Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gifting personalised trajectories in museums and galleries

The designers of digital technologies for museums and galleries are increasingly interested in facilitating rich interpretations of a collection’s exhibits that can be personalised to meet the needs of a diverse range of individual visitors. However, it is commonplace to visit these settings in small groups, with friends or family. This sociality of a visit can significantly affect how visitors experience museums and their objects, but current guides can inhibit group interaction, especially when the focus is on personalisation towards individuals. This thesis develops an approach to tackling the combined challenge of fostering rich interpretation, delivering personalised content and supporting a social visit. Three studies were undertaken in three different museum and gallery settings. A visiting experience was developed for pairs of visitors to a sculpture garden, drawing upon concepts from the trajectories framework (Benford et al., 2009). Next, a study at a contemporary art gallery investigated how gift-giving could be used as a mechanism for personalisation between visitors who know each other well. Finally, the third study, at an arts and history museum, explored how gift-giving could be applied to small groups of friends and family. The thesis reports on how the approach enabled visitors to design highly personal experiences for one another and analyses how groups of visitors negotiated these experiences together in the museum visit, to reveal how this type of self-design framework for engaging audiences in a socially coherent way leads to rich, stimulating visits for the whole group and each individual member. The thesis concludes by recommending the design and gifting of museum and gallery interpretation experiences as a method for providing deeply personalised experiences, increasing visitor participation, and delivering meaningful group experiences.
Efficient weld seam detection for robotic welding based on local image processing

Purpose – The weld seam detection is required for a welding robot to preplan the weld seam track before the actual welding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this subject in natural lighting conditions.Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents an efficient algorithm of weld seam detection for butt joint welding from a single image. The basic idea of the approach is to find a pair of weld seam edges in local area first. Then, starting from the two endpoints of each edge, search for the remnant edge by iterative edge detection and edge linking.Findings – The proposed method is insensitive to the variance of the background image and can apply to most shapes of weld seams in butt joint welding.Research limitations/implications – The proposed method is designed only for butt joint welding, and it is performed before actual welding.Practical implications – The system is applicable to preplan the weld trajectory for most shapes of weld seams in butt joint welding. In addition, the proposed tech.
Combined speech decoders output for phoneme recognition enhancement

Phoneme recognition is an essential component of any robust speech decoder and has been tackled by many researchers. Speech feature extraction constitutes the front end module of any speech decoder: it plays an essential role and has a strong impact on the recognition performance. The research community is aggressively searching for more powerful solutions which combine the existing feature extraction methods for a better and more reliable information capture from the analog speech signal. In this research work, we propose new approaches to combining phoneme recognizers' output in order to provide better recognition performance and improved robustness with respect to noise and channel distortions. Machine learning tools such as the Naive Bayes Classifier, Decision Trees, and Support Vector Machines have been used in the combination of hypotheses. Experiments under different SNR levels have proven that our proposed approach outperforms the two most common feature extraction techniques, namely Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and Perceptual Linear Prediction(PLP) with Cepstral Mean Subtraction (CMS) and RASTA respectively, for channel normalization.
The effect of selection for desiccation resistance on cold tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract Low temperature and desiccation stress are thought to be mechanistically similar in insects, and several studies indicate that there is a degree of cross‐tolerance between them, such that increased cold tolerance results in greater desiccation tolerance and vice versa. This assertion is tested at an evolutionary scale by examining basal cold tolerance, rapid cold‐hardening (RCH) and chill coma recovery in replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster selected for desiccation resistance (with controls for both selection and concomitant starvation) for over 50 generations. All of the populations display a RCH response, and there is no effect of selection regime on RCH or basal cold tolerance, although there are differences in basal cold tolerance between sampling dates, apparently related to inter‐individual variation in development time. Flies selected for desiccation tolerance recover from chill coma slightly, but significantly, faster than control and starvation‐control flies. These findings provide little support for cross‐tolerance between survival of near‐lethal cold and desiccation stress in D. melanogaster.
Co-Occurrence Diffusion Method for ExpertRanking Algorithm in Heterogeneous WebPages

Web-based communities have become important places for people to searching experts on the web, Page Rank algorithm has proven to be very effective for ranking Web pages, and the rank scores of Web pages can be manipulated. The Web spam problem which refers to hyperlinked pages on the Web that are created with the intention of misleading search engines. The reason for the increasing amount of Web spam is explained in some web site operators try to influence the positioning of their pages within search results because of the large fraction of web traffic originating from searches and the high potential monetary value of this traffic including PageRank on this large size social network in order to identify users with high. To handle the manipulation problem and to cast a new insight on the Web structure, we propose of utilizing co occurrence relationships to assess the relevance and reputation of a person name with respect to a query on document simultaneously search based on the ranking algorithm called Diffusion Rank ,it is motivated by the heat diffusion phenomena, which can be connected to Web ranking because the activities flow on the Web can be imagined as heat flow, we generate a ranked list of people’s name and leave the person identification problem to users.
Is Exercise Treadmill Time or Reduction in Myocardial Ischemia the Appropriate Primary Endpoint to Assess Success of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Stable Angina (ORBITA)?

