Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Correlation of Eigenvector Centrality to Other Centrality Measures : Random, Small-World and Real-World Networks

In this paper, we thoroughly investigate correlations of eigenvector centrality to five centrality measures, including degree centrality, betweenness centrality, clustering coefficient centrality, closeness centrality, and farness centrality, of various types of network (random network, smallworld network, and real-world network). For each network, we compute those six centrality measures, from which the correlation coefficient is determined. Our analysis suggests that the degree centrality and the eigenvector centrality are highly correlated, regardless of the type of network. Furthermore, the eigenvector centrality also highly correlates to betweenness on random and real-world networks. However, it is inconsistent on small-world network, probably owing to its power-law distribution. Finally, it is also revealed that eigenvector centrality is distinct from clustering coefficient centrality, closeness centrality and farness centrality in all tested occasions. The findings in this paper could lead us to further correlation analysis on multiple centrality measures in the near future.
Phase II Report

Principle investigator Dr. Ralf Sussmann Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMK-IFU) Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH Kreuzeckbahnstrasse 19 D-82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Ralf.Sussmann@imk.fzk. de phone: +49 (0)8821 183 159 fax: +49 (0)8821 73573 Engineering staff Dipl. -Ing. (FH) Alexander Rockmann Dipl. -Ing (FH) Josef-Michael Burger Dipl. -Ing (FH) Karl Maurer Dipl. -Met. (Univ.) Hans-Joachim Kanter Stefan Schmid
Who Cares about Racial Inequality?

The issue of Affirmative Action is discussed, identifying some difficulties with the way that this policy has been pursued in the past: Racial preferences can be a poorly targeted method of closing the gap in social status between Blacks and Whites, and can have negative unintended consequences for incentives and for the reputations of its beneficiaries. Nevertheless, it is argued that some form of affirmative action continues to be needed. The concept of developmental affirmative action is introduced. This form of racially targeted policy focuses primarily on the enhancement of competitive skills. In so doing, it avoids many of the aforementioned difficulties
Pose Estimation of Target Satellite for Proximity Operations

Close-proximity operations are increasingly a topic of interest, where satellites manoeuvre within a very small distance of other spacecraft. A high degree of accuracy is required in estimating the relative position and orientation of the other spacecraft, in order to conduct such manoeuvres safely. Traditionally, active systems such as radar or more recently Differential GPS have been used for relative position estimation, yet these give little information on the orientation of the other satellite. Passive imaging can provide a large amount of information on the location and orientation of the Target, with high spatial resolution. Imaging requires only low-powered cameras, which can be made available on a wider range of satellites, and does not require any functionality from the other spacecraft. A robust autonomous close-range relative orientation and location (pose) estimation system is proposed, based on computer vision. Using a single image, and utilising knowledge of the Target spacecraft, an estimation of the Target’s six relative rotation and translation parameters are found from a distance in the order of 10 metres. Such position and rotation estimates over time will allow relative orbit parameter estimation, and enable close-proximity operations such as docking and remote inspection.
1 Measured and Modeled Snow Cover Properties across the Greenland Ice Sheet

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is known to be contributing to sea level rise in a warming climate. The snow cover 10 on the ice sheet is the direct link between a potentially warmer atmosphere and the ice itself. However, little is known about the microstructure and especially about the spatial and temporal variability of the snow cover, except from indirect evidence from remote sensing. The detailed snowpack stratigraphy is relevant for processes such as the albedo feedback, water infiltration and firn densification. During a field campaign in 2015, spatially distributed snow observations of the GrIS were gathered at stations belonging to the Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net). High-resolution snow profiles of density, specific 15 surface area and hardness were measured. Hardness was measured with the SnowMicroPen, which was also used to assess the spatial variability of the snow density with depth. The snow cover model SNOWPACK was forced with reanalysis data from the model NHM-SMAP. The measured mean density of the upper snow cover was in good agreement with the simulations using constant densities for snow accumulation, i.e. new snow, depending on the geographical location on the GrIS. However, the observed stratigraphy in terms of density and SSA could not be reproduced. We found that for a one-dimensional snowpack 20 model it is difficult to parameterize for snowpacks undergoing multiple erosion and redeposition events, as is typical for the GrIS and other perennial polar snowpacks. This limitation may be a drawback to understanding past and future changes of the snow, and the associated processes.
Evaluation of optimization components of a 3 D to 2 D landmark fitting algorithm for head pose estimation

