Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving the Precision of Near-Infrared Stellar Photometry by Modeling the Image Formation Process within a Lossy Detector

A detector can be considered to be effectively lossy if a pixel, the smallest optically sensitive unit of the detector, internally exhibits a non-uniform response function that has a quantum efficiency variation with an rms dispersion exceeding an arbitrary level of 1%. Near-infrared astronomical cameras based on lossy detectors can have large systematic errors in the measurement of total stellar flux if stellar images are undersampled. While this problem can be mitigated by oversampling the stellar image, many near-infrared cameras are deliberately undersampled in order to achieve a large field of view. The combination of undersampling stellar images on lossy detectors is currently diminishing the potential science return of some of the near-infrared cameras onboard the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Although the recorded stellar flux can be corrupted by using detectors with significant effective intrapixel quantum efficiency variations, it is still possible to achieve excellent stellar photometry – if the image formation process inside the detector is accurately modeled. During the past year, I have worked with Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Instrument Team to demonstrate that my NASAfunded MATPHOT algorithm for precision stellar photometry and astrometry using discrete Point Spread Functions can yield an improvement in the precision of bright star stellar photometry, obtained from IRAC Ch1 observations, of more than 100% over the best results obtained with aperture photometry using the recommended calibration procedures in the IRAC Data Handbook. This collaborative effort will continue with the goal of developing new calibration procedures for that have the potential of significantly improving the precision of IRAC point-source photometry. This effort is timely because IRAC Ch1 and Ch2 will be the only operational cameras available during the Spitzer Warm Mission which is nominally scheduled to start about April 2009 after all of the cryogen has been depleted. This work was supported by grants from the Applied Information Systems Research (AISR) Program of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BARBELL TRAJECTORIES OF SNATCH AND BCH ANGLES

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the barbell trajectories of snatch and the angle between the projection vector of 7th cervical spinous process (C7) to barbell and the projection vector of C7 to hip joint in the sagittal plane (BCH angles) in different events. The ten weightlifters were divided into two groups according to their barbell trajectories (BT was categorized into the backward barbell trajectories, and the FT was forward). The results show that the BCH angles at PB and MF in BT are smaller than FT. The weightlifers with the backward trajectories usually make better performances. After analysis, we find out that the backward trajectories would reduce the BCH angles. The present study suggests that catching the bar with backward trajectories and smaller BCH angles at PB and MF are perhaps a better technique for snatch.
When a Price is Enough: Implementation in Optimal Tax Design

This paper studies the design of tax systems that implement a planner’s second-best allocation in a market economy. An example shows that the widely used Mirrleesian (1976) tax system cannot implement all incentive-compatible allocations. Hammond’s (1979) “principle of taxation” proves that any incentive-compatible allocation can be implemented through at least one tax system. However, this tax system is often undesirable since it severely restricts the choice space of agents in the economy. In this paper we derive necessary and sufficient conditions to verify whether a given tax system can implement a given incentive-compatible allocation. We show that when an incentive-compatible allocation is on the Pareto frontier, and/or surjective onto the choice space, a tax system that equates the marginal tax rates to the optimal wedges can implement the second best, without restricting the choice space of the agents. It follows that the Mirrleesian tax system can successfully implement the second best in the identified classes. Since the second-best allocation of welfarist planners is always on the Pareto frontier, our results (ex post) validate most tax systems proposed in the literature. Outside of the identified classes, the planner may need to restrict the choice space of agents to implement its second best in the market. This sheds new light on rules, quotas and prohibitions used in real-world tax and benefit systems.
THE IMBEDDING THEOREM FOR FIBRE BUNDLES^)

Introduction. In the theory of sphere bundles the imbedding theorem of Whitney-Steenrod(2) has played an important rôle, as it reduces the problem of the classification of sphere bundles to that of the homotopy classification of the mappings of the base space into a Grassmann manifold. With this theorem the characteristic ring (relative to a coefficient ring) of the sphere bundle can be defined as the image under the dual homomorphism of the cohomology ring of the Grassmann manifold. It is natural to ask whether an analogous theorem holds for any fibre bundle. The main purpose of this paper is to establish such a theorem, and to give some of its generalizations and extensions. The paper is divided into five sections. §1 gives the definitions of various notions concerning fibre bundles. The imbedding theorem and its proof, for the case that the base space is a finite polyhedron, are given in §2. Its extension to the case of metric compact ANR (= absolute neighborhood retract) is given in §3. In §4 we extend the notion of the product of two sphere bundles in the sense of Whitney (3) to general fibre bundles and prove a simultaneous imbedding theorem for the product of fibre bundles. A treatment is given in §5 of the cases where the reference groups are the classical groups, namely, the orthogonal, the properly orthogonal, the general linear, the unitary, and the symplectic groups. As is well known, the former two cases give the sphere bundles. 1. Definitions and notations. The notion of a fibre bundle arises in a sense from problems which are concerned with the applications of topology, and is therefore somewhat complicated in abstract formulation. We give in this section the definition of various concepts connected with it. A novel feature consists in the definition of the topology of the fibre bundle in terms of the coordinate functions, which simplifies the treatment somewhat. 1. Fibre bundle. A fibre bundle, tobe denoted by vj or {F, G; X, B; \j/, <pu}, consists of: (1) A space F, called the director space, which is transformed by a topo-
Preparation and Characterization of Highly Conducting and Transparent ZnO Thin Films by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis

