Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Segmentation of Portrait Images Using A Deep Residual Network Architecture

Portre goruntulerini anlamsal alanlara bolutlemek, sahne anlama ve goruntu analizinde onemli bir adimdir. Bolutleme cok aktif bir calisma alani olmakla birlikte, portre bolumlendirme alaninda az sayida calisma bulunmaktadir. Portre bolutlemesindeki en onemli adimlardan biri, sac, yuz, govde ve arka plan gibi anlamsal olarak iliskili piksellerin birlikte gruplandigi, detayli bolutleme islemidir. Ancak, sac sekli, rengi ve arka planindaki asiri farkliliklar nedeniyle bu zor bir problemdir. Calismamizda, bu cesitliliklerin ustesinden gelmek icin ERFNet mimarisine dayanan derin bir kalinti agi onerdik. Geometrik olarak normallestirilmis yuzleri ag icin bir girdi olarak kullandik. Iki sinifli EG1800 veri kumesi ve uc sinifli LFW Parts Labels Veri Seti uzerinde yapilan deneysel calismalar, onerilen yontemin yuksek dogrulukta ortalama kesisim degeri (mIoU) verdigini ve piksel tabanli dogrulugu sagladigini gostermistir. EG1800 veri kumesi icin %96,37 mIoU ve % 98,17 piksel tabanli dogruluk ve LFW veri kumesi icin %90,1 mIoU ve %97,14 dogruluk elde ettik.
Alfalfa germplasm from a Sahara oasis: characterization by means of bio-agronomic traits and SSR markers

In North African oases Medicago sativa ssp. sativa is likely to have been cultivated for long time without contacts with ssp. falcata. In order (i) to verify the genetic distinctiveness of the alfalfa germplasm of the oasis and (ii) to examine their internal variation, 17 farm landraces were collected in Siwa oasis (Egypt) and studied with four Egyptian and three Italian cultivars (120 plants/population) by means of bio-agronomic characters in 2 years cultivation and SSR markers in 'bulk' samples. Siwa germplasm was similar to the cultivars for dry matter yield but differed for plant form, earliness and reaction to fall conditions; SSR analysis based on 31 polymorphic DNA fragments distinguished Siwa landraces from the two groups of varieties. The variation within Siwa group was of continuous type based on bio-agronomic traits; average genetic similarity was high (0.8959) and UPGMA dendrogram suggests poor isolation among the landraces, although all, except two, were uniquely fingerprinted. The use of putative 'pure' subspecies of high agronomic value in the alfalfa variety construction process is discussed.
Reactive planar non-prehensile manipulation with hybrid model predictive control

This article presents an offline solution and online approximation to the hybrid control problem of planar non-prehensile manipulation. Hybrid dynamics and underactuation are key characteristics of this task that complicate the design of feedback controllers. We show that a model predictive control approach used in tandem with integer programming offers a powerful solution to capture the dynamic constraints associated with the friction cone as well as the hybrid nature of contact. We introduce the Model Predictive Controller with Learned Mode Scheduling (MPC-LMS), which leverages integer programming and machine learning techniques to effectively deal with the combinatorial complexity associated with determining sequences of contact modes. We validate the controller design through a numerical simulation study and with experiments on a planar manipulation setup using an industrial ABB IRB 120 robotic arm. Results show that the proposed algorithm achieves closed-loop tracking of a nominal trajectory by reasoning in real-time across multiple contact modalities.
Tail-in-mouth Behaviour Among Weaner Pigs in Relation to Age, Gender and Group Composition Regarding Gender

Male pigs are significantly more often found to be tail-bitten at slaughter than are females. Age is also thought to be a crucial factor in relation to the ontogeny of tail-biting among slaughter pigs. Tail-in-mouth behaviour (TIM) among young pigs is probably the precursor of the damaging tail-biting in older pigs. Hence, this experiment aimed to elucidate the frequency of TIM in relation to gender, age and group composition regarding gender in weaner pigs. Pigs were reared in groups of 24 until 5 weeks of age and then divided into three groups: (A) eight female pigs, (B) eight castrated male pigs and (C) four female and four castrated male pigs (mixed pen). Observations was performed through video-recording 12 h per day, 1 day per week, for 4 consecutive weeks. The number of TIM events (counts) as well as the identity of the performer and the receiver of TIM were recorded. The results showed that the level of TIM activity in the single-gender pens was significantly lower than in the mixed pen (P<0.05). In the mixed pen, TIM tended to be more directed towards the opposite gender and female pigs tended to perform more TIM than the males. Finally, the frequency of TIM increased significantly with age in all three pens (P<0.01).
Patterns of sediment deposition in subsiding coastal salt marshes, Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana: The role of winter storms

