Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do students value intercultural group work? The effects of perceived value in diversity on intercultural interactions

ABSTRACT To understand under what conditions intercultural group work (IGW) leads to more intercultural interactions, a survey was conducted among local students (n = 80) and international students (n = 153) in Dutch universities. In this study, students were more inclined to engage in intercultural interactions when they perceived that working with culturally diverse others prepared them to work and live in a diverse setting. The positive association was strengthened when students perceived that diversity, in terms of nationality within their work group, was also beneficial for accomplishing their group task. The findings demonstrate the significance of students’ perceptions of IGW, including the perceived general value for personal development and intellectual benefits related to specific tasks. This implies that institutions and teachers could be made responsible for engaging with innovative educational methods to address and incorporate student diversity into curriculum.
Fiber‐optic high‐temperature sensor based on the fluorescence lifetime of alexandrite

A fiber‐optic sensor for continuous temperature measurement from room temperature to ≳700 °C is presented. The device is based upon the excitation of the synthetic crystal alexandrite with light from a diode laser operating at 670 nm and the measurement of its fluorescence lifetime. A simple low cost optical configuration is described together with the introduction of a new effective signal processing scheme for fluorescence lifetime measurement, and a high sensitivity and repeatability are observed, at best ±1 °C.
Correlates of yield, fecundity and survival of a wild harvested Cyclopia intermedia (honeybush) population

ABSTRACT Cyclopia intermedia (honeybush) is a plant species endemic to the fynbos biome. Wild harvested populations are used commercially to produce tea. The species is a resprouter, regrowing from underground rootstock after fires, and as such resprouts once it has been cut. However, there is concern that premature cutting may be compromising rootstock recovery. We report on an initial 400 wild plants measured and monitored under different harvest regimes, including control plants. Plants were harvested once in 2018 and regrowth and survival monitored until 2021. Here, an allometric calculation is provided based on height and stem number to estimate the harvest yield. Plants in valleys or with high surrounding vegetation had the highest yield values and potential fecundity. After harvest, an increase in mortality was correlated with plant size, being higher for smaller plants, but after two years of drought high mortality was not explained by any harvesting category nor any of the site variables, suggesting drought results in high plant mortality regardless of harvest history. The study clarifies several speculative components of harvest method, demonstrates that a complete cut rather than half cut results in better potential yield, and that an ash admixture post-harvest had no measurable impact on regrowth.
Extracellular Vesicles Derived from Three-Dimensional-Cultured Human Umbilical Cord Blood Mesenchymal Stem Cells Prevent Inflammation and Dedifferentiation in Pancreatic Islets

It is unclear whether extracellular vesicles (EVs) from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have a direct protective effect on pancreatic islets. In addition, whether culturing MSCs in three dimensions (3D) instead of a monolayer (2D) can induce changes in the cargo of EVs that facilitate the polarization of macrophages into an M2 phenotype has not been investigated. We sought to determine whether EVs from MSCs cultured in 3D can prevent inflammation and dedifferentiation in pancreatic islets and, if so, whether the protective effect is superior to that of EVs from 2D MSCs. Human umbilical cord blood- (hUCB-) MSCs cultured in 3D were optimized according to cell density, exposure to hypoxia, and cytokine treatment based on the ability of the hUCB-MSC-derived EVs to induce the M2 polarization of macrophages. Islets isolated from human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP) heterozygote transgenic mice were cultured in serum-deprived conditions with hUCB-MSC-derived EVs. EVs derived from 3D hUCB-MSCs had more abundant microRNAs involved in M2 polarization of macrophages and had an enhanced M2 polarization ability on macrophages, which was optimized when the 3D culture condition was 2.5 × 104 cells per spheroid without preconditioning with hypoxia and cytokine exposure. When islets isolated from hIAPP heterozygote transgenic mice were cultured in serum-deprived conditions with hUCB-MSC-derived EVs, the EVs derived from 3D hUCB-MSCs suppressed the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and caspase-1 in pancreatic islets and increased the proportion of M2-polarized islet-resident macrophages. They improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, reduced the expression of Oct4 and NGN3, and induced the expression of Pdx1 and FoxO1. The greater suppression of IL-1β, NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase-1, and Oct4 and induction of Pdx1 and FoxO1 were found in islets cultured with the EVs derived from 3D hUCB-MSCs. In conclusion, EVs derived from 3D hUCB-MSCs optimized for M2 polarization attenuated nonspecific inflammation and preserved β-cell identity of pancreatic islets.
An in situ hand calibration method using a pseudo-observation scheme for low-end inertial measurement units

