Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanical and ballistic properties of coir composite panel

The focus of the study about randomly-woven coir sheets is to determine its potential as a kinetic energy absorber with the aim of implementing the sheet as an impact-worthy constituent. Among the effects of this study are the extension in the service life of raw coir, nomination of coir sheet as a competitive alternative to conventional materials and contribution towards the knowledge of coir in the continuous form as other studies tend to focus on coir in the discontinuous form. Tensile tests using a universal testing machine to determine the mechanical properties and ballistic impact tests using a light-gas gun and high-speed camera to determine the energy absorption properties were performed on fabricated specimens. The coir/epoxy composite specimen consisted of coir sheets layered together with epoxy resin minimally applied to adjacent exterior sheet surfaces,thus leaving the core of the sheet practically partially hollow, where the weight of the sheets and thickness of the resin were controlled. Through this work, a 1-layer of this composite behaves in a brittle fashion and has a modulus and tensile strength of 93.85 MPa and 2.77 MPa, respectively. The 2-layer and 3-layer behaves in a ductile fashion and has a modulus and tensile strength of 46.99 MPa and 1.77 MPa, and 40.07 MPa and 2.70 MPa, respectively. The relation between the number of layers and absorbed kinetic energy has too been discovered for this particular composite to be f(x) = 12:62x -0:02. To totally stop a projectile moving at 205 m/s, it has been found that a 10-layer composite (with a dimension of 100 mm (L) X 100 mm (W) X 8 mm (T) and weighing 12 g per sheet) of this fiber is needed.
On transcribing informally-pronounced numbers in Romanian speech

The pronunciation model, a mapping between the lexicon words and their phonetic representation, has a key role in automatic speech recognition. Although many times neglected, the accuracy of this model influences significantly the accuracy of the whole system. This study discusses within-word and cross-word pronunciation variations for Romanian numbers and proposes the solutions to model them in the phonetic dictionary and the language model of an existing speech recognition system for Romanian. The evaluation is performed of a read speech corpus comprising rational numbers with up to three decimal digits. The experiments show a relative WER improvement of 14% over the baseline when within-word pronunciation variations are taken into account and an additional relative WER improvement of 63% when cross-word pronunciation variations are also modelled.
Influence of local factors on composite shrinkage stress development--a finite element analysis.

PURPOSE Using finite element analysis (FEA), to determine the nominal shrinkage stress of a composite under different restriction conditions defined by the longitudinal compliance (LC) and C-factor (C) of the testing system, and by the elastic modulus of the bonding substrate (E). MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight axisymmetric models representing an experimental setup used to determine composite shrinkage stress were simulated. Composite thicknesses of 0.5 mm and 4 mm were tested, defining different C and volumes (C = 6 and vol = 14 mm3 or C = 0.8 and vol = 113 mm3, respectively). The E of the substrate was tested in two levels, 12 GPa and 207 GPa. Two LC values (1 x 10(-6) or 28 x 10(-6) mm/N) were defined for each E value by varying the length of the rods used as bonding substrate (0.3 mm and 9.5 mm for E = 12 GPa; 6.0 mm and 163.9 mm for E = 207 GPa). Materials were considered elastic, homogeneous, and isotropic. Shrinkage was simulated by thermal analogy. Nominal stress (nodal force/cross-sectional area) was calculated for each condition. Results were analyzed using Taguchi's method. RESULTS Nominal stress values varied between 1.7 MPa and 30.3 MPa. The main variables were statistically significant (LC: p = 0.0046; C: p = 0.0153; E: p = 0.0155), as well as the LC x E interaction (p = 0.0354). Stress reduction between low and high LC was more pronounced for E = 207 GPa compared to E = 12 GPa. Stress was lower for the high C conditions for both compliance levels. CONCLUSION Not only the C-factor of the testing assembly, but also its LC and the E of the bonding substrate influence stresses generated by composite shrinkage.
Imaging performance degradation of optical bandpass filter damaged by scanning laser

