Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FUSIONS OF CNN AND SVM CLASSIFIERS FOR RECOGNIZING HANDWRITTEN CHARACTERS

complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Off-line handwritten character recognition plays an important role on a very large scale in handwriting recognition systems. The ultimate goal of this research field is to let the machine read generic materials written by human beings. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to further improve the recognition accuracy and the reliability of current off-line handwritten character recognition systems. The main contribution of this thesis is to present several ways of integrating the synergy of two superior classifiers: Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) which have proven results in recognizing different types of patterns. Two models of new fusions have been investigated. In the hybrid model, CNN works as a trainable feature extractor and SVM performs as a recognizer. It automatically extracts the features from the raw images and generates predictions. In the regular combination model, the CNN classifier is trained with raw images but with normalized sizes, and the SVM classifier is trained with handcrafted features. The reliability for both models has been realized through the introduction of a rejection mechanism. The comparisons between the two proposed models were tested on handwritten digits and handwritten letters in the English language, respectively. For the handwritten digit recognition, experiments were conducted on the well-known MNIST database. Experimental results and comparisons with other works on the same database showed that the best results were achieved by the proposed hybrid model: An error rate of 0.19% IV without rejection (compared to the most recent error rate of 0.35%), and a recognition rate of 94.40% under 100% reliability with rejection (compared to a recognition rate of 91.51% under 100% reliability from other studies to our best knowledge). For the experiments on handwritten letters, the NIST database was applied. Three strategies were adopted in classifying handwritten letters into different types of classes. They are a 26-class problem in uppercases and a 26-class problem in lowercases, a 26-metaclass problem, and a 52-class problem. The recognition results without rejection by the hybrid model for the 26-class problem in uppercases and the 26-class problem in lowercases were 96.2289% and 90.2410%, respectively. The recognition rates without rejection were 92.0744% for the 26-metaclass problem and 70.2408% for the 52-class problem. Results showed that the hybrid model outperformed other single classifiers (SVM, CNN) in our experiments. However, the combination …
Patent Litigation as an Information Transmission Mechanism

Patent litigation reveals important information about the validity of the contested patent to other potential entrants. This paper explores the implications of such informational externalities for entry dynamics in the presence of multiple potential entrants. The nature of the entry game can be one of either waiting or preemption depending on the degree of patent protection. Therefore, the payoffs for the patentee and the initial imitator are discontinuous in the degree of patent protection. Furthermore, strengthening intellectual property rights is not necessarily desirable for the patentee. The analysis may also help explain the apparently puzzling practice of delaying patent suits. Copyright 1998 by American Economic Association.
Intensify, diversify, opt-out: testing farmer stated intentions to past and future CAP reform scenarios

A series of studies have explored the future intentions of farm households to reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This paper explores the intentions of Scottish livestock farmers under proposed reforms and, using the path dependency model, estimates the effect of past decisions on determining future intentions. A large representative telephone based survey of livestock farmers was conducted over the Summer of 2013. This yielded a response rate of 1,764 observations from livestock based holdings in Scotland. A multinomial logistic regression was used to estimate the influence of various factors on either increasing or decreasing activity in agricultural and non-agricultural related areas. Whilst hypothesised increases in payment will lead to an intention to increase activity, a reduction in payment, in some cases, also leads to stated increases in activity both in agricultural and non-agricultural enterprises. We find that the most powerful predictors of change are response to past reform, farmer age and the identification of a successor within the farm household. This latter variable is highly significant and may negate concerns over uncertainty within short-term policy planning scenarios. Overall we argue for more appreciation of longer term trajectories of change at the farm level.
Lamb wave interaction with adhesively bonded stiffeners and disbonds using 3D vibrometry

There are many advantages to adhesively bonding stiffeners onto aircraft structures rather than using traditional mechanical fastening methods. However there is a lack of confidence of the structural integrity of adhesively bonded joints over time. Acousto-ultrasonic Lamb waves have shown great potential in structural health monitoring applications in both metallic and composite structures. This paper presents an experimental investigation of the use of acousto-ultrasonic Lamb waves for the monitoring of adhesively bonded joints in metallic structures using 3D scanning laser vibrometry. Two stiffened panels were manufactured, one with an intentional disbonded region. Lamb wave interaction with the healthy and disbonded stiffeners was investigated at three excitation frequencies. A windowed root-mean-squared technique was applied to quantify where Lamb wave energy was reflected, attenuated and transmitted across the structure enabling the size and shape of the defect to be visualised which was verified by traditional ultrasonic inspection techniques.
Line pilot perspectives on complexity of terminal instrument flight procedures

