Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ESTIMATING VEGETATION PARAMETERS OF CEREALS USING AN ASTER 1A IMAGE

The purpose of the present study is the validation of the ASTER images through the indirect estimation of several parameters of dry crops cover. Since 1999 the Department of Geography of the University of Salamanca (Spain) has established a network named REMEDHUS in this area consisting of twenty three stations for the measurement of soil moisture over a large area of 1,300 km characterized by different soil and land use types. The objective of this project is to develop an efficient monitoring system of climatic, edaphologic and biophysical parameters. Moreover, the climatic monitoring is carried out by a meteorological station that provides a daily dataset. In 2005, this database was completed with a field campaign to estimate biophysical parameters such as plant biomass, water content and height. The direct field measurement was done around the REMEDHUS stations in two campaigns in April 2005, the same date of the acquisition of an ASTER 1A image in the same area. The vegetation cover present in these plots is a dry crops shape (cereals), in the growing stage of its phenologic cycle. The image was orthorectified by a rigorous model. The radiometric treatment consisted of two-level calibrations based on: 1) the ERSDAC (Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center, provider of ASTER) algorithm implemented by a specific application with the coefficients, gain and offset, provided in the image file, and 2) conversion of these atsatellite radiance values in at-surface reflectance by means of a method developed by Pons and Solé-Sugrañés (1994) for VNIR Landsat TM images, here adapted for ASTER. RVI (Ratio Vegetation Index) and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) were tested with the obtained reflectance values. Good correlations were obtained with both indices and the biophysical on-theground parameters (aerial biomass, water content and plant heights), in all cases correlation coefficient higher than 0.7. The results show that it is possible to infer a direct relationship between the plant parameters and the indices, taking into consideration two prior constrictions: the radiometric performance of the images into physical values and the use of the vegetation indices at the growing stage of the crops cycle, related to vegetative activity.
Liver iron deposits in hepatitis B patients: Association with severity of liver disease but not with hemochromatosis gene mutations

Background and Aims: Iron deposits in the liver and abnormalities in serum iron biochemistry are frequently observed in patients with chronic liver diseases, but data for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are scarce. Moreover, the role of HFE mutations in iron deposits in this condition remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of serum iron biochemical abnormalities and iron deposits in the liver of chronic HBV patients, and to evaluate the consequences for the activity and severity of liver disease. Additionally, we studied the role of HFE gene mutations in iron deposits.
Kernel second-order discriminants versus support vector machines

Support vector machines (SVMs) are the most well known nonlinear classifiers based on the Mercer kernel trick. They generally lead to very sparse solutions that ensure good generalization performance. Recently, S. Mika et al. (see Advances in Neural Networks for Signal Processing, p.41-8, 1999) proposed a new nonlinear technique based on the kernel trick and the Fisher criterion: the nonlinear kernel Fisher discriminant (KFD). Experiments show that KFD is competitive with SVM classifiers. Nevertheless, it can be shown that there exist distributions such that even though the two classes are linearly separable, the Fisher linear discriminant has an error probability close to 1. We propose an alternative strategy based on Mercer kernels that consists in picking the optimum nonlinear receiver in the sense of the best second-order criterion. We also present a strategy for controlling the complexity of the resulting classifier. Finally, we compare this new method with SVM and KFD.
Lifted MAP Inference for Markov Logic Networks

In this paper, we present a new approach for lifted MAP inference in Markov Logic Networks (MLNs). Our approach is based on the following key result that we prove in the paper: if an MLN has no shared terms then MAP inference over it can be reduced to MAP inference over a Markov network having the following properties: (i) the number of random variables in the Markov network is equal to the number of first-order atoms in the MLN; and (ii) the domain size of each variable in the Markov network is equal to the number of groundings of the corresponding firstorder atom. We show that inference over this Markov network is exponentially more efficient than ground inference, namely inference over the Markov network obtained by grounding all firstorder atoms in the MLN. We improve this result further by showing that if non-shared MLNs contain no self joins, namely every atom appears at most once in each of its formulas, then all variables in the corresponding Markov network need only be bi-valued. Our approach is quite general and can be easily applied to an arbitrary MLN by simply grounding all of its shared terms. The key feature of our approach is that because we reduce lifted inference to propositional inference, we can use any propositional MAP inference algorithm for performing lifted MAP inference. Within our approach, we experimented with two propositional MAP inference algorithms: Gurobi and MaxWalkSAT. Our experiments on several benchmark MLNs clearly demonstrate our approach is superior to ground MAP inference in terms of scalability and solution quality.
Promotion of the transdermal delivery of protein drugs by N-trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles combined with polypropylene electret

