Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Windy Hill Rosalie bay catchment trust

It is a decade since the Little Windy Hill Company approved a modest pest management programme at its AGM in October of 1998. Since that time the south eastern Great Barrier Island project has grown to 750 hectares involving 14 landholdings. Over the years of newsletters we have shared much about the positive conservation outcomes of the project and in marking this decade of restoration I would like this report to be a more personal account. Conservation is about people – it is an enlivening social activity that engages people in actively protecting and enjoying the natural environment. Unfortunately, it has as its downside, the of killing perfectly healthy animals and plants because we have deemed them damaging to the native order we value more highly. It is based on human judgment. The decade has been for me as Project manager and vision holder, a steep and ongoing learning curve full of surprises, delight (those first Barrier born robins after 140 years was something else), failures, angst about getting it right, heaps of support, and darn right doggedness. Keeping such a successful mammal as the rat down takes ruthlessness. Getting an inkling of an understanding about the dynamics at play in this regenerating forest has been inspiring – living in it you learn much by osmosis but a great deal more from the science of it. I have loved the learning.
Novel Test-Mode-Only Scan Attack and Countermeasure for Compression-Based Scan Architectures

Scan design is a de facto design-for-testability (DfT) technique that enhances access during manufacturing test process. However, it can also be used as a back door to leak secret information from a secure chip. In existing scan attacks, the secret key of a secure chip is retrieved by using both the functional mode and the test mode of the chip. These attacks can be thwarted by applying a reset operation when there is a switch of mode. However, the mode-reset countermeasure can be thwarted by using only the test mode of a secure chip. In this paper, we perform a detailed analysis on the test-mode-only scan attack. We propose attacks on an advanced encryption standard (AES) design with a basic scan architecture as well as on an AES design with an advanced DfT infrastructure that comprises decompressors and compactors. The attack results show that indeed the secure chips are vulnerable to test-mode-only attacks. The secret key can be recovered within 1 s even in the presence of decompressors and compactors. We then propose new countermeasures to thwart these attacks. The proposed countermeasures incur minimal cost while providing high success rate.
Improving Skin Lesion Segmentation with Self-Training

Simple Summary Finding the area of a skin lesion on dermoscopy images is important for diagnosing skin conditions. The accuracy of segmentation impacts the overall diagnosis. The quality of segmentation depends on the amount of labeled data that is hard to obtain because it requires a lot of time from experts. This study introduces a technique that enhances the segmentation process by using a combination of expert-generated and computer-generated labels. The method uses a trained model to generate labels for new data that are later used to improve the model. The findings suggest that this approach could make skin cancer detection tools more accurate and efficient, potentially making a big difference in the medical field, especially in situations where high-quality data are limited. Abstract Skin lesion segmentation plays a key role in the diagnosis of skin cancer; it can be a component in both traditional algorithms and end-to-end approaches. The quality of segmentation directly impacts the accuracy of classification; however, attaining optimal segmentation necessitates a substantial amount of labeled data. Semi-supervised learning allows for employing unlabeled data to enhance the results of the machine learning model. In the case of medical image segmentation, acquiring detailed annotation is time-consuming and costly and requires skilled individuals so the utilization of unlabeled data allows for a significant mitigation of manual segmentation efforts. This study proposes a novel approach to semi-supervised skin lesion segmentation using self-training with a Noisy Student. This approach allows for utilizing large amounts of available unlabeled images. It consists of four steps—first, training the teacher model on labeled data only, then generating pseudo-labels with the teacher model, training the student model on both labeled and pseudo-labeled data, and lastly, training the student* model on pseudo-labels generated with the student model. In this work, we implemented DeepLabV3 architecture as both teacher and student models. As a final result, we achieved a mIoU of 88.0% on the ISIC 2018 dataset and a mIoU of 87.54% on the PH2 dataset. The evaluation of the proposed approach shows that Noisy Student training improves the segmentation performance of neural networks in a skin lesion segmentation task while using only small amounts of labeled data.
TOPICAL REVIEW: Ab initio simulation of the properties of ferroelectric materials

Ferroelectric (FE) materials display very peculiar structural, electrical, and electromechanical features. Their properties have been addressed, by means of ab initio simulations, from 1990. Since then, a great number of different contributions has greatly expanded our understanding of this important class of materials; quite often, these contributions were based on novel theories, methods, and algorithms. Nowadays, many properties can be accurately computed and predicted from first principles for a given FE material. Even more important, the work of the last decade has revolutionized our qualitative view of the phenomenon of ferroelectricity at large. We review the major advances concerning structural and lattice-dynamical properties, spontaneous and induced polarization, dielectric and piezoelectric properties, and structural phase transitions at finite temperature. Special attention is devoted to illustrating the novel methods which made such advances possible.
“Thy friendship makes us fresh”: Charles, King of France, Act III, Scene III (Henry VI, Part 1, by William Shakespeare)

