Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the gas-particle partitioning of soluble organic aerosol in two urban atmospheres with contrasting emissions: 2. Gas and particle phase formic acid: FORMIC ACID PARTITIONING IN LA AND ATLANTA

[1] Gas and fine particle (PM2.5) phase formic acid concentrations were measured with online instrumentation during separate one-month studies in the summer of 2010 in Los Angeles (LA), CA, and Atlanta, GA. In both urban environments, median gas phase concentrations were on the order of a few ppbv (LA 1.6 ppbv, Atlanta 2.3 ppbv) and median particle phase concentrations were approximately tens of ng/m3 (LA 49 ng/m3, Atlanta 39 ng/m3). LA formic acid gas and particle concentrations had consistent temporal patterns; both peaked in the early afternoon and generally followed the trends in photochemical secondary gases. Atlanta diurnal trends were more irregular, but the mean diurnal profile had similar afternoon peaks in both gas and particle concentrations, suggesting a photochemical source in both cities. LA formic acid particle/gas (p/g) ratios ranged between 0.01 and 12%, with a median of 1.3%. No clear evidence that LA formic acid preferentially partitioned to particle water was observed, except on three overcast periods of suppressed photochemical activity. Application of Henry's Law to predict partitioning during these periods greatly under-predicted particle phase formate concentrations based on bulk aerosol liquid water content (LWC) and pH estimated from thermodynamic models. In contrast to LA, formic acid partitioning in Atlanta appeared to be more consistently associated with elevated relative humidity (i.e., aerosol LWC), although p/g ratios were somewhat lower, ranging from 0.20 to 5.8%, with a median of 0.8%. Differences in formic acid gas absorbing phase preferences between these two cities are consistent with that of bulk water-soluble organic carbon reported in a companion paper.
Visible-light-responsive ZnCuO nanoparticles: benign photodynamic killers of infectious protozoans

Human beings suffer from several infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria, and protozoans. Recently, there has been a great interest in developing biocompatible nanostructures to deal with infectious agents. This study investigated benign ZnCuO nanostructures that were visible-light-responsive due to the resident copper in the lattice. The nanostructures were synthesized through a size-controlled hot-injection process, which was adaptable to the surface ligation processes. The nanostructures were then characterized through transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, diffused reflectance spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering, and photoluminescence analysis to measure crystallite nature, size, luminescence, composition, and band-gap analyses. Antiprotozoal efficiency of the current nanoparticles revealed the photodynamic killing of Leishmania protozoan, thus acting as efficient metal-based photosensitizers. The crystalline nanoparticles showed good biocompatibility when tested for macrophage toxicity and in hemolysis assays. The study opens a wide avenue for using toxic material in resident nontoxic forms as an effective antiprotozoal treatment.
Pre-service and Practicing Teachers’ Commitment to and Comfort with Social Emotional Learning

Although teachers’ beliefs about social-emotional learning have become a topic of interest, understanding how they relate to teachers’ own social-emotional competence is unknown. We used a predictive correlation design to examine how Canadian pre-service (n=138) and in-service (n=276) teachers’ beliefs about social-emotional competence relate to their comfort with and commitment to social-emotional learning, and how both sets of beliefs are related to their perceived efficacy for classroom management and engagement with students. Regression analyses revealed that comfort with social-emotional learning significantly predicted both outcomes for both groups whereas commitment to social-emotional learning did not. Perceived social-emotional competence also played an important role. Pre-service teachers felt more committed to social-emotional learning, whereas in-service teachers felt more comfortable and believed they had higher levels of social-emotional competence themselves. Implications for supporting the development of teachers’ own social-emotional competence and suggestions for future research are provided. Si les croyances des enseignants relatives à l’apprentissage socio-affectif suscitent beaucoup d’intérêt, on ignore le lien entre celles-ci et la compétence socio-affective des enseignants eux-mêmes. Nous appuyant sur une conception de corrélations prédictives, nous avons examiné le lien entre les croyances des stagiaires (n=138) et des enseignants en exercice (n=276) relatives à la compétence socio-affective d’une part, et l’aise et l’engagement dont ils font preuve face à l’apprentissage socio-affectif, d’autre part. De plus, nous nous sommes penchés sur la mesure dans laquelle les croyances des participants sont liées à leur perception de l’efficacité de leur gestion de classe et de leur engagement avec les élèves. Des analyses de régression ont révélé qu’un sentiment d’aisance avec l’apprentissage socio-affectif prédit de manière significative les deux résultats pour les deux groupes alors que ce n’était pas le cas pour un engagement face à l’apprentissage socio-affectif. La perception de la compétence socio-affective a également joué un rôle important. Les stagiaires avaient un sentiment d’engagement plus fort envers l’apprentissage socio-affectif, tandis que les enseignants en exercice se sentaient plus à l’aise et croyaient que leur niveau de compétence socio-affective était plus élevé. Nous présentons quelques implications d’appuyer le développement de la compétence socio-affective des enseignants et des suggestions pour la recherche à l’avenir.
THE LARGE-SCALE ENVIRONMENTS OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE: EVIDENCE FOR A METALLICITY BIAS IN THE RATE OR LUMINOSITY OF PROMPT Ia EVENTS

