Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new classification to acquire agricultural crop layout with TM data

This paper mainly discusses a specific classification which is used to acquire the agricultural crop layout with the remote sensing data. The remote sensing image classification is the key technique to advance the precision of acquiring the information. We proposed that the precision of the classification and the speed of calculation can be improved by the Back Propagation Neural Network Model, and the advanced model can be used to acquire the agricultural crop layout with the remote sensing information as well. The experiment result presents that, compared with general methods, this new classification can effectively advance the precision of acquire agricultural crop layout, and it can partially resolve the problem of the different crop types with the same spectrums or the same type with different spectrum. Keywords– Back Propagation Neural Network , Crop Layout, Simulated Annealing, Image Classification.
Semi-blind CFO, channel estimation and data detection for OFDM systems over doubly selective channels

Semi-blind joint CFO, channel estimation and data detection for OFDM systems over doubly selective channels (DSCs) is investigated in this work. A joint iterative algorithm is developed based on the maximum a posteriori expectation-maximization (MAP-EM) algorithm. In addition, a novel algorithm is also proposed to obtain the initial estimates of CFO and channels. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed CFO and channel estimators approaches to that of the estimators with full training at high SNRs. Moreover, after convergence, the performance of data detection is close to the ideal case with perfect CFO and channel state information.
Afferent and Efferent Connections of Temporal Association Cortex in the Rat: A Horseradish Peroxidase Study

We studied the afferent and efferent connections of the caudal temporal cortex in rat using the tracer wheat germ agglutinin – horseradish peroxidase (WGA–HRP). This area is reciprocally connected with primary and secondary visual and auditory areas of cortex. The connections with primary visual cortex are restricted to the ventral and caudal parts of the caudal temporal area. Caudal temporal cortex has reciprocal connections with the perirhinal cortex and projects to the caudate ‐ putamen and lateral and basolateral nuclei of the amygdala. It also has reciprocal connections with the nucleus lateral is posterior, the dorsal and medial divisions of the medial geniculate nucleus and the caudal part of the posterior nucleus of the thalamus. It projects to the deep layers of the superior colliculus, the pericentral nucleus of the inferior colliculus and to the ventral nucleus of the basilar pons. Our results suggest that the rat caudal temporal cortex forms part of a pathway that connects visual and auditory cortex with the limbic system, by the way of the amygdala and perirhinal cortex.
Life and death in otolaryngology: mechanisms of apoptosis and its role in the pathology and treatment of disease.

OBJECTIVES To review recent advances in our understanding of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, and discuss implications of these basic science advances in our understanding of causes and potential treatments of a variety of diseases of the head and neck. DATA SOURCES Basic science literature relevant to the study of apoptosis and its clinical implications. CONCLUSIONS Apoptosis is now understood to be important in the normal development and survival of all multicellular organisms. Deregulation of this normally tightly controlled process underlies a variety of disease states, including neoplasia, autoimmune disease, and disorders of the central nervous system. A better understanding of this process and its regulation may help otolaryngologists better understand diseases relevant to this specialty and will lead to improved therapeutic interventions.
Numerical analysis of asphalt mixture and comparison with physical Marshall test

AbstractThis paper addresses simulation of asphalt on the macroscopic scale, using the Discrete Element Model (DEM). Asphalt mixture is considered as a particulate solid composed of relatively stiff deformable layered spherical particles embedded into a homogenised matrix. The discrete model presents a 3D network of one-dimensional elements connecting particle's centres and comprising mutual interaction of particles. The contribution of the film layer and the interface thickness for normal stiffness is described analytically and illustrated by simulation results. Development of the normal interaction model of layered particles contacting via interface on the meso scale is the key point of the current development. The model applied aiming to simulate deformation of asphalt mixture is able to capture properties of the weaker matrix interface while layered particle comprises of bitumen film in meso scale. The developed technique is applied for simulation of Marshall test, i.e. diametric compression of cylind.
Approximating Dynamic Time Warping and Edit Distance for a Pair of Point Sequences

