Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FCNN training for segmentation of CT scans with limited dataset

Thanks to the increase in computation performance observed in past decade convolutional neural networks started to gain momentum in image processing. This paper deals with segmentation of 3D images, specifically computed tomography (CT) scans, using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The paper shows efficacy of training the neural network on whole images or patches when limited by the size of dataset and computation performance. The solution to this problem lies in using Fully Convolutional Neural Network (FCNN) with no special preprocessing or postprocessing procedures except creating patches and composing them into whole images. FCNN has to work effectively and with satisfactory scoring in segmentation. Paper shows several FCNN configurations and training results with different size of patches and different approaches to training FCNN on whole images. Also an approach to the selection of patches for training, which helps to make training and evaluation of FCNN more effective, is shown. The experiments were run using BVLC Caffe framework. The results show that training on patches is more effective than training on whole images when limited by the size of the dataset. Paper shows that for results with score over 90% it is sufficient to use small-scale FCNN with no preprocessing and postprocessing procedures.
DNN Box by Power Side-Channel Attack

Deep neural networks are becoming popular and important assets of many AI companies. However, recent studies indicate that they are also vulnerable to adversarial attacks. Adversarial attacks can be either white-box or black-box. The white-box attacks assume full knowledge of the models while the black-box ones assume none. In general, revealing more internal information can enable much more powerful and efficient attacks. However, in most real-world applications, the internal information of embedded AI devices is unavailable, i.e., they are black-box. Therefore, in this work, we propose a side-channel information based technique to reveal the internal information of black-box models. Specifically, we have made the following contributions: (1) we are the first to use side-channel information to reveal internal network architecture in embedded devices; (2) we are the first to construct models for internal parameter estimation; and (3) we validate our methods on real-world devices and applications. The experimental results show that our method can achieve 96.50% accuracy on average. Such results suggest that we should pay strong attention to the security problem of many AI applications, and further propose corresponding defensive strategies in the future.
Landscape and Urban Planning Biodiverse perennial meadows have aesthetic value and increase residents’ perceptions of site quality in urban green-space

We used photo-elicitation studies and a controlled perennial meadow creation experiment at ten urban green-spaces in southern England (ﬁve experimental sites and ﬁve control sites) to assess green-space visitors’ responses to urban meadows. Multiple meadows, which varied in their structural diversity (height) and plant species richness, were created at each experimental site. Photo elicitation demonstrated that meadows were generally preferred to herbaceous borders and formal bedding planting. Moreover, our experimental meadows had higher preference scores than a treatment that replicated mown amenity grassland, and meadow creation improved site quality and appreciation across a wide range of people. Meadows that contained more plant species and some structural diversity (i.e. were tall or of medium height) were most preferred. The magnitude of these preferences was lower amongst people that used the sites the most, probably due to a strong attachment to the site, i.e. sense of place. People with greater eco-centricity (i.e. those who used the countryside more frequently, had greater ability to identify plant species and exhibited more support for conservation) responded more positively to meadow vegetation. Crucially a wide range of respondents was willing to tolerate the appearance of meadows outside the ﬂowering season, especially when provided with information on their biodiversity and aesthetic beneﬁts and potential cost savings (from reduced cutting frequencies). Re-designing urban green-spaces and parks through the creation of species rich meadows can provide a win–win strategy for biodiversity and people, and potentially improve connections between the two.
Aspect-Oriented Modelling in UPPAAL for Compositional Verification and Testing

We present a technique of aspect-oriented modelling, verification and model-based testing using UPPAAL timed automata. The approach enables compositional testing and verification, and consequently it reduces the search space needed for these activities. In order to apply compositionality we verify the non-interference of aspects via assumeguarantee assertions. We demonstrate the usability of our approach with a crisis management system example, in which we model aspects for resource authentication and mission execution. Via the example we provide conditions of aspect non-interference that are necessary and sufficient for compositional verification and testing. Finally, we demonstrate by complexity analysis and experimental data how our approach is more efficient compared to the non-aspect-oriented and non-compositional modelbased verification and testing.
PreMOn Ontology – PropBank pmo : Examplepmopb : Roleset pmopb : SemanticRole pmopb : core pmopb : Argument pmopb : Inflection pmopb : Person pmopb : Tense pmopb : Voice pmopb : Aspect pmopb : Form pmopb : person 0

