Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A modified robust and effective algorithm with mathematical calculation for minutiae detection

Fingerprint classification and recognition is still an open and very challenging problem in real world applications. To achieve good minutiae extraction in fingerprints with varying quality, preprocessing in form of binarization and skeletonization is first applied on fingerprints before they are evaluated by the neural network. Extracted minutiae are then considered as a 2D point pattern problem and an efficient algorithm is used to determine the number of matching points between two point patterns. Performance of the developed system is evaluated on a database with fingerprints from different people and experimental results are presented.
Effects of Duroc Breeding Lines on Carcass Composition and Meat Quality

This study was performed to investigate the carcass composition and pork quality of Duroc breeding lines in Korea. A total of 200 Duroc pigs were used, and those were originated from four different great-grandparent (GGP) breeding stock farms (L1: N farm, L2: W farm, L3: S farm, L4: R farm). The carcasses of pigs from these farms were collected, and meat quality traits were evaluated. L1 and L2 had smaller carcass weights and thin backfat, whereas L3 and L4 had heavy carcass weights and thick backfat. L3 and L4 had higher contents of fat and protein than L1 and L2. For the meat quality characteristics, L1, L2, and L4 had higher pH values than L3. In addition, L4 had higher water holding capacity than the other lines. L4 had the highest sensory evaluation scores with regard to both juiciness and flavor. Consequently, the study results indicate that pork quality information from domestic Duroc breeding stock lines could be used to effectively improve pork quality in Korea.
Nef Proteins from Diverse Groups of Primate Lentiviruses Downmodulate CXCR4 To Inhibit Migration to the Chemokine Stromal Derived Factor 1

ABSTRACT Nef proteins of primate lentiviruses promote viral replication, virion infectivity, and evasion of antiviral immune responses by modulating signal transduction pathways and downregulating expression of receptors at the cell surface that are important for efficient antigen-specific responses, such as CD4, CD28, T-cell antigen receptor, and class I and class II major histocompatibility complex. Here we show that Nef proteins from diverse groups of primate lentiviruses which do not require the chemokine receptor CXCR4 for entry into target cells strongly downmodulate the cell surface expression of CXCR4. In contrast, all human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and the majority of HIV-2 Nef proteins tested did not have such strong effects. SIVmac239 Nef strongly inhibited lymphocyte migration to CXCR4 ligand, the chemokine stromal derived factor 1 (SDF-1). SIVmac239 Nef downregulated CXCR4 by accelerating the rate of its endocytosis. Downmodulation of CXCR4 was abolished by mutations that disrupt the constitutively strong AP-2 clathrin adaptor binding element located in the N-terminal region of the Nef molecule, suggesting that Nef accelerates CXCR4 endocytosis via an AP-2-dependent pathway. Together, these results point to CXCR4 as playing an important role in simian immunodeficiency virus and possibly also HIV-2 persistence in vivo that is unrelated to viral entry into target cells. We speculate that Nef targets CXCR4 to disrupt ordered trafficking of infected leukocytes between local microenvironments in order to facilitate their dissemination and/or impair the antiviral immune response.
THREE DIMENSIONAL SURFACES FOLIATED BY LORENTZ

In this paper, we study 3-dimensional surfaces in E7 1 generated by equiform motions of a Lorentz sphere. The properties of these surfaces up to first order are investigated. We show that, as it is shown in E7, any 3–surface of the studied type in E7 1 in general is contained in a canal hypersurface, which is gained as envelope of a one-parametric set of 6-dimensional pseudospheres. Finally we give an example. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 53A17, 53A35, 53B30.
Turkish Adaptation of Behavioral Regulations in Sports Questionaire and Reviewing Psychometry Properties: Validation and Reliability Study

Purpose of this study is to adapt Behavioral Regulation in Sports Questionaire (BRSQ) which developed by Lonsdale, Hodge and Rose (2008) in Turkish and review psychometry properties. The scale consists of 24 items and 6 subdimension including intrinsic motivation, integrated regulation, identitied regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation and amotivation. Study group consists of total 681 student- athlete whom are licensed athletes and study at Physical Education and Sports College of Ahi Evran University, Erciyes University, Dumlupinar University and Çanakkale 18 Mart University. In order to determine psychometry properties of scale internal consistency, material and factor analysis and test- retest methods were applied. Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficient of the measurement determined as follows; 0.790 for total points, 0.856 for intrinsic motivation subdimension, 0.838 for integrated regulation subdimension, 0.862 for identitied regulation subdimension, 0.740 for introjected regulation subdimension, 0.788 for external regulation subdimension and 0.800 for amotivation subdimension. In the analyzes performed, the data obtained from the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the 6-factor structure of the scale. In addition, scale-based analyzes yielded high test-retest scores. In this sense, it is considered that the scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for the Turkish sample group.
Shallow Methods for Named Entity Coreference Resolution