We recently reported that electret, which was prepared by a corona charging system with polypropylene film, could enhance the transdermal delivery of several drugs of low molecular weight. The aim of this study was to investigate whether electret could enhance the transdermal delivery of protein drugs by N-trimethyl chitosan nanoparticles (TMC NPs) prepared by an ionic gelation method. A series of experiments were performed, including in vitro skin permeation assays and anti-inflammatory effects, to evaluate the transdermal delivery of protein drugs by TMC NPs in the presence of electret. The results showed that in the presence of electret, the transdermal delivery of protein drugs in TMC NPs was significantly enhanced, as demonstrated by in vitro permeation studies and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Notably, superoxide dismutase-loaded TMC NPs combined with electret exhibited the best inhibitory effect on the edema of the mouse ear. TMC NPs combined with electret represent a novel platform for the transdermal delivery of protein drugs.
Design and Evaluation of Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SEDDS) Of Carvedilol to Improve the Oral Absorption

Background: Self-emulsifying drug delivery system is an isotropic mixture of natural or synthetic oils, non-ionic surfactants or, one or more hydrophilic solvent and co-solvents/surfactant and polymer that improve bioavailability and increase solubility of poorly-soluble drugs. Objectives: This study was aimed to prepare and develop a stable formulation for self-emulsifying drug delivery system to enhance the solubility, release rate, and oral absorption of the poorly-soluble drug, carvedilol. Materials and Methods: The prepared self-emulsifying drug delivery system formulations were evaluated regarding their particle size, refractory index (RI), emulsifying efficiency, drug release, and rat intestine permeability. Results: The results showed oleic acid as oil with Labrafil as surfactant and Labrafac PG (propylene glycol dicaprylocapraye) as co-surfactant with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and Poloxamer as polymer prepared stable emulsions with a refractive index higher than acidic medium and water. The particle size of formulations was influenced by the type of polymer so that the mean particle size in the self-emulsifying drug delivery system formulations containing hydroxypropyl methylcellulose have a higher particle size compared to Poloxamer formulations. The percentage of drug release after 24 hours (R24) for Poloxamer and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose formulations were 61.24-70.61% and to 74.26-91.11%, respectively. The correlation between percentages of drug released after 24 hours with type of polymer was significant. In permeation studies, a significant and direct correlation existed between P4 and surfactant/co-surfactant ratio. The self-emulsifying drug delivery system formulations showed drug permeability through the rat intestine 2.76 times more, compared with the control. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that physicochemical properties, in vitro release and rat intestine permeability were dependent upon the contents of S/C, water and oil percentage in formulations.
Can functions be measured? A new perspective on the functional approach to attitudes.

This paper argues for the value of a reformulated and reoperationalized functional approach to attitudes. The development of two new procedures for directly assessing functions is described. First, a content analysis procedure was devised, using essays written by undergraduate students describing their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Patterns of themes were identified in the essays that indicate the presence of three functions: Experiential-Schematic, Defensive and Self-Expressive. Correlations with theoretically relevant measures indicate that the content analysis procedure effectively assesses attitude functions. In a second study, an objectively-scored method, the Attitude Functions Inventory (AFI), was developed and used to assess the functions served by attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and toward persons with three stigmatizing disabilities: AIDS, mental illness and cancer. In the AFI, the Self-Expressive function observed in the first study was subdivided into Social-Expressive and Value-Expressive functions. Preliminary data support the AFI's validity. Theoretical and methodological implications for future research are discussed.
Addicted to rubber.

Long infamous for heroin, opium, and other poppy products, the Golden Triangle, the mountainous, thickly forested intersection of Laos, Myanmar (formerly Burma), and China, is now becoming known for another plant: Hevea brasiliensis , the Para rubber tree. Rubber in the Golden Triangle has been a classic standoff between economics and ecology: Monocultural plantations are so much more profitable than any other lawful agricultural system in these hills that they have inevitably prevailed, no matter the environmental cost. But at least some smallholders have found out how to both make a living and restore forests to a healthier state. Surprisingly, their way forward is a return to one of the region9s most ancient products: tea. Not only that, they are growing tea in a way that until recently was derided as backward and inefficient—in the forest, under the canopy of larger trees.
Allocation of Income within the Household

Allocation of Income within the Household develops an important new economic model of income distribution within the family, one that attempts to determine which family characteristics affect spending patterns. Professors Lazear and Michael base their work on an analysis of the 1972-73 Consumer Expenditure Survey and test their conclusions against the 1960-61 survey to verify the persistence of the effects discovered. They find, for example, that the average household spends $38 per child for every $100 spent per adult and that the level of relative and absolute expenditure on the child rises with the level of education of the head of the household. Lazear and Michael also explore the implications their study may hold for the process of determining child support payments in households that dissolve. They argue that, unless the spending of every dollar can be monitored, alimony cannot be disentangled from child support. They also develop several criteria by which income might be distributed among family members, and, using one of those criteria, they present a series of tables that suggest the appropriate payment from one parent to another given family size, structure, and income level. Their model is particularly useful because it takes account of the ways other family members who were not part of the original household may contribute income to the new household. Other issues considered include the appropriate way to deal with children with special needs and the timing of transfer payments.
Unexpected dielectric behavior in aluminum wet electrolytic capacitors

