Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strain Differences in the Blood Concentrations of Luteinizing Hormone, Prolactin, and Growth Hormone in Female Chickens

Abstract Blood concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin, and growth hormone were measured during growth and sexual maturation in a commercial egg laying-type breed (White Leghorn, WL) and a broiler type (White Plymouth Rock, WPR) breed. Two lines of each breed were used in the study; these were a control line and a line selected for an increased production of double-yolked eggs. The concentrations of LH and prolactin were significantly higher in the WPR than in the WL at all stages of development. Selection for increased production of double-yolked eggs tended to increase the blood concentration of LH but did not consistently affect the concentrations of prolactin or growth hormone. The blood concentration of growth hormone was significantly higher in WL than in WPR at ages between 3 and 12 weeks but between 15 and 23 weeks of age, the concentration of growth hormone was significantly higher in the WPR than in the WL.
Reproduction of the rare monocarpic species Saxifraga mutata L.

The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of reproduction and genetic variation on the persistence of populations of the prealpine, monocarpicSaxifraga mutataL. The species grows on erosion slopes or rocks, and its local populations are often small and isolated. Crossing experiments resulted in better seed-set than selfing, but both yielded viable seeds. Agamospermy did not occur. In an early-successional species likeS. mutata, successful selfing is important in the colonization of new habitats. Flowers ofS. mutatawere visited by Syrphidae and unspecialized Hymenoptera. A germination rate of 40% was reached in cultivation after 20 weeks but germination continued until the end of the experiment after 92 weeks. Seeds stored dry for 30 months at room temperature mostly lost their germinability. In natural habitats, seedlings were found almost throughout the year with a peak in spring. Suitable safe sites were small patches of open soil, bare marl on erosion slopes, and rock crevices. All individuals investigated were diploid with2n = 26. Allozyme electrophoresis showed a lack of segregation within the populations. Intra- and interpopulation genetic variation was low. These results were in partial disagreement with theoretical expectations in a mixed mating species. It is concluded that demographic rather than genetic processes are the main cause of extinction of populations ofS. mutata, at least in the short-term.
Cooperative non‐orthogonal multiple access with SWIPT over Nakagami‐m fading channels

To meet with both the energy and spectral efficiency, cooperative non‐orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) (termed as CNOMA) and simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) are integrated in this paper. Two different protocols such as CNOMA‐SWIPT‐PS and CNOMA‐SWIPT‐TS are proposed, by employing power‐splitting (PS) and time‐switching (TS) energy harvesting (EH) techniques, respectively. In the proposed protocols, a base station (BS) directly communicates with a NOMA near user, whereas the communication with a NOMA far user is performed with the assistance of an energy‐constrained relay node. The relay node harvests energy from the transmitted signal by the BS, employing PS or TS EH technique. We investigate ergodic sum capacity and outage probability of the proposed protocols along with analytical derivations over Nakagami‐m fading channels. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed schemes over existing strategy and conventional multiple access is demonstrated through analysis and simulation.
Fast projection algorithms with application to voice echo cancellation

Prior to the advent of subband adaptive filtering, acoustic echo cancellation for hands-free, full-duplex speech communication was considered impractical. Adaptive filters were simply too slow, too complex, or too unstable to cope with the acoustic echo path's long, time varying impulse response. The divide and conquer approach of subband acoustic echo cancellers (SBAECs) provided relatively fast convergence, low computational complexity and stability. The main drawback of SBAECs is that for relatively distortionless transmission of the near-end (non-echoing) speech, a considerable amount of delay is inserted in the signal path. This dissertation introduces three new adaptive filtering algorithms based on the philosophy of affine projections. All three share the property of fast convergence coupled with low computational complexity and memory usage. The first algorithm combines properties of the row action projection and subband adaptive filtering algorithms to produce a new dynamic computational resource allocated subband adaptive filtering algorithm. Simulations demonstrate that the new algorithm converges faster than the conventional NLMS based subband adaptive filters. The second new algorithm is actually a small class of algorithms which are fast (low complexity) versions of the repeated normalized block least mean square (RNBLMS) and the row action projection (RAP) algorithms. Also shown, is the relationship between RNBLMS, RAP, the affine projection algorithm (APA), and its close relative, the partial rank algorithm (PRA). Specifically, the block level convergence of PRA and RNBLMS are shown to be very closely related and it is demonstrated that the significant parameters of one can be derived from the other, even to the point where the overall convergence of the two algorithms match almost exactly. The delay in this class of algorithms is relatively small compared to SBAECs. The third new algorithm is called the fast affine projection algorithm. This algorithm has the property of achieving recursive least squares (RLS) like convergence (fast) with LMS like complexity (low). In addition, FAP is easily regularized, achieving good convergence for highly colored excitations even in noisy environments. These advantages are attained without the price of adding delay in the signal. Finally, a new convergence theory for PRA is introduced. The results of this theory are directly applicable to RNBLMS, since the relationship between the key parameters of it and PRA are known. And indirectly, the results are applicable to APA, FAP, and RAP, where the relationship between the key parameters, as of now, must be determined empirically.
AI-based targeted advertising system

