Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Targeting T1 and T2 dual modality enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of tumor vascular endothelial cells based on peptides-conjugated manganese ferrite nanomicelles

Tumor angiogenesis plays very important roles for tumorigenesis, tumor development, metastasis, and prognosis. Targeting T1/T2 dual modality magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the tumor vascular endothelial cells (TVECs) with MR molecular probes can greatly improve diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, as well as helping to make an early diagnosis of tumor at the preclinical stage. In this study, a new T1 and T2 dual modality nanoprobe was successfully fabricated. The prepared nanoprobe comprise peptides CL 1555, poly(ε-caprolactone)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) amphiphilic copolymer shell, and dozens of manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) nanoparticle core. The results showed that the hydrophobic MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were of uniform spheroidal appearance and narrow size distribution. Due to the self-assembled nanomicelles structure, the prepared probes were of high relaxivity of 281.7 mM−1 s−1, which was much higher than that of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles (67.5 mM 1 s−1). After being grafted with the targeted CD105 peptide CL 1555, the nanomicelles can combine TVECs specifically and make the labeled TVECs dark in T2-weighted MR imaging. With the passage on, the Mn2+ ions were released from MnFe2O4 and the size decreased gradually, making the signal intensity of the second and third passage of labeled TVECs increased in T1-weighted MR imaging. Our results demonstrate that CL-poly(ethylene glycol)-MnFe2O4 can conjugate TVECs and induce dark and bright contrast in MR imaging, and act as a novel molecular probe for T1- and T2-enhanced MR imaging of tumor angiogenesis.
Supply Chain Management : An International Journal The nature and effectiveness of collaboration between firms , their customers and suppliers : a supply chain perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate a model of collaboration based on the notion of firms having strong working relationships with their suppliers and customers. Whilst issues associated with collaborative relationships between firms and their trading partners are a key theme currently being addressed in the supply chain management literature, there appears to be a lack of clear guidelines as to how such capability can be developed in a practical sense. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 418 Australian manufacturing plants are used to test the model. Two key constructs, customer relationship and supplier involvement, are developed. For predictive validity purposes, these constructs are regressed against firm performance construct. Findings – Results of structural equation modeling analysis show, inter alia, that there is some support for this collaboration model, with both collaboration-based constructs influencing performance. Originality/value – The results provide an insight into how firms can develop a level of collaboration capability.
DFA Mechanism on the AES Key Schedule

This paper describes a DFA (differential fault analysis) mechanism on the AES key scheduling process and shows how an entire 128-bit AES key can be retrieved. We make a detailed analysis of the DFA mechanism on the AES key schedule and propose general attack rules. As a result of reconsidering the best attack approach on the basis of analysis, we present a more efficient attack than the previous one. We show that we can retrieve an entire 128-bit AES key using 2-pairs of correct and faulty ciphertexts with a 48-bit brute-force search, 4-pairs of them with a 16-bit brute-force search and 7-pairs of them without brute-force search. These steps are enough to calculate the key with feasible computation resources.
Gecko: A Continuous 2D World for Ecological Modeling

An individual-based simulation system, named Gecko, is presented for modeling multiple species at multiple trophic levels, on a spatially explicit, continuous two-dimensional landscape. Biologically motivated rules are specified at an individual level, and resulting behaviors are observed at an ecosystem level. Individuals are represented by circles with free range on a resource-producing plane. These circles grow allometrically with biomass of fixed resources. Resource acquisition behaviors include competition by area overlap for producers, and movement based on perception and intent. Individual-level energetics are explicitly modeled with inefficient assimilation, resource transformation, and allometrically specified metabolic costs. Individual growth and reproduction requires a history of successful resource acquisition. Terrestrial producer, herbivore, and carnivore species classes are included, extensible to further classes. A grassland food chain model of plants, grasshoppers, and spiders is used to demonstrate ecosystem-level results of given individual-level behaviors. Ecosystem-level behaviors include a trophic cascade of indirect carnivore-producer interaction effects; stable persistence of all populations; a near-realistic biomass pyramid; and spatial competition and coexistence of multiple producer species. Initial Gecko results show promise for application in both theoretical and natural ecosystem modeling.
Static and Dynamic Pricing of Excess Capacity in a Make‐to‐Order Environment

