Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aroclor 1254 induced oxidative stress and histopathological changes in mice liver

The toxicity of polychlorinated biphenyls in the living systems is associated with oxidative effects among others. In view of the involvement of antioxidant defense mechanisms in the detoxification of persistent organic pollutants, the present study was undertaken to assess the toxic effects of low dose (0.1 and 1 mg/kg/days) and long exposure (7, 14, 21, and 28 days) of Aroclor 1254 on glutathione content, specific activities of few antioxidant-related enzymes, and histopathological changes in the liver tissue of male mice. The obtained results indicated alterations in the enzyme activities of antioxidant-related defense mechanisms. The superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase showed a significant increase in the specific activity, while, glutathione-S-transferase and reduced glutathione showed a significant duration dependent decreasing trend. Further, Aroclor 1254 induced oxidative stress might have caused the observed histopathological alterations, such as intravascular blood corpuscles accumulation, lipid granulomas, lipid deposition, cellular fibrosis, sinusoidal degeneration, and cellular aggregation in the liver tissue of mice. These pathophysiological changes in the liver tissue could be due to the generation of free radicals.
Refresher Course THE MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH COPD REQUIRING MECHANICAL VENTILATION 12 RC 12

Mechanical ventilation will also allow time for other therapeutic interventions (bronchodilators, corticosteroids, antibiotics) to treat the cause of the exacerbation and to improve the functional status of the patient. During the period of mechanical ventilatory support the physician should try to avoid complications related to artificial ventilation and initiate weaning and discontinuation of mechanical ventilation as soon as possible.
Verification of Precision-limit Positioning of a Direct Drive System with the Existence of Friction

In this research, the verification of precision-limit positioning (PLP) of a direct drive system with the existence of friction is conducted experimentally. With regard to PLP, it means that the achieved positioning precision equals to the limit that the particular system hardware can offer. More specifically, in this research, the precision limit is defined to be the resolution of the sensor adopted for position feedback under the proved condition that all other parts of the system are capable of accomplishing this goal. PLP also enforces 100% repeatability when precision is of interest. Certainly, this is the limit of the precision that can be offered by a real positioning control system. But because of lacking of accurate knowledge about friction, especially the pre-sliding friction, PLP was not considered possible in the past. However, it has been shown in an earlier study that, with the help of newly revealed knowledge about pre-sliding friction, achieving PLP is possible. A simple and explicit criterion for the PID control desig n was also derived. In this research, such control design is applied to a direct drive DC torque motor system. Extensive experiments are arranged to observe the system performance. It has been shown that the repeatability of zero-count precision error is above 99.9996% according to more than 240,000 tests during a period of six months . Furthermore, all phenomena observed in these tests do coincide with what are expected by the friction model on which the PLP theory was based.
The semantics of comparisons in Mandarin Chinese

This paper addresses the three fundamental uses of gradable adjectives in Mandarin Chinese. It aims to answer, without a morphological distinction between the so-called positive and comparative forms (e.g., tall vs. taller), how comparisons are encoded in Mandarin Chinese, and how distinctive interpretations are derived and understood by the users of the language. As illustrated in (1), the three fundamental uses of gradable adjectives are the positive use (see (1a)), the comparative use (see (1b)), and the use in measurement constructions (see (1c)). In these English examples, evidently, the comparative form of gradable adjectives (e.g., longer) is morphologically more complex than the form used in the positive use and measurement constructions (e.g., long).
AAL 2 Tunneling over IP in the UTRAN

A low bandwidth link in the Iub interface has motivated researchers to develop schemes to achieve high utilisation of this low bandwidth. Currently in the UTRAN, ATM is used as the main transport layer in the Iub interface. Recently, 3GPP has standardised IP as an alternative transport layer in the UTRAN. In this paper we show that laying AAL2/IP has higher efficiency when compared to regular AAL2/ATM and RTP/IP as the users increase in the network. The packetisation delay of AAL2 packets into an IP packet at the Node B and the IP packet transport delay in the Iub interface affect the QoS of voice. Our ultimate goal is to achieve more efficient bandwidth utilisation while meeting QoS.
A streaming graph library for Apache Flink Master Thesis

