Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Vehicle Monitoring System Based on the LoRa Technique

— Air pollution and climate warming become more and more intensified in many areas, especially in urban areas. Environmental parameters are critical information to air pollution and weather monitoring. Thus, it is necessary to develop a suitable air pollution and weather monitoring system for urban areas. In this study, a vehicle monitoring system (VMS) based on the IoT technique is developed. Cars are selected as the research tool because it can reach a greater number of streets to collect data. The VMS can monitor different environmental parameters, including ambient temperature and humidity, and air quality parameters, including PM2.5, NO 2 , CO, and O 3 . The VMS can provide other information, including GPS signals and the vibration information through driving a car on the street. Different sensor modules are used to measure the parameters and collect the measured data and transmit them to a cloud server through the LoRa protocol. A user interface is used to show the sensing data storing at the cloud server. To examine the performance of the system, a researcher drove a Nissan x-trail 1998 to the area close to the Da’an District office in Taipei to collect monitoring data. The collected data are instantly shown on the user interface. The four kinds of information are provided by the interface: GPS positions, weather parameters, vehicle information, and air quality information. With the VMS, users can obtain the information regarding air quality and weather conditions when they drive their car to an urban area. Also, government agencies can make decisions on traffic planning based on the information provided by the proposed VMS.
Limitations on the operational definition of spacetime events and quantum gravity

Using simple arguments from general relativity and quantum theory we show that it is not possible to devise experiments (or operational procedures) which will measure the position of a particle to an accuracy better than the Planck length ( G h / c 3 ) = cm. It is also impossible to synchronise clocks to a precision better than Planck time. The implications of the result are discussed. Classical general relativity treats spacetime as a four-dimensional differential manifold. Coordinate labels and clock readings can be introduced into this manifold using rigid rods and clocks. In physically reasonable spacetimes, it is also possible to synchronise the clocks by light signals. It is the existence of these operational procedures which allows one to attribute a unique quadruple of coordinates XI to any event of the spacetime manifold (Misner et al 1973). There is no reason to expect such operational procedures to be valid when quantum theory is introduced. Indeed, it can be shown, using a simple model of quantum gravity, that the Planck length L, (cm) acts as a lower bound on all proper lengths measured in any spacetime manifold (Padmanabhan 1985a, b). This ‘zero point length’ originates due to the quantum fluctuations of the gravitational field. If x and y are two events on a spacelike hypersurface 2, then the mean square value of the geodesic distance between x and y (averaged over the metric fluctuations) can be shown to be (c2(x, Y ) ) = d ( x , Y ) + L:, (1) when x and y are sufficiently close. (Here ao(x, y ) is the classical value of the proper distance between x and y . ) This result suggests that no experiment can be devised which will measure distances to a precision better than L,. We shall show in this letter that such is indeed the case. We shall consider simple thought experiments and demonstrate how quantum mechanics and gravity conspire together to prevent observations at scales lower than L,. The crucial factor which is introduced into the discussion by gravity is the following: an amount of energy E cannot be confined to a region smaller than (2GE/c2) without the formation of an event horizon. This principle, combined with the standard results of quantum mechanics, will help us to demonstrate our claim. t On leave of absence from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Bombay 400 005, India. 0264-9381/87/040107 +07$02.50
Isolation of Acid-Sensitive Lactobacillus plantarum and its application as starter in Nham production to prevent over-fermentation

Acid-sensitive mutants of L. plantarum BCC 9546 were isolated from spontaneous neomycin-resistant mutants with potential to be used as starter to reduce the post-acidification in Nham during storage at ambient temperature. In MRS broth, their growths and acid productions (at 30 o C for 48 h) were lower as well as their culture broth pH were higher than the wild-type strain. Three representative acid-sensitive mutants had reduced H+ -ATPase activity in acidic condition (pH 5) corresponding to their lower internal pH than the wild-type strain. Besides, the arginine deiminase activities of the wild-type and mutant strains were also investigated and they were found not significantly different from each other. Finally, Nham fermentation trial was carried out for 3 weeks and Nham fermented with the wild-type strain had significantly higher amounts of released water than Nham fermented using one of the mutants until one week but no significant difference in color was observed, while the total biogenic amine content was higher in mutant fermented Nham. In conclusion, Nham fermented with mutant had longer shelf-life and less post-acidification with a consistent product pH about 4.6 compared to Nham fermented by wild-type.
Caveolae and Caveolin: Potential Targets for Cardioprotection

