Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review on Analysis of Agriculture Data Using Data Mining Techniques

: In this time of gigantic data, both structured and unstructured, there is a need of systemized management and retrieval of information. Data mining techniques play an imperative part in extraction and analysis of data. The various fields where data mining techniques can be actualized to analyze data are education, engineering, medicine, finance, communication, agriculture, marketing and the rundown goes on. In this paper a survey has been done to outline a various data mining techniques that are implemented to analyze agriculture data. Agriculture is one of the sophisticated fields in the developing countries like India. So as to augment the crop yield, the analysis of agricultural data is a must do exercise. The motivation behind executing data mining techniques on agricultural data is to discover the ideal solutions and parameters that contribute to the overall production of crop and thus to the development of a nation.
A method for measuring the cycle-to-cycle period jitter of high-frequency clock signals

This paper introduces the extended /spl Delta//spl phi/ method for measuring cycle-to-cycle period jitter in PLL outputs. The theoretical basis for this method is derived from the limited condition for the average period and analytic signal theory. Sinusoidal jitter measurements verify the relationship between cycle-to-cycle period jitter and timing jitter. To validate the method, experimental data from jitter measurements on a PowerPC/sup TM/ microprocessor is analyzed in the frequency domain. Comparisons of phase quantization errors are made between the extended /spl Delta//spl phi/ method and the conventional zero-crossing method.
Characterization and Diagnosis of Cancer by Native Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Human Urine

Urine is one of the diagnostically important bio fluids, as it has different metabolites in it, where many of them are native fluorophores. Native fluorescence characteristics of human urine samples were studied using excitation–emission matrices (EEMs) over a range of excitation and emission wavelengths, and emission spectra at 405 nm excitation, to discriminate patients with cancer from the normal subjects. The fluorescence spectra of urine samples of cancer patients exhibit considerable spectral differences in both EEMs and emission spectra with respect to normal subjects. Different ratios were calculated using the fluorescence intensity values of the emission spectra and they were used as input variables for a multiple linear discriminant analysis across different groups. The discriminant analysis classifies 94.7% of the original grouped cases and 94.1% of the cross‐validated grouped cases correctly. Based on the fluorescence emission characteristics of urine and statistical analysis, it may be concluded that the fluorophores nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and flavins may be considered as metabolomic markers of cancer.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE HAMPTON UNIVERSITY LIDAR SYSTEM AND THE CREST LIDAR NETWORK

As a remote sensing technique, lidar is a staple of atmospher ic measurement techniques. Short-wavelength scattering allows measurements from molecular and particle or a erosol components of the atmosphere. These features are of particular importance to studies of weather, climate, an d the underlying radiative transfer processes that drive th em. Furthermore, these quantities or the scattering processes themselves may be linked to other quantities, such as temper ature, which can then yield dynamic and thermodynamic infor mation about atmospheric layers, such as the planetary boundary layer, and the general atmosphere. Hampton Univer sity, in order to further knowledge and understanding of the atmosphere, air quality, climate, and lidar techniques , continues to make lidar measurements of aerosols and cloud s, but has also added rotational Raman temperature sensing to i ts list of capabilities. Furthermore, its steps to develop and join a network of similar lidar stations in the United Sta tes and the rest of the world have advanced into a regime of simultaneous measurements between a number of stations. Fi nally, an automated satellite observation program for trac king volcanic emissions is presented to showcase the possibi lities of combining measurements from multiple satellites with ground-based measurements.
Virtual Endoscopy is a Useful Device for Training and Preoperative Planning of Transsphenoidal Endoscopic Pituitary Surgery

