Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
kalepy: a Python package for kernel density estimation, sampling and plotting

‘Kernel Density Estimation’ or ‘KDE’ (Parzen, 1962; Rosenblatt, 1956) is a type of nonparametric density estimation (David W. Scott, 2015) that improves upon the traditional ‘histogram’ approach by, for example, i) utilizing the exact location of each data point (instead of ‘binning’), ii) being able to produce smooth distributions with continuous and meaningful derivatives, and iii) removing the arbitrary offset of an initial bin edge. The kalepy package presents a Python KDE implementation designed for broad applicability by including numerous features absent in other packages. kalepy provides optional weightings, reflecting boundary conditions, support for an arbitrary number of dimensions, numerous kernel (i.e., window) functions, built-in plotting, and built-in resampling.
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Protein Folding in the Hydrophobic-Polar Model with Pull Moves

The protein folding problem of predicting folded protein structure given an amino acid sequence is a challenging and extensively studied NP-hard problem in computational biology. One common approach is to reduce the complexity using the hydrophobic-polar model. Although this model discretizes and simpliﬁes the conformational space, the problem is still NP-complete. In this study, we formulate the protein folding problem as a deep reinforcement learning problem, using various deep neural networks and combining Monte Carlo tree search with the networks as a replacement for molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation protocols in different protein folding simulated environments
An Empirical Investigation into E-Payment Mechanisms and Brand Extension in Retail Supply Chain

Brand extension ought to denote a crucial medium for growth, since it is presently acknowledged as one of the most functional marketing strategies; however, despite the fact that epayment mechanisms have become predominant in marketing, there is a lack of research on the influence of the adoption of e-payment mechanisms on brand extension in retail supply chain. This study therefore, examines e-payment mechanisms and brand extension in retail supply chain in Rivers State of Nigeria, by means of a quantitative research approach, with a combination of exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research design Data for this study were collected by means of a survey through a structured pre-tested questionnaire, distributed to 375 retailers (CEO’s, logistics/purchasing/marketing/store managers) in Port Harcourt metropolis, and its surrounding neighborhood area from January to March 2020. However, 299 responses were received and after ascertaining the validity of the responses, 294 (99.3%) respondents were fit for carrying out the analysis. In testing the stated hypotheses, the multiple regressions and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. Statistical analysis of the data was done through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 software in computer. The findings indicate that prepaid cards, credit cards and debit cards have a positive and significant influence on brand extension. The study therefore concludes that e-payment mechanisms (prepaid cards, credit cards and debit cards) positively and significantly affect brand extension in retail supply chain in the Rivers of Nigeria. The study recommends that the credit card, an attribute of electronic payment mechanism, should be adopted by retail supply chain to boost their brand extension programme in order to gain competitive advantage in the market place.
GOSMatch: Graph-of-Semantics Matching for Detecting Loop Closures in 3D LiDAR data

Detecting loop closures in 3D Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data is a challenging task since point-level methods always suffer from instability. This paper presents a semantic-level approach named GOSMatch to perform reliable place recognition. Our method leverages novel descriptors, which are generated from the spatial relationship between semantics, to perform frame description and data association. We also propose a coarse-to-fine strategy to efficiently search for loop closures. Besides, GOSMatch can give an accurate 6-DOF initial pose estimation once a loop closure is confirmed. Extensive experiments have been conducted on the KITTI odometry dataset and the results show that GOSMatch can achieve robust loop closure detection performance and outperform existing methods.
Students’ Skill Needs for Achieving Content in an ‘Intercultural Management and Communication’ Course in a Moroccan University of Economics

Research into language skill needs to students' disciplinary knowledge in English-Medium Instruction settings is largely under-explored. To contribute to identifying these needs, this study set out to explore self-assessed challenges to content achievement facing university students in an ‘Intercultural management and communication’ course. The study is situated in a university of Economics, Morocco. (N= 46) postgraduate students participated in the study. Analysis of qualitative data from written accounts of students’ perceived challenges/needs resulted in five themes: 1affective impact of the course, 2awareness of its primary goal, 3academic language skills, 4knowledge acquisition and academic development needs, and 5content achievement and assessment requirements. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted on quantitative data from a self-perception/evaluation questionnaire in order to obtain a typology of challenges/needs students face in achieving content in the course. Considering both perceived skill importance and skill level, emphasized needs were associated with exam content revision, academic communications and academic English skills. The study findings bear implications for considering a skill approach to perceived needs, emphasizing the importance of students’ awareness of assessment requirements, task-based instruction in enhancing academic English and communication skills, and teachers’ roles in balancing goals for language and content improvement.
The Use of Reference Intensity Ratios in X-Ray Quantitative Analysis

