Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY IN ALBERTA DAIRY PRODUCTION

The World Trade Organization is currently formulating an agenda for a new round of global trade negotiations. Therefore, the likelihood of increased competition within Canada's supply managed dairy industry is probable. Consequently, there is agreater need for producers to be concerned with efficiency and with their competitiveness in the international marketplace. This study assessed the cost efficiency and competitiveness of Alberta dairy producers by estimating the economic costs associated with milk production, and deriving the physical and economic efficiency of producers. Results support the presence of economies of size and economies of yield within Alberta milk production. A link between increased herd size, labour productivity, and lower total labour costs was identified in the analysis.
Improved Face Recognition Approach Using Gabor Wavelet and Adaboost Algorithm

A new approach is proposed to improve face recognition in the paper. The accurate face is detected by the position relation of the face and the eyes. The face features are extracted using the Gabor wavelet and the Adaboost algorithm is used to detect the face and the eyes. In the actual detection of the face, the face is probably inclining, and then we correct the detected face according to the positions of two eyes. The difference size surround function in the Retinex theory is used against illumination to improve the robustness of face recognition. The similarity of the faces is detected by the cosine and distance of face feature vectors. To improve the recognition speed and accurate, a new match algorithm based on Euclidean distance and the vector cosine is proposed. The recognition results are good performed by the experiments.
Systematic Differences in Aircraft and Radiosonde Temperatures

Automated aircraft data are very important as input to numerical weather prediction (NWP) models because of their accuracy, large quantity, and extensive and different data coverage compared to radiosonde data. On average, aircraft mean temperature observation increments [MTOI; defined here as the observations minus the corresponding 6-h forecast (background)] are more positive (warmer) than radiosondes, especially around jet level. Temperatures from different model types of aircraft exhibit a large variance in MTOI that vary with both pressure and the phase of flight (POF), confirmed by collocation studies. This paper compares temperatures of aircraft and radiosondes by collocation and MTOI differences, along with discussing the pros and cons of each method, with neither providing an absolute truth. Arguments are presented for estimating bias corrections of aircraft temperatures before input into NWP models based on the difference of their MTOI and that of radiosondes, which tends to cancel systematic er.
PJAIT Systems for the WMT 2016

In this paper, we attempt to improve Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) systems between Czech and English. To accomplish this, we performed translation model training, created adaptations of training settings for each language pair, and obtained comparable corpora for our SMT systems. Innovative tools and data adaptation techniques were employed. Only the official parallel text corpora and monolingual models for the WMT 2016 evaluation campaign were used to train language models, and to develop, tune, and test the system. We explored the use of domain adaptation techniques, symmetrized word alignment models, the unsupervised transliteration models and the KenLM language modeling tool. To evaluate the effects of different preparations on translation results, we conducted experiments and used the BLEU, NIST and TER metrics. Our results indicate that our approach produced a positive impact on SMT quality.
A New Solution to the Equity Premium Puzzle and the Risk-Free Rate Puzzle: Theory and Evidence

This paper develops a new method for solving both equity premium and risk free rate puzzles based on the standard utility function. The method for solving the equity premium puzzle in accordance with Mehra and Prescott (1985) needs to be simultaneously consistent with the method for solving the risk-free rate puzzle presented by Weil (1989). That is, the reasonable estimated values for the degree of relative risk aversion in the former solution and for the subjective discount rate in the latter solution need to plausibly fall within experiential bounds. This study indicates that a consistent solution is possible for the equity premium and risk-free rate puzzles even when there is a standard constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) type utility function. This solution is possible by formularizing the Euler equation for consumption, considering the precautionary saving effect.
Induction and Transcription Studies of the Dextransucrase Gene in Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-512F

ABSTRACT Dextransucrase production by Leuconostoc mesenteroidesNRRL B-512F in media containing carbon sources other than sucrose is reported for the first time. Dextransucrases were analyzed by gel electrophoresis and by an in situ activity assay. Their polymers and acceptor reaction products were also compared by 13C nuclear magnetic resonance and high-performance liquid chromatography techniques, respectively. From these analyses, it was found that, independently of the carbon source, L. mesenteroides NRRL B-512F produced dextransucrases of the same size and product specificity. The 5′ ends of dextransucrase mRNAs isolated from cells grown under different culture conditions were identical. Based on this evidence, we conclude that dextransucrases obtained from cells grown on the various carbon sources result from the transcription of the same gene. The control of expression occurs at this level. The low dextransucrase yields from cultures in d-glucose ord-fructose and the enhancement of dextransucrase gene transcription in the presence of sucrose suggest that an activating phenomenon may be involved in the expression mechanism. Dextransucrase mRNA has a size of approximately 4.8 kb, indicating that the gene is located in a monocistronic operon. The transcription start point was localized 34 bp upstream from the ATG start codon. The −10 and −35 sequences found, TATAAT and TTTACA, were highly homologous to the only glycosyltransferase promoter sequence reported for lactic acid bacteria.
The Sizes of Skeletons : Decidable Cryptographic Protocol Authentication and Secrecy Goals ?

