Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On Resampling Detection and its Application to Detect Image Tampering

Usually digital image forgeries are created by copy-pasting a portion of an image onto some other image. While doing so, it is often necessary to resize the pasted portion of the image to suit the sampling grid of the host image. The resampling operation changes certain characteristics of the pasted portion, which when detected serves as a clue of tampering. In this paper, we present deterministic techniques to detect resampling, and localize the portion of the image that has been tampered with. Two of the techniques are in pixel domain and two others in frequency domain. We study the efficacy of our techniques against JPEG compression and subsequent resampling of the entire tampered image
MACHO Mass Determination Based on Space Telescope Observation

We investigate the possibility of lens mass determination for a caustic crossing microlensing event based on a space telescope observation. We demonstrate that the parallax due to the orbital motion of a space telescope causes a periodic fluctuation of the light curve, from which the lens distance can be derived. Since the proper motion of the lens relative to the source is also measurable for a caustic crossing event, one can find a full solution for microlensing properties of the event, including the lens mass. To determine the lens mass with sufficient accuracy, the light curve near the caustic crossing should be observed within uncertainty of ~1%. We argue that the Hubble Space Telescope observation of the caustic crossing supplied with ground-based observations of the full light curve will enable us to determine the mass of MACHOs, which is crucial for understanding the nature of MACHOs.
Tropospheric phase calibration in millimeter interferometry

We review millimeter interferometric phase variations caused by variations in the precipitable water vapor content of the troposphere, and we discuss techniques proposed to correct for these variations. We present observations with the Very Large Array (VLA) at 22 and 43 GHz designed to test these techniques. We find that both the fast switching and paired array calibration techniques are effective at reducing tropospheric phase noise for radio interferometers. In both cases, the residual rms phase fluctuations after correction are independent of baseline length for b > beff. These techniques allow for diffraction‐limited imaging of faint sources on arbitrarily long baselines at millimeter wavelengths. We consider the technique of tropospheric phase correction using a measurement of the precipitable water vapor content of the troposphere via a radiometric measurement of the brightness temperature of the atmosphere. Required sensitivities range from 20 mK at 90 GHz to 1 K at 185 GHz for the millimeter array (MMA) and to 120 mK for the VLA at 22 GHz. The minimum gain stability requirement is 200 at 185 GHz at the MMA, assuming that the astronomical receivers are used for radiometry. This increases to 2000 for an uncooled system. The stability requirement is 450 for the cooled system at the VLA at 22 GHz. To perform absolute radiometric phase corrections also requires knowledge of the tropospheric parameters and models to an accuracy of a few percent. It may be possible to perform an “empirically calibrated” radiometric phase correction, in which the relationship between fluctuations in brightness temperature differences and fluctuations in interferometric phases is calibrated by observing a strong celestial calibrator at regular intervals. A number of questions remain concerning this technique, including the following: (1) Over what timescale and distance will this technique allow for radiometric phase corrections when switching between the source and the calibrator? (2) How often will calibration of the TrmsB – Ørms relationship be required?
Elliptic boundary value problem in Vanishing Mean Oscillation hypothesis

In this note the well-posedness of the Dirichlet problem (1.2) below is proved in the class H 1,p 0 () for all 1 < p < ∞ and, as a consequence, the Holder regularity of the solution u. L is an elliptic second order operator with discontinuous coefficients ( MO) and the lower order terms belong to suitable Lebesgue spaces.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging Identifies Deficits in White Matter Microstructure in Subjects With Type 1 Diabetes That Correlate With Reduced Neurocognitive Function

OBJECTIVE—Long-standing type 1 diabetes is associated with deficits on neurocognitive testing that suggest central white matter dysfunction. This study investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a type of magnetic resonance imaging that measures white matter integrity quantitatively, could identify white matter microstructural deficits in patients with long-standing type 1 diabetes and whether these differences would be associated with deficits found by neurocognitive tests. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Twenty-five subjects with type 1 diabetes for at least 15 years and 25 age- and sex-matched control subjects completed DTI on a 3.0 Tesla scanner and a battery of neurocognitive tests. Fractional anisotropy was calculated for the major white matter tracts of the brain. RESULTS—Diabetic subjects had significantly lower mean fractional anisotropy than control subjects in the posterior corona radiata and the optic radiation (P < 0.002). In type 1 diabetic subjects, reduced fractional anisotropy correlated with poorer performance on the copy portion of the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Drawing Test and the Grooved Peg Board Test, both of which are believed to assess white matter function. Reduced fractional anisotropy also correlated with duration of diabetes and increased A1C. A history of severe hypoglycemia did not correlate with fractional anisotropy. CONCLUSIONS—DTI can detect white matter microstructural deficits in subjects with long-standing type 1 diabetes. These deficits correlate with poorer performance on selected neurocognitive tests of white matter function.
Research into factors that influence the intention to share knowledge on a knowledge community platform within youth care: the case of “Jeugdkwartier”.