Abstract Each of the RIR based methods for carrying out quantitative X-ray powder diffraction analysis are described and a consistent set of notation is developed. The so called “standardless” analysis procedures are shown to be a special case of the internal-standard method of analysis where the normalizing assumption is used. All analytical methods, other than the Rietveld whole pattern matching procedure, require the use of explicitly measured standards, typically in the form of RIR values. However, if only semi-quantitative results can be tolerated, the standards may be obtained by using published RIR and relative intensity values. The exciting new techniques of whole pattern fitting and Rietveld constrained quantitative analysis are also described in RIR notation and shown also to be forms of the internal-standard method with the normalization assumption. The quantitative results obtained from Rietveld quantitative analysis are derived from computed standards in the form of computed, normalized, RIRN values. The normalization assumption in Rietveld analysis allows the exclusive use of computed standards and comes as close to a “standardless” analysis as one can achieve: relying on the absence of amorphous material and on the validity of the structural models. Relationships are given for obtaining quantitative analysis from these RIRN values obtainable from the least-squares scale factors.
Can Online Juries Make Consistent, Repeatable Decisions?

A jury of one’s peers is a prominent way to adjudicate disputes and is increasingly used in participatory governance online. The fairness of this approach rests on the assumption that juries are consistent: that the same jury would hand down similar judgments to similar cases. However, prior literature suggests that social influence would instead cause early interactions to cascade into different judgments for similar cases. In this paper, we report an online experiment that changes participants’ pseudonyms as they appear to collaborators, temporarily masking a jury’s awareness that they have deliberated together before. This technique allows us to measure consistency by reconvening the same jury on similar cases. Counter to expectation, juries are equally consistent as individuals, a result that is “good for democracy. ” But this consistency arises in part due to group polarization, as consensus develops by hardening initial majority opinions. Furthermore, we find that aggregating groups’ perspectives without deliberation erodes consistency.
EFFECT OF THE BODY WEIGHT ON CHEMICAL AND FATTY ACIDS COMPOSITION OF THE LONGISSIMUS MUSCLE FROM YOUNG BULLS

The Longissimus muscle (LM) from young bulls (1⁄2 Angus vs. 1⁄2 Nellore) slaughtered at light, medium and heavy body weights (BW) were used to investigate the chemical and fatty acids (FA) composition. The bulls were distributed in a completely randomized design by a factorial scheme 3 x 3 and data analyzed by ANOVA using the GLM procedure. Twenty-one young bulls (243 ± 11.7 kg, 12 ± 2 month old) were allocated in individual pens and distributed into three experimental diets (n = 7): E0.0, diet without addition of the blend of EO; E3.5, 437 mg/kg of dry matter (DM) of the blend of EO; and E7.0, 875 mg/kg of DM of the blend of EO; for 4 months (sugar cane bagasse pellets, ground corn, soybean meal, limestone, yeast, mineral salt were used asfed). The young bulls (16 months ± 2) were slaughtered at light, 386 ± 12.9 kg; medium, 443 ± 13.6 kg; and heavy, 500 ± 28.6 kg BW. LM from bulls slaughtered at medium BW had higher values of crude protein, polyunsaturated FA (FUFA), omega-6, PUFA:SFA (saturated FA) ratio than bulls light BW. Therefore, bulls slaughtered with medium BW improves chemical and FA composition in the LM.
Reactions of hydroxyl and nitrogen trioxide radicals with phenol, cresols, and 2-nitrophenol at 296 .+-. 2 K

The nitrophenol products from the gas-phase reactions of OH and NO 3 radicals with phenol and the cresols in the presence of NO x have been investigated and rate constants for the reactions of the NO 3 radical with phenol, the cresols, and 2-nitrophenol determined at 296±2 K. The rate constants obtained were (in cm 3 molecule -1 s -1 ) phenol, 3.92×10 -12 ; o-cresol, 1.37×10 -11 ; m-cresol, 9.74×10 -12 ; p-cresol, 1.07×10 -11 ; and 2-nitrophenol, <2×10 -14
Small and Medium Enterprise-SMEs ́ Resilience Model based on Maturity Cycle

