Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compact Triple-Band S-Shaped Monopole Diversity Antenna for MIMO Applications

─ In this paper, a novel WLAN frequency range monopole antenna is designed and manufactured for MIMO applications. The proposed antenna consists of two L-shaped slots in the S-shaped radiating patch. In this structure, the S-shaped monopole antenna can create dual resonances within the WLAN frequency range. The placement of two L-shaped slots within the S-shaped monopole antenna creates an extra resonance and the desired resonant frequencies are obtained by adjusting the dimension of the S-shaped monopole and the Lshaped slots. The operating frequencies of the proposed antenna are 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz, which covers WLAN systems. Also, the two elements array configuration of this S-shaped monopole antenna which can be used in MIMO with a very high isolation over three operational bands is studied. The prototypes of the proposed antenna have been constructed and studied experimentally. Good diversity performance, return loss and radiation pattern characteristics are obtained in the frequency band of interest. Simulated and measured results are presented to validate the usefulness of this small proposed antenna structure for MIMO applications. Index Terms ─ Diversity antenna, Multi-Output MultiInput (MIMO) applications, triple-band S-shaped monopole.
Comparison of Localization Methods Using Calibrated and Simulated Fingerprints for Indoor Systems Based on Bluetooth and WLAN Technologies

This paper compares two different localization algorithms to face the problem of indoor positioning using Bluetooth and WLAN technologies, which we have called: the fusion algorithm and the combination algorithm. The first algorithm is based on the construction of a fusion map using WiFi and Bluetooth power values. Considering the three lowest values of a defined distance, we compute the coordinates of the target point that we want to localize. In the second algorithm, the location determination is carried out independently with every single technology; then, results are combined to obtain a final estimated position. The performance of these methods has been tested experimentally using a simulated map and a real calibrated one. Using a real calibrated map, the localization errors obtained with the fusion algorithm are smaller than with the combination one, while when using a simulated map there is almost no difference between both algorithms. The results of the experiments made with the real calibrated map are a little better than using the simulated map, but the improvement obtained using the real map is not enough to confirm that using this one is worth, because of the effort necessary to build it.
Synchronisation Challenges for Wireless Networks

Many real world applications require a sense of global time in order to carry out time sen- sitive processes but providing these applications with an accurate measure of global time is no easy task. A computer system's clock is far from perfect and tends to drift from real time giving rise to significant clock errors. If computer clocks are to conform to some time standard they must be disciplined using some synchronisation technique. This is a challenging task when the computer systems are located across a dy- namic and variable latency network but becomes even more challenging when the network contains wireless links.
Restriction analysis of rDNA regions to differentiate non-Saccharomyces wine species in mixed cultures

The control of wine quality is related also to the knowledge of composition and dynamics of yeast-flora occurring throughout the vinification process. The restriction analysis of NTS and ITS regions was used to differentiate in mixed fermentation non-Saccharomyces species frequently encountered in the early fermentation phase, such as Hanseniaspora uvarum, Candida stellata and Metschnikowia pulcherrima. PCR-RFLP analysis of ITS region allowed to identify all the species inoculated in the grape must. The novelty of the protocol used is the application of PCR-RFLP analysis on yeast DNA isolated directly from grape must fermentation, without previous yeast colony isolation. Key words: Non-Saccharomyces yeasts, NTS region, yeast mixed cultures.
Seedbank characteristics of a Nebraska sandhills prairie.

Evaluating seedbank ecology is critical for understanding plant community development and successional patterns and for identifying factors regulating population dynamics. The relationships among seedbank composition, seedbank depth, seed dormancy, and vegetative expression were evaluated for a range site on a Valentine fine sand soil (mixed, mesic Typic Ustipsamments) in the Sandhii Prairie. Twenty soil samples were collected at each of 2 depths (0 to 515 to 20 cm) in early June 1990 and 1991 from 12 macroplots (32 X 32 m) representing 3 range condition classes. A seed extraction and germination trial was conducted to determine the diversity, size, and germinability of the persistent seedbank. Seedling emergence was counted in a greenhouse, with and without a 1Cday prechilling(3 to 5°C) stratification treatment, to characterize seedbank dormancy. Fourteen grass species, 17 forb species, and Schweinitz flatsedge (Cyperus schweinitzii Torr.) were identified in the seed hank. Two additional genera (Carex and Euphorbia) also occurred in the seedbank. Only 10 species occurred in 8 or more macroplots in both years. Aboveground botanical composition was not correlated with (P > 0.10) seedbank species composition. More germinable seeds occurred in the 0 to 5 cm depth (P < 0.01) than the 15 to 20 cm depth. Also, the species diversity and seed number were greater in the shallower depth. Germination percentage was low for all types of vegetation. Lambsquarters (Chenopodiutn album L.) and annual eriogonum (Eriogonum annuum Nutt.) had the largest seedbanks, but germination was less than 6 % . Sand dropseed [Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) Gray] and sand lovegrass [Eragrostis trichodes (Nutt.) Wood] were the most abundant perennial grasses and accounted for about 60% of the germinated seeds. Prechilling increased seedling emergence of grasses (P < O.Ol), forbs (P < O.Ol), and grass-like species (P < 0.01). Perennial grasses emerged first, forbs later, and grasslike species exhibited a bimodal emergence pattern. Based on germination percentage and emergence data, sand dropseed has the potential to colonize openings in the Sandbills prairie, possibly to the exclusion of many annuals occurring in the seedbank.
Towards non-conventional face recognition : shadow removal and heterogeneous scenario

