Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Structure and properties of multiferroic (1 − x)BiFeO_3–xPbTiO_3 single crystals

Single crystals of the multiferroic (1 − x )BiFeO_3– x PbTiO_3 (BF–PT) solid solution with a nominal morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) composition were grown from flux. Structural characterization by x-ray diffraction shows the simultaneous existence of a tetragonal, an orthorhombic, and a rhombohedral perovskite phase in the crystals. A high ferroelectric Curie point of 660 °C was found in the BF–PT crystals by dielectric measurements. The variation of the magnetic moment as a function of temperature of the BF–PT crystals measured under zero field cooling mode reveals three anomalies with the highest one around 440 K, corresponding to the antiferromagnetic ordering temperatures of the rhombohedral, orthorhombic, and tetragonal phases, respectively. These results demonstrate the intrinsic relations between the MPB phase components and the macroscopic ferroic properties.
Social Hue: A subtle awareness system for connecting the elderly and their caregivers

In this position paper, we propose an unobtrusive solution for improving bonding relations between the elderly and their caregivers, through the Social Hue. The Social Hue is a bidirectional application that is based on the Philips Hue light. To create social presence, activity and emotional states will be detected through sensors and will be transformed into ambient lighting into the elder's home and vice versa without overt communication from participants. Findings are expected to provide a deeper insight on the notion of subtle awareness in relation to social connectivity between the elderly and their caregivers.
Virtual reality exposure-based therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a review of its efficacy, the adequacy of the treatment protocol, and its acceptability

Introduction The essential feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to one or more traumatic events. According to evidence-based intervention guidelines and empirical evidence, one of the most extensively researched and validated treatments for PTSD is prolonged exposure to traumatic events; however, exposure therapy can present some limitations. Virtual reality (VR) can help to improve prolonged exposure because it creates fictitious, safe, and controllable situations that can enhance emotional engagement and acceptance. Objective In addition to carrying out a review to evaluate the efficacy of VR exposure-based therapy (VR-EBT) for the treatment of PTSD, the aim of this study was to contribute to analyzing the use of VR-EBT by: first, evaluating the adequacy of psychological treatment protocols that use VR-EBT to treat PTSD; and second, analyzing the acceptability of VR-EBT. Method We performed a replica search with descriptors and databases used in two previous reviews and updated to April 2015. Next, we carried out an evaluation of the efficacy, adequacy, and acceptability of VR-EBT protocols. Results Results showed that VR-EBT was effective in the treatment of PTSD. The findings related to adequacy showed that not all studies using VR-EBT reported having followed the clinical guidelines for evidence-based interventions in the treatment of PTSD. Regarding acceptability, few studies evaluated this subject. However, the findings are very promising, and patients reported high acceptability and satisfaction with the inclusion of VR in the treatment of PTSD. Conclusion The main weaknesses identified in this review focus on the need for more controlled studies, the need to standardize treatment protocols using VR-EBT, and the need to include assessments of acceptability and related variables. Finally, this paper highlights some directions and future perspectives for using VR-EBT in PTSD treatment.
R 31 4 T CMOS Image Sensor Pixel Degradation due to X-ray Radiation

-This paper presents a radiation study on the pinned photodiode (PPD) and Transfer Gate (TG) of 4T (4 Transistor) CMOS Image Sensors (CIS). The PPD and the TG are the most sensitive elements for the sensor’s dark signal. The transfer gate length has an effect on th e dark current due to the electric field variation in the transfer channel and the defect generation near the overlap region between PPD and TG. The low value of the TG clock sig nal is also evaluated for its influence on the dark sig nal. Meanwhile, the dimensional effect of the PPD and TG before and after radiation is demonstrated as well, which shows different results from 3T pixel.
Retrobulbar Block in Pediatric Vitreoretinal Surgery Eliminates the Need for Intraoperative Fentanyl and Postoperative Analgesia: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background and Objectives Pediatric ophthalmologic surgery is traditionally accomplished by general anesthesia with opioids, but respiratory depression remains a major concern. Our study compared the efficacy of retrobulbar block with systemic fentanyl on pain, hemodynamic, and stress response in pediatric vitreoretinal surgery. Methods A prospective double-blind, randomized controlled study was performed comparing retrobulbar block with intravenously administered fentanyl in 28 children aged 1 to 6 years undergoing vitreoretinal surgery. After general anesthesia was induced, retrobulbar block with 0.5% ropivacaine was accomplished in group RB (general anesthesia plus retrobulbar block) (n = 13), and normal saline was injected into retrobulbar space in group F (general anesthesia alone) (n = 15). Fentanyl 0.5 &mgr;g/kg was administered when signs of inadequate anesthesia were observed. Results Respiratory depression (defined as a persistent respiratory rate <10 breaths/min or persistent oxygen desaturation <92%) was observed in 5 of 15 patients in group F after laryngeal mask airway was removed in the operating room, compared with none in group RB. All children in group F consumed intraoperative fentanyl rescue (average intraoperative fentanyl consumption, 1.3 ± 0.3 &mgr;g/kg) compared with none in group RB. Pain scores assessed with Faces, Legs, Activity, Cry and Consolability were significantly lower in group RB than in group F (1 [0, 3.5] vs 5 [3, 7], P = 0.003) immediately after laryngeal mask airway removal. Heart rate in group RB was significantly lower than that in group F before anesthesia induction, at the beginning and end of surgery, respectively. Mean blood pressure in group RB was significantly lower than that in group F at the beginning of surgery. Postoperative tumor necrosis factor &agr; concentration in group RB was significantly lower than that in group F. Conclusions Retrobulbar block is safe and effective as an alternative to systemic fentanyl and could provide better pain management, hemodynamic suppression, and stress response suppression in pediatric vitreoretinal surgery.
Determinants of Shared Leadership in Management Teams

