Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model-based estimation and control of in/out-flux during drilling

A model-based in-/out-flux detection scheme for managed pressure drilling is presented. We design a globally exponentially stable adaptive observer which estimates the unknown states and parameters of the hydraulic system and in particular quantifies the magnitude of the in-/out-flux and its location in the well. While the observer can be used purely as an in-/out-flux detection system, the paper also presents a simple controller that automatically and effectively stops an in-/out-flux. This novel control scheme departs from common practice for automatic managed pressure drilling, which is to regulate down-hole pressure to some predetermined set point. Simulations are provided to show the effectiveness of the method.
Analysis on Tree Structure Selection for MRF Inference in Low-level Vision

MRF inference on the 4-connected grid is popularly utilized for early vision tasks. But due to the loopy structure of the 4-connected grid, inference becomes complicated and less efficient. This paper present a theoretical analysis on what is an optimal spanning tree structure (loop-free) to approximate the 4-connected grid, to facilitate an efficient inference. We formulate our problem in statistical view: inference on an optimal tree structure should obtain a similar distribution to that of a 4-connected grid. To measure the similarity between two distributions, KL-divergence is chosen as a powerful tool. Due to the asymmetric nature of KL-divergence, the optimization can be approached from two directions. We analyze both the two directions and find they are equivalent to tree partition function lower bound and upper bound optimization respectively. Finally, we develop a tree selection algorithm based on the two bounds optimization and evaluate them on both image denoising and stereo matching tasks.
Universality and phase diagram around half-filled Landau levels.

Gated GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures were used to determine the low-temperature behavior of the two-dimensional electron gas near filling factor nu=1/2 in the disorder-magnetic-field plane. We identify a line on which sigma_{xy} is temperature independent, has value sigma_{xy}=0.5 (e^{2}/h), and a distinct line on which rho_{xy}=2 (h/e^{2}). The phase boundaries between the Hall insulator and the principal quantum Hall liquids at nu=1 and 1/3 show levitation of the delocalized states of the first Landau levels for electrons and composite fermions. Finally, the data suggest that there is no true metallic phase around nu=1/2.
Melatonin suppresses autophagy in type 2 diabetic osteoporosis

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is often complicated by osteoporosis, a process which may involve osteoblast autophagy. As melatonin suppresses autophagy under certain conditions, we its investigated the effects on bone autophagy during diabetes. We first assessed different body parameters in a diabetic rat model treated with various concentrations of melatonin. Dynamic biomechanicalmeasurements, bone organization hard slice dyeing and micro-CT were used to observe the rat bone microstructure, and immunohistochemistry was used to determine levels of autophagy biomarkers. We also performed in vitro experiments on human fetal osteoblastic (hFOB1.19) cells cultured with high glucose, different concentrations of melatonin, and ERK pathway inhibitors. And we used Western blotting and immunofluorescence to measure the extent of osteogenesis and autophagy. We found that melatonin improved the bone microstructure in our rat diabetes model and reduced the level of autophagy(50 mg/kg was better than 100 mg/kg). Melatonin also enhanced osteogenesis and suppressed autophagy in osteoblasts cultured at high glucose levels (10 μM was better than 1 mM). This suggests melatonin may reduce the level of autophagy in osteoblasts and delay diabetes-induced osteoporosis by inhibiting the ERK signaling pathway.
Multilateral Trading System and the Potential for Sino-African Trade

The emergence of China as world trade power opens another channel of trade relations in Africa. Prior to 1994, China operated an inward-looking, state controlled closed economy and only had to review her economic policies and thus gave priority to market forces since she became a member of WTO. This paper applies the extended gravity model to analyze the trend, intensity and potential of Sino-Africa trade and investigate the effect of multilateral trade system in influencing seeming changing pattern of African trade. Both Heckscher-Ohlin and the Linder hypotheses are tested. The model is tested on a sample of 30 African countries trading with China. A panel data analysis with time variant and time invariant variables are used to capture the relationships between relevant variables over time. The period of study is 1995-2007. Three methods of estimation were used: pooled OLS, Fixed Effect and H-T. The latter method was preferred and used. The paper shows that per capita income; per capita income differential, geographical distance and consumer price index are important determinants of bilateral export flows between China and the selected African countries. Our results support the Linder hypothesis. However, future research should envisage a more detailed study of the pattern of commodity trade between the two regions.
Optical character recognition: an illustrated guide to the frontier

