Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fibre orientation: measurement, modelling and knowledge based design

Abstract In this paper the authors describe the results of a research programme which has investigated the links between the orientation distribution of short fibre reinforced composites produced during injection moulding and the mechanical properties of the resulting moulded components. A variety of injection moulded parts, including both model shapes (e.g., a transverse ribbed plate) and commercial products, has been manufactured and studied, both experimentally and using simulation. The fibre orientation distribution (FOD) has been characterised for each component at a number of chosen locations using an in-house developed image analyser. Measurement of the FOD for a range of different component shapes has led to the proposal of a number of preliminary design rules, which have been incorporated into a knowledge based engineering (KBE) design package. A crucial component of the KBE design optimisation is the use of a simulation package to predict the FOD for any component shape. Therefore, the accuracy of the principal commercial simulation package for FOD prediction, Moldflow, has been investigated by comparison with the experimentally measured FODs. Finally, the link between FOD and mechanical properties (both elastic modulus and fracture) has been studied by comparing analytical predictions with mechanical measurements.
Using transactivity in conversation for summarization of educational dialogue

We present our ongoing work towards using the concept of transactivity [1] for automatically assessing learning of students working together in a collaborative setting. Transactive segments of student dialogue are proposed as useful components of conversation summaries generated for instructors. Experimental evaluation of this hypothesis shows promising results. Further, initial results are presented for automatic identification of transactive contributions in student dialogue.
Fabricating fluorinated polyimide optical waveguide by CO2 laser direct-writing

Fluorinated polyimide waveguides were fabricated by CO2 laser direct-writing. The poly(amic acid) micro-region exposed by CO2 laser beam was measured with FT-IR micro-spectroscopy. The FT-IR spectra indicated that the laser imidized polyimide was semicrystalline, and the imidization degree of scanned micro-region increased with the rising of output laser power. The increased aspect ratio of waveguide and smoothness of surface can be achieved by increasing the pre-cured temperature (below 120 °C) and writing rate, and optimizing laser power and the distance between the lens and the annular aperture. The guided light was clearly confined to the core of the fabricated waveguide, which means this technique can be used for fluorinated polyimide waveguide fabrication.
The Effect of Ionic (NaCl) and Non-ionic (Sucrose) Osmotic Stress on the Expression of β-galactosidase in Wild Type E.coli BW25993 and in the Isogenic BW25993ΔlacI Mutant

A sudden increase in the osmolarity of the environment is highly detrimental to the growth and survival of Escherichia coli, thus it must promptly sense changes in the external osmolarity and instigate appropriate adaptation responses. To determine how the cell is affected by ionic and non-ionic hyperosmotic stress, lac operon expression was monitored indirectly by measuring the activity of β-galactosidase. The results indicated that the Lac repressor was affected under hyperosmotic conditions. In particular, there was higher βgalactosidase activity under higher osmolarity due to the Lac repressor. Results also revealed that transcription of the lac operon was affected differently under NaCl (ionic) and sucrose (non-ionic) osmotic stress. A 3 fold higher β-galactosidase activity in NaCl osmotically induced cells in contrast to sucrose treatments at 0.6 Osm and 1.2 Osm was observed. The results for NaCl induced osmotic stress correlated with our hypothesis, however the effects on β-galactosidase activity under sucrose induced osmotic stress were contrary to our hypothesis, as the expected up-regulation of the enzyme activity was not observed.
Simulation of Low-Calcium Fly Ash Blended Cement Hydration

In normal and high-strength concrete, low-calcium fly ash (FL) is a mineral admixture that has been widely used. Due to pozzolanic activity in a fly ash alumino-silicate glass phase, hydration is much more complex in cement blended with fly ash than in ordinary portland cement. A kinetic hydration model is presented in this paper which has its basis in a multi-component concept and through which cement-FL blend hydration can be simulated. Both portland cement hydration and pozzolanic activity are considered by the proposed model, which starts with a concrete mixture proportion. The following properties of hydrating cement-FL blends as a hydration time function are predicted in this paper by application of the proposed model: development of FL-concrete compressive strength, chemically bound water, porosity, heat evaluation, calcium hydroxide content, and reaction ratio of fly ash. For the results of the experiment performed in this study, good agreement is shown in the prediction results.
Err is Human : Implementation in Quantal Response Equilibria

We study the classical implementation problem when players are prone to make mistakes. To capture the idea of mistakes, Logit Quantal Response Equilibrium (LQRE) is used, and we consider a case in which players are almost rational, i.e., the sophistication level of players, λ, approaches infinity. We show that quasimonotonicity, a small variation of Maskin Monotonicity, and no worst alternative conditions are necessary for restricted Limiting LQRE (LLQRE) implementation. Moreover, these conditions are sufficient for both restricted and unrestricted LLQRE implementations if there are at least three players and each player’s worst alternative set is constant over all states.
Mandarin prosodic word prediction using dependency relationships