Caveolae are sphingolipid and cholesterol rich micro-domains of the plasma membrane that coordinate and regulate varieties of signaling processes. Caveolae present in essentially all cell types of the cardiovascular system, including endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, cardiac myocytes, and fibroblasts. Numerous functions have been ascribed to this omega-shaped sphingolipid and cholesterol rich micro-domains. Caveolae are receiving increasing attention as cellular organelles contributing to the pathogenesis of several structural and functional processes including cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. At present, very little is known about the role of caveolae in cardiac function and diseases, although recent studies with caveolin knock-out mouse have shown that caveolae and caveolins play a pivotal role in various human pathobiological conditions. This review will discuss the possible role of caveolae in cardiac health and disease.
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, MINERAL PROFILE AND IN SITU DIGESTION KINETICS OF FODDER LEAVES OF FOUR NATIVE TREES

This study explored the nutritive value of Morus alba, Acacia nilotica, Syzygium cumuni and Ziziphus jujuba leaves. Chemical analyses revealed that dry matter (DM) ranged from 25% to 47% in M. alba and S. cumunii, organic matter was higher (94%) in S. cumuni and Z. jujuba. M. alba had higher (23%) crude protein, whereas, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) was greater in Z. jujuba (32%). Acid detergent fiber was higher in S. cumuni (23%), while, acid detergent lignin was greater (7%) in M. alba and S. cumuni. Hemicellulose (15%) and ash content (10%) were higher in Z. jujuba and M. Alba, respectively. Metabolizable energy was higher (10.5 MJ/kg) in M. alba than the other species. Among minerals, Ca and K were highest in A. nilotica, P in M. alba and Mg and Na in Z. jujuba. The concentration of total phenolics, tannins, alkaloids and saponin was within safe range. In situ DM digestibility was higher (90.2%) for M. alba, DM lag time was shorter (0.63 h) for A. nilotica, and rate of DM disappearance was lowest (5.34% per h) for S. cumuni. Extent of DM digestion (98.26%) and NDF digestibility (84.10%) were higher for M. alba. Shorter NDF lag time (0.71 h) and higher rate of NDF disappearance were evident for A. nilotica, but extent of NDF digestion was higher (96.80%) for M. alba. Based on chemical composition and in situ digestion kinetics, M. alba leaves proved the best supplement followed by A. nilotica, Z. jujuba and S. cumuni for ruminants.
Perceived vs. Actual Distance to Transit in Santiago, Chile

To plan public transport supply and to increase transit patronage, it is indispensable to be aware of people’s perception of the actual supply, that is, how extensive and accurate people’s knowledge is regarding the concrete features of transport supply, such as the locations of transit stops, timetables, and fare structures. This paper addresses the gap between the perceived and real distances to transit stops. The comparison between the real and perceived supply shows a considerably accurate perception. Nevertheless, a pattern is apparent. Metro supply has a higher overestimation rate than buses, i.e., walking distances are perceived as significantly shorter than they actually are. These results suggest that the transport mode is correlated with perception. This mode has the best reputation in the studied city, in contradistinction to buses, whose reputation was heavily damaged by the public transit reform occurring at the time of the research.
A Dichotomy Theorem for First-Fit Chain Partitions

