Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impedance Modeling and Analysis for Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Systems

In a piezoelectric energy harvesting (PEH) system, the dynamics and harvested power vary with different interface circuits connected. The impedance matching theory was regarded as the theoretical base for the harvested power optimization in the harmonically excited PEH systems. The previous literature started the impedance analyses based on the proposition that the harvested power is maximized when the output impedance of the piezoelectric transducer is matched by the input impedance of the harvesting circuit. Yet, retrospecting to the origin of the impedance matching theory, a philosophical problem is found with this proposition. Moreover, the definition, constraint, and composition of the equivalent impedance in the real (nonlinear) harvesting circuits were not clear as well. This paper clarifies these concepts and provides the impedance modeling and analysis for the PEH systems with different interface circuits, including standard energy harvesting, parallel synchronized switch harvesting on inductor, and series synchronized switch harvesting on inductor. The equivalent impedance network and corresponding mechanical schematics of a general PEH system are proposed. The difference between the PEH equivalent impedance network and the conventional impedance network is discussed. The harvested power is investigated based on this impedance analysis. The analytical results show good agreement with the experiments carried out on a base excited PEH device.
Metabolic-cognitive syndrome: metabolic approach for the management of Alzheimer's disease risk.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most frequent formof dementia in the elderly [1]. On the basis of futureforecast, AD will have a tremendous impact on soci-ety and medical systems because dementia is the mostimportant contributor to disability in the elderly [2]. The prevalence and incidence of dementia are rela-tively low in patients 60 to 65 years of age, but there isan exponential increase with age reaching almost 50%in those 85 years of age [3, 4]. After 90 years of age,the incidence of AD raises from 12.7% per year in the90- to 94-year-old age group, to 21.2% per year in the95- to 99-year-old age group, and to 40.7% per year inthose at least 100 years old [5]. The progressive natureof AD, leading to severe functional and cognitive dete-rioration and increased comorbid disease, is one of themajor determinants of institutionalization and mortal-ity in the elderly [6, 7]. Consequently, the magnitudeof this devastating disease has a signiﬁcant impact oncaregivers and healthcare systems.
Scene classification of images and video via semantic segmentation

Scene classification is used to categorize images into different classes, such as urban, mountain, beach, or indoor. This paper presents work on scene classification of television shows and feature films. These types of media bring unique challenges that are not present in photographs, as many shots are close-ups in which few characteristics of the scene are visible.
All in the Family: A Comparison of SALDO and WordNet

Proceedings of the NODALIDA 2009 workshop WordNets and other Lexical Semantic Resources — between Lexical Semantics, Lexicography, Terminology and Formal Ontologies. Editors: Bolette Sandford Pedersen, Anna Braasch, Sanni Nimb and Ruth Vatvedt Fjeld. NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 7 (2009), 7-12. © 2009 The editors and contributors. Published by Northern European Association for Language Technology (NEALT) http://omilia.uio. no/nealt . Electronically published at Tartu University Library (Estonia) http://hdl.handle. net/10062/9209 .
Differentiation between electric breakdowns and dielectric breakdown in thin silicon oxides

It has been known for some time that non-destructive electric breakdowns precede destructive thermal dielectric breakdown. We have been studying both processes in oxides between 5 nm and 80 nm in thickness. We have shown that the electric breakdowns can trigger dielectric breakdown under certain conditions. This triggering of dielectric breakdown causes TDDB distributions to be non-unique. The TDDB distributions could be shifted to shorter times if (a) the impedance of the test equipment was lowered and/or (b) the capacitance of the test equipment was raised. The implications of this work are discussed in terms of electric/dielectric breakdown models and practical circuit and device operation.
Toxic thermoresistant metabolites of Fusarium oxysporum are capable of inducing histopathological alterations in Wistar rats

The genus Fusarium is known to produce mycotoxins that cause fusariosis in plants, animals and humans. Mycotoxins are among the virulence factors of this genus. Metabolic extracts of Fusarium oxysporum, isolated from a patient with onychomycosis and sterilized by filtration or autoclave, were inoculated intradermally into Wistar rats at concentrations of 0.25, 0.5 and 1 µg/µL, and the effects on their tegument were observed at 24 and 72 hours. After histological procedures and staining by hematoxylineosin, the sections were studied for their inflammatory-reaction intensity and for evidence of injury and tissue distortion. Inflammatory reactions in the dermis and the subcutaneous tissue were observed at all concentrations of the inoculated extract tested. There was a significant influx of neutrophils, mastocytes and lymphocytes, as well as a large quantity of macrophages. Apoptotic bodies and hyperemic blood vessels were observed. This reaction was directly related to the extract concentration, and was most intense in animals that received the 1 mg/µL dose. The maximum peak was observed at 24 hours. The autoclaved metabolic extract produced the same effects as the untreated one, indicating the presence of heat-resistant metabolites. In conclusion, the metabolic extracts obtained from sterilized culture filtrates of F. oxysporum are capable of inducing an inflammatory response within 24 hours in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue of rats.
Loss-aware Binarization of Deep Networks