We consider a make‐to‐order manufacturer that serves two customer classes: core customers who pay a fixed negotiated price, and “fill‐in” customers who make submittal decisions based on the current price set by the firm. Using a Markovian queueing model, we determine how much the firm can gain by explicitly accounting for the status of its production facility in making pricing decisions. Specifically, we examine three pricing policies: (1) static, state‐independent pricing, (2) constant pricing up to a cutoff state, and (3) general state‐dependent pricing. We determine properties of each policy, and illustrate numerically the financial gains that the firm can achieve by following each policy as compared with simpler policies. Our main result is that constant pricing up to a cutoff state can dramatically outperform a state‐independent policy, while at the same time achieving most of the increase in revenue achievable from general state‐dependent pricing. Thus, we find that constant pricing up to a cutoff state presents an attractive tradeoff between ease of implementation and revenue gain. When the costs of policy design and implementation are taken into account, this simple heuristic may actually out‐perform general state‐dependent pricing in some settings.
Adaptive Key Frame Selection Wyner-Ziv Video Coding

In Wyner-Ziv video coding, efficient compression is achieved by exploiting source statistics at the decoder only, which is radically different from conventional video coding. The performance of a Wyner-Ziv video codec is greatly dependent on the quality of reconstructed side information, which is an estimation version of current frame. Therefore the correlation between Wyner-Ziv (WZ) frame and key frame implicitly affects the performance of a Wyner-Ziv video codec. In this paper, an adaptive key frame selection method is proposed. Firstly, a simply interest points detector is utilized to detect interest points of a video frame. Then, a kind of interest points based measure, which could represent the correlation between video frames, is performed. If the number of different interest points between two video frames is below a threshold, then it should be transmitted as a key frame, otherwise as a WZ frame. Our experimental results are promising. About 1 dB gain in the quality of reconstructed frames has been achieved
An Inductive Proof Method for Simulation-based Compiler Correctness

We study induction on the program structure as a proof method for bisimulation-based compiler correctness. We consider a first-order language with mutually recursive function definitions, system calls, and an environment semantics. The proof method relies on a generalization of compatibility of function definition with the bisimulation. We use the inductive method to show correctness of a form of dead code elimination. This is an interesting case study because the transformation removes function, variable, and parameter definitions from the program. While such transformations require modification of the simulation in a coinductive proof, the inductive method deals with them naturally. All our results are formalized in Coq.
CBioC: beyond a prototype for collaborative annotation of molecular interactions from the literature.

In molecular biology research, looking for information on a particular entity such as a gene or a protein may lead to thousands of articles, making it impossible for a researcher to individually read these articles and even just their abstracts. Thus, there is a need to curate the literature to get various nuggets of knowledge, such as an interaction between two proteins, and store them in a database. However the body of existing biomedical articles is growing at a very fast rate, making it impossible to curate them manually. An alternative approach of using computers for automatic extraction has problem with accuracy. We propose to leverage the advantages of both techniques, extracting binary relationships between biological entities automatically from the biomedical literature and providing a platform that allows community collaboration in the annotation of the extracted relationships. Thus, the community of researchers that writes and reads the biomedical texts can use the server for searching our database of extracted facts, and as an easy-to-use web platform to annotate facts relevant to them. We presented a preliminary prototype as a proof of concept earlier(1). This paper presents the working implementation available for download at http://www.cbioc. org as a browser-plug in for both Internet Explorer and FireFox. This current version has been available since June of 2006, and has over 160 registered users from around the world. Aside from its use as an annotation tool, data from CBioC has also been used in computational methods with encouraging results.
Random unary predicates: Almost sure theories and countable models

Let Un, p be the random unary predicate and Tk be the almost sure first-order theory of Un, p under the linear ordering, where k is a positive integer and n−1/k≪p(n)≪n−1/(k+1). For each k, we give an axiomatization for the theory Tk. We find a model ℳk of Tk of order type roughly that of Zk and show that no other models of Tk exist of smaller size. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 13: 229–248, 1998
A search for H i 21 cm absorption in strong Mg ii absorbers in the redshift desert

We report results from a deep search for redshifted H I 21 cm absorption in 55 strong Mg IIλ2796 absorbers (having W λ2796 0 > 0.5 A) at intermediate redshifts, 0.58 3σ significance in 32 other Mg II absorbers, with 26 of these providing strong upper limits to the H I 21 cm optical depth, τ 3σ [800 × f ] K (where f is the covering factor), if the H I column density is ≥2 × 10 20 cm −2 , i.e. if the absorber is a damped Lyman α system (DLA). Data on the remaining 13 systems of the sample were affected by radio frequency interference and were hence not useful. Two of the Mg II absorbers, at zabs ∼ 1.4106 towards 2003−025 and at zabs ∼ 0.9115 towards 2149+212, are known DLAs. We detect H I 21 cm absorption towards 2003−025 with the GMRT and estimate the spin temperature of the DLA to be T s = [(905 ± 380) × f ]K . Conversely, the GBT observations of 2149+212 resulted in a non-detection of H I 21 cm absorption, yielding the 3σ limit T s > [2700 × f ]K . Excluding ‘associated’ systems (within 3000 km s −1 of the quasar redshift), the detection rate
Engineering the Oryza sativa cell wall with rice NAC transcription factors regulating secondary wall formation

