Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation and 3D Reconstruction of Side-looking Sonar Images

Given the limited range and applicability of visual imaging systems in the underwater environment, sonar has been the preferred solution for the observation of the seabed since its inception in the 1950s (Blondel 2002). The images produced by the most commonly used side-looking sonars (side-scan and, more recently, synthetic aperture sonars) contain information on the backscatter strength recorded at every given range. This backscatter strength mainly depends on the composition and the orientation of the observed surfaces with respect to the sensor. In this chapter, the relations between surface properties (bathymetry, reflectivity) and the images resulting when the surface is observed by side-looking sonar (backscatter strength) are studied. The characterization of this sonar imaging process can be used in two ways: by applying the forward image formation model, sonar images can be synthesized from a given 3D mesh; conversely, by inverting the image formation model, a 3D mesh can be estimated from a given side-looking sonar image. The chapter is thus divided in two main parts, each discussing these forward and inverse processes. The typical imaging sensor considered here is an active side-looking sonar with a frequency of hundreds of kilohertz, which usually allows for sub-decimetre resolution in range and azimuth.
Psychometric validation of the Flourishing-at-Work Scale – Short Form (FWS-SF): Results and implications of a South African study

The aim of this study was to validate the Flourishing-at-Work Scale Short Form (FWS-SF) in a South African fast-moving consumable goods industry. Participants were a stratified random sample of 779 employees of an alcoholic beverage company (female = 40.4%, black = 33.4%). The FWS-SF and a biographical questionnaire were administered. Latent variable modelling was applied to assess the psychometric properties of the FWS-SF. The results supported the three-factor structure of FWS-SF. Scores from the FWS-SM showed acceptable reliability. A total of 8% of participants were languishing, while 35.9% were flourishing. The FWS-SF appears valid for research use in assessing the work-related well-being of individuals in organisations.
Family Friendly Corporate Culture and Work-Family Conflict among Employees with Shift Work

Resumen El numero de personas que compaginan de forma simul­tanea el trabajo con las responsabilidades familiares ha aumentado en Espana de forma considerable en estas tres ultimas decadas. Entre otras razones esto puede ser con­secuencia del aumento de familias monoparentales, de la incorporacion de la mujer al mundo laboral y emprende­dor, de la existencia de parejas con dobles carreras profe­sionales y con diferentes horarios. Esta influencia reci­proca entre los contextos laboral y no laboral puede tra­ducirse en una situacion de equilibrio o en un conflicto. Se ha identificado una relacion negativa entre las politi­cas de conciliacion y las experiencias de conflicto traba­jo-familia (Poelmans, 2001), tambien se ha detectado el efecto moderador del apoyo social. Esta ultima intima­mente relacionada con la cultura organizacional de conci­liacion trabajo-familia. El objetivo del presente estudio consiste en realizar un analisis de la relacion existente entre la cultura de conciliacion trabajo-familia en la or­ganizacion y la percepcion conflicto trabajo/familia en trabajadores de una institucion publica perteneciente al sector de la seguridad con diferentes turnos de trabajo. Los resultados indican una relacion significativa entre los turnos laborales y la percepcion de conflicto en la que la cultura de conciliacion no parece ejercer un efecto mode­rador significativo. Abstract The number of people who simultaneously combine work with family responsibilities has increased greatly in Spain in the last three decades. Among other reasons, this phenomenon is due to a growing of single-parent families, participation of women in the labor market and entrepreneurship and dual-career couples managing different schedules. That reciprocal influence of labor on non-labor situations it translates into conflict or a general equilibrium context. A negative relationship between experiences of work-family conflict and reconciliation policies has been identified (Poelmans, 2001) and moderating effect of social support has also been detected. This latter one is closely associated with the organization’s culture related to family-work life balance. The aim of the present study is to analyze the relationship between organizations’ work-family conciliation cultures and perception of work-family conflict in shift work. All participants are employees working in the public security sector and the results showed a significant relationship between employee’s perception of work-family conflict and shift work. Likewise, it seems that moderation effect of culture conciliation is not significant in our analysis.
Data Mining, Knowledge Acquisition DATABASE SERVER USAGE IN THE SOCIAL NETWORKS ANALYSIS

