Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ECNU at TREC 2015: Microblog Track

Abstract : This paper describes our participation in TREC 2015 Microblog track, which includes two tasks related to Scenario A and Scenario B. For Scenario A, we build a real-time tweet push system, which is mainly composed by three parts: feature extraction, relevance prediction and redundancy detection. Only the highly relevant and nonredundant tweets are sent to users based on the interest profiles. For Scenario B, we apply three query expansion methods, namely the web search based, the TFIDF-PRF based and the Terrier embedded PRF based. In addition, three state-of-the-art information retrieval models as the language model, BM25 model and DFRee model are utilized. The retrieval results are combined for final delivery. The experimental results in both scenarios demonstrate that our system obtains convincing performance.
Robust fluorescent labelling of micropipettes for use in fluorescence microscopy: application to the observation of a mosquito borne parasite infection

The ability to monitor micropipette injections with a high‐resolution fluorescent microscope has utility for a variety of applications. Herein, different approaches were tested for creating broad‐band fluorescently labelled glass micropipettes including: UV cured glass glues, baked glass enamel containing fluorescent dyes as well as nanodiamonds attached during pipette formation in the microforge. The most robust and simplest approach was to use labelled baked enamel on the exterior of the pipette. This approach was tested using pipettes designed to mimic a mosquito proboscis for the injection of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium spp. , into the dermis of a living mouse ear. The pipette (∼30 micron diameter) was easily detected in the microscopy field of view and tolerated multiple insertions through the skin. This simple inexpensive approach to fluorescently labelling micropipettes will aid in the development of procedures under the fluorescent microscope.
Fabrication of a p-type Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ and n-type Bi/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ thin film thermocouple

A thin film Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/-Bi/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ based thermocouple was fabricated. P-type antimony telluride thin films and n-type bismuth telluride thin films have been deposited by co-evaporation on to glass substrates. The conditions for deposition have been investigated as a function of substrate temperature (T/sub s/) and flux ratio (F/sub r/ = F(Te)/F(Sb,Bi)) and optimised to achieve a high thermoelectric power factor. The qualities of deposited films, e.g. structure, composition and morphology, have been examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDXA), flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The thermoelectric properties of the thin films have been studied by room temperature measurement of the Seebeck coefficient, Hall coefficient and electrical resistivity. It has been observed that the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of p-type Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ thin film (/spl alpha//sub p/, /spl sigma//sub p/) and n-type Bi/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ thin films (/spl alpha//sub n/, /spl sigma//sub n/) were found to be about 185 /spl mu/V/K, 0.32 /spl times/ 10/sup 3/ /spl Omega//sup -1/ cm/sup -1/ and -228 /spl mu/V/K, 0.77 /spl times/ 10/sup 3/ /spl Omega//sup -1/ cm/sup -1/, respectively. From optimal deposition parameters, a thin film thermocouple was fabricated and operated in Peltier mode. The observed maximum value for temperature difference between hot and cold end is about 15 K for a current of 50 mA. The results indicate that good quality antimony telluride and bismuth telluride thin films grown by co-evaporation are promising candidates for use in a micro-Peltier module.
Counting numbers of synaptic proteins: absolute quantification and single molecule imaging techniques

Abstract. The ability to count molecules is essential to elucidating cellular mechanisms, as these often depend on the absolute numbers and concentrations of molecules within specific compartments. Such is the case at chemical synapses, where the transmission of information from presynaptic to postsynaptic terminals requires complex interactions between small sets of molecules. Be it the subunit stoichiometry specifying neurotransmitter receptor properties, the copy numbers of scaffold proteins setting the limit of receptor accumulation at synapses, or protein packing densities shaping the molecular organization and plasticity of the postsynaptic density, all of these depend on exact quantities of components. A variety of proteomic, electrophysiological, and quantitative imaging techniques have yielded insights into the molecular composition of synaptic complexes. In this review, we compare the different quantitative approaches and consider the potential of single molecule imaging techniques for the quantification of synaptic components. We also discuss specific neurobiological data to contextualize the obtained numbers and to explain how they aid our understanding of synaptic structure and function.
Formulation and preliminary test of an empirical theory of coordination in software engineering

Motivated by evidence that coordination and dependencies among engineering decisions in a software project are key to better understanding and better methods of software creation, we set out to create empirically testable theory to characterize and make predictions about coordination of engineering decisions. We demonstrate that our theory is capable of expressing some of the main ideas about coordination in software engineering, such as Conway's law and the effects of information hiding in modular design. We then used software project data to create measures and test two hypotheses derived from our theory. Our results provide preliminary support for our formulations.
Multidimensional Modeling of Physiological Tremor for Active Compensation in Handheld Surgical Robotics