ZnO, Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis, Envelope method, Optical properties Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been received much attention due to its numerous technological applications such as contact for photovoltaic devices and surface acoustic wave devices. In this study, ZnO thin films have been prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique on glass substrates at 350±5 ◦C. Surface properties of the films have been characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) images and roughness values. Transmittance and absorbance spectra have been taken by UV-VIS spectrophotometer. Optical interference pattern in transmittance spectra shows good homogeneity with a transparency of 83% in the visible region. Optical constants of ZnO films such as refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) have been calculated from the transmittance spectra by using envelope method. Absorption coefficient (α) and thickness of the films have been calculated using this method. Electrical resistivity values of the films have been determined using a four-point probe set-up.
Online Support Vector Regression for Non-Linear Control

Model Predictive Control (MPC) can provide robust control for non-linear processes. In this paper, we propose an MPC using online Support Vector Machine (SVM) which incorporates learning guided by error minimization as new data samples arrive. The tracking errors of future plant behavior are minimized by Differential Evolution, a global optimizer. With these features, an online SVR based MPC controller can be implemented to improve the model and controller performance in the presence of disturbances. The simulation results for the cases of two chemical processes are shown to demonstrate the performance of the proposed scheme.
Extending ASSERT for HW/SW Co-Design

Embedded systems are commonly designed by specifying and developing hardware and software systems separately. On the contrary, the hardware/software (HW/SW) co-development exploits the trade-offs between hardware and software in a system through their concurrent design. HW/SW Codevelopment techniques take advantage of the flexibility of system design to create architectures that can meet stringent performance requirements with a shorter design cycle. This paper presents the work done within the scope of ESA HWSWCO (Hardware-Software Co-design) study. The main objective of this study has been to address the HW/SW co-design phase to integrate this engineering task as part of the ASSERT process (refer to [1]) and compatible with the existing ASSERT approach, process and tool, Advances in the automation of the design of HW and SW and the adoption of the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) [9] paradigm make possible the definition of a proper integration substrate and enables the continuous interaction of the HW and SW design paths.
Wood-Polymer Composites

Wood has been an essential material for human survival since the primitive state, for its wide abundance, renewable and environmentally benign nature, relative ease of working it, and outstanding mechanical properties. With the development of technology, wood came to be used for shelter, fuel, tools, boats, vehicles, bridges, furniture, engineering materials, weapons, and even raw materials for energy (Li et al., 2011a). Now, wood is widely used in various corners of human life. Wood possesses porous structures consisting of various cell walls, which are mainly composed of biopolymers, i.e., carbohydrate polymers of cellulose and hemicelluloses and phenolic polymers of lignin. The cellular structure of wood endows it with high strength-toweight ratio. Because of this, some high-quality wood can be used as structural materials. However, wood components are easy to be degraded by microorganisms, and susceptible to damage by fire (Fuller et al., 1997). Besides, as the most abundant functional group in wood cell walls is the hydroxyl group, the hygroscopic character of these groups can render wood with poor dimensional stability. In other words, wood will shrink as it dries, while conversely swell when it is wetted (Alfered, 1977). All these disadvantages limit the application of wood as high-quality materials. Furthermore, with the development of society, the consumption of wood has been rapidly increasing year by year. In contrast, however, the production of high-quality wood has been fleetly decreasing. The prominent contradiction has driven researchers to look for alternative low-quality resources for value-added applications. To achieve these goals, suitable technologies are needed to improve low-quality resources (especially specific wood quality) attributes (e.g., mechanical properties, dimensional stability, decay resistance and thermal stability) in order to meet end-use requirements (Wang et al. 2007; Zhang et al. 2006). As the above unfavorable behaviors of wood are fundamentally ascribed to the presence of numerous hydroxyl groups (reactive sites) in the wood major components and various cell cavities (major paths for moisture movement) within wood (Couturier et al. 1996; Yildiz et al. 2005), blocking these reactive sites or plugging the cavities could not only make the wood more resistant to moisture, but also improve its dimensional stability and physical as well as biodegradation properties. Consequently, treatment of wood to modify its structure and thus improve its physical and mechanical properties, as well as durability, has been carried out via chemical modification, chemical impregnation, compression during heating, and heating at high temperature (Handa et al.1976).
Time-Resolved Reflectance Spectroscopy Applied to the Nondestructive Monitoring of the Internal Optical Properties in Apples