We give the first subquadratic-time approximation schemes for dynamic time warping (DTW) and edit distance (ED) of several natural families of point sequences in $\mathbb{R}^d$, for any fixed $d \ge 1$. In particular, our algorithms compute $(1+\varepsilon)$-approximations of DTW and ED in time near-linear for point sequences drawn from k-packed or k-bounded curves, and subquadratic for backbone sequences. Roughly speaking, a curve is $\kappa$-packed if the length of its intersection with any ball of radius $r$ is at most $\kappa \cdot r$, and a curve is $\kappa$-bounded if the sub-curve between two curve points does not go too far from the two points compared to the distance between the two points. In backbone sequences, consecutive points are spaced at approximately equal distances apart, and no two points lie very close together. Recent results suggest that a subquadratic algorithm for DTW or ED is unlikely for an arbitrary pair of point sequences even for $d=1$. Our algorithms work by constructing a small set of rectangular regions that cover the entries of the dynamic programming table commonly used for these distance measures. The weights of entries inside each rectangle are roughly the same, so we are able to use efficient procedures to approximately compute the cheapest paths through these rectangles.
Pruning strategies for the MTiling constructive learning algorithm

We present a framework for incorporating pruning strategies in the MTiling constructive neural network learning algorithm. Pruning involves elimination of redundant elements (connection weights or neurons) from a network and is of considerable practical interest. We describe three elementary sensitivity based strategies for pruning neurons. Experimental results demonstrate a moderate to significant reduction in the network size without compromising the network's generalization performance.
HIV-exposed infants: rethinking care for a lifelong condition

Each year over a million infants are born to HIV-infected mothers. With scale up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) interventions, only 210 000 of the 1.3 million infants born to mothers with HIV/AIDS in 2012 became infected. Current programmatic efforts directed at infants born to HIV-infected mothers are primarily focused on decreasing their risk of infection, but an emphasis on maternal interventions has meant follow-up of exposed infants has been poor. Programs are struggling to retain this population in care until the end of exposure, typically at the cessation of breastfeeding, between 12 and 24 months of age. But HIV exposure is a life-long condition that continues to impact the health and well being of a child long after exposure has ended. A better understanding of the impact of HIV on exposed infants is needed and new programs and interventions must take into consideration the long-term health needs of this growing population. The introduction of lifelong treatment for all HIV-infected pregnant women is an opportunity to rethink how we provide services adapted for the long-term retention of mother–infant pairs.
When Whole-Genome Alignments Just Won't Work: kSNP v2 Software for Alignment-Free SNP Discovery and Phylogenetics of Hundreds of Microbial Genomes

Effective use of rapid and inexpensive whole genome sequencing for microbes requires fast, memory efficient bioinformatics tools for sequence comparison. The kSNP v2 software finds single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in whole genome data. kSNP v2 has numerous improvements over kSNP v1 including SNP gene annotation; better scaling for draft genomes available as assembled contigs or raw, unassembled reads; a tool to identify the optimal value of k; distribution of packages of executables for Linux and Mac OS X for ease of installation and user-friendly use; and a detailed User Guide. SNP discovery is based on k-mer analysis, and requires no multiple sequence alignment or the selection of a single reference genome. Most target sets with hundreds of genomes complete in minutes to hours. SNP phylogenies are built by maximum likelihood, parsimony, and distance, based on all SNPs, only core SNPs, or SNPs present in some intermediate user-specified fraction of targets. The SNP-based trees that result are consistent with known taxonomy. kSNP v2 can handle many gigabases of sequence in a single run, and if one or more annotated genomes are included in the target set, SNPs are annotated with protein coding and other information (UTRs, etc.) from Genbank file(s). We demonstrate application of kSNP v2 on sets of viral and bacterial genomes, and discuss in detail analysis of a set of 68 finished E. coli and Shigella genomes and a set of the same genomes to which have been added 47 assemblies and four “raw read” genomes of H104:H4 strains from the recent European E. coli outbreak that resulted in both bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and caused at least 50 deaths.
Multi-segment evolution of dungeon game levels

This paper presents a generative technique for game levels, focusing on expansive dungeon levels. The proposed two-step evolutionary process creates a high-level overview of the map, which is then used to specify constraints and objectives on multiple constrained optimization algorithms which generate the high-resolution segments of the map. Results show how different types of segments are possible, and how the different connectivity constraints and objectives affect the performance of the algorithm. The modular approach, which allows for a high-level specification of the level first and the subsequent compartmentalized generation of the final map's components, is both scalable and more computationally efficient than a direct encoding, while it allows for more control and user intervention on either level of detail.
“ Location Discovery and Location Error Analysis in Wireless Sensor Networks ” Major : Embedded Network Systems

