Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Aging on the Physical Properties and Chemical Compositions of Asphalt Binder with Soft Clay Particles

This study investigates the effect of oxidation aging on the physical properties of asphalt binder modified by various ratios of soft clay contents. The rheological properties of soft clay modified asphalt binders were performance under unaged and short-term aged, and being applied by using rotational viscometer and dynamic shear rheometer. Therefore, the results indicated that the physical properties of penetration and softening point were consistently reduced and increased, respectively for unaged and short-term aged specimens. The penetration index and viscosity aging index were increased as the soft clay modified binders aged and showed a high significance correlation. It also has the lowest susceptibility for the temperature susceptibility.
Combining Holistic Descriptors for Scene Classification

Scene classification is an important issue in the field of computer vision. To face this problem we explore in this paper a combination of Holistic Descriptors to scene categorization task. Therefore, we first describe the Contextual Mean Census Transform (CMCT), an image descriptor that combines distribution of local structures with contextual information. CMCT is a holistic descriptor based on CENTRIST and, as CENTRIST, encodes the structural properties within an image and suppresses detailed textural information. Second, we present the GistCMTC, a combination of Contextual Mean Census Transform descriptor with Gist in order to generate a new holistic descriptor representing scenes more accurately. Experimental results on four used datasets demonstrate that the proposed methods could achieve competitive performance against previous
Loglet SIFT for Part Description in Deformable Part Models: Application to Face Alignment

We focus on a novel loglet-SIFT descriptor for the parts representation in the De- formable Part Models (DPM). We manipulate the feature scales in the Fourier domain and decompose the image into multi-scale oriented gradient components for computing SIFT. The scale selection is controlled explicitly by tiling Log-wavelet functions (loglets) on the spectrum. Then oriented gradients are obtained by adding imaginary odd parts to the loglets, converting them into differential filters. Coherent feature scales and domain sizes are further generated by spectrum cropping. Our loglet gradient filters are shown to compare favourably against spatial differential operators, and have a straightforward and efficient implementation. We present experiments to validate the performance of the loglet-SIFT descriptor which show it to improve the DPM using a supervised descent method by a significant margin.
Enhancing the piston effect in underground railways

The purpose of this study was to investigate methods of enhancing the piston effect in underground railways for the improvement of thermal conditions on platforms. In many underground railways, the piston effect is used to provide ventilation. However, in older underground railways insufficient ventilation can lead to high temperatures, largely due to heat from train braking. Additionally, the energy demand from ventilation and cooling equipment in newer underground railways can be significant. Enhancing the piston effect can provide additional ventilation for improved thermal conditions or a reduced energy demand. Two novel devices for the enhancement of the piston effect were investigated; a train fin and aerofoil. Through influencing the air flow patterns around a train, the devices alter the train air displacement and aerodynamic work. Moreover, variation of the fin size or the aerofoil angle of inclination allows the air displacement and aerodynamic work to be controlled. The influence of an enhanced piston effect on the thermal conditions on an underground platform is shown to reduce the air temperatures, through the enhanced displacement of braking heat. Two- and three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics models were developed, and verified with experimental data from the literature, to study numerically the piston effect, train fin and aerofoil and the thermal conditions on an underground platform. The results from the numerical analysis showed that a train aerofoil can increase air displacement by around 8%, with no increase in the aerodynamic work. It was found that an increase in the piston effect 10m^3s^-1 could reduce the highest air temperatures on an underground platform by between 0.16-0.29 °C. The cooling effect of enhancing the piston effect was found to be between 4.5-5.6 kW.
Limits of network-level shellcode detection

With fast worms and polymorphic shellcode becoming a reality of today’s internet, questions are being raised about the usefulness of some network-based detection techniques. This paper provides a brief survey of current network-based detectors of worms and shellcode attacks, with a focus on their resilience to current and future attacks. We conclude that network-based techniques may not be appropriate for detecting such attacks in the future.
Novel composite Zr/PBI-O-PhT membranes for HT-PEFC applications

Summary Novel composite membranes for high temperature polymer-electrolyte fuel cells (HT-PEFC) based on a poly[oxy-3,3-bis(4′-benzimidazol-2″-ylphenyl)phtalide-5″(6″)-diyl] (PBI-O-PhT) polymer with small amounts of added Zr were prepared. It was shown in a model reaction between zirconium acetylacetonate (Zr(acac)4) and benzimidazole (BI) that Zr-atoms are capable to form chemical bonds with BI. Thus, Zr may be used as a crosslinking agent for PBI membranes. The obtained Zr/PBI-O-PhT composite membranes were examined by means of SAXS, thermomechanical analysis (TMA), and were tested in operating fuel cells by means of stationary voltammetry and impedance spectroscopy. The new membranes showed excellent stability in a 2000-hour fuel cell (FC) durability test. The modification of the PBI-O-PhT films with Zr facilitated an increase of the phosphoric acid (PA) uptake by the membranes, which resulted in an up to 2.5 times increased proton conductivity. The existence of an optimal amount of Zr content in the modified PBI-O-PhT film was shown. Larger amounts of Zr lead to a lower PA doping level and a reduced conductivity due to an excessively high degree of crosslinking.
Evaluating ERP Implementation Choices Using AHP

