Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combining Human Computing and Machine Learning to Make Sense of Big (Aerial) Data for Disaster Response

Aerial imagery captured via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is playing an increasingly important role in disaster response. Unlike satellite imagery, aerial imagery can be captured and processed within hours rather than days. In addition, the spatial resolution of aerial imagery is an order of magnitude higher than the imagery produced by the most sophisticated commercial satellites today. Both the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) have noted that aerial imagery will inevitably present a big data challenge. The purpose of this article is to get ahead of this future challenge by proposing a hybrid crowdsourcing and real-time machine learning solution to rapidly process large volumes of aerial data for disaster response in a time-sensitive manner. Crowdsourcing can be used to annotate features of interest in aerial images (such as damaged shelters and roads blocked by debris). These human-annotated features can then be used to train a supervised machine learning system to learn to recognize such features in new unseen images. In this article, we describe how this hybrid solution for image analysis can be implemented as a module (i.e., Aerial Clicker) to extend an existing platform called Artificial Intelligence for Disaster Response (AIDR), which has already been deployed to classify microblog messages during disasters using its Text Clicker module and in response to Cyclone Pam, a category 5 cyclone that devastated Vanuatu in March 2015. The hybrid solution we present can be applied to both aerial and satellite imagery and has applications beyond disaster response such as wildlife protection, human rights, and archeological exploration. As a proof of concept, we recently piloted this solution using very high-resolution aerial photographs of a wildlife reserve in Namibia to support rangers with their wildlife conservation efforts (SAVMAP project, http://lasig.epfl.ch/savmap ). The results suggest that the platform we have developed to combine crowdsourcing and machine learning to make sense of large volumes of aerial images can be used for disaster response.
Situation Report

Awas Tingni is a Sumu-Mayangna community located in the municipality of Waspam. The name Awas Tingni means blood-waterarm, a name which the elders also used for the Pine River, which is situated 100 kilometres from the city of Bilwi-Puerto Cabezas in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN), Nicaragua. It is a Sumu-Mayangna village that uses the Panamhka dialect. The community of Awas Tingni consists of a population of 1,850, living in 305 families residing in 286 houses, the majority of whom belong to the Moravian Church. The community has a primary school, and a secondary school which students can attend for 3 years, with the costs of secondary education being met by the community’s own funds. As regards health care, the community has a clinic staffed by one nurse who attends to common illnesses, with a few scarce medicines for people in need. Normal 0 false false false EN-NZ ZH-CN X-NONE
Diagnostics of Thyroid Malignancy and Indications for Surgery in the Elderly and Younger Counterparts: Comparison of 3,749 Patients

Background It seems valuable for clinicians to know if diagnostics of thyroid malignancy (TM) and indications for surgery in the elderly patients differ from these in younger counterparts. Materials and Methods Retrospective analysis of the medical records of 3,749 patients surgically treated for thyroid tumor. Data of patients with histopathology confirmed TM (n = 309) were studied. Results The rate of cytological prediction to malignancy was more than three times higher in elderly women. Compression was a main reason for surgery in the elderly (p < 0.0001). The final diagnosis of malignancy was significantly higher in older women (p = 0.002). Clinical suspicion of malignancy was positively correlated with histopathological diagnosis in total group of women (r = 0.543, p < 0.001) and total group of men (r = 0.560, p < 0.001). The subgroup of the eldest TM patients included a significantly higher number of subjects with advanced cancer and primary tumor progression (p < 0.0001). Distant metastases were significantly more presented among the elderly patients (p = 0.032). Conclusions The rate of cytological prediction to malignancy in elderly women is high. Tracheal compression is a common surgical indication in the elderly patients. The final diagnoses of malignancy predominate in elderly women. The oldest TM patients present a higher number of advanced thyroid tumors and distant metastases.
Offshore Financial Centers: Parasites or Symbionts?

This paper analyzes the causes and consequences of offshore financial centers (OFCs). Since OFCs are likely to be tax havens and money launderers, they encourage bad behavior in source countries. Nevertheless, OFCs may also have unintended positive consequences for their neighbors, since they act as a competitive fringe for the domestic banking sector. We derive and simulate a model of a home country monopoly bank facing a representative competitive OFC which offers tax advantages attained by moving assets offshore at a cost that is increasing in distance between the OFC and the source. Our model predicts that proximity to an OFC is likely to have pro-competitive implications for the domestic banking sector, although the overall effect on welfare is ambiguous. We test and confirm the predictions empirically. Proximity to an OFC is associated with a more competitive domestic banking system and greater overall financial depth.
The impact of owner/managers' mentality on financial performance of SMEs in Japan: An empirical investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to empirically test the impact of owner/managers' mentality on enterprise performance.Design/methodology/approach – A mail questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of SMEs in Japan. The questionnaire was mailed to the chief executive of each of the 1,523 firms selected for the survey. The total number of usable responses received was 367, giving a response rate of 24.1 per cent.Findings – The overall results of the study show that when owner/managers of SMEs are more entrepreneurial minded in the introductory and decline stages of growth, their performance tends to be higher, and the same is true for the growth and maturity stages when they are more administrative minded.Research limitations/implications – Since this research was unique in several respects and the survey was confined to only 367 SMEs in a single country it would be useful to replicate it using larger samples under different country settings.Practical implications – The research reveals that .
Intrinsic noise in gene regulatory networks

