Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Component Processes and Neural Substrates of Set-shifting

Set-shifting has been described as the ability to alternate attention between simultaneous goals. The Trail Making Test (TMT) from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) measures set-shifting. This test is complex and demands different perceptual, cognitive, and motor skills, i.e. component processes, in addition to set-shifting. The first aim of this study is to explore the contribution of component processes in set-shifting in patients experiencing cognitive difficulties. The second aim is to evaluate the relationship between setshifting and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in the frontal and parietal lobes. The third aim is to evaluate the relationship between set-shifting and gray matter volume in the frontal and parietal cortices. WMH and gray matter volume were assessed using data from magnetic resonance imaging. Sixty-two patients were included, aged 60-80 years. All component processes showed a significant association with the set-shifting task, but only visual scanning and letter sequencing contributed significantly in predicting the unique variance in setshifting. No relationships between set-shifting and WMH in the frontal and parietal lobes were found. Set-shifting was significantly associated with the volume of the right rostral middle frontal gyrus. However, after controlling for component processes no significant associations were found between set-shifting and gray matter volumes.
An Approximated Voxel Approach for the Identification and Modelling of Ligand-Binding Sites

Most protein-ligand interactions take place on surfaces and include but not limited to factors such as chemical composition, hydrophobicity, electronegavitiy and shape complementarity. Past studies showed that protein-protein interactions occur on comparatively flat regions whereas protein-ligand bindings involve crevices. In the search for such sites various approaches have been designed and developed each of which is algorithmically unique. The use of grid units or voxels has been demonstrated in early studies with relatively good results obtained. We present here an approximated approach comprising of the use of voxels and computer vision methods in the search for ligand-binding areas. Each test protein is modelled and analysed in 2D with all corresponding residues graphically presented for successfully identified sites. The study was carried out on 2 sets of proteins: FK506-bound proteins and heme-bound proteins with promising results obtained for all test cases.
In-situ Temperature Effects in Basic Oxygen Furnace Slag Asphalt Concrete Pavement

Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag is a by-product of steel plants and is different from conventional natural aggregates. Studies have shown that BOF slag asphalt concrete is able to store heat. However, no quantitative research results have been presented. In this study, conventional natural aggregates and reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) are replaced by BOF slag in an asphalt concrete mixture. To observe the temperature variations in BOF slag asphalt concrete pavement during construction and after being opened to traffic, test roads with different levels of BOF slag and RAP were constructed in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The goal of this study was to provide information about the temperature differences between asphalt concrete pavement containing natural aggregates and those containing BOF slag aggregates. The results of this research indicate that for the same transportation time and distance, the temperature of asphalt concrete pavement with 40% BOF slag was approximately 7°C higher than that with 0% BOF slag. Because the internal heat energy of pavement with a large amount of BOF slag is not easily released, a longer curing time is needed after rolling compaction of the pavement, and thus, a longer time is needed before the BOF slag pavement can be opened to traffic. The temperature required to open the pavement to traffic was approximately 65°C. Furthermore, after opening the road to traffic, temperatures at depths of 3 and 5 cm in pavement with 40% BOF slag were 2 to 4°C lower than at the same depths in pavement with 0% BOF slag.
PointRCNN: 3D Object Proposal Generation and Detection From Point Cloud

In this paper, we propose PointRCNN for 3D object detection from raw point cloud. The whole framework is composed of two stages: stage-1 for the bottom-up 3D proposal generation and stage-2 for refining proposals in the canonical coordinates to obtain the final detection results. Instead of generating proposals from RGB image or projecting point cloud to bird's view or voxels as previous methods do, our stage-1 sub-network directly generates a small number of high-quality 3D proposals from point cloud in a bottom-up manner via segmenting the point cloud of the whole scene into foreground points and background. The stage-2 sub-network transforms the pooled points of each proposal to canonical coordinates to learn better local spatial features, which is combined with global semantic features of each point learned in stage-1 for accurate box refinement and confidence prediction. Extensive experiments on the 3D detection benchmark of KITTI dataset show that our proposed architecture outperforms state-of-the-art methods with remarkable margins by using only point cloud as input. The code is available at https://github.com/sshaoshuai/PointRCNN.
UNIFORM STABILIZATION OF A PLATE EQUATION WITH NONLINEAR LOCALIZED DISSIPATION

We study the existence and uniqueness of a plate equation in a bounded domain of Rⁿ, with a dissipative nonlinear term, localized in a neighborhood of part of the boundary of the domain. We use techniques from control theory, the unique continuation property and Nakao method to prove the uniform stabilization of the energy of the system with algebraic decay rates depending on the order of the nonlinearity of the dissipative term.
First Notice of Phytophthora Root and Stem Base Rot of Sciadopitys Verticillata in Polish Ornamental Nurseries

