Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Photoexcited Hole Cooling Dynamics in PbSe/CdSe Core/Shell Heterostructure Quantum Dots

Fig. 1. Schematic of electronic state in PbSe/CdSe quasi type II core/shell QDs. Core/shell quantum dot (QD), in which the shell layer can not only improve the stability of core QD, but also result in totally new physical properties of the overall heterostructure. For instance, C. M. Cirloganu et al [1] found that the PbSe/CdSe quasi-type-II core/shell QD showed almost a fourfold increase in the multiple exciton generation (MEG) yield over core PbSe QD. However, photoexcited carrier dynamics in those quasi-type II QDs are not clear. In this study, we used transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy to reveal the photoexcited carrier dynamics in the PbSe/CdSe core/shell quasi-type-II QDs. Experimental Method The synthesis of colloidal PbSe and PbSe/CdSe QDs was performed via a reported method. [2] PbSe QDs and PbSe/CdSe QDs were dispersed in trichloroethylene (TCE) solution. In TA measurements, we used a titanium/sapphire laser (wavelength: 775 nm, repetition rate: 1 kHz, pulse width: 150 fs) as the laser source, the pump light wavelength was 470 nm and the probe beam wavelength was changed from 1140 nm to 1180 nm. Results and Discussion Fig. 2 shows the normalized TA responses (-ΔA) of PbSe and PbSe/CdSe QDs up to 600 ps for a probe wavelength of 1180 nm, which correspond to the electron-hole recombination of LUMO-HOMO in PbSe QDs. The photoexcited electron-hole pair lifetime of PbSe/CdSe QDs was longer than that of PbSe QDs, which suggested that the surface traps at PbSe/CdSe QDs are fewer than those of PbSe QDs. What’s interesting is that, we found a new peak appeared around 200 ps in the TA response of PbSe/CdSe QDs. The 470 nm pump light can excite electron-hole pairs both in PbSe core and CdSe shell, we believe that the new TA peak means that there existed a hole cooling process from CdSe HOMO to PbSe HOMO (Fig. 1) and the hole cooling rate is as slow as 100 ps. This striking result indicates that the slow hole cooling process in the PbSe/CdSe QDs may cause the generation of MEG more efficiently. Fig. 2 Comparison of normalized TA responses of PbSe and PbSe/CdSe
Novel Therapy for Bone Regeneration in Large Segmental Defects

Abstract : The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of thrombopoietin (TPO) to heal a segmental bone defect (SBD) in a large animal model, the minipig. The scope of the research comprises the following specific aims (i) to determine the union rate of tibial midshaft defects in minipigs treated with BMP-2, TPO, or saline control; and (ii) to evaluate the safety and side effects of treating tibial midshaft defects in minipigs treated with BMP-2, TPO, or saline control. In the previous research periods we completed surgeries and collection of tissue/data from 27 minipigs which had surgeries with IM nail fixation and 12 minipigs which had surgeries with compression plate fixation. Perhaps the two most significant findings during this period are that we discovered that fixation type (IM nail vs. compression plates) impacts the size requirement for a critical size defect, and that even with a large segmental defect, that is not of critical size, TPO is able to more rapidly allow for bone healing than observed in saline treated controls. We believe with creating a large defect but with using compression plate fixation we can even further improve TPOs efficacy, which along with finalizing data collection from the previous pig surgeries, will be the main goals in our 1 year no cost extension period (Year 4).
Transcription factors in late megakaryopoiesis and related platelet disorders

Cell type‐specific transcription factors regulate the repertoire of genes expressed in a cell and thereby determine its phenotype. The differentiation of megakaryocytes, the platelet progenitors, from hematopoietic stem cells is a well‐known process that can be mimicked in culture. However, the efficient formation of platelets in culture remains a challenge. Platelet formation is a complicated process including megakaryocyte maturation, platelet assembly and platelet shedding. We hypothesize that a better understanding of the transcriptional regulation of this process will allow us to influence it such that sufficient numbers of platelets can be produced for clinical applications. After an introduction to gene regulation and platelet formation, this review summarizes the current knowledge of the regulation of platelet formation by the transcription factors EVI1, GATA1, FLI1, NFE2, RUNX1, SRF and its co‐factor MKL1, and TAL1. Also covered is how some platelet disorders including myeloproliferative neoplasms, result from disturbances of the transcriptional regulation. These disorders give us invaluable insights into the crucial role these transcription factors play in platelet formation. Finally, there is discussion of how a better understanding of these processes will be needed to allow for efficient production of platelets in vitro.
Hybrid virtual holonomic constraints for a 2-D.O.F. bipedal robot

