Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is “rich‐get‐richer” valid for Indian Ocean and Atlantic ITCZ?

Climate models often project an increase of rainfall under global warming over the climatologic wet regions from the global zonal‐mean perspective. However, this “rich‐get‐richer” mechanism is not valid on a basin scale. In this study by analyzing climate change experiment outputs from an idealized atmospheric general circulation model with uniform sea surface warming and the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models, we note that the intertropical convergence zones along the equatorial Indian Ocean and the equatorial Atlantic Ocean exhibit a very different response to anthropogenic forcing. In the present‐day climate in boreal summer (winter), the tropical Indian (Atlantic) Ocean exhibits two pronounced rainbands, with one branch located over the Indian monsoon (Amazon) region and the other located near the equator. In future warmer climate, the two rainbands compete through a local Hadley circulation; as a result, only the stronger branch becomes wetter while the weaker one affected by anomalous descending motion and moisture divergence becomes drier. Thus, on a basin scale, the wet does not always get wetter.
A New Multi-Vendor Logistics and Distribution Optimized Algorithm Based on Ant Colony System

Logistics and distribution problem is an important part of the modern logistics system. In reality, returned goods must be inevitable. It is necessary to handle with the customers' return request in time for multi-vendors. In this paper, we set up the corresponding mathematical model and present the multi-vendor logistics and distribution optimized algorithm based on ant colony system, refers to the way to add heuristic information and calculate the value of heuristic information. The results show that our algorithm is feasible and efficient.
Using normalized alignment scores to detect incorrectly aligned segments

This paper introduces a number of quality metrics which can be used to automatically detect incorrectly aligned segment pairs. This is an important issue in commercial machine translation as segmentation and alignment of bilingual corpora is often performed by third parties whose quality assurances cannot always be relied upon. The metrics in this paper are based on the normalized logarithm of the alignment score of a segment pair, where the alignment score is calculated using an IBM translation model 4. The alignment quality metrics are evaluated in classification experiments on a Chinese-English patent translation task and are shown to yield satisfactory performance.
Study on passenger train stopping scheme based on improved Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm

This paper develops a multi-objective optimization model for the passenger train stopping scheme on high-speed railway lines. Minimizing the stopping times for all passenger trains, minimizing travel distance of empty trains and minimizing the number of transfer passengers are the three planning objectives of the model. For a given travel demand and specified capacity of stops, the model is solved by heuristic algorithm. An improved discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm is presented to determine the best-compromise train stopping scheme with high effectiveness and stability. In the algorithm, a stop based representation is designed, and a new method is used to update the position and velocity of particles. In order to keep the particle swarm algorithm from premature stagnation, the simulated annealing algorithm, which has local search ability, is combined with the PSO algorithm to make elaborate search near the optimal solution, then the quality of solutions is improved effectively. An empirical study on a given small railway network is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model and the performance of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the hybrid algorithm has great advantages in both success rate and convergence speed compared with other discrete PSO algorithm and genetic algorithm, and an optimal set of stopping schemes can always be generated for a given demand. To achieve the best planning outcome, the stopping schemes should be flexibly planned, and not constrained by specific ones as often set by the planner.
Metabolic Health Is a More Important Determinant for Diabetes Development than Simple Obesity: A 4-Year Retrospective Longitudinal Study

Background Recent studies report the importance of metabolic health beyond obesity. The aim of this study is to compare the risk for diabetes development according to different status of metabolic health and obesity over a median follow-up of 48.7 months. Methods 6,748 non-diabetic subjects (mean age 43 years) were divided into four groups according to the baseline metabolic health and obesity status: metabolically healthy non-obese (MHNO), metabolically healthy obese (MHO), metabolically unhealthy non-obese (MUHNO) and metabolically unhealthy obese (MUHO). Being metabolically healthy was defined by having less than 2 components among the 5 components, that is, high blood pressure, high fasting blood glucose, high triglyceride, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and being in the highest decile of homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index. Obesity status was assessed by body mass index (BMI) higher than 25 kg/m2. The development of diabetes was assessed annually from self-questionnaire, fasting glucose and HbA1c. Results At baseline, 45.3% of the subjects were MHNO, 11.3% were MHO, 21.7% were MUHNO, and 21.7% were MUHO. During a median follow-up of 48.7 months, 277 subject (4.1%) developed diabetes. The hazard ratio for diabetes development was 1.338 in MHO group (95% CI 0.67–2.672), 4.321 in MUHNO group (95% CI 2.702–6.910) and 5.994 in MUHO group (95% CI 3.561–10.085) when MHNO group was considered as the reference group. These results were similar after adjustment for the changes of the risk factors during the follow-up period. Conclusion The risk for future diabetes development was higher in metabolically unhealthy subgroups compared with those of metabolically healthy subjects regardless of obesity status.
www.MMRetrieval.net: a multimodal search engine

