Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Road-Region Detection by Computing Homography Matrix Using Stereo Images

Detecting the road region in an observed image is an important technique for visual navigation of an autonomous vehicle. In this paper, we propose a road detection method using stereo images. The method does not rely on the existence of any specific road painting or texture. Instead, it supposes that a road (or a passable part) can be approximated by a plane. Then, a homography matrix which represents a geometric relation between the road plane and the stereo images can be computed from the stereo images. And the road region can be detected in the observed image by transforming one image by the homography matrix and simple matching. In this method, neither a predetermined geometric relation between the cameras and the road nor a strong camera calibration are necessary. Experimental results with real scenes have shown the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Local poultry production in rural Zambia and the effect of light on poultry performance

Zambia is a country in Southern Africa where poverty is widespread and the traditional keeping of local poultry therefore plays a crucial role in improving nutrition. Meat and eggs from poultry are important sources of protein but also of income. Improving the poultry production is thereby a method to fight poverty. For poultry, the access to light is an important factor for both growth and egg production. In this paper, the focus is on the traditional village chickens used for both egg and meat production, how they are kept, their health and welfare and if the use of a solar lamp will influence their behaviour, growth and egg production. Three studies were conducted in Chibombo and Choma Districts in Zambia were 17 farmers were interviewed regarding the village chicken management of which six farmers participated in a solar lamp experiment. The village chickens were divided into one control group and one experimental on each farm. The latter received a solar lamp that was on for two hours every evening after dusk. Both groups had access to feed during the time the solar lamp was on. After one month, the poultry were weighed. In the second experiment, twenty village chickens were divided into two groups, where the experimental group was given the anthelmintic piperazine. All of the village chickens were weighed before and after the experiment that lasted for one month. In a third experiment, the effect of the solar lamp on village chicken’s behaviour was studied. Also, the poultry welfare was studied. The results showed that village chickens are kept mainly free-ranging and scavenging during the days. They are usually given small amounts of feed, mainly maize. The production is low and the health management is poor. The village chickens in the study of behaviour did not show any aversion towards the solar lamps and the effect from the extra light hours on the food intake was insignificant. There was no apparent difference in weight gain between the groups in the deworming experiment. The solar lamp experiments did not give any reliable results due to different factors that are discussed in the thesis.
Quotes : a negotiation tool for industrial e-procurement 1

The sourcing process of multiple goods or services usually involves complex negotiation (via telephone, fax, etc) that includes discussion of product features as well as quality, service and availability issues. Currently, this is a high-cost process due to the scarce use of tools that streamline this communication and assist purchasing managers’ decisionmaking. With the advent of internet-based technologies, it becomes feasible the idea of an affordable tool that enables to maintain an assisted, fluid, on-line dialog at virtually no cost and wherever your providers are. Consequently, several commercial systems to support on-line negotiations become available. However there is still a need that these systems incorporate effective decision support techniques. This article presents Quotes as iSOCO’s e-solution for strategic sourcing that incorporates Artificial Intelligence (AI) based techniques that successfully address previous limitations within a single and coherent framework
Acoustic masking in marine ecosystems: intuitions, analysis, and implication

Acoustic masking from anthropogenic noise is increasingly being considered as a threat to marine mammals, particularly low-frequency specialists such as baleen whales. Low-frequency ocean noise has increased in recent decades, often in habitats with seasonally resident populations of marine mammals, raising concerns that noise chronically influences life histories of individuals and populations. In contrast to physical harm from intense anthropogenic sources, which can have acute impacts on individuals, masking from chronic noise sources has been difficult to quantify at individ- ual or population levels, and resulting effects have been even more difficult to assess. This paper pre- sents an analytical paradigm to quantify changes in an animal's acoustic communication space as a result of spatial, spectral, and temporal changes in background noise, providing a functional defini- tion of communication masking for free-ranging animals and a metric to quantify the potential for communication masking. We use the sonar equation, a combination of modeling and analytical tech- niques, and measurements from empirical data to calculate time-varying spatial maps of potential communication space for singing fin (Balaenoptera physalus), singing humpback (Megoptera novaeangliae), and calling right (Eubalaena glacialis) whales. These illustrate how the measured loss of communication space as a result of differing levels of noise is converted into a time-varying mea- sure of communication masking. The proposed paradigm and mechanisms for measuring levels of communication masking can be applied to different species, contexts, acoustic habitats and ocean noise scenes to estimate the potential impacts of masking at the individual and population levels.
DADOS DE SENSORIAMENTO REMOTO E DE GEOPROCESSAMENTO PARA APOIO AOS PLANOS DE CONTINGÊNCIA DURANTE EVENTOS DE DERRAMAMENTOS DE ÓLEO EM REGIÕES COSTEIRAS: O CASO DO LITORAL NORTE DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

