Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of chemical vapor deposition diamond-, diamond-like carbon- and TiAlN-coated microdrills in graphite machining

In this study, continuous microcrystalline diamond layer with grain size of 0.8–2 µm, nanocrystalline diamond layer with grain size less than 100 nm, diamond-like carbon layer with no apparent grains and TiAlN layer with small particles on the top surface are successfully deposited on cemented tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) samples and microdrills. Diamond peak of microcrystalline diamond film is quite definite in the Raman spectrum, while that of nanocrystalline diamond and diamond-like carbon coating is not so apparent. The roughness of microcrystalline diamond, nanocrystalline diamond, diamond-like carbon coating and TiAlN coatings is about 215.83, 144.4, 23.63 and 168.17 nm, respectively. Nanocrystalline diamond film exhibits lowest adhesive strength between substrate, while diamond-like carbon exhibits highest adhesive strength between substrate. Tribotests show stable friction coefficients of microcrystalline diamond, nanocrystalline diamond, diamond-like carbon and TiAlN coatings as about 0.28, 0.08, 0.08 and 0.4, respectively, while their wear rates against Si3N4 balls are 4.9E−7, 7.0E−7, 7.7E−7 and 2.9E−6 mm3 N−1 m−1, respectively. Microdrilling experiments show that the tool life of microcrystalline diamond–coated microdrill is as about 1.5, 2, 6 and 9 times more than that of nanocrystalline diamond-, diamond-like carbon-, TiAlN-coated and uncoated microdrills, respectively. The main wear types of these microdrills are flank wear, chipping and coating delamination. The results show that the microcrystalline diamond film is more suitable to be deposited on microdrills than the other three coatings to enhance cutting performance of microdrills in dry machining of graphite.
Determinants of Anemia among School-Aged Children in Mexico, the United States and Colombia

Anemia affects approximately 25% of school-aged children (SAC—aged 5.00–14.99 years) globally. We determined in three countries the prevalence and determinants of anemia in SAC. Data on sociodemographics, inflammation and nutrition status were obtained from the 2006 Mexican National Nutrition Survey, the 2003-6 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, and the 2010 Encuesta Nacional de Nutrición Situación Colombia. In the US, vitamin A and iron deficiency (ID) were available only for girls aged 12.00–14.99 years to which our analysis was limited. Associations were evaluated by country using multivariable logistic regression adjusting for confounders and complex survey design. The prevalence of anemia and ID were: Mexico 12% (ID 18%), n = 3660; US 4% (ID 10%), n = 733; and Colombia 4% (ID 9%), n = 8573. The percentage of anemia associated with ID was 22.4% in Mexico, 38.9% in the US and 16.7% in Colombia. In Mexico, anemia was associated with ID (adjusted OR: 1.5, p = 0.02) and overweight (aOR 0.4, p = 0.007). In the US, anemia was associated with black race/ethnicity (aOR: 14.1, p < 0.0001) and ID (aOR: 8.0, p < 0.0001). In Colombia, anemia was associated with black race/ethnicity (aOR: 1.6, p = 0.005), lowest socio-economic status quintile (aOR: 1.8, p = 0.0005), ID (aOR: 2.7, p < 0.0001), and being stunted (aOR: 1.6, p = 0.02). While anemia was uniformly associated with iron deficiency in Mexico, Columbia, and the United States, other measured factors showed inconsistent associations with anemia. Additional data on anemia determinants in SAC are needed to guide interventions.
A novel scheme for fingerprint enhancement

