Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The ESMD Method for Climate Data Analysis

The new ESMD method has been reported by the Science Net and the China Science Daily. It is the new de- velopment of the well-known Hilbert-Huang transform and can be used effectively in the science researches and engi- neering applications associated with data analysis from atmospheric and oceanic sciences, informatics and so on. The ESMD method has three superiorities in climate data analysis: 1) it is good at finding the global changing trend. It can not only extract the annual changing trend from the observation sequence of a few years, but also draw out the climate changing trend from that of hundreds of years which is helpful for exploring the problem of global warming; 2) it is good at abnormal diagnosis which is helpful for exploring the problem of climatic anomaly due to the ability of finding the abnormal time and frequency from the decomposed modes; 3) it is good at time-frequency analysis and energy variation analysis. With the abandon of Hilbert transform which has many defects, the data-based direct interpolating approach is developed to compute the total energy and instantaneous frequencies at any time scales. It follows from the above features that the ESMD method has a good application prospect in the research of climate change.
Comparative performance of sesame cultivars under different nitrogen levels

Article history: Received: Aug., 2011 Accepted: Jul, 2012 A field trail was conducted to see the response of sesame cultivars to different levels of nitrogen at the Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during kharif 2008. The experiment comprised of four nitrogen rates (0, 30, 60, and 90 kg ha -1 ) and two sesame cultivars (TS-3 and 96006). Significantly (P< 0.05) more plant height, number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per plant, 1000-seeds weight and seed yield were recorded in genotype TS-3. Among nitrogen levels, highest application rate (90 kg ha 1 ) proved to be statistically best with respect to all growth, yield and quality attributes of sesame cultivars. The nitrogen use efficiency (agronomic and physiological efficiency) was recorded maximum at 60 kg N ha -1 which was statistically at par with 90 kg N ha -1 for both the varieties. The results also indicated that cultivar TS-3 gave more seed yield than strain
Effect of Delivery Latency, Feedback Frequency and Network Load on Adaptive Multimedia Streaming

As video on demand systems gain popularity, it seems likely that the desire to serve a high number of customers from limited network resources could lead to a degradation of the end- users' perceived quality. Quality-oriented adaptation scheme (QOAS) balances the need for high quality with increased network utilization when streaming multimedia. QOAS requires client-side monitoring of some transmission-related parameters, grading of the end-user's quality and feedback that informs the server about the received quality. In response to this feedback, the server adjusts the streaming process in order to maximize the end-user perceived quality in the current conditions. This paper studies the effect of delivery latency and feedback frequency on quality-oriented adaptive multimedia streaming. It also shows how high end-user perceived quality is maintained in the presence of different types of background traffic while recording a significant increase in link utilization and a very low loss rate.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE Mesoscale Model Initialization of the Fourier Method for Mountain Waves

A Fourier method is combined with a mesoscale model to simulate mountain waves. The mesoscale model describes the nonlinear low-level flow and predicts the emerging wave field above the mountain. This solution serves as the lower boundary condition for the Fourier method, which follows the waves upward to much higher altitudes and downward to the ground to examine parameterizations for the orography and the lower boundary condition. A high-drag case with a Froude number of 2⁄3 is presented.
Methodolody for porosimetry in virtual cementitious composites to economically and reliably estimate permeability

A novel methodology is described for porosimetry as well as for water transport through the pore system in dynamic DEM-based virtual cementitious materials. The pore network topology, the pore size distribution and the pore connectivity are assessed on the basis of a robotics-inspired pore delineation method and star volume measurements. Permeability estimates are based on a tube network model that incorporates these parameters and a shape factor. Since concrete contains in practical situations a variable amount of water, permeability estimation is presented as a function of the state of saturation. Satisfactory agreement is found with experimental data, validating the methodology. Earlier, the various “building blocks” were separately validated.
Injury of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Due to Transport, 2001-02 to 2005-06

This report looks at the death and serious injury of Indigenous persons in Australia due to transport accidents in the five-year period 2001-02 to 2005-06. It focuses on the four jurisdictions of the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland and examines variables such as mode of transport, gender, age group and remoteness from an urban centre. http://www.nisu. flinders.edu. au/pubs/reports/2008/injcat120.php
Rethinking the Recall Measure in Appraising Information Retrieval Systems and Providing a New Measure by Using Persian Search Engines

