Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
D 9-2 3 D Objects Tracking by GPGPU-Enhanced Particle Filter Algorithms

Objects tracking methods have been wildly used in the field of video surveillance, motion monitoring, robotics and so on. Particle filter is one of the promising methods, but it is difficult to apply for real time objects tracking because of its high computation cost. In order to reduce the processing cost without sacrificing the tracking quality, this paper proposes a new method for real-time 3D objects tracking, using GPGPU-enhanced particle filter algorithms. Keyword Objects Tracking,Particle filter,3D,GPGPU
AVR: Reducing Memory Traffic with Approximate Value Reconstruction

This paper describes Approximate Value Reconstruction (AVR), an architecture for approximate memory compression. AVR reduces the memory traffic of applications that tolerate approximations in their dataset. Thereby, it utilizes more efficiently the available off-chip bandwidth improving significantly system performance and energy efficiency. AVR compresses memory blocks using low latency downsampling that exploits similarities between neighboring values and achieves aggressive compression ratios, up to 16:1 in our implementation. The proposed AVR architecture supports our compression scheme maximizing its effect and minimizing its overheads by (i) co-locating in the Last Level Cache (LLC) compressed and uncompressed data, (ii) efficiently handling LLC evictions, (iii) keeping track of badly compressed memory blocks, and (iv) avoiding LLC pollution with unwanted decompressed data. For applications that tolerate aggressive approximation in large fractions of their data, AVR reduces memory traffic by up to 70%, execution time by up to 55%, and energy costs by up to 20% introducing up to 1.2% error to the application output.
Trophic cascades in the western Ross Sea, Antarctica: revisited

We investigated mesopredator effects on prey availability in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, as sessing the reasons why Adelie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae foraging trip duration (FTD) increases and diet changes from krill to fish as numbers of foraging penguins and competing cetaceans increase in the penguins’ foraging area. To investigate penguins’ seasonally changing FTD as a function of foraging-population size—previously investigated indirectly—we used bio-logging to determine the penguins’ 3-dimensional foraging volume, while an autonomous glider quantified the depth, abundance, and distribution of potential prey. As numbers of foraging penguins and cetaceans increased, penguins spent more time on foraging trips, traveling farther and deeper, and their diet included more fish, as average maximum depth of krill increased from 45 to 65 m, and that of small fish also deepened, but only from 51 to 57 m. With a need to forage at greater depths for in creasingly over lapping prey, the penguins consumed more of the energydense fish. Krill depth was negatively correlated with chlorophyll (a proxy for krill food), indi cating an uncoupling between the two and the overwhelming importance of predation avoidance by the krill relative to food acquisition. Results support the hypotheses that (1) predators remove the grazers from Ross Sea surface waters, controlling their ver tical distributions; and (2) the food web has a ‘waspwaist’ structure, in which middleand upper-trophic levels are controlled top-down, whereas phytoplank ton production and accumulation are regulated bottom-up, largely independent of grazer control. Ross Sea models need revision to reflect this food web structure.
ZedWulf-A Zynq SoC cluster for Energy-Efficient Acceleration of Graph Problems

In recent times, we see an increasing amount of research interest in exploring the usage of ARM architectures in High Performance Computing (HPC). While pure ARM chips have historically been lacking the performance edge over x86, ARMFPGA hybrid designs such as the Zynq SoC can be the potential catalysts. We run micro-benchmarks to understand Memory System, AXI-Accelerator Coherency Port (ACP) and Network characteristics of a Zynq-based platform (Zedboard) in the presence of Xillinux OS [22]. We build a cluster composed of 32 such Zynq-based devices (ZedWulf) to accelerate sparsegraph problems, which are typically memory-bottlenecked on traditional x86 systems. We employ Message Passing Interface (MPI) to design an optimized scatter technique for supporting sparse-graph oriented irregular memory accesses across the cluster. We then formulate a performance model with a coefficient of determination more than 90% for understanding runtime scaling trends for our novel scatter-gather routine. We show that our ZedWulf cluster can be almost 2× more energy efficient than traditional x86 based systems at processing certain kinds of sparse graph problems.
Demonstrating a low temperature organic dense dielectric patch antenna

This paper demonstrates the possible implementation of a low temperature organic dense dielectric patch antenna (DDPA). Instead of using deionised water for the patch material, a mixture of ethanol and methanol was the material of choice as it remains liquid below 0°C. The freezing points of ethanol and methanol are -114.1°C and -97.6°C respectively. The mixture was 80% ethanol, 20% methanol. Reasonable reflection coefficients, efficiencies and gains can be achieved. The maximum gain over the band of interest is 5.62 dB at 1.31 GHz.
Comparison of short-and long-term outcomes of laparoscopic hepatectomy for colorectal liver metastasis in the posterosuperior and anterolateral segments

