Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Haar Features Based Face Detection andRecognition for Advanced Classroom andCorporate Attendance

Face of a person is its recognition. Methods are implemented to exploit this physical feature have seen a great change after the image processing techniques came into existence. The attendance is taken in every schools, colleges, library and corporate offices. It takes some time to record attendance.In this approach, we are using face detection and recognition system. This face detection differentiates faces from non-faces and is therefore essential for accurate attendance. To avoid wastage in time, we are about to use an automatic process which is based on image processing. In the present approach along with the face recognition we are using face detection system. This face detection system detects faces of individuals on the basis of intensities of pixels in the snap shots. The ARM Processor module is used for displaying Number of Presentees and the people present. The camera will be connected to the ARM. The student or employees database is collected. The database includes name of the students/employees, there images. This webcam module will be installed at the front side of class in such a way that it can capture entire class or in front of a main office door. Thus with the help of this system, time will be saved and it will be very much convenient to record attendance.
Exploration of Biomarkers for Asbestos Exposure and Occurrence of Malignant Mesothelioma Based on the Immunological Effects of Asbestos

Investigation was carried out on the immunological effects of asbestos on individuals and found that asbestos exposure not only reduces the effectiveness of tumor surveillance but also makes asbestos exposed individuals sensitive to tumor development. The continuous experimental exposure of T cells to asbestos has enhanced production of IL-10 and TGF-β. It has also provoked over expression of Bcl-2 with reduced expression of cell-surface CXCR3 and suppressed IFN-γ production with decreased expression of activating receptors such as NKp46 in NK cells. These alterations were also detected in asbestos-exposed patients such as those with pleural plaque or mesothelioma. Such changes in combination with certain markers produced by mesothelioma cells may therefore be considered as an initial screening system for asbestos exposure and developing mesothelioma using peripheral blood.
Investment Performance of 'Environmentally-Friendly' Firms and their Initial Public Offers and Seasoned Equity Offers

We employ a sample of 748 environmentally-friendly (or “green”) firms listed on U.S. stock exchanges to extend studies of the effects of socially responsible investment (SRI) on stock investment returns and the performance of initial public offerings (IPOs) and seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). Our empirical tests document positive and statistically significant excess returns for our environmentally-friendly firms and their IPOs and SEOs, in contrast to our control IPO and SEO samples which underperform. In summary, a “green” equity premium is evident in returns calculated from a variety of benchmarks.
MIXED MATRIX MEMBRANES PREPARED FROM HIGH IMPACT POLYSTYRENE WITH DISPERSED TIO2 NANOPARTICLES FOR GAS SEPARATION

The current study presents synthesis and characterization of high impact polystyrene - TiO 2 nanoparticles mixed matrix membranes for separation of carbon dioxide from nitrogen. The solution-casting method was used for preparation of membranes. The nano mixed matrix membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy to ensure the suitable dispersion of nano particles in high impact polystyrene matrix. The effect of TiO 2 nanoparticles loading on membrane performance was investigated. The separation performance of synthesized membranes was investigated in separation of CO 2 from CO 2 /N 2 mixture. Effect of feed pressure and TiO 2 content on separation of CO 2 was studied. The results revealed that increase of feed pressure decreases flux of gases through the mixed matrix membrane. The results also confirmed that the best separation performance can be obtained at TiO 2 nanoparticles loading of 7 wt. %.
Demographic Trends in Developing Countries: Convergence or Divergence Processes?

Recent years are characterized by both a rise in life expectancy and a further fall in fertility in the developing countries (DCs). These processes coexist with large heterogeneity according to the specific living conditions of countries. The aim of our research is to analyze the trends of specific demographic parameters regarding mortality and fertility, jointly with some socio-economic characteristics of more than 100 DCs, to assess if convergence patterns in demographic behaviors prevail or if marked differences persist. As the paths of mortality and fertility in fact differ deeply over space and time, we need a specific statistical multi-way analysis technique that consider the time series dimension. Thus, we apply Dynamic Factor Analysis and Cluster Analysis of trajectories in order to evaluate at macro-level the main demographic trends of DCs in the 1995-2010 period. Results let us reconsider the processes of convergence and enlighten the heterogeneity among clusters.
Remote Sensing Image Resolution Enlargement Algorithm Based on Wavelet Transformation

