Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The shattering dimension of sets of linear functionals

We evaluate the shattering dimension of various classes of linear functionals on various symmetric convex sets. The proofs here relay mostly on methods from the local theory of normed spaces and include volume estimates, factorization techniques and tail estimates of norms, viewed as random variables on Euclidean spheres. The estimates of shattering dimensions can be applied to obtain error bounds for certain classes of functions, a fact which was the original motivation of this study. Although this can probably be done in a more traditional manner, we also use the approach presented here to determine whether several classes of linear functionals satisfy the uniform law of large numbers and the uniform central limit theorem.
Form wound stator insulation system under different voltage waveform stresses

The paper presents the experimental results under power frequency, exponential decay pulse, square and sinusoidal pulse width modulated (SPWM) voltage waveforms, with the same peak values, applied to the insulation system of a form wound stator coil. Both the infrared images and the maximum temperature rise of the coil under different electrical stresses were recorded. Results show that the temperature rise of the coil surface under square wave or SPWM wave stress are much higher than the temperature rise observed under the stress of power frequency sinusoidal voltage or exponential decay pulses. FFT analysis shows that both the square and SPWM waveforms used in this study contain significantly higher harmonic components, similar to a real drive output voltage; hence resulted in a higher temperature rise compared to the other voltage waveforms used. Thus, neither the power frequency sinusoidal voltage nor the fast repetitive exponential decay type pulsed voltage can fully represent the transients caused by a voltage waveform of a real drive; voltage source converter.
Synthesis and electrorheological characteristics of polyaniline/organoclay nanoparticles via Pickering emulsion polymerization

Conducting polymer/inorganic composite particles have been regarded as a potential candidate material for electrorheological (ER) fluids when dispersed in non-conducting oils due to their synergistic physical properties such as enhanced thermal stability and high dielectric properties. In this study, we fabricated polyaniline (PANI)/clay nanoparticles with unique core–shell structure via Pickering emulsion in the phase of toluene by adopting exfoliated clay as a stabilizer. Successfully synthesized PANI nanospheres which were initialized by oil-soluble benzoyl peroxide possess a polydispersed size distribution of particles ranging from 200 nm to 1 µm. Surface morphology was revealed by SEM images in which some clay sheets were found to wrap the PANI nanoparticles compactly. TEM images explicitly confirm the position of exfoliated clay layers around the nanospheres. In addition, some nano-scaled particles showed an irregular shape because clay plates are difficult to bend while wrapping the very tiny PANI nanoparticles, so the x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern did not indicate any obvious sharp peak, demonstrating the nearly completely exfoliated clay layers. Besides these, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) data also gave additional information on thermal stability and composition. Finally, the ER fluid was prepared by dispersing PANI/clay nanoparticles in silicone oil and the ER performance was investigated via a rotational rheometer under an applied electric field.
A decompression core for PowerPC

Code size efficiency is a critical parameter in the design of computer systems for embedded applications. This paper describes a method for improving code size efficiency involving the use of compression techniques to reduce the size of the stored code, and on-the-fly hardware decompression at full processor speed for execution. A simple frequency-based encoding scheme for PowerPC® code achieves a typical code size reduction to 60% of the original size. A corresponding decompression core has been implemented for an embedded microprocessor, such as the PowerPC 401TM. The compression/decompression scheme operates in a manner transparent to the processor and requires no changes to such tools as compilers, linkers, and loaders.
[POSTER] Tracking and Mapping with a Swarm of Heterogeneous Clients

In this work, we propose a multi-user system for tracking and mapping, which accommodates mobile clients with different capabilities, mediated by a server capable of providing real-time structure from motion. Clients share their observations of the scene according to their individual capabilities. This can involve only keyframe tracking, but also mapping and map densification, if more computational resources are available. Our contribution is a system architecture that lets heterogeneous clients contribute to a collaborative mapping effort, without prescribing fixed capabilities for the client devices. We investigate the implications that the clients' capabilities have on the collaborative reconstruction effort and its use for AR applications.
Language and Pronunciation Modeling in the CMU 1996 Hub 4 Evaluation