Precision, robustness, dexterity, and intelligence are the design indices for current generation surgical robotics. To augment the required precision and dexterity into normal microsurgical work-flow, handheld robotic instruments are developed to compensate physiological tremor in real time. The hardware (sensors and actuators) and software (causal linear filters) employed for tremor identification and filtering introduces time-varying unknown phase delay that adversely affects the device performance. The current techniques that focus on three-dimensions (3-D) tip position control involves modeling and canceling the tremor in three axes (x-, y-, and z -axes) separately. Our analysis with the tremor recorded from surgeons and novice subjects shows that there exists significant correlation in tremor across the dimensions. Based on this, a new multidimensional modeling approach based on extreme learning machines is proposed in this paper to correct the phase delay and to accurately model 3-D tremor simultaneously. Proposed method is evaluated through both simulations and experiments. Comparison with the state-of-the art techniques highlight the suitability and better performance of the proposed approach for tremor compensation in handheld surgical robotics.
Conservation of Agriculture Landscape through Greenway Planning and Design: A Case Study of the Wax Gourd Production Base of Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng (Guangdong)

Major approaches to greenway planning and design were reviewed and compared. The framework incorporated ecological knowledge related also to the planning and design process. This study has introduced a procedure to facilitate the protection and development of farmland areas. It provides a systematic procedure for facilitating the protection, ecological enhancement, and linkage of present and potential natural areas in farmland region. The framework of the agricultural greenway, has been described in detail and applied to the Wax Gourd Production Base in Xiaolou Town, Zengcheng (Guangdong, China). The framework is not case-specific and its main value is to provide an integrated approach to the ecological planning and design of the agricultural greenways.
Jacobian adaptation of HMM with initial model selection for noisy speech recognition

An extension of Jacobian Adaptation (JA) of HMMs for degraded speech recognition is presented in which appropriate set of initial models is selected from a number of initial-model sets designed for different noise environments. Based on the first order Taylor series approximation in the acoustic feature domain, JA adapts the acoustic model parameters trained in the initial noise environment A to the new environment B much faster than PMC that creates the acoustic models for the target environment from scratch. Despite the advantage of JA to PMC, JA has a theoretical limitation that the change of acoustic parameters from the environment A to B should be small in order that the linear approximation holds. To extend the coverage of JA, the ideas of multiple sets of initial models and their automatic selection scheme are discussed. Speaker-dependent isolated-word recognition experiments are carried out to evaluate the proposed method.
Increases in HIV incidence among men who have sex with men undergoing repeat diagnostic HIV testing in Ontario, Canada

ObjectiveTo estimate HIV incidence density for different exposure categories among people undergoing repeat testing in Ontario, Canada. MethodsPersons using voluntary, diagnostic HIV testing at least twice were identified by computerized and manual record linkage. In the 1992–2000 period, 980 seroconverters and 340 994 repeat negative testers contributed 936 145 person years (PY) of observation. Incidence density (ID) was calculated according to Kitayaporn et al. Poisson regression was used to evaluate differences in incidence. ResultsAmong men who have sex with men (MSM), ID declined between 1992–1996, from 1.23 per 100 PY in 1992 to 0.79 per 100 PY in 1996 [relative risk (RR), 0.86 per year; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.77–0.96]. Subsequently, ID increased to 1.39 per 100 PY in 1999 (RR, 1.18 per year; 95% CI, 1.05–1.34). In 2000, ID was 1.16 per 100 PY but this decrease was not statistically significantly different from 1999. MSM in their twenties had the highest ID in 1992–1996, but in 1996–2000 MSM in their thirties had the highest risk of infection. Among injecting drug users (IDU), ID decreased from 0.64 per 100 PY in 1992 to 0.14 per 100 PY in 2000 (RR, 0.87 per year; 95% CI, 0.80–0.94). Among heterosexuals, annual incidence remained constant at about 0.03 per 100 PY in 1992–2000. ConclusionsIncreases in ID were identified among MSM from 1996 to 1999. These findings are consistent with other research. Continued vigilance and improved surveillance are needed to better understand and control the epidemic.
Interactive object segmentation for mono and stereo applications: Geodesic prior induced graph cut energy minimization

This study proposes an interactive multi label object segmentation method and applications on mono and stereo images. The general segmentation problem is approached by an energy minimization on a Markov Random Field (MRF). The minimum energy potential labelling is the primary goal of the multi label segmentation algorithm. User inputs are used to determine object location and geodesic prior induced iterative graph cut energy minimization is used to define object boundaries. Segmented objects on mono images are used to generate stereo pairs for viewing on 3D displays. Segmented object pairs on stereo images are used for depth adjustment in order to achieve better visual quality. The assignment of relative depths on multiple objects is necessary for stereo image pair synthesis using conventional depth image based rendering (DIBR) techniques.
On-Board Lane Detection System for Intelligent Vehicle Based on Monocular Vision