We apply virtual holonomic constraints (VHCs) to a fully actuated Euler-Lagrange system with impacts : a bipedal walking robot consisting of a stance leg, swing leg and hip mass. We call these hybrid virtual holonomic constraints (hVHCs). For any desired gait of the bipedal robot, the angular position of the swing leg is expressed as a function of the angular position of the stance leg. Using this function, a hVHC is formed and the control objective is to constrain the dynamics of the robot to evolve on the constraint manifold. A design procedure is developed to generate feasible hVHCs for a 2-DOF bipedal robot. Simulation results are presented.
The Morphological Approach to Segmentation: The Watershed Transformation

Segmentation is one of the key problems in image processing. ln fact, one should say segmentations because there exist as many techniques as there are specifie situations. Among them, gray-tone images segmentation is very important and the relative techniques may be divided into two groups: the techniques based on contour detection and those involving region growing. Many authors have tried to define general schemes of contour detection using low-level tools [1,2]. Unfortunately, because they work at a very primitive level, a great number of algorithms must be used to emphasize their results. An original method of segmentation based on the use of watershed lines has been developed in the framework of mathematical morphology. This technique, which may appear to be close to the region-growing methods, leads in fact to a general methodology of segmentation and has been applied with success in many different situations. ln this chapter, the principles of morphological segmentation will be presented and illustrated by means of examples, starting from the simplest ones and introducing step by step more complex segmentation tools. ln Section II, we shal! review briefly various morphologie al tools which are used throughout this chapter. These basic transformations are useful for the description of sorne algorithms used in morphological segmentation. We shall not introduce the basic notions of mathematical morphology; the reader not farniliar with them is invited to refer to [3,4].
On Jointly Recognizing and Aligning Bilingual Named Entities

We observe that (1) how a given named entity (NE) is translated (i.e., either semantically or phonetically) depends greatly on its associated entity type, and (2) entities within an aligned pair should share the same type. Also, (3) those initially detected NEs are anchors, whose information should be used to give certainty scores when selecting candidates. From this basis, an integrated model is thus proposed in this paper to jointly identify and align bilingual named entities between Chinese and English. It adopts a new mapping type ratio feature (which is the proportion of NE internal tokens that are semantically translated), enforces an entity type consistency constraint, and utilizes additional monolingual candidate certainty factors (based on those NE anchors). The experiments show that this novel approach has substantially raised the type-sensitive F-score of identified NE-pairs from 68.4% to 81.7% (42.1% F-score imperfection reduction) in our Chinese-English NE alignment task.
Antimicrobial films for food applications: a quantitative analysis of their effectiveness

A tremendous effort has been made over the last decade to develop and test films with antimicrobial properties to improve food safety and shelf life. This review catalogues and analyses the outcome of these research efforts. The bacteriocin nisin was the antimicrobial most commonly incorporated into films, followed by food‐grade acids and salts, chitosan, plant extracts, and the enzymes lysozyme and lactoperoxidase. The methodologies for measuring antimicrobial activity of both edible and inedible films varied considerably among the studies. Results, defined as the difference in the log10 colony‐forming unit (CFU) of a test organism exposed to a control film and the log10 CFU of the organism exposed to the antimicrobial film, ranged from 0 to 9 for many of the antimicrobials tested. Even for antimicrobials such as nisin, chitosan or antimicrobial acids with a ‘long’ history of studying their incorporation into antimicrobial films, the majority of results centred around 2 log10 reductions. The results suggest that antimicrobial films still face limitations and are perhaps still best viewed as part of a hurdle strategy to provide safe foods. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
SweatAtoms: materializing physical activity

Visualization plays an important role in motivating users towards physical activity. In this paper, we present a novel approach to represent physical activity in the form of material artifacts. We have designed a system called SweatAtoms that builds material artifacts using the measured heartbeat data during the physical activity. By crafting such material artifacts, our aim is to harness physical activity as a medium for self-expression and make the experience of participating in physical activity more engaging beyond screen-based feedback. This paper describes the implementation and design of the SweatAtoms system. We hope our work can inspire fellow interaction designers and researchers to consider the role of materiality while designing interactive technology to support physical activity.
Application of FDG-PET/CT in Radiation Oncology

Positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), which combines the advantages of high sensitivity and specificity of PET and high resolution of CT, is a unique tool for cancer management. PET/CT has been widely used in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The article reviews the recent applications of PET/CT in radiation oncology, with a focus on 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET/CT, addressing the applications in treatment planning and treatment response assessment of radiation therapy.
Impact of Irradiation and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Spiking on Microbial Populations in Marine Sediment for Future Aging and Biodegradability Studies

