Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of BLE-Based Multi-hop Communication System for Detecting Slope Failure Using Smartphones

In this paper, we propose a novel system called Downhill, which collects data for slope failure detection. Our system builds a Bluetooth Low Energy-based multi-hop communication network using smartphones. As a low-cost alternative to pile sensors, the system uses smartphones as sensor terminals to collect data. The smartphone sensors are placed in mountainous areas, which are prone to slope failures, and establish a MANET using their built-in BLE interface. If a smartphone detects ground movement, its collected acceleration data and GPS location data are sent to a server via the BLE network. These functions are executed by an application running on the smartphones. Hence, in the proposed system, it is possible to use the smartphone as the sensor terminal as long as one that has sufficient performance for use as the sensor terminal is prepared. To show the effectiveness of the system, we performed multi-hop communication experiments using Downhill in mountains that are at risk of landslides. Results show that Downhill is able to use effectively in the warning area of slope failure.
Buffer Sizing and Polarity Assignment in Clock Tree Synthesis for Power/Ground Noise Minimization

In synchronous systems, clock tree causes high peak current at clock edges, increasing power/ground noise significantly, if the clock tree is not carefully designed. This paper addresses the problem of minimizing power/ground noise in the clock tree synthesis. Contrary to the previous approaches which only make use of assigning polarities to clock buffers to reduce power/ground noise, our approach solves a new problem of simultaneous consideration of assigning polarities to clock buffers and determining buffer sizes to fully exploit the effects of buffer sizing together with polarity assignment on the minimization of power/ground noise while satisfying the clock skew constraint. Specifically, the contributions of this paper are: 1) precisely estimating peak currents by clock buffers and reflecting them on the power/ground noise minimization; 2) proposing a pseudo-polynomial time optimal algorithm based on dynamic programming for solving the integrated problem, together with the proof of intractability of the problem; 3) devising a systematic design flow framework for reducing the power/ground noise over the entire chip; and 4) considering the effect of thermal variation on the clock skew bound and the noise minimization.
Building research capacity for social work practitioners: a regional perspective

ABSTRACT This article explores the research experiences, interests and capacity of social work professionals working as frontline workers and managers in human service organizations in regional South Australia. It also draws attention to social work practice issues requiring further investigation as identified by these professionals. The research data for this paper were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data provided evidence to show the extent of research interests among social work practitioners in the region. Qualitative data added depth to the findings by identifying social work practice issues as described by research participants. The study revealed that few participants had any research experience; however, the majority felt the need to undertake research, expressed interest in research training and a desire to be involved in research projects. These findings have implications for higher education providers in the social work discipline. They draw attention to the importance of better preparing students for research in practice, and also for schools of social work to actively engage in building research capacity and output in regional Australia. Abbreviations: Frontline social work professionals (FLSWP); The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
Relaxed design conditions for Takagi-Sugeno unknown input observers

New design conditions for the Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model based unknown input observer, is presented in the paper. By the proposed methods, the design problem is parameterized in terms of linear matrix inequalities in relaxed and enhanced structures. Related to the state decoupling and reconstruction in the given class nonlinear systems, the design steps are revealed in the example for attenuation of an unknown input to the state estimation error.
A method for cross-document narrative alignment of a two-hundred-sixty-million word corpus

Identifying similar narrative sections across longer documents would help identify key events within a corpus, enrich understanding of those events, provide a mechanism for organizing corpora according to their event content, and allow for bottom-up testing of theories of narrative. This paper proposes an automated method for narrative alignment across large textual corpora using techniques from natural language processing and similarity-based image segmentation. This method proceeds by segmenting each document into a series of events, constructs sequences of abstracted representations of those events, compares pairs of sequences to generate image matrices, segments the images, identifies similar segments to discover commonly occurring narrative units, and, finally, returns the source sentences to make the clusters of narrative similarity readable. Preliminary tests of elements of this method were conducted on a small heterogeneous corpus (<; 100 documents) and a moderate heterogeneous corpus (10k documents). Further implementation as described in this position paper is necessary to scale to the full 251k document corpus from which the moderate corpus was drawn.
Observation of muon intensity variations by season with the MINOS far detector

The temperature of the upper atmosphere affects the height of primary cosmic ray interactions and the production of high-energy cosmic ray muons which can be detected deep underground. The MINOS far detector at Soudan MN, USA, has collected over 67 million cosmic ray induced muons. The underground muon rate measured over a period of five years exhibits a 4% peak-to-peak seasonal variation which is highly correlated with the temperature in the upper atmosphere. The coefficient, $\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\alpha_T$, relating changes in the muon rate to changes in atmospheric temperature was found to be: $\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\alpha_T = 0.874 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\pm 0.009$ (stat.) $\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\pm 0.010$ (syst.). Pions and kaons in the primary hadronic interactions of cosmic rays in the atmosphere contribute differently to $\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\alpha_T$ due to the different masses and lifetimes. This allows the measured value of $\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\alpha_T$ to be interpreted as a measurement of the K/$\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\pi$ ratio for $E_{p}\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\gtrsim$\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\unit[7]{TeV} of $0.13 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\pm 0.08$, consistent with the expectation from collider experiments.
An Improved Intelligent Agent for Mining Real-Time Databases Using Modified Cortical Learning Algorithms

