Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hierarchical Suppression Method for Hyperspectral Target Detection

Target detection is an important application in the hyperspectral image processing field, and several detection algorithms have been proposed in the past decades. Some traditional detectors are built based on the statistical information of the target and background spectra, and their performances tend to be affected by the spectral quality. Some previous methods cope with this problem by refining the target spectra to make the detector robust. In this paper, instead of doing similar to this, we propose a new hierarchical method to suppress the backgrounds while preserving the target spectra, with the purpose of boosting the performance of traditional hyperspectral target detector. The proposed method consists of different layers of classical constrained energy minimization (CEM) detectors. In each layer of detection, the CEM's output of each spectrum is transformed by a nonlinear suppression function and then considered as a coefficient to impose on this spectrum for the next round of iteration. To our knowledge, such hierarchical structure is proposed for the first time. Theoretically, we prove the convergence of the proposed algorithm, and we also give a theoretical explanation on why we can obtain the gradually increasing detection performance through the hierarchical suppression process. Experimental results on two real hyperspectral images and one synthetic image suggest that our method significantly improves the performance of the original CEM detection algorithm and also outperforms other classical and recently proposed hyperspectral target detection algorithms.
Science and Technology of the Twenty-First Century: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications of Carbon Nanotubes

▪ Abstract This account reviews the discovery, synthesis, properties, and the latest research advances of carbon nanotubes developed over the past 12 years. Because of their remarkable electronic and mechanical properties, carbon nanotubes are unique and exciting. The field has been developed rapidly, and the number of publications per year is increasing almost exponentially. Various technological applications are likely to arise using nanotubes for fabrication of flat panel displays, gas storage devices, toxic gas sensors, Li+ batteries, robust and lightweight composites, conducting paints, electronic nanodevices, etc. Further experimental and theoretical research is still necessary so that novel technologies will become a reality in the early twenty-first century.
Occupational Exposure to Impulse Noise Associated With Shooting

Shooting training is associated with exposure to a considerable amount of unique noise. We wanted to evaluate noise exposure during such training. Our observations especially apply to professional sport shooters, but they are also valid for shooting coaches/instructors. We collected acoustic signals in 10-, 25- and 50-m as well as open-air shooting ranges. The recorded material was analysed with orthogonal, adaptive parameterization by Shur. The mean duration of a single acoustic signal was 250–800 ms with the C-weighted sound peak pressure level of 138.2–165.2 dB. Shooters may be exposed to as many as 600–1350 acoustic impulses during a training unit. The actual load for the hearing organ of a professional shooter or a shooting coach is ~200 000 acoustic stimuli in a year-long training macrocycle. Orthogonal, adaptive parameterization by Shur makes safe scheduling of shooters’ training possible.
Internet of Things enabled smart switch

Analog switches are mounted on the walls. To operate them the user needs to physically press the switch to turn ON or OFF any appliance. This hassle of manually operating a switch is replaced by a smart technique which involves operating the switches using the web browser present in mobile phones, laptops or any other electronic gadgets. Smart switches already exist in the market today, but are very expensive and requires additional devices like hubs for their working. The current work makes use of a web App and a cloud to control the operation of the switches. A cloud server is created for the environment where the switches are mounted. The switches are interfaced with few electronic components such as logic gates, a 555 timer, flip-flops and a processor. The user communicates with the processor through the Web App. The processor then controls the switches based on the commands received from the user and also updates the user about the status of the switches after the control operation is performed to the cloud.
Periodontal disease and subgingival microbiota as contributors for rheumatoid arthritis pathogenesis: modifiable risk factors?

Purpose of reviewSince the early 1900s, the role of periodontal disease in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis has been a matter of intense research. The last decade has witnessed many advances supporting a link between periodontitis, the presence of specific bacterial species (i.e. Porphyromonas gingivalis) and their effects in immune response. This review will examine available evidence on the individuals. Recent findingsEpidemiological studies have stressed the commonalities shared by periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis. Many groups have focused their attention toward understanding the periodontal microbiota and its alterations in states of health and disease. The presence of circulating antibodies against periodontopathic bacteria and associated inflammatory response has been found in both rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and individuals at-risk for disease development. Most recently, the periodontal microbiota of smokers and patients with RA has been elucidated, revealing profound changes in the bacterial communities compared with those of healthy controls. This has led to several small clinical trials of progressive disease treatment as adjuvant for disease-modifying therapy in RA. SummarySmoking and periodontal disease are emerging risk factors for the development of RA. Epidemiological, clinical, and basic research has further strengthened this association, pointing toward changes in the oral microbiota as possible contributors to systemic inflammation and arthritis.
Gahnite Devitrification in Ceramic Frits: Mechanism and Process Kinetics

