Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Efficient Object Tracking Algorithm based on Dynamic Particle Filter

The tracking problem of the non-rigid object has two difficulties. First, the object can change his scale, form or be partially occluded with other objects and, second, the location of the object can vary in the non-linear manner during the time. The paper considers the method, which solves given problem of the object tracking in the complex background. The solution of the mentioned problem is solved using dynamic particle filter (DPF), where the amount of the particles depends on the changing rate of the object location. The algorithm of dynamic particle filter was formalized using formal DPLA (dynamic PLA) notation. The object tracking is done according his color features (HSV histogram), which are independent from the object scale and/or form. Proposed method is demonstrated in the context of tracking real objects in the video data. The results shows, that the object tracking rate depends on the amount of generated particles and the tracking error. Ill. 8, bibl. 15 (in English; summaries in English, Russian and Lithuanian).
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GESTURES TO ENHANCE CONCEPT RETENTION IN CHEMISTRY INSTRUCTION

The emergence of embodied cognition as a theory of learning has placed new emphasis on the interdependent relationship between what the mind perceives and what the body experiences. Movement and objects in the physical environment take on significant roles in the process of learning within this view and the role of gesturing in cognition has become increasingly interesting. Significant research suggests that the physical process of gesturing is connected to how the mind processes information. Gesturing during the recall of information is a universally known phenomena and one that seems to aid in the process of recall. More recent findings have suggested that the use of gestures may play a helpful role in assisting learners with processing information and particularly with retaining information longer. This study investigates this claim by using intentional gestures at the time of encoding new information to assist a group of first year chemistry students in high school process how to identify and label Lewis acids and bases in reaction schemes. A treatment group received an intervention lesson where key concepts were instantiated with the use of related gestures while the control group received the same lesson without the use of gestures. The intervention lesson involved students using BeSocratic, a webbased, interactive system currently under development. Performance was
Forecasting the Development of Different Solar Cell Technologies

Solar cells are made of several materials and device structures with the main goal of having maximum efficiency at low cost. Some types of solar cells have shown a rapid efficiency progress whereas others seem to remain constant as a consequence of different factors such as the technological and economic ones. Using information published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) about the increase of solar cells record efficiency, we apply a simple mathematical model to estimate the evolution in the near future for the different cell technologies. Here, as an example, we use data for solar cells made with representative materials and structures of each of the three “PV generations. ”
Manifestations of Symmetry in Polynomial Link Invariants

The use and detection of symmetry is ubiquitous throughout modern mathematics. In the realm of low-dimensional topology, symmetry plays an increasingly significant role due to the fact that many of the modern invariants being developed are computationally expensive to calculate. If information is known about the symmetries of a link, this can be incorporated to greatly reduce the computation time. This manuscript will consider graphical techniques that are amenable to such methods. First, we discuss an obstruction to links being periodic, developed jointly with Dr. Khaled Qazaqzeh at Kuwait University, using a model developed in [4]. We will discuss useful corollaries of this new method that arise when applying the criterion to multi-component links, and give a survey of its effectiveness when applied to low-crossing links. The second part will investigate a structure that arose in the model of [4], namely singular links. We first define an invariant of singular links. We then develop a method based on the work of Turaev in [24, 26, 8] and expanded in [19] that allows for the creation of operator invariants from R-matrices. Finally, we show that the invariant defined previously is the natural extension of the Kauffman Bracket, when viewed through this framework. In the final section we investigate torus links, and relate the values of the Tail of the Colored Jones Polynomials of links within this family. This chapter involves well-known q-series, first studied by Ramanujan, and an unexpected combinatorial series related to planar integer partitions. This work was inspired by two seemingly unrelated questions of Robert Osburn and Oliver Dasbach. The first asked how the tails of two different links might be related, once one recognized that their
Additive-Driven Dissolution Enhancement of Colloidal Silica. 3. Fluorine-Containing Additives

The effect of various fluorine-containing chemical additives on the dissolution of colloidal silica is systematically studied. These silica scale dissolvers are ammonium bifluoride (NH4·HF2), ammonium fluoride (NH4F), sodium tetrafluoroborate (NaBF4), and disodium fluorophosphate (Na2PO3F). The most effective dissolver was NH4·HF2, which was extensively studied at the pH range 2–7. The highest dissolution efficiency was demonstrated in the pH range 2–4. The dissolution capability of Na2PO3F was monitored not by the silicomolybdate method, but on the basis of a weight-loss approach. It showed substantial dissolution ability at pH’s 7 and 9.
New Ways of Searching with Biblindex, the online Index of Biblical Quotations in Early Christian Literature

