Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Controle de um Barco Empurrando uma Carga Flutuante Subatuada

The control of a boat pushing an underactuated floating load is developed and theoretically analyzed. The dynamic model of this system and its properties are described to allow the design of the control system. This problem is challenging due to the unstable dynamics and the absence of actuators on the load. Partial feedback linearization was chosen to simplify the controller design. Variable structure control was chosen in view of its robustness to parametric uncertainties and matched disturbances. Experimental and simulation results illustrate the performance of the proposed system. Keywords— Variable structure control, Marine systems, Partial feedback linearization, Manipulation tasks, Uncertain systems, Underactuated systems. Resumo— O controle de um barco empurrando uma carga flutuante subatuada é desenvolvido e analisado teoricamente. O modelo dinâmico do sistema e suas propriedades são descritas para permitir o projeto do sistema de controle. O problema é desafiador devido à dinâmica instável e à ausência de atuadores na carga. A linearização parcial por realimentação foi realizada para simplificar o projeto do controlador. O controle a estrutura variável foi escolhido em vista de sua robustez a incertezas em parâmetros e rejeição a perturbações casadas. Resultados experimentais e de simulação ilustram o desempenho do sistema proposto. Palavras-chave— Controle a estrutura variável, Sistemas maŕıtimos, Linearização parcial por realimentação, Tarefas de manipulação, Sistemas incertos, Sistemas subatuados.
The Composition and Cyclical Behavior of Trade Flows in Emerging Economies1

The composition and cyclical properties of imports are similar in developed economies and emerging economies (EM) but this is not the case for exports. Unlike developed economies, (i) EM export few or only a selective set of capital goods and (ii) capital good and overall exports tend to be acyclical. The lack of procyclicality in exports helps to explain the strong countercyclicality of EM trade balances observed in previous studies. A quantitative exercise demonstrates how the standard small open economy business cycle model could be improved upon by incorporating some of these features.
Forces Shaping World Food Markets and the Role of Dominant Food Retailers

This paper discusses recent developments in the structure of food markets worldwide, including rising consolidation and concentration, increased vertical coordination and control, and emphasis on multifaceted dimensions of product quality. Particular attention is paid to the role of international grocery retail chains in this process. I argue that these structure developments are inconsistent with the tenets of the perfect competition market model and discuss the consequences of misapplying the competitive model in these settings.
Application of Shape Analysis on 3D Images - MRI of Renal Tumors

The image recognotion and the classification of objects according to the images are more in focus of interests, especially in medicine. A mathematical procedure allows us, not only to evaluate the amount of data per se, but also ensures that each image is processed similarly. Here in this study, we propose the power of shape analysis, in conjunction with neural networks for reducing white noise instead of searching an optimal metric, to support the user in his evaluation of MRI of renal tumors. Therapy of renal tumors in childhood bases on therapy optimizing SIOP(Society of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology)-study protocols in Europe. The most frequent tumor is the nephroblastoma. Other tumor entities in the retroperitoneum are clear cell sarcoma, renal cell carcinoma and extrarenal tumors, especially neuroblastoma. Radiological diagnosis is produced with the help Stefan Giebel( )(Stefan.Giebel@gmx.de), Jang Schiltz(jang.schiltz@uni.lu), Norbert Graf(Norbert.Graf@uniklinikum-saarland.de), Nasenien Nourkami (Nasenien.Nourkami@uniklinikum-saarland.de), Ivo Leuschner(ileuschner@path.unikiel.de), Jens-Peter Schenk(Jens-peter.Schenk@med.uni-heidelberg.de), Received: July 15, 2011; Accepted: May 14, 2012
The influencing factors on preferential resource allocation in a natural factor market characterized by scarcity

The field of strategic supply chain management has shown that buying firms can obtain a competitive advantage on a scarce factor market by convincing the suppliers to sell their scarce resources to them. If the buying firm receives more of the input materials, then its competitors receive less and therefore the buying firm’s output is larger allowing them to sell more products. It is not known to literature yet on what basis the suppliers decide to whom they sell in a scarce market. Therefore, purchasers lack a set of factors that they can use to convince the supplier to sell the scarce resources to them. Factor market literature lacks an explanation of why buying firms perform heterogeneously even though they have the same supplier base. Previous work has failed to address the problem from the suppliers’ point of view. This study takes the framework of supplier value theory to understand what suppliers value in buyers and what makes them decide which of the buyers to sell to. To determine those factors, this article reports the results of a multiple case study on the Austrian timber market. The Austrian timber market is a scarce natural factor market, where suppliers have a choice who to sell to. The multiple case study was conducted as seven semi-structured interviews. The interview questions are based on previous research on supplier value factors. The study reveals that there are differences between firm sizes in the decision making process. It also shows that measurement accuracy and market price stability build trust, which evolves into long-term relationships with suppliers. Suppliers sell their scarce resources more willingly to buyers with long-term relationships. Hence, this study contributes to literature by showing that supplier value theory is a better explanation for the decision making process on a scarce market than factor market theory. Furthermore, it impacts strategic purchasing by giving purchasing managers a set of factors that are important to suppliers that need to be satisfied in order to obtain scarce resources.
THE COLOUR AND STABILITY OF CYANIDIN AND CYANIDIN 3-O-β-GLUCOPYRANOSIDE

