Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Converse theorem on a contraction metric for a periodic orbit

Contraction analysis uses a local criterion to prove the long-term behaviour of a dynamical system. A contraction metric is a Riemannian metric with respect to which the distance between adjacent solutions contracts. If adjacent solutions in all directions perpendicular to the flow are contracted, then there exists a unique periodic orbit, which is exponentially stable and we obtain a bound on the rate of exponential attraction. In this paper we study the converse question and show that, given an exponentially stable periodic orbit, a contraction metric exists on its basin of attraction and we can recover the bound on the rate of exponential attraction.
Detection of Digital Image Forgeries byIlluminant Color Estimation and Classification

Digital Image forgery is very common nowadays and is done without much difficulty with the help of powerful image editing software’s mainly to cover up the truthfulness of the photographs which often serve as evidence in courts. In this paper, we propose a forgery detection method to expose the photographic manipulations known as image composition or splicing by exploiting the color inconsistencies in the illuminated image. For this, effective illuminant estimators are used to obtain illuminant estimates of the image from which texture and edge based features are extracted. The features are used for automatic decision making and finally Extreme Learning machine (ELM) is applied to classify the forged image from the original one.
Reducing the Deterioration of Sentiment Analysis Results Due to the Time Impact

The research identifies and substantiates the problem of quality deterioration in the sentiment classification of text collections identical in composition and characteristics, but staggered over time. It is shown that the quality of sentiment classification can drop up to 15% in terms of the F-measure over a year and a half. This paper presents three different approaches to improving text classification by sentiment in continuously-updated text collections in Russian: using a weighing scheme with linear computational complexity, adding lexicons of emotional vocabulary to the feature space and distributed word representation. All methods are compared, and it is shown which method is most applicable in certain cases. Experiments comparing the methods on sufficiently representative text collections are described. It is shown that suggested approaches could reduce the deterioration of sentiment classification results for collections staggered over time.
Comparative Analysis of RNAi Suppression Activity of Proteins from Two Disparate Viruses

RNAi is an efficient surveillance machinery that plays a robust defensive role in shielding plant and animal hosts against viral infections. In counter-defense viruses encode suppressor proteins that have the ability to restrict the RNAi machinery to ensure successful systemic invasion. The B2 protein of insect Flock House Virus (FHV-B2) and AC2 protein of Mungbean Yellow Mosaic India Virus (MYMIV-AC2) are two well-characterized suppressors of RNAi, capable of reversing reporter gene silencing. In this study, we compared the strength of the two suppressors by assaying for the degree of RNAi reversion and the duration of sustaining the reversal in planta. The suppression activity was observed by assaying for GFP fluorescence at 3 dpi, 7 dpi and 14 dpi. The phenotypic observations were corroborated with small RNA Northern Blotting and semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The results indicate that suppressor strength of FHVB2 is comparable to MYMIV-AC2, although they are encoded by virus infecting host from two different eukaryotic kingdoms. This study will provide new insights to dissect the conservation in the RNAi pathways during the host-virus interactions.
Evaluating the Performance of Different Commercial and Pre-Commercial Maize Varieties under Low Nitrogen Conditions Using Affordable Phenotyping Tools

Maize is the most commonly cultivated cereal in Africa in terms of land area and production. Low yields in this region are very often associated with issues related to low Nitrogen (N), such as low soil fertility or low fertilizer availability. Developing new maize varieties with high and reliable yields in actual field conditions using traditional crop breeding techniques can be slow and costly. Remote sensing has become an important tool in the modernization of field-based High Throughput Plant Phenotyping (HTPP), providing faster gains towards improved yield potential, adaptation to abiotic (water stress, extreme temperatures, and salinity) and biotic (susceptibility to pests and diseases) limiting conditions, and even quality traits. We evaluated the performance of a set of remote sensing indices derived from Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images and the performance of the field-based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and SPAD as phenotypic traits and crop monitoring tools for assessing maize performance under managed low nitrogen conditions. Phenotyping measurements were conducted on maize plants at two different levels: on the ground and from an airborne UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) platform. For the RGB indices assessed at the ground level, the strongest correlations compared to yield were observed with Hue, GGA (Greener Green Area), and GA (Green Area) at the ground level, while GGA and CSI (Crop Senescence Index) were better correlated with grain yield at the aerial level. Regarding the field sensors, SPAD exhibited the closest correlation with grain yield, with a higher correlation when measured closer to anthesis. Additionally, we evaluated how these different HTPP data contributed to the improvement of multivariate estimations of crop yield in combination with traditional agronomic field data, such as ASI (Anthesis Silking Data), AD (Anthesis Data), and Plant Height (PH). All multivariate regression models with an R2 higher than 0.50 included one or more of these three agronomic parameters as predictive parameters, but with RGB indices at both levels increased to R2 over 0.60. As such, this research suggests that traditional agronomic data provide information related to grain yield in abiotic stress conditions, but that they may be potentially supplemented by RGB indices from either ground or UAV phenotyping platforms. Finally, in comparison to the same panel of maize varieties grown under optimal conditions, only 11% of the varieties that were in the highest yield-producing quartile under optimal N conditions remained in the highest quartile when grown under managed low N conditions, suggesting that specific breeding for low N tolerance can still produce gains, but that low N productivity is also not necessarily exclusive of high productivity in optimal conditions.
Where Does Securitisation Begin? The Institutionalised Securitisation of Illegal Immigration in Sweden: REVA and the ICFs.

