Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
JUMP MODELS FOR INTENT PREDICTION IN HIGHLY PERTURBED SCENARIOS

The motion of a tracked object often has long term underlying dependencies due to premeditated actions dictated by intent, such as destination. Revealing this intent, as early as possible, can enable advanced intelligent system functionalities for conﬂict/opportunity detection and automated decision making, for instance in surveillance and human computer interaction. This paper presents a novel Bayesian intent inference framework that utilises sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) methods to determine the destination of a tracked object exhibiting unknown jump behaviour. The latter can arise from the object undertaking fast maneuvers (e.g. for obstacle avoidance) and/or due to external uncontrollable environmental perturbations. Suitable intent-driven stochastic models and inference routines are introduced. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated using synthetic and real data.
American option pricing under double Heston stochastic volatility model: simulation and strong convergence analysis

ABSTRACT In this work, we investigate the double Heston model dynamics which is defined by two independent variance processes with non-Lipschitz diffusions. Next, it is analysed the strong convergence of the volatility processes of the double Heston model. Then, we examine the LSM algorithm to determine the American style option price in the double Heston model. Besides, by performing the antithetic simulation in the original LSM algorithm, we aim to accelerate the algorithm. The accuracy and speed of two algorithms are studied and at last, by some numerical results illustrate the accuracy of the proposed algorithms and examine the effect of the different parameters of the model on the value of the option.
Probabilistic model of optimal price search on the retail core banking services market

The paper is focused on the Stigler’s model adjustment for the purpose of modeling the price information asymmetry on the small market. As a case study using this model there is used own research of retail core banking services market for physical entities in the Czech Republic. The demand on this market carries the impacts of the price information asymmetry. Our model shows that more than 50 % of account suitable for the mainstream client profile can be replaced by cheaper one even under the influence of information asymmetry. Keywords— Stigler’s model, small market problem, information asymmetry, retail core banking services.
A Longitudinal Study of Functional Outcomes in Patients with Limb Salvage Surgery for Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Background Many studies have reported on the surgical outcomes of soft tissue sarcoma. However, there was no longitudinal cohort study. Because time is the most valuable factor for functional recovery, adjusting time value was the key for finding the causal relationship between other risk factors and postoperative function. Therefore, existing cross-sectional studies can neither fully explain the causal relationship between the risk factors and the functional score nor predict functional recovery. The aim of this study was to determine important predictive factors that affect postoperative functional outcomes and longitudinal changes in functional outcomes in patients who had undergone limb-sparing surgery (LSS) for soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Methods Between January 2008 and December 2014, we retrospectively enrolled 150 patients who had undergone LSS for STS and had been assessed for postoperative functional outcomes with questionnaires. To evaluate functional outcomes, we used the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) score and Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS). Multivariate generalized estimating equation (GEE) analysis was used to identify the predictive factors, including size, stage, and anatomic location of tumor, bone resection, flap reconstruction, age, and time after surgery. Each continuous variable such as age and time after surgery was explored for statistically significant cutoff points using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results Functional scores significantly improved until the second year after surgery and plateaued for the rest of the 5-year period. Age (p < 0.0001), bone resection (p=0.0004), and time after surgery (p < 0.0001) were identified as significant predictive factors. The functional score was significantly higher in patients younger than 47 years old. Conclusions Functional outcomes can improve until the second year after surgery. Patients who were older than 47 and underwent bone resection may have poor final functional outcomes.
Probabilistic Analysis of Sindhi Word Prediction using N-Grams

Word prediction is an essential subtask of various Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications of Arabic scripting based languages like Persian, Urdu, and Sindhi; especially it is necessary for diacritic restoration systems. Sindhi is highly homographic language and text is written without diacritic symbols in everyday life applications therefore, word prediction is a difficult task. The task of word prediction is investigated by using three N-gram models i.e., bigram, trigram and 4-gram that approximates the probability in given history of words, these models are trained on corpora of Sindhi language. Statistical NLP is always based on corpora because word frequencies are calculated from this corpus therefore for training and testing the corpus containing approximately 3 million token are used. Add-one smoothing technique is used to assign non-zero probabilities to all N-grams having zero probabilities. The performance of N-gram models are measured by using Entropy and Perplexity models, the achieved results show clearly that the 4-gram language model is more suitable for Sindhi language because it has lower perplexity value than other N-grams. Some of languages as Arabic, Persian and Urdu have the same characteristics as in Sindhi for the reason probabilistic analysis may be useful for NLP applications of above mentioned languages on same scale.
Intimations of K+ channel structure from a complete functional map of the molecular surface of charybdotoxin.

