Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved Collaborative Filtering Recommendation Algorithm Based on Community Detection in Social Networks

Recommendation algorithms in social networks have attracted much attention in recent years. Collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm is one of the most commonly used recommendation algorithms. Traditional user-based collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm recommends based on the user-item rating matrix, but the large amounts of data may cause low efficiency. In this paper, we propose an improved collaborative filtering recommendation algorithm based on community detection. Firstly, the user-item rating matrix is mapped into the user similarity network. Furthermore, a novel discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm is applied to find communities in the user similarity network, and finally Top-N items are recommend to the recommended user according to the communities. The experiments on a real dataset validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for improving the precision, coverage and efficiency of recommendation.
Automatic bi-modal emotion recognition system based on fusion of facial expressions and emotion extraction from speech

Our software demo package consists of an implementation for an automatic human emotion recognition system. The system is bi-modal and is based on fusing of data regarding facial expressions and emotion that has been extracted from speech signal. We have integrated Viola & Jones face detector (OpenCV), active appearance model - AAM (AAM-API) for extracting the face shape and support vector machines (LibSVM) for the classification of emotion patterns. We have used optical flow algorithm for computing the features needed for the classification of facial expressions. Beside the integration of all processing components, the software system accommodates our implementation for the data fusion algorithm. Our C++ implementation has a working frame-rate of about 5 fps.
Performance of Streck cfDNA Blood Collection Tubes for Liquid Biopsy Testing

Objectives Making liquid biopsy testing widely available requires a concept to ship whole blood at ambient temperatures while retaining the integrity of the cell-free DNA (cfDNA) population and stability of blood cells to prevent dilution of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) with wild-type genomic DNA. The cell- and DNA-stabilizing properties of Streck Cell-Free DNA BCT blood collection tubes (cfDNA BCTs) were evaluated to determine if they can be utilized in combination with highly sensitive mutation detection technologies. Methods Venous blood from healthy donors or patients with advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) was collected in cfDNA BCTs and standard K2EDTA tubes. Tubes were stored at different temperatures for various times before plasma preparation and DNA extraction. The isolated cfDNA was analyzed for overall DNA yield of short and long DNA fragments using qPCR as well as for mutational changes using BEAMing and Plasma Safe-Sequencing (Safe-SeqS). Results Collection of whole blood from healthy individuals in cfDNA BCTs and storage for up to 5 days at room temperature did not affect the DNA yield and mutation background levels (n = 60). Low-frequency mutant DNA spiked into normal blood samples as well as mutant circulating tumor DNA in blood samples from CRC patients collected in cfDNA BCTs were reliably detected after 3 days of storage at room temperature. However, blood samples stored at ≤ 10°C and at 40°C for an extended period of time showed elevated normal genomic DNA levels and an abnormally large cellular plasma interface as well as lower plasma volumes. Conclusion Whole blood shipped in cfDNA BCTs over several days can be used for downstream liquid biopsy testing using BEAMing and Safe-SeqS. Since the shipping temperature is a critical factor, special care has to be taken to maintain a defined room temperature range to obtain reliable mutation testing results.
Light-emission-based biosensor for detection of food pathogens: a review

Rapid detection, identification and enumeration of pathogenic microorganisms is highly important to the food industry to address the food safety concerns. Biosensors are devices that promise to achieve these objectives, these analytical devices can accurately and selectively estimate the levels of foodborne pathogens. The most widely applied biosensors are based on the optical properties like absorption, fluorescence, reflection, refraction, dispersion etc. This review is done to provide an overview of optic based biosensor and their application in the area of food safety. Working principles of Surface plasmon resonance , resonant mirror and fiber optic based biosensor are described in the article. Resonant mirror based biosensor has been used for the estimation of S. aureus, it was proven selective for the strain being tested (Cowan-1). The sensitivity of the assay was increased by using colloidal-gold conjugates in sandwich assay format. An integrated fiber optic based biosensor is used for detection of Salmonella typhimurium reducing the detection time to 30 min. Fiber optic based biosensors offer advantage of compactness, flexibility , resistance to electrical noise and small probe size.
A new deep reactive ion etching process by dual sidewall protection layer

