Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strong enhancement of surface diffusion by nonlinear surface acoustic waves

The phenomenon of acoustic activation of surface diffusion is investigated in a combined computational and experimental study. The ability of pulsed laser-generated surface acoustic waves (SAWs) to enhance mobility of small atomic clusters is demonstrated by directly tracking, with fluorescence microscopy, individual Au 8 clusters moving on a (111) silicon substrate. A 19-fold increase in the effective diffusion coefficient is measured in room temperature experiments in the presence of SAWs generated by nanosecond pulse laser irradiation at 100 Hz repetition rate. A strong enhancement of cluster mobility by SAWs is also observed in large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of surface diffusion of small atomic clusters. The analysis of the computational results demonstrates that the nonlinear sharpening of SAWs and the corresponding enrichment of the SAW spectra by high frequency harmonics capable of dynamic coupling to the cluster vibrations are responsible for the efficient acoustic activation of surface mobility in the simulations. The increase in the effective diffusion coefficient is proportional to the number of the SAW pulses passing through the diffusion region per unit time and a dramatic 4500-fold diffusion enhancement (corresponds to an equivalent temperature increase by ~10 3 K) is predicted in the simulations for 15 GHz SAWs. The ability of SAWs to affect atomic-level surface processes has far-reaching implications for the design of new techniques where the acoustic energy serves as an effective substitution for thermal activation in applications where heating must be avoided or rapid switching of surface conditions is required.
Future vehicle driven by electricity and Control-research on four-wheel-motored "UOT electric march II"

The electric vehicle (EV) is the most exciting object to apply "advanced motion control" technique. As an EV is driven by electric motors, it has the following three remarkable advantages: 1) motor torque generation is fast and accurate; 2) motors can be installed in two or four wheels; and 3) motor torque can be known precisely. These advantages enable us to easily realize: 1) high performance antilock braking system and traction control system with minor feedback control at each wheel; 2) chassis motion control like direct yaw control; and 3) estimation of road surface condition. "UOT Electric March II" is our novel experimental EV with four in-wheel motors. This EV is made for intensive study of advanced motion control of an EV.
Lazy Retirement: A Power Aware Register Management Mechanism

In this paper we describe "Lazy Retirement" a poweraware improvement to the Intel’s P6 family microarchitecture. Lazy Retirement significantly reduces the energy and power involved in register retirement. Lazy Retirement delays the copy from the physical register file (ROB) to the architectural (real) register file (RRF) until it has no choice and the physical register has to be re-used. In many cases, a new retired instruction invalidates such register before it is needed to be copied. Overall, Lazy Retirement eliminates most of the register copy operations involved in register retirement – saving energy while incurring no performance degradation. Alternatively, the reduction in register accesses can be used to decrease the number of register ports thus allowing even faster, less complex, and more energy efficient register file – with a minimal performance loss. Results: Lazy Retirement eliminates about 75% of retirement-related register copies in typical integer code. Lazy Retirement enables the reduction in the number of retirement-related register file ports from 3 to 2 with practically no performance penalty or even from 3 to 1 with very minor performance penalty.
Maaping Between Neural and Physical Activities of the Lobster Gastric Mill

A computer model of the musculoskeletal system of the lobster gastric mill was constructed in order to provide a behavioral interpretation of the rhythmic patterns obtained from isolated stomatogastric ganglion. The model was based on Hill's muscle model and quasi-static approximation of the skeletal dynamics and could simulate the change of chewing patterns by the effect of neuromodulators.
Modulation of cardiac contractility by muscle metaboreflex following efforts of different intensities in humans.