Devitrification of a frit (glass) based on the oxide system SiO2–Al2O3–ZnO–CaO was studied. The following major crystalline phases were identified: gahnite (ZnAl2O4), willemite (Zn2SiO4), and a solid solution exhibiting an anorthite structure. A kinetic model was used to fit the experimental results. The model was derived by assuming that a precursor phase with an anorthite crystalline structure devitrified first and subsequently decomposed to form gahnite, while willemite crystallized independently. The proposed model satisfactorily reproduced the amount of gahnite, willemite, and anorthite-type crystals that formed during firing. The equations developed allowed the prediction of the anorthite structure, gahnite, and willemite crystal volume fractions in the resulting glaze as a function of firing temperature and time.
Enabling Electronics With Physically Flexible ICs and Hybrid Manufacturing

Printed and flexible electronic components have been used and proposed in a wide range of markets, including biomedical, environmental, computers, energy, and communication. Fully printed and flexible electronic systems promise great advantages in ease of manufacture, weight, durability, and physical conformity, but such systems have failed to achieve widespread adoption. Printed technology still seeks solutions in the areas of complex logic, analog circuitry, power usage, and light emission. First, the benefits and challenges of taking hybrid manufacturing approaches that combine printed components with either traditional integrated circuits or recently fabricated complex flexible devices are discussed. Second, a recently realized set of physically flexible integrated circuits poised to accelerate the development of flexible sensor systems is presented, enabling the combination of low cost and large format printed systems with high performance and low-power silicon-based semiconductors. The chip set addresses the three requirements of flexible sensor systems, namely, sensor readout, signal processing, and communications with three chips-an analog-to-digital converter, a microcontroller, and an RF communicator. This technology may revolutionize such things as smart, wearable consumer devices, flexible and conformal industrial applications, and smart structures for military, automotive, and aerospace.
Uterine Carcinosarcomas (Malignant Mixed Müllerian Tumours): A Review with Special Emphasis on the Controversies in Management

Uterine carcinosarcomas (MMMT—malignant mixed Müllerian tumours) are highly aggressive, rare, biphasic tumours composed of epithelial and mesenchymal elements believed to arise from a monoclonal origin. While hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy remains the mainstay treatment, high rates of recurrence and metastases suggest a need for lymphadenectomy and postoperative adjuvant treatment. There are no established consensus guidelines for therapeutic patient management. Though well recognized that it improves locoregional control, the role of radiation in improving overall survival outcomes remains undecided. Although various combinations of chemotherapy have been explored, an optimal therapeutic modality is yet to be determined. As overall survival rates have not improved in thirty years, it is suggested that targeted chemotherapy and/or a multimodality approach may yield better outcomes. This paper provides a summary of the aetiopathogenesis of carcinosarcomas (MMMT) limited to the uterus with special emphasis on the controversies in the management of these patients.
A New Lifetime Prediction Algorithm Based Routing For VANETs

In Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET), a host may exhaust its power or move away without giving any notice to its cooperative nodes, causing changes in network topology, and thus, these changes may significantly degrade the performance of a routing protocol. Several routing protocol studies based on node lifetime and link lifetime have been done to address this problem. We propose a new algorithm to evaluate the node lifetime and the link lifetime utilizing the dynamic nature, such as the energy drain rate and the relative mobility estimation rate of nodes. Integrating these two performance metrics by using the proposed route lifetime-prediction algorithm, we select the least dynamic route with the longest lifetime for persistent data forwarding. Finally, we implement our proposed route lifetime-prediction algorithm in an exploring dynamic nature routing (EDNR) protocol environment based on dynamic source routing (DSR) and compare the performance through simulations. The EDNR protocol outperforms the conventional DSR protocols that are implemented with lifetime-prediction routing (LPR) and signal-stabilitybased adaptive (SSA) routing mechanisms. Keywords–Exploring Dynamic Nature Routing, Lifetime Prediction Routing, Link Lifetime, Vehicular Ad-hoc Network, Wireless Network.
The role of imaging in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Imaging plays an essential role in the diagnosis, staging, and follow-up of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). The diagnosis is often suggested by a unilateral pleural mass with a moderate to large pleural effusion seen on chest radiographs, but computerized tomography (CT) is the most frequently used technique for evaluation of the lungs in patients with MPM. CT not only suggests pulmonary metastases typically manifested as nodules or masses, but also can demonstrate underlying lung disease often caused by prior asbestos exposure. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may be helpful in selected patients with potentially resectable disease to further examine the local extent of tumor. Imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) using the radionuclide imaging agent (18)F fluoro-deoxyglucose (FDG) takes advantage of a basic property of tumor cells, increased glucose metabolism to identify malignant lesions. PET provides not only anatomic information, especially regarding mediastinal node metastasis, but also biochemical information about the lesion. These imaging modalities help triage patients to the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment options. Following patients after therapy usually relies on chest radiographs, although CT can more accurately describe response to therapy. This review will focus on radiologic evaluation in diagnosing, staging, and follow-up patients with MPM.
Production of colicin V in vitro and in vivo and observations on its effects in experimental animals

