Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization without Minimization Search: Constraint Satisfaction by Orthogonal Projection with Applications to Multiview Triangulation

We present an alternative approach to what we call the “standard optimization”, which minimizes a cost function by searching a parameter space. Instead, our approach “projects” in the joint observation space onto the manifold defined by the “consistency constraint”, which demands that any minimal subset of observations produce the same result. This approach avoids many difficulties encountered in the standard optimization. As typical examples, we apply it to line fitting and multiview triangulation. The latter produces a new algorithm far more efficient than existing methods. We also discuss the optimality of our approach.
Performance of Structure Based Multicast Routing Protocols in Wireless Ad hoc Networks

Mobile and wireless networks have developed significantly because of improved flexibility, reduced costs and adaptability to various technologies. In portable technologies, the main factor is node mobility, which causes frequent changes in network topology. Multicast routing protocols affects the performance of network topology. Routing paths in MANETs and WSNs potentially contain multi-hop communications. Cluster head node in mobile ad hoc networks act as a packet forwarding gateway member. Structure based multicast protocols include tree and mesh based protocols. In this paper, various types of tree based structure multicast protocols like MAODV, MZRP and ABAM used in wireless ad hoc network are analyzed and their performance evaluation is given. Simulation results indicate more control overhead for MAODV (due to node dependence) and MZRP (for outer zone routing). ABAM simulation indicate stable path for less number of nodes. AMRIS is suitable for routing with less complexity.
The design of landscapes at child-care centres: Seven Cs

Abstract Key criteria, called Seven Cs, identified from phase one of a five-year multidisciplinary study, are described. This study asked, what are the precise outdoor physical factors that contribute to early childhood development and quality play at child-care centres, and to what degree do these factors currently exist at the centres under study? The child-care setting provides an instrumental context for understanding children and landscape interactions. The Seven Cs criteria were derived from a comparison of 12 sample outdoor play spaces at child-care centres in Vancouver, Canada, with findings from a review of the literature concerning landscapes designed for children. Landscapes designed for children's use should consider developmental and play needs, and the unique contributions that landscapes can offer on a daily basis. Seven Cs earmark important physical dimensions of designed landscapes for children that can potentially enrich future designs at child-care centres. The goal is to provide a set of criteria that will allow the city of Vancouver Community Service and Social Planning Department to evaluate landscape design proposals for new child-care centres and to inform the existing set of Design Guidelines which the city is revising.
El autoempleo en los ciudadanos de la Unión Europea ampliada: heterogeneidad de los riesgos percibidos

La Union Europea considera que la mejor manera de potenciar el crecimiento social y economico es fomentar las iniciativas emprendedoras pero, desafortunadamente, todavia hay muy pocos europeos estableciendo sus propios negocios. Por ello, el proposito de este estudio es relacionar el interes de los ciudadanos europeos en autoemplearse con los riesgos y barreras que perciben a la hora de enfrentarse a este proceso emprendedor. El analisis planteado cubre la totalidad de la Union Europea de manera exploratoria, debido fundamentalmente a la falta de datos pasados de los 10 paises nuevos miembros de la Union. Los resultados muestran Ias grandes diferencias existentes entre los estados miembros y la necesidad de profundizar en la explicacion de las dimensiones obtenidas. Desde un punto de vista practico, se plantea que politicas de promocion de la actividad emprendedora se han de desarrollar fundamentalmente en los ambitos estatal y regional. The European Union considers that the best way to boost the social and economic growth is to encourage entrepreneurial initiatives but, unfortunately, there are still very few Europeans setting up their own business. Therefore, the aim of this study is to relate the interest of Europeans citizens on being self-employed with the perceived risks and barriers to be faced up in this entrepreneurial process. The analysis covers the entire European Union, working on an exploratory base mainly due to the lack of past data about the ten new European Union Members States. The results show the great differences between the Member States and ask for a deep insight explaining the obtained dimensions. From a practical point of view, it is proposed that entrepreneurship promotion policies should be performed at the national and regional level.
A framework for identifying the legacies of a mega sport event

A mega sport event involves huge investments in city infrastructure. After the event, the structures that remain may be an asset to the stakeholders, or they may be a burden. Faced with high costs, the taxpayer demands that the event-related social, economic and ecological changes will in the end have improved living conditions for the host city. But it is not easy to identify sport event legacies in their entirety, because event-related changes may be confused with non-event-related development, and because a wide variety of areas and stakeholders are affected. This paper looks at how to identify legacies, who is affected by the legacies, how long they last, and how to judge whether a legacy creates or destroys value. It stresses that legacies affect stakeholders differently – positively for some and negatively for others. It considers how to maximise positive legacies and suggests that these can best be controlled by governmental organisations. It notes that legacies gain and lose power over time and that often a legacy will be activated only if environmental changes offer opportunities.
Differential Processing of Vertical Interfeature Relations Due to Real-Life Experience with Personally Familiar Faces

