Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MUSIQ: Multi-scale Image Quality Transformer

Image quality assessment (IQA) is an important research topic for understanding and improving visual experience. The current state-of-the-art IQA methods are based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs). The performance of CNN-based models is often compromised by the fixed shape constraint in batch training. To accommodate this, the input images are usually resized and cropped to a fixed shape, causing image quality degradation. To address this, we design a multi-scale image quality Transformer (MUSIQ) to process native resolution images with varying sizes and aspect ratios. With a multi-scale image representation, our proposed method can capture image quality at different granularities. Furthermore, a novel hash-based 2D spatial embedding and a scale embedding is proposed to support the positional embedding in the multi-scale representation. Experimental results verify that our method can achieve state-of-the-art performance on multiple large scale IQA datasets such as PaQ-2-PiQ [41], SPAQ [11], and KonIQ-10k [16]. 1
Parameter tuning of time-frequency masking algorithms for reverberant artifact removal within the cochlear implant stimulus

Cochlear implant recipients struggle to understand speech in reverberant environments. To restore speech perception, artifacts due to reverberant reflections can be removed from the cochlear implant stimulus by applying a matrix of gain values, a technique referred to as time-frequency masking. In this study, two common time-frequency masking strategies are implemented within cochlear implant processing, either introducing complete retention or deletion of stimulus components using a binary mask or continuous attenuation of stimulus components using a ratio mask. Parameters of each masking strategy control the level of attenuation imposed by the gain values. In this study, we perceptually tune the parameters of the masking strategy to determine a balance between speech retention and artifact removal. We measure the intelligibility of reverberant signals mitigated by each strategy with speech recognition testing in normal-hearing listeners using vocoding as a simulation of cochlear implant perception. For both masking strategies, we find parameterizations that maximize the intelligibility of the mitigated signals. At the best-performing parameterizations, binary-masked reverberant signals yield larger intelligibility improvements than ratio-masked signals. The results provide a perceptually optimized objective for the removal of reverberant artifacts from cochlear implant stimuli, facilitating improved speech recognition performance for cochlear implant recipients in reverberant environments.
Minimal bosonization of double-graded supersymmetric quantum mechanics

The superalgebra of Z2-graded supersymmetric quantum mechanics is shown to be realizable in terms of a single bosonic degree of freedom. Such an approach is directly inspired by a description of the corresponding Z2-graded superalgebra in the framework of a Calogero-Vasiliev algebra or, more generally, of a generalized deformed oscillator algebra. In the case of the Z2-graded superalgebra, the central element Z has the property of distinguishing between degenerate eigenstates of the Hamiltonian. PACS: 03.65. Fd; 11.30. Pb
The CMB bispectrum from bouncing cosmologies

In this paper we compute the CMB bispectrum for bouncing models motivated by Loop Quantum Cosmology. Despite the fact that the primordial bispectrum of these models is decaying exponentially above a large pivot scale, we find that the cumulative signal-to-noise ratio of the bispectrum induced in the CMB from scales ℓ<30 is larger than 10 in all cases of interest and therefore can, in principle, be detected in the Planck data.
MeetSum: Transforming Meeting Transcript Summarization using Transformers!

Creating abstractive summaries from meeting transcripts has proven to be challenging due to the limited amount of labeled data available for training neural network models. Moreover, Transformer-based architectures have proven to beat state-of-the-art models in summarizing news data. In this paper, we utilize a Transformer-based Pointer Generator Network to generate abstract summaries for meeting transcripts. This model uses 2 LSTMs as an encoder and a decoder, a Pointer network which copies words from the inputted text, and a Generator network to produce out-of-vocabulary words (hence making the summary abstractive). Moreover, a coverage mechanism is used to avoid repetition of words in the generated summary. First, we show that training the model on a news summary dataset and using zero-shot learning to test it on the meeting dataset proves to produce better results than training it on the AMI meeting dataset. Second, we show that training this model first on out-of-domain data, such as the CNN-Dailymail dataset, followed by a fine-tuning stage on the AMI meeting dataset is able to improve the performance of the model significantly. We test our model on a testing set from the AMI dataset and report the ROUGE-2 score of the generated summary to compare with previous literature. We also report the Factual score of our summaries since it is a better benchmark for abstractive summaries since the ROUGE-2 score is limited to measuring word-overlaps. We show that our improved model is able to improve on previous models by at least 5 ROUGE-2 scores, which is a substantial improvement. Also, a qualitative analysis of the summaries generated by our model shows that these summaries and human-readable and indeed capture most of the important information from the transcripts.
Hawking Radiation and Black Hole Gravitational Back Reaction—A Quantum Geometrodynamical Simplified Model