We describe several language and pronunciation modeling techniques that were applied to the 1996 Hub 4 Broadcast News transcription task. These include topic adaptation, the use of remote corpora, vocabulary size optimization, n-gram cutoff optimization, modeling of spontaneous speech, handling of unknown linguistic boundaries, higher order n-grams, weight optimization in rescoring, and lexical modeling of phrases and acronyms.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Nef Functions at the Level of Virus Entry by Enhancing Cytoplasmic Delivery of Virions

ABSTRACT The Nef protein of the type 1 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) plays a key although poorly understood role in accelerating the progression of clinical disease in vivo. Nef exerts several biological effects in vitro, including enhancement of virion infectivity, downregulation of CD4 and major histocompatibility complex class I receptor expression, and modulation of various intracellular signaling pathways. The positive effect of Nef on virion infectivity requires its expression in the producer cell, although its effect is manifested in the subsequent target cell of infection. Prior studies suggest that Nef does not alter viral entry into target cells; nevertheless, it enhances proviral DNA synthesis, arguing for an action of Nef at the level of viral uncoating or reverse transcription. However, these early studies discounting an effect of Nef on virion entry may be confounded by the recent finding that HIV enters cells by both fusion and endocytosis. Using epifluorescence microscopy to monitor green fluorescent protein-Vpr-labeled HIV virion entry into HeLa cells, we find that endocytosis forms a very active pathway for virus uptake. Virions entering via the endocytic pathway do not support productive infection of the host cell, presumably reflecting their inability to escape from the endosomes. Conversely, our studies now demonstrate that HIV Nef significantly enhances CD4- and chemokine receptor-dependent entry of HIV virions into the cytoplasmic compartment of target cells. Mutations in Nef either impairing its ability to downregulate CD4 or disrupting its polyproline helix compromise virion entry into the cytoplasm. We conclude that Nef acts at least in part as a regulator of cytosolic viral entry and that this action contributes to its positive effects on viral infectivity.
TCP Capture Avoidance in Wireless Networks Based on Path Length and Path Density

We propose a distributed ingress throttling scheme for wireless networks based on path length and path density such that TCP fairness is guaranteed. To this end we introduce a model for the sustainable load permitted in the MAC interference zone. This model is then calibrated using simulations for a worst case scenario. We were able to validate the desired performance of our scheme in simulations as well as real world experiments. In this paper we also compare our solution to other schemes for TCP capture mitigation.
GOT: Grid-Based On-Road Localization through Inter-Vehicle Collaboration

GPS navigators have been widely adopted by drivers. However, due to the sensibility of GPS signals to terrain, vehicles cannot get their locations when they are inside a tunnel or on a road surrounded by high-rises where the satellite signal is blocked. This incurs the safety and convenience problems. To address the issue, we propose a novel Grid-based On-road localizaTion system (GOT), where vehicles with or without accurate GPS signals self-organize into a vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), exchange location and distance information and help each other to calculate an accurate position for all the vehicles inside the network. GOT uniquely evaluates some fuzzy geometric relationship among vehicles and employs a grid-based approach to calculate vehicle's locations, by which GOT solves the issues of lack of beacon nodes and error propagation that are the two major challenges in on-road localization. Simulation shows our GOT system is very effective and efficient in calculating the vehicular positions.
g j factor of an electron bound in a hydrogenlike ion

We present a detailed theoretical evaluation for the g j factor of a bound electron in hydrogenlike ions up to Z594. All quantum electrodynamical corrections of order ( a/p) are evaluated in detail and various other contributions to the g j factor are computed and listed for 61 Z. A comparison with all existing experiments is carried out and excellent agreement is found. The present uncertainty in our calculations is discussed. It is not possible to improve this precision with only minor effort since two-photon bound-state QED terms are uncalculated up to now.
MAPE-K Interfaces for Formal Modeling of Real-Time Self-Adaptive Multi-Agent Systems

