Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nanomechanics of vimentin intermediate filament networks

Intermediate filaments are one of three classes of fibrous proteins in the cytoskeleton of eukaryotes, the others being actin filaments and microtubules. The dense filamentous networks and bundles provide important mechanical stability for the cell. Here we directly measure both the structure and mechanical properties of an in vitro model system for intermediate filaments reconstituted from purified vimentin protein at 1 mg mL−1. We show that the mesh size is on the order of 1 µm, a value that is preserved upon addition of divalent ions. These ions act as effective cross-linkers, further stiffening the network.
s-XML: An efficient mapping scheme for storing XML data in a relational database

The exploration on XML mapping to relational database system has become one of the most important focus in present days due to the role of XML as the channel to transport data over the world wide web. The mapping schemes have effects towards the efficiency of XML processing in terms of database scalability, storage pace into database systems and types of information stored in the database. In this paper, we scrutinize the performance study of s-XML, an efficient XML mapping technique compared to some existing approaches. Experimental results indicate that s-XML performed better in terms of document storage compared to the existing approaches such as Edge and Attribute.
Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism

Spend your time even for only few minutes to read a book. Reading a book will never reduce and waste your time to be useless. Reading, for some people become a need that is to do every day such as spending time for eating. Now, what about you? Do you like to read a book? Now, we will show you a new book enPDFd left in dark times a stand against the new barbarism that can be a new way to explore the knowledge. When reading this book, you can get one thing to always remember in every reading time, even step by step.
High linearity performance of 0.13 /spl mu/m CMOS devices using field-plate technology

High linearity performance of 0.13 mum CMOS devices using field-plate technology is presented in this paper. The field-plate technology functions for reducing the electric field between gate and drain terminals, which provides a field-plate induced depletion region and decreases the leakage current to greatly improve the linearity and power performance of CMOS devices. The third-order inter-modulation product (IM3) of 0.13 mum NMOS devices with and without field-plate technology are -41.8 dBm and -32.4 dBm for input power is -10 dBm, respectively. The experimental results show that the field-plate architecture is more effective to exhibit high linearity and power for CMOS RFIC applications
Query by Example Search on Speech at Mediaeval 2015

In this paper, we describe the “Query by Example Search on Speech Task” (QUESST, formerly SWS, “Spoken Web Search”), held as part of the MediaEval 2014 evaluation campaign. As in previous years, the proposed task requires performing language-independent audio search in a low resource scenario. This year, the task has been designed to get as close as possible to a practical use case scenario, in which a user would like to retrieve, using speech, utterances containing a given word or short sentence, including those with limited inflectional variations of words, some filler content and/or word re-orderings.
High Altitude Increases Alteration in Maximal Torque but Not in Rapid Torque Development in Knee Extensors after Repeated Treadmill Sprinting

We assessed knee extensor neuromuscular adjustments following repeated treadmill sprints in different normobaric hypoxia conditions, with special reference to rapid muscle torque production capacity. Thirteen team- and racquet-sport athletes undertook 8 × 5-s “all-out” sprints (passive recovery = 25 s) on a non-motorized treadmill in normoxia (NM; FiO2 = 20.9%), at low (LA; FiO2 = 16.8%) and high (HA; FiO2 = 13.3%) normobaric hypoxia (simulated altitudes of ~1800 m and ~3600 m, respectively). Explosive (~1 s; “fast” instruction) and maximal (~5 s; “hard” instruction) voluntary isometric contractions (MVC) of the knee extensors (KE), with concurrent electromyographic (EMG) activity recordings of the vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles, were performed before and 1-min post-exercise. Rate of torque development (RTD) and EMG (i.e., Root Mean Square or RMS) rise from 0 to 30, −50, −100, and −200 ms were recorded, and were also normalized to maximal torque and EMG values, respectively. Distance covered during the first 5-s sprint was similar (P > 0.05) in all conditions. A larger (P < 0.05) sprint decrement score and a shorter (P < 0.05) cumulated distance covered over the eight sprints occurred in HA (−8 ± 4% and 178 ± 11 m) but not in LA (−7 ± 3% and 181 ± 10 m) compared to NM (−5 ± 2% and 183 ± 9 m). Compared to NM (−9 ± 7%), a larger (P < 0.05) reduction in MVC torque occurred post-exercise in HA (−14 ± 9%) but not in LA (-12 ± 7%), with no difference between NM and LA (P > 0.05). Irrespectively of condition (P > 0.05), peak RTD (−6 ± 11%; P < 0.05), and normalized peak RMS activity for VL (−8 ± 11%; P = 0.07) and RF (−14 ± 11%; P < 0.01) muscles were reduced post-exercise, whereas reductions (P < 0.05) in absolute RTD occurred within the 0–100 (−8 ± 9%) and 0–200 ms (−10 ± 8%) epochs after contraction onset. After normalization to MVC torque, there was no difference in RTD values. Additionally, the EMG rise for VL muscle was similar (P > 0.05), whereas it increased (P < 0.05) for RF muscle during all epochs post-exercise, independently of the conditions. In summary, alteration in repeated-sprint ability and post-exercise MVC decrease were greater at high altitude than in normoxia or at low altitude. However, the post-exercise alterations in RTD were similar between normoxia and low-to-high hypoxia.
Perceived Vulnerability to Downside Risk

