Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Yielding of Metallic Glass Foam by Percolation of an Elastic Buckling Instability

behavior of open- and closed-cell metallic glass foams has recently been assessed by means of compressive experiments performed using standard mechanical testing procedures. Open-cell Zr57Nb5Cu15.4Ni12. 6Al10 foams investigated in the porosity range of 72–86% are found to exhibit impressive compressive plasticity extending to nearly 80% strains, however, they are found to yield at relatively low stresses ranging between 5 and 34 MPa. [7–9] In contrast, closed-cell Pd43.5Ni7. 5Cu30P20 and Pd35Pt15Cu30P20 foams investigated in the porosity range of 36–64% were found to exhibit substantially higher strengths, ranging between 250 and 600 MPa, but a more modest plasticity ranging between 20 and 30% strains. [4,5] Plasticity in these closed-cell foams is shown to
Investigation of Soundness of Welds in Welding under Static and Cyclic Loading

In order to investigate the soundness of welds in welding under loads, a series of experiments were carried out under static and cyclic loads. In the case of the experiment under compressive static loads, the defects such as buckling, welding crack, etc. were not observed in all the specimens. On the other hand, in the case of the experiment under compressive cyclic loads, the defects were not observed for the Fillet-type specimen. However, the hot crack was observed for the Butt-type specimen.
Geodesic regression of image and shape data for improved modeling of 4D trajectories

A variety of regression schemes have been proposed on images or shapes, although available methods do not handle them jointly. In this paper, we present a framework for joint image and shape regression which incorporates images as well as anatomical shape information in a consistent manner. Evolution is described by a generative model that is the analog of linear regression, which is fully characterized by baseline images and shapes (intercept) and initial momenta vectors (slope). Further, our framework adopts a control point parameterization of deformations, where the dimensionality of the deformation is determined by the complexity of anatomical changes in time rather than the sampling of the image and/or the geometric data. We derive a gradient descent algorithm which simultaneously estimates baseline images and shapes, location of control points, and momenta. Experiments on real medical data demonstrate that our framework effectively combines image and shape information, resulting in improved modeling of 4D (3D space + time) trajectories.
Investigation of Thermal Bonding on PMMA Capillary Electrophoresis Chip

PMMA, Capillary Electrophoresis, Thermal bonding, Factor, Deformation. Abstract. In this paper, using the powder hot embossing machine, the effects of the bonding temperature, pressure and time on the deformation of microchannel dimensions is studied systematically. The bonding temperature is mainly influence factor on the deformation of microchannel determined by the method of orthogonal experiment. Some mathematical models are described to optimize the thermal bonding process parameters. According theory and experimental curve, the optimal experimental model (83°C, 0.4Mpa and 7 min) is suggested. Under the process parameters the deformation of crossing section dimension before and after thermal bonding is 37.8%. The channel is successfully sealed underneath with a thin foil 30μm thickness PMMA for contactless conductivity detection. The entire fabrication methodology may also be useful for preparation of other polymer microfluidic systems. Finally, the performance of the PMMA chip is demonstrated to separate continuously K+ ions using the contactless conductivity detection.
Bacteriophage therapy - Looking back in to the future

Shesh Raj Patel, Ajay Kumar Verma, Vijay Chandra Verma, Madhusudhana Reddy Janga and Gopal Nath* 1 Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Infections and Molecular Diagnosis, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, UP India 2 Present address: AgriLife Research, Texas A& M University, College Station 77843, TX, USA 3 Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology (IPGB), Texas A& M University, College Station 77843, TX, USA * Corresponding author: email: gopalnath@gmail.com
Does Multimodality Help Human and Machine for Translation and Image Captioning?

This paper presents the systems developed by LIUM and CVC for the WMT16 Multimodal Machine Translation challenge. We explored various comparative methods, namely phrase-based systems and attentional recurrent neural networks models trained using monomodal or multimodal data. We also performed a human evaluation in order to estimate the usefulness of multimodal data for human machine translation and image description generation. Our systems obtained the best results for both tasks according to the automatic evaluation metrics BLEU and METEOR.
Computer Science MASTER : Bibliographic Report from the article accept ( ) able Strategies for Improving Web Server Performance

This report, performed in the framework of the computer science master of Bordeaux, is aiming to study the paper of Brecht et al. named “Accept()able strategies for improving web server performance” [1]. Beyond a simple summary, this report endeavors to give an overview of the web server field and by extension, of the server field. Indeed, most of the conclusions are easily extendable to other servers such as streaming servers. In this paper, Brecht et al. improve performance of three well-known web servers by modifying strategies for accepting new connections. They also compare a user-mode and kernel-mode web servers and show close results between them.
Simulation of high-cycle fatigue-driven delamination in composites using a cohesive zone model

