Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding and Designing Embodied Experiences Through Mid-air Tactile Stimulation

Current attempts to render touch in multimedia technology still represents a challenge. Touch is indeed a complex system and there are many aspects to take into account when trying to rendering it (e.g. the compliance of an object, its weight, orientation, geometric properties and forces on the skin). This is especially true for VR, where touch is an important factor to achieve the embodiment in virtual environments. Recently, new tactile technology has been developed: the mid-air devices, capable of delivering tactile feedback without entering in contact with the skin. One of the contributions of the doctoral research described in this paper is to overcome design challenges and create immersive experiences by applying psychological principles and paradigms, exploiting the advantages of the mid-air technology. We designed possible embodied interaction scenarios in mid-air and physical touch. Findings from these research point to opportunities for designing new immersive experiences. Future work will involve different parts of the body and different tactile properties (e.g. thermal stimulation).
Understanding and Auto-Adjusting Performance-Sensitive Configurations

Modern software systems are often equipped with hundreds to thousands of configurations, many of which greatly affect performance. Unfortunately, properly setting these configurations is challenging for developers due to the complex and dynamic nature of system workload and environment. In this paper, we first conduct an empirical study to understand performance-sensitive configurations and the challenges of setting them in the real-world. Guided by our study, we design a systematic and general control-theoretic framework, SmartConf, to automatically set and dynamically adjust performance-sensitive configurations to meet required operating constraints while optimizing other performance metrics. Evaluation shows that SmartConf is effective in solving real-world configuration problems, often providing better performance than even the best static configuration developers can choose under existing configuration systems.
Complex Band Structure Effects in k $\cdot$ p-Based Quantum Transport Simulations of p-Type Silicon Nanowire Transistors

We investigate ultrascaled <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle 100\rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle 110\rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle 111\rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-oriented p-type silicon nanowire transistors using a quantum transport simulator based on the: 1) six-band <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\cdot \text{p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> method and 2) sp<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{3}\text{d}^{5}\text{s}^{*}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> tight-binding model. The hole transmission probability from source to drain at low gate voltages shows discrepancies between both models in the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle 110\rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\langle 111\rangle $ </tex-math></inline-formula> cases. The origin of this phenomenon can be traced back to the nonparabolic band behavior of the imaginary dispersion that is not captured by the six-band <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\cdot \text{p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> method. In order to accurately reproduce the full-band (FB) wave function attenuation in the bandgap, the hole energy must be corrected. This approach is validated by comparison with FB calculations. The results suggest that the observed failure of the six-band <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k}\cdot \text{p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> method at ultrashort gate lengths can be avoided, thus extending the applicability of this computationally efficient model.
Studies on the Bread Staling

With the development of economics, bread had come into our daily lives. But thestaled bread lost its good touch, color and flavoring during the storage, which couldn't be accepted by customer. So in order to improve the bread quality, the mechanism of bread staling should be studied systemically. In this paper, we summarized the previous studies. The evidence showed that the staling was related with the moisture, starch crystallization, amylase, additive and storage temperature. And in the end, the research trends were also put forward.
An approach to the interpretation of aerial image

This paper presents an aerial image parsing approach. Firstly, scene categories of aerial image is extracted based on global feature-Spatial Envelope in the top-down step; secondly, the candidate proposals of object categories is classified in bottom-up step; finally, the bottom-up proposals are verified by top-down cues, and the parsing graph of the whole aerial image is obtained. The test on the aerial image dataset shows that the proposed approach can effectively segment the object categories from the aerial image in complex scene compared with the Bottom-Up detectors.
Implicit Data-Parallelism in Kahn Process Networks: Bridging the MacQueen Gap

Modern embedded systems are rapidly increasing their complexity, both in terms of numbers of cores, as well as heterogeneity. To generate efficient code for these systems, it is common to leverage formal models of computation. Among these, the dataflow model of Kahn Process Networks (KPN) is widespread because it is expressive but guarantees a deterministic execution. However, the KPN model is ill-suited to expose data-level parallelism, since this has to be made explicit in the process network. This is aggravated by the fact that its most common execution model, Kahn-MacQueen, poses restrictive conditions on the scheduling of data-parallel processes, leading to an inefficient execution. In this paper we present a novel extension to the KPN model and a relaxed execution strategy that addresses this problem, while keeping the deterministic KPN semantics. It improves run-time adaptivity in malleable way and provides implicit parallelism. We evaluate our approach on two architectures, improving the performance of a benchmark by up to 25.6% on an Intel chip with hyper-threading, and by up to 78.0 % on a heterogeneous embedded ARM big.LITTLE architecture.
A new feather mite species of the genus Proctophyllodes Robin, 1877 (Astigmata: Proctophyllodidae) from the Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus (Passeriformes: Aegithalidae)—morphological description with DNA barcode data