In this paper we propose an approach to vulnerability called perceived vulnerability to downside risk. We argue that the other concepts of vulnerability, though partially adhering to the focus axiom, do not exclusively consider downside risks in their measures. The reason for this is that most of them use a pre-determined threshold such as the poverty line as their benchmark for analysis. Instead, we opt for the current level of wellbeing of a household as reference point. Also, we propose to use subjective risk perception as the source of information for quantifying vulnerability since it overcomes some of the shortcomings connected to the reliance on information about the past. Finally, we apply the measure of perceived vulnerability to downside risk to risk perception data from Thailand and Vietnam and find that households in the latter country tend to be more vulnerable than households in the former. Moreover, determinants of perceived vulnerability to downside risk differ significantly between the two countries.
Asphalt surfaced pavement cracks detection based on histograms of oriented gradients

Cracks are the most requiring type of pavement distresses to detect and classify automatically. Due to its nature are easily absorbed by other types of pavement surface damages. Moreover, the diversity of pavement surface makes the image detection system requiring efficient computer algorithms. The paper presents the solutions tested on surface distress data which were collected automatically using downward facing cameras placed orthogonally to road pavement axis. Presented results focus on the crack-type pavement distresses. The achieved accuracy of the transverse, longitudinal and meshing cracks recognition based on the initial dataset prepared especially for this system, show it has very good chances to work efficiently with large image datasets collected during the inspection car runs.
Discriminative pattern mining and its applications in bioinformatics

Discriminative pattern mining is one of the most important techniques in data mining. This challenging task is concerned with finding a set of patterns that occur with disproportionate frequency in data sets with various class labels. Such patterns are of great value for group difference detection and classifier construction. Research on finding interesting discriminative patterns in class-labeled data evolves rapidly and lots of algorithms have been proposed to specifically address this problem. Discriminative pattern mining techniques have proven their considerable value in biological data analysis. The archetypical applications in bioinformatics include phosphorylation motif discovery, differentially expressed gene identification, discriminative genotype pattern detection, etc. In this article, we present an overview of discriminative pattern mining and the corresponding effective methods, and subsequently we illustrate their applications to tackling the bioinformatics problems. In the end, we give a general discussion of potential challenges and future work for this task.
THE PREDICTION OF INTERREGIONAL GOODS VEHICLE FLOWS: SOME NEW MODELLING CONCEPTS

This paper deals with the problem of forecasting interregional goods vehicle flows. In a variety of planning situations, especially in the context of transport planning at the national level, the necessity arises to predict the flows of goods vehicles on the basis of an exogeneous forecast of the interregional commodity flow pattern. The model presented in this contribution is designed to solve this type of forecasting problem. After a brief discussion of previous work in the field of goods vehicle flow estimation the results of an empirical investigation into the nature of interregional highway truck flows are presented. In close correspondence with the empirical findings a new model of interregional goods vehicle flow forecasting is then developed. The endogeneous variables of the model are the origin-destination goods vehicle flows disaggregated by base zone of the vehicle and trip type (full or empty load). Starting from a number of explicit behavioural hypotheses these variables are shown to be functionally related to each other and to certain explanatory variables of the model. Commodity flow volumes, mean vehicle tonnage, and a factor reflecting the probability of a return trip without load are the ultimate determinants of the vehicle flow pattern. Various results of a practical application of the model are described. (Author/TRRL)
NDA: Near-DRAM acceleration architecture leveraging commodity DRAM devices and standard memory modules

Energy consumed for transferring data across the processor memory hierarchy constitutes a large fraction of total system energy consumption, and this fraction has steadily increased with technology scaling. In this paper, we propose near-DRAM acceleration (NDA) architectures, which process data using accelerators 3D-stacked on DRAM devices comprising off-chip main memory modules. NDA transfers most data through high-bandwidth and low-energy 3D interconnects between accelerators and DRAM devices instead of low-bandwidth and high-energy off-chip interconnects between a processor and DRAM devices, substantially reducing energy consumption and improving performance. Unlike previous near-memory processing architectures, NDA is built upon commodity DRAM devices; apart from inserting through-silicon vias (TSVs) to 3D-interconnect DRAM devices and accelerators, NDA requires minimal changes to the commodity DRAM device and standard memory module architectures. This allows NDA to be more easily adopted in both existing and emerging systems. Our experiments demonstrate that, on average, our NDA-based system consumes 46% (68%) lower (data transfer) energy at 1.67× higher performance than a system that integrates the same accelerator logic within the processor itself.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce Factors Affecting Non Bank-issued Pos E-micropayment Choice: a Study of Taiwan Market