In this PhD thesis several published strategies for the simulation of high-cycle fatiguedriven delamination using cohesive elements are investigated in mode I using an efficient analytical model which eliminates the numerical errors involved in a finite element simulation. A detailed sensitivity study of all the models is performed with respect to the element size and the cycle-jump. The models are then compared and their advantages and disadvantages highlighted. For two of the models improvements are proposed and investigated using the analytical model. Necessary conditions for a successful fatigue model are then highlighted and a new model is proposed. A sensitivity study demonstrates a very good performance of this model. The new fatigue degradation strategy is implemented into a user defined element (UEL) within the commercial finite element software ABAQUS. Two simulations are then performed for pure mode I and mode II fatigue-driven delamination. The new strategy is shown to achieve good agreement with the input Paris law and is also shown to perform well in comparison with FE implementations of some of the published cohesive element strategies for fatigue-driven growth of delamination.
Hepatitis C virus core antigen testing in liver and kidney transplant recipients

HCV RNA levels correlate with the long‐term outcome of hepatitis C in liver transplant recipients. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) is usually used to confirm HCV reinfection and to examine viral loads after liver transplantation. HCV core antigen (HCVcoreAg) testing could be an alternative to NAT with some potential advantages including very low intra‐ and interassay variabilities and lower costs. The performance of HCVcoreAg testing in organ transplant recipients is unknown. We prospectively studied 1011 sera for HCV RNA and HCVcoreAg in a routine real‐world setting including 222 samples obtained from patients after liver or kidney transplantation. HCV RNA and HCVcoreAg test results showed a consistency of 98% with a very good correlation in transplanted patients (r > 0.85). The correlation between HCV RNA and HCVcoreAg was higher in sera with high viral loads and in samples from patients with low biochemical disease. Patients treated with tacrolimus showed a better correlation between both parameters than individuals receiving cyclosporine A. HCV RNA/HCVcoreAg ratios did not differ between transplanted and nontransplanted patients, and HCV RNA and HCVcoreAg kinetics were almost identical during the first days after liver transplantation. HCVcoreAg testing can be used to monitor HCV viral loads in patients after organ transplantation. However, the assay is not recommended to monitor antiviral therapies.
OptFolio - a simulation optimization system for project portfolio planning

OptFolio is a new portfolio optimization software system simultaneously addresses financial return goals, catastrophic loss avoidance, and performance probability. The innovations embedded in the system enable users to confidently design effective plans for achieving financial goals, employing accurate analysis based on real data. State-of-the-art technology integrates simulation and metaheuristic optimization techniques and a new surface methodology based on linear programming into a global system that guides a series of evaluations to reveal truly optimal investment scenarios. Portfolio analysis tools are designed to aid senior management in the development and analysis of portfolio strategies, by giving them the capability to assess the impact on the corporation of various investment decisions. In this paper we will present new techniques that increase the flexibility of optimization tools and deepen the types of portfolio analysis that can be carried out. We include examples applied to energy, pharmaceutical, and information technology portfolios.
Cloning, sequencing, and expression of H.a.YNR1 and H.a.YNI1, encoding nitrate and nitrite reductases in the yeast Hansenula anomala

A single Hansenula anomala genomic DNA fragment containing the genes H.a. YNR1 (yeast nitrate reductase) and H.a. YNI1 (yeast nitrite reductase) encoding nitrate and nitrite reductase, respectively, was isolated from a λEMBL3 genomic DNA library. As probe, a 3.2 kb DNA fragment isolated from a λgt11 H. anomala genomic DNA library screened with antiserum anti‐NR from H. anomala was used. H.a. YNR1 and H.a. YNI1 genes are separated by 473 bp and encode putative proteins of 870 and 1077 amino acids, respectively, with great similarity to nitrate and nitrite reductases from other organisms. Northern blot analysis revealed that both genes are highly expressed in nitrate, very low in nitrate plus ammonium, and no expression was detected in ammonium or nitrogen‐free media. Levels of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase were very low or undetectable by Western blot analysis in nitrogen‐free and ammonium media, whereas both proteins were present in nitrate and ammonium plus nitrate media. The nucleotide sequence Accession No. is AF123281. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Proactive Caching for Hybrid Urban Mobile Networks

