Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relaxor-PT Single Crystal Piezoelectric Sensors

Relaxor-PbTiO3 piezoelectric single crystals have been widely used in a broad range of electromechanical devices, including piezoelectric sensors, actuators, and transducers. This paper reviews the unique properties of these single crystals for piezoelectric sensors. Design, fabrication and characterization of various relaxor-PT single crystal piezoelectric sensors and their applications are presented and compared with their piezoelectric ceramic counterparts. Newly applicable fields and future trends of relaxor-PT sensors are also suggested in this review paper.
Lathosterol and other noncholesterol sterols during treatment of hypercholesterolemia with lovastatin alone and with cholestyramine or guar gum.

Sixty-two patients aged 19-64 years with primary hypercholesterolemia (mean level of total cholesterol, 10.8 mmol/l) were treated with 80 mg/day lovastatin (L) alone for 18 weeks and, after randomization to either L + 20 g/day guar gum (L + GG) or L + 16 g/day cholestyramine (L + C) treatments, for an additional 18 weeks. The total cholesterol level declined from baseline by 34% during L and by 44% and 48% during L + GG and L + C, respectively. In terms of micromoles per millimole of cholesterol, serum levels of the cholesterol synthesis precursors cholestenol, desmosterol, and lathosterol were decreased and those of the plant sterols campesterol and sitosterol were increased by treatment with L. The serum contents of cholesterol precursors were increased markedly after the combination of either GG or C with L, but the increase was greater after the addition of C (e.g., the lathosterol to cholesterol ratio was 51% versus 212% for L + GG and L + C, respectively; p less than 0.001). Thus, a higher rate of removal of bile acids by C than by GG reduced more effectively the low density lipoprotein cholesterol level but simultaneously stimulated cholesterol synthesis compensatorily to a higher level even under concurrent treatment with L. The serum sitosterol to cholesterol ratio declined by 13% during L + GG but increased by 49% during L + C compared with the value under L alone, suggesting different effects of GG and C on the metabolism of plant sterols.
STIS Coronagraphic Observations of Beta Pictoris

We present new coronagraphic images of Beta Pictoris obtained with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) in September 1997. The high-resolution images (0.1") clearly detect the circumstellar disk as close as 0.75" to the star, corresponding to a projected radius of 15 AU. The images define the warp in the disk with greater precision and at closer radii to Beta Pic than do previous observations. They show that the warp can be modelled by the projection of two components: the main disk, and a fainter component, which is inclined to the main component by 4-5 degrees, and which extends only as far as ~4" from the star. We interpret the main component as arising primarily in the outer disk and the tilted component as defining the inner region of the disk. The observed properties of the warped inner disk are inconsistent with a driving force from stellar radiation. However, warping induced by the gravitational potential of one or more planets is consistent with the data. Using models of planet-warped disks constructed by Larwood and Papaloizou (1997), we derive possible masses of the perturbing object.
The Development Process for Courseware Material: A Computing Methodology Approach

At a university level, the conceptual stage of computerfacilitated learning (CFL) tends to be a faculty wide forum with ideas and inputs coming from many sources (e.g. academics, support staff, students). At the department level however, it is often a single academic who develops these ideas and attempts to satisfy the requirements. These requirements necessitate a full pedagogic understanding. Whilst it is suggested that it is the norm to utilise teams to develop programs and on line subjects, experience in the computing faculty shows that individuals often take, or are given responsibility for the development of their own subjects. It has been observed that computing faculty staff are very familiar with the technology and tend to adopt computing methodologies to develop these programs with pedagogical theory being added to the program as "user requirements". This paper investigates various methodologies currently employed for computing and some of their associated restrictions and how they differ with similar educational methodologies. It investigates ways in which a methodology could allow developers without a vast educational background to create pedagogically sound programs.
Integrity control based on object behaviourMark

As databases are meant to describe real-world situations, the ultimate goal of database integrity control is to ensure that at any moment, the database state corresponds exactly to the current state of the real world. Currently, the speciication of database integrity is usually based on the formulation of integrity constraints { conditions on database states describing those states considered to correspond to possible real-world states. We observe that constraint-based integrity control can be successful only if considerable knowledge of the real world is available. For many complex application domains, however, this is not the case. We describe how in these contexts, integrity can be deened by means of a set of trusted basic facts, and procedures which are believed to generate reliable new facts. We then show that the object-oriented data model is well-suited to support this alternative database integrity paradigm. We use an example from the oil industry to illustrate our ideas. A reverse engineering eeort of database applications in this industry indicated that the form of integrity control we are addressing is currently coped with within such applications. We discuss the applicability of existing speciication techniques as a target formalism in this context.
Neutrophil airway influx by platelet-activating factor in asthma: role of adhesion molecules and LTB4 expression

