Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A semidefinite programming upper bound of quantum capacity

Recently the power of positive partial transpose preserving (PPTp) and no-signalling (NS) codes in quantum communication has been studied. We continue with this line of research and show that the NS/PPTp/NS∩PPTp codes assisted zero-error quantum capacity depends only on the non-commutative bipartite graph of the channel and the one-shot case can be computed efficiently by semidefinite programming (SDP). As an example, the activated PPTp codes assisted zero-error quantum capacity is carefully studied. We then present a general SDP upper bound QΓ of quantum capacity and show it is always smaller than or equal to the “Partial transposition bound” introduced by Holevo and Werner, and the inequality could be strict. This upper bound is found to be additive, and thus is an upper bound of the potential PPTp assisted quantum capacity as well. We further demonstrate that QΓ is strictly better than several previously known upper bounds for an explicit class of quantum channels. Finally, we show that QΓ can be used to bound the super-activation of quantum capacity.
Effect of Intra- and Intermolecular Interactions on the Properties of para-Substituted Nitrobenzene Derivatives

To study the influence of intra- and intermolecular interactions on properties of the nitro group in para-substituted nitrobenzene derivatives, two sources of data were used: (i) Cambridge Structural Database and (ii) quantum chemistry modeling. In the latter case, “pure” intramolecular interactions were simulated by gradual rotation of the nitro group in para-nitroaniline, whereas H-bond formation at the amino group allowed the intermolecular interactions to be accounted for. BLYP functional with dispersion correction and TZ2P basis set (ADF program) were used to perform all calculations. It was found that properties of the nitro group dramatically depend on both its orientation with respect to the benzene ring as well as on the substituent in the para-position. The nitro group lies in the plane of the benzene ring for only a small number of molecules, whereas the mean value of the twist angle is 7.3 deg, mostly due to intermolecular interactions in the crystals. This distortion from planarity and the nature of para-substituent influence the aromaticity of the ring (described by HOMA index) and properties of the nitro group due to electronic effects. The results obtained by QM calculations fully coincide with observations found for the data set of crystal structures.
Tweeting with the telly on!

Despite the ever expanding forms of digital entertainment, there are still Television (TV, telly) shows and events that create an audience desire to be part of a mass shared experience. In the past direct inter-audience interaction of such events has been restricted to either a shared location at the time of broadcast or later discussions amongst friends and colleagues often described as `water cooler moments'. With the advent of online social networks that facilitate status updates these moments can be instantly shared in real-time, creating a second screen for direct interaction with TV. In this paper we investigate the role of social media as the facilitator of second screen for TV, through the analysis of tweets for weekend primetime UK TV show the X-Factor. The results highlight the rich source of information that can be extracted in real-time and its enormous potential for broadcasters and producers both in terms of reinvigorating live TV viewing and creating new forms of audience interaction.
Internal stress state measurements of the large molded electronic control units

In this paper internal stress state measurements in a large molded electronic control unit are discussed. Measurements were done during transfer molding process in a high volume production environment. In addition, the effect of the post mold cure (PMC) was investigated. Tests were done utilizing piezoresistive stress sensors and thin film strain gages. For some parts post mold cure was done in parallel to warpage measurements using TDM Insidix apparatus. In this case the stress and deformation measurements were conducted at the same time. It was observed that the initial warpage of the module before the PMC at room temperature was reduced by 40%. It is shown that the reduction of the deformation is caused by shifting of the glass transition temperature (Tg) to 180°C, which was for not fully cured sample at 125°C. As a result of increase of the Tg, the internal stresses at room temperature after the PMC were changed as well. Driven by the fact that the out-of-plane component of stress is affecting the measurement of the in-plane components of stress, numerical simulations were used in an iterative way to correlate the results of experiment. Presented algorithm improved results of the measurements.
Lethal and Sublethal Toxicity Comparison of BFRs to Three Marine Planktonic Copepods: Effects on Survival, Metabolism and Ingestion

The estuarine planktonic copepods have a wide geographical distribution and commendable tolerance to various kinds of contaminants. The primary aim of the present study was to contrast the impacts of model POPs (TBBPA and HBCD) on three common estuarine planktonic copepods (Oithona similis, Acartia pacifica and Pseudodiaptomus inopinus) and establish a protocol for the assessment of acute toxicity of marine organic pollutants. We first quantified the 96h-LC50 (0.566, 0.04 and 0.257 mg/L of TBBPA to the three subjects above respectively and 0.314 mg/L of HBCD to P. inopinus; all reported concentrations are nominal values). In the sub-lethal toxicity tests, it was turned out that the effects of copepods exposed to TBBPA could product different influences on the energy ingestion and metabolism. Different type of pollutions, meanwhile, could also bring varying degree effect on the target copepods. In general, the indicators (the rate of oxygen consumption, ammonia excretion, food ingestion and filtration) in higher concentration groups showed marked significant difference compared with controls as well a dose-effect relationship. The study also extended the research on the joint toxicity of TBBPA and HBCD based on the survival rate of P.inopinus. Whether 1:1 concentration or 1:1 toxic level, the research showed synergy effect relative to single exposure conditions. The result indicated that current single ecological testing used for environmental protection activities may underestimate the risk for copepods. It was also demonstrated that short-term sub-lethal experiment could be a standard to evaluate the sensitivity of copepods to POPs.
Skin Color Detection Using Region-Based Approach

