Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimising Corn Leaf Disease Classification with MobileNet and Oversampling

This work addresses the challenge of crop disease identification in agriculture by introducing an improved deep learning model. The study employs extensive data augmentation to enhance the training dataset, promoting better model generalisation across diverse agricultural scenarios. The model architecture utilises MobileNetV2 as a base, prioritising efficiency and lightweight design. The model's training progress is monitored over 40 epochs with a batch size of 10, resulting in an impressive accuracy of 93.3% in crop disease classification. The work also explores alternative preprocessing steps and assesses the impact of various base models for feature extraction. The outcomes contribute to advancing agricultural technology, providing reliable tools for crop management. These proposed enhancements offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in precision agriculture, facilitating sustainable and efficient practices. This work represents a significant step forward in applying deep learning techniques to achieve accurate and robust crop disease identification, with potential applications in improving crop yield, reducing losses, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
Experiments in Programming by Demonstration : Training a Neural Network for Navigation Behaviors

To address the difficulties in programming robots, we have been investigating the programming by demonstration (PbD) paradigm, i.e., extracting robot behaviors from demonstrated control actions. Our goal is to develop robot programming methods that allow domain experts to define their own task use of robots as semi-autonomous tools. For this reason, we want to inject, into the acquired behavior, the biases of the human trainer, and thus have chosen PbD instead of autonomous learning methods. In this study, we test the feasibility of training a neural network from demonstrated navigation actions, and compare the results of using three different methods to collect the training data -a mouse-driven software joystick, programmed control, and a novel interface using a PDA (e.g., PalmPilot). Results of the experiments show that the PDA-generated training sets produce the most robust behaviors.
Online learning communities in context

Online learning communities could be seen as tools or resources that enable people to perform actions together online. One could conceptualise the multiplicity of resources both within and outwith the online community as the set of circumstances that support learning. These circumstances might more commonly be referred to as the learning (or the learner's) context. But what do we understand about the ways a participant's context impacts upon their participation in a community, and how might knowing more about this help us to develop better tools for online learning communities? We address this question through a case study, in which an online learning community is viewed through the lense of the ecology of resources model of context. We illustrate how this approach can increase our understanding of an online community and its participants and support the further study and development of online learning communities and tools.
“Mao Might Cheat”: The Interactional Construction of the Imaginary Situation in a Fifth Dimension After-School Setting

This article explores Vygtosky's (1978) notion of the imaginary situation through analysis of interaction and activity in a Fifth Dimension after-school setting, one of a network of programs designed with an aim to realize developmental concepts proposed by Vygotsky and others in the cultural-historical tradition (see, e.g., Cole & the Distributed Literacy Consortium, 2006). The discussion centers on intergenerational interaction between a child and undergraduate as they engage in activities that represent two varieties of the imaginary situation proposed by Vygotsky: Playing a game and orienting to the “mythical figurehead,” a fantasy figure common to all Fifth Dimension sites. Analysis focuses on the interplay of spoken interaction with literacy-based artifacts that mediate the participants' activity and serve as points of departure for imagination-related talk. As the interaction unfolds, child and undergraduate are seen to engage creatively with both game and site rules as they create a collaborative and increasingly complex representation of the mythical figurehead. The participants' engagement with rules, a crucial element in Vygotsky's notion of the imaginary situation, provides the child with multiple opportunities, together with those prompted by the site artifacts, to affect and negotiate the Fifth Dimension experience.
Psychoacoustical correlates of musically induced chills

