Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual Object Detection using Convolutional Neural Networks in a Virtual Environment

Visual object detection is a popular computer vision task that has been intensively investigated using deep learning on real data. However, data from virtual environments have not received the same attention. A virtual environment enables generating data for locations that are not easily reachable for data collection, e.g. aerial environments. In this thesis, we study the problem of object detection in virtual environments, more specifically an aerial virtual environment. We use a simulator, to generate a synthetic data set of 16 different types of vehicles captured from an airplane. To study the performance of existing methods in virtual environments, we train and evaluate two state-of-the-art detectors on the generated data set. Experiments show that both detectors, You Only Look Once version 3 (YOLOv3) and Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD), reach similar performance quality as previously presented in the literature on real data sets. In addition, we investigate different fusion techniques between detectors which were trained on two different subsets of the dataset, in this case a subset which has cars with fixed colors and a dataset which has cars with varying colors. Experiments show that it is possible to train multiple instances of the detector on different subsets of the data set, and combine these detectors in order to boost the performance.
Wingate anaerobic testing with a modified electromagnetically braked elliptical trainer. Part I: Methodological considerations

The aim of this study was to modify an elliptical trainer and determine a suitable test load with it in order to perform Wingate anaerobic testing (WAnTet). Modifications were made to an electromagnetically braked elliptical trainer. Study participants were forty-eight physically active male college athletes (mean age 20 ± 1 years). Two pilot studies (n = 8) were administered to determine electrical signalling errors and to select the range of potentially suitable test loads (between 0.5 to 1.3 watt/kg). The 1.0 watt/kg WAnTet load was determined to be the most suitable for WAnTet applications amongst 0.8 to 1.1 watt/kg loads (n = 40; p< 0.05). Test-retest results using the 1.0 watt/kg load for peak power (PP) (1477 ± 258 and 1484 ± 271 watts), average power (AP) (1134 ± 209 and 1120 ± 208 watts), fatigue index ratio (FI%) (49 ± 10% and 49 ± 10%) and change in lactate levels (12.6 ± 1.7 and 12.4 ± 2.1 mM) were highly correlated (r: 0.94, 0.94, 0.80 and 0.74, respectively; p< 0.001). An electromagnetically braked elliptical trainer may be used to measure anaerobic power and anaerobic capacity of athletes and may be substituted for the usual Wingate anaerobic test performed on a cycle ergometer.
Percepción y condiciones de trabajo de personas que tuvieron malaria

Objectives: To describe perceptions and working conditions in persons who had malaria. Material and methods: The study was performed between February 1999 and January 2000 in El Algarrobo and Casa Grande villages (Piura), Iquitos, Huamba (Huarmey), and Cieneguilla (Lima). The sample included 67 persons. Each one underwent an in-depth interview. 44 cases were diagnosed in Piura and Huarmey, and the remaining cases were from Iquitos and Cieneguilla. Results: It was found that persons who had malaria were working in farming, particularly growing rice, lemon, banana, yucca, and corn; they did not use appropriate dressing, and they also did not receive any working material nor information regarding preventive measures against malaria. Jobs were temporary and working time took almost all day, and their average daily income was three US dollars. In many cases, as it was the case with timber workers, working hours extended until night time. Generally speaking, interviewed persons had a good relationship with their fellow workers, as well as with their supervisers. In most cases, interviewed persons attributed their disease to their jobs. In Piura, Huarmey, and Cieneguilla, farming and handcraft making were important occupations, particularly mat manufacturing; in Iquitos, important activities were being fishermen and timber worker. Conclusions: Disease perception and working conditions in persons who had malaria in the study areas are not good, so it is suggested to solve these problems in order to improve their working conditions.
Effects of Safflower Seeds on the Serum Levels of Insulin-like Growth Factors, Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 and BALP in Osteoporosis Induced-ovariectomized Rats