In recent years, a possible relationship between pathogenicity and colicinogeny in some Escherichia coli strains responsible for gastrointestinal infection and bacteremia in man and animals has been inferred. Using enterotoxigen-negative, colicin V-producing E. coli strains, we have (i) elaborated a simple in vitro method for producing greater yields of colicin V free of bacterial cells and large, non-dialyzable molecules; (ii) detected the presence of the bacteriocin in peritoneal fluids of moribund mice injected intraperitoneally 18 h previously with colicin V-producing strains (in these mice, Col V+ exconjugants survived and multiplied more extensively than the Col V- recipient strains from which they were derived; and (iii) observed an increased vascular permeability and inflammatory response in rabbits and guinea pigs when a culture supernatant demonstrating colicin activity was injected intradermally. The vascular response obtained after the injection of either a colicin V-containing dialysate alone or that of a trypsinized colicin-containing supernatant was always smaller than when the colicin V-active supernatant was injected. An enterotoxin-free dialysate containing colicin V also increased markedly in rabbits and guinea pigs the mild inflammatory reaction that occurred in the skin when purified endotoxin was injected subcutaneously in microgram doses. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that colicin V may act as a virulence factor in some E. coli strains.
Therapy‐related myeloid neoplasms: pathobiology and clinical characteristics

Therapy‐related myeloid neoplasms (t‐MNs) are serious long‐term consequences of cytotoxic treatments for an antecedent disorder. t‐MNs are observed after ionizing radiation as well as conventional chemotherapy including alkylating agents, topoisomerase‐II‐inhibitors and antimetabolites. In addition, adjuvant use of recombinant human granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor may also increase the risk of t‐MNs. There is clinical and biological overlap between t‐MNs and high‐risk de novo myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukaemia suggesting similar mechanisms of leukaemogenesis. Human studies and animal models point to a prominent role of genetic susceptibilty in the pathogenesis of t‐MNs. Common genetic variants have been identified that modulate t‐MN risk, and t‐MNs have been observed in some cancer predisposition syndromes. In either case, establishing a leukaemic phenotype requires acquisition of somatic mutations – most likely induced by the cytotoxic treatment. Knowledge of the specific nature of the initiating exposure has allowed the identification of crucial pathogenetic mechanisms and for these to be modelled in vitro and in vivo. Prognosis of patients with t‐MNs is dismal and at present, the only curative approach for the majority of these individuals is haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which is characterized by high transplant‐related mortality rates. Novel transplantation strategies using reduced intensity conditioning regimens as well as novel drugs – demethylating agents and targeted therapies – await clinical testing and may improve outcome. Ultimately, individual assessment of genetic risk factors may translate into tailored therapies and establish a strategy for reducing t‐MN incidences without jeopardizing therapeutic success rates for the primary disorders.
High Rates of Energy Expenditure and Water Flux in Free‐Ranging Point Reyes Mountain Beavers Aplodontia rufa phaea

