Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Helping Africa to feed itself: promoting agriculture to reduce poverty and hunger

Steve Wiggins is an agricultural economist and Henri Leturque is a biologist and rural development specialist, respectively research fellow and research officer at the Overseas Development Institute, London. Both have lived and worked in Africa. About the report This report is based upon the published literature, complemented by canvassing the opinions, through telephone and interview, of a cross-section of development practitioners and researchers, listed at Annex A. Where not otherwise stated, the quotes in this report come from these interviews. Quotes from colleagues in the Futures Agricultures Consortium have been taken from short statements made in Nairobi, February 2009. The authors would like to thank all those who took the time to share their ideas and expertise with the authors. It is only a pity that space does not allow more quotations from those who were consulted. Disclaimer This report represents the independent analyis of the authors. The views expressed within are not necessarily those of the Friends of Europe, of the persons consulted in producing this report, or of Futures Agricultures Consortium or the Overseas Development Institute. Summary Understandable concern exists over the state of hunger in Africa: almost one third of the population are estimated to be hungry, while more than a quarter of infants are underweight in the countries to the south of the Sahara. Moreover, parts of Africa are all too often hit by sharp increases in hunger when harvests fail or strife breaks out. Can Africa feed itself? And what needs to be done? This report reviews the evidence and opinions drawing on available statistics, the considerable literature and interviews by telephone and email with key informants. The review looks at the record on food security, problems and successes of agriculture to date, future challenges, and points of agreement and contention. The key points arising from this review are as follows: • Africa suffers badly from hunger: south of the Sahara, FAO estimates that almost one in three is undernour-ished, 265M people in all, while more than a quarter (28%) of children of less than five years are underweight. • Agricultural production in Africa has increased only slowly over the last forty years: expressed per person, production has barely increased at all during this time. • It would be easy to imagine that the lack of food production has led to hunger, but that would simplify. The association is less direct than may be imagined. …
Visualizing association rules with interactive mosaic plots

Association rules are amongst the most important patterns that can be discovered using data mining. Their automatic discovery is supported by most, if not all, data mining software tools. Moreover, many techniques have been devised to lter the most interesting (in many senses) rules from the complete set of discovered rules, such that the users are not swamped by results. However, association rules are actually hard to understand; even more so if one only looks at the most interesting rules. For example, rather strong correlations between attributes are not always obvious from the discovered rules. Similarly, a deeper explanation of related association rules may be missing from the rule set. In this paper we show how Mosaic plots and, especially, their variant called Double Decker plots, can be used to visualize association rules. These plots visualize the contingency table that yields the association rule as well as the other potential rules in that table, whether they meet the thresholds or not. This gives a deeper understanding on the nature of the correlation between the left-hand side of the rule and the right-hand side. Moreover, we show how an interactive use of these plots helps the user to understand the relationship between related association rules.
Device-Controlled Traffic Steering in Mobile Networks

User equipments (UEs) such as smartphones and tablets are widely used in heterogeneous wireless networks which include different technologies like WiFi and Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems. Implementing traffic steering effectively for user equipments to maximize their quality of service has become a key challenge these years. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a device controlled mechanism. We mainly focus on history records of each available networks and distributively consider multi-criteria like Received Signal Strength (RSS) and energy consumption of battery as our performance matrics from UE side. Device controlled mechanism is a fully distributed traffic steering approach that runs at user equipments. At the same time, to benefit from the network knowledge, we propose to use network analytic mechanism to further enhance certain performance metrics. Our proposed approach and analytic mechanism can help user equipments to make efficient decisions and minimize battery power consumption. This is particularly important to distribute traffic load across different radio access with less energy consumption for user equipments. The traffic steering of radio accesses in this paper is modelled based on Reinforcement Learning (RL) mechanism which considers past experiences of user equipements and help them to improve their quality of satisfactions. Through extensive simulation scenarios, we demonstrate how such device controlled mechanism with multi-criteria metrics can improve received throughput values of user equipments and reduce energy consumption of equipments' batteries.
Statistical power in retrieval experimentation