MEMS chips have become ideal candidates for various applications since they are small sized, light weight, have low power consumption and are extremely low cost and reliable. However, the performance of MEMS sensors, especially their biases and scale factors, is highly dependent on environmental conditions such as temperature. Thus a quick and convenient calibration is needed to be conducted by users in field without any external equipment or any expert knowledge of calibration. A novel and efficient in situ hand calibration method is presented to meet these demands in this paper. The algorithm of the proposed calibration method makes use of the navigation algorithm of the loosely-coupled GPS/INS integrated systems, but replaces the GPS observations with a kind of pseudo-observations, which can be stated as follows: if an inertial measurement unit (IMU) was rotating approximately around its measurement center, the range of its position and its linear velocity both would be within a limited scope. Using a Kalman filtering algorithm, the biases and scale factors of both accelerometer triad and gyroscope triad can be calibrated together within a short period (about 30 s), requiring only motions by hands. Real test results show that the proposed method is suitable for most consumer grade MEMS IMUs due to its zero cost, easy operation and sufficient accuracy.
Design of an expert measurement system for close-range photogrammetric applications

Digital photogrammetric systems have been used to solve various measurement problems in industrial applications for many years. Industrial line-scan video cameras have been widely used in these systems and in machine vision applications. This paper addresses the use of a digital photogrammetric expert measurement system for deformation measurements on the surface of concrete materials. The system consists of two industrial cameras having fixed-focus lenses. Because the accuracy of the photogrammetrically derived object data mostly depends on the camera calibration, the system had to be calibrated first. A 3-D wooden object was specially designed and constructed for that purpose. A measurement process of 17 steps was carried out to determine the displacements on the surface of the samples. Linear variable differential transducers were also used to measure the deformations in a conventional way. Data obtained from the two sets of measurements confirmed the system's reliability and allowed us to monitor surface behavior of the concrete samples under loading.
A representation of discrete event dynamical systems

The problem of determining a representation of the state dynamics associated to a generator of formal language, which models a discrete event dynamical system, is addressed. A definition of independence between states of the generator is formulated, based on the languages generated starting from these states. A vector space structure is introduced, using the finite dimensional vector spaces with a finite number of elements. <<ETX>>
Anomaly Detection for DDoS Attacks via Behavior Profiles Deviation Degree

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks present a very serious threat to the stability of the Internet. In this paper, an anomaly detection method for DDoS attacks via Behavior Profiles Deviation Degree (BPDD) is proposed. First, the behavior profiles of normal traffic and real-time traffic are constructed using Markov Chain respectively, and then BPDD is designed to measure the discrepancy of the two profiles. Furthermore, TCM-KNN (Transductive Confidence Machines for K-Nearest Neighbors) algorithm is applied to identify attacks by classifying the BPDD samples. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively distinguish normal traffic from DDoS attacks, and has higher detection ratio and lower false alarm ratio than traditional methods.
Landau Level Structure and Magnetic Breakthrough in Graphite

The exact Landau level structure of graphite has been obtained for the magnetic field parallel to the c -axis with the aid of the numerical calculation. Special emphasis is layed on the effect of the trigonal warping in band structure which has been treated approximately up to the present. The peculiar behaviour of Landau levels in low fields can be understood in terms of the magnetic breakthrough phenomenon. A new de Haas-van Alphen oscillation of the minority hole is predicted and connected with another magnetic breakthrough effect due also to the trigonal warping.
A computed tomographic CdZnTe based scanning detector

In this feasibility study, single detector experiments were carried out in order to study the system characteristics of a cadmium zinc telluride (Cd/sub 1-x/Zn/sub x/Te) sample for pulsed X-ray computed tomography (CT). The experimental observations indicate the presence of long trailing edges which may be associated with charge trapping and recombination. On the other hand the system exhibits high stability.
Generation of boundary-conforming grids around wing-body configurations using transfinite interpolation

A computational procedure for generating three-dimensional nonorthogonal surface-fitted mesh systems around wing-fuselage configurations is presented. The method is based on the concept of transfinite interpolation, which has been extended to handle very general mapping function specifications at the boundaries, thereby making it possible to generate single-block mappings with geometry data specified only at the outer boundaries of the computational domain. Since it is a direct algebraic mapping technique, the method is very inexpensive in terms of computer cost. Different types of possible mappings are compared with respect to resolution and economy of nodal points. A procedure for a novel type of mapping, designated type O-O, is described and several plots of generated grids demonstrate the capabilities of the method. The singular lines inherent in every three-dimensional mesh for this type of surface geometry are also discussed.
Maximal violation of a bipartite three-setting, two-outcome Bell inequality using infinite-dimensional quantum systems

