Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using USDA Crop Progress Data for the Evaluation of Greenup Onset Date Calculated from MODIS 250-Meter Data

Identification of the onset of vegetation greenup is a key factor in characterizing and monitoring vegetation dynamics over large areas. However, the relationship between greenup onset dates estimated from satellite imagery and the actual growth stage of vegetation is often unclear. Herein, we present an approach for comparing pixel-level onset dates to regional planting and emergence information for agricultural crops, with the goal of drawing reliable conclusions regarding the physical growth stage of the vegetation of interest at the time of greenup onset. To accomplish this, we calculated onset of greenup using MODIS 250 m, 16-day composite NDVI time series data for Kansas for 2001 and a recently proposed methodology for greenup detection. We then evaluated the estimated greenup dates using the locations of 1,417 large field sites that were planted to corn, soybeans, or sorghum in 2001, in conjunction with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) weekly crop progress reports containing crop planting and emergence percentage estimates. Average greenup onset dates calculated for the three summer crops showed that the dates were consistent with the relative planting order of corn, sorghum, and soybeans across the state. However, the influence of pre-crop vegetation (weeds and “volunteer” crops) introduced an early bias for the greenup onset dates calculated for many field sites. This pre-crop vegetation signal was most pronounced for the later planted summer crops (soybeans and sorghum) and in areas of Kansas that receive higher annual precipitation. The most reliable results were obtained for corn in semi-arid western Kansas, where pre-crop vegetation had considerably less influence on the greenup onset date calculations. The greenup onset date calculated for corn in western Kansas was found to occur 23 days after 50 percent of the crop had emerged. Corn’s greenup onset was detected, on average, at the agronomic stage where plants are 15 to 45 cm (6 to 18 inches) tall and the crop begins its rapid growth.
MODIFIED VERTICAL HANDOFF DECISION ALGORITHM FOR IMPROVING QOS METRICS IN HETEROGENEOUS NETWORKS

In 4G networks, the meshing of WiMAX and WLAN has been a tough task. Issues regarding intermeshing of WIMAX and WLAN networks during vertical handoff have to be analyzed. Two interconnected networks such as WIMAX and WLAN has been proposed. Our proposed scheme provides better connectivity between fixed and mobile stations. In our proposed framework, two heterogeneous networks have been interconnected with each other and vertical handoff occurs between the two networks. A modified vertical handoff decision algorithm has been designed to calculate the bandwidth in WLAN and WIMAX networks. Packet delay is also calculated in modified algorithm. By calculating the bandwidth and packet delay, QOS metrics have been achieved by increasing the bandwidth and reducing the packet delay. Ad hoc network is the combination of wireless nodes without any infrastructure. It follows decentralized. Our proposed system improves the bandwidth and packet delay.
Optimal tracking performance for unstable tall plant models

This article focuses on the best achievable tracking performance of unstable tall plant models. The work is presented for discrete time, LTI systems, when an exponentially decaying signal is considered as reference. Closed form expressions for the best tracking performance for one and two degree of freedom control architectures are presented. As an application of those results, they are used in an example to compute the performance gains in the control of originally tall systems which have been squared-up by adding control input channels.
Concept Detection and Cluster Analysis from Newsfeed-Singular Value Decomposition Based Approach

Concept detection plays an important role if there is a huge amount of data available. We know that cluster analysis, topic detection, opinion mining have got a major role in the product marketing, online shopping, E-commerce. In this paper, we have conducted the topic detection and clustering experiments on the News samples which were sourced from online newspapers. Our aim is to find out the topics which also available in the text documents as a group of words and apply a clustering technique using the Singular value decomposition method. Then opinions are extracted from the comments, collected on a particular subject of interest like the comments for Smartphone. Finally, the clustering technique is applied on these sentiments to figure out the opinions of the people towards different features of the Smartphone. The results obtained here are competitive with the technology available.
Color Descriptors for Object Category Recognition

Category recognition is important to access visual information on the level of objects. A common approach is to compute image descriptors first and then to apply machine learning to achieve category recognition from annotated examples. As a consequence, the choice of image descriptors is of great influence on the recognition accuracy. So far, intensity-based (e.g. SIFT) descriptors computed at salient points have been used. However, color has been largely ignored. The question is, can color information improve accuracy of category recognition? Therefore, in this paper, we will extend both salient point detection and region description with color information. The extension of color descriptors is integrated into the framework of category recognition enabling to select both intensity and color variants. Our experiments on an image benchmark show that category recognition benefits from the use of color. Moreover, the combination of intensity and color descriptors yields a 30% improvement over intensity features alone.
Large-scale patent classification with min-max modular support vector machines