The aim of the study was to improve Persian search engines’ retrieval performance by using the new measure. In this regard, consulting three experts from the Department of Knowledge and Information Science (KIS) at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, 192 FUM students of different degrees from different fields of study, both male and female, were asked to conduct the search based on 32 simulated work tasks (SWT) on the selected search engines and report the results by citing the related URLs. The Findings indicated that to measure recall, one does not focus on how documents are selecting, but the retrieval of related documents that are indexed in the information retrieval system database is considered While to measure comprehensiveness, in addition to considering the related documents' retrieval in the system's database, the performance of the documents selecting on the web (performance of crawler) was also measured. At the practical level, there was no strong correlation between the two measures (recall and comprehensiveness) however, these two measure different features. Also, the test of repeated measures design showed that with the change of the measure from recall to comprehensiveness, the search engine’s performance score is varied. Finally, it can be said, if the study purpose of the search engines evaluation is to assess the indexer program performance, the recall use will be suggested while, if its purpose is to appraise the search engines to determine which one retrieves the most relevant documents, the comprehensiveness use will be proposed.
Faunal/floral and isotopic responses to Milankovitch precession cycles and environmental changes in the upper Gulpen Formation (Upper Maastrichtian) at the CBR-Lixhe and ENCI-Maastricht bv quarries

Abstract Two sections, just below the Nivelle Horizon in the upper Gulpen Formation (Upper Maastrichtian), and seven kilometres apart (CBR-Lixhe and ENCI-Maastricht bv quarries) have been analysed (samples every 5 cm) for dinocyst, pollen grains and bioclast contents as well as for carbon and oxygen isotopic composition, to obtain better insight into the influence of weathering on these sediments. The CBR section lies above groundwater level, while that at the ENCI quarry is some metres below. At the former quarry we recognised the influences of weathering (karst) nearby. At ENCI, palynological, bioclast and stable isotope results of the carbonate phase (mainly consisting of coccoliths) co-vary remarkably, displaying two cycles which may be interpreted tentatively as climatic fluctuations. The ∂18O curve varies roughly between −1.6‰ and −1.1‰ (on PDB scale), corresponding to a temperature change of about 2°C. Less negative values (i.e. cooler seawater) coincide with larger amounts of pollen of Normapolles and Triporates type assumed to represent temperate forest elements of a vegetation also containing tropical elements such as palms. Assuming the 5 cm sample intervals at ENCI to correspond to 1 ka, climatic maxima (and minima) may be 20–25 ka apart, obviously recalling Milankovitch precession cycles. These are independent of a sharp sedimentological change noted in the upper part of the lowest cycle (samples 42 to 24). Upwards of sample 42, bioclast contents increase and dinocysts, Spiniferites in particular, decrease significantly, corresponding to a marked shallowing. This turning point is also recorded in the ∂13C curve at ENCI. Bioclast percentages appear to follow composite trends that are influenced by both climatic and sedimentological conditions.
Hierarchical Document Clustering Using Frequent Itemsets

A major challenge in document clustering is the extremely high dimensionality. For example, the vocabulary for a document set can easily be thousands of words. On the other hand, each document often contains a small fraction of words in the vocabulary. These features require special handlings. Another requirement is hierarchical clustering where clustered documents can be browsed according to the increasing specificity of topics. In this paper, we propose to use the notion of frequent itemsets, which comes from association rule mining, for document clustering. The intuition of our clustering criterion is that each cluster is identified by some common words, called frequent itemsets, for the documents in the cluster. Frequent itemsets are also used to produce a hierarchical topic tree for clusters. By focusing on frequent items, the dimensionality of the document set is drastically reduced. We show that this method outperforms best existing methods in terms of both clustering accuracy and scalability. 1 Introduction Document clustering has been studied intensively because of its wide applicability in areas such as web mining , search engines, information retrieval, and topologi-cal analysis. Unlike in document classification, in document clustering no labeled documents are provided. Although standard clustering techniques such as k-means can be applied to document clustering, they usually do not satisfy the special requirements for clustering documents: high dimensionality, high volume of data, ease for browsing, and meaningful cluster labels. In addition , many existing document clustering algorithms require the user to specify the number of clusters as an input parameter and are not robust enough to handle different types of document sets in a real-world environ
Aesthetics and utilization of university libraries in north east zone of Nigeria

Relationship between library aesthetic facilities and utilization of university libraries in North-East zone of Nigeria was examined through a descriptive survey. Out of the 300 respondents sampled, 260 responded to the research instrument tagged Questionnaire on Library Building Variables and Utilization (QOLBUVAU) making a return rate of 86.6%. A proportional sampling technique was adopted as the respondents vary in size and compositions of lecturers and students (undergraduates and postgraduates). Three objectives guided the study that focused on utilization and a null hypothesis to determine if there was a relationship between aesthetic facilities and utilization of university libraries. Descriptive statistics of means and standard deviation was used for the research questions while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was employed for the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that lecturers and postgraduate students frequently used the library more than undergraduates; and also lecturers used reference services, short team loan and inter-library loan facilities more than other category of users. The study also revealed that there was a significant relationship between library aesthetic facilities and utilization of libraries in federal universities in North-East zone of Nigeria.
An ICT based framework for the enhancement of information sharing and collaboration in Zimbabwe’s tourism sector

