Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Perceptual Image Hashing using SIFT and SVD

With the advancement in technology, digital data such as image, video, etc. can be easily manipulated. Image hashing is a method that can be used for authentication and identification of digital images. In this communication, a robust image hashing technique is proposed using scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), singular value decomposition (SVD) and Zernike moment. Zernike moment is used to restore the image against the rotation attack. Potential points are generated from the image by using SIFT. Block processing of equal size is performed on the input image. Key points within the same block are used to generate hashing values. The experimental outcome shows that the proposed technique can withstand different types of attacks. Receiver operating characteristic curve comparison specifies that our method outperforms other existing methods under consideration.
INFLUENCE OF PRESERVING BY FREEZING ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN FRUITS OF RIBES NIGRUM L. AND RIBES RUBRUM L

Keyword: R. nigrum, R. rubrum, anthocyanins, polyphenols, antioxidant capacity Abstract: R. nigrum and R. rubrum are species with remarkable potential of production. The quality and quantity of the chemical compounds present in the fruit collected from species of plants in the genus Ribes are influenced by genetic qualities, climatic conditions, procedures of cultivation, the way of harvesting and depositing the fruit etc. The results of our study show the fact that, in fresh state, the fruit harvested from Ribes nigrum present antioxidant capacity and content of anthocyanins superior to the fruit harvest from Ribes rubrum, while the content of water has slightly lower values in the Ribes rubrum. The analyses carried out after maintaining the biologic material to be analysed for nine months in the freezer underlines modifications of the biochemical parameters investigates. Thus, the content of total polyphenols was reduced by 16.03% in Ribes rubrum and by 17.09% in Ribes nigrum. The contents of anthocyanins and dry substance as well as the antioxidant capacity have registered values superior to those evaluated for the fruit in fresh state.
Open Archive TOULOUSE Archive Ouverte (OATAO)

This article presents a comparison between experiments and Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) of a spark ignition engine on two operating points: a stable one characterized by low cycle-to-cycle variations (CCV) and an unstable one with high CCV. In order to match the experimental cycle sample, 75 full cycles (with combustion) are computed by LES. LES results are compared with experiments by means of pressure signals in the intake and exhaust ducts, in-cylinder pressure, chemiluminescence and OH Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF). Results show that LES is able to: (1) reproduce the flame behavior in both cases (low and high CCV) in terms of position, shape and timing; (2) distinguish a stable point from an unstable one; (3) predict quantitatively the CCV levels of the two fired operating points. For the unstable case, part of the observed CCV is due to incomplete combustion. The results are then used to analyze the incomplete combustion phenomenon which occurs for some cycles of the unstable point and propose modification of the spark location to control CCV.
Content generation for turn-based strategy games

Turn-based strategy games require generating a large number of game levels. This paper presents a solution that is able to address the problem of generating new content for turn-based strategy games according to the player experience and behavior. To achieve this we defined a system that models the player personality and is responsible for managing a pool of valid content and assessing its quality regarding the adaptivity to a player and the conformity to specified objectives. This approach is based on the concept of play-persona to capture the user profile in order to select the best game levels that may give the best experience. The proposed solution was adapted to the game Strategy War with very satisfying results. The game has the possibility of generating infinite game levels and the ability to select them according to a more defensive or aggressive profile.
Response letter for article VR-15-230 1 General comments for Reviewers /

All sensory devices, whether biological or artificial, carry appreciable amounts of intrinsic 11 noise. When these internally generated perturbations are sufficiently large, the behaviour of the 12 system is not solely driven by the external stimulus but also by its own spontaenous variability. 13 Behavioural internal noise can be quantified, provided it is expressed in relative units of the noise 14 source externally applied by the stimulus. In humans performing sensory tasks at near threshold 15 performance, the size of internal noise is roughly equivalent to the size of the response fluctuations 16 induced by the external noise source. It is not known how the human estimate compares with 17 other animals, because behavioural internal noise has never been measured in other species. We 18 have adapted the methodology used with humans to the zebrafish, a small teleost that displays 19 robust visually-guided behaviour. Our measurements demonstrate that, under some conditions, 20 it is possible to obtain viable estimates of internal noise in this vertebrate species; the estimates 21 generally fall within the human range, suggesting that the properties of internal noise may reflect 22 general constraints on stimulus-response coupling that apply across animal systems with substantially 23 different characteristics. 24
Feature Sparsity in Convolutional Neural Networks for Scene Classification of Remote Sensing Image

