Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A compact and dual-polarized microstrip array antenna for mini base station applications

The design of a 2×2 compact dual-polarized microstrip array antenna with high isolation and low cross-polarized radiation characteristics for mini base station applications is presented in this paper. The array antenna provides an impedance bandwidth of 7.7% for VSWR <; 1.4, operating around 2.6 GHz. The total thickness of the array antenna is about 0. 052λ0 and the array dimension is 160×160 mm2. A gain of higher than 12 dBi is achieved within the bandwidth. By introducing the dual-feed technique and modifying the shape of patches, the isolation between the two polarized ports is higher than 30 dB over the entire bandwidth. The cross-polarization levels in both of the E and H planes are all less than -30 dB.
The deep water stratification of ocean general circulation models

Abstract A central problem in climate and ocean modelling is the accurate simulation of the climatological state of the oceanic density field. A constant vertical diffusivity for heat and salt is frequently employed in ocean general circulation models (OGCMs) and it is usually assigned a value designed to optimize the depth of the pycnocline. One undesired consequence of this choice is a poor representation of the deep water, which is usually insufficiently stratified. In contrast to the uniform diffusivity of many models, some observational studies suggest that the vertical diffusivity is not constant but increases with depth, possibly in inverse proportion to the local buoyancy frequency. Numerical experiments with an OGCM are presented that demonstrate that allowing the vertical diffusivity to increase below the pycnocline substantially increases the stratification of the abyssal water mass of these models without significantly affecting the pycnocline depth, and hence may lead to a better representati.
Electronically directed "focal" stereo

A key to developing computationally efficient stereo vision is the incorporation of intelligent control. Stereo is most effective when it is able to "focus" its analysis on regions and details of a scene that are important to the task at hand, while avoiding less important regions and unnecessary detail. The paper describes two methods for electronically "focusing" stereo measurement through simple image pre-processing. The first allows measurement sensitivity to be adjusted. The second allows the shape of the 3D region in which measurements are gathered to be matched to the shape of surfaces in the scene. <<ETX>>
PREHISTORIC ALTERATION OF SOIL PROPERTIES IN A CENTRAL GERMAN CHERNOZEMIC SOIL: IN SEARCH OF PEDOLOGIC INDICATORS FOR PREHISTORIC ACTIVITY

&NA; There is no consistent theory that explains the patchy distribution of chernozemic soils in Central Germany. Mounting evidence suggests that prehistoric human activities may have interfered with natural pedogenesis on a large scale. Therefore, we undertook to identify parameters that would enable researchers to infer a human interference with pedogenesis. We selected a soil with a known history of prehistoric influence (Seeben), later referred to as ancient soil, and a reference soil (Zöberitz) with properties representative of the chernozemic soils in the vicinity. We did a survey of parameters that are commonly used to characterize pedogenetic dynamics and combined this with an investigation of organic matter properties. We found that prehistoric land use has predominantly modified the properties of the subsoil, rendering it unlikely that such modifications are the result of either (i) contemporary agricultural management or (ii) natural input dynamics via root systems or bioturbation. Soil color was darker, bulk density higher, and C/N ratio wider in the ancient soil. The mineral matrix was uniform down to a depth of 95 cm in the ancient soil, whereas a B‐horizon with a corresponding change in clay mineral assemblage was developed in the reference soil. Compared with the reference soil, the carbon stock was elevated by a factor of 2.5 in the ancient soil, with more carbon associated with the clay fraction. We identified large contributions of charred organic matter in the ancient soil by two independent methods (Benzene polycarboxylic acid BPCA; Transmission electron microscopy, TEM), and confirmed by means of solid‐state crosspolarization/magic angle spinning/nuclear magnetic resonance (13C‐CPMAS‐NMR) spectroscopy that organic matter aromaticity was higher in the ancient soil. We suggest that any simultaneous occurrence of several of the observations listed above should be regarded as a strong indication for human interference with soil genesis. (Soil Science 2003;168:292‐306)
Intravascular Papillary Endothelial Hyperplasia of the Chest Wall Misdiagnosed as a Malignancy on Fine Needle Aspiration

Intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia (IPEH) is an exuberant proliferation of endothelial cells that may occur within the lumen of a pre-existing vessel or vascular malformation.1 Although IPEH is regarded as a non-neoplastic reactive process, misdiagnoses as a malignancy have been reported, particularly based on fine needle aspiration (FNA) findings.2-4 We report a case of IPEH on the chest wall that was initially misdiagnosed as an adenocarcinoma on FNA.
Photometric Based 3D Registration

Suppose we have two sets of 3D points with their associated 2D images from two distant positions (they can be taken by LIDAR, stereo cameras or multistereoscopic acquisition). Our work aims to improve the performance of matching between these 2D images in order to register the two sets of 3D points. We propose two approaches which use the 3D information in order to transform the original images and to apply the SIFT detector on the transformed images. The first one is consisted of two algorithms, to segment the planar regions and to transform the initial images into ortho-rectified images. The second one is based on conformal mapping. These approaches have been validated and compared with a method which apply SIFT on initial images. The comparison shows that proposed methods increase the number of homologous points and that the points are distributed all around common part of the images.
Robin Hood's Compromise: The Economics of Moderate Land Reforms

Abstract This paper analyses the consequences of an unusual type of land redistribution; we take land from the very rich, as usual, but give it to the rich instead of the poor. We show that such "moderate" reform reduces agency costs and thereby increases productivity, total surplus in the economy, and the welfare of rural workers. Compared to the classic redistribution "to the tiller", moderate reforms do worse in terms of equity and do not give the poor a collaterizable asset. They can however do equally well in terms of efficiency and might be more sustainable both financially and politically.
Island benthic assemblages: With examples from the Late Ordovician of Eastern Australia

The Benthic Assemblage (B.A.) concept, developed by A.J. Boucot two decades ago principally for continental marine margins, is extended to offshore island settings. Characteristics of modern island biotas, including ecological displacement, and the effects of r and K selection, can be identified in Late Ordovician volcanic islands of central New South Wales. Two variants of B.A.1 are represented, a quiet‐water lingulide biofacies, and a rough‐water rhynchonellide biofacies. The quiet‐water Eodinobolus biofacies occupied a B.A.1–2 position, onshore of and sheltered by a Tetradium wave‐baffle (B.A.2). The offshore shelfal high diversity strophomenide biofacies is equivalent to B.A.3. Remnants of periplatformal B.A.4–5 communities are recognised in allochthonous limestone breccias which were displaced downslope into graptolitic B.A.6 sediments. Steeper offshore gradients, typical of islands, laterally compress the B.A. profiles, and also contribute to downslope slumping. Ecological displacement in island env.
A New Cerithioidean Genus Megistocerithium (Gastropoda; Mollusca) from the Miocene of Southeast Asia: A Possible Relict of Mesozoic “Eustomatidae”

Abstract. Based upon large cerithiform gastropod specimens from the middle Miocene beds of Java, Indonesia and the Philippines, a new genus and new species, Megistocerithium magoi, is described herein. Ten fragmentary specimens from the lower and upper Miocene beds of the Philippines are tentatively referred to this species. M. magoi Kase sp. nov. is amongst the largest fossil cerithioidean gastropods (except for Turritellidae). It was a dweller in intertidal sandy mudflats, probably in close proximity to mangrove forests. No species considered to be congeneric with this species have been found in the Cenozoic. On the other hand, M. magoi Kase gen. et sp. nov. shares apertural characters with the Middle Jurassic species Eustoma tuberculosa, the type species of a genus belonging to the yet to be well-recognized family Eustomatidae. M. magoi Kase gen.et sp. nov. is possibly a relict of the Mesozoic Eustomatidae. It is assumed to have been a grazer on mangrove litter like the potamidid genera Terebralia and Telescopium in modern mangrove swamps.
Cooperative particle swarm optimization in dynamic environments