It is well known that a capacitor can recover part of the charge due to previous polarization after it was quickly shorted. Stretched exponential or power law currents referred to as Kohlrausch dielectric relaxation and described as empirical Curie-von Schweidler law have often been observed. To date, experimental studies on dielectric relaxation have been carried out with small capacitances and for a short time. The present paper shows the results of an experiment conducted with 3300 μF aluminum wet electrolytic capacitors for 95 days at a constant temperature (25°C). After some time had passed where we could distinguish the imprint of stretched power or exponential decay, in some of the tested capacitors the voltage did not decrease and even rose. In a few capacitors, a decay was not detected from the beginning to the end of storage. Measurements conducted with different dissipative loads demonstrated the linear dependence of this voltage on the resistance. Further measurements from 20 to 40°C demonstrated that this current is temperature dependent. The ability of a capacitor to show an increase of charge even if shunted with a dissipative load was found to be correlated with its leakage current. Logistic models to predict this behavior are presented.
Performance analysis of DVB-T2 system: From Shannon limit to implementation

The performance degradation of each step from Shannon limit to implementation for the second generation digital video broadcasting - terrestrial (DVB-T2) system is analyzed in this paper, from three aspects: the time-frequency bandwidth loss, imperfect coded modulation scheme, and other implementation issues. The analysis results intuitively show the weak parts that still exist in the DVB-T2 system, and also provide guidelines for system improvement in the future.
Supermassive black hole formation during the assembly of pre-galactic discs

In this paper, we discuss the evolution of gravitationally unstable pre-galactic discs that result from the collapse of haloes at high redshift z ≈ 10 or so, which have not yet been enriched by metals. In cases where molecular hydrogen formation is suppressed, the discs are maintained at a temperature of a few thousand Kelvin. However, when molecular hydrogen is present, cooling can proceed down to a few hundred Kelvin. Analogous to the case of the larger-scale protogalactic discs, we assume that the evolution of these discs is mainly driven by angular momentum redistribution induced by the development of gravitational instabilities in the disc. We also properly take into account the possibility of disc fragmentation. We thus show that this simple model naturally predicts the formation of supermassive black holes in the nuclei of such discs and provides a robust determination of their mass distribution as a function of halo properties. We estimate that roughly 5 per cent of discs resulting from the collapse of haloes with M ≈ 10 7 M ⊙ should host a massive black hole with a mass M BH ≈ 10 5 M ⊙ . We confirm our arguments with time-dependent calculations of the evolution of the surface density and of the accretion rate in these primordial discs. The luminosity of the outer, colder disc is expected to be very low (in the range of a few thousand L ⊙ ), while the formation of the black hole is expected to produce a burst with a luminosity of a few times 10 9 L ⊙ . This mechanism offers an efficient way to form seed black holes at high redshift. The predicted masses for our black hole seeds enable the comfortable assembly of 10 9 -M ⊙ black holes powering the luminous quasars detected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey at z = 6 for a concordance cosmology.
An efficient method for improving classification accuracy of handwritten Bangla compound characters using DCNN with dropout and ELU

Handwritten character recognition is an essential part of optical character recognition domain. Bangla handwritten compound character recognition is a complex task that is challenging due to extensive size of and sheer diversity within the alphabet. The current work proposes a novel method of recognition of compound characters in Bangla language using deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) and efficient greedy layer-wise training approach. Introduction of dropout technology mitigates data overfitting and Exponential Linear Unit (ELU) is introduced to tackle the vanishing gradient problem during training. ELU is a special rectified linear unit which provides sustainability against the vanishing as well as exploding gradients. Furthermore, dropout influences network elements to learn diverse representation of data, which contributes to generalization of model. The model is tested on CMATERdb 3.1. 3.3 data set of compound characters, and the performance is found to outperform existing state-of-the-art methods of Bangla handwritten complex character recognition.
Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis (CBTp) for Schizophrenia: Literature Review and Meta-analysis