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of the Korean Safflower (Carthamus inctorius L) seed powder on serum level of hormones and trabecula area during the recovery from osteoporosis induced ovariectomized rats. Four month-old rats were ovariectomized (OVX), remained untreated for 8 weeks, and were subsequently administered safflower seed (0.03 g/kg) every other day 30 for days. We examined the effects of treated safflower seed every 10 days on ovariectomy-related changes in Insulin-like Growth Factors, Insulin-like Growth Factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), Estrogen, Bone-specific alkaline phosphotase, Calcium, and Phospotase in the serum, and also histomorphology of the proximal fibula metaphysis and femur/body weight rate. Ten and 20 days after safflower seed treatment in OVX rats, serum levels of IGF-I, -II and IGFBP-3 were not different from the Sham and OVX groups. In 30 days, serum levels of IGF-I,-II and IGFBP-3 were higher after safflower seed treatment in OVX rats as compared to the other two groups (p<0.05). Bone alkaline phosphatase levels were increased through safflower seed treatment in OVX rats compared to the other two groups in 30 days. There were no differences between OVX and safflower seed treated OVX rats in serum levels of estrogen and femur/body weight rate, but estrogen levels for the sham group were higher than for the other two groups. The safflower seed is increased to serum levels of IGFs, IGFBP-3 and BALP of osteoporosis induced by ovariectomized rats. Thus, we conclude that the safflower seed is a possible role for improvement of osteoporosis induced-ovariectomized rats.
ALKALI TREATMENT OF JUTE FABRICS : INFLUENCE ON THE PROCESSING CONDITIONS AND THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF THEIR COMPOSITES

The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of the fibers alkali treatment on the injection processing. Woven jute preforms were used to prepare the composites using the vacuum infusion technique. The fibers were treated with NaOH (5 wt%) for 24 h at room temperature. Single filament tests showed that the treatment was detrimental for the mechanical properties of the fibers. The injection times increased in the treated jute preforms as a consequence of the increase in the exposed area and the flow resistance. The preform permeability decreased, also, in the tubular structure collapse of the fibers, which could reduce the capillary pressure. Flexural and impact properties of the treated jute composites decreased mainly in the lower mechanical properties of the fibers.
Deep neural networks performance optimization in image recognition

In this paper, we consider the problem of insufficient runtime and memory-space complexities of contemporary deep convolutional neural networks in the problem of image recognition. A survey of recent compression methods and efficient neural networks architectures is provided. The experimental study is focused on the visual emotion recognition problem. We compare the computational speed and memory consumption during the training and the inference stages of such methods as the weights matrix decomposition, binarization and hashing in the visual emotion recognition problem. It is experimentally shown that the most efficient recognition is achieved with the full network binarization and matrices decomposition.
An investigation for the development of whey-based probiotic beverages

Whey is the one of the byproducts of cheese-making. Due to the high nutrient content of whey, it is being used to prepare many different products. Probiotic bacteria have been used to develop new whey containing beverages so new generation-products can be produced which influence the human health positively. The aim of this study was to define the growth and survival of probiotic microorganisms, Lactobacillus plantarum AA1–2 and Saccharomyces boulardii, in whey. The whey was inoculated and fermented with L. plantarum AA1–2, S.boulardii bacteria separately and mixture of these two bacteria was also used. Microbial counts, changes in pH values and sensory quality were analysed in the beverages. Beverages with the highest sensory scores were analysed to determine aroma compounds by using GC/MS-SPME. While pH value of reconstituted whey was 6.15, pH values of fermented beverages were diminished and ranged from 4.97 to 6.07. Yeast count was higher than 10 cfu/ml, and bacteria count were between 10-10 cfu/ml. The best result of the sensory properties of beverages was occured at 2% inoculation of L. plantarum AA1–2. According to the results obtained with GC/MS-SPME, the highest amount of aroma compounds found in whey was acetate isopropyl.
Synergistic effect of Rhopalurus junceus scorpion venom combined with conventional cytostatics in cervical cancer cell line HeLa