Patent classification is a large-scale, hierarchical, imbalanced, multi-label problem. The number of samples in a real-world patent classification typically exceeds one million, and this number increases every year. An effective patent classifier must be able to deal with this situation. This paper discusses the use of min-max modular support vector machine (M3-SVM) to deal with large-scale patent classification problems. The method includes three steps: decomposing a large-scale and imbalanced patent classification problem into a group of relatively smaller and more balanced two-class subproblems which are independent of each other, learning these subproblems using support vector machines (SVMs) in parallel, and combining all of the trained SVMs according to the minimization and the maximization rules. M3-SVM has two attractive features which are urgently needed to deal with large-scale patent classification problems. First, it can be realized in a massively parallel form. Second, it can be built up incrementally. Results from experiments using the NTCIR-5 patent data set, which contains more than two million patents, have confirmed these two attractive features, and demonstrate that M3-SVM outperforms conventional SVMs in terms of both training time and generalization performance.
An agent-based approach to real-time multimedia transmission over heterogeneous environments

An enduring trait of the Internet is its heterogeneity. These heterogeneities present significant barriers to the transmission of real-time multimedia data across groups. This dissertation presents a solution to the problems posed by heterogeneity in the context of real-time multimedia transmission over the Internet. Our solution exploits software agents--called media gateways--that are placed throughout the network at points of a change in the network environment. These agents process the multimedia streams in ways that accommodate the disparities in network and end-system capabilities. In this way our solution enables transmission of real-time media over heterogeneous environments. Our solution leverages the advantages of an "in-the-network" solution to offer a wide range of flexible adaptation parameters, while maintaining an architecture that is dynamic, flexible and robust. It consists of three distinct components. First, we developed a high-performance media gate-way, the RTP Gateway, that serves as the core adaptation mechanism in our solution. Due to the dominance of video bandwidth in multimedia sessions, we focused in particular on the design and implementation of a video gateway. Our video gateway architecture lends itself to a very efficient implementation, while maintaining a high degree of flexibility in the range of input and output formats that it can process. The second component of our system is a protocol for media gateway control. Our protocol, called SCUBA, presents a novel approach to video bandwidth allocation in real-time multi-media sessions by enabling media sources to intelligently account for receiver interest in their rate-adjustment algorithms. SCUBA is orthogonal to and complements existing rate-adaptation schemes and can interoperate with either sender- or receiver-directed control systems. To scale the SCUBA protocol with multicast session size, we decouple the receiver-feedback process from the session size through sampling. This approach introduces a "tunable" tradeoff between convergence time and sampling accuracy that for large sessions is solely dependent on the control traffic bandwidth. In addition to its application to media gateway control, we present several other applications of SCUBA including end-to-end conferencing, floor control, and cross-media synchronization. Finally, since the Internet infrastructure does not support the deployment media gateways within the network in the manner which we require, we developed an architecture for active services: a general framework for the deployment of application-level computation within the network. We describe a design and implementation of an architecture for active services: the AS 1 framework. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
A General and Effective Two-Stage Approach for Region-Based Image Retrieval

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has received substantial attentions for the past decades. It is motivated by the rapid accumulation of large collections of digital images which, in turn, create the need for efficient retrieval schemes. Many research works further utilize regional features to obtain the semantics of images for better retrieval performance. In this paper, a two-stage retrieval strategy is presented to improve the performance of region-based image retrieval (RBIR). In this approach, an image is first segmented into a fixed number of rectangular regions. Then, each region is represented by its low-frequency discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients in the YUV color space. At the first stage of retrieval, the threshold-based pruning (TBP) serves as a filter to remove those candidates with widely distinct features. At the second stage, a more detailed feature comparison (DFC) is conducted over the remaining candidates. In the experimental system, users can represent their region of interest (ROI) by selecting different strategies, setting parameter values, and/or adjusting the weights of features as the search progresses. The experimental results show that both efficiency and accuracy can be improved by using the proposed two-stage approach. [Life Science Journal 2010;7(3):73-80]. (ISSN: 1097-8135).
Protein synthesis and the cell cycle: centrosome reproduction in sea urchin eggs is not under translational control

The reproduction, or duplication, of the centrosome is an important event in a cell's preparation for mitosis. We sought to determine if centrosome reproduction is regulated by the synthesis and accumulation of cyclin proteins and/or the synthesis of centrosome-specific proteins at each cell cycle. We continuously treat sea urchin eggs, starting before fertilization, with a combination of emetine and anisomycin, drugs that have separate targets in the protein synthetic pathway. These drugs inhibit the postfertilization incorporation of [35S]methionine into precipitable material by 97.3-100%. Autoradiography of SDS-PAGE gels of drug-treated zygotes reveals that [35S]methionine incorporates exclusively into material that does not enter the gel and material that runs at the dye front; no other labeled bands are detected. Fertilization events and syngamy are normal in drug- treated zygotes, but the cell cycle arrests before first mitosis. The sperm aster doubles once in all zygotes to yield two asters. In a variable but significant percentage of zygotes, the asters continue to double. This continued doubling is slower than normal, asynchronous between zygotes, and sometimes asynchronous within individual zygotes. High voltage electron microscopy of serial semithick sections from drug- treated zygotes reveals that 90% of the daughter centrosomes contain two centrioles of normal appearance. From these results, we conclude that centrosome reproduction in sea urchin zygotes is not controlled by the accumulation of cyclin proteins or the synthesis of centrosome- specific proteins at each cell cycle. New centrosomes are assembled from preexisting pools of ready-to-use subunits. Furthermore, our results indicate that centrosomal and nuclear events are regulated by separate pathways.
Enterprise Data Center Globality Measurement

