Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulated Annealing & the Metropolis Algorithm : A Parameter Search Method for Models of Arbitrary Complexity

In many situations, models designed to simulate complicated physical behavior reach a level of complexity such that many popular inverse methods cannot be used to determine a desirable set of model parameters. The Navier-Stokes equations, for example, are a set of three non-linear equations describing fluid dynamics. Coupled with expressions describing the continuity of mass and conservation of energy, the resulting system of equations is often used to model planetary atmospheres and in practice becomes an intricate set of iterated computer instructions. Such complicated models can appear like a black box to the user and even to the model author when the need for parameter tuning arises. Indeed, often models are used to study complex natural phenomena because the phenomena is only partially understood. It is this incomplete knowledge that drives a researcher to investigate and yet prevents her from determining a set of model parameters that give the model realistic behavior. Often the author of a model, or one implementing a known theoretical model with unknown coefficients, for example, will use an heuristic method of determining parameters or coefficients that elicit realistic behavior in a complex model. While this task becomes very difficult when there are just a few parameters that have a wide range of uncertainty, for a large number of parameters, the task becomes nearly impossible. Recently, a climate scientist likened the act of tuning a climate model’s parameters to tuning a bicycle wheel by successively tightening and loosening spokes. Often this process (at the hands of an amateur, at least) will lead to a wheel that, while round or of equal radius, is hardly straight. Part of the problem is simply that there are a lot of spokes, and the net effect of turning one of them on the rest of the wheel is difficult to predict. The Metropolis algorithm is herein presented as a tool apropos to this type of circumstance. It is a flexible, simple numerical method that can be used to locate an optimal parameter set for a model of arbitrary complexity based on minimizing a cost function. An interesting augmentation to the Metropolis algorithm, first described by Kirkpatrick et al. 1983, related the minimization process to statistical mechanics. We illustrate the benefits of this slow annealing approach presented in terms of Kirkpatrick’s analogy and give a brief illustration of how this approach can be applied to atmospheric modeling.
Retrieval of Atmospheric Temperature from Airborne Microwave Radiometer Observations

Atmospheric temperature is a key geophysical parameter associated with fields such as meteorology,climatology, or photochemistry. There exist several techniques to measure temperature profiles. In the case of microwave remote sensing, the vertical temperature profile can be estimated from thermal emission lines of molecular oxygen. The MTP (Microwave Temperature Profiler) instrument is an airborne radiometer developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), United States. The instrument passively measures natural thermal emission from oxygen lines at 3 frequencies and at a selection of 10viewing angles (from near zenith to near nadir). MTP has participated in hundreds of flights, including on DLR's Falcon and HALO aircraft. These flights have provided data of the vertical temperature distribution from the troposphere to the lower stratosphere with a good temporal and spatial resolution. In this work, we present temperature retrievals based on the Tikhonov regularized nonlinear leastsquares fitting method. In particular, Jacobians (i.e. temperature derivatives) are evaluated by means of automatic differentiation. The retrieval performance from the MTP measurements is analyzed by using synthetic and real data. Besides, the vertical sensitivity of the temperature retrieval is studied by weighting functions characterizing the sensitivity of the transmission at different frequencies with respect to changes of altitude levels.
Depth Buffer Based Registration of Free-Form Surfaces

Many algorithmshave to dealwith multiple representationsof the sameobject. The processof aligning theserepresentations is calledregistration. In this paperwe presenta new approach for theregistrationof free-formsurfaceswhichis not basedon finding closestpoints. Instead,our algorithmtakesadvantageof the graphicshardwareandusesthe depthbuffer for determining thedistancebetweenthesurfaces.We show the efficiency of ourapproachin severalexamplesin two different applicationareas,the registration of rangeimagesfrom the sameobject and the nominalvaluecomparisonfor sphericallenses.
The effects of antithrombotic drugs in patients with left ventricular thrombi: assessment with indium-111 platelet imaging and two-dimensional echocardiography.