We offer a perspective on the performance of current OCR systems by illustrating and explaining actual OCR errors made by three commercial devices. After discussing briefly the character recognition abilities of humans and computers, we present illustrated examples of recognition errors. The top level of our taxonomy of the causes of errors consists of Imaging Defects, Similar Symbols, Punctuation, and Typography. The analysis of a series of 'snippets' from this perspective provides insight into the strengths and weaknesses of current systems, and perhaps a road map to future progress. The examples were drawn from the large-scale tests conducted by the authors at the Information Science Research Institute of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. By way of conclusion, we point to possible approaches for improving the accuracy of today's systems. The talk is based on our eponymous monograph, recently published in The Kluwer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.
Comparative Study on Content Based Image Retrieval With Various Approaches

Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) has become one of the most active research areas in the past few years and is still a demanding research topic in the field of Digital Image Processing. This paper starts with the introduction about CBIR and then we have studied about various efficient methods based on Content Based Image Retrieval. In this we have studied about various approaches like SURF (Speeded up Robust Features), SVM(Support Vector Machine) and NN(Neural Network). we have study the features for Image Retrieval like color, texture and shape. We briefly examine the likeness measures based on which matches are made and images are retrieved
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization Self-organization of Hexagonal Agglomeration Patterns in New Economic Geography Models

JEL classification: R12 R13 C65 F12 Keywords: Bifurcation Central place theory Core–periphery models Group-theoretic bifurcation theory Hexagons New economic geography Self-organization a b s t r a c t Self-organization of agglomeration patterns for economic models in a two-dimensional economic space is studied from a multidisciplinary viewpoint of new economic geography , central place theory, and bifurcation theory. Emergence of hexagonal distributions of various sizes in a homogeneous space is predicted theoretically for core–periphery models. The existence of hexagonal distributions as stable equilibria is demonstrated by a comparative static analysis with respect to transport costs for specific core–periphery models. These distributions are the ones envisaged by central place theory and also inferred to emerge by Krugman (1996) for a core–periphery model in two dimensions.
Individual Tree Species Classification by Illuminated - Shaded Area Separation

A new method, called Illumination Dependent Colour Channels (IDCC), is presented to improve individual tree species classification. The method is based on tree crown division into illuminated and shaded parts on a digital aerial image. Colour values of both sides of the tree crown are then used in species classification. Tree crown division is achieved by comparing the projected location of an aerial image pixel with its neighbours on a Canopy Height Model (CHM), which is calculated from a synchronized LIDAR point cloud. The sun position together with the mapping aircraft position are also utilised in illumination status detection. The new method was tested on a dataset of 295 trees and the classification results were compared with ones measured with two other feature extraction methods. The results of the developed method gave a clear improvement in overall tree species classification accuracy.
Shape Optimization of Rubber Bushing Using Differential Evolution Algorithm

The objective of this study is to design rubber bushing at desired level of stiffness characteristics in order to achieve the ride quality of the vehicle. A differential evolution algorithm based approach is developed to optimize the rubber bushing through integrating a finite element code running in batch mode to compute the objective function values for each generation. Two case studies were given to illustrate the application of proposed approach. Optimum shape parameters of 2D bushing model were determined by shape optimization using differential evolution algorithm.
Causal model of job characteristics, transformational leadership, and perceived organizational support effects on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the effects of job characteristics, transformational leadership, and perceived organizational support on organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior, and (2) to explore the difference effects of job characteristics, transformational leadership, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment on organizational citizenship behavior between generation Y model and generation X model. Data collection was done by using surveys, and the samples consisted of 504 employees who had worked in 48 hotels under Thai Hotels Association. The analysis employed confirmatory factor analysis and the structural equation modeling at the statistical significant level of 0.05. The findings indicated that skill variety, task autonomy, and perceived organizational support had positive effects on organizational commitment. Perceived organizational support and organizational commitment had positive effects on organizational citizenship behavior. The result of multiple-group path analysis showed that the validation of the proposed model was fit to the empirical data since there was similarly effect on variables between generation X model and generation Y model on the organizational citizenship behavior. Indeed, the results signified that task feedback affected the organizational commitment in generation Y model more than generation X model. Perceived organizational support affected the organizational commitment in generation X model more than generation Y model. Task identity had effect on organizational citizenship behavior in generation Y model more than generation X model. Task feedback had positive effect on organizational citizenship behavior in generation Y model, but had negative effect in generation X model. Finally, the study indicated that organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior of generation X and generation Y were indifferent which implied that generation X and generation Y employees could adapt themselves to fit with the organizational culture.
ADVANCED DISTRIBUTED SEARCH FOR THE WEB