A new feather mites species, Proctophyllodes valchukae sp. n. , is described from the Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Passeriformes: Aegithalidae), captured in the Primoriye (Russian Far East). The new species belongs to the tricetratus species group and is most closely related to P. stachyris Atyeo et Braasch, 1966. For the first time for feather mites the standard morphological description is supplemented by sequence data of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene fragment (COI) and nuclear D2 region of 28S rDNA.
Towards an Area-Efficient Implementation of a High ILP EDGE Soft Processor

In-order scalar RISC architectures have been the dominant paradigm in FPGA soft processor design for twenty years. Prior out-of-order superscalar implementations have not exhibited competitive area or absolute performance. This paper describes a new way to build fast and area-efficient out-of-order superscalar soft processors by utilizing an Explicit Data Graph Execution (EDGE) instruction set architecture. By carefully mapping the EDGE microarchitecture, and in particular, its dataflow instruction scheduler, we demonstrate the feasibility of an out-of-order FPGA architecture. Two scheduler design alternatives are compared.
Evaluation of the Present‐on‐Admission Indicator among Hospitalized Fee‐for‐Service Medicare Patients with a Pressure Ulcer Diagnosis: Coding Patterns and Impact on Hospital‐Acquired Pressure Ulcer Rates

OBJECTIVES To evaluate national present-on-admission (POA) reporting for hospital-acquired pressure ulcers (HAPUs) and examine the impact of quality measure exclusion criteria on HAPU rates. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Medicare inpatient, outpatient, and nursing facility data as well as independent provider claims (2010-2011). STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cross-sectional study. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS We evaluated acute inpatient hospital admissions among Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries in 2011. Admissions were categorized as follows: (1) no pressure ulcer diagnosis, (2) new pressure ulcer diagnosis, and (3) previously documented pressure ulcer diagnosis. HAPU rates were calculated by varying patient exclusion criteria. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Among admissions with a pressure ulcer diagnosis, we observed a large discrepancy in the proportion of admissions with a HAPU based on hospital-reported POA data (5.2 percent) and the proportion with a new pressure ulcer diagnosis based on patient history in billing claims (49.7 percent). Applying quality measure exclusion criteria resulted in removal of 91.2 percent of admissions with a pressure injury diagnosis from HAPU rate calculations. CONCLUSIONS As payers and health care organizations expand the use of quality measures, it is important to consider how the measures are implemented, coding revisions to improve measure validity, and the impact of patient exclusion criteria on provider performance evaluation.
Sensitivity to Faces with Typical and Atypical Part Configurations within Regions of the Face-processing Network: An fMRI Study

Abstract Perception of faces has been shown to engage a domain-specific set of brain regions, including the occipital face area (OFA) and the fusiform face area (FFA). It is commonly held that the OFA is responsible for the detection of faces in the environment, whereas the FFA is responsible for processing the identity of the face. However, an alternative model posits that the FFA is responsible for face detection and subsequently recruits the OFA to analyze the face parts in the service of identification. An essential prediction of the former model is that the OFA is not sensitive to the arrangement of internal face parts. In the current fMRI study, we test the sensitivity of the OFA and FFA to the configuration of face parts. Participants were shown faces in which the internal parts were presented in a typical configuration (two eyes above a nose above a mouth) or in an atypical configuration (the locations of individual parts were shuffled within the face outline). Perception of the atypical faces evoked a significantly larger response than typical faces in the OFA and in a wide swath of the surrounding posterior occipitotemporal cortices. Surprisingly, typical faces did not evoke a significantly larger response than atypical faces anywhere in the brain, including the FFA (although some subthreshold differences were observed). We propose that face processing in the FFA results in inhibitory sculpting of activation in the OFA, which accounts for this region's weaker response to typical than to atypical configurations.
Biapenem Inactivation by B2 Metallo β-Lactamases: Energy Landscape of the Hydrolysis Reaction

Background A general mechanism has been proposed for metallo β-lactamases (MβLs), in which deprotonation of a water molecule near the Zn ion(s) results in the formation of a hydroxide ion that attacks the carbonyl oxygen of the β-lactam ring. However, because of the absence of X-ray structures that show the exact position of the antibiotic in the reactant state (RS) it has been difficult to obtain a definitive validation of this mechanism. Methodology/Principal Findings We have employed a strategy to identify the RS, which does not rely on substrate docking and/or molecular dynamics. Starting from the X-ray structure of the enzyme:product complex (the product state, PS), a QM/MM scan was used to drive the reaction uphill from product back to reactant. Since in this process also the enzyme changes from PS to RS, we actually generate the enzyme:substrate complex from product and avoid the uncertainties associated with models of the reactant state. We used this strategy to study the reaction of biapenem hydrolysis by B2 MβL CphA. QM/MM simulations were carried out under 14 different ionization states of the active site, in order to generate potential energy surfaces (PESs) corresponding to a variety of possible reaction paths. Conclusions/Significance The calculations support a model for biapenem hydrolysis by CphA, in which the nucleophile that attacks the β-lactam ring is not the water molecule located in proximity of the active site Zn, but a second water molecule, hydrogen bonded to the first one, which is used up in the reaction, and thus is not visible in the X-ray structure of the enzyme:product complex.
Drought Legacy Effects on the Composition of Soil Fungal and Prokaryote Communities

