Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Infrared Video Tracker : A Study of the Effects of Spatio-temporal Processing on Target Tracking

Group 108 at MIT Lincoln Laboratory focuses on understanding air defense issues in the United States Air Force. Group 108 extracts the infrared (IR) signatures of targets from IR video captured by IR sensors aboard an airborne platform. This project provided analysts with a tracker to automate the localization of targets in IR imagery. The tracker utilizes thresholding-based target identification and signal processing techniques to attenuate background clutter. Imagery collected by Group 108’s Airborne Infrared Imager (AIRI) was used to evaluate the tracker’s performance. The tracker’s performance was evaluated in terms of the tracker failure rate and pixel position error. SIGNIFICANT PORTIONS OF THIS PROJECT WORK HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN AN INTERNAL LABORATORY REPORT. MOST OF THAT TEXT WILL NOT BE REPEATED HEREIN.
Key words – Data Mining, Classification, Decision Rules, Decision Trees, Rule Induction

This paper describes the facilities available in Inducer, a public domain classification workbench aimed at users who wish to analyse their own datasets using a range of data mining strategies or to conduct experiments with a given technique or combination of techniques across a range of datasets. Inducer has a graphical user interface which is designed to be easy to use by beginners, but also includes a range of advanced features for experienced users, including facilities to export the information generated in a form suitable for further processing by other packages. An experiment using the workbench is described.
The EU ETS and Firm Profits:

In January, 2005, the EU launched the first international emissions trading system (EU ETS), aimed at reducing carbon emissions in a cost-effective way by means of a market-based instrument. In this paper, we use the treatment/control, before/after design of the natural experiment approach to investigate the treatment effect of the EU ETS on the profitability of a sample of Swedish energy firms in 2005 and 2006. We also investigate whether under-cap and over-cap firms respond differently to the EU ETS. The estimation results in general suggest no significant impact in 2005 and a negative significant impact in 2006. The sub-sample analysis suggests that profitability of under-cap and over-cap firms were affected differently by the EU ETS in 2005, but not in 2006. JEL codes: D22, Q50, Q58
Constraints on the ejecta of the GW170817 neutron star merger from its electromagnetic emission

We present a simple analytic model, that captures the key features of the emission of radiation from material ejected by the merger of neutron stars (NS), and construct the multi-band and bolometric luminosity light curves of the transient associated with GW 170817, AT 2017gfo, using all available data. The UV to IR emission is shown to be consistent with a single $\approx0.05$ M$_\odot$ component ejecta, with a power-law velocity distribution between $\approx 0.1 c$ and $>0.3 c$, a low opacity, $\kappa\approx0.3$ cm$^2$ g$^{-1}$, and a radioactive energy release rate consistent with an initial $Y_{\rm e}<0.4$. The late time spectra require an opacity of $\kappa_\nu\approx0.1$ cm$^2$ g$^{-1}$ at 1 to $2\mu$m. If this opacity is provided entirely by Lanthanides, their implied mass fraction is $X_{\rm Ln}\approx10^{-3}$, approximately 30 times below the value required to account for the solar abundance. The inferred value of $X_{\rm Ln}$ is uncertain due to uncertainties in the estimates of IR opacities of heavy elements, which also do not allow the exclusion of a significant contribution to the opacity by other elements (the existence of a slower ejecta rich in Lanthanides, that does not contribute significantly to the luminosity, can also not be ruled out). The existence of a relatively massive, $\approx 0.05$ M$_\odot$, ejecta with high velocity and low opacity is in tension with the results of numerical simulations of NS mergers.
antihypertensive therapy in decreasing renal and cardiovascular complications in diabetes mellitus

The mechanism underlying the pathogenesis able literature which reported comparisons between angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE inhibof microangiopathy and macroangiopathy in diabetes mellitus is hypothesized to be chronic hyperglycaemia. itors) and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) in the treatment of arterial hypertension in diabetes. However, the values of blood glucose at which chronic diabetic complications develop at the renal and cardiac Intensified antihypertensive therapy achieving a blood pressure level below 130/85 mmHg has been shown to level are quite different. It is not clear whether this is due to different responses of kidney and heart tissues be useful in decreasing the rate of occurrence of chronic diabetic complications in diabetes mellitus. Both ACE to the metabolic challenge of diabetes, or to the simultaneous role of other mechanisms contributing inhibitors and CCBs have been shown to significantly improve the course of renal function in diabetic differently to the pathogenesis of chronic diabetic complications in renal and cardiac tissues. One of these patients with incipient and overt nephropathy. mechanisms could be the simultaneous occurrence of
Prediction Fever : Modeling Influenza with Regional Effects