PreMOn is a freely available linguistic resource for exposing predicate models (PropBank, NomBank, VerbNet, and FrameNet) and mappings between them (e.g, SemLink and the Predicate Matrix) as Linguistic Linked Open Data (LOD). It consists of two components: (i) the PreMOn Ontology, that builds on the OntoLex-Lemon model by the W3C Ontology-Lexica Community Group to enable an homogeneous representation of data from various predicate models and their linking to ontological resources; and, (ii) the PreMOn Dataset, a LOD dataset integrating various versions of the aforementioned predicate models and mappings, linked to other LOD ontologies and resources (e.g., FrameBase, ESO, WordNet RDF). PreMOn is accessible online in different ways (e.g., SPARQL endpoint), and extensively documented.
rbanites , smallholders , and the quest for empathy : Prospects for ollaborative planning in the periurban Shullcas Valley , Peru

Given the regional geographic specificities of Central Andean valleys, the social and environmental impact of dispersed urbanization on smallholder farmers is particularly high in the new urban peripheries of Peruvian mountain cities. Collaborative planning is seen as promising approach to achieve sustainable use of the remaining agricultural areas. Cognitive empathy between local stakeholders in periurban areas of the Peruvian Andes—more powerful urbanites and less influential smallholders—is a helpful ingredient for collaboration at eye level: but are urbanites empathetic toward smallholders and their perceptions of urban expansion? Using the example of the periurban Shullcas Valley near the city of Huancayo Metropolitano, this empirical study reveals: (1) the city dwellers’ motives to live on the new urban periphery, (2) how urbanites assess the impacts of urban growth on smallholders, and (3) to what degree these assessments conform to the farmers’ perceptions. The results show that urbanites are mostly empathetic toward smallholders: they clearly perceive advantages and disadvantages, especially the irretrievable loss of agricultural land on the valley floor. However, they show little awareness of the smallholders’ land tenure situation and their dependency on the lease of additional farmland. Consequently they largely overestimate the advantages of rising land prices driven by an increasing demand for lots. The results point to the need for including periurban smallholder farmers into urban planning and call for the creation and/or valorization of cognitive empathy in a preparatory process to collaborative planning—especially in the new urban peripheries of the Central ublis Andes. © 2016 The Author. P
Advanced Standards and the Future of Graduate Programs : The False Sense of Techne By

As top-down mandates multiply, close supervision from outside the education field increases, and the professionalism of educators shrinks, criticism of neoliberal effects on education in the United States and elsewhere has become more frequent in professional publications. Neoliberalism, put simply, is the political philosophy that privileges free market economics above all else and, in education, advocates high-stakes testing, prepackaged curricula, stringent measures of accountability for schools and educators, and the privatization of public schools. Business efficiency is the governing value, and it is measured in numbers. Neoliberalism among policy makers and politicians may explain a great deal of what passes as school reform at all levels today. However, in teacher education, where the same growing constraints can be found, one finds very little resistance among teacher educators in the United States, especially as such mandates are now being applied, in detail, to graduate programs. Why? Are teacher educators, college professors, unconcerned about their curricula being decided by others and indifferent to their work being reduced to rubrics and
Antioxidant Activity of Different Solvent Extracts of Jacaranda mimosifolia

In the present study, the total phenolic content and antioxidant activities of different solvent extracts of bark and leaf parts of Jacaranda mimosifolia D. Don were investigated. Among the different extracts studied, the ethyl acetate extract of J. mimosifolia bark showed higher level of total phenolic concentration (16.42 mg FAE/L). However, the ethanol extract of J. mimosifolia bark registered high antioxidant activity in terms of phosphomolybdate reducing power (1508 FAEA), ferric reducing power (0.99 Abs units), radical scavenging activity against DPPH (51.56%), superoxide (69.23%), hydrogen peroxide (87.47%) and hydroxyl radicals (75.41%). Between the analyzed materials of J. mimosifolia, the bark revealed high antioxidant power than leaf sample. Due to notable phenolic content and remarkable antioxidant effect, the ethanol extracts of J. mimosifolia bark could be considered for further studies on preventing oxidative stress induced diseases.
P o S ( C O R F U 2 0 1 5 ) 0 6 1 Dark matter in GUT inspired Z ′ portal scenarios

We consider simple dark matter extensions of the standard model in Z′ portal scenarios inspired by grand unification theory constructions and we study the phenomenology of such models by considering Spin Dependent and Spin Independent direct detection constraints, confronting the canonical thermally produced dark matter scenario and we show that in this simple framework the combination and the complementary of these constraints is a powerful tool to derive stringent bounds, and to reduce the viable parameter space.
THE SYNCHRONIZATION PROCESS OF CREDIT CYCLES : EVIDENCE FROM EU COUNTRIES

