Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The difficulty of oral speech act production tasks in second language pragmatics testing

This study examined the relative difficulty of oral speech act production tasks involving eight different types of speech acts for Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) learners and the effects of three contextual variables, namely, power, social distance, and imposition, on such difficulty. Eight Oral Discourse Completion Task items, each representing a unique combination of the three contextual variables, were designed for each speech act. Eighty Chinese EFL learners responded to these items and their responses were rated for appropriateness by two native-speaking college English instructors. A Many-facet Rasch Measurement analysis suggested that the eight speech acts can be ordered by ascending difficulty as follows: Thank, Request, Suggestion, Disagreement, Invitation, Refusal, Offer, and Apology. Significant effects on performance scores were found for the interaction between each of the three contextual variables and speech act, and the specific effects observed varied by speech act. The implications of our findings for L2 pragmatics testing are discussed.
Plasma and urinary extracellular vesicles as a source of RNA biomarkers for prostate cancer in liquid biopsies

Introduction: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a very attractive source of cancer- derived RNA biomarkers for the early detection, prognosis and monitoring of various cancers, including prostate cancer (PC). However, biofluids contain a mixture of EVs released from a variety of tissues and the fraction of total EVs that are derived from PC tissue is not known. Moreover, the optimal biofluid—plasma or urine—that is more suitable for the detection of EV- enclosed RNA biomarkers is not yet clear. Methodology: In the current study, we performed RNA sequencing analysis of plasma and urinary EVs collected before and after radical prostatectomy, and matched tumor and normal prostate tissues of 10 patients with prostate cancer. Results and Discussion: The most abundant RNA biotypes in EVs were miRNA, piRNA, tRNA, lncRNA, rRNA and mRNA. To identify putative cancer-derived RNA biomarkers, we searched for RNAs that were overexpressed in tumor as compared to normal tissues, present in the pre-operation EVs and decreased in the post-operation EVs in each RNA biotype. The levels of 63 mRNAs, 3 lncRNAs, 2 miRNAs and 1 piRNA were significantly increased in the tumors and decreased in the post-operation urinary EVs, thus suggesting that these RNAs mainly originate from PC tissue. No such RNA biomarkers were identified in plasma EVs. This suggests that the fraction of PC-derived EVs in urine is larger than in plasma and allows the detection and tracking of PC-derived RNAs.
Secreted peptidases contribute to virulence of fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare

Flavobacterium columnare causes columnaris disease in freshwater fish in both natural and aquaculture settings. This disease is often lethal, especially when fish population density is high, and control options such as vaccines are limited. The type IX secretion system (T9SS) is required for F. columnare virulence, but secreted virulence factors have not been fully identified. Many T9SS-secreted proteins are predicted peptidases, and peptidases are common virulence factors of other pathogens. T9SS-deficient mutants, such as ΔgldN and ΔporV, exhibit strong defects in secreted proteolytic activity. The F. columnare genome has many peptidase-encoding genes that may be involved in nutrient acquisition and/or virulence. Mutants lacking individual peptidase-encoding genes, or lacking up to ten peptidase-encoding genes, were constructed and examined for extracellular proteolytic activity, for growth defects, and for virulence in zebrafish and rainbow trout. Most of the mutants retained virulence, but a mutant lacking 10 peptidases, and a mutant lacking the single peptidase TspA exhibited decreased virulence in rainbow trout fry, suggesting that peptidases contribute to F. columnare virulence.
A study of density in electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma

A theory is developed for the density profile of low temperature plasmas confined by applied magnetic field and an experiment of the electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) plasma is conducted to compare the theoretical prediction and experimental measurements. Due to a large electron mobility along the magnetic field, electrons move quickly out of the system, leaving ions behind and building a space charge potential, which leads to the ambipolar diffusion of ions. In a steady-state condition, the plasma generation by ionization of neutral molecules is in balance with plasma loss due to the diffusion, leading to the electron temperature equation, which is expressed in terms of the plasma size, chamber pressure, and the ionization energy and cross section of neutrals. The power balance condition leads to the plasma density equation, which is also expressed in terms of the electron temperature, the input microwave power and the chamber pressure. It is shown that the plasma density increases, reaches its peak and decreases, as the chamber pressure increases from a small value (0.1 mTorr). These simple expressions of electron temperature and density provide a scaling law of ECR plasma in terms of system parameters. After carrying out an experimental observation, it is concluded that the theoretical predictions of the electron temperature and plasma density agree remarkably well with experimental data. >
Hydrodynamics of Two-Phase Flow Across Horizontal In-line and Staggered Rod Bundles

