Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An overview of the WIDENS MAC/PHY layer for rapidly deployable broadband public safety communication systems

This report presents the European Commission Framework 6 IST project entitled WIreless DEployable Network System (WIDENS) that is focused on development of a system concept and technology for rapidly deployable ad hoc broadband public safety networks. The output of the WIDENS project will provide a demonstrator to validate the technology developed in the project and will contribute the development of technical specifications in the context of the transatlantic project MESA. The WIDENS project will contribute to joint EU efforts supporting R&D activities targeting harmonized international standardization of integrated communication system in support of public safety. The purpose of this Industry/Academia collaborative research effort is to design, prototype and validate a vertically integrated rapidly deployable and scalable communication system for future public safety, emergency and disaster applications. In such scenarios, the communication system must be highly reliable to allow rescue teams to work and collaborate quickly and efficiently. Such operations are strongly dependent on the availability of the communication links both to rescue operators on the fields and to the central control room. However, in disaster areas, the links and central control are subject to failure, leading to a complete collapse of the network. To address these issues, WIDENS exploits the advantages of wireless mobile ad hoc networks in accordance with public safety usage scenarios.
T Cells Primed by Leishmania major Infection Cross-React with Alloantigens and Alter the Course of Allograft Rejection1

Alloreactive T lymphocytes can be primed through direct presentation of donor MHC:peptide complexes on graft cells and through indirect presentation of donor-derived determinants expressed by recipient APCs. The large numbers of determinants on an allograft and the high frequency of the alloreactive repertoire has further led to speculation that exposure to environmental Ags may prime T cells that cross-react with alloantigens. We sought to develop a model in which to test this hypothesis. We found that CD4+ T cells obtained from C57BL/6 (B6) mice that clinically resolved Leishmania major infection exhibited statistically significant cross-reactivity toward P/J (H-2p) Ags compared with the response to other haplotypes. B6 animals that were previously infected with L. major specifically rejected P/J skin grafts with second set kinetics compared with naive animals. Although donor-specific transfusion combined with costimulatory blockade (anti-CD40 ligand Ab) induced prolonged graft survival in naive animals, the same treatment was ineffective in mice previously infected with L. major. The studies demonstrate that cross-reactive priming of alloreactive T cells can occur and provide direct evidence that such T cells can have a significant impact on the outcome of an allograft. The results have important implications for human transplant recipients whose immune repertoires may contain cross-reactively primed allospecific T cells.
Explorer Co-payments , gatekeeping , and the utilization of outpatient public and private care at age 50 and above in Europe

I analyze the relationship between health care institutions and the utilization of outpatient services by individuals aged 50 and above. I use cross-sectional micro data from thirteen European countries. I focus on the out-of-pocket costs of health care utilization, the gatekeeper role of general practitioners, and how these institutional settings are related to public and private care utilization. I find that copayments are related negatively to the probability of visiting a general practitioner among those in good health condition. I estimate the utilization of private specialist care to be higher in countries where copayments are required for public specialist care, and where the general practitioners have gatekeeper role. These estimated associations with private specialist care utilization are relatively large in magnitude, and are driven by individuals in the top income quartile. JEL codes: I11, I18 Classifications: health economics, health policy and administration
Age and Glaucoma-Related Characteristics in Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer and Choroid: Localized Morphometrics and Visualization Using Functional Shapes Registration

Optical coherence tomography provides high-resolution 3D imaging of the posterior segment of the eye. However, quantitative morphological analysis, particularly relevant in retinal degenerative diseases such as glaucoma, has been confined to simple sectorization and averaging with limited spatial sensitivity for detection of clinical markers. In this paper, we present point-wise analysis and visualization of the retinal nerve fiber layer and choroid from cross-sectional data using functional shapes (fshape) registration. The fshape framework matches two retinas, or generates a mean of multiple retinas, by jointly optimizing the surface geometry and functional signals mapped on the surface. We generated group-wise mean retinal nerve fiber layer and choroidal surfaces with the respective layer thickness mapping and showed the difference by age (normal, younger vs. older) and by disease (age-matched older, normal vs. glaucomatous) in the two layers, along with a more conventional sector-based analysis for comparison. The fshape results visualized the detailed spatial patterns of the differences between the age-matched normal and glaucomatous retinal nerve fiber layers, with the glaucomatous layers most significantly thinner in the inferior region close to Bruch's membrane opening. Between the young and older normal cases, choroid was shown to be significantly thinner in the older subjects across all regions, but particularly in the nasal and inferior regions. The results demonstrate a comprehensive and detailed analysis with visualization of morphometric patterns by multiple factors.
Plant classification using convolutional neural networks

