Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of carbon nanotube agglomeration on the thermal and mechanical properties of polyethylene oxide

The effects of agglomerated versus deagglomerated multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the thermal and mechanical characteristics of polyethylene oxide were studied. The specimens were prepared via solution-sonication method, using two procedures. In the first procedure, CNT-PEO solutions were prepared with as-received MWCNTs, before sonication using an ultrasonic bath; in the second procedure, aggregated MWCNTs were first deagglomerated using high-intensity ultrasonic processor, before mixing with the PEO. The two solution preparation procedures did result in significant thermal property differences such as increased transition temperature and crystallinity, but only one mechanical property can be conclusively associated with the sample preparation method—the breaking strain which was marginally higher for nanocomposites containing deagglomerated CNTs, although in all cases the breaking strains were much lower for nanocomposites than for unfilled polymer. However, the overall results confirm the effectiveness of CNTs both as nucleation agents for semicrystalline polymers, and as fillers for enhancement of mechanical properties of the matrix polymer. POLYM. COMPOS. , 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers
Network Topology Inference from Spectral Templates

We address the problem of identifying the structure of an undirected graph from the observation of signals defined on its nodes. Fundamentally, the unknown graph encodes direct relationships between signal elements, which we aim to recover from observable indirect relationships generated by a diffusion process on the graph. The fresh look advocated here leverages concepts from convex optimization and stationarity of graph signals, in order to identify the graph shift operator (a matrix representation of the graph) given only its eigenvectors. These spectral templates can be obtained, e.g., from the sample covariance of independent graph signals diffused on the sought network. The novel idea is to find a graph shift that, while being consistent with the provided spectral information, endows the network with certain desired properties such as sparsity. To that end, we develop efficient inference algorithms stemming from provably tight convex relaxations of natural nonconvex criteria, particularizing the results for two shifts: the adjacency matrix and the normalized Laplacian. Algorithms and theoretical recovery conditions are developed not only when the templates are perfectly known, but also when the eigenvectors are noisy or when only a subset of them are given. Numerical tests showcase the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in recovering synthetic and real-world networks.
How residents learn: qualitative evidence for the pivotal role of clinical activities

Objectives Medical councils worldwide have outlined new standards for postgraduate medical education. This means that residency programmes will have to integrate modern educational views into the clinical workplace. Postgraduate medical education is often characterised as a process of learning from experience. However, empirical evidence regarding the learning processes of residents in the clinical workplace is lacking. This qualitative study sought insight into the intricate process of how residents learn in the clinical workplace.
Expression of patched, prdm1 and engrailed in the lamprey somite reveals conserved responses to Hedgehog signaling

SUMMARY In the zebrafish embryo, expression of the prdm1 and patched1 genes in adaxial cells is indicative of their specification to give rise to slow twitch muscle fibers in response to Hedgehog (Hh) signaling. Subsets of these slow twitch muscle progenitors activate engrailed (eng) strongly in response to high‐level Hh signaling, and differentiate into muscle pioneer cells, which are important for subsequent development of the horizontal myoseptum. In addition, eng is expressed more weakly in medial fast fibers in response to lower Hh levels. Somite morphology in the lamprey, an agnathan (jawless) vertebrate, differs significantly from that of teleosts. In particular, the lamprey does not have clear epaxial/hypaxial domains, lacks a horizontal myoseptum, and does not appear to possess distinct populations of fast and slow fibers in the embryonic somite. Nevertheless, Hh is expressed in the midline of the lamprey embryo, and we report here that, as in zebrafish, homologues of patched and prdm1 are expressed in adaxial regions of the lamprey somite, and an eng homologue is also expressed in the somite. However, the lamprey adaxial region does not exhibit the same distinct adaxial cell morphology as in the zebrafish. In addition, the expression of follistatin is not excluded from the adaxial region, and eng is not detected in discrete muscle pioneer‐like cells. These data suggest the presence of conserved responses to Hh signaling in lamprey somites, although the full range of effects elicited by Hh in the zebrafish somite is not recapitulated.
Delivery of bFGF for Tissue Engineering by Tethering to the ECM

Delivery of growth factors to target cells is an important subject in tissue engineering. Towards that end, we have developed a growth factor-tethered extracellular matrix (ECM). Here, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was tethered to extracellular matrix noncovalently. The designed ECM was comprised of 12 repeats of the APGVGV peptide motif derived from elastin as a stable structural unit and included the well-known cell adhesive RGD peptide as an active functional unit. To bind bFGF to the ECM, an acidic amino acid-rich sequence was introduced at the C-terminus of the ECM protein. It consisted of 5 repeats of 4 aspartic acids and a serine, DDDDS. bFGF has a highly basic amino acid domain. Therefore, bFGF was tethered to the ECM protein by electrostatic interaction. Cells cultured on bFGF-tethered ECM were well attached to the ECM and induced proliferation without addition of soluble bFGF.
Estimation of traffic sign visibility considering local and global features in a driving environment

