Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Applications of scanning optical microscopy in materials science to detect bulk microdefects in semiconductors

We review the application of scanning optical microscopy to bulk microdefect detection in semiconductor materials. After an extensive literature review we summarize theoretical aspects of the scanning infra‐red microscope and describe the theory of contrast formation. We also show experimental examples of scanning infra‐red images taken by different modes of the microscope and give an experimental confirmation of the contrast theory.
The Effect of Using Computer Simulations in Teaching Chemical Bonding: Experiences with Ugandan Learners

Abstract Computer simulations are well documented in developed countries but little is known about them in developing countries. The objectives of the study were to examine the effect of using computer simulations in addition to hands-on (manual) laboratory activities when teaching chemical bonding and to compare the results with those of learners who were taught using hands-on (manual) laboratory activities only. Two senior three classes participated in the study: 58 learners in an experimental group (EG) and 57 in a control group (CG). Data from achievement tests were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while data from interview schedules were thematically analysed. The results indicated that learners had little knowledge about chemical bonding. The EG performed better than the CG in the post-test (ANCOVA, p < 0.05). This suggests that computer simulations provide feedback that minimises abstractness. Also, there were no differences between achievements of the boys and girls in the EG (U = 3.0.5, P < 0.05), suggesting that computer simulations do not discriminate against gender.
Detection and outcome of occult leptomeningeal disease in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Burkitt lymphoma

The benefit of intrathecal therapy and systemic rituximab on the outcome of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at risk of central nervous system disease is controversial. Furthermore, the effect of intrathecal treatment and rituximab in diffuse large B-cell and Burkitt lymphoma with occult leptomeningeal disease detected by flow cytometry at diagnosis is unknown. Untreated diffuse large B-cell (n=246) and Burkitt (n=80) lymphoma at clinical risk of central nervous system disease and having had pre-treatment cerebrospinal fluid were analyzed by flow cytometry and cytology. Spinal fluid involvement was detected by flow cytometry alone (occult) in 33 (13%) diffuse large B-cell and 9 (11%) Burkitt lymphoma patients, and detected by cytology in 11 (4.5%) and 5 (6%) patients, respectively. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with occult spinal fluid involvement had poorer survival (P=0.0001) and freedom from central nervous system relapse (P<0.0001) compared to negative cases. Burkitt lymphoma with occult spinal fluid involvement had an inferior freedom from central nervous system relapse (P=0.026) but not survival. The amount of intrathecal chemotherapy was quantitatively associated with survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with (P=0.02) and without (P=0.001) occult spinal fluid involvement. However, progression of systemic disease and not control of central nervous system disease was the principal cause of treatment failure. In diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, systemic rituximab was associated with improved freedom from central nervous system relapse (P=0.003) but not with survival. Our results suggest that patients at risk of central nervous system disease should be evaluated by flow cytometry and that intrathecal prophylaxis/therapy is beneficial.
Building Ontologies to Understand Spoken Tunisian Dialect

This paper presents a method to understand spoken Tunisian dialect based on lexical semantic. This method takes into account the specificity of the Tunisian dialect which has no linguistic processing tools. This method is ontology-based which allows exploiting the ontological concepts for semantic annotation and ontological relations for speech interpretation. This combination increases the rate of comprehension and limits the dependence on linguistic resources. This paper also details the process of building the ontology used for annotation and interpretation of Tunisian dialect in the context of speech understanding in dialogue systems for restricted domain.
Event-Based Computer Simulation Model of Aspect-Type Experiments Strictly Satisfying Einstein's Locality Conditions

Inspired by Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen–Bohm experiments with photons, we construct an event-based simulation model in which every essential element in the ideal experiment has a counterpart. The model satisfies Einstein’s criterion of local causality and does not rely on concepts of quantum and probability theory. We consider experiments in which the averages correspond to those of a singlet and product state of a system of two S ¼ 1=2 particles. The data is analyzed according to the experimental procedure, employing a time window to identify pairs. We study how the time window and the passage time of the photons, which depends on the relative angle between their polarization and the polarizer’s direction, influences the correlations, demonstrating that the properties of the optical elements in the observation stations affect the correlations although the stations are separated spatially and temporarily. We show that the model can reproduce results which are considered to be intrinsically quantum mechanical.
WASP-47: A HOT JUPITER SYSTEM WITH TWO ADDITIONAL PLANETS DISCOVERED BY K2