The ${I}_{3322}$ inequality is the simplest bipartite two-outcome Bell inequality beyond the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (CHSH) inequality, consisting of three two-outcome measurements per party. In the case of the CHSH inequality the maximal quantum violation can already be attained with local two-dimensional quantum systems; however, there is no such evidence for the ${I}_{3322}$ inequality. In this paper a family of measurement operators and states is given which enables us to attain the maximum quantum value in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. Further, it is conjectured that our construction is optimal in the sense that measuring finite-dimensional quantum systems is not enough to achieve the true quantum maximum. We also describe an efficient iterative algorithm for computing quantum maximum of an arbitrary two-outcome Bell inequality in any given Hilbert space dimension. This algorithm played a key role in obtaining our results for the ${I}_{3322}$ inequality, and we also applied it to improve on our previous results concerning the maximum quantum violation of several bipartite two-outcome Bell inequalities with up to five settings per party.
Mechanical Nanoprocessing of Layered Crystal Structure Materials by Atomic Force Microscopy

We attempted the nanometer-scale mechanical processing of materials with a layered crystal structure by tip sliding with an atomic force microscope, based on the anisotropy of the crystal structures. By mechanically operating a sharp tip, processing mainly occurs to depths equivalent to multiples of the period of the multilayered crystal structures, corresponding to the depth from the surface of one cleavage plane to the surface of the cleavage plane beneath it. By applying this mechanism in the mechanical processing of molybdenum disulfide and muscovite mica, high-precision cutting processing of lines and cross grooves can be performed in a layer-period unit of a multilayered crystal material that has periodic weak van der Waals bonds. However, in the processing of graphite, the bond strength of the basal plane is very high, making it difficult to perform the essential nanometer-scale cutting processing. Therefore, to utilize the high bond strength of its basal plane, the bending processing of the graphite basal plane on the nanometer scale was attempted and realized.
Topography measurements for determining the decay factors in surface replication

The electro-forming technique is used at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for the production of standard reference material (SRM) 2461 standard casings to support nationwide ballistics measurement traceability and measurement quality control in the US. In order to ensure that the SRM casings are produced with virtually the same surface topography, it is necessary to test the decay factors of the replication process. Twenty-six replica casings are replicated from the same master casing for the decay factor tests. The NIST topography measurement system is used for measurements and correlations of surface topography. The topography decays are quantified by the cross-correlation function maximum CCFmax. Based on the test, it is expected that 256 SRM casings can be replicated from the same master with CCFmax values higher than 95%.
An ensemble method for concept drift in nonstationary environment

Most statistical and data-mining algorithms assume that data come from a stationary distribution. However, in many real-world classification tasks, data arrive over time and the target concept to be learned from the data stream may change accordingly. Many algorithms have been proposed for learning drifting concepts. To deal with the problem of learning when the distribution generating the data changes over time, dynamic weighted majority was proposed as an ensemble method for concept drift. Unfortunately, this technique considers neither the age of the classifiers in the ensemble nor their past correct classification. In this paper, we propose a method that takes into account expert's age as well as its contribution to the global algorithm's accuracy. We evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed method by using m classifiers and training a collection of n-fold partitioning of the data. Experimental results on a benchmark data set show that our method outperforms existing ones.
Investigation of microelectromechanical systems bimaterial sensors with metamaterial absorbers for terahertz imaging

Abstract. One attractive option to achieve real-time terahertz (THz) imaging is a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) bimaterial sensor with embedded metamaterial absorbers. We have demonstrated that metamaterial films can be designed using standard MEMS materials such as silicon oxide (SiOx), silicon oxinitrate (SiOxNy), and aluminum (Al) to achieve nearly 100% resonant absorption matched to the illumination source, providing structural support, desired thermomechanical properties and access to external optical readout. The metamaterial structure absorbs the incident THz radiation and transfers the heat to bimaterial microcantilevers that are connected to the substrate, which acts as a heat sink via thermal insulating legs, allowing the overall structure to deform proportionally to the absorbed power. The amount of deformation can be probed by measuring the displacement of a laser beam reflected from the sensor’s metallic ground plane. Several sensor configurations have been designed, fabricated, and characterized to optimize responsivity and speed of operation and to minimize structural residual stress. Measured responsivity values as high as 1.2 deg/μW and time constants as low as 20 ms with detectable power on the order of 10 nW were obtained, indicating that the THz MEMS sensors have a great potential for real-time imaging.
Method for extracting volume produced negative ions

The extraction of H− ions from a volume source is greatly improved by the presence of a weak magnetic field parallel to the plasma electrode that magnetically insulates this electrode from the bulk plasma. When biased positive, the plasma electrode depletes the electron population in the neighboring region. To maintain plasma neutrality, negative ions from the main plasma replace the electrons in this region. Thus a high fraction of negative ions builds up in front of the plasma electrode. The implications of these phenomena for negative ion beam formation are discussed.
Ultrasonic force microscopy in waveguide mode up to 100 MHz