This paper proposes a camera-based visibility estimation method for a traffic sign. The visibility here indicates how a visual target is easy to be detected and recognized by a human driver (not a machine). This research aims at realizing a nuisance-free driver assistance system which sorts out information depending on the visibility of a visual target, in order to prevent driver distraction. Our previous study on estimating the visibility of a traffic sign considered only the effect of the local region around a target, assuming the situation that a driver's gaze is around it. The proposed method integrates both the local features and global features in a driving environment without such an assumption. The global features evaluate the positional relationships between traffic signs and the appearance around the fixation point of a driver's gaze, which considers the effect of the driver's entire field of view. Experimental results showed the effectiveness of incorporating the global features for estimating the visibility of a traffic sign.
A new approach on H∞ control of linear singular perturbation systems

In this paper a new approach for solving the H∞ control problem using static state-feedback for LTI singular perturbation systems is proposed. The proposed controller is given in terms of the solution of a set of matrix inequalities independent of the singular parameter ε. These inequalities are not in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). By introducing a new algorithm, these inequalities are solved through LMI formulation. To show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm comparing to other methods, an illustrative example is also provided.
RAP-Resource Adaptive Programming with an application to robust and fast file copying

Network file copy programs are prime examples of system appli cations that use various resources: CPU, disk and network. The resources used in a local-area net work, where network throughput can be higher than disk throughput, are incompatible with resou rces used when copying files over a highlatency, low-bandwidth remote network. A customary soluti n to scaling network applications is by using asynchronous programming, but the model is not dire ctly amenable to chatty exchanges. We here provide a programming abstraction based on resource adaptive thread-pools as a layer for network and disk resources. The layer is encapsulated using workflows(monads) in the F# programming language; and we report on experiments with RoboClone, a parallelized version of the Windows RoboCopy program. In addition to the resource adaptive laye r, RoboClone also includes the remote differential compression (RDC) protocol.
Dynamic Analysis for Geographical Profiling of Serial Cases Based on Bayesian-Time Series

The analysis of spatial information has long been considered valuable for police agency within the criminal investigative process. This is especially true for serial crime cases where criminologists and psychologist apply geographical profiling to model criminal mobility distribution and behavior patterns in order to estimate a criminal’s likely residence. In recent years the availability of advanced computational mathematic tools ensured us to establish some mathematical models to replace traditional empirical method. However, as a new technology, current geographical profiling models are still fundamental and impractical. In this article, based on existing frameworks, we establish three new methodologies, namely, Bayesian—Factor analysis model, Time series analysis model and GIS(Geographic Information System)—Decay model, to study geographical profiling problems. Then, we test and compare their accuracy, efficiency, sensitivity and robust according to 11 historical serial crime samples and Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we discuss the advantage and disadvantage of each model and provide executive guidelines about how to synthetically apply these models for real cases.
Network model for changing node mobility and density in mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks need routing protocols which are adaptive to network environments where node mobility and node density change with time and space. In order to evaluate such routing protocols, simulation experiments using the Random Waypoint are usually conducted. However, since node movement and node placement that obey that model are random in time and space, respectively, it is impossible to evaluate routing protocols in the environments of biased node mobility and node density. In order to solve this problem, first, this paper proposes a new network model, in which users can change node mobility and node density at any time and any area as simulation time goes on. Next, this paper defines change rate of node mobility and node density in each area as a new metric for evaluating routing protocols in a unified way. Finally, this paper presents simulation results for routing protocols which are adaptive to network environments of biased node mobility and node density to show effectiveness of the proposed network model.
Single and dual strained channel analysis of vertical strained — SiGe impact ionization MOSFET (VESIMOS)

Single Channel (SC) and Dual Channel (DC) Vertical Strained-SiGe Impact Ionization MOSFET (VESIMOS) has been successfully simulated and analyzed in this paper. Found out that SC VESIMOS operate in conventional MOSFET mode at V<sub>DS</sub> = 1.75V, with 10% to 30% Ge mole fraction. However for Ge=50%, it's operated in Impact Ionization (II) mode with fast switching speed of subthreshold value, S=9.8 mV/dec. A better performance in threshold voltage, V<sub>TH</sub>, S value and I<sub>ON</sub>/I<sub>OFF</sub> ratio were found in DC VESIMOS as compared to SC VESIMOS. The V<sub>TH</sub>=0.6V, S=10.98 mV/dec and I<sub>ON</sub>/I<sub>OFF</sub> = 1×10<sup>13</sup> were measured in DC VESIMOS with Ge=30% that clarify the advantage of DC utilization on VESIMOS device. These improvements were mainly due to the enhancement of electron mobility from 600 m<sup>2</sup>/V-s (first channel) to 1400 m<sup>2</sup>/V-s (second channel). The electron mobility was increased due to the splitting of conduction band valley into six fold where the electron mass are reduced in out of plane direction and thus enhanced the mobility of electron.
Effects of Longitudinal Alignments on the Time-Mean Flow Structures of Side-by-Side Circular Cylinders of Diameter Ratio Two

