Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructures Using Wireless Sensor Networks

A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is designed, implemented, deployed and tested on the 4200 ft long main span and the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge (GGB). Ambient structural vibrations are reliably measured at a low cost and without interfering with the operation of the bridge. Requirements that SHM imposes on WSN are identified and new solutions to meet these requirements are proposed and implemented. In the GGB deployment, 64 nodes are distributed over the main span and the tower, collecting ambient vibrations synchronously at 1 kHz rate, with less than 10 mus jitter, and with an accuracy of 30 muG. The sampled data is collected reliably over a 46-hop network, with a bandwidth of 441 B/s at the 46th hop. The collected data agrees with theoretical models and previous studies of the bridge. The deployment is the largest WSN for SHM.
Filtering for Fast Mean-Reverting Processes

We consider nonlinear filtering applications to target tracking based on a vector of multi-scaled models where some of the processes are rapidly mean reverting to their local equilibria. We focus attention on target tracking problems because multiple scaled models with fast mean-reversion (FMR) are a simple way to model latency in the response of tracking systems. The main results of this paper show that nonlinear filtering algorithms for multi-scale models with FMR states can be simpli ed signi cantly by exploiting the FMR structures, which leads to a simplified Baum-Welch recursion that is of reduced dimension. We implement the simplified algorithms with numerical simulations and discuss their eciency and robustness.
Cutting down energy usage in wireless sensor networks using Duty Cycle technique and multi-hop routing

A wireless sensor network is composed of many sensor nodes that have been given out in a specific zone and each of them had an ability of collecting information from the environment and sending collected data to the sink. The most significant issues in wireless sensor networks despite the recent progress is the trouble of the severe limitations of energy resources. Since that in different applications of sensor nets we could throw a static or mobile sink then all aspects of such networks should be planned with an awareness of energy. One of the most significant topics related to these networks is routing. One of the most widely used and efficient methods of routing is a hierarchy (based on clustering) method. In The present study with the objective of cutting down energy consumption and persistence of network coverage we have offered a novel algorithm based on clustering algorithms and multi hop routing. To achieve this goal first we layer the network environment based on the size of the network. We will identify the optimal number of cluster heads and every cluster head based on the mechanism of topology control will start to accept members. Likewise we set the first layer as gate layer and subsequently identifying the gate nodes we would turn away half of the sensors and then stop using energy and the remaining nodes in this layer will join the gate nodes because they hold a critical part in bettering the functioning of the system. Cluster heads off following layers send the information to cluster heads in the above layer until sent data will be sent to gate nodes and finally will be sent to sink. We have tested the proposed algorithm in two situations 1) when the sink is off and 2) when a sink is on and simulation data shows that proposed algorithm has better performance in terms of the life span of a network than LEACH and E LEACH protocols.
Proposal of Throwing and Jumping Tool Aiming Fast Access and Efficient Search

In order to enhance the accessibility to the disaster site from safe places and aiming a fast inspection of the area, the authors have proposed a locomotion method consisted of a robot throwing one of its parts into the site, and this thrown part (child machine) performs the inspection by rolling and jumping locomotion. To realize this method, the selected main actuator is the pneumatic cylinder, which is capable of using large energy density while being compact in size. This paper proposes a novel pneumatic cylinder in order to enhance its power to throw the child machine and a control method to increase accuracy of the throw. In addition, the developed prototypes equipped with the novel actuator show high efficiency of accessibility and inspection time.
Title Endoplasmic reticulum stress induces tau pathology and formsa vicious cycle : Implication in Alzheimer ' s disease pathogenesis

1 Accumulation of unfolded proteins can disturb the functions of the 2 endoplasmic reticulum (ER), leading to ER-stress or unfolded protein responses 3 (UPR). Recent data have shown that activation of UPR can be found in post-mortem 4 brains of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients; and biological markers for activation of 5 UPR are abundant in neurons with diffuse phosphorylated tau. Although these 6 observations suggest a linkage between ER-stress and tau pathology, little is known of 7 their relationship. In this study, we found that high levels of phosphorylated PKR-like 8 ER-resident kinase (p-PERK) and phosphorylated eukaryotic initiation factor 2 alpha 9 (p-eIF2 as markers for activation of UPR in the hippocampus of aged P301L 10 mutant tau transgenic mice. The immunoreactivity of p-PERK was found to co11 localize with that of phosphorylated tau. We then hypothesized that phosphorylation 12 of tau could induce ER-stress and vice versa in promoting AD-like pathogenesis. By 13 using the protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) inhibitor okadaic acid (OA) as an inducer 14 for phosphorylation of tau, we found that primary cultures of rat cortical neurons 15 treated with OA triggered UPR as indicated by increased levels of p-PERK and p16 eIF2 splicing of mRNA for xbp-1 and elevated levels of mRNA for GADD153. On 17 the other hand, thapsigargin (Tg) as an ER-stress inducer stimulated phosphorylation 18 of tau at Thr231, Ser262 and Ser396. Tg also induced activation of caspase-3 and 19 cleavage of tau. These findings suggested that ER-stress and hyperphosphorylation of 20 tau could be induced by each other to form a vicious cycle to propagate AD-like 21 neurodegeneration. (Word count: 246) 22 23
A review on powder-based additive manufacturing for tissue engineering: selective laser sintering and inkjet 3D printing