Optical components in large aperture optical imaging system are susceptive to intense laser radiation. Optical band pass filter for spectra selection and nonlinear filter for intense laser blocking, are usually focal or near focal elements in imaging system, will more likely to be permanently damaged by high intense unwanted laser irradiating. In order to relate the optical imaging performance degradation to laser irradiating parameters, characteristics of the damage sites and so on, a test facility consisting of scaled electro-optical imaging system and standard imager evaluation system was constructed, and the linear spread function, modulation transfer function, signal transfer function, and noise power spectrum were obtained. Experimental imaging performance degradation law of damaged fused silica and colored glass filters were analyzed. Furthermore, some brief discussions on the imaging performance degradation mechanisms are also presented.
Production of Lithium in the Galactic Disk

The abundance of Li in stars formed within the past 5 Gyr is log N(Li) = 3.2(± 0.2), while the corresponding value for the oldest stars in the Galaxy is log N(Li) = 2.2(± 0.2). The global evidence suggests that the latter represents the full, or the major, part of the primordial abundance, so that the difference of an order of magnitude is due to Li produced in the Galaxy. It is well known that spallation of interstellar CNO by 4He and protons in Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) can produce Li, but models yield a shortfall of almost an order of magnitude compared with the current observed abundance range. Another GCR reaction, α+α fusion, has been invoked to explain some Li production in the early Galaxy, but application of this to the disk yielded too much early Li or too little current Li. These failures led to a search for alternative mechanisms, essentially stellar, at particular phases of evolution: the helium flash phase in asymptotic giant branch stars, in novae, and in supernovae (SNe). Here we stress the importance of the observed upper envelope in the plot of Li versus Fe in stars as a constraint on any mechanism in any model aiming to account for disk Li. We show that a good match can be found assuming that low‐energy GCRs produce the Li, with the α+α reaction as the key mechanism, although production in supernovae cannot at this stage be excluded. There is an apparent time delay in the Li production, relative to O and Fe, which if confirmed could be explained by the origin of a low‐energy α‐particle component in processes associated with stars of intermediate and low mass. The α‐flux at a given epoch would then be proportional to the amount of gas expelled by low‐ and intermediate‐mass stars in the Galaxy, though the acceleration of these α‐particles could still be linked to more energetic events as supernova explosions. The present scenario appears to account coherently for the closely related observations of the temporal evolution in the Galaxy (halo+disk) of abundances of 12C,13C, 14N, 16O, 26Fe, the two main peaks (one in the halo and one in the disk) in the G‐dwarf stellar frequency distribution, and the evolution of9Be and 10B+11B via GCR spallation reactions without requiring the very high local cosmic‐ray fluxes implied by the spallation close to SN. Adding a natural mechanism of differential depletion in red supergiant envelopes, we can explain the observed time evolution of the abundance of D and that of the isotopic ratios 7Li/6Li and11B/10B starting from a standard big bang nucleosynthesis model with baryon density ∼0.05. Our model also predicts the second Li “plateau” found for [Fe/H] between −0.2 and +0.2, due to the “loop back” implied for Li (also for 9Be and B) because of the required infall of low‐metallicity gas to the disk. Without ruling out other mechanisms for the main production of Li in the Galactic disk, the low‐energy α+α fusion reaction in the interstellar medium offers a promising contribution.
A QoS aware power save protocol for wireless ad hoc networks

This paper describes a power save protocol for ad hoc networks. The protocol is largely independent of the details of the underlying MAC and friendly toward any overlying energy-aware ad hoc routing. A key advantage of the protocol is that it is fully asynchronous. Each station independently establishes a periodic sleep/wake cycle. Neighbors that wish to communicate estimate the relative phase difference between their sleep/wake cycles. A station uses this phase information to order its pending transmissions so as to maximize value with respect to some QoS function. A station can also adjust its phase relationships to avoid contention and increase effective bandwidth available to a flow, as well as reduce latency.
Statistical Bellman-Ford algorithm with an application to retiming

