Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Size effects on parameters of cohesive zone model in mode I fracture of limestone

A method was proposed to determine the cohesive zone model parameters by taking the size effects into account. It has been shown in the past that among the cohesive zone model parameters, the fracture energy in rocks can be considerably dependent on the specimen size. To incorporate the size effects in the fracture energy of rocks, the Bazant’s size effect law was modified based on the concept of the fracture process zone. For this purpose, the fracture process zone length was considered as a function of the specimen size. The proposed approach was employed for determining the cohesive zone model parameters of limestone. Then, the load–displacement curves predicted by the proposed model were compared with the experimental results reported for limestone. It was found that the proposed approach was able to predict the variation of the fracture energy with respect to the specimen size successfully.
A sparse MLE approach for joint interference mitigation and data recovery

Consider the scenario where a receiver acquires information (data) corrupted by interference and noise. Both the information and interference have a sparse structure. To fully exploit the individual sparse structure of the information and interference, the joint interference mitigation and data recovery is formulated as a sparse maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) problem which maximizes the associated likelihood function under individual sparsity levels (ISLs) constraints. We propose an alternating optimization (AO) recovery algorithm to solve the non-convex sparse MLE problem. Under certain restricted isometry property (RIP) conditions, we show that the proposed AO algorithm converges to the optimal solution of the sparse MLE problem. We also derive an upper bound of the corresponding estimation error for the information. Simulations show that the proposed solution achieves significant gain over various baselines.
The use of program dependence graphs in software engineering

This paper describes a language-independent program representation-the program dependence graph-and discusses how program dependence graphs, together with operations such as program slicing, can provide the basis for powerful programmmg tools that address important software-engineering problems, such as understanding what an existing program does and how it works, understanding the differences between several versions of a program, and creating new programs by combining pieces of old pro- grams. The paper primarily surveys work in this area that has been carried out at the University of Wisconsin during the past five years.
A novel structure-from-motion strategy for refining depth map estimation and multi-view synthesis in 3DTV

The video-plus-depth format has been widely used for representing the 3D scene due to its main advantage of compatibility to image format. In practice, the depth inconsistency may lead to unsatisfactory view synthesis results. In this paper, we propose a new structure-from-motion (SfM) technique, called locally temporal bundle adjustment (LTBA), to handle the dynamic scenes as well as the static camera motion, which violates the conventional structure from motion assumption. By integrating the camera information, depth map, and video temporally, we develop a geometric quadrilateral filter to reduce noise in the depth map and enhance the spatio-temporal consistency to improve the quality of depth maps. We show the improved quality of dynamic depth maps by using the proposed algorithm through experiments on real video-plus-depth sequences.
PROPOSED MODIFICATIONS TO ACI 318-95 TENSION DEVELOPMENT AND LAP SPLICE FOR HIGH-STRENGTH CONCRETE. DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE

A discussion of a paper with the aforementioned title by A. Azizinamini, D. Darwin, R. Eligehausen, R. Pavel, and S.K. Ghosh, published in this journal (Volume 96, Number 6, November-December 1999), is presented. The discussers question whether the increase in nominal development length recommended by American Concrete Institute (ACI) standard 318-99 is sufficient to ensure adequate ductility or whether the code should also prescribe a minimum amount of transverse reinforcement for normal strength concrete members. Discussion is followed by closure from the authors.
Gluing free assembly of an advanced 3D structure using visual servoing.

The paper deals with robotic assembly of 5 parts by their U-grooves to achieve stables 3D MEMS, without any use of soldering effect. The parts and their grooves measure 400 m 400 m 100 m 1.5 m and 100 m 100 m 100 m 1.5 m leading to an assembly clearance ranging from -3 and +3 m. Two visual servo approaches are used simultaneously: 2D visual servo for gripping and release of parts and 3D visual servo for displacement of parts. The results of experiments are presented and analyzed.
Understanding the Message of Images with Knowledge Base Traversals

The message of news articles is often supported by the pointed use of iconic images. These images together with their captions encourage emotional involvement of the reader. Current algorithms for understanding the semantics of news articles focus on its text, often ignoring the image. On the other side, works that target the semantics of images, mostly focus on recognizing and enumerating the objects that appear in the image. In this work, we explore the problem from another perspective: Can we devise algorithms to understand the message encoded by images and their captions? To answer this question, we study how well algorithms can describe an image-caption pair in terms of Wikipedia entities, thereby casting the problem as an entity-ranking task with an image-caption pair as query. Our proposed algorithm brings together aspects of entity linking, subgraph selection, entity clustering, relatedness measures, and learning-to-rank. In our experiments, we focus on media-iconic image-caption pairs which often reflect complex subjects such as sustainable energy and endangered species. Our test collection includes a gold standard of over 300 image-caption pairs about topics at different levels of abstraction. We show that with a MAP of 0.69, the best results are obtained when aggregating content-based and graph-based features in a Wikipedia-derived knowledge base.
ROC curves in clinical chemistry: uses, misuses, and possible solutions.