Nous nous int´eressons dans cet article aux m ethodes superﬁcielles de r´ ´esolution d’anaphoreset de construction des chaˆines de r ef´ ´erence, que nous avons d ´evelopp ees comme modules du´systeme d’extraction d’information ANNIE. La module ”orthomatcher” traite la cor` ef´ ´erenceorthographique des noms propres et le module de resolution d’anaphores traite les anaphores´pronominales dont les antec´ edents sont des entit´ es nomm´ ´ees. Tous les deux construisent deschaˆines de r ´ef erence, i.e. elles identiﬁent des´ equivalences entre les entit´ es nomm´ ´ees qui appa-raissent dans le texte. Les resultats de pr´ ´ecision et de rappel pour l’orthomatcher sont 96/93%pour l’orthomatcher et 66/46% pour la r´esolution d’anaphores pronominaux.In this paper we discuss the shallow methods for resolving named entity coreference and build-ing of the coreference chains, which we developed as modules in the ANNIE Information Ex-traction system. The orthomatcher module deals with detecting orthographic coreference ofproper names, while the pronominal resolution module deals with pronominal anaphors, whichhave named entities as antecedents. Both modules build coreference chains, i.e., identify equiv-alence between the named entities which appear in the text. The precision/recall results are onaverage 96/93% for the orthomatcher and 66/46% for the pronominal anaphora resolution.
Effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To determine the effectiveness and safety of nicotine replacement therapy assisted reduction to stop smoking. Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Data sources Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Science Citation Index, registries of ongoing trials, reference lists, the drug company that sponsored most of the trials, and clinical experts. Review methods Eligible studies were published or unpublished randomised controlled trials that enrolled smokers who declared no intention to quit smoking in the short term, and compared nicotine replacement therapy (with or without motivational support) with placebo, no treatment, other pharmacological therapy, or motivational support, and reported quit rates. Two reviewers independently applied eligibility criteria. One reviewer assessed study quality and extracted data and these processes were checked by a second reviewer. The primary outcome, six months sustained abstinence from smoking beginning during treatment, was assessed by individual patient data analysis. Other outcomes were cessation and reduction at end of follow-up, and adverse events. Data synthesis Seven placebo controlled randomised controlled trials were included (four used nicotine replacement therapy gum, two nicotine replacement therapy inhaler, and one free choice of therapy). They were reduction studies that reported smoking cessation as a secondary outcome. The trials enrolled a total of 2767 smokers, gave nicotine replacement therapy for 6-18 months, and lasted 12-26 months. 6.75% of smokers receiving nicotine replacement therapy attained sustained abstinence for six months, twice the rate of those receiving placebo (relative risk (fixed effects) 2.06, 95% confidence interval 1.34 to 3.15; (random effects) 1.99, 1.01 to 3.91; five trials). The number needed to treat was 29. All other cessation and reduction outcomes were significantly more likely in smokers given nicotine replacement therapy than those given placebo. There were no statistically significant differences in adverse events (death, odds ratio 1.00, 95% confidence interval 0.25 to 4.02; serious adverse events, 1.16, 0.79 to 1.50; and discontinuation because of adverse events, 1.25, 0.64 to 2.51) except nausea, which was more common with nicotine replacement therapy (8.7% v 5.3%; odds ratio 1.69, 95% confidence interval 1.21 to 2.36). Conclusions Available trials indicate that nicotine replacement therapy is an effective intervention in achieving sustained smoking abstinence for smokers who have no intention or are unable to attempt an abrupt quit. Most of the evidence, however, comes from trials with regular behavioural support and monitoring and it is unclear whether using nicotine replacement therapy without regular contact would be as effective.
Semantic organization of scenes using discriminant structural templates

In this paper, we present a procedure for organizing real world scenes along semantic axes. The approach is based on the output energies of linear discriminant filters that take into account, or not, spatial information. We introduce three semantic axes along which pictures are ordered. The main semantic axis computes the degree of naturalness of a scene. Then, urban pictures are evaluated according to their degree of verticalness and natural scenes, according to their degree of openness. We observe the emergence of typical scene categories such as beach, mountain, skyscrapers, city center etc., along the axes.
Recognition of hand-printed characters via Induct-RDR

The goal of character recognition research is to simplify and automate the development of character recognition algorithms. We describe an approach based on applying preprocessing to data sets of Latin characters and then applying a machine learning approach to the data sets to build a knowledge base able to classify unseen pre-processed characters. The machine learning method, Induct/RDR, has a number of features that make it particularly suitable for character recognition. It has the potential to integrate automatic analysis with a manual knowledge acquisition methodology if further refinement is required. Initial results on hand-printed Latin characters show the recognition accuracy of up to 90.2% on unseen cases for the machine learning system.
Particle-based simulation of ellipsoid particle aggregation as a model for vascular network formation