High rates of wetland loss in the Mississippi deltaic plain have been attributed to a combination of insufficient marsh sedimentation and relative sea-level rise rates of over 1.2 cm yr−1. This study examines contemporary patterns of sediment delivery to the marsh surface by evaluating the contribution of individual marsh flooding events. Strong meteorological effects on water level in Terrebonne Bay often mask the usual microtidal fluctuations in water level and cause flood events to be of unpredictable frequency and duration. Sediment deposited on the marsh surface was collected weekly at two sites. Preliminary results allow the relative contributions of tidal and storm inundations to be calculated. Maximum sedimentation is associated with strong southerly winds both causing increased flooding and mobilizing sediment from open bay areas. Sediment deposition is limited by the availability of suspended sediment and the opportunity for its transport onto the marsh surface.
Modeling climate change impacts on tidal marsh birds: Restoration and conservation planning in the face of uncertainty

The large uncertainty surrounding the future effects of sea-level rise and other aspects of climate change on tidal marsh ecosystems exacerbates the difficulty in planning effective conservation and restoration actions. We addressed these difficulties in the context of large-scale wetland restoration activities underway in the San Francisco Estuary (Suisun, San Pablo and San Francisco Bays). We used a boosted regression tree approach to project the future distribution and abundance of five marsh bird species (through 2110) in response to changes in habitat availability and suitability as a result of projected sea-level rise, salinity, and sediment availability in the Estuary. To bracket the uncertainty, we considered four future scenarios based on two sediment availability scenarios (high or low), which varied regionally, and two rates of sea-level rise (0.52 or 1.65 m/100 yr). We evaluated three approaches for using model results to inform the selection of potential restoration projects: (1) Use current conditions only to prioritize restoration. (2) Use a single future scenario (among the four referred to above) in combination with current conditions to select priority restoration projects. (3) Combine current conditions with all four future scenarios, while incorporating uncertainty among future scenarios into the selection of restoration projects. We found that simply using current conditions resulted in the poorest performing restoration projects selected in terms of providing habitat for tidal marsh birds in light of possible future scenarios. The most robust method for selecting restoration projects, the “combined” strategy, used projections from all future scenarios with a discounting of areas with high levels of variability among future scenarios. We show that uncertainty about future conditions can be incorporated in site prioritization algorithms and should motivate the selection of adaptation measures that are robust to uncertain future conditions. These results and data have been made available via an interactive decision support tool at www.prbo. org/sfbayslr.
The development of an implementation framework to support knowledge construction in online networked learning

ABSTRACT A networked learning community (NLC) comprises teachers from different schools engaging collaboratively in purposeful and sustained professional learning. Networked learning entails the construction of knowledge that is new to the members of the group by tapping their collective practitioner knowledge and the public knowledge base. Members can use technology to engage in knowledge construction in a sustained NLC environment even though they may not be able to meet face to face regularly. This paper outlines the development, aided by the design-based research methodology, of an implementation framework to support knowledge construction in online collaboration groups by NLCs in Singapore. Findings from an empirical research on interactions within NLCs’ online collaboration groups and members’ perceptions of online knowledge construction informed the development of the implementation framework. Feedback obtained from a field test of the framework revealed the importance of ensuring members recognise the importance of co-owning and co-leading the knowledge construction in online collaborative environments. The framework can inform the work of NLCs, particularly in the challenging aspect of sustaining technology-supported knowledge construction that is co-led and co-facilitated by teachers.
Minimizing Adverse Effects of Pb on Maize Plants by Combined Treatment with Jasmonic, Salicylic Acids and Proline

Lead (Pb) is a toxic heavy metal (HM) that harms plant growth and productivity. Phytohormones, such as jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA), and osmoprotectants, such as proline (Pro), play an important role in the physiological and biochemical processes of plants. We investigated the effect of exogenous applications of JA, SA, Pro, and their combination on Pb-stress tolerance in maize as well as their effect on physiological, biochemical, and yield traits. Pb exposure severely affected maize plants, reducing growth, yield, photosynthetic pigments, and mineral (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) nutrients, as well as enhancing electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation, osmolytes, and non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants. The application of JA, SA, Pro, and their combination enhanced plant growth and induced pigment biosynthesis, and decreased EL, MDA accumulation, and Pb concentration. All treatments enhanced Pro and total soluble sugar production, glutathione activity, ascorbic acid, phenol, superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, and mineral nutrients. JA, SA, and Pro application improved physiological processes directly or indirectly, thereby enhancing the ability of maize plants to overcome oxidative damage caused by Pb toxicity. The combination of JA, SA, and Pro was the most efficient treatment for maize plant growth and development, eliminating the negative consequences of Pb stress.
Recruitment variability in exploited aquatic populations