Process variations in digital circuits make sequential circuit timing validation an extremely challenging task. In this paper, a Statistical Bellman-Ford (SBF) algorithm is proposed to compute the longest path length distribution for directed graphs with cycles. Our SBF algorithm efficiently computes the statistical longest path length distribution if there exist no positive cycles or detects one if the circuit is likely to have a positive cycle. An important application of SBF is Statistical Retiming based Timing Analysis (SRTA), where SBF is used to check for the feasibility of a given target clock period distribution for retiming. Our gate and wire delay distribution model considers several high-impact intra-die process parameters and accurately captures the spatial and reconvergent path correlations. The Monte Carlo simulation is used to validate the accuracy of our SBF algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that propose the statistic version of the longest path algorithm for sequential circuits
Characterization of the RnfB and RnfG Subunits of the Rnf Complex from the Archaeon Methanosarcina acetivorans

Rnf complexes are redox-driven ion pumps identified in diverse species from the domains Bacteria and Archaea, biochemical characterizations of which are reported for two species from the domain Bacteria. Here, we present characterizations of the redox-active subunits RnfG and RnfB from the Rnf complex of Methanosarcina acetivorans, an acetate-utilizing methane-producing species from the domain Archaea. The purified RnfG subunit produced in Escherichia coli fluoresced in SDS-PAGE gels under UV illumination and showed a UV-visible spectrum typical of flavoproteins. The Thr166Gly variant of RnfG was colorless and failed to fluoresce under UV illumination confirming a role for Thr166 in binding FMN. Redox titration of holo-RnfG revealed a midpoint potential of −129 mV for FMN with n = 2. The overproduced RnfG was primarily localized to the membrane of E. coli and the sequence contained a transmembrane helix. A topological analysis combining reporter protein fusion and computer predictions indicated that the C-terminal domain containing FMN is located on the outer aspect of the cytoplasmic membrane. The purified RnfB subunit produced in E. coli showed a UV-visible spectrum typical of iron-sulfur proteins. The EPR spectra of reduced RnfB featured a broad spectral shape with g values (2.06, 1.94, 1.90, 1.88) characteristic of magnetically coupled 3Fe-4S and 4Fe-4S clusters in close agreement with the iron and acid-labile sulfur content. The ferredoxin specific to the aceticlastic pathway served as an electron donor to RnfB suggesting this subunit is the entry point of electrons to the Rnf complex. The results advance an understanding of the organization and biochemical properties of the Rnf complex and lay a foundation for further understanding the overall mechanism in the pathway of methane formation from acetate.
Tlx-1 and Tlx-3 Homeobox Gene Expression in Cranial Sensory Ganglia and Hindbrain of the Chick Embryo: Markers of Patterned Connectivity

Recent evidence suggests that in vertebrates the formation of distinct neuronal cell types is controlled by specific families of homeodomain transcription factors. Furthermore, the expression domains of a number of these genes correlates with functionally integrated neuronal populations. We have isolated two members of the divergent T-cell leukemia translocation (HOX11/Tlx) homeobox gene family from chick, Tlx-1 and Tlx-3, and show that they are expressed in differentiating neurons of both the peripheral and central nervous systems. In the peripheral nervous system, Tlx-1 and Tlx-3 are expressed in overlapping domains within the placodally derived components of a number of cranial sensory ganglia. Tlx-3, unlikeTlx-1, is also expressed in neural crest-derived dorsal root and sympathetic ganglia. In the CNS, both genes are expressed in longitudinal columns of neurons at specific dorsoventral levels of the hindbrain. Each column has distinct anterior and/or posterior limits that respect inter-rhombomeric boundaries. Tlx-3 is also expressed in D2 and D3 neurons of the spinal cord. Tlx-1and Tlx-3 expression patterns within the peripheral and central nervous systems suggest that Tlx proteins may be involved not only in the differentiation and/or survival of specific neuronal populations but also in the establishment of neuronal circuitry. Furthermore, by analogy with the LIM genes, Tlx family members potentially define sensory columns early within the developing hindbrain in a combinatorial manner.
Nearly complete graphs decomposable into large induced matchings and their applications

