Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maize in the Third World

Maize in the world economy the maize plant and its uses maize production environments and methods in the developing world maize research systems in the developing world research policy issues maize genetic resources breeding advances in tropical and subtropical maize building successful maize seed industries improving maize technology delivery systems. Maize research and development: country case studies prospects for Third World maize economy.
Performance analysis of multi-service wireless cellular networks with MMPP call arrival patterns

In this paper, we present a model to analyze the performance of multi-service cellular wireless networks in terms of the new call blocking and the handoff call dropping probabilities when the call arrival rates depend on the time of the day. A Markov modulated Poisson process (MMPP) is used to represent the different rates in each time period. To capture the multiple classes of services (e.g., voice, data, video) we use a multi-dimensional Markov model where each dimension represents the number of users in each class. For each class of users a fixed number of channels (guard channels) are reserved for handoff call. The model can be also used for other types of channel reservation schemes such as fractional guard channel or thinning scheme. A recursive algorithm is applied to obtain the steady state probabilities for the system states which reduces the computational complexity. Simulation results are presented to show the accuracy of the proposed model.
Monitoring Suburban Dynamics in the Greater Vienna Region Integration of Satellite Imagery and Census Data

Large cities and their surrounding areas are faced with the trend of increasing suburbanisation. City and regional planners are called upon to provide concepts for these developments and thus need data on which to base their models. Until now, detailed information has in general only been available for large cities, rarely going beyond the city limits. Basic information, such as census data, is of course available, but usually only on a census tract basis, with no additional more detailed spatial reference. In this paper the use of satellite imagery is proposed to provide information on built-up areas in suburban regions. On this information any type of statistical data can be projected, allowing a better visualisation of the data and a better interpretation on what the statistical data actually means in a spatial context. Satellite images offer the advantages of covering large areas and being available on a regular basis. In order to derive detailed information on built-up areas from high resolution panchromatic satellite images, a texture analysis is proposed. This approach allows an automatic differentiation between settlement/no-settlement. Using visual interpretation, the settlement mask can be further subdivided into different urban classes (e.g. residential, industry, etc.). As an application the texture analysis was applied to panchromatic satellite images from 1968 (Corona) and 1999 (IRS-1C) for the City of Vienna and its surrounding areas (covering approximately 7.000 km2). This resulted in a detailed mask showing the extent of all built-up areas in that region. Based on these data numerous questions can be addressed. They range from simply showing where building activities have taken place to more complex questions by integrating the settlement mask with socio-economic data in a GIS. As a sample application census data was combined with the settlement mask for the analysis population pressure to examine the dynamics of settlement developments.
Special Issue on Spatial and Spatio-temporal Databases

The popularity of location-based services and the need to perform real-time processing on them has led to an interest in queries on road networks, such as finding shortest paths and finding nearest neighbors. The challenge here is that the efficient execution of operations usually involves the computation of distance along a spatial network instead of “as the crow flies,” which is not simple. This requires the precomputation of the shortest paths and network distance between every pair of points (i.e., vertices) with as little space as possible rather than having to store the n2 shortest paths and distances between all pairs. This problem is related to a ‘holy grail’ problem in databases of how to incorporate road networks into relational databases. A data structure called a road network oracle is introduced that resides in a database and enables the processing of many operations on road networks with just the aid of relational operators. Two implementations of road network oracles are presented.
Squalen Bulletin of Marine and Fisheries Postharvest and Biotechnology

Pathogenic bacteria are commonly found as natural contaminants in seafood and fish products. Globally, several countries have been imposing strict regulations on the maximum levels of pathogens and consequently require microbial testing of pathogens before the products can be marketed. A culture-based method with biochemical assay has been widely used to detect pathogenic bacteria in food, despite its long and extensive process. Meanwhile, the alternative molecular-based method to overcome this problem, cannot differentiate between viable and nonviable cells, which may lead to underestimation. This study aimed to develop a multiplex PCR (mPCR) method as a confirmatory assay for the culture-based method to detect pathogens in fish products simultaneously. This method applied a pre-enrichment step to ensure the growth of low-level pathogens and the injured cells in the sample. The target genes were ToxR, InvA, and UidA for Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli, respectively. This assay also amplified the 16S rDNA gene of bacteria as an internal control for the PCR reaction. By implementing liquid-based DNA extraction during analysis, the developed-mPCR was comparable to detect the targeted bacteria in artificially-contaminated samples. The method was more sensitive in naturally-contaminated samples, where the number of E. coli, Salmonella spp. and V. parahaemolyticus detected were 28, 7, and 22, respectively. While the conventional method only detected 26, 5, and 19 of the respective pathogens. With a relatively shorter time and lower operation cost, the mPCR method is potential as an alternative for the culture-based method.
3D Features for human action recognition with semi-supervised learning

