Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fiber bundle model for multiscale modeling of hydromechanical triggering of shallow landslides

Sudden and rapid mass movements associated with landslides and snow avalanches present a hazard to life and infrastructure, yet their predictions and triggering mechanisms remain poorly understood. Statistical methods and correlative studies have been used to produce landslide or avalanche susceptibility maps, often with limited physical basis. Mechanistic approaches based on factor‐of‐safety computation seldom represent the progressive transition from local failure events to a landslide and, in general, do not include heterogeneities associated with land cover or with subsurface material properties and hydrologic pathways. Focusing on rainfall‐induced shallow landslides, we propose the use of the fiber bundle model (FBM), a generic yet powerful and adaptable model used in modeling fatigue and fracture of complex and disordered materials. The primary strength of the FBM is its ability to represent the progressive failure of cracks and shear zones and the ruptures of highly heterogeneous bonding elements that are present in soils at all scales. The model also provides a natural framework for interpretation of acoustic emission signatures from failing slopes, which may form the basis of a monitoring and warning system.
Speech Encoding Scheme for the Extra-Cochlear Pulsed Electrical Stimulation System

An extra-cochlear stimulation system has been investigated as a less invasive alternative to conventional cochlear implant; however, the system is used primarily as a speech-reading aid. The purpose of this study was to develop a speech encoding scheme for the extra-cochlear stimulation system to convey intelligible speech. A click-modulated speech sound (CMS) was created as a simulation of the extra-cochlear stimulation system. The CMS is a repetitive click with a repetition rate similar to the formant frequency transition of an original sound. Seven native Japanese speakers with normal hearing participated in the experiment. After listening to the CMS, synthesized from low familiarity Japanese words, the subjects reported their perceptions. The results showed that the rates of correctly identified vowels and consonants were significantly higher than those of the control stimulus, suggesting that the CMS can generate at least partially intelligible vowel and consonant perceptions. In all, the speech encoding scheme could be applied to the extra-cochlear stimulation system to restore speech perception.
SPIRAL: Extreme Performance Portability

In this paper, we address the question of how to automatically map computational kernels to highly efficient code for a wide range of computing platforms and establish the correctness of the synthesized code. More specifically, we focus on two fundamental problems that software developers are faced with: performance portability across the ever-changing landscape of parallel platforms and correctness guarantees for sophisticated floating-point code. The problem is approached as follows: We develop a formal framework to capture computational algorithms, computing platforms, and program transformations of interest, using a unifying mathematical formalism we call operator language (OL). Then we cast the problem of synthesizing highly optimized computational kernels for a given machine as a strongly constrained optimization problem that is solved by search and a multistage rewriting system. Since all rewrite steps are semantics preserving, our approach establishes equivalence between the kernel specification and the synthesized program. This approach is implemented in the SPIRAL system, and we demonstrate it with a selection of computational kernels from the signal and image processing domain, software-defined radio, and robotic vehicle control. Our target platforms range from mobile devices, desktops, and server multicore processors to large-scale high-performance and supercomputing systems, and we demonstrate performance comparable to expertly hand-tuned code across kernels and platforms.
Analysis of Image Classification and Annotation Methods for Smartphone

Rapid development in computing technology brings computers and humans to be seamlessly integrated in future. The innovation of smart phone has driven computing era towards ubiquitous and pervasive computing. Recognizing human activity has garnered a lot of interest and has raised significant researchesconcerns in identifying contextual information useful to human activity recognition. The central elements of pervasive computing is, the ability to recognize and understand its users dynamically for which classification, object separation and annotation required. This paper discusses about classification algorithms used in smart phonebased human activity. Existing technologies pertaining to smart phone-based researches in human activity recognition will be highlighted and discussed.
A First Course in Stochastic Models