In this paper, we present the concept of, and discuss problems related to, distributed search architectures for the World Wide Web. We structure the problem area and analyse what aspects have already been covered by previous research and what needs to be done. We outline possible approaches to some of the important research issues in distributed search architectures and discuss them in the context of the ADSA (Adaptive Distributed Search and Advertising) project.
Adapting stereoscopic movies to the viewing conditions using depth-preserving and artifact-free novel view synthesis

The 3D shape perceived from viewing a stereoscopic movie depends on the viewing conditions, most notably on the screen size and distance, and depth and size distortions appear because of the differences between the shooting and viewing geometries. When the shooting geometry is constrained, or when the same stereoscopic movie must be displayed with different viewing geometries (e.g. in a movie theater and on a 3DTV), these depth distortions may be reduced by novel view synthesis techniques. They usually involve three steps: computing the stereo disparity, computing a disparity-dependent 2D mapping from the original stereo pair to the synthesized views, and finally composing the synthesized views. In this paper, we focus on the second and third step: we examine how to generate new views so that the perceived depth is similar to the original scene depth, and we propose a method to detect and reduce artifacts in the third and last step, these artifacts being created by errors contained in the disparity from the first step.
Two Extreme Double-peaked Line Emitters in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Double-peaked Balmer lines have been observed in about 150 active galactic nuclei and were interpreted preferentially as emission from relativistic accretion disks. We report the discovery of extreme double-peaked lines in SDSS J0942+0900 and SDSS J1417+6141. The FWHM of the Hα line, ≃40,600 km s-1, in the first object is almost twice as large as the broadest previously known. By comparing the line profile with accretion disk models, we find that most of the line flux is emitted from a narrow annulus around 100rg in SDSS J0942+0900, and from a disk with radii between 100rg and 400rg in SDSS J1417+6141. This is the first time that an accretion disk at radii below 100rg has been directly probed through optical emission lines. A certain asymmetry in the disk is required for both objects. Another, much weaker, broad Hα component (Wλ ~ 20 Å and FWHM ~ 4000 km s-1) is also detected in both objects. Both objects show weak radio emission and strong high-ionization narrow lines.
3DTV: 3D Time-varying Scene Capture Technologies - A Survey

Advances in image sensors and evolution of digital computation is a strong stimulus for development and implementation of sophisticated methods for capturing, processing and analysis of 3D data from dynamic scenes. Research on perspective time-varying 3D scene capture technologies is important for the upcoming 3DTV displays. Methods such as shape-fromtexture, shape-from-shading, shape-from-focus and shape-frommotion extraction can restore 3D shape information from a single camera data. The existing techniques for 3D extraction from single camera video sequences are especially useful for conversion of the already available vast mono-view content to the 3DTV systems. Scene-oriented single camera methods as human face reconstruction and facial motion analysis, body modeling and body motion tracking and motion recognition solve efficiently a variety of tasks. Intensive area of research is 3D multicamera dynamic acquisition and reconstruction with its hardware specifics as calibration and synchronization and its software demands. Different classes of multi-view stereo algorithms as those based on cost function computing and optimization, fusing of multiple views and feature point reconstruction are possible candidates for dynamic 3D reconstruction. High-resolution digital holography and pattern projection techniques such as coded light or fringe projection for real-time extraction of 3D object positions and color information could manifest themselves as an alternative to traditional camera-based methods. Apart from all these approaches, there also are some active imaging devices capable of 3D extraction such as the 3D time-of-flight camera which provides 3D image data of its environment by means of a modulated infrared light source.
ml‐relate: a computer program for maximum likelihood estimation of relatedness and relationship

Genetic data are useful for estimating the genealogical relationship or relatedness between individuals of unknown ancestry. We present a computer program, ml - relate that calculates maximum likelihood estimates of relatedness and relationship. ml - relate is designed for microsatellite data and can accommodate null alleles. It uses simulation to determine which relationships are consistent with genotype data and to compare putative relationships with alternatives. ml - relate runs on the Microsoft Windows operating system and is available from www.montana. edu/kalinowski.
A 3 D APPROACH TO MULTI-OCULAR AREA MATCHING

In this paper we present a general approach to close-range 3D reconstruction of objects from stereo correspondence of luminance patches. The method we propose is largely independent on the camera geometry, and can employ an arbitrary number of CCD cameras. Its robustness is due to the physicality of the matching process, which is performed in the 3D space, and takes both geometric and radiometric distortion into account. The method has been implemented with a calibrated set of three standard TV-resolution CCD cameras, and tested over a variety of real scenes with satisfactory results.
Visual metrology with uncalibrated radial distorted images