Previous research demonstrated that the dependency structure of a sentence is helpful for prosodic phrase boundary prediction in mandarin Text-To-Speech systems. However, no experimental results proved that the dependency relations are important to prosodic word boundary detection. Also, most of the published methods use machine learning technologies, which require people to label the prosodic boundaries manually for training purpose. In this paper, we propose a rule based method for prosodic word boundary prediction based on two observations. First, in most of the cases, a prosodic word is a lexical word, or it is a combination of adjacent lexical words. Second, the combination of lexical words relies on semantic relationships. The dependency tree of a sentence can describe the semantic relations between words. Hence, we combine adjacent words which have dependent relationships into a prosodic word. Some other restrictions are added to fine-tune the method. Experimental results demonstrate that the method achieved 0.918 and 0.901 on two corpora in terms of F-score.
On the Relationship between the Number of Ad Libraries in an Android App and its Rating Israel

One of the most popular ways to monetize a free app is by including advertisements in the app. There are several advertising (ad) companies that provide these ads to the app developers through ad libraries that need to be integrated in the app. However, the demand for ads far exceeds the supply for them. This obstacle may lead app developers to integrate several ad libraries from different ad companies in their app to assure receiving an ad when requested. However, there is no empirical evidence so far about how many ad libraries are integrated in an app. Additionally, there is no current research to examine if integrating many different ad libraries has an impact on the ratings of an app. In this paper, we examine these two issues, by empirically examining thousands of Android apps. We find that there are apps with as many as 28 ad libraries. We find no evidence that the number of ad libraries in an app is related to the ratings that an app can get. However, integrating certain specific ad libraries can negatively impact the rating of an app.
Low-loss InP-based photonic crystal waveguides and resonators

We report on low-loss light propagation at the communication wavelength of 1.55 µm through straight two-dimensional photonic crystal waveguides patterned into InGaAsP/InP heterostructures. The linear defect waveguides along the ΓK direction of a triangular lattice of air holes were etched deeply into the semiconductor by Cl2/Ar electron cyclotron resonance reactive ion etching. Efficient waveguiding was observed for both polarization directions, although a photonic band gap exists for only one of the polarization states. Propagation losses, determined by the Fabry-Perot resonance method, are as low as 0.2 dB/mm and 1.5 dB/mm for waveguides based on seven and three missing rows of holes, respectively. Waveguide resonators with 100 GHz channel spacing and quality factors up to 15,000 have been realized by inserting photonic crystal mirrors into the waveguides. The dispersion of the resonators was measured using a phase shift technique. Values for the group velocity dispersion range from -250 ps/nm to +250 ps/nm at wavelengths around 1.55 μm, which is sufficient to compensate for the dispersion of 15 km standard single-mode fiber. Controlling the device temperature allows to tune the dispersive properties of the devices.
A metadata infrastructure for the analysis of parliamentary proceedings

This work-in-progress article discusses DILIPAD (Digging into Linked Parliamentary Data), a project funded under the Digging Into Data Challenge. DILIPAD aims to create an extensive corpus of structured XML data of parliamentary proceedings from three countries (United Kingdom, Netherlands and Canada) in order to enable large-scale diachronic analyses of their content. The corpora integrate the textual data of proceedings within contextual metadata encoded in the XML schema Parliamentary Metadata Language (PML). The article discusses the background to the project, the construction of the corpora and highlights they ways in which they may be used for quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Probabilistic Random Forests: Predicting Data Point Specific Misclassification Probabilities

Recently proposed classification algorithms give estimates or worst-case bounds for the probability of misclassification [Lanckriet et al., 2002][L. Breiman, 2001]. These accuracy estimates are for all future predictions, even though some predictions are more likely to be correct than others. This paper introduces Probabilistic Random Forests (PRF), which is based on two existing algorithms, Minimax Probability Machine Classification and Random Forests, and gives data point dependent estimates of misclassification probabilities for binary classification. A PRF model outputs both a classification and a misclassification probability estimate for the data point. PRF makes it possible to assess the risk of misclassification, one prediction at a time, without detailed distribution assumptions or density estimation. Experiments show that PRFs give good estimates of the error probability for each classification.
Understanding the backward slices of performance degrading instructions