Many new Performance Based Navigation (PBN) Instrument Flight Procedures (IFPs) are being developed as the United States transforms its airspace to improve safety and efficiency. Despite significant efforts to prepare for operational implementation of new IFPs, the process does not always go smoothly. The primary goal of this study was to understand what makes IFPs difficult from the perspective of line pilots. We spoke to 45 professional pilots in small groups. The pilots reviewed, briefed, and discussed six IFPs in an office setting. We extracted a comprehensive list of subjective complexity factors by observing pilot briefings and gathering pilot feedback. Then we organized the list into a framework that captures a variety of types of complexity. We define a subjective complexity factor as one that requires an extra mental or physical step by the pilot. IFP design parameters (e.g., the number of transitions and flight path constraints) are a main driver for subjective complexity for line pilots. Unusual IFP designs can result in novel chart depictions that are unfamiliar and more difficult to use. In turn, novel chart formats may have inconsistencies that increase subjective complexity. Participants also mentioned factors that are outside the control of IFP designers, such as weather, fatigue, and aircraft performance or equipment. We separate out these as operational complexity factors. The broad nature of the pilot interviews also provided insights into how pilots use charts today, in the context of the modern flight deck. A full report on the study is in preparation.
Geometrical Models for Substitutions

We consider a substitution associated with the Arnoux–Yoccoz interval exchange transformation (IET) related to the tribonacci substitution. We construct the so-called stepped lines associated with the fixed points of the substitution in the abelianization (symbolic) space. We analyze various projections of the stepped line, recovering the Rauzy fractal, a Peano curve related to work in [Arnoux 88], another Peano curve related to the work of [McMullen 09] and [Lowenstein et al. 07], and also the interval exchange transformation itself.
Individual differences in the frontal-striatal reward network : decision-making and psychiatric disease

The frontal-striatal reward network is involved in many reward-related behaviors, including decision-making and those related to psychiatric disease. One important class of decisions involves the conflict between immediate rewards and delayed gratification. Temporal discounting preferences reflect how a person makes decisions that involve tradeoffs over time. A fundamental question is how people vary and what accounts for this variation in temporal discounting preferences, both behaviorally and neurobiologically. In addition, psychiatric diseases, such as social anxiety, are associated with deficits in behaviors that involve social reward. Here I report two experiments that provid -vidence for two major factors tacnriuetodifrnsintpra Fluvu VICkviu~i Wu LVVU Ilidjl IaL~ LLLUL UUl1LIUUL~ Lu U1L1c[eLes in temporal discounting preferences: personality traits and the underlying frontal-striatal reward network, both during task and at rest. Finally, I report underlying differences in the organization of the frontal-striatal reward network in social anxiety disorder. In the first study, I investigated the frontal-striatal reward network that underlies personality traits and the association of personality with temporal discounting preferences. Higher neuroticism was associated with a greater preference for immediate rewards and greater impulsivity, and higher conscientiousness with a greater preference for delayed rewards and less impulsivity. Executive-control and reward regions in the frontal-striatal reward network were more activated when higher conscientiousness participants selected a smaller-sooner reward and, conversely, when higher neuroticism participants selected a larger-later reward. Both cases involved choices that went against predispositions implied by personality. In the second study, I investigated how restingstate intrinsic functional brain organization (functional connectivity) of the frontal-striatal reward network varies with temporal discounting preferences. Increased patience and decreased impulsivity were associated with stronger functional connectivity between the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal executive control regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings reveal that the intrinsic strength of the frontal-striatal network is associated with differences in temporal discounting preferences. In the third study, I investigated the differences in the organization of the frontal-striatal reward
The Transport of Salt and Water across Isolated Rat Ileum

The flows of sodium, potassium, and chloride under electrical and chemical gradients and of salt and water in the presence of osmotic pressure gradients are described by phenomenological equations based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The aim was to give the simplest possible description, that is to postulate the least number of active transport processes and the least number of separate pathways across the intestine. On this basis, the results were consistent with the following picture of the intestine: Two channels exist across this tissue, one allowing only passive transport of ions and the other only active. In the passive channel, the predominant resistance to ion flow is friction with the water in the channel. The electroosmotic flow indicates that the passive channel is lined with negative fixed charged groups having a surface charge density of 3000 esu cm-2. The values of the ion-water frictional coefficients, and the relationship between ionic concentrations and flows indicate that the passive channel is extracellular. The active channel behaves as two membranes in series, the first membrane being semipermeable but allowing active transport of sodium, and the second membrane being similar to the passive channel. Friction with the ions in the second "membrane" is the predominant resistance to water flow.
Bounded Component Analysis of Noisy Underdetermined and Overdetermined Mixtures