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the back reaction problem, between Hawking radiation and the black hole, in a simplified model for the black hole evaporation in the quantum geometrodynamics context. The idea is to transcribe the most important characteristics of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation into a Schrödinger’s type of equation. Subsequently, we consider Hawking radiation and black hole quantum states evolution under the influence of a potential that includes back reaction. Finally, entropy is estimated as a measure of the entanglement between the black hole and Hawking radiation states in this model.
On Lipschitz regularity for bounded minimizers of functionals with (p,q) growth

We obtain Lipschitz estimates for bounded minimizers of functionals with nonstandard $(p,q)$-growth satisfying the dimension-independent restriction $q<p+2$ with $p \geq 2$. This relation improves existing restrictions when $p \leq N-1$, moreover our result is sharp in the range $N>\frac{p(2+p)}{2} + 1$. The standard Lipschitz regularity takes the form $W^{1,\infty}_{\text{loc}} - W^{1,p}_{\text{loc}}$, whereas we obtain $W^{1,\infty}_{\text{loc}} - L^{\infty}_{\text{loc}}$ regularity estimate and then make use of existing sharp $L^{\infty}_{\text{loc}}$ bounds to obtain the required conclusion.
Detection and Captioning with Unseen Object Classes

—Image caption generation is one of the most challenging problems at the intersection of visual recognition and natural language modeling domains. In this work, we propose and study a practically important variant of this problem where test images may contain visual objects with no corresponding visual or textual training examples. For this problem, we propose a detection-driven approach based on a generalized zero-shot detection model and a template-based sentence generation model. In order to improve the detection component, we jointly deﬁne a class-to-class similarity based class representation and a practical score calibration mechanism. We also propose a novel evaluation metric that provides complimentary insights to the captioning outputs, by separately handling the visual and non-visual components of the captions. Our experiments show that the proposed zero-shot detection model obtains state-of-the-art performance on the MS-COCO dataset and the zero-shot captioning approach yields promising results.
The Desired Political Entropy

In an article published in the December 30, 1967 issue of the Dutch weekly magazine Vrij Nederland, Mr. Frans Grosfeld suggested the following modification of the procedure of parliamentary representation of political parties. Instead of the conventional method of allocating to each party a number of representatives proportional to the number of votes cast for the party, he proposed to allocate a number of representatives which is proportional to the square of the number of votes. Thus, when there are n parties and when p 1, …, p n are the proportions of the total number of votes obtained by these parties, the idea is to allocate a fraction q i of the representatives to the ith party determined by Mr. Grosfeld made this suggestion for the Dutch political system, because in his view n is so large and even the largest p i belongs to a minority party, so that on many occasions several months of negotiations were necessary to obtain a coalition cabinet of one form or another. By squaring the p i's one obtains much larger relative differences between the larger and the smaller parties, and one party or a pair of politically related parties then has a much better chance of obtaining a parliamentary majority. Also, the system (1.1) provides an incentive for parties to merge, which contributes to a reduction of the degree to which the country is politically divided. This system should be contrasted with another system which is applied on a rather large scale, viz., that of declining any seat to those parties whose p i is less than a pre-assigned fraction θ (for example, θ = .03).
Folding and Assembly of antibodies

Antibodies are key molecules of the humoral immune response and of outstanding biotechnological interest. Within this work, novel insights into the folding and assembly process of IgG antibodies could be obtained. The atomic resolution description of the folding pathway of an isolated IgG domain revealed unexpected structural features of a folding intermediate which guide the folding reaction and render it robust. Studies on antibody fragments provided, for the first time, detailed insights into the molecular mechanisms of antibody quality control in the cell which will pave the path for rational optimization of antibody molecules.
Optical, surface and magnetic properties of the Ti-doped GaN nanosheets on glass and PET substrates by thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) method

ABSTRACT Room-temperature ferromagnetism of GaN and doped GaN materials has been reported in nanostructured form. Especially, nanoparticles show ferromagnetic properties at room temperature. In this paper, Ti-doped effects on GaN were deposited on glass and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates by thermionic vacuum arc and their room temperature magnetic properties are presented for the first time. The structure of the Ti-doped GaN was crystallized in a novel form, nano honeycomb formation. Optical and surface properties of the nano honeycombs and honeycomb nanosheets were determined. GaN and TiN phases were detected in X-ray diffraction patterns. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) device were used for imaging of the crystal structure. According to FESEM images, hexagonal crystal formations were detected for all samples. Crystal formations are very good oriented on PET substrates materials according to glass samples. The band gap value of the sample is changed by crystallization dimension. It was found that increasing crystallizations and decreasing crystal dimensions were increased the band gap of the Ti-doped GaN approximately 50 meV. Fourier transform infrared spectra and a vibrating sample magnetometer results were presented. These results confirm the Ti doped GaN honeycomb nanosheets and nano honeycombs show the room temperature ferromagnetic properties.
Comparative evaluation of efficacy of hydroxyapatite and ß-tricalcium phosphate (Biograft-HT®) with or without type 1 collagen membrane (Cologide™) in the treatment of intrabony defects in molars: A clinico-radiographic study