: In the field of computer science, topics regarding analysis of social networks grows more and more popular. It stems from the fact that the knowledge hidden in connections between people might enable us to answer many questions concerning various areas of life. When analyzing social networks, we are usually interested in such information as – network structure, how it is managed and what is the scheme of flow of goods or information. When starting a study of processes taking place in social networks it can be noticed that a lot of data subject to analysis is stored in structures of databases. Thus, database server’s capabilities in terms of social network examining and assigning roles to its members are worth analysing. The aim of this paper is to present studies regarding using a database serve to gather data on social networks and mechanisms it provides to specify the type of connections between network elements. One of the tasks of social network analysis is a graphic visualization of connections between various objects existing in the field of interest of a conducted research. The most convenient representation of such is a graph. Ensuring a possibility to gather data for a permanent storage and at the same time effectively operate on them required designing appropriate data structures. It was decided, that the relational database meets the demands. The basic structure of the proposed data model covers vital graph elements along with a description of their qualities. Analysis of social networks presented as graphs poses a challenge when it consists of a huge number of nodes and connections between them. One of the most important functions for presenting a social network is to make it possible to locate and visualize only fragments of the whole graph in order to make analyses more effective. In the research, the mechanism for limiting set of nodes (creating sub-graphs, called paths for the purpose of this research) and for aggregating elements of a graph were prepared. Moreover, problem of graph search was also taken into consideration. The two algorithms, BFS and Dijkstra's, were implemented as a database procedures. Effectiveness of the operation of the first of algorithms was compared with its implementation in the. NET environment as well.
Bo(V)W models for object recognition from video

In this paper we introduce two novel methods for object recognition from video. Our major contributions are (i) the use of dense, overlapping local descriptors as means of accurately capturing the appearance of generic, even untextured objects, (ii) a framework for employing such sets for recognition using video, (iii) a detailed empirical examination of different aspects of the proposed model and (iv) a comparative performance evaluation on a large object database. We describe and compare two bag-of-visual-words (BoVW)-based representations of an object's appearance in a video sequence, one using a per-sequence bag-of-words and one using a set of per-frame bag-of-words. Empirical results demonstrate the effectiveness of both representations with a somewhat favourable performance of the former.
Non-invasive Laplacian Electrocardiography and Moment of Activation Mapping

Laplacian Electrocardiogram (LECG) is a non-invasive approach providing high spatiotemporal distributed information of cardiac electrical activity. Recently researchers have recorded surface potentials from monopolar disc electrodes to estimate the Laplacian using finite difference algorithms or spline surface Laplacian estimators. Bipolar and quasi-bipolar electrodes have also been used to record LECG directly. Here based on the "Nine Point Method" (NPM), Laplacian tripolar concentric ring electrode active sensors were designed. High spatiotemporal resolution body surface LECG using the new tripolar active sensors was recorded. Moment of activation (MOA) isochronal maps used to detect cardiac electrical activation patterns exhibited on the body surface was also generated
Retrieving Topological Information for Phase Field Models

The phase field approach has become a popular tool in modeling interface motion, microstructure evolution, and more recently the shape transformation of vesicle membranes under elastic bending energy. While it is advantageous to employ phase field models in numerical simu- lations to automatically handle topological changes to the microstructures or the configurations of vesicle membranes, detecting topological events may also become important for many applications such as those in the simulation of blood cells. Motivated by such considerations, a new quantity is formulated to retrieve some topological information based on the phase field formulation and to capture the occurrence of topological events. It can also be used as a control method to avoid unphys- ical changes of topology due to the numerical methods, should it become necessary for particular practical applications. Through numerical experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness and the robustness of the new quantity in detecting the topology of fluid bubbles and vesicle membranes.
Finger force of exploratory movements is adapted to the compliance of deformable objects

In this experiment we investigated the influence of stimulus properties on exploratory movement parameters in active touch. More precisely, we investigated whether and to what extent variations in stimulus compliance influence the executed finger force and velocity of the exploratory movements. Therefore, we varied the compliance of silicon rubber stimuli with deformable surfaces. Participants freely explored pairwise presented stimuli with a bare finger, and were asked to select the softer one. We found that both exploratory force and velocity depended on the compliance of the stimulus. Our results suggest in particular that observers strategically adapt their maximum finger force to the expected softness of the stimulus.
Approximate enumerative coding for 2-D constraints through ratios of maprix Products

We show how to improve on the technique of approximate enumerative coding for a family of two-dimensional constraints by encoding according to lower bounds based on the worst-case behavior of certain ratios of matrix products. For the case of the two-dimensional (d=2;∞) run-length limited (RLL) constraint, the improved approach yields a lower bound of 0:4453 on the capacity of the constraint.
Pulmonary Toxicity of Instilled Silver Nanoparticles: Influence of Size, Coating and Rat Strain

