Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrete transparent boundary conditions for the two dimensional Schrodinger equation

This paper is concerned with transparent boundary conditions (TBCs) for the time-dependent Schrodinger equation on a circular domain. Discrete TBCs are introduced in the numerical simulations of problems on unbounded domains in order to reduce the computa- tional domain to a finite region in order to make this problem feasible for numerical simulations. The main focus of this article is on the appropriate discretiza- tion of such TBCs for the two-dimensional Schrodinger equation in conjunction with a conservative Crank-Nicolson-type finite difference discretization. The presented discrete TBCs yield an uncondition- ally stable numerical scheme and are completely reflection-free at the boundary. Furthermore we prove concisely the stability of the recur- rence formulas used to obtain the convolution coefficients ofthe new discrete TBC for a spatially dependent potential.
Stereo matching with space-constrained cost aggregation and segmentation-based disparity refinement

Stereo matching is a fundamental topic in computer vision. Usually, stereo matching is mainly composed of four stages: cost computation, cost aggregation, disparity optimization and disparity refinement. In this paper, we propose a novel stereo matching method with space-constrained cost aggregation and segmentation-based disparity refinement. Stateof- the-art methods are used for cost aggregation and disparity optimization stages. Three technical contributions are given in this paper. First, applying space-constrained cross-region in cost aggregation stage; second, utilizing both color and disparity information in image segmentation; third, using image segmentation and occlusion region detection to aid disparity refinement. The performance of our platform ranks second in the Middlebury evaluation.
Forecasting-Aided Imperfect False Data Injection Attacks Against Power System Nonlinear State Estimation

This letter proposes an imperfect false data injection attack model and its corresponding forecasting-aided implementation method against the nonlinear power system state estimation by introducing an attack vector relaxing error. The upper bound of the relaxing error within the method is presented through theoretical analysis. Simulation experiments on the IEEE 30-bus system show that the proposed method works well both to the nonlinear model and to the dc model. In this letter, both single and multiple state variables attacks are considered.
A Pose-Adaptive Constrained Local Model for Accurate Head Pose Tracking

Robust and precise face tracking under unconstrained imaging conditions is still a challenging task. Recently, the Constrained Local Model (CLM) framework has proven to be very powerful to track frontal and near frontal facial movements. In this paper, we introduce a Pose-Adaptive CLM which is able to accurately track large 3D head rotations. This model relies on two main parts: (1) an adaptive 3D Point Distribution Model that ensures consistency between a tracked point in the image and the corresponding point in the shape model and (2) an adaptive appearance model that deals with appearance variation of a point under different viewing angle. We present comparative experimental results highlighting the improvement in both robustness and accuracy of our method. We also introduce a new challenging dataset with accurate head pose annotation.
High-performance audio matching with features learned by convolutional deep belief network

Audio matching automatically retrieves all excerpts that have the same content as the query audio clip from given audio recordings. The extracted feature is critical for audio matching and the Chroma Energy Normalized Statistics (CENS) feature is the state-of-the-arts. However, CENS might behave unsatisfactorily on some audio because it is a handcraft feature. In this paper, we propose to utilize the features learned by Convolutional Deep Belief Network (CDBN) to enhance the performance of audio matching. Benefit from the strong generalization ability of CDBN, our method works better than CENS based methods on most audio datasets. Since the features learned by CDBN are binary-valued, we can develop a more efficient audio matching algorithm by taking the advantage of this property. Experimental results on both TIMIT dataset and a simulated music dataset confirm effectiveness of the proposed CDBN based method comparing with the traditional CENS feature based algorithm.
ES2: A cloud data storage system for supporting both OLTP and OLAP

Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift driven by the increasing demand of Web based applications for elastic, scalable and efficient system architectures that can efficiently support their ever-growing data volume and large-scale data analysis. A typical data management system has to deal with real-time updates by individual users, and as well as periodical large scale analytical processing, indexing, and data extraction. While such operations may take place in the same domain, the design and development of the systems have somehow evolved independently for transactional and periodical analytical processing. Such a system-level separation has resulted in problems such as data freshness as well as serious data storage redundancy. Ideally, it would be more efficient to apply ad-hoc analytical processing on the same data directly. However, to the best of our knowledge, such an approach has not been adopted in real implementation. Intrigued by such an observation, we have designed and implemented epiC, an elastic power-aware data-itensive Cloud platform for supporting both data intensive analytical operations (ref. as OLAP) and online transactions (ref. as OLTP). In this paper, we present ES2 - the elastic data storage system of epiC, which is designed to support both functionalities within the same storage. We present the system architecture and the functions of each system component, and experimental results which demonstrate the efficiency of the system.
Influence of irregular growth of monoatomic steps during Si/Si(001) epitaxy on generation of surface defects