The research upon which this article I s based aimed at developing an ICT based framework that enhances information sharing and collaboration within the tourism industry. The research showed the current information sharing methods employed by tourism service providers and consumers. It illustrated the role ICTs can play in information sharing and collaboration in the tourism sector. The Design Science Research paradigm for Information technology was employed to conduct a qualitative research study. The data for the study was collected through semi-structured interviews and was analysed using structural coding to find emerging themes. The findings of the study revealed that collaborative information sharing in Zimbabwe is minimal and mainly occurs mandatorily between government institutions and tourism providers. Issues of trust, diversified information needs, poor infrastructure and rivalry between regulators and tourism providers hamper information sharing. The study developed a framework, which when adopted can help mitigate against the issues hampering information sharing.
Physics of Rock Scour: The Power of the Bubble

Scour of rock downstream of high-head hydraulic structures is governed by multiphase physics of turbulent air-water mixtures impacting and eroding fractured rock. The present paper provides first of all an overview of the main physical processes and focuses on relevant break-up mechanisms of rock. Particular emphasis is given to the influence of air bubbles present in the water on scour formation. Also, relevant scaling issues are pointed out for each of the processes. Second, based on these processes, a physics-based near-prototype scaled engineering model for scour predictions, the Comprehensive Scour Model (CSM), is being presented, as well as feedback on applications of the model to case studies and real-life projects. The CSM has been initiated in 2001 and since then been further developed and completed by applying it to real-life rock scour problems at high-head dams worldwide. All in all, it appears that the gas phase significantly influences all stages of scour development, from the issuance of the flow at the dam crest to the formation of the scour hole downstream. The power of the air bubble reveals to be beyond our expectations.
Simulated Impacts of Sulfate and Nitrate Aerosol Formation on Surface-Layer Ozone Concentrations in China

Abstract The authors quantify the impacts of sulfate and nitrate aerosol formation on surface-layer O3 concentrations over China using the one-way nested-grid capability of the global three-dimensional Goddard Earth Observing System chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem). Chemical reactions associated with sulfate formation are simulated to generally increase O3 concentrations in China. Over the North China Plain (NCP) and the Sichuan Basin (SCB), where simulated sulfate concentrations are the largest, ozone concentrations show maximum increases in spring by 1.8 ppbv (3.2%) in the NCP and by 2.6 ppbv (3.7%) in the SCB. On the contrary, nitrate formation is simulated to reduce O3 concentrations by up to 1.0 ppbv in eastern China, with the largest reductions of 1.0 ppbv (1.4%) in summer over the NCP. Accounting for the formation of both sulfate and nitrate, the surface-layer O3 concentrations over a large fraction of eastern China are simulated to increase in winter, spring, and autumn, dominated by the impact of sulfate formation, but to decrease in summer because of the dominant contribution from nitrate formation.
Conducting a literature review

This article offers support and guidance for students undertaking a literature review as part of their dissertation during an undergraduate or Masters course. A literature review is a summary of a subject field that supports the identification of specific research questions. A literature review needs to draw on and evaluate a range of different types of sources including academic and professional journal articles, books, and web‐based resources. The literature search helps in the identification and location of relevant documents and other sources. Search engines can be used to search web resources and bibliographic databases. Conceptual frameworks can be a useful tool in developing an understanding of a subject area. Creating the literature review involves the stages of: scanning, making notes, structuring the literature review, writing the literature review, and building a bibliography.
FUZZY MATHEMATICS-BASED COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY IN CHONGQING

The atmospheric environment quality of Chongqing proper and three districts under its jurisdiction (Wanzhou, Fuling and Qianjiang) was evaluated by applying the method of fuzzy mathematics, selecting SO_2, NO_2, TSP and PM_ 10 as evaluation factors, consulting the standards relevant to atmospheric environment and calculating the weight, distribution coefficients of weight, grade attachment of atmospheric pollution factors. Weight factor analysis showed that the coefficients of weight of SO_2, NO_2, TSP and PM_ 10 were 0.230, 0.110, 0.410 and 0.250 for Chongqing proper, 0.240, 0.160, 0.350 and 0.250 for Wanzhou, 0.380, 0.010, 0.280 and 0.240 for Fuling, and 0.520, 0.070, 0.260 and 0.150 for Qianjiang. The influence coefficients of the city proper, Wabzhou, Fuling and Qianjiang to the atmospheric environment of Chongqing were 0.366, 0.177, 0.296 and 0.161, respectively. The influence of TSP was serious in the city proper and Wanzhou and SO_2 was the primary factor for pollution in Fuling and Qianjiang. The result of comprehensive evaluation indicated that the atmospheric environment was heavily polluted in the city proper, moderately polluted in Fuling and Qianjiang and slightly polluted in Wanzhou. Taken as a whole, Chongqing Municipality was estimated as moderately polluted as far as its atmospheric environment quality is concerned.
One-shot-learning Gesture Recognition Using Hog-hof Features Bachelor Thesis One-shot-learning Gesture Recognition Using Hog-hof Features Bachelor Thesis Názov: One-shot-learning Gesture Recognition Using Hog-hof Features