This dissertation studies how securitisation processes may become institutionalised by examining how the securitisation of illegal immigration at the EU level trickled down and became internalised by the Swedish government and police post-2001. Utilising discourse analysis, it investigates how the Swedish government and police spoke about REVA and the ICFs to show how the two institutions internalised the securitisation of illegal immigration. By applying a sociological understanding of Securitisation Theory, whereby not only speech acts but also contexts and bureaucratic developments are considered, it demonstrates how processes of securitisation can unfold also when securitising speech acts seem hidden.
Disequilibrium of polyunsaturated fatty acids status and its dual effect in modulating adipose tissue development and functions

White adipocytes are storing energy under the form of triglycerides whereas brown adipocytes dissipate energy from triglycerides by producing heat. In rodents and possibly in humans both types of fat cells participate in the total energy balance. From a quantitative view point, a positive energy balance (energy intake > energy expenditure) is commonly regarded as a major factor contributing to obesity. Recent studies demonstrate that by altering rates of adipocyte differentiation and proliferation, differences in fatty acid composition of dietary fats may also contribute to adipose tissue development, in particular with respect to the relative intake of ω 6 to ω 3 poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The ω 6/ω 3 ratio determines the availability of ω 6-arachidonic acid (ARA) within adipose tissue and thus the level of various prostaglandins derived from the cyclooxygenase-mediated pathway. We had shown earlier that prostacyclin (Prostaglandin I2) stimulates fat cell differentiation and this effect could be reversed by ω 3-PUFA supplementation. Moreover, we had assessed that under conditions of genome stability a Western-like fat diet rich in ω 6-PUFA was sufficient to induce a gradual fat mass enhancement across generations. Recently, we have characterized a second effect of some ARA metabolites (prostaglandins E2 and F2α ) which appear to inhibit the formation of brown adipocytes within white adipose tissue. Altogether, our results demonstrate that, in addition to favoring white adipose tissue formation, dietary excess of ω 6-PUFA prevents the “browning” process to take place in white adipose tissue depots, and strongly suggest a favorable role of ω 3-PUFA supplementation in preventing both processes.
Administration of Enalapril Started Late in Life Attenuates Hypertrophy and Oxidative Stress Burden, Increases Mitochondrial Mass, and Modulates Mitochondrial Quality Control Signaling in the Rat Heart

Mitochondrial dysfunction is a relevant mechanism in cardiac aging. Here, we investigated the effects of late-life enalapril administration at a non-antihypertensive dose on mitochondrial genomic stability, oxidative damage, and mitochondrial quality control (MQC) signaling in the hearts of aged rats. The protein expression of selected mediators (i.e., mitochondrial antioxidant enzymes, energy metabolism, mitochondrial biogenesis, dynamics, and autophagy) was measured in old rats randomly assigned to receive enalapril (n = 8) or placebo (n = 8) from 24 to 27 months of age. We also assessed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content, citrate synthase activity, oxidative lesions to protein and mtDNA (i.e., carbonyls and the abundance of mtDNA4834 deletion), and the mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) binding to specific mtDNA regions. Enalapril attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and oxidative stress-derived damage (mtDNA oxidation, mtDNA4834 deletion, and protein carbonylation), while increasing mitochondrial antioxidant defenses. The binding of mitochondrial transcription factor A to mtDNA regions involved in replication and deletion generation was enhanced following enalapril administration. Increased mitochondrial mass as well as mitochondriogenesis and autophagy signaling were found in enalapril-treated rats. Late-life enalapril administration mitigates age-dependent cardiac hypertrophy and oxidative damage, while increasing mitochondrial mass and modulating MQC signaling. Further analyses are needed to conclusively establish whether enalapril may offer cardioprotection during aging.
Dual and multiplier of $K$-fusion frames

In this paper, we introduce the concept of $K$-fusion frames and propose the duality for such frames. The relation between the local frames of $K$-fusion frames with their dual is studied. The elements from the range of a bounded linear operator $K$ can be reconstructed by $K$-frames. Also, we establish $K$-fusion frame multipliers and investigate reconstruction of the range of $K$ by them.
A Data Mining-Based Response Model for Target Selection in Direct Marketing