This paper reports on void fraction and friction pressure drop measurements made for vertical two-phase flow of air-water across staggered and in-line rod bundles with different pitch-to-diameter ratios. All void fraction data showed a strong mass velocity effect and were significantly less than the values predicted by a homogeneous flow model, but were well correlated using the dimensionless gas velocity, j[sup [asterisk]][sub g]. The two-phase friction multiplier data could be well correlated with the Martinelli parameter for G [gt] 200 kg/m[sup 2]s. The correlations developed for void fraction and two-phase friction multiplier were successfully tested in predicting the total pressure drop in boiling R-113 experiments.
Phase II trial of a novel chemotherapy regimen CVEP (cyclophosphamide, vinblastine, etoposide and prednisolone) for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)‐associated lymphomas

Management of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)‐related diffuse large B‐cell (DLBCL) and plasmablastic lymphomas (PBL) poses significant challenges. The evidence supports use of dose‐adjusted EPOCH (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin) with or without rituximab as first‐line therapy. The need for central venous access, growth factors and significant toxicities limits its use in resource‐constrained settings. To address these challenges, we have developed a novel regimen, CVEP (cyclophosphamide, vinblastine, etoposide, and prednisolone) based on the pharmacodynamic principles of dose‐adjusted EPOCH. This single‐centre phase II study evaluated the efficacy and safety of CVEP regimen in patients with de novo systemic AIDS‐related DLBCL and PBL. The primary objective was complete response (CR) rates as assessed by positron emission tomography‐computed tomography. The secondary objectives were incidence of Grade 3/4 toxicities, toxicities requiring hospitalisation, and disease‐free survival. From May 2011 to February 2017, 42 patients were enrolled. At the end of therapy the CR rates were 69% (29/42) in the intention‐to‐treat population and 80.5% (29/36) in evaluable patients. At a median follow‐up of 69 months, the 5‐year disease‐free survival was 65.3%. Out of 217 cycles administered, febrile neutropenia occurred in 19.3% and hospitalisation was required in 18.3% of cycles. There were two treatment‐related deaths. The CVEP regimen is an active and safe regimen for AIDS‐related DLBCL and PBL.
Diurnal cycle of the intertropical discontinuity over West Africa analysed by remote sensing and mesoscale modelling

The diurnal cycle of the Intertropical discontinuity (ITD), i.e. the interface at the ground between moist monsoon air and dry Harmattan air, is an important factor in the West African monsoon system. During the whole of 2006, high‐resolution ground‐based remote‐sensing measurements were performed in the area of Djougou, Benin, which made it possible to observe the ITD and the associated sharp gradient of temperature and humidity in detail. In order to extend the point measurements to a three‐dimensional view of the ITD and to enhance the knowledge of the related processes, the mesoscale atmospheric model Meso‐NH was run for a case study (84 h period) in April 2006. In addition Meteosat infrared observations were used to determine the ITD position and its movement. From these observations a northward propagation of the moist air front (ITD) of 8–12 m s−1 was calculated. The propagation speed of the front evaluated from the satellite observations was replicated by the model and the time of the front arrival over Djougou was simulated with a maximum error of 1 hour. With respect to the ground‐based observations, the model was able to reproduce the dynamics and thermodynamics of the front as well as the diurnal cycle of the planetary boundary layer over the study area. This agreement suggests the use of the model to further describe processes in the lower atmosphere at high resolution. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society
Neutrino Driven Streaming Instabilities in a Dense Plasma

The nonlinear self-consistent propagation of neutrinos in a dense plasma is described using the relativistic kinetic equations for neutrinos and electrons. The general nonlinear dispersion relation for a neutrino fluid coupled with a plasma is derived. For scenarios close to realistic astrophysical conditions, neutrino driven streaming instabilities can develop, with growth rates which scale with the Fermi constant GF, thus leading to significant energy transfer from the neutrinos to the plasma.
On the theory of set-valued maps of bounded variation of one real variable

(Set-valued) maps of bounded variation in the sense of Jordan defined on a subset of the real line and taking values in metric or normed linear spaces are studied. A structure theorem (more general than the Jordan decomposition) is proved for such maps; an analogue of Helly's selection principle is established. A compact set-valued map into a Banach space that is a map of bounded variation (or a Lipschitz or an absolutely continuous map) is shown to have a continuous selection of bounded variation (respectively, Lipschitz or absolutely continuous selection).
Least‐square support vector machine applied to settlement of shallow foundations on cohesionless soils

This paper examines the potential of least‐square support vector machine (LSVVM) in the prediction of settlement of shallow foundation on cohesionless soil. In LSSVM, Vapnik's ε‐insensitive loss function has been replaced by a cost function that corresponds to a form of ridge regression. The LSSVM involves equality instead of inequality constraints and works with a least‐squares cost function. The five input variables used for the LSSVM for the prediction of settlement are footing width (B), footing length (L), footing net applied pressure (P), average standard penetration test value (N) and footing embedment depth (d). Comparison between LSSVM and some of the traditional interpretation methods are also presented. LSSVM has been used to compute error bar. The results presented in this paper clearly highlight that the LSSVM is a robust tool for prediction of settlement of shallow foundation on cohesionless soil. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Parametric Modeling of Electromagnetic Waveforms