For many applications, branch mispredictions and cache misses limit a processor's performance to a level well below its peak instruction throughput. A small fraction of static instructions, whose behavior cannot be anticipated using current branch predictors and caches, contribute a large fraction of such performance degrading events. This paper analyzes the dynamic instruction stream leading up to these performance degrading instructions to identify the operations necessary to execute them early. The backward slice (the subset of the program that relates to the instruction) of these performance degrading instructions, if small compared to the whole dynamic instruction stream, can be pre-executed to hide the instruction's latency. To overcome conservative dependence assumptions that result in large slices, speculation can be used, resulting in speculative slices. This paper provides an initial characterization of the backward slices of L2 data cache misses and branch mispredictions, and shows the effectiveness of techniques, including memory dependence prediction and control independence, for reducing the size of these slices. Through the use of these techniques, many slices can be reduced to less than one tenth of the full dynamic instruction stream when considering the 512 instructions before the performance degrading instruction.
Photostability and residual red-tail absorption of different chromophore-doped polymers

Doped polymers exhibit many attractive features for nonlinear optics. The performance demonstrated with some of these materials appears promising for application in real devices. However, the Achilles' heel of this class of chromophore-doped materials lies most certainly in their relatively modest chemical stability, especially their photostability. Our aim has been to quantify such side- effect phenomenon, systematically linked to the optical use of these materials. Photodegradation is a 2-step process: first, absorption, that may be characterized by (sigma) ((lambda) ), the absorption cross section, and, second, chemical reactivity from the induced excited-states, which may be quantified by B-1((lambda) ), the overall quantum efficiency of degradation. The photodegradation rate under a photon flux n is thus given by (tau) =B/((sigma) . n). We use the quantity C=B/(sigma) as a material figure of merit for photostability. Given long enough illumination times, C can always be measured. How precisely B is quantified is directly related to how precisely (sigma) is measured, which decreases dramatically as the wavelength of interest is shifted from the main absorption band towards the IR telecommunication spectral windows. Increasing future device lifetimes requires a simultaneous increase in the B parameter and a decrease in the loss due to the residual red-tail absorption. We report the systematic behavior that was found concerning the dependence of C on wavelength.
Diaquabis(5-carboxy-2-ethyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylato-κ2 N 3,O 4)cobalt(II) trihydrate

In the title compound, [Co(C7H7N2O4)2(H2O)2]·3H2O, the CoII cation, located on an inversion center, is N,O-chelated by two 5-carboxy-2-ethyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylate anions and further coordinated by two water molecules in a distorted octahedral geometry. Only one carboxy group of the anion is deprotonated, and the two carboxyl groups of the same anion are linked via an intramolecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond. One of the lattice water molecules is located on an inversion center, its H atom equally disordered over two positions. One of H atoms of another lattice water molecules is also equally disordered over two sites. Water H atoms and the amino H atom all are involved in an intermolecular hydrogen-bonded network in the crystal.
Listening to Spoken Text: Adult Age Differences as Revealed by Self-paced Listening

ABSTRACT An experiment is reported in which young and older adults heard spoken narratives presented in a segment-by-segment fashion using the auditory moving window (AMW) technique. Participants were instructed to initiate the presentation of each segment at their own pace, their goal being to insure good comprehension of the main ideas of the narratives. The pattern of pause times across passages was compared for passages being heard for the first time (novel condition) or after the participants had heard the passages several times before (familiar condition). The analysis of participants' pause durations in pacing through the passages suggests that although young and older adults respond similarly at the textbase level of processing, older adults do not allocate additional resources at the start of a passage in order to develop a mental model of the narrative. This pattern differs from that typically found in reading time studies.
Energy-scalable OFDM transmitter design and control

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is the modulation of choice for broadband wireless communications. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of a very low energy efficiency of the analog transmitter. Numerous circuit-level and signal processing techniques have been proposed to improve that energy efficiency. However more disruptive improvement can be achieved at system-level, capitalizing on energy-scalable design and circuit reconfiguration to match the user requirements and operation environment. We describe the design of such an energy-scalable reconfigurable transmitter as well as its control strategy. Based on measurement carried out on the physical realization of this transmitter, the benefit of system-level energy management is shown. Energy-efficiency scalability ranges over 30%, which translates in an average system-level energy improvement of up to 40% compared to a non-scalable system
Establishment of an interleukin-1β-induced inflammation-activated endothelial cell-smooth muscle cell-mononuclear cell co-culture model and evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effects of tanshinone IIA on atherosclerosis