Currently, companies deal with the consequences of disruptive events derived from climate change, increased number of hurricanes, changes in wildlife species, pandemics and so on. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are more vulnerable due to their limited financial, human, and operational resources. This requires that companies have greater resilience, incorporating strategies adapted for the development of a maturity to face this situation. This article proposes a qualification model to assess the maturity status of SMEs based on their resilience level. To test the model, fieldwork has been carried out, interviewing three Mexican SMEs, which managed the effects of sargassum in Puerto Morelos. The exposure to large amounts of sargassum in decomposition can affect people with symptoms such as nausea, tearing and headaches, including allergic skin reactions, among other diseases. The use of the instrument allowed identifying the maturity status of the companies linking with the main practices used to increase resilience capabilities. According to the findings, SMEs have no preparation plans to cope a disruption, until when they learn about the impact, because of the crisis. It was clear, with 2 SMEs that the years’ experience with other natural disruptions helps them to find new market opportunities to transform their business and help each other as a community. Keywords—SMEs, Small and medium-sized enterprises, Resilience, Maturity Cycle, Sargassum.
A review on food recognition technology for health applications

Food understanding from digital media has become a challenge with important applications in many different domains. On the other hand, food is a crucial part of human life since the health is strictly affected by diet. The impact of food in people life led Computer Vision specialists to develop new methods for automatic food intake monitoring and food logging. In this review paper we provide an overview about automatic food intake monitoring, by focusing on technical aspects and Computer Vision works which solve the main involved tasks (i.e., classification, recognitions, segmentation, etc.). Specifically, we conducted a systematic review on main scientific databases, including interdisciplinary databases (i.e., Scopus) as well as academic databases in the field of computer science that focus on topics related to image understanding (i.e., recognition, analysis, retrieval). The search queries were based on the following key words: “food recognition”, “food classification”, “food portion estimation”, “food logging” and “food image dataset”. A total of 434 papers have been retrieved. We excluded 329 works in the first screening and performed a new check for the remaining 105 papers. Then, we manually added 5 recent relevant studies. Our final selection includes 23 papers that present systems for automatic food intake monitoring, as well as 46 papers which addressed Computer Vision tasks related food images analysis which we consider essential for a comprehensive overview about this research topic. A discussion that highlights the limitations of this research field is reported in conclusions.
Anaerobic oxidation of methane in an iron‐rich Danish freshwater lake sediment

Freshwater systems are identified as one of the main natural methane sources, but little is known about the importance of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in these systems. We investigated AOM in a lake sediment characterized by a high reactive iron content, normal sulfate concentrations in the bottom water (∼ 250 µmol L−1), and a relatively deep sulfate penetration of ∼ 14 cm, which facilitated the spatial resolution of the zones of methane production and consumption. Methane concentrations, δ13C methane profiles, and directly measured and modeled AOM rates all consistently demonstrated methane consumption throughout the anoxic, nitrate‐free, Fe(III)‐ and sulfate‐containing zone, oxidizing ∼ 90% of the diffusive methane flux. Thus, the concentration gradient of methane was steepest at the base of the Fe(III) and sulfate zone and decreased strongly toward the sediment surface; while δ13CH4 increased from < −80‰ in the methanogenic zone to −48‰ in the surface sediment. Direct measurements demonstrated AOM activity throughout the Fe(III) and sulfate zone. AOM rates peaked at sulfate concentrations below 3 µmol L−1, which suggests a possible coupling of AOM to the reduction of more crystalline Fe(III) oxides. Alternatively, AOM could be coupled to sulfate reduction, which was in turn supported by a cryptic sulfur cycle coupled to Fe(III) reduction. Our results show that AOM can substantially reduce methane emission from freshwater sediments, and the finding of AOM at sulfate concentrations < 3 µmol L−1 suggests that AOM could be of greater importance in freshwater systems, and in ancient low‐sulfate oceans, than was previously appreciated.
DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF LOW VOLTAGE CLASS AB MILLER OPERATIONAL TRANSCONDUCTANCE AMPLIFIER

Evolution of low power devices has lead to emergency of handy or portable devices the downscaling of devices is occurring very fast nowadays. Amplifier is one of the challenging blocks in analog circuit. The reduction of supply voltage will affect the performance of the amplifier. The paper designs a low power amplifier that works below 1V supply voltage. The supply voltage reduction is achieved by using two techniques, tail current removal and threshold voltage lowering. Cascoding of two amplifiers is done in the design to increase the stability of the amplifier. The amplifier is designed with 900mV and 500mV supply voltage. The performance parameters are compared together and with reported results. The result obtained in this work seems better in terms of gain, bandwidth and phase margin.
Sustainable Marketing and Customer Retention in the Food and Beverage Firms in Nigeria

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of sustainable marketing and customer retention in the Nigerian food and beverage firms. The study adopted the the cross-sectional survey research design. The population of this study consists of the customers of the food and beverage firms in Nigerian. Implying an infinite population, a sample size of 384 was used for the study we relied on Krejche and Morgan (1970). Only 294 questionnaires were returned, useful which represented 76.4% of the total questionnaires distributed. The hypotheses were tested using the multiple regression with the aid of the Statistical Tool for Social Science (SPSS version 22) The study revealed that there is a significant relationship between sustainable marketing and customer retention in the food and beverage firms in Nigeria.
Factors affecting credit use for rural farming at household level: Evidence from small holder farmers’ of Toke-Kutaye district