BIBLINDEX consists only of a comprehensive inventory of Biblical quotations and allusions in Early Greek and Latin Christian literature, providing bibliographical information about the edition used for each work. The published volumes of Biblia Patristica cover the first three centuries, along with part of the fourth. They form an inventory of 270,000 entries, which have all been scientifically verified. The new BIBLINDEX uses several ways of referring to Biblical texts by chapter and by verse, at least one for each language. Due to the accuracy of its data, BIBLINDEX makes it easier to see and compare the pre-canonical forms of the Scriptures. The 'object' considered in BIBLINDEX is an intersection of variable range between the Biblical corpus on one hand and the patristic corpus on the other, called a 'text unit'. Keywords: Biblia Patristica ; Biblical corpus; Biblical quotations; BIBLINDEX; Latin Christian literature
A new concept of landscape design in highway construction

Roads in China have developed dramatically since the 1990s, evolving into an extensive system of interconnected freeways. Lessons learned during this evolution indicate that the landscaping of highways is as important as their safety. In the past decade, highway aesthetics and the striving for harmony between highways and nature has attracted many specialists to improve the landscaping of highways. However, no criteria or operational regulations for the design of highway landscapes have been introduced in China. This paper therefore presents a new concept of highway landscape design that integrates highway planning, design, operation and landscaping during the lifecycle of a highway. First, some elements of highway landscaping are summarised. Next, six models of highway landscaping, emphasising highway alignment, pavement and side slopes, highway structure and subsidiary facilities along the highway corridor, which may be applied to the design of highway landscapes, are presented. The conception and implementation method, which integrates highway planning, design, operation and landscaping by means of GIS tools and computer software into the whole lifecycle of a highway is discussed in detail. Finally, the prospects for applying landscape design in highway construction are examined. It is fascinating to see how the trails and paths of days gone by have evolved into today’s landscape design which aims to maintain the scenery and environmental quality for the future.
Indigenous ethnoveterinary medicinal practices for management of mastitis in dairy cattle

The role of ethno-veterinary medicine in livestock and human health is well known fact due to its widespread practice across the globe, including India. WHO stated that, 80% of people in developing countries depend on ethno-veterinary practices due to its inexpensive, easy accessibility and its preparations. Further, 50% of all modern drugs originally came from plants directly or its structural modification suggests for its potency and safety. Although, India has well practiced traditional knowledge, it could not capitalize the global market like USA, EU and China. Lack of well documentation of traditional “hidden” practices is one of the major limitations for its less exploitation. Therefore, an explorative study was conducted in participatory mode to explore and document the traditional practices for clinical mastitis management of dairy animals in the district of Bangalore urban, Karnataka. Since, the mastitis is most common and costly diseases of dairy animals in India and frequent reason for veterinary drug residue problem; in the present study, we have documented the indigenous practices and its procedure for the management of clinical mastitis in dairy animals.
Meta-Level Category ‚Role' in Metadata Standards for Learning: Instructional Roles and Instructional Qualities of Learning Objects

meta-level category 'role' is originated in the field of semantics. Integrating the concept of roles to object oriented modelling as well as to the meta-model of the Standard for Learning Objects Metadata (LOM) can solve the problem of annotating different epistemologies, paradigms, theories, and instructional principles in learning and instructional design. In order to reuse and exchange learning objects we need information about these learning objects. The LOM draft standard defines a set of more than 70 attributes, which specify learning objects (titel, author, subject e.g.). However, even though the LOM draft includes a category educational, no information is included in the standard to specify the instructional quality of a learning object, nor to specify which instructional roles are filled by a learning object within a learning process. In this paper, we show how to include this important instructional information using the concept of instructional roles in a way, which is extensible and flexible enough to specify criteria prescribed by different instructional theories.
Manufacturer Rebate Competition in a Supply Chain with a Common Retailer

We consider manufacturer rebate competition in a supply chain with two competing manufacturers selling to a common retailer. We fully characterize the manufacturers’ equilibrium rebate decisions and show how they depend on parameters such as the fixed cost of a rebate program, market size, the redemption rate of rebate, the proportion of rebate‐sensitive consumers in the market and competition intensity. Interestingly, more intense competition induces a manufacturer to lower rebate value or stop offering rebate entirely. Without rebate, it is known that more intense competition hurts the manufacturers and benefits the retailer. With rebate, however, more intense competition could benefit the manufacturers and hurt the retailer. We find similar counterintuitive results when there is a change in some other parameters. We also consider the case when the retailer subsidizes the manufacturers sequentially to offer rebate programs. We fully characterize the retailer's optimal subsidy strategy, and show that subsidy always benefits the retailer but may benefit or hurt the manufacturers. When the retailer wants to induce both manufacturers to offer rebate, he always prefers to subsidize the manufacturer with a higher fixed cost first. Sometimes the other manufacturer will then voluntarily offer rebate even without subsidy.
TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING POWER FLOWS IN ACTIVE DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS WITHIN THERMAL CONSTRAINTS

