Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Manufacturing of Cylindrical Micro Lenses and Micro Lens Arrays in Fused Silica and Borosilicate Glass using F2-Laser Microstructuring

The results of our investigations on direct laser fabrication of cylindrical micro lenses and micro lens arrays in fused silica and borosilicate glass using fluorine laser microstructuring technique will be presented. The process, based on the mask projection technique, enables the generation of almost perfectly curved, smooth surfaces with a defined radius of curvature. In particular, it will be shown that one calculated mask can be used to generate different radii of curvature depending on the laser pulse fluence and the pulse-to-pulse overlap. The surface roughness of the lenses depends on the process parameters as well. To generate continuous transition areas between the lenses in one array, the optimal lens spacing was determined. Moreover, it can be shown, that the surface quality of cylindrical micro lens arrays, made of fused silica, can be improved by CO2 laser smoothing. The minimal reached surface roughness is 4.6 nm RMS.
Incorporating Redundant Learned Rules: A Preliminary Formal Analysis of EBL

"Explanation-based learning" -- i.e., incorporating new redundant rules suggested by earlier problem solving experiences -- is an attempt to speed up problem solving. Unfortunately, the resulting systems are not always more efficient on subsequent problems. This paper describes, analytically, whether these new rules should be added, and if so, where they should appear in the overall derivation strategy. While this task is intractable in general, we present several interesting special cases which can be solved in time (essentially) linear in the number of rules in the system.
Generation of Electricity by OSMOSIS

We can't continue using several of our energy sources from where we gain energy today. For example fossil fuels contaminate our environment and we are also running out of them. It is therefore necessary to find other ways of producing energy. This paper focuses on one of those alternatives; osmotic energy. Osmosis means passage of water from a region of high water concentration (often freshwater) through a semipermeable membrane to a region of low water concentration (often NaCl). Osmotic powers excellent environmental performance and CO2-free power production will qualify for green certificates and other supportive policy measures for renewable energy. The estimated energy cost is comparable and competitive with the other renewable energy sources. For both the commercial power companies and technology suppliers Osmotic Power represent an attractive new
Tissue‐specific roles of FGF signaling in external genitalia development

Background: The developmental processes of the genital tubercle (GT), the anlage of the external genitalia, possess several developmental aspects, including GT outgrowth, urethral tube formation, and epithelial differentiation of the urethra. The GT comprises the mesenchyme derived from the lateral mesoderm, ectodermal epithelium, and endodermal epithelium (embryonic urethral epithelium). The three tissue layers develop the GT coordinately. Results: Around the initial stage of GT outgrowth (E11.5), FGF signaling was detected in the mesenchyme of the GT. FGF signaling was detected in the three tissue layers of the GT around the early stage of urethral formation (E13.5). Subsequently, FGF signaling was predominantly detected in the urethral epithelium (E14.5). Tissue‐specific roles of FGF signaling in GT development were revealed by conditional Fgfr gene knockout approaches. Mesenchymal FGF signaling in the early‐stage GT is required for its outgrowth. Ectodermal FGF signaling in the GT is required for the differentiation of the ectoderm and urethral epithelium at their junction to form the proper urethral tube. Endodermal FGF signaling in the GT is required for the stratification and cell adhesive characteristics of the urethral epithelium. Conclusions: The current study suggests that spatiotemporally regulated FGF signaling plays tissue‐specific roles in multiple processes of external genitalia development. Developmental Dynamics 244:759–773, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Modelling unitary fields and the single‐neuron contribution to local field potentials in the hippocampus

Synaptic currents represent a major contribution to the local field potential (LFP) in brain tissue, but the respective contribution of excitatory and inhibitory synapses is not known. Here, we provide estimates of this contribution by using computational models of hippocampal pyramidal neurons, constrained by in vitro recordings. We focus on the unitary LFP (uLFP) generated by single neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. We first reproduce experimental results for hippocampal basket cells, and in particular how inhibitory uLFP are distributed within hippocampal layers. Next, we calculate the uLFP generated by pyramidal neurons, using morphologically-reconstructed CA3 pyramidal cells. The model shows that the excitatory uLFP is of small amplitude, smaller than inhibitory uLFPs. Indeed, when the two are simulated together, inhibitory uLFPs mask excitatory uLFPs, which might create the illusion that the inhibitory field is generated by pyramidal cells. These results provide an explanation for the observation that excitatory and inhibitory uLFPs are of the same polarity, in vivo and in vitro. These results also show that somatic inhibitory currents are large contributors of the LFP, which is important information to interpret this signal. Finally, the results of our model might form the basis of a simple method to compute the LFP, which could be applied to point neurons for each cell type, thus providing a simple biologically-grounded method to calculate LFPs from neural networks.
Local motion adaptation enhances the representation of spatial structure at EMD arrays

