Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The University of Reading Approximate Gauss-Newton Methods Using Reduced Order Models

The Gauss-Newton (GN) method is a well known iterative technique for solving nonlinear least squares problems subject to dynamical system constraints. Such problems arise commonly from applications in optimal control and state estimation. Variational data assimilation systems for weather, ocean and climate prediction currently use approximate GN methods. The GN method solves a sequence of linear least squares problems subject to linearized system constraints. For very large systems, low resolution linear approximations to the model dynamics are used to improve the efficiency of the algorithm. We propose a new method for deriving low order system approximations based on model reduction techniques from control theory. We show how this technique can be combined with the GN method to retain the response of the dynamical system more accurately and improve the performance of the GN method.
Price transmission Analysis and Associated Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Agricultural Markets: What Does the Literature Say?

Price transmission studies have become increasingly important in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) over the last two decades because of their application in assessing the impact of market reforms policies embarked upon by the region’s governments between the mid 1980s and early 1990s. In this study, a meta-database obtained from 43 price transmission studies published between 1978 and 2011, is used to provide an overall assessment of the potential impact of selected, study-specific attributes on estimated price transmission coefficients and in identifying episodes of asymmetric price transmission in SSA agricultural markets. Despite the large dispersion of estimated price transmission coefficients of about 0.002- 0.99, the mean coefficient of 0.34 is an overall evidence that the extent of price transmission in SSA is comparatively low. The impacts of the study-specific attributes on the price transmission coefficients, and on the likelihood of the primary studies to report asymmetric price transmission however differ consistently across the attributes, and provide in general evidence on the critical role such attributes may play in determining price transmission results and their implications for policy formulation.
Combustion Synthesis of TiC-TiB2-Based Cermets from Elemental Powders

TiC-TiB2-based cermets with Ni binder were fabricated using combustion synthesis assisted by pseudohot isostatic pressing by heating the compacted powder mixture to approximately 700°C. The effects of composition on microstructure and hardness of the synthesized samples were investigated. The samples exhibited finer microstructure and higher hardness as TiC/TiB2 volume ratio increased and as Ni increased up to 30 vol%. A relatively high hardness value of 1950 HV was obtained for TiC-TiB2-Ni(52.5/17.5/30 vol%). However, the transverse rupture strength and the modulus of elasticity values were not very high. This may be due to weak bonding strength of the interface between hard phases and Ni binder and/or insufficient densification of the samples.
Epidemiological aspects of cysticercose in relation to hydrographic net at triangulo mineiro, MG, Brazil

Cysticercosis affects cattle, which develop the larva of Taenia saginata after ingesting their eggs, which are released by humans. It is a parasite that is distributed worldwide. The use of geoprocessing allows a better definition of endemic areas and populations that face different levels of risk and thus creates a basis for specific control programs for each farming system. The objective of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological situation of bovine cysticercosis in four municipalities in the Triângulo Mineiro region (Romaria, Irai de Minas, Grupiara and Douradoquara), with special attention given to the influence of the hydrographic network on the spatial distribution of the disease. The properties sampled (68) for laboratory and epidemiological analysis (questionnaire) were also georeferenced. The risk factors were analyzed using the ArcGIS 10.1 program. The animals were submitted to immunodiagnostic tests (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblot) for the diagnosis of bovine cysticercosis. After confirming the disease focus properties, the spatial distribution of the cases was analyzed in relation to the watershed of the region. The positive results for bovine cysticercosis on the properties of the municipalities of Romaria and Irai de Minas were grouped together, which was a significant result (p < 0.01). Although the positive results for bovine cysticercosis in the municipalities of Grupiara and Douradoquara were randomly distributed (p = 0.27), the risk factor that proved to be statistically significant in the regression analysis for cysticercosis transmission was the water source from the river/stream. From the analysis of the map based on the hydrography of the region, it can be observed that for the distribution of positive cases for bovine cysticercosis in the properties, the main risk factor was the interference of the rivers and their tributaries that fed the municipalities sampled. This study allowed the identification of the prevalence of the taeniasis-cysticercosis complex in the properties of the sampled municipalities (53.84% in Romaria, 45.45% in Grupiara, 37.03% in Irai de Minas and 35.29% in Douradoquara). The results from this study will help in the prevention and control of this zoonosis in the researched areas.
The plastic indentation of a layer by a flat punch

Upper and lower bounds for the average pressure in the indentation by a flat, smooth punch of the plane surface of a layer of elastic-perfectly plastic material resting on a rough, rigid base are obtained by the application of the limit-design theorems. The material of the layer is assumed to obey Tresca's yield criterion of constant maximum shearing stress during plastic deformation. The square punch problem is considered in detail for layers whose thickness is greater than one-fourteenth of the width of the punch. For thinner layers, reasonably close upper and lower bounds for the average pressure over the square punch are obtained as functions of the relative thickness of the layer. The circular punch is considered briefly, and the bounds obtained determine the indentation force with sufficient accuracy for layers which are not too thick compared with the width of the punch.
Model predictive control of NCS with data quantization and bounded arbitrary time delays

