Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AN AUTOMATIC 3D RECONSTRUCTION METHOD BASED ON MULTI-VIEW STEREO VISION FOR THE MOGAO GROTTOES

This paper presents an automatic three-dimensional reconstruction method based on multi-view stereo vision for the Mogao Grottoes. 3D digitization technique has been used in cultural heritage conservation and replication over the past decade, especially the methods based on binocular stereo vision. However, mismatched points are inevitable in traditional binocular stereo matching due to repeatable or similar features of binocular images. In order to reduce the probability of mismatching greatly and improve the measure precision, a portable four-camera photographic measurement system is used for 3D modelling of a scene. Four cameras of the measurement system form six binocular systems with baselines of different lengths to add extra matching constraints and offer multiple measurements. Matching error based on epipolar constraint is introduced to remove the mismatched points. Finally, an accurate point cloud can be generated by multi-images matching and sub-pixel interpolation. Delaunay triangulation and texture mapping are performed to obtain the 3D model of a scene. The method has been tested on 3D reconstruction several scenes of the Mogao Grottoes and good results verify the effectiveness of the method.
Patronage or Participation? Community‐based Natural Resource Management Reform in Sub‐Saharan Africa

This article examines the institutional factors that account for the outcome of efforts to decentralize control over natural resources to local communities. It focuses on the political nature of institutional processes associated with decentralization in sub-Saharan Africa through a comparative analysis of wildlife management reforms in seven east and southern African countries. Institutional reforms are largely dependent on state authorities' patronage interests, which in turn are shaped by the relative economic value of wildlife, the degree of central control over commercial utilization, and the accountability of governance institutions. Our findings have a range of practical implications for the design of CBNRM initiatives and institutional reform strategies.
Analytical Study on the RoHS of Plastic from Waste Electrical and Electronic Appliances

This study was conducted to identify emission characteristics of certain hazardous substancescontained in the plastic of used home electrical and electronic appliances keeping in view compliance with theRestriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive and to estimate the possibility of safe recyclingpractices. According to the results, the concentration of cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium were foundbelow than Maximum Concentration Value (MCV) of RoHS, while the concentration of total bromine (T-Br)was exceeded the standard limitations in the samples of plastic from e-waste. Over 90% of the plastics usedin housing cover of display electronic products were composed of Polystyrene (PS) 53.9% and PS-flameretardants 36.4%. Peak of each hazardous substance in total samples also showed higher values of bromine,cadmium and lead. In order to enhance cleaner recycling of waste electronic appliances in accordance with the allowance of RoHS Directive, the use of brominated flame retardants in plastic and chrominated syntheticresins should be restricted and applications of metal surface finishing such as coating and painting of highmolecules synthetic resins should be minimized.
The microbiology of acid sulfate soils and sulfidic sediments

Acid sulfate soils and their associated sulfidic sediments present a major hazard to sustainable farming, water security and urban infrastructure. Traditionally these soils are limed in order to neutralise the ‘leachate’ that is a public healthhazardand toxic toaquaticorganisms. Itmaybemore sustainable to exploit the soil microorganisms capable of sequesteringmetals to remediate these soils. Until recently, little was known about the microbial ecology of these environments. The soils have a moderately acidic (pH 4) chemistry and a unique ecosystem where the microbial community composition is correlated to bioaccessible metal concentrations. These environments have the potential to provide novel insights into how environmental conditions shape the microbiome that can be exploited for biotechnologies. The formation and management of acid sulfate soils Worldwide, the pressure for land to meet food security and urban development needs can lead to the disturbance of waterlogged soils containing iron-sulfide minerals. These minerals are oxidised to form acid sulfate soils (Figure 1); a toxic legacy of rain-induced acidic and metalliferous groundwaters that lead to the corrosion of infrastructure and the severe deterioration of water quality. The associated formation of monosulfides in affected waterways is equally problematic, capable of de-oxygenating the aquatic ecosystem in seconds if disturbed.
Relationship between irruptions of Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus in the Eastern Baltic and ambient temperature and North Atlantic Oscillation index