The most common technology used in targeted advertising is facial recognition and vehicle recognition. Even though there are existing systems serving for the targeting purposes, most propose limited functionalities and the system performance is normally unknown. This paper presents an intelligent targeted advertising system with multiple functionalities, namely facial recognition for gender and age, vehicle recognition, and multiple object detection. The main purpose is to improve the effectiveness of outdoor advertising through biometrics approaches and machine learning technology. Machine learning algorithms are implemented for higher recognition accuracy and hence achieved better targeted advertising effect.
Rhythm

HONORS AND AWARDS • Silver Medal, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat Alumni Association (January 2020) • Silver Medal, Institute of Civil Engineering and Architects (ICEA), Surat (December 2019) • Early Induction Program Candidate at Civil Engineering Department (IITB), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (July 2018) • Summer Research Fellowship, Indian Academy of Science (IAS) (July 2018)
Transfer Learning for Unsupervised Influenza-like Illness Models from Online Search Data

A considerable body of research has demonstrated that online search data can be used to complement current syndromic surveillance systems. The vast majority of previous work proposes solutions that are based on supervised learning paradigms, in which historical disease rates are required for training a model. However, for many geographical regions this information is either sparse or not available due to a poor health infrastructure. It is these regions that have the most to benefit from inferring population health statistics from online user search activity. To address this issue, we propose a statistical framework in which we first learn a supervised model for a region with adequate historical disease rates, and then transfer it to a target region, where no syndromic surveillance data exists. This transfer learning solution consists of three steps: (i) learn a regularized regression model for a source country, (ii) map the source queries to target ones using semantic and temporal similarity metrics, and (iii) re-adjust the weights of the target queries. It is evaluated on the task of estimating influenza-like illness (ILI) rates. We learn a source model for the United States, and subsequently transfer it to three other countries, namely France, Spain and Australia. Overall, the transferred (unsupervised) models achieve strong performance in terms of Pearson correlation with the ground truth (> .92 on average), and their mean absolute error does not deviate greatly from a fully supervised baseline.
A pilot study for capacity building for a multi-centre, randomized trial for treatment of kala azar in Bangladesh

Relevance of the Protocol: Visceral leishmaniasis or kala azar is caused by a protozoan parasite, Leishmania donovani which is transmitted by a sandfly species Phlebotomus argentipes. Between 1994 and 2005, over 81,000 people have been reported to have kala azar in Bangladesh. However, its is believed that the accurate number of cases will be higher than the reported. The disease is common in 34 districts of Bangladesh, and among them Mymensingh district alone contributed over 50% of total cases of kala-azar. Improvement in case detection of kala azar is necessary in endemic areas for both surveillance purposes and better control. Therefore, the aim of this proposed study ate to evaluate some newer diagnostic tests using blood and urine samples of suspected cases; and to assess response to treatment with sodium stibogluconate to which resistance has been reported in India. The other aim of this pilot study is to build up capacity for a planned Phase-III clinical trial with a newer drug, sitamaquine, in Bangladesh.
Evaluation of Growth Functions on Japanese Quail Lines

The aim of present study was to fit the best predictive equation to describe the growth curve of different Japanese quail lines. Moreover the effect of short-term divergent selection on the growth curve parameters was investigated. The quail lines utilized in the current study were two divergently selected lines for high (HW) and low (LW) 4-wk body weight (BW) and a control line (C). Determination and adjusted determination coefficients, relative error mean and standard deviation, mean square error, Akaike’s information criteria and Schwarz Bayesian information criteria were used to evaluate the accuracy of prediction with the growth functions of
Optimal Design of three translational 3 Dof Parallel Mechanisms for machining Processes with Genetic Algorithms

The performance of a parallel kinematic manipulator can be improved by optimal evaluation of different parameters. Especially when the space in which the robot will be placed is limited then an optimal design must be carried out. The paper presents the optimal design of three parallel kinematic manipulators: a Delta mechanism with prismatic actuators, an orthoglide mechanism and a 3 DOF translational parallel manipulator (TPM). The optimization process is performed with the aid of a genetic algorithm considering the same geometric limits, such as the actuator length limits and design constraints. The genetic algorithm is implemented for maximizing the workspace, manipulability and stiffness. The obtained results can be used to identify an optimal region of the workspace of each mechanism regarding the manipulability and stiffness and furthermore by comparing these performances to select the appropriate mechanism for machining process.
Makerspaces on Social Media: Shaping Access to Open Design