Skin color provides a powerful cue for complex computer vision applications. Although skin color detection has been an active research area for decades, the mainstream technology is based on the individual pixels. This paper, which extended our previous work [1], presented a new regionbased technique for skin color detection which outperformed the current state-of-the-art pixelbased skin color detection technique on the popular Compaq dataset [2]. Color and spatial distance based clustering technique is used to extract the regions from the images, also known as superpixels followed by a state-of-the-art non-parametric pixel-based skin color classifier called the basic skin color classifier. The pixel-based skin color evidence is then aggregated to classify the superpixels. Finally, the Conditional Random Field (CRF) is applied to further improve the results. As CRF operates over superpixels, the computational overhead is minimal. Our technique achieved 91.17% true positive rate with 13.12% false negative rate on the Compaq dataset tested over approximately 14,000 web images.
From $O(k^{2}N)$  to $O(N)$ : A Fast and High-Capacity Eigenvalue Solver for Full-Wave Extraction of Very Large Scale On-Chip Interconnects

The wave-propagation problem in an on-chip interconnect network can be modeled as a generalized eigenvalue problem. For solving such a generalized eigenvalue problem, the computational complexity of Arnoldi iteration is at best <i>O</i>(<i>k</i> <sup>2</sup> <i>N</i>), where <i>k</i> is the number of dominant eigenvalues and <i>N</i> is the matrix size. In this paper, we reduce the computational complexity of the Arnoldi iteration for interconnect extraction from <i>O</i>(<i>k</i> <sup>2</sup> <i>N</i>) to <i>O</i>(<i>N</i>), thus paving the way for full-wave extraction of very large scale on-chip interconnects, of which a typical value of <i>k</i> is on the order of hundreds of thousands. Numerical and experimental results have demonstrated the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed fast eigenvalue solver.
Combining Modeling Of Singing Voice And Background Music For Automatic Separation Of Musical Mixtures

Musical mixtures can be modeled as being composed of two characteristic sources: singing voice and background music. Many music/voice separation techniques tend to focus on modeling one source; the residual is then used to explain the other source. In such cases, separation performance is often unsatisfactory for the source that has not been explicitly modeled. In this work, we propose to combine a method that explicitly models singing voice with a method that explicitly models background music, to address separation performance from the point of view of both sources. One method learns a singer-independent model of voice from singing examples using a Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) based technique, while the other method derives a model of music by identifying and extracting repeating patterns using a similarity matrix and a median filter. Since the model of voice is singer-independent and the model of music does not require training data, the proposed method does not require training data from a user, once deployed. Evaluation on a data set of 1,000 song clips showed that combining modeling of both sources can improve separation performance, when compared with modeling only one of the sources, and also compared with two other state-of-the-art methods.
Through-the-earth magnetic field propagation: Modelling for underground applications

A Finite-Element Method (FEM) model of a Through-the-Earth (TTE) Magnetic Field propagation field experiment is developed using COMSOL Multiphysics. The geometry of the model is obtained from the topographic data of the test site. The soil description is set from the literature concerning the region interpreted by means of a vertical electric sounding and the geophysical analysis of the electromagnetic measurements and computations. A frequency range of 1 to 100 kHz, for seven emitter station points along 200 m was covered. In this paper, the coefficient of variation of the root of the mean squared error (CVRMSE) is studied. The results are compared with the computations of analytical propagation models. Free-space, infinite dissipative, semi-infinite and three-layered models for linear, homogeneous and isotropic horizontal mediums are considered. As a result, the accuracy of the analytical models is highly improved by the FEM model. Therefore, FEM modelling can successfully be used for improving TTE propagation predictions for environments of complex geological structure.
Energy and Nutritional Composition of Tiger Milk Mushroom (Lignosus tigris Chon S. Tan) Sclerotia and the Antioxidant Activity of Its Extracts