Context: Venom from endemic scorpion of Cuba, Rhopalurus junceus, decreases the viability of epithelial cancer cells and has negligible cytotoxic effect on normal cells. Conventional chemotherapy induces unspecific cytotoxic effect against cancer and normal cells. Pharmacological interaction of this scorpion venom with conventional cytostatics is unknown. Aims: To evaluate the cytotoxic effect of combined treatment of Rhopalurus junceus scorpion venom and conventional cytostatics in the cervical cancer and kidney normal cell line HeLa and Vero, respectively. Methods: Both cell lines were treated alone with different concentrations of 5-fluoruracil (0.5, 5, 50, 500 and 5000 µM), doxorubicin (0.005, 0.05, 0.5, 5 and 50 µM) and cisplatin (3.13, 6.25, 12.5, 25 and 50 µM) or combined with ½IC50 in HeLa (0.5 mg/mL) of scorpion venom. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. The combination index and dose reduction index at different concentration levels were generated by CompuSyn software. Results: Rhopalurus junceus scorpion venom exerted synergic effect in HeLa cancer cell line when combined with 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin and doxorubicin at 0.5 - 500 µM, 3.13 - 25 µM and 0.005 - 5 µM, respectively. Meanwhile, higher concentration levels of cytostatics combined with scorpion venom induced antagonist effects. Besides, 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin and doxorubicin as single treatment and combined with scorpion venom did not showed significant differences respect to cell viability in Vero cells. Conclusions: Rhopalurus junceus scorpion venom is able to potentiate selectively the cytotoxicity, at low concentrations of chemotherapy drugs, against the cervical cancer cell line HeLa.
Age , growth and reproduction of the gold band goatfish , Upeneus moluccensis off the Elkhoms coast of Libya

The age, growth parameters, spawning season, sex ratio, length at first sexual maturity and fecundity of the goldband goatfish, Upeneus moluccensis (Bleeker, 1855) caught in Elkhoms coasts of the Mediterranean Sea were investigated. It was found that, males constitute about 47.7% its population. Length-weight relationship of both sexes was illustrated as: W = 0.01017 L 3.01 for males and W = 0.00822 L 3.09 for females The age data derived from scale readings were used to estimate the growth parameters of the von Bertalanffy equation and the calculated parameters were: L∞= 233.6 mm, K = 0.2274 and to = -1.872 for males and L∞= 234.4 mm, K =0.2120 and to = -1.983 for females It was found that the maximum age of males and females attained five years only. The second year age group was dominated the population. Otherwise, maturation of males and females occurred at a total length of about 11 cm. The monthly values of the gonado-somatic index indicated that spawning of the studied fish take place mainly between May and July. The fecundity-length relationship designated that the fecundity is highly correlated with the fish length and expressed by the equation: Log F = 0.0268 + 3.8120 Log L (r = 0.995).
Calibration of the Highway Safety Manual ( HSM ) Safety Performance Functions ( SPFs ) and Development of Independent Models for Utah

This paper documents the calibration of the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) safety performance function (SPF) for rural two-lane two-way roadway segments in Utah and the development of new SPFs using both negative binomial regression and hierarchical Bayesian modeling. Crash data from 2005-2007 on 157 selected study segments in Utah provided a 3-year frequency of observed crashes for use in obtaining a calibration factor for the HSM SPF and developing new SPFs. The calibration factor for the HSM SPF for rural two-lane two-way roads in Utah is 1.16, indicating that the HSM model underpredicts crashes in Utah. The HSM recommends that agencies develop jurisdiction-specific SPFs when possible. Negative binomial and hierarchical Bayes modeling were used to develop new models that estimate the expected number of crashes occurring on rural two-lane two-way highway segments. Average annual daily traffic (AADT), segment length, speed limit, and the percentage of AADT comprised of combo-unit trucks were found to be significant in the new models developed. AADT and segment length are already used in the HSM SPF; this research found that the latter two may have a measurable effect on crash frequencies. The hierarchical Bayes technique can determine the likelihoods of observed crash frequencies occurring on road segments. A comparison of these likelihoods is proposed as a means to rank segments and identify safety ‘hot spots. ’ From the 157 segments analyzed in this study, five are identified as ‘hot spots. ’
Active control and passive consequence of vowel devoicing in Japanese : Evidence of highspeed movies and PGG