Application of the benefits of modern computing technology to improve the efficiency of agricultural fields is inevitable with growing concerns about increasing world population and limited food resources. Computing technology is crucial not only to industries related to food production but also to environmentalists and other related authorities. It is expected to increase the productivity, contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between environmental factors and healthy crops, reduce the labor costs for farmers and increase the operation speed and accuracy. Implementing machine learning methods such as deep neural networks on agricultural data has gained immense attention in recent years. One of the most important problems is automatic classification of plant species based on their types. Automatic plant type identification process could offer a great help for application of pesticides, fertilization and harvesting of different species on-time in order to improve the production processes of food and drug industries. In this paper, we propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture to classify the type of plants from the image sequences collected from smart agro-stations. First challenges introduced by illumination changes and deblurring are eliminated with some preprocessing steps. Following the preprocessing step, Convolutional Neural Network architecture is employed to extract the features of images. The construction of the CNN architecture and the depth of CNN are crucial points that should be emphasized since they affect the recognition capability of the architecture of neural networks. In order to evaluate the performance of the approach proposed in this paper, the results obtained through CNN model are compared with those obtained by employing SVM classifier with different kernels, as well as feature descriptors such as LBP and GIST. The performance of the approach is tested on dataset collected through a government supported project, TARBIL, for which over 1200 agro-stations are placed throughout Turkey. The experimental results on TARBIL dataset confirm that the proposed method is quite effective.
The Impact Of Entry And Competition On Airline Departure Frequency

This paper examines how entry and competition impact departure frequency using data from 1990–2009 on a number of routes served by at least two airlines. The estimated frequency equation indicates that an additional airline at the route level results in a slight decrease in the number of departures despite a substantial increase in passenger traffic since the industry was liberalized in 1995. The results suggest that domestic airlines have shifted to relatively larger aircraft and operate them at higher load factors. The use of larger aircraft operated at higher load factors may indicate their inability to secure additional landing slots, suggesting that investments in air transport infrastructure have not kept pace with demand. Fewer departures indicate that the waiting time between flights has increased, reducing the probability of matching the passengers’ preferred departure times with scheduled flights. The longer waiting time between flights and more congestion inside the aircraft due to higher load factors suggest that the service quality of air transport has deteriorated in the post-regulation period.
Recoloring textile fabric images based on improved fuzzy clustering

This article proposes a new recoloring method for textile fabric images based on improved fuzzy local information c-means (FLICM) clustering. In the clustering algorithm, the fuzzy factor was modified so that it can produce reliable segmentation in areas with rich details. With the obtained cluster labels and pixel-wise memberships, the color of each pixel is modeled as the linear combination of the two most dominant colors. The recoloring process was then conducted by replacing the specified dominant color with user-provided target colors. Experimental results showed that the proposed method can produce natural and faithful color appearance on both printed and yarn-dyed fabric images, and outperforms the state-of-the-art. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2016
Boron-Toxicity Tolerance in Barley Arising from Efflux Transporter Amplification

Both limiting and toxic soil concentrations of the essential micronutrient boron represent major limitations to crop production worldwide. We identified Bot1, a BOR1 ortholog, as the gene responsible for the superior boron-toxicity tolerance of the Algerian barley landrace Sahara 3771 (Sahara). Bot1 was located at the tolerance locus by high-resolution mapping. Compared to intolerant genotypes, Sahara contains about four times as many Bot1 gene copies, produces substantially more Bot1 transcript, and encodes a Bot1 protein with a higher capacity to provide tolerance in yeast. Bot1 transcript levels identified in barley tissues are consistent with a role in limiting the net entry of boron into the root and in the disposal of boron from leaves via hydathode guttation.
Business networks along innovation life cycle

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how the relationships among the different actors within the business networks affect the evolution of innovation along the different steps of technology life cycle. Design/methodology/approach – The study is supported by a longitudinal case study referred to a mechanical company operating in the knitting machineries industry. A triangulation method integrating multiple data sources in a multiple method design was used to gather data. Findings – The longitudinal study supports the idea that interactions among the actors within the business networks heavily influence the technology evolution. Research limitations/implications – Although the longitudinal case study reported in this paper refers to a period of time of about 10 years, our findings refer only to a single case study in a specific sector and so they cannot be generalized. Practical implications – This paper provides important guidelines on how to manage the relationships emerging within a business network .
Relationship of Inflammatory Cytokines, Growth Hormone, and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I to Reduced Performance During Infectious Disease