The Autonomous Regional Active Network Management System (AuRA-NMS) is a developmental distributed network management system that offers flexible, real-time restoration, voltage and thermal control solutions. The “plug and play” nature of this control platform requires the functionality to perform robustly on any distribution network regardless of topology or electrical characteristics. The techniques under evaluation should be generic solutions that can be applied to any network. Progress in the development of techniques for managing power flows in the presence of thermal constraints is discussed and the analysis of the initial results of the studies undertaken to date is presented in this paper. The control techniques presented and demonstrated in this paper are based on novel applications of two techniques to the problem of managing power flows within thermal constraints: constraint programming; and current tracing. Solution speed and generator access level are evaluated for the two methods and conclusions drawn about the applicability of the techniques.
The Continuum of Wintertime Southern Hemisphere Atmospheric Teleconnection Patterns

AbstractThis study uses the method of self-organizing maps (SOMs) to categorize the June–August atmospheric teleconnections in the 500-hPa geopotential height field of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) extratropics. This approach yields 12 SOM patterns that provide a discretized representation of the continuum of SH teleconnection patterns from 1979 to 2012. These 12 patterns are large in spatial scale, exhibiting a mix of annular mode characteristics and wave trains of zonal wavenumber varying from 2 to 4. All patterns vary with intrinsic time scales of about 5–10 days, but some patterns exhibit quasi-oscillatory behavior over a period of 20–30 days, whereas still others exhibit statistically significant enhanced and suppressed frequencies up to about four weeks in association with the Madden–Julian oscillation. Two patterns are significantly influenced by El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on interannual time scales. All 12 patterns have strong influences on surface air temperature and sea ice concentration.
GDP Nowcasting: Assessing business cycle conditions in Argentina

Having a correct assessment of current business cycle conditions is one of the mayor challenges for monetary policy conduct. Given that GDP figures are available with a significant delay, central banks are increasingly using Nowcasting as a useful tool for having an immediate perception of economic conditions. Thus we develop a GDP growth nowcasting exercise using two approaches: bridge equations and a dynamic factor model. Both outperform a typical AR(1) benchmark in terms of forecasting accuracy. Moreover, the factor model outperforms the nowcast using bridge equations. Following Giacomini and White (2004) we confirm that these differences are statistically significant.
The Gaia-ESO Survey: Galactic evolution of sulphur and zinc

Context. Due to their volatile nature, when sulphur and zinc are observed in external galaxies, their determined abundances represent the gas-phase abundances in the interstellar medium. This implies that they can be used as tracers of the chemical enrichment of matter in the Universe at high redshift. Comparable observations in stars are more difficult and, until recently, plagued by small number statistics. Aims: We wish to exploit the Gaia-ESO Survey (GES) data to study the behaviour of sulphur and zinc abundances of a large number of Galactic stars, in a homogeneous way. Methods: By using the UVES spectra of the GES sample, we are able to assemble a sample of 1301 Galactic stars, including stars in open and globular clusters in which both sulphur and zinc were measured. Results: We confirm the results from the literature that sulphur behaves as an α-element. We find a large scatter in [Zn/Fe] ratios among giant stars around solar metallicity. The lower ratios are observed in giant stars at Galactocentric distances less than 7.5 kpc. No such effect is observed among dwarf stars, since they do not extend to that radius. Conclusions: Given the sample selection, giants and dwarfs are observed at different Galactic locations, and it is plausible, and compatible with simple calculations, that Zn-poor giants trace a younger population more polluted by SN Ia yields. It is necessary to extend observations in order to observe both giants and dwarfs at the same Galactic location. Further theoretical work on the evolution of zinc is also necessary. Based on observations collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programmes 188.B-3002, 193.B-0936.The full table of S abundances is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (http://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat? J/A+A/604/A128
The recent Arctic warm period

