Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A simple and efficient sampling method for estimating AP and NDCG

We consider the problem of large scale retrieval evaluation. Recently two methods based on random sampling were proposed as a solution to the extensive effort required to judge tens of thousands of documents. While the first method proposed by Aslam et al. [1] is quite accurate and efficient, it is overly complex, making it difficult to be used by the community, and while the second method proposed by Yilmaz et al., infAP [14], is relatively simple, it is less efficient than the former since it employs uniform random sampling from the set of complete judgments. Further, none of these methods provide confidence intervals on the estimated values. The contribution of this paper is threefold: (1) we derive confidence intervals for infAP, (2) we extend infAP to incorporate nonrandom relevance judgments by employing stratified random sampling, hence combining the efficiency of stratification with the simplicity of random sampling, (3) we describe how this approach can be utilized to estimate nDCG from incomplete judgments. We validate the proposed methods using TREC data and demonstrate that these new methods can be used to incorporate nonrandom samples, as were available in TREC Terabyte track '06.
Robust Adaptive Electronics for Sensor Conditioning

This paper presents a study of mismatch effects in a digitally programmable analogue processor designed for sensor output conditioning in embedded applications. System adaptability allows for its adjustment to deviations in circuit operation or environmental effects. Starting from electrical simulation data, the system-level operation is modeled. Simulating the operation of a processing architecture based on the proposed processor, applied to compensate the response of a sinusoidal sensor, its robustness to mismatch is presented.
Kinect-supported dataset creation for human pose estimation

Training and evaluation datasets for specific tasks of human pose estimation are hard to find. This paper presents an approach for rapid construction of a precisely annotated training dataset for human pose estimation of a sitting subject, intended especially for aeronautic cockpit. We propose to use Kinect as a tool for collecting ground truth to a purely visual dataset (for reasons defined by the application, use of Kinect or similar structured light-based approaches is impossible). Since Kinect annotation of individual joints might be imprecise at certain moments, manual post-processing of the acquired data is necessary and we propose a scheme for efficient and reliable manual post-annotation. We produced a dataset of 6,322 annotated frames, involving 11 human subjects recorded in various lighting conditions, different clothing, and varying background. Each frame contains one seated person in frontal view with annotation of pose and optical flow data. We used detectors of body parts based on Random Forest on the produced dataset in order to verify its usability. These preliminary results show that the detector can be trained successfully on the developed dataset and that the optical flow contributes to the detection accuracy considerably. The dataset and the intermediary data used during its creation is made publicly available. By this, we intend to support further research and evaluation in the specific topic of human pose estimation focused on a sitting subject in a cockpit scenario.
Non-local Means Image Denoising Algorithm Based on Edge Detection

Considering the problem that structure information can be easily lost when the edge and texture regions of image are denoised by the Non-Local Means (NL-Means) denoising algorithm, and a NL-Means image denoising algorithm based on edge detection is proposed in this paper. Firstly the edge detection in the noise image is got by using the improved Sobel operator, and then the detecting result is used to improve the weight function of NL-Means algorithm. To make the neighborhoods with similar structure obtain more weight, not only the weighted Euclidean distance but also the edge structure are considered when the similarity of neighborhoods is measured. Experimental results demonstrate that our algorithms performance is superior to the NL-Means algorithm.
Reinforcing Low-Volume Fraction Nano-TiN Particulates to Monolithical, Pure Mg for Enhanced Tensile and Compressive Response

Novel Mg (0.58, 0.97, 1.98 and 2.5) vol. % TiN nanocomposites containing titanium nitride (TiN) nanoparticulates of ~20 nm size are successfully synthesized by a disintegrated melt deposition technique followed by hot extrusion. Microstructural characterization of Mg-TiN nanocomposites indicate significant grain refinement with Mg 2.5 vol. % TiN exhibiting a minimum grain size of ~11 μm. X-ray diffraction studies of Mg-TiN nanocomposites indicate that addition of up to 1.98 vol. % TiN nanoparticulates aids in modifying the strong basal texture of pure Mg. An attempt is made to study the effects of the type of titanium (metal or ceramic), size, and volume fraction addition of nanoparticulates on the microstructural and mechanical properties of pure magnesium. Among the major strengthening mechanisms contributing to the strength of Mg-Ti-based nanocomposites, Hall-Petch strengthening was found to play a vital role. The synthesized Mg-TiN nanocomposites exhibited superior tensile and compression properties indicating significant improvement in the fracture strain values of pure magnesium under loading. Under tensile and compression loading the presence of titanium (metal or ductile phase) nanoparticulates were found to contribute more towards the strengthening, whereas ceramics of titanium (brittle phases) contribute more towards the ductility of pure magnesium.
Persian Named Entity Recognition based with Local Filters

