Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of distance metrics for MDS based NLDR using CNNs

The L1 and L2 distance metrics can be used when training convolutional neural nets to perform nonlinear dimensionality reduction on image datasets, generating embedded spaces in a similar manner as with multidimensional scaling. The choice between them is often made arbitrarily. We trained enocder/decoder network pairs as Regressors, Au-toencoders, Siamese networks, and with a triplet loss before applying them to Classiﬁca-tion, Outlier detection, Interpolation, and Denoising. The experimental results were interpreted, subjectively where necessary, leading to the conclusion that using the euclidean or the manhattan distance during training matters less than the choice of training conﬁgura-tion. The L2 distance appeared minimally favorable.
Effectiveness of dry cow therapy and/or internal teat sealant on existing infections in smallholder dairy farms in Kenya

Background and Aim: Dry cow therapy (DCT) can be an effective treatment of mastitis that has not responded to conventional treatment during lactation. The aim of this study was to establish the effectiveness of DCT options available in reducing intramammary infections in smallholder dairy farms in Kiambu County, Kenya. Materials and Methods: The study targeted smallholder dairy farms which were registered at the local dairy cooperatives and which had cows that were at the point of dry-off. A total of 32 cows with 121 quarters that were California Mastitis Test (CMT) positive were recruited, with the quarters randomly allocated to receive either DCT (DCT – neomycin sulfate, penethamate hydriodide, and procaine benzylpenicillin) and internal teat sealant (ITS) or ITS alone (bismuth nitrate) after aseptically collecting quarter milk samples for bacterial culture. Farm- and animal-level factors were captured through a questionnaire which was administered to the principal farmer or a person who was managing the animals. Post-calving, milk samples were also collected for bacterial culture to establish if the infection was cleared or if there was a new infection. Results: DCT with ITS significantly reduced the proportion of quarters infected with Staphylococcus aureus from 64.0% at dry-off to 44.0% post-calving (35% reduction). In the control group, ITS alone, there was a small reduction in proportions of S. aureus from 46.8% to 40.4%. Proportions of quarter infections by coagulase-negative Staphylococcus in the treatment group reduced from 16.0% at dry-off to 2.0% post-calving, with a significant reduction in the control group too from 19.1% to 4.3%, which could be due to self-cure. Actinomyces species, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus species, and Pseudomonas species proportions slightly increased in the treatment group, as did E. coli and Pseudomonas species proportions in the control group. Conclusion: In smallholder dairy farms with subclinical mastitis, DCT of CMT-positive cows leads to a significant decrease of S. aureus infections at calving.
Bus Signal Priority System Based On GNSS Electronic Fence Technology

With the development of the city, traffic congestion has become one of the important factors that affect the construction of smart city. The development of BSP (bus signal priority) system can effectively alleviate the traffic congestion problem and accelerate the construction of new smart city. The BSP system based on GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) electronic fence can effectively realize the function of bus signal priority application. It sets the virtual trigger area of traffic signal at traffic junction by using GNSS electronic fence technology, innovatively proposes a trigger judgment algorithm improved by the ray method for the bus entering the intersection electronic fence, and aiming at the problem of packet loss and floating point of bus real – time information, the method of judging the correctness of the electronic fence entry strategy is proposed, which ensures the high accuracy rate of the bus priority system. The system has been formally applied in Nanjing, China. Through the statistical analysis of data from the feedback operating data, bus priority effect is significant. Based on the electronic fence technology, the BSP system can be used in the original urban traffic system software upgrades. It is a more economical, convenient and efficient bus priority solution.
A polar dual to the momentum of toric Fano manifolds

Abstract We introduce an invariant on the Fano polytope of a toric Fano manifold as a polar dual counterpart to the momentum of its polar dual polytope. Moreover, we prove that if the momentum of the polar dual polytope is equal to zero, then the dual invariant on a Fano polytope vanishes.
Phenotypic and molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Salmonella prevalent in raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets

Abstract In Nigeria, there is still a scarcity of data on the recovery of multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella in chicken meat. Hence this study characterized the probable multidrug-resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Salmonella prevalent in chilled raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets. Detection of Salmonella was performed by meat rinse centrifugation-plating technique. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were identified by phenotypic and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The confirmed Salmonella isolates were tested for multidrug resistance by the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion test. Detection and confirmation of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) phenotypes were performed by double disc synergy and combination disc tests. PCR and DNA sequencing of the ESBL-encoding genes (blaSHV, blaTEM, and blaCTX-M) were also performed. The conserved and three-dimensional (3D) domains in ESBLs were respectively characterized by the reverse position-specific BLAST (RPS-BLAST) and Cn3D modeling tool. Of the 229 presumptive Salmonella isolates examined, 52 isolates were confirmed as Salmonella species, 46 isolates were multidrug-resistant and 41 isolates confirmed as multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella species. The main serotypes were Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium (35/52; 67.31%) and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis (17/52; 32.69%). Overall, the prevalence of chilled raw chicken meat contaminated with Salmonella was estimated at 0.17 (40/240). This value of prevalence exceeded the limits (≤ 0.1) set by the Meat Industry Guide, United Kingdom. All CTX-M, TEM, and SHV beta-lactamases produced by the Salmonella isolates were confirmed by RPS-BLAST and Cn3D modeling tool as serine-based hydrolases that consisted of two 3D domains with unique ligands such as sodium ion, formic acid, and glycerol. This study showed that multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella was widespread in raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets. Thus, there is a need for relevant regulatory agencies to enforce safety.
Studies in MACE correlations for type

MACE evaluations for type traits have been computed and delivered to Canadian breeders since 1995. Due to similar industry demands, a parallel service has now also evolved in the United States. Throughout the development of these systems, questions have been raised about the genetic parameters, and specifically the genetic correlations to use for the evaluations. Different studies have given very different genetic correlation estimates and a large number of estimates have been lower than expected, based on simple correlations of proofs (Grignola and Rozzi, 1996; Rozzi, 1997). The importance of these questions has increased with the parallel application of more than one MACE system in North America, because of potentially large differences in the parameters used by each system. The Canadian system (CMACE) has been using genetic parameters estimated by the procedures of Schaeffer et al. (1996). The current United States system (UMACE) uses parameters estimated by REML procedures developed by Klei (1997). The REML procedures in UMACE are different than the REML procedures used by INTERBULL (Sigurdsson and Banos, 1995) for production traits, and generally give higher estimated genetic correlations for type traits. The UMACE correlations have also been more similar to proof correlations. The purpose of this study was to examine the estimation procedures, data used and resulting genetic correlation estimates from CMACE and UMACE, and to make recommendations regarding genetic parameters for use in future MACE evaluations for type traits.
Scalable Synthesis of Palladium Icosahedra in Plug Reactors for the Production of Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts

We have synthesized Pd icosahedra with uniform, controllable sizes in plug reactors separated by air. The oxygen contained in the air segments not only contributed to the generation of a reductant from diethylene glycol in situ, but also oxidized elemental Pd back to the ionic form by oxidative etching and thus slowed down the reduction kinetics. Compared to droplet reactors involving silicone oil or fluorocarbon, the use of air as a carrier phase could reduce the production cost by avoiding additional procedures for the separation of products from the oil. The average diameters of the Pd icosahedra could be readily controlled in the range of 12–20 nm. The Pd icosahedra were further employed as seeds for the production of Pd@Pt2–3L core‐shell icosahedra, which could serve as a catalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction with greatly enhanced activity. We believe that the plug reactors could be extended to other types of noble‐metal nanocrystals for their scale‐up production.
Spatio-temporal variation of microphytobenthos biomass, diversity and assemblage structure in the Loire Estuary, France