Computational modelling is helpful for elucidating the cellular mechanisms driving biological morphogenesis. Previous simulation studies of blood vessel growth based on the Cellular Potts model (CPM) proposed that elongated, adhesive or mutually attractive endothelial cells suffice for the formation of blood vessel sprouts and vascular networks. Because each mathematical representation of a model introduces potential artifacts, it is important that model results are reproduced using alternative modelling paradigms. Here, we present a lattice-free, particle-based simulation of the cell elongation model of vasculogenesis. The new, particle-based simulations confirm the results obtained from the previous Cellular Potts simulations. Furthermore, our current findings suggest that the emergence of order is possible with the application of a high enough attractive force or, alternatively, a longer attraction radius. The methodology will be applicable to a range of problems in morphogenesis and noisy particle aggregation in which cell shape is a key determining factor.
Supplementary Materials & Methods

Cell cycle phase-dependent death To analyze the cell cycle phase-dependent cell death, 5 μg/ml of Hoechst 33258 stain (Sigma-Aldrich) was added to the medium for 10 min. Then cells were treated with trypsin and washed twice in Annexin buffer (Sterofundin solution with 1% Hepes), followed by a 30 min incubation
SoNIC : Classifying and Surviving Interference in 802.15.4-based Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks are used to collect sensor data in different applications such as environmental monitoring, smart building control, and health care applications. Wireless sensor nodes used are typically small, low-cost, and battery powered. The nodes are often hard to access after deployment, for example when they are in remote locations. Another property of wireless sensor networks is that their operation is dependent on the environment they operate in, both due to the specific sensor readings but also due to the effects on communication by factors such as fading and radio interference. This makes it important to evaluate a wireless sensor network in its intendent target environment before final deployment.To enable experiments with wireless sensor networks in their target environment, we have designed and implemented a testbed called Sensei-UU. It is designed to allow WSN experiments to be repeated in different locations, thus exposing effects caused by the environment. To allow this, the testbed is designed to be easily moved between experimental sites.One type of WSN applications Sensei-UU is aimed to evaluate is protocols where nodes are mobile. Mobile testbed nodes are low-cost robots which follow a tape track on the floor. The localization accuracy of the robot approach is evaluated and is accurate enough to expose a protocol to fading phenoma in a repeatable manner.Sensei-UU has helped us develop a lightweight interference classification approach, SoNIC, which runs on standard motes. The approach only use information from a standard cc2420 chipset available when packets are received. We believe that the classification accuracy is good enough to motivate specific transmission techniques avoiding interference.
Identification and Estimation of Triangular Simultaneous Equations Models without Additivity

This paper is about identification and estimation in a triangular nonparametric structural model with instrumental variables and non-additive errors. Identification and estimation is based on a control function consisting of the conditional distribution function of the endogenous variable given the instruments. We allow for a structural disturbance of arbitrary, unknown dimension while identifying interesting structural effects, such as quantile and average effects. We consider a two-step approach to estimation. We find that the convergence rate for the second-step structural estimator depends on the strength of the instrument.
(Co)constructing use, belonging and legitimacy. A study of English language ownership in Italy

The conviction that the ownership of English is shared among its users worldwide has long been held by linguists whose work has ushered in new paradigms in the ways of conceptualizing and researching language. Yet, research that explores how English users understand and construct ownership is lacking in many contexts. The present article aims to fill this gap by investigating the nature of language ownership among English learners in Naples, Italy. Drawing on the framework for language ownership delineated in Seilhamer (2015), questionnaire data and interview moments with four case study participants are analyzed to explore how high school students construct relationships with English and understandings of ownership in terms of prevalent usage, affective belonging, and legitimate knowledge. The findings unveil the dynamic ways in which understandings of language ownership, which is agentively (co)constructed and negotiated, are capable of continuously shifting in different settings and with different interlocutors.
Probabilistic electoral methods , representative probability , and maximum entropy

A probabilistic electoral system is described in a context accessible to readers not familiar with social choice theory. This system satisfies axioms of: identical treatment of each voter and of each candidate; universal domain; fair representation of the pairwise preferences of the electorate; independenceof irrelevant alternatives; and clarity of voting for pairwise outcomes; and henceArrow’s other axioms (weak Pareto and no dictator) are also satisfied. It produces in an information-theoretic sense the least surprising outcome given any candidatesymmetric prior beliefs on the voters’ preferences, and is shown to be able to compromise appropriately in situations where a Condorcet winner would not be elected top under many other systems. However, difficulties can arise with this system in situations where one political party is permitted to flood the candidate list with large numbers of their own candidates. The empirical properties of this system are explored and compared with the systems known as “Majority (or Plurality) Rule” and
Learning from Paleo-Landscapes: Defining the Land-Use Systems of the Ancient Malayo-Polynesian Homeland