Patients with left ventricular thrombi not caused by recent myocardial infarction were prospectively studied by indium-111 platelet imaging and two-dimensional echocardiography to determine the reproducibility of these techniques and the short-term effects of sulfinpyrazone (200 mg four times daily), aspirin (325 mg three times daily) plus dipyridamole (75 mg three times daily), and full-dose warfarin. At baseline, all patients underwent indium-111 platelet imaging and echocardiography, and the results were positive for thrombus. In six patients on no antithrombotic drug therapy, repeat platelet scans and echocardiographic studies at 6.0 +/- 3.3 weeks remained positive and were unchanged. In seven patients studied on sulfinpyrazone, three platelet scans became negative, two became equivocal, and two were unchanged; the presence and size of thrombus was constant by echocardiography in all seven patients. Of the six patients studied on aspirin plus dipyridamole, one platelet scan became negative, those of three became equivocal, and two were unchanged; all echocardiographic findings remained positive, but one patient had decreased thrombus size. Among four warfarin-treated patients, three had resolution of platelet deposition and one was unchanged; by echocardiography, thrombus resolved in one patient, was decreased in size in one, and was unchanged in two. We conclude that, in the absence of antithrombotic drug therapy, platelet imaging and echocardiographic findings are stable in patients with left ventricular thrombi not caused by recent myocardial infarction. Sulfinpyrazone, aspirin plus dipyridamole, and warfarin all interrupt platelet deposition in some patients with chronic left ventricular thrombi. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Psychological Structure and Psychometric Validity of the Confucian Coping

Confucian culture is recognized as the main body of China society,which affects the mainstream in many areas such as politics,ethics,and philosophy of life.The study developed a localized scale of Confucian coping using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale(CES-D),Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Resilience Scale for Chinese Adolescent,and Chinese Thinking Style Questionnaire as the tools of external criterion.The final scale classified into three factors:fate thinking,pro-setback thinking and responsibility thinking,which are developed by exploratory factor analysis(EFA)and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis(CFA). Additionally,fate thinking has positive relation with anxiety,responsibility thinking has negative relation with anxiety,pro-setback thinking and responsibility thinking both have negative relation with depression and have positive relation with individual power of resilience by regression analysis.As to the Chinese thinking style,pro-setback thinking is positively correlated with change and association thinking,responsibility thinking is positively correlated with change thinking,and fate thinking is negatively correlated with change thinking.The study has significance to understand the coping strategy of Chinese people both practically and theoretically.
An emergent economics of ecosystem management

Economics is an evolving and emerging field of study, so is the management of ecosystems. As such, this paper delineates the co-evolution of economic evaluation that reflects the various recognized ecosystem management approaches of anticipative, adaptive and capacitive ecosystem management. Each management approach is critiqued and from this theoretical analysis an emergent approach for the management of ecosystem is put forward, which accordingly suggests an alternative methodological approach for economic evaluations.
Real-time path planner for arm robot collision avoidance

The paper presents a real-time path planner for a redundant manipulator. The robot manipulator joints references positions are modified, by the control structure, when an unexpected moving obstacle is getting closer to one of the robot components (links and joints). The position of the moving objects is determined using a digital image processing system. The control system determines if the moving obstacle and the arm robot are in collision using an interference detection method based on oriented bounding boxes. When the arm robot control system detects a collision, it modifies the arm robot joints trajectories in order to increase the distance between the robot and the obstacle and, in the same time, maintain the initial trajectory of the end-effecter. Computer simulation and experimental results are given for a 7 DOF redundant arm and demonstrate the collision avoidance capability.
Isolation and Structural Elucidation of 4-(β-D-Glucopyranosyldisulfanyl)butyl Glucosinolate from Leaves of Rocket Salad (Eruca sativa L.) and Its Antioxidative Activity