Particle size and surface chemistry are potential determinants of silver nanoparticle (AgNP) respiratory toxicity that may also depend on the lung inflammatory state. We compared the effects of intratracheally-administered AgNPs (20nm and 110nm; polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and citrate-capped; 0.1 mg/Kg) in Brown-Norway (BN) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. In BN rats, there was both a neutrophilic and eosinophilic response, while in SD rats, there was a neutrophilic response at day 1, greatest for the 20nm citrate-capped AgNPs. Eosinophilic cationic protein was increased in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in BN and SD rats on day 1. BAL protein and malondialdehyde levels were increased in BN rats at 1 and 7 days, and BAL KC, CCL11 and IL-13 levels at day 1, with increased expression of CCL11 in lung tissue. Pulmonary resistance increased and compliance decreased at day 1, with persistence at day 7. The 20nm, but not the 110 nm, AgNPs increased bronchial hyperresponsiveness on day 1, which continued at day 7 for the citrate-capped AgNPs only. The 20nm versus the 110 nm size were more proinflammatory in terms of neutrophil influx, but there was little difference between the citrate-capped versus the PVP-capped AgNPs. AgNPs can induce pulmonary eosinophilic and neutrophilic inflammation with bronchial hyperresponsiveness, features characteristic of asthma.
Cognitive Paleoanthropology and Technology: Toward a Parsimonious Theory (PATH)

Tool use in humans and hominins (i.e., extant relatives to humans) is unique in several respects. To date, no attempt has been made to review the main patterns of tool behavior specific to these species as well as to integrate them into a coherent framework. The aim here is to fill this gap by (a) identifying these behavioral specificities and (b) trying to explain the greatest number of these specificities with the lowest number of cognitive mechanisms. Based on this approach, this article provides a potential solution, namely, the PArsimonious THeory of hominin technology (PATH), aiming to account for the cognitive origins of 4 behavioral characteristics: transfer, complex tool use, secondary tool use, and tool saving. A key hypothesis is that the emergence of 2 breaking mechanisms—technical reasoning and semantic reasoning—could have boosted hominin technology. PATH offers an original framework for understanding the most archaic, human cognitive traits, thereby providing a good starting point for future investigation about the cognitive evolution of technology in the genus Homo.
Miniaturization of microstrip patch antenna using metamaterial loaded with SRR

A size reduction technique of the microstrip patch antenna using metamaterial has been proposed. In order to establish that, inset-fed microstrip patch antenna working with L-S band (2 GHz - 5 GHz) is optimized through the available closed form relations and CST (computer simulation technology) simulator, fabricated and measured. Then proposed microstrip patch antenna has been loaded with complementary split-ring resonator (CSRR) at the ground plane, fabricated and measured. Performance of both the antenna was compared with respect to reflection coefficient, in order to prove the miniaturization. Beforehand, a metamaterial property of the CSRR loaded substrate is verified using transmission line model. Proposed method shows significant reduction in the antenna size for the specific resonance frequency of operation.
Refinement as Inclusion of Predicates over Programs

An approach to refinement is described: (1) formalize the syntax and semantics of the target programming language; (2) specify the requirements by defining a predicate over programs that characterizes the possible implementations; (3) refine the specification stepwise by defining monotonically decreasing predicates over programs, according to decisions that narrow down the possible implementations; (4) conclude with a predicate that characterizes a unique program in explicit syntactic form, from which the program text is obtained. These activities are carried out using a general-purpose logical language, preferably inside a theorem prover, ideally extended with automated transformations and with a very simple code generator. The approach is more direct than existing refinement formalisms. 1 Refinement in the Literature
PERMUTATIONS AVOIDING A PAIR OF GENERALIZED PATTERNS OF LENGTH THREE WITH EXACTLY ONE ADJACENT PAIR OF LETTERS

Abstract. In [1] Babson and Steingŕımsson introduced generalized permutation patterns that allow the requirement that two adjacent letters in a pattern must be adjacent in the permutation. Claesson [2] presented a complete solution for the number of permutations avoiding any single (generalized) pattern of length three with exactly one adjacent pair of letters. For eight of these twelve patterns the answer is given by the Bell numbers. For the remaining four the answer is given by the Catalan numbers. In the present paper we give a complete solution for the number of permutations avoiding a pair of patterns of length three with exactly one adjacent pair of letters. We also conjecture the number of permutations avoiding the patterns in any set of three or more patterns.
Immunohematological Reference Ranges for Adults from the Central African Republic

ABSTRACT A survey was carried out on 150 healthy adults to establish hematological reference ranges for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative adults from the Central African Republic (CAR). Immunohematological mean values, medians, and 95th-percentile reference ranges were established. Mean values were as follows: leukocyte (WBC) counts, 5.28 × 109/liter (males) and 5.11 × 109/liter (females); erythrocyte counts, 5.20 × 1012/liter (males) and 4.50 × 1012/liter (females); hemoglobin, 15.1 g/dl (males) and 12.5 g/dl (females); hematocrit, 45% (males) and 37% (females); lymphocytes, 2,587/μl (males) and 2,466/μl (females); CD4 T cells, 927/μl (males) and 940/μl (females); CD8 T cells, 898/μl (males) and 716/μl (females); and CD4/CD8 T-cell ratio, 1.13 (males) and 1.41 (females). We concluded that (i) the WBC and hemoglobin values of healthy HIV-negative adults from the CAR are lower than the reference values currently used in the CAR and (ii) the absolute CD4 T-cell counts of healthy HIV-negative adults from the CAR are similar to values for Europeans but the absolute CD8 T-cell counts are much higher. Thus, the CD4/CD8 T-cell ratios for healthy adults from the CAR are significantly reduced compared to the ratios for healthy Europeans.
Two Level Language Models for Improving the Performance of Tamil Speech Recognition