Virtual endoscopy (vE) allows simulated three-dimensional (3-D) visualisation of anatomical structures by computerised reconstruction of radiological images. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of vE and its potential benefits for endoscopic transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. vE was realised using a commercially available ray-casting software plugin of a picture archiving and communications system (PACS). For this study, the vE system was enhanced with volume segmentation, transparency and cutting tools. The data for vE were derived from high resolution computed tomography (CT) scans of 22 patients with pituitary pathology (20 pituitary adenomas, 2 Rathke's cleft cysts) preoperatively. Anatomic structures were identified on vE images and compared with the intraoperative endoscopic views. The simulated 3-D vE images were found to be comparable to the intraoperative endoscopic anatomy in terms of distortion and angle of view. vE was found to be particularly useful for the preoperative depiction of 1) the nasal anatomy and its variations for choosing the side of the approach, 2) the sphenoid sinus septae and chambers for improved intraoperative orientation, 3) the transparent 3-D simulated visualisation of the pituitary gland, tumour and adjacent anatomic structures in relation to the sphenoid sinus landmarks for planning the opening of the sellar floor. We conclude that vE harbours the potential to become a valuable tool in endoscopic pituitary surgery for training purposes and preoperative planning. Furthermore, vE may add to the safety of interventions in case of anatomic variations.
User Acceptance of Social Shopping Sites - Social Comparison and Trust

This paper describes a study on user acceptance of an emerging e-commerce technology: social shopping websites. Leveraging the power of social networking technologies with online shopping, social shopping sites have emerged in recent years to address the fundamental nature of shopping as a social experience. Despite tremendous business interest and anticipated potential benefits, some central issues remain such as whether users will adopt such websites and the factors that affect the adoption. Incorporating social science theories, this study extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with social factors such as an online shopper’s tendency to social comparison, and trust in information privacy and data security. Results provide significant support of the extended model. Directions for future research are discussed.
Partial Characterization of α-Galactosidic Activity from the Antarctic Bacterial Isolate, Paenibacillus sp. LX-20 as a Potential Feed Enzyme Source

An Antarctic bacterial isolate displaying extracellular α-galactosidic activity was named Paenibacillus sp. LX-20 based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Optimal activity for the LX-20 α-galactosidase occurred at pH 6.0–6.5 and 45°C. The enzyme immobilized on the smart polymer Eudragit L-100 retained 70% of its original activity after incubation for 30 min at 50°C, while the free enzyme retained 58% of activity. The enzyme had relatively high specificity for α-D-galactosides such as p-nitrophenyl-α-galactopyranoside, melibiose, raffinose and stachyose, and was resistant to some proteases such as trypsin, pancreatin and pronase. Enzyme activity was almost completely inhibited by Ag+, Hg2+, Cu2+, and sodium dodecyl sulfate, but activity was not affected by β-mercaptoethanol or EDTA. LX-20 α-galactosidase may be potentially useful as an additive for soybean processing in the feed industry.
NGF Promotes Hemodynamic Recovery in a Rabbit Hindlimb Ischemic Model Through trkA- and VEGFR2-dependent Pathways

Abstract: Nerve growth factor (NGF) has been reported to play an important role in physiological and pathological angiogenesis. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that NGF may induce the formation of functional blood vessels in a hindlimb ischemic rabbit model. Hindlimb ischemia was induced in 34 rabbits bilaterally by endovascular embolization of femoral arteries. On the 7th, 14th, and 20th postembolization days, NGF was injected intramuscularly, in 1 ischemic limb, and vehicle was injected in the contralateral control limb. On the 40th day, newly developed collateral vessels (diameter >500 &mgr;m) were quantified by transauricular intraarterial subtraction angiography. Perfusion analysis of an in vivo dynamic computed tomography study was performed to the limbs to investigate the hemodynamic recovery of the distal ischemic tissues. Functional estimation of limb perfusion showed a statistically significant increase of blood flow and blood volume for NGF. However, the increase of the collateral vessels was not detectable angiographically, providing evidence for the existence of a NGF-stimulated capillary angiogenic network but not increase of arteriogenesis. The combination of NGF with either tropomyosin-related kinase type A or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 antagonists abolished the NGF-induced hemodynamic recovery. These findings provide new insights into understanding the involvement of NGF in vascular formation and its applications in therapeutic angiogenesis.
Design and Development Tools for Next Generation Mobile Services