Abstract The objective of this research is to develop a monocular vision system that can locate the positions of the road lane in real time. First, Canny approach is used to obtain edge map from the road image acquired from monocular camera mount on vehicle; Second, a matching process is conducted to normalize the candidates of road line; Third, a searching method is used for reinforce potential road lines while degraded those impossible ones; Forth, a linking condition is used to further enhance the confidence of the potential lane lines, and a K-means cluster algorithm is employed to localize the lane lines; Finally, a on board system is designed for experiment. The proposed system is shown to work well under various conditions on the roadway. Besides, the computation cost is inexpensive and the system’s response is almost real time.
Efficient DFT based carrier recovery for satellite DVB receiver

An efficient non-data-aided carrier recovery is presented in this paper, which can be applied in digital satellite receivers. It can acquire large carrier frequency offsets at very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The proposed two-step scheme consists of a low-resolution discrete complex Fourier transform (DFT) to counteract carrier frequency offset initially, and a carrier recovery loop for accurate fine tracking. In order to reduce the hardware complexity, we adopt software controller to assist coarse frequency estimation. Experimental results demonstrate the high performance and low complexity of the proposed scheme.
Deep flow in the Madagascar–Mascarene Basin over the last 150000 years

The SW Indian Ocean contains at least four layers of water masses with different sources: deep Antarctic (Lower Circumpolar Deep Water) flow to the north, midwater North Indian Deep Water flow to the south and Upper Circumpolar Deep Water to the north, meridional convergence of intermediate waters at 500–1500 m, and the shallow South Equatorial Current flowing west. Sedimentation rates in the area are rather low, being less than 1 cm ka−1 on Madagascar Ridge, but up to 4 cm ka−1 at Amirante Passage. Bottom flow through the Madagascar–Mascarene Basin into Amirante Passage varies slightly on glacial–interglacial time–scales, with faster flow in the warm periods of the last interglacial and minima in cold periods. Far more important are the particularly high flow rates, inferred from silt grain size, which occur at warm–to–cold transitions rather than extrema. This suggests the cause is changing density gradient driving a transiently fast flow. Corroboration is found in the glacial–interglacial range of benthic d18O which is ca. 2%, suggesting water close to freezing and at least 1.2 more saline and thus more dense glacial bottom waters than present. Significant density steps are inferred in isotope stage 6, the 5e–5d, and 5a–4 transitions. Oxygen isotope data suggest little change by mixing in glacial bottom water on their northward path. Benthic carbon isotope ratios at Amirante Passage differ from glacial Southern Ocean values, due possibly to absence of a local productivity effect present in the Southern Ocean.
Learning Visual Object Categories for Robot Affordance Prediction

A fundamental requirement of any autonomous robot system is the ability to predict the affordances of its environment. The set of affordances define the actions that are available to the agent given the robot’s context. A standard approach to affordance learning is direct perception, which learns direct mappings from sensor measurements to affordance labels. For example, a robot designed for cross-country navigation could map stereo depth information and image features directly into predictions about the traversability of terrain regions. While this approach can succeed for a small number of affordances, it does not scale well as the number of affordances increases. In this paper, we show that visual object categories can be used as an intermediate representation that makes the affordance learning problem scalable. We develop a probabilistic graphical model which we call the Category—Affordance (CA) model, which describes the relationships between object categories, affordances, and appearance. This model casts visual object categorization as an intermediate inference step in affordance prediction. We describe several novel affordance learning and training strategies that are supported by our new model. Experimental results with indoor mobile robots evaluate these different strategies and demonstrate the advantages of the CA model in affordance learning, especially when learning from limited size data sets.
Leveraging side information for speaker identification with the Enron conversational telephone speech collection

Speaker identification experiments typically focus on acoustic signals, but conversational speech often occurs in settings where additional useful side information may be available. This paper introduces a new distributable speaker identification test collection based on recorded telephone calls of Enron energy traders. Experiments with these recordings demonstrate that social network features and recording channel metadata can be used to reduce error rates in speaker identification below that achieved using acoustic evidence alone. Social network features from the parallel Enron email collection (37 of the 41 speakers in the telephone recordings sent or received emails in the collection) improve speaker identification, as do social network features computed using lightly supervised techniques to estimate a social network from more than one thousand unlabeled recordings.
A Circular Microstrip Antenna Sensor for Direction Sensitive Strain Evaluation †