While lognormal distributions have been proposed as useful descriptors of recruitment variability, the very nature of the recruitment distributions is still debated. To account quantitatively for recruitment distributions, I here propose a Weibull exponential model; it derives from a simple and natural hypothesis for uncorrelated recruitment processes of spawning, hatching, growth and survival through the early life stages to the point of vulnerability to the fishery. The quantification of Weibull exponentials is particularly important with regards to extrapolations to low recruits that have not yet been observed. To test the Weibull exponential null-hypothesis, I examine annual time-series of recruitment in major aquatic stocks. The Weibull exponential quite describes the bulk (95%) of the recruitment distributions of widely differing stocks, while the remaining 5% of the largest recruits are occurring with a much larger rate than predicted by the Weibull exponential. Further, I study the inter-event times between unusually high numbers in recruitment time-series data and find that intermittent pulses of strong recruitment follow non-Poisson statistics, which arises from year-to-year persistence of the magnitude of recruitment: large (or small) recruits are more likely to be followed by large (or small) recruits. This recruitment clustering effect is confirmed by the rescaled range analysis method. The empirical results imply that individual survivals on recruitment levels are independent of initial cohort sizes but year-to-year recruiting events exhibit long-term correlations.
Letrozole Rat Model Mimics Human Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and Changes in Insulin Signal Pathways

Background The aim of this study was to explore whether letrozole and high-fat diets (HFD) can induce obese insulin-resistant polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with all reproductive and metabolic phenotypes in a rat model. Material/Methods Twenty-four 3-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into 4 groups: control, Letrozole, HFD, and Letrozol+HFD. The PCOS model was induced by 12 weeks of Letrozole treatment (1 mg/kg p.o. dissolved in 0.5% CMC solutions once daily) and HFD. Ovarian morphology, estrous cyclicity, hormonal status, body weight, glucose and insulin tolerance, lipid profile, and insulin signaling pathway were investigated. Results The rat model manifests anovulatory cycles and PCO morphology, increased body weight, elevated testosterone levels, abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism, and insulin resistance. The rat model also expresses significantly decreased phosphorylation of 6 essential signaling proteins – INSR, IRS, PI3K, AKT, ERK1, ERK2 – in the PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK pathways in the classic insulin-sensitive tissues (e.g., quadriceps femoris muscle, omentum majus, and liver), as well as non-classic target ovary tissues. Disrupted insulin signaling contributes to the decrease in insulin sensitivity and compensatory hyperinsulinemia in PCOS rats. Conclusions Continuous administration of letrozole and high-fat diets can induce PCOS, metabolic phenotypes, and disrupted activation of the insulin signaling pathway.
International students’ service quality evaluations towards Turkish universities

This paper aims to investigate international students’ perception and satisfaction towards Turkish universities’ service quality. ,This paper used modified version of SERVQUAL questionnaire for education purpose to collect data. Data were collected from 168 international students studying in public and private universities in Turkey. ,Based on findings of this study, there is negative gap between perception and expectation for all 35 items in questionnaire among international students. ,This study adds on educational service quality literature in developing country, specifically in Turkey. Additionally, decision-makers, institutions, etc. can use findings of this study to overcome the dissatisfactions and difficulties faced by international students in Turkey. ,This study fulfills identified need to study international students’ perception and satisfaction towards Turkish universities.
Undesired Radiation Suppression Technique with Adaptive Control for Distributed Array Antenna Systems in Mobile Environment