Our paper addresses the problem of the bounded component analysis of the observations in noisy mixtures. We present an original set of assumptions that guarantee the identifiability of the mixture in underdetermined mixtures and the separability of the sources in overdetermined mixtures. These assumptions are especially well suited for the blind identification of communication channels. Our proof of the identifiability of the mixing system is non-constructive. Thus, we develop a novel blind identification criterion for underdetermined and overdetermined mixtures, which is based on the least square fit of the perimeter of a set of projections of the observations. For the optimization of this criterion we propose the BCA-PM algorithm, which implements the natural gradient descent, along with an acceleration of the convergence designed for the neighbourhood of the solution. In situations of isotropic Gaussian noise and for reasonable signal to noise ratio, BCA-PM compares favorably with respect to other state-of-the-art methods, such as the ICA simultaneous diagonalization algorithms for underdetermined and overdetermined mixtures. The simulations also corroborate the advantages of using bounded component analysis for the blind identification of the channel with small datasets or when the transmitters cannot be regarded as statistically independent.
Toward a Children's Savings and College-Bound Identity Intervention for Raising College Attendance Rates: A Multilevel Propensity Score Analysis

It has been suggested that children’s savings programs will be more effective if they are combined with strategies to build children’s college-bound identities. In this study we use a multi-level treatment approach to propensity score analysis to test this proposition. Findings suggest that children who have savings and are certain they will graduate from a four-year college are more likely to attend college than their counterparts. Given this, we suggest that children’s savings policies designed to increase college attendance rates will be more effective if they include strategies for building children’s college-bound identity and college-bound identity programs will be more effective if they are linked to children’s savings programs.
The cotton sector of Zimbabwe.

This country study is a background paper prepared for the comparative analysis of organization and performance of cotton sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa, a study carried out by the World Bank, with the objective of analyzing the links between sector structure and observed performance outcomes and drawing lessons from reform experience, in order to provide useful guidance to policy-makers, other local stakeholders, and interested donor agencies. It describes and reviews the cotton sector situation in Zimbabwe, where a major change in the structure of the sector occurred around 2001-03. Zimbabwe thus provides a natural experiment in increasing the degree of competition in an already liberalized sector that holds lessons for the structuring of cotton sectors across Africa in the future.
Association of salivary alpha 2‐macroglobulin levels and clinical characteristics in type 2 diabetes

Studies suggest that salivary proteins can be used as potential non‐invasive markers for clinical diagnosis and screening for diabetes. Previous reports showed that plasma alpha 2‐macroglobulin (A2MG) levels were higher in diabetic patients, especially with diabetic complications. We investigated the relationship between salivary A2MG values and clinical characteristics in patients with type 2 diabetes.
ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR IN SLIDING MODE CONTROL SYSTEMS

Practical stability of real states of nonlinear sliding mode control systems is related to asymptotic vanishing of the corresponding sliding errors. Conditions are found such that, if the equivalent control achieves exponential stability, then real states are practically stable. In special cases, their exponential stability is obtained. A link between convergence of regularization procedures and metric regularity is pointed out.
Potential Cross-Talk between Alternative and Classical NF-κB Pathways in Prostate Cancer Tissues as Measured by a Multi-Staining Immunofluorescence Co-Localization Assay

Background While the classical NF-κB/p65 pathway is known to be involved in prostate cancer progression and is associated with poor patient outcome, the role of the NF-κB /RelB alternative protein is not well defined. Here we analyzed the activation of both NF-κB pathways in prostate cancer tissues and correlate this activation with clinical features of the disease. Methods A multiple immunofluorescence technique was employed to concomitantly and quantitatively visualize the nuclear localization of p65 and RelB in 200 paraffin embedded samples. Epithelia were defined using appropriate fluorochrome markers and the resulting immunofluorescent signals were quantified with an automated scoring system. Results The nuclear frequency of p65 was found to be significantly increased in tumor tissues as compared with normal adjacent tissue, whereas the frequency for RelB was decreased (p < 0.001, Wilcoxon test). As previously reported, p65 nuclear frequency was associated with a risk of biochemical recurrence. Although, RelB nuclear frequency alone did not predict recurrence, the presence of activated RelB reduced the risk of recurrence associated with the activation of p65. Conclusion For the first time p65/RelB co-distribution was assessed in prostate cancer tissues and suggested a negative crosstalk between the two NF-κB pathways in prostate cancer progression.
Acute effects of attentional focus on shot put performance in elite athletes