Severe root and stem base rot was noticed for the first time on Sciadopitys verticillata in 3 hardy ornamental nursery stocks. Phytophthora citrophthora was isolated from about 4/5 of the analysed plants. In the laboratory trials this species caused stem and root rot. On stem parts and needles inoculated by isolates from the host plant and Pinus sylvestris, necrosis was observed to have spread at a similar rate. The needles, however, were colonized significantly quicker than the stem parts. Sciadopitys verticillata (Thunb.) Siebold. & Zucc. , known as Japanese umbrella pine, is a slow-growing ornamental tree found in Polish nurseries over the last 10 years. Small plants grow to about 30 cm under cov- er, and later they are put in outside container nurseries. Lambe and Wills (1983) did not notice disease symptoms on plants in the landscape whereas in containers hav- ing excessive moisture, the trees are highly susceptible to root rot incited by Phytophhtora cinnamomi Rands. Af- fected plants showed wilting and an off-green color, with needles turning yellow. The reason for such changes were the rotting of the fibrous roots and the discoloration in the wood at the stem base. The first time yellowing of the needles was noticed on small S. verticillata growing in plastic tunnels and older plants as tall as 50-70 cm was in 2008-2010. This observa- tion took place in two hardy ornamental nursery stocks in the south-east part of Poland and in one nursery in the north of Poland. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a causal agent of dieback of S. verticillata, and its pathogenicity to a host plant. Nurseries were surveyed from July to September at one month intervals. On plants as tall as 10-25 cm nee- dles changed color from green to light green and finally to brown (Fig. 1). On the base of the plants, up to 5-10 cm of brown or dark brown discoloration of wood was observed. Most of the roots were dark brown and dead. On older trees growing at outside container nurseries, yellowing and browning of needles was noticed, usually on one part of the plants (Fig. 2). Base rot even extended 15 cm up the stem. Plants showing disease symptoms were placed in plastic bags together with substratum, and transported to the laboratory. The procedure of Or- likowski and Szkuta (2001) was used for isolating micro- organisms from diseased plant tissues. Over the span of 3 years, 50 diseased plants were analysed. Rhododen- dron leaf baits and the procedure described by Themann and Werres (1998) was used for the detection of Phytoph- thora spp. from the substratum. Obtained isolates were grouped by growth pattern and their morphology. Repre- sentative cultures were identified to species on the base of morphology features and confirmed by molecular meth-
THE MOTOR POTENTIAL OF YOUNG JUDOKAS IN SLOVENIA

The research was carried out with an aim of determining the level of motor potential among cadet and junior prospective national team members of Slovenia (extended list), aged 13 to 16, as well as to determine the differences among 3 groups of judokas (weight categories: up to 60 kg, up to 73 kg and exceeding 73 kg). The sample of participants for this study consisted of 181 judokas, potential candidates for the junior and cadet national team of Slovenia. To evaluate motor potential, the handgrip strength, abdominal strength and endurance, agility, aerobic capacity and explosive leg strength were evaluated. The testing of motor potential was carried out using the mobile laboratory of Sports Consulting Chamber from Slovenia and Slovenian Judo Federation. Based on the obtained results it was concluded that there are statistically significant differences between the indicators of motor potential among the three studied categories of judokas. What should especially be noted was that judokas in the weight category of up 60 kg were weaker in hand strength and agility than judokas weighing up to 73kg and judokas exceeding 73 kg.
The Göttingen Solar Radial Velocity Project: Sub-m s−1 Doppler Precision from FTS Observations of the Sun as a Star

Radial velocity observations of stars are entering the sub-m s−1 domain revealing fundamental barriers for Doppler precision experiments. Observations of the Sun as a star can easily overcome the m s−1 photon limit but face other obstacles. We introduce the Göttingen Solar Radial Velocity Project with the goal of obtaining high-precision (cm s−1) radial velocity measurements of the Sun as a star with a Fourier Transform Spectrograph. In this first paper, we present the project and first results. The photon limit of our 2 minute observations is at the 2 cm s−1 level but is currently limited by strong instrumental systematics. A drift of a few m s−1 hr−1 is visible in all observing days, probably caused by vignetting of the solar disk in our fiber-coupled setup, and imperfections of our guiding system add further offsets in our data. Binning the data into 30 minute groups shows m s−1 stability after correcting for a daily and linear instrumental trend. Our results show the potential of Sun-as-a-star radial velocity measurements that can possibly be achieved after a substantial upgrade of our spectrograph coupling strategy. Sun-as-a-star observations can provide crucial empirical information about the radial velocity signal of convective motion and stellar activity and on the wavelength dependence of radial velocity signals caused by stellar line profile variations.
Observer for Nonlinear Systems Using Mean Value Theorem and Simulated Annealing Algorithm