Using new data from the K2 mission, we show that WASP-47, a previously known hot Jupiter host, also hosts two additional transiting planets: a Neptune-sized outer planet and a super-Earth inner companion. We measure planetary properties from the K2 light curve and detect transit timing variations (TTVs), confirming the planetary nature of the outer planet. We performed a large number of numerical simulations to study the dynamical stability of the system and to find the theoretically expected TTVs. The theoretically predicted TTVs are in good agreement with those observed, and we use the TTVs to determine the masses of two planets, and place a limit on the third. The WASP-47 planetary system is important because companion planets can both be inferred by TTVs and are also detected directly through transit observations. The depth of the hot Jupiter's transits make ground-based TTV measurements possible, and the brightness of the host star makes it amenable for precise radial velocity measurements. The system serves as a Rosetta Stone for understanding TTVs as a planet detection technique.
The intrinsic shapes of stellar systems

I compute the estimated distribution function f(q) for the apparent axis ratio q of various types of stellar systems, using a nonparametric kernel method. I then invert f(q) to find the distribution of intrinsic axis ratios, using two different hypotheses: first, that the stellar systems are all oblate, and second, that they are all prolate. The shapes of globular clusters in our own galaxy are consistent, at the 99% confidence level, with both the oblate and prolate hypothesis. The shapes of dwarf galaxies in the Virgo cluster are consistent, at the 99% confidence level, with the prolate hypothesis, but inconsistent with the oblate hypothesis. The shapes of star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud, of ordinary elliptical galaxies, of brightest cluster ellipticals, and of galaxy clusters are all inconsistent, at the 99% confidence level, with both the oblate and prolate hypotheses. The globular clusters in our galaxy are older than their half-mass relaxation time, and are most likely rotationally flattened oblate spheroids. The other stellar systems considered are generally younger than their half-mass relaxation time, and thus are triaxial bodies flattened by anisotropy of their velocity dispersion.
Effects of supernova feedback on the formation of galaxy discs

We use cosmological simulations in order to study the effects of supernova (SN) feedback on the formation of a Milky Way-type galaxy of virial mass ∼ 10 12 h -1 M ⊙ . We analyse a set of simulations run with the code described by Scannapieco et al., where we have tested our star formation and feedback prescription using isolated galaxy models. Here, we extend this work by simulating the formation of a galaxy in its proper cosmological framework, focusing on the ability of the model to form a disc-like structure in rotational support. We find that SN feedback plays a fundamental role in the evolution of the simulated galaxy, efficiently regulating the star-formation activity, pressurizing the gas and generating mass-loaded galactic winds. These processes affect several galactic properties such as final stellar mass, morphology, angular momentum, chemical properties, and final gas and baryon fractions. In particular, we find that our model is able to reproduce extended disc components with high specific angular momentum and a significant fraction of young stars. The galaxies are also found to have significant spheroids composed almost entirely of stars formed at early times. We find that most combinations of the input parameters yield disc-like components, although with different sizes and thicknesses, indicating that the code can form discs without fine-tuning the implemented physics. We also show how our model scales to smaller systems. By analysing simulations of virial masses 10 9 and 1010 h -1 M ⊙ , we find that the smaller the galaxy, the stronger the SN feedback effects.
Fredkin/Toffoli templates for reversible logic synthesis

Reversible logic has applications in quantum computing, low power CMOS, nanotechnology, optical computing, and DNA computing. The most common reversible gates are the Toffoli gate and the Fredkin gate. Our synthesis algorithm first finds a cascade of Toffoli and Fredkin gates with no backtracking and minimal look-ahead. Next we apply transformations that reduce the size of the circuit. Transformations are accomplished via template matching. The basis for a template is a network with m gates that realizes the identity function. If a sequence in the network to be synthesized matches more than half of a template, then a transformation that reduces the gate count can be applied. In this paper we show that Toffoli and Fredkin gates behave in a similar manner. Therefore, some gates in the templates may not need to be specified-they can match a Toffoli or a Fredkin gate. We formalize this by introducing the box gate. All templates with less than six gates are enumerated and classified. We synthesize all three input, three output reversible functions and compare our results to those obtained previously.
Towards an understanding of a child’s cruise experience

The current studies on cruise tourism lack an exploration of children’s cruise experience. The aim of this article is to obtain a deeper understanding of children’s cruise experience in the following phases: the pre-cruise decision and planning phase; the on-board engagement phase; and the reinterpretation and evaluation phase. Following an inductive qualitative approach, three sets of interviews (one for each phase) were conducted with 12 children (aged 4–14 years). The findings revealed that children play a very important role in choosing the cruise company and that while on board children want to have a certain level of autonomy so that they can co-create their own memorable cruise experience. This study contributes to the overall theory of children’s tourism experience. The managerial implications for cruise companies are outlined.
Anacardic acid, a histone acetyltransferase inhibitor, modulates LPS-induced IL-8 expression in a human alveolar epithelial cell line A549