This paper describes a new deep reactive ion etching (D-RIE) process which drastically improves the aspect ratio of the etched trench. The conventional D-RIE process obtains the high aspect ratio trench etching with the protection layer, such as a polymeric layer. The etching anisotropy is limited in this process because this protection layer prevents not only lateral etching, but also vertical etching. In contrast, the new process we developed intensively prevents lateral etching with a dual protection layer consists of a polymeric layer and a SiO/sub 2/ layer on the trench sidewall. Therefore the etching anisotropy and the aspect ratio can be improved. Furthermore, this process can only be performed by switching the introducing gas into the etching chamber.
Physical justiflcation for using the tensor product to describe two quantum systems as one joint system

We require the following three conditions to hold on two systems being described as a joint system: (1) the structure of the two systems is preserved: (2) a measurement on one of the systems does not disturb the other one; (3) maximal information obtained on both systems separately gives maximal information on the joint system. With these conditions we show, within the framework of the propositional system formalism, that if the systems are classical the joint system is described by the cartesian product of the corresponding phase spaces, and if the systems are quantal the joint system is described by the tensor product of the corresponding Hilbert spaces.
Close pair queries in moving object databases

Databases of moving objects are important for air traffic control, ground traffic, and battlefield configurations. We introduce the (historical and spatial) range close-pair query for moving objects as an important problem for such databases. The purpose of a range close-pair query for moving objects is to find pairs of objects that were closer than ε during time interval $I$ and within spatial range R, where ε, I and R are user-specified parameters.This paper solves the range close-pair query using two components: the retrieval component and the close-pair identification component. The retrieval component breaks up long trajectories into trajectory segments, which are produced in increasing time order, without the need for sorting. The retrieval component takes advantage of a new index mechanism, the Multiple TSB-tree. The segments are then pipelined to the close-pair identification component. The identification component introduces a novel spatial sweep that sweeps by time and one spatial dimension at the same time. Extensive experimental results are provided, demonstrating the advantages of the new approach when considering close pairs.
Improved B1 distribution of an MRI RF coil element using a high-impedance-surface shield

In this paper we propose an approach to improve the B1 distribution in terms of homogeneity and penetration depth of a coil element by utilizing a high impedance surface (HIS) as the RF shield for 7 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The transverse magnetic field distribution in the case of a HIS and a perfect electrical conductor (PEC) being the shielding plate are compared for different separation distances from the dipole coil to the shielding plate. As the PEC shield is adjacent to the dipole coil, an undesired surface current is induced on the PEC shielding plate by the dipole coil, whereas the induced surface current on the HIS shield is sufficiently suppressed due to the high surface impedance. As a result, the dipole coil with a HIS shield exhibits a broader and stronger field distribution, and thus achieves an improvement on the transverse B1 homogeneity as well as the penetration depth. As the separation distance increases, the impact of the induced current is weakened and thus variations on the field distribution with different shielding scenarios (HIS and PEC) are reduced. The proposed approach has been validated by numerical simulations and experimental measurements, which show a good agreement.
Mechatronic design, kinematics analysis of a 3 DOF medical parallel robot

Robots are one of the most representative fields in mechatronics, this article presents the development process of a mechatronic system, taking into account 3 DOF parallel robots, pointing out the integration of the elements and showing the challenges needed to be faced for the interfaces between the robot modules and the GUI (Graphical User Interface). The interface uses virtual reality to provide the user with an interactive 3D graphical representation of the parallel robot.
Microstructure of Nb‐Bearing Pipeline Steel with Improved Property Applying Ultrafast Cooling Process

X70 pipe line steel with high mechanical strength and high ductility can be achieved through hot rolling and ultrafast cooling process at a low cost. A large amount of nano‐sized precipitates and dislocations are identified near the surface layer of the steel applying ultrafast cooling, which contribute immeasurably to the improvement of mechanical properties. In addition, high cooling rate decreases the mean distance of pearlite laminae, and massive ferrite grains characterized by curved grain boundaries and high dislocation density are also transformed as one of the typical microstructures in the samples applying ultrafast cooling process.
Women's Empowerment and Nutrition: An Evidence Review

This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of womenâ€™s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventionsâ€”cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programsâ€”on womenâ€™s empowerment, nutrition, or both.
Relative Debugging Using Multiple Program Versions