Identification of personally familiar faces is possibly the most complex and likewise efficient task achieved by the human visual system, yet to date the mechanisms underlying this extreme proficiency remain largely unknown. Building on empirical evidence from unfamiliar face processing in healthy populations and neuropsychological patients, the present work aimed to determine the type of information processed differently due to repeated, real-life experience with faces. A modulatory effect of familiarity was observed for processing of vertical interfeature distances, which have been suggested to rely on holistic processing skills. Contrariwise, no such effect was found for processing of information that can be discriminated locally (ie featural cues, interocular distances). The results indicate that familiarity-related advantages in face processing may arise from more efficient, or increased, holistic processing.
Effects of bilateral training on motor function, amount of activity and activity intensity measured with an accelerometer of patients with stroke

[Purpose] This study investigated the recovery of arm function and the functional use of the affected limb in real life of stroke patients after bilateral arm training. [Subjects] Twenty patients with stroke were randomly allocated to the BT (bilateral training group, n=10) and UT (unilateral training group, n=10) groups. [Methods] The BT group performed functional tasks with both hand symmetrically, the UT group performed tasks with only the affected hand for 30 minutes a session 5 times a week over 6 weeks. Before and after the intervention, accelerometers (Actisleep), functional independence measure (FIM) and manual function test (MFT) were used to assess subjects’ abilities. [Results] The BT group showed a significant improvement in FIM total score, motor subtotal score and MFT score of affected side compared to the UT group. The BT group showed a more quantitative increase in the amount of activity of the affected side than the UT group. Regarding activity intensity, the BT group showed a decrease in the sedentary level and an increase of the moderate level on the affected side compared to the UT group. [Conclusion] We found that programs tailored to the characteristics of stroke patients and continuous monitoring of physical activity using an accelerometer minimized possible future disability and improved the patients’ quality of life.
Alliances, Then Democracy

Previous studies have not established a consistent link between regime type and alliance formation, despite the relevance of the decision to ally in a number of arguments about regime type and alliance behavior. The inconsistency in these findings turns largely on choice of research design and variable definition; when the dependent variable is alliance formation, democratic dyads are unlikely to ally, but when the dependent variable is the presence of an alliance tie, democratic dyads are likely to be allied. Under a standard research design, the authors find both claims to be true and propose a test of an explanation for this tendency of autocratic states to democratize in alliances. They show that the presence of a defense pact with all neighboring states reduces the likelihood that a state will be targeted with a territorial militarized dispute, reduces the level of state militarization, and increases the likelihood of democratic transitions.
Characterization of a dense, purple sulfur bacterial layer in a meromictic salt lake

In meromictic Mahoney Lake (British Columbia), purple sulfur bacteria formed a dense, IO-cm-thick layer at the primary chemocline. The dominant species (Amoebobucterpurpureus) reached a maximal cell concentration of 4 x lOa cells ml-l, 274/o of which were viable. A maximal concentration of 20,900 pg bacteriochlorophyll n liter’ was determinedthe highest concentration ever found in a natural body of water. Steep vertical gradients of conductivity, light, and sulfide concentration were detected across the bacterial layer, while the concentration of oxygen increased above it. Integrated primary production of the layer was 15 mg C m-2 h-l. Bacteriochlorophyllspecific assimilation rates reached maxima at the top of the layer. Anoxygenic photosynthesis was limited by reduced sulfur compounds at the top of the layer, whereas strong attenuation of irradiance resulted in light limitation for most of the cell population below. The sulfide flux from below the layer accounted for 63% of the sulfide oxidized during anoxygenic photosynthesis must have been produced within the layer. This calculation agrees well with sulfide production rates measured in situ (12.4 pm01 liter-’ h--l). In contrast to other lakes, considerable uptake of [14C]acetate by purple sulfur bacteria and comparatively high numbers of purple nonsulfur bacteria indicate an important role of dissolved organic matter and a short cycle of carbon and redox compounds in the dense purple microbial layer.
Ballistocardiography signal filtering using adaptive least mean square algorithm

