bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ability Streaming as a Predictor of Academic Inferiority Feelings Among Form Three Students in Kisii County, Kenya
Authors: Mogaka Sakina Moraa , Wawire Chrispus , Mugambi Doyne
Published: February 2021

There is substantial literature on the relationship between ability streaming and academic performance among students. This literature however is scanty on the relationship between ability streaming and academic inferiority feelings. The main aim of this study was therefore to investigate the relationship between ability streaming and academic inferiority feelings among students who do not perform well. Alfred Adler’s theory of individual psychology forms the theoretical framework of the study. The study adopted a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design. It was carried out in Kisii County, Kenya. The target population was all the Form Three students in public schools in Kenya (593711 students). Proportionate stratified sampling was used to select the top, average and low-ranking schools in the county. It was further used to stratify schools into boys’ boarding, girls’ boarding, mixed day and boarding and mixed day schools. Simple random sampling was used in the selection of the 400 respondents from 20 schools to form the sample. The research instruments were questionnaires and an interview schedule for the students administered by the researcher. Personal and academic self-concept inventory (PASCI) was used to collect data on academic inferiority feelings and Stephanie Soto Gordon’s questionnaire was used to collect data on ability streaming from students. A pilot study was used to validate and ensure reliability of the research instruments. Both descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were used to analyze data with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The results were presented using frequency tables. The results showed that there was a relationship between ability streaming and academic inferiority feelings with most of the respondents having moderate feelings of academic inferiority i.e. 83%. Sex differences were found in ability streaming in regard to academic inferiority feelings. Boys experienced a slightly higher level of academic inferiority feelings with a mean of 67.11as compared to girls who had a mean 65.08. A major recommendation of the study among others was that the ministry of education should try to do away with ability streaming in schools which makes the students feel academically inferior.
THE ECONOMIC PAMPHLETEER: Realities of regenerative agriculture
Authors: Ikerd John
Published: February 2021

Regenerative agriculture is the latest phrase in the sustainable agriculture movement (Mer­field, 2019). Many early advocates have become disenchanted with the concept of sustainable agri­culture. Some claim it has been co-opted, misused, and essentially made useless by the defenders of industrial agriculture. However, regenerative agri­culture faces the same risks if it is not defined in terms that ensure agricultural sustainability.
Approximation of Functions in Besov Space
Authors: Nigam Hare Krishna , Rani Supriya
Published: February 2021

In the present paper, we establish a theorem on best approximation of a function g ∈ Bqλ(Lr) of its Fourier series. Our main theorem generalizes some known results of this direction of work. Thus, the results of [10], [26] and [27] become the particular case of our main Theorem 3.1.
General Decay of Solutions in One-Dimensional Porous-Elastic with Memory and Distributed Delay Term
Authors: Choucha Abdelbaki , Ouchenane Djamel , Zennir Khaled
Published: February 2021

As a continuity to the study by T. A. Apalarain[3], we consider a one-dimensional porous-elastic system with the presence of both memory and distributed delay terms in the second equation. Using the well known energy method combined with Lyapunov functionals approach, we prove a general decay result given in Theorem 2.1.
A Common Solution of Equilibrium, Constrained Convex Minimization, and Fixed Point Problems
Authors: Yazdi Maryam
Published: February 2021

In this paper, we propose a new iterative scheme with the help of the gradient- projection algorithm (GPA) for finding a common solution of an equilibrium problem, a constrained convex minimization problem, and a fixed point problem. Then, we prove some strong convergence theorems which improve and extend some recent results. Moreover, we give a numerical result to show the validity of our main theorem.
"Should we be afraid of Ebola?" A study of students' learning progressions in context-based science teaching
Authors: Lagerström Malin Lavett , Piqueras Jesús , Palm Ola
Published: February 2021

In this study, we explored how learning progressions were established in a context-based science teachingunit. A science class in secondary school was followed during a teaching unit in Biology, in which theEbola disease was used as context. Teaching was planned using the didactical model organizing purposes.Learning progressions were studied as continuity between teaching purposes, the science content andthe context in four sequential lessons. The analysis of teaching evidenced a considerable variation inhow learning progressions were constituted within lessons and showed how learning progressions coulddevelop between lessons through the combination of different teaching activities. By consistently mentioningand referring to Ebola, the teacher had a pivotal role in establishing relations between teachingpurposes, the content and the context. Furthermore, our results evidence the important role of the contextin supporting students’ learning of science content. Finally, we discuss concrete actions in the planning ofthe unit to improve lessons that evidenced a weaker connection to the context.
Recognition of Soybean Diseases Using Machine Learning Techniques Based on Segmentation of Images Captured By UAVs
Authors: Da Silva Gercina , Ferreira Alessandro , Guilherme Denilson , Grigolli José Fernando , Weber Vanessa , Pistori Hemerson
Published: February 2021

