Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visualizing and Comparing AlexNet and VGG using Deconvolutional Layers

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been keeping improving the performance on ImageNet classiﬁcation since it is ﬁrstly successfully applied in the task in 2012. To achieve better performance, the complexity of CNNs is continually increasing with deeper and bigger architectures. Though CNNs achieved promising exter-nal classiﬁcation behavior, understanding of their internal work mechanism is still limited. In this work, we attempt to understand the internal work mechanism of CNNs by probing the internal representations in two comprehensive aspects, i.e., visualizing patches in the representation spaces constructed by different layers, and visualizing visual information kept in each layer. We further compare CNNs with different depths and show the advantages brought by deeper architecture.
Target Propagation in Recurrent Neural Networks

Recurrent Neural Networks have been widely used to process sequence data, but have long been criticized for their biological implausibility and training diﬃculties related to vanishing and exploding gradients. This paper presents a novel algorithm for training recurrent networks, target propagation through time (TPTT), that outperforms standard backpropagation through time (BPTT) on four out of the ﬁve problems used for testing. The proposed algorithm is initially tested and compared to BPTT on four synthetic time lag tasks, and its performance is also measured using the sequential MNIST data set. In addition, as TPTT uses target propagation, it allows for discrete nonlinearities and could potentially mitigate the credit assignment problem in more complex recurrent architectures.
Assessing the Effect of Tax Administration on Smes Tax Compliance Level in Kogi State

Effective tax administration is important for tax revenue generation. It has been observed that the loss of revenue caused by widespread of tax evasion and tax avoidance in Nigeria is due to inefficient and inept tax administration. The most common problem faced by taxpayers is to understand the instructions in the tax pack. This study assesses the burden of tax administration on taxpayers’ compliance level in Kogi State. The population of this study comprises of registered small scale businesses taxpayers in Kogi State, with a sample size of three hundred and seventy eight (378). Questionnaire was used to generate the data while One Sample chi-square test was used to test the null hypotheses. The result shows that administrative tax compliance costs have a significant effect on tax compliance level in Kogi State. The study recommends that the tax authority should make tax administration less complex in the area of tax procedures, tax rules and tax computation to enhance the level of tax payment in the State.
Learning from Law Enforcement

It has long been recognized that household decision-making may not result in outcomes consistent with the unitary household model. Within the collective bargaining framework, consumption decisions would be driven by the spouse with greater bargaining power, while the outcomes would still be Pareto efficient. Within the non-cooperative framework, households would not achieve Pareto efficient outcomes, and under the simplest representation, bargaining power would not affect consumption decisions. This paper develops a model that allows consumption patterns and labor supply to be affected by both bargaining power and non-cooperation. The model highlights the potential gains from improving bargaining power versus increasing cooperation between spouses, and presents conditions under which relatively large gains would be expected from moving to more equitable bargaining power versus achieving intra-household cooperation. The model's predictions are in turn tested using a unique panel data set on married couples in rural Malawi. The analysis shows that, relative to increasing wives' bargaining power, improving cooperation between spouses would exert larger and statistically significant positive impacts on total household income and consumption expenditures per capita, as well as the share of household consumption devoted to public goods. Supported also by cross-country qualitative research, the results suggest that household public goods are relatively important to both women and men in rural Malawi, husbands' capacity to control wives' incomes is relatively limited, and development programs that promote intra-household cooperation could lead to greater gains in income and household public goods provision compared with interventions focusing exclusively on women's empowerment.
THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND KINETIC PARAMETER ASSESSMENT OF HYDROXYAPATITE CRYSTALS

ABSTRACT The crystallization of hydroxyapatite (HAP) was analyzed in a batch system in pure medium and in the presence of butyric acid as an additive. The experiments were conducted at different additive concentrations and the influences of the additive were investigated. Firstly, the crystals obtained were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, transmission electron microscopy, zeta potential measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The structure, surface areas, morphology, surface potential charges, functional groups and thermal decomposition behavior of the crystals were determined. In the next step, thermal decomposition kinetic profiles were modeled using the distributed activation energy model (DAEM), Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Friedman models. All the models used provided accurate fits of the TGA data with acceptably high R2 values. The value for the crystals obtained from the butyric acid containing medium was about 589 kJ/mol higher than that found for the crystals from the pure medium (538 kJ/mol). According to the results of the characterization and kinetic analysis, butyric acid could be employed as an additive for the production of HAP crystals with the desired quality and physical properties.
The role of local communities in peacebuilding in post-ethnic conflict in a multi-cultural society