Abstract Music listening is often accompanied by the experience of emotions, sometimes even by so-called “strong experiences of music” (SEMs). SEMs can include such pleasurable reactions as shivers down the spine or goose pimples, which are referred to as “chills”. In the present study, the role of psychoacoustical features was investigated with respect to the experience of chills. Psychoacoustical parameters of short musical segments (total duration: 20 s), characterized as chill- inducing, were analyzed and compared with musical excerpts which did not induce chill responses. A significant increase of loudness in the frequency range between 8 and 18 Bark (920–4400 Hz) was found in those excerpts for which chills were reported. Frequency-dependent changes of loudness seem to play an important role in the induction of chills.
Two-year impact of single praziquantel treatment on infection in the national control programme on schistosomiasis in Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact on schistosomiasis of biennial treatment with praziquantel (PZQ) among school-age children in Burkina Faso, the first country that achieved full national coverage with treatment of more than 90% of the school-age population. METHODS A cohort of 1727 schoolchildren (6-14 years old) was monitored at yearly intervals through a longitudinal survey. Additional groups of schoolchildren were monitored in cross-sectional surveys. Parasitological examinations for Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni were performed, and prevalence and intensity of infection before and after treatment were analysed. FINDINGS Data from the longitudinal cohort show that a single round of PZQ treatment significantly reduced prevalence of S. haematobium infection by 87% (from 59.6% to 7.7%) and intensity of infection by 92.8% (from 94.2 to 6.8 eggs/10 ml of urine) 2 years post-treatment. The impact on infection was also confirmed by a cross-sectional survey 2 years post-treatment. Importantly, the proportion of school-age children with heavy S. haematobium infection decreased from around 25% before treatment to around 2-3% 2 years post-treatment. Cross-sectional comparison of S. haematobium infection in 7-year-old children in their first year at school, who received treatment through community-based drug delivery, also showed significant reduction in both prevalence (65.9%) and intensity of S. haematobium infection (78.4%) 2 years after single treatment. A significant reduction in S. mansoni infection was also achieved. CONCLUSION Significant and sustained reduction in S. haematobium infection was achieved by biennial treatment in school-age children in Burkina Faso. This may provide a cost-effective treatment strategy for similar national schistosomiasis control programmes in sub-Saharan Africa.
Frame Semantics and the Domain of Functioning, Disability and Health

We explore the use of FrameNet (FN) frames and their frame elements to represent content from the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Self-Care chapter. Terms were extracted from the ICF and mapped to FN frames. The mappings were validated by an expert. FN provided relevant and nearly complete coverage of ICF terms, suggesting FN may be an important resource to leverage for semantic language processing and knowledge representation in this domain.
Equine encephalomyelitis outbreak caused by a genetic lineage 2 West Nile virus in Hungary.

BACKGROUND The spread of lineage 2 West Nile virus (WNV) from sub-Saharan regions to Europe and the unpredictable change in pathogenicity indicate a potential public and veterinary health threat and requires scientific awareness. OBJECTIVES To describe the results of clinical and virological investigations of the 1st outbreak of a genetic lineage 2 WNV encephalomyelitis in horses. ANIMALS Seventeen horses with neurologic signs. METHODS Information regarding signalment, clinical signs, and outcome was obtained for each animal. Serology was performed in 15 cases, clinicopathological examination in 7 cases, and cerebrospinal fluid was collected from 2 horses. Histopathology was carried out in 4 horses, 2 of which were assessed for the presence of WNV in their nervous system. RESULTS WNV neutralizing antibody titers were between 10 and 270 (median, 90) and the results of other serological assays were in agreement with those of the plaque reduction neutralization test. Common signs included ataxia, weakness, asymmetric gait, muscle tremors, hypersensitivity, cranial nerve deficits, and recumbency. Twelve animals survived. Amplicons derived from the infection-positive specimens allowed molecular characterization of the viral strain. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE From our results, we conclude that this outbreak was caused by a lineage 2 WNV strain, even though such strains often are considered nonpathogenic. Neurological signs and survival rates were similar to those reported for lineage 1 virus infections. The disease occurrence was not geographically limited as had been the typical case during European outbreaks; this report describes a substantial northwestern spread of the pathogen.
Identification and Minisequencing-Based Discrimination of SHV β-Lactamases in Nosocomial Infection-Associated Klebsiella pneumoniae in Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) are active against oxyimino cephalosporins and monobactams. Twenty-one Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates obtained between 1991 and 1995 at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, were subject to amplification and sequencing of the SHV β-lactamase-encoding genes. Thirteen strains were phenotypically ESBL positive. Of these, six strains carried the blaSHV-2a gene and seven strains carried the blaSHV-12 gene. Eight strains were phenotypically ESBL negative. Of these, seven strains carried the non-ESBL blaSHV-11 gene and one strain carried the non-ESBL blaSHV-1 gene. There was complete correspondence between the ESBL phenotype and the presence or absence of an ESBL-encoding gene(s). In addition, it was determined that of the 13 ESBL-positive strains, at least 4 carried copies of a non-ESBL-encoding gene in addition to the blaSHV-2a or blaSHV12 gene. A minisequencing-based assay was developed to discriminate the different SHV classes. This technique, termed “first-nucleotide change,” involves the identification of the base added to a primer in a single-nucleotide extension reaction. The assay targeted polymorphisms at the first bases of codons 238 and 240 and reliably discriminated ESBL-positive strains from ESBL-negative strains and also distinguished strains carrying blaSHV-2a from strains carrying blaSHV-12. In addition, this method was used to demonstrate an association between the relative copy numbers of blaSHV genes in individual strains and the levels of antibiotic resistance.
Piloting Alice in the Upper School