Consuming digital multimedia (such as videos) on move has become evermore popular, all thanks to the widespread success of powerful, networked handheld devices as well as availability of 3G services in urban areas. The storage sizes and Wi-Fi networking capabilities of such devices have made them a good platform for opportunistic content sharing; however given the bulky nature of multimedia files, the question arises as to how we can increase the number of successfully serviced requests by caching content locally. In this work we study the state of classical caching and show that while those strategies are considered to be good enough in their intended domain (such as web proxies); they fail to perform effectively when applied to mobile networks due to lower usage. Therefore, we propose an opportunistic proactive caching strategy which exploits available access points to proactively push contents to nodes through WiFi. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, in terms of successful cache hit rate by means of simulation using large-scale real world traces. In addition, we show that up to 70% of content requests can be successfully satisfied by the proposed opportunistic proactive caching, cutting the delivery up to half its original perceived delay.
Distributed cohesive control for robot swarms: Maintaining good connectivity in the presence of exterior forces

We present a number of powerful local mechanisms for maintaining a dynamic swarm of robots with limited capabilities and information, in the presence of external forces and permanent node failures. We propose a set of local continuous algorithms that together produce a generalization of a Euclidean Steiner tree. At any stage, the resulting overall shape achieves a good compromise between local thickness, global connectivity, and flexibility to further continuous motion of the terminals. The resulting swarm behavior scales well, is robust against node failures, and performs close to the best known approximation bound for a corresponding centralized static optimization problem.
Visualizing Communication Timelines Containing Sparsely Distributed Clusters

Online communication methods like instant messaging support the rapid exchange of messages and are readily being incorporated into the workplace. This paper describes a temporal visualization system that displays communications with the objective of helping collaborators and supervisors to gain insight into the effectiveness of group communications. A system is being developed for use with a virtual school environment to support collaboration between middle and high school students. The system differs from traditional timeline approaches in that its combination of multiple zoom levels and foci can accommodate sparsely distributed communication data.
Investigation of the Influence of Zn-diffusion profile on the electrical properties of InGaAs/InP photodiodes

Dark current is a drastic specification for any kind of sensor and particularly for imagers dedicated to low light level. We propose here a method for optimizing the InGaAs photodiode properties. An anomalous doping profile feature revealed by scanning capacitance microscopy is counterbalanced by modifying Zn-diffusion process. We analyze the electrical results before further investigation.
Analysis of controllers for the dynamic response enhancement of the three-port full-bridge DC-DC converter interfacing photovoltaic system

Multiport DC-DC converters have been most commonly used in stand-alone renewable power systems to provide smooth and constant power to the loads. To supply the load without any interruption under various disturbances, the centralised controller in various typologies of multiport converter has been implemented only by using conventional proportional integral (PI) controller. This study presents the output voltage control of the three-port full-bridge converter interfacing photovoltaic (PV) system with three different controllers. The dynamic response of the proposed converter is analysed with the PI controller, fuzzy logic controller (FLC), and the sliding mode controller (SMC). The state space model of the three-port full-bridge converter is developed to analyse the performance using SMC. PI, FLC, and SMC-based control scheme is developed using the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The response of the PI, FLC, and SMC are analysed for line regulation, load voltage regulation, and for the converter parameter variation. The simulation results illustrate that the SMC gives a better steady state and dynamic response when compared with the PI and FLC. The results are presented to confirm the proposed control schemes.
Finding repetitive patterns in 3D human motion captured data

Finding repetitive patterns is important to many applications such as bioinformatics, finance and speech processing, etc. Repetitive patterns can be either cyclic or acyclic such that the patterns are continuous and distributed respectively. In this paper, we are going to find repetitive patterns in a given motion signal without prior knowledge about the type of motion. It is relatively easier to find repetitive patterns in discrete signal that contains a limited number of states by dynamic programming. However, it is impractical to identify exactly matched states in a continuous signal such as captured human motion data. A point cloud similarity of the input motion signal itself is considered and the longest similar patterns are located by tracing and extending matched posture pairs. Through pattern alignment and autoclustering, cyclic and acyclic patterns are identified. Experiment results show that our approach can locate repetitive movements with small error rates.
Surface topography effect on fibroblasts population on epiclon-based polyimide films

A polyimide based on alicyclic units, such as epiclon (5-(2,5-dioxotetrahydrofurfuryl)-3-methyl-3-cyclohexene-1,2-dicarboxylic acid anhydride), was investigated from the point of view of its surface features to check their suitability for cell culture applications. Atomic force microscopy data revealed fractal and isotropic surfaces with nanoscale roughness and peaks placed at much smaller distances comparing to the cell size scale, favoring a good compatibility of the synthesized material with the biological medium, particularly after plasma treatment. Surface tension properties were determined in order to evaluate the interactions at the bio-interface affecting the adherence behavior of cell-binding proteins to the sample surface. In vitro experiments regarding the cytocompatibility and population tendency reveal that polyimide allows cells to adhere and to proliferate onto the surface. These tests indicate that the studied epiclon-based polyimide is not cytotoxic and can be recommended as good candidate for cell culture substrate in tissue engineering, especially after plasma treatment.
Automatic Aircraft Detection and Classification in Cluttered Environments