This study investigated the extent to which behaviors in a team and structure of a team influence the willingness of team members to share in leadership. The results indicated that empowering team behaviors related positively with shared leadership. Horizontal team structure had limited effects on shared leadership. The development of shared leadership in a management team depends largely on increasing the perception of empowering behaviors that team members experience. Implications for the practice of shared leadership, as well as ideas for future research, are discussed.
On-line NNAC for a Balancing Two-Wheeled Robot Using Feedback-Error-Learning on the Neurophysiological Mechanism

A biomimic control structure is designed based on the sensorimotor system and the central nervous system of human brain. The main control center is focus on the cerebellar cortex functioning in supervised training. And then a method based on cerebellar model with feedback-error-learning on the neurophysiological mechanism was proposed to control a balancing two-wheeled robot which is a bionic self-balancing plant imitating human body . The cerebellar cortex as a forward controller was an on-line neural network adaptive controller and reflected the cerebellar function in balancing control problem. From the simulation including balancing control experiment, disturb experiment and mass changed experiment, we can see that the robot can be balanced in fixed position well by the biomimic control structure, and get a better result comparing the traditional feedback control.
Educational Research

Freedom of inquiry in educational research can no longer be taken for granted. Narrow definitions of what constitutes ‘scientific’ research, funding criteria that enforce particular research methods, and policy decision processes that ignore any research that is not narrowly utilitarian, in many countries, create a context that discourages scholarship of a more speculative, exploratory, or critical sort. In this series, internationally leading scholars in philosophy and history of education engage in discourse that is sophisticated and nuanced for understanding contemporary debates. Thus social research, and therefore educational research, is again focused on the distinctive nature of what it studies: a social activity where questions of meaning and value must be addressed, and where interpretation and judgment play a crucial role. This educational research takes into account the historical and cultural context and brings clarity to what actually constitutes science in this area. The timely issues that are addressed in this series bear witness to the belief that educational theory cannot help but go beyond a limited conception of empirical educational research to provide a real understanding of education as a human practice. They surpass the rather simple causeand effect rhetoric and thus transgress the picture of performativity that currently keeps much of the talk about education captive. The authors are united in the belief that there is a place within the social sciences in general’, and within the discipline of education in particular, for ‘foundational’ approaches that enable the systematic study of educational practice from a discipline-orientated approach.
Global patterns of plant diversity and floristic knowledge

Aims We present the first global map of vascular plant species richness by ecoregion and compare these results with the published literature on global priorities for plant conservation. In so doing, we assess the state of floristic knowledge across ecoregions as described in floras, checklists, and other published documents and pinpoint geographical gaps in our understanding of the global vascular plant flora. Finally, we explore the relationships between plant species richness by ecoregion and our knowledge of the flora, and between plant richness and the human footprint – a spatially explicit measure of the loss and degradation of natural habitats and ecosystems as a result of human activities.
Investigation on SCFs of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints under balanced axial loading