Using data drawn from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the SDSS-II Supernova Survey, we study the local environments of confirmed type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) in the nearby universe. At 0.05 < z < 0.15, we find that SN Ia events in blue, star-forming galaxies occur preferentially in regions of lower galaxy density relative to galaxies of like stellar mass and star-formation rate, while SNe Ia in nearby red galaxies show no significant environment dependence within the measurement uncertainties. Even though our samples of SNe in red hosts are relatively small in number, tests on simulated galaxy samples suggest that the observed distribution of environments for red SN Ia hosts is in poor agreement with a cluster type Ia rate strongly elevated relative to the field rate. Finally, after considering the impact of galaxy morphology, stellar age, stellar metallicity, and other relevant galaxy properties, we conclude that the observed correlation between the SN Ia rate and environment in the star-forming galaxy population is likely driven by a gas-phase metallicity effect, such that prompt type Ia supernovae occur more often or are more luminous in metal-poor systems.
An Audio-based Hierarchical Smoking Behavior Detection System Based on A Smart Neckband Platform

Smoking behavior detection has attracted much research interest for its significant impact on smokers' physical and mental health. Existing research has shown the potential of using wearable devices for fine-grained smoking puff and session detection by detecting a smoker's content of breathing, lighter usage, breathing, and gesture patterns. However, the existing systems are complex, and they are usually vulnerable to confounding activities and diversity of smoking behavior. To address these limitations, this paper proposes the design and implementation of a simple and compact smart neckband device for smoking detection. The device is equipped with both passive and active acoustic sensors to detect smoking sessions and puffs. We propose a hierarchical processing framework in which the lower-layer detects the sub-movements, i.e., lighter usage, hand-to-mouth gesture and deep breathing, from perceived audio data; and the higher-layer, based on the lower-layerąŕs detection results, detects smoking puffs and sessions using temporal sequence analysis techniques. Real-world experiments suggest our system can accurately detect smoking puffs and sessions with F1 score of respectively 93.59% and 92.96% in complex environments with the presence of confounding activities and diverse ways of smoking.
On the sum capacity of the Y-channel

A model where three users communicate with each other via a relay is considered. Users do not receive other users' signals via a direct link, and thus the relay is essential for their communication. Each user wants to broadcast one message to each other user. The sum-capacity is studied, and upper bounds and lower bounds are given. If all nodes have the same power, the sum-capacity is characterized to within a gap of 2 bits or a factor of 4 for all values of channel coefficients.
How Suitable Is the CEFR for Setting University Entrance Standards?

ABSTRACT The discussion takes up the common theme across the seven contributions of this special issue, namely the CEFR’s suitability as a basis for setting university entrance standards. The special issue allows insights into this theme from a multitude of contexts, languages and perspectives, including data from stakeholders, students, tests and their documentations, as well as student performances and teacher judgements. The contributions of the seven papers are first discussed with a view to examining current practices of setting entrance requirements and the suitability of the CEFR as a means of comparison between different tests and contexts. The discussion then moves on to acknowledge that the CEFR alone cannot guarantee that different institutions and stakeholders will use it in a comparable way and come to comparable interpretations when employing and interpreting its proficiency scales. In order to overcome these challenges, possible ways of dealing with discrepancies when comparing different tests and contexts that are suggested by the seven contributions in this special issue are discussed, with a particular view on how these contributions answer earlier calls for further research. Finally, the discussion outlines ways forward to improve practices and stimulate future research in the realm of setting university entrance requirements.
Hall Adaptive Spacecraft Attitude Control ADAPTIVE SPACECRAFT ATTITUDE CONTROL USING NEURAL NETWORKS