The external vestibules of many K + channels carry a high-affinity receptor for charybdotoxin, a peptide of known structure. Point mutations of a recombinant toxin identified the residues directly involved in the interaction with a Ca 2+ -activated K + channel. The interaction surface is formed from 8 of the 37 residues and covers about 25% of the peptide's molecular surface. The shape of the toxin permits a deduced picture of the complementary receptor site in the external vestibule of the K + channel
Acta Oecologica

The jaguar ( Panthera onca ) is widely distributed across a broad range of habitat types, where its feeding habits and habitat use patterns vary signi ﬁ cantly. The jaguar and its main arboreal prey – the brown-throated sloth ( Bradypus variegatus ) and the red howler monkey ( Alouatta juara ) – are widespread in the Amazonian ﬂ oodplain forests of the Mamirauá Reserve. These forest-dwelling species are the most common mammal species both in the continuous forest and the forest patches surrounded by a river matrix – the ﬂ uvial islands – of the Solimões and Japurá rivers. We used sign surveys along line-transects to assess the pattern of habitat occupancy by jaguars in Amazonian ﬂ oodplain forests. Speci ﬁ cally, we (i) tested whether habitat occupancy by jaguars di ﬀ ers between river islands and continuous forest; and (ii) evaluated whether and how the local abundance of sloths and howler monkeys in ﬂ uence the probability of site occupancy by jaguars. We built an occupancy model and used Bayesian inference to reach these goals. The proportion of sites estimated to be used by jaguars was ψ =0.75 (HPD95: 0.36 – 1.00), and it did not di ﬀ er between islands and continuous forest. The abundance of both prey species had a direct in ﬂ uence on jaguar's habitat use, whereas the aquatic matrix seems to have a negligible e ﬀ ect on the use of islands by jaguars. We conclude that the isolation of the river islands within the aquatic matrix does not hamper jaguars to use them. We also conclude that prey search modulates jaguars' habitat occupancy patterns with both prey species having a similar e ﬀ ect. This ﬁ nding is compatible with the previously reported importance of sloths to the diet of jaguars in the study region despite its lower abundance than howlers. Finally, we suggest that sign surveys are an alternative method to assess the pattern of jaguar habitat occupancy in ﬂ ood-plain forests.
is not a dirty word”: Social entrepreneurship and community development”

The main purpose of this exploratory study is to propose a theoretical framework based on Max Weber’s types of rationality to understand the motivations for and operationalisation of social entrepreneurship, drawing from the case of Homebaked, an organisation operating in Liverpool, UK. Face-to-face interviews with nine Homebaked’s members, including management, were complemented by several on-site observations, industry and consulting report reviews. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. A juxtaposition between entrepreneurship and SE emerged, in that for-profit principles were implemented to drive and achieve objectives of social causes. Indeed, maximising the organisation’s financial potential, enhancing its profitability by increasing sales and expanding its offerings, was reconciled with its objectives to benefit the local community. From a theoretical perspective, a strong connection was revealed between the findings and all four types of rationality, as postulated by Kalberg.
Exploring the Equity Impact of Current Digital Health Design Practices: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Background The field of digital health has grown rapidly in part due to digital health tools’ potential to reduce health inequities. However, such potential has not always been realized. The design approaches used in digital health are one of the known aspects that have an impact on health equity. Objective The aim of our scoping review will be to understand how design approaches in digital health have an impact on health equity. Methods A scoping review of studies that describe how design practices for digital health have an impact on health equity will be carried out. The scoping review will follow the methodologies laid out by Arksey and O’Malley, the Joanna Briggs Institute, and the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist. The PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ACM Digital Library databases will be searched for peer-reviewed papers. The ProQuest Dissertations and Theses and Global Index Medicus databases will be searched for gray literature. The results will be screened against our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Subsequently, the data extracted from the included studies will be analyzed. Results As of March 2022, a preliminary search of the peer-reviewed databases has yielded over 4900 studies, and more are anticipated when gray literature databases are searched. We expect that after duplicates are removed and screening is completed, a much smaller number of studies will meet all of our inclusion criteria. Conclusions Although there has been much discussion about the importance of design for lowering barriers to digital health participation, the evidence base demonstrating its impacts on health equity is less obvious. We hope that our findings will contribute to a better understanding of the impact that design in digital health has on health equity and that these findings will translate into action that leads to stronger, more equitable health care systems.
Party Polarization in Congress: A Network Science Approach

