Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stability and performance for saturated systems via quadratic and non-quadratic Lyapunov functions ∗

In this paper we develop a systematic Lyapunov approach to the regional stability and performance analysis of saturated systems in a general feedback configuration. The only assumptions we make about the system are well-posedness of the algebraic loop and local stability. Problems to be considered include the estimation of the domain of attraction, the reachable set under a class of bounded energy disturbances and the nonlinear L2 gain. The regional analysis is established through an effective treatment of the algebraic loop and the saturation/deadzone function. This treatment yields two forms of differential inclusions, a polytopic differential inclusion (PDI) and a norm-bounded differential inclusion (NDI) that contain the original system. Adjustable parameters are incorporated into the differential inclusions to reflect the regional property. The main idea behind the regional analysis is to ensure that the state remain inside the level set of a certain Lyapunov function where the PDI or the NDI is valid. With quadratic Lyapunov functions, conditions for stability and performances are derived as linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). To obtain less conservative conditions, we use a pair of conjugate non-quadratic Lyapunov functions, the convex hull quadratic function and the max quadratic function. These functions yield bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) as conditions for stability and guaranteed performance level. The BMI conditions cover the corresponding LMI conditions as special cases and hence the BMI results are guaranteed to always be as good as the LMI results. In most examples, the BMI results are significantly better than the LMI results. keywords: saturation, deadzone, nonlinear L2 gain, reachable set, domain of attraction, Lyapunov functions.
Computational Structure Prediction for Antibody-Antigen Complexes From Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry: Challenges and Outlook

Although computational structure prediction has had great successes in recent years, it regularly fails to predict the interactions of large protein complexes with residue-level accuracy, or even the correct orientation of the protein partners. The performance of computational docking can be notably enhanced by incorporating experimental data from structural biology techniques. A rapid method to probe protein-protein interactions is hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS). HDX-MS has been increasingly used for epitope-mapping of antibodies (Abs) to their respective antigens (Ags) in the past few years. In this paper, we review the current state of HDX-MS in studying protein interactions, specifically Ab-Ag interactions, and how it has been used to inform computational structure prediction calculations. Particularly, we address the limitations of HDX-MS in epitope mapping and techniques and protocols applied to overcome these barriers. Furthermore, we explore computational methods that leverage HDX-MS to aid structure prediction, including the computational simulation of HDX-MS data and the combination of HDX-MS and protein docking. We point out challenges in interpreting and incorporating HDX-MS data into Ab-Ag complex docking and highlight the opportunities they provide to build towards a more optimized hybrid method, allowing for more reliable, high throughput epitope identification.
Variational Inference via a Joint Latent Variable Model with Common Information Extraction

Inspired by the distributed simulation problem in network information theory, this paper proposes a new joint latent variable model to learn a succinct common information and presents a simple training scheme for this model, where the succinctness is measured by Wyner’s common information. The proposed model includes two groups of latent variables—first, the common latent variable that captures the common information (e.g., a shared concept) of the two data variables, and second, the local latent variables that capture the remaining randomness (e.g., texture and style) in respective data variables. As an example to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed model and accompanied training techniques, conditional generation (given an image of N ∈ {0, . . . , 9}, generate an image of (N + 1) mod 10) and style transfer (replicate a similar style of a given digit image in generating a new image) experiments using the MNIST dataset are exhibited.
The migration of unskilled youth: Is there any wage gain?

Over the life cycle, entry into labour force is the period where geographic mobility is highest. Moreover, it is mainly driven by employment motives, while elder people often migrate in search of better amenities (Van Ommeren et alii, 1996; Detang-Dessendre et alii, 1999 ; Zax, 1991). Thus, young labour force entrants are an interesting population for the analysis of the links between job markets and migrations. These links can be analysed from several points of view. One may choose to consider employment and migration choices as the outcome of human capital investment decisions (Sjaastad, 1962 ; Greenwood, 1975, 1985). Alternatively, one may be interested in the effects of differences among local labour markets with respect to wages, unemployment, job mobility (Kriaa et Plassard, 1997). We can also examine how firms hiring and labour force management policies induce migrations.
Diversityand in situ quanti¢cationofAcidobacteria subdivision1 inanacidicmining lake

Analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries from acidic mining lake water and sediment, and from an enclosure to which organic carbon was added to stimulate microbial alkalinization processes of sulfate and iron reduction revealed the presence of diverse sequences affiliated with the Acidobacteria subdivision 1. A novel oligonucleotide probe, ACIDO228, was designed that covered most sequences of Acidobacteria subdivision 1. The hybridization conditions were optimized using the type strain Acidobacterium capsulatum. The depth distribution and seasonal dynamics of Acidobacteria in the lake and the enclosure were assessed by whole cell hybridization. Sequence analyses and in situ quantification indicated that Acidobacteria accounted for a substantial part of bacterioplankton communities in both compartments. During the summer stratification distinct maxima of acidobacterial abundance were detected in the hypolimnion (up to 13% of total cell numbers), whereas during spring and autumn circulations no clear depth-dependent differences were visible. These data suggest that Acidobacteria thrive best in the hypolimnion, which is characterized by lower temperatures and higher availability of organic substrates. The application of probe ACIDO228 provided quantitative information on the seasonal and depth distribution of Acidobacteria in a lake environment and in particular in a rather extreme habitat, an acidic mining lake.
How to calculate proofs: bridging the cultural divide

T his article argues that one of the most neglected opportunities in many branches of mathematics is symbolic reasoning for the “logical” parts rather than just for the algebraic, analytic, etc., parts, where symbolic calculation has been a well-established routine since Viète and Descartes [4], [5]. This is far from suggesting that symbolic reasoning should be promoted from neglect to supremacy or that it is always the best choice: we will discuss its place among other styles. One of several things we do want to emphasize is the advantage of being able to calculate with predicates and quantifiers [10], [23], [25] as fluently as is common for derivatives, integrals, and sums (∀ and ∃ being much simpler than Σ). Even if, for a specific problem, this ability is not exploited by choice, at least it will have provided a broader basis for making choices. The treatment is introductory, addressing anyone interested in augmenting their palette of reasoning strategies, including mathematics educators and, directly or indirectly, students. As a matter of terminology, one of the styles we will discuss, and also endorse for logic, is the calculational style [22], [24] typical in algebra and analysis. The leftmost example in Figure 1 is taken from an engineering textbook [6, p. 91], intentionally leaving symbols unexplained to focus only on the shape of the argument as expressions chained by relational operators (=, ≤). Normally at each step one also explicitly mentions the rule used (definition, theorem, . . .).
Rainfall interception and spatial variability of throughfall in spruce stand

Abstract The interception was recognized as an important part of the catchment water balance in temperate climate. The mountainous forest ecosystem at experimental headwater catchment Liz has been subject of long-term monitoring. Unique dataset in terms of time resolution serves to determine canopy storage capacity and free throughfall. Spatial variability of throughfall was studied using one weighing and five tipping bucket rain gauges. The basic characteristics of forest affecting interception process were determined for the Norway spruce stand at the experimental area - the leaf area index was 5.66 - 6.00 m2 m-2, the basal area was 55.7 m2 ha-1, and the crown closure above individual rain gauges was between 19 and 95%. The total interception loss in both growing seasons analyzed was 34.5%. The mean value of the interception capacity determined was about 2 mm. Throughfall exhibited high variability from place to place and it was strongly affected by character of rainfall. On the other hand, spatial pattern of throughfall in average showed low variability.
Comparing Countries' Life Satisfaction and Their Level Curve of Life Satisfaction over Time: An Analytical Framework

Life satisfaction or happiness is an elusive concept, making it difficult to aggregate, measure and compare at a country level. Therefore, we propose an analytical framework, which can determine life satisfaction and the level curve of life satisfaction over time in countries. We then address four countries as cases: the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium and France. The Netherlands has the highest ranking of life satisfaction by year and the level curve of life satisfaction over 1986-1995. This analytical framework allows for the direct intercession of a country’s legislator on welfare issues, strengthening social cohesion that may foster country’s economic development.
Spectral line enhancements as signatures for stellar activity: AD Leonis – an example

Abstract A high level of stellar activity in the form of frequent flaring and frequent mass ejections can lead to the total loss of exoplanetary atmospheres due to evaporation and erosion. Simulations have shown such scenarii for close-in exoplanets orbiting M-stars. Information on stellar flaring activity is accessible more easily than information on stellar mass ejections, simply due to the difference in detection. In the National Aeronautics and Space Administration/Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer spectra of the dM star AD Leonis we find an interesting event lasting for only one spectrum. The first component of the OVI (103.19 nm, 103.76 nm) duplet shows an enhancement of the blue wing, shifted by about 90 km s−1. This event occurred one spectrum after a flare. We discuss several solar/stellar phenomena that might produce such a spectral feature and could therefore explain this event.
Automatic alignment of mixed-resolution 3D point cloud data

