Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Immersive 3D Visualization of Remote Sensing Data

Immersive 3D Visualization is a java based Engine for viewing the Data of aerial images in the Three Dimensional with provision for simulation and fly through. This application is based on java Technology and works as standalone application, applet or in the browser. Immersive 3D Visualization is a good application to use where the area of interest is to view the interested regions rather than the big images. The Immersive 3D Visualization is a application that is designed on Java 3D Technology and Open Graphics Libraries. The Java3D Technology of envisages the three Dimensional view of the picture and Open Graphics Libraries allows one to view the rendered data on to the screen. This visualization application is java based hence no portability issues. The Data for this work is collected from the various sites like Google earth, USGS web site for the data viewing. This work takes an advantage of modelling the 3D DEM data on the visualized portion of the screen, and thus this approach is optimized. We are assumed that the DEM is coming from the other source or it is simulated Data in order to view the threedimensional pictures. The Process of Collecting the Data and projecting on to the screen is done by collectively Open Graphics Libraries and Java 3D Technology. In this work any image can be viewed as 3D with the use of DEM data, which can be created with use of certain selected values, where as in the case of Google Earth it is not possible to see your own image in 3D. The work done here can be used for selected region of interest, unlike Google Earth, which is used for continuous streaming of data. Our work on 3D immersive visualisation can be useful to GIS analyst to view their own images in 3D.
Improved logic synthesis for memristive stateful logic using multi-memristor implication

This paper presents two contributions to logic synthesis for memristive stateful logic. Firstly, we demonstrate the necessity to correct results provided by existing logic synthesis methods to ensure the expected computation. Secondly, we propose the concept of multi-memristor implication as a generalization of multi-input implication. Experimental results have shown a reduction of 6.5% in the number of operations when compared to previous works.
Can Trials of Physical Treatments Be Blinded?: The Example of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Chronic Pain

Therapeutic trials often attempt to “blind” patient and investigator to the true nature of treatments received, reducing the influences of conscious or subconscious prejudices. In drug trials, this is accomplished with placebo tablets, but blinding in trials of physical treatments is more problematic. This issue arose in a clinical trial of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for patients with chronic low back pain. Several study design features were incorporated to promote blinding: use of sham TENS units visually identical with real units, exclusion of potential subjects with previous TENS experience, avoidance of a crossover design and use of identical visit frequency, instructions and modifications in electrode placement. Subjects were asked not to discuss treatments with the clinicians who performed outcome assessments. Both patients and clinicians were asked to guess actual treatment assignments at the trial's end. Every patient in the true TENS group believed the unit was functioning properly, but the degree of certainty varied. In the sham TENS group, 84% also believed they had functioning units, but their certainty was significantly less than in the active treatment group. Differences in patient perceptions did not affect compliance, as the two groups had similar dropout rates, appointment compliance, days of TENS use and daily duration of TENS use. Clinicians guessed treatments correctly 61% of the time (as opposed to 50% expected by chance), again suggesting partial success in blinding. These efforts at blinding may partly explain the negative trial results for TENS efficacy. We conclude that complete blinding is difficult to achieve because of sensory difference in treatment and unintended communication between patient and examiner. Nonetheless, trials of physical treatments can achieve partial blinding with the techniques described here, and the success of blinding can be assessed with simple questions at study completion.
Improved realism of confidence for an episodic memory event

We asked whether people can make their confidence judgments more realistic (accurate) by adjusting them, with the aim of improving the relationship between the level of confidence and the correctness of the answer. This adjustment can be considered to include a so-called second-order metacognitive judgment. The participants first gave confidence judgments about their answers to questions about a video clip they had just watched. Next, they attempted to increase their accuracy by identifying confidence judgments in need of adjustment and then modifying them. The participants managed to increase their metacognitive realism, thus decreasing their absolute bias and improving their calibration, although the effects were small. We also examined the relationship between confidence judgments that were adjusted and the retrieval fluency and the phenomenological memory quality participants experienced when first answering the questions; this quality was one of either Remember (associated with concrete, vivid details) or Know (associated with a feeling of familiarity). Confidence judgments associated with low retrieval fluency and the memory quality of knowing were modified more often. In brief, our results provide evidence that people can improve the realism of their confidence judgments, mainly by decreasing their confidence for incorrect answers. Thus, this study supports the conclusion that people can perform successful second-order metacognitive judgments.
Damage Identification Using Lamb Waves

The concept of damage detection using sensors in composite panels is of growing interest, due to the reduction in maintenance activity and increasing of the aircraft safety. Piezoelectric materials have been widely used to build a variety of transducers for activating and receiving Lamb waves which are used for delamination/damage detection. The aim of this paper is to use smart structures for detecting and locating damage in composite panels, by using piezoelectric patches as both sensors and actuators.
Aberrant Spontaneous Brain Activity in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and concomitant Lacunar Infarction: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study.

