Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Automatic detection of early blight infection on tomato crops using a color based classification strategy

This work presents a Computer Vision prototype strategy for the automatic detection of mycotic infections on tomato crops. This Computer Vision method is based on the characterization of tomato leaflets (both healthy and early blight-infected regions of interest - ROIs) by color description (MPEG-7 standard descriptors). A small size ROI collection manually annotated by experts is used for both training and testing of a simple classifier (1-NN). The performance of each descriptor under study (Color Structure Descriptor, CSD; Color Layout descriptor, CLD; and Scalable Color Descriptor, SCD) is analysed by a nested-leave-one-out cross validation. The inner loop permits a individual descriptor configuration evaluation, while the outer loop yields an average performance comparison between different descriptors. Our results show that CSD had a better performance than SCD and CLD.
Prejudice by Any Other Name: Conditional Support of Gay Males by Heterosexuals

ii Acknowledgements . iv List of Tables . viii Chapter I: Introduction . 1 Chapter II: Literature Review . 7 Research on Sexual Prejudice . 8 Positive Attitudes Toward Sexual Minorities (Allophila) . 15 Emotions . 20 Tolerance, Acceptance, or Affirmation . 24 Conditional Support . 26 Focused Summary of Study . 31 Chapter II: Research Hypotheses . 33 Chapter IV: Method . 35 Participants . 35 Measures . 43 Stimulus Materials . 46 Procedure . 48
Semantic question answering system over linked data using relational patterns

Question answering is the task of answering questions in natural language. Linked Data project and Semantic Web community made it possible for us to query structured knowledge bases like DBpedia and YAGO. Only expert users, however, with the knowledge of RDF and ontology definitions can build correct SPARQL queries for querying knowledge bases formally. In this paper, we present a method for mapping natural language questions to ontology-based structured queries to retrieve direct answers from open knowledge bases (linked data). Our tool is based on translating natural language questions into RDF triple patterns using the dependency tree of the question text. In addition, our method uses relational patterns extracted from the Web. We tested our tool using questions from QALD-2, Question Answering over Linked Data challenge track and found promising preliminary results.
Positional Analysis in Fuzzy Social Networks

Social network analysis is a methodology used extensively in social and behavioral sciences, as well as in political science, economics, organization theory, and industrial engineering. Positional analysis of a social network aims to find similarities between actors in the network. One of the the most studied notions in the positional analysis of social networks is regular equivalence. According to Borgatti and Everett, two actors are regularly equivalent if they are equally related to equivalent others. In recent years, fuzzy social networks have also received considerable attention because they can represent both the qualitative relationship and the degrees of interaction between actors. In this paper, we generalize the notion of regular equivalence to fuzzy social networks based on two alternative definitions of regular equivalence. While these two definitions are equivalent for social networks, they induce different generalizations for fuzzy social networks. The first generalization, called regular similarity, is based on the characterization of regular equivalence as an equivalence relation that commutes with the underlying social relations. The regular similarity is then a fuzzy binary relation that specifies the degree of similarity between actors in the social network. The second generalization, called generalized regular equivalence, is based on the definition of role assignment or coloring. A role assignment (resp. coloring) is a mapping from the set of actors to a set of roles (resp. colors). The mapping is regular if actors assigned to the same role have the same roles in their neighborhoods. Consequently, generalized regular equivalence is an equivalence relation that can determine the role partition of the actors in a fuzzy social network.
A New Role for Lipocalin Prostaglandin D Synthase in the Regulation of Brown Adipose Tissue Substrate Utilization

In this study, we define a new role for lipocalin prostaglandin D synthase (L-PGDS) in the control of metabolic fuel utilization by brown adipose tissue (BAT). We demonstrate that L-PGDS expression in BAT is positively correlated with BAT activity, upregulated by peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor γ coactivator 1α or 1β and repressed by receptor-interacting protein 140. Under cold-acclimated conditions, mice lacking L-PGDS had elevated reliance on carbohydrate to provide fuel for thermogenesis and had increased expression of genes regulating glycolysis and de novo lipogenesis in BAT. These transcriptional differences were associated with increased lipid content in BAT and a BAT lipid composition enriched with de novo synthesized lipids. Consistent with the concept that lack of L-PGDS increases glucose utilization, mice lacking L-PGDS had improved glucose tolerance after high-fat feeding. The improved glucose tolerance appeared to be independent of changes in insulin sensitivity, as insulin levels during the glucose tolerance test and insulin, leptin, and adiponectin levels were unchanged. Moreover, L-PGDS knockout mice exhibited increased expression of genes involved in thermogenesis and increased norepinephrine-stimulated glucose uptake to BAT, suggesting that sympathetically mediated changes in glucose uptake may have improved glucose tolerance. Taken together, these results suggest that L-PGDS plays an important role in the regulation of glucose utilization in vivo.
More than Meets the Eye: The Effect of Missing Information on Purchase Evaluations