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is an integrated software solution, typically offered by a vendor as a package that supports the seamless integration of all the information flowing through a company. Business information systems is an area of the greatest significance in any business enterprise today. ERP projects are a growing segment of this vital area. The objective of customization in ERP implementation is to achieve a fit between the ERP system and the process that the system supports. Widespread literature review has been done to study the issues in ERP implementation. Customization is found to be the major annoyance in most of the ERP projects. Literature review also shows that the AHP is the preeminent slant among the various methodologies applied to ERP projects in the past for prioritizing the attributes. Hence, in this paper we have applied the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to a framework for evaluating ERP implementation choices. The upshot of the study is the identification of various customization possibilities for ERP implementation. This study is meant to help managers think about the various feasible customization options available to them. The application of AHP to the framework is exemplified and the epitome of findings is discussed. Future research work that can be done in customization is also indicated.
Modeling of RF energy scavenging for batteryless wireless sensors with low input power

RF energy scavenging enables batteryless operation of wireless sensors. In particular, a system with a central controller that transfers wireless energy to and exchanges information with RF energy scavenging sensors is very suitable for a wide range of applications. State-of-the-art analysis of RF energy scavenging is mostly based on RF-DC rectifier models operating with relatively high input power to achieve high rectification efficiency. However, to enable larger distance between the central controller and sensors and/or to increase the operating frequencies, which can lead to small and low-cost smart dust like sensors, a good model describing the RF-DC rectification with low input power is needed to aid system design and optimization. In this paper, we develop such a model. Using the model, we derive closed-form solutions for the equilibrium voltage and the input resistance of the rectifier. We further propose a quasi-static model to describe the dynamic charging of the capacitor in the rectifier. A comparison with circuit simulations using Cadence Virtuoso Spectre circuit simulator shows good match between our model and the circuit simulation.
A Multi-Agents Control Approach for the Optimal Power Flow Problem

We consider the problem of minimizing the power generation cost by exploiting the microgenerators dispersed in the power distribution network. The proposed strategy requires that the intelligent agents, located at the microgenerator buses, measure their voltage and then actuate the physical layer by adjusting the amount of injected power, according to a feedback control law derived from a projected gradient descent strategy. Simulations are provided in order to illustrate the algorithm behavior.
When Moderate Voters Prefer Extreme Parties: Policy Balancingin Parliamentary Elections

This work develops and tests a theory of voter choice in parliamentary elections. I demonstrate that voters are concerned with policy outcomes and hence incorporate the way institutions convert votes to policy into their choices. Since policy is often the result of institutionalized multiparty bargaining and thus votes are watered down by power-sharing, voters often compensate for this watering-down by supporting parties whose positions differ from (and are often more extreme than) their own. I use this insight to reinterpret an ongoing debate between proximity and directional theories of voting, showing that voters prefer parties whose positions differ from their own views insofar as these parties pull policy in a desired direction. Utilizing data from four parliamentary democracies that vary in their institutional design, I test my theory and show how institutional context affects voter behavior.
A $\widetilde{O}(n)$ Non-Adaptive Tester for Unateness

Khot and Shinkar (RANDOM, 2016) recently describe an adaptive, $O(n \log(n)/\varepsilon)$-query tester for unateness of Boolean functions $f:\{0,1\}^n \to \{0,1\}$. In this note we describe a simple non-adaptive, $O(n \log(n/\varepsilon)/\varepsilon)$ -query tester for unateness for functions over the hypercube with any ordered range.
3300V SiC DMOSFETs Fabricated in High-Volume 150 mm CMOS Fab

We fabricated 3300V Silicon Carbide (SiC) DMOSFETs on 150mm substrates in a high volume automotive qualified Si CMOS foundry. In this paper we will show that JFET optimization can yield noticeable improvements in on-state performance without exceeding acceptable gate oxide electric fields. For the optimized design, breakdown voltages (BV) in excess of 3900V are observed along with a specific on resistance of 13.5mOhm-cm2 at room temperature and 30mOhm-cm2 at 150°C.
Wireless Device-to-Device Caching Networks: Basic Principles and System Performance

