Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Deep Learning Anthropomorphic 3D Point Clouds from a Single Depth Map Camera Viewpoint

In footwear, fit is highly dependent on foot shape, which is not fully captured by shoe size. Scanners can be used to acquire better sizing information and allow for more personalized footwear matching, however when scanning an object, many images are usually needed for reconstruction. Semantics such as knowing the kind of object in view can be leveraged to determine the full 3D shape given only one input view. Deep learning methods have been shown to be able to reconstruct 3D shape from limited inputs in highly symmetrical objects such as furniture and vehicles. We apply a deep learning approach to the domain of foot scanning, and present a method to reconstruct a 3D point cloud from a single input depth map. Anthropomorphic body parts can be challenging due to their irregular shapes, difficulty for parameterizing and limited symmetries. We train a view synthesis based network and show that our method can produce foot scans with accuracies of 1.55 mm from a single input depth map.
Mining user session data to facilitate user interaction with a customer service knowledge base in RightNow Web

RightNow Web is an integrated software package for web-based customer service that has, at its core, a database of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs). One major design goal is to facilitate end-user interaction with this dynamic document collection, i.e. make it as easy and efficient as possible for users to browse the collection and locate desired information. To this end, we perform several types of analysis on the session tracking database that records user navigation histories. First, using both explicit and implicit measures of user satisfaction, we infer a "solved count" representing the average utility of an FAQ. Second, using the user navigation patterns we construct a link matrix representing connections between FAQs. The technique of building up the link matrix and using it to advise users on related information amounts to a form of the "swarm intelligence" method of finding optimal paths. Both solved count and the link matrix are continuously updated as users interact with the site; furthermore, they are periodically "aged" to emphasize recent activity. The synergistic combination of these techniques allows users to learn from the database in a more effective manner, as evidenced by usage statistics.
Section Ii-exercise Physiology & Sports Medicine Competitive Performance, Training Load and Physiological Responses during Tapering in Young Swimmers

Authors submitted their contribution of the article to the editorial board. The study examined the changes of training load and physiological parameters in relation to competitive performance during a period leading to a national championship. The training content of twelve swimmers (age: 14.2±1.3 yrs) was recorded four weeks before the national championship (two weeks of normal training and two weeks of the taper). The training load was calculated: i) by the swimmer's session-RPE score (RPE-Load), ii) by the training intensity levels adjusted after a 7x200-m progressively increasing intensity test (LA-Load). Swimmers completed a 400-m submaximal intensity test, a 15 s tethered swimming and hand-grip strength measurements 34-35 (baseline: Test 1), 20-21 (before taper: Test 2) and 6-7 (Test 3) days before the national championship. Performance during the national championship was not significantly changed compared to season best (0.1±1.6%; 95% confidence limits:-0.9, 1.1%; Effect Size: 0.02, p=0.72) and compared to performance before the start of the two-week taper period (0.9±1.7%; 95% confidence limits: 0.3, 2.1%; Effect size: 0.12, p=0.09). No significant changes were observed in all measured physiological and performance related variables between Test 1, Test 2, and Test 3. Changes in RPE-Load (week-4 vs. week-1) were correlated with changes in performance (r=0.63, p=0.03) and the RPE-Load was correlated with the LA-Load (r=0.80, p=0.01). The estimation of the session-RPE training load may be helpful for taper planning of young swimmers. Increasing the difference between the normal and last week of taper training load may facilitate performance improvements.
PREFRONTAL ACTIVATION DURING EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE AS MEASURED BY NIRS

To investigate brain activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during emotional experiences, we examined blood oxygenation changes of healthy female volunteers by using multi-channel Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS). Results directly confirmed that the PFC was activated during emotional tasks suggesting that the levels of oxy-Hb increased significantly larger in negative periods compared with positive or neutral in the bilateral dorsolateral PFC. There is a possibility that this brain area is associated with the regulation of negative emotion. Our results suggest that it may be possible to evaluate emotional changes using NIRS sensitively.
A New and Easy Method for Making Well-Organized Micrometer-Sized Carbon Tubes and Their Regularly Assembled Structures

Partially ordered micrometer-sized carbon tubes several centimeters in length have been prepared via a new chemical approach by the pyrolysis of composite fibers consisting of a thermally more stable polypyrrole (PPy) skin layer and a poly(ethylene terephthalate) core. The wall thickness of resultant hollow carbon tubes was found to be directly proportional to the thickness of the original PPy coating. Elemental analysis results indicated that these tubes essentially consisted of pure carbon, accompanied by a small amount of N (<3 wt %) and H (<1 wt %). The use of single-pulse magic-angle-spinning solid-state 13C NMR showed that the carbon of these tubes was unsaturated in nature. The XRD diffraction pattern for the ground-up carbon tubes formed at 1000 °C showed two diffraction bands with the maxima at 2θ = 25.86° and 43.8°, which is equivalent to a d spacing of 3.45 and 2.07 A, respectively. The Raman spectrum for the same tubes showed two bands at ca. 1354 and 1584 cm-1. This new method enables the con.
Religious participation and mortality risk among the oldest old in China.