Many applications would benefit of head orientation. Examples are improvements in the human-computer interaction, where the user would be capable of using the computer with head gestures, or automatic detection of driver drowsiness. Currently many head pose detection algorithm are implemented with the use of neural networks. However, these solutions are not preferable for devices that require a low computational cost, e.g. mobile devices. This thesis proposes a solution for head pose estimation by means of 3D to 2D landmark fitting, using an optimized and efficient non linear least squares approach.
17,000 BOUTS OF MOBILITY

An estimated 1.5 million people use manual wheelchairs in the United States [1]. Despite the frequent use of manual wheelchairs, there exists only a small, but growing literature base describing daily wheelchair usage, often in terms of daily travel distance and time spent wheeling [2-4]. While daily usage is certainly important for design and prescription of wheelchairs, it is also necessary to understand the complexity of mobility. The complex details of mobility can influence propulsion training and motivate relevant research, in addition to affecting wheelchair design and prescription.
PAIN RELIEF AND PALLIATIVE CARE IN LEBANON PAIN MANAGEMENT IN CHILDREN WITH T E R M I N A LI L L N E S S E S

A B S T R A C T : Managing pain in children at the end of life is a complex area that re q u i res an understanding of the unique challenges off e red by this young population. The following article will assist the practitioner w i t h the management of pain associated with terminal illnesses in children. Discussion will focus on concepts and principles that form the foundation of pediatric pain management. Prior to the presentation, an overview is presented to address the pharmacologic concerns in the younger patients and the assessment of pain in the diff e rent age gro u p s .
TESTING FOR MONOTONE INCREASING HAZARD RATE BY PETER HALL

A test of the null hypothesis that a hazard rate is monotone nondecreasing, versus the alternative that it is not, is proposed. Both the test statistic and the means of calibrating it are new. Unlike previous approaches, neither is based on the assumption that the null distribution is exponential. Instead, empirical information is used to effectively identify and eliminate from further consideration parts of the line where the hazard rate is clearly increasing; and to confine subsequent attention only to those parts that remain. This produces a test with greater apparent power, without the excessive conservatism of exponential-based tests. Our approach to calibration borrows from ideas used in certain tests for unimodality of a density, in that a bandwidth is increased until a distribution with the desired properties is obtained. However, the test statistic does not involve any smoothing, and is, in fact, based directly on an assessment of convexity of the distribution function, using the conventional empirical distribution. The test is shown to have optimal power properties in difficult cases, where it is called upon to detect a small departure, in the form of a bump, from monotonicity. More general theoretical properties of the test and its numerical performance are explored.
Nutritional and therapeutic values of Stevia rebaudiana: A review

Stevia rebaudiana is a nutrient rich natural sweetest plant of Asteraceae family. The leaves naturally contain diterpene glycosides stevioside, rebaudiosides A-F, steviolbioside and dulcoside, which are responsible for its sweet taste and have commercial value all over the world as sugar substitute in foods, beverages or medicines. It is a plant which offers sweetness with fewer calories and do not show any side effects after consumption on human health. Stevia has many pharmacological and therapeutic applications as suggested by many preclinical and some clinical studies; these are nontoxic and possess antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal and anticarcinogenic activity. In future Stevia is likely to become a major source of high potency low calorie sweetener for growing natural food market. This review article presents beneficial role of Stevia and its metabolites on health promoting properties. Key words: Stevia rebaudiana, steviosides, sweetner.
Effect of acid oxidation methods on multi-walled carbon nanotubes ( MWCNT ) for drug delivery application

Acid oxidation has been widely reported to successfully purify, improve dispersibility profile in biological milieu and increase surface area of carbon nanotubes (CNT). Yet, it also frequently damages the nanotubes structure for an effective drug carrier. This study examined the effect of acid oxidation on multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) using a mixture of concentrated nitric and sulphuric acid, aided by mechanical force that includes stirring, and sonication at short (2 h) and longer treatment times (6 h). Stirring of MWCNT in acid mixture overnight successfully introduced carboxylic and other oxygen functional moieties. It was referred as oxidizedMWCNT (ox-MWCNT) that renders solubility in water up to 60 days with generation of cut tubes as observed in Field-emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). Sonication method increases the amount of oxygen on the nanotubes in Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) results, however thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) suggested signs of CNT degradation at both treatment times. The FESEM micrograph also showed its tubular structure that was not preserved. Simple mixing by stirring proved to be the best method for this aim.
ULARIZED WITH A UNIFIED EMBEDDING

