Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Light Invariant Video Imaging for Improved Performance of Convolution Neural Networks

Light conditions affect the performance of computer vision algorithms by creating spatial changes in color and intensity across a scene. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) use color components of the input image and, as a result, are sensitive to ambient light conditions. This work analyzes the influence of ambient light conditions on CNN classifiers. We suggest a method for boosting the performance of CNN-based object detection and classification algorithms by using light invariant video imaging (LIVI). LIVI neutralizes the influence of ambient light conditions and renders the perceived object’s appearance independent of the light conditions. Training sets consist mainly, if not only, of objects in natural light conditions. As such, using LIVI boosts CNN performance by matching object appearance to that expected by the CNN model, which was created according to the training set. We further investigate the use of LIVI as a general self-supervised learning framework for CNN. Faster region-based CNN (Faster R-CNN) was used as a case study in order to validate the importance of light conditions on CNN performance and on how it can be improved by using LIVI as an input or feedback mechanism in a self-supervised framework. We show that LIVI enables reduced CNN size, enhanced performance and improved training.
70-MHz 2- mu m CMOS bit-level systolic array median filter

An algorithm for VLSI median filtering of one-dimensional signals of complexity linearly dependent on the filter window length is described. The algorithm is implemented as a bit-level systolic array (BLSA), in order to achieve high performance. A single-chip median filter characterized by a window length of 25 8-b samples, and by operation on three interleaved independent sequences for a total of 75 samples, is presented as a demonstration of the concept. The throughput relevant to one sequence is 1/3 for this chip, whereas the theoretical maximum allowed by the algorithm is 1/2. Prototypes designed with a 2- mu m CMOS technology have been successfully tested at a clock frequency over 70 MHz. >
Prevalence of Bacteria Associated with Infectious Bovine Mastitis in Some Milk-Producing Municipalities in Norte de Santander Department

A study was carried out to establish the prevalence of bacteria associated with infectious bovine mastitis in some milk-producing municipalities in Norte de Santander Department, from which possible species of Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Enterobacteria were isolated and identified. One hundred and sixty three samples which were inoculated by depletion in: Blood Agar and EMB Agar were analyzed and incubated at 37°C/24 h. Preliminary identification of the bacteria was done through conventional biochemical tests and RapIDTM ONE System and RapID System PLUS STAPH. A total of 207 bacteria were isolated; 187 isolates corresponded to: Staphylococcus aureus, S. capitis, S. epidermidis, S. haemolyticus, S. saprophyticus, S. simulans and S. xylosus. And 20 isolates to: Escherichia coli, Enterobacter agglomerans, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella spp. and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Staphylococcus epidermidis showed the highest prevalence for Pamplona, Pamplonita and Toledo with 19.02, 21, 46 and 7.32%, respectively. In Pamplona, the prevalence of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Shigella spp. with 0.49%; Klebsiella pneumoniae and Shigella spp. were isolated in Pamplonita (0.49%), in Toledo E. coli and Enterobacter agglomerans (1.95%). The species isolated in this study have been described as causing mastitis in dairy cattle and their presence is related to cleaning conditions and milking practices.
Isolation and characterization of breast cancer stem cells from malignant tumours in Vietnamese women

Cancer stem cells are the origin of tumors and have been isolated successfully from different kinds of tumors. Breast cancer stem cells have been recently identified in breast carcinoma with markers CD44+/CD24-/dim. This population can cause tumor and display stem cell-like properties. However, direct evidences that breast cancer stem cells can be propagated in vitro is still lacking. This research was carried out to isolate and propagate in vitro breast cancer stem cells from tumor biopsy. Breast tumor biopsy was used to isolate breast cancer cells by primary tissue culture. As such, breast cancer stem cells were isolated from breast cancer cells by catcher-tube based cell sorter on flow cytometter machine. These cells were propagated by an in vitro culture in a free serum specific medium. The results showed that the CD44+CD24-/dim cell population that were maintained, were capable of self-renewal and extensive proliferation as clonal non-adherent spherical clusters. Interestingly, cultured cells were CD44+CD24-/dim expressed by the putative stem cell marker Oct-4, resistant with verapamil at 50 µg/ml, and gave rise to new tumors when as few as 1000 cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of immune-deficient mice. This population was a suitable in vitro model to study breast cancer stem cells and develop therapeutic strategies to treat breast cancer.
Daily activity recognition based on recurrent neural network using multi-modal signals