Most optimization algorithms are designed to solve static, unchanging problems. However, many real-world problems exhibit dynamic behavior. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a successful metaheuristic methodology which has been adapted for locating and tracking optima in dynamic environments. Recently, a powerful new class of PSO strategies using cooperative principles was shown to improve PSO performance in static environments. While there exist many PSO algorithms designed for dynamic optimization problems, only one cooperative PSO strategy has been introduced for this purpose, and it has only been studied under one type of dynamism. This study proposes a new cooperative PSO strategy designed for dynamic environments. The newly proposed algorithm is shown to achieve significantly lower error rates when compared to well-known algorithms across problems with varying dimensionalities, temporal change severities, and spatial change severities.
The L-type voltage-gated calcium channel CaV1.2 mediates fear extinction and modulates synaptic tone in the lateral amygdala

L-type voltage-gated calcium channels (LVGCCs) have been implicated in both the formation and the reduction of fear through Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction. Despite the implication of LVGCCs in fear learning and extinction, studies of the individual LVGCC subtypes, CaV1.2 and CaV1.3, using transgenic mice have failed to find a role of either subtype in fear extinction. This discontinuity between the pharmacological studies of LVGCCs and the studies investigating individual subtype contributions could be due to the limited neuronal deletion pattern of the CaV1.2 conditional knockout mice previously studied to excitatory neurons in the forebrain. To investigate the effects of deletion of CaV1.2 in all neuronal populations, we generated CaV1.2 conditional knockout mice using the synapsin1 promoter to drive Cre recombinase expression. Pan-neuronal deletion of CaV1.2 did not alter basal anxiety or fear learning. However, pan-neuronal deletion of CaV1.2 resulted in a significant deficit in extinction of contextual fear, implicating LVGCCs, specifically CaV1.2, in extinction learning. Further exploration on the effects of deletion of CaV1.2 on inhibitory and excitatory input onto the principle neurons of the lateral amygdala revealed a significant shift in inhibitory/excitatory balance. Together these data illustrate an important role of CaV1.2 in fear extinction and the synaptic regulation of activity within the amygdala.
In vivo nuclear transport kinetics in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: a role for heat shock protein 70 during targeting and translocation

The transport of proteins into the nucleus is a receptor-mediated process that is likely to involve between 50-100 gene products, including many that comprise the nuclear pore complex. We have developed an assay in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for the nuclear transport of green fluorescent protein fused to the SV-40 large T antigen nuclear localization signal (NLS-GFP). This assay allows the measurement of relative NLS-GFP nuclear import rates in wild-type and mutant cells under various physiological conditions. Probably the best understood component of the nuclear transport apparatus is Srp1p, the NLS receptor, which binds NLS-cargo in the cytoplasm and accompanies it into the nucleus. When compared to SRP1+ cells, NLS-GFP import rates in temperature-sensitive srp1-31 cells were slower and showed a lower temperature optimum. The in vivo transport defect of the srp1-31 cells was correlated with the purified protein's thermal sensitivity, as assayed by in vitro NLS peptide binding. We show that the kinetics of NLS-directed nuclear transport in wild-type cells is stimulated by the elevated expression of SSA1, which encodes a cytoplasmic heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70). Elevated Hsp70 levels are sufficient to suppress the NLS-GFP import defects in srp1-31 and nup82-3 cells. NUP82 encodes a protein that functions within the nuclear pore complex subsequent to docking. These results provide genetic evidence that Hsp70 acts during both targeting and translocation phases of nuclear transport, possibly as a molecular chaperone to promote the formation and stability of the Srp1p-NLS-cargo complex.
An optimized radix-tree for hardware-accelerated dictionary generation for semantic web databases