This paper deals with improving the performance of Tamil speech recognition system, by using two level language models based on phonemes and syllables. The read speech data was normalized and segmented into phoneme sequences using the phoneme segmentation algorithm implemented for Tamil language. A phoneme recognition system converted the segmented phonemes to their corresponding graphemes. The errors in the recognized graphemes were identified and rectified using phoneme based language model. The performance of the recognition system was further improved by combining the graphemes to form the syllable sequences and by applying syllabification rules and syllable based language models to identify the errors in the identified grapheme sequences.
Multilevel Adaptive Particle Methods for Convection-Diffusion Equations

We present novel multilevel particle methods with extended adaptivity in areas where increased resolution is required. We present two complementary approaches as inspired by r-adaptivity and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) concepts introduced in finite difference and finite element schemes. For the r-adaptivity a new class of particle based mapping functions is introduced while the particle-AMR method uses particle remeshing in overlapping domains as a key element. The advantages and drawbacks of the proposed particle methods are illustrated based on results from the solution of one-dimensional convection-diffusion equations while the extension of the method to higher dimensions is demonstrated in simulations of the inviscid evolution of an elliptical vortex.
Moral cognition : an interdisciplinary investigation of judgment versus action

Parts of this thesis have been published or submitted for publication: Chapter 1 Terbeck, S. , & Francis, K. B. (2017). We should if we could, but we can’t. Experimental problems with moral enhancement. In: M. Hauskeller (Ed). Moral enhancement. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2 Francis, K. B. , Howard, C. , Howard, I. S. , Gummerum, M. , Ganis, G. , Anderson, G. , & Terbeck, S. (2016). Virtual morality: Transitioning from moral judgment to moral action? PLoS One. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone. 0164374 Chapter 3 Francis, K. B. , Terbeck, S. , Briazu, R. A. , Haines, A. , Gummerum, M. , Ganis, G. , & Howard, I. S. (2017). Moral muscles: Simulating harm in virtual moral dilemmas. Under Review. Chapter 5 Francis, K. B. , Gummerum, M. , Ganis, G. , Howard, I. S. , & Terbeck, S. , (2017). Virtual morality in the helping professions: Simulated action and resilience. Submitted.
A measure of compression gain for new symbols in data-compression

Huffman encoding is often improved by using block codes, for example a 3-block would be an alphabet consisting of each possible combination of three characters. We take the approach of starting with a base alphabet and expanding it to include frequently occurring aggregates of symbols. We prove that the change in compressed message length by the introduction of a new aggregate symbol can be expressed as the difference of two entropies, dependent only on the probabilities and length of the introduced symbol. The expression is independent of the probability of all other symbols in the alphabet. This measure of information gain, for a new symbol, can be applied in data compression methods. We also demonstrate that aggregate symbol alphabets, as opposed to mutually exclusive alphabets have the potential to provide good levels of compression, with a simple experiment. Finally, compression gain as defined in this paper may also be useful for feature selection.
Research of semantic active service mechanism for wireless sensor networks in intelligent building

A semantic active service model is proposed for the wireless sensor network in intelligent buildings, considering the characteristics of wireless sensor networks such as multi-nodes and intelligent. This paper discusses some key technologies for achieving the model and describes the service with OWL-S semantic ontology description language. It also proposed a timeliness and high self-adaptable method of service matching and composition for the user-oriented active services under the wireless sensor networks.
Robust Image Hashing Based on Random Gabor Filtering and Dithered Lattice Vector Quantization

In this paper, we propose a robust-hash function based on random Gabor filtering and dithered lattice vector quantization (LVQ). In order to enhance the robustness against rotation manipulations, the conventional Gabor filter is adapted to be rotation invariant, and the rotation-invariant filter is randomized to facilitate secure feature extraction. Particularly, a novel dithered-LVQ-based quantization scheme is proposed for robust hashing. The dithered-LVQ-based quantization scheme is well suited for robust hashing with several desirable features, including better tradeoff between robustness and discrimination, higher randomness, and secrecy, which are validated by analytical and experimental results. The performance of the proposed hashing algorithm is evaluated over a test image database under various content-preserving manipulations. The proposed hashing algorithm shows superior robustness and discrimination performance compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms, particularly in the robustness against rotations (of large degrees).