We introduce an experimental search engine for multilingual and multimedia information, employing a holistic web interface and enabling the use of highly distributed indices. Modalities are searched in parallel, and results can be fused via several selectable methods. The engine also provides multistage retrieval, as well as a single text index baseline for comparison purposes. Initial impressions on its effectiveness are positive, while its efficiency may easily be improved.
A 3D virtual earth simulator for earthquake micro-physics: LSMearth

The particle-based Lattice Solid Model (LSM) was developed to provide a basis to study the physics of rocks and the non-linear dynamics of earthquakes. In previous work, intact material was modelled as particles bonded together by elastic-brittle links in a regular 2D triangular lattice and the model was applied to the study of fault zone evolution. A new modular and flexible LSM approach has been developed that allows different microphysics to be easily added and removed at the grain scale to enable the effect of different microphysics on macroscopic behaviour to be studied. The model is extended to allow three-dimensional simulations to be performed and particles of different sizes to be specified. The new model provides a basis to investigate nucleation, rupture and slip pulse propagation in complex fault zones without the previous model limitation of a regular low-level surface geometry.
A Knowledge-Based Software Development Environment Supporting Cooperative Work

The subject of this paper is the description of a process-centered software development environment called MERLIN which monitors and guides teams of software developers and managers in producing software objects. Software objects (or objects for short) include all sorts of documents like requirements analysis, design, code, user manuals, contracts etc. For each user, MERLIN automatically displays a specific working context which contains information like objects, their relations, their current development state, and corresponding tools. This information is filtered according to the (access) rights and duties a particular user has in a particular project, i.e. the working context depends on the user's role (e.g. programmer, designer, manager). Internally, the computation of the information to be contained in a working context, is based on a rulelike definition of a software process and a flexible interpretation mechanism to enact such a process definition. The main feature of the interpreter is an alternating use of backward and forward chaining for the interpretation of rules. In addition, our implementation enables a persistent storage and incremental update during runtime of all process information expressed in facts within the MERLIN knowledge base.
Variability of mixed-phase clouds in the Arctic with a focus on the Svalbard region: a study based on spaceborne active remote sensing

Abstract. The Arctic region is known to be very sensitive to climate change. Clouds and in particular mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) remain one of the greatest sources of uncertainties in the modelling of the Arctic response to climate change due to an inaccurate representation of their variability and their quantification. In this study, we present a characterisation of the vertical, spatial and seasonal variability of Arctic clouds and MPCs over the entire Arctic region based on satellite active remote sensing observations. MPC properties in the region of the Svalbard archipelago (78° N, 15° E) are also investigated. The occurrence frequency of clouds and MPCs are determined from CALIPSO/CLOUDSAT measurements processed with the DARDAR retrieval algorithm, which allow for a reliable cloud thermodynamic phase classification (warm liquid, supercooled liquid, ice, mixing of ice and supercooled liquid). Significant differences are observed between MPC properties over the entire Arctic region and over the Svalbard region. Results show that MPCs are encountered all year long, with a minimum occurrence of 30% in winter and 50% during the rest of the year on average over the entire Arctic. Over the Svalbard region, MPC occurrence is more constant with time with larger values (55%) compared to the average observed in the Arctic. MPCs are especially located at low altitudes, below 3000 m, where their frequency of occurrence reaches 90%, particularly during winter, spring and autumn. Moreover, results highlight that MPCs are statistically more frequent above open sea than land or sea ice. The temporal and spatial distribution of MPCs over the Svalbard region seems to be linked to the supply of moister air and warmer water from the North Atlantic Ocean, which contribute to the initiation of the liquid water phase. Over the whole Arctic, and particularly in western regions, the increase of MPC occurrence from spring to autumn could be connected to the sea ice melting. During this period, the open water transports some of the warm water from the North Atlantic Ocean to the rest of the Arctic region. This facilitates the vertical transfer of moisture and thus the persistence of the liquid phase. Particular attention is also paid to the measurement uncertainties and how they could affect our conclusions.
Implicit loadings in life insurance ratemaking and coherent risk measures