In recent years, biometrics have received substantial attention due to the evergrowing need for automatic individual authentication. Among various physiological biometric traits, face offers unmatched advantages over the others, such as fingerprints and iris, because it is natural, non-intrusive and easily understandable by humans. Nowadays conventional face recognition techniques have attained quasi-perfect performance in a highly constrained environment wherein poses, illuminations, expressions and other sources of variations are strictly controlled. However these approaches are always confined to restricted application fields because non-ideal imaging environments are frequently encountered in practical cases. To adaptively address these challenges, this dissertation focuses on this unconstrained face recognition problem, where face images exhibit more variability in illumination. Moreover, another major question is how to leverage limited 3D shape information to jointly work with 2D based techniques in a heterogeneous face recognition system. To deal with the problem of varying illuminations, we explicitly build the underlying reflectance model which characterizes interactions between skin surface, lighting source and camera sensor, and elaborate the formation of face color. With this physics-based image formation model involved, an illumination-robust representation, namely Chromaticity Invariant Image (CII), is proposed which can subsequently help reconstruct shadow-free and photo-realistic color face images. Due to the fact that this shadow removal process is achieved in color space, this approach could thus be combined with existing gray-scale level lighting normalization techniques to further improve face recognition performance. The experimental results on two benchmark databases, CMU-PIE and FRGC Ver2.0, demonstrate the generalization ability and robustness of our approach to lighting variations. We further explore the effective and creative use of 3D data in heterogeneous face recognition. In such a scenario, 3D face is merely available in the gallery set and not in the probe set, which one would encounter in real-world applications. Two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) are constructed for this purpose. The first CNN is trained to extract discriminative features of 2D/3D face images for direct heterogeneous comparison, while the second CNN combines an encoder-decoder structure, namely U-Net, and Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN) to reconstruct depth face image from its counterpart in 2D. Specifically, the recovered depth face images can be fed to the first CNN as well for 3D face recognition, leading to a fusion scheme which achieves gains in recognition performance. We have evaluated our approach extensively on the challenging FRGC 2D/3D benchmark database. The proposed method compares favorably to the state-of-the-art and show significant improvement with the fusion scheme.
Institutions and the Allocation of Talent

Institutions affect investment decisions, including investments in human capital. Hence institutions are relevant for the allocation of talent. Good market-supporting institutions attract talent to productive value-creating activities, whereas poor ones raise the appeal of rent-seeking. We propose a theoretical model that predicts that more talented individuals are particularly sensitive in their career choices to the quality of institutions, and test these predictions on a sample of around 95 countries of the world. We find a strong positive association between the quality of institutions and graduation of college and university students in science, and an even stronger negative correlation with graduation in law. Our findings are robust to various specifications of empirical models, including smaller samples of former colonies and transition countries. The quality of human capital makes the distinction between educational choices under strong and weak institutions particularly sharp. We show that the allocation of talent is an important link between institutions and growth.
Surgical Management of HCC

Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) accounts for approximately 80% of all primary liver cancers. It is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and is the third leading cause of cancer related deaths across the world, with a case fatality rate of 0.93 making it one of the most lethal malignancies [1]. In the majority of cases, HCC develops in the setting of cirrhosis and treatment with curative intent is only possible in a minority of cases. The incidence of HCC continues to rise world‐ wide, due in part to the rising number of people who have hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV), (but not to the same degree as HCV) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is now the most rapidly rising cause of cirrhosis in the developed world. The outcome from this disease is poor, with a median survival estimated at around 1-year following diagnosis [2]. In keeping with global trends, the incidence and conse‐ quent mortality from HCC in the United Kingdom is also increasing, despite greater aware‐ ness for the need for surveillance in patients with cirrhosis, and improvements in and access to imaging. This is thought to be secondary to the persistence of alcohol induced liver disease as a significant cause of CLDs [3], the growing incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in the UK, immigration to the UK from HBV-endemic countries and the clinical impact of HCV infected individuals, infected before HCV screening of blood products (in the 1990’s).
Screening of papaya accessions resistant to Papaya lethal yellowing virus and capacity of Tetranychus urticae to transmit the virus