We show how to collapse executions of a cryptographic protocol, when they contain behaviors that we regard as redundant. Moreover, executions containing sufficiently many local runs necessarily contain redundant behaviors, if they have limited numbers of fresh values. Since precise authentication and secrecy assertions are explicit about which values must be assumed to be fresh, it follows that these assertions are decidable. We formalize these notions within the strand space framework, introducing the notion of a skeleton, a collection of behaviors of the regular (non-penetrator) participants. Homomorphisms between skeletons express natural relations relevant to protocol analysis.
Image deblurring with blur kernel estimation in RGB channels

Image deblurring aims to recover the clear image from the damaged image. The most existing blind image de-blurring approaches only consider estimating the blur kernel in the gray domain. In fact, for the color image produced by the digital camera, the blur effects for each color channel are usually different. This paper proposes an new approach to acquire more precise blur kernels to reconstruct image by estimating blur kernels through RGB channels independently instead of just using the gray domain. The numerical results demonstrate that proposed approach can achieve better performance compared with other state of the art methods.
Testing for scalability in a Grid Resource Usage Service

The increased availability of web service implementations of core Grid functions has yet to be matched by a corresponding increase in their deployment. This is partly because they remain largely untested for their ability to scale to levels obtained by the pre-Web Service Grid mechanisms. Tests of scalability are a prerequisite to the deployment of services in working production Grids. We describe the testing for scalability of a Resource Usage Service (RUS), which is based on two emerging Global Grid Forum (GGF) standards, and is implemented using Web Services technology. This work has been undertaken within the UK e-Science project Markets for Computational Services. It can be considered as a test case for the methodology involved in taking the software produced in experimental projects and evaluating its usage in realistic deployments. For our Resource Usage Service, the target is to scale the service to the levels likely to be required by the UK National Grid Service (NGS).
Determinants of Demand for Participation in Wildlife Hunting: A County level Analysis

We developed an economic demand model of wildlife hunting and found that sociodemograpahic and ecological characteristics of county are its strong predictors. Result shows that the hunting is not popular among younger generation; and promoting hunting clubs and lease-hunting, recruiting young hunters could be effective policy considerations for retaining/promoting hunting.
Hybrid scheme for trust management in pervasive computing

Trust management in pervasive computing becomes increasingly important and obtained high attention a few years ago. Different methodologies have been proposed to improve trust management. These approaches can be classified into three groups as follows: the first group used Bayesian statistics and its derivation such as Dempster-Shaffer theory of evidence. The second group used game theory, and the third group depends on algebraic ordinary set operation and fuzzy logic. Despite the previous work in this area, a comprehensive security model to support trust management has yet been accomplished. The critical security threats in this environment necessitate a comprehensive trust and privacy models which require integration of different concepts to evaluate precisely the trustworthiness of entities. In this paper, we propose a trust management scheme by implementing a fusion of the support vector machine (SVM) and fuzzy logic system. The main motivation of the proposed scheme in using the support vector machine is to predict the optimal trust values for approximation purpose, and then those approximated values relate the fuzzy basis functions.
A workload characterization study of Internet Web servers

This paper presents a workload characterization study for Internet Web servers. Six different data sets are used in this study: three from academic environments, two from scientific research organizations, and one from a commercial Internet provider. Throughout the study, emphasis is placed on finding workload invariants: observations that apply, or seem to apply, across all the data sets studied. Ten invariants are identified. These invariants are deemed important since they potentially represent universal truths for all Internet Web servers.
Human Resource Management-relevant Virtual Community Research : Review and Outlook

Virtual Community (VC) is a comprehensive phenomenon with relevance to social as well as economic transactions. Also Human Resource Management (HRM) includes both relationshipand value added-oriented processes. HRM-actors, in particular HR-managers and employees, increasingly try to balance their personal and job-related needs. Thus, given increasingly spatially dispersed workplaces, the usage of VC may generate benefits or risks for HRM-relevant processes. Further, applicants utilize VC to enhance their chances in the recruitment process. Yet, although there is practical evidence of HRM-relevant VC (VCHR), respective research literature seems to be scarce. To explore this, the paper aims at assembling and evaluating relevant academic literature to give an impulse for systematic VCHR-research which might abet to the development of a respective research area in the context of e-HRM.
The Use of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Assessing Functional Change in Treatment Outcome Monitoring of Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