BACKGROUND ROC curves have become the standard for describing and comparing the accuracy of diagnostic tests. Not surprisingly, ROC curves are used often by clinical chemists. Our aims were to observe how the accuracy of clinical laboratory diagnostic tests is assessed, compared, and reported in the literature; to identify common problems with the use of ROC curves; and to offer some possible solutions. METHODS We reviewed every original work using ROC curves and published in Clinical Chemistry in 2001 or 2002. For each article we recorded phase of the research, prospective or retrospective design, sample size, presence/absence of confidence intervals (CIs), nature of the statistical analysis, and major analysis problems. RESULTS Of 58 articles, 31% were phase I (exploratory), 50% were phase II (challenge), and 19% were phase III (advanced) studies. The studies increased in sample size from phase I to III and showed a progression in the use of prospective designs. Most phase I studies were powered to assess diagnostic tests with ROC areas >/=0.70. Thirty-eight percent of studies failed to include CIs for diagnostic test accuracy or the CIs were constructed inappropriately. Thirty-three percent of studies provided insufficient analysis for comparing diagnostic tests. Other problems included dichotomization of the gold standard scale and inappropriate analysis of the equivalence of two diagnostic tests. CONCLUSION We identify available software and make some suggestions for sample size determination, testing for equivalence in diagnostic accuracy, and alternatives to a dichotomous classification of a continuous-scale gold standard. More methodologic research is needed in areas specific to clinical chemistry.
Fatal Cases of Influenza A in Childhood

Background In the northern hemisphere winter of 2003–04 antigenic variant strains (A/Fujian/411/02 –like) of influenza A H3N2 emerged. Circulation of these strains in the UK was accompanied by an unusually high number of laboratory confirmed influenza associated fatalities in children. This study was carried out to better understand risk factors associated with fatal cases of influenza in children. Methodology/Principal Findings Case histories, autopsy reports and death registration certificates for seventeen fatal cases of laboratory confirmed influenza in children were analyzed. None had a recognized pre-existing risk factor for severe influenza and none had been vaccinated. Three cases had evidence of significant bacterial co-infection. Influenza strains recovered from fatal cases were antigenically similar to those circulating in the community. A comparison of protective antibody titres in age stratified cohort sera taken before and after winter 2003–04 showed that young children had the highest attack rate during this season (21% difference, 95% confidence interval from 0.09 to 0.33, p = 0.0009). Clinical incidences of influenza-like illness (ILI) in young age groups were shown to be highest only in the years when novel antigenic drift variants emerged. Conclusions/Significance This work presents a rare insight into fatal influenza H3N2 in healthy children. It confirms that circulating seasonal influenza A H3N2 strains can cause severe disease and death in children in the apparent absence of associated bacterial infection or predisposing risk factors. This adds to the body of evidence demonstrating the burden of severe illness due to seasonal influenza A in childhood.
Design of Wireless Mesh Networks under the Additive Interference Model

Wireless mesh networks are emerging as the next important arena for multihop wireless networking research. Due to several characteristics of these networks, they are amenable to network capacity and resource design in the same manner as more traditional wired networks, with the important difference that wireless interference must be accounted for in design. Studies have already appeared in the literature on such network design. In this paper, we consider this design problem. We mention previous formulations, which address the binary model of interference. We then consider the physical additive interference model, which is the physically more realistic one. So far in literature, the additive nature of interference has been ignored in this context for simplification. We show that existing techniques are not sufficient to address this case, and go on to present a new technique, utilizing blossom inequalities, which can find solutions to this problem. Numerical results show that our approach provides good results in practice.
Smooth Harmonic Transductive Learning

In this paper, we present a novel semi-supervisedsmooth harmonic transductive learning algorithm that canget closed-form solution. Our method introduces the unlabeledclass information to the learning process and triesto exploit the similar configurations shared by the labeldistribution of data. After discovering the property ofsmooth harmonic function based on spectral clusteringin classification task, we design an adaptive thresholdingmethod for smooth harmonic transductive learning basedon classification error. The proposed adaptive thresholdingmethod can select the most suitable thresholds flexibly.Plentiful experiments on data sets show our proposed closedformsmooth harmonic transductive learning framework getexcellent improvement compared with two baseline methods.
Procoagulatory State in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Is Promoted by Impaired Intestinal Barrier Function