Networks of wireless microsensors for monitoring physical environments have emerged as an important new application area for wireless technology. Key attributes of these new types of networked systems are the severely constrained computational and energy resources, and an ad hoc operational environment. This paper is a study of the communication security aspects of these networks. Resource limitations and specific architecture of sensor networks call for customized security mechanisms. Our approach is to classify the types of data existing in sensor networks, and identify possible communication security threats according to that classification. We propose a communication security scheme where for each type of data we define a corresponding security mechanism. By employing this multitiered security architecture where each mechanism has different resource requirements, we allow for efficient resource management, which is essential for wireless sensor networks. Keywords—wireless, sensor, networks, communication
A systems-level approach reveals new gene regulatory modules in the developing ear

The inner ear is a complex vertebrate sense organ, yet it arises from a simple epithelium, the otic placode. Specification towards otic fate requires diverse signals and transcriptional inputs that act sequentially and/or in parallel. Using the chick embryo, we uncover novel genes in the gene regulatory network underlying otic commitment and reveal dynamic changes in gene expression. Functional analysis of selected transcription factors reveals the genetic hierarchy underlying the transition from progenitor to committed precursor, integrating known and novel molecular players. Our results not only characterize the otic transcriptome in unprecedented detail, but also identify new gene interactions responsible for inner ear development and for the segregation of the otic lineage from epibranchial progenitors. By recapitulating the embryonic programme, the genes and genetic sub-circuits discovered here might be useful for reprogramming naïve cells towards otic identity to restore hearing loss. Summary: Transcriptome analysis and knock down of select transcription factors reveals a genetic hierarchy as cells become committed to inner ear fate.
App-Bisect: Autonomous Healing for Microservice-Based Apps

The microservice and DevOps approach to software design has resulted in new software features being delivered immediately to users, instead of waiting for long refresh cycles. On the downside, software bugs and performance regressions have now become an important cause of downtime. We propose app-bisect, an autonomous tool to troubleshoot and repair such software issues in production environments. Our insight is that the evolution of microservices in an application can be captured as mutations to the graph of microservice dependencies, such that a particular version of the graph from the past can be deployed automatically, as an interim measure until the problem is permanently fixed. Using canary testing and version-aware routing techniques, we describe how the search process can be sped up to identify such a candidate version. We present the overall design and key challenges towards implementing such a system.
Cache Optimization for Structured and Unstructured Grid Multigrid

Many current computer designs employ caches and a hierarchical memory architecture. The speed of a code depends on how well the cache structure is exploited. The number of cache misses provides a better measure for comparing algorithms than the number of multiplies. In this paper, suitable blocking strategies for both structured and unstructured grids will be introduced. They improve the cache usage without changing the underlying algorithm. In particular, bitwise compatibility is guaranteed between the standard and the high performance implementations of the algorithms. This is illustrated by comparisons for various multigrid algorithms on a selection of different computers for problems in two and three dimensions. The code restructuring can yield performance improvements of factors of 2-5. This allows the modified codes to achieve a much higher percentage of the peak performance of the CPU than is usually observed with standard implementations.
Admissions processes for five year medical courses at English schools: review

Abstract Objective To describe the current methods used by English medical schools to identify prospective medical students for admission to the five year degree course. Design Review study including documentary analysis and interviews with admissions tutors. Setting All schools (n = 22) participating in the national expansion of medical schools programme in England. Results Though there is some commonality across schools with regard to the criteria used to select future students (academic ability coupled with a “well rounded” personality demonstrated by motivation for medicine, extracurricular interests, and experience of team working and leadership skills) the processes used vary substantially. Some schools do not interview; some shortlist for interview only on predicted academic performance while those that shortlist on a wider range of non-academic criteria use various techniques and tools to do so. Some schools use information presented in the candidate's personal statement and referee's report while others ignore this because of concerns over bias. A few schools seek additional information from supplementary questionnaires filled in by the candidates. Once students are shortlisted, interviews vary in terms of length, panel composition, structure, content, and scoring methods. Conclusion The stated criteria for admission to medical school show commonality. Universities differ greatly, however, in how they apply these criteria and in the methods used to select students. Different approaches to admissions should be developed and tested.
Reliability of the Barthel Index when used with older people.