: Diatom-dominated microphytobenthos (MPB) communities of 4 intertidal mudflats along the meso- and polyhaline reaches of the Loire Estuary, France, were investigated during a year cycle. They were analysed in terms of biomass, diversity, species composition and growth form distribution. The assemblages of the 2 upstream sites were characterised by high biomass and lower diversities and were mostly dominated by epipelon. The 2 downstream, most haline sites had lower biomass and higher diversities and were dominated by both epipelon and tychoplankton. Diversity did not exhibit a clear seasonal signal in the upstream mudflats, but it was higher during the first half of the study in the downstream sites. The coexistence of 2 growth forms seems to increase diversity of the mudflat assemblages. Species distribution was mainly linked to changes in sediment texture and salinity, both with a marked seasonal variability. MPB biomass was inversely related to MPB diversity and positively related to both mud content and the epipelon. MPB diversity was not, however, significantly correlated with mud content. Slight changes in sediment texture, even if causing variations in assemblage composition, did not change overall diversity. The existence of an important and even dominant tychoplanktonic fraction could be considered a distinctive feature of these benthic environments in the Loire, as well as in other macro tidal estuaries.
Revealing NOTCH-dependencies in synaptic targets associated with Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the major cause of dementia. There is evidence that synaptic dysfunction and perturbation of Excitatory/Inhibitory (E/I) balance arise at the early stages of AD, altering the normal neural network activity, and leading to cognitive decline. Recent studies have identified Notch signaling as a contributor of neurodegenerative advancement including AD pathophysiology. As part of the efforts to understand molecular mechanisms and players involved in cognitive decline, we employed transgenic mouse models with Notch1 and RBPJK loss of function (LOF) in pyramidal neurons of the CA fields. Using bulk RNAseq. We have investigated the differential expression of Notch-dependent genes either upon environmental enrichment (EE) or upon Kainate injury (KA). We found a substantial genetic diversity in absence of both Notch1 receptor or Rbpjk transcriptional activator. Among differentially expressed genes, we observed a significant upregulation of Gabra2a in both knockout models, suggesting a role for Notch signaling in the modulation of E/I balance. Upon neuroexcitotoxic stimulation, loss of Rbpjk results in decreased expression of synaptic proteins with neuroprotective effects. We confirmed Nptx2, Npy, Pdch8, TncC as direct Notch1/Rbpjk targets and Bdnf and Scg2 as indirect targets. Finally, we translate these findings into human entorhinal cortex containing the hippocampal region from Alzheimer’s Disease patients performing targeted transcripts analysis. We observe an increased trend for Rbpjk and the ligand DNER but not Notch1 expression. On the other hand, neuron-specific targets, Nptx2, Npy, BDNF and Gabra2a are upregulated during the mild-moderate stage, and decline in the severe phase of the disease. These findings identify Notch as a promising signaling cascade to fine-tune in order to ameliorate synaptic transmission and memory deficits that occur during early phase of the Alzheimer’s Disease. Highlights Loss of canonical and/or non-canonical Notch1 signaling in pyramidal neurons of the hippocampal CA field mainly affects the post-synaptic compartment. In both RBPJKcKO and Notch1cKO mouse models there is upregulation of GABAergic receptor subunit alpha2 (Gabra2a). The plasticity genes: Npy, Nptx2,Pcdh8 and TncC with neuroprotective functions and known association with Alzheimer’s Disease are direct Notch/Rbpjk targets. During the mild-moderate stage of AD dementia, Notch canonical signaling promotes the expression of neuroprotective proteins, in the attempt of mitigating the effect of the excitatory-inhibitory imbalance. This activity is not observed during severe stages of the disease.
Privacy–Enhancing Face Biometrics: A Comprehensive Survey