Cells are intrinsically noisy biochemical reactors: low reactant numbers can lead to significant statistical fluctuations in molecule numbers and reaction rates. Here we use an analytic model to investigate the emergent noise properties of genetic systems. We find for a single gene that noise is essentially determined at the translational level, and that the mean and variance of protein concentration can be independently controlled. The noise strength immediately following single gene induction is almost twice the final steady-state value. We find that fluctuations in the concentrations of a regulatory protein can propagate through a genetic cascade; translational noise control could explain the inefficient translation rates observed for genes encoding such regulatory proteins. For an autoregulatory protein, we demonstrate that negative feedback efficiently decreases system noise. The model can be used to predict the noise characteristics of networks of arbitrary connectivity. The general procedure is further illustrated for an autocatalytic protein and a bistable genetic switch. The analysis of intrinsic noise reveals biological roles of gene network structures and can lead to a deeper understanding of their evolutionary origin.
Endogenous social influence in an experimental dilemma game

We study whether people's behavior in a one-shot sequential public goods type situation is affected by social information about average behavior by others in the same situation. The kind of social information we consider does not directly affect subjects' payoffs and we are, therefore, able to separate pure social influence from more conventional distributional effects. We find clear evidence for other-regarding preferences; a specific patterns that we identify is that the more generous a subject, the more reciprocal his responses to others' actions. However, there is very little indication of social influence in our data. The results suggest that current static models of social preferences need not take into account the effect of social influence.
Differentiation of two layers of carious dentin by staining.

Recently, Kato and Fusayama (I Dent Res 49: 1060-1067, 1970) described two layers of dentin in cavity floors of dog's teeth after they had experimentally softened the dentin by acid. The first decalcified layer was soft with low calcium content and could not be recalcified, although a slight calcium deposition from saliva or capping material sometimes occurred. The second decalcified layer was harder with intermediate decalcification and could be recalcified considerably by vital reaction. In treatment of teeth it is considered preferable to save the second layer which can be recalcified. This study was undertaken to find a means of differentiating the two layers in human carious dentin by use of a dye. A variety of dyes (iodine tincture, merbromin, eosin, safranin, Alcian blue, methyl violet, methylene blue, Rose Bengal, Vermeil, Sudan III, acid fuchsin, and Nile blue) in various solvents were tried, and a 0.5% basic fuchsin-propylene glycol solution was effective. The surfaces of sections of 41 freshly extracted human teeth with dentin caries that did not extend into the pulp were covered with the dye for five seconds and washed with water. The superficial half of the carious dentin was stained distinctly whereas the deeper half was not stained. A distinct boundary separated the two zones. It is not known whether the stained layer corresponds exactly to the first decalcified layer which is dead and not recalcifiable. But it is possible that deterioration of the collagenous organic substance in the highly decayed layer is responsible for the stainability. The physiologic recalcification of dentin is thought to occur only on sound collagen fibers (JOHANSEN and PARK, J Dent Res 40:235-248, 1961; and SOLOMONS, J Biol Chem 235:2502-2506, 1960), therefore, the unstained layer might be an in-
HEdPERF versus SERVPERF

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a new industry‐specific scale, HEdPERF (Higher Education PERFormance) to capture the authentic determinants of service quality within higher education sector.Design/methodology/approach – The primary goal of this research was to test and compare the relative efficacy of HEdPERF against SERVPERF in order to determine which instrument had the superior measuring capability.Findings – In terms of unidimensionality, reliability, and validity, HEdPERF explained variance within the higher education setting better in comparison to SERVPERF.Research limitations/implications – Since this study only examined the respective utilities of each instrument within a single industry, in only one national setting, any suggestion that the HEdPERF is generally superior would still be premature.Practical implications – The current findings do provide some important insights into how the instruments of service quality compare with one another, in a typical higher educat.
A mathematical framework for the performance analysis of bluetooth with enhanced data rate

