Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AN ASSESSMENT OF PERCEPTUAL BASED TEXTURE FEATURES FOR IMAGE REPRESENTATION AND RETRIVAL Proposed study: Texture based feature extraction perceptual Image Retrieval (CBIR) system for Biomedical Sciences (dental related alignments)

This paper presents a comprehensive survey of perception-based approach of feature extraction methods for Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). CBIR is a technique that uses the visual content of a still image to search for similar images in large-scale image databases. CBIR method requires both color and texture features to retrieve digital images from large scale image database, which leads to increase digital image database enormously. On the other hand perception- based approach requires only texture features to retrieve digital images, which can effectively reduce digital image database. In this paper we have considered textured images and studied to model their textural content by a set of features having a perceptual meaning and their application to content- based image retrieval. Process variables or objective functions includes number of control points such as coarseness, directionality, contrast, and busyness used to retrieve virtual image representation of perceptual textural features. So the main intent of this paper is to invent a new method to estimate these perceptual features. And with this application of Texture based Feature Extraction Perceptual Image Retrieval (CBIR) technique and Computational Intelligence, we have also proposed to develop a Knowledge Based Expert system for Biomedical Sciences (dental related alignments).
Allozyme variation of Pinus pallasiana D. Don in Natural Crimean populations and in plantations in technogenously-polluted areas of the Ukraine steppes

Les parametres de variation alloenzymatique de 4 peuplements de Pinus pallasiana plantes dans la steppe ukrainienne de Pinus pallasiana et de 3 populations naturelles en Crimee ont ete compares. On a egalement analyse 3 groupes d'arbres selectionnes pour leur probable resistance/tolerance aux conditions de steppe et a la pollution industrielle. Le pourcentage de loci polymorphes dans les populations naturelles varie de 0,74 a 0,89 et le nombre d'alleles de 2,4 a 2,7, alors que les valeurs relevees dans les populations artificielles etaient respectivement de 0,75 a 0,85 et de 2,35 a 2,75. Six populations sur 7 ont montre un deficit d'heterozygotie (14,9 %) alors qu'un exces d'heterozygotie (de 14,6 a 36,9 %) et une diversite allelique reduite etaient notes dans les groupes d'arbres selectionnes. La distance genetique de Nei entre populations selectionnees et populations naturelles est en moyenne de 0,1. Les parametres mesures dans les differents types de populations n'ont pas revele de depression de consanguinite. Ces analyses permettent de recommander l'utilisation, comme materiel de base, d'arbres selectionnes pour entamer d'importants programmes de plantation de Pinus pallasiana dans la steppe ukrainienne, y compris dans le zones atteintes par la pollution industrielle.
Tumors: Benign and Malignant

A tumor is a pathologic disturbance of cell growth, characterized by excessive and abnormal proliferation of cells. Tumors are abnormal mass of tissue which may be solid or fluid filled. When the growth of tumor cells confined to the site of origin and are of normal physicality they are concluded as benign tumors. When the cells are abnormal and can grow uncontrollably, they are concluded as cancerous cells i.e. malignant tumor. Tumors are also called as ‘NEOPLASM’. To determine whether a tumor is benign or cancerous, a doctor can take a sample of the cells with a biopsy procedure. Then the biopsy is analyzed under a microscope by a pathologist (a doctor specializing in laboratory science).
Impact of disease and detachment on growth and survivorship of sea fans Gorgonia ventalina

The importance of diseases of sea fans (Gorgonia spp.) is widely recognized; however, previous studies have not always distinguished between causes of mortality and differential effects of disease on different size clases of sea fans. In this study, mortality and net growth of healthy, pur- ple-spotted and diseased Gorgonia ventalina colonies of small, medium and large size were esti- mated for 1 yr. Detachment occurred in all size and health categories. Mortality due to disease was exclusively observed in small colonies. Colony growth was influenced by health state and size. While medium and large colonies of all health states exhibited negligible net growth, small diseased colonies exhibited negative net growth. In this group, disease was an important cause of tissue loss, while in all 3 health states the main cause was fracture. Most healthy colonies that became diseased passed through the purple-spotted state. The rate at which purpled colonies returned to being healthy was double the rate at which they advanced to diseased, which then rarely recovered. Dis- ease did not significantly impact growth or survivorship of medium and large colonies, but its effect on smaller fans is significant for populations because it reduces the transition to sizes that are repro- ductively active.
PRELIMINARY STUDIES REGARDING TRANSGLUTAMINASE SYNTHESIS BY POLAR FILAMENTOUS BACTERIA OF THE GENUS STREPTOMYCES SP.

