Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Beyond the Pale”: Tainted Whiteness, Cognitive Disability, and Eugenic Sterilization

The aim of the eugenics movement in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century was to prevent the degeneration of the white race. A central tactic of the movement was the involuntary sterilization of people labeled as feebleminded. An analysis of the practice of eugenic sterilization provides insight into how the concepts of gender, race, class, and dislability are fundamentally intertwined. I argue that in the early twentieth century, the concept of feeblemindedness came to operate as an umbrella concept that linked off-white ethnicity, poverty, and gendered conceptions of lack of moral character together and that feeblemindedness thus understood functioned as the signifier of tainted whiteness.
Forecasting tropical cyclone landfall using ECMWF ’ s seasonal forecasts from System 4

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast’s seasonal forecast system 4 (System 4) has been used to issue basin-wide tropical cyclone forecasts since 2011. This report describes a method developed to forecast seasonal landfall risk using the ensembles of cyclone tracks generated by System 4. The method has been applied to analyze and retrospectively forecast the landfall risk along different segments of the North American coast, with a focus on the U.S. part. The main result is that the method can be used to forecast landfall for some parts of the coast, but the method’s skill is, generally speaking, lower for landfall than for basin-wide forecasts of activity. The rank correlations between forecast and observation are 0.6 for basin-wide storm number, 0.5 for landfall anywhere along the coast, and 0.3 for landfall along the U.S. part of the coast. When we limit the forecast to the peak of the hurricane season (August, September, and October), the correlation increases to 0.6 for the entire coast whereas it remains close to 0.3 for the U.S. part. The forecast error is substantial in all cases, in part due to model error, in part due to the chaotic dynamics embedded in the climate system. A crude analysis suggests that the forecast error can be reduced by 10 to 25 percent (depending on the forecast) before reaching the ultimate limit set by the chaotic dynamics. In conclusion, the quality of the forecasts is well in line with that obtained using other state-of-the-art methods, and it is sufficient to be of use for organizations, such as reinsurance companies, that plan and operate with a statistical mind-set on a multi-year horizon.
Verification of the Functional Antioxidant Activity and Antimelanogenic Properties of Extracts of Poria cocos Mycelium Fermented with Freeze-Dried Plum Powder

Here we examine the effects of extracts of Poria cocos mycelium fermented with freeze-dried plum powder (PPE) on the α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-stimulated melanogenesis in cultured murine B16 melanoma cells (B16 cells), relative to the effects of Prunus extract. We found that an extract of Prunus fermentation showed significant inhibition of melanogenesis and tyrosinase activity with no effect on cell proliferation and was more active compared to Prunus extract alone. Furthermore, we confirmed that medium containing 3% Prunus was the optimal culture substrate for fermentation with Poria cocos. These results provide evidence that Prunus fermentation extract affects skin whiting in murine B16 melanoma cells (B16 cells). Prunus contains rutin, oxalic acid, succinic acid, and fumaric acid, which help in digestion and fatigue recovery. The rutin of Prunus mume is reported to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Also, Prunus extract has a tyrosinase inhibitory activity for skin whiting through its antioxidant activity. Therefore, we believe the Prunus extract for Poria cocos fermentation can be provided as a potential mediator to induce skin whiting.
The spatial epidemiology of childhood diseases in Malawi and Zambia

This paper applies a Bayesian geo-additive generalized linear model to describe the spatial variation, at the district level, on the prevalence of diarrhea, fever and cough among children under 5 years of age using the 1992 Demographic and Health surveys (DHS) from Malawi and Zambia. The modelling technique employed here may be applicable to other research questions in the DHS data sets. The range of observed childhood diarrhea, fever and cough were dichotomized into high or low districts in Malawi and Zambia. We mapped the residual districts spatial effects of these three ailments and explored the clustering of high or low diarrhea, fever and cough rates districts across space after controlling for all other confounding factors. We find visual evidence that high or low morbidity districts spatially cluster together within each country. This evidence suggests that relatively high or low childhood morbidity persist within a spatial region and population, suggesting that research efforts may be focused on these clusters to assess local causes (environmental, cultural etc.) of high or low childhood morbidity.
A Review on Optimization of Milling Conditions by Using Particle Swarm Optimization Technique

A review of publications associated with the optimization of milling conditions by particle swarm analysis method. Milling is the most common form of machining, a material removal process, which can create a variety of features on a part by cutting away the unwanted material In order to optimize the cutting conditions, the empirical relationships between input and output variables should be established in order to predict the output. Optimization of these predictive models helps us to select appropriate input variables for achieving the best output performance. In this review paper the study is covered regarding the optimization of different input parameters and results are analyzed.
IMPROVED DUAL BAND-NOTCHED UWB SLOT ANTENNA WITH CONTROLLABLE NOTCHED BANDWIDTHS