Cortical Learning Algorithms based on the Hierarchical Temporal Memory, HTM have been developed by Numenta Incorporation from which variations and modifications are currently being investigated upon. HTM offers better promises as a future computational model of the neocortex the seat of intelligence in the brain. Currently, intelligent agents are embedded in almost every modern day electronic system found in homes, offices and industries worldwide. In this paper, we present a first step in realising useful HTM like applications specifically for mining a synthetic and real time dataset based on a novel intelligent agent framework, and demonstrate how a modified version of this very important computational technique will lead to improved recognition.
NOTCH3 Expression Is Induced in Mural Cells Through an Autoregulatory Loop That Requires Endothelial-Expressed JAGGED1

Endothelial cells and mural cells (smooth muscle cells, pericytes, or fibroblasts) are known to communicate with one another. Their interactions not only serve to support fully functional blood vessels but also can regulate vessel assembly and differentiation or maturation. In an effort to better understand the molecular components of this heterotypic interaction, we used a 3D model of angiogenesis and screened for genes, which were modulated by coculturing of these 2 different cell types. In doing so, we discovered that NOTCH3 is one gene whose expression is robustly induced in mural cells by coculturing with endothelial cells. Knockdown by small interfering RNA revealed that NOTCH3 is necessary for endothelial-dependent mural cell differentiation, whereas overexpression of NOTCH3 is sufficient to promote smooth muscle gene expression. Moreover, NOTCH3 contributes to the proangiogenic abilities of mural cells cocultured with endothelial cells. Interestingly, we found that the expression of NOTCH3 is dependent on Notch signaling, because the &ggr;-secretase inhibitor DAPT blocked its upregulation. Furthermore, in mural cells, a dominant-negative Mastermind-like1 construct inhibited NOTCH3 expression, and endothelial-expressed JAGGED1 was required for its induction. Additionally, we demonstrated that NOTCH3 could promote its own expression and that of JAGGED1 in mural cells. Taken together, these data provide a mechanism by which endothelial cells induce the differentiation of mural cells through activation and induction of NOTCH3. These findings also suggest that NOTCH3 has the capacity to maintain a differentiated phenotype through a positive-feedback loop that includes both autoregulation and JAGGED1 expression.
Lipid Profile of Patients with Diabetes mellitus ( A Multidisciplinary Study )

The present study was carried out to determine the frequency and pattern of hyperlipidemia in patients with diabetes mellitus. This multidisciplinary study was conducted at combined military hospital and Liaquat University Hospital, Pakistan. All known cases of diabetes mellitus (type 1 and type 2), of = 1 year duration and of either gender were evaluated for their lipid profile. During six month study period, total 100 patients with diabetes mellitus were evaluated for lipid profile. Out of 100, diabetic patients 72 (72%) were males and 28 (28%) were females. 88 patients had type 2 diabetes mellitus and 12 patients had type 1 diabetes mellitus. The mean ± SD for age of patients with type 2 and type 1 diabetes mellitus was 53. 73 ± 7. 88 and 20. 53 ± 1. 58. 07 (58%) patients of type 1 diabetes mellitus and 65(74%) patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus were found to be hyperlipidemic. The pattern of lipid abnormalities observed was high triglyceride in 22 (31%) patients, high LDL in 14 (19%), low HDL in 08(11%), high cholesterol in 10(14%) and combined hyperlipidemia in 18(25%) diabetic patients. The diabetic patients are more prone to develop hyperlipidemia.
Tributary Alluvial Fan-Responses to Base-Level Fall by Axial Fluvial Incision: A Case in the Guadalquivir Valley (C rdoba, Spain)

The geomorphological, sedimentological and pedological analysis of a group of 11 alluvial fans located in the northern flank of the Guadalquivir Valley has shown that their genesis and evolution were controlled by base-level fall caused by axial fluvial incision of the Guadalquivir River during the Quaternary. The morphometric and morphological features of the study fans (i.e.: elongated plan-view, straight and concave longitudinal profiles, shallow incised channels in proximal sectors and shallow deposits) suggest that fan accommodation was predominantly progradational and the fluvial incision of the Guadalquivir River was therefore, insufficient to trigger distal erosion of the fans. The absence of mature red soils provides evidence of fan activity during the Pleistocene, while young soils on the fan surfaces suggest that the fan dynamics became non-functional during the Early Holocene. The absence of Neolithic/Chalcolitic artefacts in the fan sediments supports this idea.
A heuristics based approach for cellular mobile network planning

