Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Particle Swarm Large-scale Optimization to Improve Sampling-based Image Matting

Sampling-based image matting is an important basic operator of image processing. The matting results are depended on the quality of sample selection. The sample selection produces a pair of samples for each pixel to detect whether the pixel is in the foreground of an image. Therefore, how to optimize the production is usually modeled as a large-scale optimization problem. In this study, particle swarm optimization is applied to solve the problem because its property of rapid convergence is positive to the real-time demand of image matting. We regard every two dimensions of a particle as a sample pair for a undetermined pixel. The encoding can make image matting more effective when there are relevant pixels in the image. The experimental result indicates that the proposed particle swarm optimization performs better than existing optimization method for image matting.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EVOLUTION OF PHASE PARAMETERS OF GRAIN BOUNDARY M23C6 AND EMBRITTLEMENT OF HR3C SUPER-HEATER TUBES IN SERVICE

The relationship of the evolution of the phase parameters (area fraction ϕM23C6 and equivalent width W ) of grain boundary M23C6 plates with the embrittlement of HR3C super-heater tube samples in service was studied. Based on the ASTM E112 standard charts, the total length of two dimensional austenite grain boundaries (Lgb) corresponding to each grain size number (GL) was determined in the observed area of the metallographic imag- es and expressed as Lgb (GL). Making use of the SEM-SE images of the samples, the ϕM23C6 and W were determined.
Effect of municipal solid waste compost and gibberellic acid on morphological and physiological traits of tulip ( Tulipa spp.) cv. Bright Parrot

Tulip is one of the most important potted and cut flowers in the world. It is a monocothiledone plant, belongs to the Liliaceae family. In this study, the effects of municipal solid waste compost (MSWC) in four levels (0, 10, 20 and 30%) and gibberellic acid in three levels (GA3) (0, 50 and 100 mgl-1) on flowering time and quality of early flowering tulips were evaluated. The research was done based on a completely randomized block design (RCBD) with three replications. In this experiment, bulbs sprouting time, leaves number, flowers number, stem length, flower diameter, flowering time, bulbs number, chlorophyll and carotenoid levels of the plant were measured. Results showed that in most traits, MSWC 10% and peat were more suitable than the other treatments. MSWC 30% delayed flowering time about 7 days. The most flowers and bulbs number were obtained in the plants treated with 100 mgl-1 GA3. Treatments containing MSWC 10 and 20% provoked the highest amount of chlorophyll in leaves. Also, high amount of MSWC caused soil salinity and decreasing the vegetative and reproductive growth in the plants.
Effects on benthic scavengers of discards and damaged benthos produced by the beam-trawl fishery in the southern North Sea

The beam-trawl fishery for flatfish produces large amounts of dying discards as well as damaged and disturbed benthos. The importance of these food sources to scavenging benthic species was investigated. To identify epibenthic species showing scavenging behaviour and to detect their food preferences, traps (370 overall) baited with different kinds of carrion (fish, crustaceans, molluscs, echinoderms, polychaetes) were deployed at 14 locations in the southern North Sea. Liocarcinus holsatus, Pagurus bernhardus, Asterias rubens, ophiurids, and small gadoids were the main active scavengers feeding on different kinds of food, while lyssianid amphipods (Orchomene nanus, Scopelocheirus hopei) fed mainly on crustacean carrion. Estimated attraction areas were largest for gadoids, hermit crabs, and swimming crabs. Immigration of fish and swimming crabs into experimentally trawled areas was observed by sampling repeatedly in a trawled strip. Differences in the response to trawling (feeding activity, food niche breadth, and resource partitioning) between selected fish species are described. Limanda limanda, Pleuronectes platessa, Merlangius merlangus, Callionymus lyra, and Eutrigla gurnardus all showed strong responses, using different feeding strategies. In situ clearance rates of dead discarded fish exposed on the sea floor were estimated. Discards as well as moribund benthos were consumed within a few days. The balance between the amount of food materials produced by beam-trawl fishery and the amount of food consumed by potential scavengers was translated in a model of the food flows as mobilized by beam trawling. In general, the direct importance of the additional food resource for populations of scavengers is considered to be relatively small. However, the importance may be relatively larger for scavenging fish than for invertebrates. It is estimated that after a single beam trawling about 1.27 g m 2 ash-free dry biomass, or 6% to 13% of the annual secondary production of macrobenthos per unit area, would suddenly become available to scavengers and to the detritus food chain. It is suggested that beam trawling leads to shortcuts in trophic relationships and therefore may enhance secondary production. 2000 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
THE EFFECT OF DOE-LITTER SEPARATION ON PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE IN RABBIT DOES AND THEIR KITS