Inflammatory and immune mediated disorders are risk factors for arterial and venous thromboembolism. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) confer an even greater risk of thromboembolic events than other inflammatory conditions. It has been shown that IBD patients display defective intestinal barrier functions. Thus, pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) coming from the intestinal bacterial burden might reach systemic circulation and activate innate immunity receptors on endothelial cells and platelets, promoting a procoagulative state. Aim of the study was to test this hypothesis, correlating the presence of circulating PAMPs with the activation of innate immune system and the activation of the coagulatory cascade in IBD patients. Specifically, we studied lipopolysaccharide (LPS), Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR4, and markers of activated coagulation (i.e., D-Dimer and prothrombin fragment F1+2) in the serum and plasma of IBD patients. We found that LPS levels are increased in IBD and correlate with TLR4 concentrations; although a mild correlation between LPS and CRP levels was detected, clinical disease activity does not appear to influence circulating LPS. Instead, serum LPS correlates with both D-Dimer and F1+2 measurements. Taken together, our data support the role of an impairment of intestinal barrier in triggering the activation of the coagulatory cascade in IBD.
A Hybrid System to Find & Fight Phishing Attacks Actively

Traditional anti-phishing methods and tools always worked in a passive way to receive users' submission and determine phishing URLs. Usually, they are not fast and efficient enough to find and take down phishing attacks. We analyze phishing reports from Anti-phishing Alliance of China(APAC) and propose a hybrid method to discover phishing attacks in an active way based on DNS query logs and known phishing URLs. We develop and deploy our system to report living phishing URLs automatically to APAC every day. Our system has become a main channel in supplying phishing reports to APAC in China and can be a good complement to traditional anti-phishing methods.
Noise removal using fourth-order partial differential equation with applications to medical magnetic resonance images in space and time

In this paper, we introduce a new method for image smoothing based on a fourth-order PDE model. The method is tested on a broad range of real medical magnetic resonance images, both in space and time, as well as on nonmedical synthesized test images. Our algorithm demonstrates good noise suppression without destruction of important anatomical or functional detail, even at poor signal-to-noise ratio. We have also compared our method with related PDE models.
Using BIP for Modeling and Verification of Networked Systems -- A Case Study on TinyOS-based Networks

We apply a model construction methodology to TinyOS- based networks, using the behavior-interaction-priority (BIP) component framework. The methodology consists in building the model of a node as the composition of a model extracted from a nesC program describing the application, and models of TinyOS components. Models for networks are obtained by composition of models for nodes by using BIP connectors implementing different types of radio chan- nels. This opens the way for enhanced analysis and early error detection by using verification techniques.
Does signalling mitigate the cost of agonistic interactions? A test in a cricket that has lost its song

Prevailing models of animal communication assume that signalling during aggressive conflict mitigates the costs of fighting. We tested this assumption by staging dyadic encounters between male field crickets, Teleogryllus oceanicus, under three conditions: (i) both males could sing aggressive songs, (ii) neither male could sing, and (iii) one male could sing but the other could not. We conducted experiments on males from a Hawaiian population from Kauai that has recently evolved signal loss, and males from a Hawaiian population from the Big Island that has not. Among both populations, interactions between two silent males were characterized by higher levels of aggression than interactions involving one or two singing males. Because the level of aggression is strongly related to the cost of fighting, these data demonstrate that signalling mitigates the cost of fighting. In mixed trials, we found no statistically significant differences between the behaviour of calling and non-calling males in either population. We conclude that there is no evidence that the Kauai population exhibits special adaptations to alleviate the costs of signal loss. Finally, we found that males were much more likely to signal after their opponent's retreat than after their own retreat. Aggressive song therefore meets the definition of a ‘victory display’.
Universal filtered multi-carrier with dynamic sub-band allocation

In this paper, we introduce a novel framework to allocate sub-bands dynamically for Universal Filtered Multi-Carrier (UFMC). Compared with the conventional uniform sub-band allocation, the proposed framework adjusts the size of sub-band based on the user demands, which improve the utilization efficiency of the subcarriers. Numerical simulations show that the proposed frame has similar performance on reliability, however outperforms the regular one in terms of flexibility.
Concurrent Inference through Dual Transformation

This paper presents two somewhat independent results and sketches a mechanism that could tie these results together to form an automated theorem proving method. The first point is a correct and complete inference method for first-order logic based on the transformation between conjunctive and disjunctive canonical normal forms. This method, although apparently very inefficient, presents interesting properties, such as not presenting external inference rules. The second point is a concurrent algorithm for dual transformation. This algorithm is presented in a general framework that can be specialized to model several formal systems. Finally, based on the representation adopted to define the algorithm, a dual transformation theorem proving method is sketched.1
Is subendocardial ischaemia present in patients with chest pain and normal coronary angiograms? A cardiovascular MR study.