Soybean is an important product for the Brazilian economy, however it has factors that can limit its productive income, like the diseases that are generally difficult to control. Thus, this article aims to use a computer program to recognize diseases in images obtained by a UAV in a soybean plantation. The program is based on computer vision and machine learning, using the SLIC algorithm to segment the images into superpixels. To achieve the objective, after the segmentation of the images, an image dataset was created with the following classes: mildew, target spot, Asian rust, soil, straw and healthy leaves, totaling 22,140 images. Diagrammatic scales were used to assess disease severity. The disease recognition computer program explored four supervised learning techniques: SVM, J48, Random Forest and KNN. The techniques that obtained the best performance were SVM and Random Forests, taking into account the results obtained with all the evaluation metrics used. It was found that the program is efficient to differentiate the classes of diseases treated in this article.
A New Method for Gait Recognition Using 2D Poses
Authors: Jangua Daniel , Marana Aparecido
Published: February 2021

Over the last decades, biometrics has become an important way for human identification in many areas, since it can avoid frauds and increase the security of individuals in society. Nowadays, most popular biometric systems are based on fingerprint and face features. Despite the great development observed in Biometrics, an important challenge lasts, which is the automatic people identification in low-resolution videos captured in unconstrained scenarios, at a distance, in a covert and noninvasive way, with little or none subject cooperation. In these cases, gait biometrics can be the only choice. The goal of this work is to propose a new method for gait recognition using information extracted from 2D poses estimated over video sequences. For 2D pose estimation, our method uses OpenPose, an open-source robust pose estimator, capable of real-time multi-person detection and pose estimation with high accuracy and a good computational performance. In order to assess the new proposed method, we used two public gait datasets, CASIA Gait Dataset-A and CASIA Gait Dataset-B. Both datasets have videos of a number of people walking in different directions and conditions. In our new method, the classification is carried out by a 1-NN classifier. The best results were obtained by using the chi-square distance function, which obtained 95.00% of rank-1 recognition rate on CASIA Gait Dataset-A and 94.22% of rank-1 recognition rate on CASIA Gait Dataset-B, which are comparable to state-of-the-art results.
Using CNNs for Quality Assessment of No-Reference and Full-Reference Compressed-Video Frames
Authors: Da Silva Renato , Brito Luiz , Albertini Marcelo , Do Nascimento Marcelo , Backes André
Published: February 2021

For videos to be streamed, they have to be coded and sent to users as signals that are decoded back to be reproduced. This coding-decoding process may result in distortion that can bring differences in the quality perception of the content, consequently, influencing user experience. The approach proposed by Bosse et al. [1] suggests an Image Quality Assessment (IQA) method using an automated process. They use image datasets prelabeled with quality scores to perform a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) training. Then, based on the CNN models, they are able to perform predictions of image quality using both Full- Reference (FR) and No-Reference (NR) evaluation. In this paper, we explore these methods exposing the CNN quality prediction to images extracted from actual videos. Various quality compression levels were applied to them as well as two different video codecs. We also evaluated how their models perform while predicting human visual perception of quality in scenarios where there is no human pre-evaluation, observing its behavior along with metrics such as SSIM and PSNR. We observe that FR model is able to better infer human perception of quality for compressed videos. Differently, NR model does not show the same behaviour for most of the evaluated videos.
Neonatal Pain Assessment From Facial Expression Using Deep Neural Networks
Authors: Buzuti Lucas , Heideirich Tatiany , Barros Marina , Guinsburg Ruth , Thomaz Carlos
Published: February 2021

Currently, neonatal pain assessment varies among health professionals, leading to late intervention and flimsy treatment of pain in several occasions. Therefore, it is essential to understand the deficiencies of the current pattern of pain assessment tools in order to develop new ones, less subjective and susceptible to external variable influences. The aim of this paper is to investigate neonatal pain assessment using two models of Deep Learning: Neonatal Convolutional Neural Network trained end-to-end and ResNet trained using Transfer Learning. We used for training two distinct databases (COPE and Unifesp) and our results showed that the use of multi-racial databases might improve the evaluation of automatic models of neonatal pain assessment.
RUMICAM: A New Device for Cattle Rumination Analysis
Authors: De Oliveira Gilberto , Carmona Milena , Pistori Julia , De Oliveira Patricia , Mateus Rodrigo , Menezes Geazy , Weber Vanessa , Le Bourlegat Cleonice , Pistori Hemerson
Published: February 2021

Rumination may reveal important behavioral aspects of livestock animals and has been increasingly studied using new sensors technologies. In this work a new device was developed to collect close-up videos from the animal mouth during the rumination period. Using shallow and deep machine learning techniques, a software that classifies the basic mouth movements from these images has also been developed. A baseline performance for this equipment has been established using the Fscore metric. SVM achieved the highest F-score of 79.3% for the shallow learning approach. The best F-score using deep learning was 75% using VGG16.
Maize leaf disease classification using convolutional neural networks and hyperparameter optimization
Authors: Da Rocha Erik Lucas , Rodrigues Larissa , Mari João Fernando
Published: February 2021