The transition and transformation within youth care ask for a new way of thinking and working. It is expected that professionals need other forms of support to keep their expertise up to date and to further develop their work. This is a two study research based on questioning 22 youth care organizations in Twente, all associated with Jeugd Partners Twente who are collaborating with Saxion and University of Twente to create a knowledge community platform for youth care professionals, called “Jeugdkwartier”. The first study is executed to gain insight in the daily practice regarding knowledge sharing and the expectations of the professionals regarding the “Jeugdkwartier”. The second study sets out to examine the influence of motives and individual factors (self-efficacy, outcome expectations, trust and knowledge power), and organizational factors (time, organizational structure and culture) on the intention to share knowledge on a knowledge community platform. It includes examining of the impact of moderating factors (age, gender, personality and knowledge sharing experience). This research shows that professionals are looking for a platform that contains a great amount of knowledge, which professionals could use anytime and anywhere without restrictions of time or resources. This raises questions about the initial objective of the “Jeugdkwartier”, which was focused on arranging the “Jeugdkwartier” on the principles of social networking. The results of the intention study show that men prefer to share knowledge for work related subjects, while women are also motivated to share for some kind of interaction or for gaining respect or for the community feeling. In a sector like youth care with more female professionals, it is important to take the difference in knowledge sharing between men and women into account. Regarding the other factors that influence the intention to share, the study shows that self-efficacy, outcome expectations, trust and organizational culture are positive influencers of the intention to share knowledge on a knowledge community platform. Time was the only negative predictor of the intention to share in this study. This research not only fills a gap in the literature by looking at knowledge sharing in the youth health care sector, but also provides recommendations to support the development of the a knowledge community platform (in this case the “Jeugdkwartier”). One of these recommendations is to develop the “Jeugdkwartier” focusing on the sharing of information and knowledge, instead of the focus on social networking and social interaction.
REAL-TIME PLANNING AND INTELLIGENT CONTROL By :

Classical control systems utilize implicit analytical models and select inputs using numerical computation in order to achieve desired plant performance in real time. Artificial intelligence planning systems utilize explicit symbolic or logical models of discrete operations and construct consistent planned sequences using symbolic reasoning to achieve specified task goals. In the development of more complex intelligent systems, these two approaches must interact in order to successfully execute real-time operations in a manner consistent with the global goals and constraints of the task. Intelligent control and real-time planning are approaches to developing a theory and methodology for the design systems which incorporate this interface. In this paper, we provide some examples of the role of task representation in the definition of these control and planning strategies. We describe in detail some results on task planning of assembly sequences and the use of precedence relations as an implicit model of ordering constraints for assembly operations.
Identification of Speculative Bubbles Using State-Space Models with Markov-Switching

In this paper we use a state-space model with Markov-switching to detect speculative bubbles in stock-price data. Our two innovations are (1) to adapt this technology to the state-space representation of a well-known present-value stock-price model, and (2) to estimate the model via Kalman-filtering using a plethora of artificial as well as real-world data sets that are known to contain bubble periods. Analyzing the smoothed regime probabilities, we find that our technology is well suited to detecting stock-price bubbles in both types of data sets.
The Morphologies of the Small Magellanic Cloud

We compare the distribution of stars of different spectral types, and hence mean age, within the central SMC and find that the asymmetric structures are almost exclusively composed of young main-sequence stars. Because of the relative lack of older stars in these features and the extremely regular distribution of red giant and clump stars in the SMC central body, we conclude that tides alone are not responsible for the irregular appearance of the central SMC. The dominant physical mechanism in determining the current-day appearance of the SMC must be star formation triggered by a hydrodynamic interaction between gaseous components. These results extend the results of population studies (see Gardiner & Hatzidimitriou) inward in radius and also confirm the suggestion of the spheroidal nature of the central SMC based on kinematic arguments (Dopita et al.; Hardy, Suntzeff, & Azzopardi). Finally, we find no evidence in the underlying older stellar population for a "bar" or "outer arm," again supporting our classification of the central SMC as a spheroidal body with highly irregular recent star formation.
Load Sharing in Distributed VoD (Video on Demand) Systems

