Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Resource Wars and Conflict Ivory: The Impact of Civil Conflict on Elephants in the Democratic Republic of Congo - The Case of the Okapi Reserve

Human conflict generally has substantial negative impacts on wildlife and conservation. The recent civil war (1995-2006) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) resulted in a significant loss of wildlife, including elephants, due to institutional collapse, lawlessness and unbridled exploitation of natural resources such as minerals, wood, ivory and bushmeat. We used data from distance sampling surveys conducted before and after the war in a protected forest, the Okapi Faunal Reserve, to document changes in elephant abundance and distribution. We employed Generalized Additive Models to relate changes in elephant distribution to human and environmental factors. Populations declined by nearly fifty percent coinciding with a major increase in elephant poaching as indicated by reports of ivory trade during the war. Our results suggest that humans influenced elephant distribution far more than habitat, both before and after the war, but post-war models explained more of the variation. Elephant abundance declined more, closer to the park boundary and to areas of intense human activity. After the war, elephant densities were relatively higher in the centre of the park where they were better protected, suggesting that this area may have acted as a refuge. In other sites in Eastern DRC, where no protection was provided, elephants were even more decimated. Post-war dynamics, such as weakened institutions, human movements and availability of weapons, continue to affect elephants. Survival of remaining populations and recovery will be determined by these persistent factors and by new threats associated with growing human populations and exploitation of natural resources. Prioritizing wildlife protection, curbing illegal trade in ivory and bushmeat, and strengthening national institutions and organizations in charge of conservation will be crucial to counter these threats.
The host stars of Kepler's habitable exoplanets: superflares, rotation and activity

We embark on a detailed study of the light curves of Kepler's most Earth-like exoplanet host stars using the full length of Kepler data. We derive rotation periods, photometric activity indices, flaring energies, mass-loss rates, gyrochronological ages, X-ray luminosities and consider implications for the planetary magnetospheres and habitability. Furthermore, we present the detection of superflares in the light curve of Kepler-438, the exoplanet with the highest Earth Similarity Index to date. Kepler-438b orbits at a distance of 0.166 au to its host star, and hence may be susceptible to atmospheric stripping. Our sample is taken from the Habitable Exoplanet Catalogue, and consists of the stars Kepler-22, Kepler-61, Kepler-62, Kepler-174, Kepler-186, Kepler-283, Kepler-296, Kepler-298, Kepler-438, Kepler-440, Kepler-442, Kepler-443 and KOI-4427, between them hosting 15 of the most habitable transiting planets known to date from Kepler.
Transfer Learning for Endoscopic Image Classification

In this paper we propose a method for transfer learning of endoscopic images. For transferring between features obtained from images taken by different (old and new) endoscopes, we extend the Max-Margin Domain Transfer (MMDT) proposed by Hoffman et al. in order to use L2 distance constraints as regularization, called Max-Margin Domain Transfer with L2 Distance Constraints (MMDTL2). Furthermore, we develop the dual formulation of the optimization problem in order to reduce the computation cost. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MMDTL2 outperforms MMDT for real data sets taken by different endoscopes.
Data placement across the cache hierarchy: Minimizing data movement with reuse-aware placement

Modern processors employ multiple levels of caching to address bandwidth, latency and performance requirements. The behavior of these hierarchies is determined by their approach to data placement and data eviction. Recent research has developed many intelligent data eviction policies, but cache hierarchies remain primarily either exclusive or inclusive with regards to data placement. This means that today's cache hierarchies typically install accessed data into all cache levels at one point or another, regardless of whether the data is reused in each level. Such data movement wastes energy by installing data into cache levels where the data is not reused.
Multi-object tracking via high accuracy optical flowand finite set statistics

In this work we present a novel method for tracking an unknown number of objects with a single camera system in real-time. The proposed algorithm is based on high-accuracy optical flow and finite set statistics. In this framework the target state is treated as a random vector and the number of possible objects as a random number, which has to be estimated correctly. We are able to deal with false alarms, clutter and object spawning. Since possible objects can appear or disappear in the scene we propose a probability model for these events, in order to obtain stable results in the case of missing detections. Additionally, we show how track labeling, based on color and state information, can improve the results. Since the method partly relies on color information, it can handle partial occlusion and is invariant to rotation and scaling. We verify the theoretical results on various scenes.
Investigation of the microbial communities colonizing prepainted steel used for roofing and walling