Poission process and related processes renewal-reward processes discrete-time Markov chains continuous-time Markov chains Markov chains and queues discrete-time Markov decision processes semi-Markov decision processes advanced renewal theory algorithms analysis of queuing models useful tools in applied probability useful probability distributions generating functions the discrete fast Fourier transform Laplace transformtheory numerical Laplace inversion the root-finding problem.
Extent of Adoption of Implementation Practices by Public Universities in Western Kenya

According to the Human Capital Report 2015, Kenya’s overall human capital index was 57.54, indicating that public universities contributes to economic success. However, Kenya Audit Report 2012/2013 indicated public universities were in a financial crisis with Western Kenya universities leading suggesting ineffective adoption of implementation practices. Past studies have focused on reduced funding, lack of innovation, ineffective systems and customer dissatisfaction but failed to consider extent of adoption of implementation practices by public universities in Western Kenya. The purpose was to establish extent of adoption implementation practices. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design of 4 public universities in Western Kenya. The population comprised 191 staff with 13 used for piloting. The remaining 178 comprised 166 senior managers including deans; chairs of departments; registrars; finance officers; librarians and 12 top managers including Vice-Chancellors and their deputies. The response was 84%. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaires and interview schedules. Pre-validated questionnaires had reliability alpha for implementation practices α=0.805. Findings revealed that Implementation had mean M=2.88(SD=0.086). The findings implied that implementation practices are adopted. It is concluded that implementation practices are prioritized in universities. The study recommends that effort should be put on resourcing aspect of implementation since it registered lowest. Public universities can be enlightened on benefits of adopting implementation practices.
RAPID EXPANSION OF NEAR AND SUPERCRITICAL SOLUTIONS CONTAINING CELLULOSE TRIACETATE

RESS experiments were performed on cellulose triacetate (CTA) [Mw = 146,000, PDI = 2.07], a semicrystalline polymer that is typically dry-spun into continuous fibers from a solution consisting primarily of methylene chloride. Phase-behavior measurements for solutions of CTA with ethanol and ethyl acetate indicate that both solvents, when used as compressed liquids, can completely dissolve solid CTA (m.p. ~300 °C) at temperatures of ~ 175 °C. However, ethyl acetate was preferred for RESS experiments over ethanol because of the absence of reactions with CTA. The liquid-liquid phase boundary for the ethyl acetateCTA system was measured and was found to extend from about 180 °C and 15 bar to 230 °C and 80 bar. RESS experiments were subsequently carried out at polymer concentrations of 0.5, 2, and 5 wt %, with pre-expansion temperatures and pressures corresponding to unsaturated (one liquid phase) and supersaturated (two liquid phases) polymer solutions. In general, RESS experiments produced particles and irregularly-shaped structures when expanding 0.5 and 2 wt % solutions, but significant amounts of fibers when RESS processing 5 wt % solutions. Unsaturated pre-expansion conditions resulted in 0.1-0.5 μm particles and fibers, whereas supersaturated conditions produced 0.5-1.5 μm particles and fibers. Thus, we continue to find that concentration and degree of saturation have a significant impact on the product morphology and size of RESS products.
Secure Opportunistic Multipath Key Exchange

The security of today's widely used communication security protocols is based on trust in Certificate Authorities (CAs). However, the real security of this approach is debatable, since certificate handling is tedious and many recent attacks have undermined the trust in CAs. On the other hand, opportunistic encryption protocols such as Tcpcrypt, which are currently gaining momentum as an alternative to no encryption, have similar security to using untrusted CAs or self-signed certificates: they only protect against passive attackers. In this paper, we present a key exchange protocol, Secure Multipath Key Exchange (SMKEX), that enables all the benefits of opportunistic encryption (no need for trusted third parties or pre-established secrets), as well as proven protection against some classes of active attackers. Furthermore, SMKEX can be easily extended to a trust-on-first-use setting and can be easily integrated with TLS, providing the highest security for opportunistic encryption to date while also increasing the security of standard TLS. We show that SMKEX is made practical by the current availability of path diversity between different AS-es. We also show a method to create path diversity with encrypted tunnels without relying on the network topology. These allow SMKEX to provide protection against most adversaries for a majority of Alexa top 100 web sites. We have implemented SMKEX using a modified Multipath TCP kernel implementation and a user library that overwrites part of the socket API, allowing unmodified applications to take advantage of the security provided by SMKEX.
Comparision of the Bio-degradation of Trimethylamine by Hyphomicrobium Vulgare and Aminobacter Aminovorans