The relationships between the color variation, colour intensity, thermal stability and brown index (BI) of the aglycone moiety of cyanidin and its 3-glucosidic substitution in cyanidin 3-O-β-glucopyranoside (Cy3Glc) were studied in the aqueous solution at pH 7.0 and under the conditions of the elevated temperature (55.0±0.1 °C) which simulate the rapid food ageing. Both studied compounds showed a hypsochromic shift during the storage. The cyanidin showed a significantly higher colour intensity and greater thermal stability compared to Cy3Glc. The gradual loss of the colour of the Cy3Glc solution was accompanied by the increase in BI. The BI for cyanidin was 0.63 and ˂1 while for Cy3Glc it was 1.09 and ˃1 all the time thus giving yellowish shades to the Cy3Glc aqueous solution. These facts are important from the point of view of using these compounds as food colorants, indicating a higher tinctorial power and higher stability of cyanidin compared to the Cy3Glc.
Coherent control of atomic spin currents in a double well

We propose a method for controlling the atomic currents of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate in a double well by applying an external field to the atoms in one of the potential wells. We study the ground-state propertiesofthesystemandshowthatthedirectionsofspincurrentsandnet-particletunnelingcanbemanipulated by adiabatically varying the coupling strength between the atoms and the field. This system can be used to study spin and tunneling phenomena across a wide range of interaction parameters. In addition, spin-squeezed states can be generated. It is useful for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.
Aromatic steroids as a tool in geochemical interpretation

The article describes the use of monoaromatic (MAS) and triaromatic (TAS) steroids in geochemical interpretation. So far for correlation purposes in crude oil–oil systems and crude oil–source rock, among others, biomarkers from the hopanes and steranes group or phenantrene compounds were used. Steroids can be used with equally good results as indicators of environmental sedimentation of organic matter, or a degree of thermal maturity of source rock. Steroids also find use as a carrier of information about: the genesis of organic matter (marine or non-marine) and immersion of carbonates in sediment or salinity of a sedimentary environment. The article presents the composition of triaromatic and monoaromatic steroids in samples of potential source rocks represented by: Menilite Beds of the Skole Unit, Main Dolomite of the Polish Lowland, Peribaltic Syneclise Silurian and Central Atlantic Margin (CAM).
Dynamic Capabilities Associated with a Firm's Growth in Developing Countries: A Comparative Study of Argentinean SMEs in the Software and Tourism Industries

Although recent evidence suggests that the development of dynamic capabilities (DC) is a key factor to gain and sustain competitive advantages to promote firm's growth, the question of how SMEs create, identify, and seize opportunities for growth have not been fully explored, particularly in developing countries with scarce resources. The aim of this study is to shed light on how SMEs develop capabilities to grow in the specific context of developing countries with resources constraints. To achieve a detailed description of the processes involved, this study applies a qualitative methodology based on a comparative case study of eight SMEs within the software and tourism industries in Argentine, which have been previously identified as dynamic sectors with high growth potential. Our findings suggest that SMEs develop DC mainly through an emerging process of iterative experimentation rather than through strategic planning. This process involves the coordination of organizational actions and resources, with managers playing a key role.
A Novel Design of Unknown Input Observer for Fault Diagnosis in Non-minimum Phase Systems

Abstract Fault diagnosis has become a significant issue due to rising demands for reliability as well as higher system performance and product quality. There are various approaches for the goal of fault detection and isolation among which we focus on the unknown input observer since observer-based schemes have been successfully adopted in a variety of application fields. This paper presents a novel design of Unknown Input Observer (UIO) for fault detection and isolation which can be applied to non-minimum phase systems. Unlike many previous UIO methods developed in the literature, the proposed scheme can carry out real-time reconstruction of unknown input in the presence of unstable invariant zero (with respect to the relation between the output and the unknown input). We extend the system by augmenting low pass filter(s) in the input(s)-output(s) path to tackle the non-minimum phase problem and generate robust residuals. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed design method is confirmed through demonstrating a simulation-base example.
Fiscal Decentralization and Employment in Pakistan

