Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling of thermal-IR spectra of forsterite: application on remote sensing for Mercury

Spectral signatures of minerals are intimately related to the crystal structure; therefore, they may represent a remote sensing model to determine surface composition of planetary bodies, analyzing their spectral reflectance and emission. For planetary surfaces, which are influenced by extreme environmental conditions as Mercury, which is the closest planet to the Sun, data interpretation must take into account changes in spectral characteristics induced by the high temperatures conditions [1]. The approach was first used on olivine [2], one of the possible major phases in the surface of Mercury. A natural sample of olivine (Fo#89) has been studied at Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory [3]. The emissivity of the sample has been measured at different steps of temperature by means of a planetary simulation chamber that has the unique capability to heat samples to temperatures up to 1000K. IR reflectance spectra of forsterite have been then simulated using the Hybrid HF/DFT Hamiltonian WC1LYP [4, 5], by means of the CRYSTAL code [6]. IR vibrational frequencies at high temperature are calculated evaluating the vibrational frequencies at the Γ point of first BZ of the unit cell at different volumes corresponding to increasingly higher temperatures. Thus, in order to simulate extreme environmental conditions, IR frequencies and intensity has been calculated for volumes estimated at 0, 300 and 1000K (taking into account zero point effects). The comparison with the experiment reveals that such computational approach can reliably be used to predict band shifts due to temperature: a significant good agreement between measurements and simulated data is shown, especially within the spectral range 1200-600 cm as shown in Figure 1.
The triangle processor and normal vector shader: a VLSI system for high performance graphics

Current affordable architectures for high-speed display of shaded 3D objects operate orders of magnitude too slowly. Recent advances in floating point chip technology have outpaced polygon fill time, making the memory access bottleneck between the drawing processor and the frame buffer the most significant factor to be accelerated. Massively parallel VLSI system have the potential to bypass this bottleneck, but to date only at very high cost. We describe a new more affordable VLSI solution. A pipeline of triangle processors rasterizes the geometry, then a further pipeline of shading processors applies Phong shading with multiple light sources. The triangle processor pipeline performs 100 billion additions per second, and the shading pipeline performs two billion multiplies per second. This allows 3D graphics systems to be built capable of displaying more than one million triangles per second. We show the results of an anti-aliasing technique, and discuss extensions to texture mapping, shadows, and environment maps.
Translating Compounds by Learning Component Gloss Translation Models via Multiple Languages

This paper presents an approach to the translation of compound words without the need for bilingual training text, by modeling the mapping of literal component word glosses (e.g. “iron-path”) into fluent English (e.g. “railway”) across multiple languages. Performance is improved by adding component-sequence and learnedmorphology models along with context similarity from monolingual text and optional combination with traditional bilingual-textbased translation discovery.
Qualitative Research on Dementia in Ethnically Diverse Communities

Australia, like other ethnically diverse societies, needs to provide culturally appropriate health care to all its citizens. One way of facilitating this is to ensure that health services research adequately reflects the circumstances and needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities within the population. This article discusses the fieldwork phase of a qualitative research project on dementia caregiving in 4 CALD communities in south west Sydney, Australia. Rather than focusing on the study results—which have been published elsewhere—this article presents and discusses crucial fieldwork issues that arose in the conduct of the project, particularly regarding participant recruitment and facilitation of focus groups. In being transparent about some of the difficulties encountered and how these were managed, we offer suggestions for other researchers wanting to include CALD communities in a meaningful way in their research projects.
A packet-based network control system architecture for teleoperation and remote laboratories

In this paper, an anticipative controller for a packetized based networked control system is presented as a new solution for teleoperation and remote labs where the communication channel is Internet. The controller and the plant exchange information in form of packets through the Internet. Each control packet is filled with a sequence of control values that will be used to improve the system performance against delays and data losses. A servo-motor prototype is used for testing. Experimental results show that the anticipative controller behaves similar to a local control and presents a much better behavior than a conventional networked control system.
Corner Detection with Minimal Effort on Multiple Scales

Based on results of fitting linearly shaded blobs to rectangular image regions a new corner detector has been developed. A plane with least sum of errors squared is fit to the intensity distribution within a mask having four mask elements of same rectangular shape and size. Averaged intensity values in these mask elements allow very efficient simultaneous computation of pyramid levels and a new corner criterion at the center of the mask on these levels. The method is intended for real-time application and has thus been designed for minimal computing effort. It nicely fits into the ‘Unified Blob-edge-corner Method’ (UBM) developed recently. Results are given for road scenes.
Analysis of Compatible Discrete Operator Schemes for the Stokes Equations on Polyhedral Meshes