Sokolov, L.V. , Shapoval, A.P., Yefremov, V.D. , Kosarev, V.V. , Markovets, M.Y. & Gavri lov, V.V. (2008): Relationship between irruptions of Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos cau- datus in the Eastern Baltic and ambient temperature and North Atlantic Oscillation index. Avian Ecol. Behav. 14: 35-47. Analysis of long-term dynamics of numbers showed that frequency of Long-tailed Tit irrup- tions on the Courish Spit has increased in the last 24 years. In 1957-1980 four irruptive years were recorded (when > 250 individuals were captured), whereas in 1981-2004 12 such years occurred. The mean annual totals in the former period were by an order or magnitude lower than in the latter one (138 vs. 1586, respectively). Autumn numbers were significantly related to NAO index during the preceding winter and spring and to spring air temperatures. In the years following mild winter and spring in the breeding area, significantly more birds were captured on the Baltic coast than after cold years. Spring trapping figures on the Courish Spit were significantly related to the numbers recorded during the previous autumn. On the basis of these data, we conclude that pronounced irruptions of Long-tailed Tits in the Eastern Baltic were recorded after the years when winter and spring were comparatively mild in Eu- ropean Russia. The current climate warming in the Northern hemisphere resulted not only in more frequent irruptions of Long-tailed Tits in the study area, but apparently in the general population growth in this species.
Enzymatic activity (dehydrogenase) in rhizospheric soil of Musa AAB: relationship with depth, agricultural management crop and plant age.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the dehydrogenase activity in rhizosphere of Musa AAB at different depths of the soil, agronomic management and age of the crop, and analyze the relationship between the enzyme activity and some soil biology properties. The present investigation focused on assessing the dehydrogenase enzyme in a soil Pachic Melanudands of Quimbaya, Quindio, Colombia. The growing practices of agricultural management were chemical, traditional and agroecological. The samplings were conducted in the rhizosphere at 0-5, 5-10,10-20 and 20-30 cm depth, and the surveys were made at 6, 12 and 18 months taking into account the plant phenology. Dehydrogenase activity was higher in the first cm of soil profile. The activity depends of the management crop being the higher in the agroecological conditions and the age of the plant. The activity was related to biological properties of the soil. This investigation constitutes the first study of enzymatic dehydrogenase activity of soil in that grow Musa AAB in Colombia. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The relationship between total body fat and distribution of body fat mass and markers of insulin resistance in young women with normal weight — a pilot study

Introduction. Total body fat and body fat distribution are factors closely associated with development of insulin resistance, including subjects with normal body weight and BMI (body mass index). Objectives. The objective of the study was to determine relation between insulin resistance index and selected parameters of body fat distribution in potentially healthy young females with body mass index below
CEO Inside Debt and Corporate Debt Maturity Structure

This paper examines the relation between chief executive officer (CEO) inside debt holdings and corporate debt maturity. We provide robust evidence that inside debt has a positive effect on short-maturity debt and that this effect is concentrated in financially unconstrained firms that face lower refinancing risk. Our analysis further shows that CEO inside debt helps reduce the cost of debt financing. Overall, our results indicate that managerial holdings of inside debt facilitate access to external debt financing and reduce refinancing risk, thus incentivizing managers to use less costly shorter term debt.
Zirconia: Creating a New Perspective to Dentistry

Though zirconia has been available for use in restorative dentistry for several years, there has been an increased interest recently in these materials. Partially stabilised Zirconia based restorations are quite versatile and can be used for crowns, bridges, implant abutments and fixtures and as post materials. This article reviews the history and unique property of zirconia and its wide application in dentistry, with more emphasis on prosthetic uses
The word familiarity effect as a function of the number of response alternatives.

The Word Familiarity Effect as a Function of the Number of Response Alternatives (August 1976) Robert L. Cohen B.A. , Western New England College M.S., University of Massachusetts Directed by: Professor Arnold Well It has long been known that experience with words influences performance in certain visual tasks. What is not clear is the extent "wordness" influences processing at an early perceptual (extraction) level before memory or response variables exert an effect. Various studies have offered conflicting evidence as to whether a word familiarity effect (WFE) can be found at a stage of processing that could be labeled perceptual. One study, Bjork and Estes (1973), yielded results which indicated that the WFE found in other studies was caused by an uninteresting response bias and not perceptual facilitation. Evidence is offered in this thesis that the results of Bjork and Estes 1 study were due to an artifact of their experimental design. The present study was designed to provide a valid test of the problem Bjork and Estes dealt
Making a Living the Hmong Way: An Actor-Oriented Livelihoods Approach to Everyday Politics and Resistance in Upland Vietnam

Ethnic minority households in upland northern Vietnam are shaping culturally appropriate rural livelihoods in highly pragmatic ways, as they negotiate the everyday realities of economic liberalization, intertwined with centralized and authoritarian socialist political structures. Notions of “social interface” from actor-oriented analyses, everyday politics, and covert forms of everyday resistance provide a heuristic device to understand the nuanced decision-making processes underlying such livelihoods. Ethnographic data reveal how Hmong ethnic minority individuals and households augment agricultural livelihoods by navigating new economic opportunities, while also resisting unwanted reliance on the market. Based in Sa Pa district, Lào Cai province, the research in this article identifies three particular diversification strategies—cardamom cultivation, textile trade, and tourism trekking—that currently form the foremost cash component of Hmong livelihoods that are otherwise largely subsistence based. Livelihood decision-making processes among these upland rural dwellers are mediated by a complex and multifaceted social interface involving state policy, the actions of local officials, and ethnically embedded social relations, negotiations, and struggles that, in turn, are shaped by everyday politics. The case points to the value of incorporating such findings into alternative discourses of upland development to support the design of more appropriate livelihood and development policies.
Link-Based Weighted PageRank

