Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring weight fluctuations in trees based on natural frequency

Satellite-based soil moisture measurements indicate a diurnal variation in backscatter in west Africa. This diurnal variation is assumed to be caused by variation of moisture content in vegetation (Friesen, 2008). The obtained satellite soil moisture data can be improved, if ground measurements support this hypothesis. Especially at locations with a dense land cover, where the satellite can’t penetrate into the soil improvements can be made. Currently there are no easy applicable methods to measure vegetation water content continuously, which can assist in confirming the relation between vegetation water and the satellite measurements. In this research a new non-destructive, cheap, easy applicable and continuous method to measure water content in trees is developed. This new method makes use of the variation in natural frequency caused by the diurnal variation of water content in trees. The natural frequency of a tree depends on its stiffness and its mass. Diurnal variations in the mass of a tree are mainly caused by changes in water content. To determine the natural frequency two methods are tested. The first method makes use of the wind as a driving force and the measurements are analysed in the frequency domain. The second method uses a single pulse as driving force and the measurements are analysed in the time domain. To confirm the validity of the proposed analyses both methods are first tested on simplified system (a stick fixed in a vice). Different weights are attached to the top of the stick to relate weight and frequency changes. The vibration of the simplified system and of trees are measured with an accelerometer. To determine the natural frequency both systems are modelled as a damped first order spring-mass system. Results indicate that, for the simplified system, changes in natural frequency are detectable and can be related to mass changes of the system. When the methods are applied on a tree the accuracy of the measurements is not high enough to identify changes in weight, caused by variation in water content. It is possible to measure the natural frequency of a tree but the changes in natural frequency due to changes in water content are very small (less than 0.1 Hz for small trees). For the simplified system the weight changes compared to the own weight of the system are much larger. Presumably, this is the main reasons for the difference in performance between the simplified system and measurements on a tree. Additionally, the simplified system is better represented by a first order spring-mass system. Previous studies have indicated that the anisotropic mechanical properties of a tree, prevents it from behaving like a first order spring-mass system.
THE DIFFICULT THOUGH ESSENTIAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND ITS PHILOSOPHY

La acusacion que la Teoria de Evolucion por Seleccion Natural (TESN) es irrefutable y que, por lo tanto no es cientifica, no puede resolverse presentando evidencia a su favor. La critica indica que cualquier resultado estara a su favor y que, por ello, la evidencia no afecta su grado de verdad. La respuesta puede buscarse solo a nivel epistemologico, mientras que el analisis de la calidad y cantidad de la evidencia en favor de la TESN, provenga ella de la sistematica, la ecologia, la etologia, la fisiologia o la genetica molecular, pertenece al ambito metodologico o cientifico. Como la TESN es el elemento central que aporta inteligibilidad a la biologia, la reflexion filosofica sugiere la necesidad de reemplazar el requisito de refutabilidad como criterio unico de "buena ciencia" por un criterio matizado, mas amplio e igualmente riguroso, que atienda tanto la necesidad de que las teorias cientificas tengan contenido empirico como la de aceptar y apreciar a las disciplinas historicas en el corpus de la ciencia. Las consecuencias de esos razonamientos para la practica de la investigacion ecologica fueron analizadas anteriormente (Marone et al., 2002), pero el intento no parece haber sido comprendido por Nespolo (2003), quien lo tomo como un ataque a la TESN. Aqui se revisan los argumentos de los articulos mencionados, profundizando el analisis de las consecuencias de que la TESN sea una premisa de la investigacion ecologica y se sugiere que la biologia evolutiva se beneficiaria de un dialogo mas fluido entre la ciencia y la filosofia.
On the Product of Small Elkies Primes

Given an elliptic curve $E$ over a finite field $\F_q$ of $q$ elements, we say that an odd prime $\ell \nmid q$ is an Elkies prime for $E$ if $t_E^2 - 4q$ is a quadratic residue modulo $\ell$, where $t_E = q+1 - #E(\F_q)$ and $#E(\F_q)$ is the number of $\F_q$-rational points on $E$. These primes are used in the presently most efficient algorithm to compute $#E(\F_q)$. In particular, the bound $L_q(E)$ such that the product of all Elkies primes for $E$ up to $L_q(E)$ exceeds $4q^{1/2}$ is a crucial parameter of this algorithm. We show that there are infinitely many pairs $(p, E)$ of primes $p$ and curves $E$ over $\F_p$ with $L_p(E) \ge c \log p \log \log \log p$ for some absolute constant $c>0$, while a naive heuristic estimate suggests that $L_p(E) \sim \log p$. This complements recent results of Galbraith and Satoh (2002), conditional under the Generalised Riemann Hypothesis, and of Shparlinski and Sutherland (2012), unconditional for almost all pairs $(p,E)$.
HYBRIDIZATION OF KARYOTYPICALLY DIFFERENTIATED POPULATIONS IN THE SCELOPORUS GRAMMICUS COMPLEX (IGUANIDAE)