Plant tissues that require structural rigidity synthesize a thick, strong secondary cell wall of lignin, cellulose and hemicelluloses in a complicated bridged structure. Master regulators of secondary wall synthesis were identified in dicots, and orthologs of these regulators have been identified in monocots, but regulation of secondary cell wall formation in monocots has not been extensively studied. Here we demonstrate that the rice transcription factors SECONDARY WALL NAC DOMAIN PROTEINs (SWNs) can regulate secondary wall formation in rice (Oryza sativa) and are potentially useful for engineering the monocot cell wall. The OsSWN1 promoter is highly active in sclerenchymatous cells of the leaf blade and less active in xylem cells. By contrast, the OsSWN2 promoter is highly active in xylem cells and less active in sclerenchymatous cells. OsSWN2 splicing variants encode two proteins; the shorter protein (OsSWN2S) has very low transcriptional activation ability, but the longer protein (OsSWN2L) and OsSWN1 have strong transcriptional activation ability. In rice, expression of an OsSWN2S chimeric repressor, driven by the OsSWN2 promoter, resulted in stunted growth and para-wilting (leaf rolling and browning under normal water conditions) due to impaired vascular vessels. The same OsSWN2S chimeric repressor, driven by the OsSWN1 promoter, caused a reduction of cell wall thickening in sclerenchymatous cells, a drooping leaf phenotype, reduced lignin and xylose contents and increased digestibility as forage. These data suggest that OsSWNs regulate secondary wall formation in rice and manipulation of OsSWNs may enable improvements in monocotyledonous crops for forage or biofuel applications.
Matrix approach to rough sets through vector matroids over a field

Rough sets were proposed to deal with the vagueness and incompleteness of knowledge in information systems. There are may optimization issues in this field such as attribute reduction. Matroids generalized from matrices are widely used in optimization. Therefore, it is necessary to connect matroids with rough sets. In this paper, we take field into consideration and introduce matrix to study rough sets through vector matroids. First, a matrix representation of an equivalence relation is proposed, and then a matroidal structure of rough sets over a field is presented by the matrix. Second, the properties of the matroidal structure including circuits, bases and so on are studied through two special matrix solution spaces, especially null space. Third, over a binary field, we construct an equivalence relation from matrix null space, and establish an algebra isomorphism from the collection of equivalence relations to the collection of sets, which any member is a family of the minimal non-empty sets that are supports of members of null space of a binary dependence matrix. In a word, matrix provides a new viewpoint to study rough sets.
Automated 3D scan multi-view registration based on rotation estimation

{huaxin.wang, j.s. m.vergeest, y.song, t.wiegers}@tudelft.nl ABSTRACT A new approach is presented for automatic registration of a sequence of 3D scanned range images into a complete model. Provided that the user follows the proposed scanning strategy, the difficulty to register the split views into a complete model is alleviated and success rate of automatic registration is improved by an adaptive forward estimation based on the extracted rotation axes and angles of the object between each scanning steps. The basic idea of this improvement is that when each of the scan differs slightly from its previous one in a small rotation about an approximately constant axis, the rotation axes and angle in the previous scanning step can be used as the first estimation of the rotation in the next step, so as to avoid manual coarse initial alignment. Formulation of the principle is provided and experimental results demonstrated.
Knowledge sharing through virtual teams across borders and boundaries

This study focuses on a challenge faced by multinational corporations: how to enhance knowledge sharing across geographical and functional boundaries given the multifaceted nature of knowledge. The article demonstrates how a multinational company can create the means and spaces necessary to achieve effective knowledge sharing and learning by highlighting a viable information system that supports social networking. It also offers a virtual team structure that draws upon and strengthens employees’ social ties, which can boost organization-wide management of fine-grained knowledge. This combined approach mitigates the negative effects of physical and organizational distance on the availability of support and information. The present study contributes to organizational learning and knowledge-sharing discussions by shedding light on how virtual teams that function as knowledge activists can enhance internal knowledge sharing in globally dispersed organizations.
Simultaneous learning of motion and appearance