Formal modeling of multi-agent systems is an active area of research. The use of precise and unambiguous notation of formal methods is used to accurately describe and reason about the system under consideration at the design time. Multi-agent systems deployed in dynamic and unpredictable environment needs to have the ability of self-adaptation, making them adaptable to the failures. State of the art encourages the use of MAPE-K feedback loop for the provision of self-adaptation in any system. There is a dire need of formal vocabulary that can be used for the conceptual design of any real-time multi-agent system with self-adaptation. In this paper, we have proposed a set of predefined interfaces for the provision of self-adaptation in real-time multi-agent systems. The interfaces are based on monitor, analyze, plan, and execute phases of the MAPE-K feedback loop. We formally specify our interfaces using timed-communicating object-Z language. The complete framework is elaborated using a trivial case-study of conveyor belt system based on a real-time agent architecture.
Detecting False Data Injection Attacks on Power Grid by Sparse Optimization

State estimation in electric power grid is vulnerable to false data injection attacks, and diagnosing such kind of malicious attacks has significant impacts on ensuring reliable operations for power systems. In this paper, the false data detection problem is viewed as a matrix separation problem. By noticing the intrinsic low dimensionality of temporal measurements of power grid states as well as the sparse nature of false data injection attacks, a novel false data detection mechanism is proposed based on the separation of nominal power grid states and anomalies. Two methods, the nuclear norm minimization and low rank matrix factorization, are presented to solve this problem. It is shown that proposed methods are able to identify proper power system operation states as well as detect the malicious attacks, even under the situation that collected measurement data is incomplete. Numerical simulation results both on the synthetic and real data validate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism.
Detection and correction of speech repairs in word lattices

Speech repairs occur often in spontaneous spoken dialogues. The ability to detect and correct those repairs is necessary for every spoken language system. We present a framework to detect and correct speech repairs where all relevant levels of information, i.e., acoustics, lexic, syntax and semantics could be integrated. The basic idea is to reduce the search space for repairs as soon as possible by cascading filters that involve more and more features. At first an acoustic module generates hypotheses about the existence of a repair. Second a stochastic model suggests a correction for every hypothesis. Well scored corrections are inserted as new paths in the word lattice. A lattice parser then makes the final decision about accepting the repair.
Identification of the inclusion biomechanical properties in soft tissues by artificial neural network

In this paper an artificial neural network model for identifying inclusion properties based on measured biomechanical data is demonstrated. The force-displacement curves for a set of breast phantoms under different loading and exploration conditions were accumulated and analyzed. Curve features were extracted. It is successfully to formulate the relationship between the inclusion biomechanical properties and curve features. The inverse biomechanical model is then solved using an artificial neural network (ANN) model. The results show that the ANN model combined with lateral exploration strategy has the capability accurately to predict the inclusion properties, such as inclusion stiffness, when the indentation depth is close to the underlying depth of the inclusion.
Extra-label information : experiments with view-based classification

Extra information is often readily available but not utilized in a classification paradigm. Here we explore using extra labels (profile faces and rotated faces) to aid in distinguishing faces versus non-faces. We propose a way to combine simple discriminant classifiers to build a more complex ones and justify the combination in a probabilistic setting.
Development and Marketing of Low-Cost, High-Performance Steels for Infrastructure Applications