Transglutaminase (TG-ase, EC 2.3.2.13), was obtained in a crude state (unpurified extract), using a Streptomyces sp. selected strain isolated from a polar soil sample. The present study emphasizes on the fermentation conditions assay using a Streptomyces sp. strain to obtain a novel transglutaminase. The experiments clearly show the possibility of obtaining transglutaminase by using polar Streptomyces sp. selected strains
Pais por inteiro: avaliação preliminar da eficácia de uma intervenção em grupo para pais divorciados

The article deals with the preliminary evaluation of the efficacy of a group intervention program composed by divorced parents, named Pais Por Inteiro (PApi), which was implemented with the aim of improving adjustment to divorce, coparenting relationship and family binuclearity. Participants (n = 16) were equally distributed in an experimental group (subject to intervention) and a control group. Groups were similar in pre-intervention dependent measures. The results showed an improvement between preand post-test in adjustment to divorce and coparental quality in the experimental group, and an improvement in post-test in adjustment in the experimental group. Those improvements did not exist in the control group. The results suggest the efficacy of PApi in terms of better post-divorce adjustment and coparental relations.
Creative and adaptive responses in technological change

Drawing on Schumpeterian concept of creative and adaptive responses literature the article analyses how different firms' behaviour can influence structural and knowledge change at both firm and industry levels. We use this theoretical framework to analyse a qualitative case study analysing the transformation occurred in the telecommunication industry on the bounce of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the consumer voice market segment. Both new entrants and incumbents have used and developed the technology but they have had different responses to the development of VoIP. The analysis of the case study shows that transformation in the industry structure takes place only once firms intentionally react creatively to change by exploiting all innovation features while adaptive responses reduce the pace of changes.
Analysis of Demographic Factors that Influence the Purchasing Behaviour of Goat Milk and Their Implications for a Dairy Goat Breeding programme in Siaya County, Kenya

The dairy goat sector is one of the fastest growing livestock enterprises in Kenya because goat milk is becoming increasingly popular in the country. However, hardly any published studies exist that have utilized consumer purchase information to understand the factors that influence the purchase of goat milk. The current study analyzed consumer characteristics and factors that affected consumer behaviour in purchasing goat milk to serve as the basic data in formulating a marketing strategies for goat milk in Siaya County of Kenya. The research questions were approached in three phases. Firstly, the probability that a consumer purchases goat milk was estimated using a probit model framework. Secondly, a Heckman two-stage model was utilized to depict the relationship of dairy goat expenditures. Thirdly, the study examined the implications of the foregoing for a dairy goat breeding programme. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using comprehensive questionnaires. One thirty one (131) goat milk consumers were interviewed. The parameters of the present study are goat milk consumption, consumer characteristics and demographic factors that influenced the purchasing behaviour of goat milk. Family size, presence of children and elderly persons in the household, and household income influenced the purchasing of goat milk. Overall, income influenced the amount of goat milk to be purchased and, therefore, farmers should be encouraged and their capacity enhanced to target high income markets. Communication campaigns highlighting the benefits of goat milk to the children and the elderly persons could ensure enhanced success of marketing the milk. The findings imply that breeders of dairy goats should focus on improved yields, which will enhance returns from dairy goats. Demographic factors, along with agro-climatic and production constraints, are important to the overall success of dairy goat breeding programmes. Further, the breeding programme should identify the most promising breeds and eco-types under the prevailing production system for genetic selection and their multiplication under improved husbandry practices. Establishing a nucleus breeding scheme on private or government land to supply breeding stock can significantly contribute towards this goal. Generally, policy interventions are recommended to tackle demographic factors that influence the purchasing behaviour of goat milk and their implications for a dairy goat breeding programme. The findings of the present study will be useful to all actors in the dairy goat value chain. Keywords: Purchasing behaviour, Goat milk, Dairy goat breeding programme, Kenya
Examination of economic growth and tourism in Barbados: testing the supply-side hypothesis.

The goal of this study is to examine the supply side hypothesis of tourism demand, that is, to answer the question: Does economic growth in Barbados spur tourism growth. Results suggest that there is a long-run relationship between real GDP in Barbados and tourist arrivals. Specifically, we find that a 1% expansion in real GDP is associated with a 1.2% increase in tourist arrivals. Further, our Granger causality test suggests that the supply-side hypothesis is valid for Barbados.
A Survey on NoSQL and its Terminology