In this paper, we present a new image resolution enhancement algorithm based on cycle spinning and stationary wavelet subband padding. The proposed technique or algorithm uses stationary wavelet transformation (SWT) to decompose the low resolution (LR) image into frequency subbands. All these frequency subbands are interpolated using either bicubic or lanczos interpolation, and these interpolated subbands are put into inverse SWT process for generating intermediate high resolution (HR) image. Finally, cycle spinning (CS) is applied on this intermediate high resolution image for reducing blocking artifacts, followed by, traditional Laplacian sharpening filter is used to make the generated high resolution image sharper. This new technique has been tested on several satellite images. Experimental result shows that the proposed technique outperforms the conventional and the state-of-the-art techniques in terms of peak signal to noise ratio, root mean square error, entropy, as well as, visual perspective.
Unemployment and Productivity, Slowdowns and Speed-Ups: Evidence Using Common Shifts

We investigate the controversial issue whether unemployment is related to productivity growth in the long run, using U.S. data in a framework of infrequent mean shifts. Univariate tests find (endogenously dated) shifts in 1974, 1986, and 1996. System co-breaking techniques indicate that the shifts are common features, and the implied long-run link between the two variables is negative. Therefore the secular decline of unemployment since the mid 1990's indeed seems related to higher average productivity growth. The initial and final regimes are essentially equal, which would be compatible with explanations of the productivity slowdown that point to historical learning costs of information technology adoption.
BENDING AND CRUMPLING DEFORMATION STUDY OF THE RESONANT CHARACTERISTIC AND SAR FOR A 2.4 GHZ TEXTILE ANTENNA

Over recent years, there has been an explosive growth of interest in the development of flexible wearable antennas due to rapid growth in Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) applications. However, the antenna is subjected to deformation when being worn by users. Therefore, it is compulsory to analyze the absorption of electromagnetic (EM) radiation and the antenna performances as a function of the deformation conditions since the antenna is not in its normal flat conditions anymore. In this paper, two types of deformations; bending and crumpling are analyzed by means of CST Microwave Studio. The peak SAR 10g demonstrates increment up to 65.7 % and 48.7 % under bending and crumpling deformation respectively. Moreover, the crumpling is more sensitive to the geometrical shape and composition of the exposed body area if compared to bending. Moreover, the detuning effects of the resonant frequency are more significant for crumpling cases.
DETERMINANTS OF DIFFERENCES IN THE ACTIVITY BUDGETS OF RHINOPITHECUS BIETI BY AGE/SEX CLASS AT XIANGGUQING IN THE BAIMAXUESHAN NATURE RESERVE, CHINA

Ecological factors are known to influence the activity budgets of Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). However, little is known about how activity budgets vary between age/sex classes, because the species is difficult to observe in the wild. This study provides the first detailed activity budgets subdivided by age/sex classes based on observations of the largest habituated group at Xiangguqing in Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve. This study was conducted from June 2008 to May 2009. We found that adult females spent more time feeding (44.8%) than adult males (39.5%), juveniles (39.1%), and infants (14.2%). Adult males allocated more time to miscellaneous activities (12.5%) than did adult females (3.8%). Infants were being groomed 6.9% of the time, which was the highest proportion among all age/sex classes. Adults spent more time feeding, while immature individuals allocated more time to moving and other activities. There are several reasons activity budgets may vary by age/sex class: 1) differential reproductive investment between males and females; 2) developmental differences among the age categories; 3) social relationships between members of different age/sex classes, particularly dominance. In addition, group size and adult sex ratio may also impact activity budgets. These variations in activity budgets among the different age/sex classes may become a selective pressure that shapes the development and growth pattern in this species. This article has been retracted. Link to the retraction 10.2298/ABS160112009E
EXPORT-LED GROWTH HYPOTHESIS IN ZIMBABWE: DOES EXPORT COMPOSITION MATTER?

This study examines the validity of the export-led growth hypothesis in the Zimbabwean economy. We use annual time series data for the period 1977 to 2006 in an export augmented aggregate production function framework. Applying the bounds testing (ARDL) approach to cointegration, we investigate whether a long-run relationship exists between exports and non-export GDP. Two models are estimated; the first model is the total exports model while the second model disaggregates exports into primary goods export and manufactured goods exports. Empirical results support the export-led growth hypothesis in Zimbabwe and reveal that a longrun relationship exists between exports and non-export GDP and that the direction of relationship runs from exports to non-export GDP in both the short-run and the long-run. The results also show evidence of productivity-enhancing effects of primary exports while manufactured exports are productivity-limiting in the short-run.
Optimal dynamic asset allocation with lower partial moments criteria and affine policies

