Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Document Classification and Page Stream Segmentation for Digital Mailroom Applications

In this paper we present a method for the segmentation of continuous page streams into multipage documents and the simultaneous classification of the resulting documents. We first present an approach to combine the multiple pages of a document into a single feature vector that represents the whole document. Despite its simplicity and low computational cost, the proposed representation yields results comparable to more complex methods in multipage document classification tasks. We then exploit this representation in the context of page stream segmentation. The most plausible segmentation of a page stream into a sequence of multipage documents is obtained by optimizing a statistical model that represents the probability of each segmented multipage document belonging to a particular class. Experimental results are reported on a large sample of real administrative multipage documents.
Improved boomerang attacks on round-reduced SM3 and keyed permutation of BLAKE-256

In this study, the authors study the security of hash functions SM3 and BLAKE-256 against boomerang attack. SM3 is designed by Wang et al. and published by Chinese Commercial Cryptography Administration Office for the use of electronic certification service system in China. BLAKE is one of the five finalists of the NIST SHA-3 competition submitted by Aumasson et al. For SM3, they present boomerang distinguishers for the compression function reduced to 34/35/36/37 steps out of 64 steps, with time complexities 231.4, 233.6, 273.4 and 2192, respectively. Then, they show some incompatible problems existed in the previous boomerang attacks on SM3. Meanwhile, they launch boomerang attacks on up to 7- and 8-round keyed permutation of BLAKE-256, which are the first valid 7-round and 8-round boomerangs for BLAKE-256. Especially, since the author's distinguishers on 34/35-steps compression function of SM3 and 7-round keyed permutation of BLAKE-256 are practical, they are able to obtain boomerang quartets of these attacks. As far as they know, these are the best results against round-reduced SM3 and BLAKE-256.
National identity and regional development: Cornwall and the campaign for Objective 1 funding

The politics of identity is important within regional and governance policy debates, becoming a mechanism for ‘filling in’ the democratic gaps left by the hollowing out of the state, with much discourse about constructing identities for governance purposes. This raises questions about the feasibility of processes of identity construction, and whether it starts from new, or builds on existing identities. We use the case study of the Cornish campaign for Objective 1 EU structural funding, engaging directly with modernist versus ethnosymbolist accounts of nationalism, to explore the binary between instrumental, constructed identities and more phenomenological accounts.
Monte Carlo modelling of singles-mode transmission data for small animal PET scanners

The attenuation corrections factors (ACFs), which are necessary for quantitatively accurate PET imaging, can be obtained using singles-mode transmission scanning. However, contamination from scatter is a largely unresolved problem for these data. We present an extension of the Monte Carlo simulation tool, GATE, for singles-mode transmission data and its validation using experimental data from the microPET R4 and Focus 120 scanners. We first validated our simulated PET scanner for coincidence-mode data where we found that experimental resolution and scatter fractions (SFs) agreed well for simulations that included positron interactions and scatter in the source material. After modifying GATE to model singles-mode data, we compared simulated and experimental ACFs and SFs for three different sized water cylinders using 57Co (122 keV photon emitter) and 68Ge (positron emitter) transmission sources. We also propose a simple correction for a large background contamination we identified in the 68Ge singles-mode data due to intrinsic 176Lu radioactivity present in the detector crystals. For simulation data, the SFs agreed to within 1.5% and 2.5% of experimental values for background-corrected 68Ge and 57Co transmission data, respectively. This new simulation tool accurately models the photon interactions and data acquisition for singles-mode transmission scans.
MRI Denoising Using Randomized Version of Nonlocal Means Method

Non-local mean (NLM ) algorithm has been implemented effectively in MRI denoising and is always limited by its computational complexity. To reduce the computational burden of NLM in 3D MRI dataset, in this paper, we used a randomized version of NLM algorithm to remove the noise in MRI data. The random NLM algorithm seeds up the classical NLM by computing a small subset of image patch distances, which are randomly select according to the uniform sampling pattern. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the random NLM can achieve a competitive denoising result at a low sampling rate (0.05) in 3D MRI dataset while reducing the runtime dramatically.
The Risk Preferences of U.S. Executives

In this paper, I elicit risk attitudes of U.S. executives by calibrating a subjective option valuation model for option exercising data 1996 to 2008, yielding approximately 65,000 values of relative risk aversion RRA for almost 7,000 executives. The observed behavior is generally consistent with moderate risk aversion and a median mean RRA close to one three. Values are validated for chief executive officers CEOs by testing theory-based predictions on the influence of individual characteristics on risk preferences such as gender, marital status, religiosity, and intelligence. Senior managers such as CEOs, presidents, and chairpersons of the boards of directors are significantly less risk averse than non-senior executives. RRA heterogeneity is strongly correlated with sector membership and firm-level variables such as size, performance, and capital structure. Alternative factors influencing option exercises are tested for their influence on RRA values. This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance.
Input-Power and Polarization Insensitive All-Optical Wavelength Converter With Monolithically Integrated Monitor PD and Gain-Controlled SOA