Maize is an important food crop in the world, but several diseases affect the quality and quantity of agricultural production. Identifying these diseases is a very subjective and time-consuming task. The use of computer vision techniques allows automatizing this task and is essential in agricultural applications. In this study, we assess the performance of three state-of-the-art convolutional neural network architectures to classify maize leaf diseases. We apply enhancement methods such as Bayesian hyperparameter optimization, data augmentation, and fine-tuning strategies. We evaluate these CNNs on the maize leaf images from PlantVillage dataset, and all experiments were validated using a five-fold cross-validation procedure over the training and test sets. Our findings include the correlation between the maize leaf classes and the impact of data augmentation in pre-trained models. The results show that maize leaf disease classification reached 97% of accuracy for all CNNs models evaluated. Also, our approach provides new perspectives for the identification of leaf diseases based on computer vision strategies.
Fully-Connected Neural Network for COVID-19 Chest X-Ray Imaging Classification Using Hybrid Features
Authors: Viveiros Victor Hugo , Lima Rayanne , Martins Fernando Lucas , Coelho Alessandra , Baffa Matheus
Published: February 2021

Discovered on 31st December of 2019, the new Coronavirus has a high transmission capacity and was considered pandemic by the World Health Organization. In only six months is was able to spread all over the world and cause more than 600 thousand deaths. Early diagnosis is essential for governments to take public policies, such as social isolation, commerce control, and contact tracking. In order to make these actions, massive tests are required. On the other hand, diagnosis kits are expensive and not accessible to everyone. Medical imaging, such as thoracic x-ray and Computational Tomography (CT) has been used to visualize the lung and to verify at the first moment the presence of viral pneumonia. However, some countries have few radiologists specializing in chest x-ray analysis. The findings in the image are generally not so easy to see and can easily be confused with traditional pneumonia findings. For this reason, studies in Computer Vision are necessary, both to detect anomalies in imaging and to differentiate the other types of pneumonia. This paper addresses the initial results of a research, which developed an image classification methodology to differentiate x-ray images from sick patients, infected with Coronavirus, and healthy patients. The proposed method, based on the extraction and detection of patterns in texture and color features through a Deep Neural Network, obtained an average accuracy of 95% following a k-fold cross-validation experiment.
Verwaltung als Zweitberuf: Soldatinnen und Soldaten schulen um
Authors: Franzke Bettina , Esser Benjamin
Published: February 2021

Menschen mit beruflichen Vorerfahrungen bilden einen Aspekt von Diversität innerhalb der Organisation. Es wurden die Beweggründe sowie Erfahrungen von ehemaligen Zeitsoldatinnen und -soldaten untersucht, die ein Studium für den gehobenen Verwaltungsdienst absolvieren. Die Betreffenden beschreiben ihre Bundeswehrzeit als herausfordernd und abwechslungsreich. Diese war auch von intensiver Kameradschaft geprägt. Die Entscheidung zu einem Wechsel in die öffentliche Verwaltung folgte dem Bedürfnis nach Sicherheit und heimatnaher Verwendung. Dabei gehen konventionelle Interessen, die Loyalität zum Staat, Erfahrung mit Recht und Gesetz, die Kenntnis von Behördenstrukturen und die Bereitschaft zur Verantwortungsübernahme in den neuen Beruf ein. Mit den ehemaligen Soldatinnen und Soldaten bekommen Verwaltungen staatsnah denkendes Personal mit spezifischen Anforderungen bei der Ansprache und Förderung.
Evaluation of Multicast and Unicast Routing Protocols Performance for Group Communication with QoS Constraints in 802.11 Mobile Ad-hoc Networks
Authors:   Begum Rokeya University, Department of Electrical and Electronic Eng., Rangpur-5400, Bangladesh, Kumar Debnath Sumon , Saha Mousumi , Islam Md. Manowarul , Sarker Prodip Kumar , Pramanik Ileas
Published: February 2021

In Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET), portable devices like smartphones, or laptop PC can join together to make provisional networks without any infrastructure The objective of multicast or unicast protocols is to ensure an efficient route formation and flow control mechanism which is a very challenging issue for many group computing services in MANETs. MANETs can support several real-time applications like emergency rescue, and disaster relief operations which require minimum Quality of Service (QoS) to handle high traffic. Providing QoS for multimedia and group-oriented computing in MANETs becomes a real challenge due to the wireless medium and the mobility of operating nodes. Therefore, an investigation of routing protocols for one-to-many or many-to-many computing is important that supports acceptable QoS in MANETs. Numerous QoS metrics have been considered for the assessment like packet delivery ratio, latency, packet loss rate, control overhead, and throughput. By considering different network topologies and scenarios with different performance parameters, the primary goal of this study is to explore the challenges and factors for QoS services in MANET’s multicast communication. The outcomes of investigation can be used to design the future MANET protocol for multimedia applications. The performance results indicate that the increasing number of sending/receiving nodes may increase the overhead or latency of the network but capable of providing higher network throughput, carried out in NS-2. The results also indicate although MANETs can induce errors and packets are lost as part of the normal operating context, multicast AODV practice superior to the unicast protocol to various QoS in a wide range of scenarios with less overhead.
Application of Generalized Measure of ‘Useful’ R-norm Inaccuracy and Total Ambiguity
Authors:   Department of Statistics, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India, Manzoor Saima , Peerzada Safina , K. Baig Mirza A.
Published: February 2021