OBJECTIVE Rapid population aging in China calls for more research into social factors responsible for health and well-being among older adults. This article adds to this line of inquiry by examining the relationship between religious participation and mortality, as well as the potential pathways linking these factors and subgroup variations among oldest old Chinese. METHODS Using two waves (1998 and 2000) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, I estimated Cox proportional hazards models for a nationwide sample of Chinese aged 80 to 105. RESULT Controlling for a wide range of covariates, I found religious participation to be significantly associated with lower risk of mortality for oldest old women and for individuals in poor health. Engaging in leisure activities and exercises partially accounted for this association. DISCUSSION Findings suggest that (a) religious participation, associated with other socially integrated and cognitively stimulating activities, predicts mortality risk among oldest old Chinese; and (b) religious participation offers psychosocial resources that are likely to compensate for the increased mortality risk associated with disadvantaged socioeconomic conditions of certain vulnerable groups such as women and individuals in poor health.
Pharmacokinetic Analysis of 111In-Labeled Liposomal Doxorubicin in Murine Glioblastoma after Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption by Focused Ultrasound

The goal of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of targeted and untargeted 111In-doxorubicin liposomes after these have been intravenously administrated to tumor-bearing mice in the presence of blood-brain barrier disruption (BBB-D) induced by focused ultrasound (FUS). An intracranial brain tumor model in NOD-scid mice using human brain glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) 8401 cells was developed in this study. 111In-labeled human atherosclerotic plaque-specific peptide-1 (AP-1)-conjugated liposomes containing doxorubicin (Lipo-Dox; AP-1 Lipo-Dox) were used as a microSPECT probe for radioactivity measurements in the GBM-bearing mice. Compared to the control tumors treated with an injection of 111In-AP-1 Lipo-Dox or 111In-Lipo-Dox, the animals receiving the drugs followed by FUS exhibited enhanced accumulation of the drug in the brain tumors (p<0.05). Combining sonication with drugs significantly increased the tumor-to-normal brain doxorubicin ratio of the target tumors compared to the control tumors. The tumor-to-normal brain ratio was highest after the injection of 111In-AP-1 Lipo-Dox with sonication. The 111In-liposomes micro-SPECT/CT should be able to provide important information about the optimum therapeutic window for the chemotherapy of brain tumors using sonication.
Embedded image compression based on wavelet pixel classification and sorting

The method of modeling and ordering in wavelet domain is very important to design a successful algorithm of embedded image compression. In this paper, the modeling is limited to "pixel classification," the relationship between wavelet pixels in significance coding. Similarly, the ordering is limited to "pixel sorting," the coding order of wavelet pixels. We use pixel classification and sorting to provide a better understanding of previous works. The image pixels in wavelet domain are classified and sorted, either explicitly or implicitly, for embedded image compression. A new embedded image code is proposed based on a novel pixel classification and sorting (PCAS) scheme in wavelet domain. In PCAS, pixels to be coded are classified into several quantized contexts based on a large context template and sorted based on their estimated significance probabilities. The purpose of pixel classification is to exploit the intraband correlation in wavelet domain. Pixel sorting employs several fractional bit-plane coding passes to improve the rate-distortion performance. The proposed pixel classification and sorting technique is simple, yet effective, producing an embedded image code with excellent compression performance. In addition, our algorithm is able to provide either spatial or quality scalability with flexible complexity.
2,4-D and IAA Amino Acid Conjugates Show Distinct Metabolism in Arabidopsis

The herbicide 2,4-D exhibits an auxinic activity and therefore can be used as a synthetic and traceable analog to study auxin-related responses. Here we identified that not only exogenous 2,4-D but also its amide-linked metabolite 2,4-D-Glu displayed an inhibitory effect on plant growth via the TIR1/AFB auxin-mediated signaling pathway. To further investigate 2,4-D metabolite conversion, identity and activity, we have developed a novel purification procedure based on the combination of ion exchange and immuno-specific sorbents combined with a sensitive liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method. In 2,4-D treated samples, 2,4-D-Glu and 2,4-D-Asp were detected at 100-fold lower concentrations compared to 2,4-D levels, showing that 2,4-D can be metabolized in the plant. Moreover, 2,4-D-Asp and 2,4-D-Glu were identified as reversible forms of 2,4-D homeostasis that can be converted to free 2,4-D. This work paves the way to new studies of auxin action in plant development.
Proteomic Analysis of Etiolated Juvenile Tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia Branches during Different Cutting Periods

