Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A pimpinellin monomer and dimer isolated from the roots of Esenbeckia grandiflora.

X-ray diffraction studies carried out on single crystals of the monomeric, viz. 5,6-dimethoxy-2H-furo[2,3-h][1]benzopyran-2-one, C(13)H(10)O(5), and dimeric, viz. 5,5',6,6'-tetramethoxy-3,3',4,4'-tetrahydro-2H,2'H-3,3':4,4'-bi(furo[2,3-h][1]benzopyran)-2,2'-dione, C(26)H(20)O(10), forms of pimpinellin have revealed that, following cyclodimerization, the carbonyl groups are head-to-head with respect to one another. In the monomer, the heterocyclic ring is planar, but it exhibits a twisted-boat conformation in the dimer. Both the monomer and the dimer interact through C-H.O interactions.
Automatic classification of turmeric rhizomes using the external morphological characteristics

Machine vision is a computer based decision making process useful for reducing manual inspections. Accurate classification of agricultural products can be obtained by using external morphological details. This study presents a machine vision system that classifies turmeric rhizomes into three defined classes based on its origin. The objective of this paper was to classify the varieties of turmeric rhizomes using neural network based classifier. The visible images of the turmeric rhizomes were acquired and imaging techniques such as histogram thresholding and morphological operations were performed on them. The external morphological features such as shape and size showed promising results in automatically classifying the turmeric rhizomes.
Two-Level Forest Model Inversion of Interferometric TanDEM-X Data

© VDE VERLAG GMBH · Berlin · Offenbach, Germany. In this work, a two-level model is inverted and estimates of ground-to-vegetation ratio and level distance are obtained. Interferometric TanDEM-X data acquired over Remningstorp, a hemi-boreal test site situated in southern Sweden are used. Interferograms are flattened through the removal of ground phase, computed from a highresolution digital terrain model. 32 circular, 40-metre radius field plots are used to show that the two estimated model parameters are well-correlated with the lidar-derived parameters vegetation ratio (VR, a canopy density measure) and 95 th -percentile forest height (H95), with the respective Pearson correlation coefficients -0.83 and 0.99. Two new quantitites, IVR and IFH95, are introduced as interferometry-based estimates of VR and H95, with RMSE values 0.68 m and 4.50 percentage points, respectively.
First–year students' intention to stay : engagement and psychological conditions

The aim of this study was to identify whether social support, academic fit, the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability and engagement can predict first-year students’ intention to stay in their educational environment. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was used to achieve the specific research objectives, making use of a convenience sample (n = 304). The measuring instruments were based on the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Psychological Conditions Scale, the Academic Fit Scale, the Work Engagement Scale, and the Intent to Leave Scale. The results indicated that social support did not impact the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability, but had direct and indirect (via academic fit) effects on intention to stay. Academic fit was positively related to the psychological conditions of availability and meaningfulness, and also had a positive relationship with intention to stay. Furthermore, the psychological conditions of availability and meaningfulness had a strong positive relationship with the engagement levels of the first-year students, and engagement was positively related to the students’ intention to stay. Lastly, it was found that the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability mediated the relationship between academic fit and engagement, and engagement mediated the relationship between the psychological conditions of meaningfulness and availability with intention to stay.
Optimal attitude estimation using Set-Valued Observers

An optimal Set-Valued Observer (SVO) for attitude estimation that merges rate gyro readings with body frame vectorial observations is proposed. The observer provides singularity-free estimates and considers sensor readings corrupted by bounded (but unknown) measurement noise. The suggested solution is an alternative method to the ones available in the literature, with the guarantee that the state is inside the estimated set. Optimal estimates are obtained, provided that there is no uncertainty in the angular velocity measurements, whereas the case with noisy rate gyros measurements is addressed by resorting to a relaxation of the problem. The sensor readings are exploited directly in the observer, without intermediate attitude estimate computation. Moreover, the feasibility of the technique is demonstrated in simulation.
SMPFRAME : A Distributed Framework for Scheduled Model Parallel Machine Learning