Friendship does indeed make us fresh—fresh in our enthusiasm, fresh in our creativity, and fresh in our collaborative potential. Indeed, it is the growing friendship between petrology and geochronology that has given rise to the new field of petrochronology. This, in turn, has opened a new array of methods to investigate the history of the geologic processes that are encoded (oh, so tantalizingly close! ) in rocks, and to develop a broad new array of questions about those processes. All friendships have their initiations …
The biological and ecological impacts of hypoxia on coastal benthic communities

Traditionally, hypoxia has been defined as the situation where DO levels have fallen below 2.0 mg O2 L, but increasing evidence suggests that this low level of DO is inadequate to describe the onset of hypoxia impacts for many organisms. Consequently, there is a need for a greater understanding of how ‘moderate’ alterations in DO levels will affect ecosystem processes and functionality, specifically through behavioural and physiological alterations at the organism and community level. This thesis reports on mesocosm experiments which were conducted to examine the effects of moderate (> 3.0 mg O2 L) hypoxia on firstly, a key ecosystem engineer, the brittlestar Amphiura filiformis, and secondly, on the Station L4 infaunal macrobenthic community. Station L4 is a longstanding marine biodiversity and MSFD reference site and forms part of the Western Channel Observatory. At the organism level, short-term (14 d) exposure to moderate hypoxia significantly reduced oxygen uptake rates, oocyte diameter and oocyte development in A. filiformis. However, these physiological affects occurred irrespective of brittlestar population density. Additionally, moderate hypoxia reduced brittlestar activity, in terms of bioturbation behaviour, consequentially having an effect on ammonium and silicate fluxes. These observations were only detected when brittlestar population density was high. It was concluded that denser populations of A. filiformis may therefore exhibit the greatest changes in behaviour and shifts in ecosystem function as competition for resources and oxygen heightens. The benthic community at Station L4, displayed considerable tolerance to medium-term (6 wk.) exposure to moderate hypoxia, in terms of structure, diversity and bioturbatory behaviour, but these results may be different if exposure was longer or more severe. Alterations in nutrient fluxes were detected, but there was little evidence to suggest these changes were due to macrofaunal behavioural alterations. Additionally, results from this study revealed
Exploring Sign Language Detection on Smartphones: A Systematic Review of Machine and Deep Learning Approaches

In this modern era of technology, most of the accessibility issues are handled with the help of smart devices and cutting-edge gadgets. Smartphones play a crucial role in addressing various accessibility challenges, including voice recognition, sign language detection and interpretation, navigation systems, speech-to-text conversion, and vice versa, among others. They are computationally powerful enough to handle and run numerous machine and deep learning applications. Among various accessibility challenges, speech disorders represent a disability where individuals struggle to communicate verbally. Similarly, hearing loss is a disability that impairs an individual’s ability to hear, necessitating reliance on gestures for communication. A significant challenge encountered by people with speech disorders, hearing loss, or both is their inability to effectively convey or receive messages from others. Hence, these individuals heavily depend on the sign language (a gesture-based communication) method, typically involving hand movements and expressions. To the best of our knowledge, there are currently no comprehensive review and/or survey articles available that cover the literature on speech disabilities and sign language detection and interpretation via smartphones utilizing machine learning and/or deep learning approaches. This study fills the gap in the literature by analyzing research publications on speech disabilities, published from 2012 to July 2023. A rigorous search and standard strategy for formulating the literature along with a well-defined theoretical framework for results and findings have been used. The paper has implications for practitioners and researchers working in accessibilities in general and smart/intelligent gadgets and applications for speech-disabled people in specific.
An E-band 40dB dynamic range multi-tanh power detector in 0.13μm SiGe technology

This paper describes circuit design and measurement results of a multi-tanh bipolar rms power detector (PD) for applications in E band (65-86 GHz) frequency range. The PD is designed and fabricated in IBM 0.13um SiGe technology. In the matched frequency range, the measured input dynamic range is over 40 dB, withstanding an input power of 17dBm, with an overall sensitivity of 27.5 mV/dB. The output voltage response is nearly frequency-independent, varying by less than 1.5 dB for a given input RF power, as the RF frequency is swept across the operating frequency range. Static power consumption is 12mW from a 2.7V supply.
Anti-Proliferation and Anti-Invasion Effects of Diosgenin on Gastric Cancer BGC-823 Cells with HIF-1α shRNAs