First-Fit is a greedy algorithm for partitioning the elements of a poset into chains. Let $\textrm{FF}(w,Q)$ be the maximum number of chains that First-Fit uses on a $Q$-free poset of width $w$. A result due to Bosek, Krawczyk, and Matecki states that $\textrm{FF}(w,Q)$ is finite when $Q$ has width at most $2$. We describe a family of posets $\mathcal{Q}$ and show that the following dichotomy holds: if $Q\in\mathcal{Q}$, then $\textrm{FF}(w,Q) \le 2^{c(\log w)^2}$ for some constant $c$ depending only on $Q$, and if $Q\not\in\mathcal{Q}$, then $\textrm{FF}(w,Q) \ge 2^w - 1$.
Mind the Gap: Autonomous Detection of Partitioned MANET Systems using Opportunistic Aggregation

Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) use limited-range wireless communications and are thus exposed to partitions when nodes fail or move out of reach of each other. Detecting partitions in MANETs is unfortunately a nontrivial task due to their inherently decentralized design and limited resources such as power or bandwidth. In this paper, we propose a novel and fully decentralized approach to detect partitions (and other large membership changes) in MANETs that is both accurate and resource efficient. We monitor the current composition of a MANET using the lightweight aggregation of compact membership-encoding filters. Changes in these filters allow us to infer the likelihood of a partition with a quantifiable level of confidence. We first present an analysis of our approach, and show that it can detect close to 100% of partitions under realistic settings, while at the same time being robust to false positives due to churn or dropped packets. We perform a series of simulations that compare against alternative approaches and confirm our theoretical results, including above 90% accurate detection even under a 40% message loss rate.
Computer Vision and Machine Learning techniques hard exudates detection eye-fundus images

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a diabetes development that affects the retina’s blood flow. If untreated, DR eventually leads to blindness in persons in the age range of 20 to 74 years in developed countries. One of the most successful ways to fight DR is early diagnosing through the analysis of ocularfundus images of the human retina. In this work, we present a new approach to detect Hard Exudates (HE) (a kind of DR lesion) from ocular-fundus images. Our work is geared towards the automatic triage scenario, where patients whose retina is considered not-normal by the system will see a specialist. This implies that automatic screening needs an evaluation criteria that rewards low false negative rates, i.e., we should avoid images incorrectly classified as normal as much as possible. Our solution constructs a visual dictionary based on normal and hard exudate images and classifies whether an ocular-fundus image is normal or a HE candidate. We evaluate the methodology on test different parameter configurations, and demonstrate the robustness and reliability of the approach performing five folds cross-validation. Keywords-Hard Exudate; Diabetic Retinopathy; Retinoscopy Images; Automatic Screening; Preventable Blindness; Visual Dictionaries.
A tutorial for learning and teaching macromolecular crystallography - version 2010

Five experiments have been designed to be used for teaching macromolecular crystallography. The three proteins used in this tutorial are all commercially available; they can be easily and reproducibly crystallized and mounted for diffraction data collection. For each of the five experiments the raw images and the processed data of a sample diffraction data set as well as the refined coordinates and phases are provided for teaching the steps of data processing and structure determination.
Photorefractive writing and probing of anisotropic linear and nonlinear lattices

We study experimentally the writing of one- and two-dimensional photorefractive lattices, focusing on the often overlooked transient regime. Our measurements agree well with theory, in particular concerning the ratio of the drift to diffusion terms. We then study the transverse dynamics of coherent waves propagating in the lattices, in a few novel and simple configurations. For defocusing linear waves with broad transverse spectrum, we remark that both the intensity distributions in real space (‘discrete diffraction’) and Fourier space (‘Brillouin zone spectroscopy’) reflect the Bragg planes and band structure. For nonlinear waves, we observe modulational instability and discrete solitons formation in time domain. We discuss also the non-ideal effects inherent to the photo-induction technique: anisotropy, residual nonlinearity, diffusive term, non-stationarity.
Optical Emission and Parameters of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma In A Mixture of Mercury Diiodide and Mercury Dibromide Vapor With Helium