In patients with severe single-vessel coronary artery stenosis and stable angina, the Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) in Stable Angina (ORBITA) clinical trial showed improvement in myocardial ischemia more with PCI than with the placebo procedure as assessed by dobutamine stress echocardiography (1). However, reduction in stress-induced myocardial ischemia was designated to be a secondary endpoint in the ORBITA trial. Instead, it was exercise treadmill time that was selected as the primary endpoint for the clinical trial. While relief of angina, in terms of stability, severity, and frequency did not differ between PCI and placebo procedure groups, it would have been extremely important to determine whether the angina relief was greater in the subset of patients who had improvement in the myocardial ischemia index by echocardiography (indicating successful reperfusion with PCI) when compared to those that did not demonstrate reduction in echo-guided myocardial ischemia.
Remote access platform for applications and T-government services based on the DVB-MHP standard

In this paper we introduce a framework that provides remote access to a full equipped MHP laboratory. Its purpose is to allow any registered user to test remotely a MHP application from any device connected to the Internet, with a special interest in the new possibilities of the T-government. We also define and implement a set of test applications devoted to verifying the suitability of MHP applications to the DVB-MHP standard. These tests are focused on audiovisual and smartcards aspects of interactive applications developed to be running over a MHP platform.
Integrating Nanoscale Science and Engineering Concepts into Mechanics and Materials Classrooms

Teaching modules devoted to nanoscale science and engineering concepts have been developed and integrated into key introductory and advanced undergraduate courses in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison. In addition to one new course that has been created under this effort, existing courses have been modified, removing outdated content and replacing it with cutting-edge content based on current research and emerging applications in nanotechnology. For example, in the Introduction to Engineering course, the traditional dissection laboratory (commonly performed on a toaster or blender) was replaced with dissection of a liquid crystal display watch. In addition to learning about liquid crystals and their properties, students explore how new technology impacts design through this laboratory. Several of the new experiments and demonstrations developed have been contributed to a web-based Laboratory Manual for Nanoscale Science and Technology available at http://www.mrsec. wisc.edu/edetc/nanolab/index.html and the Nanoworld Cineplex available on the Internet at http://www.mrsec. wisc.edu/edetc/cineplex/index.html.
Asymmetrical Semi-Supervised Learning and Prediction of Disulfide Connectivity in Proteins

This paper presents a study in the asymmetrical semi-supervised learning framework, where only positive and unlabeled data are available, and an application to a bio-data processing problem. We show that under very mild assumptions, the Naive Bayes classifier can be identified from positive and unlabeled data. From this study, we derive algorithms that we experiment on artificial data. Lastly, we present an application of this work to the problem of the extraction of local affinities in proteins for the prediction of disulfide connectivity.
Model predictive control based on observer for engine idle speed control

Idle speed control of engine is always one of the most important automotive control problems. And the closed-loop control using advanced control methodologies is well-suited for idle speed control problem. In this paper, a controller using linear model predictive control (MPC) methodology based on observer is designed to regulate the engine speed at a reference speed. The state variable with high measurement noise is estimated by Kalman filter in engine system. Therefore, the engine idle speed control comes down to optimization problem with input and state constraints. The simulation results show that the approach is an effective and promising for the engine idle speed control.
Karyometry of nuclear phenotypes in cutaneous squamous cell cancer.

OBJECTIVE To establish the karyometric characteristics of the two main nuclear phenotypes in cutaneous squamous cell cancer (cSCC) lesions. STUDY DESIGN The clinical materials comprised 75 cases of cSCC, 38 with aggressive lesions and 37 with nonaggressive lesions. High-resolution images of 100 nuclei per case were recorded. Data were partitioned into four subgroups covering the range of lesion progression. Four discriminant functions were derived to distinguish aggressive from nonaggressive lesions. The most typical nuclei from the phenotype predominant in aggressive lesions and nonaggressive lesions were separated out by thresholding on the discriminant function score axes. For these homogeneous sets of nuclei the karyometric features were computed. RESULTS The nuclear populations in cSCC lesions are a very heterogeneous set. There are two axes of dispersion, along the line of lesion progression and between aggressive and nonaggressive lesions. The analysis faces the difficulty that lesions from both diagnostic categories contain nuclei of the same two phenotypes with the difference between categories consisting only of differences in proportion of the two phenotypes. CONCLUSION The nuclei of the aggressive phenotype I and nonaggressive phenotype II have substantially different chromatin patterns and can be distinguished with > 90% correct recognition rate.
The technology of large-scale pharmaceutical plasmid purification by cetyltrimethylammonium bromide and Tritonx-114