Deep neural network models, though very powerful and highly successful, are computationally expensive in terms of space and time. Recently, there have been a number of attempts on binarizing the network weights and activations. This greatly reduces the network size, and replaces the underlying multiplications to additions or even XNOR bit operations. However, existing binarization schemes are based on simple matrix approximation and ignore the effect of binarization on the loss. In this paper, we propose a proximal Newton algorithm with diagonal Hessian approximation that directly minimizes the loss w.r. t. the binarized weights. The underlying proximal step has an efficient closed-form solution, and the second-order information can be efficiently obtained from the second moments already computed by the Adam optimizer. Experiments on both feedforward and recurrent networks show that the proposed loss-aware binarization algorithm outperforms existing binarization schemes, and is also more robust for wide and deep networks.
A fast iterative P-thresholding algorithm for sparse reconstruction of electrical tomography

The image reconstruction of Electrical Tomography (ET) is an ill-posed nonlinear inverse problem. Regularization methods are introduced to treat this ill-posedness. Considering the sparsity property of the internal medium distribution of the electrical field, the conventional L2 regularization penalty term is replaced by sparsity constraints, and the soft or hard thresholding function is adopted to provide the solution to the corresponding penalized least-squares problem. Both of them are the proximal mappings of L1 or L0 penalty function. It is important to design the objective function with sparsity constraint flexibly. So a new generalized p-thresholding function, which can be seen as a mapping of a wide class of penalty functions with sparsity constraints, is proposed to solve the sparse regularization of ET. The new sparse objective function can be designed by flexibly changing the value of p. The proposed fast iterative p-thresholding algorithm (FIPTA) provides a more accurate result with less iterations than traditional methods using soft thresholding function. FIPTA can also preserve the computational simplicity by avoiding the directly time consuming large-scale matrix calculations and improve the calculation speed. This method is discussed using simulated data and further tested with the practical ERT system, both theoretically and practically.
Buffy‐coat‐derived pooled platelet concentrates and apheresis platelet concentrates: which product type should be preferred?

There is an ongoing debate whether platelet concentrates (PCs) prepared from either whole‐blood donations or by plateletpheresis are superior. Usage of these two product types varies greatly between countries and individual institutions. Some use mainly apheresis PCs; others prefer pooled PCs which are produced from whole‐blood donations.
Interstellar Turbulence I: Observations and Processes

▪ Abstract Turbulence affects the structure and motions of nearly all temperature and density regimes in the interstellar gas. This two-part review summarizes the observations, theory, and simulations of interstellar turbulence and their implications for many fields of astrophysics. The first part begins with diagnostics for turbulence that have been applied to the cool interstellar medium and highlights their main results. The energy sources for interstellar turbulence are then summarized along with numerical estimates for their power input. Supernovae and superbubbles dominate the total power, but many other sources spanning a large range of scales, from swing-amplified gravitational instabilities to cosmic ray streaming, all contribute in some way. Turbulence theory is considered in detail, including the basic fluid equations, solenoidal and compressible modes, global inviscid quadratic invariants, scaling arguments for the power spectrum, phenomenological models for the scaling of higher-order structu.
ORIENTASI KEBAHAGIAAN SISWA SMA, TINJAUAN PSIKOLOGIINDIGENOUS PADA SISWA LAKI-LAKI DAN PEREMPUAN

The purpose of this study was to analyze the happiness orientation ofboys and girls. A number of 459 high school students in Yogyakarta andCiamis filled out questionnaire with open-ended questions developed byKim and information about the data itself. The analysis method in this studyused a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods with indigenouspsychology approach, an approach from the perspective of the local culture,was used to analyze the data response from open questions, so the originaldata was obtained in the reality of Indonesia itself, so every phenomenonwas seen in context, presented and interpreted in relative terms based onthe cultural, ecological, and where the phenomenon took place.Categorization responses were analyzed by cross tabulation statisticalmethods with the sex of respondents. The results showed that there wasno significant difference in happiness boys and girls. Events that made themost happy for the boys was the event associated with achievement,spirituality, friends, and leisure time, whereas for girls was associated withfamily, love and be loved, as well as money.
Das Publikationsaufkommen der Zeitschrift für Pädagogik im deutsch-englischen Vergleich