Accumulation of metabolic end products within skeletal muscle stimulates sensory nerves, thus evoking a pressor response termed "metaboreflex. " The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in hemodynamics occurring during metaboreflex activation obtained by postexercise muscle ischemia (PEMI) after two different exercise intensities. In twelve healthy subjects, the metaboreflex was studied with the PEMI method at the start of recovery from one leg-dynamic knee extension performed at intensities of 30% (PEMI 30%) and 70% (PEMI 70%) of the maximum workload achieved in a preliminary test. Control exercise recovery tests at the same intensities were also conducted. Central hemodynamics were evaluated by means of impedance cardiography. The main findings were that 1) during metaboreflex, exercise conducted against the higher workload caused a more pronounced blood pressure increase than the strain conducted against the lower workload; and 2) during PEMI 70%, this blood pressure response was mainly achieved through enhancement of myocardial contractility that increased stroke volume and, in turn, cardiac output, whereas during PEMI 30%, the blood pressure response was reached predominantly by means of vasoconstriction. Thus a substantial enhancement of myocardial contractility was reached only in the PEMI 70% test. These results suggest that hemodynamic regulation during metaboreflex engagement caused by PEMI in humans is dependent on the intensity of the previous effort. Moreover, the cardiovascular response during metaboreflex is not merely achieved by vasoconstriction alone, but it appears that there is a complex interplay between peripheral vasoconstriction and heart contractility recruitment.
Dynamic inversion-based control for front wheel drive autonomous ground vehicles near the limits of handling

Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among young people between 10 and 24 years old. Several safety systems for near the limits of handling scenarios such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Active Front Steering (AFS) have been introduced in the past recent years. Vehicle stability in limit situations is extremely important to current driver assistance systems (DAS) and a safe control of Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGV). This paper proposes an exponentially convergent dynamical model inversion based control for driving front wheel driven autonomous vehicles near tire-road friction saturation limits. Using a nonlinear planar bicycle model as basis, this control technique presented significative results under simulations even in cases of curvature non-continuities.
CMOS Distributed Amplifiers Using Gate–Drain Transformer Feedback Technique

This paper presents CMOS distributed amplifiers (DAs) using the proposed gate-drain transformer feedback technique. The feedback allows reuse of the traveling signal to achieve a high gain-bandwidth product while maintaining low power consumption of DAs. With the folded transmission lines and patterned ground shield, the miniaturized transformer has high quality factors and a well-controlled feedback coupling coefficient. Two DAs are realized using the proposed technique in both 0.18-μm and 90-nm CMOS technologies, respectively. The 0.18-μm CMOS DA achieves a gain of 9.5 dB with a 3-dB bandwidth of 32 GHz, and the noise figure (NF) ranges from 4.1 to 7.6 dB under a power consumption of 71 mW. Under a power consumption of 60 mW, the 90-nm DA demonstrates a gain of 7 dB, a bandwidth of 61.3 GHz, and an NF below 6.2 dB up to 40 GHz. The core areas of the 0.18-μm and 90-nm designs are only 0.58 and 0.41 mm2, respectively.
CNT-TiO2-delta Composites for Improved Co-Catalyst Dispersion and Stabilized Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Composites consisting of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown directly on oxygen-deficient anatase TiO2 (TiO2−δ) were synthesized by a two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method and applied in photocatalytic hydrogen production from aqueous methanol solutions using photodeposited Pt as the co-catalyst. Thermogravimetry coupled with mass spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photocurrent analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and (scanning) transmission electron microscopy were performed to investigate the physical and (photo)chemical properties of the synthesized CNT-TiO2−δ composites before and after photocatalytic methanol reforming. The initial photocatalytic activity of TiO2 was found to be significantly improved in the presence of oxygen vacancies. An optimized amount (~7.2 wt%) of CNTs grown on the TiO2−δ surface led to a highly effective stabilization of the photocatalytic performance of TiO2−δ, which is attributed to the improved dispersion and stability of the photodeposited Pt co-catalyst nanoparticles and enhanced separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, rendering the photocatalysts less prone to deactivation.
The RMS Survey: Mid-Infrared Observations of Candidate Massive YSOs in the Southern Hemisphere ⋆