Hepatectomy is the main curative strategy for patients with colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). In recent years, laparoscopic hepatectomy (LH) has gradually been adopted for the treatment of CRLM. However, in most cases reported in previous studies, CRLM was located in the anterolateral segments. The aim of the current analysis was to compare the shortand long-term outcomes of LH for CRLM in the posterosuperior segments. Clinical and follow-up data of patients with CRLM, undergoing LH at our hospital from March 2009 to October 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into the posterosuperior group (38 cases) and the anterolateral group (81 cases) based on the location of CRLM. Compared with the anterolateral group, the posterosuperior group had longer operative time, greater intraoperative blood loss, and higher rate of conversion. There was no statistical difference in the rate and severity of postoperative 30-day complications, postoperative 30-day mortality, length of hospital stay, pathological results, 5-year overall survival, and disease-free survival. In summary, although LH for CRLM in the posterosuperior segments has shortcomings such as long operative time, high intraoperative blood loss, and high rate of conversion, the incidence of postoperative complications, severity of complications, postoperative 30day mortality, and long-term survival outcomes in the PS group were not different from those in the anterolateral segments.
Two-size moment Eulerian multi-fluid method describing the statistical trajectory crossing: modeling and numerical scheme

High fidelity modeling and simulation of turbulent dispersed two-phase flows is still a major challenge for many applications. Eulerian approaches are well suited for high performance computations of such flows. Recently, hybrid Eulerian methods that combine the multi-fluid approach-where the size is discretized-and the moment method were developed. On the one hand, in order to capture efficiently the size-polydispersion, two size moments were used on each interval of the size discretization (Two Size Moment method). On the other hand, the Anisotropic Gaussian (AG) velocity closure has been introduced as a relevant model to describe velocity dispersion occurring when the particles from the disperse phase have a significant inertia compared to the time scales of the flow, leading to particle trajectory crossings. The purpose of this contribution is to develop a model able to describe size and velocity dispersion, coupling the two-size moment Eulerian multi-fluid method and the anisotropic velocity closure. Adapted numerical schemes based on a relaxation method are provided. This new model (AG-TSM) is then evaluated on various test cases relevant to rocket propulsion and two-phase combustion.
Films of Halloysite Nanotubes Sandwiched between Two Layers of Biopolymer: From the Morphology to the Dielectric, Thermal, Transparency, and Wettability Properties

This study focused on the preparation and characterization of films based on biopolymers (hydroxypropylcellulose and low methoxyl pectin) and halloysite nanotubes (HNTs). The morphology is strongly dependent on the polymer nature. In particular, we observed a sandwich-like structure composed of two hydroxypropylcellulose layers incorporating the HNTs and a homogeneous distribution of the nanotubes into the low methoxyl pectin matrix. The different mesoscopic properties were invoked to explain the dielectric, thermal, and wettability properties of the corresponding films. Nanocomposites obtained by combining materials from renewable resources and HNTs is a challenging task in view of designing green materials with tunable barrier and delivery properties for specific purposes.
Online Shopping Adoption Factors in Kuwait Market based on Data Mining Rough Set Approach

This study applied data mining process to provide an insight about factors which led to the adoption of online shopping in medium and Large-sized shopping centers (MLShCs) in Kuwait. This research is focused on proposing the high quality environmental factors which affect the success of online shopping among (MLShCs) in Kuwait and ignoring the low impact factors that may cost a lot of money. It also researches the behavior of the customers and their desire to buy directly from the physical store, the online shopping website, or both. This was achieved by distributing a questionnaire, collecting the data in dataset, cleaning the data, minimizing the dimension of the dataset vertically by applying the rough set feature selection technique, and building a classification model. The result of the previous process is the key to examine the success of online shopping in MLShCs. This study could work as the decision maker for those new investors in Kuwait who are thinking of establishing new shopping business and advise them to go for physical store, online shopping website, or both. It also advices current online shopping business to improve their infrastructure, website’s design and availability, and security issues. The proposed approach performs effectively and generates interested results
Determinants of Loan Performance in P2P Lending

