Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Intelligent Sample Selection Approach to Language Model Adaptation for Hand-Written Text Recognition

We present an intelligent sample selection approach to language model adaptation for handwritten text recognition, which exploits a combination of in-domain and out-of-domain data for construction of language models. In comparison to approaches proposed in the literature, our approach is characterized by a careful consideration of the criteria used for ranking samples and an innovative approach to sample selection which iteratively extends the training set for two language models. We propose two methods, in which agreement or disagreement of two ranking criteria (one for each language model) guides the selection of samples to add to the training sets of the models. Both approaches are shown to clearly outperform a strong baseline consisting of a carefully tuned interpolation of in-domain and out-of-domain language models.
Genetic epidemiology of cutaneous melanoma: a global perspective.

Cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) results from the interaction of genetic, host, and environmental influences. Epidemiologic studies of melanoma have shown that the major environmental risk factor is UV radiation. The exposure-response relationship, however, seems complex, with intermittent sun exposure likely to be more important for risk than total lifetime exposure (for a review, see Armstrong and English 1 ). The host factors most strongly associated with melanoma are melanocytic nevi (moles), both clinically banal and atypical (dysplastic). 1,2 Other host factors implicated in melanoma include fair hair color, light eye color, increased freckling, and an inability to tan. Nonmelanoma skin cancer (basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma) also increases the risk for melanoma.
Molecular Biology of the Rh Blood Group System

Rh molecular biology has made many advances since the first Rh cDNA was cloned in 1990. This review summarizes the current knowledge concerning the molecular basis of Rh antigenicity, D-epitope expression, and the structures of the Rh genes and proteins. Although many recent reviews have appeared regarding these subjects, advances in Rh protein function that have been published within the last 12 months have had a fundamental impact on the future direction of Rh research. In November 2000, an article described the role of Rh proteins in ammonium transport, which has remained undescribed in vertebrates, except for nonspecific transport via K+ channels. The recent identification of nonerythroid Rh proteins, their expression in diverse tissues, and notably polarized epithelial and endothelial cells will be of broad functional significance and will greatly increase our understanding of the role of Rh in ammonium transport and the biology of ammonium metabolism as a whole. The advances in Rh molecular genetics have enabled the development of diagnostic tests in the clinic. At present, this is largely confined to the prenatal diagnosis of fetal blood group status in alloimmunized pregnancies, but could be extended to the noninvasive prenatal testing of all D-negative pregnant women and eventually, perhaps, to all patient and donor blood.
Computations of the input impedance of antennas in a magnetoplasma using the method of moments

The work deals with the computations of input impedance of antennas in a magnetized plasma using the method of moments. As it is appears, such calculations are possible in certain cases. The main attention is focused on the specific magnetoplasma properties such as anisotropy and spatio-temporal dispersion which are especially important in the so-called resonant frequency range. Some calculations are performed and the results are discussed.
The Signature of the Blandford-Znajek Mechanism in GRB Light Curves

In 1977, Blandford and Znajek showed how the spin energy of a rotating black hole may be extracted electromagnetically through a magnetic field that threads the black hole horizon. A characteristic feature of this mechanism is that, under certain fairly general conditions, the energy loss rate decays exponentially. We looked precisely for such behavior in the X-ray light curves of Long and Ultra Long duration Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) observed with the XRT instrument on board the Swift satellite, and found that almost 30% of XRT light curves show an exponential decay before they reach the afterglow plateau. A similar behavior (Fast Rise Exponential Decay-FRED) was observed in γ -rays with the BATSE instrument aboard the CGRO satellite. We consider both of these findings as the signature of the Blandford-Znajek mechanism in action in the central engine of GRBs.
The effectiveness of business process outsourcing in Safaricom limited-Kenya

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of business process outsourcing in Safaricom Limited Kenya and how it can derive value out of the strategy. A content analysis was used in this study. This study was specific to employees at Safaricom limited who were divided into stratums of different levels of management and general staff. Primary data was obtained to provide the needed input for the study.1 Data analysis was done through use of content analysis. The findings of the study showed that outsourcing could be used as a strategy of choice to gain competitive advantage and the respondents acknowledged that not all activities could be outsourced, thus the major task of the management is to make decision on which departments to outsource. According to the study, the main activities that Safaricom Limited could outsource were maintenance and operation, transmission, equipment hiring and network management. There was resistance to outsourcing of product development and customer service departments. With regards to values and benefits gained, cost cutting and revenue generation were the main values that could be gained while there was opposition with regards to improved product Development. Further the major challenges identified from the study include Formulation and quantifying service requirement. The major conclusions of the study as guided by the research questions were that there were very few option than outsourcing for Safaricom Limited . The respondent acknowledged, although it was also clear that not all activities could be outsourced, there was a general agreement that outsourcing decision should come from the board level. The major benefits, focus on strategy is the highest of the managers agreeing while freed up of internal resources, Areas that did not indicate positive response to outsourcing was mainly improved research and product development. The general outlook based on the study was outsourcing could be used as a strategy of choice to off load non-core function of Safaricom Limited to gain competitive advantage and enhancing its maintenance of the market leadership within the industry.
Dynamic Business Model Outsourcing for Data Integrity in Clouds