Most of the research work has been conducted on K-joints under static loading. Very limited information is available in consideration of fatigue strength of K-joints with concrete-filled chord. This paper aims to describe experimental and numerical investigations on stress concentration factors (SCFs) of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints under balanced axial loading. Experiment was conducted to study the hot spot stress distribution along the intersection of chord and braces in the two specimens with compacting concrete filled in the chord. The test results of stress distribution curves of two specimens were reported. SCFs of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints were lower than those of corresponding hollow circular chord and square brace K-joints. The corresponding finite element analysis was also conducted to simulate stress distribution along the brace and chord intersection region of joints. It was achieved that experimental and finite element analysis results had good agreement. Therefore, an extensive parametric study was carried out by using the calibrated finite element model to evaluate the effects of main geometric parameters and concrete strength on the behavior of concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints under balanced axial loading. The SCFs at the hot spot locations obtained from ABAQUS were compared with those calculated by using design formula given in the CIDECT for hollow SHS-SHS K-joints. CIDECT Design Guide was generally quite conservative for predicting SCFs of braces and was dangerous for predicting SCFs of chord in concrete-filled circular chord and square braces K-joints. Finally SCF formulae were proposed for circular chord and square braces K-joints with concrete-filled in the chord under balanced axial loading. It is shown that the SCFs calculated from the proposed design equation are generally in agreement with the values derived from finite element analysis, which were proved to be reliable and accurate.
Access to Health Care

Background In the United States, it has long been understood that a lack of health insurance can be a barrier to accessing timely, quality, health care services. Uninsured individuals are less likely than the insured to receive preventive care, recommended screenings, and follow-up care. They are also more likely to postpone or even forgo care and needed prescriptions (Majerol, Newkirk, & Garfield, 2015). As a result, the uninsured tend to be sicker and are more likely to be hospitalized for conditions that could have been prevented. Insurance status is one of several important indicators of health and ability to access health care.
Recent Insights into Muscle Fatigue at the Cross-Bridge Level

The depression in force and/or velocity associated with muscular fatigue can be the result of a failure at any level, from the initial events in the motor cortex of the brain to the formation of an actomyosin cross-bridge in the muscle cell. Since all the force and motion generated by muscle ultimately derives from the cyclical interaction of actin and myosin, researchers have focused heavily on the impact of the accumulation of intracellular metabolites [e.g., Pi, H+ and adenosine diphoshphate (ADP)] on the function these contractile proteins. At saturating Ca++ levels, elevated Pi appears to be the primary cause for the loss in maximal isometric force, while increased [H+] and possibly ADP act to slow unloaded shortening velocity in single muscle fibers, suggesting a causative role in muscular fatigue. However the precise mechanisms through which these metabolites might affect the individual function of the contractile proteins remain unclear because intact muscle is a highly complex structure. To simplify problem isolated actin and myosin have been studied in the in vitro motility assay and more recently the single molecule laser trap assay with the findings showing that both Pi and H+ alter single actomyosin function in unique ways. In addition to these new insights, we are also gaining important information about the roles played by the muscle regulatory proteins troponin (Tn) and tropomyosin (Tm) in the fatigue process. In vitro studies, suggest that both the acidosis and elevated levels of Pi can inhibit velocity and force at sub-saturating levels of Ca++ in the presence of Tn and Tm and that this inhibition can be greater than that observed in the absence of regulation. To understand the molecular basis of the role of regulatory proteins in the fatigue process researchers are taking advantage of modern molecular biological techniques to manipulate the structure and function of Tn/Tm. These efforts are beginning to reveal the relevant structures and how their functions might be altered during fatigue. Thus, it is a very exciting time to study muscle fatigue because the technological advances occurring in the fields of biophysics and molecular biology are providing researchers with the ability to directly test long held hypotheses and consequently reshaping our understanding of this age-old question.
Application of Chaos PSO Algorithm in the Decelerator Optimization

The problems of slow convergence speed and being prone to converge to minimum were solved by combining the characteristics of chaos dynamics in the paper, whose characteristic of combining chaos optimal ergodicity and particle swarm optimal rapidness conquered deficiency of the traditional PSO algorithm. The proposed algorithm used for the decelerator of the electric submersible progressive cavity pump (ESPCP) design optimization compared with that of which was based on the standard PSO and genetic algorithm. By use of property mentioned, optimization searching could be carried out, firstly a series of chaos variables were produced as same number as optimization variable, then chaos was lead into optimization variable by the way of similar to carrier, that made the optimization variable into a chaos state, at the same time, the extent of chaos emotion was magnified to the value range of optimization variable, at last searched by chaos variable, searching technique based on chaos had more superiority than other searching technique. The results showed that the proposed algorithm was superior to the other two algorithms with a better astringency and stability. This article offered a new optimization method in machine.
How to stay in the emotional rollercoaster: lessons learnt from designing EmRoll

