Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Patch Antenna with Reconfigurable Polarization

A reconfigurable patch antenna consisting of a square patch with two cross-shaped diagonal slots is presented. The proposed design approach is based on the use of two pairs of switches in order to obtain both frequency and polarization reconfigurability. Specifically, three different polarization states have been obtained: a Right-Hand Circular Polarization, a Left-Hand Circular Polarization and a Linear Polarization. Experimental results, referred to a realization on a FR4 substrate of the layouts corresponding to the useful switch configurations, are reported.
EURASIAN JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

This paper provides evidence in terms of the incentives which lead managers from emerging European countries to manage earnings. In particular, we focused on four Eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, as the majority of studies on earnings management in developing countries were based on the Asian emerging market. The market of developing European countries is still barely explored. After we confirmed that managers from emerging European companies manage earnings, we find that within the different incentives which lead managers to earnings management, the avoidance of debt covenants violations is a strong incentive for managers. Additionally, those firms considered as poor investments (with less value) have incentives to manage earnings down as a consequence to opt for market niche. Moreover, emerging Eastern European companies have incentives to flatten earnings of current periods in order to benefit in the future as the source of future nonmanipulated earnings will be insufficient, as they may expect reduced, or at least lower future performance of their companies affected by increasing global competition. Finally, we confirm that privately-owned companies tend to maximize accounting earnings more than state-owned companies because they are in a weaker position related to a specific political and historical factors.
ON THE CONSTRUCTION AND SUPPORT PROPERTIES OF MEASURE-VALUED DIFFUSIONS ON D ⊆ R d WITH SPATIALLY DEPENDENT BRANCHING

In this paper, we construct a measure-valued diffusion on D ⊆ Rd whose underlying motion is a diffusion process with absorption at the boundary corresponding to an elliptic operator L = 1 2 ∇ · a∇+ b · ∇ on D ⊆ R, and whose spatially dependent branching term is of the form β(x)z−α(x)z2, x ∈ D, where β satisfies a very general condition and α > 0. In the special case that α and β are bounded from above, we show that the measure-valued process can also be obtained as a limit of approximating branching particle systems. We give criterion for extinction/survival, recurrence/transience of the support, compactness of the support, compactness of the range, and local extinction for the measure-valued diffusion. We also present a number of examples which reveal that the behavior of the measure-valued diffusion may be dramatically different from that of the approximating particle systems. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 60J80, 60J60,.
Human Genetic Contribution to the Outcome of Infection with Malaria Parasites

The study of the contribution of human genetics to the risk of severe malaria has a long history, with Haldane in the 1950s reporting a major role of the sickle cell mutation (HbS), in the protection against severe disease (Haldane, 1949). Since then, genetic variants of ┚globin (HbE: Hutagalung et al., 1999; HbC: Agarwal et al., 2000; HbS: Aidoo et al., 2002), ┙-globin (Mockenhaupt et al., 2004), Band 3 protein (Foo et al., 1992), HLA (Hill et al., 1991) and several cytokine loci (Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha: Knight et al., 1999; Interleukin-12: Morahan et al., 2002a; Interferon-alpha receptor-1: Aucan et al., 2003; Interleukin-4: Gyan et al., 2004) have been demonstrated to confer protection to severe malaria. To date, the majority of studies have been case/control association studies, comparing severe malaria to uncomplicated cases. Due to the fact that Plasmodium falciparum is the etiological agent of severe malaria, all studies have consequently focussed on this parasite. The other congeneric species and notably Plasmodium vivax, can, however, cause severe disease, albeit at a much lower incidence, and warrant an increased research effort (Price et al., 2007).
Novel Minimal Invasive Surgical Techniques for the Treatment of Segmental-Lateral Pathologic Lesions of the Spine