The model predictive control for constrained discrete time linear system under network environment is considered. The bounded time delay and data quantization are assumed to coexist in the data transmission link from the sensor to the controller. A novel NCS model is specially established for the model predictive control method, which casts the time delay and data quantization into a unified framework. A stability result of the obtained closed-loop model is presented by applying the Lyapunov method, which plays a key role in synthesizing the model predictive controller.The model predictive controller, which parameterizes the infinite horizon control moves into a single state feedback law, is provided which explicitly considers the satisfaction of input and state constraints. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the derived method.
QTL Identification Using Combined Linkage and Linkage Disequilibrium Mapping for Milk Production Traits on BTA6 in Chinese Holstein Population

Milk production traits are important economic traits for dairy cattle. The aim of the present study was to refine the position of previously detected quantitative trait loci (QTL) on bovine chromosome 6 affecting milk production traits in Chinese Holstein dairy cattle. A daughter design with 918 daughters from 8 elite sire families and 14 markers spanning the previously identified QTL region were used in the analysis. We employed a combined linkage and linkage disequilibrium analysis (LDLA) approach with two options for calculating the IBD probabilities, one was based on haplotypes of all 14 markers (named Method 1) and the other based on haplotypes with sliding windows of 5 markers (named Method 2). For milk fat yield, the two methods revealed a highly significant QTL located within a 6.5 cM interval (Method 1) and a 4.0 cM interval (Method 2), respectively. For milk protein yield, a highly significant QTL was detected within a 3.0 cM interval (Method 1) or a 2.5 cM interval (Method 2). These results confirmed the findings of our previous study and other studies, and greatly narrowed down the QTL positions.
Existence and multiplicity results for the fractional Laplacian in bounded domains

Abstract In this paper, first we study existence results for a linearly perturbed elliptic problem driven by the fractional Laplacian. Then, we show a multiplicity result when the perturbation parameter is close to the eigenvalues. This latter result is obtained by exploiting the topological structure of the sublevels of the associated functional, which permits to apply a critical point theorem of mixed nature due to Marino and Saccon.
The distortion of a knotted curve

The distortion of a curve measures the maximum arc/chord length ratio. Gromov showed that any closed curve has distortion at least π/2 and asked about the distortion of knots. Here, we prove that any nontrivial tame knot has distortion at least 5π/3; examples show that distortion under 7.16 suffices to build a trefoil knot. Our argument uses the existence of a shortest essential secant and a characterization of borderline-essential arcs.
Intercalation of Molybdate Ions into Ni/Zn Layered Double Hydroxide Salts: Synthesis, Characterization, and Preliminary Catalytic Activity in Methyl Transesterification of Soybean Oil

This study reports the synthesis and characterization of a Ni/Zn layered double hydroxide salt intercalated with acetate ions and the subsequent replacement of the acetate ions with molybdate ions via an ion exchange reaction, conducted at two different pH values. Regardless of the pH employed during the synthesis, the basal spacing in the Ni/Zn layered double hydroxide salt decreased from 13.08 A to approximately 9.5 A, which agreed with intercalation of hydrated molybdate anions. The non-calcined material and the material submitted to heat treatment at 250 °C (basal spacing reduced to 7.35 A, due to dehydration) were tested as catalyst for the methyl transesterification of soybean oil. Like sodium molybdate in homogeneous media, the solid materials were active catalysts. After reaction at 120 °C for 4 h, the materials afforded high conversions at an alcohol/soybean oil molar ratio of 35:1 and preserved the structure after three consecutive uses. In conclusion, intercalation of molybdate anion into the layered double hydroxide salt proved to be an efficient alternative to support the active species and transform a soluble catalyst into a solid with application in heterogeneous catalysis.
HitNet: Hybrid Ternary Recurrent Neural Network

Quantization is a promising technique to reduce the model size, memory footprint, and massive computation operations of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for embedded devices with limited resources. Although extreme low-bit quantization has achieved impressive success on convolutional neural networks, it still suffers from huge accuracy degradation on RNNs with the same low-bit precision. In this paper, we first investigate the accuracy degradation on RNN models under different quantization schemes, and the distribution of tensor values in the full precision model. Our observation reveals that due to the difference between the distributions of weights and activations, different quantization methods are suitable for different parts of models. Based on our observation, we propose HitNet, a hybrid ternary recurrent neural network, which bridges the accuracy gap between the full precision model and the quantized model. In HitNet, we develop a hybrid quantization method to quantize weights and activations. Moreover, we introduce a sloping factor motivated by prior work on Boltzmann machine to activation functions, further closing the accuracy gap between the full precision model and the quantized model. Overall, our HitNet can quantize RNN models into ternary values, {-1, 0, 1}, outperforming the state-of-the-art quantization methods on RNN models significantly. We test it on typical RNN models, such as Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU), on which the results outperform previous work significantly. For example, we improve the perplexity per word (PPW) of a ternary LSTM on Penn Tree Bank (PTB) corpus from 126 (the state-of-the-art result to the best of our knowledge) to 110.3 with a full precision model in 97.2, and a ternary GRU from 142 to 113.5 with a full precision model in 102.7.
Total Agent per Liter of Air With Particle Size Distribution (TALAp): A New Unit of Measure for the Test and Evaluation of Biodetectors