Pannon White does were subjected to artificial insemination between 9 and 11 days subsequent to kindling (no. of Al = 931). Controlled suckling was systematically applied from 0 to 18 days post partum. In addition to the control group (group C, n = 236), the does of the three experimental groups were prevented from suckling on the day prior to insemination (48h doe-litter separation, or MLS). The following day some of the does were inseminated two hours before suckling (B-2, n = 229), some immediately after suckling (B-0, n = 234), and some two hours after suckling (B+2, n = 232). The effect of biostimulation led to only slight, non-significant improvement in receptivity (0-7 %) and fertility rate (1-5 %). Litter sizes increased by 0.74 and 0.70 kits in groups B-2 and B-0 respectively, with no increase being observed in group B+2. Nevertheless, compared with the control group, suckling applied at the time of insemination improved the productivity at birth (+ 0.9 kits born alive per insemination). The most considerable but non-significant effect of MLS was recorded at the first kindling subsequent to separation. On the day after the omission of suckling the quantity of milk produced by the does increased by 22 %; on the three subsequent days milk secretion in these does lagged behind that of the does of the control group by 33 %, 15 % and 6 % respectively. In addition, two days after the omission of suckling, the milk secreted was found to contain higher levels than previously of dry matter (by 4.2 %), fat (by 1.7 %), protein (by 2.6 %) and ash (by 0.53 %). These values later returned to levels approaching the original values. Due to the omission of one suckling the weight of suckling and growing rabbits declined by 26-34 g. No compensatory growth was observed either before or after weaning (live weight controlled at 70 days: 2102 g in the control and 2068 g for rabbils of the 3 experimental groups). As some of these results are in opposition with previous reports using hybrids, the authors conclude that the effect of such a biostimulation could vary according to the genotype and/or breeding systems (particularly with controlled or free suckling applied before and after the stimulation).
Performance and carcass quality in three genetic groups of sheep in Brazil

Three different genetic groups were evaluated for growth up to slaughter and carcass quality for kill out, commercial cuts, non-carcass components, as well as carcass morphometric measurements. Pure Santa Ines (SI), ½ Ile de France × ½ Santa Ines (I × SI) and ½ Texel × ½ Santa Ines (T × SI) lambs were weighed weekly until they reached predetermined slaughter weight (30, 35, 40 and 45 kg). In both creep feeding and fattening the animals from crosses were superior to the Santa Ines hair sheep in terms of daily weight gain and weaned in less time. Crossbred animals also showed better performance than purebred Santa Ines in terms of commercial cuts and carcass weights. Correlations showed that fat depth and eye muscle area decreased with an increase in morphometric measures, indicating that larger animals are possibly later developing in terms of carcass finishing compared with smaller animals. The optimal slaughter weight is approximately 35 kg.
Barbiturate- and Thiobarbituarte-Based s-Triazine Hydrazone Derivatives with Promising Antiproliferative Activities