A structurally unique glucosinolate (GSL) was identified to be 4-(β-D-glucopyranosyldisulfanyl)butyl GSL in rocket leaves. The positive-ion electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) data indicated that the new GSL had a molecular weight of 521 (m⁄z 522, [M+H]+, as desulfo-GSL). The molecular formula of the substance was determined to be C17H32O11NS3 (m⁄z 522.1143, [M+H]+) based on its positive-ion high-resolution fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (HR-FAB-MS) data. For the further confirmation, desulfated GSL of 4-(β-D-glucopyranosyldisulfanyl)butyl GSL was prepared by commercial 1-thio-β-D-glucose and dimeric 4-mercaptobutyl desulfo-GSL, which was also isolated from rocket leaves, and its chemical structure was then confirmed by MS data and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In addition, the antioxidative activity of 4-(β-D-glucopyranosyldisulfanyl)butyl desulfo-GSL was measured by means of chemiluminescence (CL) for evaluating the functional properties. The antioxidative activity (2.089 unit/g) was relatively higher than that of dimeric 4-mercaptobutyl desulfo-GSL (1.227).
Ion debris characterization from a z-pinch extreme ultraviolet light source

An XTREME Technologies XTS 13-35 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light source creates a xenon z pinch that generates 13.5nm light. Due to the near x-ray nature of light at this wavelength, extremely smooth metal mirrors for photon collection must be employed. These are exposed to the source debris. Dissolution of the z-pinch gas column results in high-energy ion and neutral release throughout the chamber that can have adverse effects on mirror surfaces. The XTREME commercial EUV emission diagnostic chamber was designed to maximize diagnostic access to the light and particulate emissions from the z pinch. The principal investigation is characterization of the debris field and the erosive effects on optics present. Light emission from the z pinch is followed by ejection of multiply charged ions and fast neutral particles that make up an erosive flux to chamber surfaces. Attenuation of this erosive flux to optical surfaces is attempted by inclusion of a debris mitigation tool consisting of foil traps and neutral b.
Integrating Expert Systems , Executive Information Systems , and Decision Support Systems

The term Executive Information System (EIS) was coined at MIT in the late 1970s. Hailed as a new technology (see Rockart and Treaty 1982). the concept has spread with growing momentum into hundreds of large corporations. A study conducted at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research showed that about one third of the large U.S. corporations now have some kind of EIS installed or underway. The study (Rockart and DeLong 1986) also indicated that about SO percent of surveyed EIS were directly used by top executives (e.g., CEOs, CFOs). That is, about one of every six top executives in large cqporations is on-line with EIS. Several recent studies provide general descriptions of EIS, for example, see Brody (1988) and McNurlin ( 1987). Specific case studies are provided by Houdeshel and Watson ( 1987), Fedorowicz (1986), and in a special issue of Informrim Cenfer (1988). Lately, the concept of EIS has been related to DSS. For example, since 1986 The Institute of Management Sciences has incorporated in its DSS Conferences a special EIS track which has been especially popular with conference attendees (see El Sawy 1987 and Fedorowicz 1986). One dimension of the relationship between EIS and DSS is the integration of the two. When data analysis and other capabilities are added to an EIS, the resulting system is sometimes referred to as an Executive Support System (ESS) (see Rockart and DeLong 1988). When Ben Heineman was the CEO at Northwest Industries. the system he used was an EIS with an option to use Express-based decision support systems (Rockart and Treaty 1982). The purpose of this paper is to describe how to make ESS more useful or “intelligent” by adding expert systems (ES) capabilities to it. Specifically. the paper covers the following topics:
Role of Corneal Stromal Cells on Epithelial Cell Function during Wound Healing