Identifying customers who are more likely to respond to new product offers is an important issue in direct marketing. In direct marketing, data mining has been used extensively to identify potential customers for a new product (target selection). Using historical purchase data, a predictive response model with data mining techniques was developed to predict a probability that a customer in Ebedi Microfinance bank will respond to a promotion or an offer. To achieve this purpose, a predictive response model using customers' historical purchase data was built with data mining techniques. The data were stored in a data warehouse to serve as management decision support system. The response model was built from customers' historic purchases and demographic dataset.
Specifying Uncertainty in Use Case Models in Industrial Settings

Latent uncertainty in the context of softwareintensive systems (e.g., Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs)) demands explicit attention right from the start of development. Use case modeling—a commonly used method for specifying requirements in practice, should also be extended for explicitly specifying uncertainty. To this end, we extend the Restricted Use Case Modeling (RUCM) methodology and its supporting tool to specify uncertainty as part of system requirements. Such uncertainties include those caused by insufficient domain expertise of stakeholders, disagreements among them, and known uncertainties pertaining to assumptions about the environment of the system. The extended RUCM, called URUCM, inherits the features of RUCM, such as automated analyses and generation of models, to mention but a few. Consequently, U-RUCM provides all the key benefits offered by RUCM (i.e., reducing ambiguities in requirements), but in addition, it allows specification of uncertainties with the possibilities of reasoning and refining existing ones and even uncovering unknown ones. We evaluated U-RUCM in the context of the U-Test project [1], with two industrial CPS case studies. Evaluation results showed that, with U-RUCM, we were able to get a significantly better and more precise characterization of the uncertainties involved compared to RUCM. This suggests that U-RUCM is an effective tool for dealing with uncertainty in requirements engineering. We present our experience, lessons learned, and future challenges based on the two industrial case studies.
Predictability of stop consonant phonetics across talkers: Between-category and within-category dependencies among cues for place and voice

Abstract The present study investigates patterns of covariation among acoustic properties of stop consonants in a large multi-talker corpus of American English connected speech. Relations among talker means for different stops on the same dimension (between-category covariation) were considerably stronger than those for different dimensions of the same stop (within-category covariation). The existence of between-category covariation supports a uniformity principle that restricts the mapping from phonological features to phonetic targets in the sound system of each speaker. This principle was formalized with factor analysis, in which observed covariation derives from a lower-dimensional space of talker variation. Knowledge of between-category phonetic covariation could facilitate perceptual adaptation to novel talkers by providing a rational basis for generalizing idiosyncratic properties to several sounds on the basis of limited exposure.
Economic Sociology and Political Economy: A Programmatic Perspective

The paper presents some of the ideas underlying the current research program of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG). It begins with a discussion of how the institute's programmatic orientation has evolved since it was founded in 1984. Programmatic change over the years involved (1) recognition of a secular decline in the capacity of the nation-state to organize and guarantee social order, and of the growing significance of self-regulating, 'free' national and international markets for social life; (2) increased attention to issues of meaning and to 'culture' and cultural symbolism, as well as to normative questions; (3) a gradual shift in emphasis from policy to politics; and (4) more explicit recognition of history and of the historicity of the questions posed and the observations analyzed in social science. The second part of the paper argues that Gesellschaftsforschung today is most appropriately conceived as the study of the economy and society of contemporary capitalism. It is suggested that the most promising approach is close cooperation between the scholarly traditions of political economy and economic sociology, with the former standing to benefit from a more explicit micro-foundation in a sociological theory of action and the latter from more systematic consideration of politics and the state. Third, the paper shows how the approach that has evolved at the MPIfG differs from mainstream economic sociology, from the so-called new institutional economics, and from behavioral economics. The paper concludes by enumerating four subject areas that are likely to be of particular importance for research at the MPIfG: (1) the nature of rational-economic action, (2) the constitution of markets, (3) the emergence and change of institutions, and (4) the relationship between capitalism and democracy.
SERS‐Enabled Lab‐on‐a‐Chip Systems

Surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been combined with microfluidic Lab‐on‐a‐Chip (LoC) systems for sensitive optofluidic detection for more than a decade. However, most microfluidic SERS devices still suffer from analyte contamination and signal irreproducibility. In recent years, both the microfluidics and SERS communities have developed their own solutions that are complementary to each other; their combination even has potential for commercialization. In this review, the recent advances in both fields are summarized with regard to the development of reliable multifunctional SERS‐enabled LoC systems and their broad applications. Starting from SERS fundamentals, reproducible SERS substrates and dynamic microfluidic trapping are discussed. Based on their combination, on‐chip applications beyond SERS are presented, and insight can be gained into the commercialization of portable SERS chips.
A Pilot School Meal Program Using Local Foods with Soybean in Rural Bangladesh: Effects on the Nutritional Status of Children