Measurement of the globality of On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) workloads in Enterprise Data Centers is considered. Providing OLTP workload isolation (application, services and databases) for performance-sensitive enterprise workloads, so that activity in one workload cannot interfere with another, remains a challenge. We demonstrate that traditional aggregate OLTP Workload globality measurement frameworks can generate mis-leading globality measures. We propose a higher-order globality measurement framework which addresses this problem. We derive two high dimensional structured measurement matrices, namely a template and measurand matrix, with special spectral properties, which account for globality measurement 1) boundedness, 2) programmability, 3) multiplicity, 4) relativity, 5) spatial correlation and 6) the appropriate sensitivity of the measure to changes in the distribution of the workload. We demonstrate that these properties are exhibited by the new measure by ordering OLTP workloads by their globality measure. We evaluate the measure using a stochastic layered block model for data center topology and OLTP workload generation and demonstrate that it is consistent.
Integrin-linked kinase activity modulates the pro-metastatic behavior of ovarian cancer cells

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most fatal gynecologic cancer in the U.S., resulting in >14,000 deaths/year. Most women are diagnosed at late stage with widely disseminated intra-peritoneal metastatic disease, resulting in a 5-year survival rate of <30%. EOCs spread via direct extension and exfoliation into the peritoneal cavity, adhesion to peritoneal mesothelial cells, mesothelial cell retraction to expose sub-mseothelial matrix and anchoring in the type I collagen-rich matrix to generate secondary lesions. As a molecular-level understanding of EOC metastasis may identify novel therapeutic targets, the current study evaluated the expression and activity of integrin-linked kinase (ILK), a Ser/Thr protein kinase activated upon integrin-mediated adhesion. Results show that ILK is co-expressed in EOC with the pro-metastatic enzyme membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) and catalyzed phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic tail of the proteinase. Downregulation of ILK expression or activity reduced adhesion to and invasion of collagen gels and organotypic meso-mimetic cultures. As an initial early event in EOC metastasis is integrin-mediated adhesion, these results suggest that further evaluation of ILK inhibitors as anti-metastatic agents in EOC is warranted.
Comparison of the gastrointestinal growth-prom oti n g effects of rat colostru m and m atu re milk in newborn rats in vivo 13

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of rat colostrum and mature milk on newborn rat gastrointestinal growth under conditions that controlled the possible confounding effects of energy intake and mode of feeding. Newborn Sprague-Dawley rat pups were tubefed equicaloric amounts of rat colostrum or mature rat milk for 40 h before they were killed. Compared to littermates that were killed immediately after birth, both groups of fed rats demonstrated increases in the weights of stomach and intestine, but there was no organ weight difference detected between colostrum-fed and mature milk-fed rat pups. However, both the concentration of DNA and the rate of synthesis of DNA in the intestines were greater in rats fed colostrum than in those at birth or those fed mature milk. Although the pancreas exhibited no detectable increase in weight by 41 h, the DNA concentration and total DNA content increased and RNA/DNA ratio decreased in both fed groups, also without apparent difference between rats fed colostrum and those fed mature milk. The rate of H-thymidine incorporation into DNA in pancreas, however, was greater in colostrum-fed pups than in mature milk-fed pups. These differences at 40 h age in intestinal and pancreatic cell replication activity, but not organ weights, can be ascribed to feeding colostrum. Am J Clin Nutr 1983;37:52-60.
On the statistical estimation of Rényi entropies

Estimating entropies is important in many fields including statistical physics, machine learning and statistics. While the Shannon logarithmic entropy is the most fundamental, other Rényi entropies are also of importance. In this paper, we derive a bias corrected estimator for a subset of Rényi entropies. The advantage of the estimator is demonstrated via theoretical and experimental considerations.
Design and Analysis of a 0.4V 1.08mW 12GHz High-Performance VCO in 0.18μm CMOS (Invited Paper)

