Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of measurements of basic parameters of observation thermal cameras

Measurements of performance parameters of observation thermal cameras are usually conducted to check the applied design concept and the operation of implemented image-enhancing algorithms or to verify the manufacturer’s claim regarding the figures of merit. In both cases there are several important conditions to be met in order to obtain reliable measurement results. One must have a measurement stand providing measurement uncertainty figures several times lower than the magnitude of measured parameter. There can be no influence of environmental conditions and the personnel conducting the test must precisely know the applicable procedures and should possess considerable experience in the measurements of thermal imaging devices. The paper presents the measurement equipment used to test the infrared imaging devices as well as measurement data analysis regarding basic camera parameters. Accuracy assessment were conducted on the basis of measurement methods and procedures implemented in Accredited Testing Laboratory of Institute of Optoelectronics, Military University of Technology.
Cultural values of traditionality / modernity: Their differential impacts on marital conflict and marital satisfaction among female and male migrant workers in China

There are 260 million migrant workers in China in 2012, most of whom left their spouses and/or children in the village. Due to long-term separation, there is an obvious concern over the marital relationships among these couples. In this study, the impacts of modernized or traditional attitudes in life among individual spouses and spousal separation on marital conflicts and marital satisfaction were examined. Three hundred and twenty-eight migrant workers were recruited through convenience sampling. SEM was used to investigate the interrelationship among different variables under study. Results indicated that spousal separation induced a higher level of marital conflicts among migrant couples. While the adoption of modernized attitudes protected marital satisfaction by decreasing marital conflicts only among female migrant workers, the adoption of traditional attitudes did not impact on marital conflicts, but surprisingly protected couples’ marital satisfaction. Theoretical implications of the differential roles of adopting modernized or traditional attitudes on life in marital relationship among marital couples were discussed. Moreover, practical recommendations were raised.
Active seismic studies in valley glacier settings: strategies and limitations

ABSTRACT Subglacial tills play an important role in glacier dynamics but are difficult to characterize in situ. Amplitude Variation with Angle (AVA) analysis of seismic reflection data can distinguish between stiff tills and deformable tills. However, AVA analysis in mountain glacier environments can be problematic: reflections can be obscured by Rayleigh wave energy scattered from crevasses, and complex basal topography can impede the location of reflection points in 2-D acquisitions. We use a forward model to produce challenging synthetic seismic records in order to test the efficacy of AVA in crevassed and geometrically complex environments. We find that we can distinguish subglacial till types in moderately crevassed environments, where ‘moderate’ depends on crevasse spacing and orientation. The forward model serves as a planning tool, as it can predict AVA success or failure based on characteristics of the study glacier. Applying lessons from the forward model, we perform AVA on a seismic dataset collected from Taku Glacier in Southeast Alaska in March 2016. Taku Glacier is a valley glacier thought to overlay thick sediment deposits. A near-offset polarity reversal confirms that the tills are deformable.
Sfakiotakis, Michael and Chatzidaki, Avgousta and Evdaimon, Theodoros and Kazakidi, Asimina and Tsakiris, Dimitris P. (2016) Effects of compliance in pedundulatory locomotion over granular substrates. In: 2016 24th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation (MED),

The present paper investigates the effect of compliance on the locomotion of a biologically-inspired soft-body pedundulatory robotic system, employing lateral undulations of its elongated body, which are augmented by the oscillation of sets of lateral appendages (parapodia), to propel itself on unstructured granular substrates. We explore control strategy alternatives for the robot to generate two different locomotor gaits by employing direct or retrograde lateral body waves, combined with appropriately coordinated parapodial motion (pedundulatory modes). Computational models of this class of robots have been devised, which demonstrate the effects of joint compliance on gait generation and on the characteristics of robot propulsion. A new three-segment soft-body robotic prototype has been developed, whose body was fabricated by molding polyurethane elastomers, and was tested extensively on an experimental sandbox, on various formations of the granular substrate, to compare the performance of stiff and compliant joints. Body and joint compliance were found to enhance the adaptability of the robot to environmental irregularities, however they may deteriorate the proper formation of the undulatory body wave, degrading somewhat system performance in terms of the attained velocities.
Effect of Peganum Harmala Methanol Extract on Liver and Kidney of Mice Administered MTX Drug