Context.The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey is an ongoing effort to return a large, well-selected sample of massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) within our Galaxy. 2000 candidates have been colour-selected from the Mid-course Space Experiment (MSX) point source catalogue (PSC). A series of ground-based follow-up observations are being undertaken in order to remove contaminant objects (ultra-compact HII (UCHII) regions, planetary nebulae (PN), evolved stars), and to begin characterising these MYSOs. Aims.As a part of these follow-up observations, high resolution (~1$^{\prime}$$^{\prime}$) mid-IR imaging aids the identification of contaminant objects which are resolved (UCHII regions, PN) as opposed to those which are unresolved (YSOs, evolved stars) as well as identifying YSOs near UCHII regions and other multiple sources. Methods.We present 10.4u imaging observations for 346 candidate MYSOs in the RMS survey in the Southern Hemisphere, primarily outside the region covered by the GLIMPSE Spitzer Legacy Survey. These were obtained using TIMMI2 on the ESO 3.6 m telescope in La Silla, Chile. Our photometric accuracy is of order 0.05 Jy, and our astrometric accuracy is 0.8$^{\prime}$$^{\prime}$, which is an improvement over the nominal 2'' accuracy of the MSX PSC. Results.Point sources are detected in 64% of our observations, which are expected to be either YSOs or evolved stars. 24% contain only sources of extended emission, which are likely to be either UCHII regions or, in a few cases, PN. This is confirmed by comparison with radio continuum observations. We find that, as expected for a dusty HII region, the strength of 10.4 $\mu$m and radio continuum emission is related. The remaining targets (12%) result in non-detections. While for 63% of our targets we detect only one mid-infrared source, 25% show multiple sources. In these cases, our observations will allow the apportioning of the flux from larger beam measurements between the different sources. Within these multiple source targets, we find some point sources on or near UCHII regions. Our improved astrometric information will allow more accurate targeting of spectroscopy, which will be used to identify unresolved sources in cases where it is not clear whether they are YSOs or evolved stars.
Working Memory and Response Inhibition in Patients With Bipolar I Disorder During Euthymic Period

Background: Several cognitive domains, including attention, memory, and executive functions are impaired in bipolar disorder. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate two executive functions (working memory and response inhibition) in patients with bipolar I disorder during remission of the symptoms. Patients and Methods: In this case-control design, 30 bipolar I patients (18 to 45 years old) were matched with 30 ones in the control group in terms of age, gender, and education. The patients were selected from Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital (a hospital affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences) from May to October 2013. They were evaluated and contrasted using working memory (Spatial Span and Spatial Working Memory (SSP and SWM)) and response inhibition (Stop Signal Task (SST)) tests. Results: We used independent t-tests for comparing and contrasting 2 groups on total and sub-scales scores of these 3 tests. In terms of SWM test there was a significant difference in between-group error between the two groups (P = 0.05); there was also a meaningful difference between the strategies used by two groups (P = 0.05). In SSP test, a significant difference appeared between averages of span length of the two groups. In the first and last item delays, there was also a clear difference, but the total error index was not noticeably different. In SST test, the direction error indicator in start-stop trials indicated a major difference, while in successful stops ratio, the case group had a lower ratio. In addition, reaction time to stop signs in bipolar group was meaningfully lower than the control group. Conclusion: In conclusion, even during remission phase, executive dysfunction is detectable at least in some areas in patients with bipolar disorder.
100 Gb/s PDM-DQPSK optical label switching system with spectral amplitude code labels

In this paper, we present the performance analysis of 100 Gb/s polarization division multiplexed (PDM) differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) transmission system with spectral amplitude code (SAC) labels in computer simulation. In this system, the payload consists of two 25 Gbaud channels which are orthogonally polarized. Direct detection is selected to demodulate PDM payload in the receiver. Meanwhile, 4 bits of 156 Mb/s SAC label is frequency-swept coherently detected. After 96 km transmission, eye opening factor of the label is 0.81 for payload, optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) is 11.6 dB while received optical power is -13.4 dBm.
Linked Water Data For Water Information Management