Time-resolved reflectance has been used for the nondestructive measurement of optical properties in apples. The technique is based on the detection of the temporal dispersion of a short laser pulse injected into the probed medium. The time distribution of re-emitted photons interpreted with a solution of the diffusion equation yields the mean values of the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of the medium. The proposed technique proved useful for the measurement of the absorption and scattering spectra of different varieties of apples, revealing the spectral shape of chlorophyll. No major variations were observed in the experimental data when the fruit was peeled, showing that the optical properties measured were those of the pulp. With this technique the change in chlorophyll absorption during storage and ripening could be followed. Finally, a compact prototype working at few selected wavelengths was designed and constructed, demonstrating potentialities of the technique for industrial applications.
The Multiple Use of Tropical Forests by Indigenous Peoples in Mexico: a Case of Adaptive Management

The quest for an appropriate system of management for tropical ecosystems necessitates that ecologists consider the accumulated experiences of indigenous peoples in their long-term management of local resources, a subject of current ethnoecology. This paper provides data and empirical evidence of an indigenous multiple-use strategy (MUS) of tropical forest management existing in Mexico, that can be considered a case of adaptive management. This conclusion is based on the observation that some indigenous communities avoid common modernization routes toward specialized, unsustainable, and ecologically disruptive systems of production, and yet probably achieve the most successful tropical forest utilization design, in terms of biodiversity conservation, resilience, and sustainability. This analysis relies on an exhaustive review of the literature and the authors' field research. Apparently, this MUS represents an endogenous reaction of indigenous communities to the intensification of natural resource use, responding to technological, demographic, cultural, and economic changes in the contemporary world. This transforms traditional shifting cultivators into multiple-use strategists. Based on a case study, three main features (biodiversity, resilience, and permanence) considered relevant to achieving adaptive and sustainable management of tropical ecosystems are discussed.
Silent Speech Recognition by Surface Electromyography

For some time, new methods based on a different than acoustic signal analysis are used for speech recognition. The purpose of nonacoustic signals is to allow silent communi‐ cation. One of these methods based on the electromyography signal is generated by the human speech articulation system. This article presents a device for electromyographic (EMG) signal acquisition and the first measurements from its use.
HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY LENTIVIRAL VERSUS INTEGRASE-DEFICIENT LENTIVIRAL : A COMPARISON FOR SAFER CLINICAL APPLICATIONS

Finding ways to exploits viral persistency to achieve efficient and safe longterm transgene expression will be a major achievement for their application in regenerative medicine including gene therapy. To date, most studies have used viral vectors such as lentivirus, retrovirus and adenovirus for the introduction of these genes with raising potential safety. Despite the robust advantages of using retroviral vector systems, the inability of these vectors to infect nondividing cells is one of the major drawbacks that limit the development of retrovirus transduction systems. Lentiviruses, a genus of retroviruses which include HIV, have been extensively analysed and used for clinical gene therapy applications. This paper reviews the advantages of using lentiviral vector transduction system in comparison to other viral vectors. Alternatively, the development of integrase-deficient lentiviral vector for successful transplantation, engraftment and differentiation for safer therapeutic applications are also discussed.
Gravitational waves from global cosmic strings in quintessential inflation

The combination of non-minimal couplings to gravity with the post-inflationary kinetic-dominated era typically appearing in quintessential inflation scenarios may lead to the spontaneous symmetry breaking of internal symmetries and its eventual restoration at the onset of radiation domination. On general grounds, the breaking of these symmetries leads to the generation of short-lived topological defects that tend to produce gravitational waves until the symmetry is restored. We study here the background of gravitational waves generated by a global cosmic string network following the dynamical symmetry breaking and restoration of a U(1) symmetry. The resulting power spectrum depends on the duration of the heating process and it is potentially detectable, providing a test on the existence of non-minimal couplings to gravity and the characteristic energy scale of post-inflationary physics.
Wild state secrets: ultra‐sensitive measurement of micro‐movement can reveal internal processes in animals