Paleo-landscape investigations contextualize how people have inhabited and coevolved dynamically with their landforms, resource zones, and social-ecological niches during measured time intervals and through extended chronological sequences. Toward illustrating this research potential, changing paleo-landscapes 2500–1500 BC reveal the ancient conditions of the places where people lived in both Taiwan and the northern Philippines, in this case exploring what transpired there during a critical time period that heralded deep transformation of the language history, cultural heritage, economic production, and population demography of Island Southeast Asia as known today. During the time range of interest, the region’s coastlines and habitat configurations were substantially different from today’s circumstances, prior to change in sea level, accelerated slope erosion, lowland sedimentary buildup, and some of the world’s most rapid recorded tectonic uplift. The results show that people in eastern Taiwan at 2200–2000 BC faced a crisis of limited suitable landforms for their particular mode of subsistence economy, thus instigating overseas migration to the northern Philippines as a means to expand into other territories, with continued effects through 1500 BC and thereafter.
Empirical Evaluation of Modeling Languages Using Multi-Lift System Case Study

This paper empirically investigates the advantages and limitations of modeling languages by specifying the multi-lift system as a non-trivial case study. The multi-lift system is a suitable test bed to demonstrate the expressive power of modeling languages in specifying such a concurrent, reactive, and complex system. English, UML, and Object-Z have been chosen, respectively, as informal, semi-formal, and formal modeling languages to specify the software requirements of the multi-lift system. These modeling languages are then compared and evaluated based on their likelihood to produce a specification with some defined characteristics. The conclusion is that informal languages such as English cannot be used to produce software models, because they are prone to ambiguity. Each of the formal and semi-formal languages has some unique advantages and limitations. Semi-formal models should be supplemented with formal ones to produce high quality software.
Applied Taxonomy Techniques Intended for Strenuous Random Forest Robustness

Globalization and economic trade has change the scrutiny of facts from data to knowledge. For the same purpose data mining techniques have been involved in copious real world applications. This paper illustrates appraisal of assorted data mining techniques on diverse data sets. There are scores of data mining techniques for prediction and classification obtainable, this article includes most prominent techniques: J48, random forest, Naïve Bayes, AdaBoostM1 and Bagging. Experiment results prove robustness of random forest classifier by conniving accuracy, weighted average value of ROC and kappa statistics of various data sets. Index Terms — random forest, efficiency, kappa statistic, weighted average ROC value, robustness.
Algorithms for Junctions in Directed Acyclic Graphs

Given a pair of distinct vertices u, v in a graph G, we say that s is a junction of u, v if there are in G internally vertex disjoint directed paths from s to u and from s to v. We show how to characterize junctions in directed acyclic graphs. We also consider the two problems in the following and derive efficient algorithms to solve them. Given a directed acyclic graph G and a vertex s in G, how can we find all pairs of vertices of G such that s is a junction of them? And given a directed acyclic graph G and k pairs of vertices of G, how can we preprocess G such that all junctions of k given pairs of vertices could be listed quickly? All junctions of k pairs problem arises in an application in Anthropology and we apply our algorithm to find such junctions on kinship networks of some brazilian indian ethnic groups.
Genetic and morphometric divergence in threespine stickleback in the Chignik catchment, Alaska

Divergent selection pressures induced by different environmental conditions typically lead to variation in life history, behavior, and morphology. When populations are locally adapted to their current environment, selection may limit movement into novel sites, leading to neutral and adaptive genetic divergence in allopatric populations. Subsequently, divergence can be reinforced by development of pre-or postzygotic barriers to gene flow. The threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, is a primarily marine fish that has invaded freshwater repeatedly in postglacial times. After invasion, the established freshwater populations typically show rapid diversification of several traits as they become reproductively isolated from their ancestral marine population. In this study, we examine the genetic and morphometric differentiation between sticklebacks living in an open system comprising a brackish water lagoon, two freshwater lakes, and connecting rivers. By applying a set of microsatellite markers, we disentangled the genetic relationship of the individuals across the diverse environments and identified two genetic populations: one associated with brackish and the other with the freshwater environments. The “brackish” sticklebacks were larger and had a different body shape than those in freshwater. However, we found evidence for upstream migration from the brackish lagoon into the freshwater environments, as fish that were genetically and morphometrically similar to the lagoon fish were found in all freshwater sampling sites. Regardless, few F1-hybrids were identified, and it therefore appears that some pre-and/or postzygotic barriers to gene flow rather than geographic distance are causing the divergence in this system.