| In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Video on Demand (VoD) systems. A promising way to contain the costs in such systems, is to link up several small VoD servers to a (limited capacity) network and allowing servers with idle retrieval bandwidth to help out servers that are temporarily overloaded; the goal is to minimize the waiting time for service to begin. In a previous work, some authors have proposed an algorithm called GWQ (Global Wait Queue) for exploiting the load sharing in a distributed VoD system. However they assume that the videos are replicated in all the servers and all the videos are evenly required. In our research, we introduce two main di erences: the videos are only partially replicated and they are required according to its popularity. We present an algorithm to e ciently share the load in such system and an analytical model that captures the performance of this algorithm, which we validate through simulations. In addition, we study the in uence of the replication and the popularity of the videos, in the users wait times. Keywords| Video-on-Demand, distributed system, load sharing, performance modeling, partial replication, popularity.
Low-temperature primordial gas in merging halos

The thermal regime of the baryons behind shock waves arising in the process of virialization of dark matter halos is governed at certain conditions by radiation of HD lines. A small fraction of the shocked gas can cool down to the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We estimate an upper limit for this fraction: at z = 10 it increases sharply from about qT ∼ 10–3 for dark halos of M = 5 × 107 M⊙ to ∼ 0.1 for halos with M = 108 M⊙. Further increase of the halo mass does not lead however to a significant growth of qT – the asymptotic value for M ≫ 108 M⊙ is 0.3. We estimate the star formation rate associated with such shock waves, and show that they can provide a small but not negligible fraction of the star formation. We argue that extremely metal-poor low-mass stars in the Milky Way may have been formed from primordial gas behind such shocks. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Distributed Accountability: Creating District Systems to Ensure Teaching Quality

Districts play a key and relatively unexamined role in distributed leadership research. This article explores how leadership was distributed through a district structure designed to improve the quality of teaching by improving the quality of teacher evaluation. It examines peer assistance and review, a policy designed to address the key problems of traditional teacher evaluation by allowing administrators and teacher leaders to share accountability for evaluation processes and decisions. The article presents data from a peer assistance and review program in one urban district, detailing how the program distributed accountability for teacher quality across the district organization. The article extends previous work on distributed leadership by showing how the design of shared tasks can effectively distribute accountability. The article also extends previous work on distributed leadership by elucidating the democratic effects of that distribution. As such, the article addresses questions of instrumentality (i.e., how can district leaders design and implement a better teacher evaluation system? ) and agency (i.e., what are the political implications of distributing formal authority for teacher evaluation out of the hands of administrators and into the hands of teachers? ).
Reduced Latency in the Metastatic Niche Contributes to the More Aggressive Phenotype of LM8 Compared to Dunn Osteosarcoma Cells

Metastasis is the major cause of death of osteosarcoma patients and its diagnosis remains difficult. In preclinical studies, however, forced expression of reporter genes in osteosarcoma cells has remarkably improved the detection of micrometastases and, consequently, the quality of the studies. We recently showed that Dunn cells equipped with a lacZ reporter gene disseminated from subcutaneous primary tumors as frequently as their highly metastatic subline LM8, but only LM8 cells grew to macrometastases. In the present time-course study, tail-vein-injected Dunn and LM8 cells settled within 24 h at the same frequency in the lung, liver, and kidney of mice. Furthermore, Dunn cells also grew to macrometastases, but, compared to LM8, with a delay of two weeks in lung and one week in liver and kidney tissue, consistent with prolonged survival of the mice. Dunn- and LM8-cell-derived ovary and spine metastases occurred less frequently. In vitro, Dunn cells showed less invasiveness and stronger contact inhibition and intercellular adhesion than LM8 cells and several cancer- and dormancy-related genes were differentially expressed. In conclusion, Dunn cells, compared to LM8, have a similar capability but a longer latency to form macrometastases and provide an interesting new experimental system to study tumor cell dormancy.
Social networks and secondary health conditions: The critical secondary team for individuals with spinal cord injury