As wireless video is the fastest growing form of data traffic, methods for spectrally efficient on-demand wireless video streaming are essential to both service providers and users. A key property of video on-demand is the asynchronous content reuse, such that a few popular files account for a large part of the traffic but are viewed by users at different times. Caching of content on wireless devices in conjunction with device-to-device (D2D) communications allows to exploit this property, and provide a network throughput that is significantly in excess of both the conventional approach of unicasting from cellular base stations and the traditional D2D networks for “regular” data traffic. This paper presents in a tutorial and concise form some recent results on the throughput scaling laws of wireless networks with caching and asynchronous content reuse, contrasting the D2D approach with other alternative approaches such as conventional unicasting, harmonic broadcasting, and a novel coded multicasting approach based on caching in the user devices and network-coded transmission from the cellular base station only. Somehow surprisingly, the D2D scheme with spatial reuse and simple decentralized random caching achieves the same near-optimal throughput scaling law as coded multicasting. Both schemes achieve an unbounded throughput gain (in terms of scaling law) with respect to conventional unicasting and harmonic broadcasting, in the relevant regime where the number of video files in the library is smaller than the total size of the distributed cache capacity in the network. To better understand the relative merits of these competing approaches, we consider a holistic D2D system design incorporating traditional microwave (2 GHz) and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) D2D links; the direct connections to the base station can be used to provide those rare video requests that cannot be found in local caches. We provide extensive simulation results under a variety of system settings and compare our scheme with the systems that exploit transmission from the base station only. We show that, also in realistic conditions and nonasymptotic regimes, the proposed D2D approach offers very significant throughput gains.
Cell fate decisions: emerging roles for metabolic signals and cell morphology

Understanding how cell fate decisions are regulated is a fundamental goal of developmental and stem cell biology. Most studies on the control of cell fate decisions address the contributions of changes in transcriptional programming, epigenetic modifications, and biochemical differentiation cues. However, recent studies have found that other aspects of cell biology also make important contributions to regulating cell fate decisions. These cues can have a permissive or instructive role and are integrated into the larger network of signaling, functioning both upstream and downstream of developmental signaling pathways. Here, we summarize recent insights into how cell fate decisions are influenced by four aspects of cell biology: metabolism, reactive oxygen species (ROS), intracellular pH (pHi), and cell morphology. For each topic, we discuss how these cell biological cues interact with each other and with protein‐based mechanisms for changing gene transcription. In addition, we highlight several questions that remain unanswered in these exciting and relatively new areas of the field.
The APC/C activator FZR1 is essential for meiotic prophase I in mice

Fizzy-related 1 (FZR1) is an activator of the Anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) and an important regulator of the mitotic cell division cycle. Using a germ-cell-specific conditional knockout model we examined its role in entry into meiosis and early meiotic events in both sexes. Loss of APC/CFZR1 activity in the male germline led to both a mitotic and a meiotic testicular defect resulting in infertility due to the absence of mature spermatozoa. Spermatogonia in the prepubertal testes of such mice had abnormal proliferation and delayed entry into meiosis. Although early recombination events were initiated, male germ cells failed to progress beyond zygotene and underwent apoptosis. Loss of APC/CFZR1 activity was associated with raised cyclin B1 levels, suggesting that CDK1 may trigger apoptosis. By contrast, female FZR1Δ mice were subfertile, with premature onset of ovarian failure by 5 months of age. Germ cell loss occurred embryonically in the ovary, around the time of the zygotene-pachytene transition, similar to that observed in males. In addition, the transition of primordial follicles into the growing follicle pool in the neonatal ovary was abnormal, such that the primordial follicles were prematurely depleted. We conclude that APC/CFZR1 is an essential regulator of spermatogonial proliferation and early meiotic prophase I in both male and female germ cells and is therefore important in establishing the reproductive health of adult male and female mammals.
2011 IEEE Visualization Contest Winner: Visualizing Unsteady Vortical Behavior of a Centrifugal Pump

In the 2011 IEEE Visualization Contest, the dataset represented a high-resolution simulation of a centrifugal pump operating below optimal speed. The goal was to find suitable visualization techniques to identify regions of rotating stall that impede the pump's effectiveness. The winning entry split analysis of the pump into three parts based on the pump's functional behavior. It then applied local and integration-based methods to communicate the unsteady flow behavior in different regions of the dataset. This research formed the basis for a comparison of common vortex extractors and more recent methods. In particular, integration-based methods (separation measures, accumulated scalar fields, particle path lines, and advection textures) are well suited to capture the complex time-dependent flow behavior. This video (http://youtu.be/oD7QuabY0oU) shows simulations of unsteady flow in a centrifugal pump.
A Systematic Approach to Developing and Evaluating Website Fingerprinting Defenses