Machine learning (ML) problems commonly applied to big data by existing distributed systems share and update all ML model parameters at each machine using a partition of data — a strategy known as data-parallel. An alternative and complimentary strategy, model-parallel, partitions model parameters for non-shared parallel access and update, periodically repartitioning to facilitate communication. Model-parallelism is motivated by two challenges that data-parallelism does not usually address: (1) parameters may be dependent, thus naive concurrent updates can introduce errors that slow convergence or even cause algorithm failure; (2) model parameters converge at different rates, thus a small subset of parameters can bottleneck ML algorithm completion. We propose scheduled model parallellism (SMP), a programming approach where selection of parameters to be updated (the schedule) is explicitly separated from parameter update logic. The schedule can improve ML algorithm convergence speed by planning for parameter dependencies and uneven convergence. To support SMP at scale, we develop an archetype software framework SMPFRAME which optimizes the throughput of SMP programs, and benchmark four common ML applications written as SMP programs: LDA topic modeling, matrix factorization, sparse least-squares (Lasso) regression and sparse logistic regression. By improving ML progress per iteration through SMP programming whilst improving iteration throughput through SMPFRAME we show that SMP programs running on SMPFRAME outperform non-model-parallel ML implementations: for example, SMP LDA and SMP Lasso respectively achieve 10x and 5x faster convergence than recent, well-established baselines.
On stationary metrics in five dimensions

It is well-known that the Kerr-metric (rotating black hole in four dimensions) has Petrov type D. We prove a similar property in five dimensions. The Myers-Perry metric (rotating black hole in five dimensions) with one non-zero angular momentum has Petrov type \underline{22}. Conversely, we show that the Myers-Perry solution is unique within a certain restricted class of metrics of Petrov type \underline{22}.
Judicial Politics in the Mexican States: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations

This paper presents a mixed-methods approach to the study of state courts in Mexico, integrating (1) econometric analyses of time-series crosssectional (TSCS) data from all 32 states between 1993 and 2003, (2) quantitative tools for the selection of individual states for in-depth qualitative analysis, and (3) an examination of two states in greater detail. The discussion builds on recent scholarship on “nesting” case studies within large-N research and on quantitative tools for case selection. Thus, the paper offers a substantive illustration of these methods in the study of state politics and judicial change in Mexico, with particular attention to the modifications and opportunities for richer case selection that arise from the TSCS character of the large-N dataset. Although the results identify a positive relationship between political competitiveness and judicial spending, this paper focuses on outlining a methodological framework for the study of state-level judicial performance in Mexico. The framework can be applied to substantive questions regarding other components of court performance, and can also be expanded to study sub-national politics in other federal systems.
Lung cancer staging update: the revised TNM classification

Abstract Staging systems aim to describe malignant tumours in a standardized fashion to assist in therapy planning and estimation of prognosis, allow comparison of different therapeutic strategies, facilitate communication between individuals and institutions, improve our knowledge of malignant disease and ultimately improve the outcome for patients. With the continuous increase in data and, ideally, our understanding of a disease and its potential therapy, every staging system requires continuous adjustment. The TNM staging system by the International Union against Cancer (UICC) is applied worldwide and revised regularly, with intervals aiming at a compromise between up-to-date information on the one hand and providing continuity by avoiding too short-lived revisions on the other hand. The 6th edition was published in 2002 and the 7th edition was published in 2009. The 7th edition became current from January 2010 on.
Treatment preferences among men attending outpatient psychiatric services

Abstract Background: The assumption that men dislike psychotherapy has been espoused by clinicians, health care administrators, and those in the popular media. Whether this assumption holds true among help-seeking men has not been tested. Aims: Treatment preferences of men attending outpatient psychiatric clinics were investigated to assess their willingness to engage in psychotherapy. Methods: In three different studies (total N = 407; 170 men), male and female outpatients completed various self-report measures that assessed their treatment preferences, as well as psychiatric symptoms. Results: Across all three studies, men indicated a preference for psychotherapy over medication or no treatment/wait and see; a preference pattern that did not differ significantly from that of women. The only between-sex difference to emerge regarding preferences was in study 2; a greater proportion of men preferred individual therapy over group therapy compared to women. There were no between-sex differences with regard to symptoms. Conclusions: Contrary to assumptions that portray men, generally, as unwilling or uninterested to engage in psychotherapy, men that have sought mental health services appear to prefer psychotherapy as their intervention of choice to address their mental health problems.
Frequency and Location of Microbleeds in Patients With Primary Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Background and Purpose MRI is known to detect clinically silent microbleeds (MBs) in patients with primary intracerebral hemorrhage (pICH), but the frequency and diagnostic and clinical significance of this finding are still debated. Therefore, we investigated a consecutive series of pICH patients and analyzed the patterns of MB distribution in the context of clinical variables and location of the symptomatic hematoma. Methods The study population consisted of 109 patients with pICH. There were 59 women and 50 men aged 22 to 91 years (mean 64.6 years). MRI was obtained on a 1.5-T system with use of a gradient-echo T2*-weighted sequence. A cohort of 280 community-dwelling asymptomatic elderly individuals who underwent the same imaging protocol served for comparison. Results MBs were seen in 59 (54%) patients and ranged in number from 1 to 90 lesions (mean 14, median 6). In the majority of patients, MBs were located simultaneously in various parts of the brain, with a preference for cortical-subcortical regions (39%) and the basal ganglia/thalami (38%). There was some tendency toward a regional association between MB location and the site of the symptomatic hematoma, but we could not discern specific patterns of MB distribution. Logistic regression analysis identified MBs, periventricular hyperintensity grades, and lacunes but not risk factors as independent variables contributing to a correct classification of pICH and control individuals. Conclusions MBs can be detected in more than half of the patients with pICH and appear to be quite general markers of various types of bleeding-prone microangiopathy.
Physics- and engineering knowledge-based geometry repair system for robust parametric CAD geometries