Our aim is to develop a smartphone-based life-logging system. Human activity recognition (HAR) is one of the core techniques to realize it. Recent studies reported the effectiveness of feed-forward neural network (FF-NN) and recurrent neural network (RNN) as a classifier for HAR task. However, there are still unresolved problems in those studies: (1) a life-logging system using only a smartphone for recording device has not been developed, (2) only indoor activities have been utilized for evaluation, (3) insufficient investigations/evaluations of RNN. In this study, we address these unresolved problems as follows: (1) we build a prototype system for life-logging and conduct data recording experiment on this system to include both indoor and outdoor activities. The experimental results of HAR on this new dataset showed that RNN-based classifier was still effective. (2) From the results of a HAR experiment, it was demonstrated that a multi-layered Simple Recurrent Unit with a non-linear transform at the bottom layer and a highway-connection was the most effective. (3) We could grasp the reason for the improvement of RNN from FF-NN by observing the posterior probabilities over test data.
Qualification multi-critères des gammes d'usinage : application aux pièces de structure aéronautique en alliage Airware®

L’optimisation des gammes d'usinage n’est pas aisee, car elle souffre de deux lacunes importantes. La premiere est axee sur l'adaptabilite des gammes existantes aux moyens actuels de production et a leurs evolutions au fil des annees pour repondre aux evolutions technologiques. Le second point concerne, l’absence de prise en compte du comportement mecanique de la piece durant l'usinage dans l'elaboration de la gamme. Ces travaux de these abordent ces problematiques dans le cadre du projet FUI OFELIA. Ils etudient, dans un premier temps l'influence de la gamme d’usinage sur la deformation de la piece. L'objectif est de pouvoir predire le comportement mecanique de la piece pour identifier les gammes minimisant les deformations. Le second point s'interesse a l’evaluation multicriteres des gammes de fabrication. Les criteres retenus prennent en compte la deformation de la piece, la productivite a travers une estimation rapide des temps d'usinage et la recyclabilite des copeaux obtenus lors de l'usinage. D’autre part, nous proposons un modele geometrique des etats intermediaires de la piece durant l’usinage pour a la fois evaluer les gammes de fabrication et conduire les calculs de simulation de la deformation de la piece durant l’usinage.
Detection of Negative Emotions in Autistics: Questioning the ‘Amygdala Hypothesis’

Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are neurodevelopmental conditions that are marked by social and communica- tion problems that involve difficulties with facial emotional processing, as well as restricted interests and behaviors. There have been conflicting reports in the literature regarding the perception of basic emotional expressions with some studies showing differences between the autistics and normal participants while others show no such differences. There have also been some reports of deficits in the processing of basic negative emotions in autism like fear, sad- ness and anger. These deficits shown by autistics are comparable to deficits shown by people with amygdala damage. These comparable deficits have led to the formulation of the ‘amygdala theory in autism’. However, a strong form of the amygdala hypothesis in autism still requires experimental evidence of distinctions between ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ awareness of negative emotional stimuli. In some studies the activation in the amygdala is found when participants are subjectively unaware of the fearful faces but not when they are objectively unaware. Previous studies that have been conducted to investigate the facial emotion recognition deficits in autism in order to support the amygdala hy- pothesis have relied on the percentage correct values of the autistic subjects, which are known to be highly sensitive to response bias. Performance when evaluated according to standard signal detection methods provides a measure of sensitivity that is independent of a subject’s response bias. Only the latter methodology can provide a stringent test of the amygdala hypothesis.
GREEN ECONOMY – CUSTOMERS ’ CHOICE ?

This paper interlinks the concept of the Green Economy with consumer behavior with the goal to answer the question whether the consumer is in the position to push the actual market towards sustainability. At first the authors give a brief outline of the concept, its relevance and targets. Subsequently the theory of consumer behavior is explained with a focus on the basic factors of purchase decisions of users. The theory is based on a literature review. As conscientious consumerism is not a novelty but already in progress, the authors show the status quo for Europe. Lastly, the fields are interlinked in order to prove false the public opinion that the industry is the promoter of the Green Economy. The consumer has the power to change the market towards more sustainability, although this approach is faced by certain challenges to set the ball rolling. The conclusion includes opportunities to eliminate these difficulties and provide further research approaches.
OCCURRENCE AND RELATIONSHIPS OF THE RIO CHICO FAUNA OF PATAGONIA ' BY GEORGE GAYLORD

In the last paper of this series the more important available fossils from the Rio Chico Formation were described, figured, and, as far as new and definable, named. In the present paper the various fossil localities are enumerated, sufficient stratigraphic data given to specify the geologic provenience of the fossils as exactly as possible, the mammals found at each horizon and locality listed, and the general relationships and probable age of the fauna summarized. The field observations in this paper were made in 1930-31 and 1933-34 by the Scarritt Expedition. Acknowledgements of assistance received were made in the last paper.
Critical Feedback on Written Corrective Feedback Research.