We produce three models which incorporate regional data in order to forecast Influenza incidence in the United States that are updated as we learn more about the current season. In addition, we compare the models through Leave One Season Out Cross Validation. Although we are interested in producing predictions for each week of the remainder of the flu season, we focus on primary targets of peak incidence and peak week. The first model is an extension of an Empirical Bayes Framework described by Brooks et al. in [1], which allows for the incorporation of regional effects. The second model predicts the targets of peak week and peak height directly at the expense of producing a full curve of forecasts. The final model, which we call Posterior Biasing, combines the Empirical Bayes framework with emphasis on the targets, which creates peak incidence predictions that are approximately twice as good as those generated by Empirical Bayes alone. Moreover, we produce probabilistic forecasts through our posterior distribution and compare our Bayesian Credible Intervals with the Frequentist Coverage, which surprisingly have an empirical one-to-one correspondence.
Development of a New Generation of Flood Inundation Maps—A Case Study of the Coastal City of Tainan, Taiwan

Flood risk management has become a growing priority for city managers and disaster risk prevention agencies worldwide. Correspondingly, large investments are made towards data collection, archiving and analysis and technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing play important role in this regard. GIS technologies offer valuable means for delineation of flood plains, zoning of areas that need protection from floods and identification of plans for development and scoping of various kinds of flood protection measures. Flood inundation maps (FIMs) are particularly useful in planning flood disaster risk responses. The purpose of the present paper is to describe efforts in developing new generation of FIMs at the city scale and to demonstrate effectiveness of such maps in the case of the coastal city of Tainan, Taiwan. In the present work, besides pluvial floods, the storm surge influence is also considered. The 1D/2D coupled model SOBEK was used for flood simulations. Different indicators such as Probability of Detection (POD) and Scale of Accuracy (SA) were applied in the calibration and validation stages of the work and their corresponding values were found to be up to 88.1% and 68.0%, respectively. From the overall analysis, it came up that land elevation, tidal phase, and storm surge are the three dominant factors that influence flooding in Tainan. A large number of model simulations were carried out in order to produce FIMs which were then effectively applied in the stakeholder engagement process.
Outlier detection through mixtures with an improper component

The paper investigates the use of a finite mixture model with an additional uniform density for outlier detection and robust estimation. The main contribution of this paper lies in the analysis of the properties of the improper component and the introduction of a modified EM algorithm which, beyond providing the maximum likelihood estimates of the mixture parameters, endogenously provides a numerical value for the density of the uniform distribution used for the improper component. The mixing proportion of outliers may be known or unknown. Applications to robust estimation and outlier detection will be discussed with particular attention to the normal mixture case.
The Effects of Age and Size on Reproductive Timing in Female Chamaeleo chamaeleon

Reproductive timing in relation to the size and age of individual female common Chame- leons (Chamaeleo chamaeleon) was studied in a population in southern Spain. Thirty-one radio-tagged fe- males were observed during two summers, 1993 and 1995. The mating season (courting, pair formation, and copulation) lasted from late July to mid-September. Egg-laying was recorded from 25 September to 28 October, 34-40 d after copulation. Timing of reproduction varied between individual females, old and large females timing the reproductive events (i.e, mating and egg-laying) earlier than young and small ones. Specifically, timing was affected by size when age was controlled for but not the reverse. Four alternative explanations for delayed breeding of younger and smaller female chameleons are discussed: (1) late breeding could be a consequence of physiological constrains in the onset of maturation of younger females; (2) late breeding allows young females to secure more resources for reproduction thus achieving larger clutches; (3) young females avoid competition for attractive males from large females, and (4) if young females are less preferred, they may not be courted until males no longer are courting larger females. This happens when the latter become pregnant.
A Random Forest based Learning Framework for Tourism Demand Forecasting with Search Queries

This study proposes a novel framework for tourism demand forecasting, which combines search queries generated on the Internet, advanced feature selection methods, and machine learning based forecasting technique. This new methodology is applied to forecast tourism demand in two popular destinations in China: Beijing and Haikou. The study evaluates the performances of various feature selection approaches in tourism forecasting. We further show that the random forest feature selection and support vector regression with radial basis function can be extremely useful for the accurate forecasts of tourist volumes. This research highlights the advantage of big data and machine learning algorithms in the tourism forecasting.
Design of High Speed Low Power 32-Bit Multiplier using Reversible Logic : A Vedic Mathematical Approach