A fingerprint image is composed of a foreground and background areas. The foreground area is composed of ridges and valleys, while the background area is the region that surrounds the fingertip and is mainly noisy. Fingerprint recognition techniques amount to extracting minutiae as well as identifying ridge and valley regions. As the captured fingerprint images may be of poor quality due to various reasons, it is necessary to enhance the image prior to minutiae extraction. Usually, fingerprint images are enhanced either in the spatial or frequency domains. However, due to the complicated ridge structures, the quality of the enhanced images is not satisfactory. In this paper, a novel enhancement method is proposed. It makes use of a recently developed fingerprint segmentation technique, in order to separate the fingerprint foreground and background areas, and subsequently speeds up the enhancement process. Next, a novel interpolation-based technique is proposed to join broken ridges. Finally, in order to estimate the ridge-valley spatial spacing, an accurate Radon-based technique is proposed. This accurate spacing is necessary for the design of 2-D directional Gabor filter that removes artifacts, and isolated black regions. The enhancement algorithm has been implemented and tested on fingerprint images drawn from FVC2002 and FVC2004 databases. A qualitative measure of the enhanced performance is also described. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm has verified significant quality improvement over the existing published techniques.
Using Genome-Wide SNP Discovery and Genotyping to Reveal the Main Source of Population Differentiation in Nothofagus dombeyi (Mirb.) Oerst. in Chile

Within a woody plant species, environmental heterogeneity has the potential to influence the distribution of genetic variation among populations through several evolutionary processes. In some species, a relationship between environmental characteristics and the distribution of genotypes can be detected, showing the importance of natural selection as the main source of differentiation. Nothofagus dombeyi (Mirb.) Oerst. (Nothofagaceae) is an endemic tree species occurring both in Chile and in Argentina temperate forests. Postglacial history has been studied with chloroplast DNA and evolutionary forces shaping genetic variation patterns have been analysed with isozymes but fine-scale genetic diversity studies are needed. The study of demographic and selection histories in Nothofagus dombeyi requires more informative markers such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). Genotyping-by-Sequencing tools now allow studying thousands of SNP markers at reasonable prices in nonmodel species. We investigated more than 10 K SNP loci for signatures of local adaptation and showed that interrogation of genomic resources can identify shifts in genetic diversity and putative adaptive signals in this nonmodel woody species.
Topology-reducing surface simplification using a discrete solid representation

This paper presents a new approach for generating coarse-level approximations of topologically complex models. Dramatic topology reduction is achieved by converting a 3D model to and from a volumetric representation. Our approach produces valid, error-bounded models and supports the creation of approximations that do not interpenetrate the original model, either being completely contained in the input solid or bounding it. Several simple to implement versions of our approach are presented and discussed. We show that these methods perform significantly better than other surface-based approaches when simplifying topologically-rich models such as scene parts and complex mechanical assemblies.
Root Foraging Increases Performance of the Clonal Plant Potentilla reptans in Heterogeneous Nutrient Environments

Background Plastic root-foraging responses have been widely recognized as an important strategy for plants to explore heterogeneously distributed resources. However, the benefits and costs of root foraging have received little attention. Methodology/Principal Findings In a greenhouse experiment, we grew pairs of connected ramets of 22 genotypes of the stoloniferous plant Potentilla reptans in paired pots, between which the contrast in nutrient availability was set as null, medium and high, but with the total nutrient amount kept the same. We calculated root-foraging intensity of each individual ramet pair as the difference in root mass between paired ramets divided by the total root mass. For each genotype, we then calculated root-foraging ability as the slope of the regression of root-foraging intensity against patch contrast. For all genotypes, root-foraging intensity increased with patch contrast and the total biomass and number of offspring ramets were lowest at high patch contrast. Among genotypes, root-foraging intensity was positively related to production of offspring ramets and biomass in the high patch-contrast treatment, which indicates an evolutionary benefit of root foraging in heterogeneous environments. However, we found no significant evidence that the ability of plastic foraging imposes costs under homogeneous conditions (i.e. when foraging is not needed). Conclusions/Significance Our results show that plants of P. reptans adjust their root-foraging intensity according to patch contrast. Moreover, the results show that the root foraging has an evolutionary advantage in heterogeneous environments, while costs of having the ability of plastic root foraging were absent or very small.
Heuristics for estimating contact area of supports in layered manufacturing