Designing and planning of the switching, signaling and support network is a fairly complex process in cellular mobile network. In this paper, the problem of assigning cells to switches in cellular mobile network, which is considered a planning problem, is addressed. The cell to switch assignment problem which falls under the category of the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP) is a proven NP--hard problem. Further, the problem is modeled to include an additional constraint in the formulation. The additional constraint is of the maximum number of switch ports that are used for a cell's Base Station Transceiver System (BTS) connectivity to the switch. The addition of the constraint on the number of ports on a switch has immense practical significance. This paper presents a non--deterministic heuristic based on Simulated Evolution (SimE) iterative algorithm to provide solutions. The methods adopted in this paper are a completely innovative formulation of the problem and involve application of Evolutionary Computing for this complex problem that may be extended to solutions of similar problems in VLSI design, distributed computing and many other applications.
Functionalized Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Enhance Transfection and Expression Efficiency of Plasmid DNA in Fish Cells

DNA vaccines are considered to be the most promising method against infectious diseases in the aquaculture industry. In the present study, we investigated the potency of ammonium group-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in enhancing the transfection and expression efficiency of plasmid DNA (pEGFP-vp5) in Ctenopharyngodon idellus kidney (CIK) cells. Agarose gel shift assay results show that ammonium group-functionalized carbon nanotubes are able to condense DNA in varying degrees. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images shows that CIK cells show a great affinity for MWCNTs-NH3+ and the CNTs covering the cell surface tend to orient their tips perpendicularly to the cell surface, and appear to be “needle-pricking the cells”. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images confirmed that MWCNTs-NH3+ penetrate the cell membranes and are widely dispersed in the CIK cell. Real-time PCR was used to detect the transfection efficiency through the expression of the outer capsid protein (VP5). The results showed that the MWCNTs-NH3+:DNA complexes are able to transfect CIK cells effectively at different charge ratio than naked DNA. Subsequent studies confirmed that both functional groups and charge ratio are important factors that determine the transfection efficiency of plasmid DNA. All these results indicated that MWCNTs-NH3+:DNA complexes could be suitable for developing DNA vaccine for the control of virus infection in the aquaculture industry.
Event geo-localization and tracking from crowd-sourced video metadata

We propose a novel technique for event geo-localization (i.e. 2-D location of the event on the surface of the earth) from the sensor metadata of crowd-sourced videos collected from smartphone devices. With the help of sensors available in the smartphone devices, such as digital compass and GPS receiver, we collect metadata information such as camera viewing direction and location along with the video. The event localization is then posed as a constrained optimization problem using available sensor metadata. Our results on the collected experimental data shows correct localization of events, which is particularly challenging for classical vision based methods because of the nature of the visual data. Since we only use sensor metadata in our approach, computational overhead is much less compared to what would be if video information is used. At the end, we illustrate the benefits of our work in analyzing the video data from multiple sources through geo-localization.
Opinions of Social Studies Prospective Teachers on Out-of-School Learning

This study aims to analyse opinions of social studies prospective teachers towards out-of-school learning. It was conducted with 12 prospective teachers who were at their final year at Kafkas University Education Faculty, Social Studies Teaching Department. In this qualitative study, phenomenological design was adopted, and the data was collected with semi-structured interview form which was developed by the researcher. To explain qualitative data and to find relationships, explanatory and inferential codes during analysis were adopted. Based on the results obtained from this study, prospective teachers expressed that they had inadequate knowledge about out-of-school learning, and out-of-school learning may present advantageous to learning process such as learning with doing-experiencing, permanence of subjects, and materialisation of information. Additionally, regarding out-of-school learning, prospective teachers expressed that there may be problems with time and incorrect learning practices. Recommendations were presented for these results.
Optimization and Criterions of Collaborative Sensing under Transmission Power Constraint

In cognitive networks, cognitive (unlicensed) users need to continuously monitor spectrum to detect the presence of primary (licensed) users. In this paper, collaborative spectrum sensing scheme is exploited as the masterstroke. , furthermore, cognitive users transmission powers are constrained, and the relative positions among the two cognitive users and the primary user in the three-dimensional space are randomly distributed, which are very closer to the actual working environment, Based on these conditions, a new model to optimize the performance of collaborative sensing is proposed. The feasibility of the model is well explained and supported by extensive simulations. The study results indicate that under the invariability of the operating mode, path loss, channel gain, and the transmission signal power of primary user, collaborative sensing performance is affected by the relative position changes between users and cognitive users, and transmission power change, but optimization can be achieved under certain conditions. The criterions proposed in the paper not only made cooperative spectrum sensing performance be improved, but also considerable narrowed the scope of cooperative sensing search.
AOE: a mobile operating environment for Web-based applications