Persian (Farsi) language named entity recognition is a challenging, difficult, yet important task in natural language processing. This paper presents an approach based on a Local Filters model to recognize Persian (Farsi) language named entities. It uses multiple dictionaries, which are freely available on the Web. A dictionary is a collection of phrases that describe named entities. The framework is composed of two stages: (1) detection of named entity candidates using dictionaries for lookups and (2) filtering of false positives based. Dictionary lookups are performed using an efficient prefix-tree data structure. Our dictionary based recognizer performs on Persian (Farsi) language with up to 88.95% precision, 79.65% recall, and an 82.73% F1 score using ASEM.
Unidirectional Solidification of Pb-Sn Alloys in a Rotating Magnetic Field

Cylindrical Pb-Sn alloy samples (diameter: 8 mm, length: 120 mm) of different compositions (30, 40 and 50 wt.% of Sn) were prepared from high pure (4N) components. The unidirectional solidification experiments have been performed according to the upward vertical Bridgman-method by using a rotating magnetic field (RMF) with a magnetic induction of 150 mT and with a frequency of 50 Hz. The sample-movement velocity was constant (0.05 mm/s) and the temperature gradient changed from 7 to 3 K/mm during the solidification process. The first half of samples was solidified without using the magnetic field and the second half was solidified by using the magnetic field. Under the influence of this strong flow induced by the magnetic field, the columnar microstructure of the first part decomposed and a characteristic "Christmas tree"- like macrosegregated structure with equiaxed Pb-dendrites was developed. The secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) and the volume percent of primary Pb-phase (dendrite) were measured by an automatic image analyser on the longitudinal polished sections along the whole length of the samples. The effect of the forced melt flow on the micro-and macrostructure was studied in case of the different sample compositions.
Accurate 3D Reconstruction using a Turntable-based and Telecentric Vision

This paper presents a camera+telecentric lens that is able to obtain 3D information. We designed and implemented a method which can register and integrate 3D information captured from different viewpoints to build a complete 3D object model. First, a geometric model of a camera+telecentric lens is established. Then a calibration process using a planar checkerboard is developed and implemented. The object is placed on a rotation stage in front of a stationary camera. Normally the rotation axis is considered to be aligned with camera frame. In the description presented in this paper, the rotation matrix and translation vector of the rotation axis are calibrated. At the same time, a three-dimensional reconstruction system based on contour extraction of objects with dimensions less than 50 mm in diameter is developed. Finally, an analysis of the uncertainty model parameters and performance reconstruction of 3D objects are discussed.
The P-Type ATPase PA1429 Regulates Quorum-Sensing Systems and Bacterial Virulence

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is becoming an increasingly prevalent pathogen, capable of causing numerous life threatening infections in immunocompromised patients. The three hierarchically arranged quorum sensing (QS) systems, namely las, rhl, and pqs play key roles in coordinating virulence expression in P. aeruginosa. However, the regulatory mechanisms of the pqs system have not been fully elucidated. To identify new genes involved in synthesis of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), a transposon mutagenesis library was constructed. PA1429 was found to inhibit PQS biosynthesis. The PA1429 deletion mutant also exhibited increased bacterial motility, biofilm formation, and virulence in a mouse model of acute lung infection. Interestingly, it also displayed reduced tolerance to oxidative stress. Mutated pqsH in the PA1429 deletion background restored bacterial susceptibility to H2O2. In addition, our data showed that PA1429 repressed the expression of las and rhl systems. Overall, these results provide new insights into the complex regulatory networks of quorum-sensing and virulence expression in P. aeruginosa.
Antisense RNA protects mRNA from RNase E degradation by RNA–RNA duplex formation during phage infection

The ecologically important cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus possesses the smallest genome among oxyphototrophs, with a reduced suite of protein regulators and a disproportionately high number of regulatory RNAs. Many of these are asRNAs, raising the question whether they modulate gene expression through the protection of mRNA from RNase E degradation. To address this question, we produced recombinant RNase E from Prochlorococcus sp. MED4, which functions optimally at 12 mM Mg2+, pH 9 and 35°C. RNase E cleavage assays were performed with this recombinant protein to assess enzyme activity in the presence of single- or double-stranded RNA substrates. We found that extraordinarily long asRNAs of 3.5 and 7 kb protect a set of mRNAs from RNase E degradation that accumulate during phage infection. These asRNA–mRNA duplex formations mask single-stranded recognition sites of RNase E, leading to increased stability of the mRNAs. Such interactions directly modulate RNA stability and provide an explanation for enhanced transcript abundance of certain mRNAs during phage infection. Protection from RNase E-triggered RNA decay may constitute a hitherto unknown regulatory function of bacterial cis-asRNAs, impacting gene expression.
Integrating Copper Nanowire Electrodes for Low Temperature Perovskite Photovoltaic Cells