Neural networks offer a unique approach to controlling a dynamically changing system. By updating synaptic weights of an interconnected, algebraic framework, desired system objectives can be reached despite an unknown operating environment. This research implements a neural network for controlling the attitude of a satellite with unknown system disturbances. The training and updating of the controller occurs on-line in real-time, increasingly minimizing pointing error during mission operations. The design of the neural network controller is discussed, as well as preliminary results from computer simulations. Introduction The majority of current satellite control technologies employ classical methods that are determined a priori. However, due to changes in the satellite system or unknown flight characteristics, these systems may prove to be unreliable. Adaptive control systems provide a robust means of controlling a satellite in the face of these uncertainties and failures. In this research project we develop a control system that adapts to the satellite’s flight characteristics. By using ‘soft-computing’ techniques such as a neural network, the control system learns and adapts to changes in the controllability of the satellite. Using existing methods of neural network development [1], an adequate controller can be designed that will control the three axis angles, and three rotation rates of a satellite’s attitude [2][3][4][5]. The use of an adaptive attitude control system can greatly reduce the costs of satellite algorithm and software development. An adaptive control system can learn from a model of the satellite and from the actual flight mission instead of having to specify the classical control law. Furthermore, a well-designed neural network can be reused for many missions, without having to change the base structure of the system. This reuse can greatly reduce the cost of having to develop a control system from the ground up. Also, the adaptive control system can recover from system failures that may otherwise cripple a spacecraft such as those that occurred on Mariner 2 and PanAmSat Corporation's Galaxy 4 [6]. The robust satellite can recover from these failures without having to wait for human intervention and updating of its software. Spacecraft Model In order to design a controller for spacecraft attitude, a model of the system must be determined. The nonlinear spacecraft model includes the spacecraft attitude kinematics, rotational dynamics and control torques. It is assumed that the spacecraft is measured in bodyorbital coordinates, with a nominal nadir pointing attitude. That is, the body axes are initially aligned with the orbital axes, and the body z-axis points towards the earth. The 4-element quaternion set, q , is used to specify the attitude, as there are no singularities similar to those found in an Euler angle set. The quaternion can be determined from the Euleraxis parameters set (a, φ) as follows:
Automatic search term identification for change tasks

At the beginning of a change task, software developers search the source code to locate the places relevant to the task. As previous research and a small exploratory study that we conducted show, developers perform poorly in identifying good search terms and therefore waste a lot of time querying and exploring irrelevant code. To support developers in this step, we present an approach to automatically identify good search terms. Based on existing work and an analysis of change tasks, we derived heuristics, determined their relevancy and used the results to develop our approach. For a preliminary evaluation, we conducted a study with ten developers working on open source change tasks. Our approach was able to identify good search terms for all tasks and outperformed the searches of the participants, illustrating the potential of our approach. In addition, since the used heuristics are solely based on textual features of change tasks, our approach is easy and generally applicable and can leverage much of the existing work on feature location.
Beneficial read-through of a USH1C nonsense mutation by designed aminoglycoside NB30 in the retina.

PURPOSE The human Usher syndrome (USH) is the most frequent cause of inherited combined deaf-blindness. USH is clinically and genetically heterogeneous, assigned to three clinical types. The most severe type is USH1, characterized by profound inner ear defects and retinitis pigmentosa. Thus far, no effective treatment for the ophthalmic component of USH exists. The p.R31X nonsense mutation in USH1C leads to a disease causing premature termination of gene translation. Here, we investigated the capability of the novel synthetic aminoglycoside NB30 for the translational read-through of the USH1C-p.R31X nonsense mutation as a retinal therapy option. METHODS Read-through of p.R31X by three commercial, clinically applied aminoglycosides and the synthetic derivative NB30 was validated in vitro, in cell culture, and in retinal explants. Restoration of harmonin functions was monitored in GST pull-downs (scaffold function) and by F-actin bundling analysis in HEK293T cells. Biocompatibility of aminoglycosides was determined in retinal explants by TUNEL assays. RESULTS In vitro translation and analyses of transfected HEK293T cells revealed a dose-dependent read-through by all aminoglycosides. In addition, gentamicin, paromomycin, and NB30 induced read-through of p.R31X in mouse retinal explants. The read-through of p.R31X restored harmonin protein function. In contrast to all commercial aminoglycosides NB30 showed good biocompatibility. CONCLUSIONS Commercial aminoglycosides and NB30 induced significant read-through of the USH1C-p.R31X nonsense mutation. However, the observed read-through efficiency, along with its significantly reduced toxicity and good biocompatibility, indicate that the novel derivate NB30 represents a better choice than commercial aminoglycosides in a read-through therapy of USH1C and other ocular diseases.
Computing Word Similarity on Large-Scale Corpus

This paper proposes a novel approach for word similarity computation based on word sense vectors. The word sense vector is built using HIT-IR Tongyici Cilin (Extended) for concept generalization and is further modified by the use of relative and absolute frequency filters. Experiments show that the approach not only overcomes the problem of similarity computation of unseen words but also yields a result closer to human judgment when compared to word similarity computation approaches based on dictionaries.
Intelligent User Interfaces: Survey and Research Directions