Compatible Discrete Operator schemes preserve basic properties of the continuous model at the discrete level. They combine discrete differential operators that discretize exactly topological laws and discrete Hodge operators that approximate constitutive relations. We devise and analyze two families of such schemes for the Stokes equations in curl formulation, with the pressure degrees of freedom located at either mesh vertices or cells. The schemes ensure local mass and momentum conservation. We prove discrete stability by establishing novel discrete Poincar\'e inequalities. Using commutators related to the consistency error, we derive error estimates with first-order convergence rates for smooth solutions. We analyze two strategies for discretizing the external load, so as to deliver tight error estimates when the external load has a large irrotational or divergence-free part. Finally, numerical results are presented on three-dimensional polyhedral meshes.
Images reconstruction using modified exemplar based method

This paper describes a novel image reconstruction method based on modified exemplar based technique. This modification allows to choose sub-optimally image-adaptive form and size of the block in order to find similar patches, number of which is further increased by rotation of these blocks. We show that the efficiency of image reconstruction depends on the choice of block size for the exemplar based method. Proposed block size selection adaptivity allows to obtain a smaller reconstruction error than that of the traditional method as well as other state-of-the-art image inpainting methods. We demonstrate the performance of a new approach via several examples, showing the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in removal of small and large objects on the test images.
Robovie: an interactive humanoid robot

The authors have developed a robot called “Robovie” that has unique mechanisms designed for communication with humans. Robovie can generate human‐like behaviors by using human‐like actuators and vision and audio sensors. Software is a key element in the systems development. Two important ideas in human‐robot communication through research from the viewpoint of cognitive science have been obtained – one is importance of physical expressions using the body and the other is the effectiveness of the robot’s autonomy in the robot’s utterance recognition by humans. Based on these psychological experiments, a new architecture that generates episode chains in interactions with humans is developed. The basic structure of the architecture is a network of situated modules. Each module consists of elemental behaviors to entrain humans and a behavior for communicating with humans.
Hierarchical Crowd Detection and Representation for Big Data Analytics in Visual Surveillance

In this paper, a motion and appearance saliency combined detection framework for hierarchical representation of targets from groups to individuals in crowded scenes of surveillance videos is proposed. Big data analytic solutions within surveillance often require compact representations for target (s)- of-interest that allows simultaneous micro (individualistic) and macro (holistic) levels of inference on visual information. The target detection method proposed in this paper combines the estimation of motion saliency through dynamic texture (DT) based Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and appearance saliency through person detection using combined Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Local Binary Patterns (LBP) feature sets. The saliency models are tightly integrated such that initially motion information is used to update and improve detection within an appearance framework, which in turn compliments the motion segmentation for accurate localization of people in groups. The improved people detection thus proposed is capable of eliminating false detections and can accurately delineate individuals within groups. The quantitative and qualitative results of experiments conducted on benchmark datasets have proven the validity and robustness of the proposed technique.
Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Annuloplasty with Realignment of Both Papillary Muscles for Correction of Type IIIb Functional Mitral Regurgitation

Objective Pathophysiological background of type IIIb functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) is a progressively increasing distance between papillary muscle tips and mitral annular plane. Standard surgical treatment of such FMR by means of undersized mitral annuloplasty is associated with a high recurrence rate. Methods We propose a modified subannular maneuver to correct type IIIb FMR while combining undersized annuloplasty with a controlled realignment of both papillary muscles, thereby fixing the distance between mitral annular plane and papillary muscle tips. The differences of this subannular maneuver as compared with the previously published techniques are the following: (1) controlled realignment of both papillary muscles, (2) fixation of the papillary muscles to mitral annulus distance on an annuloplasty ring, and (3) application in a three-dimensional endoscopic minithoracotomy setting. Results We describe a surgical technique of minimally invasive mitral valve repair performed due to severe type IIIb FMR, which includes a modified subannular maneuver to realign both papillary muscles. Preliminary results of the first 10 patients who underwent this procedure at our institution are presented. There was no in-hospital mortality and follow-up echocardiography (mean ± SD echocardiographic follow-up = 10 ± 6 months) demonstrated stable functional results. Conclusions Our initial experience indicates that adding of this subannular maneuver to the standard annuloplasty and thereby fixing the distance between papillary muscles and mitral annular plane have a potential to improve results of surgical FMR treatment.
The Ubiquitin-interacting Motif Protein, S5a, Is Ubiquitinated by All Types of Ubiquitin Ligases by a Mechanism Different from Typical Substrate Recognition*