Multipliers are vital components of any processor or computing machine. More often than not, performance of microcontrollers and Digital signal processors are evaluated on the basis of number of multiplications performed in unit time. Hence better multiplier architectures are bound to increase the efficiency of the system. Vedic multiplier is one such promising solution. It’s simple architecture coupled with increased speed forms an unparalleled combination for serving any complex multiplication computations. Tagged with these highlights, implementing this with reversible logic further reduces power dissipation. Power dissipation is another important constraint in an embedded system which cannot be neglected. In this paper we bring out a 32-bit Vedic multiplier implemented using reversible logic, and comparing with 32-bit Array multiplier implemented using reversible logic. This multiplier may find applications in Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs), and other applications of DSP like imaging, software defined radios, wireless communications.
Different causes of closure of Small Business Enterprises: alternative models for competing risks survival analysis

We examine the time until closure of Small Business Enterprises in Umbria, Italy between 2008 and 2013, and the factors that influence it. Earlier analysis, using Cox regression, considered failure (closure) from any cause. However, there are different reasons for inactivity: voluntary winding-up (1808 of 15184 firms in our data, 59.3% of the 3049 failures); bankruptcy (236, 7.7%); and closure without action by creditors or courts (1005, 33.0%). While the earlier analysis provides a valuable overall picture, it is also interesting to ex- amine the separate causes, their rates of occurrence and which factors influence them separately. We do this using competing risks analyses, employing both of the regression methods that are prominent in the literature, based on cause-specific and sub-distribution hazard functions (Fine-Gray model). Furthermore, a proportional odds model was used to estimate cumulative incidences of failure by cause. Data included the firm's year of foundation, location, legal form and sector of activity. Financial indexes were constructed from annual balance sheets. The date and reason for closure were recorded if the firrm ceased activity. Findings included major differences between types of firm; for example, cooperatives had greatly increased hazards for winding-up (HR of 2.44 and 2.61 in the two approaches) but greatly reduced hazards for closure (0.48 and 0.45) compared to publicly traded companies. All-causes analysis averaged these strong effects into an insignicant one (1.05). Coefficients from the proportional odds model were similar to those from the Fine-Gray model, but have the advantage of interpretability.
SYSTEMS AND PROCESS AS A TREND IN URBAN MOBILITY PROJECT

Society's transformations increasingly demand that projects be innovative and sustainable. The concept of smart cities highlights these aspects and their presence is essential in many cases, such as urban mobility that affects all citizens. Our research aims to identify innovation trends based on the study of patents with applications in urban mobility. We use technometry, which applies the statistical analysis of data resulting from the patent data mining process. Based on 199 patents, we identified the main factors for these projects: communication technology, specialized and adaptive systems and processes. The potential for frugality, given patent rights, is highlighted in this case. Finally, in an increasingly connected and dynamic social context, results that align with the digital transformation that we live in modern society.
Ownership Structure and the Internationalization Process of Publicly-listed Companies in Poland

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and the level and scope of internationalization of Polish listed companies. Methodology: The analysis is based on quantitative methods (regression analysis). Findings: The study revealed that there is no statistically signifi cant relationship between concentration of ownership and the internationalization of companies. However, there is a relationship between ownership category and internationalization. Research implications: The research results suggest that the organizational context (and especially ownership structure) should be taken into account in resource-based theories of internationalization. Originality: The paper makes three important contributions in the fi eld of International Business. Firstly, it incorporates the organizational context into the resource-based models of internationalization, thus contributing to the debate on the role of ownership structure in the internationalization strategy (Tihanyi et al., 2003) by showing the specifi c context of an emerging economy at an early stage of its investment development path. Secondly, it is probably the fi rst attempt to analyze the relationship between ownership structure and the internationalization of Polish companies. Thirdly, it presents the results of one of the few research studies conducted in Central and Eastern Europe regarding the specifi c population of publicly-listed companies.
Who Wants to Play ? Cueing Sex-Based Stereotypes in Games

Male/female-based stereotypes appear to be widespread, providing a potential barrier to women’s participation and success in gaming contexts, such as recreational gaming, competitive eSports, and game-based learning. Differences in the strength of stereotypes associated with different kinds of games, which would have implications for reducing these barriers, are currently unknown. In an online between-participants experiment manipulating the platform (analog tabletop, digital tablet computer, digital desktop computer) of the game Splendor, 105 participants responded to questions asking them to separately rate their perceptions of men’s and women’s affinity for the game. Confirming extant research on gaming stereotypes, they perceived women as having less of an affinity for this game. While this trend emerged similarly between all platforms of the game depicted, the magnitude of this difference was less when participants had a stronger social group identification with gamers. These perceptions did not depend on social group identification with women. Given the potential for stereotypes to discourage women from gaming and threaten their performance and learning in gaming contexts, as well as the prominent and persistent public interest in gaming, we suggest researchers further examine stereotypes and identity in the study of diverse games, and game platforms, and powerful perceptions.
Large-area CVD growth of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides and monolayer MoS₂ and WS₂ metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors

Two-dimensional semiconducting materials such as MoS2 and WS2 have been attractive for use in ultra-scaled electronic and optoelectronic devices because of their atomically-thin thickness, direct band gap, and lack of dangling bonds. Methods for large-area growth of 2D semiconducting materials are needed to bring them to practical applications. This thesis aims to develop reliable methods for growing high-quality monolayer MoS2 and WS2 by CVD and explore their intrinsic electrical transport properties for electronic and optoelectronic device applications. The as-grown monolayer MoS2 and WS2 exhibit n-type semiconducting behavior with excellent optical properties. Various techniques are employed to characterize the CVD-grown materials, including photoluminescence, UV-visible absorption, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. Moreover, the electronic transport characteristics of single-layer CVD-grown MoS2 and WS2 field-effect transistors with a back-gated configuration are demonstrated. Thesis supervisor: Jing Kong Title: Professor of Electrical Engineering
Topics of Blockchain Technology to Teach at Community College

Blockchain technology has rapidly gained popularity in industry. This paper attempts to assist academia to answer four questions. First, should community colleges begin offering education to nurture blockchain-literate students for the job market? Second, what are the appropriate topical areas to cover? Third, should it be an individual course? And forth, should it be a technical or management course? This paper starts with identifying the knowledge domains of blockchain technology and the topical areas each domain has, and continues with placing them in appropriate academic territories (Computer Sciences vs. Business) and subjects (programming, management, marketing, and laws), and then develops an evaluation model to determine the appropriate topical area for community colleges to teach. The evaluation is based on seven factors: maturity of technology, impacts on management, real-world applications, subject classification, knowledge prerequisites, textbook readiness, and recommended pedagogies. The evaluation results point to an interesting direction that offering an introductory course is an ideal option to guide students through the learning journey of what blockchain is and how it applies to business. Such an introductory course does not need to engage students in the discussions of mathematics and sciences that make blockchain technologies possible. While it is inevitable to brief technical topics to help students build a solid knowledge foundation of blockchain technologies, community colleges should avoid offering students a course centered on the discussion of developing blockchain applications. Keywords—Blockchain, pedagogies, blockchain technologies, blockchain course, blockchain pedagogies.
Liking music: Genres, contextual factors, and individual differences

Around the world and throughout history, music has been valued and enjoyed. Although individuals often have strong and specific feelings about the music they like or dislike, research on musical appreciation is in its infancy. This chapter discusses factors that are known to influence evaluative responses to music. This chapter's emphasis is on recent research. It first examines preferences for categories of music (i.e. genres). For example, what kinds of people prefer particular genres such as pop or rock? It then discusses contextual factors and individual differences that influence liking for individual pieces of music. By studying when and how people develop music preferences, we can begin to understand the universal appeal of music.
G25.5+0.2: a possible symbiotic bipolar outflow

The nature of the source G25.5+0.2 is open to considerable uncertainty, and it has variously been identified as being a young stellar outflow, an H II region, a young supernova remnant and a planetary nebula. We present further Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS), Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) and Spitzer near- (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) photometry and mapping in an attempt to clarify the properties of the source. It is apparent that the morphology varies appreciably with MIR wavelength and indicates the presence of a bipolar structure and probable circum-nebular torus. It is also noted that the 2MASS stellar photometry is quite disparate from that of earlier NIR measures and implies an appreciable variation in the brightness and colour of the central star. These two factors, the nuclear variability and bipolarity, combine to suggest the G25.5+0.2 may be identifiable as a symbiotic outflow. The nebular continuum peaks at wavelengths λ ∼ 40 μm, and may be fitted using a λ -2 fall-off in grain emissivity, together with a model in which the grains have temperatures T GR = 65 and 130 K. An analysis of dust/gas mass ratios also implies thatm d /m g ∼ 1.2 x 10 -2 (n e /10 4 cm -3 ) → 1.27 x 10-1 (n e /10 4 cm -3 ), depending upon the types of grains and temperatures involved. Such a range is typical of what is observed in planetary nebulae and symbiotic outflows.