This paper presents a polarization-insensitive semiconductor optical amplifier Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (SOA-MZI) wavelength converter with a wide dynamic range. Direct detection of the wavelength-converted output signal power and feedback control of the signal power input to the SOA-MZI are proposed and are confirmed to be able to reduce the variation with input signal power and polarization. The gain-controlled SOA (GC-SOA) and monitor PD used to implement the feedback control are monolithically integrated into the SOA-MZI wavelength converter. A dynamic range of over 8 dB is obtained for TE and TM polarized input signals NRZ modulated at 43 Gb/s under feedback control, 7 dB better than with no feedback.
A model for estimating trace-sample miss ratios

Unknown references, also known as cold-start misses, arise during trace-driven simulation of uniprocessor caches because of the unknown initial conditions. Accurately estimating the miss ratio of unknown references, denoted by &mu;, is particularly important when simulating large caches with short trace samples, since many references may be unknown.In this paper we make three contributions regarding &mu;. First, we provide empirical evidence that &mu; is much larger than the overall miss ratio (e.g., 0.40 vs. 0.02). Prior work suggests that they should be the same. Second, we develop a model that explains our empirical results for long trace samples. In our model, each block frame is either live, if its next reference will hit, or dead, if its next reference will miss. We model each block frame as an alternating renewal process, and use the renewal-reward theorem to show that &mu; is simply the fraction of time block frames are dead. Finally, we extend the model to handle short trace samples and use it to develop several estimators of &mu;. Trace-driven simulation results show these estimators lead to better estimates of overall miss ratios than do previous methods.
The Evolution of National Wildlife Law

From the combination of knowledge and actions, someone can improve their skill and ability. It will lead them to live and work much better. This is why, the students, workers, or even employers should have reading habit for books. Any book will give certain knowledge to take all benefits. This is what this evolution of national wildlife law tells you. It will add more knowledge of you to life and work better. Try it and prove it.
Deepening Development Ethics: From Economism to Human Development to Human Security

Development ethics as practice-oriented thought has arisen at an intersection of theorising about norms and values with various streams of experience. New ethical questions are now triggered by changes that accompany the process of globalisation. The latter has tended to erode national boundaries, create new spaces and practices, and generate simultaneously new opportunities and forms of suffering. These emerging ethical questions require a corresponding social analysis and additional sources of ethical thought. In this paper, we will trace the progress of development ethics and suggest that the field would benefit from linkages to ethical traditions that emphasise the transformation of consciousness and attitudes in service of human security as a higher goal. We show the value of the addition to the human development discourse of ‘human security’, particularly its motivational basis and focus on right. But both human development and human security discourses require a further consolidation by way of greater focus on sources of ethical commitment and recognition of others as fellow human beings.L'éthique du développement en tant que pensée orientée vers la pratique naît de la rencontre d'une réflexion théorique sur les normes et les valeurs avec divers courants d'expériences. L'émergence de nouvelles questions relatives à l'éthique du développement est provoquée par des changements qui accompagnent la mondialisation. Cette dernière tend à éroder l'autonomie des nations, crée de nouveaux espaces et pratiques, et génère à la fois de nouvelles opportunités et formes de souffrance. Ces questions nécessitent une analyse sociale adequate ainsi que le recours à des analyses ethiques complémentaires. Dans cet article, nous suivons l'évolution de l'éthique du développement. Ce champ devrait bénéficier de liens avec les traditions éthiques qui mettent l'accent sur la transformation des consciences et des comportements au service de la sécurité humaine en tant que finalité. Nous évaluons positivement la contribution du discours sur la ‘sécurité humaine’ à celui sur le développement humain, notamment ses ressorts motivationnels, ainsi que l'attention envers les droits de l'Homme. Cependant, les deux discours ont besoin d'être consolidés par une plus grande attention aux raisons de l'engagement éthique et par la reconnaissance d'autrui en tant qu'être humain.
Functional Importance of Three Basic Residues Clustered at the Cytosolic Interface of Transmembrane Helix 15 in the Multidrug and Organic Anion Transporter MRP1 (ABCC1)*

The multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) mediates drug and organic anion efflux across the plasma membrane. The 17 transmembrane (TM) helices of MRP1 are linked by extracellular and cytoplasmic (CL) loops of various lengths and two cytoplasmic nucleotide binding domains. In this study, three basic residues clustered at the predicted TM15/CL7 interface were investigated for their role in MRP1 expression and activity. Thus, Arg1138, Lys1141, and Arg1142 were replaced with residues of the same or opposite charge, expressed in human embryonic kidney cells, and the properties of the mutant proteins were assessed. Neither Glu nor Lys substitutions of Arg1138 and Arg1142 affected MRP1 expression; however, all four mutants showed a decrease in organic anion transport with a relatively greater decrease in leukotriene C4 and glutathione transport. These mutations also modulated MRP1 ATPase activity as reflected by a decreased vanadate-induced trapping of 8-azido-[32P]ADP. Mutation of Lys1141 to either Glu or Arg reduced MRP1 expression, and routing to the plasma membrane was impaired. However, only the Glu-substituted Lys1141 mutant showed a decrease in organic anion transport, and this was associated with decreased substrate binding and vanadate-induced trapping of 8-azido-ADP. These studies identified a cluster of basic amino acids likely at the TM15/CL7 interface as a region important for both MRP1 expression and activity and demonstrated that each of the three residues plays a distinct role in the substrate specificity and catalytic activity of the transporter.
One-size-fits-all Roma?: On the normative dilemmas of the emerging European Roma policy

The article discusses three moral and political dilemmas that arise in the context of the emerging European Roma policy, and on which all concerned parties, including grassroots Romani organisations, should be able to express their views. The first dilemma is whether anti-discrimination measures based on universal individual rights are sufficient to promote the social inclusion of Roma, or whether policies based on group-differentiated minority rights are required to ensure the exercise of their fundamental human rights. Even though there appears to be a consensus on the insufficiency of the former approach, it is unclear exactly what kinds of minority rights should be promoted, which leads us to the second dilemma: generic versus targeted minority rights. The third dilemma is whether to recognise Roma as a national minority or as a non-territorial nation. The article argues that the notion of non-territorial nation can be debated on anthropological, political and moral grounds.
Object Recognition by a Mobile Robot using Omni-directional Vision

This paper proposes a new method for recognizing typical objects found in indoor office environments (tables, chairs, etc.,) by a mobile robot equipped with an omni-directional vision sensor, without requiring any pre-installed geometric models of objects. The approach utilizes the motion of the robot to acquire an internal representation of a given object using “structure from motion” or optic flow. First, a set of low-level point features are selected from the segmented area of the image containing the object. The low-level features are tracked by a set of independent Kalman filters as the robot moves through the environment, in order to extract the 3D positions of these points. A set of high-level features is then extracted for input to a pattern recognition system, based on the spatial distribution of the low-level point features. The same feature extraction method is then applied for recognition of the learned objects. Results are presented for some first experiments on a real robot in a laboratory environment.
Assessment of heart rate variability derived from finger-tip photoplethysmography as compared to electrocardiography

Heart rate variability (HRV) is traditionally derived from RR interval time series of electrocardiography (ECG). Photoplethysmography (PPG) also reflects the cardiac rhythm since the mechanical activity of the heart is coupled to its electrical activity. Thus, theoretically, PPG can be used for determining the interval between successive heartbeats and heart rate variability. However, the PPG wave lags behind the ECG signal by the time required for transmission of pulse wave. In this study, finger-tip PPG and standard lead II ECG were recorded for five minutes from 10 healthy subjects at rest. The results showed a high correlation (median = 0.97) between the ECG-derived RR intervals and PPG-derived peak-to-peak (PP) intervals. PP variability was accurate (0.1 ms) as compared to RR variability. The time domain, frequency domain and Poincaré plot HRV parameters computed using RR interval method and PP interval method showed no significant differences (p < 0.05). The error analysis also showed insignificant differences between the HRV indices obtained by the two methods. Bland-Altman analysis showed high degree of agreement between the two methods for all the parameters of HRV. Thus, HRV can also be reliably estimated from the PPG based PP interval method.
Container-based Virtualization for HPC

Experts argue that the resource demands of High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters request bare-metal installations. The performance loss of container virtualization is minimal and close to bare-metal, but in comparison has many advantages, like ease of provisioning. This paper presents the use of the newly adopted container technology and its multiple conceptional advantages for HPC, compared to traditional bare-metal installations or the use of VMs. The setup based on Docker (Docker, 2015) shows a possible use in private HPC sites or public clouds as well. The paper ends with a performance comparison of a FEA job run both bare-metal and using Docker and a detailed risk analysis of Docker installations in a multi-tenant environment, as HPC sites usually are.
Data analysis and laboratory investigation of the behaviour of pipes buried in reactive clay

