PART: Pre-trained Authorship Representation Transformer

Authors writing documents imprint identifying information within their texts: vocabulary, registry, punctuation, misspellings, or even emoji usage. Finding these details is very relevant to profile authors, relating back to their gender, occupation, age, and so on. But most importantly, repeating writing patterns can help attributing authorship to a text. Previous works use hand-crafted features or classification tasks to train their authorship models, leading to poor performance on out-of-domain authors. A better approach to this task is to learn stylometric representations, but this by itself is an open research challenge. In this paper, we propose PART: a contrastively trained model fit to learn \textbf{authorship embeddings} instead of semantics. By comparing pairs of documents written by the same author, we are able to determine the proprietary of a text by evaluating the cosine similarity of the evaluated documents, a zero-shot generalization to authorship identification. To this end, a pre-trained Transformer with an LSTM head is trained with the contrastive training method. We train our model on a diverse set of authors, from literature, anonymous blog posters and corporate emails; a heterogeneous set with distinct and identifiable writing styles. The model is evaluated on these datasets, achieving zero-shot 72.39\% and 86.73\% accuracy and top-5 accuracy respectively on the joint evaluation dataset when determining authorship from a set of 250 different authors. We qualitatively assess the representations with different data visualizations on the available datasets, profiling features such as book types, gender, age, or occupation of the author

Spectral properties in supersymmetric matrix models

We formulate a general sufficiency criterion for discreteness of the spectrum of both supersymmmetric and non-su-persymmetric theories with a fermionic contribution. This criterion allows an analysis of Hamiltonians in complete form rather than just their semiclassical limits. In such a framework we examine spectral properties of various (1+0) matrix models. We consider the BMN model of M-theory compactified on a maximally supersymmetric pp-wave background, different regularizations of the supermembrane with central charges and a non-supersymmetric model comprising a bound state of N D2 with m D0. While the first two examples have a purely discrete spectrum, the latter has a continuous spectrum with a lower end given in terms of the monopole charge.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figure

Feeding Scab-Infected Wheat to Livestock

Fusarium head blight, also called scab, is a disease of many small grain crops including wheat, barley, and rye. Oats can also be affected but generally with less damage. Scab is caused by the fungus Fusarium. Several species of Fusarium can cause the disease, but far and away the most common in South Dakota is Fusarium graminearum. This is the same fungus that causes Gibberella stalk rot in corn. When F. graminearum infections occurs in corn ears, the disease is referred to as Gibberella ear rot; it does not arrest kernel development. Generally, warm and wet conditions at wheat flowering favor scab. Disease incidence is favored by temperatures in the 80-95°F range during flowering and by substantial rainfall during the 7 days previous to flowering

Robust Template Update Strategy for Efficient Visual Object Tracking

Real-time visual object tracking is an open problem in computer vision, with multiple applications in the industry, such as autonomous vehicles, human-machine interaction, intelligent cinematography, automated surveillance, and autonomous social navigation. The challenge of tracking a target of interest is critical to all of these applications. Recently, tracking algorithms that use siamese neural networks trained offline on large-scale datasets of image pairs have achieved the best performance exceeding real-time speed on multiple benchmarks. Results show that siamese approaches can be applied to enhance the tracking capabilities by learning deeper features of the object’s appearance. SiamMask utilized the power of siamese networks and supervised learning approaches to solve the problem of arbitrary object tracking in real-time speed. However, its practical applications are limited due to failures encountered during testing. In order to improve the robustness of the tracker and make it applicable for the intended real-world application, two improvements have been incorporated, each addressing a different aspect of the tracking task. The first one is a data augmentation strategy to consider both motion-blur and low-resolution during training. It aims to increase the robustness of the tracker against a motion-blurred and low-resolution frames during inference. The second improvement is a target template update strategy that utilizes both the initial ground truth template and a supplementary updatable template, which considers the score of the predicted target for an efficient template update strategy by avoiding template updates during severe occlusion. All of the improvements were extensively evaluated and have achieved state-of-the-art performance in the VOT2018 and VOT2019 benchmarks. Our method (VPU-SiamM) has been submitted to the VOT-ST 2020 challenge, and it is ranked 16th out of 38 submitted tracking methods according to the Expected average overlap (EAO) metrics. VPU_SiamM Implementation can be found from the VOT2020 Trackers repository 1

Valorización de Luz del Sur S.A.A.