Visual metrology methods with radial distorted images usually require a radial distortion model and a pre-calibration. In this paper, we propose a novel 3D metrology algorithm with at least three uncalibrated radial distorted images, and also derive a 2D metrology algorithm with at least two uncalibrated radial distorted images. The algorithm does not require a radial distortion model or calibrating camera intrinsic parameters except for radial distortion center, which can be usually known as a prior or computed easily, and correspondences of control points with known coordinates. The algorithm is of high accuracy, and robust to noise due to no requirement for specific radial distortion models. Experimental results show the feasibility and accuracy of the algorithm.
A Multiagent Approach to Evaluating Innovative Component Selection

Though there is a clear correlation between profitability and innovativeness, the steps that lead to designing a "creative" product are elusive. In order to learn from past design successes, the impact of design choices on the innovativeness of an entire product must be identified. This problem of quantifying the impact of design choices on a final product is analogous to the problem of 'credit assignment' in a multiagent system. We use recent advances in multiagent credit assignment to propagate a product's innovativeness back to its components. To validate our approach we analyze products from the Design Repository, which contains thousands of products that have been decomposed into functions and components. We demonstrate the benefits of our approach by assessing and propagating innovation evaluations of a set of products down to the component level. We then illustrate the usefulness of the gathered component-level innovation scores by illustrating a product redesign.
Improving a recommender system through integration of user profiles: a semantic approach

The users are present in multiple social networks/virtual communities and each one can be considered as a source of information about this user. In face to this question it is important a mechanism to integrate the user profiles. Through the integration of user profiles it is possible identifier more accurately their interests analyzing other data sources that they are present, possible reducing the cold-start problem. In this context, we present a semantic approach to help integrate data from multiple sources, for the construction and maintenance of user profiles that will be used to improve the quality of a recommender system. To integrate data from multiple sources, we defined a heuristic that quantifies the importance of each data source for a given user. To validate our approach, we perform a case study, where the solution was coupled into a recommender system of papers focused in Software Engineering domain. The user profiles were built extracting their information from the Brazilian Curriculum Vitae database named CV-Lattes, an academic platform, and Linkedin, a business network. We compared the quality of the recommendation based on the profiles integrated and non-integrated. The results show the superior quality of the recommendation based on integrated profile. Author
"Cultural pluralism and European polity-building: Neither Westphalia nor Cosmopolis"

In view of the shortcomings of both "Westphalian" and "Cosmopolitan" approaches to the EU, the paper will follow a different path and argue that the regulation of cultural pluralism at he European level is characterized by the contradictions underlying the EU's institutional development. The principle of intergovernmentalism stresses the role of nation-states and tends to reaffirm the weight of national cultures. At the same time, however, European transnationalism offers possibilities for articulating cultural identities below and beyond the nation-state, contributing to some extent to the "denationalization" of political cultures. This is illustrated with examples taken from the area of European language policy. The last section of the paper deals with the potentials of a pluralist interpretation of the subsidiarity principle for inducing "reflexive identity management" in Europe.
3D simulations of rotationally-induced line variability from a classical T Tauri star with a misaligned magnetic dipole

We present 3D simulations of rotationally induced line variability arising from complex circumstellar environment of classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) using the results of the 3D magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations of Romanova et al., who considered accretion on to a CTTS with a misaligned dipole magnetic axis with respect to the rotational axis. The density, velocity and temperature structures of the MHD simulations are mapped on to the radiative transfer grid, and corresponding line source function and the observed profiles of neutral hydrogen lines (Hβ, Pap and Bry) are computed using the Sobolev escape probability method. We study the dependency of line variability on inclination angles (i) and magnetic axis misalignment angles (Θ). We find the line profiles are relatively insensitive to the details of the temperature structure of accretion funnels, but are influenced more by the mean temperature of the flow and its geometry. By comparing our models with the Paβ profiles of 42 CTTS observed by Folha & Emerson, we find that models with a smaller misaligngment angle (Θ 0) over half of a rotational period, and a positive correlation over the other half. We find a good overall agreement of the line variability behaviour predicted by our model and those from observations.
The Determinants of Local Employment Growth in Germany

This paper studies the impact of the local industrial structure on employment dynamics in Germany. Local employment growth is decomposed into internal growth resulting from employment changes in existing plants and external growth, which is determined by employment decisions of newly established plants. The dynamics of both components are estimated simultaneously, taking explicitly into account the timing of the impact of diversity and specialisation in a region. The analysis is conducted on the NUTS3-level from 1993 to 2002. Special emphasis is put on Eastern and Western