Following injury, corneal stromal keratocytes transform into repair-phenotype of activated stromal fibroblasts (SFs) and participate in wound repair. Simultaneously, ongoing bi-directional communications between corneal stromal-epithelial cells also play a vital role in mediating the process of wound healing. Factors produced by stromal cells are known to induce proliferation, differentiation, and motility of corneal epithelial cells, which are also subsequently the main processes that occur during wound healing. In this context, the present study aims to investigate the effect of SFs conditioned medium (SFCM) on corneal epithelial cell function along with substance P (SP). Antibody microarrays were employed to profile differentially expressed cell surface markers and cytokines in the presence of SFCM and SP. Antibody microarray data revealed enhanced expression of the ITGB1 in corneal epithelial cells following stimulation with SP whereas SFCM induced abundant expression of IL-8, ITGB1, PD1L1, PECA1, IL-15, BDNF, ICAM1, CD8A, CD44 and NTF4. All these proteins have either direct or indirect roles in epithelial cell growth, movement and adhesion related signaling cascades during tissue regeneration. We also observed activation of MAPK signaling pathway along with increased expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), paxillin, vimentin, β-catenin and vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) phosphorylation. Additionally, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulating transcription factors Slug and ZEB1 expression were enhanced in the presence of SFCM. SP enriched the expression of integrin subunits α4, α5, αV, β1 and β3 whereas SFCM increased α4, α5, αV, β1 and β5 integrin subunits. We also observed increased expression of Serpin E1 following SP and SFCM treatment. Wound healing scratch assay revealed enhanced migration of epithelial cells following the addition of SFCM. Taken together, we conclude that SFCM-mediated sustained activation of ZEB1, Slug in combination with upregulated migration-associated integrins and ERK (Extracellular signal-regulated kinase)-FAK-paxillin axis, may lead to induce type 2 EMT-like changes during corneal epithelial wound healing.
Growth rate of early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic liver disease

Background/Aims The goal of this study was to estimate the growth rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and identify the host factors that significantly affect this rate. Methods Patients with early-stage HCC (n=175) who underwent two or more serial dynamic imaging studies without any anticancer treatment at two tertiary care hospitals in Korea were identified. For each patient, the tumor volume doubling time (TVDT) of HCC was calculated by comparing tumor volumes between serial imaging studies. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records of the patients. Results The median TVDT was 85.7 days, with a range of 11 to 851.2 days. Multiple linear regression revealed that the initial tumor diameter (a tumor factor) and the etiology of chronic liver disease (a host factor) were significantly associated with the TVDT. The TVDT was shorter when the initial tumor diameter was smaller, and was shorter in HCC related to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection than in HCC related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (median, 76.8 days vs. 137.2 days; P=0.0234). Conclusions The etiology of chronic liver disease is a host factor that may significantly affect the growth rate of early-stage HCC, since HBV-associated HCC grows faster than HCV-associated HCC.
Introducing Parallelism to the Ranges TS

The current interface provided by the C++17 parallel algorithms poses some limitations with respect to parallel data access and heterogeneous systems, such as personal computers and server nodes with GPUs, smartphones, and embedded System on a Chip chipsets. In this paper, we present a summary of why we believe the Ranges TS solves these problems, and also improves both programmability and performance on heterogeneous platforms. The complete paper has been submitted to WG21 for consideration, and here we present a summary of the changes proposed alongside new performance results. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper presented to WG21 that unifies the Ranges TS with the parallel algorithms introduced in C++17. Although there are various points of intersection, we will focus on the composability of functions, and the benefit that this brings to accelerator devices via kernel fusion.
The Role of Information Technology in Firm Agility: An Electronic Integration Perspective

Organizational agility, defined as the ability of organizations to sense and respond to market opportunities and threats with speed and surprise, is quickly becoming the hallmark of companies that consistently emerge as leaders in hypercompetitive environments. While explaining the role of IT, this paper argues that in order to be agile firms must be electronically integrated internally (with organizational units) and externally (with partners, suppliers and customers). Such integration enables firms to capitalize on knowledge and competencies of their partners and allows them to be agile in sensing and responding to opportunities and threats. This paper uses the organizational integration model presented by Barki and Pinsonneault (2005) and focuses primarily on the role of IS in organizational integration. While exploring this relationship and the mediating effects of knowledge integration and core business process competencies, this paper contributes a complementary view of organizational agility.
Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease, An Update