: Nowadays the world needs databases to be able to store and process big data effectively and demand for very high-performance when reading and writing. These requirements effects especially in large scale and high concurrency applications such as search engines, hence the traditional database limits itself for such complex requirements. Therefore various types of non-relational databases that are commonly referred to as NoSQL databases which is abbreviation of “Not only Structured Query Language” was emerged. This paper presents a survey on NoSQL and its various data stores. NoSQL (Not Only SQL) is a database which is used to store large amount of data. NoSQL databases are distributed, non-relational, open-source and horizontally scalable. In this paper fundamental concepts like ACID, BASE and CAP theoremwill be described and present a comparison between ACID and BASE properties. Furthermore on the basis ofthe CAP theorem, various forms of data stores in NoSQL like Key/-Value data store, Column family data store, Document data store, Graph database and their characteristics are explained. In addition a taxonomy of NoSQL by various data stores and also the historical trend of popularity of themis presented. At the end, the reasons to consider a NoSQL solution for the Internet of Things data are depicted.
Auto Classification for Search Intelligence

— This paper proposes an auto-classification algorithm of Web pages using Data mining techniques. We consider the problem of discovering association rules between terms in a set of Web pages belonging to a category in a search engine database, and present an auto-classification algorithm for solving this problem that are fundamentally based on Apriori algorithm. The proposed technique has two phases. The first phase is a training phase where human experts determines the categories of different Web pages, and the supervised Data mining algorithm will combine these categories with appropriate weighted index terms according to the highest supported rules among the most frequent words. The second phase is the categorization phase where a web crawler will crawl through the World Wide Web to build a database categorized according to the result of the data mining approach. This database contains URLs and their categories.
Electrical conductivity testing of corn seeds as influenced by temperature and period of storage

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of temperature (10, 20, 30, 20/10 and 30/10oC) and period of storage on electrical conductivity (EC) in four seed lots of corn (Zea mays L.), as well as the mineral composition of the soaking solution. EC test determines indirectly the integrity of seed membrane systems, and is used for the assessment of seed vigor, because this test detects the seed deterioration process since its early phase. The research comprised determinations of water content, germination, accelerated aging (AA), cold (CT) and EC vigor tests, and determinations of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ release to the solution, after seed soaking of four corn seed lots. The evaluations were performed each four months during a period of 16 months. For statistical analysis, a completely randomized split plot design was used with eight replications. Except for seed lots stored at 10oC, all vigor evaluations revealed a decline in vigor, but AA and CT showed more sensitiveness to declines of seed physiological quality than EC. Potassium was the main leached ion regardless of the storage temperature.
Combinatorial Algorithms with Applications in Learning Graphical Models

Graphical models are a framework for representing joint distributions over random variables. By capturing the structure of conditional independencies between the variables, a graphical model can express the distribution in a concise factored form that is often efficient to store and reason about. As constructing graphical models by hand is often infeasible, a lot of work has been devoted to learning them automatically from observational data. Of particular interest is the so-called structure learning problem, of finding a graph that encodes the structure of probabilistic dependencies. Once the learner has decided what constitutes a good fit to the data, the task of finding optimal structures typically involves solving an NP-hard problem of combinatorial optimization. While first algorithms for structure learning thus resorted to local search, there has been a growing interest in solving the problem to a global optimum. Indeed, during the past decade multiple exact algorithms have been proposed that are guaranteed to find optimal structures for the family of Bayesian networks, while first steps have been taken for the family of decomposable graphical models. This thesis presents combinatorial algorithms and analytical results with applications in the structure learning problem. For decomposable models, we present exact algorithms for the so-called full Bayesian approach, which involves not only finding individual structures of good fit but also comput-
Development of Hydrotalcite Based Cobalt Catalyst by Hydrothermal and Co-precipitation Method for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

This paper presents the effect of a synthesis method for cobalt catalyst supported on hydrotalcite material for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. The hydrotalcite supported cobalt (HT-Co) catalysts were synthesized by co-precipitation and hydrothermal method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by using various techniques like BET (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), TGA (Thermal Gravimetric Analysis), XRD (X-ray diffraction spectroscopy), and FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy). Fixed bed micro reactor was used to test the catalytic activity of prepared catalysts. The catalytic testing results demonstrated the performance of hydrotalcite based cobalt catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis with high selectivity for liquid products. The effect of synthesis method on the activity and selectivity of catalyst was also discussed. Copyright © 2017 BCREC Group. All rights reserved Received: 3 rd November 2016; Revised: 26 th February 2017; Accepted: 9 th March 2017 ; Available online: 27 th October 2017; Published regularly : December 2017 How to Cite : Sharif, M.S., Arslan, M. , Iqbal, N. , Ahmad, N. , Noor, T. (2017). Development of Hydrotalcite Based Cobalt Catalyst by Hydrothermal and Co-precipitation Method for Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis , 12(3): 357-363 (doi:10.9767/bcrec.12.3.762.357-363)
ASYMMETRIES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFLATION AND ACTIVITY