The objective of this work was to produce a polyclonal antiserum against the coat protein (CP) of Papaya lethal yellowing virus (PLYV) and to determine its specificity and sensibility in the diagnosis of the virus, as well as to evaluate the genetic resistance to PLYV in papaya (Carica papaya) accessions and to investigate the capacity of the two‐spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae to acquire and transmit PLYV to the plants. Sixty‐five papaya accessions were evaluated. For each accession, ten plants were mechanically inoculated using PLYV‐infected plant extracts, and three plants were mock inoculated with phosphate buffer alone and used as negative controls. Ninety days after inoculation, newly‐emerging systemic leaves were collected from the inoculated plants, and viral infection was diagnosed by indirect Elisa, using polyclonal antiserum sensible to the in vitro‐expressed PLYV CP. Viral transmission by T. urticae was evaluated in greenhouse. The experiments were repeated twice. Polyclonal antiserum recognized the recombinant PLYV CP specifically and discriminated PLYV infection from infections caused by other plant viruses. Out of the 65 papaya accessions evaluated, 15 were considered resistant, 18 moderately resistant, and 32 susceptible. The two‐spotted spider mite T. urticae was capable of acquiring PLYV, but not of transmitting it to papaya.
Effects of Concentrate Source (Cottonseed vs. Barley) on Milk Performance and Fatty Acids Profile of Holstein-Friesian Dairy Cows

Milk performance (protein and fat content) and milk fatty acids (FA) profile of dairy cows under supplementation with two sources of concentrate, oilseeds (C, cottonseed) at two levels, low (5kg DM/cow/day) and high (7 kg DM/cow/day), and cereal grains (B, barley) at high rate (7 kg DM/cow/day), were studied in three herds (n=36) of spring calving Holstein-Friesian dairy cows (200 days in milk). Animals were randomly assigned to one of three indoors (n=12) silage feeding regimes (C5, C7 and B7), using a TMR (total mixed ration) basal diet, containing 70-80% silage (grass: maize, 36: 64) and 30-20% concentrate. Daily milk yield (MY) was higher (P<0.001) at high level of supplementation (B7, 18.1 and C7, 17.9 kg/cow/day, respectively) compared to low level (C5, 15.7 kg/cow/day), and dairy cows at the highest level of concentrate showed the highest (P<0.05) body weight (B7, 605 and C7, 598, respectively). Milk protein content was lower (P<0.05) in the high level of cottonseed (C7, 30.7 g/kg DM) than in the barley treatment (B7, 32.7 g/kg DM). There were no differences among treatments in milk fat and milk urea content. Weekly milk FA profile of cow milk was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, during seventy days in autumn, and no differences were found among treatments in short, medium and long chain FA. Despite this, higher (P<0.05) contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and linoleic acid were found in the C7 treatment compared to the C5 treatment (2.48 and 2.22 vs. 2.16 and 1.92 g/100 g of FA methyl esters, respectively). Including the high levels of cottonseed and barley as a concentrate source for feeding dairy cattle revealed similar MY and milk fat content. However, the high level of cottonseed in the diet of dairy cows showed decreased milk protein content and increased linoleic acid and PUFA levels.
A complete manipulation platform for characterization of micro-components

This paper presents a complete manipulation platform for characterization of micro-components that is being developed in the scope of the European project GOLEM. Various tools such as electrical probes and force sensors have been designed and integrated on both high precision mobile micro-robots and fixed manipulators in order to interact with micro-objects. The platform enables the user to characterize parts with sizes ranging from sub-micrometer up to the millimeter. Forces ranging from 1 mN up to 120 mN can be measured as well as electrical resistivity of microcomponents. As the characterization platform is aimed to be used by material scientists and biologists, the manipulation is "assisted" so that the user focuses on the application and not on the robotic systems. One of the key features is that the control software will automatically bring the end-effectors of the manipulators in the local (microscope) field of view. The platform is composed of an XY stage mounted on an inverted optical microscope, of manipulators (fixed and mobile) and of various sensors (optical, force and electrical).
Correlações entre a produção de classes fonêmicas e classes gramaticais no Português Brasileiro