Many methods for plasmid purification have been developed, and the whole process must be designed to remove the host RNA, protein, genomic DNA and endotoxin. Currently, plasmid is mostly purified by time-consuming chromatographies. As an alternative, a new plasmid purification technology with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) is described. After lysis with alkali, the CTAB was directly titrated into the supernatant for plasmid precipitation, then the coprecipitated pellets were dealt with 3 M KAc and TritonX-114. Quality detection showed that the purified plasmids were free from the contamination of host RNA. In 1 mg purified plasmid, the bacterial genomic DNA, host endotoxin and protein were less than 10 g/ mg, 50 EU/ mg and 10 g/mg, respectively. The ratio of OD260/OD280 was between 1.75 - 1.85, more than 90% of the prepared plasmid presented in the supercoiled form. Further test demonstrated that the pcDNAlacZ purified with CTAB and authoritative endotoxin-free plasmid Kit had the similar transfection efficiency in vivo and in vitro. CTAB can be used for plasmid purification; the main advantages of the DNAs purified with CTAB include the avoidance of animal-derived enzymes, toxic substance like chloroform and phenol. More attractive is that the whole process has the predominance of low cost.
Novel phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors in the alleviation of erectile dysfunction due to diabetes and ageing-induced oxidative stress

Background: Diabetes and ageing are associated with erectile dysfunction (ED). Under these conditions, increased oxidative stress produces superoxide ions, which in turn suppresses the nitric oxide-cyclic guanosine monophosphate pathway. The phophodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitors still remain ineffective in 15 – 57% of impotent men. Objective: To identify the efficacy of conventional and novel PDE5 inhibitors on oxidative stress involved in diabetes and ageing. Methods: An electronic search of the literature was conducted to review published information relating diabetes and ageing to ED and to cover late-stage developments of novel PDE5 inhibitors. Results/conclusion: Safe and more efficacious alternatives that can modulate PDE5 levels in ED regarding oxidative stress conditions are needed. Included in this review are updates on the new PDE5 inhibitors avanafil, udenafil, SLx-2101, and mirodenafil.
Development of robot navigation method based on single camera vision using deep learning

This paper presents a complete vision guided real-time approach to robot navigation in urban narrow roads based on drivable road area detection using deep learning. In this approach, an illuminant-invariant road database is created from captured images. This database is used to train the Deep Belief Neural Network (DBNN) for road detection. During navigation, a camera takes a snapshot of the road and then the captured image is converted into an illuminant-invariant image. After that, DBNN takes this image as an input. It extracts the road features layer-by-layer for detection. The experimental wheelchair robot follows detected road boundary for navigation. The performance of the developed algorithm is demonstrated by the experiments. In addition, we encompass the large areas of autonomous robot navigation in a single camera.
The DEVS formalism: a framework for logical analysis and performance evaluation for discrete event systems

This paper proposes a framework which supports performance evaluation and logical analysis of discrete event systems using a unified formalism, i.e., the DEVS (discrete event system specification) formalism. For performance evaluation, DEVSim++, a realization of the DEVS formalism and the associated simulation algorithms in C++, is used. For logical analysis, the dual language approach is adopted. We use the DEVS formalism as an operational formalism to describe system's behavior. Temporal logic (TL) is employed as an assertional formalism to specify system's properties. To reduce states space in logical analysis, we exploit a projection mechanism. The method is a mapping of a set of states in models into a state which obtained from TL assertions. An example of logical analysis for alternating bit protocol is given. <<ETX>>
Effects of age and vocabulary size on production accuracy and acoustic differentiation of young children's sibilant fricatives

This paper reports preliminary results of a study of the development of sibilant fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/ in young children. Results show that transcribed accuracy increased over the age range studied (28 to 39 months) and that children with larger vocabularies produced fricatives more accurately than ones with smaller vocabularies. Spectral characteristics were measured for productions transcribed to be sibilant. The separation between the spectra of target /s/ and target /ʃ/ also increased over the age range, and was greater in children with larger-sized vocabularies.
Transit time, trailing time, and cerebral blood flow during brain activation: Measurement using multislice, pulsed spin‐labeling perfusion imaging