34796695 Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave Fakulta matematiky, fyziky a informatiky ZADANIE ZÁVEREČNEJ PRÁCE Meno a priezvisko študenta: Jakub Konečný Študijný program: ekonomická a finančná matematika (Jednoodborové Cieľ: Create a learning system capable of learning from a single training example a gesture classification problem using data obtained from Microsoft Kinect. Practice with development data (a large database of 50,000 labeled gestures is available). Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to describe one-shot-learning gesture recognition systems developed on the ChaLearn Gesture Dataset [3]. We use RGB and depth images and combine appearance (Histograms of Oriented Gradients) and motion descriptors (Histogram of Optical Flow) for parallel temporal segmentation and recognition. The Quadratic-Chi distance family is used to measure differences between histograms to capture cross-bin relationships. We also propose a new algorithm for trimming videos — to remove all the unimportant frames from videos. Our two methods both outperform other published methods and help narrow down the gap between human performance and algorithms on this task. The code has been made publicly available in the MLOSS repository. Abstrakt Ciel' tejto práce je popísat' systémy na rozpoznávanie gest na základe jedného trénovacieho príkladu, vytvorené pre ChaLearn Gesture Dataset [3]. Používame farebný aj h ´ lbkový ob-raz a kombinujeme statické (Histogram of Oriented Gradients) a dynamické (Histogram of Optical Flow) deskriptory na paralelné rozpoznávanie gest a segmentáciu v ˇ case. Na mera-nie vzdialeností medzi histogramami sme použili metriku Quadratic-Chi aby sme zachytili vzt'ahy medzi jednotlivými bunkami. Taktiež predstavujeme nový algoritmus na orezávanie videí, aby sme odstránili všetky nepodstatné snímky z videa. Naše obe metódy prekonávajú iné publikované metódy a pomohli zmenšit' rozdiel medzi výkonom l'udí a algoritmov v tejto úlohe. Zdrojový kód sme zverejnili v databáze MLOSS.
Stock Market Valuation in the United States

This paper gives an overview of some issues related to market valuation, focusing on the developments on the New York equity markets. The 42.4 p.c. fall in the S&P 500 price index between 24 March 2000 - when it reached its all-time high - and 31 December 2002 is situated in a very long term perspective. It then appears that some bear markets were more pronounced in the past but that the bull market preceding the 2000-2002 bear market had been particularly long and impressive in extent. Given this sharp correction, we will discuss whether the S&P 500 was correctly valued at the end of 2002. To this end, we make use of valuation indicators defined as the ratio of the price to a fundamental. The fundamentals considered here are, according to the discount dividend model, annual earnings and, according to Q-theory, net worth. In December 2002, price-earnings (P/E) still showed a significant overvaluation of equity prices when compared to the historical average over the 1871-2002 period but, since July 2002, the overvaluation has not been significant in the case of Q. The evidence is even more mixed when the comparison is made, for each valuation indicator, with their average over the last 10 years. Simulations based on VAR models for P/E and Q were carried out to check whether, on two occasions, the S&P 500 in real terms climbed to a level perceived as irrational given past experience, implying that a correction had to be expected. These occasions were the so-called 1929 and 2000 bubbles. The models showed that, at some point in time before the peak in (real) stock prices was reached, the real S&P 500 exceeded the upper band of the 95 p.c. confidence intervals during both periods. For each of them, the Q model showed earlier and more persistent signals of significant overvaluation of stock prices than for the P/E model. Finally, in December 2002, both models indicated that the stock price had come back largely within the confidence interval.
Quaternary geology of the German North Sea and Western Irish Sea Mud Belt: revised stratigraphies, geotechnical properties, sedimentology and anthropogenic impacts

This study is a synthesis of the lithostratigraphy, geotechnical properties, geometry and distribution of Quaternary deposits of the German North Sea sector. It is based on large datasets from four separate areas across the German North Sea sector and consists of seismic grids, cores and insitu cone penetration tests (CPTu). Nine buried valleys and two shallow channels were identified from seismic profiles with three stages of valley generation inferred. Infill of these tunnel valleys consisted of meltwater sands, reworked till remnants, marine and lacustrine fine-grained sediments. Elsewhere, extensive tabular units have formed consisting of marine and outwash sands. Two saltdomes were also recognised which have had an effect on valley formation and uplifting of sediments. The integration of seismic, core and geotechnical data has allowed for a revision of the Mid to Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the German North Sea sector.