Injecting adversarial examples during training, known as adversarial training, can improve robustness against one-step attacks, but not for unknown iterative attacks. To address this challenge, we first show iteratively generated adversarial images easily transfer between networks trained with the same strategy. Inspired by this observation, we propose cascade adversarial training, which transfers the knowledge of the end results of adversarial training. We train a network from scratch by injecting iteratively generated adversarial images crafted from already defended networks in addition to one-step adversarial images from the network being trained. We also propose to utilize embedding space for both classification and low-level (pixel-level) similarity learning to ignore unknown pixel level perturbation. During training, we inject adversarial images without replacing their corresponding clean images and penalize the distance between the two embeddings (clean and adversarial). Experimental results show that cascade adversarial training together with our proposed low-level similarity learning efficiently enhances the robustness against iterative attacks, but at the expense of decreased robustness against one-step attacks. We show that combining those two techniques can also improve robustness under the worst case black box attack scenario.
Sustainable binders for concrete: A structured approach from waste screening to binder composition development

Worldwide, the building sector requires the production of 4 billion tonnes of cement annually, consuming more than 40% of global energy. Alkali activated “cementless” binders have recently emerged as a novel eco-friendly construction material with a promising potential to replace ordinary Portland cement. These binders consist of a class of inorganic polymer formed mainly by the reaction between an alkaline solution and an aluminosilicate source. Precursor materials for this reaction can be found in secondary material streams from different industrial sectors, from energy to agro-alimentary. However, the suitability of these materials in developing the polymerisation reaction must be assessed through a detailed chemical and physical characterisation, ensuring the availability of required chemical species in the appropriate quantity and physical state. Furthermore, the binder composition needs to be defined in terms of proper alkali activation dosages, water content in the mix, and curing conditions. The mix design must satisfy mechanical requirements and compliance to desired engineering properties (workability, setting time) for ensuring the suitability of the binder in replacing Portland cement in concrete applications. This paper offers a structured approach for the development of secondary material-based binders, from their identification to mix design and production procedure development. Essential features of precursor material can be determined through chemical and physical characterisation methods and advanced microscope techniques. Important mixing parameters and binder properties requirements are examined and some examples of developed binders are reported.
Subcutaneous Emphysema following Endoscopic Zenker's Diverticulum Repair and Postoperative Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Use

Objective. We report a complication of endoscopic Zenker’s diverticulum repair after postoperative continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use. Study design. Case report and literature review. Results. Patient presented for Zenker’s diverticulum repair. He was treated endoscopically with gastrointestinal anastomosis stapler and carbon dioxide laser myotomy. He inadvertently resumed CPAP use early on postoperatively and subsequently presented with dysphagia. Imaging revealed subcutaneous emphysema. Conclusion. It is important to understand the implications that CPAP can have on recovery from Zenker’s diverticulum repair. It is reasonable to screen all surgical candidates for CPAP use and ensure they understand instructions regarding safe postoperative use.
ANTIDEPRESSANT ACTIVITY OF NARDOSTACHYS JATAMANSI IN ELECTRON BEAM IRRADIATED MICE

Electron beam radiation, a form of Ionizing radiation has an important role in diagnosing and treatment of many diseases. But the deposition of this energy in tissues results in damage to DNA and eradicates the cell’s ability to replicate indefinitely. During the past few years due to their widespread use in hospitals, concern regarding the hazardous effect of electron beam radiation has developed. This pre-clinical work was designed to test the antidepressant activity of Nardostachys jatamansi ethanolic root extract on whole body electron beam radiation induced depression in Swiss albino mice, using established models for depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate antidepressant effect of Nardostachys jatamansi ethanolic root extract in electron beam irradiated mice. Nardostachys jatamansi ethanolic root extract at the dose of 200 mg/kg, orally was administered in electron beam radiated mice for screening its antidepressant effect using two validated experimental models for depression i.e., Forced Swimming Test and Tail Suspension Test. The duration of immobility (in seconds) was noted in both the tests. The electron beam radiated mice treated with Nardostachys jatamansi ethanolic root extract has shown a significant reduction in the duration of immobility (in seconds) in both the tests on comparing with non treated electron beam radiated mice. The data suggest that exposure to low levels of electron beam radiation can cause depression, which can be abolished by the administration of Nardostachys jatamansi ethanolic root extract.
Conserved Asp-137 Is Important for both Structure and Regulatory Functions of Cardiac α-Tropomyosin (α-TM) in a Novel Transgenic Mouse Model Expressing α-TM-D137L*