In this paper, a data structure and a hardware acceleration for dictionary generation for Semantic Web databases are presented. Current hardware accelerators for databases are based on co-processor designs supporting software-centric applications: only single, selected operations of query processing are offloaded to the FPGA with time-consuming data transfers. In contrast, we propose a novel FPGA-centric design, which creates and manages specialized database structures. As part of the design, a scalable and parallel architecture for dictionary generation is introduced. We propose optimizations for Radix- Trees, which are designed to exploit characteristics of FPGA structures. Furthermore, the tree is parameterizable which enables the adaptation of properties to the specific characteristics of the generated data structure. The configuration influences memory and logic utilization. Optimal parameters are determined by simulative evaluation using existing Semantic Web input data sets. The proposed hardware design is integrated into an existing Semantic Web database system and the results are analyzed with a focus on utilization and throughput. The required memory of the optimized Radix-Tree is reduced by 94% and a speed-up of 70% is achieved.
Elastic constants of hexagonal transition metals: Theory.

The five different elastic constants of all the hexagonal 4d transition metals (Y, Zr, Tc, and Ru) and the 5d transition metals Re and Os have been calculated by means of first-principles electronic-structure calculations using the full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method. The calculated data agree with the experimental values within \ensuremath{\sim}30%. We demonstrate, using experimental data, that the hexagonal transition metals obey the Cauchy relations much better than the cubic ones. This is due to the fact that the shape of the density of states for the hexagonal materials retains its form to a larger extent, for all types of shears, than it does for the cubic metals. We introduce normalized elastic constants ${\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{ij}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$=${\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{ij}}$/B, where B is the bulk modulus, which show a regular behavior for the hexagonal transition metals, in contrast to the cubic transition metals, where large irregularities are observed. These regular as well as irregular behaviors are well reproduced by the full-potential calculations.
New Therapeutic Options in Congestive Heart Failure: Part II

The second part of this review deals with newer, nonneurohumoral, pharmacological approaches to congestive heart failure (CHF) and nonpharmacological interventions in heart failure patients with low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as well as potential treatments for CHF with preserved LV systolic function. An algorithm summarizing current, evidence-based therapy is also provided. Cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor, are produced in increased amounts in a variety of tissues in patients with CHF.1 Higher plasma cytokine concentrations are associated with a worse prognosis.1 Experimentally, cytokines depress myocardial contractility, cause myocyte death, and induce heart failure.1 There is some evidence that anticytokine interventions improve ventricular function and clinical status in CHF.2,3⇓ Two parallel trials (Randomized Etanercept North American Strategy to Study Antagonism of Cytokines [RENAISSANCE] and Research into Etanercept Cytokine Antagonism in Ventricular Dysfunction Trial [RECOVER], pooled as the Randomized Etanercept Worldwide Evaluation [RENEWAL] program) examining the effect of the anti–tumor necrosis factor agent etanercept on morbidity and mortality in CHF, however, were recently discontinued because of futility (Table). Even more recently, a placebo-controlled phase II trial with an alternative anti–tumor necrosis factor chimeric monoclonal antibody, infliximab, was stopped early because of higher rates of mortality and hospitalization in the active-therapy group. Whether this means that the cytokine hypothesis is invalid, that etanercept and infliximab were the wrong drugs to use (or were used incorrectly), that inappropriate patients were chosen, or that the study designs were flawed is unknown. View this table: Table 1107874. Ongoing and Planned Trials of Pharmacological Agents in CHF The constitution of the cardiac extracellular matrix depends on the balance in activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases.4,5⇓ End-stage heart failure is associated with increased collagenase activity (increased expression of MMP-1 and MMP-9) and reduced expression of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases.5 Experimentally, …
Ground moving target geo-location from monocular camera mounted on a micro air vehicle