The spectral, energy and electrical characteristics of the plasma of a dielectric barrier atmospheric pressure nanosecond discharge on a mixture HgI2/HgBr2/He are investigated. The discharge was initiated by a pulse-periodic voltage with a pulse repetition rate 5-20 kHz of positive polarity, an amplitude 25.5 kV, and a half-height duration 150 ns. The emission of exciplex molecules HgI (BΣ1/2XΣ1/2) and HgBr (B Σ1/2-X Σ1/2) was studied. Based on a comparison of the temporal behavior of the spectra of B-X transitions of HgI, 444 nm, and HgBr, 502 nm molecules, the mechanism of simultaneous formation of the exciplex molecules HgI* and HgBr* is determined. Based on the numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation for the electron energy distribution function, the energy and velocity distributions of the processes responsible for the emission of HgI and HgBr molecules are analyzed. The studies revealed the possibility of optimizing the pulsed power to obtain a simultaneous emission in the visible (violet-blue and blue-green light) spectral range in atmospheric pressure discharge in the HgI2/HgBr2/He mixture. When a short powerful pulse of several nanoseconds in duration (3-5) ns is used to obtain a relatively high initial ion ionization (10-10 cm), followed by a long pulse of tens or hundreds of nanoseconds, depending on the component composition of the mixture and pressure with relatively low electric fields, a mixed power source will ensure efficient excitation of HgI* and HgBr* molecules and may be the optimal solution for the discharge lamps based on HgI* and HgBr* emission.
Real-Time Timbral Organisation: Selecting samples based upon similarity1

A comparison is made between two systems of real-time sample selection using timbral proximity that has relevance for live performance. Sound files in large sample libraries are analysed for audio features (amplitude RMS, spectral centroid, spectral flatness, and spectral energy using a Bark auditory modeller), and this data is statistically analysed and stored. Two methods of organisation are described: the first uses fuzzy logic to rate sample similarity, the second uses a self-organising map. The benefits and detriments of each method are described.
Influence of Barrier Growth Temperature on the Properties of InGaN/GaN Quantum Well

In this study we investigate the effect of barrier growth temperature on the properties of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells. Double-crystal X-ray diffraction of MQW structures indicates that increasing the barrier growth temperature will reduce the well thickness. However, the photoluminescence peak wavelength shift is greater than the change of in the effective bandgap due to the reduction of well width. In addition to the reduction of well width, the determination of the origin of the significant blue shift in the photoluminescence peak wavelength should also take the strain effect into account.
Differential Gene Expression in Response to Hypoxia and Acidosis in Chest Wall Deformities and Chondrosarcoma

DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION IN RESPONSE TO HYPOXIA AND ACIDOSIS IN CHEST WALL DEFORMITIES AND CHONDROSARCOMA Jamie L. Durbin Old Dominion University, 2018 Director: Dr. Chris Osgood The importance of understanding how costal cartilage chondrocytes respond to stimuli such as oxidative stress and low pH has been largely overlooked in studies involving tissue culturing due to major differences between oxygen and pH levels during incubation and the natural environment of hyaline cartilage. Hyaline cartilage is avascular and naturally hypoxic which subsequently leads to increased glycolytic metabolism and ultimately causes a decrease in extracellular pH. To examine how healthy costal cartilage responds to these extreme growth conditions, we examined responses in three hyaline cartilage diseases. Our ability to identify the disease mechanisms responsible for pectus excavatum, pectus carinatum, and chondrosarcoma are limited by our understanding of how these mechanisms operate. This study aimed to determine the roles of hypoxia and extracellular acidosis on the expression of genes related to the hypoxia response pathway in costal cartilage chondrocytes, two pectus chest wall deformities, and the hyaline cartilage producing cancer, chondrosarcoma. Cells isolated from costal cartilage were incubated under four experimental conditions, where cultures were subjected to 24 hours of either hypoxia (5% oxygen) or normoxia, and 60 seconds of acidic media (pH 5.5) or kept at neutral pH (pH 7.2) just prior to RNA extraction. Expression levels for 84 genes were tested by RT-qPCR to determine genes of interest within the hypoxia response pathway. Two genes, factor 3 F3 and lysyl oxidase LOX, were chosen based on high fold change within the preliminary study; two replicate experiments were repeated for a total of 12 patient samples. Our analysis showed no significant change in any cell type compared to the control. However, the control and PC sample groups showed significant upregulation of both F3 (Control, p=0.0001, PC, p=0.0026) and LOX (Control, p=0.0009, PC, p=0.0047) within the cell type in response to hypoxia, but PE and JJ012 samples showed no significant response. Low pH had no significant effect on expression levels in any cell type. Further study of how cellular response mechanisms to hypoxia and acidosis in healthy and diseased hyaline cartilage is required to fill knowledge gaps and create understanding for new therapies to treat pectus chest wall deformities or chondrosarcoma cancer.
Selective Extraction of Precious Metal from Automotive Catalyst Residue by Thiacalix[6]arene Derivatives