Biometric recognition technology has made significant advances over the last decade and is now used across a number of services and applications. However, this widespread deployment has also resulted in privacy concerns and evolving societal expectations about the appropriate use of the technology. For example, the ability to automatically extract age, gender, race, and health cues from biometric data has heightened concerns about privacy leakage. Face recognition technology, in particular, has been in the spotlight, and is now seen by many as posing a considerable risk to personal privacy. In response to these and similar concerns, researchers have intensified efforts towards developing techniques and computational models capable of ensuring privacy to individuals, while still facilitating the utility of face recognition technology in several application scenarios. These efforts have resulted in a multitude of privacy–enhancing techniques that aim at addressing privacy risks originating from biometric systems and providing technological solutions for legislative requirements set forth in privacy laws and regulations, such as GDPR. The goal of this overview paper is to provide a comprehensive introduction into privacy–related research in the area of biometrics and review existing work on Biometric Privacy–Enhancing Techniques (B–PETs) applied to face biometrics. To make this work useful for as wide of an audience as possible, several key topics are covered as well, including evaluation strategies used with B–PETs, existing datasets, relevant standards, and regulations and critical open issues that will have to be addressed in the future.
Gender Differences in Political Budget Cycles

Men and women differ in political behaviour and leadership style. Does the gender of politicians affect the engagement in political budget cycles? We provide empirical evidence on gender differences in political budget cycles by exploiting mixed-gender races among mayoral candidates in Italian municipalities in the period 2002-2017. Using a Regression Discontinuity Design, we show that male mayors who are elected by a small margin against a female opponent are more likely to engage in strategic spending at pre-electoral and electoral years, as compared to female mayors. That is particularly true for highly visible policies that yield immediate benefits, such as roads construction and maintenance, transportation, green areas and waste disposal. We also find that, as elections approach, male incumbents raise deficit levels more than their female colleagues do.
Development and use of a new curvature relaxation technique to measure the in situ oxygen surface exchange coefficients and stress of lanthanum strontium ferrite films

DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF A NEW CURVATURE RELAXATION TECHNIQUE TO MEASURE THE IN SITU OXYGEN SURFACE EXCHANGE COEFFICIENTS AND STRESS OF LANTHANUM STRONTIUM FERRITE FILMS By Qing Yang Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) provide fuel flexibility and the highest efficiency of any chemicalto-electrical energy conversion technology. Unfortunately, slow oxygen transport, especially that caused by low surface exchange kinetics at the cathode, limits overall SOFC performance. In the common SOFC material La0.6Sr0. 4FeO3-δ (LSF64) efforts to engineer and understand oxygen surface exchange have been complicated by the 5 orders of magnitude chemical surface exchange coefficient (k) discrepancy reported in the literature. To help remedy this discrepancy, a new bilayer curvature relaxation technique utilizing the mechano-chemical coupling of LSF64 was developed in this work. This technique provides reliable, in-situ, electrode-free, simultaneous measurement of film stress and k as a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure. This is demonstrated here by measuring LSF64 films prepared via sputter deposition, pulsed laser deposition, and colloidal spray deposition. The similarities and differences between these films are systematically investigated across multiple thermal cycles, and correlated to the microstructure, stress state and sample preparation/testing history. Further, the k of LSF64 films was measured here below 500C for the first time, and distinct latticedominated and grain-boundary-dominated chemical stress responses were identified.
Required spatial resolution for late reverberation in a 3-dimensional loudspeaker array

The room acoustics simulator RAZR [2] simulates perceptually plausible binaural room impulse responses (BRIRs) for shoebox-approximations of rooms with a low computational effort. For the early reflections an image source model (ISM) [3] is used up to third reflection order. To generate the diffuse late reverberation, a feedback delay network (FDN) [4] is used which is spatially rendered using a limited number of twelve directions on a 3-dimensional cube around the listener to create a spatially diffuse sound field (see Fig. 1).
FTIR Analysis of Extracts from Two Bituminous Coals with CS_2 Using Extraction in Batches