In the present paper, we introduce generalized measure of ‘useful’ R-norm inaccuracy having two parameters and its analogue ‘useful’ R-norm total ambiguity measure by merging together the concepts of probability, fuzziness, Rnorm, ‘useful’ information and inaccuracy. Along with the basic properties, some other important properties of these two proposed measures are stated. These measures are generalizations of some well-known inaccuracy measures. Further, the monotonic behaviour of the proposed ‘useful’ R-norm inaccuracy measures is studied and the graphical overview is given. The measure of information improvement for both the measures is also obtained. Lastly, the application of ‘useful’ R-norm total ambiguity measure is presented in terms of multi-criteria decision making. For all the numerical calculations R software is used.
Off-line Handwritten Signature Verification System: Artificial Neural Network Approach
Authors:   Department of Mechatronics and System Engineering, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Nigeria, Tahir N. M. Tahir , Ausat Adam N. , Bature Usman I. , Abubakar Kamal A. , Gambo Ibrahim
Published: February 2021

Nowadays, it is evident that signature is commonly used for personal verification, this justifies the necessity for an Automatic Verification System (AVS). Based on the application, verification could either be achieved Offline or Online. An online system uses the signature’s dynamic information; such information is captured at the instant the signature is generated. An offline system, on the other hand, uses an image (the signature is scanned). In this paper, some set of simple shaped geometric features are used in achieving offline Verification of signatures. These features include Baseline Slant Angle (BSA), Aspect Ratio (AR), and Normalized Area (NA), Center of Gravity as well as the line’s Slope that joins the Center of Gravities of the signature’s image two splits. Before the features extraction, a signature preprocessing is necessary to segregate its parts as well as to eliminate any available spurious noise. Primarily, System training is achieved via a signature record which was acquired from personalities whose signatures had to be validated through the system. An average signature is acquired for each subject as a result of incorporating the aforementioned features which were derived from a sample set of the subject’s true signatures. Therefore, a signature functions as the prototype for authentication against a requested test signature. The similarity measure within the feature space between the two signatures is determined by Euclidian distance. If the Euclidian distance is lower than a set threshold (i.e. analogous to the minimum acceptable degree of similarity), the test signature is certified as that of the claiming subject otherwise detected as a forgery. Details on the stated features, pre-processing, implementation, and the results are presented in this work.
Evaluation of TSP for Emergency Routing
Authors:   Department of Computer Science, American International University-Bangladesh, Zaman A. G. M. , Hasan Sajib , Ullah Mohammad Samawat
Published: February 2021

The paper considers the symmetric traveling salesman problem and applies it to sixty-four (64) districts of Bangladesh (with geographic coordinates) as a new instance of the problem of finding an optimized route in need of emergency. It approached three different algorithms namely Integer Linear Programming, Nearest-neighbor, and Metric TSP as exact, heuristic, or approximate methods of solving the NP-hard class of problem to model the emergency route planning. These algorithms have been implanted using computer codes, used IBM ILOG CPLEX parallel optimization, visualized using Geographic Information System tools. The performance of these algorithms also has been evaluated in terms of computational complexity, their run-time, and resulted tour distance using exact, approximate, and heuristic methods to find the best fit of route optimization in emergence thus contributing to the field of combinatorial optimization.
Friendship and Metaphor
Authors: Ariss Iloe ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: February 2021

In this paper, I identify and distinguish different modes of thinking at work in Hannah Arendt’s Denktagebuch and letters. In the Denktagebuch, her thinking is dialogical, as she engages with herself in a dialogue of thought, while her writing is a product of poetic thinking. In the letters, her dialogical thinking is not only with herself, but with friends and correspondents, and poetic thinking takes the form of the material letter itself. Arendt engages in a dialogue of thought both with herself, who is a friend, and her correspondents, who are also friends. Arendt’s personal writings, that is, her letters and her Denktagebuch reveal a close relationship between private, solitary thinking, and thinking and writing that appear in public.
The Ancient Readers of Augustine’s City of God
Authors: Gassman Mattias ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: February 2021

Recent scholarship has held that De ciuitate Dei was aimed primarily at Christians. Through a comprehensive study of Augustine’s correspondence with known readers of De ciuitate Dei, this article argues that he in fact intended it for practical outreach. Beginning with the exchange with Volusianus and Marcellinus, it argues that the “circle of Volusianus” was not comprised of self-confident pagans but of a dynamic group of locals and émigrés, pagan and Christian, who had briefly coalesced around Volusianus and Marcellinus. The Carthaginian social situation did not greatly change, therefore, after Marcellinus’s execution and Volusianus’s departure. Neither did Augustine’s aims, of which the same picture emerges from Augustine’s later correspondence with Macedonius, Evodius, Peter and Abraham, Firmus, and Darius, and from Orosius. Augustine intended, from the first inception of De ciuitate Dei to the eve of his death, to use it to equip Christians with arguments and, through those Christians’ efforts in turn, to convince once-reluctant pagans to embrace the truth of its claims.
Maps and Blandscapes
Authors: Thomas Emily ,   TPM: The Philosophers' Magazine
Published: February 2021

