition of elderly activity in smart homes has received increasing attention. In recent years, single-resident activity recognition based on smart homes has made great progress. However, few researchers have focused on multi-resident activity recognition. In this paper, we propose a method to recognize two-resident activities based on time clustering. First, to use a de-noising method to extract the feature of the dataset. Second, to cluster the dataset based on the begin time and end time. Finally, to complete activity recognition using a similarity matching method. To test the performance of the method, we used two two-resident datasets provided by Center for Advanced Studies in Adaptive Systems (CASAS). We evaluated our method by comparing it with some common classifiers. The results show that our method has certain improvements in the accuracy, recall, precision, and F-Measure. At the end of the paper, we explain the parameter selection and summarize our method.