BACKGROUND Lacunar infarctions (LI) have been associated with a cognitive decline and an increased risk of dementia. Whether and how the pattern of spontaneous brain activity in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) differs in subjects with and without concomitant LI remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To compare the pattern of spontaneous brain activity in MCI patients with versus those without LI using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). METHODS Forty-eight MCI patients, including 22 with LI [MCI-LI] and 26 without LI [MCI-no LI], and 28 cognitive normal subjects underwent rs-fMRI post-processed using regional homogeneity (ReHo) and the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) methods. RESULTS Compared with cognitively normal subjects, the MCI-LI patients had decreased ReHo in the precuneus/cuneus (Pcu/CU) and insula; decreased ALFF in the Pcu/CU and frontal lobe; and increased ALFF and ReHo in the temporal lobe. While the MCI-no LI group had increased ReHo and ALFF in the bilateral hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, frontal lobe, and decreased ALFF and ReHo in the temporal lobe. Compared with the MCI-no LI patients, those with MCI-LI had decreased ALFF in the frontal lobe; decreased ReHo in the Pcu/CU and insula; and increased ALFF and ReHo in the temporal lobe (p < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected). In MCI-LI patients, the MOCA scores showed a relatively weak correlation with ALFF values in the medial frontal gyrus (r = 0.432, p = 0.045) (of borderline significance after Bonferroni correction). CONCLUSIONS The spontaneous brain activities in MCI-LI were distinct from MCI-no LI. The probable compensatory mechanism observed in MCI-no LI might be disrupted in MCI with LI due to vascular damage.
Design Patterns for Interactive Musical Systems

The authors propose Musical Design Patterns as an approach to developing interactive, music-oriented systems for use as novel media content. Such development integrates three key aspects: user interface design, modeling media semantics, and application software engineering (content development). They support their claims with examples from WorldBeat, an award-winning interactive music exhibit on display at various technology museums.
Anthropometric measurement error and the assessment of nutritional status

Anthropometry involves the external measurement of morphological traits of human beings. It has a widespread and important place in nutritional assessment, and while the literature on anthropometric measurement and its interpretation is enormous, the extent to which measurement error can influence both measurement and interpretation of nutritional status is little considered. In this article, different types of anthropometric measurement error are reviewed, ways of estimating measurement error are critically evaluated, guidelines for acceptable error presented, and ways in which measures of error can be used to improve the interpretation of anthropometric nutritional status discussed. Possible errors are of two sorts; those that are associated with: (1) repeated measures giving the same value (unreliability, imprecision, undependability); and (2) measurements departing from true values (inaccuracy, bias). Imprecision is due largely to observer error, and is the most commonly used measure of anthropometric measurement error. This can be estimated by carrying out repeated anthropometric measures on the same subjects and calculating one or more of the following: technical error of measurement (TEM); percentage TEM, coefficient of reliability (R), and intraclass correlation coefficient. The first three of these measures are mathematically interrelated. Targets for training in anthropometry are at present far from perfect, and further work is needed in developing appropriate protocols for nutritional anthropometry training. Acceptable levels of measurement error are difficult to ascertain because TEM is age dependent, and the value is also related to the anthropometric characteristics of the group or population under investigation. R > 0·95 should be sought where possible, and reference values of maximum acceptable TEM at set levels of R using published data from the combined National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys I and II (Frisancho, 1990) are given. There is a clear hierarchy in the precision of different nutritional anthropometric measures, with weight and height being most precise. Waist and hip circumference show strong between-observer differences, and should, where possible, be carried out by one observer. Skinfolds can be associated with such large measurement error that interpretation is problematic. Ways are described in which measurement error can be used to assess the probability that differences in anthropometric measures across time within individuals are due to factors other than imprecision. Anthropometry is an important tool for nutritional assessment, and the techniques reported here should allow increased precision of measurement, and improved interpretation of anthropometric data.
Chronic constipation: improved understanding offers a new therapeutic approach