Different types of 3D sensors, such as LiDAR and RGB-D cameras, capture data with different resolution, range, and noise characteristics. It is often desired to merge these different types of data together into a coherent scene, but automatic alignment algorithms generally assume that the characteristics of each fragment are all similar. Our goal is to evaluate the performance of these algorithms on data with different characteristics to enable the integration of data from multiple types of sensors. We use the Redwood dataset, which has high-resolution scans of several different environments captured using a stationary LiDAR scanner. We first develop a method to emulate the capture of these environments as viewed by different types of sensor by leveraging OpenGL and a mesh creation process. Next, we take fragments of these captures which represent scenarios in which each type of sensor would be used, using our scanning experience to inform the selection process. Finally, we attempt to merge the fragments together using several automatic algorithms and evaluate how the results compare with the original scenes. We evaluate based on transformation similarity to ground truth, algorithm speed and ease of use, and subjective quality assessments.
Bio-Based Admixture (Black Tea Extraction) for Better Performance of Metakaolin Blended Cement Mortars

With high pozzolanic reactivity, metakaolin (MK) is a popular supplementary cementitious material (SCM), which can be used to partially replace Portland cement in concretes. Due to its small particle size, however, MK can agglomerate, resulting in a nonuniform matrix and underperformance of the produced concrete. To address this issue, this paper exploits a low-cost, bio-based admixture—black tea extract (BTE)—to replace the traditional petroleum-based chemical admixture to enhance the dispersion and workability of MK blended cement mortars. Major biomolecules in the BTE such as caffeine, catechin, theanine, and theaflavin are rich in polyphenol, hydroxyl, and carboxylic acid groups, which can interact with cement particles and have profound effects on the hydration process and microstructure of the hydration products. Experimental studies showed that BTE does improve the workability of the MK blended cement mortar. More importantly, the BTE introduces significant change on the microstructure of the hardened pastes. Both the pores with size less than 50 nm and the total porosity of the hardened paste were significantly reduced, leading to a significant improvement in the micro- and macro-mechanical properties of the hardened paste. Experimental results suggest that up to 35% greater improvement in the compressive strength at 28 days was achieved using the proposed bio-admixture. Economic and environmental advantages of using the BTE as a renewable admixture were also illustrated through analyzing the cost–benefit, embodied carbon, and eco-efficiency of the MK blended mortars.
Holomorphic functions with positive real part on polycylinders

The purpose of this paper is to generalize the classical Riesz-Herglotz integral representation and Pick-Nevanlinna interpolation theorems to functions of several complex variables. A generalization of these results in a somewhat different direction has already been given in [2]; the functions with positive real part, which will be the objects of our study here, turn out to be closely related to a subclass of the class Hm considered in [2]. We note that some of our results (Theorem 1 and the necessity part of Theorem 2) apply to a much larger class of domains than the polycylinders. In fact, the Szegö kernel function, which plays a crucial role in our investigation, exists and has very similar properties in all the bounded homogeneous domains which are starlike, circular, and whose isotropy group is linear and transitive on the BergmanSilov boundary (cf. [1] ; the symmetric domains of E. Cartan are all such). Our proofs apply to this more general situation as well, with the only change that the system (1) has to be replaced by a system of polynomials orthonormal on the Bergman-Silov boundary and constructed from the irreducible representations of the isotropy group. The holomorphic elements of this system will then span the range of the projection P. Our method of proving the second part of Theorem 2, however, seems not to be applicable here, and so the problem of the sufficiency of our conditions in the general case remains open. We shall denote by z = (z1,---,zm) the points of complex Euclidean m-space Cm. D will be the unit polycylinder of C'\
From performative to professional accountability: re-imagining ‘the field of judgment’ through teacher professional development

ABSTRACT The rise of performative culture in education and intensifying forms of test-based accountability have subjected teachers to a ubiquitous ‘field of judgment’ through which they are held to account. Within this context, professional development is consistently deployed as a key solution to stagnant or declining student outcomes. In this paper, we examine how accountability might be reimagined through one approach to professional development known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We draw on Foucault’s notion of panopticism and Ball’s influential writings on performativity to analyse interviews with 21 educators from 14 schools in New South Wales, Australia, conducted during a 2014–2015 randomised controlled trial. Participants highlighted the pervasiveness of testing and test results in shaping their experience of teaching in a system of perpetual surveillance where numbers bite deep into practice. By contrast, participation in QTR afforded teachers rare spaces of freedom within the structure of performativity to collaboratively focus on pedagogy. We argue meaningful professional development can alter the field of judgment and enable teachers to reclaim accountability on their own terms, while maintaining a clear focus on student outcomes.
Design and characterization of a cotton fabric antenna for on-body thermotherapy