Introduction Laminectomy, commonly used dorsal approach for the surgical removal of most of the pathologic lesions, situated in the spinal canal and the neuroforamen destroying the dorsal stabilizing structures of the spinal column. Retraction and detachment of the longitudinal muscles, removal of the vertebral arches (laminectomy), and injury of the joint capsules and ligaments are responsible most of short and late-time complications. Among these complications, spinal deformities, segmental instability, and permanent spinal pain are most often mentioned in the literature. The main objective of the authors was to develop and evaluate the novel minimally invasive techniques suitable for exploring and treating different segmental-lateral pathologies, expanding to the neuroforamen or even paravertebrally, with preservation of the stability of the spine. One of the key issues of this article was to summarize these procedures, with evaluating the safety and efficacy in the routine spine surgery. Patients and Methods A total of 167 patients were operated and followed up during 2000 to 2011 in our Institute with segmental lateral spinal pathologies. For the surgical treatment, we used “Over-the-top” decompression, hemi–semi laminectomy, supraforaminal burr-hole, open-tunnel, and paravertebral approaches alone or in combination. These surgical techniques are mostly our developments, or modifications of previously used surgical techniques. Results The new surgical procedures developed or modified by our team are effective techniques for treating the spinal pathologies located in the spinal canal, neuroforamen, or even the paravertebral space. The posterior stabilizing structures of the spine, as the vertebral laminae and the longitudinal musculature are mostly preserved. Leaving the longitudinal paraspinal musculature innervations intact, and with the preservation of the bone–muscle attachments and ligaments, the dynamic stability of the spine remains unchanged. Retaining the bony structures (vertebral arches) and the vertebral joints the static stability of the spinal column remain intact, the chance of developing the long-term spinal deformation is minimal. During the follow-up, we performed static and dynamic X-ray, MR, and CT scans, completed with neurological examinations to evaluate the progression of the illness, the neurological deficit, and the actual state of the spinal column. With clinical use and evaluation of the various surgical approaches, we determined the main indications and contraindications of the surgical procedures, highlighting the pit-falls and limitations. Conclusion The aforementioned minimally invasive surgical approaches are suitable for treating segmental–lateral spinal pathologies. For the routine clinical use, we organized the surgical techniques into a complete framework based on the location of the pathologic lesions.
The Role of Pharmacological Agents in Nerve Regeneration after Peripheral Nerve Repair

Peripheral nerve injuries are frequent and represent a significant pathology of the periph‐ eral nervous system because, despite operative techniques and successful microsurgical repair, in most cases, the nerve repair is followed by scar formation. Numerous inves‐ tigations have been carried out with the aim of finding pharmacological substances that can prevent scar formation and speed up the regeneration of repaired nerves. This chapter is dedicated to the efforts of many researchers to find different pharmacological agents with local effects on the improvement of nerve regeneration. Numerous experi‐ ments have been carried out in mice and rabbits using hyaluronic acid, tacrolimus, cyclosporin A, melatonin, vitamin B12, methylprednisolone, riluzole and potassium and calcium channel blockers. In the experimental animal studies, topical pharmacological agents were used at the site of peripheral nerve repair. The effect of these substances is most commonly studied in sciatic nerve injury in experimental animals. Their effects were evaluated using a variety of methods, such as morphological, biomechanical, elec‐ trophysiological and functional evaluation, and the above‐mentioned substances, have been shown to have neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties though different mechanisms.
THE ARECIBO LEGACY FAST ALFA SURVEY: THE GALAXY POPULATION DETECTED BY ALFALFA

Making use of H i 21 cm line measurements from the ALFALFA survey (α.40) and photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), we investigate the global scaling relations and fundamental planes linking stars and gas for a sample of 9417 common galaxies: the α. 40–SDSS–GALEX sample. In addition to their H i properties derived from the ALFALFA data set, stellar masses (M*) and star formation rates (SFRs) are derived from fitting the UV–optical spectral energy distributions. 96% of the α. 40–SDSS–GALEX galaxies belong to the blue cloud, with the average gas fraction fH i ≡ MH i/M* ∼ 1.5. A transition in star formation (SF) properties is found whereby below M* ∼ 109.5 M☉, the slope of the star-forming sequence changes, the dispersion in the specific star formation rate (SSFR) distribution increases, and the star formation efficiency (SFE) mildly increases with M*. The evolutionary track in the SSFR–M* diagram, as well as that in the color–magnitude diagram, is linked to the H i content; below this transition mass, the SF is regulated strongly by the H i. Comparison of H i and optically selected samples over the same restricted volume shows that the H i-selected population is less evolved and has overall higher SFR and SSFR at a given stellar mass, but lower SFE and extinction, suggesting either that a bottleneck exists in the H i-to-H2 conversion or that the process of SF in the very H i-dominated galaxies obeys an unusual, low-efficiency SF law. A trend is found that, for a given stellar mass, high gas fraction galaxies reside preferentially in dark matter halos with high spin parameters. Because it represents a full census of H i-bearing galaxies at z ∼ 0, the scaling relations and fundamental planes derived for the ALFALFA population can be used to assess the H i detection rate by future blind H i surveys and intensity mapping experiments at higher redshift.
Open-top Chamber Fumigation of Cloned Silver Birch (Betula pendula Roth) Trees to Elevated CO2 and Ozone: Description of the Fumigation System and the Experimental Site