We measure polarization in the United States Congress using the network science concept of modularity. Modularity provides a conceptually-clear measure of polarization that reveals both the number of relevant groups and the strength of inter-group divisions without making restrictive assumptions about the structure of the party system or the shape of legislator utilities. We show that party influence on Congressional blocs varies widely throughout history, and that existing measures underestimate polarization in periods with weak party structures. We demonstrate that modularity is a significant predictor of changes in majority party and that turnover is more prevalent at medium levels of modularity. We show that two variables related to modularity, called `divisiveness' and `solidarity,' are significant predictors of reelection success for individual House members. Our results suggest that modularity can serve as an early warning of changing group dynamics, which are reflected only later by changes in party labels.
Potential vorticity analysis of low level thunderstorm dynamics in an idealized supercell simulation

Abstract : Potential vorticity "thinking" has been used to infer the balanced dynamics of predominately synoptic-scale weather features. This is accomplished through the use of the invertibility principle in which the wind and mass fields can be retrieved from the three-dimensional distribution of potential vorticity (PV). The most common use of PV thinking has been applied to various forms of synoptic-scale cyclogenesis and the sensitivity of certain weather features had on the subsequent development. Utilizing the non-linear balance PV inversion developed by Davis and Emanuel (1991) this study extends the current use of PV diagnostics to atmospheric features and motions on the order of the meso- and storm-scale. This study, in essence becomes a feasibility study to examine whether a primarily synoptic-scale diagnostic tool can be applied to much smaller scales and inherently more complex fields of motion that occur within a supercell thunderstorm. An idealized supercell simulation from the ARW will be used to examine the low level thunderstorm dynamics from a PV perspective. The results show promise that the PV diagnostic can be applied to thunderstorm dynamics given the qualitative results presented here. Refinements are necessary to improve the quantitative accuracy of this technique.
ANNALES DE L’INSTITUT FOURIER

— A major theme in the theory of p -adic deformations of automor- phic forms is how p -adic L -functions over eigenvarieties relate to the geometry of these eigenvarieties. In this article we prove results in this vein for the ordinary part of the eigencurve (i.e. Hida families). We show that the crossing of two Hida families is determined by the local behavior of p -adic L -functions on those Hida families. In addition, we prove that the local behavior of p -adic L -functions determines when a Hida family ramiﬁes over the weight space. Our methods involve proving a converse to a result of Vatsal relating congruences between eigenforms to their algebraic special L -values and then p -adically interpolating congruences. Résumé. — Une question centrale dans la théorie de la déformations p -adique des formes automorphes est la suivante: quelle est la relation entre une L -fonction p -adic sur une variété propre et la géométrie de cette variété propre ? Dans l’ar- ticle nous montrons certains résultats dans cet esprit pour la partie ordinaire de la courbe propre (i.e., les familles d’Hida). Plus précisément, nous montrons que l’intersection de deux familles d’Hida est déterminée par le comportement local des L -fonctions p -adic des familles. Nous prouvons aussi que le comportement local des L -fonctions p -adique nous dit quand une famille d’Hida est ramiﬁée sur l’espace de poids. La technique principale consiste à prouver une réciproque d’un théorème de Vatsal et puis à interpoler p -adiquement certaines congruences.
Line-field confocal optical coherence tomography

We present an improved time-domain optical coherence tomography technique designed for ultrahigh-resolution B-scan imaging in real-time. The technique, called line-field confocal optical coherence tomography, is based on a Linnik-type interference microscope with line illumination using a supercontinuum laser and line detection using a line-scan camera. Bscan imaging with dynamic focusing is achieved by acquiring multiple A-scans in parallel. In vivo cellular level resolution imaging of skin is demonstrated at 10 frame/s with a penetration depth of ∼ 500 μm, with a spatial resolution of 1.3 μm × 1.1 μm (transverse × axial).
CombiningBranch Predictors

One of the key factors determining computer performance is the degree to which the implementation can take advantage of instruction-level parallelism. Perhaps the most critical limit to this parallelism is the presence of conditional branches that determine which instructions need to be executed next. To increase parallelism, several authors have suggested ways of predicting the direction of conditional branches with hardware that uses the history of previous branches. The different proposed predictors take advantage of different observed patterns in branch behavior. This paper presents a method of combining the advantages of these different types of predictors. The new method uses a history mechanism to keep track of which predictor is most accurate for each branch so that the most accurate predictor can be used. In addition, this paper describes a method of increasing the usefulness of branch history by hashing it together with the branch address. Together, these new techniques are shown to outperform previously known approaches both in terms of maximum prediction accuracy and the prediction accuracy for a given predictor size. Specifically, prediction accuracy reaches 98.1% correct versus 97.1% correct for the most accurate previously known approach. Also, this new approach is typically at least a factor of two smaller than other schemes for a given prediction accuracy. Finally, this new approach allows predictors with a single level of history array access to outperform schemes with multiple levels of history for all but the largest predictor sizes.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF HERBICIDE-RESISTANT SUGARCANE