This project addressed the goal of National Strategy for Surface Transportation Research to improve highway structures by enhanced materials, in particular by design and implementation of new, drastically improved steels with respect to strength, low-temperature-fracture toughness, weldability, and weatherability. The goal of the project was to develop, standardize and commercialize a family of low-cost, high-performance steels for infrastructure applications. As a result we developed steels with yield strength of 50 to 80 ksi, with Charpy absorbed fracture energy significantly exceeding requirements of bridge construction codes at temperatures down to -100°F, steels that are easy to weld without pre-heat or post-heat, steels that exhibit best weathering performance among other commercially available steels. In addition these steels are easy to produce; production does not involve any heat treatment or thermo-mechanically controlled processing which is available only to several United States Steel companies. The steels developed in this project were commercially produced in the form of plate and wide-flange I-beams. The steels were used for seismic retrofitting of one bridge (in 2000) and for construction of two new bridges (in 2006 and 2010).
Oral Serum-Derived Bovine Immunoglobulin/Protein Isolate Has Immunomodulatory Effects on the Colon of Mice that Spontaneously Develop Colitis

Dietary immunoglobulin concentrates prepared from animal plasma can modulate the immune response of gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). Previous studies have revealed that supplementation with serum-derived bovine immunoglobulin/protein isolate (SBI) ameliorates colonic barrier alterations in the mdr1a-/- genetic mouse model of IBD. Here, we examine the effects of SBI on mucosal inflammation in mdr1a-/- mice that spontaneously develop colitis. Wild type (WT) mice and mice lacking the mdr1a gene (KO) were fed diets supplemented with either SBI (2% w/w) or milk proteins (Control diet), from day 21 (weaning) until day 56. Leucocytes in mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) and in lamina propria were determined, as was mucosal cytokine production. Neutrophil recruitment and activation in MLN and lamina propria of KO mice were increased, but were significantly reduced in both by SBI supplementation (p < 0.05). The increased neutrophil recruitment and activation observed in KO mice correlated with increased colon oxidative stress (p < 0.05) and SBI supplementation reduced this variable (p < 0.05). The Tact/Treg lymphocyte ratios in MLN and lamina propria were also increased in KO animals, but SBI prevented these changes (both p < 0.05). In the colon of KO mice, there was an increased production of mucosal pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-2 (2-fold), IL-6 (26-fold) and IL-17 (19-fold), and of chemokines MIP-1β (4.5-fold) and MCP-1 (7.2-fold). These effects were significantly prevented by SBI (p < 0.05). SBI also significantly increased TGF-β secretion in the colon mucosa, suggesting a role of this anti-inflammatory cytokine in the modulation of GALT and the reduction of the severity of the inflammatory response during the onset of colitis.
An effective congestion driven placement framework

We present a fast but reliable way to detect routing criticalities in VLSI chips. In addition, we show how this congestion estimation can be incorporated into a partitioning based placement algorithm. Different to previous approaches, we do not rerun parts of the placement algorithm or apply a post-placement optimization, but we use our congestion estimator for a dynamic avoidance of routability problems in one single run of the placement algorithm. Computational experiments on chips with up to 1,300,000 cells are presented: The framework reduces the usage of the most critical routing edges by 9.0% on average, the running time increase for the placement is about 8.7%. However, due to the smaller congestion, the running time of routing tools can be decreased drastically, so the total time for placement and (global) routing is decreased by 47% on average.
Event Composition with Imperfect Information for Bus Surveillance

Demand for bus surveillance is growing due to the increased threats of terrorist attack, vandalism and litigation. However, CCTV systems are traditionally used in forensic mode, precluding an in-time reaction to an event. In this paper, we introduce a real-time event composition framework which can support the instant recognition of emergent events based on uncertain or imperfect information gathered from multiple sources. This framework deploys a rule-based reasoning component that can infer malicious situations (composite events) from a set of correlated atomic events. These are recognized by applying analytic algorithms to the multimedia contents of bus surveillance data. We demonstrate the significance and usefulness of our framework with a case study of an on-going bus surveillance project.
Influence of Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes on Corrosion Performance and Water Hydrogen Bonding of Epoxy-Amine Thin Films