ABSTRACT Experiments were carried out to develop methods to generate well-characterized, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-spiked, aged but minimally altered sediments for fate, biodegradation, and bioavailability experiments. Changes in indigenous bacterial populations were monitored in mesocosms constructed of relatively clean San Diego Bay sediments, with and without exposure to gamma radiation, and then spiked with five different PAHs and hexadecane. While phenanthrene and chrysene degraders were present in the unspiked sediments and increased during handling, PAH spiking of nonirradiated sediments led to dramatic increases in their numbers. Phenotypic characterization of isolates able to grow on phenanthrene or chrysene placed them in several genera of marine bacteria: Vibrio, Marinobacter or Cycloclasticus, Pseudoalteromonas, Marinomonas, and Halomonas. This is the first time that marine PAH degraders have been identified as the latter two genera, expanding the diversity of marine bacteria with this ability. Even at the highest irradiation dose (10 megarads), heterotrophs and endospore formers reappeared within weeks. However, while bacteria from the unirradiated sediments had the capacity to both grow on and mineralize 14C-labeled phenanthrene and chrysene, irradiation prevented the reappearance of PAH degraders for up to 4 months, allowing spikes to age onto the sediments, which can be used to model biodegradation in marine sediments.
A COMPARATIVE DEMOGRAPHY OF PLANTS BASED UPON ELASTICITIES OF VITAL RATES

Elasticities of matrix elements from population projection matrices are com- monly used to analyze the relative contributions of different life history transitions (birth, survival, growth) to the finite rate of increase (l). Hitherto, comparative demography based on matrix models has relied upon decomposing elasticity matrices into blocks, each con- taining matrix elements deemed to represent recruitment, stasis, or progression to larger size classes. Elasticities across an entire matrix always sum to unity, and different popu- lations and species can be compared on the basis of the relative proportions of these three variables. This method has been widely used, but it contains a weakness in that the value of matrix elements is a function of more than one vital rate. For example, transitions representing progression to larger size classes involve a survival rate as well as a growth rate. Ideally, then, demographic comparisons between populations should be made using elasticities of vital rates themselves, rather than elasticities of matrix elements that are compounds of those rates. Here, we employ the complete set of general equations for the elasticity of vital rates in an entirely new analysis of matrices for 102 species of perennial plants. The results show a surprising similarity to an earlier analysis based upon matrix element elasticity and provide important confirmation of general patterns of correlation between plant life history and demography. In addition, we show that individual vital rate elasticities cannot, on their own, predict variation in life history. Therefore, all three de- mographic processes (survival, growth, and reproduction) are necessary to account for life history variation. The new analysis provides a firmer foundation for comparative demog-
Robust scale estimation for the generalized Gaussian probability density function

This article proposes a robust way to estimate the scale parameter of a generalised centered Gaussian mixture. The principle relies on the association of samples of this mixture to generate samples of a new variable that shows relevant distribution properties to estimate the unknown parameter. In fact, the distribution of this new variable shows a maximum that is linked to this scale parameter. Using nonparametric modelling of the distribution and the MeanShift procedure, the relevant peak is identified and an estimate is computed. The whole procedure is fully automatic and does not require any prior settings. It is applied to regression problems, and digital data processing.
On controlling digital TV set-top-box by mobile devices via IP network

Digital TV already rises. Unlike the traditional TV system, the digital TV architecture allows users to execute application programs in their set-top-boxes. One of the benefits is that users can communicate interactively with others by executing certain applications via some channels, e.g., the Internet. However, the only control device in recent years is the remote controller, which is limited to the transmission range. In this paper, we devise a system that allows mobile appliances, e.g., mobile phones and laptops, to control our set-top-boxes. Due to the issue of compatibilities, we adopt MHP (multimedia home platform) as the middleware. The proposed system model is also compatible with the EPG (electronic program guide) architecture. Two services are provided: (1) viewing DTV contents online; (2) remotely commanding the set-top-box to record a DTV service. Assuming that in the future when every house will be equipped with a "personal multimedia server", this server will even process complex tasks such as transcoding and broadcasting. We believe that our system model is very feasible for future DTV systems and is applicable to advanced DTV applications.
0-3 cement-based piezoelectric ceramic composites

In this paper, study on a new 0-3 type cement-based PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) composities is presented. Using a normal mixing and compacting method, up to 50vol% PZT ceramic powder could be incorporated into cement-based composites. The behaviors of the composites under different polarizing conditions are investigated. And the piezoelectric properties of cement-based PZT composites are evaluated both theoretically and experimentally. Moreoever, the impedence spectrum of composites is studied to approve the electromechanical coupling behavior. It shows that cement-based PZT composities have some advantage to the polyer-based PZT composites. There is good potential for application of 0-3 type cement-based piezoelectric composites in civil engineering.
Lifetime-resolved fluorescence imaging