In modern multi-objective design optimisation, an effective geometry engine is becoming an essential tool and its performance has a significant impact on the entire process. Building a parametric geometry requires difficult compromises between the conflicting goals of robustness and flexibility. The work presents a solution for improving the robustness of parametric geometry models by capturing and modelling relative engineering knowledge into a surrogate model, and deploying it automatically for the search of a more robust design alternative while keeping the original design intent. Design engineers are given the opportunity to choose from a list of optimised designs to balance the robustness of the geometry and the original design intent. The prototype system is firstly tested on a 2D intake design repair example and shows the potential to reduce the reliance on human design experts in the conceptual design phase and improve the stability of the optimisation cycle. It also helps speed up the design process by reducing the time and computational power that could be wasted on flawed geometries or frequent human interferences. A case-study of the proposed repair system based on the design and analysis of a three-dimensional parametric turbine blade model has been set up. An automatic analysis workflow is set up and the results are summarised for setting up a repair database based on surrogate training methods. Positive repair results have been achieved and an automatic repair cycle for the blade model is being set up and tested. The proposed physics and engineering knowledge based geometry repair system for robust parametric geometries proves an effective tool for ensuring automation robustness and design flexibility.
Lorentz Levitation Technology : a New Approach to Fine Motion Robotics , Teleoperation , Haptic Interfaces , and Vibration Isolation

Recently, a new technology for stably levitating and controlling the position and orientation of a rigid body has been introduced. A unique feature is the use of Lorentz forces rather than the usual Maxwell forces as in magnetic bearings. The Lorentz force approach, which uses the force experienced by a conductor in a magnetic eld, is seen to have several advantages. After an initial exploration phase and period of feasibility study, a number of potentially important applications are emerging. Among them are a way to provide ne compliant motion for assembly, to provide high delity force/torque feedback for teleoperation and virtual reality haptic interfaces, and to isolate sensitive payloads from environmental vibrational disturbances, either in space or on earth. In this paper we will discuss recent work intended to demonstrate the e cacy of Lorentz levitation technology for these application areas.
An Interactive Humanoid Robot Exhibiting Flexible Sub-Dialogues

We demonstrate a conversational humanoid robot that allows users to follow their own dialogue structures. Our system uses a hierarchy of reinforcement learning dialogue agents, which support transitions across sub-dialogues in order to relax the strictness of hierarchical control and therefore support flexible interactions. We demonstrate our system with the Nao robot playing two versions of a Quiz game. Whilst language input and dialogue control is autonomous or wizarded, language output is provided by the robot combining verbal and non-verbal contributions. The novel features in our system are (a) the flexibility given to users to navigate flexibly in the interaction; and (b) a framework for investigating adaptive and flexible dialogues.
The Association between Externalizing Behavior Problems, Teacher-Student Relationship Quality, and Academic Performance in Young Urban Learners

The present study examined the relation between teacher ratings of student social functioning and academic performance and teacher-student relationship quality. Data were collected from 230 students and 20 teachers in two high-poverty, low-performing schools in a large urban school district in the Midwest. Students were 93% African American. Teachers were 47.4% African American. Results indicated that the level of externalizing and prosocial behaviors demonstrated by students in kindergarten through third grade significantly influenced the student-teacher relationship quality as measured by the Student-Teacher Relationship Survey-short form. Teacher perceptions of students’ externalizing and prosocial behaviors were influenced, in part, by teacher race. Teacher-student relationship quality had a clinically significant effect on teacher academic ratings of children. Although not conclusive, results seem to indicate a link between externalizing behavior problems and poor student-teacher relationship ratings. Poor student-teacher relationship quality, in turn, is associated with lower academic ratings. Further investigation using larger sample sizes that allow more sophisticated analyses are needed.
Injecting continuous time execution into service-oriented computing

