Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Low-Cost and Unsupervised Image Recognition Methodology for Yield Estimation in a Vineyard

Yield prediction is a key factor to optimize vineyard management and achieve the desired grape quality. Classical yield estimation methods, which consist of manual sampling within the field on a limited number of plants before harvest, are time-consuming and frequently insufficient to obtain representative yield data. Non-invasive machine vision methods are therefore being investigated to assess and implement a rapid grape yield estimate tool. This study aimed at an automated estimation of yield in terms of cluster number and size from high resolution RGB images (20 MP) taken with a low-cost UAV platform in representative zones of the vigor variability within an experimental vineyard. The flight campaigns were conducted in different light conditions and canopy cover levels for 2017 and 2018 crop seasons. An unsupervised recognition algorithm was applied to derive cluster number and size, which was used for estimating yield per vine. The results related to the number of clusters detected in different conditions, and the weight estimation for each vigor zone are presented. The segmentation results in cluster detection showed a performance of over 85% in partially leaf removal and full ripe condition, and allowed grapevine yield to be estimated with more than 84% of accuracy several weeks before harvest. The application of innovative technologies in field-phenotyping such as UAV, high-resolution cameras and visual computing algorithms enabled a new methodology to assess yield, which can save time and provide an accurate estimate compared to the manual method.
Evaluation of Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SNEDDS) for Poorly Water-Soluble Talinolol: Preparation, in vitro and in vivo Assessment

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro and in vivo performance of self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDSs) of talinolol (TAL), a poorly water-soluble drug. Methods Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems of TAL were prepared using various oils, non-ionic surfactants and/or water-soluble co-solvents and assessed visually/by droplet size measurement. Equilibrium solubility of TAL in the anhydrous and diluted SNEDDS was conducted to achieve the maximum drug loading. The in vitro dissolution experiments and human red blood cells (RBCs) toxicity test, ex vivo gut permeation studies, and bioavailability of SNEDDS in rats were studied to compare the representative formulations with marketed product Cordanum® 50 mg and raw drug. Results The results from the characterization and solubility studies showed that SNEDDS formulations were stable with lower droplet sizes and higher TAL solubility. From the dissolution studies, it was found that the developed SNEDDS provided significantly higher rate of TAL release (>97% in 2.0 h) compared to raw TAL and marketed product Cordanum®. The RBC lysis test suggested negligible toxicity of the formulation to the cells. The ex vivo permeability assessment and in vivo pharmacokinetics study of a selected SNEDDS formulation (F6) showed about four-fold increase in permeability and 1.58-fold enhanced oral bioavailability of TAL in comparison to pure drug, respectively. Conclusion Talinolol loaded SNEDDS formulations could be a potential oral pharmaceutical product with high drug-loading capacity, improved drug dissolution, increased gut permeation, reduced/no human RBC toxicity, and enhanced oral bioavailability.
Fast Tracking of 6D Particle Phase Space Using the FC2CT Algorithm for rf Cavities

In this paper, a fast cell to cell tracking algorithm (FC2CT) is developed, that determines the change in 6D phase space of a particle beam through rf accelerating cavities operated in both Standing and Traveling Wave modes. The performance is compared to well trusted tracking codes - ASTRA and RF-Track - for proton beams with relativistic beta = 0.5. The FC2CT algorithm produces a complete analytical method to determine the change in particle momentum, with the constant particle velocity approximation over the integration region. Additional developments for FC2CT are discussed, such as altering the integration length. FC2CT can be used as a fast method class in common tracking codes to perform fast simulations through rf cavities.
Multidimensional coherent optical spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures: a review

Multidimensional coherent optical spectroscopy (MDCS) is an elegant and versatile tool to measure the ultrafast nonlinear optical response of materials. Of particular interest for semiconductor nanostructures, MDCS enables the separation of homogeneous and inhomogeneous linewidths, reveals the nature of coupling between resonances, and is able to identify the signatures of many-body interactions. As an extension of transient four-wave mixing (FWM) experiments, MDCS can be implemented in various geometries, in which different strategies can be used to isolate the FWM signal and measure its phase. I review and compare different practical implementations of MDCS experiments adapted to the study of semiconductor materials. The power of MDCS is illustrated by discussing experimental results obtained on semiconductor nanostructures such as quantum dots, quantum wells, microcavities, and layered semiconductors.
Learning pseudo-Boolean k-DNF and submodular functions