Abstract Since most starting materials for tissue engineering are in powder form, using powder-based additive manufacturing methods is attractive and practical. The principal point of employing additive manufacturing (AM) systems is to fabricate parts with arbitrary geometrical complexity with relatively minimal tooling cost and time. Selective laser sintering (SLS) and inkjet 3D printing (3DP) are two powerful and versatile AM techniques which are applicable to powder-based material systems. Hence, the latest state of knowledge available on the use of AM powder-based techniques in tissue engineering and their effect on mechanical and biological properties of fabricated tissues and scaffolds must be updated. Determining the effective setup of parameters, developing improved biocompatible/bioactive materials, and improving the mechanical/biological properties of laser sintered and 3D printed tissues are the three main concerns which have been investigated in this article.
Study of Different TiO2 Electrode Structures on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

In this research, applications of different TiO2 electrode structures on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell were investigated. The different TiO2 electrode structures include: (1) synthesis of TiO2 nano-particles and TiO2 film electrode by sol-gel and spin-coating method; (2) fabrication of the TiO2 film electrode by RF Sputtering; (3) fabrication of the rod TiO2 electrode by photo lithography. X-ray diffraction patterns show that the best sintering temperature of nano-TiO2 thin film is 500oC, at which TiO2 anatase phase forms best and the smallest particle-size (8-10 nm) can be obtained. Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra reveal that the rod TiO2 electrode with TCPP sensitizer adsorbed on has the best optical absorption from 400 nm to 700 nm. The results of current-voltage analyses reveal that the solar cell with rod TiO2 electrode has higher conversion efficiency than the others. This result also provides clear evidence for the contact area between TiO2 electrode and TCPP sensitizer plays an important role on the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell.
PErasure: A parallel Cauchy Reed-Solomon coding library for GPUs

In recent years, erasure coding has been adopted by large-scale cloud storage systems to replace data replication. With the increase of disk I/O throughput and network bandwidth, the speed of erasure coding becomes one of the key system bottlenecks. In this paper, we propose to offload the task of erasure coding to Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Specifically, we have designed and implemented PErasure, a parallel Cauchy Reed-Solomon (CRS) coding library. We compare the performance of PErasure with that of two state-of-the-art libraries: Jerasure (for CPUs) and Gibraltar (for GPUs). Our experiments show that the raw coding speed of PErasure on a $500 Nvidia GTX780 card is about 10 times faster than that of multithreaded Jerasure on a quad-core modern CPU, and 2-4 times faster than Gibraltar on the same GPU. PErasure can achieve up to 10GB/s of overall encoding speed using just a single GPU for a large storage system that can withstand up to 8 disk failures.
Automating Datacenter Operations Using Machine Learning

Today's Internet datacenters run many complex and large-scale Web applications that are very difficult to manage. The main challenges are understanding user workloads and application performance, and quickly identifying and resolving performance problems. Statistical Machine Learning (SML) provides a methodology for quickly processing the large quantities of monitoring data generated by these applications, finding repeating patterns in their behavior, and building accurate models of their performance. This dissertation argues that SML is a useful tool for simplifying and automating datacenter operations and demonstrates application of SML to three important problems in this area: characterization and synthesis of workload spikes, dynamic resource allocation in stateful systems, and quick and accurate identification of recurring performance problems.
Repression of Igf1 expression by Ezh2 prevents basal cell differentiation in the developing lung