Platelet-activating factor (PAF)-induced neutrophil lung sequestration may require cell surface adhesion molecules (macrophage‐1 antigen (MAC‐1) and lymphocyte function-associated antigen‐1 (LFA‐1)). In this randomised, double-blinded, crossover study, theneutrophil kinetics after PAF and Lyso-PAF (L‐PAF) airway challenge were investigated in nine mild-intermittent asthmatics. Neutrophils were measured in peripheral blood (PB) before and at 5, 15, 45 and 240 min after bronchoprovocation, and in induced sputum before and at 240 min after challenge. MAC‐1 and LFA‐1 expression were assessed by immunocytochemistry, and leukotriene B4 (LTB4) was measured by enzyme-immunoassay in induced-sputum supernatants. Compared with baseline, neutrophils in PB decreased 5 min after PAF, while at 240 min neutrophils in induced sputum increased. Compared with baseline and L‐PAF, PAF decreased the percentages of MAC‐1‐ and LFA‐1‐positive neutrophils in PB at 5 min, but increased the percentages of MAC‐1 and LFA‐1 in neutrophil-induced sputum. Moreover, compared with baseline and L‐PAF, PAF-induced sputum revealed higher LTB4 levels, a finding that correlated with the elevated number of neutrophils in induced sputum. These findings suggest that macrophage‐1 antigen and lymphocyte function-associated antigen‐1 are involved in platelet-activating factor-induced neutrophil lung traffic, and that this process is modulated by enhanced leukotriene B4 release within the airways.
World data centre for microorganisms: an information infrastructure to explore and utilize preserved microbial strains worldwide

The World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM) was established 50 years ago as the data center of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC)—Microbial Resource Center (MIRCEN). WDCM aims to provide integrated information services using big data technology for microbial resource centers and microbiologists all over the world. Here, we provide an overview of WDCM including all of its integrated services. Culture Collections Information Worldwide (CCINFO) provides metadata information on 708 culture collections from 72 countries and regions. Global Catalogue of Microorganism (GCM) gathers strain catalogue information and provides a data retrieval, analysis, and visualization system of microbial resources. Currently, GCM includes >368 000 strains from 103 culture collections in 43 countries and regions. Analyzer of Bioresource Citation (ABC) is a data mining tool extracting strain related publications, patents, nucleotide sequences and genome information from public data sources to form a knowledge base. Reference Strain Catalogue (RSC) maintains a database of strains listed in International Standards Organization (ISO) and other international or regional standards. RSC allocates a unique identifier to strains recommended for use in diagnosis and quality control, and hence serves as a valuable cross-platform reference. WDCM provides free access to all these services at www.wdcm. org.
In Search of Efficient Non Blocking Atomic Commit Protocol

Abstract- Commit protocols are used to ensure transaction atomicity. The two-phase commit (2PC) is a standard commit protocol used in many commercial database systems. Attempts to reduce the cost of commitment have resulted in many variants of 2PC. These are all blocking protocols. But in other protocols when the blocking issue is addressed the result is an increase in the transaction commitment cost. In this paper we propose a design for a non-blocking commit protocol which can survive coordinator failure, yet which does not increase the execution costs in comparison with 2PC, even reducing them in highly reliable environments where failure is not the issue. I. Introduction The two-phase commit protocol is taken as a standard despite its high cost of logging and number of messages. There were many attempts to decrease the costs of logging and communication overhead. Presumed Abort and Presumed Commit are examples with fewer log writes and lower communication overhead than 2PC. The main drawback in these protocols is their blocking nature i.e. in the event of coordinator failure, a prepared participant has to wait for the coordinator to recover and send its decision. In the emerging
A Middleware Approach to Access Control for Mobile , Concurrent Objects

The need for addressing security concerns in mobile distributed environments is well known. However, providing security mechanisms at the application layer is usually insufficient, especially when considering distributed object-oriented (OO) systems. This paper presents a domain-based approach to access control in a distributed environment with mobile objects. The dynamic nature and semantic diversity of OO systems makes it difficult to ensure information security and integrity via traditional access control models. We illustrate a capability-based access control architecture for mobile concurrent objects and ensure the preservation of domain based access control in the presence of mobile objects. We examine composability issues that study the effects of enforcing access control policies in the presence of other resource management services in a distributed environment. We also discuss implementation and performance issues in providing domain-based access control for mobile objects, in the context of a composable middleware framework (CompOSE|Q) being developed at the University of California, Irvine.
Perceptual cues of whispered tones: are they really special?

