Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New shadow detection and removal approach to improve neural stereo correspondence of dense urban VHR remote sensing images

Abstract Shadows cause problems in many remote sensing applications like images segmentation, objects extraction and stereo vision. This paper presents a new and an automatic approach to detect and remove shadows from pair of dense urban very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images. The main contribution of this paper is twofold. First, a proposed approach is efficient to restore objects hidden by shadows, second, it improves a stereo matching process. We have chosen to operate on Ikonos pairs as an example of urban remote sensing images, for that, shadow detection is achieved using a new technique of property based method, operating directly in red. green and blue colour space (RGB). Shadow removal proposed technique aims to produce a needed amount of light to the shadow regions by multiplying the shadow regions by constants, after that, the shadow edge correction is applied to reduce the errors due to diffusion in the shadow boundary. Once pair of shadow free images is recovered, we apply a stereo matching process using a Hopfield neural technique in order to find homologous regions. Our results from different urban pairs show the effectiveness, the simplicity and the fastness of the proposed approach to reveal details hidden by shadows and to obtain a high stereo matching rate.
Exploring meteorological droughts' spatial patterns across Europe through complex network theory

Abstract. In this paper we investigate the spatial patterns and features of meteorological droughts in Europe using concepts and methods derived from complex network theory. Using event synchronization analysis, we uncover robust meteorological drought continental networks based on the co-occurrence of these events at different locations within a season from 1981 to 2020 and compare the results for four accumulation periods of rainfall. Each continental network is then further examined to unveil regional clusters which are characterized in terms of droughts' geographical propagation and source–sink systems. While introducing new methodologies in general climate network reconstruction from raw data, our approach brings out key aspects concerning drought spatial dynamics, which could potentially support droughts' forecast.
Radio and X-ray observations of supernovae in dense environments

Abstract Here we discuss the observational properties of supernovae exploding in extremely dense environments, namely Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn). In SNe IIn, the surrounding environments play significant role in the supernovae energetics and evolution. Thus they are different than other classes of core collapse supernovae, whose energetics are not significantly altered by their environments. Though high density of medium is a prerequisite for radio and X-ray emission, less than 10% on SNe IIn are bright in these bands. This has important implications for their progenitor models. I will discuss the radio and X-ray observations of SNe IIn, which are crucial to unravel their complex environments. We also discuss some individual supernovae belonging to this class and discuss as to how they have refined our understanding of SNe IIn. Finally the importance of well sampled long term light curves in radio and X-ray bands cannot be stressed enough.
Polymorphism in pentaerythritol-derived ferrocenyl dithiophosphonates with intramolecular S-S coupling: a structural and computational study

Abstract Four new polymorphs (1–4) of pentaerythritol-derived ferrocenyl S-S coupled dithiophosphonates were obtained. The four polymorphs all crystallized in the monoclinic system but different space groups. Notable differences between polymorphs 3 and 4 lie in their respective unit cell parameters; a fifth polymorph 5 of the same compound crystallized in the orthorhombic system and was previously reported by us. Structural deviations between polymorphs were performed by molecular overlays and the statistical values were expressed as root mean square deviation (RMSD). The highest structural deviations were between polymorphs 1 & 4 and 2 & 4 with an RMSD of about 1.0 while polymorphs 3 & 4 had a smaller difference with an RMSD of about 0.25. The solid-state molecular organization in the five polymorphs was also studied and discussed in terms of molecular conformation, crystal packing and hydrogen-bonded networks. Polymorphs 1–5 contain a variety of intermolecular and intramolecular non-classical hydrogen bonding interactions which form hydrogen-bonded supramolecular architectures. In all polymorphs, these hydrogen bond interactions were between the hydrogen atoms of the substituted and unsubstituted ferrocenyl moiety and the adjoining sulfur atoms of the dithiophosphonate group. A DFT geometry optimization found that 2 had the lowest energy and verified the molecular overlay. The reactivity indices further proved 2 to be the most reactive. Graphical abstract
Numerical simulations of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013

by fast translation, rapid intensification and extremely intense intensity at such a low latitude. To understand the behavior of the typhoon and to improve the intensity prediction, numerical simulations were performed by a regional coupled atmosphere-wave-ocean model with a horizontal resolution of 2 km. The effect of sea spray was included in the regional coupled model. Even using the model with a horizontal resolution of 2 km, it was difficult to reproduce rapid intensification of the typhoon and the maximum intensity without the effect of sea spray. An issue on the impact of horizontal resolution of numerical models on the simulation will be addressed. The effect of sea spray was confined to the near-surface boundary layer and led the typhoon to intensify more rapidly. The effect of Haiyan-induced sea surface cooling on the maximum intensity was 10 hPa at the maximum due to the fast translation. In order to understand the effect of translation speed on sea surface cooling and resultant maximum intensity of a typhoon, numerical simulations were performed for Typhoon Mike in 1990 because the track was similar to Haiyan's track. The regional coupled model also simulated intensity changes of Typhoon Mike in 1990 realistically that underwent moderate intensification with the slow translation and large sea surface cooling.
Energy Management in Energy Intensive Industries - Recommended Technical & Managerial Actions and a Delphi Study