As a non-invasive therapeutic modality, microwave hyperthermia has gained increasing prominence in recent breast cancer research. In microwave hyperthermia, the temperature of a cancerous lesion is raised to 39–45°C by microwave irradiation to shrink tumors. Currently available applicators in clinics are aperture antennas (or waveguides) that are bulky and stationary; as such, patients are required to stay in an uncomfortable position for an extended period of time. On this account, this paper introduces the design and characterization of a novel cotton fabric antenna for a truly wearable and patient-friendly breast hyperthermia therapy. The developed antenna, consisting of cotton and copper-plated polyester fabrics, offers flexibility, tenacity, moisture-absorbing properties and breathability desirable for potential integration into intimate apparel. On the other hand, the use of cotton fabric brings about a major concern: moisture is documented to alter the dielectric properties of cotton fabrics and hence could impact the antenna performance. Therefore, for the purpose of concept and design validation, this research investigated the impedance matching and heating performance at three levels (20%, 65% and 80%) of relative humidity (RH). From both simulations and measurements, the RH was found to shift the resonant frequency slightly, but did not critically affect the impedance matching and the heating performance – the measured temperature rises were 4.7–4.9°C and 2.3–2.5°C at the depths of 5 mm and 15 mm, respectively. These theoretical and experimental insights cast light on the feasibility and benefits of moisture-absorbing, cotton-based medical textiles for administration of highly patient-friendly breast hyperthermia.
GLOBAL TRANSITION TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Global transition to sustainable development is possible but many obstacles lie in the way and it will require acts of political will on the part of both the developed and developing nations to become a reality. In this paper, sustainable development is defined as continuous progress toward higher states of human well-being given the constraints supplied by available resources at any particular time. This concept is examined from the perspective of Energy Systems Theory and the cycle of change that results from the slow accumulation and rapid consumption of energy and material resources. Human well-being depends on necessary inputs from the environment (clean air and water, living space), economy (fuels, materials, economic products) and society (information, sensu lato). Empower from these three sources minus detrimental effects (pollution, crime, etc.) expressed per person is proposed as the measure of human well-being. A theoretical argument is promulgated to show that sustainable development is possible. This argument was based on the trade-off between the intensity of energy use in economic production and environmental quality that makes it possible for human well-being to improve by decreasing fossil fuel consumption in developed nations and by increasing it in developing nations. Environmental accounting using emergy is proposed as a method for documenting environmental assets and liabilities to determine if any development alternative is sustainable, i.e., assets must be sufficient to balance liabilities for an entity to be solvent. Several environmental assets and liabilities are evaluated for the countries of South and North America and then the two continents are compared. Three factors which could facilitate a global transition to sustainable development are: (1) the willingness of developed nations to decrease petroleum consumption, (2) the willingness to determine trade equity using emergy measures, and (3) the willingness to examine the distribution of wealth from the perspective of the emergy return to the whole system as a result of the emergy invested to support power and privilege.
Are Smart Homes Adequate for Older Adults with Dementia?

Smart home technologies can enable older adults, including those with dementia, to live more independently in their homes for a longer time. Activity recognition, in combination with anomaly detection, has shown the potential to recognise users’ daily activities and detect deviations. However, activity recognition and anomaly detection are not sufficient, as they lack the capacity to capture the progression of patients’ habits across the different stages of dementia. To achieve this, smart homes should be enabled to recognise patients’ habits and changes in habits, including the loss of some habits. In this study, we first present an overview of the stages that characterise dementia, alongside real-world personas that depict users’ behaviours at each stage. Then, we survey the state of the art on activity recognition in smart homes for older adults with dementia, including the literature that combines activity recognition and anomaly detection. We categorise the literature based on goals, stages of dementia, and targeted users. Finally, we justify the necessity for habit recognition in smart homes for older adults with dementia, and we discuss the research challenges related to its implementation.
Liquid-Phase Flow Distribution Control in MesoScale with Directionally Reversed Electrohydrodynamic Conduction Pumping Configuration

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pumps generate pressure to drive dielectric liquids via the electrical Coulomb force exerted on the space charge within heterocharge layers in the vicinity of the electrodes. EHD conduction pumping can be applied to enhance and control mass and heat transfer of both isothermal and non-isothermal liquids as well as two-phase fluids. It also shows its potential as an active control technique of flow distribution for multi-scale systems in both terrestrial and microgravity environment. Single-phase liquid flow distribution control based on EHD conduction pumping operating in the same direction as the mechanically generated main fluid flow direction has been previously investigated. This study experimentally examines its capability in actively controlling liquid-phase flow distribution with directionally reversed EHD conduction pumping configuration and focuses on how the formation of heterocharge layer and thus EHD conduction pumping mechanism would be affected by the upstream flow velocity. The working fluid is refrigerant HCFC-123. The experimental results indicate that the reversed pumping direction configuration of EHD conduction pump is more effective than the same pumping direction configuration, for example, in terms of initiating the flow divergence between the active and the inactive branches. This is due to the heterocharge layers alteration when the EHD conduction pumping pressure generation opposes the mainstream flow.