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of socio-demographic factors on ethnic tolerance (ET) and religious tolerance (RT) as well as the participation of the local community in peacebuilding in post-ethnic violent conflicts in a multi-cultural society. ,This research was conducted in the rural areas of Indonesia, on the basis of an empirical study that was performed in Lampung, a province at the southern tip of Sumatra. Data were collected through a survey of 500 respondents from five districts susceptible to ethnic conflicts. From each district, two villages that experienced ethnic conflicts were chosen and from each village, 50 respondents were randomly selected. To strengthen the explanation of quantitative data, in-depth interviews were also conducted with another 50 residents, five informants from each of ten villages. Informants comprised community leaders or traditional leaders, local police officers, local military officers and district government officials. ,First, the degree of tolerance is not specifically concentrated in the socio-demographic characteristics. Second, ET affects RT. Third, local community participation in peacebuilding in post-ethnic violent conflicts is not influenced by the socio-demographic characteristics but is influenced by ET and RT. The socio-cultural approach is the main strategy for peacebuilding in post-ethnic (and religious) conflicts in multi-cultural societies. The weakness of inter-ethnic relations soon improves in the post-peace period through the reconstruction of social and cultural factors to strengthen social cohesion and social capital at the local community level by involving various stakeholders,This paper is a valuable source of information regarding current research on the role of local communities in strengthening and building peace in post-ethnic violent conflicts in multi-cultural societies.
LocAP: Autonomous Millimeter Accurate Mapping of WiFi Infrastructure

Indoor localization has been studied for nearly two decades fueled by wide interest in indoor navigation, achieving the necessary decimeter-level accuracy. However, there are no real-world deployments of WiFi-based user localization algorithms, primarily because these algorithms are infrastructure dependent and therefore assume the location of the access points, their antenna geometries, and deployment orientations in the physical map. In the real world, such detailed knowledge of the location attributes of the access Point is seldom available, thereby making WiFi localization hard to deploy. In this paper, for the ﬁrst time, we establish the accuracy requirements for the location attributes of access points to achieve decimeter level user localization accuracy. Surprisingly, these requirements for antenna geometries and deployment orientation are very stringent, requiring millimeter level and sub-10 ◦ of accuracy respectively, which is hard to achieve with manual effort. To ease the deployment of real-world WiFi localization, we present LocAP, which is an autonomous system to physically map the environment and accurately locate the attributes of existing wireless infrastructure in the physical space down to the required stringent accuracy of 3 mm antenna separation and 3 o deployment orientation median errors, whereas state-of-the-art algorithm reports 150 mm and 25 o respectively.
Effects of Active Control on the Flow Structure in a High Reynolds Number Supersonic Jet

A supersonic axisymmetric jet of design Mach number 1.3 operated in perfectlyand imperfectly-expanded flow regimes is excited by using localized arc filament plasma actuators (LAFPAs). The jet is operated at three fully-expanded jet Mach numbers (MJ) of 1.2 (over-expanded), 1.3 (perfectly-expanded), and 1.4 (under-expanded). The Reynolds number based on the jet diameter and jet exit velocity ranges from 1.1x106 to 1.4x106. Eight equally-spaced LAFPAs are housed in a boron nitride nozzle extension. The forcing Strouhal number is ranged from 0.07 to 2.62 for azimuthal modes of 0-3, ±1, ±2, and ±4. In the perfectly-expanded jet, the most effective forcing is obtained at m = ±1 and the jet spreading is significantly enhanced at a forcing Strouhal number of about 0.3 at this mode. For the perfectly-expanded jet, the effects of forcing on the jet development and structure formation are very similar to those observed in a MJ = 0.9 subsonic jet, which has been investigated previously. However, the generated structures in the imperfectly-expanded jets are less energetic due to the competition for energy between the perturbations seeded by the actuators and naturally existing perturbations amplified by the flow and acoustic feedback loop. As a result of this phenomenon, in addition to the fact that the jet mixing is already enhanced by the feedback loop, the mixing enhancement due to the control in the imperfectly-expanded jets is less significant.
TASK SCHEDULING ALGORITHM IN CLOUD COMPUTING BASED ON MODIFIED ROUND ROBIN ALGORITHM