S5a/Rpn10 is a ubiquitin (Ub)-binding protein that is a subunit of the 26S proteasome but also exists free in the cytosol. It binds poly-Ub chains through its two Ub-interacting motifs (UIMs). We discovered that, unlike typical substrates of Ub ligases (E3s), S5a can be ubiquitinated by all E3s tested including multimeric and monomeric Ring finger E3s (MuRF1, Siah2, Parkin, APC, and SCFβTRCP1), the U-box E3, CHIP, and HECT domain E3s (E6AP and Nedd4) when assayed with UbcH5 or related Ub-conjugating enzymes. However, the E2s, UbcH1 and UbcH13/Uev1a, which function by distinct mechanisms, do not support S5a ubiquitination. Thus, S5a can be used for assay of probably all E3s with UbcH5. Ubiquitination of S5a results from its binding to Ub chains on the E3 (after self-ubiquitination) or on the substrate, as a mutant lacking the UIM domain was not ubiquitinated. Furthermore, if the S5a UIM domains were fused to GST, the protein was rapidly ubiquitinated by MuRF1 and CHIP. In addition, polyubiquitination (but not monoubiquitination) of MuRF1 allowed S5a to bind to MuRF1 and accelerated S5a ubiquitination. This tendency of S5a to associate with the growing Ub chain can explain how S5a, unlike typical substrates, which are recognized by certain E3s through specific motifs, is ubiquitinated by all E3s tested and is rapidly degraded in vivo.
A Simple Approach for HPSG Supertagging Using Dependency Information

In a supertagging task, sequence labeling models are commonly used. But their limited ability to model long-distance information presents a bottleneck to make further improvements. In this paper, we modeled this long-distance information in dependency formalism and integrated it into the process of HPSG supertagging. The experiments showed that the dependency information is very informative for supertag disambiguation. We also evaluated the improved supertagger in the HPSG parser.
DNA Barcoding: Promise and Pitfalls

In this issue of PLoS Biology, Hebert et al. (2004) have set out to test the resolution and performance of “DNA barcoding,” using a single mtDNA gene, cytochrome c oxidase I (COI), for a sample of North American birds. Before turning to details of this study, it is useful as context to consider the following questions: What is DNA barcoding, and what does it promise? What is new about it? Why is it controversial? What are the potential pitfalls?
Effect of repeated compaction of tablets on tablet properties and work of compaction using an instrumented laboratory tablet press

Abstract The repeated compaction of Avicel PH101, dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCP) powder, 50:50 DCP/Avicel PH101 and Starch 1500 was studied using an instrumented laboratory tablet press which measures upper punch force, punch displacement and ejection force and operates using a V-shaped compression profile. The measurement of work compaction was demonstrated, and the test materials were ranked in order of compaction behaviour Avicel PH101 > DCP/Avicel PH101 > Starch > DCP. The behaviour of the DCP/Avicel PH101 mixture was distinctly non-linear compared with the pure components. Repeated compaction and precompression had no effect on the tensile fracture strength of Avicel PH101 tablets, although small effects on friability and disintegration time were seen. Repeated compaction and precompression reduced the tensile strength and the increased disintegration time of the DCP tablets, but improved the strength and friability of Starch 1500 tablets. Based on the data reported, routine laboratory measurement of tablet work of compaction may have potential as a critical quality attribute of a powder blend for compression. The instrumented press was suitable for student use with minimal supervisor input.
Neuroimaging of Human Balance Control: A Systematic Review

This review examined 83 articles using neuroimaging modalities to investigate the neural correlates underlying static and dynamic human balance control, with aims to support future mobile neuroimaging research in the balance control domain. Furthermore, this review analyzed the mobility of the neuroimaging hardware and research paradigms as well as the analytical methodology to identify and remove movement artifact in the acquired brain signal. We found that the majority of static balance control tasks utilized mechanical perturbations to invoke feet-in-place responses (27 out of 38 studies), while cognitive dual-task conditions were commonly used to challenge balance in dynamic balance control tasks (20 out of 32 studies). While frequency analysis and event related potential characteristics supported enhanced brain activation during static balance control, that in dynamic balance control studies was supported by spatial and frequency analysis. Twenty-three of the 50 studies utilizing EEG utilized independent component analysis to remove movement artifacts from the acquired brain signals. Lastly, only eight studies used truly mobile neuroimaging hardware systems. This review provides evidence to support an increase in brain activation in balance control tasks, regardless of mechanical, cognitive, or sensory challenges. Furthermore, the current body of literature demonstrates the use of advanced signal processing methodologies to analyze brain activity during movement. However, the static nature of neuroimaging hardware and conventional balance control paradigms prevent full mobility and limit our knowledge of neural mechanisms underlying balance control.
Population genomics from pool sequencing