In this issue of The Journal of Physiology, Naitou et al. (2016) show that the dopaminergic innervation of the spinal cord, derived from descending pathways originating in the brain, can release dopamine into the lumbosacral defecation centre of the spinal cord (L6–S1 region), where it acts primarily at dopamine D2-like receptors to increase sacral (pelvic) parasympathetic nerve firing and thereby stimulate colorectal propulsive motility. This excitatory action contrasts with an ability of dopamine to inhibit colonic movements when applied directly to the rodent colon (e.g. Walker et al. 2000; Zhang et al. 2012) and to inhibit gastric emptying and oro-caecal transit time in human volunteers when given intravenously (Levein et al. 1999). However, it does have some similarity with the reported ability of intravenously administered dopamine to increase colonic and rectal movements in healthy volunteers (Lanfranchi et al. 1978; Wiley & Owyang, 1987). Together, these data suggest a potentially important role for this monoamine – released within the spinal cord or peripherally – in the control of lower bowel functions. The evidence provided by Naitou et al. (2016), obtained using multiple techniques (in vivo recordings of colorectal motility, slice patch clamp and immunohistochemistry, spinal neuropharmacology, nerve sectioning and retrograde labelling), have three important implications:
Dielectrophoresis of carbon nanotubes using microelectrodes: a numerical study

Single-walled carbon nanotubes are candidates for a number of electronics and sensing applications, provided nanotubes with semiconducting and metallic band structure can be separated. Dielectrophoresis has recently been demonstrated as a route towards the separation of metallic nanotubes from semiconducting nanotubes, and is moreover a method for controlled assembly of the nanotubes on microstructures that has the possibility to be scaled to wafer-level manufacturing. In this paper we will present numerical calculations of carbon nanotubes subjected to dielectrophoresis, drag force and Brownian motion induced by application of an ac voltage to a set of microelectrodes in a microliquid channel. We calculate the probability of capturing various types of carbon nanotubes, the time frame for the assembly and the efficiency of separation, for different experimental parameters. Our results suggest that relatively low frequencies, where both semiconducting and metallic nanotubes are subject to positive dielectrophoresis, may be optimal for separation, due to large differences in the magnitude of the dielectrophoretic force.
Melatonin Is Involved in Regulation of Bermudagrass Growth and Development and Response to Low K+ Stress

Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) plays critical roles in plant growth and development and during the response to multiple abiotic stresses. However, the roles of melatonin in plant response to K+ deficiency remain largely unknown. In the present study, we observed that the endogenous melatonin contents in bermudagrass were remarkably increased by low K+ (LK) treatment, suggesting that melatonin was involved in bermudagrass response to LK stress. Further phenotype analysis revealed that exogenous melatonin application conferred Bermudagrass enhanced tolerance to LK stress. Interestingly, exogenous melatonin application also promoted bermudagrass growth and development at normal condition. Furthermore, the K+ contents measurement revealed that melatonin-treated plants accumulated more K+ in both shoot (under both control and LK condition) and root tissues (under LK condition) compared with those of melatonin non-treated plants. Expression analysis indicated that the transcripts of K+ transport genes were significantly induced by exogenous melatonin treatment in bermudagrass under both control and LK stress conditions, especially under a combined treatment of LK stress and melatonin, which may increase accumulation of K+ content profoundly under LK stress and thereby contributed to the LK-tolerant phenotype. In addition, we investigated the role of melatonin in the regulation of photosystem II (PSII) activities under LK stress. The chlorophyll fluorescence transient (OJIP) curves were obviously higher in plants grown in LK with melatonin (LK+Mel) than those of plants grown in LK medium without melatonin application for 1 or 2 weeks, suggesting that melatonin plays important roles in PSII against LK stress. After a combined treatment of LK stress and melatonin, the values for performance indexes (PIABS, PITotal, and PICS), flux ratios (φP0, ΨE0, and φE0) and specific energy fluxes (ETO/RC) were significantly improved compared with those of LK stress alone, suggesting that melatonin plays positive roles in protecting PSII activity under LK stress. Collectively, this study reveals an important role of melatonin in regulating bermudagrass response to LK stress.
Pre-compensation of the frequency-dependence of a non-linear amplifier in a multi-carrier transmission

This paper presents the impact of the high-frequency memory of a non-linear amplifier on a multi-carrier (OFDM) transmission and an original, yet very simple, method to compensate for it directly at the transmitter. Our method is efficient thanks to the usage of a long enough cyclic prefix, as in actual OFDM systems.
Critical Evaluation of the Stiffening Effect of Carbon Nanotubes in Composites