This paper discusses an optimisation-based approach for solving multi-period dynamic asset allocation problems using empirical asymmetric measures of risk. Three features distinguish the proposed approach from the mainstream ones. First, our approach is non-parametric, in the sense that it does not require explicit estimation of the parameters of a statistical model for the returns distribution: the approach relies directly on data (the scenarios) generated by an oracle which may include expert knowledge along with a standard stochastic return model. Second, it employs affine decision policies, which make the multi-period formulation of the problem amenable to an efficient convex optimisation format. Third, it uses asymmetric, unilateral measures of risk which, unlike standard symmetric measures such as variance, capture the fact that investors are usually not averse to return deviations from the expected target, if these deviations actually exceed the target.
On noticing (and) the theory-practice nexus in mathematics teacher education: Conceptualizing new Bourdieuian fields of social practice in field experience

Through a teacher educator’s study of her own practice as a faculty advisor (university supervisor), this paper focuses on studying theory-practice transitions with respect to mathematics pre-service teacher field experience. The purpose of the research study was to disrupt traditional discourses on these theory-practice transitions by reconceptualising the role of the faculty advisor through the development of a Teacher-Intern-Faculty Advisor (TIFA) Learning Community. Drawing on Bourdieu’s social field theory, this paper establishes the TIFA community as a productive space of collaboration and dialogue on the process of becoming a mathematics teacher. The paper proposes that this productive space functions as a new Bourdieuian field which rests in the theory-practice nexus and holds promise for deconstructing the scripts of fields in pre-service teacher education.
A predator-prey foraging game: How does prey density influence tactics?

Background: Classical foraging theory studies the adaptation of a forager to a passive resource. But some resources are prey – sentient animals likely capable of responding to the predation challenge posed by their predator/forager. Such a combination of species constitutes an adaptive foraging game. We have been studying one between goldfish (the prey) and little egrets (the forager) in an experimental theatre that allows us to control and alter the environmental variables that should matter to both species. Species: Common goldfish (Carassius auratus), a carp, and the little egret (Egretta garzetta), a heron. Question: In what ways do egrets and goldfish adjust to a difference in goldfish abundance? Do such adjustments conform to foraging theory? Experimental theatres: Two aviaries, each containing three pools for fish. Each pool had two habitats, one in which fish were safe from the egret but had no food, the other risky but with food. Methods: There were two treatments: 15 fish per pool and 25 fish per pool, each with one egret allowed to forage freely among the pools. Control treatments had no egret. Digital cameras recorded fish and egret behaviour continuously during 6-hour experimental days. Each 6-hour period began with either 45 or 75 fish (i.e. 15 or 25 fish in each pool). During each experimental minute we recorded the egret’s location, the number of fish alive in each pool, how many fish in each pool were outside the safer habitat, and all fish captures. We also measured the mean foraging time of an egret in a pool throughout an experimental day and how long it took an egret to return to a specific pool after leaving it (return time). Finally, we determined the amount of leftover fish food after each day. Results: Fish and egrets adjusted their behaviours to variation in fish density. And the adjustments make sense as anti-predatory or as foraging improvement tactics. Fish faced with high risk of predation greatly reduced their exposure to the riskier habitat, and did so even more in the extremely risky 15-fish pools compared with the 25-fish pools. They did so although they suffered lower per-capita food consumption in proportion to their avoidance of the riskier habitat. The egrets responded to the greater fish density by foraging longer in a pool: 35% Correspondence: Z. Abramsky, Department of Life Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel. e-mail: zvika@bgu.ac. il Consult the copyright statement on the inside front cover for non-commercial copying policies. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 2014, 16: 323–335 © 2014 Zvika Abramsky longer in the 25-fish pools than in the 15-fish pools. Thus the egrets behaved opposite to the prediction of the marginal value theorem. However, in so doing, egrets did optimize the rate at which they captured fish.
Feature evaluation for discriminating handwriting fragments

The large majority of methods proposed in literature for handwriting recognition assume that words are produced drawing large parts of the ink without lifting the pen, other than horizontal bars and dots. This fundamental assumption, however, does not always hold: while some educational systems provide explicit training for producing continuous handwriting, minimizing the number of pen-up during the production of a word, others do not. As a consequence, whenever the handwriting presents pen-up within a word, the recognition performance can drop significantly. In a preliminary study, we presented an algorithm for discriminating among different types of ink appearing in handwriting, namely isolated characters, cursive, dots, horizontal and vertical bars, based on the use of a suitable set of features. In this paper, we have characterized the discriminative power of each considered feature according to different measures and we have proposed a method for combining the different feature rankings. We have also used the Fischer's Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) for exhaustively selecting the best feature subsets with increasing number of features. Finally, we have compared the results obtained by using the feature subsets provided by LDA with those obtained with the feature subsets selected according to our feature ranking. The experimental results, on different datasets of handwritten words, showed that our approach successfully achieves its aim allowing to reduce the computational cost without affecting the overall performance of the recognition process.
Tswana speaking South Africans’ understanding of pain scales