The Lignosus is a genus of fungi that have useful medicinal properties. In Southeast Asia, three species of Lignosus (locally known collectively as Tiger milk mushrooms) have been reported including L. tigris, L. rhinocerotis, and L. cameronensis. All three have been used as important medicinal mushrooms by the natives of Peninsular Malaysia. In this work, the nutritional composition and antioxidant activities of the wild type and a cultivated strain of L. tigris sclerotial extracts were investigated. The sclerotia are rich in carbohydrates with moderate amount of protein and low fat content. Free radical scavenging activities of L. tigris sclerotial extracts correlate with their phenolic content, which ranges from 6.25 to 45.42 mg GAE/g extract. The FRAP values ranged from 0.002 to 0.041 mmol/min/g extract, while the DPPH•, ABTS•+, and superoxide anion (SOA) scavenging activities ranged from 0.18 to 2.53, 0.01 to 0.36, and -4.53 to 10.05 mmol Trolox equivalents/g extract, respectively. L. tigris cultivar shows good prospect to be developed into functional food due to its good nutritional value and potent SOA scavenging activity.
Control-Aware Wireless Sensor Network Platform for the Smart Electric Grid

The communications needs of monitoring and control of the electric grid is traditionally catered for by wired communication systems. These technologies ensured high reliability and bandwidth but are however very expensive, inflexible and do not support mobility and pervasive monitoring. The communication protocols are Ethernet-based that used contention access protocols which result in high unsuccessful transmission and delay. The use of embedded wireless sensor and actuator networks for monitoring and control of the electric grid requires secure, reliable and timely exchange of information among controllers, distributed sensors and actuators. The exchange of information is over a shared wireless medium. However, wireless media is highly unpredictable due to path loss, shadow fading and ambient noise. Monitoring and control applications have stringent requirements on reliability, delay and security. The primary issue addressed in this paper is the impact of harsh power system environment on reliable and timely information exchange in wireless sensor and actuator networks. A combined networking and information theoretic approach was adopted to determine the transmit power required to maintain a minimum wireless channel capacity for reliable data transmission. We also develop a channel-aware optimal slot allocation scheme that ensures efficient utilization of the wireless link and guarantee delay. Various analytical evaluations and simulations are used to evaluate and validate the feasibility of the methodologies and demonstrate that the protocols achieved reliable and real-time data delivery in wireless industrial sensor networks.
Etching mechanism of the single-step through-silicon-via dry etch using SF6/C4F8 chemistry

A single-step etching method using the SF6/C4F8 chemistry is developed in this study as an alternative through-silicon-via (TSV) etching approach of the traditional Bosch process to realize ultrasmooth and vertical TSV profiles. Experimental results show that there is a profile discontinuity, or a “transition,” on the TSV profile produced by the single-step etching method at high bias voltages and high SF6 flow rates. Comparison between the intensity of the species generated in a pure SF6 or a pure C4F8 plasma and in a SF6/C4F8 plasma is investigated for better understanding interactions between SF6 and C4F8. The densities of all positive ions are reduced in the SF6/C4F8 plasma compared to a pure SF6 plasma and a pure C4F8 plasma at the same partial pressure, indicating a change of plasma chemistry when SF6 and C4F8 fluxes are mixed. The formation mechanism of the transition is proposed as a chemistry discontinuity caused by large-angle ion sputtering at the top part of the sidewalls and the polymer accumulation at the bottom part of the sidewalls. The formation of the transition has found to have an effect of improving the sidewall smoothness below the position where it is formed. Parameter study has shown that a decreased bias voltage and a reduced SF6/C4F8 ratio can help to improve the sidewall smoothness and eliminate the transition on the TSV profiles.
MWSN Modeling Using OMNET++ Simulator

The Mobile Wireless Sensor Network (MWSN) plays an important role in many applications and activities and we have presented our experience to design the MWSN which execute the realistic explanation by using OMNeT++. The simulation is based on proper selection and estimated parameters for generating and establishing better performance. A detailed analysis of the design using OMNet++ (MiXiM Framework) helped in depth understanding of the network and has resulted into a better MWSN design. In this paper, we also discuss in detail the mobile node's architecture, mobile node's movement at different time interval and evaluate the results for the simple scenario of MWSN.
Efficient sparse spectrum estimation for cognitive radios

The emerging concept of cognitive radios offers a way to use the limited radio-spectrum more efficiently by allowing networks and nodes to adaptively vary their parameters. An important element in the successful implementation of cognitive radios is the ability to estimate the varying state of spectrum usage in a wide-band channel quickly and at minimum cost. In this work, we utilize a powerful non-convex optimization approach to provide sparse and unbiased estimates of the spectrum from limited non-uniformly sampled data. Simulation results for a wide-band communication scenario show that the noise floor is significantly reduced compared to other commonly used approaches. This should help in reducing the miss-identification of occupied and vacant sub-bands of the spectrum, being a key requirement in spectrum sensing cognitive radios.
An overview of the OMNeT++ simulation environment