The power of a statistical test specifies the sample size required to reliably detect a given true effect. In IR evaluation, the power corresponds to the number of topics that are likely to be sufficient to detect a certain degree of superiority of one system over another. To predict the power of a test, one must estimate the variability of the population being sampled from; here, of between-system score deltas. This paper demonstrates that basing such an estimation either on previous experience or on trial experiments leaves wide margins of error. Iteratively adding more topics to the test set until power is achieved is more efficient; however, we show that it leads to a bias in favour of finding both power and significance. A hybrid methodology is proposed, and the reporting requirements of the experimenter using this methodology are laid out. We also demonstrate that greater statistical power is achieved for the same relevance assessment effort by evaluating a large number of topics shallowly than a small number deeply.
Design of a parallel robot actuated by shape memory alloy wires : Special issue on smart materials-fundamentals and applications

In this paper the design and the manufacture of a 3-dof (degrees of freedom) robot driven by shape memory alloys (SMA) is presented. This robot has a parallel structure including a fixed plate and a moving plate. The plates are linked together by 3 SMA wires and a mechanical spring is located in the central part. Possible applications are the control devices to orient a mirror, a sample under a microscope or to orient the head of a micro snake like robot. The paper explains the kinematic model, the mechanical design and the control system of the robot. The feedback signals of the closed loop control system are the displacements of the SMA joints located on the moving plate, measured by three conductive potentiometers. The control system is P.C. based. The SMA actuators are driven by Nitinol wires of a diameter of 0.15 mm. The robot takes up a cylinder with a diameter of 100 mm and a height of 180 mm. A prototype of the robot has been manufactured and some experimental tests were carried out. These tests are carried out both using a simple test bed made by a SMA wire and a pulley, and using the prototype itself. The step response of a single SMA wire and the trajectory control to describe a circle in the prototype are also shown as validation tests of the robot. The results of the experimental validation show the feasibility of this design, but particular attention has to be paid to the machining and to the assembly.
Modulation of Cell Cycle Progression in Human Tumors: A Pharmacokinetic and Tumor Molecular Pharmacodynamic Study of Cisplatin Plus the Chk1 Inhibitor UCN-01 (NSC 638850)

Background: UCN-01, a Chk1 inhibitor, abrogates S and G2 arrest and enhances cancer cell killing by DNA-damaging drugs in preclinical models. UCN-01 avidly binds α1-acid glycoprotein in plasma; whether sufficient drug concentrations are achieved in human tumors is unknown. A phase I trial tested the hypothesis that UCN-01 abrogates cisplatin-induced cell cycle arrest (in tumors) at tolerable doses. Methods: Patients with advanced cancer received i.v. cisplatin, followed 22 hours later by UCN-01 (3-day continuous i.v. infusion of a 28-day cycle). Platinum was measured by atomic absorption, UCN-01 by high-performance liquid chromatography, and cell cycle progression in tumor biopsies by geminin immunostaining (biomarker for S/G2 phases of cell cycle). Results: The first two patients treated with cisplatin (20 mg/m2 plus UCN-01 45 mg/m2/d) experienced dose-limiting toxicities (subarachnoid hemorrhage, hyperglycemia, hypoxia, cardiac ischemia, and atrial fibrillation). Following 25% UCN-01 dose reduction, no toxicities greater than grade 2 were seen. Median plasma UCN-01 half-life (T1/2) was 405 hours. Salivary UCN-01 concentrations showed a rapid initial decline (median T1/2α, 29.9 hours), followed by a terminal decay parallel to that in plasma. UCN-01 pharmacokinetics, and the timing of clinical toxicities, suggests that UCN-01 is bioavailable despite α1-acid glycoprotein binding. Marked suppression of cells in S/G2 in tumor biopsies was seen by geminin immunohistochemistry, suggesting that UCN-01 is bioavailable at concentrations sufficient to inhibit Chk1. Conclusions: Cisplatin (30 mg/m2), followed 22 hours later by UCN-01 (34 mg/m2/d for 3 days), is well tolerated clinically and yields UCN-01 concentrations sufficient to affect cell cycle progression in tumors.
The ichnology of carbonate drifts