Travel writer Colin Thubron once wrote, “over there, as likely as not, everything will be depressingly the same”. Is the world homogenising, everywhere morphing into everywhere else? The worldwide lockdown seems like a good time to armchair travel and reflect on places other than our own. Using the philosophy of maps, I argue we should be optimistic: our world is not everywhere the same.
Socrates
Authors: Rudebusch George ,   TPM: The Philosophers' Magazine
Published: February 2021

Socrates argued that the unexamined life is not worth living. What this means is we are so ignorant that we are guilty of criminal negligence how to lead our lives, unless we do our due diligence by philosophising.
Javier San Martín. Antropología Filosófica I. De la Antropología Científica a la Filosófica. Madrid, Uned, 2013, 431 pp.
Authors: Rodríguez Sonia E.
Published: February 2021

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A Look Back into Ancient Egyptian Linguistic Studies (c. 1995-2019)
Authors: Gracia Zamacona Carlos
Published: February 2021

En este artículo se propone una revisión personal de la investigación lingüística de los últimos 25 años sobre el egipcio antiguo, la lengua hablada y escrita en Egipto desde el origen de la civilización egipcia escrita (hacia 3150 a. Jc.) hasta la desaparición del copto como lengua viva (siglo XVII d. Jc.), la lengua humana documentada durante más tiempo. Con este fin, se revisarán las principales corrientes teóricas y su relación con la enseñanza del antiguo egipcio en ámbito universitario. Mediante el análisis de la bibliografía más relevante de este periodo, se comentan cuatro líneas de investigación productivas: forma y función; documentos y lengua; léxico y gramática; y metalingüística en el Egipto antiguo. El artículo finaliza con un breve comentario sobre la necesidad de más estudios basados en corpora en el futuro, en lugar de los basados en marcos teóricos para la interpretación del egipcio antiguo.

This article provides a personal overview of the last 25-year linguistic research on ancient Egyptian, the language spoken and written in Egypt since the origin of the written Egyptian civilization (c. 3150 BC) until the disappearance of Coptic as a living language (17th century AC), the longest-attested human language. With this purpose, the main theoretical approaches and their relationship to teaching ancient Egyptian at the university are reviewed. Through the analysis of the more relevant bibliography of the period, four productive research lines are discussed: form and function; documents and the language; lexicon and grammar; and ancient Egyptian metalinguistics. The article ends with a short comment on the need of more corpus-based studies in the future instead of theoretically-based frameworks for interpreting the ancient Egyptian language.
‘Bruja Escarlata y Visión’: las teorías son el mensaje
Authors: Roig Antoni
Published: February 2021

Uno de los acontecimientos televisivos –y cinematográficos– más esperados de 2021 es la serie "Bruja Escarlata y Visión" (WandaVision, Disney+). Porque, tras un año de retrasos e incertidumbre en las salas de cine, marca el inicio de una nueva fase de esa locomotora que es el Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Porque se nos ha ido sugiriendo que la serie plantea un experimento formal nunca visto. Y porque se está jugando con nuestra capacidad para formular teorías hasta extremos insospechados. En este artículo, escrito con la serie en marcha, no encontraréis revelaciones (¿no?), sino una mirada a por qué Bruja Escarlata y Visión es una contribución muy relevante a la cultura popular contemporánea. Puede haber spoilers, pero...
Memoria, género y comunidad en los prólogos de Rosalía de Castro
Authors: Camino Plaza Laura
Published: February 2021

Todo prólogo autobiográfico a una obra resulta un paratexto que, además de constituirse como una orientación de lectura susceptible de análisis por su propio contenido, se configura también como un elemento relevante desde el punto de vista de la enunciación literaria, en cuanto que es entendido al margen de las diversas estrategias de ficción que luego el autor o autora desplegará en el texto central. Es desde esta condición que resulta interesante observar los proemios de La hija del mar (1859), Cantares gallegos (1863) y Follas novas (1880) de Rosalía de Castro, que serán comentados en torno a tres parámetros de análisis principales: memoria, género y comunidad. En primer lugar, será oportuno analizar los prólogos rosalianos como lugares de memoria en sí mismos, en los que la voz autorial deja apuntalado un mensaje dirigido al público lector. A continuación, se revisarán los proemios de Rosalía de Castro a la luz de su condición de mujer y escritora, una cuestión no menor para las autoras del siglo XIX. Por último, se interpretarán los distintos tipos de comunidad que podemos encontrar esbozados en los prólogos de La hija del mar, Cantares gallegos y Follas novas a partir de la conformación textual y simbólica de una memoria social y unos afectos colectivos.
México y sus alrededores: monumentos, paisajes y la definición de la historia. Relectura en torno a las colecciones de paisajes y monumentos en México
Authors: Bobadilla Encinas Gerardo Francisco
Published: February 2021

Luego de reconocer los múltiples factores que determinaron el desarrollo de las colecciones de paisajes y monumentos en la tradición cultural, artística y literaria mexicana –los álbumes compuestos y editados por los pintores viajeros (1828-1855), el auge de las publicaciones periódicas, de la vertiente pintoresquista del costumbrismo y el dominio e inclusión de la litografía (1843)–, se estudia México y sus alrededores. Colección de vistas, monumentos y trajes del país (1855). El objetivo es reconocer tanto sus deudas con la tradición así como las reformulaciones y replanteamientos que hace de ella, conjunción de relaciones que la convirtieron en la obra cimera del subgénero de las colecciones de monumentos y paisajes en México. Se busca releer así un(os) texto(s) fundacional(es) de la literatura y la cultura mexicana, para complejizar la comprensión de ese proceso de la historia de la cultura literaria que contribuyó a consolidar discursiva e icónicamente la independencia cultural, mental, de México y el mexicano durante el siglo XIX.
Escritura y alfabeto en redes ikoots: más allá de la norma
Authors: Montero Gutenberg Gervasio
Published: February 2021