Aim: The aim of this study was to establish the validity and reliability of the Tswanatranslations of three pain scales. Design: This was a cross–sectional study to validate and test the reliability of threepain scales.Participants: One hundred subjects participated in the study. They were selectedfrom the back schools of five hospitals in the North -West Province of South A frica andfrom workers in these hospitals who were employed as kitchen workers, laundryworkers and cleaners. Method: Translation of the pain scales and the stages of cross-cultural adaptation were followed as recommended byBeaton et al (2000). Pain tolerance of the subjects was measured using a P.T. M. (pressure threshold meter). The painscales used were the V.A . S. (visual analogue scale) one (nought and ten only), the V.A . S. (visual analogue scale) two(nought through to ten), the W.B. F. (Wong-Baker Faces pain measure) and the V.R. S. (verbal rating scale). The V.R. S.used came in two forms. The first form was written on cue cards which the subjects arranged in order and the second form was the questionnaire version of the V.R. S.The subjects were interviewed and asked five questions relating to their back pain. Upon completion of the interviewthe pressure threshold of the painful area (back) was tested. Subjects then filled in the three pain scales, namely the (V.A .S. one, V.A .S. two, the V.R.S. and lastly the W.B.F. pain scale). Approximately a third of the sample (37) was retested the following day following the same procedure asdescribed above. Results: There was no correlation between the pressure threshold meter readings and the pain scale measurements. Conclusion: From the statistical analysis of the results, it became apparent that the subjects tested did not have anunderstanding of any of the three pain scales. Future research needs to be done in developing entirely different scales for peoples of low literacy and differentlanguage and cultural groups in South Africa.
InVitro Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Five Drugs of Trinpanchmool

Summary In Ayurveda, group of drugs known as “Trinpanchmool” includes Kush ( Desmostachya bipinnata) , Kas ( Saccharum spontaneum) , Darbh ( Imperata cylindrica) , Sar ( Saccharum munja) and Ikshu ( Saccharum officinarum) of Poaceae family. In Ayurveda, Trinpanchmool drugs are prescribed for the treatment of various ailments like asthma, jaundice, galactogogue, diuretic, gout, leprosy, anemia, eye disease and also used as aphrodisiac. Since present, there is no research reporting antioxidant claim of Trinpanchmool. The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant activity of 5 different drugs of Trinpanchmool in separate and in combination form. For this purpose, root of Kush, Kas, Darbh, Sar and Ikshu were procured and identified. Individually all these drugs and in combination form were subjected for hydroalcoholic extraction. The antioxidant activity of individual as well as the combination of all five was tested by adopting DPPH method and Ferric reducing antioxidant power assay method. In these tests, the combinations of all five drugs shown better antioxidant activity in terms of % inhibition and IC 50 in comparison to individual drugs.
Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B: Fundamentals: An International Journal of Computation and Methodology

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ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY AND PLASMID PATTERN ANALYSIS OF COAGULASE NEGATIVE STAPHYLOCOCCI ISOLATED FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES

Coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) from different sources i.e. human healthy skin, clinical samples and domestic animals were identified and the antimicrobial susceptibility and plasmid pattern were analysed. Incidence of antibiotic resistance was highest in the isolates of S. epidermidis compared to other species. Antibiotic susceptibility test showed that CNS isolated from human healthy skin was completely susceptible to vancomycin (100%). Multiple antibiotic resistance was frequent among the isolates from all the three sources. Majority of CNS species in clinical samples were resistant to most of the antibiotics except vancomycin and rifampicin. 10% clinical isolates of S. epidermidis, S. saprophyticus and S. haemolyticus were resistant to vancomycin. 7% S. epidermidis, 6% S. hyicus and 5% S. chromogenes from domestic animal samples showed resistance to vancomycin. 84% of the penicillin resistant CNS strains were positive for β-lactamase test. In plasmid pattern analysis 8 out of 20 strains of CNS showed plasmids by agarose gel electrophoresis. Phenotypically similar plasmids were found in two strains of S. epidermidis. Chromosomal encoded resistance towards penicillin, methicillin, rifampicin and ciprofloxacin was also observed. Comparison of results of the present study with the earlier reports shows an increase in multiresistance among the CNS isolates.
Pullback attractor of 2 D non-autonomous g-Navier-Stokes equations on some bounded domain

The existence of pullback attractors for the 2D non-autonomous g-NavierStokes equations on some bounded domains is investigated under the general assumptions of pullback asymptotic compactness. A new method to prove the existence of pullback attractors for the 2D g-Navier-Stokes equations is given.