Recently we have witnessed a large growth in research on written corrective feedback (WCF). However, the question posed here is: are researchers and L2 writing teachers now any wiser about the efficacy of WCF? I begin with a summary of early studies and some of their major shortcomings. I then examine more recent studies and conclude that, although many of the shortcomings of earlier research have been largely addressed, research findings are still inconclusive. I argue that currently, in the desire to conduct more robust research, the pendulum has swung too far towards experimental studies. Such studies tend to employ ‘one off’ treatments, often provided on a very restricted range of errors, and ignore the learners’ goals and attitudes to the feedback provided and to improvement in accuracy. I conclude by suggesting directions for a more meaningful and ecological valid research agenda on written corrective feedback.
The nature of the late achromatic bump in GRB 120326A

The long ${\it Swift}$ gamma-ray burst GRB 120326A at redshift $z=1.798$ exhibited a multi-band light curve with a striking feature: a late-time, long-lasting achromatic rebrightening, rarely seen in such events. Peaking in optical and X-ray bands $\sim 35$ ks ($\sim 12.5$ ks in the GRB rest frame) after the 70-s GRB prompt burst, the feature brightens nearly two orders of magnitude above the underlying optical power-law decay. Modelling the multiwavelength light curves, we investigate possible causes of the rebrightening in the context of the standard fireball model. We exclude a range of scenarios for the origin of this feature: reverse-shock flash, late-time forward shock peak due to the passage of the maximal synchrotron frequency through the optical band, late central engine optical/X-ray flares, interaction between the expanding blast wave and a density enhancement in the circumburst medium and gravitational microlensing. Instead we conclude that the achromatic rebrightening may be caused by a refreshed forward shock or a geometrical effect. In addition, we identify an additional component after the end of the prompt emission, that shapes the observed X-ray and optical light curves differently, ruling out a single overall emission component to explain the observed early time emission.
Impact of a future H 2 -based road transportation sector on the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere - Part 1: Tropospheric composition and air quality

Abstract. Vehicles burning fossil fuel emit a number of substances that change the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere, and contribute to global air and water pollution and climate change. For example, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted as byproducts of fossil fuel combustion are key precursors to ground-level ozone and aerosol formation. In addition, on-road vehicles are major CO 2 emitters. In order to tackle these problems, molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) has been proposed as an energy carrier to substitute for fossil fuels in the future. However, before implementing any such strategy it is crucial to evaluate its potential impacts on air quality and climate. Here, we evaluate the impact of a future (2050) H 2 -based road transportation sector on tropospheric chemistry and air quality for several possible growth and technology adoption scenarios. The growth scenarios are based on the high and low emissions Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, A1FI and B1, respectively. The technological adoption scenarios include H 2 fuel cell and H 2 internal combustion engine options. The impacts are evaluated with the Community Atmospheric Model Chemistry global chemistry transport model (CAM-Chem). Higher resolution simulations focusing on the contiguous United States are also carried out with the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) regional chemistry transport model. For all scenarios future air quality improves with the adoption of a H 2 -based road transportation sector; however, the magnitude and type of improvement depend on the scenario. Model results show that the adoption of H 2 fuel cells would decrease tropospheric burdens of ozone (7%), CO (14%), NO x (16%), soot (17%), sulfate aerosol (4%), and ammonium nitrate aerosol (12%) in the A1FI scenario, and would decrease those of ozone (5%), CO (4%), NO x (11%), soot (7%), sulfate aerosol (4%), and ammonium nitrate aerosol (9%) in the B1 scenario. The adoption of H 2 internal combustion engines would decrease tropospheric burdens of ozone (1%), CO (18%), soot (17%), and sulfate aerosol (3%) in the A1FI scenario, and would decrease those of ozone (1%), CO (7%), soot (7%), and sulfate aerosol (3%) in the B1 scenario. In the future, people residing in the contiguous United States could expect to experience significantly fewer days of elevated levels of pollution if a H 2 fuel cell road transportation sector were to be adopted. Health benefits of transitioning to a H 2 economy for citizens in developing nations, like China and India, will be much more dramatic, particularly in megacities with severe, intensifying air-quality problems.
Dynamic e!ect on strength in SiC & /SiC . composite