Abstract Production of inflammatory cytokines and concentrations of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) were studied during experimental Escherichia coli mastitis to determine their potential involvement in reduced animal performance during infectious disease. During the first 10 to 14 hr after intramammary infusion of E. coli, bacteria multiplied to maximum levels of 104-109 cfu/ml of milk with no clinical signs of mastitis. A rapid and intense inflammatory response, characterized by udder swelling, increased bovine serum albumin (BSA) and somatic cell count (SCC) in milk of infected glands, and elevated rectal temperature and serum cortisol concentration, began at approximately 12 hr after challenge. Lactational performance was reduced greatly at 24 hr, and the maximal decrease averaged 76% and 63% among infected and uninfected glands, respectively, of challenged cows; three cows became temporarily agalactic in all glands. By 6 days, all cows had nearly or completely eliminated the E. coli, and milk production had partially recovered. Milk composition showed an initial decrease in fat percentage followed by an increase thereafter. Protein percentage was increased and lactose content was reduced during most of the mastitic episode. High concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) were detected in milk of infected glands, and their appearance preceded or coincided with development of the mammary inflammation, systemic reaction, and hypogalactia. Serum growth hormone concentration was higher among challenged cows, whereas serum IGF-I concentrations changed little during the mastitic episode. Concentrations of IGF-I in milk whey increased from 5.0 to 12.2 ng/ml among infected glands and from 4.4 to 8.5 ng/ml among contralateral, uninfected glands; IGF binding proteins also increased in the milk of infected glands. These data demonstrate that (I) reduced lactational performance is not caused by reduced concentrations of growth hormone or IGF-I and (II) inflammatory cytokines are produced at a time consistent with a possible role in the inhibition of milk synthesis.
Transient Ionizing Radiation Effects on Baritt Diode Oscillators

The performance of a variety of BARITT diode oscillators has been measured under transient ionizing radiation conditions. Two to five milliwatt cw silicon diode oscillators (Schottky and diffused injecting junctions) were exposed to 100 nanosecond pulses of 10 MeV electrons at dose rates between 107 and 1010 rads/sec. With these oscillators, the RF power is reduced at increasing dose rates and is quenched entirely during the radiation pulse at a dose rate dependent upon junction characteristics. The RF power remains quenched after the radiation pulse for approximately 500 nanoseconds in some diodes due to charge storage. The charge storage is related to the injection efficiency of the injecting contact, increasing in duration as the injection efficiency increases. Besides this temporary stored charge, no aftereffects were observed in any of the diodes.
Is there an association between neurocognitive performance and medication adherence in first episode psychosis?

Aim: Medication adherence is a determining factor for symptomatic remission and relapse prevention following a first episode of psychosis (FEP). Neurocognitive abilities have received only scant attention so far as a risk factor for poor adherence but significant impairments with memory and/or planning abilities could play a role. We examined early medication adherence following admission to a specialized clinical programme for FEP.
Geographical region as a factor influencing consumers’ perception of functional food – case of Croatia

Purpose – In recent years, consumers have developed an interest in the type and the quality of food they eat. As consumers’ opinion is very important in identifying development strategy for food industry it seems justified finding out if geographical region had an influence on consumers’ opinion. Furthermore, this is the topic that is still under researched. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ perception of functional food (FF) relative to geographical region. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire based survey was conducted on a representative national sample with participants aged 18 and older (n=687). Participants were divided according to their place of residence taking into account difference in dietary habits, which created two geographical sets: Coastal (Adriatic) Croatia and Continental Croatia. Data were analyzed using univariate statistics and multivariate analysis as exploratory factor analysis, cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Findings – The results in.
Model of network community public opinion spread based on game theory

In order to solve the dynamic and interactive community of internet of public opinion's spread,this paper proposed the game theory.Game strategies under the conditions of dynamic probability constituted the game tree and payoff matrix.From both internal and external community of internet,it analyzed the dynamics of public opinion spread.The model could describe the dynamic and interactive communication process,and could form a stable state at last.Simulation results show that public opinion in the community of network spread in the general case with the early spread of smooth,and gradual tendency of a party to the formation of public opinion has a certain impact.
The separation of commercial and investment banking : the Glass-Steagall Act revisited and reconsidered

