Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A reevaluation of the evidence supporting an unorthodox hypothesis on the origin of extant amphibians

The origin of frogs, salamanders and caecilians is controversial. McGowan published an original hypothesis on lissamphibian origins in 2002 (McGowan, 2002, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 135: 1-32), stating that Gymnophiona was nested inside the 'microsaurian' lepospondyls, this clade was the sister-group of a caudate-salientian-albanerpetontid clade, and both were nested inside the dissorophoid temnospondyls. We have investigated McGowan's data matrix and isagree with the scoring of 35% of the cells. All taxa and all but two characters are affected. In some cases, we have a different interpretation about correspondence between morphology and character states, or we delimit states differently (or use information that was unknown in 2002). In others, we report probable typographic errors. When these cells and characters are revised, the most parsimonious trees - now longer by almost 64% - support one of the three commonly advocated hypotheses, namely a monophyletic Lissamphibia nested, together with its sister-group Albanerpetontidae, within the temnospondyls (next to Doleserpeton) - even though we did not add any characters or taxa to the very small data matrix. This exemplifies the impact of errors in data matrices on the results of phylogenetic analyses. Adding the lysorophian Brachydectes, however, results in the Lissamphibia-Albanerpetontidae clade becoming the sister-group of Brachydectes and settling within the lepospondyls rather than the temnospondyls, thus supporting another of the previously published three hypotheses. This latter finding does not change if the recently described Gerobatrachus is also added. Finally, when Doleserpeton is interpreted as morphologically immature (which means scoring three characters as unknown instead of known), Lissamphibia and Albanerpetontidae are again nested within the 'microsaurian' lepospondyls, even though Brachydectes is not included in this analysis. This, too, does not change if Gerobatrachus is added and likewise treated as morphologically immature. Bootstrap supports are rather low under all assumptions. Such lability was to be expected from the small size of the data matrix.
Handwritten character recognition using a gradient based feature extraction

Handwritten Character Recognition using a gradient based feature extraction by Ravi Kiran Reddy Veligati Dr. Evangelos Yfantis, Examination Committee chair Professor of Computer Science University of Nevada, Las Vegas Handwriting Recognition is the task of transforming a language that is represented in its spatial form of graphical marks into its symbolic representation In Offline Handwriting Recognition, there are three steps: preprocessing of the image, segmentation of words into characters and recognition of the characters. In this thesis I implemented two methods for character recognition, which is the most important step in Offline Handwriting Recognition. The heart of character recognition is the features that are extracted from the character image. The accuracy of the classification of the character image depends on the quality of the features extracted from the image. The two methods presented in this thesis use two different types of features. One uses the connectivity features among various segments in a character image, and the other method uses the gradient feature at each pixel to construct the feature vectors. Both these methods are discussed in detail in the following chapters.
Aalborg Universitet Design of Vivaldi antenna array with end-fire beam steering function for 5 G mobile terminals

This manuscript proposes a new design of phased array antenna for future fifth generation (5G) cellular communications. The proposed phased array antenna is designed on a low-cost N9000 PTFE substrate with overall size of 60×120×0.8 mm3. It consists of eight 28-GHz Vivaldi antenna elements used to form a linear phased array in the edge region (top-side) on a mobile phone PCB. The simulated results show that the antenna has the reflection coefficient (S11) less than -10 dB in the frequency range of 27.4 to 28.6 GHz. The proposed phased array antenna has good gain, efficiency, and 3D beam steering characteristics in the entire operation band, which makes it suitable for millimeter-wave 5G communications. In addition, the performance of the antenna in the vicinity of user’s hand has been investigated in this study. Keywords— 5G, antipodal Vivaldi antenna, end-fire antenna, mm-wave communication.
Influence of F/Cl Ratio on the Crystal Growth and Luminescence Properties of PbFCl Crystals

Lead fluoride chloride (PbFCl) crystal has been proposed for dual readout application as it has excellent properties. In this study, the PbFCl crystals were grown with different F/Cl ratios in the raw materials by modified Bridgman method. It is observed that excessive PbCl2 in the raw materials is helpful to grow transparent crystals, meanwhile it may enhance the cleavage. The excessive PbF2 or PbCl2 only modifies the cell parameters, not the phase of PbFCl crystal. The emission peaks in X-ray excited luminescence spectra do not depend on the F/Cl ratio in the raw materials. The UV cut-off edge of transmittance shifts from 300 nm to 275 nm when extra PbCl2 was added. According to the emission weighted transmittance of the samples, the crystals grown with F/Cl=1:1.25 in the raw materials show the best dual readout properties among all the samples.
A comparison of the forecasting performances of multivariate volatility models