Carbonate drifts have so far not been as intensely investigated as their siliciclastic equivalents, especially from an ichnological perspective. The aim of this work is therefore to provide an overview of the different bioturbation styles in carbonate drifts for ichnologists and sedimentologists working in such deposits. Different types of carbonate drifts from the Maldives were studied to address this objective. The cores recovered during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 359 were examined to provide the sedimentological and ichnological data for a detailed analysis of the ichnology of carbonate drifts. The ichnological characteristics of the Maldives drifts are compared to other carbonate drifts in order to discuss similarities and differences, and thus provide an overview of the general characteristics of carbonate drift ichnology. These drifts are located in the Santaren Channel which lines Great Bahama Bank, along the Marion Plateau in Australia, in the Limassol and Larnaca basins in Cyprus and in the Danish Basin in Denmark. The common characteristics of bioturbation in carbonate drifts are: (i) the complete bioturbation of the sediment with bioturbation indexes between four and six; (ii) the occurrence of distinctive trace fossils limited to facies contacts or condensed intervals; (iii) a typical ichnoassemblage consisting of Thalassinoides, Scolicia, Planolites, Zoophycos, Chondrites, Phycosiphon and Palaeophycus; (iv) the contiguous occurrence of ichnogenera from different tiers, with only Zoophycos and Chondrites as deep tiers; and (v) distinct infills of the traces including particulate organic matter, pyrite, silica and celestine. In addition, the main ichnofacies of carbonate drifts is the Zoophycos ichnofacies. Ichnofabrics grade from coarse‐grained and completely bioturbated to ichnofabrics with present to rare trace fossils and preserved sedimentary structures. The type and intensity of the bioturbation is controlled by the amount of organic matter and the oxygenation at the sea floor that is determined by the action of bottom currents and the sea‐level fluctuations affecting the carbonate factory in carbonate platforms bordering the basins where the carbonate drifts form. The study of the bioturbation in core and outcrop provides palaeoenvironmental information about carbonate‐drift deposits that complement the classical sedimentological data.
Phase I/II Randomized Trial of Safety and Immunogenicity of LIPO-5 Alone, ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) Alone, and ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) Prime/LIPO-5 Boost in Healthy, HIV-1-Uninfected Adult Participants

ABSTRACT Finding an effective human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine remains a major global health priority. In a phase I/II, placebo-controlled trial, healthy, HIV-1-negative adults were randomized to receive one of 5 vaccine regimens: LIPO-5 (combination of 5 lipopeptides) alone (250 μg), ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) alone, or 3 groups of ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) followed by ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) plus LIPO-5 (250, 750, and 2,500 μg). Only 73/174 participants (42%) received all four vaccinations due to a study halt related to myelitis. There were no significant differences in systemic reactions between groups or in local reactogenicity between groups receiving ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452). Significant differences in local reactogenicity occurred between groups receiving LIPO-5 (P ≤ 0.05). Gag and Env antibodies were undetectable by ELISA 2 weeks after the fourth vaccination for all but one recipient. Antibodies to Gag and Env were present in 32% and 24% of recipients of ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) alone and in 47% and 35% of ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452)+LIPO recipients, respectively. Coadministration of LIPO-5 did not significantly increase the response rate compared to ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452) alone, nor was there a significant relationship between dose and antibody responses among ALVAC-HIV (vCP1452)+LIPO groups. Over 90% of study participants had no positive gamma interferon (IFN-γ) enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay (ELISpot) responses to any peptide pool at any time point. The study was halted due to a case of myelitis possibly related to the LIPO-5 vaccine; this case of myelitis remains an isolated event. In general, there was no appreciable cell-mediated immunity detected in response to the vaccines used in this study, and antibody responses were limited. The clinical trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with registry number NCT00076063.
Social Multimedia Sentiment Analysis