The propagation of hard-branch cuttings of tetraploid Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) is restricted by the low rooting rate; however, etiolated juvenile tetraploid black locust branches result in a significantly higher rooting rate of cuttings compared with non-etiolated juvenile tetraploid branches. To identify proteins that influence the juvenile tetraploid branch rooting process, two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight mass spectra (MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS) were used to analyze proteomic differences in the phloem of tetraploid R. pseudoacacia etiolated and non-etiolated juvenile branches during different cutting periods. A total of 58 protein spots differed in expression level, and 16 protein spots were only expressed in etiolated branches or non-etiolated ones. A total of 40 highly expressed protein spots were identified by mass spectrometry, 14 of which were accurately retrieved. They include nucleoglucoprotein metabolic proteins, signaling proteins, lignin synthesis proteins and phyllochlorin. These results help to reveal the mechanism of juvenile tetraploid R. pseudoacacia etiolated branch rooting and provide a valuable reference for the improvement of tetraploid R. pseudoacacia cutting techniques.
Whispering-gallery-mode evanescent-wave microsensor for trace-gas detection

A prototype evanescent-wave sensor using resonant whispering-gallery modes of a fused-silica microsphere has been developed and is being applied to the detection of trace amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, and acetylene in the 1530 - 1580 nm wavelength region. Its sensitivity is comparable to that of typical multipass-cell systems, but our sensor is much more compact because of resonant cavity enhancement. It represents a significant improvement over current total-internal-reflection or fiber evanescent-wave sensors, owing to the longer effective absorption path length (tens of meters in a sphere less than a millimeter in diameter). The present sensitivity is about a hundred parts per million, equivalent to the level detected by a household carbon monoxide sensor. This sensitivity is for direct absorption measurements; wavelength-modulation spectroscopy is being implemented and should provide two or three orders of magnitude improvement. By extending the same techniques, using fluorozirconate- glass microspheres and stronger transitions in the mid- infrared, the sensitivity is expected to improve to about a part per billion.
Approximation algorithms for hierarchical location problems

We formulate and (approximately) solve hierarchical versions of two prototypical problems in discrete location theory, namely, the metric uncapacitated k-median and facility location problems. Our work yields new insights into hierarchical clustering, a widely used technique in data analysis. First, we show that every metric space admits a hierarchical clustering that is within a constant factor of optimal at every level of granularity with respect to the average (squared) distance objective. Second, we provide a natural solution to the leaf ordering problem encountered in the traditional dendrogram-based approach to the visualization of hierarchical clusterings.
Effect of Annealing on Mechanical Properties of Copper Alloys Deformed at Cryogenic Temperature

The effect of annealing treatment on the mechanical properties and microstructure of cold-rolled Cu-20% Zn alloys was investigated in this work. Mechanical properties changed dramatically with the increase of temperature. According to the microhardness test, it can roughly concluded that 150 is the optimal annealing temperature for deformation, at which a uniform elongation increased from 1.4658% before annealing to about 6.89%, and the elongation to failure increased from 7.426% to 16.81% with the same strength almost retained. The changes of microstructure during the annealing process are mainly distributed to the improvement of mechanical properties.
High Power Efficiency Blue-to-Green Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Using Isonicotinonitrile-Based Fluorescent Emitters.

Herein, 9,10-dihydro-9,9-dimethylacridine (Ac) or phenoxazine (PXZ)-substituted isonicotinonitrile (INN) derivatives, denoted as 2AcINN, 26AcINN, and 26PXZINN, were developed as a series of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters. These emitters showed reasonably high photoluminescence quantum yields of 71-79 % in the host films and high power efficiency organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Sky-blue emitter 26AcINN exhibited a low turn-on voltage of 2.9 V, a high external quantum efficiency (ηext ) of 22 %, and a high power efficiency (ηp ) of 66 lm W-1 with Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates of (0.22, 0.45), whereas green emitter 26PXZINN exhibited a low turn-on voltage of 2.2 V, a high ηext of 22 %, and a high ηp of 99 lm W-1 with CIE chromaticity coordinates of (0.37, 0.58). These performances are among the best for TADF OLEDs to date.
Slavnov and Gaudin-Korepin Formulas for Models without U(1) Symmetry: the Twisted XXX Chain