We prove that any submodular function f: {0,1}^n -> {0,1,. ,k} can be represented as a pseudo-Boolean 2k-DNF formula. Pseudo-Boolean DNFs are a natural generalization of DNF representation for functions with integer range. Each term in such a formula has an associated integral constant. We show that an analog of Hastad's switching lemma holds for pseudo-Boolean k-DNFs if all constants associated with the terms of the formula are bounded. This allows us to generalize Mansour's PAC-learning algorithm for k-DNFs to pseudo-Boolean k-DNFs, and hence gives a PAC-learning algorithm with membership queries under the uniform distribution for submodular functions of the form f:{0,1}^n -> {0,1,. ,k}. Our algorithm runs in time polynomial in n, k^{O(k \log k / \epsilon)}, 1/\epsilon and log(1/\delta) and works even in the agnostic setting. The line of previous work on learning submodular functions [Balcan, Harvey (STOC '11), Gupta, Hardt, Roth, Ullman (STOC '11), Cheraghchi, Klivans, Kothari, Lee (SODA '12)] implies only n^{O(k)} query complexity for learning submodular functions in this setting, for fixed epsilon and delta. Our learning algorithm implies a property tester for submodularity of functions f:{0,1}^n -> {0, . , k} with query complexity polynomial in n for k=O((\log n/ \loglog n)^{1/2}) and constant proximity parameter \epsilon.
Bidirectional interactions between neuronal and hemodynamic responses to transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): challenges for brain-state dependent tDCS

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to modulate cortical neural activity. During neural activity, the electric currents from excitable membranes of brain tissue superimpose in the extracellular medium and generate a potential at scalp, which is referred as the electroencephalogram (EEG). Respective neural activity (energy demand) has been shown to be closely related, spatially and temporally, to cerebral blood flow (CBF) that supplies glucose (energy supply) via neurovascular coupling. The hemodynamic response can be captured by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which enables continuous monitoring of cerebral oxygenation and blood volume. This neurovascular coupling phenomenon led to the concept of neurovascular unit (NVU) that consists of the endothelium, glia, neurons, pericytes, and the basal lamina. Here, recent works suggest NVU as an integrated system working in concert using feedback mechanisms to enable proper brain homeostasis and function where the challenge remains in capturing these mostly nonlinear spatiotemporal interactions within NVU for brain-state dependent tDCS. In principal accordance, we propose EEG-NIRS-based whole-head monitoring of tDCS-induced neuronal and hemodynamic alterations during tDCS.
Molehunt: near-line semantic activity tracing

This paper discusses threats posed by low granularity in access to confidential (classified) data typically found at lower protection levels, namely direct access beyond need to know and the correlation of materials yielding more sensitive aggregate data by both insider threats and malware, an area of particular concern for intelligence analysis. It is argued that while active security controls at both the procedural and technical level are currently not pragmatically feasible, near-line semantic monitoring particularly at the file system but also at the network level can provide capabilities to detect anomalous and also directed malicious activity. A mechanism for implementing the tracing and monitoring mechanism on an COTS operating system is described.
Target Costing, Business Model Innovation, and Firm Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Chinese Firms

Market orientation theory was used to relate the implementation of target costing systems and business model innovation to firm performance using a sample of 189 electronics and information industry manufacturers in China. As expected, the implementation of target costing was positively associated with both business model innovations and firm performance. Further, the diversity of product development teams was also crucial. It positively moderated the association between target costing and business model innovation. Finally, the business model innovation was positively related to firm performance. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Resume Cet article s'appuie sur la theorie de l'orientation du marche pour relier la mise en œuvre des methodes de couts cibles et l'innovation en matiere de modele de gestion a la performance de l'entreprise. Les donnees utilisees proviennent de 189 fabricants de l'industrie de l'electronique et de l'information en Chine. Les resultats confortent notre hypothese selon laquelle la mise en œuvre des methodes de couts cibles est positivement reliee a la fois aux innovations en matiere de modele de gestion et a la performance de l'entreprise. Les resultats mettent aussi en evidence l'importance de la diversite dans la mise au point de nouveaux produits. Cette derniere modere positivement la relation entre les couts cibles et l'innovation en modele de gestion. Enfin, l'innovation en matiere de modele de gestion est positivement reliee a la performance de l'entreprise. Copyright © 2012 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Causal Effects of Genetically Predicted Cardiovascular Risk Factors on Chronic Kidney Disease: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study