Neuronal representation and extraction of spatial information are essential for behavioral control. For flying insects, a plausible way to gain spatial information is to exploit distance-dependent optic flow that is generated during translational self-motion. Optic flow is computed by arrays of local motion detectors retinotopically arranged in the second neuropile layer of the insect visual system. These motion detectors have adaptive response characteristics, i.e. their responses to motion with a constant or only slowly changing velocity decrease, while their sensitivity to rapid velocity changes is maintained or even increases. We analyzed by a modeling approach how motion adaptation affects signal representation at the output of arrays of motion detectors during simulated flight in artificial and natural 3D environments. We focused on translational flight, because spatial information is only contained in the optic flow induced by translational locomotion. Indeed, flies, bees and other insects segregate their flight into relatively long intersaccadic translational flight sections interspersed with brief and rapid saccadic turns, presumably to maximize periods of translation (80% of the flight). With a novel adaptive model of the insect visual motion pathway we could show that the motion detector responses to background structures of cluttered environments are largely attenuated as a consequence of motion adaptation, while responses to foreground objects stay constant or even increase. This conclusion even holds under the dynamic flight conditions of insects.
Amplification and overexpression of the ABCC3 (MRP3) gene in primary breast cancer

The ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) of active transporters comprises a group of proteins that which facilitate efflux of anticancer drugs from cancer cells. We focused on the gene amplification and protein expression of ABCC3 (also known as MRP3) in breast cancer cell lines and clinical tumor samples. Fluorescence and chromogenic in situ hybridization, using an ABCC3‐specific probe, was used to analyze 11 breast cancer cell lines and 112 clinical tumor samples. The results of ABCC3 were correlated with the amplification status of HER2 and topoisomerase II alpha (TOP2A), which are located close to ABCC3 at 17q12‐q21. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess ABCC3 protein overexpression. Of the cell lines studied 6 HER2‐positive lines and 1 HER2‐negative line exhibited amplification of ABCC3. In the HER‐2‐negative clinical tumor samples, only 4/55 (7.3%) exhibited ABCC3 amplification. In the HER2‐positive tumors, ABCC3 was amplified in 16/57 tumors (28.1%, P = 0.0059). TOP2A did not exhibit any consistent coamplification pattern. ABCC3 (MRP3) protein overexpression was more common in tumors with gene amplification (P = 0.069). In silico analysis of 804 breast cancers with matched gene expression and copy number microarray data revealed significant differences ABCC3 across the molecular subtypes. Specifically, increased ABCC3 mRNA and gene copy numbers were most prominent in HER2 amplified and/or HER2‐enriched classified tumors. Moreover, differential ABCC3 mRNA levels were found within the HER‐2 amplified subset when stratified by the estrogen receptor status. We conclude that ABCC3 is frequently amplified and overexpressed in HER2‐positive breast cancer, and something that warrants further studies correlating the results with therapeutic outcome. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A new preprocessing approach for cell recognition

In this paper, we describe a novel strategy for combining fisher's linear discriminant (FLD) preprocessing with a feedforward neural network to classify cultured cells in bright field images. This technique was applied to various experimental scenarios utilizing different imaging environments, and the results were compared with those for the traditional principal component analysis (PCA) preprocessing. Our FLD preprocessing was shown to be more effective than PCA due in large part to the fact that FLD maximizes the ratio of between-class to within-class scatter. The new cell recognition algorithm with FLD preprocessing improves accuracy while the speed is suitable for practical applications.
Emulsified isoflurane postconditioning improves survival and neurological outcomes in a rat model of cardiac arrest

Emulsified isoflurane (EIso) has a protective effect against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in animal models. However, the protective effects of EIso on global cerebral I/R injury remain unclear. The present study aimed to investigate whether EIso postconditioning was able to improve survival and neurological outcomes in a rat model of cardiac arrest (CA). Rats were randomly divided into five groups, namely the control, EIso-2ml, EIso-4ml, isoflurane (Iso) and emulsion (E) groups. All rats were resuscitated by a standardized method following 6 min of asphyxia. Furthermore, all interventions were administered immediately following the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). The animal survival was recorded daily, and evaluations of behavioral and brain morphology were assessed at 1 and 7 days after ROSC. The results showed that EIso treatment increased the survival rate 7 days after ROSC, with a 41.7% 7-day survival in the EIso-2ml group, 66.7% in the EIso-4ml group and 50% in the Iso group compared with 33.3% survival in the control and E groups. Moreover, the neural deficit score and memory function were improved in the EIso-4ml group, and this treatment also ameliorated brain hippocampal cell injury and apoptosis. In addition, a better brain protective effect was observed in the EIso-4ml group compared with the EIso-2ml, Iso and E groups. In summary, the data of the present study suggest that EIso postconditioning improved the survival and neurological outcomes following CA in a dose-dependent manner.
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF TRANSIENT AERODYNAMICS ON DRIVING STABILITY