We consider the XXX spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ Heisenberg chain on the circle with an arbitrary twist. We characterize its spectral problem using the modified algebraic Bethe anstaz and study the scalar product between the Bethe vector and its dual. We obtain modified Slavnov and Gaudin-Korepin formulas for the model. Thus we provide a first example of such formulas for quantum integrable models without ${\rm U}(1)$ symmetry characterized by an inhomogenous Baxter T-Q equation.
Storage assignment to decrease code size

DSP architectures typically provide indirect addressing modes with autoincrement and decrement. In addition, indexing mode is generally not available, and there are usually few, if any, general-purpose registers. Hence, it is necessary to use address registers and perform address arithmetic to access automatic variables. Subsuming the address arithmetic into autoincrement and decrement modes improves the size of the generated code. In this article we present a formulation of the problem of optimal storage assignment such that explicit instructions for address arithmetic are minimized. We prove that for the case of a single address register the decision problem is NP-complete, even for a single basic block. We then generalize the problem to multiple address registers. For both cases heuristic algorithms are given, and experimental results are presented.
PAPR Reduction in MC/DS CDMA System by DFT Spreading Codes

Multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple access (MC/DS CDMA) technique is one of the optimum technique for the reverse link mobile transmission. However, because of multi-carrier property, large PAPR (peak to average ratio) may be generated in MC/DS CDMA system. In this paper, DFT spreading code is applied to reduce high PAPR efficiently. As results, about 6 dB PAPR can be achieved at CCDF of 10 -3 in the MC/DS CDMA system with 12 data carriers. SER performance can be improved significantly compared with conventional MC/DS CDMA system with nonlinear HPA
Improved algorithm for image TV regularization restoration model based on texture and contrast compensation

Adopting discrepancy principle as iteration stopping criterion, Bregman iterative algorithm for image total variation (TV) regularization restoration model has attracted vast interests in the recent years. To a certain degree, Bregman iterative algorithm overcomes the shortcomings of TV regularization model: prone to reduce image contrast and prone to excessively smooth texture. However, some texture and contrast of image to be restored still exist in ultimate residual image. Based on analysis of nonlocal means (NLM) algorithm which is guided by a reference image, this article presents an improved algorithm, which extracts some texture and contrast from the residual image and then compensates them to the restored image of Bregman iterative algorithm. This improved algorithm can overcome the shortcomings of TV regularization model further. Numerical experiments show that the improved algorithm based on texture and contrast compensation can increase the quality of restored image.
Potential of Nanomaterials as Movers and Packers for Drug Molecules

As the development of nanotechnology has extended to the world of biomolecules, a revolution has occurred in the design and assembly of nanomaterials for drug delivery with a significant potential to impact drug efficacy and patient outcomes. Currently a number of nanomaterials are under investigation for their suitability as sustained, controlled and targeted drug carriers. Leading edge of the rapidly developing nanosciences is the development and assessment of these nanomaterials, with specific physicochemical properties different from their larger/ bulk counterparts, as vehicles for transport of small and large drug molecules. The characteristics such as size, shape, chemical composition, surface structure and charge, aggregation and agglomeration, and solubility, can greatly influence interactions of these nanostructured systems or carriers with biomembranes and cells. The selectivity and reactivity achieved due to the very small size assigns these systems with a wide spectrum of applications. In this review, nanomaterials are considered in terms of the physical attributes or pharmaceutical effects allocated by them to the all-inclusive carrier or vehicle system (s). However we will limit our discussion to lipidic and polymeric nanomaterials, the two most commonly promoted, and safe nanosystems for delivery of both, the chemical or small molecular entities (SME) and the macromolecules including genes and siRNA.Contents of Paper
Joint evolution and strengthening mechanisms in arc brazed galvanised steels with Cu97Si3 filler

Abstract Galvanised steel sheets have been joined using an arc brazing processing technique with Cu97Si3 as the filler metal. Gas metal arc (GMA) brazing and gas tungsten arc (GTA) brazing tests were conducted in flowing argon and with varying process parameters. Excellent wetting between base material and filler was observed in all samples. Tensile specimens fractured at the base material in samples prepared using optimal brazing parameters. Microhardness tests performed on the cross-sections of joined samples indicated that joint zone hardness is higher than base material or copper filler. Examination using energy dispersive X-ray analysis revealed the presence of intermetallic compound Fe5Si3(Cu) in the joint as well as a small amount of copper inside the base material. The dispersal of fine Fe5Si3(Cu) particles in the joint is the main strengthening factor. The Fe5Si3(Cu) particles were determined to arise from three sorces: whiskerlike fragmentation, dissolve-separation, and anode spot action.