AIMS On the basis of an MRI study it has been suggested that subendocardial hypoperfusion is present in patients with cardiac syndrome X. However, further work is required to test whether these findings can be generalized. METHODS AND RESULTS MRI was used to visually and semi-quantitatively assess subendocardial and subepicardial perfusion, at rest and during an infusion of adenosine, in 20 patients with angina pectoris and normal coronary angiograms. A myocardial perfusion index (MPI) was calculated using the normalized upslope of myocardial signal enhancement. An index for myocardial perfusion reserve (MPRI) was calculated by dividing the MPI values at maximal vasodilatation by the values at rest. The MPI in our study population increased significantly during adenosine infusion in both the subendocardium (from 0.091 +/- 0.020 to 0.143 +/- 0.030; P < 0.001) and the subepicardium (from 0.074 +/- 0.017 to 0.135 +/- 0.03; P < 0.001). The overall MPRI was 1.83 +/- 0.50. CONCLUSION The results show that patients with chest pain and normal coronary angiograms had significant perfusion responses to adenosine in both the subendocardium and subepicardium. In the present study we found no evidence for subendocardial hypoperfusion in these patients.
Cooperation, Competition and Independent in Channel Relationships: An Empirical Study Based on E-Commerce

In e-commerce conditions, the relationships between channel members are more complex, including competition, cooperation and independent. With the help of Deutsch’s goal interdependence theory, we studied the perceived goal interdependence between distributors with suppliers, which will lead to the different channel benefits and results. This study improved that the distributors would put in more commitment and trust, to gain more economic benefits and occupational well-being, if they believed their goals were positively associates with the supplier’s objectives.
The effects of changes in glutathione levels through exogenous agents on intracellular cysteine content and protein adduct formation in chronic alcohol-treated VL17A cells

Abstract Alcohol-mediated liver injury is associated with changes in the level of the major cellular antioxidant glutathione (GSH). It is interesting to investigate if the changes in intracellular GSH level through exogenous agents affect the intracellular cysteine content and the protein adduct formation indicative of oxidative insult in chronic alcohol treated liver cells. In VL-17A cells treated with 2 mM N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) or 0.1 mM ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) plus 100 mM ethanol, an increase in cysteine concentration which was accompanied by decreases in hydroxynonenal (HNE) and glutathionylated protein adducts were observed. Pretreatment of 100 mM ethanol treated VL-17A cells with 0.4 mM buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) or 1 mM diethyl maleate (DEM) had opposite effects. Thus, altered GSH level through exogenous agents may either potentiate or ameliorate chronic alcohol-mediated protein adduct formation and change the cysteine level in chronic alcohol treated VL-17A cells. The gene expression of non-treated and ethanol-treated hepatocytes in 2 microarray datasets was also compared to locate differentially expressed genes involved in cysteine metabolism. The study demonstrates that increased protein adducts formation and changes in cysteine concentration occur under chronic alcohol condition in liver cells which may increase alcohol-mediated oxidative injury.
The Finite State MAC With Cooperative Encoders and Delayed CSI

In this paper, we consider the finite-state multiple access channel (MAC) with partially cooperative encoders and delayed channel state information (CSI). Here, partial cooperation refers to the communication between the encoders via finite-capacity links. The channel states are assumed to be governed by a Markov process. Full CSI is assumed at the receiver, while at the transmitters, only delayed CSI is available. The capacity region of this channel model is derived by first solving the case of the finite-state MAC with a common message. Achievability for the latter case is established using the notion of strategies, however, we show that optimal codes can be constructed directly over the input alphabet. This results in a single codebook construction that is then leveraged to apply simultaneous joint decoding. Simultaneous decoding is crucial here because it circumvents the need to rely on the capacity region's corner points, a task that becomes increasingly cumbersome with the growth in the number of messages to be sent. The common message result is then used to derive the capacity region for the case with partially cooperating encoders. Next, we apply this general result to the special case of the Gaussian vector MAC with diagonal channel transfer matrices, which is suitable for modeling, e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based communication systems. The capacity region of the Gaussian channel is presented in terms of a convex optimization problem that can be solved efficiently using numerical tools. The region is derived by first presenting an outer bound on the general capacity region and then suggesting a specific input distribution that achieves this bound. Finally, numerical results are provided that give valuable insight into the practical implications of optimally using conferencing to maximize the transmission rates.
Bonding horizontal aligned carbon nanotubes with a high-frequency electromagnetic induction heating method

This paper introduces an innovative method using high-frequency electromagnetic induction heating to realize a partial heating process without increasing overall chip temperature. This method provides an easy and reliable way to solve the long-term problem that has limited carbon nanotube application in mass integrated circuit production. Carbon nanotube alignment and bonding experiments are also conducted and the results are analyzed and discussed. The results show that the resistance of the carbon nanotube–metal interface reduces by 90% after bonding and the contact of the interface exhibits excellent endurance.