Layered manufacturing is a technology that allows physical prototypes of three-dimensional(3D) models to be built directly from their digital representation, as a stack of two-dimensional(2D) layers. A key design problem here is the choice of a suitable direction in which the digital model should be oriented and built so as to minimize the area of contact between the prototype and temporary support structures that are generated during the build. Devising an efficient algorithm for computing such a direction has remained a difficult problem for quite some time. In this paper, a suite of efficient and practical heuristics is presented for estimating the minimum contact area. Also given is a technique for evaluating the quality of the estimate provided by any heuristic, which does not require knowledge of the (unknown and hard-to-compute) optimal solution; instead, it provides an indirect upper bound on the quality of the estimate via two relatively easy-to-compute quantities. The algorithms are based on various techniques from computational geometry, such as ray-shooting, convex hulls, boolean operations on polygons, and spherical arrangements, and have been implemented and tested. Experimental results on a wide range of real-world models show that the heuristics perform quite well in practice.
Fuzzy information exposure paths analysis in wireless sensor networks

Based on Fuzzy Theory, this paper proposes an exposure path algorithm for a point and for a path in sensor networks. The fuzzy information exposure path of a point is defined as the function of the distance between sensors and objects. Within a fixed distance, the less the distance is, the higher the exposure. The fuzzy information exposure for a path is the average fuzzy information exposure of all points along the path. The higher the fuzzy information exposure, the higher the confidence level that some information of an object is exposed and the more likely the object is monitored. An approximation algorithm is proposed to solve the problem of finding the worst and best fuzzy information exposure path in wireless sensor networks, and simulations are implemented to evaluate its performance.
QUANTIFYING THE VALUE THAT WIND POWER PROVIDES AS A HEDGE AGAINST VOLATILE NATURAL GAS PRICES

Advocates of renewable energy have long argued that wind power and other renewable technologies can mitigate fuel price risk within a resource portfolio. Such arguments--made with renewed vigor in the wake of unprecedented natural gas price volatility during the winter of 2000/2001--have mostly been qualitative in nature, however, with few attempts to actually quantify the price stability benefit that wind and other renewables provide. This paper attempts to quantify this benefit by equating it with the cost of achieving price stability through other means, particularly gas-based financial derivatives (futures and swaps). We find that over the past two years, natural gas consumers have had to pay a premium of roughly 0.50 cents/kWh over expected spot prices to lock in natural gas prices for the next 10 years. This incremental cost is potentially large enough to tip the scales away from new investments in natural gasfired generation and in favor of investments in wind power and other renewable technologies.
3 Planning Multi-Step Error Detection and Recovery Strategies

Robots must plan and execute tasks in the presence of uncertainty. Uncertainty arises from sensing errors, control errors, and the geometry of the environment. By employing a combined strategy offorce and position control, a robot programmer can often guarantee reaching the desired final configuration from all the likely initial configurations. Such motion strategies permit robots to carry out tasks in the presence of significant uncertainty. However, compliant motion strategies are very difficult for humans to specify. For this reason we have been working on the automatic synthesis of motion strategies for robots. In previous work (Donald 1988b; 1989 ), we presented a framework for computing one-step motion strategies that are guaranteed to succeed in the presence of all three kinds of uncertainty. The motion strategies comprise sensor-based gross motions, compliant motions, and simple pushing motions. However, it is not always possible to find plans that are guaranteed to succeed. For example, if tolerancing errors render an assembly infeasible, the plan executor should stop and signal failure. In such cases the insistence on guaranteed success is too restrictive. For this reason we investigate error detection and recovery (EDR) strategies. EDR plans will succeed or fail recognizably: in these more general strategies, there is no possibility that the plan will fail without the executor realizing it. The EDR framework fills a gap when guaranteed plans cannot be found or do not exist; it provides a technology for constructing plans that might work, but fail in a "reasonable" way when they cannot. We describe techniques for planning multi-step EDR strategies in the presence of uncertainty. Multi-step strategies are considerably more difficult to generate, and we introduce three approaches for their synthesis: these are the Push-forward Algorithm, Failure Mode Analysis, and the Weak EDR Theory. We have implemented the theory in the form of a planner, called LIMITED, in the domain ofplanar assemblies.
Any lessons for today? Exchange-rate stabilisation in Greece and South-East Europe between economic and political objectives and fiscal reality, 1841-1939