We have proposed a distributed array antenna (DAA) system for high-speed satellite communications. The DAA system uses multiple small tracking antennas and combines the transmission signals in-phase to increase the antenna gain. DAA system has a problem that the undesired radiation at the sidelobe direction increases as the antenna gain at the main lobe direction increases. In the mobile environment, the conventional technique can suppress the undesired radiation in the limited condition because of changing the direction of the undesired radiation according to the movement of the mobile station. This paper proposes a DAA technique that suppresses the undesired radiation by setting a transmission plate at each antenna aperture and moving them via adaptive control. The transmission plate consisting of a metal patch or slot retransmits electromagnetic waves and changes the amplitude and phase of the waves. To change the radiation patters of each antenna, the transmission plate rotates according to movement of the mobile station. After combining these changed signals, the adaptive control selects the rotate angle of the transmission plate to decrease the undesired radiation at the sidelobe direction. The antenna gain on the main lobe direction after combining is achieved with lower loss because the insertion loss through the transmission plate is smaller. The proposed technique offers more than $2.4$ dB improvement with three antennas and more than $3.5$ dB improvement with four antennas assuming each consists of $8 ¥times 8$ patches.
An Efficient Processing Approach for Colored Point Cloud-Based High-Throughput Seedling Phenotyping

Plant height and leaf area are important morphological properties of leafy vegetable seedlings, and they can be particularly useful for plant growth and health research. The traditional measurement scheme is time-consuming and not suitable for continuously monitoring plant growth and health. Individual vegetable seedling quick segmentation is the prerequisite for high-throughput seedling phenotype data extraction at individual seedling level. This paper proposes an efficient learning- and model-free 3D point cloud data processing pipeline to measure the plant height and leaf area of every single seedling in a plug tray. The 3D point clouds are obtained by a low-cost red–green–blue (RGB)-Depth (RGB-D) camera. Firstly, noise reduction is performed on the original point clouds through the processing of useable-area filter, depth cut-off filter, and neighbor count filter. Secondly, the surface feature histograms-based approach is used to automatically remove the complicated natural background. Then, the Voxel Cloud Connectivity Segmentation (VCCS) and Locally Convex Connected Patches (LCCP) algorithms are employed for individual vegetable seedling partition. Finally, the height and projected leaf area of respective seedlings are calculated based on segmented point clouds and validation is carried out. Critically, we also demonstrate the robustness of our method for different growth conditions and species. The experimental results show that the proposed method could be used to quickly calculate the morphological parameters of each seedling and it is practical to use this approach for high-throughput seedling phenotyping.
Customary and recreational fishing pressure: large-bodied fish assemblages in a tropical, intermittent Australian river

Permanent waterholes in intermittent rivers of northern Australia support a diverse piscifauna and are popular areas for customary and recreational fishing. The present preliminary study explored the perception that fishing reduces the abundance of targeted, large-bodied species that become restricted to disconnected waterholes during the distinct dry season. River sites in the Fitzroy River catchment, Western Australia, could be clearly classified as experiencing either high or low fishing pressure by using metrics of human ‘accessibility’. The abundance of Hephaestus jenkinsi and Lates calcarifer, targeted by both recreational and customary fishers was highly correlated with accessibility and showed a negative relationship with fishing pressure. Non-target species showed no discernible trend. We estimated that 38% of river length remains subject to relatively low fishing pressure. These preliminary relationships suggest that fish harvest can potentially alter the structure of fish assemblages in disconnected habitats. The potential impact of fishing on the sustainability of fish populations is, most likely, greatest for non-diadromous species and will become more apparent with increasing distance from recolonisation sources. Combining management techniques that maintain recolonisation and recruitment potential with traditional fisheries management strategies (e.g. bag and size limits) presents a suitable approach to mitigate the effects of fish harvesting from tropical intermittent rivers.
Sexual compatibility of the olive cultivar "Kalamata" assessed by paternity analysis

Paternity analysis was used to assess the self-incompatibility of the olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivar ‘Kalamata’ and to identify some compatible pollenisers under a Mediterranean-type climate. Eight microsatellite markers were used for genotyping three ‘Kalamata’ mother trees, 120 embryos, and all potential pollen donors. The identified alleles were analysed using FaMoz software and showed that ‘Kalamata’ was highly self-incompatible. Only three ‘Kalamata’ embryos were assigned to ‘Kalamata’ self-fertilisation, even though it was the most available pollen donor. The alleles were also analysed using NTSYS-pc (version 2.02 k) software and identified 54 potential pollen donors in the study site; however, not all of them were located within the effective pollination distance of the mother trees (30 m in olive). According to the results of this study, ‘Kalamata’ (as a host) was compatible with ‘Barnea’, ‘Benito’, and ‘Katsourela’ (six ‘Kalamata’ embryos assigned in each) but incompatible with ‘Arbequina’, ‘Azapa’, and ‘Picual’ (zero ‘Kalamata’ embryos assigned in each). The olive growers could use some of these compatible pollenisers with ‘Kalamata’ to guarantee good fruit set.