Among the approximately 60 species of the lizard genus Sceloporus, there is much karyotypic diversity, resulting primarily from the fixation of "Robertsonian rearrangements" (centric fusions and fissions; Hsu and Mead, 1969; Jackson, 1971). Diploid (2n) chromosome numbers vary from 22 to 46 (Cole, 1970, 1971; Hall, 1973), a range exceeding that known for any other lizard genus. Because comparable variation has been detected in several groups of vertebrates, including other lizard genera (Gorman and Atkins, 1968; Matthey and van Brink, 1960) and rodents (review by Nadler, 1969), and in many invertebrates, evolutionists are becoming increasingly concerned with the role of karyotypic changes in animal speciation (White, 1969; Mayr, 1969, 1970). To investigate relationships between karyotypic diversification and speciation, Hall has undertaken a survey of chromosomal variation in Sceloporus and related genera, seeking particularly to identify intermediate evolutionary stages. Of 48 species of Sceloporus examined, all but one, the Mexican form S. grammicus, are karyotypically monomorphic, at least for Robertsonian mutations of the autosomes. An analysis of 1200 individuals of S. grammicus has revealed extensive chromosomal diversity at several levels of population structure, including the occurrence of rare individual variants, polymorphism, and the fixation of different Robertsonian modifications in parapatrically or allopatrically distributed populations. Chromosome numbers vary
Digital safe: Secure synchronization of shared files

Cloud Storage services are increasingly adopted by users to outsource their data. These services tend essentially to synchronize data across user's devices and to share them between different users. Two issues raise when dealing with synchronizing shared data. First, synchronizing data that are already encrypted by users to multiple destinations may clearly introduce key and access control management challenges. Second, it is essential to deal with the states constrains of the owner and the consumer. In fact, neither the owner who shared the data nor the consumer are usually connected at the same time. In the context of probative value storage of sensitive data, we focus mainly on the security requirements while considering a timely-file sharing. The shared data are synchronized for the legitimate user only for a specified period of time. A Synchronization Protocol for Digital Safe (SyncDS) is proposed and the Attribute Based Encryption (CP-ABE) is adapted to meet the data sharing requirements. In fact, a formal security validation is provided to demonstrate the safety of the proposed protocol. In addition, an implementation of the timely-file sharing is performed on the CP-ABE toolkit and integrated into the digital safe synchronization framework.
A new approach to software as service cloud

Software is absolutely necessary in today's business world, where softwares help us in many different ways. For many years, companies have run software with the help of their own infrastructures. In recent years, many companies not prefer to buy traditional software packages, as most of them have migrated to the Software as a service, or `SaaS' business model. As more companies now prefer SaaS, ISVs (independent software vendors) face fierce competition from SaaS providers. One of the defining characteristics of cloud software service is the transfer of control from the client domain to the service provider. Another is that the client benefits from economy of scale on the part of the provider. There are many different examples of cloud software service, and this paper seeks to combine the salient elements into a composite picture of the subject matter.
An Attention Selection Model with Visual Memory and Online Learning

In this paper, an attention selection model with visual memory and online learning is proposed, which has three parts: Sensory Mapping (SM), Cognitive Mapping (CM) and Motor Mapping (MM). CM is the novelty of our model which incorporates visual memory and online learning. In order to mimic visual memory, we put forward an Amnesic Incremental Hierachical Discriminant Regression (AIHDR) Tree which has an amnesic function to guide the deletion of redundant information of the tree. Experimental results show that our AIHDR tree has better performance in retrieval speed and accuracy than IHDR/HDR tree. Self-Supervised Competition Neural Network (SSCNN) in CM has the characteristics of online learning since its connection weights can be updated in real time according to the change of environment. Eyeball Movement Prediction (EMP) mechanism is applied to estimate the movement of human eyeball so that attention can be focused on interested objects. Several applications such as object tracking and robot self-localization are realized by our proposed work.
Maternal Pregnancy Intention and Professional Antenatal Care Utilization in Bangladesh: A Nationwide Population-Based Survey