Social multimedia refers to the multimedia content (text, images, and videos) generated by social network users for social interactions. The increasing popularity of online social networks leads to a significant amount of multimedia content generated by online social network users. Researchers from both the industrial and academic have been working on a broad range of projects related to the analyzing and understanding the online multimedia content, including real world activity prediction and content recommendation. Particularly, understanding online users' opinions or sentiments is a fundamental task that can benefit many applications, such as political campaigning and commercial marketing. We present a few recent advances in social multimedia sentiment analysis. Specifically, this tutorial consists of three parts. The first part is on visual sentiment analysis. We will introduce the task of visual sentiment, its main challenges, and the state-of-the-art approaches. We will include several representative approaches to manually designing visual features for this task as well as some approaches using deep neural networks. The second part is on building multimedia sentiment analysis datasets. We will introduce the challenges, the solutions in the construction of different large-scale datasets for sentiment analysis. The final part is mainly on multimodality model for sentiment analysis. We will introduce some recent research projects on multimodality designing and learning. In addition, we will also share some applications of sentiment analysis, as well as thoughts on current challenges and future directions.
Phase I Study of Celecoxib with Concurrent Irinotecan, Cisplatin, and Radiation Therapy for Patients with Unresectable Locally Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Purpose: Preclinical findings suggest that adding targeted therapies to combination radiation-chemotherapy can enhance treatment efficacy; however, this approach may enhance normal tissue toxicity. We investigated the maximum tolerated dose, dose-limiting toxicities, and response rate when the selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor celecoxib is added to concurrent irinotecan, cisplatin, and radiation therapy for patients with inoperable stage II–III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods and Materials: Eighteen patients were analyzed in a phase I clinical dose-escalation trial. Celecoxib was given daily beginning 5 days before radiation followed by maintenance doses for 12 weeks. Toxicity was graded with the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events V3.0 and response with the World Health Organization system. Primary endpoints were maximum tolerated dose of celecoxib and treatment toxicity; secondary endpoints were response and survival rates. Results: The maximum tolerated dose of celecoxib was not reached, in part owing to discontinuation of the drug supply. At doses of 200 or 400 mg/day, no patients experienced any dose-limiting toxicity (acute grade ≥4 esophagitis or pneumonitis, neutropenic fever or thrombocytopenia requiring transfusion, or acute grade ≥3 diarrhea). Grade 3 toxicities were leukopenia (five patients), fatigue (3), pneumonitis (2), dyspnea (1), pain (1), and esophageal stricture (1). Interestingly, pulmonary fibrosis (a late toxicity) was no more severe in the higher-dose (400-mg) group and may have been less common than in the lower-dose group. The clinical response rate was 100% (8 complete, 10 partial). Two-year rates were: overall survival 65%; local-regional control 69%; distant metastasis-free survival 71%; and disease-free survival 64%. Conclusion: Although preliminary, our results suggest that adding celecoxib to concurrent chemoradiation for inoperable NSCLC is safe and can improve outcome without increasing normal tissue toxicity.
Auditory function among young occupational divers: a 3-year follow-up study

Auditory function was measured in a 3-year follow-up study of 54 young occupational divers divided into high-exposure ( n = 23) and low-exposure ( n = 31) groups. The divers performed open-sea dives with a median number of 132 dives (range 44-766) during follow-up. At the start of follow-up, hearing in the high-exposure group was reduced compared with that in the low-exposure group. During the follow-up period, the total group experienced a significantly reduced hearing ability at 4 kHz in the left ear. No difference in change between the last and the first measurement for both ears combined was found when the two groups were compared. A regression analysis of measurements at the end of follow-up shows an association between the loss of hearing in the left ear at 6 and 8 kHz and the total number of years of diving. This indicates that diving may contribute to hearing impairment.
Design of Digital's Parallel Software Environment

designed to support the development and execution of scalable parallel applications on clusters (farms) of distributedand shared-memory Alpha processors running the Digital UNIX operating system. PSE version 1.0 supports the High Performance Fortran (HPF) language; it also supplies generic facilities required by other parallel languages and systems. PSE provides tools to define a cluster of processors and to manage distributed parallel execution. It also contains development tools for debugging and profiling parallel HPF programs. PSE supports optimized message passing over multiple interconnect types, including fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and shared memory. In this paper, we present an overview of PSE version 1.0 and explain why it was designed and selected for use with HPF programs. We then discuss cluster definition and management, describe the PSE application model, and discuss PSE’s message-passing communication options, including an optimized transport for message passing. We conclude with our performance results.
Returns to Birthweight

We use data on monozygotic twins to obtain improved estimates of the effect of intrauterine nutrient intake on adult health and earnings and thus to evaluate the efficacy of programs aimed at increasing birthweight. We use the results to evaluate the bias in cross-sectional estimates and to assess the proposition that health conditions play a major role in determining the world distribution of income. We show that there is considerable variation in the incidence of low birthweight across countries, and our estimates suggest that there are real payoffs to increasing body weight at birth. Increasing birthweight increases adult schooling attainment and adult height for babies at most levels of birthweight, but has no effect on adult body mass. The effect of increasing birthweight on schooling, moreover, is underestimated by 50x if there is no control for genetic and family background endowments as in cross-sectional estimates. We also find evidence that augmenting birthweight among lower-birthweight babies, but not among higher-birthweight babies, has significant labor market payoffs. However, shifting the distribution of birthweights in developing countries to that in the United States would reduce world earnings inequality by less than 1, far less than indicated by the cross-country correlation between per-worker GDP and birthweight.