ABSTRACT The problem of modeling and approximating a waveform by a linear combination of basis functions containing a variable parameter is considered. It is shown that the Kalman equation error concept of linear system identification theory can, in a modified form, be applied to a large class of modeling problems, provided the chosen basis function is a solution of a linear.functional equation in Hilbert space. This class includes rational and Tauberian modeling problems, known to be of relevance for electromagnetic transient response and wide bandwidth radar return signature identification respectively.
Optical zoom lens module using MEMS deformable mirrors for portable device

The thickness of the smart phones in today’s market is usually below than 10 mm, and with the shrinking of the phone volume, the difficulty of its production of the camera lens has been increasing. Therefore, how to give the imaging device more functionality in the smaller space is one of the interesting research topics for today’s mobile phone companies. In this paper, we proposed a thin optical zoom system which is combined of micro-electromechanical components and reflective optical architecture. By the adopting of the MEMS deformable mirrors, we can change their radius of curvature to reach the optical zoom in and zoom out. And because we used the all-reflective architecture, so this system has eliminated the considerable chromatic aberrations in the absence of lenses. In our system, the thickness of the zoom system is about 11 mm. The smallest EFL (effective focal length) is 4.61 mm at a diagonal field angle of 52° and f/# of 5.24. The longest EFL of the module is 9.22 mm at a diagonal field angle of 27.4 with f/# of 5.03. °
Efficient algorithm for very low bit rate embedded image coding

The authors propose an embedded wavelet-based image coding algorithm that exploits both the inter- and intra-subband correlations among the wavelet coefficients. The proposed coding algorithm is based on spatial orientation trees (SOT) in which the basic unit is a block of m×n coefficients in contrast to a single coefficient in the set partitioning in hierarchical trees (SPIHT) algorithm. Each SOT has a root node (a block of m×n coefficients) in the LL-subband with the child and descendent blocks in the high frequency subbands. Thus it fuses the features of both block- and tree-based coding algorithms into a single algorithm. Performance of the proposed method is compared (in terms of rate-distortion performance) with the other state-of-the-art coding algorithms including the JPEG2000 for popular test images. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a better coding efficiency over the other coders at very low bit rates. Also, compared with SPIHT it reduces the elements of the auxiliary lists, thereby reducing the memory requirements. In addition, the encoder of the proposed algorithm is significantly faster than that of the SPIHT, but with a slight increase in its decoder complexity.
High efficiency low operating voltage polymer light-emitting diodes with aluminum cathode

By blending poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) into an electroluminescence (EL) polymer, significantly enhanced EL efficiency in a polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) with aluminum electrode was achieved. An orange-color-emitting PLED with 10 wt % PEG blending achieved device efficiencies exceeding 2.6 cd/A for a wide range of bias voltage, which is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that of a similar PLED without the PEG blending. The enhanced efficiency was a result of the reduction of electron injection barrier height at the cathode–polymer interface. It is believed that interfacial interaction that is specific to Al plays an important role in the enhancement mechanism.
Random-energy model: An exactly solvable model of disordered systems

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Random-energy model : An exactly solvable model of disordered systems Bernard Derrida
Electron bunch profile reconstruction in the few fs regime using coherent Smith-Purcell radiation

Advanced accelerators for fourth generation light sources based on high brightness linacs or laser-driven wakefield accelerators will operate with intense, highly relativistic electron bunches that are only a few fs long. Diagnostic techniques for the determination of temporal profile of such bunches are required to be non invasive, single shot, economic and with the required resolution in the fs regime. The use of a radiative process such as coherent Smith-Purcell radiation (SPR), is particularly promising with this respect. In this technique the beam is made to radiate a small amount of electromagnetic radiation and the temporal profile is reconstructed from the measured spectral distribution of the radiation. We summarise the advantages of SPR and present the design parameters and preliminary results of the experiments at the FACET facility at SLAC. We also discuss a new approach to the problem of the recovery of the `missing phase', which is essential for the accurate reconstruction of the temporal bunch profile.
Appropriate Formulations for Velocity and Pressure Calculations at Gas-liquid Interface with Collocated Variable Arrangement