Fluorescence lifetime imaging is a relatively new technique for acquiring directly the nanosecond temporal characteristics of the fluorescence emission of a spatially extended object, and for capturing the dynamic features at every pixel of an image simultaneously. In general, the applications of fluorescence lifetime imaging have been mainly in the microscope, but other diverse imaging situations can benefit from the technology. Our instrument employs periodically modulated excitation light, synchronous modulation of the amplification stages of a microchannel plate intensifier, and subsequent digital recording of the image with a charge-coupled device camera. The digitized images can be subsequently analyzed with a variety of different ways. A short description of the lifetime resolved fluorescence imaging instrumentation is given together with typical applications depicting lifetime spatial distributions, multiple lifetime analysis, statistical analysis of the image data, and suppression or enhancement of particular fluorescent species.
Removal of paper-based health records from Norwegian hospitals: Effects on clinical workflow

Several Norwegian hospitals have, plan, or are in the process of removing the paper-based health record from clinical workflow. To assess the impact on usage and satisfaction of electronic health record (EHR) systems, we conducted a survey among physicians, nurses and medical secretaries at selected departments from six Norwegian hospitals. The main feature of the questionnaire is the description of a set of tasks commonly performed at hospitals, and respondents were asked to rate their usage and change of ease compared to previous routines for each tasks. There were 24 tasks for physicians, 19 for nurses and 23 for medical secretaries. In total, 64 physicians, 128 nurses and 57 medical secretaries responded, corresponding to a response rate of 68%, 58% and 84% respectively. Results showed a large degree of use among medical secretaries, while physicians and nurses displayed a more modest degree of use. Possibly suggesting that the EHR systems among clinicians still is considered more of an administrative system. Among the two latter groups, tasks regarding information retrieval were used more extensively than tasks regarding generating and storing information. Also, we observed large differences between hospitals and higher satisfaction with the part of the system handling regular electronic data than scanned document images. Even though the increase in use among clinicians after removing the paper based record were mainly in tasks where respondents had no choice other than use the electronic health record, the attitude towards EHR-systems were mainly positive. Thus, while removing the paper based record has yet to promote new ways of working, we see it as an important step towards the EHR system of tomorrow. Several Norwegian hospitals have shown that it is possible.
Transcriptome Profiling of Huanglongbing (HLB) Tolerant and Susceptible Citrus Plants Reveals the Role of Basal Resistance in HLB Tolerance

Huanglongbing (HLB) is currently the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide. Although there is no immune cultivar, field tolerance to HLB within citrus and citrus relatives has been observed at the USDA Picos farm at Ft. Pierce, Florida, where plants have been exposed to a very high level of HLB pressure since 2006. In this study, we used RNA-Seq to evaluate expression differences between two closely related cultivars after HLB infection: HLB-tolerant “Jackson” grapefruit-like-hybrid trees and HLB susceptible “Marsh” grapefruit trees. A total of 686 genes were differentially expressed (DE) between the two cultivars. Among them, 247 genes were up-expressed and 439 were down-expressed in tolerant citrus trees. We also identified a total of 619 genes with significant differential expression of alternative splicing isoforms between HLB tolerant and HLB susceptible citrus trees. We analyzed the functional categories of DE genes using two methods, and revealed that multiple pathways have been suppressed or activated in the HLB tolerant citrus trees, which lead to the activation of the basal resistance or immunity of citrus plants. We have experimentally verified the expressions of 14 up-expressed genes and 19 down-expressed genes on HLB-tolerant “Jackson” trees and HLB-susceptible “Marsh” trees using real time PCR. The results showed that the expression of most genes were in agreement with the RNA-Seq results. This study provided new insights into HLB-tolerance and useful guidance for breeding HLB-tolerant citrus in the future.
Feature-Aware Reconstruction of Volume Data via Trivariate Splines

In this paper, we propose a novel approach that transforms discrete volumetric data directly acquired from scanning devices into continuous spline representations with tensor-product regular structure. Our method is achieved through three major steps as follows. First, in order to capture ﬁne features, we construct an as-smooth-as-possible frame ﬁeld, satisfying a sparse set of directional constraints. Next, a globally smooth parametrization is computed, with iso-parameter curves following the frame ﬁeld directions. We utilize the parametrization to remesh the data and construct a set of regular-structured volumetric patch layouts, consisting of a small number of patches while enforcing good feature alignment. Finally, we construct trivariate T-splines on all patches to model geometry and density functions simultaneously. Compared with conventional discrete data, our data-spline-conversion results are more efﬁcient and compact, serving as a powerful toolkit with broader application appeal in shape modeling, GPC computing, data reduction, scientiﬁc visualization and ﬁnite element analysis.
Characterisations of the “mixed” small gain and passivity property for linear systems in discrete time

Characterisations of “mixed” systems are presented in a discrete-time setting. First, a feedback stability result based on the Nyquist stability theorem is presented. Second, an eigenvalue-based characterisation of “mixed” systems based on their state-space data is derived. The results are analogous to previous results presented for the continuous-time case and provide a foundation for further study concerning the discretisation of “mixed” systems.