In this note, we consider a new nonlinear unknown input observer design for large class nonlinear systems. The principal idea consist on using estimation error and mean value theorem parameters β in proposed observer structure, based on the feedback mechanism. This process is performed using mean value theorem and simulated annealing algorithm. A stability study was performed using classical Lyapunov function. Numerical examples are designed to show the effectiveness of the approach proposed for nonlinear dynamic systems concerned. Proposed observer can treat nonlinear systems without a linear term ( ˙x = f(x, u)) and with a linear term ( ˙x = Ax + f(x, u)).
Partitioning direct and indirect human‐induced effects on carbon sequestration of managed coniferous forests using model simulations and forest inventories

Temperate forest ecosystems have recently been identified as an important net sink in the global carbon budget. The factors responsible for the strength of the sinks and their permanence, however, are less evident. In this paper, we quantify the present carbon sequestration in Thuringian managed coniferous forests. We quantify the effects of indirect human‐induced environmental changes (increasing temperature, increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and nitrogen fertilization), during the last century using BIOME‐BGC, as well as the legacy effect of the current age‐class distribution (forest inventories and BIOME‐BGC). We focused on coniferous forests because these forests represent a large area of central European forests and detailed forest inventories were available.
Quality is not strategy : Nash equilibrium and international market entry

A recent Harvard Business Review Article by Suarez and Lanzolla (2001) entitled the Half-truth of First Mover Advantage argued that this is a business concept which has so much intuitive appeal that its validity is almost taken for granted. In the following paper, we illustrate how typical applications of game theory to describe first mover advantage in the context of international markets are generally set up use an improper theoretical framework and compare incommensurable qualities and quantities. We then review the work of Porter (1996) and others with respect to sustainable competitive advantage and suggest that the Nash equilibrium may provide some guidance as to the kinds of circumstances in which a profitable first mover advantage may or may not be obtainable when entering international markets. * Professor of International Business Strategy, Southern New Hampshire University † Professor of International Marketing, Southern New Hampshire University ‡ C.E.O., Computer Futures and sometime professor of mathematics, Woodbury University § Assistant Professor of Accounting, Southern New Hampshire University
Phosphine Resistance in Thai Local Strains of Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) and Their Response to Synthetic Pheromone

Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), one of the key pests of stored grains worldwide, has been reported to develop resistance to fumigants in several countries. This research was focused on assessing the toxicity of phosphine against two local strains of T. castaneum from Thailand by comparison with the standard susceptible strain (QTC-4) from Australia and evaluating the response of the selected strain to synthetic pheromone. By bioassay under laboratory conditions, it was found that T. castaneum collected from an animal feed mill in Samut Prakan province (SP strain) exhibited resistance to phosphine with resistance ratios of 3–25.8 while the strain from Khon Kaen province (KK strain) showed a much lower resistance level with resistance ratios of 1–1.45. The SP and KK strains were then observed for their responses to the pheromone in an arena of 1 m 3 in a glass cage. The results showed that synthetic pheromone could attract female beetles to the traps. Traps containing synthetic pheromone caught a significantly higher number of beetles than those of the untreated control. However, when comparing the response of the resistant strain (SP) with that of the susceptible strain (KK), it was found that both pheromone traps and untreated traps caught significantly lower numbers of resistant females than the susceptible ones. This may have been due to the resistant beetles being less active and wandering around less than the susceptible beetles. The lower response of resistant beetles to pheromone suggested that there is a need to find other alternatives for a monitoring system in areas where resistant populations occur in order to be able to make proper pest management decisions.
A weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice as a harmonic hypersonic-electrical transducer

We study experimentally and theoretically the effects of high-frequency strain pulse trains on the charge transport in a weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice. In a frequency range of the order of 100 GHz such excitation may be considered as single harmonic hypersonic excitation. While travelling along the axis of the SL, the hypersonic acoustic wavepacket affects the electron tunnelling, and thus governs the electrical current through the device. We reveal how the change of current depends on the parameters of the hypersonic excitation and on the bias applied to the superlattice. We have found that the changes in the transport properties of the superlattices caused by the acoustic excitation can be largely explained using the current – voltage relation of the unperturbed system. Our experimental measurements show multiple peaks in the dependence of the transferred charge on the repetition rate of the strain pulses in the train. We demonstrate that these resonances can be understood in terms of the spectrum of the applied acoustic perturbation after taking into account the multiple re ﬂ ections in the metal ﬁ lm serving as a generator of hypersonic excitation. Our ﬁ ndings suggest an application of the semiconductor superlattice as a hypersonic-electrical transducer, which can be used in various microwave devices.
Scalable Clustering Using the Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence

Clustering large data sets has become very important as the amount of available unlabeled data increases. Single Pass Fuzzy C-Means (SPFCM) is useful when memory is too limited to load the whole data set. The main idea is to divide dataset into several chunks and to apply fuzzy c-means (FCM) to each chunk. SPFCM uses the weighted cluster centers of the previous chunk in the next data chunks. However, when the number of chunks is increased, the algorithm shows sensitivity to the order in which the data is processed. Hence, we improved SPFCM by recognizing boundary and noisy data in each chunk and using it to influence clustering in the next chunks. The proposed approach transfers the boundary and noisy data as well as the weighted cluster centers to the next chunks. We show that our proposed approach is significantly less sensitive to the order in which the data is loaded in each chunk.
Management of Fat Necrosis after Autologous Fat Transplantation for Breast Augmentation

Background: Palpable lumps as sequelae of fat necrosis after fat grafting to the breast may not only cause physical or psychological symptoms to patients but also potentially complicate breast cancer screening. In this article, the authors present their experience in management of fat necrosis following fat grafting for breast augmentation. Methods: Over a 5-year period, a total of 685 Asian women (age range, 20 to 58 years) underwent autologous fat transplantation to the breasts. The average volume of fat graft to each breast was 205 ± 45 cc. The preoperative and postoperative photographs and the breast volume were recorded. Detection of fat necrosis was based on clinical examinations and imaging studies. The mean follow-up was 208 ± 36 days. Results: The mean volume increase was 135 ± 20 cc in a single breast, with a mean graft retention rate of 65 percent. Sixty-six patients (9.6 percent) were found to have fat necrosis in the form of solitary or multiple cysts, sclerotic nodules, or calcifications in either one or both breasts postoperatively. The average time before first detection of the breast lump was 108 ± 45 days. Management of fat necrosis included aspiration or excision based on the authors’ treatment algorithm. The symptoms related to fat necrosis such as discomfort on palpation, pain, or possible skin reaction were significantly improved in 54 of 57 patients (94.7 percent). Conclusions: Fat necrosis following autologous fat grafting for breast augmentation can be managed successfully and its related symptoms can be relieved in 94.7 percent of patients. It can be approached safely based on a sound algorithm developed by the authors. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, IV.
A DEPARTURE WAKE VORTEX MONITORING SYSTEM: CONCEPT AND BENEFITS *

This paper highlights a concept for an automated departure wake vortex separation system. Wake vortex research has focused on reducing aircraft separations on arrival to airports, but in many cases, the departure queues for certain runways are more severely limiting to airport capacity than are arrival constraints. A departure system has the advantages that it could be used in all weather conditions and it is technically simpler because there is no longer a requirement for a 30-minute to several hour weather forecast in order to take advantage of the reduced spacings. This paper examines the technical requirements of such a system, and defines a concept for implementation of the system. An attempt is made to begin to quantify the dollar benefit from a departure system, and the obstacles to implementation of the system are discussed.
Agrarian Policy of the Region in Terms of Economic Development Innovation

The relevance of the topic lies in the difficult situation of the agricultural sector, which explains the General decline in production, broken economic ties, lack of scientifically grounded concept of legal base for implementation of market reforms, and innovation mechanism, creating economic conditions for expanded reproduction, which led to the deconstruction of all existing systems. The current situation in the agricultural sector is characterized by crisis factors. The main cause of imbalance of the system of agriculture was a radical transformation of the ownership of the means of production. Changed organizational-legal forms of collective enterprises, was developed the sector of individual entrepreneurship in rural areas. Agriculture with its labor-intensive production may allow one of the most acute social problems - employment. Consequently, there is the problem of the development of the mechanism of economic relations between the government, stakeholders in the agricultural production and commercial structures for the development of new adequate approaches to the provision of investment resources to the agricultural sector of the economy. Thus the expansion of the scope of economic methods of state return release of funds to the agricultural sector can become a real source of maintaining their resource potential as the most economical and effective innovative way to support the industry. Keywords : agriculture, innovations, innovation transformation, innovation process, food security JEL Classifications : Q18, R11, R58