The current mainstay treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) consists of dopamine replacement therapy which, in addition to causing several side effects, does not delay disease progression. The field of gene therapy offers a potential means to improve current therapy. The present review gives an update of the present status of gene therapy for PD. Both non-disease and disease modifying transgenes have been tested for PD gene therapy in animal and human studies. Non-disease modifying treatments targeting dopamine or GABA synthesis have been successful and promising at improving PD symptomatology in randomized clinical studies, but substantial testing remains before these can be implemented in the standard clinical treatment repertoire. As for disease modifying targets that theoretically offer the possibility of slowing the progression of disease, several neurotrophic factors show encouraging results in preclinical models (e.g., neurturin, GDNF, BDNF, CDNF, VEGF-A). However, so far, clinical trials have only tested neurturin, and, unfortunately, no trial has been able to meet its primary endpoint. Future clinical trials with neurotrophic factors clearly deserve to be conducted, considering the still enticing goal of actually slowing the disease process of PD. As alternative types of gene therapy, opto- and chemogenetics might also find future use in PD treatment and novel genome-editing technology could also potentially be applied as individualized gene therapy for genetic types of PD.
Towards automatic identification of core concepts in educational resources

Automatically identifying and extracting key ideas and concepts from educational resources is an important but challenging computational task. We present a supervised machine learning approach to assessing the “coreness” of concepts expressed by resource sentences. The algorithm has been developed and evaluated in the domain of science education where coreness refers to the degree to which a sentence embodies key concepts important to developing a robust understanding of the domain. Our method operates by automatically computing and leveraging the degree of semantic similarity between resource sentences and standard domain concepts designed by human experts for various STEM domains. In our experiments, the algorithm demonstrates high accuracy in identifying sentence coreness when there is agreement between human experts on the coreness rating. We also present performance comparisons with a number of baseline systems.
Sigfox and LoRaWAN Datasets for Fingerprint Localization in Large Urban and Rural Areas

Because of the increasing relevance of the Internet of Things and location-based services, researchers are evaluating wireless positioning techniques, such as fingerprinting, on Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communication. In order to evaluate fingerprinting in large outdoor environments, extensive, time-consuming measurement campaigns need to be conducted to create useful datasets. This paper presents three LPWAN datasets which are collected in large-scale urban and rural areas. The goal is to provide the research community with a tool to evaluate fingerprinting algorithms in large outdoor environments. During a period of three months, numerous mobile devices periodically obtained location data via a GPS receiver which was transmitted via a Sigfox or LoRaWAN message. Together with network information, this location data is stored in the appropriate LPWAN dataset. The first results of our basic fingerprinting implementation, which is also clarified in this paper, indicate a mean location estimation error of 214.58 m for the rural Sigfox dataset, 688.97 m for the urban Sigfox dataset and 398.40 m for the urban LoRaWAN dataset. In the future, we will enlarge our current datasets and use them to evaluate and optimize our fingerprinting methods. Also, we intend to collect additional datasets for Sigfox, LoRaWAN and NB-IoT.
On the trade-off between delivery delay and power consumption in opportunistic scenarios

Opportunistic networking is rapidly emerging as a suitable communication paradigm to characterize social networking applications and contents dissemination. However, due to the sparsity of the opportunistic network, it is expected that the considered mobility model will play a crucial role in the delivery performance of the opportunistic system. Accordingly in this paper we present an analysis of the impact of different conventional mobility models on the delivery performance of opportunistic networks. In particular, we focus on the estimation of the packet delivery delay and the power consumption associated to the delivery procedure which are the two key metrics to be traded-off according to the application requirements.