In this paper, a circular microstrip antenna for stress evaluation is studied. This kind of microstrip sensor can be utilized in structural health monitoring systems. Reflection coefficient S11 is measured to determine deformation/strain value. The proposed sensor is adhesively connected to the studied sample. Applied strain causes a change in patch geometry and influences current distribution both in patch and ground plane. Changing the current flow in patch influences the value of resonant frequency. In this paper, two different resonant frequencies were analysed because in each case, different current distributions in patch were obtained. The sensor was designed for operating frequency of 2.5 GHz (at fundamental mode), which results in a diameter less than 55 mm. Obtained sensitivity was up to 1 MHz/100 MPa, resolution depends on utilized vector network analyser. Moreover, the directional characteristics for both resonant frequencies were defined, studied using numerical model and verified by measurements. Thus far, microstrip antennas have been used in deformation measurement only if the direction of external force was well known. Obtained directional characteristics of the sensor allow the determination of direction and value of stress by one sensor. This method of measurement can be an alternative to the rosette strain gauge.
Symbolic Segmentation Using Algorithm Selection

In this paper we present an alternative approach to symbolic segmentation; instead of implementing a new method we approach symbolic segmentation as an algorithm selection problem. That is, let there be $n$ available algorithms for symbolic segmentation, a selection mechanism forms a set of input features and image attributes and selects on a case by case basis the best algorithm. The selection mechanism is demonstrated from within an algorithm framework where the selection is done in a set of various algorithm networks. Two sets of experiments are performed and in both cases we demonstrate that the algorithm selection allows to increase the result of the symbolic segmentation by a considerable amount.
Characterization of the molecular mechanisms underlying increased ischemic damage in the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 genetic polymorphism using a human induced pluripotent stem cell model system

The decrease of function in the ALDH2*2 genotype disrupts an important cardioprotective oxidative stress regulatory circuit, thus increasing cardiac cell death after ischemic insult. Personalized Heart Healing In poetry, we welcome assaults to the heart that leave one breathless. But depriving actual heart tissue of oxygen—through decreased blood flow—can cause irreparable damage. The human genome houses ALDH2, a gene that encodes the heart-protective metabolic enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2. But ~8% of the human population carries an inactivating gene polymorphism (ALDH2*2) that has been linked to enhanced severity of damage from cardiac ischemia—a shortage in the heart’s oxygen supply—and an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). Now, Ebert et al. investigate the mechanisms underlying these ALDH2*2-associated maladies using a human cellular model of the ALDH2*2 genotype made with induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes generated from patient fibroblasts. The authors found that ALDH2 regulated cell survival by modulating oxidative stress, a circuit that was dysfunctional in ALDH2*2 cells. This aberration induced cell cycle arrest and enhanced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes after ischemic insult, illuminating a new function for ALDH2 in cell survival decisions. Such mechanistic insights may spur the development of new diagnostic methods for and improved risk management of CAD as well as genotype-specific cardiac therapies. Now, if we can only find a cure for the poetic broken heart…. Nearly 8% of the human population carries an inactivating point mutation in the gene that encodes the cardioprotective enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2). This genetic polymorphism (ALDH2*2) is linked to more severe outcomes from ischemic heart damage and an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD), but the underlying molecular bases are unknown. We investigated the ALDH2*2 mechanisms in a human model system of induced pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) generated from individuals carrying the most common heterozygous form of the ALDH2*2 genotype. We showed that the ALDH2*2 mutation gave rise to elevated amounts of reactive oxygen species and toxic aldehydes, thereby inducing cell cycle arrest and activation of apoptotic signaling pathways, especially during ischemic injury. We established that ALDH2 controls cell survival decisions by modulating oxidative stress levels and that this regulatory circuitry was dysfunctional in the loss-of-function ALDH2*2 genotype, causing up-regulation of apoptosis in cardiomyocytes after ischemic insult. These results reveal a new function for the metabolic enzyme ALDH2 in modulation of cell survival decisions. Insight into the molecular mechanisms that mediate ALDH2*2-related increased ischemic damage is important for the development of specific diagnostic methods and improved risk management of CAD and may lead to patient-specific cardiac therapies.
TRUE REALISTIC 3 D MODELS OF BUILDINGS IN URBAN AREAS

Developing realistic 3D models of cities provides designers, planners, the public, and the others with imagery closely coupled with the human expertise. This paper continues on the results of an earlier innovation in the field of texture creation for the construction of Virtually Realistic Model (VRM) of buildings in urban areas. Using a CCD camera mounted on a theodolite the system takes the images of building facades; and using a number of automated/semi-automated tools converts them into textures. The textures will then be applied to the CAD models of buildings obtained from aerial photographs. Having reviewed the components of the system, the paper reports on the development of a new On-Demand Measuring Tool (ODMT). The results show that, using such system can greatly improve the speed of realistic modelling of buildings in urban areas.