This research was designed to evaluate the role of Peganum harmala methanol seed extract in amelioration the biochemical side effect of liver and kidney in mice administered MTX drug. The biochemical detections for both kidney functions (urea and creatinine) and liver enzymes (GOT, GPT and ALP) were investigated. This detection was carried on 30 mice through two stages. In
Assessment of a Smallscale Irrigation Scheme on Household Food Security and Leisure in Kokoligu; Ghana

The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of a small scale irrigation scheme on household food security and leisure time of the people in Kokoligu - a subsistence-based farming community in the Nandom District of Ghana. A total of fifty household heads adequately represented Kokoligu as homogenous community via simple random sampling technique. In-depth interview (IDI) schedules and observation guides were used to source information on food security situations before and after introducing the irrigation scheme and the effects of the scheme on residents’ leisure during the off farming season. The study revealed that the irrigation scheme enhanced household food security and wellbeing during the off farming (dry) season but significantly reduced leisure; communal intimacy in addition to degrading the cultural heritage in the study area. Majority of the farmers (83%) irrigated vegetables, for household consumption and sale to complement the significant proportion of staple food crops (maize, millet and rice) cultivated during farming season to salvage their nutritional needs. With regard to the fading cultural heritage and communal intimacy, the paper recommended that cultural reawakening should be pursued through both formal education in schools and informal education by initiatives of the community elders and the traditional council. Key words: food security, leisure, small scale irrigation, seasons, Ghana
Invalid Detachment centered Outlier Recognition acquired from Reverse Nearest Neighbors

Data Mining essentially alludes to the extraction of exceptionally fascinating examples of the Data from the gigantic Data sets. Anomaly recognition is one of the imperative parts of Data mining which really discovers the perceptions that are going amiss from the regular expected conduct. Exception recognition and examination is now and then known as anomaly mining. In this paper, we have attempted to give the wide and an extensive writing study of exceptions and anomaly discovery strategies under one rooftop, to clarify the extravagance and many-sided quality connected with every exception recognition strategy. In addition, we have likewise given an expansive examination of the different strategies for the distinctive exception systems. Anomaly location in high dimensional Data turns into a developing method in today's examination in the range of Data mining. It endeavors to discover items that are impressively irrelevant, remarkable and conflicting as for the larger part of Data in a data database. It additionally postures different difficulties coming about because of the increment of dimensionality. Because of the "increment of dimensionality," separation gets to be insignificant. Hubness is an angle for the increment of dimensionality relating to closest neighbors which has go to a consideration. This overview article, talks about some critical parts of the hubness in subtle element and presents a complete survey on the best in class specific calculations for unsupervised anomaly identification for high dimensional Data and part of hubness.
Effect of bath condition on the diffusion of contrast agents across articular cartilage