This research paper investigates the influential factors of loan performance in the online P2P lending industry. Unlike in traditional banking, lenders in P2P lending are mostly private and small investors which do not have the expertise to evaluate credit risks appropriately. They suffer from information asymmetry and are generally in disadvantage compared to the borrower. In order to solve information asymmetry, P2P lending platforms provide information regarding borrower characteristics and loan characteristics and assign a credit grade that should predict the default risks of loans. This study analysed 143,654 P2P loans that were funded on the P2P lending platform Lending Club between 2012 and 2013 with binary logistic regressions and finds evidence that the assigned credit grade is the most influential factor on loan performance. Further predictors of loan performance are the loan amount, annual income of the borrower, debt-to-income ratio and the number of inquires in the last 6 months. The actual influence of each determinant on loan performance is observed to be changing between different credit grades.
The value relevance of losses revisited: the importance of earnings aggregation

Prior research has suggested that earnings explain a larger portion of the variation in stock returns when disaggregated into components. This study shows that the increase in explanatory power stems primarily from disaggregation of negative earnings. When accounting earnings are sufficiently disaggregated into items, there is no longer a statistical difference in the value relevance of positive and negative earnings. Thus, negative earnings are also useful to stock investors. The findings are attributed to earnings persistence; even if losses are not persistent on an aggregate level, it may be the case that individual earnings items can provide information with respect to the future cash flow-generating capabilities of the firm.
Climate and Yield in a closed greenhouse

The so-called closed greenhouse (closed ventilation windows) is a recent innovation in Dutch greenhouse industry. The technical concept consists of a heat pump, underground (aquifer) seasonal energy storage as well as daytime storage, air treatment units with heat exchangers, and air distribution ducts. Savings of up to 30% in fossil fuel and production increases by up to 20%, mainly because of the continuously high CO2 concentration, have been reported. Economic feasibility of this innovative greenhouse highly depends on the yield increase that can be obtained. In this simulation study the effects of greenhouse climate on tomato yield in a closed greenhouse are presented. The explanatory model INTKAM was used, which has several submodels e.g. for light interception, leaf photosynthesis and biomass partitioning. The closed greenhouse offers possibilities for combinations of light, temperature, air humidity and CO2 concentration that are impossible in a conventional greenhouse. At high CO2 concentration and high light intensity, leaf photosynthesis shows a more narrow optimum for temperature than at high CO2 and moderate light intensity. However, the response of crop photosynthesis to temperature has a much broader optimum than that of leaf photosynthesis. Besides photosynthesis, temperature also influences aspects like partitioning, leaf area development and fruit development. Yield potential reduces at temperatures above 26°C, with fruit set being one of the first processes that is negatively influenced by supra-optimal temperatures. Based on actual climatic conditions in a conventional and a closed greenhouse (same crop management) measured during two years, INTKAM predicts an increase in yield by about 17%. Hence, in a closed greenhouse a higher stem density can be maintained for obtaining the same average fruit weight (size) as in a conventional greenhouse. In 2005 actual yield increase was similar to the simulated one (16%), but in 2004 only a 9% higher yield was realized, at least partly because of botrytis infection in the closed greenhouse.
An outlook on the Sub-Saharan Africa carbon balance

Abstract. This study gives an outlook on the carbon balance of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by presenting a summary of currently available results from the project CarboAfrica (namely net ecosystem productivity and emissions from fires, deforestation and forest degradation, by field and model estimates) supplemented by bibliographic data and compared with a new synthesis of the data from national communications to UNFCCC. According to these preliminary estimates the biogenic carbon balance of SSA varies from 0.16 Pg C y−1 to a much higher sink of 1.00 Pg C y−1 (depending on the source data). Models estimates would give an unrealistic sink of 3.23 Pg C y−1, confirming their current inadequacy when applied to Africa. The carbon uptake by forests and savannas (0.34 and 1.89 Pg C y−1, respectively,) are the main contributors to the resulting sink. Fires (0.72 Pg C y−1) and deforestation (0.25 Pg C y−1) are the main contributors to the SSA carbon emissions, while the agricultural sector and forest degradation contributes only with 0.12 and 0.08 Pg C y−1, respectively. Savannas play a major role in shaping the SSA carbon balance, due to their large extension, their fire regime, and their strong interannual NEP variability, but they are also a major uncertainty in the overall budget. Even if fossil fuel emissions from SSA are relative low, they can be crucial in defining the sign of the overall SSA carbon balance by reducing the natural sink potential, especially in the future. This paper shows that Africa plays a key role in the global carbon cycle system and probably could have a potential for carbon sequestration higher than expected, even if still highly uncertain. Further investigations are needed, particularly to better address the role of savannas and tropical forests and to improve biogeochemical models. The CarboAfrica network of carbon measurements could provide future unique data sets for better estimating the African carbon balance.
Study on Fluorescence Spectra of Thiamine and Riboflavin