We present results of STM investigation of surface of the Si epitaxial layers deposited on different Si(001) vicinal substrates at the step flow growth mode. We have observed two types of the growth defects looking like meandering or pits. The way of the defects formation does not depend on the direction of tilt of the Si(001) substrate. The formation of the defects is connected with particularities of the processes of the movement onto terraces and attachment to the step edge of Si ad-atoms during growth. We suppose that Ehrlich-Schwoebel and kink Ehrlich-Schwoebel effects drive irregular growth of the monoatomic steps during Si/Si(001) epitaxy. Process of the defect formation starts when the deep kink confined by two Sa steps appears on the step edge. Next difference between growth rate of the Sa and Sb steps results in formation of the area with other morphology.
Take heart in the age of "omics".

The advent of access to comprehensive sets of information (ie, genome, transcriptome, proteome, interactome, phenome, and localizome) has brought a new way of global thinking to biological questions, and analysis using these sets is increasingly the choice for many investigations. Although these approaches may appear as a substitute for the more traditional “reductionist” approach that tackles 1 or few genes or gene products at 1 time, they are, in reality, complementary and have the potential to greatly enhance the traditional approach. The “omic,” or comprehensive, approach can yield mountains of new information in a relatively short time. Progress in applying the “omic” approach is still in its early exponential phase and does not look like it will plateau any time soon. An “omic” approach has now been used in the study of heart development. The results provide additional insights into the complexity and number of molecules that orchestrate the development and maintenance of multiple cell types and intricate physiology and pathology of the heart. Transcriptome, or expression profiling of certain cells, groups of cells, or tissues at defined stages and conditions, has been one of the earliest strategies applied to study of the heart. However, using …
Theoretical Informatics and Applications Domain Mu-calculus

The basic framework of domain μ-calculus was formulated in [39] more than ten years ago. This paper provides an improved formulation of a fragment of the μ-calculus without function space or powerdomain constructions, and studies some open problems related to this μ-calculus such as decidability and expressive power. A class of language equations is introduced for encoding μ-formulas in order to derive results related to decidability and expressive power of non-trivial fragments of the domain μ-calculus. The existence and uniqueness of solutions to this class of language equations constitute an important component of this approach. Our formulation is based on the recent work of Leiss [23], who established a sophisticated framework for solving language equations using Boolean automata (a.k.a. alternating automata [12, 35]) and a generalized notion of language derivatives. Additionally, the early notion of even-linear grammars is adopted here to treat another fragment of the domain μ-calculus. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 03B70, 68Q45, 68Q55.
University of

—Despite the advances made in the last decade in automated planning, no planner outperforms all the others in every known benchmark domain. This observation motivates the idea of selecting different planning algorithms for different domains. Moreover, the planners’ performances are affected by the structure of the search space, which depends on the encoding of the considered domain. In many domains, the performance of a planner can be improved by exploiting additional knowledge, extracted in the form of macro-operators or entanglements. Inthispaperwe propose ASAP , an automatic Algorithm Selection Approach for Planning that: (i) for a given domain initially learns additional knowledge, in the form of macro-operators and entanglements, which is used for creating different encodings of the given planning domain and problems, and (ii) explores the 2 dimensional space of available algorithms, deﬁned as encodings–planners couples, and then (iii) selects the most promising algorithm for optimising either the runtimes or the quality of the solution plans.
Shallow Unconfined Flow on a Sloping Base Redux

When is the impact of a sloping base large enough to justify more complex models for an unconfined aquifer? The intuitive answer that “it depends on the magnitude of the slope” is not wholly correct. Using recent mathematical results (the Lambert W function), we explicitly solve the simple sloping base problem. This explicit solution offers insights beyond those possible using Dupuit's, Polubarinov‐Kochina's, Harr's, Child's, and others' implicit solutions. Specifically, it shows that the impact of the sloping base is best characterized by the saturated thickness divided by the change in base elevation, not by the slope.
Visual Search and Multirobot Collaboration Based on Hierarchical Planning