Vowel devoicing is a phenomenon that is found in many languages including Japanese, Korean and Montreal French. The typical case of VD in Japanese is that high vowels /i/ and /u/ are surrounded by voiceless obstruents. However, the frequency of occurrence of VD differs depending on consonant types, accent, dialects, and so on. Previous physiological studies have shown that VD in Japanese involves both active re-organization of the glottal opening pattern during /C̥VC̥/ and passive overlapping of the glottal opening gesture for each voiceless consonant. The former is regarded as phonological and the latter, phonetic. This paper demonstrates the rich variety of the glottal opening pattern during VD using a high-speed digital movie of the laryngeal area and Photoglottography (PGG). This report covers the difference between typical and atypical devoicing environments and that between Tokyo and Osaka dialects, as well as the pattern of VD before geminates and consecutive devoicing.
EFFECT OF EXPORT MARKET KNOWLEDGE ACQUISTION THROUGH BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS ON EXPORT PERFORMANCE OF UK SMEs

This study focuses on the role of business relationships as a means of acquiring export market knowledge and its impact on export performance. The study mainly draws from the Resource Based View (RBV), the Relational View (RV) and the classical internationalisation theories to develop a model that explores the link between an exporter‟s acquisition of market knowledge through business relationships and export performance. Data was collected from 139 UK small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to test a structural model. Firstly, the model assessed if the experiential market knowledge collected through a key business contact had a positive impact on the export performance of the venture. Secondly, the model assessed if the market knowledge shared in the relationship was exclusive enough to explain the export venture‟s performance. Findings revealed that both experiential knowledge and relationship exclusiveness of knowledge were significant contributors to export venture performance. Results also showed that an export manager‟s current level of foreign market knowledge influenced his ability to acquire experiential market knowledge. In addition, the quality of the relationship influenced the degree to which the knowledge acquired through a business relationship remained exclusive (relationship embeddedness of knowledge). The study concludes with a discussion on the implications for export performance theory, implications for SME exporters and suggestions for future research.
Comparison of Celox powder and conventional dressing on hemostasis of vascular access site in hemodialysis patients

Background: Common measures to stop bleeding can run the risk of clotting and thrombosis due to prolonged application of pressure. Topical homeostatic agents have an important role in decreasing time to hemostasis and consequently prevention of the complications. Â Aim: the aim of this study was to compare Celox powder and conventional bandage on time to hemostasis in the vascular access site in hemodialysis patients. Methods: This one-group, before-after, clinical-trial was conducted on 30 dialysis patients who had been selected by purposive sampling and underwent hemodialysisÂ through arteriovenous fistula in Imam Reza and Montaserieh Â hospitals of Mashhad and Modarres hospital of Kashmar in 2013- 2014. The arteriovenous fistula puncture sites were treated with Celox powder dressing in three intermittent weeks. Time to hemostasis in each puncture site was calculated. Data were analyzed by repeated measures, Bonferroni correction, Friedman tests using SPSS version 11.5. Results: The mean age of patients was 54.2 Â±14.3, and most of them (53.3 percent) were male. Time to hemostasis in the vascular access sites of patients was 9. 8Â±1.9 minutes. There was a significant difference in the hemostasis time between using 1 gram Celox powder and conventional dressing,(p<0/001). There was also a significant difference in time to hemostasis between utilizing 0.5 gram Celox powder and conventional dressing (p<0/001). Conclusion: Using Celox powder reduces time to hemostasis in vascular access site in hemodialysis patient. Therefore, its use in patients with delayed vascular access site hemostasis is recommended.
Uncertainty 1 : Car Waiting Queue Uncertainty 3 : Pedestrian Crossing Uncertainty 2 : Traffic Light

This paper proposes a robust optimal eco-driving control strategy considering multiple signalized intersections with uncertain traffic signal timing. A spatial vehicle velocity profile optimization formulation is developed to minimize the global fuel consumption, with driving time as one state variable. We introduce the concept of ‘effective red-light duration’ (ERD), formulated as a random variable, to describe the feasible passing time through signalized intersections. A chance constraint is appended to the optimal control problem to incorporate robustness with respect to uncertain signal timing. The optimal eco-driving control problem is solved via dynamic programming (DP). Simulation results demonstrate that the optimal eco-driving can save fuel consumption by 50-57% while maintaining arrival time at the same level, compared with a modified intelligent driver model as the benchmark. The robust formulation significantly reduces traffic intersection violations, in the face of uncertain signal timing, with small sacrifice on fuel economy compared to a non-robust approach.
aTTom (adjuvant Tamoxifen--To offer more?): Randomized trial of 10 versus 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen among 6,934 women with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) or ER untested breast cancer--Preliminary results

