Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Assembled Monolayers of Alkanethiols Containing a Polar Aromatic Group: Effects of the Dipole Position on Molecular Packing, Orientation, and Surface Wetting Properties

The effect of incorporating aromatic groups into self-assembled alkanethiol monolayers was studied using a variety of techniques including ellipsometry, wetting, reflection-absorption FTIR, surface (contact) potential, and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The quality of the monolayers produced was found to be dependent on both the size of the dipole introduced into the film and the length of the aliphatic chain above the aromatic group
User interface issues in bimanual dual object control

While many facets of two handed tasks are encompassed in human-computer interaction, there are still several forms of interaction which remain underdeveloped in the virtual world. Specifically, controlling two objects simultaneously has not been examined as closely as it could be. Bimanual dual object control (BDOC) tasks, in which users manipulate one object with each hand, are ubiquitous in everyday life. The potential to open up new and unique interfaces for a variety of applications, such as tele-robotics, remote surgery and advanced visualization, is too significant to ignore. Applications exploiting this form of user interaction could easily be crafted, though it remains to be seen whether or not BDOC interaction is viable. Through experimentation, the viability of BDOC applications and the mechanisms by which such applications can be optimized for the user experience were determined. During a simple navigation task, parallelization of object movement was shown to improve overall completion time by 40%, but at the cost of movement accuracy and individual completion time. Out of five factors tested in an obstacle dodging task, only differentiating the shape of the subject controlled objects led to improved dodging performance. Several of the factors expected to improve performance in the dodging task actually resulted in decreased performance. Auditory cues originally intended as a warning of incoming obstacles only served to distract subjects. Differentiating the color of the two controlled objects had a negative effect on one of them, but not the other. Changing the time between obstacle appearances had little effect, regardless of the length of time. Finally, placing the subject controlled objects too close together or too far apart had the expected effect of decreasing dodging performance.
Data Pipelines and Virtual Screening: Automating the Process

The application of virtual screens to sets of ligands can involve several complex modeling and database packages and a considerable amount of manual intervention to transfer and reformat data between computational steps. This is time-consuming and error-prone for a computational chemist, and can put the process beyond the capabilities of a project scientist. In this paper, we discuss the application of a workflow methodology known as data pipelining to automate the process of virtual screening. We show that this can allow computational chemists to automate the application of virtual screens, encapsulate their expertise in the form of computational protocols (workflows), and deploy these protocols to bench scientists to allow them to apply virtual screening methods in a simple, automated fashion.
A Rationale for Information Literacy as a Credit-bearing Discipline

Purpose: While the need for comprehensive information literacy in today’s society is becoming increasingly apparent, and initiatives abound within local, regional, national and international educational venues, there is evidence that information literacy within higher education today is failing to meet its dual intentions of becoming credible within the academic community and pervasive within university programs. The goal of this paper is to present a more rigorous approach to information literacy as a credit-bearing discipline. Approach: Following a literature review, the paper will propose an educational rationale for information literacy as a discipline. Practical Implications: If a proper educational rationale can be determined for information literacy, this can become the basis for actual information literacy credit programming within institutions of higher education. Originality/Value: While the idea of information literacy as a liberal art or a discipline is not new, this paper is the most comprehensive attempt to date to provide a rationale for information literacy as a credit-bearing discipline.
Families of threshold schemes

The notion of families of ideal threshold schemes (ITS) is introduced, their properties and applications are investigated. We consider secret sharing schemes whose parameters can be adjusted. Our model is a threshold scheme family (TSF) whose threshold scheme parameters can be modified dynamically. Some applications of this model includes schemes which have disenrollment capability, and a scheme to resist cheating. <<ETX>>
Theoretical Analysis of Learning Speed in Gradient Descent Algorithm Replacing Derivative with Constant

In on-line gradient descent learning, the local property of the derivative term of the output function can slowly converge. Improving the derivative term, such as by using the natural gradient, has been proposed for speeding up the convergence. Beside this sophisticated method, we propose an algorithm that replaces the derivative term with a constant and show that this greatly increases convergence speed when the learning step size is less than 2.7, which is near the optimal learning step size. The proposed algorithm is inspired by linear perceptron learning and can avoid locality of the derivative term. We derived the closed deterministic differential equations by using a statistical mechanics method and show the validity of theoretical results by comparing them with computer simulation solutions. In real problems, the optimum learning step size is not given in advance. Therefore, the learning step size must be small. The proposed method is useful in this case.
Knowledge sharing in the public sector in Malaysia