Incremental software development is the process of building new programs by modifying old ones. This method of programming is extremely common, and takes advantage of existing pieces of software which are known to be correct. The result is that are many software versions in existance at the same time. To date, most software development tools have addressed only one aspect of incremental software development, namely, source code control. An equally important issue is in verifying that future versions of a program have the same dynamic behaviour as the original. Currently, there are no tools which address this issue. In this paper we introduce a new concept called relative debugging, which supports the incremental development of computer programs. Relative debugging makes it possible to compare the execution of two programs with the same functionality. The programs can run on the same computer, or on di erent computers connected by a network. They can di er in their source programming language or in implementation details. One of the programs usually serves as a reference version which produces the desired results. The execution of the other process is compared to the reference version in order to nd discrepancies. We describe basic primitives for relative debugging and their implementation in a debugger called Guard. Guard is built on top of our portable debugging interface which provides a debugging platform for heterogeneous environments. The utility of Guard is illustrated by a practical example, in which a program written in Fortran is used to nd errors in a version of the same code written in the C programming language.
A direct algorithm for estimating daily regional Evapotranspiration from modis TOA radiances

Satellite remote sensing is a promising technique for estimating global or regional ET (Evapotranspiration). A simplified single-source energy balance parameterization scheme, known as the surface temperature-vegetation index (Ts-VI) triangle method, has been applied successfully to estimate regional clear sky ET in many studies. On the basis of this approach, we proposed a new method to estimate daily ET directly using the TOA (top of atmosphere) radiances without performing atmospheric correction and other processes. The estimated EF, net radiation and ET have been validated against field observations collected for the period October 2007-July 2008. The results suggest that the proposed method appears to provide daily EF, net radiation and ET with comparable accuracy to those of current widely used satellite-based methods. Overall, the proposed algorithm has fewer assumptions and can avoid the uncertainties associated with the satellite derived products.
Unsupervised Representation Learning for Pulmonary Nodule Classification

Pulmonary nodule classification has aroused much interest for a long time, which can be an effective method for early diagnosis of lung cancer. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems are helpful to realize totally automatic classification for pulmonary nodule, based on computed tomography (CT) scans. It is important to emphasize that even we are easy to access sufficient CT scans, there are always very few annotations related to pulmonary nodules and the annotation process is a huge burden for radiologists. We propose a novel unsupervised representation learning method integrated with convolutional architecture to face the challenge and obtain promising results on the the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) dataset.
Cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia.

Cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) is one form of a cancer of the blood-forming tissue (bone marrow) called acute myeloid leukemia. In normal bone marrow, early blood cells called hematopoietic stem cells develop into several types of blood cells: white blood cells (leukocytes) that protect the body from infection, red blood cells (erythrocytes) that carry oxygen, and platelets (thrombocytes) that are involved in blood clotting. In acute myeloid leukemia, the bone marrow makes large numbers of abnormal, immature white blood cells called myeloid blasts. Instead of developing into normal white blood cells, the myeloid blasts develop into cancerous leukemia cells. The large number of abnormal cells in the bone marrow interferes with the production of functional white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets.
Investigation into bottle-neck features for meeting speech recognition

This work investigates into recently proposed Bottle-Neck features for ASR. The bottle-neck ANN structure is imported into Split Context architecture gaining significant WER reduction. Further, Universal Context architecture was developed which simplifies the system by using only one universal ANN for all temporal splits. Significant WER reduction can be obtained by applying fMPE on top of our BN features as a technique for discriminative feature extraction and further gain is also obtained by retraining model parameters using MPE criterion. The results are reported on meeting data from RT07 evaluation.
Fairness in Capacitated Networks: A Polyhedral Approach

The problem of fair and feasible allocation of user throughputs in capacitated networks is investigated. The main contribution of the paper is a novel geometric approach, which facilitates to generalize several throughput allocation strategies, most importantly max-min fairness, from the traditional "fixed-path" model to a more versatile, routing-independent model. We show that the set of throughput configurations realizable in a capacitated network makes up a polyhedron, which gives rise to a max-min fair allocation completely analogous to the conventional one. An algorithm to compute this polyhedron is also presented, whose viability is demonstrated by comprehensive evaluation studies.
New perspective on visual information retrieval

Visual information retrieval (VIR) is a research area with more than 300 scientific publications every year. Technological progress lets surveys become out of date within a short duration. This paper intends to shortly describe selected important advances in VIR in recent years and point out promising directions for future research. A software architecture for visual media handling is proposed that allows handling image and video content equally. This allows to integrate both types of media in a singe system. The major advances in feature design are sketched and new methods for semantic enrichment are proposed. Guidelines are formulated for further development of feature extraction methods. The most relevant retrieval processes are described and an interactive method for visual mining is suggested that really puts "the human in the loop". For evaluation, the classic recall- and precision-based approach is discussed as well as a new procedure based on MPEG-7 and statistical data analysis. Finally, an "ideal" architecture for VIR systems is outlined. The selection of VIR topics is subjective and represents the author's point of view. The intention is to provide a short but substantial introduction to the field of VIR.
Analyzing the Social Structure and Dynamics of E-mail and Spam in Massive Backbone Internet Traffic

