Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Operational considerations in simulation and deployment of RFID systems

Large-scale radio frequency identification (RFID) deployment is needed for efficient item identification in supply chains. To reduce cost and save time, simulations are often carried out before actual implementation, especially when RFID is used in regions in which strict regulations and standards must be adhered to. However, due to the unpredictable environmental effects on radio propagation simulation, simple results can be misleading and questions have been raised over the validity of many wireless simulations. This paper reviews, from the point of RFID antenna deployment, the sources of error in wireless simulations reported in some publications. Also, this paper offers important EMC information relevant to RFID system deployment
FEATURESocial network sites and society: current trends and future possibilities

Social network sites (SNSs) have the potential to fundamentally change the character of our social lives, both on an interper-sonal and a community level. Changes in interaction patterns and social connections are already evident among young people, who are the heaviest users of these sites. As adoption spreads to a wider audience, we expect such changes to be amplified across all segments of society. At an interpersonal level, the identity information included in public profiles serves to lower the barriers to social interaction and thus enable connections between individuals that might not otherwise take place. On a community level, the organizing features of these sites lower the transaction costs for finding and connecting with others who may share one interest or concern but differ on other dimensions. Both of these processes have the potential to have positive effects on society at large because they encourage dis-parate individuals to connect, communicate, and take action. In the past few years, social network sites have become integrated into the daily practices of millions of U.S. users, most visibly those of young people, but usage is rapidly spreading to older people and other groups. SNS adoption is a global trend as well, as indicated by sites like QQ in China and CyWorld in South Korea. As social scientists who study the social impacts of new media, we believe it is important to consider the social changes that might accompany mainstream use of these sites. Like all " new " communication technologies, social network sites replicate features found in earlier communication tools. A site profile resembles a personal webpage, and the sites often incorporate established communication features like messaging and photo sharing. In addition to allowing users to engage in online self-presentation, social network sites allow users to explicitly articulate connections and to view their own social network and the networks of others [1]. What truly distinguishes SNSs from earlier technologies is the articulated social network, which is at the heart of these systems. Social network sites allow us to digitally represent our connections with other users—meaning that we can use these sites to model our network of social relationships by requesting and accepting " friends " or " contacts. " Managing a Large Network of Weak Ties In our everyday lives, we frequently encounter people with whom we may want to reconnect at some point in the future, but the social or logistical barriers …
Sum and Product in Dynamic Epistemic Logic

The Sum-and-Product riddle was first published in the reference H. Freudenthal (1969, Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde 3, 152) [6]. We provide an overview on the history of the dissemination of this riddle through the academic and puzzle-math community. This includes some references to precursors of the riddle, that were previously (as far as we know) unknown. We then model the Sum-and-Product riddle in a modal logic called public announcement logic. This logic contains operators for knowledge, but also operators for the informational consequences of public announcements. The logic is interpreted on multi-agent Kripke models. The information in the riddle can be represented in the traditional way by number pairs, so that Sum knows their sum and Product their product, but also as an interpreted system, so that Sum and Product at least know their local state. We show that the different representations are isomorphic. We also provide characteristic formulas of the initial epistemic state of the riddle. We analyse one of the announcements towards the solution of the riddle as a so-called unsuccessful update: a formula that becomes false because it is announced. The riddle is then implemented and its solution verified in the epistemic model checker DEMO. This can be done, we think, surprisingly elegantly. The results are compared with other work in epistemic model checking and the complexity is experimentally investigated for several representations and parameter settings.
Playing regex golf with genetic programming

Regex golf has recently emerged as a specific kind of code golf, i.e., unstructured and informal programming competitions aimed at writing the shortest code solving a particular problem. A problem in regex golf consists in writing the shortest regular expression which matches all the strings in a given list and does not match any of the strings in another given list. The regular expression is expected to follow the syntax of a specified programming language, e.g., Javascript or PHP. In this paper, we propose a regex golf player internally based on Genetic Programming. We generate a population of candidate regular expressions represented as trees and evolve such population based on a multi-objective fitness which minimizes the errors and the length of the regular expression. We assess experimentally our player on a popular regex golf challenge consisting of 16 problems and compare our results against those of a recently proposed algorithm---the only one we are aware of.Our player obtains scores which improve over the baseline and are highly competitive also with respect to human players. The time for generating a solution is usually in the order of tens minutes, which is arguably comparable to the time required by human players.
Performance of Space-Shift Keying With Buffer-Aided Amplify-and-Forward Relaying