Cloud computing offers opportunities to access remote physical and virtual resources. Due to the continuing development of cloud computing, many challenges face this technology. One of these challenges is tasks scheduling. It refers to the process of allocating users’ tasks to virtual machines (VMs) with a goal of minimizing the turnaround time and improving the resource utilization. Tasks scheduling is considered NP hard problem with O(m n ) run time complexity to schedule n tasks on m resources. The process of tasks scheduling consumes a large solution space and with lacking of algorithms that can find the optimal solution in a polynomial run time. This paper presents a review study of various task scheduling algorithms in cloud environment including: RR, MaxMin, MinMin, FCFS, MCT, PSO, and GA, with a case study on modified round robin (MRR) algorithm. The MRR algorithm has been tested using CloudSim toolkit. The results show that when using the MRR algorithm to schedule a number of Cloudlets over a number of VMs, the average waiting of run time becomes less than when using RR in the same environments. Thus, it is advisable to use the proposed MRR for tasks scheduling in cloud computing, because it reduces the average waiting time and keeps the good features of the RR such as fairness, avoiding starvation, based on simple rule, dynamic based on CC environment situations, and suitable for load balancing.
Additive manufacturing in the wood-furniture sector

Purpose – In the world economy there is the emergence of advanced manufacturing technologies that are enabling more cost and resource-efficient small-scale production. Among them, additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is leading companies to rethink where and how they conduct their manufacturing activities. The purpose of this paper is to focus in the Italian wood-furniture industry to understand if the companies in this sector are investing in additive manufacturing techniques, to remain competitive in their reference markets. The research also attempts to investigate the potential sustainable benefits and limitations to the implementation of 3D printing in this specific sector, considering the companies that have already implemented this technology. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a structured questionnaire survey performed on a sample of 234 Italian companies in this sector; 76 companies claimed to use 3D printing in their production system. The questionnaire was distributed via computer-assisted web interviewing and it consisted of four sections. Findings – The research has highlighted how Italian 3D companies have a specific profile; they are companies aimed at innovating through the search for new products and product features, putting design and Made in Italy in the first place. They pay high attention to the image they communicate to the market and are highly oriented to the final customer, and to the satisfaction of its needs. Originality/value – The study is attempting to expand a recent and unexplored research line on the possible advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of emerging production technologies such as 3D printing.
Construction board resistance to accelerated aging

Physical and mechanical properties were evaluated for industrial and laboratory boards intended to be used in the construction industry. The boards were subjected to accelerated aging tests including resistance to humidity in the conditions of cyclic test in accordance with EN 321 (2002), and determination of dimensional changes resulting from changes in relative humidity according to EN 318 (2002). The greatest changes were observed after one test cycle. Moreover, the boards made of fine chips demonstrated slightly higher resistance to the tested factors. Although laboratory boards showed a much lower density, their behavior following the exposure to the assessed factors was similar to that of industrial plates.
1 Known-item searching : variations on a concept

The concept of known-item searching has long been central to research and application in library and information science. It is surprising then that this concept has received practically no systematic discussion. We survey the various conceptual and operational characterizations of known-item searching in the LIS literature in order to determine exactly how the concept is being understood by its users. We demonstrate that this apparently simple notion is actually quite complex and varied, and moreover, that there is hardly a single feature ordinarily associated with it that can confidently be said to be an essential part of the concept.
WHO EMRO | Reliability and known-group validity of the Arabic version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

No validation study has previously been made for the Arabic version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8©) as a measure for medication adherence in diabetes. This study in 2013 tested the reliability and validity of the Arabic MMAS-8 for type 2 diabetes mellitus patients attending a referral centre in Tripoli, Libya. A convenience sample of 103 patients self-completed the questionnaire. Reliability was tested using Cronbach alpha, average inter-item correlation and Spearman–Brown coefficient. Known-group validity was tested by comparing MMAS-8 scores of patients grouped by glycaemic control. The Arabic version showed adequate internal consistency (α = 0.70) and moderate split-half reliability (r = 0.65). Known-group validity was supported as a significant association was found between medication adherence and glycaemic control, with a moderate effect size (φc = 0.34). The Arabic version displayed good psychometric properties and could support diabetes research and practice in Arab countries.
How social is OpenStreetMap?