The time-averaged flow characteristics in the regions upstream and downstream of the side-by-side cylinders of diameter ratio two, arranged at different longitudinal alignments and two gap ratios, are studied via particle image velocimetry (PIV). It is found that the locations of forward stagnation point of the large and the small cylinders do change with the longitudinal alignments. Upstream of the large cylinder, the streamwise variations of U* are nearly independent of the longitudinal alignment for both T*=1.5 and 1.0. However, upstream of the small cylinder, the streamwise variations of U* indeed depend on T*. Upstream of the small cylinder, the streamwise variations of V* are strongly affected by T* and, the largest magnitude of V* occurs at CLA for both T*=1.5 and T*=1.0. Also, the locations of the largest magnitude of V* move closer to the small cylinder as the T* reduces. For different T* and L*, the flow rate (or the averaged velocity through the gap) and the gap orientation will be changed at the same Reynolds number (Re=1000). The effect of pressure difference across the gap may be overwhelmed or be counterbalanced by that of the gap orientation leading to quite different flow structures in the downstream region of the cylinder couples. The effects of longitudinal alignment are to (1) change the forward stagnation points of the large and the small cylinders; (2) modify the region of mutual interaction between two wakes. (3) As S* reduces, the gap orientation takes the dominance over the pressure difference across the gap to switch the gap flow so that the wide-wake is formed behind the small cylinder especially for T*=1.0 and TEA.
Neural network architecture for trajectory generation and control of automated car parking

This paper describes the development of a control system to support an automated parking mode in driving passenger cars. By using recent advances in the artificial neural network technology and a combination of linear feedback and nonlinear feedforward control, we propose a novel architecture for the parking motion controller. The paper presents the results of the controller design and analysis, including parking problem analysis, stability analysis for the feedback controller, formulation and optimal solution of the parking trajectory planning problem, and design of a parking motion planning architecture based on a radial basis function network. Two general cases of backward parking considered in this work are emulated using the proposed controller. The emulation results reveal high efficiency of the presented approach and demonstrate that the proposed system can be implemented on a typical passenger car.
Genetic ablation of zyxin causes Mena/VASP mislocalization, increased motility, and deficits in actin remodeling

Focal adhesions are specialized regions of the cell surface where integrin receptors and associated proteins link the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton. To define the cellular role of the focal adhesion protein zyxin, we characterized the phenotype of fibroblasts in which the zyxin gene was deleted by homologous recombination. Zyxin-null fibroblasts display enhanced integrin-dependent adhesion and are more migratory than wild-type fibroblasts, displaying reduced dependence on extracellular matrix cues. We identified differences in the profiles of 75- and 80-kD tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins in the zyxin-null cells. Tandem array mass spectrometry identified both modified proteins as isoforms of the actomyosin regulator caldesmon, a protein known to influence contractility, stress fiber formation, and motility. Zyxin-null fibroblasts also show deficits in actin stress fiber remodeling and exhibit changes in the molecular composition of focal adhesions, most notably by severely reduced accumulation of Ena/VASP proteins. We postulate that zyxin cooperates with Ena/VASP proteins and caldesmon to influence integrin-dependent cell motility and actin stress fiber remodeling.
Shock waves, dead zones and particle-free regions in rapid granular free-surface flows

Shock waves, dead zones and particle-free regions form when a thin surface avalanche of granular material flows around an obstacle or over a change in the bed topography. Understanding and modelling these flows is of considerable practical interest for industrial processes, as well as for the design of defences to protect buildings, structures and people from snow avalanches, debris flows and rockfalls. These flow phenomena also yield useful constitutive information that can be used to improve existing avalanche models. In this paper a simple hydraulic theory, first suggested in the Russian literature, is generalized to model quasi-two-dimensional flows around obstacles. Exact and numerical solutions are then compared with laboratory experiments. These indicate that the theory is adequate to quantitatively describe the formation of normal shocks, oblique shocks, dead zones and granular vacua. Such features are generated by the flow around a pyramidal obstacle, which is typical of some of the defensive structures in use today.
The Interplay between Branching and Pruning on Neuronal Target Search during Developmental Growth: Functional Role and Implications