Study emphasis that a successful fiscal decentralization process is a way to increase the participation of citizens in local level development and economic activities. Study explores that the fiscal decentralization has positive effect on employment generation while the negative relation with inflation and indirectly supports the positive relation with economic growth. Improvement in educational activities and economic integration promote employment activities in the state and fiscally decentralized economy has greater ability to promote these activities then the unitary governments. So, fiscal decentralization is a successful tool to promote employment activities, meanwhile it discourages the rise in nominal wages which contributes to higher inflation rate.
ENHANCEMENT OF COLOR IMAGES BASED ON HISTOGRAM EQUALIZATION WITH VARIABLE ENHANCEMENT DEGREE

Abstract— The YC b C r . color space is suitable for image compression and adopted for JPEG and MPEG. The YC b C r color space is related with the HSI (hue, saturation, intensity) color space. The HSI color space is an ideal tool for developing image processing. In this paper, we propose a color image enhancement method, which is combined the intensity enhancement and the saturation enhancement, in the YC b C r color space. Even if the width and shape of (C b ,C r ) space is changed depending on the value of Y component, the proposed method is free from gamut problem. Furthermore, in the proposed method, the saturation enhancement degree can be altered to suit users’ own preference. 1. INTRODUCTION Image enhancement is required mostly for better visualization or rendering image to aid our visual perception. Nowadays there is a rapid increase in the application of color video media. This has resulted in a growing interest in color image enhancement techniques. This paper specifically addresses the enhancement of digital video images. Hue, saturation and intensity are the attributes of color [1]. Hue is that attribute of a color, which decides what kind of color it is. If hue is changed then the color gets changed, thereby distorting the image. Thus, hue preservation is an essential requirement for color image enhancement. Several different techniques for color contrast enhancement based on 3-D histogram modification. A 3-D histogram specification algorithm in RGB cube with the output histogram being uniform is proposed by Trahanias
Fostering resilience among police

Police officers are often mandated to respond to extremely stressful and potentially traumatic situations over the course of their careers (Andersen, Papazoglou, Koskelainen, & Nyman, 2015). Research has shown that occupational stress and trauma exposure has a negative impact on police officers’ health and wellness (Violanti et al., 2005). Police officers are expected to respond to critical incidents and resolve challenging situations effectively despite routine exposure to severe stress. Even though local and national governments invest a vast amount of money in police tactical training and equipment, resilience building has not been a major component of police training. This paper aims to open a dialogue about the importance of mental preparedness training as a means of enhancing police resilience in the line of duty. The authors discuss the pioneering work of scholars (e.g., Andersen et al., 2015; Arnetz et al., 2013) who developed research initiatives to facilitate mental preparedness among police officers. Clinical and police training applications of the aforementioned research work, as well as future directions of such outcomes are discussed. Keywords: police stress and trauma, resilience, health promotion, mental preparedness, optimal functioning, high job performance
Characterization of Nanomaterials in Metal Colloid-Containing Dietary Supplement Drinks and Assessment of Their Potential Interactions after Ingestion

Little information is available regarding the suitability of analytical methods to evaluate claims regarding the presence of engineered nanomaterials (NMs) in consumer products, their potential toxic effects to humans, or their life cycle after product use. This study was designed to assess the potential interactions across the life cycle of eight commercially available dietary supplement drinks from a single vendor, all purported to contain metal NMs. Analysis showed that all of the products contained metallic NMs with average diameters below 50 nm as determined by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The products’ intended use is human ingestion; in order to examine potential human health effects after ingestion, we investigated the interaction of NMs in the drinks with an in vitro cell system that faithfully mimics human intestinal cells. After exposure to concentrations of NMs as low as 3.5 μg/mL, we found that the number of microvilli decreased relative to untreated controls.
Multifactor Stochastic Variance Models in Risk Management: Maximum Entropy Approach and Levy Processes

There is extensive empirical evidence that historical distributions of daily changes for stock prices, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, commodity prices and other underlyings have high peaks, heavy tails and non-zero skewness contrary to the normal distribution. These risk factors exhibit jumps, their volatility varies stochastically with clustering. Above distributional properties have significant impact on Risk Management, specifically on Value-at-Risk (VaR) calculations. This paper presents a class of multivariate models with the stochastic variance driven by Levy processes. The models with correlation structure in the stochastic variance allow for different shape and tail behavior of the marginal risk factor distributions, exact fit into the risk factor correlation structure, and proper non-linear scaling of VaR for different holding periods. In one-dimensional case, a pure jump Gamma process and other Levy processes for the stochastic variance are derived from the Maximum Entropy principle. Corresponding stochastic processes for the risk factors possess marginal distributions with wide range of heavy tails, from exponential to polynomial. Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type processes for the stochastic variance and corresponding term structure of the risk factor kurtosis and quantiles are investigated. In multi-dimensional case, the effective calibration and Monte Carlo simulation procedures are considered. Presented empirical evidence for different markets confirms a good agreement between the model and actual historical risk factor distributions.
The Impact of Roughness Elements on Reducing the Shear Stress Acting on Soil Particles