In this paper, we present a mathematical framework that permits a detailed performance analysis of Bluetooth connections in fading channels. Conversely to most part of the literature, we distinguish between the transmission of useful and duplicate frames, which are handled in a different manner by the receiving unit. To this end, we define a two-state Markov Chain and we apply the renewal reward theory to determine the expressions of the throughput, energy efficiency and delay performance of the link. Although the model can be applied to any version of Bluetooth specifications, as a proof of concept we provide an accurate performance analysis of an asymmetric Bluetooth v2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) connection in typical propagation environments. The analysis reveals that best performance are (almost) always obtained by using the longest baseband frames transmitted at 2Mbps in the low-to-medium signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) region, and at 3 Mbps in the high SNR region. Furthermore, we observed that it is more fruitful assigning the master role to the destination unit. The model, hence, proves to be a valuable tool to gain insights on the aspects that have a major impact on the system performance.
Influence of Population III stars on cosmic chemical evolution

New observations from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field suggest that the star formation rate at z > 7 drops off faster than previously thought. Using a newly determined star formation rate for the normal mode of Population II/I (PopII/I) stars, including this new constraint, we compute the Thomson scattering optical depth and find a result that is marginally consistent with Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5 results. We also reconsider the role of Population III (PopIII) stars in light of cosmological and stellar evolution constraints. While this input may be needed for reionization, we show that it is essential in order to account for cosmic chemical evolution in the early universe. We investigate the consequences of PopIII stars on the local metallicity distribution function of the Galactic halo (from the recent Hamburg/European Southern Observatory (ESO) survey of metal-poor stars) and on the evolution of abundances with metallicity (based on the ESO large programme on very metal-poor stars), with special emphasis on carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars. The metallicity distribution function shape is well reproduced at low iron abundance ([Fe/H] ≥―4), in agreement with other studies. However, the Hamburg/ESO survey hints at a sharp decrease of the number of low-mass stars at very low iron abundance, which is not reproduced in models with only PopII/I stars. The presence of PopIII stars, of typical masses 30-40 M ⊙ , helps us to reproduce this feature, leading to a prompt initial enrichment before the onset of PopII/I stars. The metallicity at which this cut-off occurs is sensitive to the lowest mass of the massive PopIII stars, which makes the metallicity distribution function a promising tool to constrain this population. Our most important results show that the nucleosynthetic yields of PopIII stars lead to abundance patterns in agreement with those observed in extremely metal-poor stars. This can be demonstrated by the transition discriminant (a criterion for low-mass star formation taking into account the cooling due to C II and O I ). In this chemical approach to cosmic evolution, PopIII stars prove to be a compulsory ingredient, and extremely metal-poor stars are inevitably born at high redshift.
A Shock-Refracted Acoustic Wave Model for Screech Amplitude in Supersonic Jets

A physical model is proposed for the estimation of the screech amplitude in underexpanded supersonic jets. The model is based on the hypothesis that the interaction of a plane acoustic wave with stationary shock waves provides amplification of the transmitted acoustic wave upon traversing the shock. Powell's discrete source model for screech incorporating a stationary array of acoustic monopoles is extended to accommodate variable source strength. The proposed model reveals that the acoustic sources are of increasing strength with downstream distance. It is shown that the screech amplitude increases with the fully expanded jet Mach number. Comparisons of predicted screech amplitude with available test data show satisfactory agreement. The effect of variable source strength on the directivity of the fundamental (first harmonic, lowest frequency mode) and the second harmonic (overtone) is found to be unimportant with regard to the principal lobe (main or major lobe) of considerable relative strength, and is appreciable only in the secondary or minor lobes (of relatively weaker strength).
Du changement conceptuel à la complexification conceptuelle dans l'apprentissage des sciences

Science learning has often been thought as a replacement process: learners' spontaneous ideas must be replaced by scientific ones. Many learning models in science education were formulated in this way (at least impliciùy). But theses spontaneous ideas proved to be more resistant than initially thought. Several researchers concluded that students often possess an odd combination of intuitive and scientific ideas. Generally, the phenomenon of "multiple conceptions" refers to students having a repertoire of different conceptions, each associated with a context of relevance. A number of researchers in science education constructed models of this phenomenon, but none included a systematic treatment of what we consider one of its most important aspects: the fact that these multiple conceptions are not isolated within the cognitive structure, but integrated into a whole in many ways. This whole constitute a complex of conceptions, whence our utilisation of the expression "conceptual complexification" to designate this form oflearning. Using ideas in the conceptual change literature and in philosophy of science, we propose five kinds of cognitive structures that could play an intermediary role between alternative conceptions, allowing the management of their multiplicity: descriptive, evaluative, explicative, transformative, and decisional. In the empirical section of the research, we explore specifically decisional structures, which are responsible for the selection of one conception of the repertoire. In order to do so, we submitted two series of tasks to eight collegial and undergraduate students in two situations. In the first tasks, subjects are asked to explain three phenomena (one biological and two physical) to fictive audiences of various ages (6 to 15 years old). In the second tasks, students' understanding of the quantum version of the Young's interference experiment is probed in order study their understanding of the demarcation between quantum and classical mechanics. In these two situations, students appear to make use of two different strategies for selecting between alternative conceptions. Many topics of science education are briefly touched in this research. The conceptual complexification model that we propose could constitute an interesting theoretical framework for their future study.
Renoprotective Effects of Soy Protein Hydrolysates in Nω-Nitro-L-Arginine Methyl Ester Hydrochloride—Induced Hypertensive Rats