Assessment of animal internal “state” – which includes hormonal, disease, nutritional, and emotional states – is normally considered the province of laboratory work, since its determination in animals in the wild is considered more difficult. However, we show that accelerometers attached externally to animals as diverse as elephants, cockroaches, and humans display consistent signal differences in micro-movement that are indicative of internal state. Originally used to elucidate the behavior of wild animals, accelerometers also have great potential for highlighting animal actions, which are considered as responses stemming from the interplay between internal state and external environment. Advances in accelerometry may help wildlife managers understand how internal state is linked to behavior and movement, and thus clarify issues ranging from how animals cope with the presence of newly constructed roads to how diseased animals might change movement patterns and therefore modulate disease spread.
Auroral meridian scanning photometer calibration using Jupiter

Abstract. Observations of astronomical sources provide information that can significantly enhance the utility of auroral data for scientific studies. This report presents results obtained by using Jupiter for field cross calibration of four multispectral auroral meridian scanning photometers during the 2011–2015 Northern Hemisphere winters. Seasonal average optical field-of-view and local orientation estimates are obtained with uncertainties of 0.01 and 0.1°, respectively. Estimates of absolute sensitivity are repeatable to roughly 5 % from one month to the next, while the relative response between different wavelength channels is stable to better than 1 %. Astronomical field calibrations and darkroom calibration differences are on the order of 10 %. Atmospheric variability is the primary source of uncertainty; this may be reduced with complementary data from co-located instruments.
Anionic Schiff Base Amphiphiles: Synthesis, Surface, Biocidal and Antitumor Activities

A series of anionic surfactants containing schiff base group was synthesized and their chemical structures were confirmed using elemental analyses, FTIR, 1 H-NMR, and mass spectroscopy. The surface activities of these amphiphiles were determined based on the data of surface tension. Thermodynamics of adsorption and micellization processes of these surfactants in their solutions were also calculated. It was found that these compounds have tendency towards adsorption at the interface and also micelle formation at lower concentrations.Also, these schiff bases amphiphiles have been evaluated for their biocidal activity against bacterial and fungi species and their antitumor activity against three human tumor cells such as HEPG2 (liver), HCF7 (breast) and HCT116 (colon). (Nihal O. Shaker; Fatma H. Abd El-Salam; Bahyia M.El-Sadek; Eman M. Kandeel and Sharbat A. Baker Anionic Schiff Base Amphiphiles: Synthesis, Surface, Biocidal and Antitumor Activities. Journal of American Science 2011;7(5):427-436). (ISSN: 1545-1003). http://www.americanscience. org.
SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER DESIGN OF INDUCTION MOTOR BASED ON SPACE-VECTOR PULSEWIDTH MODULATION METHOD

In this paper, an integrated sliding mode controller (SMC) based on space- vector pulsewidth modulation method is proposed to achieve high-performance speed con- trol of an induction motor. Using a field-oriented control principle, a flux SMC is first established to achieve fast direct flux control and then a speed SMC is presented to en- hance speed control by the direct torque method. Both SMCs are designed in light of predetermined load disturbance and parameter uncertainties. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme under the load disturbance and parameter uncertainties is verified by simulation results and comparison with the direct torque control (DTC) and proportional-integral direct torque control (PIC) approaches. Keywords: Induction motor, Sliding mode controller, Direct torque control
Preparation and Characterisation of Food-Grade Chitosan from Housefly Larvae

Zhang A. -J., Qin Q. -L. , Zhang H. , Wang H. -T. , Li X. , Miao L. , Wu Y. -J. (2011): Preparation and char acterisation of food-grade chitosan from housefly larvae. Czech J. Food Sci., 29: 616–623. The preparation and characterisation of food-grade chitosan from housefly larvae are reported. A refinement procedure was developed to remove larval mouth hooks from the primary chitosan product, which greatly improved the quality of the final product and simplified the production procedures. Different factors affecting chitosan preparation were studied and an orthogonal experiment was designed to determine optimal preparation conditions. When prepared un der optimal reaction conditions, the end product was snow-white in colour, had a high deacetylation percentage, good viscosity, and a low ash content. The end product was characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. Its physical and chemi cal properties and sanitary index were determined and compared to the relevant Chinese standards. The results show that the chitosan we produced under optimal conditions meets the Chinese Fishery Trade Standard SC/T3403-2004 for food-grade chitosan.
Motor variability and skills monitoring in sports

The aim of this paper is to present a brief review of the role that movement variability plays in the analysis of sports movement and in the monitoring of the athlete’s skills. Motor variability has been traditionally considered an unwanted noise to be reduced, but recent studies have revalued its role and have tried to understand whether it may contain information about the neuro-musculo-skeletal organisation. Issues concerning both views, different approaches to variability, open questions and future perspectives will be discussed.