In this paper, we study a space-shift keying (SSK) based dual-hop relaying system. We assume that the relay node (RN) possesses an information buffer and propose an adaptive transmission scheme in which the system adaptively chooses the source–relay or the relay–destination links to transmit information in each time slot. We obtain an exact closed-form expression of the average bit-error probability for the system in which the source node has two transmit antennas. For the system with arbitrary number of transmit antennas, an upper bound is provided, and it is shown that the proposed scheme can achieve a diversity order of two by using the asymptotic analysis. The delay of the information packets at the RN is investigated, and two link adaptation schemes are proposed to reduce the average packet delay. Numerical results validate our analysis and show that the proposed scheme can significantly improve the system performance, as compared to the conventional relaying scheme.
On Autonomous Clustering in Wireless Sensor Networks with Directional Antennas

This paper proposes a decentralized algorithm for organizing an ad-hoc sensor network into clusters with directional antennas. The proposed autonomous clustering scheme aims to reduce the sensing redundancy and maintain sufficient sensing coverage and network connectivity in sensor networks. With directional antennas, random waiting timers, and local criterions, cluster performance may be substantially improved and sensing redundancy and communication interference can be drastically suppressed. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme achieves connected coverage and provides efficient network topology management.
Fully Gravure-Printed Flexible Full Adder Using SWNT-Based TFTs

A single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)-based 1-b full-adder circuit was realized on flexible plastic substrates through an all gravure printing process by minimizing intertransistor process variation and leakage current between crossing interconnects. The circuit comprised 27 printed SWNT thin-film transistors, with a variation of up to only ±25% in electrical characteristics among them. Furthermore, the circuit showed a maximum propagation delay of 13.7 ms, with a 50-Hz input signal, and a supply voltage of -20 V. The process could be used for low-cost flexible arithmetic logic units in a variety of applications.
Optimal Power Allocation in Two-Tier MIMO Cognitive Femtocell Radio Networks

The paper provides the optimal power allocation in two-tier multi-antenna cognitive femtocell radio networks. The multiple antennas are used to serve a dual objective: avoid the interference and enhance throughput via multi-input multi-output (MIMO) transmission towards the receivers. A method is presented in order to achieve the optimal power allocation for the femtocell base station (FBS). The simulation results show that the proposed method achieves good efficiency.
Analysis of hole wall defects of drilled carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates

The hole wall defects created during drilling of carbon fiber reinforced polymer laminates are analyzed. First, an analysis of the location of the defects on the wall is performed. It is shown that, using results of orthogonal cutting, it is possible to predict the location of the main defects. Then refined scanning electron microscopic observation shows the different patterns of the defects. These observations raise the question of the quantification and measurement of the quality of holes drilled in composite laminates. Two roughness parameters, Ra and the bearing surface are compared and significant differences are found. This study is a contribution to a better definition of quality indicators for machined surfaces in composite structures, which should help to limit overquality and production costs.
Design Strategy for Step-Up Charge Pumps With Variable Integer Conversion Ratios

Method in identifying all possible configurations of 2-phase charge pumps giving an integer conversion ratio with a fixed number of flying capacitors is presented. A systematic strategy is proposed to design an integrated charge pump as an example with a variable gain of 6times and 7times in a standard 0.35-mum CMOS process using only 4 flying capacitors. Conduction loss is considered and minimized. Measurement results verified the validity of the design methodology
Ectopic Expression of Neurogenin 2 Alone is Sufficient to Induce Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells into Mature Neurons

Recent studies show that combinations of defined key developmental transcription factors (TFs) can reprogram somatic cells to pluripotency or induce cell conversion of one somatic cell type to another. However, it is not clear if single genes can define a cell̀s identity and if the cell fate defining potential of TFs is also operative in pluripotent stem cells in vitro. Here, we show that ectopic expression of the neural TF Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) is sufficient to induce rapid and efficient differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mature glutamatergic neurons. Ngn2-induced neuronal differentiation did not require any additional external or internal factors and occurred even under pluripotency-promoting conditions. Differentiated cells displayed neuron-specific morphology, protein expression, and functional features, most importantly the generation of action potentials and contacts with hippocampal neurons. Gene expression analyses revealed that Ngn2-induced in vitro differentiation partially resembled neurogenesis in vivo, as it included specific activation of Ngn2 target genes and interaction partners. These findings demonstrate that a single gene is sufficient to determine cell fate decisions of uncommitted stem cells thus giving insights into the role of key developmental genes during lineage commitment. Furthermore, we present a promising tool to improve directed differentiation strategies for applications in both stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
Web Crawling By Christopher Olston and