Recently, the analysis of remote sensing images has attracted a lot of attention. In the domain of scene classification, deep learning methods, especially convolutional networks (CNNs), currently achieve the best results. Although the classification performance has reached a high level, there are still some factors limiting the improvement of classification accuracy. Based on obeservation of remote sensing scene images, we fing that some scenes are quite similar though they belong to different classes. To improve the classification performance between different scenes with similar characteristics, we propose a significant Feature Sparsity Layer that can be esaily embedded into various convolutional network architectures. The proposed layer can inhibit the confusing features meanwhile stress the discriminative features, and it is used to sparse the multi-layer feature map, which is extracted by the convolutional layers. The proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art results on three datasets UC Merced Land Use, Aerial Image Data and OPTIMAL-31, and competitive result on dataset WHU-RS19.
A Novel Study for Chemical Composition of Al-Ahdaab Field Crude Oil

This research included determination of chemical composition of al-ahdaab crude oil (kuteIraq) using liquid – solid chromatography method. The current study involved separation the components of crude oil by column chromatography was packing with alumina (AL2O3) as a stationary–phases and several solvent as a mobile phase. The results of crude oil fractionations were 17.01% Asphaltene, 82.99% Maltene, which separated to Paraffinic (saturated) 44.11%, Aromatic 30.11% and Resin 4.20%. Crude oil fractionations were characterized using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 1 HNMR and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer FT-IR to determine the chemical composition of each part, which is that represents the first study and novel results. This study also clarified the paraffinic compounds are the main part of materials in the crude oil composition.
Identification of drought-tolerant corn genotypes by multivariate analysis1

ABSTRACT The identification of genotypes that are tolerant to water deficit is crucial for the maintenance of the agricultural production. This study aimed to evaluate the genotypic variation for drought tolerance among corn genotypes by means of multivariate analysis, as well as to identify hybrids with high grain yield under conditions of water deficit and full irrigation. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted in a randomized block design, with 36 corn hybrids, being 34 experimental elite and two commercial (controls) hybrids, under water deficit and full irrigation, during the reproductive stage, with four replications. The irrigation levels, added to the rainfall, totaled 691.6 mm under full irrigation and 490.8 mm under water deficit. The evaluation encompassed the leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content, interval between male and female flowering, number of rows per ear, number of grains per ear, ear length, 100-grain weight, ear yield, ear index, total number of grains, number of ears per m2, grain yield at 13 % of moisture and water-use efficiency. The evaluated hybrids showed useful genetic diversity for drought tolerance. Four experimental elite hybrids (3G7395, 3G7415, 1G7034 and 3G7335) stood out under water deficit, showing a high grain yield performance, if compared to the average of the control hybrids.
Record of magma chamber processes preserved in accessory mineral assemblages, Aztec Wash pluton, Nevada

Abstract Field relations and geochemistry indicate that Aztec Wash pluton had a complex, open-system history. The tilted pluton represents a 2.5 km thick chamber that was recharged with both felsic and mafic magma. The lower portion is highly heterogeneous, with mafic sheets; cumulates; hybrid rocks; mafic, felsic, and composite dikes; and sheets and pods of granite (heterogeneous [H] zone). The upper part is granite that is generally homogeneous in texture and geochemistry (granite [G] zone). At the base of the G zone, a discontinuous zone (buffer [B] zone) records interaction between the G and H zones. Complexity of the H zone makes detailed reconstruction of magma chamber history difficult, and the relatively homogeneous G zone appears to offer few clues about the evolution of the pluton or the interaction between the felsic and underlying more mafic magmas. Accessory mineral textures, zoning, and assemblages in the G zone, however, are far from homogeneous and provide clear evidence for fluctuating conditions that elucidates magma chamber history. Mafic rocks of the H zone contain the accessory mineral assemblage ilmenite + magnetite + quench apatite ± late sphene and zircon. G zone rocks have magnetite + apatite + sphene + zircon ± allanite, ilmenite, and chevkinite. The magnetite + allanite + early sphene, apatite, and zircon association that characterizes much of the G zone indicates a lower temperature and possibly higher fO₂ than the H zone assemblage. Mineral textures and zoning, however, document fluctuations in the stable G zone assemblage: (1) as many as five rounded surfaces truncate internal zones in zircon, each indicating a dissolution event; (2) in addition to euhedral concentric zoning, sphene contains regions of highly irregular zoning that are rich in inclusions, especially anhedral ilmenite; (3) ilmenite and allanite are mutually exclusive, but allanite is present in the matrix of rocks that contain sphene with ilmenite inclusions, and sphene grains in some samples have alternating regions with allanite and ilmenite inclusions. We attribute fluctuations in the stable G zone accessory assemblage to fluctuations in temperature and possibly fO₂, with appearance of the high-T, reduced assemblage indicating interaction with hot, mafic, H zone magma. These interactions certainly involve heat transfer and may involve limited chemical contamination. We infer that they must have taken place near the H zone-G zone boundary. The most frequent and intense fluctuations (marked by zircon with the highest number of truncation surfaces, and by sphene with irregular zoning and abundant ilmenite inclusions) affected rocks that are near the boundary, but ilmenite inclusions in sphene and truncation surfaces in zircon are present to the top of the pluton. We conclude that granitic magma was subjected to multiple cycles of thermally induced vertical transfer-convection-that, at least initially, affected the entire upper part of the chamber.
Differential aggressiveness of fungi implicated in esca and associated diseases of grapevine in France