The scope of this study is to analyze the synchronization process of credit cycles in EU countries. The importance for such a study derives from the fact that synchronized credit cycles are perceived as a condition for the efficient implementation of common economic policies within the EU, as well as a precondition for a deeper economic integration within this area. The study focuses on twelve developing as well as advanced economies from the European Union over a period span of 24 years. The following steps are taken: a) firstly, the study focuses on the overall synchronicity of the credit cycles where a static analysis is being performed (on the basis of cross-correlation matrix) on the credit given to the private nonfinancial sector, and b) secondly, using a rolling correlation method, the study looks at the evolution of the synchronization process of the credit cycles within the EU countries. The findings revealed credit cycles are quite heterogeneous in the analyzed sample. Countries from Northern, Southern and South-Eastern Europe exhibit the most consistent synchronization movement, while, in contrast, Western Europe shows the least conformity. The second part of the investigation revealed that the credit cycles synchronicity among European countries was affected by two prolific economic events that occurred between 1990 and 2013: the establishment of the Eurozone and the global financial crisis.
Application Development through Convergence of Grid and Cloud Computing

The paper addresses the relevant problem related to the development of scientific applications (applied software packages) to solve large-scale problems in heterogeneous distributed computing environments that can include various infrastructures (clusters, Grid systems, clouds) and provide their integrated use. We propose a new approach to the development of applications for such environments. It is based on the integration of conceptual and modular programming. The application development is implemented with a special framework named Orlando Tools. In comparison to the known tools, used for the development and execution of distributed applications in the current practice, Orlando Tools provides executing application jobs in the integrated environment of virtual machines that include both the dedicated and non-dedicated resources. The distributed computing efficiency is improved through the multi-agent management. Experiments of solving the large-scale practical problems of energy security research show the effectiveness of the developed application for solving the aforementioned problem in the environment that supports the hybrid computational model including Grid and cloud computing.
Pointed Tip Shape Effect on Aerodynamic Load for NREL Phase VI Wind Turbine Blade

This paper presents the pointed tip effects on the aerodynamic load of NREL Phase VI wind blade rotor. The aerodynamic loads around flow field are evaluated using 3D CFD simulation. The commercial ANSYS Fluent and parameterized 3D cad models of NREL Phase VI are used for the analyses. The simple Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model and 0-degree yaw angle condition are adopted for CFD analysis. The pointed tip shape was made by reducing the original NREL chord length gradually near the tip region. To find out the 3D pointed tip effects on aerodynamic load, the pressure coefficient and integrated drag force and torque about primary axis are calculated. The numerical difference of Cp on wind blade surface between original and modified pointed tip models is negligible except near tip region, and also shown good agreement with experimental result in low wind speed case, however there is more deviation between the experimental data and CFD for high wind speed case, especially on the blade upper surface. Because the flow is highly unsteady, and the massive separation occurred due to the high angle of attack created by the higher wind speed while the rotational speed of the wind blade is kept constant for all cases.
Relative Efficiency Analysis of Swampland Rice Farming in South Kalimantan , Indonesia

This research aims to estimate the profit function by farmers as well as analyzing the efficiency of the economy and the price relative to rice farming in two typologies of wetlands are swamps and tidal lowland. The analysis showed that the price of the means of production in the research area is very influential on the profitability of rice farming so that the increase in production means a high price will lead to a decrease in profits, which in turn will lower the level of welfare of farmers. Under optimal conditions where maximum profit is reached, the effect of input prices and the number of input variables remained significant except for the value of the equipment used, based on the value of the coefficient function of input demand of fertilizer, pesticides and labor inelastic to prices while input seeds price-elastic.Farm area of research has decreasing returns to scale, this indicates that the input gain is higher than the increase results. Testing the efficiency of relative prices and relative economic efficiency between the two groups showed that the farm there is significant with 99% confidence level. so that rice farming in tidal land has a price efficiency and economic efficiency is higher than rice farming in swampy wetlands.
As Standing Task Difficulty Increases , Corticospinal Excitability Increases in Proportion to COP velocity but M 1 Excitability Changes are Participant-Specific

Citation for published version (APA): Nandi, T. , Lamoth, C. J. C. , van Keeken, H. G. , Bakker, L. B. M. , Kok, I. , Salem, G. J., . Hortobágyi, T. (2018). As Standing Task Difficulty Increases, Corticospinal Excitability Increases in Proportion to COP velocity but M1 Excitability Changes are Participant-Specific: Corticospinal and M1 Excitability in Standing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, [303]. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018. 00303
Microfluidic systems in biology

We describe key stages in the development of a genosensor-based bioanalytical complex capable of functioning in a micro/nanofiuidic system (MNFS), which is intended for detecting damaging agents in liquid media. The genosensor represents a recombinant E. coli cell modified with a plasmid containing the gfp reporter gene (encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP)), the transcription of which is controlled by a promoter sensitive to damaging factors of the external environment. The level of reporter gene activity can be monitored by measuring the level of induced fluorescence.
SHA-3 Standard: Permutation-Based Hash and Extendable-Output Functions