A compact dual band-notched ultra-wideband slot antenna with sharp band-notched characteristics and controllable notched bandwidths is presented. The antenna is formed by a rectangular slot with chamfered corners on a printed circuit board ground plane, a T-shaped stub and two sets of compound bandnotched structures. The compound band-notched structures are employed to generate desired lower and upper rejected bands with satisfactory skirt characteristics and sufficient rejection bandwidths. Moreover, the bandwidth of either the lower or upper rejected band can be independently adjusted by changing the size and location of the corresponding band-notched structure. Finally, a UWB slot antenna with two rejected bands at WiMAX/WLAN frequencies is successfully simulated, designed, and measured, showing good impedance matching, stable gain and near omnidirectional radiation patterns.
Asymmetric information in the regulation of the access to markets

It is frequently argued that the high costs of clinical trials prior to the admission of new pharmaceuticals are stifling innovation. At the same time, regulation of the access to markets is often justified on the basis of consumers’ inability to detect the true quality of a product. We examine these arguments from an information economic perspective by setting a framework where the incentives to invest in RD and (ii) laissez-faire with free entry, where the revelation of quality is left to the market process. Results show that whether or not innovation is greater in the presence of entry regulation crucially depends on the efficacy of the trial in identifying (poor) quality, on the probability that unknown qualities are revealed in the market process, and on the preference and cost structure. The welfare ranking of the two regimes depends on the differential effort incentive and on the net welfare gain from implementing full information instantaneously. For example, in settings of vertical monopoly, vertical differentiation and horizontal differentiation with no variable cost of quality, entry regulation tends to be the preferred regime if the effort incentive under pooling is relatively low and profits do not count too much towards welfare. A complementary numerical analysis shows how the outcomes vary with the market and cost structure.
P RICING B ERMUDAN OPTIONS VIA MULTI-LEVEL APPROXIMATION METHODS 1

In this article we propose a novel approach to reduce the computational complexity of various approximation methods for pricing discrete time American or Bermudan options. Given a sequence of continuation values estimates corresponding to different levels of spatial approximation, we propose a multi-level low biased estimate for the price of the option. It turns out that the resulting complexity gain can be of order "−1 with " denoting the desired precision. The performance of the proposed multilevel algorithms is illustrated by a numerical example.
Use of Semantics in Topic Based Classification

Topic models, like Latent Dirichlet Allocation, discover underlying low-dimensional topic spaces from huge data collections. The lower dimensional representation can be used for classification. Topics learnt from standard topic models do not consider correlations among words, which are useful for making the topics more sensible. Moreover, standard models are bag of words models. We propose an approach where the correlations among words are used for learning topics and improve the topic-word probabilities of rare yet important words. We show through classification results that our models learn a better topic structure compared to standard models, specifically LDA and DiscLDA. Many classification models ignore words which are not part of the vocabulary, we propose an approach to use such words for better classification.
In Situ Geophysical Investigation to Evaluate Dynamic Soil Properties at the Ilarionas Dam, Northern Greece

Seismic geophysical methods have long been used by geologists and geophysicists to delineate subsurface features. These techniques work because different types and strengths of soil and rock transmit energy at different velocities. The Crosshole-Downhole tests (CHDH) and seismic refraction survey (RS) are among the most used methods in engineering applications to obtain the elastic properties of subsurface layers. As a result, seismic methods have evolved into a cost-effective tool for rapidly determining depth to bedrock in engineering and construction projects. The seismic methods are best suited to sediment thickness analysis, bedrock quality determination and detection of the presence of weaknesses in the bedrock before the erection of any civil engineering structures such as bridges, tunnels, dams and portals. Seismic methods are also useful in estimating the rippability of bedrock ahead of construction. These methods are particularly useful for largescale projects that require a significant number of drill holes, resulting in a substantial investment of time and costs for drilling. The CH-DH and RS methods are typically comparable in total cost to drilling, but provide significantly more information in 2-D and 3-D and therefore reduce the likelihood of conceptually oversimplifying the subsurface conditions. The above mentioned methodologies were considered to be the most appropriate geophysical methods for investigating the shallow structure and the dynamic soil properties of the area where the Ilarionas Dam is scheduled to be constructed. The main target of this work was to prove the potential of geophysical methods in providing accurate information to the civil engineer and to obtain information on the dynamic soil and rock properties for earthquake design analyses for the dam construction. Specifically, nine refraction seismic profiles and three crosshole-downhole seismic tests were implemented to determine the subsurface conditions of the study area. The tests determined the shear and compression wave velocity profiles versus depth and other crucial parameters such as Young and Rigidity modules. Furthermore, they allowed the detailed 2-D mapping (along several profiles of the study area) of the subsurface variation of the soil and rock dynamic moduli.
Induction of biochemical active constituents of Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider) callus affected by hormones