Information integration models have generally assumed that individuals making evaluations ignore attributes for which no information is available. However, recent evidence indicates that individuals make inferences about missing information and that these inferences have a predictable influence on the evaluations being made. The present study required individuals to evaluate television purchases, which were described by varying amounts of information—the greater the amount of missing information, the less favorable the evaluation. The evaluations' results are reported, as are the nonconfigural effects of the relationships among multiple attributes. Finally, the implications of this research for theory and marketing strategy are discussed.
Compact current and current noise models for single-electron tunneling transistors

This paper presents an analytic current model for capacitively coupled single-electron tunneling transistors (SETTs) that is based on a modified M-state steady-state master equation. Based on this current model we also derive a current noise model for SETT. To validate the proposed models we calculate their characteristics at different device parameters and different operation temperatures and compare them with the corresponding characteristics calculated by the full master equation method. The results indicate that the proposed models with M=3 fit well with the full master equation method at arbitrary device parameters when T<0.1 e/sup 2//k/sub B/C and V/sub DS/<10 e/C. Due to their simplicity and accuracy in a wide range of working conditions (arbitrary device parameters, T<0.1 e/sup 2//k/sub B/C and V/sub DS/<10 e/C) the proposed current and noise models can be utilized in large-scale circuit simulation.
The Comparative Study of Learning from 1994-2013

The study of learning has long held a central position in the field of comparative psychology. Here we present a survey of the past 20 years of comparative learning research, covering publications from 1994 to 2013. We selected seven journals with a strong focus on comparative learning, and identified five major topics of study represented by the publications in those journals: non-associative learning, associative learning, perceptual/object learning, social learning, and neural correlates of learning. Of these topics, associative learning was by far the most popular, comprising about 85% of the research in comparative learning. We therefore subdivided this topic into seven subcategories of research questions, which included causal reasoning, compound cue interactions, extinction, stimulus control, outcome learning and motivation, spatial learning, and temporal integration or timing. The number of publications addressing each topic or research question, as well as the number of citations received by these publications, was examined for the combined seven journals across the 20 year period of review. The subject of spatial learning has grown rapidly over the past 20 years, and has attracted robust interest by researchers both in and outside of the field of comparative psychology. Although much less popular in terms of publication number, recent growth was also identified for studies of causal reasoning, social learning, and perceptual or object learning.
Development of a model for surveillance and control of flaviviruses in human population.

Th e aim of this study is development of a model for monitoring and control of vector-transmitted diseases, which manifest increasing tendency during the last few decades. Th e main infection reservoirs are domestic and wild animals as well as various birds, and the disease is transmitted to humans indirectly - by vectors. Recently detected epidemics of Dengue virus, Chikungunya and West Nile virus in countries where these diseases are not common strongly indicate the expansion of infections transmitted by mosquitoes and other vectors, and are the consequence of climatic changes, international trade and travelling. Currently, there are neither vaccines nor specifi c antiviral therapy for these infections, while the eff orts put on vector control did not halt the rapid increase and global spread of the disease. Serological studies and molecular investigation on humans, mosquitoes, horses and birds have suggested the activity of fl aviviruses in Serbia. Th e obtained information on fl avivirus infections in our region are of use in modelling the control and vector monitoring and the prevention of these infections in humans.
Internet access and use in domestic violence shelters: Policy, capacity, and management barriers