El uso de las tecnologías digitales por los pueblos indígenas se ha planteado preeminentemente desde dos perspectivas: en una se habla de la exclusión generalizada del ciberespacio para la mayoría de la población indígena, por el poderío económico y político de otras entidades; en la otra, se entiende como la oportunidad que tienen los pueblos, las comunidades y los individuos para apropiarse de nuevos espacios de uso para las lenguas y la recreación de la cultura en más amplios términos. En esta colaboración se pretende abordar la cuestión del uso de la escritura en las redes sociales por parte de los ikoots (huaves). Se lleva a cabo un análisis de la producción escrita de dos grupos de personas en dos redes sociales –Facebook y WhatsApp– para observar cómo las formas de escritura se realizan bajo sus propias convenciones ortográficas, dejando de lado la cuestión de la normalización de la escritura o del uso correcto de las grafías. No obstante, revisar qué hacen estos grupos con el escrito, permite ver cuáles son las formas de escritura que prefiere la mayoría o sobre las cuales llegan a acuerdos.
Ações afirmativas na educação superior: a experiência da Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul
Authors: Nierotka Rosileia Lucia , Trevisol Joviles Vitório
Published: February 2021

Este livro apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa que teve o objetivo de investigar as políticas de acesso e as ações afirmativas implementadas pela UFFS, com o propósito de compreender como tais políticas contribuem para o processo de democratização da educação superior pública brasileira. Ao tomar a UFFS como objeto de estudo, foi possível considerar que as suas políticas de acesso e ações afirmativas contribuem para a democratização da educação superior pública brasileira. No entanto, é necessário considerar que se trata de uma instituição ainda muito jovem. Ainda há muitos desafios e questionamentos para que, de fato, possa se consolidar como uma universidade inclusiva, com uma educação pública e de qualidade. Mesmo sendo jovem, os resultados demonstraram que a UFFS, desde sua criação, priorizou a escola pública em suas políticas de acesso.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Three‑dimensional Mapping and Change Detection Analysis
Authors: Gbopa Adetola Olufunmilayo , Ayodele Emmanuel Gbenga , Okolie Chukwuma John , Ajayi Akinwumi Olaitan , Iheaturu Chima Jude
Published: February 2021

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones are increasingly being used for three‑dimensional (3D) mapping of the environment. This study utilised UAV technology to produce a revised 3D map of the University of Lagos as well as land cover change detection analysis. A DJI Phantom 4 UAV was used to collect digital images at a flying height of 90 m, and 75% fore and 65% side overlaps. Ground control points (GCPs) for orthophoto rectification were coordinated with a Trimble R8 Global Navigation Satellite System. Pix4D Mapper was used to produce a digital terrain model and an orthophoto at a ground sampling distance of 4.36 cm. The change detection analysis, using the 2015 base map as reference, revealed a significant change in the land cover such as an increase of 16,306.7 m2 in buildings between 2015 and 2019. The root mean square error analysis performed using 7 GCPs showed a horizontal and vertical accuracy of 0.183 m and 0.157 m respectively. This suggests a high level of accuracy, which is adequate for 3D mapping and change detection analysis at a sustainable cost.
An Evaluation of Some Machine Learning Algorithms as Tools for Predicting Soil Characteristics Based on Their Spectral Response in the Vis‑NIR Range
Authors: Gruszczyński Stanisław
Published: February 2021

Using the Land Use and Coverage Frame Survey (LUCAS) database of European soil surface layer properties, statistical and machine learning predictive models for several key soil characteristics (clay content, pH in CaCl2, concentration of organic carbon, calcium carbonates and nitrogen and exchange cations capacity) were compared on the basis of processing their spectral responses in the visible (Vis) and near‑infrared (NIR) parts. Standard methods of relationship modeling were used: stepwise regression, partial least squares regression and linear regression with input data obtained from principal components analysis. Using the inputs extracted by statistical algorithms various machine learning algorithms were used in the modeling. The usefulness of the models was analyzed by comparison with the values of the determination coefficients, the root mean square error and the distribution of residual values. The mean square error of estimation in the cross‑validation procedure for the stack model using the multilayer perceptron and the distributed random forest were as follows: for clay content – ca. 4.5%; for pH – ca. 0.35; for SOC – ca. 7.5 g/kg (0.75% by weight); for CaCO3 content – ca. 19 g/kg; for N content – ca. 0.50 g/kg; and for CEC – ca. 3.5 cmol(+)/kg.
Like a clock in the rabbit's visual cortex
Authors: Chavane Frédéric , Contreras Diego
Published: February 2021