Increasing evidence supports the hypothesis that inflammatory reactions serves an important function in the formation, progression and plaque rupture of atherosclerosis. Interleukin (IL)-1 primarily induces inflammation and is closely associated with the inflammatory environment and the formation of atherosclerosis. The present study aimed to establish an in vitro model for the evaluation of drug efficacy in the intervention of atherosclerosis from the inflammatory perspective, and to observe the anti-inflammatory effects of tanshinone IIA and andrographolide on atherosclerosis. The IL-1β-induced inflammation-activated endothelial cell (EC)-smooth muscle cell (SMC)-mononuclear cell (MC) co-culture model was established, based on the changes in a series of atherosclerosis-associated inflammatory markers secreted by ECs and SMCs. The expression of connexin in ECs, adhesion of MCs and changes in inflammatory signalling molecules were selected as evaluation indices for the inflammatory microenvironment of atherosclerosis. The use of this model revealed that tanshinone IIA exhibited significant efficacy against atherosclerosis and its inflammatory reactions. Inflammatory reactions were regarded as the primary mechanism underlying atherosclerosis. The established model simulated a series of relevant changes in the arterial wall under the inflammatory cytokines with oxidized low-density lipoprotein during the atherosclerotic process. The present study presented a reliable method for the identification of drugs with potential anti-inflammatory activity in atherosclerosis, for investigating the mechanisms of action, considering the improvement of the inflammatory state and the increase in plaque stability observed.
Expression of tissue transglutaminase in skeletal tissues correlates with events of terminal differentiation of chondrocytes

Calcifying cartilages show a restricted expression of tissue transglutaminase. Immunostaining of newborn rat paw bones reveals expression only in the epiphyseal growth plate. Tissue transglutaminase appears first intracellularly in the proliferation/maturation zone and remains until calcification of the tissue in the lower hypertrophic zone. Externalization occurs before mineralization. Subsequently, the enzyme is present in the interterritorial matrix during provisional calcification and in the calcified cartilage cores of bone trabeculae. In trachea, mineralization occurring with maturation in the center of the cartilage is accompanied by expression of tissue transglutaminase at the border of the hydroxyapatite deposits. Transglutaminase activity also shows a restricted distribution in cartilage, similar to the one observed for tissue transglutaminase protein. Analysis of tissue homogenates showed that the enzyme is present in growth plate cartilage, but not in articular cartilage, and recognizes a limited set of substrate proteins. Osteonectin is coexpressed with tissue transglutaminase both in the growth plate and in calcifying tracheal cartilage and is a specific substrate for tissue transglutaminase in vitro. Tissue transglutaminase expression in skeletal tissues is strictly regulated, correlates with chondrocyte differentiation, precedes cartilage calcification, and could lead to cross-linking of the mineralizing matrix.
Analysis on Three-Direction Strain of Asphalt Pavement Structure Based on Accelerated Pavement Testing

The internal mechanical response of asphalt pavement structure is difficult to be obtained because of the limitations of theoretical calculation and present testing methods. In order to get practical information of instructure layers, this paper analyzed the cumulative and instantaneous strains of layers’ bottom of semi-rigid base asphalt pavement based on Accelerated Pavement Testing and Fiber Bragg Grating sensors, as well as got the spatial distribution and time-variation law of longitudinal, lateral and vertical strain responses under controlled loading condition. The research result shows that under the moving vehicle loads, there is an obvious alternative property of tension-compression as the strain response of the pavement structure, and different variation shapes of instantaneous stain are in different layers from top to down. Also the measured instantaneous three-direction strain of the bottom of each surface are higher than the calculated values with BISAR, while they anatomizes well in base. This paper can be regarded as useful and tentative research and application on future correlative study.
Application of an adaptive digital controller for medium power satellite DC/DC converter

The objective of the paper is to present a work concerning an adaptive digital controller for satellite medium power DC/DC converters that is done in Space Research Centre. The presented adaptive techniques and methods allow the controller that was implemented in VHDL, to modify its properties according to detected changing conditions like inductor entering from discontinuous to continuous current mode or vice versa. Moving sampling moments and overvoltage protection can also lead to increased performance of the entire DC/DC converter. The paper describes all above mentioned methods and presents examples based on 750W buck converter with digital controller.
A neural network accelerator for mobile application processors

Today's mobile consumer electronics devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are required to execute a wide variety of applications efficiently. To this end modern application processors integrate both general-purpose CPU cores and specialized accelerators. Energy efficiency is the primary design goal for those processors, which has recently rekindled interest in neural network accelerators. Neural network accelerators trade the accuracy of computation for performance and energy efficiency and are suitable for error-tolerant media applications such as video and audio processing. However, most existing accelerators only exploit inter-neuron parallelism and leave processing elements underutilized when the number of neurons in a layer is small. Thus, this paper proposes a novel neural network accelerator that can efficiently exploit both inter- and intra-neuron parallelism. For five applications the proposed accelerator achieves average speedups of 126% and 23% over a general-purpose CPU and a state-of-the-art accelerator exploiting inter-neuron parallelism only, respectively. Besides, the proposed accelerator saves energy consumption by 22% over the state-of-the-art accelerator.