Background: In ER+ early breast cancer, 5 years of tamoxifen substantially reduces the annual recurrence rate throughout the first decade (years 0-9). Despite this, appreciable risks of recurrence remain, with similar annual recurrence risks for ER+ disease during years 0-4, 5-9 and 10-14 following surgery. It is not reliably known how 10 years duration of adjuvant tamoxifen compares with the current standard of 5 years. Methods: Between 1991 and 2005, 6,934 women with ER+ (39%), or ER untested (61%) invasive breast cancer (53% node negative, 31% node positive, 16% node status unspecified) from 176 UK centers, who had completed 4+ years of adjuvant tamoxifen, were randomized between continuing for another 5 years and stopping. Information on compliance, hospital admission(s), breast cancer recurrence (including new contralateral disease), other new primary cancer, death and cause of death was sought annually. Results: 78% of those allocated to continue and 3% of those allocated to stop were taking adjuvant tamoxifen at 3 years following randomization; fewer than 1% switched to any other adjuvant hormone treatment. With a median follow-up of 4.2 years, there were fewer recurrences (415 vs 442; RR=0.94, 95% CI 0.81-1.09; p=0.4) among those allocated to 10yrs than 5yrs tamoxifen. Although breast cancer mortality was lower among those allocated 10yrs, with just 374 deaths from breast cancer recorded, data remain immature. Despite a doubling in the risk of endometrial cancer (76 vs 35) with 10yrs tamoxifen, there was no increase in deaths from endometrial cancer (10 vs 12) or from any other non-breast cancer cause. Conclusions: Although no significant reduction in recurrence has yet been seen in aTTom, the results are consistent with preliminary findings from the ATLAS trial, which reported a DFS but not overall survival advantage to longer tamoxifen (Peto et al SABCS 2007). Combining results from these two large studies indicate that continuation of tamoxifen beyond the first 5 years reduces recurrence over the next few years, but further follow-up is needed to assess reliably the longer-term effects on recurrence and the net effects, if any, on mortality.
Effect of Dietary Rumen-Protected L-Tryptophan Supplementation on Growth Performance, Blood Hematological and Biochemical Profiles, and Gene Expression in Korean Native Steers under Cold Environment

Simple Summary In this study, the effect of dietary rumen-protected L-tryptophan (RPT) supplement on growth performance, blood hematological and biochemical profiles, and gene expression was investigated in beef steers during a cold environment. We revealed that supplementation of 0.1% RPT incorporated into diet was beneficial owing to enhanced growth performance by increasing the ADG and glucose level, decreasing the feed conversion ratio, and maintaining homeostasis in immune responses in beef steers in a cold environment. Abstract We assessed the growth performance, physiological traits, and gene expressions in steers fed with dietary rumen-protected L-tryptophan (RPT) under a cold environment. Eight Korean native steers were assigned to two dietary groups, no RPT (Control) and RPT (0.1% RPT supplementation on a dry matter basis) for six weeks. Maximum and minimum temperatures throughout the experiment were 6.7 °C and −7.0 °C, respectively. Supplementation of 0.1% RPT to a total mixed ration did not increase body weight but had positive effects of elevating average daily gain (ADG) and reducing the feed conversion ratio (FCR) on days 27 and 48. The metabolic parameter showed a higher glucose level (on day 27) in the 0.1% RPT group compared to the control group. Real-time PCR analysis showed no significant differences in the expression of muscle (MYF6, MyoD, and Desmin) metabolism genes between the two groups, whereas the expression of fat (PPARγ, C/EBPα, and FABP4) metabolism genes was lower in the 0.1% RPT group than in the control group. Thus, we demonstrate that long-term (six weeks) dietary supplementation of 0.1% RPT was beneficial owing to enhanced growth performance by increasing the ADG and glucose level, decreasing FCR, and maintaining homeostasis in immune responses in beef steers in a cold environment.