A new learning method for motion estimation of objects with significantly varying appearance is proposed. Varying object appearance is represented by a low dimensional space of appearance parameters. The appearance mapping and motion estimation method are optimized simultaneously. Appearance parameters are estimated by unsupervised learning. The method is experimentally verified by a tracking application on sequences which exhibit strong variable illumination, non-rigid deformations and self-occlusions.
A New Preference Reversal in Health Utility Measurement

A central assumption in health utility measurement is that preferences are invariant to the elicitation method that is used. This assumptioin is challenged by preferences reversals. Previous studies have observed prefrence resersals between choise and matching tasks and between choise and ranking tasks. We present a new preference reversal that entirely choise-based. Because choise is the basic primitive of economics and utility theory, this preference reversal is more fundamental and troubling. The preference reversal was observed in two studies regarding health states after stroke. Both studies involved large representative samples from the Spanish population, interwied professionally and face-to-face. Possible explanations for the preference reversal are the anticipation of disappointment and elation is risky choise anda the impact of ethical co0nsiderations about the value of live.
An experience-driven robotic assistant acquiring human knowledge to improve haptic cooperation

Physical cooperation with humans greatly enhances the capabilities of robotic systems when leaving standardized industrial settings. Our novel cognition-enabled control framework presented in this paper enables a robotic assistant to enrich its own experience by acquisition of human task knowledge during joint manipulation. Our robot incrementally learns semantic task structures during joint task execution using hierarchically clustered Hidden Markov Models. A semantic labeling of recognized task segments is acquired from the human partner through speech. After a small number of repetitions, the robot uses an anticipated task progress to generate a feed-forward set point for an admittance feedback control scheme. This paper describes the framework and its implementation on a mobile bi-manual platform. The evolution of the robot's task knowledge is presented and discussed. Finally, the cooperation quality is measured in terms of the robot's task contribution.
A numerical ab initio study of harmonic generation from a ring-shaped model molecule in laser fields

When a laser pulse impinges on a molecule which is invariant under certain symmetry operations selection rules for harmonic generation (HG) arise. In other words, symmetry controls which channels are open for the deposition and emission of laser energy-with the possible application of filtering or amplification. We review the derivation of HG selection rules and study numerically the interaction of laser pulses with an effectively one-dimensional ring-shaped model molecule. The harmonic yields obtained from that model and their dependence on laser frequency and intensity are discussed. In a real experiment obvious candidates for such molecules are benzene, other aromatic compounds, or even nanotubes.
Modern speed control of separately excited DC Motor by Boost converter fed field control method

In this paper, an innovative technique of the speed control of the separately excited DC Motor by Boost converter fed field control is being discussed. Purpose of a motor speed controller is to take a signal representing the required speed and to drive a motor at that speed. Controlling the PWM duty cycle is equivalent to controlling the motor field winding terminal voltage, which in turn adjusts directly the motor speed. By adjusting the duty cycle of the IGBT then the output voltage is varied. This voltage is above the rated voltage. If we can apply this voltage to the field winding, the flux production is more than the normal level. Due to this, automatically speed will be decreased. By providing one variable series resistance in the output terminal of the chopper, then if it is varied means, the current flow through the field winding is limited. By this condition, the flux production is less. Now the speed will be going to increases. In this method, the field winding should be designed for above the rated voltage. This work is a feasible one and high feasibility according to economic point of view and accuracy. In this work, developmental design of hardware of a closed loop dc motor speed control system by field control with PI speed controller have been explained and illustrated.
Variable investment, the Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma, and the origin of cooperation

Cooperation is fundamental to many biological systems. A common metaphor for studying the evolution of cooperation is the Prisoner's Dilemma, a game with two strategies: cooperate or defect. However, cooperation is rarely all or nothing, and its evolution probably involves the gradual extension of initially modest degrees of assistance. The inability of the Prisoner's Dilemma to capture this basic aspect limits its use for understanding the evolutionary origins of cooperation. Here we consider a framework for cooperation based on the concept of investment: an act which is costly, but which benefits other individuals, where the cost and benefit depend on the level of investment made. In the resulting Continuous Prisoner's Dilemma the essential problem of cooperation remains: in the absence of any additional structure non–zero levels of investment cannot evolve. However, if investments are considered in a spatially structured context, selfish individuals who make arbitrarily low investments can be invaded by higher–investing mutants. This results in the mean level of investment evolving to significant levels, where it is maintained indefinitely. This approach provides a natural solution to the fundamental problem of how cooperation gradually increases from a non–cooperative state.