The usual approaches to unmanned air vehicle(UAV)-to-ground target geo-location impose some severe constraints to the system, such as stationary objects, accurate geo-reference terrain database, or ground plane assumption. Micro air vehicle(MAV) works with characteristics including low altitude flight, limited payload and onboard sensors' low accuracy. According to these characteristics, a method is developed to determine the location of ground moving target which imaged from the air using monocular camera equipped on MAV. This method eliminates the requirements for terrain database (elevation maps) and altimeters that can provide MAV's and target's altitude. Instead, the proposed method only requires MAV flight status provided by its inherent onboard navigation system which includes inertial measurement unit(IMU) and global position system(GPS). The key is to get accurate information on the altitude of the ground moving target. First, Optical flow method extracts background static feature points. Setting a local region around the target in the current image, The features which are on the same plane with the target in this region are extracted, and are retained as aided features. Then, inverse-velocity method calculates the location of these points by integrated with aircraft status. The altitude of object, which is calculated by using position information of these aided features, combining with aircraft status and image coordinates, geo-locate the target. Meanwhile, a framework with Bayesian estimator is employed to eliminate noise caused by camera, IMU and GPS. Firstly, an extended Kalman filter(EKF) provides a simultaneous localization and mapping solution for the estimation of aircraft states and aided features location which defines the moving target local environment. Secondly, an unscented transformation(UT) method determines the estimated mean and covariance of target location from aircraft states and aided features location, and then exports them for the moving target Kalman filter(KF). Experimental results show that our method can instantaneously geo-locate the moving target by operator's single click and can reach 15 meters accuracy for an MAV flying at 200 meters above the ground.
Vision system for human-robot interface

A vision system has been developed for human-robot symbiosis. The two novel contributions of this paper are 1) Detection of human faces and 2) Localizing the eye. The method is based on visual attributes of human skin colors and geometrical analysis of face skeleton. This paper introduces a spatial domain filtering method named dasiafuzzily skewed filterpsila which incorporates fuzzy rules for deciding the gray level of pixels in the image in their neighborhoods and takes advantages of both the median and averaging filters. The effectiveness of the method has been justified over human-robot interaction system.
Flash Cookies and Privacy

This is a pilot study of the use of 'Flash cookies' by popular websites. We find that more than 50% of the sites in our sample are using flash cookies to store information about the user. Some are using it to 'respawn' or re-instantiate HTTP cookies deleted by the user. Flash cookies often share the same values as HTTP cookies, and are even used on government websites to assign unique values to users. Privacy policies rarely disclose the presence of Flash cookies, and user controls for effectuating privacy preferences are lacking.
Receptive Fields for the Determination of Textured Surface Inclination

The image of a uniformly textured inclined surface exhibits systematic distortions which affect the projection of the spatial frequencies of which the texture is composed. Using a set of filters having suitable spatial, frequency and orientation resolution, the inclination angle of the textured surface may be estimated from the resulting spatial frequency gradients. Psychophysical experiments suggest that, in absence of other cues, humans perceive surface inclination from perspective distortions, suggesting the possibility of a specific neuronal mechanism in the visual system. Beginning with a low level filter model found to be an accurate and economical model for simple cell receptive fields, we have developed both algorithmic machine vision and neural network models to investigate physiologically plausible mechanisms for this behavior. The two models are related through a new class of receptive field formed in the hidden layer of a neural network which "learned" to solve the problem. This receptive field can also be described analytically from the analysis developed for the algorithmic study. This paper, then, offers a prediction for a new type of receptive field in cortex which may be involved in the perception of inclined textured surfaces. Comments University of Pennsylvania Department of Computer and Information Science Technical Report No. MSCIS-89-48. This technical report is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn. edu/cis_reports/842 RECEPTIVE FIELDS for the DETERMINATION of TEXTURED SURFACE INCLINATION M.R. Turner, M. Salganicoff G.L. Gerstein, and R. Bajcsy MS-CIS-89-48 GRASP LAB 187 Department of Computer and Information Science School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104