This paper describes a few challenges and many rewards of piloting the teaching of the programming language, Alice, in our Upper School consisting of middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12). We teach Alice as a stand-alone course at both levels. We originally planned on introducing the same curriculum into the middle school as we did the high school, but we knew we would need to approach the material with the younger students at a slower pace. Surprisingly, middle school students excelled in Alice and were able to keep up with their high school counterparts. Currently, we are considering providing our academic teachers with Alice training, so it can be used more at the middle school level. A goal in our department is to utilize Alice as a cross-curricular application. Alice is an ideal way for students to explore the world of computer programing, and we are eager to lay the foundation for a lifelong interest in computer programming for many of our students. Now that we have entered into the second half of this first year of Alice, we are finding that students are very excited about learning this valuable and enjoyable application that they view as "fun" and "cool. "
The human brain: Insights and puzzles

The brain is the center of conscious experience. It governs the way we perceive, think about, and react to the world; holds our memories in trust; sows, germinates, tends, and harvests our emotions; and sustains our sense of self. Granted all that, how does the organ work? The functioning of the brain has been compared metaphorically to such items as a computer, a telephone switchboard, and a railroad system. None of these comparisons has been entirely adequate. So far as we know, the brain is unlike any other structure in the universe, and perhaps only the vast complexity of the universe itself presents conceptual problems equally impenetrable. In terms of hardware alone, the number of neurons or cells in the brain is somewhere in the order of 15 billion, which happens to correspond to the number of stars in the Milky Way. Beyond issues of structure, the questions posed by the brain are as broad as life itself. What happens within our heads when we write poetry, solve a puzzle, conduct business, or fall in love? Why are we sad or happy? How do we learn? What causes mental illness? How real is perception? How are we driven by curiosity, altruism, or professional ambition? Researchers around the world are in-
Culture Wars, Soul-Searching, and Belarusian Identity

Attaching political labels to a situation whose roots transcend politics constitutes a critical weakness of Western policies vis-à-vis Belarus. The contemporary nationalist discourse in Belarus allows one to discern three “national projects,” each being a corpus of ideas about Belarus “the way it should be”: (1) Nativist/pro-European, (2) Muscovite liberal, and (3) Creole. While the projects' nametags are debatable, the trichotomy is a useful abstraction, as it reflects the lines of force in the “magnetic field” of Belarusian nationalism. The article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of each project, cultural wars between them, the role of a civilizational fault line that runs across Belarus and the attendant geopolitical divisions that underlie multiplicity of national projects. The idea is expressed of a desirable consensus based on the most viable aspects of the national projects.
Application of Subspace Clustering in DNA Sequence Analysis

Abstract Identification and clustering of orthologous genes plays an important role in developing evolutionary models such as validating convergent and divergent phylogeny and predicting functional proteins in newly sequenced species of unverified nucleotide protein mappings. Here, we introduce an application of subspace clustering as applied to orthologous gene sequences and discuss the initial results. The working hypothesis is based upon the concept that genetic changes between nucleotide sequences coding for proteins among selected species and groups may lie within a union of subspaces for clusters of the orthologous groups. Estimates for the subspace dimensions were computed for a small population sample. A series of experiments was performed to cluster randomly selected sequences. The experimental design allows for both false positives and false negatives, and estimates for the statistical significance are provided. The clustering results are consistent with the main hypothesis. A simple random mutation binary tree model is used to simulate speciation events that show the interdependence of the subspace rank versus time and mutation rates. The simple mutation model is found to be largely consistent with the observed subspace clustering singular value results. Our study indicates that the subspace clustering method may be applied in orthology analysis.
Evaluating the self-testing property of AES' finite field inversion units

Because the hardware realization of cryptographic systems is more and more attractive in terms of their performance, and since hardware implementations can be favorable adapted with self-testing techniques, in this paper we present a hardware offline error detection methodology protecting the Galois Field inversion modules of the Advanced Encryption Standard. The proposed test solution is built around the self-test capabilities of the field inverters when several units are linked together. The Units under Test are stimulated with pseudorandom test vectors, and the error detection mechanism is constructed as a conventional Built-In Self-Test. The AES inversion modules are stimulated with both exhaustive and deterministic test vectors and the correctness of the modules outputs is assessed by means of signature comparison. The error detection mechanism is validated in terms of the fault coverage when considering Single Stuck-at Faults.
A Canada-Wide Examination of the Criteria Employed for Learning Disability Documentation in English Speaking Postsecondary Institutions