Drug resistance is a major factor for the limited efficacy of chemotherapy in gastric cancer treatment. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), a central transcriptional factor in hypoxia, is suggested to participate in the resistance. Here, we identified a hypoxia-mimic (cobalt chloride) sensitive gastric cell line BGC-823 to explore whether diosgenin, an aglycone of steroidal saponins, can inhibit cancer cell invasion and survival of solid tumor in a hypoxic mimic microenvironment. We have shown that diosgenin is a potent candidate for decreasing the ability of invasion and survival in cobalt chloride treated BGC-823 cells. In addition, when combined with HIF-1α specific short hairpin RNA (shRNA), diosgenin can inhibit BGC-823 cells more effectively. The anti-invasion role of diosgenin may be related to E-cadherin, integrinα5 and integrin β6. These results suggest that diosgenin may be a useful compound in controlling gastric cancer cells in hypoxia condition, especially when combined with down-regulated HIF-1α.
Automatically Scoring Tests of Proficiency in Music Instruction

We present preliminary work on automatically scoring constructed responses elicited as part of a certification test designed to measure the effectiveness of the test-taker as a K-12 music teacher. This content scoring differs from most previous work in that the responses are relatively long and are written by an adult population of generally proficient English writers. We obtain reasonably good scoring performance for all the test questions using simple features. We carry out some initial error analysis and show that there is still room for improvement.
Signaling Mechanisms in Cortical Axon Growth, Guidance, and Branching

Precise wiring of cortical circuits during development depends upon axon extension, guidance, and branching to appropriate targets. Motile growth cones at axon tips navigate through the nervous system by responding to molecular cues, which modulate signaling pathways within axonal growth cones. Intracellular calcium signaling has emerged as a major transducer of guidance cues but exactly how calcium signaling pathways modify the actin and microtubule cytoskeleton to evoke growth cone behaviors and axon branching is still mysterious. Axons must often pause their extension in tracts while their branches extend into targets. Some evidence suggests a competition between growth of axons and branches but the mechanisms are poorly understood. Since it is difficult to study growing axons deep within the mammalian brain, much of what we know about signaling pathways and cytoskeletal dynamics of growth cones comes from tissue culture studies, in many cases, of non-mammalian species. Consequently it is not well understood how guidance cues relevant to mammalian neural development in vivo signal to the growth cone cytoskeleton during axon outgrowth and guidance. In this review we describe our recent work in dissociated cultures of developing rodent sensorimotor cortex in the context of the current literature on molecular guidance cues, calcium signaling pathways, and cytoskeletal dynamics that regulate growth cone behaviors. A major challenge is to relate findings in tissue culture to mechanisms of cortical development in vivo. Toward this goal, we describe our recent work in cortical slices, which preserve the complex cellular and molecular environment of the mammalian brain but allow direct visualization of growth cone behaviors and calcium signaling. Findings from this work suggest that mechanisms regulating axon growth and guidance in dissociated culture neurons also underlie development of cortical connectivity in vivo.
Pengaruh Online Shop Dan Harga Terhadap Minat Beli Barang Secara Online Pada Karyawan Toko Sinar Welisa Jaya Di Citraland Surabaya

This study aims to determine the effect of online shop and price on the intention to buy online among Toko Sinar Welisa Jaya employees. The research method used is a quantitative method. The processed data is the result of a questionnaire with a population of 364 and a sample of 78 respondents. The data analysis technique used is the classical assumption test which consists of a normality test, multicollinearity test, heteroscedasticity test and multiple linear regression analysis, as well as hypothesis testing, namely the coefficient of determination, f test, t test. The results of the research based on the tests produced show that online shops and prices have a significant influence on online buying interest among employees at the Sinar Welisa Jaya in Citraland Surabaya store, one of which is evidenced by the results of the determination coefficient that the correlation between employee buying interest and all independent variables (online shop and price) R-Square of 0.773 means that 77.30% variation or change in employee buying interest is jointly influenced by online shop and price while the remaining 22.70% variation or change in employee buying interest is caused by other variables that are not included in this study.
Cell Recognition by Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus That Lacks the RGD Integrin-Binding Motif: Flexibility in Aphthovirus Receptor Usage