Organizations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of knowledge sharing to survive and remain competitive. Current knowledge sharing models have been found to be lacking as they only focus on the relationships between factors that influence knowledge sharing. An integrated approach that is capable of a simultaneous investigation of the various factors that affect knowledge sharing initiatives, quality of knowledge management and its impact on organizational performance has not been widely attempted. This study aims to develop a holistic knowledge sharing model for the public sector in Malaysia that is based on an integrated approach, which combines factors that influence knowledge management (input), knowledge sharing quality (process) and workers’ performance as well as service delivery (output) that encompasses the individual, organization and technology. This study will firstly present a review of the literature of current models in knowledge sharing, which will then form the take-off point for the development of the proposed holistic model. Such a holistic model is deemed appropriate and necessary to steer knowledge sharing initiatives in tandem with forming the base for policy-making of such initiatives.
High-Performance Embedded Computing: Architectures, Applications, and Methodologies

Over the past several years, embedded systems have emerged as an integral though unseen part of many consumer, industrial, and military devices. The explosive growth of these systems has resulted in embedded computing becoming an increasingly important discipline. The need for designers of high-performance, application-specific computing systems has never been greater, and many universities and colleges in the US and worldwide are now developing advanced courses to help prepare their students for careers in embedded computing. High-Performance Embedded Computing: Architectures, Applications, and Methodologies is the first book designed to address the needs of advanced students and industry professionals. Focusing on the unique complexities of embedded system design, the book provides a detailed look at advanced topics in the field, including multiprocessors, VLIW and superscalar architectures, and power consumption. Fundamental challenges in embedded computing are described, together with design methodologies and models of computation. HPEC provides an in-depth and advanced treatment of all the components of embedded systems, with discussions of the current developments in the field and numerous examples of real-world applications. Covers advanced topics in embedded computing, including multiprocessors, VLIW and superscalar architectures, and power consumption Provides in-depth coverage of networks, reconfigurable systems, hardware-software co-design, security, and program analysis Includes examples of many real-world embedded computing applications (cell phones, printers, digital video) and architectures (the Freescale Starcore, TI OMAP multiprocessor, the TI C5000 and C6000 series, and others)
Furan Ring Opening—Furan Ring Closure: Cascade Rearrangement of Novel 4‐Acetoxy‐9‐furylnaphtho[2,3‐b]furans.

The cascade rearrangement of novel 4-acetoxy-9-furylnaphtho[2,3-b]furans leading to tetracyclic naphthodifurans derivatives has been developed. The reaction proceeds via double recyclization of both furan rings of the initial molecule, one of the furan rings serving as a 1,3-dicarbonyl compound equivalent. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. N H OH R' R" R O NH2
Automatic Mapping Of Large Signal Processing Systems To A Parallel Machine

Since the spring of 1988, Carnegie Mellon University and the Naval Air Development Center have been working together to implement several large signal processing systems on the Warp parallel computer. In the course of this work, we have developed a prototype of a software tool that can automatically and efficiently map signal processing systems to distributed-memory parallel machines, such as Warp. We have used this tool to produce Warp implementations of small test systems. The automatically generated programs compare favorably with hand-crafted code. We believe this tool will be a significant aid in the creation of high speed signal processing systems. We assume that signal processing systems have the following characteristics: •They can be described by directed graphs of computational tasks; these graphs may contain thousands of task vertices. • Some tasks can be parallelized in a systolic or data-partitioned manner, while others cannot be parallelized at all. • The side effects of each task, if any, are limited to changes in local variables. • Each task has a data-independent execution time bound, which may be expressed as a function of the way it is parallelized, and the number of processors it is mapped to. In this paper we describe techniques to automatically map such systems to Warp-like parallel machines. We identify and address key issues in gracefully combining different parallel programming styles, in allocating processor, memory and communication bandwidth, and in generating and scheduling efficient parallel code. When iWarp, the VLSI version of the Warp machine, becomes available in 1990, we will extend this tool to generate efficient code for very large applications, which may require as many as 3000 iWarp processors, with an aggregate peak performance of 60 gigaflops.
Computer simulation of the human-body effects on a circular-loop-wire antenna for radio-pager communications at 152, 280, and 400 MHz