His research interests include consumer behavior, new media technology and applications as well as acceptance of innovations. Shih Kuo Chen recently graduated with his MBA from Kainan University. His research interests include retailing and applications as well as acceptance of innovations. Abstract In Taiwan, organizations with existing captive markets, that is, transport-related companies and convenience stores, have issued their own non bank-issued POS e-micropayment programs and achieved good success. Due to legal restriction imposed on non bank-issued programs, Taiwan's market has evolved further resulting in two major categories: non bank-issued programs and bank-issued programs. Through an extended Post-acceptance Model of IS Continuance which incorporated network externality, we examined the factors which influenced users to continue using non bank- -2-issued programs and the impact of bank-issued programs on the development of non bank-issued programs. Our study found that perceived usefulness, satisfaction of users and the demand side of network externality directly affected users' intention to continue using the program. The study also showed how external factors in Taiwan such as regulatory restriction and retail structure have affected programs' development.
Interannual and Seasonal Variability of Biomass Burning Emissions Constrained by Satellite Observations

[1] We present a methodology for estimating the seasonal and interannual variation of biomass burning designed for use in global chemical transport models. The average seasonal variation is estimated from 4 years of fire-count data from the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) and 1–2 years of similar data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) World Fire Atlases. We use the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Aerosol Index (AI) data product as a surrogate to estimate interannual variability in biomass burning for six regions: The AI data set is available from 1979 to the present with an interruption in satellite observations from mid-1993 to mid-1996; this data gap is filled where possible with estimates of area burned from the literature for different regions. Between August 1996 and July 2000, the ATSR fire-counts are used to provide specific locations of emissions and a record of interannual variability throughout the world. We use our methodology to estimate mean seasonal and interannual variations for emissions of carbon monoxide from biomass burning, and we find that no trend is apparent in these emissions over the last two decades, but that there is significant interannual variability. Interannual and seasonal variability of biomass burning emissions constrained by satellite observations,
Practical parallax occlusion mapping with approximate soft shadows for detailed surface rendering

This chapter presents a per-pixel ray tracing algorithm with dynamic lighting of surfaces in real-time on the GPU. First, we will describe a method for increased precision of the critical ray-height field intersection and adaptive height field sampling. We achieve higher quality results than the existing inverse displacement mapping algorithms. Second, soft shadows are computed by estimating light visibility for the displaced surfaces. Third, we describe an adaptive level-of-detail system which uses the information supplied by the graphics hardware during rendering to automatically manage shader complexity. This LOD scheme maintains smooth transitions between the full displacement computation and a simplified representation at a lower level of detail without visual artifacts. Finally, algorithm limitations will be discussed along with the practical considerations for integration into game pipelines. Specific attention will be given to the art asset authoring, providing guidelines, tips and concerns. The algorithm performs well for animated objects and supports dynamic rendering of height fields for a variety of interesting displacement effects. The presented method is scalable for a range of consumer grade GPU products. It exhibits a low memory footprint and can be easily integrated into existing art pipelines for games and effects rendering.
Novel Distance-Based SVM Kernels for Infinite Ensemble Learning

Ensemble learning algorithms such as boosting can achieve better performance by averaging over the predictions of base hypotheses. However, most existing algorithms are limited to combining only a finite number of hypotheses, and the generated ensemble is usually sparse. It has recently been shown that the support vector machine (SVM) with a carefully crafted kernel can be used to construct a nonsparse ensemble of infinitely many hypotheses. Such infinite ensembles may surpass finite and/or sparse ensembles in learning performance and robustness. In this paper, we derive two novel kernels, the stump kernel and the perceptron kernel, for infinite ensemble learning. The stump kernel embodies an infinite number of decision stumps, and measures the similarity between examples by the '1-norm distance. The perceptron kernel embodies perceptrons, and works with the '2-norm distance. Experimental results show that SVM with these kernels is superior to boosting with the same base hypothesis set. In addition, SVM with these kernels has similar performance to SVM with the Gaussian kernel, but enjoys the benefit of faster parameter selection. These properties make the kernels favorable choices in practice.
A series of monozygotic twins discordant for ovarian failure: ovary transplantation (cortical versus microvascular) and cryopreservation.