Objetivo Descrever a aquisicao das classes fonemicas e gramaticais do Portugues Brasileiro em criancas com desenvolvimento tipico e verificar as correlacoes entre esses dois sistemas da linguagem. Metodos O presente estudo contou com 186 criancas com desenvolvimento tipico de linguagem, com idades entre 1 ano e 6 meses e 5 anos e 11 meses, falantes de Portugues Brasileiro. A coleta de dados envolveu avaliacoes fonoaudiologicas e gravacoes da fala espontânea. Considerou-se a probabilidade de producao de cada classe fonemica e as palavras produzidas foram divididas em classes gramaticais. Apos, buscou-se estabelecer as correlacoes entre essas classes. Resultados Nasais e plosivas foram os primeiros sons adquiridos, seguidos pelas fricativas e liquidas. Substantivos e verbos foram as primeiras classes gramaticais produzidas. Em relacao as correlacoes estatisticamente significantes, as plosivas tiveram correlacao positiva com substantivos, adjetivos, adverbios e pronomes. As fricativas apresentaram varias correlacoes positivas e negativas com diferentes classes gramaticais. As liquidas tiveram correlacoes positivas com adjetivos e artigos e correlacoes negativas com substantivos, adverbios e numerais. Nao foram encontradas correlacoes entre as nasais e as classes gramaticais. Conclusao A aquisicao das plosivas e das nasais e precoce. Ja as fricativas e liquidas, sao mais complexas. Substantivos e verbos sao prevalentes no inicio da aquisicao e os elementos mais relacionados a sintaxe sao adquiridos mais tarde. Diversas correlacoes foram encontradas entre fonologia e vocabulario, mostrando clara relacao entre um componente e outro.
Player Detection based on Support Vector Machine in Football Videos

An automatic player detection method based on fuzzy decision making one-class SVM is proposed. Detection results of statistical classifier player detection methods are better than rule based player detection methods. However, manually labelled training samples are used in these statistical classifiers based player detection methods. Thus, cost is very important. To resolve this problem, we propose an instinctive player detection method using fuzzy decision making one-class SVM and automatically collected player samples. In this method, one-class SVM (OCSVM) is introduced to train the player detector by drawing lessons from the human object category classification mechanism. Additionally, decision function of OCSVM is improved by dividing the decision value dynamically using the fuzzy decision method, which is able to reduce the detection error caused by the insufficient representativeness of the automatically collected training samples. Finally, a set of criteria is introduced to obtain the training samples automatically, and player detection experiments are performed on these training samples using FD-OCSVM. Experiments show that better detection results are obtained using the proposed method in the scenario of using automatically collected training samples, which improves the automatic degree of player detection.
Supercurrent and multiple singlet-doublet phase transitions of a quantum dot Josephson junction inside an Aharonov-Bohm ring

We study a quantum dot Josephson junction inside an Aharonov-Bohm environment. The geometry is modeled by an Anderson impurity coupled to two directly linked BCS leads. We illustrate that the wellestablished picture of the low-energy physics being governed by an interplay of two distinct singlet and doublet phases is still valid for this interferometric setup. The phase boundary depends, however, nonmonotonically on the coupling strength between the superconductors, causing the system to exhibit re-entrance behavior and multiple phase transitions. We compute the zero-temperature Josephson current and demonstrate that it can become negative in the singlet phase by virtue of the Coulomb interaction U. As a starting point, the limit of large superconducting energy gaps = is solved analytically. In order to tackle arbitrary and U 0, we employ a truncated functional renormalization-group scheme which was previously demonstrated to give quantitatively reliable results for the quantum dot Josephson problem.
Credit Constraints in the Demand for Education: Evidence from Survey Data

How important are liquidity constraints in the demand for college education in the U.S.? Who is most likely to be affected? Persistent credit constraints can lead to inefficient skill allocations and, given the wide gap between college and high school earnings, can work to perpetuate imbalances in the distribution of economic well-being. Unfortunately, empirical evidence regarding the pervasiveness of credit constraints in the demand for college education has not been consistent in part because constraints tend to be inferred indirectly and approaches for gauging them differ. In contrast with existing studies I use a measure that is more direct, namely self-reported financial constraints available in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I find that about 13 percent of college-age individuals expect to underinvest in education because of financial limitations. These are the youths from less well-off families who live in areas with no universities in the vicinity. The findings of this paper suggest that liquidity constraints are potentially more pervasive than earlier studies indicate.
Wall-shear-stress measurements at moderate Re-numbers with single pixel resolution using long distance -PIV - an accuracy assessment

1 Abstract A large-format, digital, long-distance micro Particle Image Velocimetry system (�-PIV) has been applied, to measure the wall-shear-stress and the logarithmic region of a canonical boundary layer flow along a flat plate, non-intrusively with high accuracy and spatial resolution. The fundamental aim was the accurate determination of the two universal constantsand B of the logarithmic law-of-the-wall for different Reynolds numbers. This is of fundamental interest in order to provide experimental evidence thatand B are not universal constants. To achieve the required measurement accuracy and spatial resolution all experimental limitations associated with the seeding, light-sheet, out-of-focus particles, optical aberrations and distortions and the spatial correlation image analysis were successfully solved. In addition, it is shown that systematic measurement errors caused by the strong illumination of the tracer particles (radiative and thermal effects) can be neglected.