3 Vapaavuori et al. 2002. Technical report. Open-top chamber fumigation of cloned silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) trees to elevated CO 2 and ozone: description of the fumigation system and the experimental site. An open-top chamber (OTC) system was designed and constructed at Suonenjoki Research Station, Finland (62°05'N, 27°00'E, 130 m asl) in order to study the responses of silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) trees to elevated CO 2 and O 3 alone and in combination. The aim was to provide a facility to study long-term responses of the trees in projected future climate. The facility enabled us to assess the responses on following parameters: growth, allocation, crown and leaf structure, gas exchange, biochemical and chemical properties of the leaves, herbivores and palatability of the leaves, leaf pathogens, and soil systems including root and mycorrhizal growth, soil respiration and litter decomposition. The treatments from 1999 to 2001 were: 1) outside control; 2) chamber control; 3) 2 * background CO 2 ; 4) 2 * background O 3 ; and 5) 2 * background ppm CO 2 + 2 * background O 3. Two birch clones with different ozone-sensitivity were included in the study and both clones were represented as four replicates in each treatment. Thus, the experiment included altogether 40 trees, 32 being enclosed in cylindrical open top chambers and 8 serving as outside controls. The experiment was organised as a randomised incomplete blocks-design to eliminate the site differences between the blocks. The mixture of fumigation gases and air was blown at the speed of 0.1–0.6 m 3 s –1 at the bottom of the chamber using a computer-controlled blower. The CO 2 and O 3 dispensing and monitoring system was computer-controlled and compared the measured gas concentration to the chosen target concentration and adjusted the gas fl ow into the chambers. In the present paper we describe the experimental design, site conditions, the OTC system and principles of the measuring/regulation system as well as the measured values for air temperature, light and gas composition in the chambers. The daily mean temperature in the chambers was on an average 1.7, 2.3 and 2.4 °C higher than the daily mean temperature of the ambient air in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. Temperature sums (above +5 °C) were 189 dd (in 1999) to 400 dd (2001) higher in chambers than outside. In 2000 and 2001 the doubled target concentrations of O 3 …
Computational movement analysis using Brownian bridges

Widespread availability of location tracking devices leads to a rapidly increasing amount of movement data and to the need to analyse these data. These data typically consist of location measurements taken at discrete times, often with a non-negligible error margin in the measured locations. A low sampling rate leads to high uncertainty of the locations between the times at which these measurements were obtained. So far this uncertainty is usually ignored in the computational analysis of movement data. In this thesis we investigate how to incorporate this uncertainty into the analysis by the use of movement models that model the movement as a random process. Specifically we consider the Brownian bridge movement model, which assumes that an entity performs Brownian motion that is conditioned on the measured locations. In previous work this model was used only to derive a probability distribution of space use or to visualize movement data. In this thesis we contribute to the computational analysis of movement data in the following ways. Firstly, we provide algorithmic tools for analysing movement data using the Brownian bridge movement model. We develop a framework for detecting movement patterns from movement data in this model. Many patterns are composed from basic building blocks like position, distance, speed and direction. We derive their distributions in the Brownian bridge movement model. Using these building blocks, we show how to detect the patterns encounter, regular visit and following. Secondly, we combine our algorithmic tools with the movement ecology paradigm by Nathan et al., which models influences on the movement path from the environment and the internal state of an entity. We demonstrate how these influences can be integrated into our algorithmic framework by the example of two studies on the speed of animals. In one study, we integrate external factors a priori through the parameters of the movement model. In the other we use the external variables in the analysis after obtaining the results from the model. Thirdly, we show how to refine the Brownian bridge movement model using information on the behavioural state of the entity being studied. We demonstrate a new method to estimate the parameter of the model. In order to obtain this behaviour information from accelerometer data, we discuss approaches to augment existing classifiers for data that have dependencies between consecutive observations. Finally, we present a tool with easy to use implementations of many of the methods discussed in this thesis. We provide this tool as a package for the R environment for statistical computing, which is commonly used in movement ecology. Many of the tasks allow efficient parallelization using graphics processors and therefore we have implemented some functions using OpenCL, a standard for parallel programming on various hardware platforms.
Generating ray class fields of real quadratic fields via complex equiangular lines

For certain real quadratic fields $K$ with sufficiently small discriminant we produce explicit unit generators for specific ray class fields of $K$ using a numerical method that arose in the study of complete sets of equiangular lines in $\mathbb{C}^d$ (known in quantum information as symmetric informationally complete measurements or SICs). The construction in low dimensions suggests a general recipe for producing unit generators in infinite towers of ray class fields above arbitrary real quadratic $K$, and we summarise this in a conjecture. There are indications [19,20] that the logarithms of these canonical units are related to the values of $L$-functions associated to the extensions, following the programme laid out in the Stark Conjectures.
TWO PHASE HOLISTIC APPROACH FOR OVERLAPPING CELLS SEPARATION IN 2D PAP SMEAR IMAGES