Open Design is an emerging area of research that seeks to connect and extend the culture of making, social innovation, open-source software, and open-source hardware. A cornerstone for Open Design is to broaden participation in technology innovation by allowing people to use and contribute to publicly shared resources. Makerspaces are important access points to share and contribute to these resources. However, prior to entering the physical door of a makerspace, makerspaces’ social media presence serve as the ‘front door’ for Open Design activities. In this paper, we examine different ‘front doors’ of Open Design, asking: What are the characteristics that produce makerspaces’ social media presences, and how do these representations shape potential access to Open Design activities? We manually collected and qualitatively analyzed 500 public posts on the Facebook sites of five makerspaces in Copenhagen, Denmark. By choosing the same geographical area, we were able to explore the characteristics of makerspaces’ social media presences for the same potential population of Open Design participants. Our analysis identifies three main characteristics of makerspaces’ social media presence, which together shape access to Open Design activities, namely reach, transparency, and discourse. The display of these characteristics produce openness and availability in unique ways, and is constitutive for how Open Design activities are produced online. In this paper, we do not argue for or against specific social media representations. Instead, we argue that the specificities and differences between makerspaces’ social media presences in the same geographical region have the strength of producing different identities across spaces, allowing for a broader definition and potential participation in Open Design.
Submitting a Sequence to GenBank

In the post‐genomic era, more and more research projects involve the generation of molecular sequence data. How should these newly obtained DNA/protein sequences be analyzed, and how should they be prepared for submission to sequence databases? In this unit, we provide guidelines and a flowchart to help first‐time users process new sequence data using third‐party freeware programs and give a step‐by‐step demonstration on the preparation of a sequence file for submission to GenBank using the Sequin program. © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Fitness and Quality of Life Outcomes of Cancer Survivor Participants in a Community Exercise Program

Exercise is recommended for cancer survivors, as it mitigates treatment side effects and improves overall wellness. Therefore, survivors attend community-based exercise programs and report positive results, but published evaluations of outcomes of these programs are scarce in the literature. The objective of this study is to validate the anecdotal reports of the physical fitness and quality of life benefits of the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program. A retrospective analysis of deidentified data consisting of 17 program cohorts of the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program (n = 88) was conducted. Statistically significant improvements were seen when compared to baseline in the physical fitness measures of the 6-minute walk, the chest and leg presses, the sit-and-reach test, and the one-leg stand test, as well as in the domains of the 29-item Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS-29) Profile, a health-related quality of life questionnaire. These domains are physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, social role satisfaction, and pain. The anecdotal impression that participation in the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program improves physical fitness and subjective quality of life perceptions was supported by statistical analysis of the subjective and objective pre- and postprogram measurements for this data set. Exercise in this cancer-specific community exercise program is likely to improve physical fitness and quality of life outcomes.
Tomato genome sequencing: deciphering the euchromatin region of the chromosome 8

As a member of the Solanaceae Genomics Network International Tomato Sequencing Project, we launched on sequencing of the chromosome 8. Our task is to sequence the euchromatin region of the chromosome, the estimated size of which is 17 megabases. BAC-by-BAC strategy is adopted for sequencing. We initially received BAC clone candidates anchored to overgo probes developed from 33 markers mapped on chromosome 8. For confirmation of the BAC candidates, we analyzed the sequence of PCR product amplified from the BAC DNA with primers designed on the marker sequence. Twenty-five BAC clones were verified and subjected to shotgun sequencing. As of Nov. 2006, we finished 40 clones to Phase 3 (total non-redundant length 4,429,168 bases) of 25 are seed and 15 are extended clones. In order to find additional seed points, we performed PCR screening of markers against 3D DNA-pool of LE-HBa, SL-MboI and SL-EcoRI BAC libraries, and succeeded in obtaining 9 new seeds. We report the current status of our project and future perspectives toward the final goal, which include development of new microsatellite markers from tomato EST sequences and Selected BAC Mixture shotgun sequencing for the gap filling.
Inhibitory Effect of (−)‐Epicatechin 4‐Benzylthioether on the Growth of Glioma Cells in Culture