It is increasingly acknowledged that climate change is influencing terrestrial ecosystems by increased drought and rainfall intensities. Soil microbes are key drivers of many processes in terrestrial systems and rely on water in soil pores to fulfill their life cycles and functions. However, little is known on how drought and rainfall fluctuations, which affect the composition and structure of microbial communities, persist once original moisture conditions have been restored. Here, we study how simulated short-term drying and re-wetting events shape the community composition of soil fungi and prokaryotes. In a mesocosm experiment, soil was exposed to an extreme drought, then re-wetted to optimal moisture (50% WHC, water holding capacity) or to saturation level (100% WHC). Composition, community structure and diversity of microbes were measured by sequencing ITS and 16S rRNA gene amplicons 3 weeks after original moisture content had been restored. Drying and extreme re-wetting decreased richness of microbial communities, but not evenness. Abundance changes were observed in only 8% of prokaryote OTUs, and 25% of fungal OTUs, whereas all other OTUs did not differ between drying and re-wetting treatments. Two specific legacy response groups (LRGs) were observed for both prokaryotes and fungi. OTUs belonging to the first LRG decreased in relative abundance in soil with a history of drought, whereas OTUs that increased in soil with a history of drought formed a second LRG. These microbial responses were spread among different phyla. Drought appeared to be more important for the microbial community composition than the following extreme re-wetting. 16S profiles were correlated with both inorganic N concentration and basal respiration and ITS profiles correlated with fungal biomass. We conclude that a drying and/or an extreme re-wetting history can persist in soil microbial communities via specific response groups composed of members with broad phylogenetic origins, with possible functional consequences on soil processes and plant species. As a large fraction of OTUs responding to drying and re-wetting belonged to the rare biosphere, our results suggest that low abundant microbial species are potentially important for ecosystem responses to extreme weather events.
Frequency Response of Thin-Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators to the Deposition of Tungsten, Platinum, Aluminium Oxide and Carbon Nanotube Thin-Films

Thin-film bulk acoustic resonators (FBAR) can be used as mass sensors when the adsorbed mass is linear to the frequency shift caused by the adsorption. This is, however, only the case if the adsorbed layer is thin compared to the thickness of the resonator. In this paper, we investigate the adsorption of films with thicknesses of some nanometres up to few hundreds of nanometres. With this range, we cover films thicknesses being small compared to the resonator and thicknesses in the range of the resonator thickness. The adsorption of materials was simulated for materials with different mass densities and acoustic velocities. Thin films of platinum, aluminium oxide, tungsten and carbon nanotubes were deposited on the FBAR and the results were fitted to the model used in the simulations. The acoustic velocity of the carbon nanotube films was much lower than the other materials investigated in this study. With this interesting property, carbon nanotube thin-films are a promising material for acoustic devices where materials with particularly low acoustic impedance are desired. The paper shows that the FBAR can be a useful tool to characterise mechanical properties of thin films in situ in the micro- and nanoscale within a certain range of parameters.
Influence of Stress Relaxation on the Magnetization Process of Hitperm-Type Glass-Coated Microwires

The remagnetization process of most amorphous and nanocrystalline glass-coated microwires with positive magnetostriction coefficient occurs through the single and large Barkhausen jump. This article encompasses a study on the magnetization process of thin Hitperm-type glass coated microwires. The complex stress distribution inside these microwires enables us to investigate the influence of; the measuring frequency, applied tensile stresses, as well as current annealing, and conventional annealing at wide range of temperatures. A systematic elucidations have been discussed in the framework of the microwire's geometries and the shape anisotropy that arises during its fabrication process, with the aim to provide an assessment of the criteria for selecting the necessary conditions to be designed in high-performance sensors.
Classification, Naming and Evolutionary History of Glycosyltransferases from Sequenced Green and Red Algal Genomes