Studying changes in the way inflation responds to fluctuations in activity and the possible dependence of this response on the course of the business cycle is of interest as this sensitivity is a key factor in the monetary policy transmission mechanism. Analysing price flexibility is also fundamental to determining the extent to which adjustments to shocks affecting an economy have an impact on activity and employment.
Detection of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance patterns in shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates from sheep1

Ferreira M.R. A. , Silva T.S. , Stella A.E. , Conceição F.R. , Reis E.F. & Moreira C.N. 2015. Detection of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance patterns in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolates from sheep. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 35(9):775-780. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Regional Jataí, Rodovia BR-364 Km 192 no3.800, Parque Industrial, Cx. Postal 3, Jataí GO 75801-615, Brazil. E-mail: cissanm@yahoo.com. br In order to detect virulence factors in Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates and investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile, rectal swabs were collected from healthy sheep of the races Santa Inês and Dorper. Of the 115 E. coli isolates obtained, 78.3% (90/115) were characterized as STEC, of which 52.2% (47/90) carried stx1 gene, 33.3% (30/90) stx2 and 14.5% (13/90) both genes. In search of virulence factors, 47.7% and 32.2% of the isolates carried the genes saa and cnf1. According to the analysis of the antimicrobial resistance profile, 83.3% (75/90) were resistant to at least one of the antibiotics tested. In phylogenetic classification grouped 24.4% (22/90) in group D (pathogenic), 32.2% (29/90) in group B1 (commensal) and 43.3% (39/90) in group A (commensal). The presence of several virulence factors as well as the high number of multiresistant isolates found in this study support the statement that sheep are potential carriers of pathogens threatening public health.
Preliminary molecular variability among haplotypes of Saudi Arabian house sparrow Passer domesticus

Genetic variability of Passer domesticus from different localities of Saudi Arabia was investigated. Six hundred and fifty nine nucleotides were sequenced from the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. There was a slight difference among the studied haplotypes and most substitutions were synonymous. In some haplotypes at the west of Arabian Peninsula (mountainous habitat), two transitions only were non-synonymous. The data were used to construct the relationship of the Arabian house sparrow to its con specific taxa from Europe and America. Neigh-bor-joining (NJ), maximum-par-simony (MP) and maximum-likelihood (ML) analytical methods were used. The three methods showed clustering of the Arabian haplotypes in one group and their sister relationship with the haplotypes from Netherlands and America. A spanish Haplotypes came basal to both groups. Collecting more samples and more DNA data could be of necessary to clearly address the genetic variability of this rapidly propagated species in Arabia.
Supply chain risk management and companies ’ competitive advantage : a contingency perspective by Jury Gualandris ,

During the last decades companies have seen an incr eased in their dependence from suppliers. As a result, companies’ competitive adva ntage strictly depends on suppliers’ reliability an d performance. For this reason, Supply Chain Risk Man agement (SCRM) has become a major topic for both researchers and practitioners. Anyway, despite the effort put in place by previous authors, no framework has been developed that can help companie s to develop SCRM effectively. In an attempt to fill this gap, the study proposes a model of congru ence between SCRM practices and risk conditions, and carried out its empirical test. Specifically, t his study aims to empirically investigate the exist ence of a negative relationship between misfit i.e. th e incongruence between the adoption of SCRM practices and the potential riskiness faced by comp anies and competitive advantage. To achieve our objective we mixed inductive and deductive logics: literature and case studies were used to develop our proposition, while we tested it through a surve y analysis on a sample of 54 companies. Results suggest that misfit to a risk profile is negatively related to companies’ competitive advantage.
Essay on Wavelet analysis and the European term structure of interest rates

We analyse the generalized, dynamic Nelson-Siegel approach including five factors to ensures the absence of arbitrage. In contrast to previous empirical analyses we define our risk factors so that they are observable and determine their significance using a series of cross sectional regressions. We then decompose the risk factors and test whether they are significant on each time scale. The results allow us to distinguish expected and unexpected components which are used in out of sample forecasts. We find good forecasting abilities of this approach; the one month forecast remains high even during times of financial market distress.
Measuring segment attractiveness

Market segmentation has been widely employed to give tourism destination planners market understanding, identify attractive target segments, and develop a marketing offer customised to their needs. While a number of authors have proposed general criteria for assessing the attractiveness of segments, measurable indicators of attractiveness have not been proposed to date. This study uses a set of indicators to make “Segment Attractiveness” measurable and illustrate the usefulness of the proposed measure in the context of a generic tourism destination and a destination focusing on reachability. Results indicate (1) the proposed indicators discriminate between different market segments, thus guiding destination managers, and (2) weighting of indicators can help destinations with specific aims select segments in line with their priorities.