Cloud computing is a relatively new business model in the computing world. Cloud-based outsourced storage relieves the client’s load for storage management and preservation by providing an equivalently scalable, low-cost, locationindependent platform. Clients no longer have physical control of data indicates that they are facing a potentially frightening risk for missing or corrupted data. To keep away from the security risks, business model are significant to make sure that the integrity and availability of outsourced data. Enterprises usually store data in internal storage and install firewalls to protect against intruders to access the data. They also standardize data access procedures to prevent insiders to disclose the information without permission. Storing the data in encrypted form is a common method of information privacy protection. However the global nature of cloud brings about some challenges in security domain when physical control over our information in cloud is impossible. Thus, encrypting critical data becomes essential, and strongly advisable. The server-side encryption in an untrustworthy environment like public cloud is too risky. On the other hand, client-side encryption can undermine the benefits of cloud since it is a timeconsuming task for encryption and decryption. This study proposes a business model for cloud computing based on the concept of separating the encryption and decryption service from the storage service in order to get rid of security risks. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) service is described in this paper as an example to illustrate the proposed business model.
All-optical wavelength conversion by electroabsorption modulator

All-optical wavelength conversion using an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) in conjunction with delayed interferometer (DI) is investigated. The optical nonlinearities induced in an EAM were experimentally characterized. High bit-rate wavelength conversion at 100 Gb/s was demonstrated by an EAM-DI wavelength converter with required optical pulse energy of 1.5 pJ. It was verified that the operable bandwidth of the EAM-DI wavelength converter at 40 Gb/s covered almost full range of C-band without tuning operation conditions. These results indicate that the EAM-based wavelength converter is capable for ultrafast wide-band wavelength conversion.
The effect of country‐of‐origin on foreign brand names in the Indian market

Purpose – To investigate consumer attitudes in India towards local and foreign brand names, against a background of increasing prevalence of foreign brand names and stereotypes of countries of origin covering the range from positive to negative.Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire administered face‐to‐face to 112 consumers in the city of Lucknow. Attitudes to brands categorized as “foreign” or “Indian” were measured by seven‐point semantic differential scales, and consumer ethnocentrism by CETSCALE. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify factors contributing to the observed degree of ethnocentrism in brand choices.Findings – It was found that the quality of foreign brands was perceived to be generally higher and superior to local brands. Most consumers also associated greater accessibility of foreign brands in the Indian market with better quality at lower prices. Despite high levels of nationalism and preference for indigenous manufacture, as evidenced in high fact.
Phenotyping of Salmonella serotypes isolated from natural sources of water in rural areas of East Sikkim

The objective of the study was to conduct bacteriological analysis of water with special reference to Salmonella spp from natural sources of rural habitations of East Sikkim. A total of 28 Salmonella serovars isolated were biotyped, phage typed and tested for their anti-microbial susceptibility. All the isolates of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi belonged to Biotype I. Four isolates of S. typhi belonged to phage type A. All S. paratyphi A isolates belong to phage 2. All the isolates were sensitive to chloramphenicol, cefixime and amikacin. Untreated natural water sources are unsafe for human consumption.
Hot phonons in InAs observed via picosecond free-carrier absorption.

L'absorption infra-rouge transitoire d'electrons chauds est etudiee dans InAZs de type n a une longueur d'onde de 6,5 μm. Le gaz electronique est chauffe par une pulsation infra-rouge de picoseconde a une temperature electronique maximale de 560 K. L'absorption des electrons chauds excede considerablement la valeur originale et se relaxe en 100 ps. Les photons LO en exces crees par le processus de refroidissement sont importants pour l'augmentation observee de l'absorption des porteurs libres. Les etudes des porteurs libres presentees donnent une information precieuse sur la fonction de distribution des phonons chauds
Cloud Computing As an Emerging Paradigm in E-Learning: SWOT Analysis