This paper presents an extensive computer simulation of the influence of the human body on a circular-loop-wire antenna to simulate the pager antenna. The coupled integral equations (CIEs) approach and the method of moments (MoM) are employed for numerical simulation of this antenna-body-coupling problem. The magnetic frill source is used to model the antenna-feeding structure. A realistically shaped full-scale human-body model (1.7 m) is constructed. A small loop antenna (loop radius b=1.7 cm and wire radius a=0.072 cm) of x, y, and z orientation, in free space or proximate to the human body at the top pocket (chest position) or belt level (waist position), is considered. Numerical results of the antenna characteristics and body absorption at 152, 280, and 400 MHz are presented and discussed for radio-paging applications. At 280 MHz, it is found that the real part of the impedance increases about five to ten times, and, hence, the antenna ohmic-loss radiation efficiency increases from 17% (in free space) to 69%, 44.3%, and 58.4%, respectively, for the x-, y-, and z-oriented loops when proximate to the body. The radiation efficiencies, reduced by the body-absorption effect, are 5%, 61%, and 25% for the x-, y-, and z-oriented loops, respectively. For the y-oriented loop, which is found to be the most suitable for paging communications, the antenna efficiencies are almost the same at the two location levels for all frequencies considered. The computed antenna characteristics influenced by the human body; including the input impedance, antenna patterns, cross-polarization field level, radiation efficiencies, and maximum and minimum power gains, are important for the antenna/RF design and the link-budget consideration.
Statistical relationships between downloads and citations at the level of individual documents within a single journal: Book Reviews

Statistical relationships between downloads from ScienceDirect of documents in Elsevier's electronic journal Tetrahedron Letters and citations to these documents recorded in journals processed by the Institute for Scientific InformationsThomson Scientific for the Science Citation Index (SCI) are examined. A synchronous approach revealed that downloads and citations show different patterns of obsolescence of the used materials. The former can be adequately described by a model consisting of the sum of two negative exponential functions, representing an ephemeral and a residual factor, whereas the decline phase of the latter conforms to a simple exponential function with a decay constant statistically similar to that of the downloads residual factor. A diachronous approach showed that, as a cohort of documents grows older, its download distribution becomes more and more skewed, and more statistically similar to its citation distribution. A method is proposed to estimate the effect of citations upon downloads using obsolescence patterns. It was found that during the first 3 months after an article is cited, its number of downloads increased 25p compared to what one would expect this number to be if the article had not been cited. Moreover, more downloads of citing documents led to more downloads of the cited article through the citation. An analysis of 1,190 papers in the journal during a time interval of 2 years after publication date revealed that there is about one citation for every 100 downloads. A Spearman rank correlation coefficient of 0.22 was found between the number of times an article was downloaded and its citation rate recorded in the SCI. When initial downloads—defined as downloads made during the first 3 months after publication—were discarded, the correlation raised to 0.35. However, both outcomes measure the joint effect of downloads upon citation and that of citation upon downloads. Correlating initial downloads to later citation counts, the correlation coefficient drops to 0.11. Findings suggest that initial downloads and citations relate to distinct phases in the process of collecting and processing relevant scientific information that eventually leads to the publication of a journal article. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Large-Scale Traffic Network Control Based on Convex Programming Coupled with B&B Strategy

This paper presents a new framework for traffic flow control based on an integrated model description by means of a Hybrid Dynamical System (HDS). The geometrical information on the traffic network is characterized by a Hybrid Petri Net (HPN). Then, the algebraic behavior of traffic flow is transformed into a Mixed Logical Dynamical System (MLDS) form in order to introduce an optimization technique. These expressions involve both continuous evolution of traffic flow and event driven behavior of traffic light. HPN allows us to formulate the problem easily for complicated and large-scale traffic network due to its graphical understanding. MLDS enables us to optimize the control policy for traffic light by means of its algebraic manipulability and use of model predictive control framework. Since the behavior represented by HPN can be directly transformed into corresponding MLDS form, the seamless incorporation of two different modeling schemes provide a systematic design scenario for traffic flow control.
A systolic circuit for fast Hartley transform

The authors present a systolic circuit for computing a fast algorithm performing the discrete Hartley transform (DHT). The proposed architecture employs a systolic elevator concept and CORDIC processors. The elevator assures local communications in the proposed algorithm, and the CORDIC processor makes it possible to enhance processing speed and exploit parallelism. The architecture appears to be regular and, therefore, very attractive for VLSI realizations. The computational cost necessary for computing the DFT (discrete Fourier transform) is also discussed with respect to other architectures. <<ETX>>
Efficient Algorithms for MPEG Video Compression

Video compression is a topic of increasing importance in a world where multimedia technologies and massive data sets are threatening to overflow the capacity of even the most powerful of today's computers. Internet as well as business applications such as videoconferencing, video-on-demand, and digital cable television all use compression techniques, either to decrease the required bandwidth for an application or to send more data through a bottleneck in the system. Buffering is used at both ends of the transmission to make the communication less "bursty. " The interplay between compression and buffer control algorithms in order to address these performance problems and maintain high visual clarity has shown great results, and Efficient Algorithms for MPEG Video Compression is the first book dedicated to the subject. The authors, both experts in the field of compression technologies and algorithm design, present some of the most promising algorithms for converting raw data to a compressed form for efficient broadcast
1,4-Diazo­niabicyclo­[2.2.2]octane bis­(3-carboxypyridine-2-carboxyl­ate) 2.17-hydrate