Der vorliegende Beitrag prasentiert erste und ausgewahlte Ergebnisse eines DFG-Projektes zur Analyse fuhrender Zeitschriften der Erziehungswissenschaft in England und Deutschland, darunter auch die Zeitschrift fur Padagogik. Mit Blick auf die thematische Ausrichtung, das methodische Vorgehen und die Zusammensetzung der Autorenschaft wurden ca. 2000 Artikel aus den Jahren 2001 bis 2009 analysiert. Dabei zeigt sich, dass sich am Publikationsaufkommen Trends und Defizite in der erziehungswissenschaftlichen Diskussion in kulturspezifischer und international vergleichender Perspektive festmachen lassen und diesbezuglich fur die Zeitschrift fur Padagogik ein eigenes Profil sichtbar wird. (DIPF/Orig.) The authors present initial and selected results of a project sponsored by the German Research Association (DFG) in which leading journals of educational science in both England and Germany are analyzed, among them the Zeitschrift fur Padagogik. With a view to topics, methodological procedures, and the composition of authorships, about 2.000 articles published between 2001 and 2009 were analyzed. It appears that the manner and amount of publications allows to draw conclusions as to trends and deficits in the educational debate from a culture-specific and internationally comparative perspective and that, in this respect, the Zeitschrift fur Padagogik reveals its very own and distinct profile. (DIPF/Orig.)
A stochastic model of the electrically stimulated auditory nerve: pulse-train response

The single-pulse model of the companion paper [see ibid., vol. 46, no. 6, p. 617-29, 1999] is extended to describe responses to pulse trains by introducing a phenomenological refractory mechanism. Comparisons with physiological data from cat auditory nerve fibers are made for pulse rates between 100 and 800 pulses/s. First, it is shown that both the shape and slope of mean discharge rate curves are better predicted by the stochastic model than by the deterministic model. Second, while interpulse effects such as refractory effects do indeed increase the dynamic range at higher pulse rates, both the physiological data and the model indicate that much of the dynamic range for pulse-train stimuli is due to stochastic activity. Third, it is shown that the stochastic model is able to predict the general magnitude and behavior of variance in discharge rate as a function of pulse rate, while the deterministic model predicts no variance at all.
Growth Through Competition, Competition Through Growth: Strategic Management and The Economy in Japan.

This book examines two central aspects of Japanese management - growth pursuit by internal investment (as opposed to acquisition), and intensive competition within and between Japanese firms. It also looks at how Japanese firms maintain efficiency and flexibility under the apparently rigid system of 'lifetime' employment. The author begins by enquiring in to the financial and human aspects of the firm with a particular emphasis placed on the human side. T he motivation, behaviour, and organization of Japanese management are discussed and the consequences of Japan's management system on its industrial organization and macroeconomy are examined. Throughout the book, it is emphasized that competition is at the heart of the Japanese economy and management to the same, if not to a greater degreee than in the West. This competition is enhanced by the growth preference of Japanese management, and competition in turn makes growth feasible.
ARTICLES : The Beliefs and Practices of Early Childhood Educators in the U.S. : Does Specialized Preparation Make a Difference in Adoption of Best Practices ?

In this study, the role of specialized professional preparation in early childhood education in determining the adoption of developmentally appropriate practices as both a philosophical orientation and as a guide to actual classroom practice is explored. How do those who receive specialized preparation in early childhood differ from their otherwise prepared colleagues? While preschool teachers in general scored higher than elementary school teachers on instruments that measured developmentally appropriate beliefs and practices, teachers with specialized early childhood background preparation, regardless of teaching environment, held significantly more $quot;highly appropriate$quot; beliefs and practiced in ways that were more $quot;highly appropriate. $quot; This research confirms the assumption that teachers` qualifications impact the quality of the early childhood classroom and that it is important to understand early childhood as a unique period of development and to acquire the body of knowledge and skills that define the field.
Cost and effectiveness of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery for clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer: a population-based analysis.

BACKGROUND Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a minimally invasive alternative to conventional surgery (CS). We aimed to estimate the short-term cost-effectiveness of VATS vs. CS for clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC-c-stage-I) patients from the payer's perspective (National Health Insurance). METHODS We identified NSCLC-c-stage-I patients diagnosed and received surgery within 2007-2009 through a comprehensive population-based database containing cancer and death registries, and reimbursement data. The duration of interest was 1 year. We included potential confounding covariables through literature searching and our own experience, and used a propensity score to construct a 1:1 population for adjustment. RESULTS Our study population constituted 966 patients. The mean hospital stay [days, standard deviation (SD)] were 14.4 [7] and 16.1 (7.7) for VATS and CS respectively (P=0.002). The mean cost (2013 USD) and survival (year) was $22,316 vs. $21,976 and 0.98 vs. 0.974 for VATS vs. CS. The probability for VATS to be cost-effective (i.e., positive net benefit) was 0.49 & 0.56 at willingness-to-pay (WTP) 50,000 & 100,000 USD/life-year, respectively. CONCLUSIONS We provide the first empirical evidence that when compared to CS, VATS was potentially cost-effective in the short term (1 year) within the common WTP levels in Taiwan.
Sequential correction of perspective warp in camera-based documents