: This paper presents the proposition of a set of technical and managerial actions recommended for the management of energy in industry. Economic, environmental, political and social aspects have been putting pressure on the whole society for a more conscious and efficient use and consumption of energy in its diverse forms. Energy-intensive industries show a high energy consumption, they work with processes in severe temperature conditions, residual dissipation of heat and flux of not used residues, always being subject to great environment risks. These large-sized companies offer great
Development of 400 V-Tolerant Single-Event Effect Hardened 4H-SiC Schottky Diode With Linear Energy Transfer Upto 83.5 MeV⋅cm2/mg

A novel 4H-SiC junction barrier Schottky (JBS) with deep linear graded doping (DLGD) P junction structure is proposed and fabricated to enhance the radiation tolerance of Single-Event Effect (SEE). The radiation-hardened function of the proposed new structure is confirmed via two-dimensional numerical simulation and SEE experiment. The hardened device was tested under heavy ion irradiation with linear energy transfer (LET) up to 83.5 MeV $\cdot $ cm2/mg. Test results show that the single-event leakage current (SELC) threshold voltage of the hardened device is 400 V, which is the best SEE radiation-hardened performance reported so far for high-voltage 4H-SiC JBS. Compared with the state-of-the-art counterparts, this work is about 2 times improvement in SELC threshold voltage.
Hypothesis testing sure independence screening for nonparametric regression

In this paper we develop a sure independence screening method based on hypothesis testing (HT-SIS) in a general nonparametric regression model. The ranking utility is based on a powerful test statistic for the hypothesis of predictive significance of each available covariate. The sure screening property of HT-SIS is established, demonstrating that all active predictors will be retained with high probability as the sample size increases. The threshold parameter is chosen in a theoretically justified manner based on the desired false positive selection rate. Simulation results suggest that the proposed method performs competitively against procedures found in the literature of screening for several models, and outperforms them in some scenarios. A real dataset of microarray gene expressions is analyzed.
Systematic phenomenology on the landscape of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties

of Dissertation The largest known database of Calabi-Yau threefold string vacua was famously produced by Kreuzer and Skarke in the form of a complete construction of all 473,800,776 reflexive polyhedra that exist in four dimensions [1]. These reflexive polyhedra describe the singular limits of ambient Gorenstein toric Fano varieties in which Calabi-Yau threefolds are known to exist as the associated anticanonical hypersurfaces. In this thesis, we review how to unpack the topological and geometric information describing these Calabi-Yau threefolds using the toric construction, and provide, in a companion online database (see www.rossealtman.com), a detailed inventory of these quantities which are of interest to string phenomenologists. Many of the singular ambient varieties associated to the Kreuzer-Skarke list can be partially smoothed out into a multiplicity of distinct, terminal toric ambient spaces, each of which may embed a unique Calabi-Yau threefold. Some, however are not unique, and can be identified through topological and smoothness constraints. A distribution of the unique Calabi-Yau threefolds which can be obtained from each 4D reflexive polyhedron, will be provided up to current computational limits. In addition, we will detail the computation of a variety of quantities associated to each of these vacua, such as the Chern classes, Hodge data, intersection numbers, and the Kähler and Mori cones. Then, moving on to actual string phenomenology on the Calabi-Yau compactification vacua, we outline the prescription for moduli stabilization with a supersymmetry breaking vacuum known as the LARGE Volume Scenario (LVS), paying particular attention to the so-called “Swiss cheese” models. It is an important open problem in string model building to identify the set of Swiss cheese solutions within the space of Calabi-Yau threefolds. In this thesis, we present an algorithm to isolate a special subset of Swiss cheese solutions that are characterized by “holes,” or small 4-cycles in homology, descending from the toric iv divisors inherent to the original four dimensional reflexive polyhedra. Implementing these methods, we find 2, 313 “toric” Swiss cheese manifolds, over half of which have h = 6. Of these, 70 have two or more large 4-cycles and a flat direction in the effective potential. In an explicit example, we find a stable minimum for the small Kähler moduli and a flat direction in the large moduli. Finally, we approach the subject of orientifolding the Calabi-Yau threefold vacuum of a type IIB theory in order to break N = 2 supergravity down to N = 1 in the low energy effective theory. To this end, we describe the process of choosing a non-trivial Z2 involution, and locating its fixed points on the compactification manifold. It will be shown that consistency of this involution across the full Kähler cone is very restrictive and results in at most O3/O7 planes in nearly every case. We also discuss the splitting of the Kähler moduli space of the orientifold into even and odd parity components, and present concrete examples demonstrating this process.
Electronic Word of Mouth (E-Wom), Celebrity Endorsement and Lifestyle in The Interest of Buying Online Shop Products