An examination was conducted to address issues concerning the assessment of students with learning disabilities (LD) in English speaking Canadian postsecondary institutions. These issues concern the nature of appropriate and evidence-based assessment and whether there is fair access to academic accommodations for students with LD. Access to academic accommodations is granted when an acceptable psycho-educational assessment provides an LD diagnosis, but what “acceptable” means appears very inconsistent across settings. This examination has ascertained that there is still no commonly accepted and empirically based procedure for the assessment of LD. Instead, a confusing variety of assessment practices exist, resulting in Canadian postsecondary accommodations practices being opaque and, therefore, discriminatory and vulnerable to legal challenges.
Prevalence, Psychological Impact, and Coping of Cyberbully Victims Among College Students

With the growth of technology, bullying has expanded into the technological realm. Labeled cyberbullying, individuals are utilizing technology, such as cell phones and the Internet, to bully and harass others with the intention of causing harm. The purpose of this study was to expand prevalence, psychological impact, and coping strategy research with college victims of cyberbullying in the United States. Among 799 college students surveyed via the Internet, 8.6% were victims of cyberbullying. On the Symptom Checklist-90-R, the 69 victims scored higher than 69 matched controls on depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, and paranoia, and were elevated on global severity index and positive symptom distress index scales. Victims had significantly more suicidal ideations, planning, and attempts. Victims generally coped with cyberbullying by telling someone and avoiding friends and peers, with few differences between genders. The results indicated that cyberbullying is occurring in a college sample and having a negative impact upon victims.
Toward Eidetic Distributed File Systems

We propose a new point in the design space of versioning and provenance-aware file systems in which the entire operating system, not just the file system, supports such functionality. We leverage deterministic record-and-replay to substitute computation for data. This leads to a new file system design where the log of nondeterministic inputs, not file data, is the fundamental unit of persistent storage. We outline a distributed storage system design based on these principles and describe the challenges we foresee for achieving our vision.
Aliens′ Paranoid Reaction

Psychotic states due mainly, but not exclusively, to unusual external circumstances are commonly exemplified by such mental disorders as are occasionally met with in persons in prison, or those morbidly homesick, or suffering under the strain and stress of advanced deafness. In the great majority of these instances, however, the external conditions represent only an additional, precipitating, aetiological factor which is operating as a trigger mechanism to a mental derangement of non-specific character already present in a latent state. It may therefore be of some theoretical and practical interest to report on a group of acute and subacute psychotic states whose history, features, course and outcome characterize them as constituting a readily recognizable clinical entity of purely psychological, situational, origin.
Problem Drinkers

HE KESSEL Committee describe their report on , ‘The Pattern and Range of Services for Problem Drink rs’ as &dquo;a modest and gradual approach&dquo;. This is the second report to have been produced by the Department of Health and Social Security Advisory Committee on Alcoholism and, as its predecessor did on the subject of prevention, the present document presents a thorough and workman-like review of the services available for problem drinkers. At the same time, however, its recommendations for future development are hardly likely to raise an outcry; indeed, it would be surprising if they raised so much as
Survival, Growth, and Regrowth of Enteric Indicator and Pathogenic Bacteria in Biosolids, Compost, Soil, and Land Applied Biosolids

In the US approximately 60% of all biosolids are currently land applied. Al- though it is known that bacteria in biosolids normally decrease to low or non-detectable levels following treatment, a major concern is that regrowth of pathogens may occur. Specifically the question arises: "Does regrowth occur following reintroduction or recolonization of pathogens after land application or during storage under favorable conditions. " The following paper reviews available information on survival and potential regrowth of pathogenic and indicator bacteria in biosolids, compost, soil, and land ap- plied biosolids. Based on the literature, a conceptual framework is provided to explain the phenomenon of "regrowth. "
Coating of Glass with Tetra-Cationic porphyrin and its Zinc Compound Used Asphoto-Inactivation of Bacteria

The meso-tetrakis (4-N, N, N-trimethylanilinium) porphyrin and its zinc compound deposited on glass slide at high temperature and at a pressure of 15 PSI were used as photo-inactivation surface. Also, the effect of two porphyrin compounds irradiated with tungsten lamp, on a Gram negative bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and a Gram positive bacterium, Bacillus subtilis was investigated.
Stable throughput of secondary user in cognitive relay system

In the considered multiple access network, the primary users transmit in the allocated mutual orthogonal channels. Meanwhile, the secondary user conducts spectrum sensing and seeks transmission opportunities in the temporarily unoccupied primary channels. In order to improve the stable throughput of secondary user, we propose a cognitive relay strategy, which suggests the secondary user to intelligently relay packets for some selected primary users in addition to sending its own packets. The criterions of selecting primary users are given in system with and without sensing errors, respectively. Numerical results show the benefits of cognitive relay strategy in terms of secondary throughput.