E-learning, also known as CBT (Computer-Based Training), IBT (Internet-Based Training) or WBT (Web-Based Training), refers to electronic learning where electronic devices like computer and technology like internet and its services play an important role in teaching and learning process. The content is delivered digitally with learning support and other services to the learner. To successfully implement this process, hi-tech devices and technological advancements need to be accommodated in due course. Huge investments in establishing all these resources became a bottleneck for medium and small scale institutions in India. Cloud computing emerged as a solution as it provide almost any service as a shared and pay per use resource. It provides resources and capabilities of information technology via services offered by cloud service provider through internet. In this paper, the authors study the e-learning scenario and cloud computing as a solution provider. The authors also did a quick Strength, Weakness, opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis for the above mentioned context.
Dynamic Travel Demand Management Strategies: Dynamic Congestion Pricing and Highway Space Inventory Control System

The number of trips on highways and urban networks has significantly increased in the recent decades in many cities across the world. At the same time, the road network capacities have not kept up with this increase in travel demand. Urban road networks in many countries are severely congested, resulting in increased travel times, increased number of stops, unexpected delays, greater travel costs, inconvenience to drivers and passengers, increased air pollution and noise level, and increased number of traffic accidents. Expanding traffic network capacities by building more roads is extremely costly as well as environmentally damaging. More efficient usage of the existing supply is vital in order to sustain the growing travel demand. Travel Demand Management (TDM) techniques involving various strategies that increase the travel choices to the consumers have been proposed by the researchers, planners, and transportation professionals. TDM helps create a well balanced, less automobile dependent transportation system. In the past, several TDM strategies have been proposed and implemented in several cities around the world. All these TDM strategies, with very few exceptions, are static in nature. For example, in the case of congestion pricing, the toll schedules are previously set and are implemented on a daily basis. The amount of toll does not vary dynamically, with time of day and level of traffic on the highway (though the peak period tolls are different from the off-peak tolls, they are still static in the sense that the tolls don't vary continuously with time and level of traffic). The advent of Electronic Payment Systems (EPS), a branch of the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), has made it possible for the planners and researchers to conceive of dynamic TDM strategies. Recently, few congestion pricing projects are beginning to adopt dynamic tolls that vary continuously with the time of day based on the level of traffic (e.g. I-15 value pricing in California). Dynamic TDM is a relatively new and unexplored topic and the future research attempts to provide answers to the following questions: 1) How to propose and model a Dynamic TDM strategy, 2) What are the advantages of Dynamic TDM strategies as compared to their Static counterparts, 3) What are the benefits and costs of implementing such strategies, 4) What are the travel impacts of implementing Dynamic TDM strategies, and 5) How equitable are the Dynamic TDM strategies as compared to their Static counterparts. This dissertation attempts to address question 1 …
Impact of model development, calibration and validation decisions on hydrological simulations in West Lake Erie Basin

Watershed simulation models are used extensively to investigate hydrologic processes, landuse and climate change impacts, pollutant load assessments and best management practices (BMPs). Developing, calibrating and validating these models require a number of critical decisions that will influence the ability of the model to represent real world conditions. Understanding how these decisions influence model performance is crucial, especially when making science‐based policy decisions. This study used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in West Lake Erie Basin (WLEB) to examine the influence of several of these decisions on hydrological processes and streamflow simulations. Specifically, this study addressed the following objectives (1) demonstrate the importance of considering intra‐watershed processes during model development, (2) compare and evaluated spatial calibration versus calibration at outlet and (3) evaluate parameter transfers across temporal and spatial scales. A coarser resolution (HUC‐12) model and a finer resolution model (NHDPlus model) were used to support the objectives. Results showed that knowledge of watershed characteristics and intra‐watershed processes are critical to produced accurate and realistic hydrologic simulations. The spatial calibration strategy produced better results compared to outlet calibration strategy and provided more confidence. Transferring parameter values across spatial scales (i.e. from coarser resolution model to finer resolution model) needs additional fine tuning to produce realistic results. Transferring parameters across temporal scales (i.e. from monthly to yearly and daily time‐steps) performed well with a similar spatial resolution model. Furthermore, this study shows that relying solely on quantitative statistics without considering additional information can produce good but unrealistic simulations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of Teeth in Tissue Culture

Tissue culture was originally a method of studying the growth of cells outside the body; cells under such conditions may show histogenic changes. It has now evolved into two lines, namely that of cell culture and that of rudiment or organ culture. Cell culture is a method of obtaining mass cultures of unorganized tissue from an original cell suspension or from a single cell, e.g. cancer cells. In organ cultures, complete rudiments or fragments of organs are cultivated with the minimum of outgrowth of unorganized cells.
The Logic of Strategic Marketing Planning: A Comment