Microbial colonization of prepainted steel, commonly used in roofing applications, impacts their aesthetics, durability, and functionality. Understanding the relevant organisms and the mechanisms by which colonization occurs would provide valuable information that can be subsequently used to design fouling prevention strategies. Here, next‐generation sequencing and microbial community finger printing (T‐RFLP) were used to study the community composition of microbes colonizing prepainted steel roofing materials at Burrawang, Australia and Kapar, Malaysia over a 52‐week period. Community diversity was low and was dominated by Bacillus spp. , cyanobacteria, actinobacteria, Cladosporium sp. , Epicoccum nigrum, and Teratosphaeriaceae sp. Cultivation‐based methods isolated approximately 20 different fungi and bacteria, some of which, such as E. nigrum and Cladosporium sp. , were represented in the community sequence data. Fluorescence in situ hybridization imaging showed that fungi were the most dominant organisms present. Analysis of the sequence and T‐RFLP data indicated that the microbial communities differed significantly between locations and changed significantly over time. The study demonstrates the utility of molecular ecology tools to identify and characterize microbial communities associated with the fouling of painted steel surfaces and ultimately can enable the targeted development of control strategies based on the dominant species responsible for fouling.
Asymptotic Capacity Bounds for Wireless Networks with Non-Uniform Traffic Patterns

We develop bounds on the capacity of wireless multihop networks when the traffic pattern is non-uniform, i.e., not all nodes are the sources and sinks of similar volumes of traffic. Our results are asymptotic, i.e., they hold with probability going to unity as the number of nodes goes to infinity. We study (i) asymmetric networks, where the numbers of sources and destinations of traffic are unequal, (ii) multicast networks, in which each created packet has multiple destinations, (Hi) cluster networks, that consist of clients and a limited number of cluster heads, and each client wants to communicate with any one of the cluster heads, and (iv) hybrid networks, in which the nodes are supported by a limited infrastructure. Our findings quantify the fundamental capabilities of these wireless multihop networks to handle traffic bottlenecks, and point to correct design principles that achieve the capacity without resorting to overly complicated protocols.
Investigation of the properties of photosensitive polyimide films

Modem package designs generate a large amount of stress on the die which can be controlled using a thick film of polyimide over the passivation layer. Polyimide film thicknesses in excess of twenty microns at exposure are becoming common for very thin packages. The standard polyimide lithographic process frequently utilizes a trilayer film consisting of an adhesion layer, a polyimide film, and photoresist. A major advance in polyimide technology occurred with the introduction of photosensitive polyimide materials. These materials reduce the total number of process steps in the polyimide process. They also offer the opportunity to combine the passivation and polyimide lithography steps into one process level resulting in significant process simplification and manufacturing cost reduction. Consequently, there is a rapid increase in the use of photosensitive polyimides in the semiconductor industry. There are a number of important issues associated with photosensitive polyimide processing. Because most photosensitive polyimides are negative tone, residual film formation has a major impact on resolution and the usable process window. The high exposure doses required for thicker polyimide films exacerbates the residual film problem. Also, resolving small features such as fuse windows in DRAMs is frequently required in thick photosensitive polyimide layers. These small features result in polyimide height-to-linewidth aspect ratios that are comparable to many photoresist applications. Because of these requirements, photosensitive polyimide applications could benefit from detailed process characterization to enhance resolution and increase process latitude. Unfortunately, there is scant literature pertaining to lithographic performance and lithographic process modeling for photosensitive polyimide films. An extension of basic photoresist characterization techniques for thin films can be applied to thick photosensitive polyimide processes. The develop rate characteristics and lithographic performance for several commercial photosensitive polyimide products were studied at a thickness of 12 microns. Cross sectional SEM analysis, Bossung plots, and film retention plots are used to establish relative lithographic capabilities. These experimental results are used to study the effects of polyimide physical and chemical properties on lithographic performance.
Pixel level jointed sparse representation with RPCA image fusion algorithm

This paper presents a pixel level image fusion technique based on integrating the sparse representation with robust principle component analysis algorithm (RPCA) to promote relevant information, eliminate noise and preserve edges. In this method, the input images are first decomposed into their common components and sparse or uncommon components using RPCA algorithm. Secondly, the sparse representation using OMP algorithm with a trained dictionary is adapted to fuse those two components by adding the common low rank sparse coefficient to the maximum norm of uncommon sparse coefficients. Finally, we reconstruct the fused image from the fused sparse coefficients and adaptive dictionary. This proposed image fusion technique is evaluated and compared with OMP based on visual inspection and quality measures. The conjoint OMP-RPCA simultaneous method shows promising results and best performance in a variety of different image types including medical, multifocus and infrared and visible light images.
ION BEAM ANALYSIS , POSITIVE MATRIX FACTORISATION AND WIND BACK TRAJECTORIES , TOOLS FOR PM 2 . 5 PARTICLE RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA

ANSTO have performed long-term PM2.5 particle collection and analysis at locations covering a range of demographics including urban, rural and industrial sites in Australia and Asia. As a result, ANSTO has established a uniquely extensive number of fine particle datasets. The collected samples have been analysed using a combination of nuclear Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) techniques, positive matrix factorisation (PMF) and wind back trajectories (WBT). These techniques not only determine the quantitative concentrations of key elements in the collected aerosols, but also provide significant information on source fingerprints, source contribution to total pollution on a local scale, and source long-range transport. In addition, the analysis of longterm datasets can often reveal significant short-term aerosol events that only become evident when viewed in context of the long-term trends for that location. This paper summarises the complimentary IBA, PMF and WBT analysis methods used at ANSTO for extracting quantitative chemical composition and source apportionment from large PM2.5 aerosol data sets. Specific examples resulting from long-term analysis of fine particle collected at the Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle sites over the past 12 years (1998 – 2010) is used to highlight each technique.
PWM modulation for a three-level inverter with neutral-point balancing for a permanent magnet synchronous machine

A neutral point (NP) balancing modulation for a three-level inverter with cosφ > 0.9 is presented. In the low modulation range, standard space vector modulation (SVM) is applied using the redundancy of the small space vectors (SV) for the NP balancing. In the high modulation range, the switching sequence is adapted so that the neutral-point voltage can be also balanced. The proposed method is compared with the modulation concept of the virtual SV concept. Experimental validation of the modulation scheme is presented.
Threat Risk Modeling

Application development security utilizes a list of threats that identify and organize application security classes of attack. The developed system is decomposed into relevant components and then each component is analyzed for threats. Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are typically used to graphically represent a system. In this paper we propose a flow-based model as an alternative methodology for identification and classification of threats.
Cerebral oxygenation in health and disease

Monitoring cerebral blood flow (CBF) and oxygenation has implications for both clinical practice and research interests; e.g., to provide insight into functional neurovascular coupling, to better understand orthostatic hypotension, and to evaluate the influence of vasopressors on cerebral oxygenation during anesthesia and/or surgery. These topics, and others, are addressed in this e-book by presenting original research, reviews, and opinion papers covering new, exciting but also controversial issues related to cerebral oxygenation in health and disease as evaluated by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
LDPC-DWDM processing for Optical communications using polymer fiber

In this paper, it show a proposal using the combining the LDPC codes whit the DWDM on Optical Transmission, where tree messages are send by an optical channel. The messages are codified whit LDPC codes and modulated whit BPSK before to transmit over the plastic optical fiber, the channel is affected by the characteristic attenuation of the POF-PMMA is show in the System Description Section. The result of this simulation realized in the Matlab software present graph results as the spectral power received and the Bit Error Rate (BER) in 50 meters of plastic optical fiber.
Opportunities and challenges for enhancing preconception health in primary care: qualitative study with women from ethnically diverse communities

Objective There is a growing interest in developing and offering more systematic preconception healthcare. However, it is unclear how this might be regarded by ethnically diverse communities at higher risk of poor maternal and child health outcomes. We sought to explore perceptions about preconception health and care among women from these communities to identify opportunities and challenges for intervention development in primary care. Design Qualitative study using focus groups and semistructured interviews. Setting Ethnically diverse and socially disadvantaged community settings of the UK. Participants 41 women aged 18–45 years, of Pakistani, Indian, Caribbean, African, White and mixed ethnic origin, participating in nine focus groups, half of whom (n=19) had one-to-one follow-up telephone interviews. Results Women had modest or poor awareness of preconception health issues. They perceived these could be addressed in primary care, particularly if raised within a range of clinically ‘relevant’ consultations, such as for contraception, or when opportune for individuals in their social context. However, challenges for engaging women in preconception care more routinely were underlined. These included little prevailing culture of preparing for pregnancy and the realities of their pregnancies often being unplanned; and, for those planning pregnancy, sensitivity and maintaining secrecy when trying to conceive. A preference for female professionals, engaging men, and enhancing access for younger people or women less disposed to general practice, in educational and other settings were highlighted. Conclusions Raising preconception health when this has heightened clinical or social resonance for women may hold promise for initiating more systematic intervention. In primary care this could offer greater potential to directly engage those with low awareness or not considering pregnancy, while enlarging opportunity for others who may be seeking to conceive. Promoting ‘preparation for pregnancy’ more widely might form part of healthcare and education over the life course. Further intervention development research exploring these possibilities, including their feasibility and acceptability is needed.
A Network of Hidden Markov Models and Its Analysis

The Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database uses a large number of hidden Markov models (HMMs) to represent families and superfamilies composed of proteins that presumably share the same evolutionary origi n. However, how the HMMs are related to one another has not been examined before. In this work, taking into account the processes used to build the HMMs, we propose a working hypothesis to examine the relationships between HMMs and the families and superfamilies that they represent. Specifi cally, we perform an all-against-all HMM comparison using the HHsearch program and construct a network where the nodes are HMMs and the edges connect similar HMMs. We hypothesize that the HMMs in a connected component belong to the same family or superfamily more often than expected under a random network connection model. Results show a pattern consistent with this working hypothesis. Moreover, the HMM network possesses features distinctly different from previously documented biological networks , exemplified by the exceptionally high clustering coefficien t and the large number of connected components. The current finding may provide guidance in devising computational methods to reduce the degree of overlaps between the HMMs representing the same superfamilies, which may in turn enable more efficient large-scale sequence searches agains t the database of HMMs.
Using ‘teacher talk’ to reimagine FE-based research as a basis for teaching, learning and assessment: Report from the Research and Scholarly Activity working Group

This think-piece paper is an open letter addressed to further education (FE)-based practitioners interested in research, their managers, the sector’s policy makers, and organisations like the Education and Training Foundation, who support the sector and wish to make it ‘research-rich’. Its purpose is to amplify the voices of 22 participants who attended the working group on research and scholarship at Reimagine FE18. Using Hardy’s (2010) concept of ‘ teacher talk ’ as a data collection method and stimulus for a series of praxis-oriented ‘ conversations ’, the participants identified four principles and four conditions to move forward FE-based research. First, the research needs to be led and done by FE-based practitioners; second, practitioners need to be supported to acquire the confidence to disseminate their research and new avenues identified for publishing it; third, the research needs to be rigorous and critical, and the fourth underpinning these is research, and its researchers need to be valued by the sector and its stakeholders. Conclusions are drawn and praxis, ‘ morally-committed ’, ‘ history-making ’ action in the spirit of Mahon et al . , is suggested as a way forward. As such, this paper adds to the debate started 22 years ago by Elliott (1996) about why FE-based research still remains largely invisible within and beyond the sector and offers the sector’s latest response to the British Educational Research Association’s call for FE to be a ‘research-rich’ environment. In doing so, it invites managers and policy makers to begin a genuinely sincere, democratic conversation with FE-based practitioners about how to make this happen. Key words : FE-based research, research-rich, teacher-talk, praxis,
THE VALUE RELEVANCE OF EARNING MANAGEMENT IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES BEFORE AND DURING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

This paper empirically investigates the value relevance of reported earnings during the period 2006-2011 for 193 firms (excluding banks and insurance companies) listed in the Milan Stock Exchange, representing about 91.28% of the stock exchange capitalization (30 April 2012). The objective of the paper is to analyze: a) the value relevance of earnings, cash flow from operations, discretionary and non-discretionary accruals; b) the effect of Global Financial Crisis on the value relevance of accounting information. The paper contributes to examine different components of earnings and to filling a gap extending the analysis to the financial crisis. To test our hypotheses first, we determined the accruals by applying specific models proposed in the international literature, such as the Jones (1991) model and its subsequent amendments; second, we analysed the value relevance of earnings, cash flow and accruals basing the analysis on Ohlson (1995) model, extensively used in previous value relevance researches. The findings show that cash flow from operations, discretionary and non-discretionary accruals have different value relevance. In addition, the results describe the reduction of value relevance during the economic and financial crisis.
FGWM-2012 Workshop on Knowledge and Experience Management

The given paper focuses on the enhancement of product innovation by means of technologies and disciplines like knowledge management, especially knowledge networks, business intelligence, web and social analytics. Based on the connectivity of product consumers via the internet, it is no longer possible for companies to develop their products from scratch without considering the public customer feedback. The innovation process needs input not only from employees of the company, who are tasked with creating a new product or product generation, but also by applying different knowledge sources, indicators or analyses. Therefore the paper proposes a concept idea for leading the innovation process even closer to the customers needs by applying technologies from the disciplines and methods mentioned above in addition to innovation management methods.