Objective and design: The histone acetylation processes, which are believed to play a critical role in the regulation of many inflammatory genes, are reversible and regulated by histone acetyltransferases (HATs), which promote acetylation, and histone deacetylases (HDACs), which promote deacetylation. We studied the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on histone acetylation and its role in the regulation of interleukin (IL)-8 expression. Material: A human alveolar epithelial cell line A549 was used in vitro. Methods: Histone H4 acetylation at the IL-8 promoter region was assessed by a chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. The expression and production of IL-8 were evaluated by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and specific immunoassay. Effects of a HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), and a HAT inhibitor, anacardic acid, were assessed. Results: Escherichia coli-derived LPS showed a dose- and time-dependent stimulatory effect on IL-8 protein production and mRNA expression in A549 cells in vitro. LPS showed a significant stimulatory effect on histone H4 acetylation at the IL-8 promoter region by ChIP assay. Pretreatment with TSA showed a dose-dependent stimulatory effect on IL-8 release from A549 cells as compared to LPS alone. Conversely, pretreatment with anacardic acid inhibited IL-8 production and expression in A549 cells. Conclusion: These data suggest that LPS-mediated proinflammatory responses in the lungs might be modulated via changing chromatin remodeling by HAT inhibition.
Bone Health and Clinical Results after Hip Fracture Surgery in Patients with Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Background Subclinical thyroid dysfunction might influence a bone health. We evaluated whether subclinical hypothyroidism adversely affects bone health including bone mineral density (BMD), level of vitamin D, and bone turnover status in patients with hip fracture. Methods We evaluated 471 patients aged 50 years or older, who underwent hip fracture surgeries. BMD, level of vitamin D, bone turnover status, and one-year mortality were compared between subclinical hypothyroidism group and control group. Results BMD of femur and the level of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25-[OH]D) were similar in the two groups. There were no significant differences in bone turnover markers according to thyroid function. No significant differences were observed between the groups in utilization of intensive care unit (ICU), length of hospital stay, mobility, and one-year mortality. Conclusions Subclinical hypothyroidism was not associated with reduced bone health, including BMD, the level of 25-(OH)D, and bone turnover marker.
Crosslinguistic transfer in the acquisition of compound words in Persian–English bilinguals*

Crosslinguistic transfer in bilingual language acquisition has been widely reported in various linguistic domains (e.g., Döpke, 1998; Nicoladis, 1999; Paradis, 2001). In this study we examined structural overlap (Döpke, 2000; Müller and Hulk, 2001) and dominance (Yip and Matthews, 2000) as explanatory factors for crosslinguistic transfer in Persian–English bilingual children's production of novel compound words. Nineteen Persian monolinguals, sixteen Persian–English bilinguals, and seventeen English monolinguals participated in a novel compound production task. Our results showed crosslinguistic influence of Persian on English and of English on Persian. Bilingual children produced more right-headed compounds in Persian, compared with Persian monolinguals, and in their English task, they produced more left-headed compounds than English monolinguals. Furthermore, Persian-dominant bilinguals tended more towards left-headed compounds in Persian than the English-dominant group. These findings point to both structural overlap and language dominance as factors underlying crosslinguistic transfer.
Routing, wavelength and time-slot assignment in time division multiplexed wavelength-routed optical WDM networks

We study routing and wavelength assignment for a circuit-switched time division multiplexed (TDM) wavelength-routed (WR) optical WDM network. In a conventional WR network, an entire wavelength is assigned to a given session (or circuit). This can lead to lower channel utilization when the individual sessions do not need the entire channel bandwidth. We consider a TDM-based approach to reduce this inefficiency. In this architecture, each wavelength is partitioned in the time-domain into fixed-length time-slots organized as a TDM frame. Multiple sessions are multiplexed on each wavelength by assigning a sub-set of the TDM slots to each session. Thus, given a session request with a specified bandwidth, the goal is to determine the route, wavelength and time-slot assignment (RWTA) that meets the request. This is similar to routing and wavelength assignment in WR networks. We present a family of RWTA algorithms and study the blocking performance. We use the existing shortest-path routing algorithm with a new link cost function, least resistance weight (LRW) function, that incorporates wavelength utilization information. We employ the known least loaded (LL) wavelength selection and present three variations of the least-loaded time-slot (LLT) algorithm. Simulation based analyses are used to compare the proposed TDM architecture to traditional WR networks, both with and without wavelength conversion. The goal is to compare the benefits of TDM and wavelength conversion towards improving performance in WR networks. The results show that the use of TDM provides substantial gains, especially for multi-fiber networks.
An Extensive Empirical Study on Semi-supervised Learning