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo estimar el valor fundamental o intrínseco de la acción de Luz del Sur SAA al 31 de diciembre de 2019. Luz del Sur es una empresa privada del sector eléctrico que tiene como línea de negocio principal a la distribución de energía eléctrica en una zona de concesión al sur de Lima. Además, obtiene ingresos de sus subsidiarias: Inland Energy SAC, dedicada a la generación de energía eléctrica producida en la central hidroeléctrica Santa Teresa (Cusco) e Inmobiliaria Luz del Sur SAC, que desarrolla actividades inmobiliarias en el edificio Torre Siglo XXI

Effect of the age at first calving and nutritional management on longevity and productivity in cow-calf systems

La edad al primer parto indica el inicio de la vida productiva de los animales, y se relaciona con la longevidad de los vientres. El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivos: a) evaluar la eficiencia productiva hasta el primer destete, de vaquillonas recriadas para obtener su primer parto a los 24 o 36 meses de vida; b) evaluar el efecto de la edad al primer parto y el manejo nutricional diferencial sobre la supervivencia de vacas. El trabajo se realizó en el Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido, Leales, Tucumán. Los tratamientos se definieron mediante la combinación de la edad al primer parto (24 o 36 meses) y manejo nutricional a partir de la segunda preñez (con y sin suplementación con silaje de planta entera de maíz): G1) primer parto a los 36 meses y suplementación; G2) primer parto a los 36 meses sin suplementación; G3) primer parto a los 24 meses y suplementación; G4) primer parto a los 24 meses sin suplementación. El análisis de supervivencia se realizó mediante el estimador de Kaplan y Meier y la regresión de Cox. Los resultados muestran que la probabilidad de supervivencia global hasta el cuarto destete fue de 0.41, 0.35, 0.38 y 0.18 para G1, G2, G3 y G4, respectivamente (log-rank; P < 0.01). El grupo 4 fue el que mostró la menor producción acumulada hasta el cuarto destete. Se concluye que adelantar la edad de parto no resulta eficiente en sistemas pastoriles puros basados en pastizales naturales o gramíneas megatérmicas implantadas.The age at first calving indicates the beginning of the productive life of dams, and it is related with their longevity. The objectives of this study were: a) to evaluate the productive efficiency at first weaning of heifers reared to obtain their first calving at 24 or 36 month of age; b) to evaluate the age at first calving and differential nutritional strategies on cows survival. The work was carried out at the Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido, Leales, Tucumán. The treatments were defined by combining the age of first calving (24 and 36 months) and nutritional management: G1) first calving at 36 months and supplementation; G2) first calving at 36 months without supplementation; G3) first calving at 24 months and supplementation; G4) first calving at 24 months without supplementation. The survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan and Meier estimator and the Cox regression. The results show that the probability of overall survival until the fourth weaning was 0.41, 0.35, 0.38 and 0.18 for G1, G2, G3 and G4, respectively (log-rank, P <0.01). Group 4 was the one that showed the lowest cumulative production until the fourth weaning. It is concluded that advancing/anticipating the calving age is not efficient in pure pastoral systems based on natural pastures or implanted megathermal grasses.Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco SemiáridoFil: Nasca, Jose Andres. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Molina Arias, Alvaro Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Alfredo Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Alfredo Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; ArgentinaFil: Banegas, Natalia Romina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Banegas, Natalia Romina. Universidad Nacional De Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; ArgentinaFil: Della Rosa, Maria Milagros. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Posse, Fernando Raul. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentin

A unified vegetation index for quantifying the terrestrial biosphere

Empirical vegetation indices derived from spectral reflectance data are widely used in remote sensing of the biosphere, as they represent robust proxies for canopy structure, leaf pigment content, and, subsequently, plant photosynthetic potential. Here, we generalize the broad family of commonly used vegetation indices by exploiting all higher-order relations between the spectral channels involved. This results in a higher sensitivity to vegetation biophysical and physiological parameters. The presented nonlinear generalization of the celebrated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) consistently improves accuracy in monitoring key parameters, such as leaf area index, gross primary productivity, and sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence. Results suggest that the statistical approach maximally exploits the spectral information and addresses long-standing problems in satellite Earth Observation of the terrestrial biosphere. The nonlinear NDVI will allow more accurate measures of terrestrial carbon source/sink dynamics and potentials for stabilizing atmospheric CO2 and mitigating global climate change

Evaluación productiva y de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero en dos sistemas de cría bovina contrastantes del Chaco Seco argentino = Production and greenhouse gas emissions evaluation in two contrasting bovine farming systems in the Argentine Chaco Seco