Documents captured with hand-held devices, such as digital cameras often exhibit perspective warp artifacts. These artifacts pose problems for OCR systems which at best can only handle in-plane rotation. We propose a method for recovering the planar appearance of an input document image by examining the vertical rate of change in scale of features in the document. Our method makes fewer assumptions about the document structure than do previously published algorithms.
Automatic Text Scoring Using Neural Networks

Automated Text Scoring (ATS) provides a cost-effective and consistent alternative to human marking. However, in order to achieve good performance, the predictive features of the system need to be manually engineered by human experts. We introduce a model that forms word representations by learning the extent to which specific words contribute to the text's score. Using Long-Short Term Memory networks to represent the meaning of texts, we demonstrate that a fully automated framework is able to achieve excellent results over similar approaches. In an attempt to make our results more interpretable, and inspired by recent advances in visualizing neural networks, we introduce a novel method for identifying the regions of the text that the model has found more discriminative.
Renal oncocytoma characterized by the defective complex I of the respiratory chain boosts the synthesis of the ROS scavenger glutathione

Renal oncocytomas are rare benign tumors of the kidney and characterized by a deficient complex I (CI) enzyme activity of the oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) system caused by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. Yet, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms and alterations of metabolic pathways in this tumor. We compared renal oncocytomas with adjacent matched normal kidney tissues on a global scale by multi-omics approaches, including whole exome sequencing (WES), proteomics, metabolomics, and metabolic pathway simulation. The abundance of proteins localized to mitochondria increased more than 2-fold, the only exception was a strong decrease in the abundance for CI subunits that revealed several pathogenic heteroplasmic mtDNA mutations by WES. We also observed renal oncocytomas to dysregulate main metabolic pathways, shunting away from gluconeogenesis and lipid metabolism. Nevertheless, the abundance of energy carrier molecules such as NAD+, NADH, NADP, ATP, and ADP were significantly higher in renal oncocytomas. Finally, a substantial 5000-fold increase of the reactive oxygen species scavenger glutathione can be regarded as a new hallmark of renal oncocytoma. Our findings demonstrate that renal oncocytomas undergo a metabolic switch to eliminate ATP consuming processes to ensure a sufficient energy supply for the tumor.
Lateralization in the Invertebrate Brain: Left-Right Asymmetry of Olfaction in Bumble Bee, Bombus terrestris

Brain and behavioural lateralization at the population level has been recently hypothesized to have evolved under social selective pressures as a strategy to optimize coordination among asymmetrical individuals. Evidence for this hypothesis have been collected in Hymenoptera: eusocial honey bees showed olfactory lateralization at the population level, whereas solitary mason bees only showed individual-level olfactory lateralization. Here we investigated lateralization of odour detection and learning in the bumble bee, Bombus terrestris L. , an annual eusocial species of Hymenoptera. By training bumble bees on the proboscis extension reflex paradigm with only one antenna in use, we provided the very first evidence of asymmetrical performance favouring the right antenna in responding to learned odours in this species. Electroantennographic responses did not reveal significant antennal asymmetries in odour detection, whereas morphological counting of olfactory sensilla showed a predominance in the number of olfactory sensilla trichodea type A in the right antenna. The occurrence of a population level asymmetry in olfactory learning of bumble bee provides new information on the relationship between social behaviour and the evolution of population-level asymmetries in animals.
Identifying Latent Classes of Antisocial Behavior Among Youth From Saudi Arabia

Despite the wealth of knowledge on subclass formation for antisocial behavior among youth from the United States and other Western industrialized countries, very little is known about the subclass structure for antisocial behavior among youth growing up in other geographical contexts. Using validated measures of aggression, psychopathy, and low self-control, we employ latent class analysis to identify latent subgroups of antisocial behavior from a sample of 324 Saudi Arabian youth. Three classes of antisocial behavior emerged and significant associations between latent class membership and different forms of delinquency were observed. The findings are the first to show a similar pattern of latent class formation for antisocial behavior and risk for violent and nonviolent delinquency among Saudi Arabian youth compared to U.S. youth.
The Frontoparietal Control System

Recent findings suggest the existence of a frontoparietal control system consisting of flexible hubs that regulate distributed systems (e.g., visual, limbic, motor) according to current task goals. A growing number of studies are reporting alterations of this control system across a striking range of mental diseases. We suggest this may reflect a critical role for the control system in promoting and maintaining mental health. Specifically, we propose that this system implements feedback control to regulate symptoms as they arise (e.g., excessive anxiety reduced via regulation of amygdala), such that an intact control system is protective against a variety of mental illnesses. Consistent with this possibility, recent results indicate that several major mental illnesses involve altered brain-wide connectivity of the control system, likely altering its ability to regulate symptoms. These results suggest that this “immune system of the mind” may be an especially important target for future basic and clinical research.