We measured water flux and energy expenditure in free‐ranging Point Reyes mountain beavers Aplodontia rufa phaea by using the doubly labeled water method. Previous laboratory investigations have suggested weak urinary concentrating ability, high rates of water flux, and low basal metabolic rates in this species. However, free‐ranging measurements from hygric mammals are rare, and it is not known how these features interact in the environment. Rates of water flux ( \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $$210\pm 32$$ \end{document} mL d−1) and field metabolic rates ( \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape $$1,488\pm 486$$ \end{document} kJ d−1) were 159% and 265%, respectively, of values predicted by allometric equations for similar‐sized herbivores. Mountain beavers can likely meet their water needs through metabolic water production and preformed water in food and thus remain in water balance without access to free water. Arginine‐vasopressin levels were strongly correlated with rates of water flux and plasma urea:creatinine ratios, suggesting an important role for this hormone in regulating urinary water loss in mountain beavers. High field metabolic rates may result from cool burrow temperatures that are well below lower critical temperatures measured in previous laboratory studies and suggest that thermoregulation costs may strongly influence field energetics and water flux in semifossorial mammals.
What Are You Talking About? Text-to-Image Coreference

In this paper we exploit natural sentential descriptions of RGB-D scenes in order to improve 3D semantic parsing. Importantly, in doing so, we reason about which particular object each noun/pronoun is referring to in the image. This allows us to utilize visual information in order to disambiguate the so-called coreference resolution problem that arises in text. Towards this goal, we propose a structure prediction model that exploits potentials computed from text and RGB-D imagery to reason about the class of the 3D objects, the scene type, as well as to align the nouns/pronouns with the referred visual objects. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on the challenging NYU-RGBD v2 dataset, which we enrich with natural lingual descriptions. We show that our approach significantly improves 3D detection and scene classification accuracy, and is able to reliably estimate the text-to-image alignment. Furthermore, by using textual and visual information, we are also able to successfully deal with coreference in text, improving upon the state-of-the-art Stanford coreference system [15].
Preparation of graphene/poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical properties and water resistance

The control and dispersal of graphene nanosheets in polymer hosts are challenges in the development of high-performance graphene-based nanocomposites due to the strong interlayer cohesive energy and surface inertia. Here we report a simple and practical approach to synthesize graphene-reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composite films by incorporating graphene oxide and graphene into PVA aqueous solution. The resulting nanocomposites revealed increases of up to 212% in tensile strength and 34% in elongation at break with only 0.5 wt% graphene content. Water absorption measurements showed that the water absorption ratio of the graphene/PVA composites decreased from 105.2 to 48.8%, and the barrier properties were obviously improved. Contact angle measurements showed that the composites were hydrophobic (θ > 90°) in contrast to the highly hydrophilic (θ < 90°) pure PVA. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry
Using Peripersonal Warning Signals to Orient a Driver’s Gaze

Objective: We report a series of three experiments designed to assess the relative speed with which people can initiate speeded head-orienting responses following the presentation of spatial warning signals. Background: Recent cognitive neuroscience findings have shown that the human brain tends to treat stimuli occurring in peripersonal space as being somehow more behaviorally relevant and attention demanding than stimuli occurring in extrapersonal space. These brain mechanisms may be exploited in the design of warning signals. Method: Experiment 1 assessed the effectiveness of various different unisensory warning signals in eliciting a head-turning response to look at the potential source of danger requiring participants’ immediate attention; Experiment 2 assessed the latency of a driver’s responses to events occurring in the cued direction; Experiment 3 assessed the relative effectiveness of various warning signals in reorienting a person’s gaze back to a central driving task while he or she was distracted by a secondary task. Results: The results show that participants initiated head-turning movements and made speeded discrimination or braking responses significantly more rapidly following the presentation of a close rear auditory warning signal than following the presentation of either a far frontal auditory warning signal, a vibrotactile warning signal presented to their waist, or a peripheral visual warning signal. Conclusion: These results support the claim that the introduction of peripersonal warning signals results in a significant performance advantage relative to traditionally designed warnings. Application: Warning systems that have been designed around the constraints of the human brain offer great potential in the future design of multisensory interfaces.
Theoretical Analysis of the Optical Propagation Characteristics in a Fiber-Optic Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor is widely used for its high precision and real-time analysis. Fiber-optic SPR sensor is easy for miniaturization, so it is commonly used in the development of portable detection equipment. It can also be used for remote, real-time, and online detection. In this study, a wavelength modulation fiber-optic SPR sensor is designed, and theoretical analysis of optical propagation in the optical fiber is also done. Compared with existing methods, both the transmission of a skew ray and the influence of the chromatic dispersion are discussed. The resonance wavelength is calculated at two different cases, in which the chromatic dispersion in the fiber core is considered. According to the simulation results, a novel multi-channel fiber-optic SPR sensor is likewise designed to avoid defaults aroused by the complicated computation of the skew ray as well as the chromatic dispersion. Avoiding the impact of skew ray can do much to improve the precision of this kind of sensor.