The effect of (−)‐epicatechin 4‐benzylthioether (EC‐BE) on the growth of cultured rat glioma cells was investigated. EC‐BE was found to produce a concentration‐dependent inhibitory effect on the growth of glioma cells. Inhibition was also observed in samples treated with (−)‐epicatechin acetoxymethyl ester (EC‐AM). The original compound (−)‐epicatechin, which gave rise to EC‐AM and EC‐BE, failed to produce a similar result. Because both EC‐BE and EC‐AM are membrane permeable, while (−)‐epicatechin is not, the results indicated that the (−)‐epicatechin and its derivatives need to be intracellular in order to produce an effect. Moreover, it is demonstrated that EC‐BE inhibited the incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA while the uptake of extracellular [3H]thymidine by glioma cells was not affected. The activities of redox enzymes such as glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase were attenuated in cells treated with EC‐BE. These data suggest that EC‐BE can inhibit the growth of glioma cells by affecting a redox pathway related to the formation of DNA.
Strategies for Selecting and Individualizing Training for Employee Positioning

Strategies for Selecting and Individualizing Training for Employee Positioning by Reba Michelle Royster MA, Liberty University, 2013 MBA, Liberty University, 2011 MS, North Carolina State University, 2007 BS, Shaw University, 2002 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration
Framework for exact solutions and heuristics for approximate solutions to airlines irregular operations control aircraft routing problem

Airline irregular operations occur when a reduction in the flight resources or station capacity necessary to operate a flight schedule is encountered. This dissertation addresses the rerouting of aircraft in response to groundings and delays. The objective of this work is to reroute aircraft so as to minimize the cost to the airlines. In some cases cancellations will be necessary due to insufficient aircraft resources. The aircraft routings generated by the methods presented here implicitly delay flights and explicitly cancel others if necessary. This dissertation presents a framework for exact solutions and heuristics for approximate solutions. Two mathematical representations are developed. These are difficult to solve but serve as motivation for the alternate modeling and solution methods presented later. These consist of a time-band optimization model and a greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP). Complete solution methodologies are presented for both of these methods. The time-band model is constructed by transforming the routing problem into a time-based network in which the time horizon is discretized. The resulting formulation is an integral minimum cost network flow problem with side constraints. Conditions for which an exact solution to the model represents an optimal solution for the original problem are stated. The transformation procedure is polynomial with respect to the number of stations and flights in the schedule. Computational experience shows that the underlying network structure of the transformed problem often leads to integral solutions when solved with a standard linear programming code. Empirical results demonstrate that the solutions obtained are either provably optimal or no more than a few percentage points from the lower bound. In the GRASP, the neighbors of an incumbent solution are generated and evaluated, and the most desirable are placed on a restricted candidate list. One is selected randomly and becomes the incumbent. The process is repeated until stopping criteria are encountered. The heuristic is polynomial with respect to the number of flights and aircraft. Empirical results demonstrate the ability of the GRASP to quickly explore a wide range of solutions and, in some cases, to produce high quality solutions.
Abstract Political discourse is primarily identified as political action, the discourse of deliberating which course of action to follow in accordance with specific political goals

This article discusses findings of a qualitative study on strategies of othering observed in anti-immigrant discourse, by analysing selected examples from the UK and Polish media, together with data collected from interviews with migrants. The purpose is to identify discursive strategies of othering, which aim to categorise, denigrate, oppress and ultimately reject the stigmatised or racialised ‘other’. We do not offer a systematic comparison of the data from the UK and Poland; instead, we are interested in what is common in the discursive practices of these two countries/contexts. In using newspaper together with interview data, we are combining representation and experience in identifying not only strategies of othering, but also how these are perceived by and affect the othered individuals. The paper uses the following data: 40 newspaper articles – 20 from the UK and 20 from Poland, and 19 interviews – 12 from Poland and 7 from the UK. The analysis that follows identifies five shared strategies of othering: a) Stereotyping; b) Whiteness as the norm; c) Racialisation; d) Objectification; e) Wrongly Ascribed Ethnicity. We conclude with the research limitations and outlining possible next stages, such as working with a larger corpus, investigating frequency, or including other media
Lexicographically Maximum Dynamic Flow with Vertex Capacities

We consider an evacuation planning problem in the sense of computing a feasible dynamic flow lexicographically maximizing the amount of flow entering a set of terminals with respect to a given prioritization and given vertex capacities. We propose a polynomial time algorithm for the static version of the problem and a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm for the dynamic case. We show that by neglecting the vertex capacities, the dynamic version can be solved in polynomial time by using temporally repeated flows.
Visual Object Tracking Challenge (VOT2013) Evaluation Kit

5 Overview and usage instructions 5 5.1 Terminology . 5 5.2 Set up the toolkit . 5 5.3 Downloading . 6 5.4 Platform support . 6 5.5 Directory structure . 6 5.6 Basic configuration . 6 5.7 Perform tracker evaluation . 7 5.8 View and submit the results . 7 5.9 Tips and tricks . 7 5.10 Additional configuration . 7