Human action recognition (HAR) is a very challenging task because of intra-class variations and complex backgrounds. Here, a motion history image (MHI)-based interest point refinement is proposed to remove the noisy interest points. Histogram of oriented gradient (HOG) and histogram of optical flow (HOF) techniques are extended from spatial to spatio-temporal domain to preserve the temporal information. These local features are used to build the trees for the random forest technique. During tree building, a semi-supervised learning is proposed for better splitting of data points at each node. For recognition of an action, mutual information is estimated for all the extracted interest points to each of the trained class by passing them through the random forest. The proposed method is evaluated on KTH, Weizmann, and UCF Sports standard datasets. The experimental results indicate that the proposed technique provides better performance compared to earlier reported techniques.
A Typhoon Wind-Field Retrieval Method for the Dual-Polarization SAR Imagery

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is widely used to detect sea surface wind. It has been found that the signals of co-polarization SAR tend to become saturated under high wind-speed conditions. Also, low signal-to-noise ratios of cross-polarization SAR have been observed under low wind-speed conditions. In this letter, a typhoon wind-field retrieval method is developed by compositing the wind speeds retrieved from dual-polarized SAR images. This letter then applies the proposed method to eight typhoons (four from the Canadian RADARSAT-2 satellite and four from the Chinese Gaofen-3 satellite). The results show that the method is successful in regard to fine typhoon wind structure retrieval, with a root-mean-square error of wind direction of 12° and a wind speed of 1.7 m/s, against 12 oceanic buoy measurements in the South China Sea.
A Hybrid GPU-CPU Renderer

In this paper we present a hybrid rendering approach that generates fast real time images of a scene by the GPU and then progressively improves quality by selective ray tracing. The GPU solution is used to guide the ray tracing towards error prone areas. We describe the interplay between these two passes for the generation of high quality hard and soft shadows, anti-aliasing, and reflections and refractions. We present a first implementation and discuss its results.
World Englishes: Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching

The model of English that should be used in classrooms has long been a subject of debate. World Englishes, Implications for International Communication and English Language Teaching, (with an accompanying audio CD) describes selected varieties of World Englishes, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of selecting a particular variety from the point of view of both teachers and learners. It aims to examine and re-evaluate concepts such as 'standard', 'variety', 'native speaker' and 'non-native speaker', and to validate the role played by multilingual and multicultural English language teachers, arguing that context and learner needs should determine the variety to be taught. World Englishes was shortlisted for the 2008 British Council Innovations Awards.
Predicting biodiversity loss in insular neotropical forest habitat patches

Neotropical forests have experienced high rates of biodiversity loss as a result of burgeoning land-use changes. Habitat conversion into cropland, pastures, and more recently hydroelectric lakes, are leading drivers of forest loss and fragmentation of pristine forests in the world’s most biodiverse region. This thesis aims to improve our understanding of the impacts of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity loss in Neotropical forests by evaluating the patterns of floristic changes and vertebrate extinctions in forest patches. Two approaches at different scales were conducted. First, a systematic literature review was carried out on the effects of fragmentation on Neotropical primates at a continental-scale. Second, biodiversity inventories were conducted on medium and large bodied vertebrates (including mammals, birds and tortoises) and trees ≥10 cm diameter at breast height at 37 islands and three continuous forest sites within the Balbina Hydroelectric Reservoir in Brazilian Amazonia. Patch area was a key driver of species persistence for all study taxa, yet other factors were also important. Hunting pressure exerted a strong influence on patterns of primate persistence within 760 fragments, and edge effects, including edge-related ground-fires, were the main predictors of floristic transitions using data from 87 quarter hectare forest-plots at Balbina. Additionally, matrix composition and species life-history traits played a key role in explaining patterns of species persistence. This study therefore highlights the importance of considering anthropogenic stressors in assessing the effects of land-use change to explain patterns of species persistence in forest patches, aside from including parameters related to the matrix and ecological life history traits of focal species. As conservation recommendations, prioritising large (>100 ha) patches, increasing their protection, and enhancing connectivity of surrounding habitats becomes clearly important. For future Amazonian dams, it is recommended that engineers should consider the overall topography of planned reservoirs to maximise landscape connectivity and/or reject plans targeting unfavourable river basins.
Physicochemical Characterization and Development of a Microemulsion System for Transdermal Use