14 Chapter 1 . 16 INTRODUCTION . 16 1.1 Industry Standard Transparent Conducting Electrodes . 16 1.2 Alternative Transparent Conducting Electrodes . 17 1.3 Dye Sensitized Solar Cells . 19 1.4 Thin film photovoltaic technology. 21 Chapter 2 . 24 Ultra-high aspect ratio copper-nanowire-based hybrid transparent conductive electrodes with PEDOT:PSS and reduced Graphene Oxide exhibiting reduced surface roughness and improved stability . 24 2.
ARM: Anonymous Routing Protocol for Mobile Ad hoc Networks

Due to the nature of radio transmissions, communications in wireless networks are easy to capture and analyze. Next to this, privacy enhancing techniques (PETs) proposed for wired networks such as the Internet often cannot be applied to mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). In this paper we present a novel anonymous on demand routing scheme for MANETs. We identify a number of problems of previously proposed works and propose an efficient solution that provides anonymity in a stronger adversary model
Intelligent visualization in a planning simulation

This paper describes a set of visualization techniques for interactive planning in a physical force simulation called AFS. We have developed a 3D environment in which textures are overlaid on a simulated landscape to convey information about environmental properties, agent actions, and possible strategies. Scenes are presented, via automated camera planning, such that some simple agent goals can be induced visually with little effort. These two areas of visualization functionality in AFS exploit properties of human low-level and intermediate-level vision, respectively. This paper presents AFS, its visualization environment, and studies we have run to explore the relationship between AFS visualizations and the high-level planning process.
Fractured Indexes : Improved B-trees To Reduce Maintenance Cost And Fragmentation

Database warehouses support processing very large amounts of data. The workload is primarily composed of SELECT queries; updates are less frequent and typically come in batches. And yet the INSERT operation can be expensive and have a significant impact on SELECT query performance. Inserted data has to be placed in its respective location based on presence of indexing structures; excepting the index based on the arrival time stamp, the updates are likely to manifest all over the data range. If the modification do not exhibit an access locality, each one will touch one or more different disk pages causing a high performance penalty (irrespective of any batching). The relevant page has to be read, modified and eventually written back to disk once the memory buffer fills up. In this paper we propose a Fractured Index mechanism to alleviate the penalties associated with the update costs while still being able to use B-Tree indexes. By creating a mini-Index for each batch of data, we ensure insert locality (all data within the mini-Index is freshly inserted) and keep the indexes read-only (achieving better fragmentation of these indexes and providing compression opportunities). The idea of batching is frequently used in databases; storing insert batches in the B-Tree structures is a logical extension of the same approach. Although earlier work has presented a similar delayed update approach, we believe that our idea is much simpler to implement. As we will show in this paper, this minimalistic implementation achieves two orders of magnitude improvement of INSERTs and one order of magnitude improvement of SELECT queries.
The Influence of Drug Physical State on the Dissolution Enhancement of Solid Dispersions Prepared Via Hot-Melt Extrusion: A Case Study Using Olanzapine

In this study, we examine the relationship between the physical structure and dissolution behavior of olanzapine (OLZ) prepared via hot-melt extrusion in three polymers [polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K30, polyvinylpyrrolidone-co-vinyl acetate (PVPVA) 6:4, and Soluplus® (SLP)]. In particular, we examine whether full amorphicity is necessary to achieve a favorable dissolution profile. Drug–polymer miscibility was estimated using melting point depression and Hansen solubility parameters. Solid dispersions were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. All the polymers were found to be miscible with OLZ in a decreasing order of PVP>PVPVA>SLP. At a lower extrusion temperature (160°C), PVP generated fully amorphous dispersions with OLZ, whereas the formulations with PVPVA and SLP contained 14%–16% crystalline OLZ. Increasing the extrusion temperature to 180°C allowed the preparation of fully amorphous systems with PVPVA and SLP. Despite these differences, the dissolution rates of these preparations were comparable, with PVP showing a lower release rate despite being fully amorphous. These findings suggested that, at least in the particular case of OLZ, the absence of crystalline material may not be critical to the dissolution performance. We suggest alternative key factors determining dissolution, particularly the dissolution behavior of the polymers themselves.
Tool Selectivity in Left Occipitotemporal Cortex Develops without Vision