A vision-based system for detecting and classifying moving obstacles in a cluttered environment using a single camera mounted on a small unmanned aerial vehicle is presented. Feature correspondences between successive image frames are found using the SIFT algorithm, and a model of the background motion is generated by Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC). The transformed frames are then differenced to produce a clean image of any objects moving relative to the background. These object silhouettes are then classified as airplane vs. non-airplane in order to reject false positives and to improve obstacle state-estimation information.
Nitazoxanide Stimulates Autophagy and Inhibits mTORC1 Signaling and Intracellular Proliferation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world today. M. tuberculosis hijacks the phagosome-lysosome trafficking pathway to escape clearance from infected macrophages. There is increasing evidence that manipulation of autophagy, a regulated catabolic trafficking pathway, can enhance killing of M. tuberculosis. Therefore, pharmacological agents that induce autophagy could be important in combating tuberculosis. We report that the antiprotozoal drug nitazoxanide and its active metabolite tizoxanide strongly stimulate autophagy and inhibit signaling by mTORC1, a major negative regulator of autophagy. Analysis of 16 nitazoxanide analogues reveals similar strict structural requirements for activity in autophagosome induction, EGFP-LC3 processing and mTORC1 inhibition. Nitazoxanide can inhibit M. tuberculosis proliferation in vitro. Here we show that it inhibits M. tuberculosis proliferation more potently in infected human THP-1 cells and peripheral monocytes. We identify the human quinone oxidoreductase NQO1 as a nitazoxanide target and propose, based on experiments with cells expressing NQO1 or not, that NQO1 inhibition is partly responsible for mTORC1 inhibition and enhanced autophagy. The dual action of nitazoxanide on both the bacterium and the host cell response to infection may lead to improved tuberculosis treatment.
Characterization of a native polysaccharide hapten from Brucella melitensis

The 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of Brucella melitensis native polysaccharide hapten proved to be very similar to that generated by the O-specific chain (PS) isolated from B. melitensis lipopolysaccharide; that is, to a linear polymer in which the repeating unit is composed of five N-formylperosaminyl residues, one of them being substituted at position C-3 and the other four at position C-2. The serological analysis suggests that the so-called A determinant is present solely in Brucella abortus PS, the M determinant is only in B. melitensis PS, and the extensive cross-reaction observed is due to a determinant shared by both polysaccharides.
DistAl: an inter-pattern distance-based constructive learning algorithm

Multilayer networks of threshold logic units offer an attractive framework for the design of pattern classification systems. A new constructive neural network learning algorithm (DistAl) based on inter-pattern distance is introduced. DistAl constructs a single hidden layer of spherical threshold neurons. Each neuron is designed to exclude a cluster of training patterns belonging to the same class. The weights and thresholds of the hidden neurons are determined directly by comparing the inter-pattern distances of the training patterns. This offers a significant advantage over other constructive learning algorithms that use an iterative weight modification strategy to train individual neurons. The individual clusters are combined by a single output layer of threshold neurons. The speed of DistAl makes it a good candidate for data mining and knowledge acquisition from very large data sets. Results of experiments show that DistAl compares favorably with other neural network learning algorithms for pattern classification.
A noise robust speech activity detection algorithm

This paper proposes an efficient and robust speech starting and end point detection method, which improve the performance for speech recognition in a noisy environment. The proposed method designs a series of speech/non-speech classifiers for voice activity detection and robust end-point detection using an 'adaptive thresholding' algorithm. The proposed method uses multiple features of speech for robust speech detection under noisy conditions, especially in an automotive environment. The key advantages of this method are its simple implementation and its low computational complexity. The proposed algorithm is used for isolated word recognition in a discontinuous speech recognition system. The performance of the proposed algorithm is measured in a simulated noisy environment with speech wave files recorded under noisy conditions.
Intelligent Modeling of Contact Mechanics and Friction Dynamics

This paper considers the investigations into adhesion, contact mechanics metal erosion effects, wear and tare as a result of the effects of frictional forces. Mechanical components rely on friction for the transformation and delivery of energy from point A to point B. This requires the knowledge of combined energies as well as their associated dynamic models and ancillary parameters. Adhesion, contact, friction and wear are major problems limiting both the fabrication yield and lifetime of any devices. Since it is the area of real contact, which determines the sliding friction, adhesion interaction may strongly affect the friction force even when no adhesion can be detected in a pull-off experiment. Therefore a good scientific dynamic modelling of friction forces is a prerequisite for the understanding and monitoring of friction adverse effect on mechanical systems for good maintenance purposes. © 2005 ASME