Introduction to the Glass-Steagall Act sources of information and their contents about pre-Glass-Steagall conditions and events evidence on the risk of losses (safety and soundness) conflicts of interest and abuses related to commercial banks' securities operations directly or by and through securities affiliates securities services as an improper commercial banking activity restraints on competition as an explanation for the Glass-Steagall Act concern for commercial banks' federal "safety net" unfair competition concentration of power and less-than-competitive performance universal banking - advantages and disadvantages other reasons for the introduction and passage of the Glass-Steagall Act. Appendix: securities activities of banking organizations permissible under Federal law.
Gender Differences in the Link Between Excessive Drinking and Domain-Specific Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults

Objective: This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between excessive drinking and two cognitive domains among older adults. Method: Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, 3,888 females and 2,350 males were analyzed separately. Multivariate regression was used to analyze the association between excessive drinking and fluid intelligence score. Logistic regression was conducted to examine the relationship between excessive drinking and crystallized intelligence. Results: Multivariate analysis showed that compared to non–excessive drinking, excessive drinking did not have a significant impact on fluid intelligence for either women or men, but it had a significantly negative association with a high crystallized intelligence score for women. Discussion: Findings suggest that the relationship between excessive drinking and cognition varies with gender when crystallized intelligence is measured. Clinicians and service providers should consider gender differences when developing strategies for the prevention and treatment of alcohol-related cognitive decline among older adults.
Analysis of blaSHV Codon 238 and 240 Allele Mixtures Using Sybr Green High-Resolution Melting Analysis

ABSTRACT Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates frequently contain complex mixtures of blaSHV alleles. A high-resolution melting-based method for interrogating the extended-spectrum activity conferring codon 238 and 240 polymorphisms was developed. This detects minority extended-spectrum β-lactamase-encoding alleles, allows estimation of allele ratios, and discriminates between single and double mutants.
Land tenure security, investments and the environment in Ghana

Using a nationally representative data obtained from a survey, this study attempts to examine empirically two main issues: first, the causal relationship between land tenure security and investment and secondly, the impact of tenure security (land rights) on environmental degradation. Analysis of the results indicates that investment in farmlands in Ghana is low and appears not to enhance tenure security and that the reverse causation of tenure security enhancing investment seems non-existent. This implies that agricultural investments in the country are not security-induced and that investment is not an important determinant of tenure security. However, tenure security appears to be an incentive for investment in that when endogeneity was not controlled, tenure security had a positive and significant impact on investment though the result is not robust. This implies that farmers with tenure security are more likely to invest in their lands, which may eventually lead to higher productivity. Furthermore, our results indicate that tenure security (land rights) has no significant impact on environmental degradation apart from the destruction of vegetation cover, which appears to be a major environmental problem in Ghana. General and specific policy recommendation aimed at improving tenure security and investment in land are explored.
Benchmark Visual Question Answer Models by using Focus Map

Inferring and Executing Programs for Visual Reasoning proposes a model for visual reasoning that consists of a program generator and an execution engine to avoid end-to-end models. To show that the model actually learns which objects to focus on to answer the questions, the authors give a visualization of the norm of the gradient of the sum of the predicted answer scores with respect to the final feature map. However, the authors do not evaluate the efficiency of focus map. This paper purposed a method for evaluating it. We generate several kinds of questions to test different keywords. We infer focus maps from the model by asking these questions and evaluate them by comparing with the segmentation graph. Furthermore, this method can be applied to any model if focus maps can be inferred from it. By evaluating focus map of different models on the CLEVR dataset, we will show that CLEVR-iep model has learned where to focus more than end-to-end models.
Organic Thin Film Transistor and Organic Inverter based on Cylindrical Gate OTFT

Massive investigation has been completed in the territory of organic electronics in recent times. In this framework, this paper has paying attention on fastidious constructing obstructed of the enormous and promising field of organic-electronics: Organic Thin Film Transistor (OTFT), which have semiconductor based on organic compounds. The endlessly growing figure of obtainable organic-molecules demonstrating conductive, semi conductive and protecting characteristics shared with the numeral of existing deposition and patterning techniques, provides additional flexibility of the electronics devices. Moreover this Single-Gate, Dual-Gate, Vertical-Channel, Cylindrical-Gate OTFTs are examined. Besides this revise establishes organic inverter circuits with DLL (Diode-Load Logic) and ZVLL (Zero-Vgs-Load Logic) configurations using CG (Cylindrical Gate) structures. Static behavior of CG Organic Inverter is obtained.