Mobile robots are increasingly being used in the real-world due to the availability of high-fidelity sensors and sophisticated information processing algorithms. A key challenge to the widespread deployment of robots is the ability to accurately sense the environment and collaborate towards a common objective. Probabilistic sequential decision-making methods can be used to address this challenge because they encapsulate the partial observability and non-determinism of robot domains. However, such formulations soon become intractable for domains with complex state spaces that require real-time operation. Our prior work enabled a mobile robot to use hierarchical partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) to automatically tailor visual sensing and information processing to the task at hand (Zhang, Sridharan, & Li 2011). This paper introduces adaptive observation functions and policy re-weighting in a three-layered POMDP hierarchy to enable reliable and efficient visual processing in dynamic domains. In addition, each robot merges its beliefs with those communicated by teammates, to enable a team of robots to collaborate robustly. All algorithms are evaluated in simulated domains and on physical robots tasked with locating target objects in indoor environments.
A 24-GHz CMOS Current-Mode Power Amplifier with High PAE and Output Power

A new 24-GHz CMOS current-mode power amplifier in 0.13-mum CMOS technology is proposed. By using the two-stage cascade current-mirror structure, the power amplifier has a maximum output power of 17.8 dBm, the OP1dB of 13.8 dBm and the power gain of 23 dB under the supply voltage of 1.2V and the total power dissipation of 239 mW. As compared to other PAs at 17~24 GHz, the proposed current-mode PA has the highest power added efficiency (PAE) of 34.6% and the largest output power.
A New Rehabilitation Tool in Fibromyalgia: The Effects of Perceptive Rehabilitation on Pain and Function in a Clinical Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction/Objective. Fibromyalgia might benefit from a specific tactile and proprioceptive rehabilitation approach. The aim of this study was to perform a randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of perceptual surfaces (PS) and physical exercises with regard to chronic pain and physical function in fibromyalgia compared with a control group. Methods. Data from 54 females (18–60 years old) with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia and scoring >5 on the visual analog scale were divided into 3 groups and analyzed: group treated with perceptual surfaces (PS-group), physical exercises group (PE-group), and control group (CG). The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and Fibromyalgia Assessment Scale (FAS) were administered at baseline (T0), at the end of the treatment (T1) (after 10 rehabilitation sessions over a 5-week period), and at the 12-week follow-up (T2). Results. The PS-group experienced a statistically significant improvement versus the CG in FAS and HAQ scores. Good efficacy with respect to pain and function in the PE-group compared with the CG in terms of FAS, HAQ, and FIQ scores was observed. The adherence ratio was 86% for the PE-group and CG and 90% for the PS-group. Conclusions. According to the results, the PS are as promising as the physical exercises, since results were similar.
Selective ATP hydrolysis inhibition in F1Fo ATP synthase enhances radiosensitivity in non-small-cell lung cancer cells (A549).

BACKGROUND F1Fo-ATP synthase (F1Fo-ATPase) is a reversibly rotary molecular machine whose dual functions of synthesizing or hydrolyzing ATP switch upon the condition of cell physiology. The robust ATP-hydrolyzing activity occurs in ischemia for maintaining the transmembrane proton motive force of mitochondria inner membrane, but the effect of F1Fo-ATPase on X-ray response of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells is unknown. METHODS AND FINDINGS We studied whether ATP hydrolysis affected X-ray radiation induced cell death. NSCLC cells (A549) were pretreated with BTB06584 (BTB), an elective ATP hydrolysis inhibitor, followed by X-ray radiation. Cell viability and clonogenic survival were markedly decreased, clear indications of enhanced radiosensitivity through BTB incubation. Additionally, ATP5α1 was upregulated in parallel with elevated ATP hydrolytic activity after X-ray radiation, showing an increased mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). ATP hydrolysis inhibition led to collapse of ΔΨm suggesting ATP hydrolytic activity could enhance ΔΨm after X-ray radiation. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that apoptosis was pronounced with the prolonged collapse of ΔΨm due to hydrolysis inhibition by BTB incubation. CONCLUSION Overall, these findings supported that ATP hydrolysis inhibition could enhance the radiosensitivity in NSCLC cells (A549) after X-ray radiation, which was due to the collapse of ΔΨm.
Lower Limb Movement Preparation in Chronic Stroke

Background. Thus far, most of the brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) developed for motor rehabilitation used electroencephalographic signals to drive prostheses that support upper limb movement. Only few BCIs used hemodynamic signals or were designed to control lower extremity prostheses. Recent technological developments indicate that functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-BCI can be exploited in rehabilitation of lower limb movement due to its great usability and reduced sensitivity to head motion artifacts. Objective. The aim of this proof of concept study was to assess whether hemodynamic signals underlying lower limb motor preparation in stroke patients can be reliably measured and classified. Methods. fNIRS data were acquired during preparation of left and right hip movement in 7 chronic stroke patients. Results. Single-trial analysis indicated that specific hemodynamic changes associated with left and right hip movement preparation can be measured with fNIRS. Linear discriminant analysis classification of totHB signal changes in the premotor cortex and/or posterior parietal cortex indicated above chance accuracy in discriminating paretic from nonparetic movement preparation trials in most of the tested patients. Conclusion. The results provide first evidence that fNIRS can detect brain activity associated with single-trial lower limb motor preparation in stroke patients. These findings encourage further investigation of fNIRS suitability for BCI applications in rehabilitation of patients with lower limb motor impairment after stroke.
Bubble defect control in low-cost roll-to-roll ultraviolet imprint lithography