In this paper we study a premium calculation principle applied to life insurance based on a coherent risk measure called Proportional Hazard Transform. This is based on a probability distortion by means of Wang’s distortion power function (Wang S. (1995)). We will see how this theoretically supports the practical use of implicit loadings in life insurance ratemaking. Either life insurance contracts with death coverage or life annuities are considered as exemplifications.
Perioperative complications following preoperative cessation of antithrombotic agents for total knee arthroplasty

AbstractThe number of elderly patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has steadily increased. Elderly patients undergoing TKA usually have underlying diseases, and some of them take antithrombotic agents for the prevention or treatment of these co-morbidities, including cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or thromboembolic diseases. When these patients are scheduled to undergo TKA, preoperative cessation of antithrombotic agents is considered on the basis of its risks and benefits. This study was aimed to evaluate the impact of discontinuing antithrombotic agents for primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA) on perioperative complications.Patients who underwent primary TKA between 2008 and 2012 were identified, and classified into two groups: group A, in whom antithrombotic agents were ceased preoperatively, and group B, in which patients did not receive antithrombotic therapy. Patient characteristics, history of antithrombotic therapy, intraoperative blood loss, perioperative blood transfusion, postoperative 30-day complications, and postoperative hospital stay were recorded.Of 885 patients undergoing primary TKA, 218 (24.6%) patients were included in group A, and 667 (75.4%) in group B. Group A received transfusion more frequently than group B (P < 0.001). However, there was no difference between the two groups in terms of intraoperative blood loss, postoperative 30-day complications, and postoperative hospital stay.Patients who discontinued antithrombotic drugs before primary TKA do not have a higher incidence of postoperative 30-day complications, including cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, or thromboembolic events. Moreover, the estimated intraoperative blood loss was not different compared with patients not receiving antithrombotic agents preoperatively. Larger prospective studies of this issue are required.
Visual Teach and Repeat using appearance-based lidar

Visual Teach and Repeat (VT&R) has proven to be an effective method to allow a vehicle to autonomously repeat any previously driven route without the need for a global positioning system. One of the major challenges for a method that relies on visual input to recognize previously visited places is lighting change, as this can make the appearance of a scene look drastically different. For this reason, passive sensors, such as cameras, are not ideal for outdoor environments with inconsistent/inadequate light. However, camera-based systems have been very successful for localization and mapping in outdoor, unstructured terrain, which can be largely attributed to the use of sparse, appearance-based computer vision techniques. Thus, in an effort to achieve lighting invariance and to continue to exploit the heritage of the appearance-based vision techniques traditionally used with cameras, this paper presents the first VT&R system that uses appearance-based techniques with laser scanners for motion estimation. The system has been field tested in a planetary analogue environment for an entire diurnal cycle, covering more than 11km with an autonomy rate of 99.7% of the distance traveled.
Design of serial communication interface based on FPGA

As the key processing equipment of comprehensive task processing system, Mission management computer needs to crosslink with various equipments, and the types of communication interface are different. A serial communication interface based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) has been designed in this paper, used for data communication with other equipment. It guarantees the realization of the serial communication function under the condition of without any increasing in hardware resources. It accords with hardware equipment standardization principle. The design is adopted the Xilinx Company's Virtex-4 series FPGA chip, simulation results indicate that it satisfies protocol requirements.
Factors affecting livestock disease reporting and biosecurity practices: a study of West Australian sheep and cattle producers

Australia has become increasingly vulnerable to infectious animal diseases as a result of globalisation. Consequently, biosecurity – the protection of animals from pests and diseases - has become a key concern of government. Livestock producers play a vital part in farm biosecurity and surveillance, but there has been limited research into farmer behaviour and motives in regard to animal health. Preliminary research in Western Australia indicated that the level of official reporting of livestock illness and deaths by farmers is in decline. This study investigates the prevalence and cause of this, examining in particular the factors that influence the decision to consult a veterinarian. Perspectives of sheep and cattle farmers in part of Western Australia were gathered via a quantitative study (postal questionnaire) and a qualitative study (in-depth face-to-face interviews). Human health behaviour models developed within social psychology informed the study design. Analysis and discussion of farmers' understanding of science and innovation draws on the work of Wynne and Fischer in particular, with Vanclay, Lawrence and various commentators on agricultural extension providing the Australian context. Within the broader theoretical framework of risk, uncertainty and trust, the thesis draws on theorists from sociology (such as Beck) and psychology (for example, Slovic). The study found that while many farmers were well-informed about biosecurity, this did not necessarily translate into better practices (as defined by agricultural experts). While official bodies propound a scientific, technically rational argument as a means of encouraging farmers to adopt on-farm biosecurity practices, farmers employ a rationality which takes account of the social, cultural and economic context. Farmers were seen to be making a reporting decision based on the perceived risk to their enterprise. Four influential elements of perceived risk were: perceived susceptibility, self-efficacy, perceived control and trust. A distinction was drawn between routine reporting, where trust in the government and expertise was a critical factor, and reporting in suspicious circumstances, where moral obligation played a key role. If farmers are hesitant to trust government sources, important animal health messages may go unheeded. Strategies for building trust between farmers and government bodies will require further investigation.
Affective and Effective: Military Job Performance as a Function of Work‐Related Emotional Intelligence