The consistent ranking of multivariate volatility models by means of statistical loss function is a challenging research field, because it concerns the quality of the proxy chosen to replace the unobserved volatility, the set of competing models to be ranked and the kind of loss function. The existent works only consider the ranking of multivariate GARCH (MGARCH) models, based on daily frequency of the returns. Less is known about the behaviour of the models that directly use the realized covariance (RCOV), the proxy that generally provides a consistent estimate of the unobserved volatility. The aim of this paper is to evaluate which model has the best forecast volatility accuracy, from a statistical and economic point of view. For the first point, we empirically rank a set of MGARCH and RCOV models by means of four consistent statistical loss functions. For the second point, we evaluate if these rankings are coherent with those resulting from the use of an economic loss function. The evaluation of the volatility models through the economic loss function is usually done by looking at the Value at Risk (VaR) measures and its violations. A violation occurs every time the portfolio losses exceed the VaR. To assess the performances of the volatility models from an economic point of view, different tests regarding the violations have been proposed. In this work, the unconditional and conditional tests are considered. The analysis is based on a Monte Carlo experiment that samples from a trivariate continuous-time stochastic process a vector of observation each five minutes per two years.
A Brazilian utopia: Vargas and the construction of the welfare state in a structurally unequal society

This article joins the persistent (and still current) effort to decipher the riddle of Brazil’s equally persistent inequality. Resuming the interpretation of modern Brazil proposed by Juarez Brandao Lopes in the 1960s, the article proposes to revisit the “Vargas Era” and its historical meaning and scope, in light of the reproduction of inequalities over time. The author contends that “regulated citizenship” generated the expectation of social protection among Brazilian workers, feeding the promise of citizens’ integration, which was not fulfilled, while performing the task of finally (but not definitively) incorporating workers as artifices in the Brazilian state-building process.
AUDITORS’ VIEW ON ACCEPTABILITY OF CLIENTS’ EARNINGS MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

The purpose of this paper is to assess the views of auditors on earnings management in Malaysia. This study uses a questionnaire designed by Merchant and Rockness (1994), which consists of thirteen (13) short scenarios. Each scenario describes a potentially questionable earnings management activity undertaken by the general manager. The respondents were asked to judge the acceptability of each of the scenarios using a five-point (5) Likert scale. Based on responses, this study finds that acceptability varies with the type of earnings management. The auditors believe that discretionary accrual manipulation is more unethical than real activities manipulation, while the consistency with MFRS and the direction of effect on earnings management do not seem to be an issue to the respondents regarding the acceptability of earnings management.
Stimulation of Methanogenesis by Slurries of Saltmarsh Sediment after the Addition of Molybdate to Inhibit Sulphate-reducing Bacteria

SUMMARY: The addition of 20 mM-molybdate to sediment slurry in order to inhibit sulphate-reducing bacteria increased the amount of methane formed. Only a small proportion (7.8%) of the total methane came from the H2 + CO2 pathway, while methanogenesis from acetate was negligible. Conversion of-14C-labelled formaldehyde, methanol and methionine to 14CH4 by sediment slurry in the presence of molybdate showed that these were potential precursors of the additional methane, although lack of adequate analytical techniques precluded establishment of the quantitative significance of this turnover; [14C]formate was not converted to 14CH4. It is suggested that inhibition of sulphate-reducing bacteria by molybdate immediately increased methanogenesis from formaldehyde, methanol and methionine, and to some extent from H2 + CO2. There was also evidence for longer term development of an increased methanogenic bacterial population when there was no competition from the sulphate-reducing bacteria for available nutrients.
Thermovision in the Validation Process of Numerical Simulation of Braking

This article presents the validation process of a brake FE model by means of temperature measured on a special stand using infrared technology. Unlike many other publications, the authors try to show the interaction between measurement technology and numerical modeling rather than only nice, perfectly correlated graphs. Some difficulties in choosing and using validation parameters are also pointed out and discussed. Finally, results of FE analyses are compared with measured data, followed by explanation of applied numerical technology and estimation of validation process effectiveness.
Metastability bounds on flavor-violating trilinear soft terms in the MSSM