Transit time and trailing time in pulsed spin‐labeling perfusion imaging are likely to be modulated by local blood flow changes, such as those accompanying brain activation. The majority of transit/trailing time is due to the passage of the tagged blood bolus through the arteriole/capillary regions, because of lower blood flow velocity in these regions. Changes of transit/trailing time during activation could affect the quantification of CBF in functional neuroimaging studies, and are therefore important to characterize. In this work, the measurement of transit and trailing times and CBF during sensorimotor activation using multislice perfusion imaging with pulsed arterial spin‐labeling is described. While CBF elevated dramatically (∼︁80.7%) during the sensorimotor activation, sizable reductions of transit time (∼︁0.11 sec) and trailing time (∼︁0.26 sec) were observed. Transit and trailing times were dependent on the distances from the leading and trailing edges of the tagged blood bolus to the location of the imaging slices. The effects of transit/trailing time changes on CBF quantification during brain activation were analyzed by simulation studies. Significant errors can be caused in the estimation of CBF if such changes of transit/trailing time are not taken into account. Magn Reson Med 44:680–685, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Retrospective and a Look Forward: Fifteen Years of Physical Unclonable Function Advancement

Severe security threats and alerts associated with the use of smart devices have drawn increasing public attentions since the inception of Internet of Things (IoT) in late 1990s. IoT devices pose a unique and challenging scenario for hardware security because of their ubiquity and area-power cost constraints. Traditional software techniques and established cryptographic methods are either inadequate or impractical due to the computational capacity and permanent storage required to process and maintain the privacy of the secret key. In this light, Physical Unclonable Function (PUF), a burgeoning technology rooted in 2002, comes in handy as an inexpensive and yet effective security primitive to overcome the forgery tagging problem by its radically different way of generating and processing secret keys in security hardware. PUFs are hardware structures or functions designed to utilize the physical disorder of random nanoscale phenomena for the derivation of keys without having to keep any security-critical information explicitly in hardware. As we usher PUF into its 15th anniversary in 2017, it is timely to review the advancements of PUF over the past decade. Specifically, this survey addresses three fundamental questions which are at all times relevant in the security arms race. These questions are: how secure can a PUF be? what differences have PUFs brought to security applications and how do these differences impact existing security protocols? how is hardware implementation research influenced by the opportunities of nanotechnologies and new discoveries of disorder-based physical phenomena? It is hoped that this retrospective study of problems and solutions encountered in the journey of developing PUF to its current state will foreshadow the challenges and opportunities for future sustainable activities in the field.
Effects of onabotulinum toxin a intradetrusor injections on urinary symptoms and sexual life in women affected by multiple sclerosis: a prospective controlled study.

Background: Voiding and sexual dysfunction in Multiple Sclerosis represent the most devastating dimensions of the disease. Pharmacological treatment of voiding dysfunction could improve sexual life in patients affected by the disease. We investigated the effects of Onabotulinum toxin A intradetrusor injections on urinary symptoms and sexual dysfunction, and on the psychological status of women affected by Multiple Sclerosis with refractory overactive bladder. Methods: 41 patients underwent neurologic and urologic clinical evaluations and were administered the Female Sexual Function Index, the Incontinence-Quality of Life questionnaire, the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, before and six months after Onabotulinum toxin A intradetrusor injection; 21 continent females affected by the disease acted as controls. Results: At baseline, all patients were incontinent and 35/41 was sexually active, with low Female Sexual Function Index scores. Mild depression and anxiety were detected in all cases with a reduced quality of life. Six months after treatment, overactive bladder symptoms improved significantly in all patients. Arousal, lubrication, orgasm-related problems and desire alterations markedly improved, together with an improvement in anxiety, depression and quality of life. Scores of Female Sexual Function Index, Incontinence-Quality of Life questionnaire, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale remained unchanged in controls. Conclusion: Onabotulinum toxin A intradetrusor injections not only control overactive bladder symptoms in women affected by multiple sclerosis, but also significantly improve sexual life.
Quantum Information and Computation : Report

In this report, we present the ideas behind the notion of quantum random walks. We further restrict our attention to the paper ”Search via quantum walk” by Magniez, Nayak, Roland and Santha and give some general insights and intuition behind their work. The report is intended for the final exam evaluation in the subject ”Quantum Information and Computation”.
Intra-frame variability as a predictor of frame classifiability

This paper examines the association between the variability of the speech signal inside an analysis frame and the relative difﬁ-culty of classifying that frame. We introduce a novel measure of speech frame variability and show through classiﬁcation experiments that this measure is a strong predictor of classiﬁability, even when conditioning on the distance to segment boundaries. Finally, we show how to incorporate the measure as weights in the discriminant function of a GMM-HMM recognizer, thereby increasing the relative importance of low variability frames in both decoding and training. This is shown to give a reduction in error rates.