The present study investigated the effects of transient aerodynamic forces on driving stability of road vehicle. The investigation was carried out using large eddy simulation (LES). To facilitate the investigation, two vehicle models with distinct upper body geometries were developed. The models adopted the characteristic geometries of upper body of real sedantype vehicles with distinct pitching stability behavior. To probe the dynamic response of the models, a forced-sinusoidal-pitching oscillation is imposed on them during the LES. Accordingly, the models undergo pitching oscillation in a similar manner to the rear-ride-height fluctuation of real vehicles. To allow quantitative analysis on the stability characteristic of models, a parameter termed aerodynamic damping coefficient is introduced. The coefficient quantifies the work done by aerodynamic pitching moment on the models during pitching oscillation. For validation of the LES method, flow structures around the models obtained by stationary LES were compared to the wind tunnel measurements. The comparison shows good agreement. Meanwhile, the dynamic LES results show higher aerodynamic damping in the model with rounded front pillar configuration, by about 22.3%. The Underbody has the highest contribution to the total aerodynamic damping, which was up to 69%. However, the difference between the aerodynamic damping of models with distinct front and rear pillar configurations mainly depends on the trunk-deck contribution.
GZIP file format specification version 4.3

This specification defines a lossless compressed data format that is compatible with the widely used GZIP utility. The format includes a cyclic redundancy check value for detecting data corruption. The format presently uses the DEFLATE method of compression but can be easily extended to use other compression methods. The format can be implemented readily in a manner not covered by patents.
Regeneration of Male Germline Stem Cells by Spermatogonial Dedifferentiation in Vivo

Although the ability of engrafted stem cells to regenerate tissue has received much attention, the molecular mechanisms controlling regeneration are poorly understood. In the Drosophila male germline, local activation of the Janus kinase–signal transducer and activator of transcription (Jak-STAT) pathway maintains stem cells; germline stem cells lacking Jak-STAT signaling differentiate into spermatogonia without self-renewal. By conditionally manipulating Jak-STAT signaling, we find that spermatogonia that have initiated differentiation and are undergoing limited mitotic (transit-amplifying) divisions can repopulate the niche and revert to stem cell identity. Thus, in the appropriate microenvironment, transit-amplifying cells dedifferentiate, becoming functional stem cells during tissue regeneration.
Size reduction of complex networks preserving modularity

The ubiquity of modular structure in real-world complex networks is the focus of attention in many trials to understand the interplay between network topology and functionality. The best approaches to the identification of modular structure are based on the optimization of a quality function known as modularity. However this optimization is a hard task provided that the computational complexity of the problem is in the non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) class. Here we propose an exact method for reducing the size of weighted (directed and undirected) complex networks while maintaining their modularity. This size reduction allows use of heuristic algorithms that optimize modularity for a better exploration of the modularity landscape. We compare the modularity obtained in several real complex-networks by using the extremal optimization algorithm, before and after the size reduction, showing the improvement obtained. We speculate that the proposed analytical size reduction could be extended to an exact coarse graining of the network in the scope of real-space renormalization.
The Interconnection of Motivation and Self Regulated Learning Among University Level EFL Students

The main aim of this research is to investigate learners in higher education in a Turkish context, in terms of motivational components such as goal orientation, self efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety and self-regulated learning components such as cognitive strategy usage and self regulation. The study was carried out with 233 students in higher education enrolled in the English Language and Literature department. Descriptive, variance and correlation analyses were carried out to answer the research questions. The results showed that the participants were reported to have satisfactory level of goal orientation, self efficacy, intrinsic value, test anxiety, cognitive strategy usage and self regulation. ANOVA results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the three types of students, regular (daytime), evening, and distance education, with regard to goal orientation and self-efficacy. Furthermore, correlation analysis suggested that there was a moderate level of correlation between self-regulation and cognitive strategy usage. This research on the whole, infers that self-regulated learning means empowering the student to take charge of their motivation and educational pathway, and that while doing so, teachers should keep in mind that the classroom remains a formal environment that still requires self-efficacy and self-regulation and these are all interrelated.
PEAK—a fast and effective performance tuning system via compiler optimization orchestration