To obtain high quality patterns in ultraviolet roll-to-roll (R2R) imprinting lithography in the atmospheric environment with industrial resins, air bubble defects and the resulting distortion should be avoided in the process. In this reported work, the formation mechanism of the bubble defects is studied systematically with experiments and numerical analysis. The results show that the unsuitable resin coating method mainly contributes to the bubble defects in resin. On the basis of the above conclusions, an improved coating method is proposed in order to reduce the bubbles in the R2R process. This improvement can be applied to the replication of high quality patterns in R2R imprinting with low-cost industrial resins.
A sceptic approach to User-Centred Design ( Final Draft )

As a large share of the people who write about User-Centred Design seems to consist of gurus, visionaries and other enthusiasts, the story that is preached might be a bit too optimistic. Furthermore, with only some consensus on a high, abstract level, there is a lack of agreement on what UCD exactly is, which makes the concept rather ambiguous. Simultaneously, the amount of problems faced when trying to adopt a UCD process still inhibits this philosophy from making a real stand in day to day business practice. This calls for a sceptic approach of this matter. In this paper I will show the relation between the difficulties in defining User-Centred Design and the problems in its application. I will demonstrate how the heterogeneity and the over-optimism that surround the concept lead to a detached and isolated manner of performing it. A lack of integration and context leads to what I would like to call ‘UCD Islands’, which actually do not deserve the flag of UCD. I will make an attempt to reduce the misconceptions about UCD by increasing the tangibility of the concept. Finally, I will provide some ideas on how to cope with the problems surrounding it and in this way help moving UCD to the mainland.
Structure of the gene complementing uvr-402 in Streptococcus pneumoniae: homology with Escherichia coli uvrB and the homologous gene in Micrococcus luteus

The repair ability for UV-induced damage observed for Streptococcus pneumoniae proceeds through a system similar to the Uvr-dependent system in Escherichia coli. The DNA sequence of a gene complementing uvr-402, a mutation conferring UV sensitivity, was determined. Alignments of the deduced amino acid sequence revealed an extensive sequence homology of 55% with the UvrB protein of E. coli and 59% with the UvrB-homologous protein of Micrococcus luteus. Nucleotide-binding site consensus was observed. The high conservation of the uvrB-like gene among these three species suggests that the role of the UvrB protein and excision repair in general might be very important for cell survival.
SAW based phononic crystal liquid sensor - Periodic microfluidic channels approach

We report on practical realization of novel liquid sensor upon a base of typical SAW device design. The sensor is implemented as a periodic microfluidic structure atop a piezoelectric substrate. Simultaneous employment of phononic crystal phenomenon and structural resonance inside the phononic crystal is the basic idea behind. The phononic crystal band gap prevents propagation of traveling waves through the structure and their conversion and scattering into the substrate. The structural resonance enables acoustic signal amplification at frequencies predetermined by materials composing the structure. The sensor operates at high frequencies and potentially is capable to measure sound velocity and bulk viscosity of liquids with a precision superior to established instruments. The periodic microfluidic structure is made of SU-8 layers atop of lithium niobate based SAW device and acts as a liquid analyte container. It applies MEMS technology with a specific attention to the multilayer fabrication and exceptional parameters control. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach providing a distinct and predictable sensor response on speed of sound of analyte.
Comparison of I/O scheduling algorithms for high parallelism MEMS-based storage devices

MEMS-based storage is one of the leading candidates as tomorrow's storage medium due to its salient characteristics such as high-parallelism, high density, and low-power consumption. Because physical structures of MEMS-based storage is different from those of hard disks, new software management techniques for MEMS-based storage are needed. Specifically, MEMS-based storage has thousands of parallel-activating heads, which requires parallelism-aware request scheduling algorithms to maximize the performance of the storage media. In this paper, we compare various versions of I/O scheduling algorithms that exploit high-parallelism of MEMS-based storage devices. Trace-driven simulations show that parallelism-aware algorithms can be effectively used for high capacity mass storage servers because they perform better than other algorithms in terms of the average response time when the workload intensity becomes heavy.