In the present study, the effect of concentration, osmolality and charge of x-ray contrast agents on their diffusion and equilibrium distribution across different zones of cartilage was investigated. Full-thickness cartilage discs (O = 8.5 mm, n = 3) were extracted from healthy equine femoral condyle (n = 2). The diffusion of four different contrast agent baths (Condition A: Visipaque 320 mg/ml, 290 mOsmol/kg; Condition B: Visipaque 320 mg/ml, 600 mOsmol/kg; Condition C: Visipaque 160 mg/ml, 290 mOsmol/kg; Condition D: Hexabrix 320 mg/ml, 600 mOsmol/kg) was allowed only through the articular surface. Samples were imaged with a micro computed tomography scanner (micro-CT) before the contrast agent bath was applied, and after 5, 10, 20, 30 minutes and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 24, 30, 36, and 48 hours. Findings show that osmolality and concentration do not have a pronounced effect on diffusion. However, concentration influence on diffusion is seen on zonal curves. Moreover, the diffusion coefficient of Hexabrix was between 2.9 and 8.6 times lower than that of Visipaque that reflects the important effect of solute’s charge on the transport through charged hydrated tissue such as articular cartilage. Slightly different diffusion coefficient observed within dilute and concentrated Visipaque baths suggested deviation from ideal Fickean behavior within articular cartilage. However, close diffusion coefficients of cartilage exposed to low and high osmolality baths confirmed the minor effect of osmolality on the transport of neutral solutes.
Contribution of an accurate growth rate reconstruction of a stalagmite from the Kanaan Cave-Lebanon to the understanding of humidity variations in the Levant during the MIS 5

Lying at the transition between temperate Mediterranean domain and subtropical deserts, the Levant is a key area to study the palaeoclimatic response over glacial-interglacial cycles. This paper presents a dated last interglacial (MIS 5) stalagmite (129–84 ka) from the Kanaan Cave, Lebanon. Variations in growth rate, morphology and petrology have been measured to derive a palaeoclimatic record. The speleothem growth curve shows rapid growth rates during the peak of MIS 5e (126-124 ka), moderate growth rates between 103.5 and 99 ka and very low growth rates from 99 to 84 ka. On the basis of the good correlation between the speleothem morphology and growth rates with the isotopic response of continental records from northern and southern Levant, we relate high growth rate to wet conditions during the maximum MIS 5e and MIS 5c. The peak in growth rates corresponds to sapropel events in the eastern Mediterranean. Low growth rates during MIS 5d and 5b indicate a transition to drier conditions.
COOPERATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THE ALLOCATION OF FUNCTIONS TO HUMANS AND MACHINES

Objective: This paper aims at pointing out the cooperative aspects of function allocation to humans and machines in complex systems. Background: It is based on the observation that interference exists mostly between functions devoted to each of these agents. Furthermore, when interfering functions are distributed among several agents, the latter need to perform cooperative activities to manage the former. Method: It uses functional, structural, and social frameworks to distinguish between various levels and forms of cooperation, and different attitudes toward automation. Such frameworks allow us to consider the cooperative implications of the main FA approaches: Fitt’s MABA-MABA method, the LOA (Level Of Automation) taxonomy and the DFA (Dynamic Function Allocation) approach. Results: It emphasizes the adaptive ability of humans who are given supervision of the HMS, and consider FA in terms of function delegation. This paper emphasizes the need to elaborate and maintain a COFOR (COmmon Frame Of Reference) to manage interference. It puts forward the cost of cooperative activity and the need to evaluate its efficiency in terms of the relationship between cost and benefits. Conclusion: Finally, it proposes the MOC (Mode Of Cooperation) framework as an alternative to LOA and presents an application of MOC to cardriving assistance domain. Application: The paper identifies strategic decisions in the design of Human-Machine Systems in order to improve Human-Machine Cooperation and system safety.
A theory of targeted search

We present a theory of targeted search, where people with a finite information processing capacity search for a match. Our theory explicitly accounts for both the quantity and the quality of matches. It delivers a unique equilibrium that resides in between the random matching and the directed search outcomes. The equilibrium that emerges from this middle ground is inefficient relative to the constrained Pareto allocation. Our theory encompasses the outcomes of the random matching and the directed search literature as limiting cases.
A MODIFIED PROCESS WRITING PROCEDURE TO LOWER STUDENTS’ WRITING ANXIETY