In a previously reported model study, sugarcane was genetically engineered with the pat gene conferring resistance to the herbicide Buster®. The sugarcane cultivar used in that work was NCo310, which is no longer grown commercially but responds well to tissue culture and transformation. The field performance of the herbicide resistant sugarcane was assessed and stable transgene expression observed over several ratoons with repeated herbicide application. However, the cost of the Buster® herbicide is particularly high. The use of a cheaper herbicide known to be as effective as Buster® could increase the returns per Rand spent on weed control by up to six times. More recently, therefore, a gene conferring resistance to a cheaper herbicide has been introduced routinely into commercial cultivars N12 and N19, which constituted 32% and 16% respectively of cane harvested in South Africa in 2000-01. Gene delivery by microprojectile bombardment was accomplished using five plasmid constructs, each containing the same herbicide resistance gene and the antibiotic selectable marker gene nptII, but differing in promoter characteristics. Plantlets were regenerated via either direct or indirect somatic embryogenesis and selection carried out on medium containing the antibiotic geneticin. Putatively transformed plants were subjected to herbicide spraying in the glasshouse where to date 52% have survived a sub-lethal dose, which severely damaged control plants. Results have suggested that N19 is more amenable to transformation and regeneration than N12. In addition, it has been shown that the promoters chosen to drive the gene of interest and selection gene are of great importance. In this study CaMV 35S promoter derivatives proved to be effective in the genetic environment of sugarcane.
Key Knowledge Generation

Development of staff by Human Resources (HR) department in any organisation is crucial to implement its strategy, operations, goals and for eventual success. Similarly, in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the Middle Managers (MM) are drivers who execute an organisation vision, mission and contribute towards its desired attainment. MM job titles at faculty level include Deans, Head of Departments, Subject leaders and Principle lecturers/Programme leaders. However, evidence from contemporary literature, changes and challenges transpiring in the HEIs sector is inﬂuencing and generating tremendous pressures and workloads for MM to work effectively and efﬁciently in their respective roles. Therefore, the fortitude of this study is to explore this phenomenon and capture true MM Development Needs (DN) and propose a conceptual model. In stage one (qualitative stage), a semi-structured interview protocol was derived from 2 pilot semi-structured interviews and a literature review theoretical model. A meso case study (subcases and individual embedded cases) of a UK Post 1992 university was conducted with 23 semi-structured interviews lasting an hour each. 14 interviews were analysed in rich detail. The major ﬁndings depict 251 themes from the qualitative data analysis categorised under six main categories. To validated and cross-compare the themes, nine collected interviews were audio listened to verify and validate the ﬁndings. This study seeks to contribute to middle management theory and narrow the gap existing in HEI management development programme provision and align with middle managers requirements via proposing structured, relevant programmes to be implemented by human resources.
First principle modeling of simultaneous VASO and BOLD fMRI with two-photon microscopy for optimal quantification of CBV changes in humans

The vascular space occupancy (VASO) fMRI method probes changes in cerebral blood volume (CBV) under various physiological states, including neuronal activation in humans. However, it requires a careful choice of sequence parameters because the blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) effect offsets the VASO signal. Assessing this BOLD contamination as a function of pulse sequence parameters would improve the quantification of CBV changes with VASO. However, this task requires knowledge of the cerebral vascular geometry of the MRI voxel. Towards this end, optical microscopy can provide high-resolution 3D images of vasculature. Here, we use detailed angiograms of rodent brain acquired with two-photon microscopy to model fMRI signals (VASO and BOLD) from first principles using Monte Carlo diffusion of water protons. We present quantitative plots of VASO together with intra- and extravascular BOLD fractional signal changes as a function of echo time (TE), for spin echo (SE) and gradient echo (GRE) pulse sequences, at low to ultra-high magnetic fields. Our results indicate that at 3T, the BOLD contamination of the VASO response is under 12% for GRE and 2% for SE up to TE=6 ms, but this contamination is significantly higher at 7T and above. We also found GRE BOLD intravascular contributions of 85% at 1.5T, 55% at 3T and 4% at 7T and SE intravascular contributions of 70% at 1.5T, 40% at 3T and 10% at 7T. These results may provide important information to optimize the pulse sequence timing in human VASO and BOLD fMRI, leading the way to a wider application of these fMRI techniques in healthy and diseased brain.