Semi-supervised classification methods utilize unlabeled data to help learn better classifiers, when only a small amount of labeled data is available. Many semi-supervised learning methods have been proposed in the past decade. However, some questions have not been well answered, e.g., whether semi-supervised learning methods outperform base classifiers learned only from the labeled data, when different base classifiers are used, whether selecting unlabeled data with efforts is superior to random selection, and how the quality of the learned classifier changes at each iteration of learning process. This paper conducts an extensive empirical study on the performance of several commonly used semi-supervised learning methods when different Bayesian classifiers (NB, NBTree, TAN, HGC, HNB, and DNB) are used as the base classifier, respectively. Results on Transductive SVM and a graph-based semi-supervised learning method LLGC are also studied for comparison. The experimental results on 26 UCI datasets and 6 widely used benchmark datasets show that these semi-supervised learning methods generally do not obtain better performance than classifiers learned only from the labeled data. Moreover, for standard self-training and co-training, when selecting the most confident unlabeled instances during learning process, the performance is not necessarily better than that of random selection of unlabeled instances. We especially discovered interesting outcomes when drawing learning curves for using NB in self-training on some UCI datasets. The accuracy of the learned classifier on the testing set may fluctuate or decrease as more unlabeled instances are used. Also on the mushroom dataset, even when all the selected unlabeled instances are correctly labeled in each iteration, the accuracy on the testing set still goes down.
Trifluoroethanol Modulates Amyloid Formation by the All α-Helical URN1 FF Domain

Amyloid fibril formation is implicated in different human diseases. The transition between native α-helices and nonnative intermolecular β-sheets has been suggested to be a trigger of fibrillation in different conformational diseases. The FF domain of the URN1 splicing factor (URN1-FF) is a small all-α protein that populates a molten globule (MG) at low pH. Despite the fact that this conformation maintains most of the domain native secondary structure, it progressively converts into β-sheet enriched and highly ordered amyloid fibrils. In this study, we investigated if 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol (TFE) induced conformational changes that affect URN1-FF amyloid formation. Despite TFE having been shown to induce or increase the aggregation of both globular and disordered proteins at moderate concentrations, we demonstrate here that in the case of URN1-FF it reinforces its intrinsic α-helical structure, which competes the formation of aggregated assemblies. In addition, we show that TFE induces conformational diversity in URN1-FF fibrils, in such a way that the fibrils formed in the presence and absence of the cosolvent represent different polymorphs. It is suggested that the effect of TFE on both the soluble and aggregated states of URN1-FF depends on its ability to facilitate hydrogen bonding.
Terrestrial plant production and climate change.

The likely future increase in atmospheric CO(2) and associated changes in climate will affect global patterns of plant production. Models integrate understanding of the influence of the environment on plant physiological processes and so enable estimates of future changes to be made. Moreover, they allow us to assess the consequences of different assumptions for predictions and so stimulate further research. This paper is a review of the sensitivities of one such model, Hybrid6.5, a detailed mechanistic model of terrestrial primary production. This model is typical of its type, and the sensitivities of the global distribution of predicted production to model assumptions and possible future CO(2) levels and climate are assessed. Sensitivity tests show that leaf phenology has large effects on mean C(3) crop and needleleaved cold deciduous tree production, reducing potential net primary production (NPP) from that obtained using constant maximum annual leaf area index by 32.9% and 41.6%, respectively. Generalized Plant Type (GPT) specific parameterizations, particularly photosynthetic capacity per unit leaf N, affect mean predicted NPP of higher C(3) plants by -22.3% to 27.9%, depending on the GPT, compared to NPP predictions obtained using mean parameter values. An increase in atmospheric CO(2) concentrations from current values to 720 ppm by the end of this century, with associated effects on climate from a typical climate model, is predicted to increase global NPP by 37.3%. Mean increases range from 43.9-52.9% across different C(3) GPTs, whereas the mean NPP of C(4) grass and crop increases by 5.9%. Significant uncertainties concern the extent to which acclimative processes may reduce any potential future increase in primary production and the degree to which any gains are transferred to durable, and especially edible, biomass. Experimentalists and modellers need to work closely together to reduce these uncertainties. A number of research priorities are suggested. 'The green leaf or, to be more precise, the microscopic green grain of chlorophyll, is the focus, the point in the world to which solar energy flows on one side while all the manifestations of life on earth take their source on the other side. ' Kliment Arkadievich Timiryazev The conclusions of a century of plant physiology, speech at Moscow University, 12 January 1901.