This study investigated the effectiveness of Modified Process Writing Procedure to lower students’ writing anxiety and to foster students’ writing achievement, and the causes of writing anxiety mostly felt by eleventh graders in State Senior High School 2 Pringsewu. This study employed mixed-method approach. The data were obtained from questionnaire, writing test and interview then analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test. The interview data were transcribed to answer the third research question. The findings revealed that Modified Process Writing Procedure is effective to lower students' writing anxiety since the t obt is higher than the t crit . Regarding the second research question, it revealed that Modified Process Writing Procedure is effective to foster students’ writing achievement since the t obt is higher than the t crit . It is also found that the causes mostly felt by the students are linguistic difficulties, low self-confidence in writing, and insufficient writing practice. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengukur efektifitas penggunaan Modifikasi Prosedur Menulis Berproses untuk menurukan ketakutan menulis siswa dan meningkatkan prestasi menulis siswa, serta mengetahui penyebab ketakutan menulis yang dirasakan oleh siswa kelas 11 di SMAN 2 Pringsewu. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode campuran. Data yang diperoleh dari kuisioner, tes menulis, dan interviu dianalisis menggunakan deskripsi statitistik dan uji t dengan sampel berpasangan. Data interviu ditranskripsi untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian nomor tiga. Dari hasil penelitian terbukti bahwa Modifikasi Prosedur Menulis Berproses efektif digunakan untuk menurunkan ketakutan menulis siswa karena nilai t hasil lebih tinggi dari nilai t tabel. Modifikasi Prosedur Menulis Berproses terbukti pula dapat meningkatkan prestasi menulis siswa karena nilai t hasil lebih tinggi dari nilai t tabel. Ditemukan pula bahwa penyebab ketakutan menulis yang paling sering dirasakan siswa yaitu kesulitan linguistik, rendah diri dalam menulis dan kurangnya latihan menulis. Kata kunci: ketakutan menulis, pendekatan menulis berproses, , prestasi menulis, penyebab ketakutan menulis
Cyberbullying Score Classification Using Machine Learning Techniques

The number of users on social networking sites are increasing day by day. The advent of technology in social space is also opening the gates of user vulnerability. On social networking sites people can show love, affection, likes, and on the other hand people can be rude, disrespectful, and violent. There have been many incidents of cyberbullying and cyberaggression reported in the online space. The incidents cant be stopped but can be controlled if awareness and restrictions are placed before entering the online social space. As part of the thesis project, the dataset of Instagram posts has been requested and collected from University of Boulder, Colorado. The dataset has 2219 observation with metadata as id, likes, follows, followed by, shared media, cyberaggression vote score, and 195 comments per Instagramers ID. The target variable is the cyberbullying vote score which ranges from 0 (no/zero votes to bullying) to 5 (5 votes to cyberbullying). The research focuses on three aspects: text mining of foul words from the comments, implementation of text classification models, and comparison of the different classifiers on the basis of the performance measure.
Ferrite Nanostructures Consolidated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)

Ferrites are a well-known class of ferrimagnetic materials. In the form of nanoparticles (NPs), they exhibit novel and fascinating properties, leading to an extremely wide variety of applications in electronics, biomedical and environmental fields. These applications result from nanoscale effects on physical properties, particularly magnetic properties. For applications in electronic devices, however, a high-density, consolidated body, with very fine grains is needed, in order to retain the nanoscale properties. To our knowledge, spark plasma sintering (SPS) is the only method permitting a full densification with final grain size in the nanometer range. In this review, we examine the SPS method as applied to ferrites and, in particular, the effects of SPS parameters on the final nanostructures obtained. Due to their technological impact, we also discuss the SPS fabrication of hybrid multiferroic nanostructures composed of a ferrite and a ferroelectric phase.
Ecological Integrity of a Peri-Urban River System, Chiraura River in Zimbabwe