Agricultural finance for smallholder farmers is critical for the growth and development of agricultural sector. The study is based on the survey of a total of 99 farmers which particularly covering three kebeles of Toke Kutaye district, Ethiopia with the objectives identifying factor affecting access to credit service. The data were collected from both primary and secondary sources in 2017/18. Binary logit model was used to analyze the factors affecting access to credit service. The results indicated that the significant variables included in the model such as education of the household head, frequency of extension contact and farmers’ perception of group lending were positively and significantly affect households’ participation credit service while family size and distance from MFIs were negatively and significantly affect households credit participation in the study area. This study recommends that in order to make agricultural development successful these factors and problems are taken into consideration by policy makers to participate in credit use. Our results have important implications for the management and future of farmers, as well as for the assessment of their development impacts.
Child Lower Limb Exoskeleton: Sizing and Modeling

This paper, presents the sizing methodology of direct drive actuator for a new lower limb exoskeleton to operate effectively. The main objective of the latter exoskeleton is the mobility aid of the paralyzed children in order to move their lower limb again and perform a gait motion. the applied torques on the actuator are calculated by two methods based on the bio-mechanical data from literature and by taking in consideration the quasi-static loads applied in the worst case situation by the wearer. Also, a verification of the results is done using a virtual model on Matlab-Simulink®.
The Level of Depression and Anxiety in Individuals with Traumatic and Nontraumatic Spinal Cord Damage

Objective: The study was conducted to determine the levels of the symptoms of depression and anxiety in individuals with traumatic and non-traumatic spinal -cord damage. Method: A descriptive design was adopted. The study sample was comprised 40 individuals with traumatic and non-traumatic spinal-cord damage (N=40). The data w ere collected using questionnaire form, Beck Depres sion Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. Results: The Beck Depression Inventory scores of traumatic nd non-traumatic individuals were determined as a respectively 13.40±8.49 and 13.95±10.44; Beck Anxie ty Inventory scores were determined as a respective ly 17.20±10.43 and 14.55±8.16. No significant differen c was found between the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores. A weak, positive relationship was found between the Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores of traumatic and nontraumatic individuals (r=0.470). Conclusion: This study reported the presence of the symptoms o f light and moderate depression and anxiety in individuals with both traumatic and non-traumatic s pinal cord damage and that there was no difference between the two groups in terms of the symptoms of depression a nd anxiety.
Maestría en Econometría Master’s Thesis: Causal Inference using STATA

In order to implement such methods we have developed five programs using STATA software for both continuous and binary outcomes. When the outcome variable is binary the programs outputs estimators of the Average Treatment effect (ATE), the Causal Risk ratio (CCR) and the Causal Odd ratio (COR) while if the outcome variable is continuous it only outputs the ATE. In addition we constructed a special program (prop_score.ado) for the evaluation of the propensity score fit in order to use it in the propensity score stratification method.
Electronic Medical Record–Based Case Phenotyping for the Charlson Conditions: Scoping Review

Background Electronic medical records (EMRs) contain large amounts of rich clinical information. Developing EMR-based case definitions, also known as EMR phenotyping, is an active area of research that has implications for epidemiology, clinical care, and health services research. Objective This review aims to describe and assess the present landscape of EMR-based case phenotyping for the Charlson conditions. Methods A scoping review of EMR-based algorithms for defining the Charlson comorbidity index conditions was completed. This study covered articles published between January 2000 and April 2020, both inclusive. Embase (Excerpta Medica database) and MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) were searched using keywords developed in the following 3 domains: terms related to EMR, terms related to case finding, and disease-specific terms. The manuscript follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA) guidelines. Results A total of 274 articles representing 299 algorithms were assessed and summarized. Most studies were undertaken in the United States (181/299, 60.5%), followed by the United Kingdom (42/299, 14.0%) and Canada (15/299, 5.0%). These algorithms were mostly developed either in primary care (103/299, 34.4%) or inpatient (168/299, 56.2%) settings. Diabetes, congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, and rheumatology had the highest number of developed algorithms. Data-driven and clinical rule–based approaches have been identified. EMR-based phenotype and algorithm development reflect the data access allowed by respective health systems, and algorithms vary in their performance. Conclusions Recognizing similarities and differences in health systems, data collection strategies, extraction, data release protocols, and existing clinical pathways is critical to algorithm development strategies. Several strategies to assist with phenotype-based case definitions have been proposed.