The actual standards for service authoring, composition and development are not easy to port and to apply for next generation mobile applications. This paper describes some tools that we're developing in the context of the IST-Simple Mobile Service project, whose aim is to ease the authoring and the use of services for mobile devices. We propose a service composition approach using an UML profile very close to the actual standards for Web services definition and authoring, like WSDL and BPEL. We take a glance at SMILE, the run-time support we provide for service execution. Finally we hint at an efficient serialization mechanism based on JSON, a human readable data exchange format less verbose and, in our opinion, more suitable for mobile terminals than XML.
Relative expression of the 14-3-3 gene in different morphotypes of cysts of Echinococcus granulosus isolated from the Indian buffalo

Abstract The metacestode stage of Echinococcus granulosus is of zoonotic importance. In general, the 14-3-3 protein is involved in multiplication and survival of eukaryotes. Therefore, this communication presents succinct information on relative expression of the 14-3-3 protein in six different morphotypes of cysts of E. granulosus. All isolated E. granulosus belonged to the common sheep strain (G1). Relative expression of the 14-3-3 protein was higher in fertile cysts when compared to sterile cysts. The predicted amino acid sequence of the 14-3-3 protein was closely clustered with zeta-type isoforms 1 and 2 of the 14-3-3 protein. In addition, the present study demonstrates the presence of the 14-3-3 protein which until now had not been detected in the germinal layer. Our findings indicate that the expression of this biomolecule in the germinal layer of sterile organisms may contribute to the development and survival of the parasite in the host. The uniform expression of actin II conclusively proves the survivability of the harvested organisms.
An Asynchronous Parallel Supernodal Algorithm for Sparse Gaussian Elimination

Although Gaussian elimination with partial pivoting is a robust algorithm to solve unsymmetric sparse linear systems of equations, it is difficult to implement efficiently on parallel machines, because of its dynamic and somewhat unpredicitable way of generating work and intermediate results at run time. In this paper, we present an efficient parallel algorithm that overcomes this difficulty. The high performance of our algorithm is achieved through (1) using a graph reduction technique and a supernode-panel computational kernel for high single processor utilization, and (2) scheduling two types of parallel tasks for a high level of concurrency. One such task is factoring the independent panels on the disjoint subtree in the column elimination tree of A. Another task is updating a panel by previously computed supernodes. A scheduler assigns tasks to free processors dynamically and facilitates the smooth transition between the two types of parallel tasks. No global synchronization is used in the algorithm. The algorithm is well suited for shared memory machines (SMP) with a modest number of processors. We demonstrate 4-7 fold speedups on a range of 8 processor SMPs, and more on larger SMPs. One realistic problem arising from a 3-D flow calculation achieves factorization rates of 1.0, 2.5, 0.8 and 0.8 Gigaflops, on the 12 processor Power Challenge, 8 processor Cray C90, 16 processor Cray J90, and 8 processor AlphaServer 8400 respectively.
Push-and-pull enteroscopy in the small bowel using the double-balloon technique: results of a prospective European multicenter study.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and clinical impact of push-and-pull enteroscopy (PPE) in patients with suspected or documented small-bowel diseases, in a prospective multicenter trial in three European medical centers. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 100 patients (mean age 56 +/- 16 years; range 13 - 90) were included at the three institutions between July and November 2004. The leading symptoms were: acute recurrent or chronic gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 64), polyposis syndrome (n = 8), chronic abdominal pain (n = 7), chronic diarrhea (n = 7), and others (n = 14). RESULTS No major PPE-associated complications such as perforation, bleeding, or relevant injury to the small-bowel tissue or mesentery were encountered. Minor complications occurred in 12 %. The mean time required to carry out the procedure from the oral and anal approaches was 75 +/- 19 min (32 - 150 min). The average insertion depths into the small bowel were 200 +/- 70 cm per PPE session (220 +/- 90 cm with the oral approach and 130 +/- 80 cm with the anal approach). The average radiation exposure (including diagnostic and therapeutic interventions) was 2.1 +/- 2.4 min and 155 +/- 159 dGy/cm2. PPE was fully diagnostic in 72 % of cases. The majority of the patients (34 %) were suffering from angiodysplasias; ulcerations and erosions of various etiologies were seen in 16 %, and polyps and tumors in 13 %. The PPE findings played a role in the subsequent treatment in 62 % of the patients. Endoscopic treatments, including argon plasma coagulation, polypectomy, dilation, and foreign-body extraction, were carried out in 42 %. Medical treatment was given in 12 %, and patients were referred for surgery in 8 % of cases. CONCLUSIONS This prospective analysis shows that PPE is safe and has a high diagnostic and therapeutic yield in patients with suspected or known small-bowel disease.
Formulation Development and Evaluation of Hybrid Nanocarrier for Cancer Therapy: Taguchi Orthogonal Array Based Design