Background Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that is characterized not only by symptomatic severity but also by high levels of functional impairment. An evaluation of clinical outcome in treatment of schizophrenia should therefore target not only assessing symptom change but also alterations in functioning. This study aimed to investigate whether there is an agreement between functional- and symptom-based outcomes in a clinical sample of admissions with chronic forms of schizophrenia. Methods A full 3-year cohort of consecutive inpatient admissions for schizophrenia (N = 205) was clinically rated with the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) as measures of functioning at the time of admission and discharge. The sample was stratified twofold: first, according to the degree of PANSS symptom improvement during treatment with the sample being divided into three treatment response groups: non-response, low response, and high response. Second, achievement of remission was defined using the Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group criteria based on selected PANSS symptoms. Repeated measures analyses were used to compare the change of HoNOS scores over time across groups. Results More than a half of all admissions achieved a symptom reduction of at least 20% during treatment and around one quarter achieved remission at discharge. Similarly, HoNOS scores improved significantly between admission and discharge. Interaction analyses indicated higher functional improvements to be associated with increasing levels of treatment response. Conclusion Functional improvement in individuals treated for schizophrenia was linked to a better clinical outcome, which implies a functional association. Thus, improvement of functioning represents an important therapeutic target in the treatment of schizophrenia.
Households' Vulnerability to Covariate and Idiosyncratic Shocks

Households in developing countries are frequently hit by severe idiosyncratic and covariate shocks resulting in high consumption volatility. A household's currently observed poverty status might therefore not be a good indicator of the household's general poverty risk, or in other words its vulnerability to poverty. Although several measurements to analyze vulnerability to poverty have recently been proposed, empirical studies are still rare as the data requirements for these measurements are not met by the surveys that are available for most developing countries. In this paper, we propose a simple method to empirically assess the impact of idiosyncratic and covariate shocks on households' vulnerability, which can be used in a wide context as it relies on commonly available living standard measurement surveys. We apply our approach to data from Madagascar and show, that whereas covariate shocks have a substantial impact on rural households' vulnerability, urban households' vulnerability is largely determined by idiosyncratic shocks.
Segmentation-free Vehicle License Plate Recognition using ConvNet-RNN

While vehicle license plate recognition (VLPR) is usually done with a sliding window approach, it can have limited performance on datasets with characters that are of variable width. This can be solved by hand-crafting algorithms to prescale the characters. While this approach can work fairly well, the recognizer is only aware of the pixels within each detector window, and fails to account for other contextual information that might be present in other parts of the image. A sliding window approach also requires training data in the form of presegmented characters, which can be more difficult to obtain. In this paper, we propose a unified ConvNet-RNN model to recognize real-world captured license plate photographs. By using a Convolutional Neural Network (ConvNet) to perform feature extraction and using a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) for sequencing, we address the problem of sliding window approaches being unable to access the context of the entire image by feeding the entire image as input to the ConvNet. This has the added benefit of being able to perform end-to-end training of the entire model on labelled, full license plate images. Experimental results comparing the ConvNet-RNN architecture to a sliding window-based approach shows that the ConvNet-RNN architecture performs significantly better.
User Models for Adaptive Information Retrieval on the Web: Towards an Interoperable and Semantic Model

Searching information can be realized thanks to specific tools called Information Retrieval Systems IRS also called "search engines". To provide more accurate results to users, most of such systems offer personalization features. To do this, each system models a user in order to adapt search results that will be displayed. In a multi-application context e.g., when using several search engines for a unique query, personalization techniques can be considered as limited because the user model also called profile is incomplete since it does not exploit actions/queries coming from other search engines. So, sharing user models between several search engines is a challenge in order to provide more efficient personalization techniques. A semantic architecture for user profile interoperability is proposed to reach this goal. This architecture is also important because it can be used in many other contexts to share various resources models, for instance a document model, between applications. It is also ensuring the possibility for every system to keep its own representation of each resource while providing a solution to easily share it.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of the LRR-RLK Gene Family in Two Vernicia Species

Leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinases (LRR-RLKs) make up the largest group of RLKs in plants and play important roles in many key biological processes such as pathogen response and signal transduction. To date, most studies on LRR-RLKs have been conducted on model plants. Here, we identified 236 and 230 LRR-RLKs in two industrial oil-producing trees: Vernicia fordii and Vernicia montana, respectively. Sequence alignment analyses showed that the homology of the RLK domain (23.81%) was greater than that of the LRR domain (9.51%) among the Vf/VmLRR-RLKs. The conserved motif of the LRR domain in Vf/VmLRR-RLKs matched well the known plant LRR consensus sequence but differed at the third last amino acid (W or L). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that Vf/VmLRR-RLKs were grouped into 16 subclades. We characterized the expression profiles of Vf/VmLRR-RLKs in various tissue types including root, leaf, petal, and kernel. Further investigation revealed that Vf/VmLRR-RLK orthologous genes mainly showed similar expression patterns in response to tree wilt disease, except 4 pairs of Vf/VmLRR-RLKs that showed opposite expression trends. These results represent an extensive evaluation of LRR-RLKs in two industrial oil trees and will be useful for further functional studies on these proteins.
Applied Financial Economics , 1998 , 8 , 231 Ð 243 Chaos in an emerging capital market ? The case of the Athens Stock Exchange

This paper investigates the existence of a deterministic nonlinear structure in the stock returns of the Athens Stock Exchange (Greece), an emerging capital market. The analysis utilizes the concepts of correlation dimension and Kolmogorov entropy, and it also includes a forecasting experiment. Application of the BDS statistical test to raw and ® ltered returns series suggests the presence of nonlinearities. The ® ndings provide very weak, at best, evidence in support of a nonlinear deterministic data generating process.
Design and implementation of fiber channel based high speed receiver protocol for avionics on FPGA

Improvement in technology is leading to complex systems in aerospace application. The data handling capabilities of the systems are increasing in the present technology. Current day interfaces demand large volume of data to be shared between the systems. It demands for high speed communication between the systems at affordable cost. Fiber channel based communication protocols on avionics systems has become the interconnection practices for new generation communication system. With its low latency, high reliability, distance transmission made it advantage to use for aerospace application. This paper describes the implementation of fiber channel based communication protocol on FPGA for avionics application.
Voxel carving for collision avoidance for a vine pruning robot arm

A vine pruning robot builds a 3D model of vines using a model-based feature matching and bundle adjustment pipeline. It is important to model the entire structure of each vine in order to plan collision-free paths for a robot arm, and to generate a connected vine structure. Each vine has a complex lump of old growth known as the head, which is challenging to model within the feature-based pipeline, so we use voxel carving to find the visual hull of the head from many views. The visual hull is a volumetric model containing the head, so is ideal for collision avoidance. This paper describes how the voxel carving algorithm is integrated into the 3D vine modelling system. For our application it is convenient to model the vine head as a set of spheres, so we modify a standard voxel carving pipeline to to fit a set of spheres to images of the vine head. We evaluated the system on 300 stereo images of 15 vines: the voxel carve is computationally efficient, and the models found are over 90% complete.
A dual role for integrin-linked kinase and β1-integrin in modulating cardiac aging

Cardiac performance decreases with age, which is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and mortality in the aging human population, but the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac aging are still poorly understood. Investigating the role of integrin‐linked kinase (ilk) and β1‐integrin (myospheroid, mys) in Drosophila, which colocalize near cardiomyocyte contacts and Z‐bands, we find that reduced ilk or mys function prevents the typical changes of cardiac aging seen in wildtype, such as arrhythmias. In particular, the characteristic increase in cardiac arrhythmias with age is prevented in ilk and mys heterozygous flies with nearly identical genetic background, and they live longer, in line with previous findings in Caenorhabditis elegans for ilk and in Drosophila for mys. Consistent with these findings, we observed elevated β1‐integrin protein levels in old compared with young wild‐type flies, and cardiac‐specific overexpression of mys in young flies causes aging‐like heart dysfunction. Moreover, moderate cardiac‐specific knockdown of integrin‐linked kinase (ILK)/integrin pathway‐associated genes also prevented the decline in cardiac performance with age. In contrast, strong cardiac knockdown of ilk or ILK‐associated genes can severely compromise cardiac integrity, including cardiomyocyte adhesion and overall heart function. These data suggest that ilk/mys function is necessary for establishing and maintaining normal heart structure and function, and appropriate fine‐tuning of this pathway can retard the age‐dependent decline in cardiac performance and extend lifespan. Thus, ILK/integrin‐associated signaling emerges as an important and conserved genetic mechanism in longevity, and as a new means to improve age‐dependent cardiac performance, in addition to its vital role in maintaining cardiac integrity.
Water Erosion Estimation in Topographically Complex Landscapes : Model Description and First Verifi cations Published online August 9 , 2007

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