EDWARD CURRY (1), VIKTORIYA DEGELER (1), EOGHAN CLIFFORD (1) DANIEL COAKLEY (1), ANDREA COSTA (2), SCHALK-JAN VAN ANDEL (3), NICK VAN DE GIESEN (4), CHRISTOS KOUROUPETROGLOU (5), THOMAS MESSERVEY (2), JAN MINK (6), SANDER SMIT (7) (1): National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. (2): R2M Solution, Italy. (3): UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands. (4): TU Delft, Netherlands. (5): Ultra 4, Greece. (6): VTEC Engineering, Netherlands. (7): BM Change, Netherlands.
Of Collaborative Learning Team : Cooperation Leader Identification by Using Information Theory

This paper proposes an approach for identifying the cooperation leader in a collaborative learning team. The cooperation leader is the member potentially obtaining the effectively cooperation from other team members. The concept of information theory, the measure of uncertainty, is applied in this paper in order to identify the cooperation leader candidate. Because the cooperation leader is likely to have equally intensive connections with other members, the cooperation leader thus should have the maximum of the measure of uncertainty. That means it is difficult to predict that which members among all other members will respond to the cooperation leader, because all of them are likely to have equal chances to response. Based on the proposed assumptions, the experiments with two pilot studies are conducted. The leadership perceptions observed from team members are compared with the computed measure of uncertainty. The results show that the measure of uncertainty will be able to represent the leadership perceptions from team members. However, more experiment for the future work is still required.
Replica placement algorithms for mobile transaction systems

In distributed mobile systems, communication cost and disconnections are major concerns. In this paper, we address replica placement issues to achieve improved performance for systems supporting mobile transactions. We focus on handling correlated data objects and disconnections. Frequently, requests and/or transactions issued by mobile clients may access multiple data objects and should be considered together in terms of replica allocation. We discuss the replication cost model for correlated data objects and show that the problem of finding an optimal solution is NP. We further adjust the replication cost model for disconnections. A heuristic "expansion-shrinking" algorithm is developed to efficiently make replica placement decisions. The algorithm obtains near optimal solutions for the correlated data model and yields significant performance gains when disconnection is considered. Experimental studies show that the heuristic expansion-shrinking algorithm significantly outperforms the general frequency-based replication schemes.
GMM-based efficient foreground detection with adaptive region update

The accurate detection of moving objects is an important step in the process of tracking and recognition in many real-time video surveillance applications. In this paper, we propose a combination of block-based detection and a pixel-based Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) for moving object detection. Compared with traditional pixel-based algorithms which update all pixels for every frame, our algorithm has the ability to selectively update region information within each frame, while offering the capability to refine the silhouette of a foreground object. The algorithm offers an efficient trade-off between complexity and detection performance. The results show improved detection in the presence of high camera noise, high level compression artefacts, camera movements and dynamic background conditions.
MEMS-based state feedback control of multi-body hydraulic manipulator

This paper presents closed-loop state feedback motion control of a heavy-duty hydraulic manipulator using solely micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) rate gyroscopes and linear accelerometers for joint angular position, velocity and acceleration feedback. For benchmarking, incremental encoders with 2 million counts per revolution are also used to supply the joint motion state feedback. The two motion state estimation methods are compared using Cartesian path trajectory closed-loop control experiments with both position feedback-based proportional control and motion state-based feedback control. The experiments show that the proposed MEMS-based state feedback control yields comparable tracking results compared with the high accuracy encoder. Furthermore, the MEMS-based angular acceleration estimation in particular is free from typical differentiation induced noise amplification and post-filtering phase-lag.
Tracking behaviour of acoustic echo canceller using multiple sub-filters