We present experimental results that extend the frequency range of ultrasonic force microscopy (UFM) to 100 MHz, operating in a mode in which the cantilever base is vibrated. In this "waveguide-UFM" mode flexural ultrasonic vibrations are launched down the cantilever as in a waveguide, without exciting any particular cantilever resonance. The nonlinearity of the tip-sample force-distance curve allows the conversion of a modulated ultrasonic frequency into a low frequency vibration of the cantilever, detected using an optical lever at the modulation frequency in an conventional atomic force microscope. Experiments were performed on a sample of InAs self-assembled quantum dots on a GaAs substrate. The dots, of order 10-100 nm in diameter, were clearly resolved up to operating frequencies /spl sim/100 MHz, demonstrating the difference in elastic properties. Images were also obtained for a polycrystalline chromium film structure deposited on a silicon substrate.
Sample-charged mode scanning polarization force microscopy for characterizing reduced graphene oxide sheets

A unique operation mode of scanning polarization force microscopy (SPFM) was developed for characterizing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets that were individually charged, mainly by monitoring the change of the sample's apparent height along with its surface potential. The principles and features of this sample-charged mode SPFM (SC-SPFM) were introduced. By comparing with other scanning-probe based techniques that characterize the surface electrical properties, including the traditional tip-biased mode SPFM, electrostatic force microscopy, and Kelvin probe force microscopy, it was found that the SC-SPFM has higher sensitivity and lateral resolution. Furthermore, by monitoring charge transfer between two rGO sheets with SC-SPFM, the “good” or “bad” contacts related to junction geometry at the nanometer scale can be visualized clearly.
Hybrid method for modular exponentiation with precomputation

The authors present a new hybrid method for performing modular exponentiation using a hybrid ternary-quinary number system. A recent result concerning performing modular exponentiation with precomputation was presented by Dimitrov and Cooklev (see IEICE Trans. Fundam., vol. E78-A, no. 1, p. 82-7, 1995): their average number of modular multiplications is 0.3381n, where n is the length of the modulus, while the authors' proposed method only needs 0.3246n modular multiplications. Furthermore, compared to Dimitrov and Cooklev's approach, the authors' method reduces the amount of storage by 56.8% if the modulus is a 512 bit number.
A Second Order Lagrangian Model for Irregular Ocean Waves

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging of ocean waves involves both the geometry and the kinematics of the sea surface. However, the traditional linear wave theory fails to describe steep waves, which are likely to bring about specular reflection of the radar beam, and it may overestimate the surface fluid velocity that causes the so-called velocity bunching effect. Recently, the interest for a Lagrangian description of ocean gravity waves has increased. Such an approach considers the motion of individual labeled fluid particles and the free surface elevation is derived from the surface particles positions. The first order regular solution to the Lagrangian equations of motion for an inviscid and incompressible fluid is the so-called Gerstner wave. It shows realistic features such as sharper crests and broader troughs as the wave steepness increases. This paper proposes a second order irregular solution to these equations. The general features of the first and second order waves are described, and some statistical properties of various surface parameters such as the orbital velocity, slope, and mean curvature are studied.
Optical amplification and stability of spiroquaterphenyl compounds and blends

In this contribution, we present a systematic investigation on a series of spiroquaterphenyl compounds optimised for solid state lasing in the near ultraviolet (UV). Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) thresholds in the order of 1 μJ/cm^2 are obtained in neat (undiluted) films and blends, with emission peaks at 390±1 nm for unsubstituted and meta-substituted quaterphenyls and 400±4 nm for para-ether substituted quaterphenyls. Mixing with a transparent matrix retains a low threshold, shifts the emission to lower wavelengths and allows a better access to modes having their intensity maximum deeper in the film. Chemical design and blending allow an independent tuning of optical and processing properties such as the glass transition.
Horizontal and Vertical Rule Bases Method in Fuzzy Controllers

Concept of horizontal and vertical rule bases is introduced. Using this method enables the designers to look for main behaviors of system and describes them with greater approximations. The rules which describe the system in first stage are called horizontal rule base. In the second stage, the designer modulates the obtained surface by describing needed changes on first surface for handling real behaviors of system. The rules used in the second stage are called vertical rule base. Horizontal and vertical rule bases method has a great roll in easing of extracting the optimum control surface by using too lesser rules than traditional fuzzy systems. This research involves with control of a system with high nonlinearity and in difficulty to model it with classical methods. As a case study for testing proposed method in real condition, the designed controller is applied to steaming room with uncertain data and variable parameters. A comparison between PID and traditional fuzzy counterpart and our proposed system shows that our proposed system outperforms PID and traditional fuzzy systems in point of view of number of valve switching and better surface following. The evaluations have done both with model simulation and DSP implementation.