OBJECTIVE the Barthel Index (BI) has been recommended for the functional assessment of older people but the reliability of the measure for this patient group is uncertain. To investigate this issue we undertook a systematic review to identify relevant studies from which an overview is presented. METHOD studies investigating the reliability of the BI were obtained by searching Medline, Cinahl and Embase to January 2003. Screening for potentially relevant papers and data extraction of the studies meeting the inclusion criteria were carried out independently by two researchers. RESULTS the scope of the 12 studies identified included all the common clinical settings relevant to older people. No study investigated test-retest reliability. Inter-rater reliability was reported as 'fair' to 'moderate' agreement for individual BI items, and a high percentage agreement for the total BI score. However, these findings were difficult to interpret as few studies reported the prevalence of the disability categories for the study populations. There may be considerable inter-observer disagreement (95% CI of +/-4 points). There was evidence that the BI might be less reliable in patients with cognitive impairment and when scores obtained by patient interview are compared with patient testing. The role of assessor training and/or guidelines on the reliability of the BI has not been investigated. CONCLUSIONS although the BI is highly recommended, there remain important uncertainties concerning its reliability when used with older people. Further studies are justified to investigate this issue.
Text Generation for Brazilian Portuguese: the Surface Realization Task

Despite the growing interest in NLP focused on the Brazilian Portuguese language in recent years, its obvious counterpart -- Natural Language Generation (NLG) -- remains in that case a little-explored research field. In this paper we describe preliminary results of a first project of this kind, addressing the issue of surface realization for Brazilian Portuguese. Our approach, which may be particularly suitable to simpler NLG applications in which a domain corpus of the most likely output sentences happens to be available, is in principle adaptable to many closely-related languages, and paves the way to further NLG research focused on Romance languages in general.
Physical register inlining

Physical register access time increases the delay between scheduling and execution in modern out-of-order processors. As the number of physical registers increases, this delay grows, forcing designers to employ register files with multicycle access. This paper advocates more efficient utilization of a fewer number of physical registers in order to reduce the access time of the physical register file. Register values with few significant bits are stored in the rename map using physical register inlining, a scheme analogous to inlining of operand fields in data structures. Specifically, whenever a register value can be expressed with fewer bits than the register map would need to specify a physical register number, the value is stored directly in the map, avoiding the indirection, and saving space in the physical register file. Not surprisingly, we find that a significant portion of all register operands can be stored in the map in this fashion, and describe straightforward microarchitectural extensions that correctly implement physical register inlining. We find that physical register inlining performs well, particularly in processors that are register-constrained.
VOIP APPLICATIONS OVER MANET: CODEC PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT BY TUNING ROUTING PROTOCOL PARAMETERS

Abstract—Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) may provide good services through Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANets) platform. It may cover many application scenarios range from safety to comfort related services. However, these networks introduce many challenges for supporting voice with QoS requirements. In this study, we take the first step in addressing the practical issues related to deploying voice call services over MANet. The approach is based on voice streaming between nodes rely on multihop by means of simulation. For this task, a performance evaluation of various voice codecs and its impact on quality of service metrics will be analyzed. Moreover, we study the impact of routing protocol parameter settings on codecs performance. The quality of the voice transmission, using different codecs, is measured and presented in terms of both network and user level metrics. This performance evaluation showed that selecting codec combined with tuning routing parameters, lead to optimal call quality.
Progress in database search strategies

Retrieval speed and precision ultimately determine the success of any database system. This article outlines the challenges posed by distributed and heterogeneous database systems, including those that store unstructured data, and surveys recent work. Much work remains to help users retrieve information with ease and efficiency from a heterogeneous environment in which relational, object-oriented, textual, and pictorial databases coexist. The article outlines the progress that has been made in query processing in distributed relational database systems and heterogeneous and multidatabase systems. <<ETX>>
Importance-driven volume rendering

This work introduces importance-driven volume rendering as a novel technique for automatic focus and context display of volumetric data. Our technique is a generalization of cut-away views, which - depending on the viewpoint - remove or suppress less important parts of a scene to reveal more important underlying information. We automatize and apply this idea to volumetric data. Each part of the volumetric data is assigned an object importance, which encodes visibility priority. This property determines which structures should be readily discernible and which structures are less important. In those image regions, where an object occludes more important structures it is displayed more sparsely than in those areas where no occlusion occurs. Thus the objects of interest are clearly visible. For each object several representations, i.e., levels of sparseness, are specified. The display of an individual object may incorporate different levels of sparseness. The goal is to emphasize important structures and to maximize the information content in the final image. This work also discusses several possible schemes for level of sparseness specification and different ways how object importance can be composited to determine the final appearance of a particular object.