As the study on streaming graph is still in its infancy and most existing tools or libraries are designed and optimized for specific graphs and algorithms, we develop a generic streaming graph library on top of Apache Flink. The goal of this library is to process massive streaming graph events with a high throughput and execute user-defined queries with a low latency. To efficiently store a streaming graph and get a distribution that is conducive to subsequent queries, our library supports three typical graph partition strategies and one redundancy mechanism. A graph partition strategy is to help determine the partitioning of each streaming graph events, and we implement three strategies including Simple Hash, Incremental Hash and Repartition Hash. Because there is always a trade-off between load balancing and minimum communication cost for a graph partition strategy. Users of the library can choose their preferred strategy to increase the speed of their customized queries. And the redundancy mechanism is to replicate part of the graph events and thus accelerate the corresponding queries. These multiple options make the library more generalized to support different kinds of graph related queries. In order to facilitate users to implement their own queries, our work introduces an abstract computation model called iterative scatter-gather model. The model includes three phases: Scatter phase can scatter a query into several sub-queries and send them to corresponding graph partitions; Iterate phase executes these sub-queries on each graph partition in parallel; Gather phase aggregates the results from each scattered sub-query. The query will go to the next iteration if it is not complete yet. This computation model is abstracted as two layers: The first layer gives more flexibility where users can implement the three phases by themselves and the second layer further encapsulates the first layer and provides an experimental Cypher-like API. Cypher is a declarative, SQL-inspired language for describing patterns in graphs. In this way, users can easily formulate a graph query even without a specialized background in programming. Finally, we evaluate the performance of this library. We first test the general performance without targeting any specific query. Furthermore, we execute different graph-related queries against a large-scale graph. By setting different configurations, the library can load graph events with a maximum throughput of 200, 000 events per second and execute queries within seconds. The performance is in line with our expectations. At the end, We discuss the pros and cons of our library and give further advice to users of our library. A streaming graph library for Apache Flink iii
An Efficient Modeling System for 3 D Scenes from a Single Image

This paper presents a system for assisting the user to create a 3D model easily and quickly from a single image. Our scene model is composed of a background and foreground objects whose coordinates are calculated based on a “boundary” between “ground” and “wall”. Moreover, we introduce a fast method for extracting a foreground object by combining image segmentation and graph cut-based optimization. We show that the proposed system enables efficient modeling of foreground objects, easy creation of their textures, and rapid construction of a 3D scene model that is simple but produces sufficient 3D effects.
Quantitative Comparison of Feature Matchers Implemented in OpenCV 3 Zoltan Pusztai

The latest V3.0 version of the popular Open Computer Vision (OpenCV) framework has just been released in the middle of 2015. The aim of this paper is to compare the feature trackers implemented in the framework. OpenCV contains both feature detector, descriptor and matcher algorithms, all possible combinations of those are tried. For the comparison, a structured-light scanner with a turntable was used in order to generate very accurate ground truth (GT) tracking data. The tested algorithm on tracking data of four rotating objects are compared. The results is quantitatively evaluated as the matched coordinates can be compared to the GT values.
athways to adolescent sexual risk behaviors : Effects of prenatal ocaine exposure

Background: To assess the impact of prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) on adolescent sexual risk behaviors. Externalizing behavior, teen substance use, and early sexual intercourse were examined as pathways mediating the effects of PCE on sexual risk behaviors. Methods: Adolescents (N = 364; 185 PCE, 179 non-cocaine exposure (NCE); 205 girls, 159 boys), primarily African–American and of low socioeconomic status, were prospectively enrolled in a longitudinal study at birth. Risky sexual behaviors were assessed at ages 15 and 17. Externalizing behavior at 12 years was assessed with the Youth Self-Report. Substance use, via self-report and biologic assays, and early (before age 15) sexual intercourse were assessed at age 15. Path analyses with the weighted least squares estimator with mean and variance adjustments were performed. Results: The final structural equation model-based path model, 2 = 31.97 (df = 27), p = . 23, CFI = . 99, TLI = . 99, RMSEA = . 021, WRMR = . 695, indicated a direct effect of PCE on sexual risk behavior ( ̌ = .16, p = .02). Although PCE was related to greater externalizing behavior ( ̌ = .14, p = .009), which in turn, predicted early sexual intercourse (ˇ = .16, p = .03), leading to sexual risk behavior ( ̌ = .44, p < .001), bootstrapping indicated a non-significant indirect effect (ˇ = .01, p > .10). Substance use was correlated with early sexual intercourse (r = .60, p < .001) and predicted sexual risk behavior by age 17 (ˇ = .31, p = .01). Conclusions: Prenatal cocaine exposure was related to more engagement in sexual risk behaviors, suggesting the importance of reducing substance use among pregnant women as a means of prevention of offspring substance use and sexual risk behavior. © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
The Wage Penalty of Regional Accents

Previous work has documented that speaking one’s native language with an accent distinct from the mainstream is associated with lower wages. In this study, we seek to estimate the causal effect of speaking with a distinctive regional accent, disentangling the effect of the accent from that of omitted variables. We collected data on workers’ speech in Germany, a country with wide variation in regional dialects. We use a variety of strategies in estimation, including an instrumental variables strategy in which the instruments are based on research findings from the linguistics of accent acquisition. All of our estimators show that speaking with a distinctive regional accent reduces wages by an amount that is comparable to the gender wage gap. We also find that workers with distinctive regional accents tend to sort away from occupations that demand high levels of face-to-face contact, consistent with various occupational sorting models.
- s 7-Thermo-Fluid Phenomena of Torrefied Woody Biomass and Optimum Molding Condition of Torrefied Wood