Ballistocardiography is the measurement of noninvasive measurement of the mechanical movement of the body which is caused by cardiac during blood ejection. This is one of the promising techniques to assess the cardiovascular disease outside the clinical settings. During the last decade various methodologies have been introduced which utilizes BCG signal for medical field and shown their advantages. In this field, various devices also introduced such as beds, chairs and weighing scales have been proposed to improvise the BCG acquisition, but there is a main issue faced in the BCG signal processing is noise, which is generated due to motion artifacts, vibration of the devices, echoes etc. these noises effects the quality of signal. To overcome this issue we propose a new architecture using LMS filtering technique. This technique uses weight update process to update the error in the signal. Proposed architecture consists of FIR filter and error computation blocks. In this work we have used 2-tap filtering scheme. Proposed scheme is implemented using MATLAB tool and tested with the Heart rate data by adding the random Gaussian noise to consider the vibrations. Proposed scheme shows the efficient results in terms of error computation and removal and achieves the better weight update parameters corresponding to the original filtered signal by removing the 80% noise from the input signal.
Tri-band matching technique based on characteristic impedance transformers for concurrent tri-band power amplifiers design

This paper introduces a novel matching network synthesis method that matches arbitrary impedance at three independed frequencies to 50 Ohm. By converting impedance matching to admittance matching, the matching work can be divided into two steps. Modified T-type topology for triple band admittance matching is discussed based on ABCD-parameters, and the formulas of matching networks are analytically derived. Finally, the proposed synthesis approach is validated with the design and simulation of a tri-band matching network at 900, 1900 and 2400 MHz.
Cairo-East Bank effluent re-use study 3 — Effect of field crop irrigation with secondary treated wastewater on biological and chemical properties of soil and groundwater

Large scale field trials were conducted in fertile soil and desert (virgin) soil to evaluate the effect of irrigation with secondary treated wastewater from two wastewater treatment plants in Cairo on biological and chemical properties of soil and groundwater. Soil samples were taken for physical and chemical analysis after crop harvest. Groundwater monitoring wells were installed in and around the experimental soil sites. Considerable amounts of macronutrients (NPK) were applied to the grown crops through the treated wastewater irrigation: N (19–79%), P (23–181%) and K (85–357%) of the recommended fertilizer rates according to the crop and the experimental site. Soil physical and chemical analysis showed that both soils are widely variable in water holding capacity, organic matter, pH value, CaCO3, salinity, cation exchange capacity, and soil bulk density in the topsoil (0–30 cm). Groundwater samples which were examined for the presence of pathogenic bacteria (salmonella), faecal coliform bacteria and helminth ova. At the virgin soil site, 10–57% of the samples from each well contained salmonella, whereas at the fertile soil, salmonella was not detected in five wells, and the occurrence in the other four wells was 10–20% of the samples. The numbers of faecal coliforms were similar at both sites, in the range 102–103 MPN per 100 mL. Small numbers of parasite ova were also found in the majority of wells, with a greater number occurring at the virgin soil. The groundwater in both sites was similar and of poor quality, and would be unsuitable for potable or irrigation purposes.
The verbal administration of the gross function scale of the Rivermead Motor Assessment

The Rivermead Motor Assessment is a standardized assessment of physical recovery after stroke. One part, the gross function scale, was tested to see if it was reliable if administered verbally. Forty-nine volunteers were recruited six months after a stroke and asked to rate their own ability verbally and perform the test items with an independent assessor. There was a significant level of agreement between the scores using the Spearman Rank Correlation (rs = 0.979; p < 0.001). It can be concluded that the gross function scale of the Rivermead Motor Assessment is reliable when administered verbally with patients late after stroke.
Genomic Footprints of a Cryptic Plastid Endosymbiosis in Diatoms

Green for Diatoms Diatoms account for 20% of global carbon fixation and, together with other chromalveolates (e.g., dinoflagellates and coccolithophorids), represent many thousands of eukaryote taxa in the world's oceans and on the tree of life. Moustafa et al. (p. 1724; see the Perspective by Dagan and Martin) have discovered that the genomes of diatoms are highly chimeric, with about 10% of their nuclear genes being of foreign algal origin. Of this set of 1272 algal genes, 253 were, as expected, from a distant red algal secondary endosymbiont, but more than 1000 of the genes were derived from green algae and predated the red algal relationship. These protist taxa are important not only for genetic and genomic investigations but also for their potential in biofuel and nanotechnology applications and in global primary productivity in relation to climate change. The genomes of early plant representatives are composites, with a substantial number of foreign genes from red and green algae. Diatoms and other chromalveolates are among the dominant phytoplankters in the world’s oceans. Endosymbiosis was essential to the success of chromalveolates, and it appears that the ancestral plastid in this group had a red algal origin via an ancient secondary endosymbiosis. However, recent analyses have turned up a handful of nuclear genes in chromalveolates that are of green algal derivation. Using a genome-wide approach to estimate the “green” contribution to diatoms, we identified >1700 green gene transfers, constituting 16% of the diatom nuclear coding potential. These genes were probably introduced into diatoms and other chromalveolates from a cryptic endosymbiont related to prasinophyte-like green algae. Chromalveolates appear to have recruited genes from the two major existing algal groups to forge a highly successful, species-rich protist lineage.
Do Neighbourhoods Influence the Readiness to Learn of Kindergarten Children in Vancouver? A Multilevel Analysis of Neighbourhood Effects