This is a survey of the science and practice of web crawling. While at first glance web crawling may appear to be merely an application of breadth-first-search, the truth is that there are many challenges ranging from systems concerns such as managing very large data structures to theoretical questions such as how often to revisit evolving content sources. This survey outlines the fundamental challenges and describes the state-of-the-art models and solutions. It also highlights avenues for future work.
Human-centric Ontology-based Context Modelling in Tourism

A lot of work has been done up to now in the so called context-aware research field on the one hand and on the ontology research field on the other. Research has been conducted both considering context-awareness and ontology as clearly distinct research disciplines and also utilizing ontologies as a tool for context management. However, context-based applications have only been possible at a laboratory environment so far and they have always worked under very certain, pre-established prerequisites in a not very stable nor efficient manner, which actually does not fulfil the nature of Ubiquitous Computing vision. Representation and use of context plays a crucial role in many modern IT applications. The ability to process contextual information and perform context-based reasoning is essential not only for mobile and ubiquitous computing systems, but also for a wide range of tourism applications. This paper presents a novel semantic-based human-centric approach to the notion of context that represents an attempt to make Contextual Computing services available to the general public.
Using Soft-Matching Mined Rules to Improve Information Extraction

By discovering predictive relationships between different pieces of extracted data, data-mining algorithms can be used to improve the accuracy of information extraction. However, textual variation due to typos, abbreviations, and other sources can prevent the productive discovery and utilization of hard-matching rules. Recent methods for inducing softmatching rules from extracted data can more effectively find and exploit predictive relationships in textual data. This paper presents techniques for using mined soft-matching association rules to increase the accuracy of information extraction. Experimental results on a corpus of computer-science job postings demonstrate that soft-matching rules improve information extraction more effectively than hard-matching rules.
Selection of lineage-restricted cell lines immortalized at different stages of hematopoietic differentiation from the murine cell line 32D

Erythropoietin (Epo), granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor- (G-CSF) dependent cell lines have been derived from the murine hematopoietic cell line 32D with a selection strategy involving the culture of the cells in FBS- deprived medium supplemented only with pure recombinant Epo, GM-CSF, or G-CSF. The cells retain the diploid karyotype of the original 32D clone, do not grow in the absence of exogenous growth factor, and do not induce tumors when injected into syngeneic recipients. The morphology of the Epo-dependent cell lines (32D Epo1, -2, and -3) was heterogeneous and evolved with passage. The percent of differentiated cells also was a function of the cell line investigated. Benzidine- positive cells ranged from 1-2% (32D Epo3) to 50-60% (32D Epo1). These erythroid cells expressed carbonic anhydrase I and/or globin mRNA but not carbonic anhydrase II. The GM-CSF- and G-CSF-dependent cell lines had predominantly the morphology of undifferentiated myeloblasts or metamyelocytes, respectively. The GM-CSF-dependent cell lines were sensitive to either GM-CSF or interleukin-3 (IL-3) but did not respond to G-CSF. The G-CSF-dependent cell lines grew to a limited extent in IL- 3 but did not respond to GM-CSF. These results indicate that the cell line 32D, originally described as predominantly a basophil/mast cell line, has retained the capacity to give rise to cells which proliferate and differentiate in response to Epo, GM-CSF, and/or G-CSF. These cells represent the first nontransformed cell lines which can be maintained in growth factors other than IL-3 and which differentiate in the presence of physiologic signals. As such, they may represent a model to study the molecular mechanisms underlying the process of hematopoietic differentiation, as well as sensitive targets for bioassays of specific growth factors.
Investigation of optical nonlinear properties in semiconductor GaN

The optical nonlinearities of bulk GaN single crystal are investigated by conducting Z-scan experimental measurements, using nanosecond pulses at 532nm. The material’s nonlinear absorptive and refractive optical nonlinearities are determined by measuring the normalized transmittance with and without an aperture in the far field. After simulating the experimental curves, the two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient, especially the refractive-index change induced by two-photon-excited free carrier, are obtained. The experimental results show that GaN has reverse saturable absorption and self-defocusing effect at 532 nm, indicating this material is a good candidate for future photonics applications. The theoretical simulation fit well with experimental results.
A parametric study on mass diffusion coefficient of desiccants for dehumidification applications: Silica aerogels and silica aerogel coatings on metal foams