There is a great deal of evidence supporting the use of CBT for psychosis (CBTp). In fact, CBTp is recommended by the National Treatment Guidelines in both the U.K. and the U.S. The availability of CBTp, however, remains an issue due to a variety of factors, including training and resources. A proposed way to tackle this problem is to offer a brief version of CBTp. We therefore reviewed the literature to see whether brief CBTp is effective in treating psychotic symptoms. We searched medical databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving adults with schizophrenia or related disorders that tested brief CBTp for its effectiveness. We found 620 records through electronic searching of the databases. After screening, 48 full-text articles met criteria for further assessment, but only 14 were potentially relevant; these were closely assessed for inclusion. Finally, 9 articles (covering seven studies) were selected. In this meta-analysis we found a moderate effect size for brief CBTp compared with TA.
Maternal occupational exposure to asthmogens during pregnancy and risk of asthma in 7-year-old children: a cohort study

Objectives The objective of this study was to examine whether maternal exposure to asthmogens during pregnancy is associated with the development of asthma in 7-year-old Danish children, taking atopic status and sex into consideration. Design The study is a prospective follow-up of a birth cohort. Setting and participants A total of 41 724 women and their children from The Danish National Birth Cohort were categorised according to maternal occupational exposure. Exposure information was obtained by combining job title in pregnancy and 18 months after pregnancy with a commonly used asthma Job Exposure Matrix. Primary and secondary outcome measures Primary outcome was parent-reported asthma among their 7-year-old children in an internet-based questionnaire. Secondary outcome was asthma among the same children with or without atopic dermatitis and among boys and girls, respectively. Results Prenatal exposure to low molecular weight (LMW) agents was borderline associated with asthma in children with OR 1.17 (0.95 to 1.44) for children with atopic dermatitis and 1.10 (0.98 to 1.22) for children without. Maternal postnatal exposure was associated with asthma (OR 1.15 (1.04 to 1.28). After mutual adjustment,postnatal exposure (OR 1.13 (0.99 to 1.29) and the combined effects of prenatal and postnatal exposure (OR 1.34 (1.19 to 1.51)) seem to increase the risk of asthma in children. No significant associations were observed for other prenatal or postnatal exposures. The gender of the child did not modify the aforementioned associations. Conclusions Maternal occupational exposures during pregnancy do not seem to be a substantial risk factor for the development of asthma in 7-year-old children. Maternal prenatal and postnatal exposures to LMW agents may predispose the propensity of the children to develop asthma. Future studies should prioritise the characterisation of the timing of exposure in relation to the birth.
A Novel Single-Fed Wide Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Dielectric Resonator Antenna

A new single-fed wide dual-band circularly polarized (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is presented in this letter. The DRA is excited by a microstrip line through the narrow underneath rectangular aperture, and its HE<sub>111</sub> and HE<sub>11δ</sub> (2 <; δ <; 3 ) modes are utilized for the dual-band design. To achieve CP fields, two notches are truncated from the cylindrical DRA at φ = 45<sup>°</sup> and 225 <sup>°</sup>. A pair of equal arc-shaped slots are used to improve the axial-ratio (AR) and impedance bandwidths. The antenna features impedance bandwidths (|S<sub>11</sub>| <; -10 dB ) of 26.25% and 11.17%, and 3-dB AR bandwidths of 15.8% and 5.02% in the lower and upper bands, respectively. To verify the simulation, the antenna is designed and measured. Reasonable agreement between measured and simulated results is obtained.
Schooling for Sustainable Development in Europe: Concepts, Policies and Educational Experiences at the End of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

Rolf Jucker and Reiner Mathar (Eds), Springer, Zurich, Switzerland, Volume 6 (2015), 380 pages, $99.00 (paperback). ISBN: 978-3-319-09548-6. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09549-3. http://www.springer. com/us/book/9783319095486
Thyroid hormone aporeceptor represses T3-inducible promoters and blocks activity of the retinoic acid receptor.

In the presence of its ligand, thyroid hormone receptor (T3R) binds specifically to DNA sequences near a number of genes and induces their expression. We show that in the absence of the hormone, a T3R binding site acts in cis to decrease expression from such genes. The endogenous T3 receptors in rat pituitary cell lines are sufficient to mediate this effect, as shown by comparisons of basal levels of expression directed by transiently transfected plasmids containing the rat growth hormone promoter with wild-type or point-mutated T3 response elements (T3RE). The magnitude of the negative effect is increased by increasing the strength of the T3RE or by raising intracellular levels of T3R by appropriate transfections. T3REs exert a similar negative effect on the herpes virus thymidine kinase (TK) promoter; this effect is dependent on expression of functional T3 aporeceptor (apoT3R). Analysis of a set of T3REs of increasing strength inserted upstream of the TK promoter showed a strong correlation between the level of induced expression in the presence of hormone and the level of repressed expression in the absence of hormone. These results show that, unlike other members of the nuclear hormone receptor family, T3R binds to specific DNA sequences in the absence of hormone and exerts a negative effect on expression of linked genes. The apparent affinity of apoT3R and hormone-bound T3R for a T3RE was assessed by using varying amounts of T3R expression vector in a transfection dose response assay. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)