A new class of compounds, which include s-triazine with pyrimidinetrione or thiopyrimidinedione moiety through a hydrazone linkage, were synthesized and characterized. The newly synthesized s-triazine hydrazone derivatives were evaluated in vitro against four cancer cell lines: A549, HepG2, HCT-116, and MCF-7. Several derivatives showed growth inhibition activity in the low microgram range. The results reveal that the barbiturate derivatives showed poor to no activity, while thiobarbiturate derivatives showed better activity than the analogues barbiturate derivatives. The substituents on the s-triazine moiety have a great effect on the antiproliferative activity, where derivatives with the piperidino and diethylamino on the s-triazine ring (5h) showed the highest activity against all of the tested cell lines (IC50 1.6 ± 0.6, 3.8 ± 0.3, 1.9 ± 0.4, and 1.2± 0.5 μg/mL for the tested cell lines A549, HepG2, HCT-116, and MCF-7, respectively). These results indicate that thiobarbiturates-s-triazine hydrazone derivatives may provide an excellent scaffold for the development of an anticancer drug candidate.
Secrecy Capacity Analysis over $\kappa-\mu$ Fading Channels: Theory and Applications

In this paper, we consider the transmission of confidential information over a $\kappa$-$\mu$ fading channel in the presence of an eavesdropper, who also observes $\kappa$-$\mu$ fading. In particular, we obtain novel analytical solutions for the probability of strictly positive secrecy capacity (SPSC) and the lower bound of secure outage probability (SOP$^L$) for channel coefficients that are positive, real, independent and non-identically distributed ($i.n.i.d.$). We also provide a closed-form expression for the probability of SPSC when the $\mu$ parameter is assumed to only take positive integer values. We then apply the derived results to assess the secrecy performance of the system in terms of the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a function of the $\kappa$ and $\mu$ fading parameters. We observed that for fixed values of the eavesdropper's average SNR, increases in the average SNR of the main channel produce a higher probability of SPSC and a lower secure outage probability (SOP). It was also found that when the main channel experiences a higher average SNR than the eavesdropper's channel, the probability of SPSC improved while the SOP was found to decrease with increasing values of $\kappa$ and $\mu$ for the legitimate channel. The versatility of the $\kappa$-$\mu$ fading model, means that the results presented in this paper can be used to determine the probability of SPSC and SOP$^L$ for a large number of other fading scenarios such as Rayleigh, Rice (Nakagami-$n$), Nakagami-$m$, One-Sided Gaussian and mixtures of these common fading models. Additionally, due to the duality of the analysis of secrecy capacity and co-channel interference, the results presented here will also have immediate applicability in the analysis of outage probability in wireless systems affected by co-channel interference and background noise.
Calcium triplet metallicity calibration for stars in the Galactic bulge

Aims. We present a new calibration of the calcium II triplet equivalent widths versus [Fe/H], constructed upon K giant stars in the Galactic bulge. This calibration will be used to derive iron abundances for the targets of the GIBS survey, and is in general especially well suited for solar and supersolar metallicity giants, which are typical of external massive galaxies. Methods. About 150 bulge K giants were observed with the GIRAFFE spectrograph at the VLT with a resolution of R ∼ 20 000 and at R ∼ 6000. In the first case, the spectra allowed us to directly determine the Fe abundances from several unblended Fe lines, deriving what we call here high-resolution [Fe/H] measurements. The low-resolution spectra allowed us to measure equivalent widths of the two strongest lines of the near-infrared calcium II triplet at 8542 and 8662 A. Results. By comparing the two measurements, we derived a relation between calcium equivalent widths and [Fe/H] that is linear over the metallicity range probed here, −1 < [Fe/H] < +0.7. By adding a small second-order correction based on literature globular cluster data, we derived the unique calibration equation [Fe/H]CaT = −3.150 + 0.432W � + 0.006W � 2 , with an rms dispersion of 0.197 dex, valid across the whole metallicity range −2.3 < [Fe/H] < +0.7.
Response of cucumber to timing of fertilizer application in southwest Nigeria