In a mobile computing environment, an end user's experience can be degraded due to changing runtime conditions such as: high and very variable network latencies, server overloading caused by a large number of devices accessing a shared resource, inconsistent experience on different devices as mobile devices vary in resource capabilities, and service disruptions due to the lack of the network, a server or a device. In this paper we present the agile operating environment (AOE) that improves on a users experience by enabling on-device service replication, fault tolerance, and dynamic user interface presentation binding. An important aspect of these three features is that they adapt to runtime conditions to further improve the end users experience. We have prototyped the AOE system and several applications. In our design and in our prototype we have tried to adhere to the model of Web application in order to enable easy application portability. Our results demonstrate that our adaptation techniques can significantly improve a users experience by reducing the degradation that is typically evident in a mobile environment.
Segmented and directional impact detection for parked vehicles using mobile devices

Mutual usage of vehicles as well as car sharing became more and more attractive during the last years. Especially in urban environments with limited parking possibilities and a higher risk for traffic jams, car rentals and sharing services may save time and money. But when renting a vehicle it could already be damaged (e.g., scratches or bumps inflicted by a previous user) without the damage being perceived by the service provider. In order to address such problems, we present an automated, motion-based system for impact detection, that facilitates a common smartphone as a sensor platform. The system is capable of detecting the impact segment and the point of time of an impact event on a vehicle's surface, as well as its direction of origin. With this additional specific knowledge, it may be possible to reconstruct the circumstances of an impact event, e.g., to prove possible innocence of a service's customer.
Communication and Memory Optimized Tree Contraction and List Ranking

We present a simple and efficient algorithm for the Tree Contraction Problem on a Coarse Grained $p$-Multiprocessor. With respect to its total computing time, its demand of memory and its total inter-processor communication it is only a small constant factor away from optimality. Unless traditional PRAM algorithms it doesn't use List Ranking as a necessary subroutine but specializes to List Ranking when applied to lists.
Enhanced Transport Capabilities via Nanotechnologies: Impacting Bioefficacy, Controlled Release Strategies, and Novel Chaperones

Emerging nanotechnologies have, and will continue to have, a major impact on the pharmaceutical industry. Their influence on a drug's life cycle, inception to delivery, is rapidly expanding. As the industry moves more aggressively toward continuous manufacturing modes, utilizing Process Analytical Technology (PAT) and Process Intensification (PI) concepts, the critical role of transport phenomena becomes elucidated. The ability to transfer energy, mass, and momentum with directed purposeful outcomes is a worthwhile endeavor in establishing higher production rates more economically. Furthermore, the ability to obtain desired drug properties, such as size, habit, and morphology, through novel manufacturing strategies permits unique formulation control for optimum delivery methodologies. Bottom-up processing to obtain nano-sized crystals is an excellent example. Formulation and delivery are intimately coupled in improving bio-efficacy at reduced loading and/or better controlled release capabilities, minimizing side affects and providing improved therapeutic interventions. Innovative nanotechnology applications, such as simultaneous targeting, imaging and delivery to tumors, are now possible through use of novel chaperones. Other examples include nanoparticles attachment to T-cells, release from novel hydrogel implants, and functionalized encapsulants. Difficult tasks such as drug delivery to the brain via the blood brain barrier and/or the cerebrospinal fluid are now easier to accomplish.
At the Crossroads of Bacterial Metabolism and Virulence Factor Synthesis in Staphylococci

SUMMARY Bacteria live in environments that are subject to rapid changes in the availability of the nutrients that are necessary to provide energy and biosynthetic intermediates for the synthesis of macromolecules. Consequently, bacterial survival depends on the ability of bacteria to regulate the expression of genes coding for enzymes required for growth in the altered environment. In pathogenic bacteria, adaptation to an altered environment often includes activating the transcription of virulence genes; hence, many virulence genes are regulated by environmental and nutritional signals. Consistent with this observation, the regulation of most, if not all, virulence determinants in staphylococci is mediated by environmental and nutritional signals. Some of these external signals can be directly transduced into a regulatory response by two-component regulators such as SrrAB; however, other external signals require transduction into intracellular signals. Many of the external environmental and nutritional signals that regulate virulence determinant expression can also alter bacterial metabolic status (e.g., iron limitation). Altering the metabolic status results in the transduction of external signals into intracellular metabolic signals that can be “sensed” by regulatory proteins (e.g., CodY, Rex, and GlnR). This review uses information derived primarily using Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli to articulate how gram-positive pathogens, with emphasis on Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, regulate virulence determinant expression in response to a changing environment.