A growing body of literature has examined the effects of neighbourhood characteristics on child health and well-being and the mechanisms through which such effects may operate. Research investigating neighbourhood effects on children is based on the notion that individuals and families who live in a neighbourhood collectively create a social context that influences the developing child. In this paper we investigate the relationship between individual and neighbourhood socioeconomic characteristics and kindergarten children's readiness to learn in Vancouver, Canada (n = 3736), using multilevel modeling techniques and 1996 census data for Vancouver neighbourhoods (n = 68). Findings suggest that although family-level characteristics carry the most weight in shaping children's readiness to learn, neighbourhood-level factors are independently associated with early developmental outcomes, particularly physical health and well-being, language and cognitive development, and communications skills and general knowledge. The strongest neighbourhood characteristics associated with readiness to learn were median income and the percentage of single-parent families. Also important were the percentage of the population who had not moved in the previous five years and the percentage of the population whose mother tongue was non-English. The latter neighbourhood characteristic was an especially strong predictor of communication skills and general knowledge. The findings suggest that neighbourhood-based policies to improve physical health and well-being, language and cognitive development, and communications skills may also meet with some success.
Towards a post-Freudian theory of repression: Reflections on the role of inhibitory functions

Although Freud's merits may be readily acknowledged in the year of his 150th birthday, recent findings on repression-related phenomena cannot be accommodated by his classic conception, on which Erdelyi's theory is built. This point is illustrated by discussing the role of inhibitory processes. The unified theory of repression should be elaborated to generate falsifiable predictions on the reported phenomena.
Design of a Wideband System for Measuring Dielectric Properties

A dielectric object placed in the near-field region of an antenna produces a scattered field, which alters the input impedance of the antenna. This property can be used to measure the electric parameters of dielectric materials. A wideband system for measuring the dielectric properties in the frequency range from 1.1 to 3.5 GHz is designed and prototyped. The system consists of a wideband directional antenna, a wideband radio frequency circuit, and a data processing unit and has been tested by using different dielectric samples across the frequency band, and good measurement results have been obtained.
Spectral, cepstral and aperiodicity characteristics of pathological voices before and after phonosurgical treatment!

Objective and quantitative acoustic parameters are useful—in addition to perceptual evaluation—for assessing the results of voice surgery. Thirty-two patients with different kinds of benign vocal fold lesions and ten patients who had Teflon injection in a paralysed vocal fold were investigated just before and a few months after surgery. In each case we measured in a sustained /a/: relative high-frequency noise, jitter ratio, and magnitude of dominant cepstrum peak. Paired values of all three parameters demonstrate a statistically significant improvement. The degree of aperiodicity and the excess of high-frequency noise appear to be frequently influenced in a very different way by the surgical treatment. However, the magnitude of the main cepstrum peak, which is sensitive to both components, reaches the best statistical significance score for demonstrating functional improvement after surgery.
Processing Convex Hull Queries in MANETs

Location-based service (LBS) is a typical application for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In an LBS, it is effective for nodes to acquire data using convex hull queries, which retrieve the information necessary for calculating the convex hull of all nodes composing a given network. In a naive approach, the query-issuing node can determine the convex hull of the network by flooding a query throughout the entire network and receiving location information on all the nodes, but this involves excessive traffic. In addition, since the network topology changes dynamically, due to the movement of nodes, the set of vertices of the convex hull changes. Therefore, the query-issuing node must determine the convex hull in a short period of time. In this paper, we propose convex hull query processing methods for reducing traffic and response time while maintaining high accuracy of the query result in MANETs. In these methods, nodes reply with information on nodes which are convex hull vertices. In the Local Convex Hull (LCH) method, nodes reply with information on nodes which are vertices of the local convex hull, which is the convex hull composed of nodes whose information has already been received. In the Local Wrapping (LW) method, the query is transmitted only to nodes on the outer boundary. Experimental results show that our proposed methods reduce traffic and achieve short response time and high accuracy of the query result, in comparison with a naive method.