Three rules govern the connectivity between neurons in the thalamus and inhibitory neurons in the visual cortex of rabbits.
Genome-wide identification, characterisation, and evolution of ABF/AREB subfamily in nine Rosaceae species and expression analysis in mei (Prunus mume)
Authors: Yong Xue , Zheng Tangchun , Zhuo Xiaokang , Ahmad Sagheer , Li Lulu , Li Ping , Yu Jiayao , Wang Jia , Cheng Tangren , Zhang Qixiang
Published: February 2021

Rosaceae is an important family containing some of the highly evolved fruit and ornamental plants. Abiotic stress responses play key roles in the seasonal growth and development of plants. However, the molecular basis of stress responses remains largely unknown in Rosaceae. Abscisic acid (ABA) is a stress hormone involving abiotic stress response pathways. The ABRE-binding factor/ABA-responsive element-binding protein (ABF/AREB) is a subfamily of the basic domain/leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor family. It plays an important role in the ABA-mediated signaling pathway. Here, we analyzed the ABF/AREB subfamily genes in nine Rosaceae species. A total of 64 ABF/AREB genes were identified, including 18, 28, and 18 genes in the Rosoideae, Amygdaloideae, and Maloideae traditional subfamilies, respectively. The evolutionary relationship of the ABF/AREB subfamily genes was studied through the phylogenetic analysis, the gene structure and conserved motif composition, Ka/Ks values, and interspecies colinearity. These gene sets were clustered into four groups. In the Prunus ABF/AREB (PmABF) promoters, several cis-elements related to light, hormone, and abiotic stress response were predicted. PmABFs expressed in five different tissues, except PmABF5, which expressed only in buds. In the dormancy stages, PmABF1, 2, 5 and 7 showed differential expression. The expression of PmABF3, 4 and 6 was positively correlated with the ABA concentration. Except for PmABF5, all the PmABFs were sensitive to ABA. Several ABRE elements were contained in the promoters of PmABF1, 3, 6, 7. Based on the findings of our study, we speculate that PmABFs may play a role in flower bud dormancy in P. mume.
Study of Autoantibodies and DQ Antigens in Patient with Celiac Disease
Authors: Zehra Andleeb , Usha . , Katiyar Richa , Singh Shailja , Bharti Anju , Agrawal Neeraj Kumar , Mishra Om Prakash , Kumar Mohan
Published: February 2021

Introduction: Celiac Disease (CD) is a chronic autoimmune mediated disorder triggered by the ingestion of gluten. It is seen in genetically predisposed person and results in small intestine injury. Its aetiopathogenesis is not clear. Simple histopathology is not able to diagnose the disease many times. Aim: Aim of present study was to assess the prevalence of HLA DQ alleles and autoantibodies in diagnosis of the disease and association of DQ antigens with Type 1 Diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and autoimmune hypothyroidism in CD patients. Materials and Methods: Total 100 cases of CD and 31 healthy controls were studied, within a period of January 2015 to Febuary 2016. Autoantibodies like ANA, anti-tTg, anti-TPO and anti-scl 70 were done by ELISA kits. HLA DQ typing was done in 44 cases of CD, 20 cases of CD with T1DM, 22 cases of CD with autoimmune thyroid disease and 31 healthy controls. HLA DQ typing was done by SSO hybridisation method by Mr. SPOT machine. Results: About 70% patients were children between 6 months to 20 years of age and female formed the maximum number of cases (60%). Anti-tTg ab was positive in all cases (100%), anti-Scl 70 Ab was positive in 25%, anti-TPO ab was found in 22% and ANA was positive in only 10% cases. Most frequent DQβ1 haplotype in CD were DQβ1*02:01 (45.5%, p<0.001) and DQβ1*02:02 (20.5%, p=0.007) while DQ*06:01 was significantly more common in controls suggesting its protective role. Among DQα1 typing DQα1*05:01 (45.5%, p<0.001) and DQα1*05:05 (40.9%, p<0.001) which were significantly more in CD than controls. Contrary to this DQα1*01:01, DQα1*01:03 and DQα1*01:04 were significantly reduced in CD patients. CD patients associated with T1DM and autoimmune thyroid disease had significantly more DQβ1 02:01, DQβ1*02:02, DQα1*05:01 and DQα1*05:05. Conclusion: CD is an autoimmune disease, DQ typing should be kept in diagnostic criteria of CD. Association of autoimmune thyroid diseases and T1DM in CD is due to common sharing of these DQ antigens suggesting its role in predisposing autoimmune diseases.
Prevalence of Soft Tissue Tumours in Duhok-Iraq: A Practical Immunohistochemical Approach
Authors: Pity Intisar Salim , Muhi Omar Salim
Published: February 2021