Taguchi orthogonal array design is a statistical approach that helps to overcome limitations associated with time consuming full factorial experimental design. In this study, the Taguchi orthogonal array design was applied to establish the optimum conditions for bovine serum albumin (BSA) nanocarrier (ANC) preparation. Taguchi method with L9 type of robust orthogonal array design was adopted to optimize the experimental conditions. Three key dependent factors namely, BSA concentration (% w/v), volume of BSA solution to total ethanol ratio (v : v), and concentration of diluted ethanolic aqueous solution (% v/v), were studied at three levels 3%, 4%, and 5% w/v; 1 : 0.75, 1 : 0.90, and 1 : 1.05 v/v; 40%, 70%, and 100% v/v, respectively. The ethanolic aqueous solution was used to impart less harsh condition for desolvation and attain controlled nanoparticle formation. The interaction plot studies inferred the ethanolic aqueous solution concentration to be the most influential parameter that affects the particle size of nanoformulation. This method (BSA, 4% w/v; volume of BSA solution to total ethanol ratio, 1 : 0.90 v/v; concentration of diluted ethanolic solution, 70% v/v) was able to successfully develop Gemcitabine (G) loaded modified albumin nanocarrier (M-ANC-G) of size 25.07 ± 2.81 nm (ζ = −23.03 ± 1.015 mV) as against to 78.01 ± 4.99 nm (ζ = −24.88 ± 1.37 mV) using conventional method albumin nanocarrier (C-ANC-G). Hybrid nanocarriers were generated by chitosan layering (solvent gelation technique) of respective ANC to form C-HNC-G and M-HNC-G of sizes 125.29 ± 5.62 nm (ζ = 12.01 ± 0.51 mV) and 46.28 ± 2.21 nm (ζ = 15.05 ± 0.39 mV), respectively. Zeta potential, entrapment, in vitro release, and pH-based stability studies were investigated and influence of formulation parameters are discussed. Cell-line-based cytotoxicity assay (A549 and H460 cells) and cell internalization assay (H460 cell line) were performed to assess the influence on the bioperformance of these nanoformulations.
A Sybilproof Indirect Reciprocity Mechanism for Peer-to-Peer Networks

Although direct reciprocity (Tit-for-Tat )c ontribu- tion systems have been successful in reducing freeloading in peer- to-peer overlays, it has been shown that, unless the contribution network is dense, they tend to be slow (or may even fail) to converge (1). On the other hand, current indirect reciprocity mechanisms based on reputation systems tend to be susceptible to sybil attacks, peer slander and whitewashing. In this paper we present PledgeRoute, an accounting mech- anism for peer contributions that is based on social capital. This mechanism allows peers to contribute resources to one set of peers and use this contribution to obtain services from a different set of peers, at a different time. PledgeRoute is completely decentralised, can be implemented in both structured and unstructured peer-to-peer systems, and it is resistant to the three kinds of attacks mentioned above. To achieve this, we model contribution transitivity as a routing problem in the contribution network of the peer-to-peer overlay, and we present arguments for the routing behaviour and the sybilproofness of our contribution transfer procedures on this basis. Additionally, we present mechanisms for the seeding of the contribution network, and a combination of incentive mechanisms and reciprocation policies that motivate peers to adhere to the protocol and maximise their service contributions to the overlay.
Classification of Radiographs in the 'Image Retrieval in Medical Applications' - System