Compile-time optimizations generally improve program performance. Nevertheless, degradations caused by individual compiler optimization techniques are to be expected. Feedback-directed optimization orchestration systems generate optimized code versions under a series of optimization combinations, evaluate their performance, and search for the best version. One challenge to such systems is to tune program performance quickly in an exponential search space. Another challenge is to achieve high program performance, considering that optimizations interact. Aiming at these two goals, this article presents an automated performance tuning system, PEAK, which searches for the best compiler optimization combinations for the important code sections in a program. The major contributions made in this work are as follows: (1) An algorithm called Combined Elimination (CE) is developed to explore the optimization space quickly and effectively; (2) Three fast and accurate rating methods are designed to evaluate the performance of an optimized code section based on a partial execution of the program; (3) An algorithm is developed to identify important code sections as candidates for performance tuning by trading off tuning speed and tuned program performance; and (4) A set of compiler tools are implemented to automate optimization orchestration. Orchestrating optimization options in SUN Forte compilers at the whole-program level, our CE algorithm improves performance by 10.8% over the SPEC CPU2000 FP baseline setting, compared to 5.6% improved by manual tuning. Orchestrating GCC O3 optimizations, CE improves performance by 12% over O3, the highest optimization level. Applying the rating methods, PEAK reduces tuning time from 2.19 hours to 5.85 minutes on average, while achieving equal or better program performance.
Study of the Effects of Total Flavonoids of Astragalus on Atherosclerosis Formation and Potential Mechanisms

Astragalus mongholicus Bunge has long been used to treat cardiovascular disease in Chinese traditional medicine. However, its mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, we explored potential mechanisms and protective effects of total flavonoids of Astragalus (TFA) on cardiovascular disease using in vitro experiments and diet-induced atherosclerotic rabbits. We identified six components and their proportion in TFA. The animal experiments showed that TFA significantly reduced plasma levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (P < 0.05 to 0.01), increased HDL cholesterol levels (P < 0.01), and reduced the aortic fatty streak area by 43.6 to 63.6% (P < 0.01). We also found that TFA scavenged superoxide and hydroxyl radicals and this effect increased with higher TFA concentration. In in vivo experiments, TFA effectively inhibited the free radical spectrum in the ischemia-reperfusion module. In conclusion, TFA was the active component of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge, which benefits cardiovascular disease attributing to the potent antioxidant activity to improve the atherosclerosis profile.
Subsumption and recognition of heterogeneous constraint networks

Terminological knowledge representation (TKR) systems, such as KL-ONE, are widely used in AI to construct concept taxonomies based on subsumption inferences. However, current TKR systems are unable to represent temporal patterns or recognize instances of such patterns from ongoing observations. Motivated by applications such as service personnel dispatching, and plan recognition for interactive user interfaces, we extend TKR by introducing terminological QME (qualitative, metric and equality) networks. In QME networks, nodes are TKR concepts and arcs are qualitative constraints between temporal intervals associated with nodes, metric constraints between end-points of temporal intervals, and equality constraints among roles of different concepts. We use QME networks to represent patterns, and define QME network subsumption, which enables us to organize a pattern library into a taxonomy. We also develop a terminological approach to predictive pattern recognition based on subsumption and a related notion of compatibility. We assign a modality of "necessary", "optional" or "impossible" to every pattern as events and constraints are observed. We also show how to augment a pattern library for complete recognition. This work, implemented in the T-REX system, enables more sophisticated applications of TKR technology. <<ETX>>
Analysis of Intake Charge Temperature and EGR Stratification Effects on HCCI Combustion

HCCI combustion is characterized by a near homogeneous composition and temperature mixture of air, fuel and post-combustion products. HCCI related research work around the world defines different strategies for achieving HCCI combustion based on intake charge characteristics, fuel type, and fuel and residual gas mixing methodologies. Engine specific characteristics that defined our HCCI combustion research can be listed as follows: Fuel injection was always performed upstream of the intake port to ensure that a fully homogeneous air and fuel mixture charge was delivered into the engine. – Low levels of in-cylinder residual gas were achieved by a late EVC timing and a minimum of NVO for the purposes of mitigating the in-cylinder temperature, air-fuel ratio and diluent stratification effects imposed by the trapped residual gas. – Externally added EGR helped achieve HCCI combustion within the desired limits of combustion variability and ringing index, and also allowed running the engine fully unthrottled. – Cylinder head split port and dual intake surge tanks / dual intake runners made possible it to inject two fully independent charges into the engine. – Fuel type used to run these experiments was isooctane. This fuel was chosen due to its characteristics as a single stage ignition fuel. A very specific intake port and intake system setup has been designed and installed in a single cylinder engine to analyze and characterize the effects of imposed intake charge temperature and composition stratification on combustion and emission metrics. The characteristics of this particular engine intake port and intake system setup allowed us to establish different sorts of charge stratification, such as thermal and composition stratification.
3D self-localization for humanoid robots using view regression and odometry

The ambience of research in VSLAM and relocalization algorithms in the last few years allure with real-time localization and increased precision for RGBD or stereo cameras but with ambivalence requesting higher computational capacity or more expensive sensors. The aim of this paper is to present a gentle algorithm to locate a humanoid robot using relocalization view based algorithms and odometry information using general regression with Nadayara-Watson kernel for applications where the area is already known such as RoboCup competitions or service robots.