Fingerprinting attacks have emerged as a serious threat against privacy mechanisms, such as SSL, Tor, and encrypting tunnels. Researchers have proposed numerous attacks and defenses, and the Tor project now includes both network- and browser-level defenses against these attacks, but published defenses have high overhead, poor security, or both. This paper (1) systematically analyzes existing attacks and defenses to understand which traffic features convey the most information (and therefore are most important for defenses to hide), (2) proves lower bounds on the bandwidth costs of any defense that achieves a given level of security, (3) presents a mathematical framework for evaluating performance of fingerprinting attacks and defenses in the open-world, given their closed-world performance, and (4) presents a new defense, Tamaraw, that achieves a better security/bandwidth trade-off than any previously proposed defense. Our feature-based analysis provides clear directions to defense designers on which features need to be hidden. Our lower bounds on bandwidth costs help us understand the limits of fingerprinting defenses and to determine how close we are to "success". Our open-world/close-world connection enables researchers to perform simpler closed-world experiments and predict open-world performance. Tamaraw provides an "existence proof" for efficient, secure defenses.
Baluns for dipole with reflector

In this work we propose that the dipole antenna can be fed directly through the coaxial cable, without any balun, when used with a perfect electric conductor (PEC) reflector placed at quarter wavelength distance. This configuration leads to a high impedance between the coaxial cable outer metal shield at the dipole feed point and the ground plane which restricts the current to flow on the outer metal shield of the coaxial cable.
Fast Data Collection in Tree-Based Wireless Sensor Networks

We investigate the following fundamental question-how fast can information be collected from a wireless sensor network organized as tree? To address this, we explore and evaluate a number of different techniques using realistic simulation models under the many-to-one communication paradigm known as convergecast. We first consider time scheduling on a single frequency channel with the aim of minimizing the number of time slots required (schedule length) to complete a convergecast. Next, we combine scheduling with transmission power control to mitigate the effects of interference, and show that while power control helps in reducing the schedule length under a single frequency, scheduling transmissions using multiple frequencies is more efficient. We give lower bounds on the schedule length when interference is completely eliminated, and propose algorithms that achieve these bounds. We also evaluate the performance of various channel assignment methods and find empirically that for moderate size networks of about 100 nodes, the use of multifrequency scheduling can suffice to eliminate most of the interference. Then, the data collection rate no longer remains limited by interference but by the topology of the routing tree. To this end, we construct degree-constrained spanning trees and capacitated minimal spanning trees, and show significant improvement in scheduling performance over different deployment densities. Lastly, we evaluate the impact of different interference and channel models on the schedule length.
Statistics on the (compact) Stiefel manifold: Theory and Applications

A Stiefel manifold of the compact type is often encountered in many fields of Engineering including, signal and image processing, machine learning, numerical optimization and others. The Stiefel manifold is a Riemannian homogeneous space but not a symmetric space. In previous work, researchers have defined probability distributions on symmetric spaces and performed statistical analysis of data residing in these spaces. In this paper, we present original work involving definition of Gaussian distributions on a homogeneous space and show that the maximum-likelihood estimate of the location parameter of a Gaussian distribution on the homogeneous space yields the Frechet mean (FM) of the samples drawn from this distribution. Further, we present an algorithm to sample from the Gaussian distribution on the Stiefel manifold and recursively compute the FM of these samples. We also prove the weak consistency of this recursive FM estimator. Several synthetic and real data experiments are then presented, demonstrating the superior computational performance of this estimator over the gradient descent based non-recursive counter part as well as the stochastic gradient descent based method prevalent in literature.
Learning Summary Content Units with Topic Modeling

In the field of multi-document summarization, the Pyramid method has become an important approach for evaluating machine-generated summaries. The method is based on the manual annotation of text spans with the same meaning in a set of human model summaries. In this paper, we present an unsupervised, probabilistic topic modeling approach for automatically identifying such semantically similar text spans. Our approach reveals some of the structure of model summaries and identifies topics that are good approximations of the Summary Content Units (SCU) used in the Pyramid method. Our results show that the topic model identifies topic-sentence associations that correspond to the contributors of SCUs, suggesting that the topic modeling approach can generate a viable set of candidate SCUs for facilitating the creation of Pyramids.
Recent Developments in NASA Piezocomposite Actuator Technology

In this paper, we present an overview of recent progress in the development of the NASA Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC) piezocomposite actuator device. This will include a brief history of the development of the MFC, a description of the standard manufacturing process used to fabricate MFC actuators, and a summary of ongoing MFC electromechanical characterization testing. In addition, we describe the development of a prototype single-crystal piezoelectric MFC device, and compare its performance with MFC actuator specimens utilizing conventional piezoceramic materials.