Objective To investigate the association between maternal pregnancy intention and professional antenatal and delivery care utilization. Methods Our data were derived from the 2011 nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey. We included antenatal and delivery care utilization data of the most recent live births for women for the previous three years (n = 4672). We used multilevel logistic regression models to assess the relationship between pregnancy intention and use of professional antenatal and delivery care, with adjustment for potential confounding variables. Results Approximately 13% and 16% of children were reported by their mothers as unwanted and mistimed at the time of conception, respectively. Among the women, 55% received at least one professional antenatal care service; 21% received four or more professional antenatal services, while 32% were attended by professionals during deliveries. Mothers of children whose pregnancies had been unwanted had a greater risk for not seeking professional antenatal and professional delivery care than those whose pregnancies had been wanted [1≥ ANC from professionals: AOR: 0.66; 95% CI:0.51–0.93; 4≥ ANC from professionals: AOR:0.56; 95% CI:0.37–0.84; and delivery care from professionals: AOR: 0.70; 95% CI:0.50–0.97]. Women who were married after age 18, had secondary or higher level of education, and were from the wealthiest households were more likely to utilize antenatal and delivery care. Conclusion Unwanted pregnancy is significantly associated with lower utilization of professional antenatal and delivery care services in Bangladesh. Reducing unwanted births and promoting access to professional antenatal and delivery care are crucial for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 in Bangladesh.
Requirements Driven Multiple View Paradigm for Developing Security Architecture

— This paper describes a paradigmatic approach to develop architecture of secure systems by describing the requirements from four different points of view: that of the owner, the administrator, the user, and the network. Deriving requirements and developing architecture implies the joint elicitation and describing the problem and the structure of the solution. The view points proposed in this paper are those we consider as requirements towards their contributions as major parties in the design, implementation, usage and maintenance of secure systems. The dramatic growth of the technology of Internet and the applications deployed in World Wide Web have lead to the situation where the security has become a very important concern in the development of secure systems. Many security approaches are currently being used in organizations. In spite of the widespread use of many different security solutions, the security remains a problem. It is argued that the approach that is described in this paper for the development of secure architecture is practical by all means. The models representing these multiple points of view are termed the requirements model (views of owner and administrator) and the operations model (views of user and network) . In this paper, this multiple view paradigm is explained by first describing the specific requirements and or characteristics of secure systems (particularly in the domain of networks) and the secure architecture / system development methodology.
The Optimization of Xen Network Virtualization

Despite the benefits brought by virtualization technology, the network I/O performance degradation remains as a barrier for its wide usage. This paper presents the design and implementation of a new method to improve Xen network virtualization performance by optimizing the interrupt deliver route and shortening the network I/O path. With the above optimization techniques, network throughput of a HVM guest domain is improved by 50%, CPU utility of QEMU driver model is reduced by 70%, TLB miss and cache miss is improved by 40% to 80%. The rationale behind our optimization model can also be extended for other I/O device virtualization in HVM guest domain.
On-line Fault Detection for Programmable Logic

We introduce a technique for on-line built-in self-testing of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). This system detects deviations from the intended functionality of an FPGA without using special-purpose hardware or hardware external to the device, and without interrupting system operation. Such a system would be useful for mission-critical applications with resource constraints. The system solves these problems through an on-line fault scanning methodology. A device’s internal resources are configured to test for faults. Testing scans across an FPGA, checking a section at a time. Simulation on a model FPGA supports the viability and effectiveness of such a system.
Survey on Different Approaches for Mutation Testing

One of the effective techniques for testing is mutation testing. Mutant can be created by changing the syntax of a program. To distinguish the mutant from the original program, an effective test suite is required. The Mutation testing is a testing method aimed at improving the adequacy of test suites and estimating the number of faults present in systems under test. The mutations can be applied to the source code and the semantics of the language. The mutations of the semantics of the language signify possible misunderstandings of the description language and thus capture a different class of faults. As the possiblemisunderstandings are highly context reliant, this context should be used to determine which semantic mutants should be
Perception of Interaural Phase Differences With Envelope and Fine Structure Coding Strategies in Bilateral Cochlear Implant Users

The ability to detect a target signal masked by noise is improved in normal-hearing listeners when interaural phase differences (IPDs) between the ear signals exist either in the masker or in the signal. To improve binaural hearing in bilaterally implanted cochlear implant (BiCI) users, a coding strategy providing the best possible access to IPD is highly desirable. In this study, we compared two coding strategies in BiCI users provided with CI systems from MED-EL (Innsbruck, Austria). The CI systems were bilaterally programmed either with the fine structure processing strategy FS4 or with the constant rate strategy high definition continuous interleaved sampling (HDCIS). Familiarization periods between 6 and 12 weeks were considered. The effect of IPD was measured in two types of experiments: (a) IPD detection thresholds with tonal signals addressing mainly one apical interaural electrode pair and (b) with speech in noise in terms of binaural speech intelligibility level differences (BILD) addressing multiple electrodes bilaterally. The results in (a) showed improved IPD detection thresholds with FS4 compared with HDCIS in four out of the seven BiCI users. In contrast, 12 BiCI users in (b) showed similar BILD with FS4 (0.6 ± 1.9 dB) and HDCIS (0.5 ± 2.0 dB). However, no correlation between results in (a) and (b) both obtained with FS4 was found. In conclusion, the degree of IPD sensitivity determined on an apical interaural electrode pair was not an indicator for BILD based on bilateral multielectrode stimulation.
A Framework for Modeling Emerging Diseases to Inform Management