• Summary: Domestic violence agency administrators struggle to incorporate the Internet safely and effectively into their intimate partner violence (IPV) services. This study utilizes two data gathering tools to identify administrative concerns and web content in the 91 Texas shelters. The first research stage employed a mixed-methods questionnaire (89% response rate) to identify managers’ Internet use patterns and managerial needs. In the second stage, all shelter web sites (65) were submitted to a multi-context content analysis. • Findings: Overall, findings indicate that administrators see a serious need for basic administrative support tools (e.g. policies and training materials) and the development of cyber-safety resources (e.g. online stalking tips). Administrators view the Internet’s potential for increasing staff efficiency and clients’ sense of self-efficacy as worthwhile. Questionnaire findings indicate that 66 percent of directors need a means of helping clients learn to do their own information-seeking, only 54 percent have a written policy, and 46 percent have no in-house training at all. Web site findings indicate that 61 percent of the sites lacked minimal cyber-safety information despite administrative concerns about cyber-stalking. • Applications: IPV shelter administrators’ two Internet utility criteria, service priorities and resources, privilege implementation barriers and ignore the embedded expectations of communication and resource support. By shifting from a shelter-based Internet perspective to a user-generated perspective, administrators can integrate clients’ expectations with the shelter’s options. The resultant conceptual framework for Internet integration posits the lived information experience as managers’ basis for shaping social communication, resource generation, information seeking, and decision-making.
DECOVER – GEOINFORMATION SERVICES TO UPDATE AND SUPPLEMENT LAND COVER DATA FOR GERMAN DECISION MAKERS

There is a growing need for consistent and up to date land cover data at various scales by regional, national and European authorities. Main drivers are recent or upcoming European directives and initiatives, which contain increasingly spatially differentiated monitoring and reporting obligations in agriculture, environmental protection, water management, soil protection or spatial planning. DeCOVER is a national research project to develop and demonstrate innovative and cost-efficient geo-information services to address this growing need in Germany. The DeCOVER consortium consists of eleven partners and is co-funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWI) via the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The expected services will support the implementation of European directives at various scales and are developed in close cooperation with key decision makers and in exchange with European developments within the framework of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. DeCOVER also acts as a SDIC (Spatial Data Interest Community) within the INSPIRE process to take into account these recent infrastructure developments. In summary the main objectives of DeCOVER are to: • develop a service concept of core services and additional services to provide land cover information based on user needs at various scales • employ latest ontology-based semantic interoperability techniques to define interoperability potential between different land cover data bases • improve existing land cover data sets by use of change detection methods • increase information depth using optical and radar satellite data (data fusion)
Automated Activity Recognition in Clinical Documents

We describe a first experiment on the identification and extraction of computerinterpretable guideline (CIG) components (activities, actors and consumed artifacts) from clinical documents, based on clinical entity recognition techniques. We rely on MetaMap and the UMLS Metathesaurus to provide lexical information, and study the impact of clinical document syntax and semantics on activity recognition.
A Density based Priority Queue Strategy to Evaluate Iceberg Queries Efficiently using Compressed Bitmap Indices

iceberg query is a special class of aggregation query that computes aggregated values upon user interested threshold (T). The bitmap index is a common data structure for fast retrieval of matching tuples from data base table. These resultant tuples are useful to compute aggregations such as SUM, COUNT, AVG, MIN, MAX, and RANK. In this paper, we propose a density based bitmap pruning strategy to evaluate iceberg queries efficiently using compressed bitmap indices. The strategy prioritizes the vectors to be enter in to priority queue by allowing high density of 1's count that achieve optimal pruning effect. Extensive experimentation demonstrates our proposed approach is much more efficient than existing strategy.
The perceptions, expectations, fears and needs of chemically dependent youth in a rehabilitation centre about being reintegrated into their family systems

Drug abuse is a very common problem these days; and this problem is especially rampant among the young people of South Africa. Early problems in family management, the antisocial behaviour of the child, and peer pressure and rejection ignite the early onset of substance abuse. Treatment programmes and therapeutic methods to treat chemical dependency are available and utilised, but the high relapse rate and lack of support from family members and dysfunctional families, as well as the fears and challenges expressed by in-patient youth about being reintegrated with their families and a lack of supporting literature in this regard remain a cause for concern and need to be considered by the social work profession in order to plan effective intervention strategies. In response to this situation a research project was undertaken with the purpose of exploring and describing the perceptions, expectations, fears and needs of chemically dependent youth in a rehabilitation centre about being integrated into their family systems in an attempt to forward recommendations to assist social workers in rendering effective therapeutic services to service users in rehabilitation centres who have a substance abuse problem. A qualitative approach was utilised following an explorative, descriptive and contextual research design. The study was conducted at an in-patient rehabilitation centre called the Dr Fabian and Florence Ribeiro Treatment Centre in Cullinan, Gauteng Province in South Africa. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. A sample of participants was selected by using purposive sampling from a population of service users in the Dr Fabian and Florence Ribeiro Centre who are chemically dependent. Data were analysed according to the framework provided by Tesch (cited in Creswell, 2003). Guba‘s model (cited in Krefting, 1991) was employed for data verification. The research findings point to the fact that participants had both negative and positive perceptions about going back to their respective families. On the one hand, there were negative perceptions shared. These were founded on a feeling of worry about the fact that their families criticised them a lot or that their families would not accept that they had changed, would still treat them like addicts, and not trust them. Furthermore, they feared relapse, triggers in their environment and family members who were abusing a substance. On the other hand, some participants perceived the reintegration with their families, following treatment, in a positive light as they were looking forward to joining them again after being in
Quantum Voronoi diagrams and Holevo channel capacity for 1-qubit quantum states