We add a historical and regional dimension to the debate on the Greek debt crisis. Analysing the 1841-1939 exchange-rate experience of Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia/Yugoslavia, we find surprising parallels to the present: repeated cycles of entry to and exit from gold, government debt build-up and default, and financial supervision by West European countries. Periods of stable exchange-rates were more short-lived than in any other part of Europe as a result of 'fiscal dominance', i.e., a monetary policy subjugated to the treasuryâ€™s needs. Granger causality tests show that patterns of fiscal dominance were only broken under financial supervision, when strict conditionality scaled back the influence of treasury; only then were central banks able to pursue a rule-bound monetary policy and, in turn, stabilize their exchange-rates. Fiscal institutions have remained weak in the case of Greece and are at the heart of the current crisis. A lesson for today might be that the EU-IMF programmes â€“ with their focus on improving fiscal capacity and made effective by conditionality similar to the earlier South-East European experience â€“ remain the best guarantor of continued Greek EMU membership. Understandable public resentment against 'foreign intrusion' needs to be weighed against their potential to secure the long-term political and economic objective of exchange-rate stabilisation.
Research on scale effect of vegetation net primary productivity

The scale effects in earth science, which are related to various aspects in remote sensing monitoring, have become an international prosperous research area. As spatial heterogeneity of the earth system limits the transferring between different scale, it is necessary to study these spatial heterogeneity factors, and analyze their impact on NPP scale effect. Then we can introduce an approach to perform spatial scale calibration based on a correction factor for scale effect, and perform it to NPP. This study presented an approach driven by remotely sensed data and meteorological data to estimate GPP and NPP over regional scales. By using multi-scale data and different scaling strategies, NPP of Heihe River Basin in 2012 with various scales were derived. With a focus on differences among land cover types, we introduced and tested a kind of spatial scale calibration method, to get close to the real value of the net primary productivity.
Is Question Answering fit for the Semantic Web?: A survey

Abstract. With the recent rapid growth of the Semantic Web (SW), the processes of searching and querying content that is both massive in scale and heterogeneous have become increasingly challenging. User-friendly interfaces, which can support end users in querying and exploring this novel and diverse, structured information space, are needed to make the vision of the SW a reality. We present a survey on ontology-based Question Answering (QA), which has emerged in recent years to exploit the opportunities offered by structured semantic information on the Web. First, we provide a comprehensive perspective by analyzing the general background and history of the QA research field, from influential works from the artificial intelligence and database communities developed in the 70s and later decades, through open domain QA stimulated by the QA track in TREC since 1999, to the latest commercial semantic QA solutions, before tacking the current state of the art in open userfriendly interfaces for the SW. Second, we examine the potential of this technology to go beyond the current state of the art to support end-users in reusing and querying the SW content. We conclude our review with an outlook for this novel research area, focusing in particular on the R&D directions that need to be pursued to realize the goal of efficient and competent retrieval and integration of answers from large scale, heterogeneous, and continuously evolving semantic sources.
Review on the mixture design and mechanical properties of the lightweight concrete containing expanded polystyrene beads

Abstract Lightweight concrete containing expanded polystyrene beads (EPS-LWC) is frequently used in different structural and non-structural applications, since it was first developed about 60 years ago. However, effect of new materials and admixtures to improve its performance and strength are not investigated properly. A wide range of investigations about EPS-LWC since 1976, including the experimental data are evaluated. The collected data contain the information of curing methods, type of fine and coarse aggregates, mineral fillers, chemical admixtures and fibres in each experiment. In addition, the mixture proportions including the size and volume of EPS beads, density and compressive strength of the concrete are presented. Mechanical properties of EPS-LWC from 154 mixture design in 55 experimental programmes are also assessed. Utilising the experimental data, new models are developed and verified by the existing models of the mechanical properties of concrete. The existing models of the mechanical properties of LWC are also compared with those of the convention concrete.
Coherence scanning interferometry for additive manufacture