The title compound, C6H14N22+·2C7H4NO4−·2.17H2O, is a hydrated mol­ecular salt. The cation has crystallographic twofold rotation symmetry, and the component species inter­act by way of bifurcated N—H⋯(O, N) hydrogen bonds to result in associations of two anions and one cation. The anion is stabilized by an intra­molecular O—H⋯O bond. The water mol­ecules are disordered and occupy [001] pseudo channels in the structure.
CRBcast: ACollaborative Rateless SchemeforReliable andEnergy-Efficient Broadcasting inWireless Sensor Networks

Inthispaper, wepropose atwo-phase broadcasting scheme referred asCollaborative Rateless Broadcast (CRBcast). We areparticularly interested inreliability andenergy efficiency ofthebroadcasting schemeformulti-hop wireless sensor networks. Ourtwo-phase protocol isbasedonProbabilisticBroadcasting (PBcast) andanapplication layer rateless coding. Atthefirst phase, therateless-encoded packets are broadcasted basedonPBcast, inwhicheachnodeprobabilistically relays everynewreceived packet. Thesecond recovery phase. whichisbasedonsimple collaborations of nodes, ensures thatallnodescanrecover original data. We first investigate PBcastanalytically andwithsimulation, since thecharacteristics ofPBcast influence CRBcast. Then, weinvestigate theeffectiveness ofCRBcast. We showthat CRBcast canprovide bothreliability andenergyefficiency. Simulation results indicate thatCRBcast savesatleast 72%o and60%energyincomparison withflooding andPBcast, respectively.
Adaptive deformable model for mouth boundary detection

University of SydneyDepartment of Electrical EngineeringSydney, New South Wales 2006AustraliaE-mail: armir@ee.usyd. edu.auKin-Man LamHong Kong Polytechnic UniversityDepartment of Electrical EngineeringHong KongAbstract. A new generalized algorithm is proposed to automatically ex-tract a mouth boundary model from human face images. Such an algo-rithm can contribute to human face recognition and lip-reading-assistedspeech recognition systems, in particular, and multimodal human com-puter interaction systems, in general. The new model is an iterative al-gorithm based on a hierarchical model adaptation scheme using deform-able templates, as a generalization of some of the previous works. Therole of prior knowledge is essential for perceptual organization in thealgorithm. The prior knowledge about the mouth shape is used to deﬁneand initialize a primary deformable model. Each primary boundary curveof a mouth is formed on three control points, including two mouth cor-ners, whose locations are optimized using a primary energy functional.This energy functional essentially captures the knowledge of the mouthshape to perceptually organize image information. The primary model isﬁnely tuned in the second stage of optimization algorithm using a gener-alized secondary energy functional. Basically each boundary curve isﬁnely tuned using more control points. The primary model is replaced byan adapted model if there is an increase in the secondary energy func-tional. The results indicate that the new model adaptation technique sat-isfactorily generalizes the mouth boundary model extraction in an auto-mated fashion.
Millennial Perspectives in Computer Science

An exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) control valve provided with an extension which is inserted into a restriction, formed in the EGR passageway upstream of the EGR control valve, to reduce the effective cross sectional area of the restriction and therefore the EGR ratio when the pressure in the EGR passageway between the restriction and the EGR control valve is reduced below a predetermined value due to increases in an engine suction vacuum during low load engine operating conditions.
Two Novel Retinal Blood Vessel Segmentation Algorithms

Assessment of blood vessels in retinal images is an important factor for many medical disorders. The changes in the retinal vessels due to the pathologies can be easily identified by segmenting the retinal vessels. Segmentation of retinal vessels is done to identify the early diagnosis of the disease like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, hypertensive retinopathy and arteriosclerosis. In this paper, we propose two automatic blood vessel segmentation methods. The first proposed algorithm starts with the extraction of blood vessel centerline pixels. The final segmentation is obtained using an iterative region growing method that merges the contents of several binary images resulting from vessel width dependent modified morphological filters on normalized retinal images. In the second proposed algorithm the blood vessel is segmented using normalized modified morphological operations and neuro fuzzy classifier. Normalized morphological operations are used to enhance the vessels and neuro fuzzy classifier is used to segment retinal blood vessels. These methods are applied on the publicly available DRIVE database and the experimental results obtained by using green channel images have been presented and their results are compared with recently published methods. The results demonstrate that our algorithms are very effective methods to detect retinal blood vessels. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.11591/ijece.v4i3. 5829