Next generation sequencing of pooled samples is an effective approach for studies of variability and differentiation in populations. In this paper we provide a comprehensive set of estimators of the most common statistics in population genetics based on the frequency spectrum, namely the Watterson estimator θW , nucleotide pairwise diversity Π, Tajima's D, Fu and Li's D and F, Fay and Wu's H, McDonald‐Kreitman and HKA tests and FST , corrected for sequencing errors and ascertainment bias. In a simulation study, we show that pool and individual θ estimates are highly correlated and discuss how the performance of the statistics vary with read depth and sample size in different evolutionary scenarios. As an application, we reanalyse sequences from Drosophila mauritiana and from an evolution experiment in Drosophila melanogaster. These methods are useful for population genetic projects with limited budget, study of communities of individuals that are hard to isolate, or autopolyploid species.
Short Implants Placed with or without Grafting in Atrophic Sinuses: The 3-Year Results of a Prospective Randomized Controlled Study.

BACKGROUND The question whether a minimal maxillary residual bone height (RBH) allows the predictable use of osteotome sinus floor elevation (OSFE) remains unresolved. PURPOSE To evaluate the efficacy of short implants placed with OSFE in an RBH of ≤4 mm and to compare bone levels around implants placed with (control) or without (test) grafting after 3 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight-millimeter implants were placed by OSFE in sinuses randomized to receive anorganic bovine bone or no grafting material. Healing time before prosthetic rehabilitation was 10 weeks. Peri-implant bone levels were measured on standardized periapical radiographs. RESULTS Thirty-seven implants (17 test, 20 control) were placed at a mean RBH of 2.4 ± 0.9 mm. Three implants failed during the 3-year follow-up. After 3 years, all implants had gained endosinus bone (test: 4.1 ± 1.0 mm; control: 5.1 ± 1.2 mm; p = .001). Mean bone gain was stable between 1 and 3 years in both groups. CONCLUSIONS Grafting is unnecessary to achieve bone augmentation of 4.1 mm; however, more bone is gained with grafting. Bone gained over 1 year was retained. Atrophic posterior maxillae can be predictably rehabilitated using OSFE and simultaneous placement of 8-mm implants.
Simulation and Verification for Computational Modelling of Signalling Pathways

Modelling of the dynamics of biochemical reaction networks typically proceeds by solving ordinary differential equations or stochastic simulation via the Gillespie algorithm. More recently, computational methods such as process algebra techniques have been successfully applied to the analysis of signalling pathways. One advantage of these is that they enable automatic verification of the models, via model checking, against qualitative and quantitative temporal logic specifications, for example, "what is the probability that the protein eventually degrades? ". Such verification is exhaustive, that is, the analysis is carried out over all paths, producing exact quantitative measures. In this paper, we give an overview of the simulation, verification and differential equation approaches to modelling biochemical reaction networks. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the respective methods, using as an illustration a fragment of the FGF signalling pathway
Performance analysis of elitism in multi-objective ant colony optimization algorithms

This paper investigates the effect of elitism on multi-objective ant colony optimization algorithms (MACOs). We use a straightforward and systematic approach in this investigation with elitism implemented through the use of local, global, and mixed non-dominated solutions. Experimental work is conducted using a suite of multi-objective traveling salesman problems (mTSP), each with two objectives. The experimental results indicate that elitism is essential to the success of MACOs in solving multi-objective optimization problems. Further, global elitism is shown to play a particularly important role in refining the pheromone information for MACOs during the search process. Inspired by these results, we also propose an adaptation strategy to control the effect of elitism. With this strategy, the solutions most recently added to the global non-dominated archive are given a higher priority in defining the pheromone information. The obtained results on the tested mTSPs indicate improved performance in the elitist MACO when using the adaptive strategy compared to the original version.
Improving Intrusion Detection through Alert Verification

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) suffer from a lack of scalability. Alert correlation has been introduced to address this challenge and is generally considered to be the major part of the solution. One of the steps in the correlation process is the verification of alerts. We have identified the relationships and interactions between correlation and verification. An overview of verification tests proposed in literature is presented and refined. Our contribution is to integrate these tests in an extensible generic framework for verification that enables further experimentation. A proof-of-concept implementation is presented and a first evaluation is made. We conclude that verification is a viable extension to the intrusion detection process. Its effectiveness is highly dependent on contextual information.
Probabilistic analysis of rectilinear Steiner trees

The Steiner tree is a fundamental concept in automatic interconnect optimization for VLSI design. We present a probabilistic analysis method for constructing rectilinear Steiner trees. The best solution in a statistical sense is obtained for any given set of N points. Experiments show that our results are better than those by previous techniques and are very close to the optima.