Separating the overlapped cells in microscopic Pap smear images is an important step for automating the early detection of cervical cancer. Existing methods have not attempted a complete overlapping cell separation due to the challenges involved in delineating cells with severe overlap and poor contrast. This paper, proposes a two phase approach to segment nuclei and cytoplasm region from the cervical cell by separating the overlapping cells. In phase one, the overlapped cell is separated by searching an object using HSV color conversion followed by each recognized object outlined and processed with sequence of operations like contrast adjustment, histogram equalization and morphological closing operation. The second phase is done to achieve nucleus and cytoplasm regions by converting the cell separated image into pseudo color conversion form. The final result shows the complete separation of overlapped cells without the loss of cell’s information after a number of iteration. Experiments are carried out with various images with different stages. The proposed two stage concept executes the separation procedure more efficiently, which can be further processed for identification and classification of cervical cancer.
‘You sit in fear’: understanding perceptions of nodding syndrome in post-conflict northern Uganda

Background Nodding syndrome, a disabling epidemic epileptic encephalopathy, has affected an estimated 1,834 children in northern Uganda, with reports of as many as 3,000. Etiology is unknown and children are being treated symptomatically but inconsistently with anti-epileptic drugs. Design This qualitative study comprised 10 semi-structured interviews with caregivers of affected children and five focus group discussions with 23 participants; relatives, teachers, and religious leaders. Data collection and participant observation were carried out from July to September 2012 in Kitgum and Pader districts. The material was coded through inductive thematic analysis. Results Nodding syndrome has brought signs of discrimination in school admission procedures, founded in a fear of transmission. The suffering and loss caused by nodding syndrome is collective, and participants felt that nodding syndrome was viewed as a threat to the Acholi only, and that interventions had therefore been delayed. Multiple theories of causation exist, most commonly that the disease is caused by chemicals from bombs or that food aid distributed in IDP camps had expired or been poisoned. A feeling of uncertainty was present in all focus group discussions, fueled by the fact that results of investigations were not being shared with the communities. It was especially agonizing that CDC results had been given to the Ugandan government in 2010 but not to the public. The definitive fear is that the disease will be the end of the Acholi. Conclusions This study provided insight into the perceptions of communities affected by an unknown emerging disease. Families of affected children are grieving not only their child's illness; it is a loss of social value and of lineage. The loss and suffering involved with nodding syndrome should be seen in the context of the wider suffering of a society disrupted by violent conflict. The memory of war is omnipresent and is also how nodding syndrome is understood.
Embedding a topological group into its WAP-compactification

We prove that the topology of the additive group of the Banach space c0 is not induced by weakly almost periodic functions or, which is the same, that this group cannot be represented as a group of isometries of a reflexive Banach space. This answers, on the negative, questions of Megrelishvili [14] and Glasner and Megrelishvili [7]. We show, in contrast, that additive groups of Schwartz locally convex spaces are always representable as groups of isometries on some reflexive Banach space.
A METHOD FOR LOCALIZING ENERGY DISSIPATION IN BLAZARS USING FERMI VARIABILITY

The distance of a Fermi-detected blazar γ-ray emission site from a supermassive black hole is a matter of active debate. Here we present a method for testing if the GeV emission of powerful blazars is produced within the subparsec-scale broad-line region (BLR) or farther out in the parsec-scale molecular torus (MT) environment. If the GeV emission takes place within the BLR, the inverse Compton (IC) scattering of the BLR ultraviolet (UV) seed photons that produces the γ-rays takes place at the onset of the Klein–Nishina regime. This causes the electron cooling time to become practically energy-independent and the variation of the γ-ray emission to be almost achromatic. If, on the other hand, the γ-ray emission is produced farther out in the parsec-scale MT, the IC scattering of the infrared (IR) MT seed photons that produces the γ-rays takes place in the Thomson regime, resulting in energy-dependent electron cooling times, manifested as faster cooling times for higher Fermi energies. We demonstrate these characteristics and discuss the applicability and limitations of our method.
Enhanced Thinning Based Finger Print Recognition

This paper is the implementation of fingerprint recognition system in which the matching is done using the Minutiae points. The methodology is the extracting & applying matching procedure on the Minutiae points between the sample fingerprint & fingerprint under question. The main functional blocks of this system follows steps of Image Thinning, Image Segmentation, Minutiae (feature) point Extraction, & Minutiae point Matching. The procedure of Enhanced Thinning included for the purpose of decreasing the size of the memory space used by the fingerprint image database.