A microemulsion (ME) carrier system containing diclofenac diethylamine (DDA) was developed and physicochemically characterized. In addition, a methodology for analytical determination of DDA by UV-Vis spectrophotometry was validated. The methodology used to produce the ME was simple and reliable, producing a stable ME system with a high DDA entrapment efficiency of 89.6 ± 14.19%. The ME system presents a mean droplet size, conductivity, pH, refractive index and viscosity of around 50 nm, 300 µS cm−1, 7.0, 1.399, and 110 mPa, respectively. Furthermore, the analytical method developed to evaluate the DDA content was validated and used to quantify DDA in the ME formulations.
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY and CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL LEARNING DEPARTMENT OF BRAIN AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES

Human object recognition is generally considered to tolerate changes of the stimulus position in the visual eld. A number of recent studies, however, have cast doubt on the completeness of translation invariance. In a new series of experiments we tried to investigate whether positional speci city of short-term memory is a general property of visual perception. We tested same-di erent discrimination of computer graphics models that were displayed at the same or at di erent locations of the visual eld, and found complete translation invariance, regardless of the similarity of the animals and irrespective of direction and size of the displacement (Exp. 1 and 2). Decisions were strongly biased towards same decisions if stimuli appeared at a constant location, while after translation subjects displayed a tendency towards di erent decisions. Even if the spatial order of animal limbs was randomized ("scrambled animals"), no deteriorating e ect of shifts in the eld of view could be detected (Exp. 3). However, if the in uence of single features was reduced (Exp. 4 and 5) small but signi cant e ects of translation could be obtained. Under conditions that do not reveal an in uence of translation, rotation in depth strongly interferes with recognition (Exp. 6). Changes of stimulus size did not reduce performance (Exp. 7). Tolerance to these object transformations seems to rely on di erent brain mechanisms, with translation and scale invariance being achieved in principle, while rotation invariance is not. Copyright c Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997 This report describes research done at the Center for Biological and Computational Learning in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Measurement of Serum Antibodies to Infliximab and Adalimumab

Infliximab (Remicade) is an intravenous tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) blocking agent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn disease, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, plaque psoriasis, and ulcerative colitis. Adalimumab (Humira) is a subcutaneous TNF-α inhibitor that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis in adults only and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Following primary response to infliximab and adalimumab, some patients become secondary nonresponders. The development of antidrug antibodies (ADA) is considered a cause of this secondary nonresponse.
Mapping Capital and Liquidity Requirements to Bank Lending Spreads

This study outlines a methodology for mapping the increases in capital and liquidity requirements proposed under Basel III to bank lending spreads. The higher cost associated with a one percentage point increase in the capital ratio can be recovered by increasing lending spreads by 15 basis points for a representative bank. This calculation assumes the return on equity (ROE) and the cost of debt are unchanged, with no change in other sources of income and no reduction in operating expenses. If ROE and the cost of debt are assumed to decline, the impact on lending spreads is reduced. To recover the additional cost of meeting the December 2009 proposal for the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR), a representative bank would need to increase lending spreads by 24 basis points. Taking into account the fall in risk-weighted assets from holding more government bonds reduces this cost to 12 basis points or less.
Yeast Two-hybrid Systems and Protein Interaction Mapping Projects for Yeast and Worm

The availability of complete genome sequences necessitates the development of standardized functional assays to analyse the tens of thousands of predicted gene products in high-throughput experimental settings. Such approaches are collectively referred to as`functional genomics'. One approach to investigate the properties of a proteome of interest is by systematic analysis of protein±protein interactions. So far, the yeast two-hybrid system is the most commonly used method for large-scale, high-throughput identi®cation of potential protein±protein interactions. Here, we discuss several technical features of variants of the two-hybrid systems in light of data recently obtained from different protein interaction mapping projects for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.
Nonparametric multivariate control chart based on density-sensitive novelty weight for non-normal processes