PageRank has been known to be one of the most popular algorithms in Web ranking. In this algorithm, all links have been treated equally when distributing rank scores. This is not the case in the real world, since some Web resources are important than others and different links should be treated non-identically. In this paper, we adopt three strategies and propose the corresponding weighted algorithms to solve this problem. Numerical experiments illustrate the efficiency of our new algorithms.
An overview of microbial cell culture

A microbiological culture, or microbial culture, is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. Microbial cultures are foundational and basic diagnostic methods used extensively as a research tool in molecular biology. Microbial cultures are used to determine the type of organism, its abundance in the sample being tested, or both. It is one of the primary diagnostic methods of microbiology and used as a tool to determine the cause of infectious disease by letting the agent multiply in a predetermined medium. Basic Constituents of Media for microbial cell culture include Inorganic salts, Carbohydrates, Amino Acids, Vitamins, Fatty acids and lipids, Proteins and peptides, Serumand Trace Elements. Further more culture media are classified on the basis of consistency viz., solid medium, solid media and liquid (broth) medium. Similarly synthetic and non synthetic medium constitute the classification based on composition while as on the basis of functional use, purpose and application microbial cell culture are classified as general purpose media, enrichment medium and selective and enrichment medium. This review article covers all the aspects of bacterial cell culture viz., preparation and storage of different culture media with suitable examples and conditions favouring the growth of the cultures viz., environment for microbial growth, aeration and mixing, sterilization etc. Besides components and working of fermentor employed for microbial cultures have been covered including the method of bacterial cultures like batch culture, feed batch culture, continuous culture and synchronous culture along with suitable figures and diagrams.
Enforcing database security on cloud using a trusted third party based model

Cloud computing offers a considerable number of advantages to clients and organizations that use several capabilities to store sensitive data, interact with applications, or use technology infrastructure to perform daily activities. The development of new models in cloud computing brings with it a series of elements that must be considered by companies, particularly when the sensitive data needs to be protected. There are some concerns related to security that need to be taken into consideration when a service provider manage and store the data in a location outside the company. In this research, a model that uses a trusted third party (TPP) to enforce the database security in the cloud is proposed. The model describes how a client processes a query securely by using encryption mechanisms and partitioning methods. The client establishes the communication with the TPP to retrieve the data from a cloud storage service. The TPP has two primary functions. First, perform a partition process over the data by using an index from one of the attributes in the table. As a result, the TPP sends to the cloud server the records in encrypted format with an index. Second, the TPP analyzes the client query to retrieve a segment of the data from the cloud based on the query conditions. The final result is submitted to the client in which a minimum workload is executed. Some simulations were performed to evaluate the efficiency of the model by using two partition techniques: Histogram based and Mondrian or Bisection Tree based partition. The strategy of the model is to process as much of the work at the TPP site and securely transmit the result. Using encrypted record in the cloud storage service prevents the provider to have any knowledge about the data and enforces the security of the database.
URINARY TRACT INFECTION: ETIOLOGY AND ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE WITH REFERENCE TO ADHESIVE ORGANELLES

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a serious health problem, affecting millions of people each year. Aim: The present study was undertaken to study the profile of uropathogenic bacterial flora in adult, their antibiotic resistant pattern, adherence factors of uropathogens and in vitro adherence capabilities of Uropathogens. Material and Methods: The samples were tested microbiologically by standard procedure. Antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated pathogens was tested for commonly used antibiotics by Kirby-Bauer technique according to CLSI guidelines. Adherence assay were done by hemagglutination test and Giemsa staining technique. Detection of hemolysin production was done on 5% washed sheep blood agar. Motility test was done by stabbing the isolates into SIM biochemical media. Results: Significant bacteriuria was present in 40% of samples. The most common pathogens isolated were Escherichia coli (52%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (16%), Acinetobacter anitratus (11%), Proteus mirabilis (6%), Enterobacter species (5%), Citrobacter species (2%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2%), Morganella morganii (1%), Enterococcus species (3%) and Staphylococcus aureus (2%). The mean susceptibility of uropathogens was for amikacin (Ak-81%), nitrofurantoin (Nf-60%), cefotaxime (52%), ceftriaxone (Ci-47%), ciprofloxacin (Cf-45%), norfloxacin (Nx-33%), cotrimoxazole (Co-18%) and nalidixic acid (Na-17%). Mean adherence of pathogens to epithelial cells was 70 bacteria cell -1 . Of all, 52% isolates were hemagglutinating, 34% were alpha-hemolytic, 31% were beta-hemolytic and 68% were motile. Conclusion: Escherichia coli are the commonest cause of UTI. Adherence is one of the essential pre-requisites to establish UTI. Majority of UTI in men are mono-microbial. Most of uropathogens are susceptible to amikacin (81%) and nitrofurantoin (60%). Key words: UTI, uropathogens, adherence, antimicrobials.
Synthesis, Characterization and X-ray Analysis of a Copper(II) Complex with Pyridoxal-aminoguanidine Ligand