Purpose: This research is motivated by the rise of commerce via the internet or so-called electronic commerce (E-commerce). From a businessman's point of view, this is an opportunity for them to increase their business by creating an online shop that is included in several marketplaces. Electronic Word of Mouth (e-wom) includes testimonials from someone who has bought, then there are also figures who are fond of using the product, namely Celebrity endorsers and student lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to reveal how these aspects influence buying interest. Design/methodology/approach: The method in this study uses a quantitative approach by describing multiple linear regressions. The sample research method used is non-probability sampling with the consideration that all populations cannot be used as a sample. The sample obtained was 200 students. Findings: Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded that there is a significant effect of E-WOM on the interest in buying online shop products, there is a significant influence of celebrity endorse on the interest in buying online products, there is a significant influence of lifestyle on the interest in buying online shop products, there is an effect of E-WOM, Celebrity Endorse. and lifestyle simultaneously on the interest in buying online shop products. Research limitations/implications: All respondents of this research are student. Practical implications: Result of this research can be used as references in creating interest in buying online product. Originality/value: This paper is original. Paper type: Research Paper.
A Sexism Analysis in English Textbook Used in Indonesian Schools' 7th Grade Entitled: “When English Rings a Bell” Published By the Ministry of Education and Culture

Sexism is a foundation where there is unequal treatment between men and women in society. This unequal treatment emphasizes the dominance of men over women. This research analyzed sexism in English textbook 7th grade entitled “When English Rings a Bell” Published by the Ministry of Education and Culture at Indonesia. This research used descriptive qualitative method and used six criteria of sexism based on NCTE guidelines for gender-fair use of language and also Porreca’s study to analyze the data, that are includes: generic he, generic man, titles, labels and names, occupational roles, omission, firstness. The technique of data analysis of this research adopted from Miles and Huberman theory. The aims of this research is to know the dominant criteria of sexism found in English textbook 7th grade entitled “When English Rings a Bell” Published by Ministry of Education and Culture at Indonesia. The results of this research shows that there are 5 criteria of sexism found in the English textbook 7th grade entitled “When English Rings a Bell” Published by Ministry of Education and Culture at Indonesia, that are includes: generic man, titles, labels and names, the occupational, omission, firstness. The dominant criteria’s of sexism found is omission criteria. Key words: EFL textbook, sexism, society
Maximally Distant Cross Domain Generators for Estimating Per-Sample Error

While in supervised learning, the validation error is an unbiased estimator of the generalization (test) error and complexity-based generalization bounds are abundant, no such bounds exist for learning a mapping in an unsupervised way. As a result, when training GANs and specifically when using GANs for learning to map between domains in a completely unsupervised way, one is forced to select the hyperparameters and the stopping epoch by subjectively examining multiple options. We propose a novel bound for predicting the success of unsupervised cross domain mapping methods, which is motivated by the recently proposed simplicity hypothesis. The bound can be applied both in expectation, for comparing hyperparameters, or per sample, in order to predict the success of a specific cross-domain translation. The utility of the bound is demonstrated in an extensive set of experiments employing multiple recent algorithms.
A General Approach to the Design of the Fractional-Order Superdirective Beamformer

The superdirective beamformer (SD) with a linear array exhibits the maximum directivity factor (DF) in the isotropic noise field. Previously, a fractional-order SD (FO-SD) has been designed to achieve a compromise between the robustness and the DF. However, this method may suffer from two limitations. First, it only considers the Jacobi-Anger expansion-based beampattern synthesis. Second, it cannot control the DF in spherically isotropic noise field. To address these problems, we propose a general approach to the design of the FO-SD, which is a linear combination of two SDs with the integer order that can be designed with any beampattern synthesis method. Moreover, the proposed approach is able to control the WNG and the DF in both spherically and cylindrically isotropic noise field. Computer simulations substantiate the effectiveness of the proposed FO-SD over the existing SDs.
Concerning the Dirac γ-Matrices Under a Lorentz Transformation of the Dirac Equation

We embolden the idea that the Dirac 4 × 4 γ-matrices are four-vectors where the space components (γ i) represent spin and the forth component (γ 0) should likewise represent the time component of spin in the usual four-vector formalism of the Special Theory of Relativity. With the γ-matrices as four-vectors, it is seen that the Dirac equation admits two kinds of wavefunctions – (1) the usual four component Dirac bispinor ψ and (2) a scalar four component bispinor φ. Realizing this, and knowing forehand of the existing mystery as to why Leptons and Neutrinos come in pairs, we seize the moment and make the suggestion that the pair (ψ, φ) can be used as a starting point to explain mystery of why in their three generations [(e ± , ν e), (µ ± , ν µ), (τ ± , ν τ)], Leptons and Neutrinos come in doublets. In this suggestion, the scalar-bispinor φ can be thought of as the Neutrino while the usual Dirac bispinor ψ can be thought of as the Lepton.
Physical-layer network coding for two-way relay channels