In this paper, we first introduce a smooth parametric family of Bregman-Csiszar quantum entropies including the von Neumann and Burg quantum entropies. We then describe the dualistic nature of Voronoi diagrams for 1-qubit quantum states inside the 3D Bloch ball representation. We show that these diagrams can be computed as Bregman Voronoi diagrams for the corresponding Bregman generator acting on Hermitian density matrices. This implies that these dual diagrams can be derived from power diagrams of balls in the Laguerre geometry, and allows one to prove by equivalence that the von Neumann quantum Voronoi diagram on the degenerated Bloch sphere of pure quantum states coincides with the ordinary Euclidean Voronoi diagram, bypassing the fact that the quantum divergence is not defined there. We then show how to compute the Holevo channel capacity of 1-qubit quantum states, and provide a practical approximation algorithm based on Bregman core-sets. Finally, we define the quantum sided centroids that yield practical upper bounds on the Holevo capacity in linear time.
Wide-area Network Acceleration for the Developing World

Wide-area network (WAN) accelerators operate by compressing redundant network traffic from point-to-point communications, enabling higher effective bandwidth. Unfortunately, while network bandwidth is scarce and expensive in the developing world, current WAN accelerators are designed for enterprise use, and are a poor fit in these environments. We present Wanax, a WAN accelerator designed for developing-world deployments. It uses a novel multiresolution chunking (MRC) scheme that provides high compression rates and high disk performance for a variety of content, while using much less memory than existing approaches. Wanax exploits the design of MRC to perform intelligent load shedding to maximize throughput when running on resource-limited shared platforms. Finally, Wanax exploits the mesh network environments being deployed in the developing world, instead of just the star topologies common in enterprise branch offices.
The short version of service-learning involvement scale: The study of linguistic equivalence, validity and reliability

The aim of the study is to adapt “Short Version of Scale of Service Learning Involvement” (SSLI), developed by Olney and Grande in 1995, into Turkish and report the validity and reliability studies. Pre-service teachers (n= 313) enrolled to a community service learning course in a public university in Turkey, and completed SSLI. Results of language equivalency showed that the correlation coefficients between Turkish and English forms ranged between . 41 to . 86. Results of exploratory factor analysis showed that the scale which was reduced to 30 items from 64 items and the 30 items loaded on three factors. The total variance explained was 43.3 % and factor loadings ranged between . 33 to . 65. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three factors structure of the SV-SSLI provided a good fit to the observed data. The internal consistency reliability coefficient of the scale was found as . 85 and the test-retest reliability coefficient was found as . 81. Based upon the results of the validity and reliability studies, it was determined that the adapted Turkish form of the inventory is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to determine the social responsibility levels of pre-service teachers and their views about the community service learning in teacher training curriculum and their social responsibility levels through service-learning.
An automated camera calibration framework for desktop vision systems

Camera calibration is one of the fundamental problems of machine vision. There have been lots of efforts for providing autonomous calibration algorithms. One of the major problems that put up barrier toward autonomy is feature detection and extraction. In this paper, the architecture of an autonomous camera calibration framework is studied. The autonomy of calibration framework originates in its hardware setup. The applied setup makes automatic feature detection and extraction possible. It is shown that the calibration framework is accurate.
Intercultural interactions of mono-cultural, mono-lingual local students in small group learning activities: a Bourdieusian analysis

This research examines the understandings and experiences of mono-cultural, mono-lingual local students in relation to intercultural interactions within small group learning activities at university. Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus and capital are employed to illuminate a number of barriers to intercultural interaction. Using qualitative analysis of interviews with local students, the study revealed intercultural interactions to be co-shaped by multiple co-existing, interdependent and often competing structural and contextual elements, as well as the personal dispositions that students bring to the classroom. The field tends to privilege the capital held by local students (knowledge of small group work, verbal confidence, language), and imposes structural limits on interactions. While students' habitus mediates this effect, the overall result discourages interactions between local students and those from different cultural backgrounds. Implications for universities are discussed.