The rapid emergence and reemergence of zoonotic diseases requires the ability to rapidly evaluate and implement optimal management decisions. Actions to control or mitigate the effects of emerging pathogens are commonly delayed because of uncertainty in the estimates and the predicted outcomes of the control tactics. The development of models that describe the best-known information regarding the disease system at the early stages of disease emergence is an essential step for optimal decision-making. Models can predict the potential effects of the pathogen, provide guidance for assessing the likelihood of success of different proposed management actions, quantify the uncertainty surrounding the choice of the optimal decision, and highlight critical areas for immediate research. We demonstrate how to develop models that can be used as a part of a decision-making framework to determine the likelihood of success of different management actions given current knowledge.
External Tufted Cells Drive the Output of Olfactory Bulb Glomeruli

Odors synchronize the activity of olfactory bulb mitral cells that project to the same glomerulus. In vitro, a slow rhythmic excitation intrinsic to the glomerular network persists, even in the absence of afferent input. We show here that a subpopulation of juxtaglomerular cells, external tufted (ET) cells, may trigger this rhythmic activity. We used paired whole-cell recording and Ca2+ imaging in bulb slices from wild-type and transgenic mice expressing the fluorescent Ca2+ indicator protein GCaMP-2. Slow, periodic population bursts in mitral cells were synchronized with spontaneous discharges in ET cells. Moreover, activation of a single ET cell was sufficient to evoke population bursts in mitral cells within the same glomerulus. Stimulation of the olfactory nerve induced similar population bursts and activated ET cells at a lower threshold than mitral cells, suggesting that ET cells mediate feedforward excitation of mitral cells. We propose that ET cells act as essential drivers of glomerular output to the olfactory cortex.
Design and Implementation of a Crawling System in Shopping Search Engine

This paper presents a crawling system, that helps building a shopping search engine. The system’s core is a vertical crawler that is specially used in shopping search engines. The crawler is divided into 5 parts and it realized automatic generation of crawling templates by its analysis module which is a regular expressions method set. A manual generation of crawling template is designed to support the automatic function, and these modified templates 100% passed the test. Five parts’ perfectly combination makes the system being such a fool-proof system that anyone who has basic computer operation ability can use it. With the fast development of search engine, topical crawler that severs vertical search engines has been an important research direction. There are many literatures describing the crawler design algorithm and crawling strategies, however, due to the competitive nature of the shopping search engine business, there are few papers in the literature describing the design and implementation in shopping search engines’ topical crawlers. This paper’s main contribution is to fill that gap. The crawling system described in this paper is a prototype of crawler system in shopping search engine. It will influence the later shopping search engines’ searching and development.
Acute effects of modafinil on cognition and brain resting state network activity in young healthy subjects

Poster: "ECR 2012 / B-0409 / Acute effects of modafinil on cognition and brain resting state network activity in young healthy subjects" by: "R. Esposito, F. Cilli, V. Pieramico, A. Ferretti, A. Macchia, A. Saggino, A. Tartaro, G. Romani, S. Sensi; Chieti/IT"
Classification of Future Electricity Market Prices

Forecasting short-term electricity market prices has been the focus of several studies in recent years. Although various approaches have been examined, achieving sufficiently low forecasting errors has not been always possible. However, certain applications, such as demand-side management, do not require exact values for future prices but utilize specific price thresholds as the basis for making short-term scheduling decisions. In this paper, classification of future electricity market prices with respect to pre-specified price thresholds is introduced. Two alternative models based on support vector machines are proposed in a multi-class, multi-step-ahead price classification context. Numerical results are provided for classifying prices in Ontario's and Alberta's markets.
Multi-site Liver Tumour ADC Reproducibility at 1.5 T.

This work assesses the reproducibility of ADC measurement for data acquired across several clinical sites within IMI QuIC-ConCePT project. We present a model for expected ADC reproducibility which takes account of the initial ADC distribution within tumours and the volume of measurement. We show that the accuracies of ADC currently achieved are on average 7.5% but that better measurements are generally associated with increasing the measurement volume. Our analysis generates methods which are capable of predicting the reproducibility of individual tumours, and is therefore suitable for guiding the region of interest selection process. Overall performance of reproducibility for the ‘on scanner’ averaged acquisition (protocol A) is found to be currently insufficient for detection of change in individuals, but recent results regarding the expected improvement using ‘off scanner’ averaging (protocol B) would suggest the possibility of patient specific adjustment of therapy. Real tumour data for protocol B data is now required in order to confirm this expected benefit and such data is planned to be acquired as part of the upcoming BOS2 trial.