This is an invited comment on the article by Nigel Piercy and William Giles (1989), which appeared in this Journal. The aim of this comment is to explore the validity of some of the assertions that they make about the process of management that they label strategic marketing planning, and to discuss some of the central issues related to these assertions. The major assertions of the article are that:
Is Alexithymia a Culture-Bound Construct? Validity and Reliability of the Japanese Versions of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Modified Beth Israel Hospital Psychosomatic Questionnaire

The possibility remains that alexithymia is a culture-bound construct. The authors examined the validity and reliability of the Japanese versions of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the modified Beth Israel Hospital Psychosomatic Questionnaire, testing two samples of 473 college students and 149 psychiatric outpatients. The face validity and internal consistencies were suggested by factor analysis, adequate internal consistency, relatively high test-retest correlations, and high specificity and sensitivity. The Japanese versions of these two alexithymia scales therefore seem suitable for use among college students and psychiatric outpatients. However, there were several problematic points which may be associated with cultural differences.
Metabolic Labeling of Woodchuck Hepatitis B Virus X Protein in Naturally Infected Hepatocytes Reveals a Bimodal Half-Life and Association with the Nuclear Framework

ABSTRACT In order to identify potential sites of hepadnavirus X protein action, we have investigated the subcellular distribution and the stability of woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) X protein (WHx) in primary hepatocytes isolated from woodchucks with persistent WHV infection. In vivo cell labeling and cell fractionation studies showed that the majority of WHx is a soluble cytoplasmic protein while a minor part of newly synthesized WHx is associated with a nuclear framework fraction (20%) and with cytoskeletal components (5 to 10%). Pulse-chase experiments revealed that cytoplasmic WHx has a short half-life and decays with bimodal kinetics (approximately 20 min and 3 h). The rates of association and turnover of nucleus-associated WHx suggest that compartmentalization may be responsible for the bimodal turnover observed in the cytoplasm.
Project Management Performance in the UAE Construction Industry

The tremendous growth experienced in the UAE construction industry has been mirrored by the development and expansion of the project management discipline. The UAE has had the unique opportunity of employing the best as well as adopting international best practices. This paper identifies whether project management as a discipline helps deliver the key project objectives in particular those of time, cost and quality. It further investigates whether project managers are involved at strategic levels with the power and authority to effectively influence the direction and course of the project or were merely relegated to a monitoring and reporting role at an implementation level. A survey was undertaken to test the performance of projects in the UAE; the use of established project management tools and methodologies. Analysis was undertaken on the results to compare them against an international benchmark and assessing any correlation between those projects performing poorly and projects with poor use of tools and methodologies or a poor ranking of the critical success factors. Over 33% of projects failed to meet their stated objectives in respect of time, cost and quality and were considered poorly performing. Project managers were generally well qualified in their primary discipline and experienced in the construction industry but were less experienced in the field of project management many with no formal affiliation to professional institutions. Although project managers generally had good knowledge of tools and methodologies a significant proportion had either no knowledge or saw no practical use for the established techniques.
A Space-Time Signal Decomposition Algorithm for Downlink MIMO DS-CDMA Receivers

We propose a dimension reduction algorithm for the receiver of the downlink of direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems in which both the transmitters and the receivers employ antenna arrays of multiple elements. To estimate the high order channel parameters, we develop a layered architecture using dimension-reduced parameter estimation algorithms to estimate the frequency-selective multipath channels. In the proposed architecture, to exploit the space-time geometric characteristics of multipath channels, spatial beamformers and constrained (or unconstrained) temporal filters are adopted for clustered-multipath grouping and path isolation. In conjunction with the multiple access interference (MAI) suppression techniques, the proposed architecture jointly estimates the direction of arrivals, propagation delays, and fading amplitudes of the downlink fading multipaths. With the outputs of the proposed architecture, the signals of interest can then be naturally detected by using path-wise maximum ratio combining. Compared to the traditional techniques, such as the Joint-Angle-and-Delay-Estimation (JADE) algorithm for DOA-delay joint estimation and the space-time minimum mean square error (ST-MMSE) algorithm for signal detection, computer simulations show that the proposed algorithm substantially mitigate the computational complexity at the expense of only slight performance degradation.
DO THE PRESENT ELECTROWEAK PRECISION MEASUREMENTS LEAVE ROOM FOR EXTRA GENERATIONS

The recent data on Z boson decays and on the W mass are analyzed from the point of view of the possible existence of extra generations of leptons and quarks with masses ≳mz/2. Present experimental accuracy is not sufficient to exclude the existence of one extra generation of leptons and quarks, even with masses as low as 50 GeV.