Two new thiacalix [6] arene (TC6A) derivatives modified at the lower rims, which are TC6A-COOCH3 (1) and TC6A-COOC2H5 (2), respectively, were synthesized. The metal extraction properties of TC4A, TC6A, 1 and 2 from automotive catalyst residue solution containing platinum-group metal cations have been investigated. TC6A shows the highest extraction capability for Pd cation with higher selectivity. On the other hand, 1 shows the remarkable higher extraction ability for Zr cation between metal cations examined.
Dynamics of biannual spawning behavior in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792) from southern Chile

Although the rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792) is considered a single-time spawner with a restricted annual reproduction cycle (Mylonas and Zohar, 2007), some female broodstocks of this species may display an unusual reproductive periodicity, resulting in a phenomenon characterized by two consecutive annual spawnings as a consequence of biannual spawning behavior (Hume, 1955; Aida et al., 1984; Gall and Crandell, 1992). In these broodstocks (called ‘twice-spawners’), the first and second spawning occurs during a normal reproductive cycle (NRC) and an additional reproductive cycle (ARC, respectively). Moreover, the spawning rate in the ARC is usually lower than in the NRC and is highly variable across strains and spawning seasons (Tazaki et al., 1993; Takano et al., 1995; Shrable and Orr, 1998). In addition, the gonadal maturation period previous to the second spawning event, i.e. in the ARC, is a short-term process in these broodstocks, in comparison with the single-time spawner in which gonadal maturation begins a year before ovulation (Elliott et al., 1984; Sumpter et al., 1984). Reproductive performance (Aida et al., 1984; Kincaid, 1985; Tazaki et al., 1993; Takano et al., 1995; Shrable and Orr, 1998), sex hormone profiles (Lou et al., 1984), and gonadosomatic index and gonadal histology (Estay et al., 2012) studies have found that no major reproductive disruptions occur in female twice-spawner rainbow trout. In addition, the examination of the spawning period dynamics indicates that this is longer in the ARC than in the NRC (Tazaki et al., 1993; Takano et al., 1995); furthermore, the inter cycle length (ICL), a parameter that expresses the time required until the occurrence of the additional spawning event for the same female, generally covers a period either from 126 to 180 days (Takano et al., 1995) or from 112 to 217 days (Tazaki et al., 1993). In spite of this progress, additional studies are needed to compare twice-spawner strains of different origin, to assess whether their particular spawning dynamics follow a general pattern. Therefore, in order to gain an insight into this issue, we examined twice-spawner female broodstocks from a fish hatchery in southern Chile to ascertain the pattern of the NRC, ARC and the ICL following the spawning behavior of individually-tagged breeders. Furthermore, to form a better view of the dynamics of this phenomenon, the relationships between NRC and ARC and between ICL and ARC were also assessed. This study presents the results of the spawning dynamics of biannual spawning behavior in rainbow trout, obtained by studying some characteristic reproductive parameters such as the NRC, ARC and the ICL, derived from the analysis of twice-spawner female broodstock from southern Chile.