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of adopting an external, internal, and neutral focus of attention while executing an underhand and overhead shot put. Using a counterbalanced withinparticipant design, thirty highly skilled athletes (height 183±6 cm, body mass 78±7 kg, age 22.2±2.4 years) performed five underhand and five overhead shot puts. The results indicated that the shot put distances were greater (p<.05) when the participants were in the external condition compared to the internal and neutral conditions in both tests. Additionally, it was observed that the neutral condition provided better throwing results compared to the internal condition. These results support the constrained action hypothesis, and provide additional evidence that skilled athletes should adopt an external focus of attention when executing motor skills.
Genetic programming for evolving programs with loop structures for classification tasks

Object recognition and classification are important tasks in robotics. Genetic Programming (GP) is a powerful technique that has been successfully used to automatically generate (evolve) classifiers. The effectiveness of GP is limited by the expressiveness of the functions used to evolve programs. It is believed that loop structures can considerably improve the quality of GP programs in terms of both performance and interpretability. This paper proposes five new loop structures using which GP can evolve compact programs that can perform sophisticated processing. The use of loop structures in GP is evaluated against GP with no loops for both image and non-image classification tasks. Evolved programs using the proposed loop structures are analysed in several problems. The results show that loop structures can increase classification accuracy compared to GP with no loops.
Promoting family wellness and preventing child maltreatment : fundamentals for thinking and action

Based on extensive research over many years, with a broad range of participants in Canada and internationally, this collection of essays is an important contribution to the child welfare agenda. It deals with the promotion of emotional well-being in families, and the prevention of child maltreatment. Values, policies and resources are examined as both facilitators of, and barriers to, effective action. The authors interviewed nearly 150 people, including researchers, policy makers, social workers and clients of the child welfare system. Both theoretical and practical issues emerge, as the authors discuss the social context of abuse and the scientific context wherein policy is made. They conclude that the following social conditions are essential in effectively reducing abuse: upheld values of self-determination and the health of children; sufficient material and psychological resources for children and families; family-friendly parental leave and child support policies, and empirically grounded and tested prevention programs. Contained within the work is extensive examination of current issues in Aboriginal child welfare. The authors advocate certain collective approaches to child-raising, inspired by current and historical Aboriginal practices. Promoting Family Wellness is of relevance to all those involved in child welfare, and to researchers and students too. It is readable and clear enough to be of interest to the general reader who is interested in this intellectually complex and emotionally fraught topic.
Host Cell Poly(ADP-Ribose) Glycohydrolase Is Crucial for Trypanosoma cruzi Infection Cycle

Trypanosoma cruzi, etiological agent of Chagas’ disease, has a complex life cycle which involves the invasion of mammalian host cells, differentiation and intracellular replication. Here we report the first insights into the biological role of a poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase in a trypanosomatid (TcPARG). In silico analysis of the TcPARG gene pointed out the conservation of key residues involved in the catalytic process and, by Western blot, we demonstrated that it is expressed in a life stage-dependant manner. Indirect immunofluorescence assays and electron microscopy using an anti-TcPARG antibody showed that this enzyme is localized in the nucleus independently of the presence of DNA damage or cell cycle stage. The addition of poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase inhibitors ADP-HPD (adenosine diphosphate (hydroxymethyl) pyrrolidinediol) or DEA (6,9-diamino-2-ethoxyacridine lactate monohydrate) to the culture media, both at a 1 µM concentration, reduced in vitro epimastigote growth by 35% and 37% respectively, when compared to control cultures. We also showed that ADP-HPD 1 µM can lead to an alteration in the progression of the cell cycle in hydroxyurea synchronized cultures of T. cruzi epimastigotes. Outstandingly, here we demonstrate that the lack of poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase activity in Vero and A549 host cells, achieved by chemical inhibition or iRNA, produces the reduction of the percentage of infected cells as well as the number of amastigotes per cell and trypomastigotes released, leading to a nearly complete abrogation of the infection process. We conclude that both, T. cruzi and the host, poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase activities are important players in the life cycle of Trypanosoma cruzi, emerging as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of Chagas’ disease.