A field trial was conducted at the experimental farm of the Department of Crop Protection and Environmental Biology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, to determine the growth and yield response of cucumber (cv. Poinsett) to timing of fertilizer application. Fertilizer (20:10:10), at the rate of 150 kg N ha-1, was applied at: planting, 3 weeks after planting (WAP) and 6 WAP. Similarly, split applications were given at planting + 3 WAP, at planting + 6 WAP and at 3 WAP + 6 WAP. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with seven treatments (six fertilizer application treatments plus a non fertilizer control) and four replications. Means were separated using Duncan’s Multiple Range Test at the 5% level of significance. In general, plants that were fertilized performed better than control plants in terms of vegetative growth and yield. A split application at 3 WAP + 6 WAP performed the best in terms of vegetative growth and fruit yield. Fertilizer applied once-over at 6 WAP was the least beneficia.
MALE MATING SUCCESS DURING PARTURIAL INTERMOULTS IN THE TERRESTRIAL ISOPOD ARMADILLIDIUM VULGARE REVEALED BY THE USE OF A MICROSATELLITE LOCUS

Abstract We investigated the value of microsatellite DNA markers to improve our knowledge of mating strategy with inference to sperm competition in particular, in the woodlouse Armadillidium vulgare. In terrestrial isopods, mature females develop a brood pouch or marsupium before egg laying, the pouch being formed by overlapping oöstegites during a special moult called parturial moult. Under laboratory conditions, we show that Armadillidium vulgare females are able to mate during parturial intermoults, even in the presence of a physical barrier such as that represented by the ventral marsupial plates. Our results reveal that the contribution of a second male mating with a female between two parturial moults could represent up to 50% of the paternal alleles in the brood (mean = 28% ± 15). This contrasts with data reported in the literature concerning closely related woodlice species, where males are suggested not to be able to mate with the female during the parturial intermoult period.
Impact evaluation of spear fishing on fish communities in an urban area of São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago)

This study was conducted in Sao Miguel Island (Azores archipelago) providing the first evidence from Macaronesia of spear fishing impacts on fish communities. The shoreline was monitored during 10 months by access point surveys where 220 fishers were interviewed and 27 target fish species were identified. Mean sizes of top predators and highly vulnerable species were generally less than the respective minimum first maturation length. Species intrinsic vulnerability was moderate with an average of 46.7 (max. 100). There are indications that spear fishers, in the absence of high trophic level and larger species, target smaller and lower trophic level fish, atypical of a highly selective fishery. Daily bag limits were not respected in 36.9% of spear fishing operations and 59% of the catch from the area was illegally sold, a practice likely to have negative consequences for the commercial sector.
Study of drought tolerance of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes in seedling stage

Seed germination is one of the main stages of growth which is a basic requirement for determining optimum plant density in field. This character is affected by many biotic and abiotic factors including ability of genotypes to tolerate water stress imposed by environmental factors. The aim of this research was first, to, investigate the reaction of twenty bread wheat genotypes to determine the parameters and suitable water stress at seed germination and, second, to determine the parameters and appropriate water potential for screening the tolerant genotypes. Drought levels imposed a significant reduction on all measurement characters. The analysis of variance showed that genotype × stress interaction notified significant differences (P<0.1) for all the studied traits. Therefore, the studied traits indicated the necessary diversity in the stress effects. Subcategorizing genotypes into levels 0, -0.04 and -0.8 MPa showed that only genotype No. 12 presented no significant difference by rootlet length and dry rootlet weight traits. Therefore, the germination percent and the vigor index are suitable for selection of the drought tolerant genotypes. By correlation analysis promptness Index (PI), germination percent to 5 day (GP5), germination stress index (GPF) traits and vigor Index (VI) indicated significant positive correlation with germination stress index (GSI). The stress tolerance index (STI) as field criteria indicated significant and positive correlation with GSI. This shows that genotypes' selection based on high GSI value in laboratory conditions is suitable in field conditions based on stress tolerance index which is also much more recommendable. Based on the first two components, genotypes No. 5, 10, 12 and 13 in the vicinity of drought tolerance indices were identified as tolerant high yielding genotypes in both conditions. Three-dimensional plot based on STI and GSI showed that genotypes No. 5, 10, 12 and 13 with high yield in both conditions and relatively equivalent drought tolerance.
Origin and long-term dynamics of a subarctic tree line