Trimethylamine (TMA) is the main responsible for the odor often associated with rotting fish and is one of the major sources of annoying odors generated in many industrial activities, like composting facilities, fish-meal manufacturing plants, wastewater treatment plants, landfills and livestock farms. Traditionally amines can be removed by acid scrubbers that require the continuous supply of acid and generates large amounts of wastewater. Biofiltration has been proved to be an effective and sustainable technology treating many odorous compounds but the efficient removal of TMA using biofilters has not been completely shown. There are different microorganisms with the ability to use TMA as nutrient for their growth and presents different rates of TMA bio-degradation and biomass yields. Between those Hyphomicrobium vulgare and Aminobacter aminovorans are two bacteria known for their capability to use TMA as carbon and energy source.In order to select one of these bacteria as inoculum for biofilters, TMA bio-degradation capacity of both bacteria was determinated in batch cultures. Each bacterium was cultivated at 30°C and 200 rpm in 125 ml shake flasks with a minimum mineral medium and TMA as source of carbon. To determine the effect of H2S on the biodegradation of TMA, H2S was added in the headspace of the flasks, the experiments were performed using 0, 20 and 70 ppm of H2S as initial concentration in headspace.The maximum biomass concentration obtained during the cultures was 1.17 g L-1 for Hyphomicrobium and0.44 g L-1 for A. aminovorans, it growth at a maximum specific growth rate of 0.15 h-1, higher than the obtained for Hyphomicrobium; 0.09 h-1. The biomass yield for TMA was 0.35 (g g-1) for Hyphomicrobium and 0.10 (g g- 1) for A. aminovorans. The specific consumption rate was 0.47 h-1 in the culture of A. aminovorans and 0.12 h- 1 in the culture of Hyphomicrobium. Although A. aminovorans shows higher TMA specific consumption rate than Hyphomicrobium, its biomass yield value (0.1 g g-1) indicates that in the case of A. aminovorans the carbon from TMA was metabolized to other products like carbon dioxide, formaldehyde or formate in detrimentof biomass production. The biodegradation of TMA by A. aminovorans is negatively affected by H2S, meanwhile in the case of Hyphomicrobium sp. the specific rate of biodegradation of TMA is positively influenced by the presence of H2S, making it even higher than the one obtained for A aminovorans without the presence of H2S. In conclusion, due to its specific growth rate and TMA specific consume rate Aminobacter aminovorans is a suitable candidate to be used as inoculum for biofilters designed for removing gas emissions containing TMA when there is not H2S in the mixture. However, if H2S is present, Hyphomicrobium vulgare would be the best choice for the inoculum or being part of the inoculum of the biofilter.
NF- k B activation is required for adaptive cardiac hypertrophy