BACKGROUND A series of monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant for premature ovarian failure presented an unusual opportunity to study ovarian transplantation. METHODS Ten MZ twin pairs requested ovarian transplantation and eight have undergone transplantation with cryopreservation of spare tissue. Seven had a fresh cortical tissue transplant, one of whom received a second frozen-thawed transplant after the first ceased functioning at three years. One had a fresh microvascular transplant. RESULTS All recipients reinitiated ovulatory menstrual cycles and normal Day 3 serum FSH levels by 77-142 days. Six have already conceived naturally (one twice). Currently, two healthy babies have been delivered, and another three pregnancies are ongoing. The oldest transplant functioned for 36 months, resulting in one child and one miscarriage. She conceived again after a frozen-thawed secondary transplant. There was no apparent difference in return of ovarian function between the eight fresh ovarian grafts and the one frozen graft. CONCLUSIONS Ovarian transplantation appears to restore ovulatory function robustly. Successful pregnancies, including one after cryopreservation, bode well for application to fertility preservation.
Parallel Laplacian filter using CUDA on GP-GPU

Parallel programming has been extensively applied to different fields, such as medicine, security, and image processing. This paper focuses on parallelizing the Laplacian filter, an edge detection algorithm, using CUDA. We have conducted a performance analysis to benchmark the sequential Laplacian version against the CUDA parallel approach. Results show that the parallelization of Laplacian filter achieves better performance than sequential code. CUDA approach achieved 200 fold speedup for an image size of 50MB when 216 processing elements were deployed.
Quantum fluctuations and saturable absorption in mesoscale lasers

We present a quantum-mechanical treatment of fluctuations and saturable absorption in mesoscale lasers. The time evolution of the density matrix is obtained from numerical integration and field-field and intensity-intensity correlations are calculated to obtain steady-state linewidth and photon statistics. Inclusion of a saturable absorber in the otherwise homogeneous medium is shown to suppress lasing, increase fluctuations, and enhance spontaneous emission near threshold.
ARTI CLE Debraj Ray On the dynamics of inequality

The dynamics of inequality are studied in a model of human capital accumulation with credit constraints. This model admits a multiplicity of steady state skill ratios that exhibit varying degrees of inequality across households. The main result studies equilibrium paths. It is shown that an equilibrium sequence of skill ratios must converge monotonically to the smallest steady state that exceeds the initial ratio for that sequence. Convergence is “gradual" in that the steady state is not achieved in finite time. On the other hand, if the initial skill ratio exceeds the largest steady state, convergence to a steady state is immediate.
Protective Effect of Amiodarone but Not N- Desethylamiodarone on Postischemic Hearts through the Inhibition of Mitochondrial Permeability Transition

Amiodarone is a widely used and potent antiarrhythmic agent that is metabolized to desethylamiodarone. Both amiodarone and its metabolite possess antiarrhythmic effect, and both compounds can contribute to toxic side effects. Here, we compare the effect of amiodarone and desethylamiodarone on mitochondrial energy metabolism, membrane potential, and permeability transition and on mitochondria-related apoptotic events. Amiodarone but not desethylamiodarone protects the mitochondrial energy metabolism of the perfused heart during ischemia in perfused hearts. At low concentrations, amiodarone stimulated state 4 respiration due to an uncoupling effect, inhibited the Ca2+-induced mitochondrial swelling, whereas it dissipated the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ), and prevented the ischemia-reperfusion-induced release of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF). At higher concentrations, amiodarone inhibited the mitochondrial respiration and simulated a cyclosporin A (CsA)-independent mitochondrial swelling. In contrast to these, desethylamiodarone did not stimulate state 4 respiration, did not inhibit the Ca2+-induced mitochondrial permeability transition, did not induce the collapse of Δψ in low concentrations, and did not prevent the nuclear translocation of AIF in perfused rat hearts, but it induced a CsA-independent mitochondrial swelling at higher concentration, like amiodarone. That is, desethylamiodarone lacks the protective effect of amiodarone seen at low concentrations, such as the inhibition of calcium-induced mitochondrial permeability transition and inhibition of the nuclear translocation of the proapoptotic AIF. On the other hand, both amiodarone and desethylamiodarone at higher concentration induced a CsA-independent mitochondrial swelling, resulting in apoptotic death that explains their extracardiac toxic effect.
DETERMINISTIC CHANNEL CHARACTERIZATION INFLUENCE ON AD-HOC NETWORK

The purpose of this paper is to describe an Ad-hoc network platform simul ation which uses a deterministic channel characterization. This last one is given by a 3D ray tracing software developed in our laboratory. An Ad-hoc network can be represented by a connecti vity graph. Its nodes represent mobile stations and each of its edges is esti mat d by a cost function which characterizes the quality of radio links. Our study considers two dif ferent cost functions for the network routing. The first one is associated to the received narr ow band attenuation which takes into account the environment; the second one is the Bit Error Rat e (BER) evaluated by a digital transmission chain.