Previous studies have provided evidence for a tool-selective region in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC). This region responds selectively to pictures of tools and to characteristic visual tool motion. The present human fMRI study tested whether visual experience is required for the development of tool-selective responses in left LOTC. Words referring to tools, animals, and nonmanipulable objects were presented auditorily to 14 congenitally blind and 16 sighted participants. Sighted participants additionally viewed pictures of these objects. In whole-brain group analyses, sighted participants showed tool-selective activity in left LOTC in both visual and auditory tasks. Importantly, virtually identical tool-selective LOTC activity was found in the congenitally blind group performing the auditory task. Furthermore, both groups showed equally strong tool-selective activity for auditory stimuli in a tool-selective LOTC region defined by the picture-viewing task in the sighted group. Detailed analyses in individual participants showed significant tool-selective LOTC activity in 13 of 14 blind participants and 14 of 16 sighted participants. The strength and anatomical location of this activity were indistinguishable across groups. Finally, both blind and sighted groups showed significant resting state functional connectivity between left LOTC and a bilateral frontoparietal network. Together, these results indicate that tool-selective activity in left LOTC develops without ever having seen a tool or its motion. This finding puts constraints on the possible role that this region could have in tool processing and, more generally, provides new insights into the principles shaping the functional organization of OTC.
Signal Processing and Feature Extraction for Sleep Evaluation in Wearable Devices

In this paper we discuss the possibility of performing a sleep evaluation form the heart rate variability (HRV) and respiratory signals. This is particularly useful for wearable devices. The HRV and the respiration were analyzed in the frequency domain and the statistics on the spectral and cross-spectral parameters put into evidence the possibility of a sleep evaluation on their basis. Additional information can be achieved from the number of microarousals recognized in correspondence of typical modifications in the HRV signal
The peripheral blood of Aβ binding RBC as a biomarker for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND in vitro, it has been reported that amyloid β (Aβ) is bound to red blood cells (RBCs) and this process damages the red cell. Also, a possible relationship between RBCs and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is supported by the findings of RBC impairment in AD. Therefore, Aβ fibrils bounding RBC are of great interest as potential biomarkers. METHODS in this study, we focused on Aβ amyloid fibrils and/or aggregation on the peripheral RBC from 50 subjects with AD and 50 healthy controls (HCs) through thioflavin T (ThT) staining followed by immunofluorescence assay to confirm the presence of Aβ amyloid fibrils and/or aggregation on the RBC. Then we optimised fluorescence staining and imaging conditions and analysed the images obtained by image processing software. RESULTS we have analysed RBC morphology in blood from 50 subjects with AD and 50 HCs found that 16.8% of the RBCs are elongated as compared with 6.7% in normal controls (P < 0.01), and there is a negative correlation between the two parameters (P < 0.05). Our study showed that 98% of AD peripheral RBCs were amyloid binding-positive (ranging from 2 to 30%), while only 38% that of RBCs (ranging from 2 to 3.4%) were in HCs. We also found four modified morphologies of RBCs triggered by Aβ binding, which may serve as an ancillary investigation and indicate the progression of AD. CONCLUSION we first directly prove the existence of Aβ binding RBCs in peripheral blood. In addition, we observed new modified morphologies of RBC triggered by Aβ binding, all of those can serve as a biomarker for the diagnosis and progression of AD.
Putting Lipstick on Pig: Enabling Database-style Workflow Provenance

Workflow provenance typically assumes that each module is a "black-box", so that each output depends on all inputs (coarse-grained dependencies). Furthermore, it does not model the internal state of a module, which can change between repeated executions. In practice, however, an output may depend on only a small subset of the inputs (fine-grained dependencies) as well as on the internal state of the module. We present a novel provenance framework that marries database-style and workflow-style provenance, by using Pig Latin to expose the functionality of modules, thus capturing internal state and fine-grained dependencies. A critical ingredient in our solution is the use of a novel form of provenance graph that models module invocations and yields a compact representation of fine-grained workflow provenance. It also enables a number of novel graph transformation operations, allowing to choose the desired level of granularity in provenance querying (ZoomIn and ZoomOut), and supporting "what-if" workflow analytic queries. We implemented our approach in the Lipstick system and developed a benchmark in support of a systematic performance evaluation. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of tracking and querying fine-grained workflow provenance.
Wearable and Highly Sensitive Graphene Strain Sensors for Human Motion Monitoring

Sensing strain of soft materials in small scale has attracted increasing attention. In this work, graphene woven fabrics (GWFs) are explored for highly sensitive sensing. A flexible and wearable strain sensor is assembled by adhering the GWFs on polymer and medical tape composite film. The sensor exhibits the following features: ultra‐light, relatively good sensitivity, high reversibility, superior physical robustness, easy fabrication, ease to follow human skin deformation, and so on. Some weak human motions are chosen to test the notable resistance change, including hand clenching, phonation, expression change, blink, breath, and pulse. Because of the distinctive features of high sensitivity and reversible extensibility, the GWFs based piezoresistive sensors have wide potential applications in fields of the displays, robotics, fatigue detection, body monitoring, and so forth.