Arctic winter, spring and autumn surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies and associated sea level pressure (SLP) fields have decidedly different spatial patterns at the beginning of the 21st century (2000–2007) compared to most of the 20th century; we suggest calling this recent interval the Arctic warm period. For example, spring melt date as measured at the North Pole Environmental Observatory (2002–2007) is 7 d earlier than the records from the Russian North Pole stations (1937–1987) and statistically different at the 0.05 level. The 20th centurywas dominated by the two main climate patterns, the Arctic Oscillation/Northern Annular Mode (AO/NAM)and the Pacific North American-like (PNA*) pattern. The predominately zonal winds associated with the positive phases of these patterns contribute to warm anomalies in the Arctic primarily over their respective Eastern andWestern Hemisphere land areas, as in 1989–1995 and 1977–1987. In contrast, SAT in winter (DJF) and spring (MAM) for 2000–2007 show an Arctic-wide SAT anomaly of greater than +1.0◦C and regional hot spots over the central Arctic of greater than +3.0◦C. Unlike the AO and PNA*, anomalous geostrophic winds for 2000–2007 often tended to blow toward the central Arctic, a meridional wind circulation pattern. In spring 2000–2005, these winds were from the Bering Sea toward the North Pole, whereas in 2006–2007 they were mostly from the eastern Barents Sea. A meridional pattern was also seen in the late 1930s with anomalous winter (DJFM) SAT, at Spitzbergen, of greater than +4◦C. Both periods suggest natural atmospheric advective contributions to the hot spots with regional loss of sea ice. Recent warm SAT anomalies in autumn are consistent with climate model projections in response to summer reductions in sea ice extent. The recent dramatic loss of Arctic sea ice appears to be due to a combination of a global warming signal and fortuitous phasing of intrinsic climate patterns.
Comparing demographic policy, change, and ethnic relations in Mauritius and Fiji

Demographics affect the dialectic between the hegemonic inclination of those who hold power and the relatively deprived struggling to improve their lot in life: “The simple phenomenon of differential population growth rates is translated into changing political potentials” (Wriggins & Guyot 1973: 16). If the minority’s age structure is younger, that means its population has (a) a higher proportion of youth – although not necessarily a higher total count – and that (b) its population is growing more rapidly than the majority’s, that is, it is “catching up”. Large youth cohorts are widely associated with political instability and violence; so is rapid population growth. But the argument I am advancing differs significantly from these conventional propositions about the relationship between demographic change and ethnic conflict. The analysis in this paper premised on a variable – age structure disaggregated by ethnic group -- that (A) aggregates youth and population growth for each group, (B) is able to account for migration, holds as an explanation of ethnic violence across (C) time and (D) space, and (E) has predictive power, that is, it is more than just another
AUTOMATED ALIGNMENT OF SONG LYRICS FOR PORTABLE AUDIO DEVICE DISPLAY

OF THE THESIS Automated Alignment of Song Lyrics for Portable Audio Device Display by Brian Maguire Thesis Advisor: Prof. Lawrence R. Rabiner With its substantial improvement in storage and processing power over traditional audio media, the MP3 player has quickly become the standard for portable audio devices. These improvements have allowed for enhanced services such as album artwork display and video playback. Another such service that could be offered on today’s MP3 players is the synchronized display of song lyrics. The goal of this thesis is to show that this can be implemented efficiently using the techniques of HMM based speech recognition. Two assumptions are made that simplify this process. First, we assume that the lyrics to any song can be obtained and stored on the device along with the audio file. Second, the processing can be done just once when the song is initially loaded, and the time indices indicating word start times can also be stored and used to guide the synchronized lyrical display. Several simplified cases of the lyrical alignment problem are implemented and tested here. Two separate models are trained, one containing a single male vocalist with no accompaniment, and another containing the same vocalist with simple guitar accompaniment. Model parameters are varied to examine their effect on alignment performance, and the models are tested using independent audio files containing the same vocalist and additional vocal and guitar accompaniment. The test configurations are evaluated for objective accuracy, by comparison to manually determined word start times, and subjective accuracy, by carrying out a perceptual test in which users rate the perceived quality of alignment. In all but one of the test configurations evaluated here, a high level of objective and subjective accuracy is achieved. While well short of a commercially viable lyrical alignment system, these results suggest that with further investigation the approach outlined here can in fact produce such a system to effectively align an entire music library.
Autofocusing Slow-moving Objects Sensed by an Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar SAR

During the processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, unknown-moving objects cause phase modulations in their phase histories. Depending on the motion, such modulations cause undesirable image distortions such as blurring and objectdisplacement artifacts. This paper discusses the estimation of time-frequency representations of nonstationary signals, by means of autoregressive movingaverage (ARMA) model with time-dependent coefficients. This estimate will determine the object’s motion law and consequently the possibility of reconstructing and plotting the true trajectory. Keywords– Syntethic aperture radar, Time-varying auto-regressive moving average models, Kalman filters, Phase estimation.