In this paper we present a new approach to classifying radiographs, which is the first important task of the IRMA system. Given an image, we compute posterior probabilities for each image class, as this information is needed for further IRMA processing. Classification is done by using an extended version of Simard's tangent distance within a kernel density based classifier. We propose a new distortion model for radiographs and prove its effectiveness by applying the method to 1617 radiographs coming from daily routine. Although the distortion model alone yields very good results, the best recognition rates are obtained by combining it with tangent distance, i. e. by computing a 'distorted tangent distance'.
Progressive Source Coding Combined with Regressive Channel Coding on Varying Channels

Joachim Hagenauer, Thomas Stockhammer, Christian Weiss, Anton Donner Institute for Communications Engineering (LNT) Munich University of Technology (TUM) e-mail: fhag,tom,chris,donnerg@lnt.ei.tum.de WWW: http://www.LNT. ei.tum.de Abstra t | A channel coding system for strongly varying channels (mobile radio, Internet) unknown to the encoder is presented. It matches progressively coded sources (e.g., video, images, audio, speech) with convolutional codes of very high memory applying regressive redundancy over the data frame of the source. The channel decoder with scalable complexity and delay employs modified sequential decoding. The decoder uses a new algorithm, the ’far end error decoder (FEED)’ which in a change of paradigm does not aim at low error rate, but rather makes the first error as far out as possible under the actual channel conditions. We determine the error-free region of the frame which means that for progressively coded sources we achieve the best reconstruction quality possible. The decoding method is self-adaptive to varying and unknown channel conditions (interference, fading, packet loss) and provides graceful degradation. Results with SPIHT coded images show performances better than previous known FEC schemes. Potentials for further improvements of this scheme are discussed.
The influence of stimulus repetition on duration judgments with simple stimuli

Two experiments investigated the effects of stimulus repetition vs. stimulus novelty on perceived duration. In a reminder task, a standard and a comparison stimulus were presented consecutively in each trial, and the comparison was either a repetition of the standard or a different stimulus. Pseudowords (Experiment 1) or strings of consonants (Experiment 2) were used as stimuli and the inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between the standard and the comparison was either constant or variable. Participants were asked to judge whether the comparison was shorter or longer than the standard. In both experiments, we observed shorter judged durations for repeated than for novel comparisons whereas the manipulation of the ISI had no pronounced effects on duration judgments. The finding of shorter duration judgments for repeated as compared to novel nonwords replicates the results of a previous study (Matthews, 2011) which employed highly complex stimulus material. The present study shows that changes of simple, semantically meaningless stimuli are sufficient to result in a shorter perceived duration of repeated as compared to novel stimuli.
Hyperbanana Graphs

A bar-and-joint framework is a finite set of points together with specified distances between selected pairs. In rigidity theory we seek to understand when the remaining pairwise distances are also fixed. If there exists a pair of points which move relative to one another while maintaining the given distance constraints, the framework is flexible; otherwise, it is rigid. Counting conditions due to Maxwell give a necessary combinatorial criterion for generic minimal barand-joint rigidity in all dimensions. Laman showed that these conditions are also sufficient for frameworks in R. However, the flexible “double banana” shows that Maxwell’s conditions are not sufficient to guarantee rigidity in R. We present a generalization of the double banana to a family of hyperbananas. In dimensions 3 and higher, these are (infinitesimally) flexible, providing counterexamples to the natural generalization
Uncertainties in tomographic reconstructions based on deformable models

Deformable geometric models fit very naturally into the context of Bayesian analysis. The prior probability of boundary shapes is taken to proportional to the negative exponential of the deformation energy used to control the boundary. This probabilistic interpretation is demonstrated using a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) technique, which permits one to generate configurations that populate the prior. One of may uses for deformable models is to solve ill-posed tomographic reconstruction problems, which we demonstrate by reconstructing a two-dimensional object from two orthogonal noisy projections. We show how MCMC samples drawn from the posterior can be used to estimate uncertainties in the location of the edge of the reconstructed object.