This Standard specifies the Secure Hash Algorithm-3 (SHA-3) family of functions on binary data. Each of the SHA-3 functions is based on an instance of the K ECCAK algorithm that NIST selected as the winner of the SHA-3 Cryptographic Hash Algorithm Competition. This Standard also specifies the K ECCAK - p family of mathematical permutations, including the permutation that underlies K ECCAK , in order to facilitate the development of additional permutation-based cryptographic functions. The SHA-3 family consists of four cryptographic hash functions, called SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, and SHA3-512, and two extendable-output functions (XOFs), called SHAKE128 and SHAKE256. Hash functions are components for many important information security applications, including 1) the generation and verification of digital signatures, 2) key derivation, and 3) pseudorandom bit generation. The hash functions specified in this Standard supplement the SHA-1 hash function and the SHA-2 family of hash functions that are specified in FIPS 180-4, the Secure Hash Standard. Extendable-output functions are different from hash functions, but it is possible to use them in similar ways, with the flexibility to be adapted directly to the requirements of individual applications, subject to additional security considerations.
Sublattice formation in CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy

In this work, we investigated short-range ordering in the equiatomic CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy by means of a machine-learning interatomic potential. The potential was represented as a low-rank tensor. The tensor coefficients were determined in order to reproduce the results of DFT calculations. This potential was used in an onlattice Metropolis Monte-Carlo algorithm. We established, for the first time, that iron and chromium atoms form sublattices at the temperatures below 600C and 1230C, respectively.
Ambient Air Quality Estimation using Supervised Learning Techniques

The exponential increase of population in the urban areas has led to deforestation and industrialization that greatly affects the air quality. The polluted air affects the human health. Due to this concern, the prediction of air quality has become a potential research area. For the assessment of air quality an important indicator is Air Quality Index (AQI). The objective of this paper is to build prediction models using supervised learning. Supervised Learning is broadly classified into: classification, regression and ensemble techniques. This study has been carried out using various techniques of classification, regression and ensemble learning. It has been observed from experimental work that Decision Trees from classification, Support Vector Regression from regression and Stacking Ensemble from ensemble techniques work more effectively and efficiently than the rest of the other techniques that fall under these categories.
The Appeal of Vocal Islamism in the West: The Case of Hizb ut-Tahrir vis-à-vis Its Competitors

Islamism is a very debated topic in the West but almost exclusively explored in its violent forms. Nevertheless, a number of “vocal radical Islamist” groups exist in the West and legally operate because of their non-violent nature. Vocal radicals continually inspire individuals and lead them towards specific goals and priorities, sometimes even towards violence. This paper uses the long-living group Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) to explore the elements that make the organization appealing to segments of Muslim community in the West. This paper uses three agency variables - reflexive monitoring, the rationalization of action and the motivations for actions – to analyze HT’s appeal vis-a-vis two other Islamist groups, Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), having similar goals and the same high international profile. This paper concludes that HT’s uniqueness is given by its method, detailed vision of the caliphate, consistency over time and the emphasis placed on the caliphate as the leading force of HT’s unchanged motivation for action.
b-Arrestin-1 De fi ciency Protects Mice from Experimental Colitis

opyright a 2013 American Society for Inve ublished by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved ttp://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.ajpath. 2012.12. 025 b-Arrestins are intracellular scaffolding proteins that modulate specific cell signaling pathways. Recent studies, in both cell culture and in vivo models, have demonstrated an important role for b-arrestin-1 in inflammation. However, the role of b-arrestin-1 in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is not known. Our goal was to investigate the role of b-arrestin-1 in IBD using mouse models of colitis. To this end, we subjected wild-type (WT) and b-arrestin-1 knockout (b-arr-1 / ) mice to colitis induced by trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid or dextran sulfate sodium and examined the clinical signs, gross pathology, and histopathology of the colon, as well as inflammatory components. The b-arr-1 / mice displayed significantly attenuated colitis, compared with WT mice, in both models. Consistent with the phenotypic observations, histological examination of the colon revealed attenuated disease pathology in the b-arr-1 / mice. Our results further demonstrate that b-arr-1 / mice are deficient in IL-6 expression in the colon, but have higher expression of the anti-inflammatory IL-10 family of cytokines. Our results also demonstrate diminished ERK and NFkB pathways in the colons of b-arr-1 / mice, compared with WT mice. Taken together, our results demonstrate that decreased IL-6 production and enhanced IL-10 and IL-22 production in b-arrestin-1edeficient mice likely lead to attenuated gut inflammation. (Am J Pathol 2013, 182: 1114e1123; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajpath.2012.12.025)