ABSTRACT The control chart is one of the most important statistical process control tools and the traditional control charts mostly require a specific probability distribution to set up their control limits. However, in modern manufacturing, the processes often have a lot of complexity and variability. Most existing control charts cannot efficiently handle situations with nonlinear or multi-modal patterns of observations. One recent trend about control charts is based on the novelty score algorithms that can effectively describe and reflect the characteristics of the monitored data. In this paper, we propose a density-sensitive novelty weight (DNW) control chart using k-nearest neighbors (kNN) algorithm that can efficiently monitor a process when the distribution of observations is unknown. More importantly, our chart can fully utilize the in-control local density information which can be regarded as the amount of in-control process knowledge. We demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed chart in experiments with simulated data in terms of average run length, and showed that the proposed chart generated proper portions of false alarms in the dense and sparse regions in Phase-I monitoring procedure in a real-life data, the E.coli dataset from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) repository.
Diurnal tidal stresses on Titan

Interior models and amplitude patterns of diurnal tidal stresses on Titan are calculated. The structural models are required to satisfy the satellite’s mean density, polar moment-of-inertia factor MoI, and tidal potential Love number k2 as derived from Cassini gravity field data. The tidal stress pattern is found to correspond to the locations of cryovolcanic candidate areas on Titan’s leading hemisphere. A relatively warm, low-ammonia water ocean could further increase Titan's habitable potential.
Child Costs and the Causal Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Supply: An investigation for Indonesia 1993-2008

Over the last two decades Indonesia has experienced a significant decline in fertility rates and substantial increases in the level of education of women. Despite this development female labor force participation rates have remained roughly constant throughout this period. This paper explores the causes for the seeming unresponsiveness of female labor supply to changes in fertility. The empirical analysis is performed using annual data from the national household survey Susenas for the period 1993-2008. The final sample comprises about 850,000 woman aged 21 to 35 with at least two children. Identification of causal effects builds upon the empirical strategy as outlined in Angrist and Evans (1998). The results suggest that a considerable share of women in Indonesia works in the labor market in order to finance basic expenditures on their children. Therefore, reductions in fertility rates seem to have led to two opposing effects that contributed to aggregate levels of female labor supply being constant. While some women were more likely to participate in the labor market due to a lower number of children, others might now lack the need to engage in the labor market due to a relaxation in their budget constraint.
Different instructions during the ten-meter walking test determined significant increases in maximum gait speed in individuals with chronic hemiparesis

Objective: To evaluate the effects of different instructions for the assessment of maximum walking speed during the ten-meter walking test with chronic stroke subjects. Methods: Participants were instructed to walk under four experimental conditions: (1) comfortable speed, (2) maximum speed (simple verbal command), (3) maximum speed (modified verbal command–“catch a bus”) and (4) maximum speed (verbal command + demonstration). Participants walked three times in each condition and the mean time to cover the intermediate 10 meters of a 14-meter corridor was registered to calculate the gait speed (m/s). Repeated-measures ANOVAs, followed by planned contrasts, were employed to investigate differences between the conditions (α=5%). Means, standard deviations and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results: The mean values for the four conditions were: (1) 0.74m/s; (2) 0.85 m/s; (3) 0.93 m/s; (4) 0.92 m/s, respectively, with significant differences between the conditions (F=40.9; p<0.001). Comfortable speed was significantly slower than the maximum speed, indicating that the participants were able to increase speeds when required. Significant differences were observed between the second condition with the third (p=0.002; 95%CI=-0.13 to -0.03) and the fourth conditions (p=0.004; 95%CI=-0.12 to -0.02) with no differences between the third and fourth conditions (p=1.00; 95%CI=-0.04 to 0.05). Conclusions: The results indicated that simple verbal commands were not sufficient to capture maximum gait speed with chronic stroke subjects. Thus, for clinical assessments and research purposes, where measurements of the maximum gait speed are necessary, modified verbal commands or demonstration strategies could be employed by physical therapists to ensure acurate information.
Deformable object segmentation in ultra-sound images

This thesis analyses the current strategies to segment breast lesions in Ultra-Sound (US) data and proposes a fully automatic methodology for generating accurate segmentations of breast lesions in US data with low false positive rates. The proposed approach targets the segmentation as a minimization procedure for a multi-label probabilistic framework that takes advantage of min-cut/max- flow Graph-Cut (GC) minimization for inferring the appropriate label from a set of tissue labels for all the pixels within the target image. The image is divided into contiguous regions so that all the pixels belonging to a particular region would share the same label by the end of the process. From a training image dataset stochastic models are built in order to infer a label for each region of the image. The main advantage of the proposed framework is that it splits the problem of segmenting the tissues present in US the images into subtasks that can be taken care of individually