Network coding has emerged as an alternative technique to routing that enhances the throughput at the network layer. Recently, network coding has been applied at the physical layer to take advantage of the natural signal superposition that occurs in the radio link. In this context, the physical-layer network coding can be seen as an in-network processing strategy for which multiple forwarding schemes can be proposed. This thesis investigates a set of processing schemes tailored to the network coding at the physical layer with various compromises between performance and complexity. We consider a two-way relay channel, a typical communication system in cooperative networks, where two terminals communicate with each other via a relay node. This communication occurs during two transmission phases, namely a multiple-access phase and a broadcast phase. For TWRC scenario, we first analyze a decode-and-forward strategy with finite size alphabets. We calculate the end-to-end average error probabilities based on random coding error exponents. Then, we derive the achievable rate regions with respect to a maximal probability of error allowed at each terminal. Next, we propose two low-complexity and practical schemes based on compress-and-forward relaying strategy. The first scheme employs nested lattice coding. The second is an improved version which enables higher data rates for the user experiencing the best channel conditions. We present an information-theoretic framework to reconstruct the achievable rate regions of both schemes by considering optimal time division between both transmission phases. After the asymptotic regime analysis, we study single-layer lattice coding scheme with finite dimension lattices. We focus on the analog transmission problem where the distortion is optimized. Finally, we investigate single-layer lattice coding scheme for parallel Gaussian two-way relay channel. We present two achievable rate regions based on whether the relay processes all the sub-channels jointly or separately.
Lattice based low control quantum technology

The possibility to designing schemes useful for developing quantum technology devices of practical value necessitates exploiting quantum coherence effects in a scalable physical system in a feasible way. The broad aim of this thesis is to investigate the use of quantum non-equilibrium dynamics for the above, exploiting minimal control to accomplish highly coherent dynamics in a many-body system. How to harness the natural hopping dynamics of particles in a many-site lattice for controlled applications, is still an open question. Through the introduction of few impurities in the lattice potential, we devise a scheme to trigger effective tunable linear optics-like operations between arbitrary sites, that overcomes the limitations of setups based on coherent hopping dynamics, when particles are initially separated by many sites. Our scheme enables the generation of peculiar quantum interference effects as well as quantum metrology applications in a many-site lattice. We design a lattice coupling profile that enables perfect wave-packet splitting between mirror symmetric sites and leads to perfect wave-packet reconstruction, fractional revivals and perfect entanglement distribution, for arbitrary long chains. We prove that composite objects in a lattice, made of more particles initially in a lattice site, are a valuable resource for dynamically generating non-classical states between remote sites, tackling edge-localisation effects via local fields. Finally, we show how the spin independent scattering of two initially distant qubits, can be used to implement an entangling quantum gate between remote sites of a lattice. Our findings have potentially an impact on quantum information, as well as on atomic interferometry in a lattice.
No filter: navigating well-being in troubled times as social media influencers

ABSTRACT Social media influencers have the ability to impact the behaviours and attitudes of others (i.e. their followers), affecting people’s feelings of connectedness, and well-being. This has become particularly apparent during troubled times such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the importance of relationships and social interactions for people’s well-being. However, less attention has been paid to influencers’ own well-being in a monetised attention economy, which imposes tensions between the desire for authenticity and the self-presentations of influencers in online interactions. Using in-depth interviews and netnography as methodology, in this study we examine how the decision to engage with the topic of COVID-19 on social media impacted influencers’ well-being during the pandemic. We build on self-determination theory to reveal how the contentious nature of the subject led to internal struggles of influencers’ self-presentation, and elucidate how influencers navigated the boundaries of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in a quest for well-being.
Fast explicit diffiusion for long-time integration of parabolic problems

The goal of this paper is to motivate the application of the recent numerical scheme called Fast Explicit Diffusion (FED) to solve long-term parabolic problems. With the purpose of performing long integration times the FED method is a simple and fast explicit solver, which has been introduced in the field of image processing. We show that FED is at least as fast as standard implicit methods, often has comparable or even better accuracy and is much easier to implement.The goal of this paper is to motivate the application of the recent numerical scheme called Fast Explicit Diffusion (FED) to solve long-term parabolic problems. With the purpose of performing long integration times the FED method is a simple and fast explicit solver, which has been introduced in the field of image processing. We show that FED is at least as fast as standard implicit methods, often has comparable or even better accuracy and is much easier to implement.