We describe two constructions of (very) dense graphs which are edge disjoint unions of large induced matchings. The first construction exhibits graphs on N vertices with (N2)-o(N2) edges, which can be decomposed into pairwise disjoint induced matchings, each of size N1-o(1). The second construction provides a covering of all edges of the complete graph KN by two graphs, each being the edge disjoint union of at most N2-δ induced matchings, where δ>0.076. This disproves (in a strong form) a conjecture of Meshulam, substantially improves a result of Birk, Linial and Meshulam on communicating over a shared channel, and (slightly) extends the analysis of Hastad and Wigderson of the graph test of Samorodnitsky and Trevisan for linearity. Additionally, our constructions settle a combinatorial question of Vempala regarding a candidate rounding scheme for the directed Steiner tree problem.
Manganese Segregation Behavior in Damascene Metal Lines

The effective diffusivity in Cu lines during electromigration (EM) mass flow is related to microstructure and dopant additions and is controlled by fast diffusion paths, such as interfaces between Cu and SiCN capping layer, and grain boundaries (GB). The dimensional evolution of on-chip Cu interconnections from microns to tens of nm-sized line widths has caused a change in Cu line microstructure, thus resulting in a significant change in diffusion path. Manganese (Mn) as dopant/seed plays a critical role in damascene Cu lines by paring with GB vacancies or interfacial oxygen to reduce the diffusivity.
Reconfigurable sparse concentric ring arrays with optimized number of rings and elements

A method for synthesizing sparse reconfigurable concentric ring arrays is introduced. The method is based on convex optimization and group sparsity. In particular, the algorithm iteratively minimizes the ℓ1 norm of auxiliary variables. Each auxiliary variable defines the upper bound on the ℓ2 norm of the excitations at the same ring for all the patterns. Using this method, the ring radii and excitations for all the patterns are optimized simultaneously to ensure that all the patterns share the same set of ring radii with a different set of excitations for each pattern. This allows us to achieve all the requirements on the radiation patterns using a minimum number of rings. Also, a change to the weighting scheme during the iterative process is introduced to ensure that the optimized array has an acceptable minimum radial distance between the rings for practical implementation. Simulations were conducted to validate the proposed method. Results show that the proposed scheme saves 50% of rings compared to the phase differentiated arrays optimized using evolutionary optimization technique.
Augmented reality uses in educational research projects: the "Falcones Project", a case study applying technology in the Humanities framework at high school level

In the present paper, we describe the methodology for the implementation of Augmented Reality (AR) on a project with high-school students, in order to display content related to the book La reina descalza (Ildefonso Falcones), which was presented at the official launch of the bestseller. The project was developed by a group of students in the Humanities and Technology specialties of the school La Salle Virgen del Mar, Almeria, Spain. The method proposed is based on the recognition of the cover picture of the book, which acts as a mark of AR, allowing for the viewing of a series of digital images that are linked to multimedia content developed by the students. The proposed method is intended as a technologically advanced and entertaining system for use in educational environments that enables the display of information to students in addition to the printed documentation with which they are provided. The main objective of this work is a qualitative assessment of the use and adaptation of RA content in research projects at high school levels for displaying multimedia content.
Complex Form of Local Orientation Plane for Visual Object Tracking

Object tracking suffers from appearance change of the target caused by heavy occlusion. In this paper, we propose a complex form of local orientation plane (Comp-LOP) for visual object tracking. Comp-LOP is a simple but an effective descriptor for object tracking, which is robust to occlusion. It effectively considers the spatiotemporal relationship between the target and its surrounding region in a correlation filter framework by the complex form, which successfully deals with the heavy occlusion problem. Moreover, we perform scale estimation to treat scale variation of the target for better tracking performance. Besides, we automatically determine an appropriate size of the search region based on the entropy ratio of the target to the background. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves good object tracking performance in accuracy, robustness, and computational efficiency.
Agrobacterium-Mediated Plant Transformation: the Biology behind the “Gene-Jockeying” Tool