The north Sao Paulo State coast is characterized by a number of fragile ecosystems such as sandy beaches, rock shore, tidal flats, and mangroves. In the south portion of this coastline it is located one of the largest Petrobras crude oil terminal. This area is considered to be of high risk for oil spill with a known historic of accidents dating back to the 70's. This paper presents preliminary results on the merging of digital image products and historic oil spill events data, which includes: a thematic base map derived from digital integration of spectral and panchromatic bands of ETM+ based on the use of IHS Transformation and geodatabase modeling of historic oil spill events attributes using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology for rapid access and query. This procedure has been successfully used to map oil sensitive environments and highlights the potential for operational use of remote sensing data and GIS in contingency planning and assessment of oil spill effects on a tropical environmental.
Frame work for context aware applications

In fast growing world we are in need of information for place we are in right now. For these types of services the Pervasive Computing is used. In Olden days, if we need some information means, we have to go to our computer and had the necessary information. Nowadays we have our laptop Computer with us and have the information where ever we are now. The sub domain of Pervasive Computing is Context aware Computing. People are in need of the computing should response based on the current context. The context is based on location, identity, activity and time. For that, nowadays there are several context aware computing system developed. Context aware system can produce the output based on the situation where the system is currently present, that is it acts according to the context. When people want to develop a context aware system they can adopt their own framework for their systems. So far there is no common framework irrespective of their domain in which the context aware system is developed. For each and every context aware system there are separate frameworks are used by the developer. By using separate framework the time taken to build the framework is wasted and the cost is also wasted. We have developed a framework and tested our framework with two separate context aware applications.
Effect of Plantago major L . extract on PTZ-induced seizure threshold in NMRI malemice

Purpose and aim: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder after stroke. Despite various anticonvulsants current research to discover new drugs with better efficacy and fewer side effects, continue. Herbs with natural variety of materials with different properties, this research are appropriate for field . the present study Plantago major ( P.major) extract is a powerful antioxidant. In the present study the effect of plant extract of Plantago on seizures induced by PTZ injection in male NMRI mouse. Methods: the experiment used 50 NMRI mouse (eight in each group)as follows: the control ,control sham,control plus (50 , 25, 10,5 mg / kg). The mouses in each group received injection60 mg/kg of PTZ(60mg/kg body wieght,interperitoneally,n=10 in each group) a single injection.The animals experimental were injected with(50 , 25, 10,5mg / kg) P.major extract interperitoneally just 30 min before each PTZ injection.the animals group of control and sham rececied saline instead of P.major extract.after treatment,The behavirs animals were recorded for 20 min. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. In order to compare the groups, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. P < 0.05 values were considered to be statistically significant. Results: The results of repeated injection of P.major extract (50,25,10 mg / kg) than the control groups in the seizure threshold compared to the control group, there was a significant increased (p <0/05). so,treatment groups (50,25,10 mg/kg) in phases 1 compared to the control group, there was a significant reduction (p <0/05.) Conclusions: These results are probably due to the effect of ethanol on Plantago is a GABAergic system
Another New Zealand centenarian: age validation of black cardinalfish (Epigonus telescopus) using lead–radium and bomb radiocarbon dating

Black cardinalfish (Epigonus telescopus, Apogonidae) is an important component of deepsea commercial fishing activity in the New Zealand region. It is estimated to live longer than 100 years on the basis of counts of unvalidated annual growth zones in otoliths. Age-validation procedures for long-lived fishes are often one of the following two techniques: (1) lead–radium disequilibria, which uses the natural decay of radium-226 into lead-210 as a natural clock; or (2) bomb radiocarbon (Δ14C) dating, which relies on the marine signal created by nuclear testing. The high estimated lifespan, as well as the large size of the otolith core region, make E. telescopus an excellent candidate for a combined application of these two independent age-validation techniques. The lead–radium dating using otolith cores indicated that growth-zone counts less than ~60 years were consistent with radiometric ages, whereas higher counts appeared to be under-estimates. There was 95% confidence that maximum age was at least 95 years. The validation indicated that fish aged over 60 years tended to be under-aged by up to 30%. The bomb radiocarbon levels in otolith cores supported age estimates up to ~40 years made from zone counts, and by inference from the zone counts validated with lead–radium dating, longevity exceeds 100 years.
Yukonite-like alteration products (Ca–Fe arsenate and As-rich Fe-oxyhydroxide) formed by in situ weathering in granodiorite, Bi'r Tawilah gold prospect, Saudi Arabia