Observational studies have demonstrated that cardiovascular risk factors are associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, these observational associations are potentially influenced by the residual confounding, including some unmeasured lifestyle factors and interaction risk factors. Two-sample mendelian randomization analysis was conducted in this study to evaluate whether genetically predicted cardiovascular risk factors have a causal effect on the risk of CKD. We selected genetic variants associated with cardiovascular risk factors and extracted the corresponding effect sizes from the largest GWAS summary-level dataset of CKD. Cardiovascular risk factors contain high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting glucose, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). A Bonferroni corrected threshold of P = 0.006 was considered as significant, and 0.006 < P < 0.05 was considered suggestive of evidence for a potential association. Genetically predicted DBP was significantly associated with CKD [odds ratio (OR) was 1.35 (95% confidence interval (CI) (1.10, 1.65); P = 0.004)]. There was suggestive evidence for potential associations between genetically predicted higher HDL cholesterol [OR: 0.88, 95%CI (0.80, 0.98), P = 0.025] and lower adds of CKD, and between higher SBP [OR: 1.36, 95%CI (1.07, 1.73), P = 0.013] and higher adds of CKD. However, genetically predicted LDL cholesterol, TC, TG, HbA1c, and fasting glucose did not show any causal association with CKD.
Cleavage of human complement component C5 by cysteine proteinases from Porphyromonas (Bacteroides) gingivalis. Prior oxidation of C5 augments proteinase digestion of C5

Since severe periodontitis is characterized by an acute inflammatory response with cellular infiltration and microbial overgrowth, plasma proteins could be exposed to both proteinases and oxidants released from the granulocytes, as well as to proteinases from the microorganisms. When human complement component C5 was digested by cysteine proteinases (i.e. gingipain‐R and gingipain‐K) from Porphyromonas gingivalis, limited cleavage of the C5 molecule was observed. If C5 was first oxidized by hydroxyl radicals, these gingipains converted modified C5 to fragments that exhibited significantly greater pro‐inflammatory activity than did digests of unmodified C5. After cleavage of oxidized C5 by gingipain‐R, the digest exhibited measurably greater neutrophil enzyme release and chemotaxis of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) compared with the activities of unoxidized C5 digests. Gingipain‐K generates virtually no polarization or chemotactic activity of human PMNs from C5, nor is enzyme release stimulated by these C5 digests. However, when oxidized C5 was digested by gingipain‐K, human PMNs were stimulated for polarization, chemotaxis and enzyme release indicating that an active fragment had been generated. Proteolysis of oxidized C5 evokes greater neutrophil activation than does proteolysis of unoxidized protein, a fact which supports the hypothesis that oxidation and proteolysis may be coupled to enhance the destructive effects of the inflammatory process. These results, in which digests of both oxidized and unmodified complement component C5 were evaluated, support the general concept that oxidation and proteolysis may participate cooperatively in amplifying both the severity and duration of the inflammatory reaction.
Improving conduction and mechanical reliability of woven metal interconnects

We present a simple fabrication process that produces reliable electronic textile backplanes. We electroplate copper onto woven conductive yarns in order to improve the yarn's conductivity as well as the reliability of electrical contact points between the conductive warp and weft yarns. This process improves the electrical performance of the woven yarns and of the warp/weft contacts by a factor of 1.22 and 3.63, respectively. Also, in mechanical tests, the electroplated textiles show improved electrical performance when subjected to mechanical strain. Furthermore, we use this process to mount electronic submounts onto the textile substrate on top of which electronic components could be easily connected, thereby creating an electronic textile backplane.
Design documentaries: inspiring design research through documentary film

This paper shows how we can take inspiration and use techniques from documentary film in pursuing user research. Documentary filmmaking has a long history of portraying everyday life in ways that leave the erratic, elusive fabric of the everyday intact. This may be valuable as interaction design currently embraces issues of engagement, expression and aesthetics. We discuss key documentary formats, and suggest that a purely observational approach may not be most valuable for design research. Three design documentaries are discussed to show how different documentary approaches can be used in practice to inform the early stages of design. We suggest that, for design research in HCI, film can be much more than a note-taking tool; we can use it as a means to explore, understand and present the everyday, and benefit from film's capabilities to preserve ambiguities and paradoxes instead of resolving them into univocal conclusions.
An interaction between alpha-actinin and the beta 1 integrin subunit in vitro

A number of cytoskeletal-associated proteins that are concentrated in focal contacts, namely alpha-actinin, vinculin, talin, and integrin, have been shown to interact in vitro such that they suggest a potential link between actin filaments and the membrane. Because some of these interactions are of low affinity, we suspect the additional linkages also exist. Therefore, we have used a synthetic peptide corresponding to the cytoplasmic domain of beta 1 integrin and affinity chromatography to identify additional integrin-binding proteins. Here we report our finding of an interaction between the cytoplasmic domain of beta 1 integrin and the actin-binding protein alpha-actinin. Beta 1- integrin cytoplasmic domain peptide columns bound several proteins from Triton extracts of chicken embryo fibroblasts. One protein at approximately 100 kD was identified by immunoblot analysis as alpha- actinin. Solid phase binding assays indicated that alpha-actinin bound specifically and directly to the beta 1 peptide with relatively high affinity. Using purified heterodimeric chicken smooth muscle integrin (a beta 1 integrin) or the platelet integrin glycoprotein IIb/IIIa complex (a beta 3 integrin), binding of alpha-actinin was also observed in similar solid phase assays, albeit with a lower affinity than was seen using the beta 1 peptide. alpha-Actinin also bound specifically to phospholipid vesicles into which glycoprotein IIb/IIIa had been incorporated. These results lead us to suggest that this integrin-alpha- actinin linkage may contribute to the attachment of actin filaments to the membrane in certain locations.
Visual Inertial Odometry using Focal Plane Binary Features (BIT-VIO)