We tested differences in the aggressiveness of six fungal species, Phaeomoniella chlamydospora, Phaeoacremonium aleophilum, Fomitiporia mediterranea, Eutypa lata, Diplodia seriata and Neofusicoccum parvum , all of which are associated with esca, Eutypa dieback or ‘black dead arm’ (BDA) of grapevines in France. Ten isolates per species (nine isolates for P. aleophilum ), originating in various regions of France, were tested on rooted cuttings of cv. Cabernet Sauvignon by inoculating the mycelium of the species on wounds made in the vine wood. The inoculated plants were incubated in an open greenhouse and the experiment was repeated twice . The isolates were divided into three groups depending on the severity of the infection. Infection severity was based on the extent of the external cankers and the internal lesions, measured 5 and 15 months after inoculation, as compared with the controls. The fi rst group included all the P. chlamydospora and N. parvum isolates and two of the E. lata isolates. These isolates induced internal necrosis and external cankers developing from the point of inoculation. P. chlamydospora and N. parvum, produced large cankers and the longest internal lesions, and were the most virulent. The second group, comprising those E. lata isolates not in Group one and all isolates of D. seriata and of P. aleophilum , caused internal necrosis from which the vine afterwards totally healed. The third group included all the F. mediterranea isolates. These isolates caused the smallest lesions, generally not different from those in the controls, and developed a characteristic mycelium in the pith. No foliar symptoms were observed on any of the inoculated cuttings, except with the two E. lata isolates. Some seedlings displayed the typical foliar symptoms of Eutypa dieback. Different isolates within individual species exhibited signifi cant differences ( P <0.05) in lesion development. This made it possible to select the most aggressive isolates for further study.
Linear Quadratic Optimal Control Design: A Novel Approach Based on Krotov Conditions

This paper revisits the problem of synthesizing the optimal control law for linear systems with a quadratic cost. For this problem, traditionally, the state feedback gain matrix of the optimal controller is computed by solving the Riccati equation, which is primarily obtained using calculus of variations- (CoV-) based and Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation-based approaches. To obtain the Riccati equation, these approaches require some assumptions in the solution procedure; that is, the former approach requires the notion of costates and then their relationship with states is exploited to obtain the closed-form expression of the optimal control law, while the latter requires a priori knowledge regarding the optimal cost function. In this paper, we propose a novel method for computing linear quadratic optimal control laws by using the global optimal control framework introduced by V. F. Krotov. As shall be illustrated in this article, this framework does not require the notion of costates and any a priori information regarding the optimal cost function. Nevertheless, using this framework, the optimal control problem gets translated to a nonconvex optimization problem. The novelty of the proposed method lies in transforming this nonconvex optimization problem into a convex problem. The convexity imposition results in a linear matrix inequality (LMI), whose analysis is reported in this work. Furthermore, this LMI reduces to the Riccati equation upon imposing optimality requirements. The insights along with the future directions of the work are presented and gathered at appropriate locations in this article. Finally, numerical results are provided to demonstrate the proposed methodology.
SUPPORTED BY UNIGESTION “ Non-Myopic Betas

We introduce non-myopic mean-variance optimizing agents into the standard conditional CAPM. In equilibrium, the inter-temporal hedging demand of nonmyopic investors leads to a two-factor CAPM in which risk premiums are determined both by the market portfolio beta (the myopic beta) and by the nonmyopic beta of returns with respect to the future return on the mean-variance efficient portfolio. We show empirically that the new risk factor is priced in the crosssection of stock returns, and the link between expected returns and non-myopic betas is monotonically increasing. The model makes several predictions about equilibrium beta dynamics that are confirmed by the data. Using a cross-section of mutual fund returns, we find that their non-myopic betas explain a significant part of the variation in mutual fund alphas, suggesting that non-myopic behavior is an important component of alpha generation. Friday, November 6, 2015, 10:30-12:00 Room 126, Extranef building at the University of Lausanne
The New Economy and the Dollar Puzzle: The Case of Australia. Discussion Paper No. 305. January 2002