Background: Conserved Asp-137 destabilizes the hydrophobic core of the coiled-coil tropomyosin. Results: Leu substitution of Asp-137 decreases flexibility of tropomyosin and causes long range structural rearrangements; mouse hearts expressing this variant show altered function. Conclusion: Residue Asp-137 is important for regulatory function of tropomyosin in the heart. Significance: Our data support the hypothesis that tropomyosin flexibility regulates cardiac function in vivo. α-Tropomyosin (α-TM) has a conserved, charged Asp-137 residue located in the hydrophobic core of its coiled-coil structure, which is unusual in that the residue is found at a position typically occupied by a hydrophobic residue. Asp-137 is thought to destabilize the coiled-coil and so impart structural flexibility to the molecule, which is believed to be crucial for its function in the heart. A previous in vitro study indicated that the conversion of Asp-137 to a more typical canonical Leu alters flexibility of TM and affects its in vitro regulatory functions. However, the physiological importance of the residue Asp-137 and altered TM flexibility is unknown. In this study, we further analyzed structural properties of the α-TM-D137L variant and addressed the physiological importance of TM flexibility in cardiac function in studies with a novel transgenic mouse model expressing α-TM-D137L in the heart. Our NMR spectroscopy data indicated that the presence of D137L introduced long range rearrangements in TM structure. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements demonstrated that α-TM-D137L has higher thermal stability compared with α-TM, which correlated with decreased flexibility. Hearts of transgenic mice expressing α-TM-D137L showed systolic and diastolic dysfunction with decreased myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity and cardiomyocyte contractility without changes in intracellular Ca2+ transients or post-translational modifications of major myofilament proteins. We conclude that conversion of the highly conserved Asp-137 to Leu results in loss of flexibility of TM that is important for its regulatory functions in mouse hearts. Thus, our results provide insight into the link between flexibility of TM and its function in ejecting hearts.
Rice allelopathy and momilactone.

Rice has been extensively studied with respect to its allelopathy as part of a strategy for sustainable weed management options. All available information indicates that rice plants possibly release unknown allelochemicals into the neighbouring environments. A large number of compounds, such as phenolic acids, fatty acids, indoles and terpenes, were identified in rice root exudates and decomposing rice residues as putative allelochemicals. Among them, momilactone B may play an important role in rice defence mechanism in the rhizosphere for the competition with invading root systems of neighbouring plants.
Development and On‐Orbit Demonstration of Lithium‐Ion Capacitor‐Based Power System for Small Spacecraft

Lithium‐ion capacitors (LICs) offer higher energy density and specific energy than do traditional electric double‐layer capacitors (EDLCs). In spacecraft power systems where traditional lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) have been used with shallow depth of discharge (DoD) in order to achieve long‐cycle life, LICs would potentially be an alternative to secondary batteries. Firstly, this chapter presents the quantitative comparison between the LIB‐ and LIC‐based spacecraft power system from the viewpoint of system mass. On the basis of the potential suggested by the comparison, we have been developing the technology demonstration platform named “NESSIE” that contains the LIC pouch cell as one of its major demonstration missions. NESSIE was successfully launched with the main satellite HISAKI on September 2013. This chapter also presents the development of the LIC pouch cell for NESSIE and its experimental (or ground test) and on‐orbit operation data.
CoRisk: Measuring Contagion Risk with Correlation Network Models

We propose a novel credit risk measurement model for Corporate Default Swap spreads, that combines vector autoregressive regression with correlation networks. We focus on the sovereign CDS spreads of a collection of countries, that can be regarded as idiosyncratic measures of credit risk. We model them by means of a vector autoregressive regression model, composed by a time dependent country specific component, and by a contemporaneous component that describes contagion effects among countries. To disentangle the two components, we employ correlation networks, derived from the correlation matrix between the reduced form residuals. The proposed model is applied to ten countries that are representative of the recent financial crisis: top borrowing/lending countries, and peripheral European countries. The empirical findings show that the proposed model is a good predictor of CDS spreads movements, and that the contemporaneous component decreases prediction errors with respect to a simpler autoregressive model. From an applied viewpoint, core countries appear to import risk, as contagion increases their CDS spread, whereas peripheral countries appear as exporters of risk. Greece is an unfortunate exception, as its spreads seem to increase for both idiosyncratic factors and contagion effects.
Queering Gender: The New Femme Fatale in Almodóvar’s La mala educación (2004)

It is difficult to define film genres in the post-modern cinema, as they are strongly influenced by the conventions of classic genres. Within this context the emergence of transgressive or “dissident” identities have populated such genres and particularly the creation of a modern femme fatale has become a popular and polemical character in contemporary fiction. This new transgressive identity deviates from its counterpart in classical cinema-film noir. Pedro Almodovar’s La mala educacion (2004) reveals that the modern femme fatale has become at the turn of the twenty-first century an integral part of the queer community, thus proposing a new filmic platform of queering gender for the vindication of the rights of the (“other”) stigmatized identities.