A high-precision simulation algorithm for gas-liquid two-phase flows on unstructured meshes has been developed to simulate gas entrainment phenomenon in a sodium-cooled fast reactor. In this study, it became clear that unphysical behaviors near gas-liquid interfaces were caused by conventional algorithms. Then, physics-basis considerations were conducted for mechanical balances at gas-liquid interfaces to derive appropriate formulations. By defining momentum and velocity independently and developing the momentum transport equations for both gas and liquid phases, the physically appropriate formulation of momentum transport was derived, which eliminated the unphysical pressure distribution caused by the conventional formulation. In addition, the physically appropriate formulation was derived for the pressure gradient to satisfy the mechanical balances between pressure and surface tension at gas-liquid interfaces. As the validation test, the rising gas bubble in liquid was simulated by the developed simulation algorithm with the physically appropriate formulations, and the simulated terminal bubble shapes on the structured and highly-distorted unstructured meshes coincided with the experimental data under each simulation condition determined by the Morton and Eotvos numbers.
Optimal design of /spl alpha/-/spl beta/-/spl gamma/(/spl gamma/) filters

Optimal sets of the smoothing parameter (/spl alpha/, /spl beta/ and /spl gamma/) are derived for a sampled data target tracker. A constrained parameter optimization problem is formulated for specific trajectories of the target, which includes the noise in the measurement, the steady state error and the transient response of the filter. This work considers two classes of target trajectories, circular and straight line maneuvers. Closed form expressions for the steady state error and the sum of the square of the errors capturing the transient behavior are derived for a straight line trajectory where the target moves with constant acceleration and a circular trajectory with the target moving at constant speed. The constrained optimization includes, besides the maneuver errors, a metric of noise capacity strength, expressed by the mean square response of the filter to white noise. An optimal selection of /spl alpha/, /spl beta/ and /spl gamma/ parameters is provided for various penalties on the noise filtering.
Improved damage identification method based on modal information

In this paper, a newly derived algorithm to predict locations and severities of damage in structures using changes in modal characteristics is presented. First, two existing algorithms of damage detection are reviewed and the new algorithm is formulated in order to improve the accuracy of damage localization and severity estimation by eliminating erratic assumptions and limits in the existing algorithms. Next, the damage prediction accuracy is numerically assessed for each algorithm when applied to a two-span continuous beam for which pre- and post-damage modal parameters are available for only a few modes of vibration. Compared to the existing damage detection algorithms, the new algorithm improved the accuracy of damage localization and severity estimation results in the test beam.
A fast scalable switching technique for high‐power CO2 laser radiation

Fast switching of high‐power 10‐μm radiation by reflection from optically induced carriers in polycrystalline germanium has been demonstrated. Initial studies carried out with a single‐mode TEA CO2 laser and a 2‐nsec ruby laser pulse have resulted in the generation of synchronized ∼2‐nsec pulses of 0.69‐ and 10‐μm wavelength. Potential applications of this technique include the selection of single high‐energy pulses from the mode‐locked output of large‐aperture CO2 lasers.Fast switching of high‐power 10‐μm radiation by reflection from optically induced carriers in polycrystalline germanium has been demonstrated. Initial studies carried out with a single‐mode TEA CO2 laser and a 2‐nsec ruby laser pulse have resulted in the generation of synchronized ∼2‐nsec pulses of 0.69‐ and 10‐μm wavelength. Potential applications of this technique include the selection of single high‐energy pulses from the mode‐locked output of large‐aperture CO2 lasers.
Algorithms for multi-item procurement planning with case packs

A distribution case pack contains an assortment of varying quantities of different stock keeping units (SKUs) packed in a single box or pallet, with a goal of reducing handling requirements in the distribution chain. This article studies case pack procurement planning problems that address the trade-off between reduced order handling costs and higher inventory-related costs under dynamic, deterministic demand. The properties of optimal solutions for special cases of the problem involving one and two case packs are first established and these properties are used to solve the problem via dynamic programming. For the general model with multiple predefined case packs, which is shown to be strongly NP-hard, the exact approach is generalized to solve the problem in pseudopolynomial time for a fixed number of case packs. In addition, for large-size problems, the problem formulation is strengthed using valid inequalities and a family of heuristic solutions is designed. Computational tests show that these heuristic approaches perform very well compared to the commercial mixed-integer programming solver CPLEX. In addition to providing detailed methods for solving problems with deterministic demand, strategies for addressing problems with uncertain demands are discussed.
Lucas-Kanade image registration using camera parameters

The Lucas-Kanade algorithm and its variants have been successfully used for numerous works in computer vision, which include image registration as a component in the process. In this paper, we propose a Lucas-Kanade based image registration method using camera parameters. We decompose a homography into camera intrinsic and extrinsic parameters, and assume that the intrinsic parameters are given, e.g., from the EXIF information of a photograph. We then estimate only the extrinsic parameters for image registration, considering two types of camera motions, 3D rotations and full 3D motions with translations and rotations. As the known information about the camera is fully utilized, the proposed method can perform image registration more reliably. In addition, as the number of extrinsic parameters is smaller than the number of homography elements, our method runs faster than the Lucas-Kanade based registration method that estimates a homography itself.