Epigenetic mechanisms involved in the establishment of lung epithelial cell lineage identities during development are largely unknown. Here, we explored the role of the histone methyltransferase Ezh2 during lung lineage determination. Loss of Ezh2 in the lung epithelium leads to defective lung formation and perinatal mortality. We show that Ezh2 is crucial for airway lineage specification and alveolarization. Using optical projection tomography imaging, we found that branching morphogenesis is affected in Ezh2 conditional knockout mice and the remaining bronchioles are abnormal, lacking terminally differentiated secretory club cells. Remarkably, RNA-seq analysis revealed the upregulation of basal genes in Ezh2-deficient epithelium. Three-dimensional imaging for keratin 5 further showed the unexpected presence of a layer of basal cells from the proximal airways to the distal bronchioles in E16.5 embryos. ChIP-seq analysis indicated the presence of Ezh2-mediated repressive marks on the genomic loci of some but not all basal genes, suggesting an indirect mechanism of action of Ezh2. We found that loss of Ezh2 de-represses insulin-like growth factor 1 (Igf1) expression and that modulation of IGF1 signaling ex vivo in wild-type lungs could induce basal cell differentiation. Altogether, our work reveals an unexpected role for Ezh2 in controlling basal cell fate determination in the embryonic lung endoderm, mediated in part by repression of Igf1 expression. SUMMARY: The histone methyltransferase Ezh2 inhibits basal cell differentiation in the mouse lung by depositing repressive marks on the promoter region of basal cell genes and by repressing Igf1 expression.
Tribological Characteristics of WC-Ni and WC-Co Cemented Carbide in Dry Reciprocating Sliding Contact

Four WC-based cemented carbides produced by liquid phase sintering with different binder composition and similar carbide grain size were tested in order to evaluate their dry reciprocating sliding friction and wear behavior against WC-6 wt. %Co cemented carbide. The pin-on-flat wear experiments were executed on a Plint TE77 tribometer using normal contact loads of 15 N up to 35 N and a sliding velocity of 0.3 m/s. Analysis of the wear tracks revealed several wear mechanisms; i.e., polishing of WC grains, abrasion, adhesion, formation of wear debris layer, and removal of the surface binder from between the WC grains. Higher contact load increased the wear volume and slightly decreased the friction coefficient. The hardness as well as the type and the amount of binder phase were found to affect the wear resistance significantly. One WC-Ni alloy exhibited superior tribological characteristics compared to the other grades.
Reflecting on reflective writing analytics: assessment challenges and iterative evaluation of a prototype tool

When used effectively, reflective writing tasks can deepen learners' understanding of key concepts, help them critically appraise their developing professional identity, and build qualities for lifelong learning. As such, reflecting writing is attracting substantial interest from universities concerned with experiential learning, reflective practice, and developing a holistic conception of the learner. However, reflective writing is for many students a novel genre to compose in, and tutors may be inexperienced in its assessment. While these conditions set a challenging context for automated solutions, natural language processing may also help address the challenge of providing real time, formative feedback on draft writing. This paper reports progress in designing a writing analytics application, detailing the methodology by which informally expressed rubrics are modelled as formal rhetorical patterns, a capability delivered by a novel web application. This has been through iterative evaluation on an independently human-annotated corpus, showing improvements from the first to second version. We conclude by discussing the reasons why classifying reflective writing has proven complex, and reflect on the design processes enabling work across disciplinary boundaries to develop the prototype to its current state.
Chemosensitivity and Mechanosensitivity of Nociceptors from Incised Rat Hindpaw Skin

Background:The authors have demonstrated a decrease in pH in the incisional wound environment, suggesting a possible contribution of low pH to postsurgical pain. In this study, the authors characterized the acid-responsiveness of nociceptors innervating the plantar aspect of the rat hind paw 1 day after plantar incision and compared this to plantar skin from unincised control rats. Methods:Using the rat glabrous in vitro skin-tibial nerve preparation, afferent nerve activities from single mechanosensitive nociceptors were recorded. Differences in mechanosensitivity, spontaneous activity, and chemosensitivity of units were evaluated. For chemosensitivity, acid-responsiveness of nociceptors to lactic acid (pH 5.5 to 6.5) was studied. Results:C-fibers showed dose-dependent, sustained responses to lactic acid. A greater proportion of C-fibers from 2 mm or less from the incision was activated by pH 6.0 lactic acid (52.9%) compared to control (14.3%). Total evoked potentials during acid exposure were greater in C-fibers innervating 2 mm or less from the incision compared to those in unincised skin. The prevalence of acid responses and total evoked potentials during acid exposure in C-fibers innervating more than 2 mm from the incision were not different from control. Few A-fibers responded to lactic acid, with a range of pH 5.5 to 6.5 in both incision and control groups. Increased spontaneous activity and mechanosensitivity were also evident. Conclusions:C-fibers in the vicinity of the incision showed qualitatively and quantitatively greater chemosensitivity to pH 6.0 lactic acid compared to control. This change was localized to 2 mm or less from the incision, suggesting increased chemosensitivity of nociceptive C-fibers 1 day after plantar incision.
Microcephaly genes and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in primate brain size