To reveal the exiting state and solubilization behavior of soluble components in coal, two bituminous coals were extracted using Soxhlet extractor with CS_2 for about 1000 hours respectively and the CS_2 soluble components were analyzed using FTIR. The results show that the characteristics of solubilization behavior of CS_2 extracts are sequential, periodic and explosive changes. The curve of waves shows the area of absorption peaks of many important groups against time while extracting from coal. The shape of the curves, peak value, moment of peaks presented and amplitude change with the type of coals. The peaks area at 2 950～2 858, 3 040, 1 610, 860, 815, 750 cm~(-1) are expressed by A_R, A_(Ar1), A_(Ar2), A_(Ar3), A_(Ar4), A_(Ar5), and t stands for cumulative time. Time corresponding to wave crest of A_R/A_(Ar2)~t indicates the length of aliphatic chains, and amplitude indicates the number of ingredient of aliphatic compounds.According to the curves of A_R/A_(Ar1)~t, A_(Ar3)/A_(Ar1)~t, A_(Ar4)/A_(Ar1)~t and A_(Ar5)/A_(Ar1)~t, the solubilization of aromatic compounds which one hydrogen atom, two neighboring hydrogen atoms and four neighboring hydrogenatoms were substituted are also pointed out, respectively. The main reason of formation of solubilization curves is points coupling of non-covalent bonds presenting among aliphatic chains, side chains and the other parts of coal.
This paper is included in the Proceedings of the 30th USENIX Security Symposium.

Fuzzing has become a commonly used approach to identifying bugs in complex, real-world programs. However, interpreters are notoriously difﬁcult to fuzz effectively, as they expect highly structured inputs, which are rarely produced by most fuzzing mutations. For this class of programs, grammar-based fuzzing has been shown to be effective. Tools based on this approach can ﬁnd bugs in the code that is executed after parsing the interpreter inputs, by following language-speciﬁc rules when generating and mutating test cases. Unfortunately, grammar-based fuzzing is often unable to discover subtle bugs associated with the parsing and handling of the language syntax. Additionally, if the grammar provided to the fuzzer is incomplete, or does not match the implementation completely, the fuzzer will fail to exercise important parts of the available functionality. In this paper, we propose a new fuzzing technique, called Token-Level Fuzzing. Instead of applying mutations either at the byte level or at the grammar level, Token-Level Fuzzing applies mutations at the token level . Evolutionary fuzzers can leverage this technique to both generate inputs that are parsed successfully and generate inputs that do not conform strictly to the grammar. As a result, the proposed approach can ﬁnd bugs that neither byte-level fuzzing nor grammar-based fuzzing can ﬁnd. We evaluated Token-Level Fuzzing by modifying AFL and fuzzing four popular JavaScript engines, ﬁnding 29 previously unknown bugs, several of which could not be found with state-of-the-art byte-level and grammar-based fuzzers.
Strain analysis of phase transitions in (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites

Abstract A single Landau free energy expansion is used to describe phase transitions in perovskites, from a cubic parent structure to tetragonal and orthorhombic structures with space groups related to the M3 and R25 points of the Pm3̅m reciprocal lattice. This expansion permits relationships between symmetry-adapted forms of the spontaneous strain and individual order parameter components to be predicted. Data from the literature for (Ca,Sr)TiO3 perovskites are analyzed in the light of these predictions. Shear strains for I4/mcm, Pnma, and Cmcm structures tend to conform to the predicted pattern. The Pm3̅m↔I4/mcm transition has nearly tricritical character as a function of temperature in CaTiO3 and more nearly second-order character as a function of composition at the Sr-rich end of the solid solution. Coupling with the volume strain appears to be both temperature and composition dependent, which may be a general feature of phase transitions in perovskites. Renormalization of fourth-order terms by changing the volume coupling coefficients could be responsible for the unusual order parameter evolution shown by CaTiO3 and for changes in thermodynamic character of the phase transitions as a function of composition. The pattern of strain variations also correlates closely with patterns of variations in heat capacity from the literature, suggesting revisions to the subsolidus phase diagram for the (Ca,Sr)TiO3 solid solution above room temperature.