Aims We have previously shown that cardiac-speciﬁc inhibition of NF- k B attenuates angiotensin II (AngII)-induced left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy in vivo . We now tested whether NF- k B inhibition is able to block LV remodelling upon chronic pressure overload and chronic AngII stimulation. Methods and results Cardiac-restricted NF- k B inhibition was achieved by expression of a stabilized I k B a mutant (I k B aD N) in cells with an active a -myosin heavy chain ( a MHC) promoter employing the Cre/lox technique. Upon low-gradient trans-aortic constriction (TAC, gradient 21 + 3 mmHg), hypertrophy was induced in both male and female control mice after 4 weeks. At this time, LV hypertrophy was blocked in transgenic (TG) male but not female mice with NF- k B inhibition. Amelioration of LV hypertrophy was associated with activation of NF- k B by dihydrotestosterone in isolated neonatal cardiomyocytes. LV remodelling was not attenuated by NF- k B inhibition after 8 weeks TAC, demonstrated by decreased fractional shortening (FS) in both control and TG mice irrespective of gender. Similar results were obtained when TAC was performed with higher gradients (48 + 4 mmHg). In TG mice, FS dropped to similar low levels over the same time course [FS sham, 29 + 1% (mean + SEM); FS control þ 14 days TAC, 13 + 3%; FS TG þ 14 days TAC, 9 + 5%]. Similarly, LV remodelling was accelerated by NF- k B inhibition in an AngII- dependent genetic heart failure model (AT1-R a MHC ) associated with signiﬁcantly increased cardiac ﬁbrosis in double AT1-R a MHC /TG mice. Conclusion NF- k B inhibition attenuates cardiac hypertrophy in a gender-speciﬁc manner but does not alter the course of stress-induced LV remodelling, indicating NF- k B to be required for adaptive cardiac hypertrophy.
Set-Based Prediction of Pedestrians in Urban Environments Considering Formalized Traffic Rules

Set-based predictions can ensure the safety of planned motions, since they provide a bounded region which includes all possible future states of nondeterministic models of other traffic participants. However, while autonomous vehicles are tested in urban environments, a set-based prediction tailored to pedestrians does not exist yet. This paper addresses this problem and presents an approach for set-based predictions of pedestrians using reachability analysis. We obtain tight over-approximations of pedestrians' reachable occupancy by incorporating the dynamics of pedestrians, contextual information, and traffic rules. In addition, since pedestrians often disregard traffic rules, our constraints automatically adapt so that such behaviors are included in the prediction. Using datasets of recorded pedestrians, we validate our proposed method and demonstrate its use for evasive maneuver planning of automated vehicles.
A mini review: RuBisCo small subunit as a strong, green tissue-specific promoter

Plant genetic transformation is a powerful application used to study gene expression in plants. Transcriptomics has the potential to rapidly increase our knowledge of spatial and temporal gene expression and lead to new promoters for research and development. The availability of a broad spectrum of promoters with the ability to regulate the temporal and spatial expression patterns of transgenes can increase the successful application of transgenic technology. A variety of pro- moters is necessary at all levels of genetic engineering in plants, from basic research, to the development of economically viable crops and plant commodities, it can address legitimate concerns raised about the safety and containment of trans- genic plants in the environment. Compared with temporal- or spatial-specific expression of a toxin, constitutive expres - sion of foreign proteins in transgenic plants can cause adverse effects. The constitutive overexpression of transgenes that interferes with normal processes in a plant underscores the need for refinement of transgene expression. The development of tissue-specific promoters to drive transgene expression has helped fulfill that need. Therefore, in certain circumstances it is desirable to use expression-specific promoters which only express the foreign gene in specific plant tissues or organs. This review highlights the uses and benefits reaped by the use of gr een tissue-specific promoter for the RuBisCo small subunit in different crops and systems and thus establishing a broad range of tissue-specific promoters. Such plant promot- ers that are activated precisely when and where they are needed would be ideal for genetic engineering strategies.
Inconsistent style of leadership as a predictor of safety behaviour

Abstract Research on the effects of passive rather than transformational styles of leadership is limited, especially regarding safety-related outcomes in the workplace. Both styles of leadership can be exhibited at different times in the same individual; here we refer to this as inconsistent leadership. In this study, we examine the effect of inconsistent safety-specific leadership style on the safety participation and safety compliance of employees. Operationalized as the interaction of safety-specific transformational leadership and passive leadership, inconsistent safety leadership emerged as a significant predictor of both outcomes in two samples in Canada: a sample of 241 young workers and again in a sample of 491 older workers, who were long-term health care employees. We found that a transformational safety-specific leadership style was associated with greater safety compliance and safety participation in employees. Furthermore, in all cases, the predictive effect of transformational style of leadership on safety participation and safety compliance was attenuated when leaders also displayed passive leadership with respect to safety outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications for safety management are discussed.
Global Portfolio Rebalancing and Exchange Rates