Focal-Plane Sensor-Processor Arrays (FPSP)s are an emerging technology that can execute vision algorithms directly on the image sensor. Unlike conventional cameras, FPSPs perform computation on the image plane -- at individual pixels -- enabling high frame rate image processing while consuming low power, making them ideal for mobile robotics. FPSPs, such as the SCAMP-5, use parallel processing and are based on the Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) paradigm. In this paper, we present BIT-VIO, the first Visual Inertial Odometry (VIO) which utilises SCAMP-5.BIT-VIO is a loosely-coupled iterated Extended Kalman Filter (iEKF) which fuses together the visual odometry running fast at 300 FPS with predictions from 400 Hz IMU measurements to provide accurate and smooth trajectories.
United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study: III. Prevalence of Hypertension and Hypotensive Therapy in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Diabetes

We measured the blood pressure of 1226 patients with newly diagnosed maturity-onset diabetes, age 25 to 65 years (mean 52 years), mean fasting plasma glucose 11.4 mmol/L. Forty percent of males and 53% of females had hypertension by the World Health Organization criteria of either having blood pressure more than 160/95 mm Hg or receiving hypotensive therapy. Male patients were less obese than female patients (21% and 40% over ideal weight respectively) and a mean 1.3 years younger. Blood pressure was higher in women than men, but it was not significantly greater if age and obesity were taken into account. Twenty-three percent of men and 42% of women had already been informed they were hypertensive, and 12% of men and 26% of women were already receiving hypotensive therapy. The prevalence of hypertension in diabetic white patients was greater than that reported in a sex- and age-matched healthy population. The blood pressure of those taking diuretics was not significantly greater than that of untreated patients, but the 8% of men and 13% of women receiving other hypotensive drugs still had significantly higher blood pressure than the untreated patients. Both patients treated by diuretics and those treated by other hypotensive agents had signifi-cantly higher mean plasma urea and creatinine concentrations than untreated patients. This may have been induced by therapy, but one cannot exclude the possibility that treated patients already had renal impairment from diabetic, hypertensive, or other pathology.
Questions in Coaching ConversationsQuestions and Actions of Questioning in Danish Coach-Client Interactions

This dissertation is a conversation analytical study of coaching interactions between Danish trainee coaches and clients. The study focuses on how coach and client accomplish coaching: specifically on the questioning actions of the coach; how the roles of the coach as the questioner and the client as the answerer substantiate a non-directive coaching principle; and how the practices used enhance the client's epistemic authority. Chapter 2 shows three question types: information elicitation questions, future-orientation questions and hypothetical questions. The different question types display different assumptions about the client's state of knowledge. The analyses show how the future-orientation questions and the hypothetical questions underline the role of the coach as helping the client unpack untapped potential. The questions evoke reflexivity, and they attribute epistemic authority to the client. Chapter 2, furthermore, identifies complex question constructions that evaluate, advise and direct the client. As such, if coaching is aiming to be non-directive, the question-answer turn-taking structure can work against a coach wanting to advise. Chapters 3 and 4 show how direction and guidance can be done through questioning constructions. The quote-question constructions (chapter 3) and the formulations (chapter 4) show practices by which the coach leads the interaction in a specific direction. These practices exercise topic control and thereby present the most constructive point of departure in relation to the client's learning process. The knowledge imbalance between the participants displayed when asking questions and the knowledge-ownership imbalance displayed when formulating are seen as essential in upholding the role of the coach and the client as facilitator and learner, respectively. Therefore, working to maintain these imbalances can be seen as a salient aspect of conducting coaching.
Statistical Models of Social Fluidity

Hypotheses about social fluidity in log-linear models of social mobility are hypotheses about patterns of odds ratios; yet odds ratios are only indirectly related to the interaction parameters of log-linear models. I propose rewriting such models so that the interaction parameters are equal to log odds ratios. This allows straightforward tests of difference and similarity between the odds ratios of different mobility tables. The approach is illustrated using three cross-nationally comparative data sets.