This paper investigates the collaborative nature of spatial data collection and editing in OpenStreetMap (OSM) and seeks to answer the question of “how social is OpenStreetMap? ”. Is the crowd collaborating, in a similar manner to contributors to Wikipedia, to build the OSM spatial database? Or is the crowd a fragmented one comprising of individuals performing these tasks in isolation with little collaboration or interaction with each other. The entire OSM history of London (2005 - 2011) is used as a case-study. Our experimental analysis indicates that there is limited collaboration amongst contributors with a large percentage of objects (35%) having being edited only once or twice. We also ﬁnd that contributors can be categorized as: object creators, tagging editors, and general editors (creation, tagging, and geometry). Some proposals for future work in this area are outlined at the end of the paper.
WHO EMRO | Effectiveness of meglumine antimoniate against L. tropica in a recently emerged focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Birjand, eastern Islamic Republic of Iran

With limited options to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis, constant monitoring of the rate of resistance to pentavalent antimony-based drugs is needed. This study identified the infecting Leishmania species and evaluated the results of meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®) therapy in a new focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Birjand, eastern Islamic Republic of Iran. Smears from 150 patients showed that 141 patients were infected by L. tropica and 9 by L. major. In total, 141 patients with L. tropica infection completed Glucantime® treatment and follow-up; 63.8% were treated intralesionally and 36.2% by intramuscular administration. The overall success rate after one course of therapy with Glucantime® was 96.5% (136/141), and all the failures (5/141) occurred with intramuscular injections. Statistical analysis showed a significant difference between the failure rates of intramuscular and intralesional injections. Children Efficacité de l'antimoniate de
Tax and not Tax on Capital Structure of Real Estate and Property Company

This study aims to examine and analyze the effect of corporate tax rate, non-debt tax shield, investment opportunity set, profitability, and sales growth to the level of debt (leverage) on real estate and property companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange Period 2011-2015. This study uses panel data regression with fixed effect model to estimate 40 companies selected through purposive sampling. The results showed that corporate tax rate, non-debt tax shield, investment opportunity set, profitability, and sales growth have a significant effect simultaneously on debt level. Partially, from the five independent variables are known there are three variables that significantly affect the leverage of corporate tax rate, investment opportunity set, profitability, while the other two variables namely Non-debt Tax Shield and Sales Growth have no significant effect. This shows that Non-debt Tax Shield and Sales Growth statistically does not affect the level of debt in the real estate and property companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
High-resolution simulations of winter precipitation over the Colorado Rockies

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulated the weather for eight consecutive years at high resolution (grid spacing of 4 km) over a limited domain covering most of the central Rocky Mountains. Shorter duration simulations were performed to test sensitivity to grid spacing and numerous physical parameterizations including radiation, planetary boundary layer, and microphysics schemes. Of seven microphysics schemes tested for a 3-month period, two matched the observations of surface precipitation extremely well while the others over-predicted the amount. Details of one of the microphysics schemes, how it is tested during development, and a few of its applications are discussed in this paper.
Effect of Blended Learning Approach on Business Education Students’ Achievement in Elements of Business Management in Rivers State University

The study determined the Effect of Blended Learning Approach on Students‟ Achievement in Business Education in Rivers State University. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The design of the study was quasi-experimental with nonrandomized pretest post-test control design. The population size also used as sample was 365 first (1 st ) year students in the Department of Business Education of the Rivers State University. The instrument that was used for the study is a self-developed titled Blended learning students‟ Achievement Test. The reliability coefficient of 0.73 was determined using Kuder Richardson (K-R20). Data obtained were analyzed using mean for research questions, and F-test (one way Analysis of Variance and Analysis of covariance) used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that the experimental group taught using Blended Learning achieved significantly higher than the control group taught with lecture method. Although, there was no statistical difference in the posttest mean scores of students with low, medium and high level of achievement. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that Business Education lecturers should adopt Blended Learning approach to encourage students‟ active participation and also to trigger student‟s achievement among others.
The Improvement of Learning Motivation and Creative Thinking Skills of Senior High School Students Through Modified Problem Based Learning Model

This research aims at determining the effect of learning models on motivation, creative thinking skills, and cognitive learning results of students of Senior High School 6 of Ambon , Indonesia . This research is a quasi-experimental research using a non-equivalent pretest-post-test control group design. The subjects of this research were class XI Science students with the total number of 40 students. One group was taught by using the Modified Problem Based Learning (M-PBL) and the other group was taught by using the discovery learning model. Research data were collected using test and non-test instruments. The data were analyzed by using ANCOVA with a significance level of 5%. The results of the analysis show that the significance value of the learning model towards students’ learning motivation and cognitive learning results was 0.000 0.05. The results of this research indicate that the implementation of M-PBL learning model has an effect on students’ learning motivation, creative thinking skills, and learning results better than that of the discovery learning model
Variation-diminishing maximal operators and the argument of L-functions

This thesis is rooted on the first two reseach articles of the author, both in analysis, but with quite distinct themes. One is about estimates related to the argument of L-functions on the critical line; the other shows that, in some cases, the action of a maximal operator diminishes the norm of the derivative of the operand.