This paper presents the design and analysis of a high-performance fully-integrated 0. 18μm CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with low supply voltage and low dc power consumption. To enhance the transconductance (gm) of MOSFETs and negative conductance (-Gm) of a cross-coupled pair, the device size of the nMOS cross-coupled pair is enlarged. For reducing the supply voltage and minimizing the dc power consumption, forward-body biased technique is utilized in this VCO, leading to the threshold voltage (Vt) reduction. Moreover, process variations are taken into accounted at low supply voltage, and the Monte-Carlo analysis is used to analyze the VCO phase noise and output power. At 0.4V low supply voltage, the fabricated 0. 18μm CMOS VCO consumes 1.08mW low core power. At this bias condition, the measured phase noise at 1MHz offset from 12.77GHz carrier is -110.2 dBc/Hz, and the measured tuning range is 5.75%. Compared to recently published 0. 18μm X-band CMOS VCOs, this work demonstrates the low supply voltage, low dc power dissipation, superior figure-of-merit (FOM), and better figure-of-merit including the tuning range (FOMT).
Optical MIMO DCO-OFDM wireless communication systems using STBC in diffuse fading channels

Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) is superior to radio wireless communication in several technical applications. In order to study the characteristics of Optical Multiple Input Multiple Output (OMIMO) channels, first, this paper presents the simulation of the optical wireless channel to analyze effects of dispersion multipath. We use ray tracing method to calculate the impulse response as well as the frequency response of the channel limit the reflections within seconds. Afterwards, we firstly investigate the OMIMO DCO-OFDM using Space Time Block Code (STBC) of Alamouti in diffuse fading channels to analyze the bit error rate (BER) of the system. The simulation results of the channel, as well as the communication system, are calculated and evaluated specifically.
A . GULF OF MAINE COD

The status of the Gulf of Maine cod (Gadus morhua) stock is reviewed, and terminal year VPA estimates of 2000 fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass and the survivors in 2001 are presented. Precision estimates of the 2000 fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass estimates for Gulf of Maine cod are also provided. Short-term projections of 2002 catches and resulting 2003 spawning stock biomass at various levels of 2002 fishing mortality are also given. Long-term (25-yr) projections were conducted to evaluate relative trajectories of stock biomass and catch under various fishing mortality scenarios, and an age-structured production model was applied to estimate MSY-based reference points. The 2001 assessment is based on several sources of information including: the age composition of USA commercial and recreational landings, commercial fishing vessel trip reports (VTR), NEFSC sea sample data, MRFSS estimates of recreational harvest, Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) spring and autumn research vessel survey data, and standardized USA commercial fishing effort data. This assessment updates the analyses presented in 2000. The sharp decline in landings between 1998 and 1999 and the subsequent increase in 2000 likely reflects the imposition of very low trip limits during 1999 and the subsequent relaxation of these limits in early 2000. It is probable that the extent of discarding increased sharply in 1999 in response to these reduced trip limits. Commercial landings per unit of standardized effort declined steadily between 1982 and 1987, increased during 1988-1990 but declined sharply in 1992 and remained low in 1993. Fishery-independent spring and autumn bottom trawl surveys conducted by the NEFSC have documented a steady decline in total stock biomass since the 1960s; the largest decreases occurred during the 1980s. Although the most recent indices suggest a slight increase, overall, the Gulf of Maine cod stock biomass remains low relative to the 1960s and 1970s. Except for the 1998 year class, recent recruitment has been well below average.
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Scrub Typhus Transmission in Mainland China, 2006-2014

Background Scrub typhus is endemic in the Asia-Pacific region including China, and the number of reported cases has increased dramatically in the past decade. However, the spatial-temporal dynamics and the potential risk factors in transmission of scrub typhus in mainland China have yet to be characterized. Objective This study aims to explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of reported scrub typhus cases in mainland China between January 2006 and December 2014, to detect the location of high risk spatiotemporal clusters of scrub typhus cases, and identify the potential risk factors affecting the re-emergence of the disease. Method Monthly cases of scrub typhus reported at the county level between 2006 and 2014 were obtained from the Chinese Center for Diseases Control and Prevention. Time-series analyses, spatiotemporal cluster analyses, and spatial scan statistics were used to explore the characteristics of the scrub typhus incidence. To explore the association between scrub typhus incidence and environmental variables panel Poisson regression analysis was conducted. Results During the time period between 2006 and 2014 a total of 54,558 scrub typhus cases were reported in mainland China, which grew exponentially. The majority of cases were reported each year between July and November, with peak incidence during October every year. The spatiotemporal dynamics of scrub typhus varied over the study period with high-risk clusters identified in southwest, southern, and middle-eastern part of China. Scrub typhus incidence was positively correlated with the percentage of shrub and meteorological variables including temperature and precipitation. Conclusions The results of this study demonstrate areas in China that could be targeted with public health interventions to mitigate the growing threat of scrub typhus in the country.