SUMMARY Agrobacterium tumefaciens and related Agrobacterium species have been known as plant pathogens since the beginning of the 20th century. However, only in the past two decades has the ability of Agrobacterium to transfer DNA to plant cells been harnessed for the purposes of plant genetic engineering. Since the initial reports in the early 1980s using Agrobacterium to generate transgenic plants, scientists have attempted to improve this “natural genetic engineer” for biotechnology purposes. Some of these modifications have resulted in extending the host range of the bacterium to economically important crop species. However, in most instances, major improvements involved alterations in plant tissue culture transformation and regeneration conditions rather than manipulation of bacterial or host genes. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is a highly complex and evolved process involving genetic determinants of both the bacterium and the host plant cell. In this article, I review some of the basic biology concerned with Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. Knowledge of fundamental biological principles embracing both the host and the pathogen have been and will continue to be key to extending the utility of Agrobacterium for genetic engineering purposes.
Up-Regulation and Profibrotic Role of Osteopontin in Human Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

Background Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and lethal disorder characterized by fibroproliferation and excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix in the lung. Methods and Findings Using oligonucleotide arrays, we identified osteopontin as one of the genes that significantly distinguishes IPF from normal lungs. Osteopontin was localized to alveolar epithelial cells in IPF lungs and was also significantly elevated in bronchoalveolar lavage from IPF patients. To study the fibrosis-relevant effects of osteopontin we stimulated primary human lung fibroblasts and alveolar epithelial cells (A549) with recombinant osteopontin. Osteopontin induced a significant increase of migration and proliferation in both fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Epithelial growth was inhibited by the pentapeptide Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (GRGDS) and antibody to CD44, while fibroproliferation was inhibited by GRGDS and antibody to αvβ3 integrin. Fibroblast and epithelial cell migration were inhibited by GRGDS, anti-CD44, and anti-αvβ3. In fibroblasts, osteopontin up-regulated tissue inhibitor of metalloprotease-1 and type I collagen, and down-regulated matrix metalloprotease-1 (MMP-1) expression, while in A549 cells it caused up-regulation of MMP-7. In human IPF lungs, osteopontin colocalized with MMP-7 in alveolar epithelial cells, and application of weakest link statistical models to microarray data suggested a significant interaction between osteopontin and MMP-7. Conclusions Our results provide a potential mechanism by which osteopontin secreted from the alveolar epithelium may exert a profibrotic effect in IPF lungs and highlight osteopontin as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in this incurable disease.
The Mucin MUC4 and Its Membrane Partner ErbB2 Regulate Biological Properties of Human CAPAN-2 Pancreatic Cancer Cells via Different Signalling Pathways

The mucin MUC4 and its membrane partner the ErbB2 oncogenic receptor are potential interacting partners in human pancreatic tumour development. However, the way they function is still largely unknown. In this work, we aimed to identify the cellular mechanisms and the intracellular signalling pathways under the control of both ErbB2 and MUC4 in a human pancreatic adenocarcinomatous cell line. Using co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down, we show that MUC4 and ErbB2 interact in the human pancreatic adenocarcinomatous cell line CAPAN-2 via the EGF domains of MUC4. Stable cell clones were generated in which either MUC4 or ErbB2 were knocked down (KD) by a shRNA approach. Biological properties of these cells were then studied in vitro and in vivo. Our results show that ErbB2-KD cells are more apoptotic and less proliferative (decreased cyclin D1 and increased p27kip1 expression) while migration and invasive properties were not altered. MUC4-KD clones were less proliferative with decreased cyclin D1 expression, G1 cell cycle arrest and altered ErbB2/ErbB3 expression. Their migration properties were reduced whereas invasive properties were increased. Importantly, inhibition of ErbB2 and MUC4 expression did not impair the same signalling pathways (inhibition of MUC4 expression affected the JNK pathway whereas that of ErbB2 altered the MAPK pathway). Finally, ErbB2-KD and MUC4-KD cells showed impaired tumour growth in vivo. Our results show that ErbB2 and MUC4, which interact physically, activate different intracellular signalling pathways to regulate biological properties of CAPAN-2 pancreatic cancer cells.