The vacuum stability bounds on flavour-violating trilinear soft terms are revisited from the viewpoint that one should not ban a standard-model-like false vacuum as long as it is long-lived on a cosmological timescale. The vacuum transition rate is evaluated numerically by searching for the bounce configuration. Like stability, a metastability bound does not decouple even if sfermion masses grow. Apart from being more generous than stability, the new bounds are largely independent of Yukawa couplings except for the stop trilinears. With vacuum longevity imposed on otherwise arbitrary LR insertions, it is found that a super flavour factory has the potential to probe sparticle masses up to a few TeV through B and tau physics whereas the MEG experiment might cover a far wider range. In the stop sector, metastability is more restrictive than any existing experimental constraint such as from electroweak precision data. Also discussed are dependency on other parameters and reliability under radiative corrections.
HIGH FREQUENCY HIGH POWER RF GENERATION USING A RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON BEAM

High frequency, high power rf sources are required for many applications. Benefiting from the ~10 GW beam power provided by the high current linac at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator (AWA) facility, we propose to develop a series of high power rf sources based on the extraction of coherent Cherenkov radiation from the relativistic electron beam. The frequencies cover from Cband up to W-band with different structures. Simulations show that ~1 GW 20 ns rf pulse can be generated for an 11.7 GHz structure, ~400 MW for a 26 GHz structure, and ~14 MW for a 91 GHz structure.
TIME-DRIVEN ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING AS A TOOL OF BUILDING AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The implementation of the defined strategies and achieving operational excellence are inextricably linked and equally important for achieving excellent enterprise performance. Achieving success within both of these vital management processes, strategic and operational, and within enterprise management in general, requires the development and implementation of an integrated approach. In this regard, theory and practice have come up with different approaches. The aim of this paper is to identify opportunities for the use of Time-driven Activity-based Costing (TDABC), for the purpose of linking strategic and operational management. The analysis has shown that TDABC has outstanding performance, to be applied both in the field of strategic and operational management individually, and more importantly, in the domain of their integration.
Adolescents' Characteristics and Motives in Predicting Problematic Mobile Phone Use*

The purpose of this study is to (1) identify addiction symptoms that are uniquely associated with mobile phone use among adolescents in Korea; (2) examine how background characteristics are related to addiction symptoms; and (3) explore how background characteristics, motives, and the amount of mobile phone use predict addictive use of mobile phones. Using a survey of 550 adolescents in Korea, this study identified three addiction symptoms: intrusion, attachment, and withdrawal. The regression models suggest that background characteristics, including impulsivity, peer conformity, imitation, and social anxiety, strongly explain the variance of addictive symptoms. Results show that instrumental motives for using the mobile phone are positively related to addictive behaviors. The amount of mobile phone use was positively related to addiction, even though the percentage of the variance explained in the regression models was small.
Derivation of probability density functions for the relative differences in the Standard and Poor's 100 stock index over various intervals of time

In this study a two-part mixed probability density function was derived which described the relative changes in the Standard and Poor's 100 Stock Index over various intervals of time. The density function is a mixture of two different halves of normal distributions. Optimal values for the standard deviations for the two halves and the mean are given. Also, a general form of the function is given which uses linear regression models to estimate the standard deviations and the means. The density functions allow stock market participants trading index options and futures contracts on the S & P 100 Stock Index to determine probabilities of success or failure of trades involving price movements of certain magnitudes in given lengths of time.
Performance and Evaluation of Congestion Control and Routing Algorithm for Improving Internet Traffic Control System

With the development of multiple services in internet, the dominant internet congestion control scheme namely the TCP, end to end control[6] becomes insufficient. The RED algorithm to detect inefficient congestion early and to convey congestion notification to the end host, in order to allow them. To reduce their transmission rate before queue overflow and packet loss occur using active queue management[5]. Online mechanism for adaptively changing the parameters according to the observed traffic. This algorithm called adaptive RED. This paper also presents completely different architecture , which avoids congestion control[1][2] to prevent packet loss and regulate irrespective traffic in a uniform fashion. No peer flow state information is maintained in route while the fairness is guaranteed. The new architecture takes a node to node approach advocating close coordination among the core router , the edge router and the host. Employing both router and host mechanism, it has 3 main elements, the generic congestion control protocol(GCCP), the early congestion detector and the rate controller. The revised version of RED, called GCCP capable RED. Router and host shows it advantages over pure end to end control. This paper presents one specific algorithm for tolerating RED parameters to the input traffic.
Optimal Censoring Scheme Selection Based on Artificial Bee Colony Optimization (ABC) Algorithm