Owing to their superior mechanical and physical properties, cCarbon nanotubes (CNTs) seem to hold a great promise as an ideal reinforcing material for composites of high-strength and low-density. HOWEVER, In most of the experimental results to date, however, only modest improvements in the strength and stiffness have been achieved by incorporating carbon nanotubeCNTs in polymers. There are many factors that influence the overall mechanical property properties of CNT-reinforced composites, e.g. the weak bonding between CNTs and matrix, the waviness and agglomeration of CNTs. In the presentis paper, we use the Mori-Tanaka method to evaluate the effects of these factors on the moduli stiffness of CNTs-CNT-reinforced composites are examined. It is established found that the waviness and agglomeration may significantly reduce the stiffening effect of CNTs, while the interface adhesion between the matrix and CNTs has little influence the moduli of CNTs-reinforced composites little.
Interpolation of lost speech segments using LP-HNM model with codebook-mapping post-processing

This paper presents a method for interpolation of lost speech segments. The short-time spectral amplitude (STSA) of speech is modeled using a linear prediction (LP) model of the spectral envelop and a harmonic plus noise model (HNM) of the excitation. The restoration algorithm is based on interpolation of the parameters of LP-HNM models of speech from both side of the gap. A codebook mapping (CBM) technique is used to fit the interpolated parameters to a pre-trained speech model. Experiments show that the CBM module mitigates the artifacts that may result from interpolation of relatively long speech gaps. Evaluations demonstrate that the proposed interpolation method results in a superior quality in comparison to alternative restoration methods.
Bmc Medical Informatics and Decision Making Portals to Wonderland: Health Portals Lead to Confusing Information about the Effects of Health Care

Background: The Internet offers a seemingly endless amount of health information of varying quality. Health portals, which provide entry points to quality-controlled collections of websites, have been hailed as a solution to this problem. The objective of this study is to assess the extent to which government-run health portals provide access to relevant, valid and understandable information about the effects of health care.
Light calibration and quality assessment methods for Reflectance Transformation Imaging applied to artworks' analysis

In this paper we analyze some problems related to the acquisition of multiple illumination images for Polynomial Texture Maps (PTM) or generic Reflectance Transform Imaging (RTI). We show that intensity and directionality nonuniformity can be a relevant issue when acquiring manual sets of images with the standard highlight-based setup both using a flash lamp and a LED light. To maintain a cheap and flexible acquisition setup that can be used on field and by non-experienced users we propose to use a dynamic calibration and correction of the lights based on multiple intensity and direction estimation around the imaged object during the acquisition. Preliminary tests on the results obtained have been performed by acquiring a specifically designed 3D printed pattern in order to see the accuracy of the acquisition obtained both for spatial discrimination of small structures and normal estimation, and on samples of different types of paper in order to evaluate material discrimination. We plan to design and build from our analysis and from the tools developed and under development a set of novel procedures and guidelines that can be used to turn the cheap and common RTI acquisition setup from a simple way to enrich object visualization into a powerful method for extracting quantitative characterization both of surface geometry and of reflective properties of different materials. These results could have relevant applications in the Cultural Heritage domain, in order to recognize different materials used in paintings or investigate the ageing status of artifacts’ surface.
Surface Modification of Polypropylene (PP) by Argon Ions and UV Photons

The surface modification of polypropylene (PP) by monoenergetic argon ions and UV photons is evaluated in a particle beam experiment. Thereby, the polymer pre-treatment in a plasma process can be mimicked. The etching and chemical modification of the spin-coated PP thin films is monitored in real-time by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It is shown that the initial exposure to the plasma ion source causes a modification of the film surface, which slows down the initially high etch rate. The separately measured UV-induced damage is more severe compared to the oxygen-containing polymer polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
Quantum electrodynamics near anisotropic polarizable materials: Casimir-Polder shifts near multilayers of graphene

In a recent paper, we formulated a theory of nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics in the presence of an inhomogeneous Huttner-Barnett dielectric. Here we generalize the formalism to anisotropic materials and show how it may be modified to include conducting surfaces. We start with the derivation of the photon propagator for a slab of material and use it to work out the energy-level shift near a medium whose conductivity in the direction parallel to the surface far exceeds that in the direction perpendicular to the surface. We investigate the influence of the anisotropy of the material's electromagnetic response on the Casimir-Polder shifts, both analytically and numerically, and show that it may have a significant impact on the atom-surface interaction, especially in the nonretarded regime, i.e., for small atom-surface separations. Our results for the energy shift may be used to estimate the Casimir-Polder force acting on quantum objects close to multilayers of graphene or graphite. They are particularly important for the case of trapped cold molecules whose dispersive interactions with surfaces often fall within the nonretarded regime where the anisotropy of the material strongly influences the Casimir-Polder force. We also give a formula for the change in the spontaneous decay rate of an excited atom or molecule near an anisotropically conducting surface.