The Archaeplastida consists of three lineages, Rhodophyta, Virideplantae and Glaucophyta. The extracellular matrix of most members of the Rhodophyta and Viridiplantae consists of carbohydrate-based or a highly glycosylated protein-based cell wall while the Glaucophyte covering is poorly resolved. In order to elucidate possible evolutionary links between the three advanced lineages in Archaeplastida, a genomic analysis was initiated. Fully sequenced genomes from the Rhodophyta and Virideplantae and the well-defined CAZy database on glycosyltransferases were included in the analysis. The number of glycosyltransferases found in the Rhodophyta and Chlorophyta are generally much lower then in land plants (Embryophyta). Three specific features exhibited by land plants increase the number of glycosyltransferases in their genomes: (1) cell wall biosynthesis, the more complex land plant cell walls require a larger number of glycosyltransferases for biosynthesis, (2) a richer set of protein glycosylation, and (3) glycosylation of secondary metabolites, demonstrated by a large proportion of family GT1 being involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis. In a comparative analysis of polysaccharide biosynthesis amongst the taxa of this study, clear distinctions or similarities were observed in (1) N-linked protein glycosylation, i.e., Chlorophyta has different mannosylation and glucosylation patterns, (2) GPI anchor biosynthesis, which is apparently missing in the Rhodophyta and truncated in the Chlorophyta, (3) cell wall biosynthesis, where the land plants have unique cell wall related polymers not found in green and red algae, and (4) O-linked glycosylation where comprehensive orthology was observed in glycosylation between the Chlorophyta and land plants but not between the target proteins.
Bridge the Gap between Neural Networks and Neuromorphic Hardware with a Neural Network Compiler

Different from developing neural networks (NNs) for general-purpose processors, the development for NN chips usually faces with some hardware-specific restrictions, such as limited precision of network signals and parameters, constrained computation scale, and limited types of non-linear functions. This paper proposes a general methodology to address the challenges. We decouple the NN applications from the target hardware by introducing a compiler that can transform an existing trained, unrestricted NN into an equivalent network that meets the given hardware's constraints. We propose multiple techniques to make the transformation adaptable to different kinds of NN chips, and reliable for restrict hardware constraints. We have built such a software tool that supports both spiking neural networks (SNNs) and traditional artificial neural networks (ANNs). We have demonstrated its effectiveness with a fabricated neuromorphic chip and a processing-in-memory (PIM) design. Tests show that the inference error caused by this solution is insignificant and the transformation time is much shorter than the retraining time. Also, we have studied the parameter-sensitivity evaluations to explore the tradeoffs between network error and resource utilization for different transformation strategies, which could provide insights for co-design optimization of neuromorphic hardware and software.
The effect of nano-silver packaging in increasing the shelf life of nuts: An in vitro model

Nano packaging is currently one of the most important topics in food packaging technologies. The aim of the application of this technology in food packaging is increasing shelf life of foods by preventing internal and external corruption and microbial contaminations. Use of silver nanoparticles in food packaging has recently attracted much attention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nano-silver packaging in increasing the shelf life packages of nuts in an In vitro model. In this experimental study, the effects of different nano-silver concentrations (0, 1, 2 and 3 percent) on biological and chemical properties of 432 samples of nuts including walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios were evaluated during 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24 months. In most samples, different concentrations of nano-silver (1, 2 and 3 %) significantly reduced total microbial count, mold and coliform counts compared to control group and the 3% nano-silver concentration was more effective than other concentrations (P<0.05). Moreover, using this packaging yielded an antioxidant effect especially when 2% and 3% nano-silver concentrations were used. Nano-silver also prevented growth of mold and so prevented aflatoxin production in all treatment groups. Results of chemical and biological tests showed that the silver nanoparticles had a significant effect on increasing the shelf life of nuts. The highest shelf life belonged to pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts with 20, 19, 18 and 18 months, respectively. The shelf life was associated with amount of silver nanoparticles. The highest antimicrobial activity was observed when 3% nano-silver concentration was used in pistachios. The shelf life of control groups in similar storage conditions were calculated for an average of 13 months. In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrate the efficacy of nano-silver packing in increasing shelf life of nuts. Hence, use of nano-silver packaging in food industry, especially in food packaging is recommended.
Leveraging Key Aspects of Collaborative Techniques to Assist Clinical Decision Making: The Case of Hip and Knee Arthroplasty

Employing collaborative systems in healthcare contexts has been explored as an important approach towards designing and developing intelligent computer solutions. This approach is concerned with identify the way in which information and decisions are assembled in the collaboration of care parties. In this regards, this study is conducted to develop a real-time collaborative system using an Intelligent Risk Detection Model (IRD) to improve decision efficiency in the case of Hip and Knee Arthroplasty. The benefits of adopting this solution include increasing awareness, supporting communication, improving decision making process and also improving information sharing between surgeons as key collaborative parties in the research case. This paper presents outcomes of an on-line survey and focus group using Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) to identify requirements of designing the system. It will be then possible to develop the prototype.