Abstract : A key component in the test and evaluation of bioaerosol detectors is the unit of measure used to describe the distributed bioaerosol. We examine two existing units of measure, Agent Containing Particles per Liter of Air (ACPLA), and Biologically Active Units per Liter of Air (BAULA). We conclude that ACPLA is an insufficient unit of measure that provides little useful information about the bioaerosol. While BAULA corrects many of the issues present in ACPLA, calculation of BAULA is extremely difficult as it requires knowledge of a number of variables that are currently unavailable. Therefore, we propose a new unit of measure, Total Agent per Liter of Air with particle size distribution (TALAp). TALAp contains the two most important variables for evaluating biodetectors: the amount of agent present and the particle size distribution. Thus, TALAp allows for more accurate and reproducible testing of biodetectors. Furthermore, TALAp can be implemented in sealed test chambers using existing referee equipment and is directly comparable to legacy ACPLA data. While some testing procedures may need to be augmented to measure TALAp in breeze tunnel and field testing, these new procedures are relatively simple to implement and will pay additional dividends to the test and evaluation community.
Molding and bonding of thin film parylene for flexible microfluidics

We developed a molding and bonding technique for parylene thin-film microfluidics using initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) bonding for flexible microfluidics applications. Flexible microfluidic can be integrated with flexible electronics and provide new function with tunable 3D shape. Using fabricated flexible channel consisting of a-few-micrometers-thick parylene layers, we achieved a minimum bending radius as small as ~150 μm without leakage or significant deformation. We formed tunable 3D curvature by rolling the channel around a needle to induce Dean flow mixing, by which we demonstrated that tunable microchannel shapes in 3D can provide a tunable functionality (i.e., sample mixing) of microfluidic device.
Comparing Jupiter interior structure models to Juno gravity measurements and the role of a dilute core

The Juno spacecraft has measured Jupiter's low‐order, even gravitational moments, J2–J8, to an unprecedented precision, providing important constraints on the density profile and core mass of the planet. Here we report on a selection of interior models based on ab initio computer simulations of hydrogen‐helium mixtures. We demonstrate that a dilute core, expanded to a significant fraction of the planet's radius, is helpful in reconciling the calculated Jn with Juno's observations. Although model predictions are strongly affected by the chosen equation of state, the prediction of an enrichment of Z in the deep, metallic envelope over that in the shallow, molecular envelope holds. We estimate Jupiter's core to contain a 7–25 Earth mass of heavy elements. We discuss the current difficulties in reconciling measured Jn with the equations of state and with theory for formation and evolution of the planet.
Lung Cancer Detection and Classification with Classification Algorithms

In this study, lung cancer was detected by looking at blood value obtained from Ondokuz Mayıs University Department of Chest Diseases. During the detection phase; classification is performed and the results were evaluated with the performance comparison between machine learning algorithms. The patient's information was used in the present data; Age, hb, wbc, neu, lymph, plt, mpv, plr, nlr. The necessary normalizations were made on our data before classification. In classification stage, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, naive bayes, artificial neural networks, and logistic regression methods are used, which are frequently used classification algorithms. It has been given comparatively in the detection of lung cancer accuracy rates, F-1 measure, precision, sensitivity, specificity among classifiers. Classification accuracy; support vector machines, neural networks, k-nearest neighbor, logistic regression, naive bayes algorithms gave the best result depending on the data, respectively.
Using Brain Waves as New Biometric Feature for Authenticating a Computer User in Real-Time

In this paper we propose an Electroencephalogram based Brain Computer Interface as a new modality for Person Authentication and develop a screen lock application that will lock and unlock the computer screen at the users will. The brain waves of the person, recorded in real time are used as password to unlock the screen. Data fusion from 14 sensors of the Emotiv headset is done to enhance the signal features. The power spectral density of the intermingle signals is computed. The channel spectral power in the frequency band of alpha, beta and gamma is used in the classification task. A two stage checking is done to authenticate the user. A proximity value of 0.78 and above is considered a good match. The percentage of accuracy in classification is found to be good. The essence of this work is that the authentication is done in real time based on the meditation task and no external stimulus is used.
Mitigating Bitcoin Node Storage Size By DHT