Regenerative strategies that facilitate the regrowth and reconnection of neurons are some of the most promising methods in spinal cord injury research. An essential part of these strategies is an increased understanding of the mechanisms by which growing neurites seek out and synapse with viable targets. In this paper, we use computational and theoretical tools to examine the targeting efficiency of growing neurites subject to limited resources, such as maximum total neural tree length. We find that in order to efficiently reach a particular target, growing neurites must achieve balance between pruning and branching: rapidly growing neurites that do not prune will exhaust their resources, and frequently pruning neurites will fail to explore space effectively. We also find that the optimal branching/pruning balance must shift as the target distance changes: different strategies are called for to reach nearby vs. distant targets. This suggests the existence of a currently unidentified higher-level regulatory factor to control arborization dynamics. We propose that these findings may be useful in future therapies seeking to improve targeting rates through manipulation of arborization behaviors.
Model-Based Diagnosis using Structured System Descriptions

This paper presents a comprehensive approach for model-based diagnosis which includes proposals for characterizing and computing preferred diagnoses, assuming that the system description is augmented with a system structure (a directed graph explicating the interconnections between system components). Specifically, we first introduce the notion of a consequence, which is a syntactically unconstrained propositional sentence that characterizes all consistency-based diagnoses and show that standard characterizations of diagnoses, such as minimal conflicts, correspond to syntactic variations on a consequence. Second, we propose a new syntactic variation on the consequence known as negation normal form (NNF) and discuss its merits compared to standard variations. Third, we introduce a basic algorithm for computing consequences in NNF given a structured system description. We show that if the system structure does not contain cycles, then there is always a linear-size consequence in NNF which can be computed in linear time. For arbitrary system structures, we show a precise connection between the complexity of computing consequences and the topology of the underlying system structure. Finally, we present an algorithm that enumerates the preferred diagnoses characterized by a consequence. The algorithm is shown to take linear time in the size of the consequence if the preference criterion satisfies some general conditions.
A Comparison of Crassostrea virginica and C. ariakensis in Chesapeake Bay: Does Oyster Species Affect Habitat Function?

ABSTRACT We examined the possibility that a nonnative oyster species would provide an ecologically functional equivalent of the native oyster species if introduced into the Chesapeake Bay. Habitat complexity and associated benthic communities of experimental triploid Crassostrea virginica and Crassostrea ariakensis reefs were investigated at 4 sites of varying salinity, tidal regime, water depth, predation intensity, and disease pressure in the Chesapeake Bay region (Maryland and Virginia). Four experimental treatments were established at each site: C. virginica, C. ariakensis, 50:50 of C. virginica and C. ariakensis, and shell only. Abundance, biomass, species richness, evenness, dominance, and diversity of reef-associated fauna were evaluated in relation to habitat location and oyster species. Although habitat complexity varied with location, no differences among complexity were associated with oyster species. Similarly, differences in faunal assemblages were more pronounced between sites than within sites. Our results show functional equivalency between oyster species with respect to habitat at the intertidal site and the low-salinity subtidal location. At subtidal sites of higher salinity, however, the numbers of organisms associated with C. virginica reefs per unit of oyster biomass were significantly greater than the numbers of organisms associated with C. ariakensis reefs. Multivariate analyses of data from subtidal high-salinity sites revealed unique communities associated with C. virginica treatments, whereas mixed-oyster species assemblages were functionally equivalent to monospecific C. ariakensis experimental treatments. Our study represents the first effort to quantify the potential habitat function of C. ariakensis, which has been proposed for an intentional introduction into Chesapeake Bay, and provides evidence of species-specific similarities and differences in reef-associated communities.
NKCC1 cotransporter inactivation underlies embryonic development of chloride‐mediated inhibition in mouse spinal motoneuron

Early in development, GABA and glycine exert excitatory action that turns to inhibition due to modification of the chloride equilibrium potential (ECl) controlled by the KCC2 and NKCC1 transporters. This switch is thought to be due to a late expression of KCC2 associated with a NKCC1 down‐regulation. Here, we show in mouse embryonic spinal cord that both KCC2 and NKCC1 are expressed and functional early in development (E11.5–E13.5) when GABAA receptor activation induces strong excitatory action. After E15.5, a switch occurs rendering GABA unable to provide excitation. At these subsequent stages, NKCC1 becomes both inactive and less abundant in motoneurons while KCC2 remains functional and hyperpolarizes ECl. In conclusion, in contrast to other systems, the cotransporters are concomitantly expressed early in the development of the mouse spinal cord. Moreover, whereas NKCC1 follows a classical functional extinction, KCC2 is highly expressed throughout both early and late embryonic life.