ABSTRACT The basic unit of the forest-tundra landscape is a toposequence extending from a wet, forested valley to a xeric, deforested hilltop; the contact zone between these two environments being called a subarctic tree line. Dendrochronological analysis of living, dead, and subfossil black spruce, and radiocarbon dating of peat samples were used to reconstruct the dynamics of a subarctic tree line since its post-fire origin about 1000 y ago. Fire is not the sole disturbance to have influenced the dynamics of the toposequence. A regional-scale flooding event ca. 1120 AD killed many black spruce trees, growth of permafrost during the Little Ice Age, and its subsequent degradation in the 20th century, also had major consequences. The climate was favourable to black spruce growth between ca. 300 and 1100 AD, as evidenced by large growth rings and tree growth forms. Ring widths then decreased markedly between the 12th and 19th centuries and trees were replaced by stunted growth forms. Although climate warming during the 20th century resulted in increased ring widths, black spruces have still not produced tree growth forms, a necessary condition for viable seed production and eventual re-colonization of deforested hilltops.
Auditor Rotation at Borsa Istanbul Firms: An Event Study

This study investigates the market reaction surrounding the announcements of audit firm rotation by public firms quoted at BIST. In addition, it investigates how the market reaction to audit firm rotation changes based on the reputation of the previous and the new audit firms. After conducting an event study, we are unable to provide evidence suggesting that investors in Turkish capital markets value audit firm rotation. The market reaction surrounding the announcements of public firms to switch audit firms or to renew their contracts with the current audit firms is not statistically significant. Our findings also suggest that investors in Turkish capital markets do not value the reputation of audit firms when public firms switch auditors as well. The results are robust to various event windows and alternative audit firm reputation definitions.
Effects of Mangosteen Peel (Garcinia mangostana) Supplementation on Rumen Ecology, Microbial Protein Synthesis, Digestibility and Voluntary Feed Intake in Cattle

Four, rumen fistulated cattle were randomly assigned according to a 4 x 4 Latin square design. The experiment was to study effects of crude saponins and condensed tannins in mangosteen peel on rumen microorganisms and fermentation, microbial protein synthesis and nutrient digestibility in cattle. The dietary treatments were as follows: T1 = Control (without Mangosteen peel supplementation, MSP); T2 = 50 g DM of MSP/hd/d; T3 = 100 g DM of MSP/hd/d; T4 = 150 g DM of MSP/hd/d with urea-treated rice straw (UTS) fed ad libitum. Roughage dry matter intakes in terms of kg/d and %BW were slightly higher in 100 gDM/hd/d supplemented cattle. Apparent digestibilities (%) of DM, OM, CP, NDF and ADF were similar among treatments. The values of ruminal temperature, pH, NH -N and BUN were not significantly affected by MSP 3 supplementation. However, MSP supplementation increased bacterial population, and was highest at 150 gDM /hd /d supplementation. The protozoal population was significantly decreased while fungal zoospore populations were not changed, and were highest at the 100 gDM/hd/d supplementation group. However, lower values of TVFAs and C2/C3, and higher proportions of C3 were found at 100 gDM/hd/d of MS P supplemented than in the control group. In addition, microbial nitrogen supply, efficiency of rumen microbial protein synthesis and P /E ratio tended to be higher in MSP supplemented groups and were highest at 100 gDM /hd /d MSP supplementation. These results suggest that MSP supplementation at 100-150 gDM/hd/d could be used as a dietary source to manipulate rumen ecology thus improving rumen fermentation and potential productivity in cattle.
The Roles of CCR7 for the Homing of Memory CD8+ T Cells into Their Survival Niches

Memory CD8+ T cells in the immune system are responsible for the removal of external Ags for a long period of time to protect against re-infection. Naïve to memory CD8+ T cell differentiation and memory CD8+ T cell maintenance require many different factors including local environmental factors. Thus, it has been suggested that the migration of memory CD8+ T cells into specific microenvironments alters their longevity and functions. In this review, we have summarized the subsets of memory CD8+ T cells based on their migratory capacities and described the niche hypothesis for their survival. In addition, the basic roles of CCR7 in conjunction with the migration of memory CD8+ T cells and recent understandings of their survival niches have been introduced. Finally, the applications of altering CCR7 signaling have been discussed.