A type of Bitcoin node called "Full Node" has to hold the entire of historical transaction data called "Blockchain" to verify that new transactions are correct or not. To operate nodes as Full Nodes, the required storage size will be too large for resource-constrained devices. In this paper, to mitigate storage size, we propose a storage load balancing scheme by distributed storage based on Distributed Hash Table (DHT). By our scheme, nodes in a DHT cluster can behave like Full Nodes without holding the entire of the blockchain.
Managerial leadership and interactional justice perceptions: An exploratory study

The study explores the impact of leadership behavior in stimulating the perceptions of interactional justice. The behavioral elements of a leader’s personality, such as integrity, consistency, communication and concern for others are studied for their influence upon the perceptions of interactional justice amongst the subordinates. Research conducted in the banking and telecom sectors of Pakistan, with a sample size of 777 gives a clear indication of a significant positive impact of the said group of leader behavior’s sub-variables upon the dependant variable. Key words: Servant leadership, trustworthy behavior, leader-member exchange.
Use of Sugar Beet as a Bioindicator Plant for Detection of Flucarbazone and Sulfentrazone Herbicides in Soil

Determination of herbicide residues can be challenging due to the very low herbicide concentrations that can persist and remain bioactive in soil. Detection of residual herbicides is of great importance since these miniscule herbicide amounts may cause injury to sensitive rotational crops. Plant bioassays are a valuable alternative to instrumental procedures for determination of herbicides in soil. Instrumental methods such as gas chromatography or high performance liquid chromatography require solvent or solid phase extractions before sample analysis, and these highly efficient extractions enable the determination of total amount of herbicide in soil. In contrast, bioavailable herbicide is determined by bioassay procedures because plant response varies with soil type and generally decreases in soils of high organic matter and clay contents and low soil pH (Thirunarayanan et al. 1985; Renner et al. 1988; Che et al. 1992; Wang & Liu 1999; Wehtje et al. 1987; Grey et al. 1997; Szmigielski et al. 2009). Typically bioassay detection of herbicides that belong to different groups with different modes of action requires use of different plant species and/or measuring different plant parameters. Use of herbicides with different modes of action applied either in rotation or as pre-mixed combinations has become a common practice in farming to combat weed resistance problems. Thus performing more than one bioassay may be necessary for assessment of herbicide residues in soil after field applications of herbicides with different modes of action.
Release and Microbial Degradation of Dissolved Organic Carbon and Nitrogen from Phragmites australis and Suaeda salsa in the Wetland of the Yellow River Estuary

Release of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) from two dominant plants Phragmites australis and Suaeda salsa in the Yellow River Estuarine wetlands was studied in laboratory incubation experiments. The release dynamic of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved nitrogen (DN) and CDOM from the plants was rapid process and hydrolysis played an important role in the initial leaching stage of the organic compounds from the plants. Bacterial activities enhanced the release processes of DOM during degradation of the plants and utilization of the released organic compounds. The fluorescence characteristics of the CDOM indicate that the proteinlike organic substances are the major components released from P. australis and S. salsa in the initial stage and these compounds are labile and highly biodegradable. Our study suggests that leaching of DOM from P. australis and S. salsa provide not only major sources of DOC, DN, and CDOM that affect many biogeochemical processes, but also as important food sources supporting microbial communities in the Yellow River wetlands and adjacent coastal waters.
A 100-m ground resolution global daily coverage earth observation mission

PROBA-V has been successfully launched on 7th May 2013 and is providing a global monitoring in the continuity of the SPOT-VEGETATION mission. The progress in terms of ground resolution between Spot VGT and PROBA-V is a factor 3 (1 km to 1/3 km ground resolution product).
Pain rehabilitation – outcome of an 8-week rehabilitation program

The prevalence of persistent pain has been estimated to be around 20-50% in a normal population. Musculoskeletal related pain is the most common form of persistent pain. In patients with persistent pain there are alterations in the peripheral as well as the central nervous system and patients develop a dysfunctional behaviour which, in many cases, leads to severe suffering for the patient. In the European countries an increasing problem has emerged consisting of more people on long-term sick-leave, increased number of early retirements and high social costs. After an 8-week structured multiprofessional rehabilitation programme at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden 63% of patients with long-standing non-malignant pain returned to work and half of the patients were still at work at a 6-year follow-up. Half of the patients reported pain reduction and almost half of the patients had reduced their consumption of analgesics. The rehabilitation program was estimated as economically beneficial on a society level. It is concluded that pain rehabilitation should have a multiprofessional approach. Pain rehabilitation programs are beneficial for the possibility for the patient to return to work pain and leads to pain reduction in the long run. Furthermore, they are beneficial from a socio-economical aspect.