Microcephaly genes are amongst the most intensively studied genes with candidate roles in brain evolution. Early controversies surrounded the suggestion that they experienced differential selection pressures in different human populations, but several association studies failed to find any link between variation in microcephaly genes and brain size in humans. Recently, however, sex‐dependent associations were found between variation in three microcephaly genes and human brain size, suggesting that these genes could contribute to the evolution of sexually dimorphic traits in the brain. Here, we test the hypothesis that microcephaly genes contribute to the evolution of sexual dimorphism in brain mass across anthropoid primates using a comparative approach. The results suggest a link between selection pressures acting on MCPH1 and CENPJ and different scores of sexual dimorphism.
Using Graph Analysis Approach to Support Question &amp; Answer on Enterprise Social Network

Enterprise Social Network (ESN) service is getting more popular recently. It can help employees to communicate and collaborate efficiently with colleagues, with customers and with suppliers. One significant phenomenon happening on ESN is question & answer: people posting questions to the network to get answers from friends or friends-of-friends. However, existing ESN platforms do not have good support to this process. In this paper, we propose a method to better support question & answer on ESN, purely by using a graph analysis approach. Based on the questioner's initial input list of potential answerers, it can extract a shared-interest group of people, whose interest is close to the initial list of potential answerers, and sort the group of people according to a score of interest distance, and then recommend them to the questioner. To evaluate its applicability, the method is implemented in KDWeibo the most popular ESN platform in China, and the results are promising.
Extracting entity profiles from semistructured information spaces

A semistructured information space consists of multiple collections of textual documents containing fielded or tagged sections. The space can be highly heterogeneous, because each collection has its own schema, and there are no enforced keys or formats for data items across collections. Thus, structured methods like SQL cannot be easily employed, and users often must make do with only full-text search. In this paper, we describe an approach that provides structured querying for particular types of entities, such as companies and people. Entity-based retrieval is enabled by normalizing entity references in a heuristic, type-dependent manner. The approach can be used to retrieve documents and can also be used to construct entity profiles — summaries of commonly sought information about an entity based on the documents' content. The approach requires only a modest amount of meta-information about the source collections, much of which is derived automatically.
LBP-based ear recognition

The ear, as a biometric, has been given less attention, compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint, face and iris. Since it is a relatively new biometric, no commercial applications involving ear recognition are available. Intensive research in this field is thus required to determine the feasibility of this biometric. In medical field, especially in case of accidents and death, where face of patients cannot be recognized, the use of ear can be helpful. In this work, yet another method of recognizing people through their ears is presented. Local Binary Patterns (LBP) is used as features and the results are compared with that of Principal Components Analysis (PCA). LBP has a high discriminative power, tolerance against global illumination changes and low computational load. Experiments were done on the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi ear image database and results show that LBP yields a recognition rate of 93 % while PCA gives only 85 %.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Regulation of Soluble Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor (sflt-1/svegfr-1) Expression and Release in Endothelial Cells by Human Follicular Fluid and Granulosa Cells

Background: During the female reproductive cycle, follicular development and corpus luteum formation crucially depend on the fast generation of new blood vessels. The importance of granulosa cells and follicular fluid in controlling this angiogenesis is still not completely understood. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) produced by granulosa cells and secreted into the follicular fluid plays an essential role in this process. On the other hand, soluble VEGF receptor-1 (sFlt-1) produced by endothelial cells acts as a negative modulator for the bioavailability of VEGF. However, the regulation of sFlt-1 production remains to be determined.
Effect of alkali treatment on mechanical properties of the green composites reinforced with milkweed fibers

Abstract Polymeric composites disadvantages in terms of high price and non-recoverability make them unsuitable for some applications. Otherwise, natural fibers would be degraded easily and their prices are much lower as compared with most of the commonly used synthetic fibers, especially in composite manufacturing. Hollow Milkweed fiber with non-crimped nature is a known natural fiber which could have high potential to be used as composites reinforcements due to its low-density property. Increasing demand for natural fiber-reinforced composites as well as unique characteristics of Milkweed fibers reveal the need to study the mechanical properties of such fiber-reinforced composites. In this study, milkweed fibers were initially fed to laboratory carding machine in order to be formed as a nonwoven layer which was then applied to a low-velocity needle-punching operation. Surface modifications were carried out on the needle-punched nonwovens using 5% NaOH at 50–60 °C and three different treating time levels (30, 60 and 90 min). The produced nonwovens were then treated in a mixture of boiling water and detergent for 1 h. For making composite parts, the modified nonwovens were impregnated in Ploy vinyl acetate (PVAc) resin using the hand-layup method. The alkali treatment effects regarding the process time period on mechanical properties of the natural-reinforced composites were investigated. The findings suggested significant affectability of the composites mechanical properties by varying the time of alkali treatment, NaOH concentration as well as the type of surface modification process which are all mainly resulted in improving the interaction between fibers and matrix phase.