This report presents the results from a study on shear stress partitioning for vegetation. The project involved partitioning the shear stress from overland flow into one component that acts on the vegetation (form shear) and the remainder that acts on the intervening soil particles (particle shear). Particle shear is important for predicting soil erosion. The study used idealized shapes to represent vegetal elements. Researchers designed and constructed a unique laboratory hydraulic flume, which they used in conjunction with hot-film anemometry to measure particle shear. They also designed and constructed instrumentation to measure the form shear on individual rigid vegetal elements, taking detailed spatial and temporal shear stress measurements for three element densities. Form shear was measured on each element within the test array. The study investigated a total of 16 test scenarios. Particle shear accounted for 13 to 89 percent of the total shear. Shear partitioning theories developed for wind erosion adequately represent the observed data and can be used to determine an appropriate vegetation density for a threshold particle shear.
Effect of Clammy Inula (Inula viscose) Plant Extract in Combination with a Low Dose of the Fungicide Iprodione on Botrytis cinerea in Vitro and in Vivo

The effect of native medical plant “Clammy Inula” (Inula viscosa L.) in combination with a low dose of the fungicide iprodione (Rovral®) against gray mould disease (Botryis cinerea Pers.) was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The results revealed that the plant extract had antifungal effect on mycelial growth rate and conidial germiation of pathogen isolates. The plant extract at the concentration of 1% - 4% and the fungicide iprodione at the concentration of 0.2 - 9 μg&middotml-1 significantly reduced the mycelium growth and germination. In addition, the plant extract at the concentration of 2% - 4% and iprodione at the concentration of 300 - 600 μg&middotml-1 significantly reduced the disease severity (%) on bean plants compared to the controls. The reduction of mycelium growth, germination, and disease severity was positively correlated with increasing plant extract and fungicide concentrations. The combination of a low dose of plant extract and fungicide at (EC50) was able to reduce disease severity of gray mold by 84%. While, plant extract and fungicide alone reduced disease severity by 46% & 39% and by 70% & 76% for the isolate (Bo5-10 and Bc 99), respectively, compared with controls. The application of water extracts of I. viscose in combination of a low dose of an effective fungicide (iprodione) can be a feasible tool in reducing gray mould disease severity, but farther studies are still needed under field conditions to evaluate efficacy against the disease under field conditions.
Taxonomy for digital forensic evidence

Modern society has increased its dependencies on digital systems and computer networks in almost every area of life today. Although this dependency is good it has opened a whole new world of possibilities for criminals to exploit. This has been seen in areas where criminals are able to use existing digital systems to share information and to reinforce their hacking techniques for nefarious purposes. As a result, major potential security risks, such as malicious insiders, data loss or leakage and policy violations have now invaded our digital world with worrying trends of digital and cyber-crimes. This, therefore, has made computer based information a primary source of digital evidence in many legal matters and digital investigations. The understanding of the different types of information generated by computer systems is thus an importance aspect of any digital forensic investigation process. For this reason, this paper reviews existing digital forensic research literature and highlights the different types of digital evidence that can potentially be admissible in our courts of law today. In conducting this research study, however, it was difficult for the authors to review all the existing research literature in the digital forensic domain; hence, sampling and randomization techniques were employed to facilitate the review of the gathered literature. The taxonomy classifies a large number of Digital Forensic Evidence (DFE) into a few well-defined and easily understood categories which can be useful, for example, the future developments of digital forensic tools. In addition, the taxonomy can also be helpful to practitioners, for example, in classifying the different types of DFE that can be admissible in courts. The main contribution of this research is, therefore, to propose a taxonomy for DFE that can assist digital forensic analysts and forensic practitioners to understand the different types of evidence with ease and their applicability in different legal matters. Keywords—Taxonomy; Digital forensics; Digital evidence; Legal matters; Digital systems.
First Results From the NOAA GOES-12 Solar X-ray Imager (SXI)

The Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) was launched on 23 July 2001 on NOAA’s GOES-12 satellite and completed post-launch testing on 20 December 2001. It was brought into operations on 21 January 2003. This paper documents SXI performance and calibrations prior to an instrument degradation that occurred on 5 November 2003 and thus covers more than 420 000 soft X-ray images of the Sun. This paper details component-level as well as full-system calibrations characterizing the spatial and spectral performance of the instrument, including the grazing-incidence mirror, filters, and the properties of the MCP-intensified CCD detector system. Routine image corrections are also described. These include background (dark current) subtraction, flat-fielding, off-band light-leak correction, and image pointing and timing considerations. In addition, a signal-to-noise analysis is presented. The information contained in this study is intended to enable researchers to conduct quantitative analysis of GOES-12 SXI images.