Life testing plans are more vital for carrying out researches on reliability and survival analysis. The inadequacy in the number of testing units or the timing limitations prevents the experiment from being continued until all the failures are detected. Hence, censoring grows to be an inheritably important and well-organized methodology for estimating the model parameters of underlying distributions. Type I and II censoring schemes are the most widely employed censoring schemes. The chief problem associated with the designing of life testing experiments practically is the determination of optimum censoring scheme. Hence, this study attempts to determine the optimum censoring through the minimization of total cost spent for the experiment, consuming less termination time and reasonable number of failures. The ABC algorithm is being employed in this study for obtaining the optimal censoring schemes. Entropy and variance serves as the optimal criterion. The proposed method utilizes Risk analysis to evaluate the efficiency or reliability of the optimal censoring scheme that is being determined. Optimum censoring scheme indicates the process of determining the best scheme from among the entire censoring schemes possible, in accordance to a specific optimality criterion.
The environmental impact of compact fluorescent lamps and incandescent lamps for Australian conditions

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have become one of the most effective energy conserving light sources for consumer use because they consume about 20% of the energy used by incandescent lamps for the same light output. This reduction in energy consumption would also be expected to have beneficial impacts in health and other environmental areas. This paper confirms that expected benefits do in fact occur but also assesses the performance of both types of lamps for their use of material, power factors and harmonic current demand.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA

Human resources are the most important assets in modern organizations. Any organization that fails to strategically attract, maintain and retain its human resources tends to be not competitive as its human resources cannot be fully motivated. As such managing human resources in organizations is very crucial. The objective of the paper therefore is to give a theoretical exposition of human resource management (HRM) practices as it affects performance in tertiary institutions. The paper relies on secondary sources of data for review and findings. The findings of the study indicate that human resource management activities: job design, recruitment, training, compensation, appraisal, mentoring, and delegation are keys to organizational performance. The paper recommended effective human resource management practices for improved performance in the tertiary institutions. The paper attempts to add to the knowledge domain on human resource management in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Design and Development an Underwater Glider using PIC for Monitoring Application

This project is described a design of an underwater glider using PIC as controller. Underwater glider is a type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Underwater Glider is a technology undergoing active and rapid development that uses small changes in its buoyancy in conjunction with wings to convert vertical motion to horizontal, and thereby propel itself forward with very low power consumption. The main purpose of this project is to design and develop an underwater glider controlled by PIC. This project is categorized to three major phase which is the mechanical design concept, programming and fabrication. The design and development of the underwater glider should be having hydrodynamic characteristics, stability and buoyancy. The movement of the underwater glider is controlled by PIC controller using C language program. The underwater glider that will be produced can move forward and reverse autonomously.
When Cyberweapons End Up on Private Networks: Third Amendment Implications for Cybersecurity Policy

National security experts have discussed the threat of cyberwarfare for more than twenty years, and there have been a number of high profile cyber attacks over that period. The recent escalation of cyberconflict became clear last year when the New York Times discovered that the United States and Israel had developed and used a worm, known as “Stuxnet,” to disrupt Iranian nuclear facilities. This shot across the bow, along with the recent creation of the U.S. Cybercommand, indicates that the United States has the capability to conduct sophisticated offensive and defensive cyberoperations. Scholars in international law, national security law, and privacy law are now attempting to define the legal rules and boundaries of cyberwarfare. The Obama Administration has also made clear that protecting privacy and civil liberties is a critical component of the U.S. cybersecurity plan. But so far it is unclear what protections will be included.This article takes a novel approach to identifying necessary civil liberties protections by analyzing U.S. cyberoperations under the Third Amendment. Three types of cyberoperations implicate Third Amendment interests: malware designed to disrupt industrial control systems, cyberespionage tools, and active defense (or “hack-back”) systems. All of these may affect innocent civilian systems, and the Third Amendment prohibits military intrusion into civilian spaces absent consent or legal authorization by Congress.Based on the principles of the Third Amendment, this article identifies three issues that must be addressed regarding cybersecurity policy: authority, cooperation, and transparency. It concludes that Congress must establish the framework for authorization of cyberoperations that could affect civilian networks; that the private sector has an interest in a public-private collaboration to establish security standards and processes; and that any comprehensive cybersecurity strategy must provide for a transparent, public accountability system to address civil liberties impacts. The Cybersecurity Executive Order is a step in the right direction, but Congress must still establish clear rules governing executive action in this area.
Field results using autogenous vaccines in commercial layers to reduce E. coli infection

Bacterial infections are of great economic importance in the poultry industry worldwide. Particularly in the chicken layer industry recent reports of colibacillosis, erysipelas and fowl cholera in Western Europe implicate a resurgence of these diseases (ZANELLA et al. 2000, VANDEKERCHOVE et al. 2004, MAZAHERI et al. 2006). This might be attributed to a change from cage housing systems to alternative housing systems like aviaries and free-range systems and an accompanied increase of infectious pressure (MAZAHERI et al. 2006).