Samples from drilling of the Bi9r Tawilah gold prospect in Saudi Arabia reveal the occurrence of a Ca–Fe arsenate phase, which is similar in appearance and chemistry to yukonite. Upon weathering of a granodiorite host, oxidation of arsenopyrite (0–25 m deep) leads to the formation of a very peculiar brown, amorphous to very poorly crystalline aggregate with cellular-like texture. This mixture consists of Ca–Fe arsenate and arsenic-rich ferric oxyhydroxide resulting from the oxidation of arsenopyrite. It is intergrown with colloform ferric oxyhydroxide, the latter resulting from the oxidation of pre-existing pyrite. The EMPA analyses indicate that the Ca-rich domain contains the maximum As 2 O5 content (up to 22.3 wt%) whereas the colloform ferric oxyhydroxide contains the highest amount of Fe 2 O 3 among the sample studied (60.8–63.1 wt%) associated to higher H 2 O content (31.4–33.2 wt%) than in the case of common goethite and lepidocrocite. As far as typical yukonite, scorodite or arsenosiderite are absent in the studied weathered granodiorite, it is believed that oxidation took place at elevated pH (>7) and temperature up to ∼75 °C. The source of Ca 2+ can be derived from alteration of plagioclase in the granodiorite but its possible derivation from strongly corroded marble bands cannot be discarded. It is evident that availability of Ca 2+ and high pH buffered by the dissolution of calcite in the marble, in addition to the prevailing temperature upon weathering, played important roles in the formation of these pseudomorphs at Bi9r Tawilah.
What about the children? Incorporating osteological, archaeological, and ethnographic data to understand Sadlermiut childhood

Skeletal remains have long been used by physical anthropologists in order to understand the health and lives of past peoples. The purpose of this research is to better understand the lives of the Sadlermiut children from Native Point Southampton Island, Nunavut. To do so, a three-fold methodology integrating archaeological and ethnographic evidence of children and childhood with an osteological analysis of growth and development is utilized. This is the first study to concentrate on the skeletal remains of those less than 18 years of age from the Sadlermiut archaeological sample. This research suggests a high prevalence of infant mortality among the Sadlermiut, the largest proportion of which were female. The growth of the Sadlermiut is comparable to that of the Eskimo and Aleut from Alaska, yet less than that of modern children of European descent, and other Aboriginal archaeological populations from North America.
Sommerakademie der Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes

Summary The “central dogma” of molecular biology describes the flow of information from DNA to RNA and protein which is responsible for the implementation of cellular function. Each of the processes along the pathway of gene expression is complex and subject to regulation. One of the major questions in biology is how cells regulate gene expression on the transcriptional level. Developed in the 1990s, microarray analysis has now become a widely used and powerful tool for the investigation of gene expression on a genomewide scale with applications in molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology and molecular medicine. The advent of this large-scale approach has equipped biologists with a means for the identification of genes that are up- or downregulated as cells grow, divide, or respond to hormones, toxins, or different carbon and/or energy sources. More importantly, the identification of gene expression patterns provides insight into gene function and their biological relevance. With this introduction into the microarray technique I intend to give an overview of the experimental setup, the data acquisition and normalization and some of the most widely used clustering approaches.
TAMPERE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Alberto Brihuega García: Constant Envelope Precoding for Large Antenna Arrays

TAMPERE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Alberto Brihuega García: Constant Envelope Precoding for Large Antenna Arrays Master of Science Thesis, 77 pages August 2017 Examiner: Prof. Mikko Valkama 5G, the new generation of mobile communications, is expected to provide huge improvements in spectral e ciency and energy e ciency. Specifically, it has been proven that the adoption of large antenna arrays is an e cient means to improve the system performance in both of these e ciency measures. For these reasons, the deployment of base stations with large amount of antennas has attracted a substantial amount of research interest over the recent years. However, when pure digital beamforming is pursued in large array system context, a large number of transmitter and receiver chains must also be implemented, increasing the complexity and costs of the deployment. In general, power consumption of the cellular network is recognized as a major concern. Radio transmitters tend to be really power hungry, especially because of the potential energy ine ciency of their power amplifiers. Due to the characteristics of the current and future waveforms utilized in wireless communications, power amplifiers need to work in a relatively linear regime in order not to distort the signal, making the energy e ciency of such highly linear amplifiers to be rather low. If power amplifiers were capable of working in the nonlinear regime without degrading system performance, their energy e ciency could be notably increased, resulting in considerable savings in energy, costs and system complexity. In this Thesis, the development and evaluation of a constant envelope spatial precoder is being addressed. The precoder is capable of generating a symbol-rate constant envelope signal, which despite pulse-shape filtering yields substantial robustness against the nonlinearities of power amplifiers. This facilitates pushing power amplifiers into heavily nonlinear regime, with the consequent increase in their energy e ciency. At the same time, the precoder is able to perform spatial beamforming
Dual-Depth Hydrophones for Ghost Reduction in 4D Land Monitoring