Background: Growth retardation is a challenge in Bangladesh. School feeding programs with fortified biscuits have been evaluated in Bangladesh. However, the impacts of a school meal program using local foods on the growth and nutritional status of children have not been investigated. Objective: To determine whether a school meal program (SMP) using local foods with soybean could improve children’s growth and micronutrient status in rural Bangladesh. Methods: Two primary schools were randomly assigned as intervention (SMP; n = 200) and control (non-SMP; n = 200) schools. Children in the intervention school were supplied a school meal with local foods including soybean, containing more than one-third of the recommended daily allowance of energy and nutrients, 5 days/week for 8 months. The attendance rate and school lunch consumption of the children were monitored. Baseline and final anthropometry, hemoglobin and micronutrient status were assessed. Results: There were no significant differences in anthropometric measurements at baseline between the intervention and control groups, but there were differences in the prevalence of anemia, vitamin A deficiency and zinc deficiency. After the intervention, children in the SMP school showed a larger degree of improvement in the height-for-age Z-score (P < 0.001), red blood cell count (P = 0.001) and hemoglobin concentration (P < 0.001) than children in the non-SMP school. However, there were no positive effects on the body mass index (BMI)-for-age Z-score, serum ferritin, serum retinol or serum zinc status among children in the SMP school. Conclusion: A school meal program using local foods with soybean improved the height velocity and hemoglobin concentration of children in rural Bangladesh.
HOHENHEIMER DISKUSSIONSBEITRÄGE How the ECB and the US Fed Set Interest Rates by Ansgar Belke

Monetary policies of the ECB and US Fed can be characterised by “Taylor rules”, that is both central banks seem to be setting rates by taking into account the “output gap” and inflation. We also set up and tested Taylor rules which incorporate money growth and the euro-dollar exchange rate, thereby improving the “fit” between actual and Taylor rule based rates. In general, Taylor rules appear to be a much better way of describing Fed policy than ECB policy. Simulations suggest that the ECB’s short-term interest rates have been at a much lower level in the last two years compared with what a Taylor rule would suggest. JEL code: E43, E58
Selçuklu ve Osmanlılarda Müzikle Tedavi Yapılan Hastaneler

Muzikle tedavi, alternatif bir tedavi yontemi olmayip, geleneksel tibba uygundur ve kendine ait metotlari vardir. Mitten bir tedavi yontemi olana degin kulturlere, uluslara ve donemlere gore farklilik gosteren bir tarihsel gelisime sahiptir. Muzikle tedavi yapilan hastaneler de muzikle tedavinin kendisi kadar buyuk oneme sahiptir. Bu makalede, gunumuzde bilimsel bir tedavi yontemi olarak kullanilan muzikle tedavinin Turklerdeki tarihsel gelisiminden bahsedilmekte ve tum dunyada hastane mimarisi tasariminda oncu olan Selcuklu ve Osmanlilar doneminde muzikle tedavi yapilan hastaneler hakkinda bilgi verilmektedir.
Environmental factors influencing the distribution of three species within the genus Persephona Leach, 1817 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Leucosiidae) in two regions on the northern coast of São Paulo State, Brazil

Patterns of spatio-temporal distribution of Brachyura are determined by the interaction among life history traits, inter and intraspecific relationships, as well as by the variation of abiotic factors. This study aimed to characterize patterns of spatio-temporal distribution of Persephona lichtensteinii, Persephona mediterranea and Persephona punctata in two regions of the northern coast of Sao Paulo State, southeastern region of Brazil. Collections were done monthly from July 2001 to June 2003 in Caraguatatuba and Ubatuba, using a shrimp fishery boat equipped with double-rig nets. The patterns of species distribution were tested by means of redundancy analysis (RDA) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) in relation to the recorded environmental factors (BT: bottom temperature, BS: bottom salinity, OM: organic matter and granulometry (Phi)). The most influent environmental factor over the species distribution was the Phi, and the ascendant order of influence was P. lichtensteinii, P. punctata and P. mediterranea. The greater abundance of P. mediterranea showed a conservative pattern of distribution for the genus in the sampled region. The greater occurrence of P. punctata and P. lichtensteinii, in distinct transects than those occupied by P. mediterranea, seems to be a strategy to avoid competition among congeneric species, which is related to the substratum specificity.
Factors Behind the Decline in the U.S. Natural Rate of Interest

that supports an economy operating at its potential output without increasing inflation. It is an essential benchmark rate for policymakers who determine the policy rate. If potential output declines, the natural rate declines with it. However, we do not directly observe the natural rate. Instead, we have to rely on quantitative models that describe the policy and economic activity of the government, households, and firms to uncover the underlying natural rate of interest.