An adaptive filter with large number of coefficients is required for acoustic echo cancellation. But a long length adaptive filter has slow convergence and poor tracking performance. In this paper a multipath acoustic echo model has been used as the basis for an adaptive echo canceller. The convergence and tracking performance of this new structure has been studied and compared with the conventional structure and found to be better.
Approximately optimal auctions for selling privacy when costs are correlated with data

We consider a scenario in which a database stores sensitive data of users and an analyst wants to estimate statistics of the data. The users may suffer a cost when their data are used in which case they should be compensated. The analyst wishes to get an accurate estimate, while the users want to maximize their utility. We want to design a mechanism that can estimate statistics accurately without compromising users' privacy. Since users' costs and sensitive data may be correlated, it is important to protect the privacy of both data and cost. We model this correlation by assuming that a user's unknown sensitive data determines a distribution from a set of publicly known distributions and a user's cost is drawn from that distribution. We propose a stronger model of privacy preserving mechanism where users are compensated whenever they reveal information about their data to the mechanism. In this model, we design a Bayesian incentive compatible and privacy preserving mechanism that guarantees accuracy and protects the privacy of both cost and data.
Combinatorial Modeling of Chromatin Features Quantitatively Predicts DNA Replication Timing in Drosophila

In metazoans, each cell type follows a characteristic, spatio-temporally regulated DNA replication program. Histone modifications (HMs) and chromatin binding proteins (CBPs) are fundamental for a faithful progression and completion of this process. However, no individual HM is strictly indispensable for origin function, suggesting that HMs may act combinatorially in analogy to the histone code hypothesis for transcriptional regulation. In contrast to gene expression however, the relationship between combinations of chromatin features and DNA replication timing has not yet been demonstrated. Here, by exploiting a comprehensive data collection consisting of 95 CBPs and HMs we investigated their combinatorial potential for the prediction of DNA replication timing in Drosophila using quantitative statistical models. We found that while combinations of CBPs exhibit moderate predictive power for replication timing, pairwise interactions between HMs lead to accurate predictions genome-wide that can be locally further improved by CBPs. Independent feature importance and model analyses led us to derive a simplified, biologically interpretable model of the relationship between chromatin landscape and replication timing reaching 80% of the full model accuracy using six model terms. Finally, we show that pairwise combinations of HMs are able to predict differential DNA replication timing across different cell types. All in all, our work provides support to the existence of combinatorial HM patterns for DNA replication and reveal cell-type independent key elements thereof, whose experimental investigation might contribute to elucidate the regulatory mode of this fundamental cellular process.
Collaborative filtering with fine-grained trust metric

Similarity-based collaborative filtering systems are vulnerable to the data sparsity, cold-start, and robustness problems. Computational trust models are promising alternative solutions to alleviate these problems by replacing similarity metric with trust metric. However, they often have some shortages that rely on users' explicit trust statements. A fine-grained model computing trust from user ratings is more reasonable and gets more nonintrusive for average users. We propose a novel trust-based recommendation model for this purpose. Experiments on a large real dataset show that the proposed model has better performance in terms of MAE, Coverage, and F-metric than the conventional collaborative filtering model.
GRB 990413: insight into the thermal phase evolution

GRB 990413 shows a very hard spectrum [with a low-energy spectral component F(ν) ∝ν2. 49] which is well represented by a blackbody model with characteristic temperature ∼70 keV. It thus belongs to the subset of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) which might be revealing a thermal phase. We find that the temperature/luminosity evolution is consistent with that found in the other ‘thermal’ GRBs. The time-resolved spectral analysis indicates the presence of a second non-thermal component contributing (for about 1 s) up to 30 per cent of the total flux. Differently from the other thermal GRBs, GRB 990413 shows significantly high level of variability and the evolution of the thermal/non-thermal spectral components is strongly correlated with the flux variations. This GRB thus offers the unique opportunity to test the standard fireball photospheric and internal shock phases and their reciprocal influence. GRB 990413 was not selected on the basis of its spectrum and thus hints to the possibility that this early behaviour might be more common than currently known.