Pepsin-digested soy protein hydrolysate (SPH) has been reported to be responsible for many of the physiological benefits associated with soy protein consumption. In the present study, we investigated the effects of SPH with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory potential on blood pressure and renal injuries in rats with Nω-nitro- L -arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME)–induced hypertension. Rats were fed a diet containing L-NAME (50 mg/kg body weight) with or without SPH (at 1%, 3%, or 5%) for 6 weeks. We found that ingestion of SPH ameliorated the development of hypertension during the 6-week experimental period. SPH was also found to ameliorate renal function by decreasing urinary protein excretion and elevating the creatinine clearance rate. The levels of kidney ACE activity, malonaldehyde, tumor necrosis factor-α and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and the expression of CYP4A decreased in the 5% SPH group. Consumption of 5% SPH also ameliorated renal damage according to the histopathological analysis. These findings suggest that SPH might ameliorate the elevation of blood pressure and show renoprotective effects in nitric oxide (NO)–deficient rats, and one possible mechanism might be mediation via its ACE inhibitory activity.
Michelangelo’s Message

What keeps us from becoming what we can be? Renaissance genius Michelangelo’s ideas about crafting sculpture are a powerful metaphor for the release of our hidden performance potential. The actualizations of inherent potential can be viewed as a creative work performance that synergizes head, heart, and body. Potential is seen as being closely related to the psychological concepts of talents and multiple intelligences. For the global economy, the effective employment of talent, intelligence, and knowledge is projected to be a primary driving force for years to come. For business organizations, investment in the realization of human potential is seen to have lasting value and is considered to be a continuing source of competitive advantage. For the Arts and Humanities, the constructive realization of human potential has been a long-pursued Holy Grail. And, for the individual, there is the real possibility of enhanced future performance with an associated economic payoff.
Rapid scavenging of jellyfish carcasses reveals the importance of gelatinous material to deep-sea food webs

Jellyfish blooms are common in many oceans, and anthropogenic changes appear to have increased their magnitude in some regions. Although mass falls of jellyfish carcasses have been observed recently at the deep seafloor, the dense necrophage aggregations and rapid consumption rates typical for vertebrate carrion have not been documented. This has led to a paradigm of limited energy transfer to higher trophic levels at jelly falls relative to vertebrate organic falls. We show from baited camera deployments in the Norwegian deep sea that dense aggregations of deep-sea scavengers (more than 1000 animals at peak densities) can rapidly form at jellyfish baits and consume entire jellyfish carcasses in 2.5 h. We also show that scavenging rates on jellyfish are not significantly different from fish carrion of similar mass, and reveal that scavenging communities typical for the NE Atlantic bathyal zone, including the Atlantic hagfish, galatheid crabs, decapod shrimp and lyssianasid amphipods, consume both types of carcasses. These rapid jellyfish carrion consumption rates suggest that the contribution of gelatinous material to organic fluxes may be seriously underestimated in some regions, because jelly falls may disappear much more rapidly than previously thought. Our results also demonstrate that the energy contained in gelatinous carrion can be efficiently incorporated into large numbers of deep-sea scavengers and food webs, lessening the expected impacts (e.g. smothering of the seafloor) of enhanced jellyfish production on deep-sea ecosystems and pelagic–benthic coupling.
Investor-manager Heterogeneous Beliefs and Corporate Financing Decision

This paper considers a firm that may issue common stock or debt to undertake an investment opportunity when the investors and the manager have different estimates of the expected return from the investment. Firstly, an equilibrium model is developed to reveal the impact of investor-manager heterogeneous beliefs on corporate financing decision, and the model concludes that the greater the investors’ belief relative to the manager, the more likely the firm is to choose to issue equity rather than debt. Secondly, using a sample of debt and seasoned equity issues from Chinese listed firms we empirically analyze the conclusion above. We find empirical results support for the conclusion.