ABSTRACT Cell surface molecules that can act as virus receptors may exert an important selective pressure on RNA viral quasispecies. Large population passages of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) in cell culture select for mutant viruses that render dispensable a highly conserved Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif responsible for integrin receptor recognition. Here, we provide evidence that viability of recombinant FMDVs including a Asp-143→Gly change at the RGD motif was conditioned by a number of capsid substitutions selected upon FMDV evolution in cell culture. Multiply passaged FMDVs acquired the ability to infect human K-562 cells, which do not express integrin αvβ3. In contrast to previously described cell culture-adapted FMDVs, the RGD-independent infection did not require binding to the surface glycosaminoglycan heparan sulfate (HS). Viruses which do not bind HS and lack the RGD integrin-binding motif replicate efficiently in BHK-21 cells. Interestingly, FMDV mutants selected from the quasispecies for the inability to bind heparin regained sensitivity to inhibition by a synthetic peptide that represents the G-H loop of VP1. Thus, a single amino acid replacement leading to loss of HS recognition can shift preferential receptor usage of FMDV from HS to integrin. These results indicate at least three different mechanisms for cell recognition by FMDV and suggest a potential for this virus to use multiple, alternative receptors for entry even into the same cell type.
Use of Cytokines in Clozapine-Induced Agranulocytosis

Objective: To report and review the use of cytokines for the treatment of clozapine-induced neutropenia. Method: Case report and review of literature. Results: Cytokines, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), appear to shorten the duration of clozapine-induced neutropenia. Conclusions: G-CSF or GM-CSF therapy should be considered in patients with profound neutropenia of prolonged duration (high-risk neutropenia).
Maintaining software through intentional source-code views

Maintaining the source code of large software systems is hard. One underlying cause is that existing modularisation mechanisms are inadequate to handle crosscutting concerns. We propose intentional source-code views as an intuitive and lightweight means of modelling such concerns. They increase our ability to understand, modularise and browse the source code by grouping together source-code entities that address the same concern. They facilitate software development and evolution, because alternative descriptions of the same intentional view can be checked for consistency and relations among intentional views can be defined and verified. Finally, they enable us to specify knowledge developers have about source code that is not captured by traditional program documentation mechanisms.Our intentional view model is implemented in a logic metaprogramming language that can reason about and manipulate object-oriented source code directly. The proposed model has been validated on the evolution of a medium-sized object-oriented application in Smalltalk, and a prototype tool has been implemented.
Dense Multi-Scale Graph Convolutional Network for Knee Joint Cartilage Segmentation

In this paper, we propose a dense multi-scale adaptive graph convolutional network (DMA-GCN) method for automatic segmentation of the knee joint cartilage from MR images. Under the multi-atlas setting, the suggested approach exhibits several novelties, as described in the following. First, our models integrate both local-level and global-level learning simultaneously. The local learning task aggregates spatial contextual information from aligned spatial neighborhoods of nodes, at multiple scales, while global learning explores pairwise affinities between nodes, located globally at different positions in the image. We propose two different structures of building models, whereby the local and global convolutional units are combined by following an alternating or a sequential manner. Secondly, based on the previous models, we develop the DMA-GCN network, by utilizing a densely connected architecture with residual skip connections. This is a deeper GCN structure, expanded over different block layers, thus being capable of providing more expressive node feature representations. Third, all units pertaining to the overall network are equipped with their individual adaptive graph learning mechanism, which allows the graph structures to be automatically learned during training. The proposed cartilage segmentation method is evaluated on the entire publicly available Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) cohort. To this end, we have devised a thorough experimental setup, with the goal of investigating the effect of several factors of our approach on the classification rates. Furthermore, we present exhaustive comparative results, considering traditional existing methods, six deep learning segmentation methods, and seven graph-based convolution methods, including the currently most representative models from this field. The obtained results demonstrate that the DMA-GCN outperforms all competing methods across all evaluation measures, providing DSC=95.71% and DSC=94.02% for the segmentation of femoral and tibial cartilage, respectively.
A 60GHz, 13 dBm fully integrated 65nm RF-CMOS power amplifier

A 65 nm CMOS, 60 GHz fully integrated power amplifier (PA) from STMicroelectronics has been designed for low cost Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). It has been optimized to deliver the maximum linear output power (OCP1) without using parallel amplification topology. The simulated OCP1 is equal to 8.9 dBm with a gain of 8 dB. To obtain good performances and consume an ultra compact area of silicon, the PA has been matched and optimized with a mixed technique, using lumped and distributed elements. The chip size is 0.48 mm*0.6 mm including pads.
User Interface Design for Effective E-Learning based on Personality Traits

E-learning is an emerging discipline in the educational field. The advancement of technology and information age has altered the pedagogy and the ways we learn. Many researchers have shown that E-Learning is one of the means which outshines the traditional learning. Personalized learning and teaching could be regarded as an ultimate level of instruction. The E-learning process is influenced by the human factors and cognitive factors. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the personality traits and user interface design parameters. Data on recollection and retention skill were collected through a questionnaire designed. Association rule mining technique was applied on the experimental results and rules were generated. Based on the generated rules, suggestions are made to the interface designer for better UID in E-learning.