Service-Oriented Computing is a computing paradigm that utilizes services as fundamental elements to support rapid, low-cost development of distributed applications in heterogeneous environments. In Service-Oriented Computing, a service is defined as an independent and autonomous piece of functionality which can be described, published, discovered and used in a uniform way. SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language is developed in the IST-FET integrated project. It provides a formal abstraction for services at the business level. Hybrid systems arise in embedded control when components that perform discrete changes are coupled with components that perform continuous processes. Normally, the discrete changes can be modeled by finite-state machines and the continuous processes can be modeled by differential equations. In an abstract point of view, hybrid systems are mixtures of continuous dynamics and discrete events. Hybrid systems are studied in different research areas. In the computer science area, a hybrid system is modeled as a discrete computer program interacting with an analog environment. In this thesis, we inject continuous time execution into Service-Oriented Computing by giving a formal abstraction for hybrid systems at the business level in a Service-Oriented point of view, and develop a method for formal verifications. In order to achieve the first part of this goal, we make a hybrid extension of Service-Oriented Doubly Labeled Transition Systems, named with Service-Oriented Hybrid Doubly Labeled Transition Systems, make an extension of the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language and interpret it over Service-Oriented Hybrid Doubly Labeled Transition Systems. To achieve the second part of this goal, we adopt Temporal Dynamic Logic formulas and a set of sequent calculus rules for verifying the formulas, and develop a method for transforming the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language specification of a certain service module into the respective Temporal Dynamic Logic formulas that could be verified. Moreover, we provide a case study of a simplified small part of the European Train Control System which is specified and verified with the approach introduced above. We also provide an approach of implementing the case study model with the IBM Websphere Process Server, which is a comprehensive Service-Oriented Architecture integration platform and provides support for the Service Component Architecture programming model. In order to realize this approach, we also provide functions that map models specified with the SENSORIA Reference Modeling Language to Websphere Process Server applications.
THROUGHPUT OPTIMIZATION FOR MIMO SYSTEMS BASED ON CROSS-LAYER DESIGN

Based on cross-layer design, an optimization method was proposed, which combined the adaptive modulation and coding with symbol rate at the physi cal layer, and the packet size and sub-packet numbe r at the data link layer. The parameters were jointly op timized to maximize the MIMO system throughput in the Rayleigh fading channel. Numerical results reveal t hat the optimization method can be adapted to the t imevarying wireless channel and greatly improve the th roughput compared with separate layer design. Besid es, under prescribed error performance constraint, the larger the maximum number of transmissions, the higher the throughput. A small number of transmissions can offer a desirable delay-throughput tradeoff in pra ctice.
Application of feature tracking in a vision based human machine interface for Xbox

This paper presents a vision based human machine interface (HMI) for the Xbox. It applies feature tracking algorithms to recognize user's head gestures and translates them into commands for the game. The pyramidal implementation of Lucas Kanade feature tracking is used to trace the optical flows in a sequence of frames. The experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed vision based interface, which has reasonable performance comparing with the standard game pad.
An Analysis of Precipitation Isotope Distributions across Namibia Using Historical Data

Global precipitation isoscapes based on the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP) network are an important toolset that aid our understanding of global hydrologic cycles. Although the GNIP database is instrumental in developing global isoscapes, data coverage in some regions of hydrological interest (e.g., drylands) is low or non-existent thus the accuracy and relevance of global isoscapes to these regions is debatable. Capitalizing on existing literature isotope data, we generated rainfall isoscapes for Namibia (dryland) using the cokriging method and compared it to a globally fitted isoscape (GFI) downscaled to country level. Results showed weak correlation between observed and predicted isotope values in the GFI model (r2 < 0.20) while the cokriging isoscape showed stronger correlation (r2 = 0.67). The general trend of the local cokriging isoscape is consistent with synoptic weather systems (i.e., influences from Atlantic Ocean maritime vapour, Indian Ocean maritime vapour, Zaire Air Boundary, the Intertropical Convergence Zone and Tropical Temperate Troughs) and topography affecting the region. However, because we used the unweighted approach in this method, due to data scarcity, the absolute values could be improved in future studies. A comparison of local meteoric water lines (LMWL) constructed from the cokriging and GFI suggested that the GFI model still reflects the global average even when downscaled. The cokriging LMWL was however more consistent with expectations for an arid environment. The results indicate that although not ideal, for data deficient regions such as many drylands, the unweighted cokriging approach using historical local data can be an alternative approach to modelling rainfall isoscapes that are more relevant to the local conditions compared to using downscaled global isoscapes.