Ecological integrity of a peri-urban river system facing a plethora of anthropogenic pressures was assessed through multivariate analysis of physicochemical parameters correlated to the resident macroinvertebrate community. Monthly collection of macroinvertebrates and concurrent measurement of the physical and chemical parameters (dissolved oxygen concentration, percentage saturation of oxygen, pH, temperature, electrical conductivity and salinity) of water was done over a period of 5 months from November 2011- March 2012 in six sites across the Chiraura River. Macroinvertebrates were collected using the kick-net sampling technique, identified up to family level and enumerated at each site. Biodiversity indices were calculated for each site following the South African Scoring System version 5 (SASS5). A total of 1209 macroinvertebrates belonging to 49 families and11 orders were recorded in the Chiraura River. Most pollution sensitive taxa were found at sites 3 and 4 and the most pollution tolerant families were found at sites 1, 5 and 6. Sites4 and 5 of Chiraura River were the least polluted. Unsustainable anthropogenic activities, including industrial, domestic and urban agricultural activities affects water quality of Chiraura River. This is mainly through run-off and increased effluent to the river making routine water quality monitoring imperative.
Determination of Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Activity by Fluorescence Spectrophotometer

A method for the determination of aldehyde dehydrogenase activity by fluorescence spectrophotometer was established. The precipitate of yeast was added by three volumes of phosphate buffers after centrifugation. Ultrasonic fragmentation of cells is under ice-cooling condition. The supernatant was collected by centrifugation as a crude enzyme solution of aldehyde dehydrogenase after sonication. The effects of pH and temperature on enzyme activity were investigated. Ammonium sulfate precipitation method and polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation method were alternative to purify the crude enzyme, and the effect of PEG precipitation was better. The purification factor of the enzyme protein was 2.32. NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) solutions were scanned to determine the wavelength of fluorescence detection: excitation wavelength at 345 nm and emission wavelength of 460 nm. The fluorescence spectrophotometer detection limit was 0.2 mg/L, the linear range was 0.75-60 mg/L and the correlation coefficient was 0.995. The recoveries were 95.62% -99.21% with the relative standard deviations (RSD) of 0.60%-0.98% (n=6). This method was utilized to detect the activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase and the results were compared with the results of UV spectrophotometry. The results indicate that fluorescence spectrophotometer is a suitable method for the detection of aldehyde dehydrogenase enzyme activity.
Two Classes of Generalized Deprivation Indexes

The paper uses two particular formulations of the Gini index to derive two different relative deprivation measures. We then generalize the formulation of these measures following Donaldson and Weymark (1980) and Berrebi and Silber (1985) and show how these generalizations can be considered as two different classes of indexes. An example illustrates how the use of the two classes of indexes can lead to different results in empirical applications.
Evaluation of Fish and Macroinvertebrate Indices of Biotic Integrity in the Bioassessment of the Illinois River Basin

Evaluating performances of the fish and invertebrate Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBIs) for a region is important to maintain rigorous assessment of the environmental quality of streams, especially with increasing urbanization. Timing of the assessment is considered important, with the critical season (low flow, high temperature) preferred, but the primary season (spring – summer) may be as efficient. I assisted with the collection and analysis of fish and macroinvertebrates using methods developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs) and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), along with obtaining habitat and chemical assessments during primary and critical periods during 2007-2009 at ten sites in the Illinois River Basin up and downstream of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). My objectives were to (1) compare fish and macroinvertebrate IBIs for use in the Illinois River Basin; (2) investigate correlations with each IBI and its metrics to nutrient, habitat, and watershed variables; (3) compare the efficacy of the IBIs during both critical and primary seasons; and (4) determine how two WWTPs in the area affect downstream water quality into Oklahoma. The two IBIs were strongly correlated with each other (Rs of 0.59); however, macroinvertebrates outperformed the fish. More regionally specific fish metrics should allow for better performing fish IBIs, but adequate performance was found. Combining the seasons’ data allowed for a more comprehensive and statistically significant assessment; however, the primary season evaluated each site comparably to the combined data and generally outperformed the critical seasons. The combined and primary seasons’ macroinvertebrate IBIs revealed sites with lowered environmental quality below the WWTPs but with quick returns to reference conditions. My results indicate that it may be possible to test IBIs during only the primary seasons to get efficient water quality and site comparison assessments.