The revolutionary changes in information technology (IT), globalisation and financial innovation have overturned the Solow productivity paradox and spawned a New Economy (NE) in Australia in the late 1990s. Both growth accounting estimates and the use of the information superhighway ranks Australia next to the USA as a NE. Australia is an avid user but not a producer of IT that propels the NE. The debate on the need for a new paradigm for the new economy on the grounds that key mechanisms of the old paradigm have become obsolete is reviewed. The breakdown of the short-run Phillips curve tradeoff and the redundancy of the long-run speed limits to growth are examined and dismissed as poppycock both on theoretical and empirical grounds. The IT technology because it is subject to severe diminishing returns and problems of information overload fails to rank with the great inventions of the past and will not be a harbinger of the Third Industrial Revolution. Nonetheless, on the basis of the ‘delay hypothesis’ the dismissal of the case for a new paradigm for the NE may be premature at this stage. The paper also examines the puzzling nose-dive of the dollar during the first half of the year 2001. This occurred despite the strong macroeconomic fundamentals and the emergent NE. The paper concludes commenting on the policy reaction function for a small open NE committed to inflation targeting.
Leadership Styles as Predictors of Job Involvement in Teachers

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of perceived positive styles of leadership, that is, transformational and transactional leadership, on job involvement of 250 teachers (men = 146, women = 104) from public and private sector colleges and universities of the Punjab province. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1994) and Job Involvement Scale (Kanungo, 1982) were used to measure study variables. Analysis revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles and their subfacets had significant positive relation to job involvement. The results of multiple regression showed that two subfacets of transformational leadership that is, Idealized Influence (attributed) and Intellectual Stimulation and two subfacets of transactional leadership, that is, Contingent Reward and Management by Exception (active) were positive predictors of job involvement among teachers whereas Management by Exception (passive) was a negative predictor of job involvement. Furthermore, the study also found that transactional leadership style was the stronger predictor of job involvement as compared to the transformational leadership style. Nonsignificant differences in terms of gender were observed among teachers for effects of leadership styles on their job involvement.
Investigating Social Media Utilization and Challenges in the Governmental Sector for Crisis Events

The use and utilization of social media applications, tools, and services enables advanced services in daily routines, activities, and work environments. Nowadays, disconnection from social media services is a disadvantage due to their increasing use and functionality. The use of social media applications and services has provided different methods and routines for communications that ranges from posting, reposting, commenting, interacting, and live communication that can reach a mass population with minimum time, effort, and expenses compared with traditional media systems and channels. The current benefits of using social media can assist in providing better services in terms of communication and guidance for civil protection services within governmental sectors, as reported by different research studies. The use of social media has been found to be critically important by governmental agencies in different situations for directing, educating, and engaging people during different events. This study investigates the use of social media services in Saudi Arabia in governmental sectors to outline the opportunities and challenges faced, given the challenging situations faced annually during the Hajj and Ramadan rituals, and sporadic flood crisis events. This research focuses on defining the current stand and challenges of using social media services for providing mass communication and civil engagement during hazardous and challenging events in Saudi Arabia. The results of this study will be used as a roadmap for future investigation in this regard.
Cross-Language Record Linkage by Exploiting Semantic Matching of Textual Metadata

Cross-language record linkage is a task of finding pairs of records that refer to the same entity across multiple databases in different languages. It is crucial to various research fields, such as federated search and data integration. The matching of textual values of metadata fields plays an important part in comparing record pairs. When matching textual values across languages, one problem is that the mismatches between semantically related translations of metadata values in source language and metadata values in target language, which refer to the same entity. For example, when comparing the records in Japanese (source language) and English (target language), the Japanese word “白雨” in metadata is translated into “rainfall”. However, the corresponding word in English metadata is “storm”, which is semantically related to “rainfall”. As a consequence, the commonly used string-based matching cannot measure the relevance of semantically related words. In this paper, we propose a method for semantic matching of textual metadata, which is based on word embedding that can capture the semantic similarity relationships among words. The effectiveness of this method is evaluated on film related textual metadata in Japanese and English. Then, we use our method to link the identical Ukiyo-e prints between the databases in Japanese and English.
ReviewA short overview on the hydrogen production via aqueous phase reforming (APR) of cellulose

The use of lignocellulosic biomasses for the production of renewable hydrogen is surely among the hot-topic research tasks. In this review, we report on the recent advances in the catalytic conversion of cellulose and its derived C6-C5 sugars (glucose, fructose, and xylose) and polyols (sorbitol and xylitol) into hydrogen via aqueous phase reforming (APR) reactions. The APR processes are considered to be new sustainable catalytic routes for converting the carbohydrate fraction of biomasses into hydrogen at milder reaction conditions if compared with the traditional reforming reactions. Particular emphasis is given to the development of new and active catalysts and to the optimization of reaction conditions that aimed to maximize hydrogen production with a low concentration of CO avoiding, at the same time, the formation of alkanes.