Background: Two techniques with the most successful documentation of periodontal regeneration are osseous grafting and guided tissue regeneration (GTR). The aim of the present study was to clinically and radiographically evaluate the efficacy of synthetic bonegraft in comparison with bone graft and GTR membrane in the treatment of intrabony defects in molars. Materials and Methods: A total of 10 patients aged between 30 and 55 years diagnosed with moderate to advanced periodontitis with twenty bilateral angular defects were recruited for the study and were divided into two groups randomly (control group: Biograft-HT® and test group: Biograft-HT® and Cologide™). Clinical and radiographic parameters such as gingival index, plaque index, gingival bleeding index, pocket probing depth, relative attachment level (RAL), radiographic area of the defect, and the bone fill (BF) were recorded at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Results and Conclusion: There was a significant reduction in probing depth and RAL from baseline to 3 and 6 months in both groups with statistically significant radiographic BF. Both the treatment modalities showed potential in enhancing periodontal regeneration.
THE NUTRITIONAL ASSESSMENT OF THE SEED OF WALNUT (Plukenetia conophora) SEED PURCHASED IN AN OPEN MARKET IN WARRI, DELTA STATE. NIGERIA.

The nutritional assessment of the walnut seed (Plukenetia conophora) purchased in an open market in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria was evaluated. Moisture content was determined by drying to constant weight before subjecting for ashing. Oil content by soxhlet extraction; protein by kjeldahl method; vitamins by scalar analyzer 2000. Minerals content was determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The result for the nutritional composition reveals that the raw seeds contain 3.18% of ash content, 39.27% of moisture content; 8.40% of crude fibre; 5.19% of fat content; 20.74% of protein content and 23.22% of carbohydrate content. The minerals content reveals the constituent to be K = 4029.14mg / kg; Na = 3480.00mg / kg; Ca = 3014.28mg / kg; Mg = 726.11mg / kg; Fe = 68.00mg / kg; Zn = 24.01mg / kg; Mn = 19.00kg / kg and Cu = 14.00mg / kg. The phytochemical constituent reveals the presence of alkaloid to be 1.92mg / kg; Tannin to be 0.042mk / kg and galic acid to be 0.019mg / kg. There were no traces of flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, saponin, ellagic acid, caffeinic acid and anthraquinones. The vitamin composition reveals that the seed contains ascorbic acid (C) = 1.98mg / 100g; thiamine (B 1 ) = 66.47 12I¼"> g / 100g; riboflavin (B 2 ) = 0.05 12I¼"> g / 100g; Niacin = 0.02 12I¼"> g / 100g; Cyanocobalamin (B 12 ) = 0.07 12 I¼"> g / 100g; The result of the nutritional composition of the Plukenetia conophora seed reveals that it is safe for public consumption and could be a potential source of useful drugs formulation. Keyword : Proximate composition, Plukenetia conophora, Tetracarpidium conophorum, phytochemical composition, vitamins, seed.
Development of A Performance Model of the Foodservice Industry

This study reviewed previous researches about the competence selection of foodservice firms, and shows firm’s performance model through the results. The study classified factors according to core competence, differentiation strategy, and management performance. Out of 400 survey responses from by the firm’s executive and employees who had worked for over three years at the headquarters (sales, financial, marketing/plan, R & D, etc.), a total of 302 questionnaires were used for the final analysis due to missing values and biased responses (response rate: 75.5%). As the results of analyzing final research model of this study, it appeared that χ 2 (df=170)=384.88, χ 2 /df=2.26, GFI=0.90, NFI=0.92, CFI=0.95, RMSEA= 0.07. The results indicated that the CEO leadership, organizational culture, and human resource competencies are a driving force in all aspects of competitive advantage differentiation strategies. In addition, the R & D innovation, service, and marketing differentiation strategies are positively related to performance. The results validate the fact that foodservice firms could reinforce strategic decisions through a variety core competencies and achieve continuous performance through competitive strategies.
Dispersion in Options Traders'Expectations and Stock Return Predictability

We propose a measure of dispersion in options investors' expectations about future stock returns using the dispersion in trading volume across different moneyness levels. Our dispersion measure exhibits strong negative predictability for excess market returns, and its out-of-sample predictive power is both statistically and economically significant. The results can be explained in the context of a framework where dispersion leads to an overly high stock price and a subsequent downturn. We also demonstrate that our dispersion measure exhibits a similar time series pattern to analysts' forecasts dispersion across the largest part of the sample, while providing consistently superior predictive performance.
Constituents of Volatile Oil from Bark of Clerodendrum serratum (L.) and its Antibacterial Activity