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iv DEDICATION . v LIST OF TABLES . xv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . xvi LIST OF SCHEMES. xxv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . xxvi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Motivation of Research . 1 1.1.1 Corrosion of Steel Substrates . 1 1.1.2 Water Hydrogen Bonding Interactions in Polymers . 4 1.1.3 Carbon Nanotubes as Corrosion Control Materials . 7 1.2 Introduction to Carbon Nanotubes . 8 1.3 Dissertation Objectives and Outline . 10 1.4 References . 15 CHAPTER II – DEVELOPMENT OF A MORE STANDARDIZED DECONVOLUTION PROTOCOL FOR RAMAN SPECTRA OF MULTIWALL CARBON NANOTUBES . 19 2.1 Abstract . 19
Design of diaphragm dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and experimental characterization techniques

Dielectric elastomer (DE) transducers are a new technology offering many benefits for actuation and sensing devices. This work focuses on DE actuators (or DEAs) which have been shown to exhibit high-strain and high-speed characteristics. Diaphragm DEAs are a type of membrane DEA configured to operate out-of-plane. However, to produce reasonable stroke, membrane DEAs should be pre-stretched with a compliant mechanism. Therefore, the actuator system consists of the DEA and the necessary compliant mechanism. The first focus of this work to investigate how DEA membranes operate as a system and how they can be improved by designing compliant mechanisms which, when coupled with the DEA, give higher performance. Several compliant mechanisms are presented and experimentally compared. A bistable mechanism called a negative-rate bias spring (NBS) is shown to greatly increase the output of the DEA. The second part of this work presents two test devices and techniques for electromechanically characterizing DE membranes. One is a programmable electromagnetic motor to characterize diaphragm DEAs and test them under different loading conditions. The second device is designed to repeatably characterize planar DEs through a tensile test. The work includes a novel technique for obtaining a membrane thickness profile while stretching and/or actuating the DEA. The tester allows for a comparison of material performance parameters which aid in more informed design recommendations for future DEAs.
Nuclear Translocation of Hand-1 Acts as a Molecular Switch to Regulate Vascular Radiosensitivity in Medulloblastoma Tumors: The Protein uPAR Is a Cytoplasmic Sequestration Factor for Hand-1

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) is overexpressed in the tumor–stromal invasive microenvironment in many human cancers, including medulloblastoma. The role of uPAR in tumor progression and angiogenesis has been well characterized. Previously, in medulloblastoma cells, we showed that ionizing radiation (IR)–induced uPAR is a potent activator of cancer stem cell (CSC)–like properties and is associated with various transcription factors that are involved during embryonic development and cancer. In the present study, we show that uPAR protein acts as a cytoplasmic sequestration factor for a novel basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, Hand-1. The Hand-1 protein plays an essential role in the differentiation of trophoblast giant cells and cardiac morphogenesis, and yet its precise cellular function and its contribution to cancer remain mostly unknown. We also observed that the Hand-1 protein is upregulated in uPAR short hairpin RNA–treated medulloblastoma cells and accompanies sustained cell growth and angiogenesis. Furthermore, IR-induced uPAR overexpression negatively regulates Hand-1 activity and results in the stabilization of angiogenesis-promoting molecules, including hypoxia-inducible factor-1α. Finally, uPAR overexpression and its association with Hand-1 after IR treatment indicate that uPAR is capable of regulating Hand-1 and that uPAR has a role in the process of IR-induced tumor angiogenesis. Mol Cancer Ther; 13(5); 1309–22. ©2014 AACR.
In Vivo Evidence That the Increase in Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity Occurs Early after Cerebral Ischemia

There is controversy over whether matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are activated during the early therapeutic window following ischemic stroke. Ex vivo, an increase was reported as early as 4 hours, whereas in vivo, no increase was found until 24 hours postischemia. We used fluorescence diffuse optical tomography to image MMP activity following experimental cerebral ischemia; increased MMP activity was observed in the ischemic area as early as 3 to 6 hours after ischemic onset and correlated with the volume of ischemic cerebral tissue. Therefore, MMP activation is an immediate early response to cerebral ischemia concurrent with the therapeutic window.