The reaction between pyridoxal hydrochloride (PL⋅HCl) and aminoguanidine-hydrogencarbonate (AG . H2CO3) in the presence of Na2CO3⋅10H2O resulted in the formation of pyridoxal-aminoguanidine (PLAG; H2L) ligand. The ligand's coordination chemistry with CuCl2 yielded a green-brown, octahedral dimmer of Cu (II) with the general formula of (Cu(PLAG)(NCS)2)2. This paper presents the synthesis and the structural analysis of this complex with the Schiff-based ligand.
Field Recognition and the State Prerogative: Why Democratic Legitimation Recedes in Private Transnational Sustainability Regulation

Like any regulatory effort, private transnational standard-setters need to legitimate themselves to the audiences from which they seek support or obedience. While early scholarship on private transnational governance has emphasized the centrality of democratic legitimation narratives in rendering private governance socially acceptable, evidence from more recent standard-setting schemes suggests a declining relevance of that narrative over time. In my analysis of private sustainability regulation, I identify a combination of two factors that jointly contribute to this diminished role of democratic legitimation. First, private transnational governance has become a pervasive phenomenon. This means that new entrants to the field no longer face the same liability of newness that required first movers to make an extra effort in legitimation. Second, private standard-setting has moved from areas characterized by ‘governance gaps’ to areas in which meaningful intergovernmental regulation already exists. In these areas, however, the ‘state prerogative’ in legitimating governance holds. As a result, transnational standard-setters rely not so much on stressing their democratic credentials, but instead emphasize their contribution to achieving internationally agreed goals.
Effects of Differently Processed Rehmannia Roots on Dexamethasone-induced Side Effects in Rats

Background: There are three differently processed rehmannia roots, namely fresh, dried and steamed rehmannia roots (FRR, DRR and SRR), which have different indications according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Objective: To confirm the effects of different rehmannia roots on dexamethasone (Dex) treatment induced side effects, which belong to Yin Deficiency Syndrome in TCM.Materials and Methods: Rats were subcutaneously injected with Dex (0.1m g/kg) and orally administrated with different roots (2.16 g/kg) for 28 days, with metformin (Met, 0.25 g/kg) as a reference substance. Food intake, blood cell count, and organ weight were recorded, and hepatic glycogen and serum insulin, glucose, free fatty acids, total cholesterol, and malondialdehyde contents wereassayed.Results: Dex treatment led to decreases in food intake, white blood cell count, and spleen index, and increases in hemocrit, heart and liver indexes, hepatic glycogen, and serum contents of insulin, glucose, free fatty acids, total cholesterol, and malondialdehyde. The alterations in food intake, spleen index, hematocrit and serum insulin were significantly relieved by FRR but not DRR and SRR; and on the contrary, heart index was significantly reduced by DRR and SRR but not FRR.Conclusions: Dex treatment results in insulin resistance, high blood viscosity, oxidative damage and immunosuppression in rats, and FRR is better than DRR and SRR in attenuating Dex-induced insulin resistance and high blood viscosity. These findings have thus firstly provided evidence that postharvest processing has a profound influence on the biological activities of Rehmannia roots.
Adaptation to Climate Change in Agriculture in Selected Asian Countries: Insights from micro-level studies and implications for policy

Climate change is a big challenge to the agricultural sectors especially for the semi-arid tropic (SAT) areas in Asia. As is already well known, billions of people including the poor mainly depend on agriculture as a major source of livelihood. Moreover, agriculture is a key sector, which is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its prominent dependence on weather and climate. To cope with this challenge, farmers are required to adopt essential adaptation measures from time to time. In recent times, adaptation to climate change has been given increasing international attention as confidence in climate change projections is getting higher (Ole Mertz et al. 2009). In fact, each developing country will experience the effects of climate change in a different way, not only because of differences in the projected change of climate parameters, but also because of vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities that vary between nations and regions. Adaptation strategies for the vulnerable groups are crucial because failure to adapt could lead them to suffer from ‘significant deprivation, social disruption and population displacement, and even morbidity and mortality’ (Downing et al. 1997).