In the present study, a new upgrading solid biofuel, “torrefied wood briquette” that is utilized as co-firing fuels in coal-fueled power plants is proposed. The “torrefied wood briquette” is produced by the torrefaction and compression molding processes to enhance the apparent density and heating value of solid biofuel. To clarify the optimum molding conditions for torrefied woody biomass to mold high density briquettes, experimental studies are conducted on thermo-fluid phenomena and compression molding of torrefied woody biomass. The following results are obtained. (1) The softening temperature increases with decreasing mass yield, water content and pressure. Comparing the two biomass species, the softening temperatures for Japanese cedar are higher than those for pruned sprig of persimmon. (2) The apparent density of briquette has a maximum when the compression molding is conducted at the softening temperature for given mass yield and water content. The torrefaction process gives the tradeoff relationship between the heating value and apparent density of torrefied wood briquette.
Screening Sweetpotato Germplasm for Starch , Flour and Feed Quality Characteristics

Studies were conducted to screen newly collected sweetpotato germplasm for starch, flour, and feed quality traits. Fresh tuber and forage yields were evaluated in the first study using 13 genotypes while in the second study tuber dry matter (DM) and starch contents were investigated using 17 genotypes both in augmented incomplete block designs. In the third study, voluntary dry matter intake (VDMI) was determined in White Fulani cows fed with sole fresh sweetpotato forage in early lactation, and potential degradation trial in three rumenfistulated N’Dama steers using the in-sacco technique in a completely randomized design. Mean (±SE) fresh tuber yield (13.00 ± 0.471 t/ha) was higher (P < 0.01) in control than test genotypes (13.20 versus 12.94 t/ha) while, flour yield (35.71 ± 1.351) was lower in control than test genotypes (34.80 versus 38.74 g/100 g). Tuber DM ranged (P < 0.01) from 44.27 to 67.11 g/100 g, and starch content from 19.80 to 30.60 g/100 g, with a negative correlation (r = -0.65; P = 0.05) observed between both parameters. The orangeand white-fleshed genotypes were similar (P > 0.05) in the agronomic parameters determined. Forage crude protein (CP) ranged (P < 0.05) from 116.1 to 221.0 g/kg DM, neutral detergent fibre (NDF) from 376.4 to 482.0 g/kg DM, and -carotene from 320 to 460 μg/100 g. Voluntary DMI, percent of liveweight, and potential degradability of DM varied (P < 0.05) from 7.4 to 9.0 kg/d, 2.9 to 3.7%, and 837 to 885 g/kg DM, respectively. The positive correlation (r = 0.92; P = 0.05) between flour yield and forage NDF suggests the possibility of developing models for predicting forage quality based on both agronomic and nutritional data. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Learning Probabilistic Relational Models : A Simplified Framework , a Case Study , and a Package

While most statistical learning methods are designed to work with data stored in a single table, many large datasets are stored in relational database systems. Probabilistic Relational Models (PRM) extend Bayesian networks by introducing relations and individuals, thus making it possible to represent information in a relational database. However, existing methods that learn PRMs from data face some nontrivial challenges in the way relations are extracted. We propose a novel approach to learn the structure of a PRM. We also describe a package in the R language to support our learning framework, and we apply it to a real, large scale scenario combining citizens, companies and location data.
Discretionary Loan Loss Provisions ( DLLP ) – Malaysian and Nigerian Banks Comparative Findings

Malaysia and Nigeria simultaneously adopted IFRS with 1January 2012 as the effective date. Different accounting standards are associated with different magnitude and extensiveness of earnings management. This paper evaluates the extensiveness of Malaysian and Nigerian banks earnings management in relation to different accounting standards. Precisely, this study is set to provide answers to the question “do Malaysian banks engage more in earnings management under both GAAP and IFRS reporting regimes than Nigerian banks? The population of this study consist of listed Malaysian and Nigeria banks. The data period is further divided into pre-adoption period (2008-2010) and post-adoption period (2011-2013). In order to provide answers to the research question, for Malaysian and Nigerian banks respective pre and post adoption periods, this study specifically investigated aggregated discretionary accruals, discretionary loan loss provisions, earnings smoothing, loan loss provisions earnings management pattern, loan quality and earnings management goals as measures of overall earnings management. E-views was used to analyse collected data. Regardless of reporting standards, findings established that Nigerian banks extensiveness in earnings management is far reaching compared to Malaysian banks. By implication, though IFRS reduces earnings management of Malaysian and Nigerian banks, IFRS adoption alone is not adequate in minimizing or eliminating earnings management of corporate firms. Since integrity of financial reporting depends largely on parties in the reporting ecosystem, this study recommends that Nigerian banks borrow a leaf from Malaysian banks by embracing the best corporate governance practices.
Deriving thematic uncertainty measures in remote sensing using classification outputs