The military is a highly stressful career that requires one to work closely with others. These features of the military render it plausible that skills related to emotional perception and management&#8212;or emotional intelligence&#8212;would tend to benefit performance within this setting. Hypotheses of this type were examined in a panel study that presented 152 active duty military personnel with a new scenario&#8208;based measure that specifically focused on emotional occurrences within the workplace. As hypothesized, work&#8208;related emotional intelligence (W&#8208;EI) positively predicted task performance, discipline, organizational citizenship, and employees with higher W&#8208;EI levels received a greater number of performance commendations. Additionally, these relationships tended to remain significant in discriminant multiple regressions. Altogether, the results provide important evidence for the benefits of W&#8208;EI within an occupational context that requires a high degree of coordination as well as stress management.
Cortical auditory evoked responses from an implanted ear after 50 years of profound unilateral deafness

Abstract A male with unilateral deafness in the right ear since 8 years of age developed a sudden hearing loss in the left ear at age 63. A hearing aid was fitted in the left ear with limited benefit. The right ear received a cochlear implant (CI) 20 months later. Cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) and speech recognition scores (SRS) were measured in free-field three, six and nine months after implantation with the hearing aid alone, CI alone and bimodal condition (hearing aid and CI together). Three months after implantation the cortical responses for the two ears were similar, despite more than 50 years of unilateral auditory deprivation. CAEPs measured over time show evidence of binaural interaction and improvements in SRS. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Probabilistic Robot Action Planning / Control

Robot behaviors are often designed using a set of states, with transition conditions among them, i.e. a finite state machine. The transition conditions often depend on uncertain inputs. Thus, transitions could fire incorrectly or fail to fire. This necessitates complicating the behavior design with additional transitions to “back out” of states judged to be erroneous. Current robotic systems maintain probabilistic models of their environment. Deterministic state transitions are a mismatch for these models in that they require a single datum to be extracted from the probabilistic models to use as an input to the state transition decision. For example, a particle filter would be processed to produce a choice for “the” current robot pose to use as a basis for action decisions. In some sense, this “throws away” the advantages of tracking multiple hypotheses in the particle filter. In this work, we seek to carry the probabilistic models into behavior decision making, insofar as it is possible. Clearly, a robot cannot choose to, for example, move to two different places at once, but not all decisions are mutually exclusive. For example, a robot could move its head to visually scan for objects while walking to a target location.
Hybrid intelligent Intrusion Detection System

— Intrusion Detection Systems are increasingly a key part of systems defense. Various approaches to Intrusion Detection are currently being used, but they are relatively ineffective. Artificial Intelligence plays a driving role in security services. This paper proposes a dynamic model Intelligent Intrusion Detection System, based on specific AI approach for intrusion detection. The techniques that are being investigated includes neural networks and fuzzy logic with network profiling, that uses simple data mining techniques to process the network data. The proposed system is a hybrid system that combines anomaly, misuse and host based detection. Simple Fuzzy rules allow us to construct if-then rules that reflect common ways of describing security attacks. For host based intrusion detection we use neural-networks along with self organizing maps. Suspicious intrusions can be traced back to its original source path and any traffic from that particular source will be redirected back to them in future. Both network traffic and system audit data are used as inputs for both.
Programmable logic gate based on controlled quenching of series-connected negative differential resistance devices

The unique characteristics of resonant-tunneling (RT) devices, such as the negative differential resistance (NDR), can be used to construct compact functional circuits. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a new circuit that takes full advantage of the NDR feature in RT devices. The circuit features three NDR devices connected in series and is driven by a clocked bias voltage V/sub BIAS/. The function of the circuit can be selected as one of the six logic functions (AND, OR, NAND, NOR, XOR, and XNOR) by control voltages and the amplitude of V/sub BIAS/. This flexible functionality indicates that our circuit can be applied to the implementation of programmable logic circuits, which will provide cost-effective prototypes for modern circuit designs.