El desafío actual de los sistemas bovinos del Chaco Seco está centrado en el incremento de la producción a través de la intensificación, sin la necesidad de expandir la frontera agropecuaria hacia ecosistemas naturales y disminuyendo las externalidades negativas. El objetivo de este estudio fue cuantificar la diferencia en la producción de peso vivo (PV) y en la intensidad de emisión de gases de efecto invernadero en dos módulos experimentales contrastantes de cría bovina en su nivel de intensificación, localizados en el Chaco Seco argentino. El trabajo se realizó en el Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido (INTA), utilizando módulos experimentales y un modelo de simulación. Un módulo experimental se denominó Cría Pastoril (CrP) y se basó en una alimentación pastoril y una carga animal moderada (0,64 vacas/ha/año) para la zona. El otro se denominó módulo de Cría Intensiva (CrI), y utilizó un sistema de alimentación pastoril con apoyo de silaje de maíz como suplemento alimenticio para las vacas, y una carga animal elevada (1,66 vacas/ha/año). La producción de peso vivo fue 98 y 264 kg PV/ha/año para CrP y CrI respectivamente (Tukey; p < 0,05). No se encontraron diferencias significativas en la intensidad de emisiones, con valores de 16,5 y 16,0 kg CO2 eq/kg PV producido para CrP y CrI respectivamente. El Chaco Seco es una región ganadera en desarrollo, pero con restricciones en la expansión de la superficie productiva, y este trabajo evidencia que es posible incrementar la producción ganadera regional y en paralelo disminuir la intensidad de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero.The current challenge of the Chaco Seco beef cattle system is focused on increasing production through intensification, without expanding the agricultural frontier towards natural ecosystems and reducing externalities. The aim of this study was to quantify the difference in live weight (LW) productivity and in greenhouse gases emission intensity of two contrasting cow-calf modules differing in their intensification level. This work was carried out at the Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido (INTA) using two experimental modules and a simulation model. The grazing cow-calf module (CrP) was based on a grazing system with a moderate stocking rate (0.64 cows/he/year). The intensive cow-calf module (CrI) used a grazing system, but supported by corn silage as supplement for cows, and a high stocking rate (1.66 cows/ha/year). Live weight production was 98 and 264 kg LW/ha/year for CrP and CrI respectively (Tukey; p < 0.05). Non-significant differences were found in the emission intensity, with values ranging from 16.5 and 16.0 kg CO2 eq/kg LW produced for CrP and CrI respectively. The Chaco Seco is a developing cattle region but with restrictions in the expansion of the productive surface, and this work throws evidence that it is possible to increase regional livestock production and decrease greenhouse gas emissions intensity.Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco SemiáridoFil: Nasca, Jose Andres. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina.Fil: Banegas, Natalia Romina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Banegas, Natalia Romina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Posse, Fernando Raúl. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Alfredo Alberto. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Alfredo Alberto. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; ArgentinaFil: Della Rosa, María Milagros. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; ArgentinaFil: Molina Arias, Alvaro Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina.Fil: Fernéndez, P. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Investigación Animal del Chaco Semiárido; Argentina.Fil: Fernández, P. Consejo Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica. Instituto De Ecología Regional; Argentin

Exploring the training and scope of practice of GPs in England, Germany and Spain

OBJECTIVE: To explore general practitioner (GP) training, continuing professional development, scope of practice, ethical issues and challenges in the working environment in three European countries. METHOD: Qualitative study of 35 GPs from England, Germany and Spain working in urban primary care practices. Participants were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed by four independent researchers adopting a thematic approach. RESULTS: Entrance to and length of GP training differ between the three countries, while continuing professional development is required in all three, although with different characteristics. Key variations in the scope of practice include whether there is a gatekeeping role, whether GPs work in multidisciplinary teams or singlehandedly, the existence of appraisal processes, and the balance between administrative and clinical tasks. However, similar challenges, including the need to adapt to an ageing population, end-of-life care, ethical dilemmas, the impact of austerity measures, limited time for patients and gaps in coordination between primary and secondary care are experienced by GPs in all three countries. CONCLUSION: Primary health care variations have strong historical roots, derived from the different national experiences and the range of clinical services delivered by GPs. There is a need for an accessible source of information for GPs themselves and those responsible for safety and quality standards of the healthcare workforce. This paper maps out the current situation before Brexit is being implemented in the UK which could see many of the current EU arrangements and legislation to assure professional mobility between the UK and the rest of Europe dismantled