This paper presents the intrinsic fluorescence characteristics of vitamin B1 and vitamin B2 with 3D fluorescence Spectrophotometer. Three strong fluorescence areas of vitamin B2 locate at λex/λem=270/525nm, 370/525nm and 450/525nm and one fluorescence areas of vitamin B1 locates at λex/λem=370/460nm were found. The influence of pH of solution are also discussed, and with the PARAFAC algorithm, 9 vitamin B2 and vitamin B1 mixed solutions are successfully decomposed, and the emission profiles, excitation profiles, central wavelengths and the concentration of the two components were retrieved precisely through about 10 iteration times.
Éthique et traitement automatique des langues

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Éthique et traitement automatique des langues Karën Fort, Maxime Amblard
Becoming a bwana and burley tobacco in the Central Region of Malawi*

ABSTRACT Smallholders now grow most of Malawi's main export crop – burley tobacco. Based on nineteen months' fieldwork in the Central Region, this article offers a sociological interpretation of why some smallholder growers spend a proportion of burley income on conspicuous consumption in rural towns and trading centres. This practice can be seen as a form of inculcated behaviour whereby smallholders reproduce elements of one model of success in this region: that of the Malawian tobacco bwana (boss/master). The article discusses implications from this form of potlatch behaviour by describing the contrasting fortunes of two non-farm rural enterprises, examining data on how tobacco production and ‘cooling off’ is viewed by wives, and comparing the crop preferences of husbands and wives. It concludes by suggesting that the concept of conspicuous consumption may provide an alternative prism to the instrumental lens of neo-patrimonialism through which to view apparently unintelligible investment decisions in African economies.
Increasing Physician Earnings through Bundled Payments

The case for changing physician reimbursement from an insurance based fee for service model to a less complicated and timelier payment system is obvious to most physicians. As employers shift more healthcare costs to their employees, patients are having an increasingly difficult time paying their bills. The combination of higher insurance premiums and rising out of pocket costs have greatly reduced a patient’s ability to pay their doctors. This means that once “well insured” patients are now becoming collections risks. Making the situation worse is the fact that some practices spend as much as 40% of their commercial reimbursement getting paid.
ISSN: 2278-1374 Original Article Synthesis and Current Applications of Quantum Dots: A review

Research in materials with dimensions of the order of nanometers has made a huge impact on the scientific community in the past decade. Quantum dots are nano sized semiconductor particles made up of 10–1000 numbers of atoms having size typically in range from 1 to 10 nm in diameter mainly composed of binary II-VI group or III-V main group elements. In this size regime, the optical properties of the particles are governed by the size-quantization effect. This review emphasis on quantum dots synthesis techniques and their applications in optoelectronics as well as in biological arena.
Drug Use Evaluation of Antimicrobials in Healthcare Resource Limited Settings of India

Background: Antimicrobial medications are considered as the greatest discovery of the twentieth century. The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a major problem throughout the world and a rational use of antibiotics is therefore very important. Drug utilization research facilitates the rational use of drugs and suggests a way to improve prescribing habits. Aim: The study was designed to evaluate the pattern of drug utilization in inpatients of general medicine department of a secondary care referral hospital of India. Methods: The data was obtained prospectively from 80 inpatients prescriptions, the DDD/100 bed days was calculated were multiple antimicrobial drug use is very common. Results: The study showed inappropriate drug use in case of dengue fever with ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin, upon observations drugs like ceftriaxone, augmentin and primaquine were found to be used in a higher proportions. On calculation of DDD the drug nitrofurantoin use was high when compared to WHO DDD. Also, anti-malarial drug primaquine use was higher. Conclusion: In conclusion, the study indicate that there is a substantial scope for improvement in prescribing pattern by adhering to standard guidelines of treatment and restriction policies to promote rationality drug use.
Thermo‐mechanical adjustment after impacts during planetary growth

The thermal evolution of planets during their growth is strongly influenced by impact heating. The temperature increase after a collision is mostly located next to the shock. For Moon to Mars size planets where impact melting is limited, the long term thermo‐mechanical readjustment is driven by spreading and cooling of the heated zone. To determine the time and length scales of the adjustment, we developed a numerical model in axisymmetric cylindrical geometry with variable viscosity. We show that if the impactor is larger than a critical size, the spherical heated zone isothermally flattens until its thickness reaches a value for which motionless thermal diffusion becomes more effective. The thickness at the end of advection depends only on the physical properties of the impacted body. The obtained timescales for the adjustment are comparable to the duration of planetary accretion and depend mostly on the physical properties of the impacted body.