Abstract Objectives To describe the structure of informal networks for individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) living in the community, to understand the quality of relationship of informal networks, and to understand the role of informal networks in the prevention and management of secondary health conditions (SHCs). Design Mixed-method descriptive study. Setting Ontario, Canada Participants Community-dwelling adults with an SCI living in Ontario Interventions/methods The Arizona Social Support Interview Survey was used to measure social networks. Participants were asked the following open-ended questions: (1) What have been your experiences with your health care in the community? (2) What have been your experiences with care related to prevention and/or management of SHCs? , (3)What has been the role of your informal social networks (friends/family) related to SHCs? Results Fourteen key informant interviews were conducted (6 men, 8 women). The overall median for available informal networks was 11.0 persons (range 3–19). The informal network engaged in the following roles: (1) advice/validating concerns; (2) knowledge brokers; (3) advocacy; (4) preventing SHCs; (5) assisting with finances; and (6) managing SHCs. Participants described their informal networks as a “secondary team”; a critical and essential force in dealing with SHCs. Conclusions While networks are smaller for persons with SCI compared with the general population, these ties seems to be strong, which is essential when the roles involve a level of trust, certainty, tacit knowledge, and flexibility. These informal networks serve as essential key players in filling the gaps that exist within the formal health care system.
Evaluation of Advanced Modulation Formats using Triple-Play Services in GPON Based FTTH

In this paper, an evaluation is performed of 2.5Gbps bi directional GPON based Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) link using advanced modulation formats. Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) is a promising solution for increasing bandwidth requirements of customers which supports triple play services and is being considered as a solution for mobile back haul network. It also enables the delivery of cloud services with a high interconnection speed. The performance of the proposed system was studied when a single wavelength and two wavelengths were used for triple-play services with different modulation schemes. This paper is aimed to provide a comparison of the performance of different modulation formats for GPON based simulation of an actual architecture considering Q factor, BER, optical power and OSNR. The outcome shows that better results were observed for RZ DQPSK.
Impact of Macroeconomic Factors on Economic Growth in Ghana: A Cointegration Analysis

The problem of the study is to ascertain the major macroeconomic factors that would drive Ghana’s real per capita GDP growth (economic growth) and also determine which ways these factors influence economic policy formulation and implementation. As a result, this study examines the long-run macroeconomic factors of economic growth in Ghana using Johansen approach to cointegration which is more appropriate and efficient for determining the number of cointegrating vectors without relying on an arbitrary normalization. The study period spanned from 1980 to 2010. The time series properties of the data were, first, analyzed using the Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test. The empirical results derived indicate that all the variables of interest were stationary after their first differencing. The study found cointegration relationship between real GDP per capita (economic growth) and its macroeconomic factors. The policy recommendation among others is that the government should be able to generate more revenue domestically than relying on foreign aid.
Clinician-Reported Modification to a CBT Approach in Children’s Mental Health

Examining the nature and determinants of evidence-based treatment (EBT) modification is an important step toward understanding the impact of modifications and informing modification guidelines. We examined the prevalence, types, reasons for, and predictors of clinician-reported modification to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children and adolescents. Ninety-eight clinicians trained in CBT completed surveys on their intent to modify CBT, perceptions of CBT characteristics, confidence in their ability to appropriately deliver CBT in complex clinical situations, and organizational EBT implementation climate post-training. Post-consultation, clinicians self-reported the types and reasons for modifications they performed. Ninety-three percent of clinicians reported they modified CBT, primarily with fewer than half of their clients. Client needs and clinician preference or style accounted for the highest proportion of modification reasons. The number of reported modifications performed was predicted by clinician confidence in their ability to deliver CBT appropriately (b = .90, p = .01) and their intent to modify (b = .55, p = .01).
Corneal Epithelial Remodeling after LASIK Measured by Fourier-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose. To quantify corneal epithelial thickness changes after myopic LASIK by OCT. Methods. Epithelial thickness before and after myopic LASIK were measured by a Fourier-domain OCT system. Average central (within 1 mm diameter) and paracentral epithelial thickness (5~6 mm diameter) before and after LASIK were compared. Correlation between central epithelial thickness change and laser spherical equivalent setting was evaluated. An epithelial smoothing constant was estimated based on a mathematical model published previously. Results. Nineteen eyes from 11 subjects were included in the study. Eyes had myopic LASIK ranging from −1.69 D to −6.75 D spherical equivalent. The average central epithelial thickness was 52.6 ± 4.1 μm before LASIK and 56.2 ± 4.3 μm 3 months after LASIK (p = 0.002). The average paracentral epithelial thickness was 51.6 ± 6.6 μm before LASIK and 54.8 ± 4.3 μm 3 months after LASIK (p = 0.007). The change in average central epithelial thickness was correlated with laser spherical equivalent (R 2 = 0.40, p = 0.028). The epithelial smoothing constant was estimated to be 0.46 mm. Conclusions. Corneal epithelial thickens centrally and paracentrally after myopic LASIK. The extent of epithelial remodeling correlated with the amount of LASIK correction and could be predicted by a mathematical model.