Abstract Volatile oil composition of the bark of Clerodendrum serratum (L.) was reported. Oil was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed through GC-MS. 48 Constituents were successfully identified that accounted for 93.35 % of the total composition. The most abundant constituents found in the bark were linoleic acid (20.1 %), α-zingiberene (10.3 %) o-cymene (9.3 %), palmitic acid, (9.0 %), oleic acid (7.0 %), and β-sesquiphellandrene (5.3 %). Moreover, antibacterial activity of oil was evaluated against four different pathogenic strains namely Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and Proteus spp. The results of antibacterial activity demonstrated that the activity of oil follows the principle of dose-dependency. The zone of inhibition at the maximum dose of 200 μL were 38 mm for Proteus spp. , 34 mm for E. coli, 31 mm for MRSA and 30 mm for MSSA.
Mesophilic biodigestion of cowdung and mango peel in relation to bioenergy-batch study

The objective of this study was to characterize the anaerobic biodegradability potential of mango processing solid waste and its methane potential (measured as methane yield) using different mass ratio of mango peel and cow dung. A maximum methane yield of 3.581 m3 CH4/Kg VS degraded was obtained at 8% TS and ratio of 1:10. Addition of cow dung led to faster onset of biogas production and higher methane productivity. The reductions in volatile solids in the entire BMP test were in the range of 96% to 98%. The specific gas production formango peelwas higher (5.3926m3biogas /KgVS addedand 5.5093m3 biogas /KgVS des) for the 1:10 ratio at 8%TS than for the 1:2 ratio 2.0342m3 biogas/KgVS added and 2.4535m3 biogas/KgVS des at 4% TS. Consequently, the specific gas production for the mango peel, co-digestion with cow dung for the 1:10 at 8%TS was higher, compared to other values. This experimental result compared with anaerobic digestion potential ofMP and cow dung alone. The organic waste available from the mango peel contains easily biodegradable organic matter and this contributed to a better biogas yield.
Neural ordinary differential equation control of dynamics on graphs

We study the ability of neural networks to calculate feedback control signals that steer trajectories of continuous time non-linear dynamical systems on graphs, which we represent with neural ordinary differential equations (neural ODEs). To do so, we present a neural-ODE control (NODEC) framework and find that it can learn feedback control signals that drive graph dynamical systems into desired target states. While we use loss functions that do not constrain the control energy, our results show, in accordance with related work, that NODEC produces low energy control signals. Finally, we evaluate the performance and versatility of NODEC against well-known feedback controllers and deep reinforcement learning. We use NODEC to generate feedback controls for systems of more than one thousand coupled, non-linear ODEs that represent epidemic processes and coupled oscillators.
Binet's factorial series and extensions to Laplace transforms

We investigate a generalization of Binet's factorial series in the parameter $\alpha$ \[ \mu\left( z\right) =\sum_{m=1}^{\infty}\frac{b_{m}\left( \alpha\right) }{\prod_{k=0}^{m-1}(z+\alpha+k)}% \] due to Gilbert, for the Binet function \[ \mu\left( z\right) =\log\Gamma\left( z\right) -\left( z-\frac{1} {2}\right) \log z+z-\frac{1}{2}\log\left( 2\pi\right) \] After a review of the Binet function $\mu\left( z\right) $ and Gilbert's investigations of $\mu\left( z\right) $, several properties of the Binet polynomials $b_{m}\left( \alpha\right) $ are presented. We compare Gilbert's generalized factorial series with Stirling's asymptotic expansion and demonstrate by a numerical example that, with a same number of terms evaluated, the Gilbert generalized factorial series with an optimized value of $\alpha$ can beat the best possible accuracy of Stirling's expansion. Finally, we extend Binet's method to factorial series of Laplace transforms.
Boiling point and specific heat of meat extract

ABSTRACT Meat extract is a by-product obtained from the cooking broth of meat processing, which is used as a flavoring agent in cooking and in pharmaceutical products. Information on the processing technology of meat extract and its corresponding thermodynamic properties have been seldom reported, making difficult the design of heat transfer processes with accuracy. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the boiling-point elevation (BPE) and specific heat (cp) of meat extract in the range of concentrations and temperatures found during its processing. Boiling point temperature was determined experimentally as a function of pressure and soluble solid concentration of meat extract. Different correlations based on Dühring’s rule, Antoine equation, and the model proposed by Crapiste and Lozano were obtained to represent the boiling point temperature and/or BPE in some processing conditions, resulting in good fitting accuracy. The representation of the experimental values of cp was evaluated by four empirical equations. The best fitting was acquired using a quadratic model simultaneously dependent on concentration and temperature of the meat extract. The close agreement between the experimental and predicted values reinforces the applicability of the resulting models for designing evaporation systems.