Introduction: The field of Soft Tissue Tumours (STT) is enormously vast, and yet histologically and relatively vague. Although benign tumours are more common than malignant tumours, the relative rarity of sarcomas, little knowledge, and insufficient local studies, made the authors eager to search more through this field and explore the hidden and unobvious features of these tumours in our locality. Aim: The study aimed to apply traditional and updated antibodies to characterise STT in Duhok-Iraq, morphologically and immunohistochemically. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 886 STT were received in the Department of Histopathology in Central General Laboratories and Vin Private Laboratories, Duhok-Iraq, over a period of 11 consecutive years (January, 2009 to December, 2019). Cases were studied clinically and then, morphologically categorised. Immunohistochemical workup was performed when needed, to sub-classify undifferentiated tumours. Results: Benign tumours (n=768) ovarian sarcomas (n=118) by a ratio of 6.5:1, both showed a wide age range (1 month to 82 years), with peak in the fourth decade and with no sex predilection. Also, limbs were more commonly affected by both benign and malignant tumours.Lipomas topped the benign STT 328 (42.7%) followed by vascular tumours 178 (23.2%). Regarding sarcomas, 29 (24.5%) remained unclassifiable and were typed as Sarcoma Not Otherwise Specified (NOS). For the specifically diagnosed malignancies, leiomyosarcoma 24 (20.3%) topped the list, followed by rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing’s/Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour (PNET) 12 (10.1%) each, Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans (DFSP) and liposarcoma 11 (9.4%) each and synovial sarcoma 6 (5.1%). Conclusion: Benign STT were more common than sarcomas. Diagnosis and classification of STT should be based on acumen histologic grounds which is sufficient for most benign tumours and to some extent for sarcomas. Undifferentiated sarcomas cannot be categorised without immunohistochemistry. However, loss of some differentiation antigens in undifferentiated cancers often necessitate the use of panels of antibodies, and considerable cases even need further evaluation, like molecular studies.
A Comparative Study of Cytomorphological Patterns of Lymph Node Aspirates in Paediatric and Adult Populations
Authors: Dedeepya M , Ramaswamy AS , Kumarguru BN , Kumar M Udaya
Published: February 2021

Introduction: Lymphadenopathy is one of the most common clinical presentations of patients. Lymph node is a commonly aspirated organ for diagnostic purposes. Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) of lymph node has become an integral part of initial diagnosis and management. Aim: To compare the cytomorphological patterns of the lymph node lesions in the paediatric population with that of the adult population and to correlate with the available histopathological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: It was a retrospective observational study of lymph node lesions conducted at a rural tertiary care referral institute, PES Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PESIMSR), Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India, from January 2017 to June 2018 for a period of 18 months. Cytology smears were retrieved, reviewed and analysed. Cytological diagnosis was compared with available histopathological diagnosis and concordance was calculated. Chi-square test was the statistical tool used to analyse the data in the study. Results: Two hundred and seventy four cases were analysed. Adult population constituted 225 cases (82.12%). Paediatric population constituted 49 cases (17.88%). Reactive lymphadenitis was the commonest pattern in both the groups. Chronic lymphoproliferative lesions {4 cases (1.7%)} constituted the least common lesion in adults and mycobacterial lymphadenitis {1 case (2.04%)} constituted the least common lesion in paediatric population. Conclusion: Distribution of cytological patterns of lymph node lesions in paediatric and adult populations are different and are found to be statistically significant. Cytological evaluation of lymph node lesions has a high diagnostic efficacy for the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions.
An Audit of Indications for Hysterectomy in a District Hospital, Madikeri
Authors: Mallappa Sumanashree , Ramanujam Aishwarya , Monnappa Priyadarshini , Kulkarni Padmaja
Published: February 2021

Introduction: Hysterectomy is the removal of the uterus and is the most common gynaecological operation done in females worldwide. In the early 20th century, hysterectomies were done for many conditions like leiomyoma, Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (DUB), chronic pelvic pain, endometriosis, adenomyosis, prolapse, and malignancies. Considering that the procedure has a 20-35% life risk, it calls for a thorough justification before consideration. A hysterectomy has mental, physical, social, economic and psychosexual impact, apart from intraoperative and postoperative complications. Thus, an audit on hysterectomies was done to help students, medical fraternity, and the women of Kodagu in having a better understanding of hysterectomies. Aim: To conduct an audit on hysterectomies performed for gynaecological indications to correlate pre-operative diagnosis with the histopathological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which included all elective hysterectomies performed for gynaecological indications conducted at the District Hospital of Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences, Madikeri from January 2018-June 2019. All cases of hysterectomies were considered except Caesarean peripartal hysterectomies. The histopathological findings of the endometrium, myometrium, cervix, ovaries and fallopian tubes were recorded. Findings were tabulated as frequency and percentage. Then, using the data, preoperative indications were compared with postoperative histopathological findings to know if hysterectomy was justified. Results: A total of 238 hysterectomies were performed during 18 months in the District Hospital. Abdominal and vaginal approaches were used. Panhysterectomy via abdominal approach was the most common type of hysterectomy. The most common age group where hysterectomy occurred was 41-60 years. The most common indication for hysterectomy was found to be Fibroid uterus. Analysis of the myometrial findings revealed that the most common finding was leiomyoma. Majority of ovaries and fallopian tubes did not show significant pathology. Conclusion: Panhysterectomy was the most common type of hysterectomy. Fibroid were the most common histopathological findings and medium and small sized fibroids can be given a trial of nonsurgical management. Injudicious use of hysterectomy procedure has multiple loop holes involving medical fraternity, socioeconomic conditions of women and attitude of society towards female reproductive health.