The process of estimating thematic errors in the classification of remotely sensed imagery generally involves the use of the confusion matrix. Though measures of overall and per-class accuracy may be derived from the confusion matrix there is no information on where thematic error occurs. However, spatial variation in thematic error can be a key variable in determining errors when overlay operations such as change detection are carried out. One method of indicating thematic error on a per-pixel basis is to use the outputs of a classifier to estimate the uncertainty associated with the allocation of a particular class to the pixel. This probabilistic approach has been used previously, but studies have generally used a single classifier and so comparisons of the relative accuracy of classifiers for deriving thematic uncertainty measures have not been made. Also, the effects of classifier training on estimation of thematic uncertainty have not yet been examined. This paper compared three classification methods for estimating thematic uncertainty for a sand dune test site at Ainsdale, Southport, UK using data acquired by the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager. The classifiers used were the maximum likelihood (ML), the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network and probabilistic neural network (PNN). The paper also examined the effect of varying the training of neural network classifiers on estimating thematic uncertainty by altering the number of iterations and the architecture of the MLP and the smoothing function of the PNN. The MLP and PNN with the largest proportion of correctly allocated cases, Po, had larger overall accuracies than the ML (ML Po = 0.774; MLP Po = 0.827; PNN Po = 0.827). A significant, at 99.999% confidence, one-to-one relationship between predicted and actual thematic uncertainty was found for all classifiers. This indicates that all the classifiers tested were able to estimate thematic uncertainty. The MLP and PNN estimated thematic uncertainty with similar accuracy, but the ML was less accurate than both classifiers. However, the MLP and PNN that had the largest overall accuracy were not the classifiers that estimated thematic uncertainty most accurately. The number of iterations used in training for the MLP was significantly correlated with accuracy of estimation of thematic uncertainty (adjustedr = 0.324, p = 0.046). The smoothing function of the PNN clearly influenced the overall accuracy and the accuracy of thematic uncertainty estimation, though a significant correlation was not found when linear, log-linear and polynomial regressions were applied. The results of the study are discussed in terms of selecting the most suitable classifier for mapping land cover or predicting thematic error, as the most appropriate classifier for each task may be different.
Quantum information processing and communication Strategic report on current status , visions and goals for research in Europe

We present an excerpt of the document “Quantum Information Processing and Communication: Strategic report on current status, visions and goals for research in Europe”, which has been recently published in electronic form at the website of FET (the Future and Emerging Technologies Unit of the Directorate General Information Society of the European Commission, http://www.cordis.lu/ist/fet/qipc-sr.htm). This document has been elaborated, following a former suggestion by FET, by a committee of QIPC scientists to provide input towards the European Commission for the preparation of the Seventh Framework Program. Besides being a document addressed to policy makers and funding agencies (both at the European and national level), the document contains a detailed scientific assessment of the state-of-the-art, main research goals, challenges, strengths, weaknesses, visions and perspectives of all the most relevant QIPC sub-fields, that we report here. Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Th. Beth, one of the pioneers of QIPC, whose contributions have had a significant scientific impact on the development as well as on the visibility of a field that he enthusiastically helped to shape since its early days. PACS. 03.67. -a Quantum information
Machine Vision Solution for a Turnout Tamping Assistance System

In order to guarantee safe and comfortable train travel, the tracks must be in the correct geometric position. For this reason, so-called tamping machines are used worldwide to perform this important task of track maintenance. Turnouttamping is a complex procedure to improve and stabilize the track situation in turnout-areas, which is usually only carried out by experienced operators. This application paper presents the current state of development of a 3D laser line scannerbased sensor system for a new tamping assistance system, which should support and relieve the operator in complex tamping areas. In this context, semantic segmentation is used to fully automatically identify essential and critical areas in the generated 3D depth images and process them for subsequent machine control.
The Cryptographic Schemes for Secret Images

Visual cryptography is one of the techniques used to encrypt the images by dividing the original image into transparencies [1]. The transparencies can be sent to the intended person, and at the other end the transparencies received person can decrypt the transparencies using our tool, thus gets the original image. Our proposed Visual cryptography provides the demonstration to the users to show how encryption and decryption can be done to the images. In this technology, the end user identifies an image, which is not the correct image. That is, while transmitting the image the sender will encrypt the image using our application here sender gets the two or more transparencies of the same image. Our application provides an option to the end user of encryption. The end user can divide the original image into number of different images. Using our application we can send encrypted images that are in the format of GIF and PNG. The encrypted transparencies can be saved in the machine and can be sent to the intended person by other means [source].