The OMNeT++ discrete event simulation environment has been publicly available since 1997. It has been created with the simulation of communication networks, multiprocessors and other distributed systems in mind as application area, but instead of building a specialized simulator, OMNeT++ was designed to be as general as possible. Since then, the idea has proven to work, and OMNeT++ has been used in numerous domains from queuing network simulations to wireless and ad-hoc network simulations, from business process simulation to peer-to-peer network, optical switch and storage area network simulations. This paper presents an overview of the OMNeT++ framework, recent challenges brought about by the growing amount and complexity of third party simulation models, and the solutions we introduce in the next major revision of the simulation framework.
Understanding the relationship between the primary structure of proteins and its propensity to be soluble on overexpression in Escherichia coli

Solubility of proteins on overexpression in Escherichia coli is a manifestation of the net effect of several sequence‐dependent and sequence‐independent factors. This study aims to delineate the relationship between the primary structure and solubility on overexpression. The amino acid sequences of proteins reported to be soluble or to form inclusion bodies on overexpression in E. coli under normal growth conditions were analyzed. The results show a positive correlation between thermostability and solubility of proteins, and an inverse correlation between the in vivo half‐life of proteins and solubility. The amino acid (Asn, Thr, Tyr) composition and the tripeptide frequency of the protein were also found to influence its solubility on overexpression. The amino acids that were seen to be present in a comparatively higher frequency in inclusion body‐forming proteins have a higher sheet propensity, whereas those that are seen more in soluble proteins have a higher helix propensity; this is indicative of a possible correlation between sheet propensity and inclusion body formation. Thus, the present analysis shows that thermostability, in vivo half‐life, Asn, Thr, and Tyr content, and tripeptide composition of a protein are correlated to the propensity of a protein to be soluble on overexpression in E. coli. The precise mechanism by which these properties affect the solubility status of the overexpressed protein remains to be understood.
A Diamond-Based Electrode for Detection of Neurochemicals in the Human Brain

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), a surgical technique to treat certain neurologic and psychiatric conditions, relies on pre-determined stimulation parameters in an open-loop configuration. The major advancement in DBS devices is a closed-loop system that uses neurophysiologic feedback to dynamically adjust stimulation frequency and amplitude. Stimulation-driven neurochemical release can be measured by fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV), but existing FSCV electrodes rely on carbon fiber, which degrades quickly during use and is therefore unsuitable for chronic neurochemical recording. To address this issue, we developed durable, synthetic boron-doped diamond-based electrodes capable of measuring neurochemical release in humans. Compared to carbon fiber electrodes, they were more than two orders-of-magnitude more physically-robust and demonstrated longevity in vitro without deterioration. Applied for the first time in humans, diamond electrode recordings from thalamic targets in patients (n = 4) undergoing DBS for tremor produced signals consistent with adenosine release at a sensitivity comparable to carbon fiber electrodes. (Clinical trials # NCT01705301).
Gluteal Compartment Syndrome following an Iliac Bone Marrow Aspiration

The compartment syndrome is a condition characterized by a raised hydraulic pressure within a closed and non expandable anatomical space. It leads to a vascular insufficiency that becomes critical once the vascular flow cannot return the fluids back to the venous system. This causes a potential irreversible damage of the contents of the compartment, especially within the muscle tissues. Gluteal compartment syndrome (GCS) secondary to hematomas is seldom reported. Here we present a case of a 51-year-old patient with history of a non-Hodgkin lymphoma who underwent a bone marrow aspiration from the posterior iliac crest that had excessive bleeding at the puncture zone. The patient complained of increasing pain, tenderness, and buttock swelling. Intraoperative pressure validation of the gluteal compartment was performed, and a GCS was diagnosed. The patient was treated with a gluteal region fasciotomy. The patient recovered from pain and swelling and was discharged shortly after from the hospital. We believe clotting and hematologic disorders are a primary risk factor in patients who require bone marrow aspirations or biopsies. It is important to improve awareness of GCS in order to achieve early diagnosis, avoid complications, and have a better prognosis.
Analysis of retinal nerve fiber layer via Markov random fields in color fundus images

Since images of ocular fundus are commonly available in ophthalmic practice, automatic assessment of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) can be useful for early diagnosis of glaucoma. This contribution presents a texture analysis method for the description of RNFL status and proposes appropriate textural features for medical diagnosis. The method uses Gaussian Markov random fields to model visual appearance of the texture. The results show that the proposed textural features can be used for reliable classification of healthy RNFL areas and areas with focal wedge-shaped RNFL loss. Experiments show a close correlation of the proposed features with the real measurement of the RNFL thickness by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Quantitative comparison of results from the two modalities - fundus camera and OCT - successfully validates relevancy of the proposed features.