The present study aimed to identify some metabolites products obtained from different jojoba callus tissue extracts using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis (GC-MS). It is known that Jojoba, a medicinal and oil-yielding, has multi-purpose uses. In addition, it produces toxins, fatty acids, phenolic compounds and other secondary metabolites from callus identified using GC-MS. Despite the direct effect of 2,4-D on directing the explant towards callus induction, it has interaction effect with Kin and achieves hormonal balance inside the explant. There is a significant interaction effect between Kin and 2,4-D. The increased concentration of both Kin and 2,4-D raises the extent of nodal segments response towards proliferation, development, and callus induction. Our results showed that the interaction effect between Kin and 2,4-D is the best results for phytochemical active constituents formation achieved from callus cultured. Qualitative results revealed that increasing cytokinins Kin concentration leads to slightly double increase in active constituents from the explants for Triodecanoic and Methoxyacetic acids. While, the gradual increase of 2,4-D to 2.0 mg l-1 caused a single increase in active constituents for Triodecanoic, Methoxyacetic and Octadecanoic acid, respectively. On the other hand, Decanoic acid has no effect by adding both hormones (Kin and 2,4-D) and also Octadecanoic acid when kin is added. Also, there is a direct relation between the development of callus and reproduction of active phytochemical constituents, which increase qualitatively by increasing callus development and 2,4-D hormone concentration at 2 mg l-1 for 1-Hexadecanol, Nonadecatriene, Aristolene and Tricosene, respectively compared to free hormone treatment. Key words: Active constituents, callus, fatty acids, jojoba, Simmondsia chinensis.
LIFE PREDICTION OF SATELLITE LITHIUM BATTERY BASED ON MULTI TIME-SCALE EXTENDED KALMAN FILTER ( EKF ) ALGORITHM

State-of-Charge (SOC) and the maximum available capacity estimation are the most important parts of satellite lithium battery life prediction. However, the parameters of the maximum available capacity change slowly compared with the fast time-varying SOC. This paper proposes a multi time-scale of Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) algorithm on SOC and the maximum available capacity for estimation on different time scales. The estimated value of SOC is used as an observation on the macro time-scale to update the maximum available power. The simulation results of experiment on NCA/C space borne lithium battery show that SOC and the maximum available capacity estimation from the proposed multi time-scale EKF algorithm has higher accuracy and computational efficiency compared with Dual EKF.
429 The assimilation of SSM / I and TMI rainfall rates in the ECMWF 4 D-Var system

A recent version of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) assimilation system (40 km horizontal resolution with a 12-h window) is used to examine the comparative impact of including satellite derived rainfall rates from SSM/I and TMI radiometers within the tropics. The methodology is similar to the one proposed by Marécal and Mahfouf (2002) where total column water vapour retrievals in rainy areas from a simplified 1D-Var assimilation are introduced in the 4D-Var system. An improved methodology for the estimation of rain rate retrieval errors proposed by Bauer et al. (2002) is used. Three one-month experiments are undertaken: a Control run (no rain rate assimilation), a TMI run (assimilation of TMI derived rain rates) and a SSM/I run (assimilation of SSM/I derived rain rates). The impact of TMI and SSM/I assimilations is positive on forecast scores both in the extratropics and in the tropics. Results from SSM/I run show a larger positive impact which tends to demonstrate that the increased number of data from SSM/I with respect to TMI is more beneficial to the assimilation than more accurate data.
ON DEPENDENT DATA FETCHING IN CLOUD ENVIRONMENT A Thesis by JIACHENG GU Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE

This work was motivated by the study of the file fetching process in a cloud system, in particular by the recent progress in the model of transparent computing. A transparent computing system may have many clients, each requesting a significant set of files from the server, including user data and many commonly used softwares (operating systems and apps). These files may have inherent dependence relations so should be received by the clients in a specific topological order. On the other hand, since many of these files are commonly used softwares, many clients may request copies of the same files. This proposes an interesting problem on the server side of how this kind of requests should be handled efficiently to improve the performance of the system. In particular, we are interested in the processes that significantly reduce the disk IO operations in the server, which are in general very time-consuming. We propose a formal model for this problem and study its validity and correctness. Heuristic algorithms for the problem are proposed and studied. Simulation results are presented to compare the proposed heuristics and algorithms based on known techniques in scheduling literature. 7% 20% of the total disk IO can be reduced via the optimizations proposed in this work.
Analysis of Service Quality on Building Loyalty by Using Structural Equation Modelling Method (Case Study in Majapahit Railways)

Train system is one of the transportation modes with some special characteristics that make it becomes an effective and efficient transportation system to increase the service quality. Although the AC economy class of Majapahit Railway has been officially opened by the government, it has not been able to fulfill the people’s need. It is proved with the decrease of number of passenger, and the increase of critics related to the service quality. This research aims to analyze the principal elements and the effect of service qualities towards the customer’s loyalty. The research was conducted through survey on the Majapahit railway users consisting of 200 respondents. The used sampling technique was non probability sampling with purposive sampling method. It applied Structural Equation Modelling in which the previous test was the classical assumptions. Based on the calculations, it is indicated that the variables of service quality in customer satisfaction and loyalty is significant. The principal elements that influence satisfaction and loyalty are the operational schedule, the rolling stock condition, station’s comfort and security, safety, ticket price, and how the passengers enjoy the travelling. Adjusted R square of 0.8246 shows that 82 percent of consumer’ loyalty can give impact on service quality and customer satisfaction.
Robust Visual Tracking Using the Bidirectional Scale Estimation

Object tracking with robust scale estimation is a challenging task in computer vision. This paper presents a novel tracking algorithm that learns the translation and scale filters with a complementary scheme. The translation filter is constructed using the ridge regression and multidimensional features. A robust scale filter is constructed by the bidirectional scale estimation, including the forward scale and backward scale. Firstly, we learn the scale filter using the forward tracking information. Then the forward scale and backward scale can be estimated using the respective scale filter. Secondly, a conservative strategy is adopted to compromise the forward and backward scales. Finally, the scale filter is updated based on the final scale estimation. It is effective to update scale filter since the stable scale estimation can improve the performance of scale filter. To reveal the effectiveness of our tracker, experiments are performed on 32 sequences with significant scale variation and on the benchmark dataset with 50 challenging videos. Our results show that the proposed tracker outperforms several state-of-the-art trackers in terms of robustness and accuracy.
Development of Competency Standard Model for Researchers to Improve Research Capacity of Indonesia ’ s Polytechnic Lecturer

This paper describes the development of Competency Standard Model for Researchers and its Assessment model to improve the individual research performance, particularly for polytechnic’s lecturer. It is started with literature review and exploratory study to gather initial information on aspects and criteria of quality research. Various information are gathered through interviews and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involving respondents experienced in conducting quality researches. It resulting nine teen competency units. Assessment model is required to complete research competency model for polytechnic lecturers. The aim of this assessment model development is to measure the gap between the current competencies held by the lecturers for conducting research and the competencies established in Researchers’ Competency Standard. Nine main units within a research cycle out of the nine teen competency units, which covering 60 sub-unit competencies were implemented in the assessment process. The finding on the competencies gap is expected to ease the management in an institution on building its lecturers’ research capacity and therefore improving the quality of the conducted researches
A Research Review on SDN-Based DDOS Attack Detection

Software definition network (SDN) is a new network architecture, which can realize centralized control of the network by separating the control plane and the data plane. With the introduction of the control plane as a manager of the network, a single point of failure is introduced too. When the network device cannot get access to the SDN controller, the entire network will breakdown. The controller is vulnerable to distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, resulting in resource exhaustion, so that the switch cannot get the services of controller. In this paper, different DDOS attack methods are classified according to the different levels of attack and detection positions, and the methods are analyzed and compared. Finally, the problems of DDOS attack detection in SDN are discussed and the potentials for further research are
Precision of Population Viability Analysis

Although population viability analysis (PVA) is widely used in setting conservation policy, there is disagreement about the usefulness of this method. Objections have been raised concerning the precision of predictions in view of the short time series of data available and the sensitivity of estimates of extinction risk to estimated parameters (Hamilton & Moller 1995; Taylor 1995; Groom & Pascual 1998; Ludwig 1999). Beissinger and Westphal (1998) reviewed the use of demographic models for endangered-species management. They pointed out that poor data cause difficulties in parameter estimation, which in turn lead to unreliable estimates of extinction risk. There are additional