Bodily expressions can be used to involve players in intense experiences with games. By physically moving, breathing, or increasing your pulse, you may start emotional processes that help create for a stronger experience of the narrative in the game. We have designed a system named EmRoll that poses riddles to pairs of players. The riddles can only be solved if the players are, or at least pretend to be, moving according to different emotional states: dancing happily, relaxed breathing and being scared. The system measures movement, breathing and sweat reactions from the two players. Lessons learnt were: playing in pairs is an important aspect as the two players influenced one-another, pulling each other into stronger experiences; getting excited through intense movement when involving your whole body worked well, as did relaxing through deep breathing; using the sweat response as an input mechanism worked less well; and finally, putting a Wizard (a human operator) into the loop can help bootstrap difficulty balancing and thereby increase emotional involvement.
Characterization of Si Convertors of Beta-Radiation in the Scanning Electron Microscope

The approach for imitation of beta radiation using the e-beam of scanning electron microscope (SEM) for semiconductor energy converter testing is proposed. It is based on the Monte-Carlo simulation of depth-dose dependence for beta-particles and a determination of collection probability from the EBIC measurements of collection efficiency dependence on beam energy. Experiments with the 63Ni radiation source confirm that such approach allows to predict the efficiency of semiconductor structures for radiation energy conversion to electric power.
Garnet: comprehensive support for graphical, highly interactive user interfaces

The Garnet research project, which is creating a set of tools to aid the design and implementation of highly interactive, graphical, direct-manipulation user interfaces, is discussed. Garnet also helps designers rapidly develop prototypes for different interfaces and explore various user-interface metaphors during early product design. It emphasizes easy specification of object behavior, often by demonstration and without programming. Garnet contains a number of different components grouped into two layers. The Garnet Toolkit (the lower layer) supplies the object-oriented graphics system and constraints, a set of techniques for specifying the objects' interactive behavior in response to the input devices, and a collection of interaction techniques. On top of the Garnet Toolkit layer are a number of tools to make creating user interfaces easier. The components of both layers are described. <<ETX>>
Estimating Join Selectivities using Bandwidth-Optimized Kernel Density Models

Accurately predicting the cardinality of intermediate plan operations is an essential part of any modern relational query optimizer. The accuracy of said estimates has a strong and direct impact on the quality of the generated plans, and incorrect estimates can have a negative impact on query performance. One of the biggest challenges in this field is to predict the result size of join operations. Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) is a statistical method to estimate multivariate probability distributions from a data sample. Previously, we introduced a modern, self-tuning selectivity estimator for range scans based on KDE that out-performs state-of-the-art multidimensional histograms and is efficient to evaluate on graphics cards. In this paper, we extend these bandwidth-optimized KDE models to estimate the result size of single and multiple joins. In particular, we propose two approaches: (1) Building a KDE model from a sample drawn from the join result. (2) Efficiently combining the information from base table KDE models. We evaluated our KDE-based join estimators on a variety of synthetic and real-world datasets, demonstrating that they are superior to state-of-the art join estimators based on sketching or sampling.
A Bayesian Assessment of Climate Change Using Multimodel Ensembles. Part Global Mean Surface Temperature

A Bayesian approach is applied to the observed global surface air temperature (SAT) changes using multimodel ensembles (MMEs) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) simulations and single-model ensembles (SMEs) with the ECHO-G coupled cli- mate model. A Bayesian decision method is used as a tool for classifying observations into given scenarios (or hypotheses). The prior probability of the scenarios, which represents a degree of subjective belief in the scenarios, is changed into the posterior probability through the likelihood where observations enter, and the posterior is used as a decision function. In the identical prior case the Bayes factor (or likelihood ratio) becomes a decision function and provides observational evidence for each scenario against a predefined reference scenario. Four scenarios are used to explain observed SAT changes: “CTL” (control or no change), “Nat” (natural forcing induced change), “GHG” (greenhouse gas–induced change), and “All” (natural plus anthropogenic forcing–induced change). Observed and simulated global mean SATs are decomposed into temporal components of overall mean, linear trend, and decadal variabilities through Legendre series expansions, coefficients of which are used as detection variables. Parameters (means and covariance matrices) needed to define the four scenarios are estimated from SMEs or MMEs. Taking the CTL scenario as reference one, application results for global mean SAT changes for the whole twentieth century (1900–99) show “decisive” evidence (logarithm of Bayes factor (cid:1) 5) for the All scenario only. While “strong” evidence (log of Bayes factor (cid:1) 2.5) for both the Nat and All scenarios are found in SAT changes for the first half (1900–49), there is decisive evidence for the All scenario for SAT changes in the second half (1950–99), supporting previous results. It is demonstrated that the Bayesian decision results for global mean SATs are largely insensitive to both intermodel uncertainties and prior probabilities.