E-mail is probably the most popular application on the Internet, with everyday busi- ness and personal communications dependent on it. Spam or unsolicited e-mail has been estimated to cost businesses significant amounts of money. However, our understanding of the network-level behavior of legitimate e-mail traffic and how it differs from spam traffic is limited. In this study, we have passively captured SMTP packets from a 10 Gbit/s Internet backbone link to construct a social network of e-mail users based on their exchanged e-mails. The focus of this paper is on the graph metrics indicating various structural properties of e-mail networks and how they evolve over time. This study also looks into the differences in the structural and temporal characteristics of spam and non- spam networks. Our analysis on the collected data allows us to show several differences between the behavior of spam and legitimate e-mail traffic, which can help us to under- stand the behavior of spammers and give us the knowledge to statistically model spam traffic on the network-level in order to complement current spam detection techniques.
Pathogenic Free-Living Amoebae Isolated From Contact Lenses of Keratitis Patients

Background: Free-living amoeba (FLA)-related keratitis is a progressive infection of the cornea with poor prognosis. The present study aimed to investigates the contact lenses of patients with keratitis for pathogenic free-living amoebae. Methods: Overall, 62 contact lenses and their paraphernalia of patients with keratitis cultured and tested for the presence of free-living amoebae using morphological criteria. Unusual plates including plates containing mix amoebae and Vermamoeba were submitted to molecular analysis. Results: Out of 62 plates, 11 revealed the outgrowth of free living amoeba of which 9 were Acanthamoeba, one plates contained mix amoebae including Acanthamoeba and Vermamoeba and one showed the presence of Vermamoeba. These two latter plates belonged to patients suffered from unilateral keratitis due to the misused of soft contact lenses. One of the patients had mix infection of Acanthamoeba (T4) and V. vermiformis meanwhile the other patient was infected with the V. vermiformis. Conclusion: Amoebic keratitis continues to rise in Iran and worldwide. To date, various genera of free-living amoebae such as Vermamoeba could be the causative agent of keratitis. Soft contact lens wearers are the most affected patients in the country, thus awareness of high-risk people for preventing free-living amoebae related keratitis is of utmost importance.
Fingerprint matching by using 2D discrete cosine transform and 2D fourier transforms

In this paper, we proposed a fingerprint matching using the two dimensional discrete cosine transform features. In this paper we crop input images from the size 480×640 pixels into 128×128 pixels, and then divided the image into 64 sub-images, earth sub_images have the size 16×16 pixels. We measure our algorithm performs by the correlation value of the 2D discrete cosine transform (DCT) and 2D Fourier transforms (FFT). And we used images for testing are obtained from FVC-2004 (DB-1A) and FVC - 2002 (DB2-A). From this evaluation and results, we can see that this method offers better performance when compared to other individual matching. Moreover, our method is not sensitive to rotational effect. The proposed technique is based on the availability of core point, therefore, the proposed technique introduce some errors if the core point cannot be located or improperly located. The matching is performed using the two dimensional discrete cosine transform and two dimensional Fourier transform to find the magnitude of the spectrum, spectrum phase, and the value of line angle.
Fabrication of Wolter I multilayer coated optics via electroforming: an update

Previously we reported the ability to lift off, via electroforming, multilayers deposited on gold coated flat mandrels. We had shown the multilayers remained intact after separation as the X-ray reflectivity produced peaks in the reflectivity versus energy measurements. Since gold is high a Z material and is not easy to remove via chemical etching, we have now developed the ability to use a low-Z material that is also etchable. Moreover, we improved the quality of the smoothing with the process of amorphous carbon nitride (CNx) deposition on electroless nickel in both our test chamber and our much larger fabrication chamber. Our method of mandrel preparation is to first deposit CNx on electroless nickel, then a low-Z release layer, and then the multilayers. We have demonstrated that flat mandrels produced in this manner can be cooled to liquid nitrogen temperatures without harm. This is important as the usual practice is to shrink mandrels that have Wolter I shape via liquid nitrogen. We have coated a truncated-cone-shaped 'engineering' (not high quality in terms of smoothness) mandrel and have removed the layers, intact, on the inside of an electroform with a cylindrical, truncated- cone geometry. We report the details of the fabrication, engineering, and X-ray tests.