A separate sensible and latent cooling air-conditioning system integrated with a solid desiccant-based dehumidification device provides potential energy savings as compared to a conventional vapor compression system. Silica aerogels are hygroscopic materials that are deployed as solid desiccants for dehumidifying devices, such as an enthalpy wheel. These hygroscopic materials are highly porous and have good moisture adsorption and desorption characteristics due to the microstructure. Mass diffusivity is an important parameter that relates to the rate of the adsorption or desorption process in silica aerogels. The current study is focused on the evaluation of the mass diffusivity of solid silica aerogels and silica aerogel coatings on metal foam substrates. The porous structure of silica aerogels affects the mass diffusion coefficients. The synthesis process to manufacture the silica aerogels causes the porous structure to differ and thus impacts the mass diffusivity. The sol-gel process is used to prepare silica aerogels using various basic (ammonium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide) and acidic (hydrofluoric acid, steric acid, hydrogen peroxide) catalysts with the same precipitator (tetramethyl orthosilicate) and solvent (methanol). The wet samples have been dried using a super-critical process to avoid internal cracking due to the capillary force. Scanning electron microscopy is used to analyze the microstructure of super-critically dried silica aerogels. The dynamic vapor sorption method is used to determine the effective mass diffusivity for the different silica aerogels. It is found that the mass diffusivity is related to the microstructure of silica aerogels, which depends on the catalysts used in the sol-gel process; however, the values for mass diffusivities for solid desiccants and desiccant coatings are similar. In addition, a parametric study is conducted to determine the effect of relative humidity and temperature on the adsorption and desorption mass diffusivity. Furthermore, the impact of the drying process and aging on the mass diffusivity of aerogels has been investigated.
A comparison of analytical methods for genetic association studies

The explosion of genetic information over the last decade presents an analytical challenge for genetic association studies. As the number of genetic variables examined per individual increases, both variable selection and statistical modeling tasks must be performed during analysis. While these tasks could be performed separately, coupling them is necessary to select meaningful variables that effectively model the data. This challenge is heightened due to the complex nature of the phenotypes under study and the complex underlying genetic etiologies. To address this problem, a number of novel methods have been developed. In the current study, we compare the performance of six analytical approaches to detect both main effects and gene‐gene interactions in a range of genetic models. Multifactor dimensionality reduction, grammatical evolution neural networks, random forests, focused interaction testing framework, step‐wise logistic regression, and explicit logistic regression were compared. As one might expect, the relative success of each method is context dependent. This study demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of each method and illustrates the importance of continued methods development. Genet. Epidemiol. 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Resettably-sound zero-knowledge and its applications

Resettably-sound proofs and arguments maintain soundness even when the prover can reset the verifier to use the same random coins in repeated executions of the protocol. We show that resettably-sound zero-knowledge arguments for NP exist if collision-free hash functions exist. In contrast, resettably-sound zero-knowledge proofs are possible only for languages in P/poly. We present two applications of resettably-sound zero-knowledge arguments. First, we construct resettable zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge for NP, using a natural relaxation of the definition of arguments (and proofs) of knowledge. We note that, under the standard definition of proof of knowledge, it is impossible to obtain resettable zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge for languages outside BPP. Second, we construct a constant-round resettable zero-knowledge argument for NP in the public-key model, under the assumption that collision-free hash functions exist. This improves upon the sub-exponential hardness assumption required by previous constructions. We emphasize that our results use non-black-box zero-knowledge simulations. Indeed, we show that some of the results are impossible to achieve using black-box simulations. In particular, only languages in BPP have resettably-sound arguments that are zero-knowledge with respect to black-box simulation.
A novel approach to monitor intracellular degradation kinetics of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles by means of flow cytometry.

The intracellular degradation of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) is studied by means of flow cytometry (FACS). NPs are prepared with PLGA of two different ratios of the d,l-lactide and glycolide blocks: 85 : 15 and 65 : 35. PLGA molecules are labelled with rhodamine B. Flow cytometry is first used to follow the degradation of PLGA NPs in PBS over time by measuring the decrease in fluorescence per particle. The 85 : 15 PLGA NPs progressively degrade during the first 10 days and remain constant thereafter. The 65 : 35 PLGA NPs remain unaltered, showing no changes in fluorescence intensity. FACS data are confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements. Intracellular degradation of 85 : 15 PLGA is measured by the increase in fluorescence intensity in the cell population with time due to the liberation of rhodamine B labelled PLGA molecules from NPs in the cell interior where rhodamine displays an increased quantum yield. The fluorescence intensity from 85 : 15 PLGA NPs increases up to 24 hours, remaining constant thereafter. No change in the fluorescence of 65 : 35 PLGA NPs is observed after 4 days. The intracellular behaviour of the PLGA NPs is also confirmed by confocal Raman microscopy.