Computers are extremely effective information processors. However, for current, highly interactive usage, computers can only be as effective as the interface which is used to communicate with them. This report first examines the development of the user interface to place the intelligent interface in historical context. Following this is a survey of intelligent interface paradigms and techniques. These show how new interfaces can improve communication between humans and machines when the interface technology makes the leap from a passive tool-set to a pro-active assistant. These assistants, or agents, are viewed in the context of a new type of interactive, partial solution to previously insoluble problems.
Effluent Mixing Modeling for Liquefied Natural Gas Outfalls in a Coastal Ecosystem

Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) processing facilities typically are located on ocean shores for easy transport of LNG by marine vessels. These plants use large quantities of water for various process streams. The combined wastewater effluents from the LNG plants are discharged to the coastal and marine environments typically through submarine outfalls. Proper disposal of effluents from an LNG plant is essential to retain local and regional environmental values and to ensure regulatory and permit compliance for industrial effluents. Typical outfall designs involve multi-port diffuser systems where the design forms a part of the overall environmental impact assessment for the plant. The design approach needs to ensure that both near-field plume dispersion and far-field effluent circulation meets the specified mixing zone criteria. This paper describes typical wastewater process streams from an LNG plant and presents a diffuser system design case study (for an undisclosed project location) in a meso-tidal coast to meet the effluent mixing zone criteria. The outfall is located in a coastal and marine ecosystem where the large tidal range and persistent surface wind govern conditions for the diffuser design. Physical environmental attributes and permit compliance criteria are discussed in a generic format. The paper describes the design approach, conceptualization of numerical model schemes for near- and far-field effluent mixing zones, and the selected diffuser design.
The Carboxyl-Terminus of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 Circulating Recombinant form 01_AB Capsid Protein Affects Sensitivity to Human TRIM5α

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 2 shows limited geographical distribution compared with HIV type 1. Although 8 genetic groups of HIV type 2 (HIV-2) have been described, recombinant viruses between these groups are rarely observed. Recently, three HIV-2 patients in Japan were described with rapidly progressive, acquired immunodeficiency. These patients were infected with an A/B inter-group recombinant designated CRF01_AB. Here, we characterize the capsid protein (CA) encoded by the viruses from these patients. HIV-2 CRF01_AB CA showed unique amino acid sequence almost equally distinct from group A and group B viruses. Notably, HIV-2 CRF01_AB CA showed potent resistance to human TRIM5α. In addition to the previously identified amino acid position 119 in the N-terminal domain of CA, we found that HIV-2 CRF01_AB-specific amino acid substitutions in the C-terminal domain also were necessary for resistance to human TRIM5α. These results indicate that retroviruses can evade TRIM5α by substitution at residues within the C-terminal domain of CA.
Face texture synthesis from multiple images via sparse and dense correspondence

We have a desire to edit images for various purposes such as art, entertainment, and film production so texture synthesis methods have been proposed. Especially, PatchMatch algorithm [Barnes et al. 2009] enabled us to easily use many image editing tools. However, these tools are applied to one image. If we can automatically synthesize from various examples, we can create new and higher quality images. Visio-lization [Mohammed et al. 2009] generated average face by synthesis of face image database. However, the synthesis was applied block-wise so there were artifacts on the result and free form features of source images such as wrinkles could not be preserved. We proposed a new synthesis method for multiple images. We applied sparse and dense nearest neighbor search so that we can preserve both input and source database image features. Our method allows us to create a novel image from a number of examples.
Using a CSP Based Programming Model for Reconfigurable Processor Arrays

The growing trend towards adoption of flexible and heterogeneous, parallel computing architectures has increased the challenges faced by the programming community. We propose a method to program an emerging class of reconfigurable processor arrays by using the CSP based programming model of occam-pi. The paper describes the extension of an existing compiler platform to target such architectures. To evaluate the performance of the generated code, we present three implementations of the DCT algorithm. It is concluded that CSP appears to be a suitable computation model for programming a wide variety of reconfigurable architectures.
Calibration and Mosaicing of Forward-Scan Sonar DIDSON Images

DIDSON (Dual-frequency identification sonar), a new generation of acoustic video cameras, is applied to research and detect the underwater environment in this paper. In order to solve the shortcomings of the DIDSON in underwater environment, we propose a real-time forward-scan sonar image mosaicing method and system. Through a series of processing to the DIDSON images, such as image registration, image matching and image fusion, a few DIDSON images with small viewing angle and low resolution have be mosaicing to be a large-scale and high resolution sonar image. This improves DIDSON's target detection and expand observing angle to detect bigger underwater targets.