Loading rate dependence of mechanical properties of SiC "bre-reinforced SiC composites (SiC & /SiC . ) has been experimentally investigated as to the "bre volume fraction and coating materials for SiC "bre. The composites consisting of monolithic SiC and SiC "bre (Hi-Nicalon) coated with Boron-Nitride (BN) or Carbon (C) with "bre volume fractions of 20, 30 and 40% were fabricated by polymer in"ltration}pyrolysis (PIP) process. The stress}strain response and strength were measured in tension over a wide range of strain rate,10~4&200 s~1. It was shown that the higher volume fraction, the larger tensile strength regardless of the kind of coating and strain rate. The interface friction stress evaluated by the "bre pullout length that is measured through microscopic observations of fractured specimens is larger in dynamic loading than in static loading. The BN-coated "bre gave the composite superior tensile strength to the C-coated "bre. This trend results from the variety of the interface friction stress associated with the coating thickness. ( 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Soil Depletion Choices under Production and Price Uncertainty

This paper studies soil depletion incentives in a dynamic economic model under two different sources of revenue uncertainty (production- and output price risk). The focus is on the long-term effects of risk averse preferences. The land manager is assumed to posses three classes of instruments to control natural topsoil fertility over time. Each instrument is also assumed to have implications for expected short-run production. The analysis shows that the forces at play are different across the three agricultural activities considered and varies for the two sources of risk analysed. In order to predict how risk aversion may influence soil conservation incentives detailed information is needed about input use and cultivation practices and the farmers' perception of their risk implications. If higher output is associated with higher levels of soil degradation, risk averse preferences will strengthen the incentives for soil conservation under output price uncertainty, and the same outcome is likely under production uncertainty. If higher levels of outputs is associated with lower levels of soil degradation, risk averse preferences will induce a farmer to conserve less soil under output price uncertainty, while the likely outcome of production uncertainty is the opposite
The design of a hybrid DC motor/SMA actuated robotic hand based on physiological and anatomical synergies

A new approach to the design and control of multi-fingered hands using hybrid DC motor-Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) array actuators is presented in this thesis. The fundamental design concept is based on the principle of motor control synergy, a biomechanics terminology for coordinated motion generation. Principal component analysis is used for determining the most significant direction as well as the residual directions. A single DC motor is used for driving multiple fingers at a particular velocity distribution over a vast number of finger joints corresponding to the direction of the most significant synergy. SMA array actuators are used for driving the fingers in the residual directions. Although many actuator axes are needed for spanning the residual space, the required strokes are much shorter than the most significant direction; compact and high energy-density SMA actuators meet these requirements. The thesis presents synergistic integration of these two types of actuators having diverse characteristics. This allows us to embed all the actuators and transmission mechanisms in the palm, eliminating a bundle of tendons crossing over the wrist joints. An initial prototype hand is designed and built. Thesis Supervisor: H. Harry Asada Title: Ford Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Machines for non-chemical intra-row weed control in narrow and wide-row crops: a review

Intra-row weed control in organic or low-input cropping systems is more difficult than in conventional agriculture. The various mechanical and thermal devices available for intra-row weed control are reported in this review. Low-tech mechanical devices such as cultivators, finger-weeders, brush weeders, and torsionweeders tend to be used in low density crops, while spring-tine harrows are mainly applied in narrow-row high-density crops. Flame weeding can be used for both narrow and wide-row sown crops, provided that the crop is heat-tolerant. Robotic weeders are the most recent addition to agricultural engineering, and only a few are available on the market. Nowadays, robotic weeders are not yet used in small and medium sized farms. In Europe, highincome niche crops are often cultivated in small farms and farmers cannot invest in high-tech solutions. Irrespectively of the choice of low- or high-tech machines, there are several weeders that can be used to reduce the use of herbicides, making of them a judicious use, or decide to avoid them.
How to become passive

In this paper, we propose that movement of a stative subevent of a structurally complex event to a discourse-related position at the edge of the verb phrase is the fundamental characteristics of passive constructions. This assumption is supported not only by the semantics of passives but also by the fact that it provides a natural account of many of their syntactic properties some of which are left unaccounted for in previous approaches. More generally we give a principled explanation, based on the availability of a consequent state reading, of why some predicates do not form good passives. Psycholinguistic data provide further arguments to support our hypothesis.1
Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems-Series A , 36 ( 8 ) ISSN 1078-0947

Importance sampling algorithms are discussed in detail, with an emphasis on implicit sampling, and applied to data assimilation via particle filters. Implicit sampling makes it possible to use the data to find high-probability samples at relatively low cost, making the assimilation more efficient. A new analysis of the feasibility of data assimilation is presented, showing in detail why feasibility depends on the Frobenius norm of the covariance matrix of the noise and not on the number of variables. A discussion of the convergence of particular particle filters follows. A major open problem in numerical data assimilation is the determination of appropriate priors; a progress report on recent work on this problem is given. The analysis highlights the need for a careful attention both to the data and to the physics in data assimilation problems. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary: 65C05, 65Y20; Secondary: 62L12.