Additive manufacture (AM) of metal components is a rapidly maturing technology; but given the large number of interrelated process parameters, it remains difficult to control to high precision. It has been observed that processing conditions may be associated with specific features in the surface texture [1], creating a drive to achieve fast, and reliable topographic measurement of metal AM surfaces. One of the most developed metal AM processes, selective laser melting (SLM), still produces parts that exhibit rough surface textures with dense distributions of features at a wide range of lateral and vertical scales, aspect ratios, and reflective properties; with the additional complication of the presence of high slopes, undercuts and surface recesses. These features make metal AM surfaces challenging to measure by both tactile and optical means [2,3].
Function and Distribution of Apolipoprotein A1 in the Artery Wall Are Markedly Distinct From Those in Plasma

Background— Prior studies show that apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) recovered from human atherosclerotic lesions is highly oxidized. Ex vivo oxidation of apoA1 or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cross-links apoA1 and impairs lipid binding, cholesterol efflux, and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase activities of the lipoprotein. Remarkably, no studies to date directly quantify either the function or HDL particle distribution of apoA1 recovered from the human artery wall. Methods and Results— A monoclonal antibody (10G1.5) was developed that equally recognizes lipid-free and HDL-associated apoA1 in both native and oxidized forms. Examination of homogenates of atherosclerotic plaque–laden aorta showed >100-fold enrichment of apoA1 compared with normal aorta (P<0.001). Surprisingly, buoyant density fractionation revealed that only a minority (<3% of total) of apoA1 recovered from either lesions or normal aorta resides within an HDL-like particle (1.063⩽d⩽1.21). In contrast, the majority (>90%) of apoA1 within aortic tissue (normal and lesions) was recovered within the lipoprotein-depleted fraction (d>1.21). Moreover, both lesion and normal artery wall apoA1 are highly cross-linked (50% to 70% of total), and functional characterization of apoA1 quantitatively recovered from aorta with the use of monoclonal antibody 10G1.5 showed ≈80% lower cholesterol efflux activity and ≈90% lower lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase activity relative to circulating apoA1. Conclusions— The function and distribution of apoA1 in human aorta are quite distinct from those found in plasma. The lipoprotein is markedly enriched within atherosclerotic plaque, predominantly lipid-poor, not associated with HDL, extensively oxidatively cross-linked, and functionally impaired.
Comparison of patients with and without an associated monoclonal gammopathy

Article abstract-We reviewed our data from patients with the clinical diagnosis of chronic inflammatory d&yeliI nating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP). Seventy patients had no demonstrable underlying disease to account for their polyneuropathy and were classified as idiopathic CIDP (CIDP-I). We detected a monoclonal gammopathy of uncertain significance (MGUS) in 30 patients who were classified as CIDP-MGUS; 17 had an IgG gammopathy, 12 an IgM gammopathy, and one an IgA gammopathy. Compared with CIDP-I patients, CIDP-MGUS patients were older and slightly more likely to be males. When compared with patients with an MGUS but without polyneuropathy reported in the literature, CIDP-MGUS patients had similar distributions of age, sex, and immunoglobulin class. There were no significant differences in motor and sensory nerve conduction measures between CIDP-I and CIDP-MGUS patients, nor between CIDP-MGUS patients with IgM and those with IgG or IgA gammopathy. Strict electrodiagnostic criteria for primary demyelination were fulfilled by 54% of CIDP-I patients and 40% of CIDP-MGUS patients, but these were not significantly different. Our study suggests that (1) the demographic features and immunoglobulin class distribution of CIDP-MGUS patients largely reflect those of patients with a n MGUS, but without polyneuropathy, (2) CIDP-MGUS patients as a group cannot be distinguished from CIDP-I patients on the basis of nerve conduction studies, and (3) IgM CIDP-MGUS patients cannot be distinguished from those with other immunoglobulin classes. NEUROLOGY 1992;42:11571163