Summary In order to improve the seismic repeatability required for weak 4D signal measurement, we bury the sensors and the sources below the weathering layer. Nevertheless a part of the emitted signal is transmitted to the weathering layer. After a reflection or a conversion in the vicinity of the earth surface, the downgoing waves are recorded by the buried sensors and may affect the repeatability of the primary 4D signal. The reduction of these unwanted waves is necessary to ensure a good reliability of the seismic monitoring results. In an industrial noise context (which is usually the case for reservoir production), it has been observed that geophones are much noisier than hydrophones (Forgues and Schissele, 2010). In these circumstances, we show that the use of dual-depth hydrophones as an alternative to P-Z summation allows us to handle the receiver ghost and significantly improve the signal repeatability and stabilize the signal variation above the reservoir.
Long-term maternal effect on offspring immune response in song sparrows Melospiza melodia

Knowledge of the causes of variation in host immunity to parasitic infection and the time-scales over which variation persists, is integral to predicting the evolutionary and epidemiological consequences of host–parasite interactions. It is clear that offspring immunity can be influenced by parental immune experience, for example, reflecting transfer of antibodies from mothers to young offspring. However, it is less clear whether such parental effects persist or have functional consequences over longer time-scales, linking a parent's previous immune experience to future immune responsiveness in fully grown offspring. We used free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to quantify long-term effects of parental immune experience on offspring immune response. We experimentally vaccinated parents with a novel antigen and tested whether parental vaccination influenced the humoral antibody response mounted by fully grown offspring hatched the following year. Parental vaccination did not influence offspring baseline antibody titres. However, offspring of vaccinated mothers mounted substantially stronger antibody responses than offspring of unvaccinated mothers. Antibody responses did not differ between offspring of vaccinated and unvaccinated fathers. These data demonstrate substantial long-term effects of maternal immune experience on the humoral immune response of fully grown offspring in free-living birds.
SHEAR MODULUS AND DAMPING BY DRAINED TESTS ON CLEAN SAND SPECIMENS RECONSTITUTED BY VARIOUS METHODS

ABSTRACT Comprehensive tests on a clean sand were performed to evaluate the effects of the methods of sample preparations on shear moduli and hysteretic damping ratios of sands with use of a resonant-column apparatus and a static torsional shear device. All of the tests were conducted under the fully drained condition. Specimens for resonant-column tests were solid cylindrical and those for torsional shear tests were hollow cylindrical. These specimens were sheared torsionally and cyclically. It was found that for a wide range of shear strain the shear modulus and the hysteretic damping ratio of the sand tested by cyclic drained shear tests are quite insensitive to the methods of sample preparations adopted in this investigation. These include the different methods of pouring, compacting, moistening, saturating, unsaturating or so.
Exactly Where Does the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan Nucleate?-Hypocenter Relocation Using the Master Station Method

The Chi-Chi earthquake that occurred in central west Taiwan is one of the most well-recorded large earthquakes in the world. Consequently, one should be able to reliably locate the point of nucleation from the impulsive onsets on short-period seismograms. But in fact, the hypocentral locations reported by various agencies are different. Our approach is to relocate the Chi-Chi mainshock with the most unambiguous arrival readings and a 3-D velocity structure using the Master Station (MS) method. In addition to the usage of a reasonable 3-D velocity model, the MS method is superior in two aspects: it is unaffected by the nonlinear nature of traditional earthquake locating process and does not have the trade-off problem between the focal depth and the assumed origin time. Our results indicate that the best solution of hypocenter always converges to 23.86+0.01°N, 120.81+0.01°E, and a depth of 10 km, no matter which initial conditions are adapted. This location is essentially the same as that later refined by CWB using a combined dataset of both arrivals on short-period seismograms and S-P time intervals measured from near-source strong-motion records. An important implication of our study is that reliable hypocenter can be derived using as few as 10 accurately determined arrival times from nearby method are used in the hypocenter determination. Thus, the performance of CWB RTD system, which is already the leading example of its kind, can be further improved in the near future.