We examine international equity allocations at the fund level and show how excess foreign returns influence portfolio rebalancing, capital flows, and currencies. Our equilibrium model of incomplete foreign exchange (FX) risk trading where exchange rate risk partially segments international equity markets is consistent with the observed dynamics of equity returns, exchange rates, and fund-level capital flows. We document that rebalancing is more intense under higher FX volatility and find heterogeneous rebalancing behavior across different fund characteristics. A granular instrumental variable approach identifies a positive currency supply elasticity.
A Novel Approach for Scalability – Two Way Sequential Pattern Mining using UDDAG

- Traditional pattern growth-based approaches for sequential pattern mining derive length-(k + 1) patterns based on the projected databases of length-k patterns recursively. At each level of recursion, they unidirectionally grow the length of detected patterns by one along the suffix of detected patterns, which needs k levels of recursion to find a length-k pattern. In this paper, a novel data structure, UpDown Directed Acyclic Graph (UDDAG), is invented for efficient sequential pattern mining. UDDAG allows bidirectional pattern growth along both ends of detected patterns. Thus, a length-k pattern can be detected in | log 2 k + 1| levels of recursion at best, which results in fewer levels of recursion and faster pattern growth. When minSup is large such that the average pattern length is close to 1, UDDAG and PrefixSpan have similar performance because the problem degrades into frequent item counting problem. However, UDDAG scales up much better. It often outperforms PrefixSpan by almost one order of magnitude in scalability tests. UDDAG is also considerably faster than Spade and LapinSpam. Except for extreme cases, UDDAG uses comparable memory to that of PrefixSpan and less memory than Spade and LapinSpam
The optimal imaging diagnostic method of sarcopenia in liver transplantation: an unresolved issue

Liver cirrhosis is the end stage of multiple liver diseases with a high morbidity and mortality. Complications related to cirrhosis, including variceal bleeding, ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and hepatic encephalopathy, have been widely recognized (1-3). However, malnutrition, another common complication, has not been fully recognized in clinical practice. Indeed, classical prognostic models, such as Child-Turcotte-Pugh and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), are lacking an objective assessment of malnutrition in cirrhotic patients (4-6).
MGS‐TES Spectra Suggest a Basaltic Component in the Regolith of Phobos

The origins of the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos have been the subjects of considerable debate. Visible and near‐infrared spectra of these bodies are dark and nearly featureless, with red slopes of varying degrees. These spectra are generally consistent with those of carbonaceous asteroids, leading to the hypothesis that Phobos and Deimos are captured carbonaceous asteroids. The shapes and inclinations of the orbits of Phobos and Deimos present problems for the asteroid capture hypothesis. This had led researchers to suggest that Phobos and Deimos coaccreted with Mars or that they are the result of an impact with Mars or in the Mars vicinity. In this work, we reexamine Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (MGS‐TES) data of Phobos and compare spectra of the Phobos surface to mid‐IR spectra of the ungrouped C2 meteorite Tagish Lake (a suggested analog for D‐class asteroids) and particulate basalt and phyllosilicate samples (mixed with carbon black to reduce their visible albedos) acquired in a simulated airless body environment. We find that Tagish Lake is a poor mid‐IR spectral analog to Phobos and that major spectral features in the Phobos spectrum are best matched by a silicate transparency feature similar to that found for finely particulate basalt. Other features in the spectrum are likely best explained by a phyllosilicate component. We suggest that these results indicate that at a portion of the Phobos surface regolith is derived from the Martian crust.