Derek Chan Faculty of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia J.K. Kodikara Faculty of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Scott Gould Faculty of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia & CSIRO Division of Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia P.G. Ranjith Faculty of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Xavier S. K. Choi CSIRO Division of Petroleum Resources, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Paul Davis CSIRO Division of Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Big-bang simulation for embedding network distances in Euclidean space

Embedding of a graph metric in Euclidean space efficiently and accurately is an important problem in general with applications in topology aggregation, closest mirror selection, and application level routing. We propose a new graph embedding scheme called Big-Bang Simulation (BBS), which simulates an explosion of particles under a force field derived from embedding error. BBS is shown to be significantly more accurate compared to all other embedding methods, including GNP. We report an extensive simulation study of BBS compared with several known embedding schemes and show its advantage for distance estimation (as in the IDMaps project), mirror selection, and topology aggregation.
Proximity coupled stacked circular disc microstrip antenna with reduced size and enhanced bandwidth using DGS for WLAN/WiMAX applications

A compact proximity fed stacked circular disc microstrip antenna (SCDMA) with dumbbell shaped circular head DGS has been proposed in this work. Proposed DGS structure enhances bandwidth by 204%, reduced average area of both circular patches by 58%, increases radiation efficiency by 30.7% and also improves VSWR by 17%. The simulated antenna exhibits 6.24 dB gain at 5.53 GHz operating frequency and has bandwidth 5.20 to 5.94 GHz, which satisfy two licensed bands (5.25-5.85 GHz); (5.725-5.8 GHz). These bands are suitable for WLAN and WiMAX applications respectively. This paper includes 2D radiation patterns with E plane and H plane, VSWR and return loss of SCDMA with DGS structure. The design and optimization of SCDMA with and without DGS were carried using CST Microwave Studio V.9.
The role of perceptions of friendships and peers in learning skills in physical education

Background: Most research on how children learn when using the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach has focused on cognitive dimensions in teaching games models. A social constructivist perspective suggests, however, that learning also takes place during social interactions. Since the process of learning game skills tends to have a relational dimension, researchers need to understand children's affective responses and how they situate their skill learning in games in relationship to their classmates. Purpose: To explore children's perceptions of collaboration, group formations, and friendships while learning a modified baseball game situated in social constructivist learning. Specifically, we focused on how children perceived the role that the social context, especially friends and classmates, plays in learning skills and strategies. Participants and setting: The children (N = 25), aged 12–13, were in their first year of secondary school and were taught in a TGfU baseball unit. They participated in eight small focus groups to talk about their experiences in a modified baseball game. Data analysis: The constant comparative method was used to collect data in which drawings were used as cues for focus group discussions about interactions with peers during their learning of skills. Findings: Three themes emerged from the analysis: peers as necessary collaborators, friends as supporters and distractors, and peers as perceived critics. The results indicated that the presence of peers shaped the experiences of these children in contradictory ways. Findings were situated within social constructivism and compared with other research focusing on game-centered approaches and the role of the affective domain in learning.
Adaptive Skills, Behavior Problems, and Parenting Stress in Mothers of Boys With Fragile X Syndrome

The relationship of temperament, atypical behaviors, and adaptive behavior of young boys with Fragile X syndrome on mothers' parenting stress was analyzed. Twenty-six boys with Fragile X syndrome (30–88 months of age) participated. The overall development of the participants was significantly delayed with a specific profile of adaptive behaviors (i.e., strengths in domestic daily living) and behavioral challenges (i.e., high levels of detachment and hypersensitive or hyperactive behavior). Approximately 90% of the mothers reported very high levels of parenting stress. Correlational and regression analyses revealed that temperament and atypical behavior contributed significantly to the level of parenting stress. Implications for early intervention services for families with a child with Fragile X syndrome were discussed.
Experiential Structuralism and Neo-Piagetian Theories Toward an Integrated Model

Abstract Experiential structuralism is a new theory of cognitive organization and growth. It postulates that the cognitive system is organized into six autonomous capacity spheres: the quantitative-relational, the qualitative-analytic. the imaginal-spatial, the causal-experimental, the verbal-propositional, and the metacognitive-reflecting. These capacities were called experiential because they are experimentally documented, they reflect the organization of the persons' experience and the -subjective - experience the persons have about this organization. Thus it was proposed that a set of specific cognitive abilities may be integrated into a general capacity under the guidance of four principles. Namely, the principles of (1) domain specificity, (2) formal-procedural specificity, (3) symbolic bias, and (4) subjective distinctness of capacities. It was argued that this theory resolves some of the problems related to the competence-performance dispute better than the other neepiagetian theories. It seems to.