This paper reports our initial findings on whether Mandarin Chinese has developed effective strategies to convey tonal information in whispered speech. We recorded phonated and whispered tones in monosyllabic words, and analyzed the acoustic properties of the tonal contrasts. We then generated amplitude-modulated noise based on both the phonated and whispered utterances and used them as stimuli in a tone perception experiment, together with the original phonated and whispered speech. Results showed that, once turned into amplitude-modulated noise, originally phonated and whispered speech had similar perceptual patterns, and that these patterns resembled those of whispered tones. The acoustic analysis showed that properties corresponding to tonal contrasts in whispered speech already existed in the phonated tones, and there was no evidence of enhancement of these properties in whispering. Overall, therefore, Mandarin may not have developed highly special strategies to enhance tonal contrast in whispered speech. Index Terms: Tone perception, whispered speech, phonated speech, amplitude-modulated noise
Abel Prize Science Lecture : Revolutionary Work in Geometry and Shape Analysis

On May 19, at a ceremony held in Oslo, Mikhail Gromov received the 2009 Abel Prize from His Majesty King Harald of Nor-way. Gromov, who was honored " for his revolutionary contributions to geometry, " divides his time between the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France and The award ceremony was the highlight of a weeklong celebration in Oslo, held in great style and marked by warm Norwegian hospitality. On May 18, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters hosted a dinner in honor of the Abel Laureate, following a wreath-laying at the Abel Monument (the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel died in 1829, at the age of 26). Present at the May 19 award ceremony, in addition to Gromov and King Harald, were Her Majesty Queen Sonja and Tora Aas-land, the minister of research and higher education. The ceremony included speeches by Kristian Seip (current chair of the Abel Committee), Øyvind Østerud (president of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters), and Gromov himself. Beautiful music by trumpeter Arve Henriksen and the musicians of Trio Mediaeval (which many of us hurried to download from iTunes) added to the elegance of the ceremony. That evening, the Norwegian government gave a banquet in honor of the Abel Laureate at the Akershus Castle (and provided a unique chance to see a lot of mathematicians in tuxedos! ). Ingrid Daubechies of Princeton University, a former member of the Abel Committee, gave a memorable speech in which she connected mathematics and science with Maurice Sendak, author of beloved children's books, including Where the Wild Things Are. The celebrations ended on May 20 with a reception at the Nor-wegian Academy of Science and Letters, where Enrique R. Pujals of IMPA (Brazil) was awarded the Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries. The scientific component of the celebrations consisted of four Abel Lectures, given at the University of Oslo. Mikhail Gromov led off with an inspiring chalk-and-board lecture in which he showed, once again, how real problems from the physical sciences can motivate very deep and difficult mathematical challenges. Gromov's NYU colleague Jeff Cheeger followed with the second Abel Lecture, titled " How does he do it? " Along with some of Gromov's deep mathematical results, Cheeger recalled numerous interactions he has had over the years with the Abel Laureate. Through such anecdotes, he provided helpful insight into Gromov's extraordinary thinking and mathematical approach and …
Data integration with the Climate Science Modelling Language

Abstract. The Climate Science Modelling Language (CSML) has been developed by the NERC DataGrid (NDG) project as a standards-based data model and XML markup for describing and constructing climate science datasets. It uses conceptual models from emerging standards in GIS to define a number of feature types, and adopts schemas of the Geography Markup Language (GML) where possible for encoding. A prototype deployment of CSML is being trialled across the curated archives of the British Atmospheric and Oceanographic Data Centres. These data include a wide range of data types – both observational and model – and heterogeneous file-based storage systems. CSML provides a semantic abstraction layer for data files, and is exposed through higher level data delivery services. In NDG these will include file instantiation services (for formats of choice) and the web services of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
Twitter sentiment analysis of online transportation service providers

GO-JEK and Grab are two most popular online transportation service providers in Indonesia. The competition between the two is tight to acquire new customers and provide the best service. No official survey has been conducted in measuring customer satisfaction at both companies to give insight which company offers better service quality. This study aims to measure GO-JEK and Grab customer satisfaction through sentiment analysis of Twitter's data. Both companies use Twitter to reach their customers and promote their service. We collect 126,405 tweets from February to March 2016 containing GO-JEK and Grab keywords. Then, we pre-process the tweets and label manually before they are classified using three algorithms: Support Vector Machine, Naïve Bayes, and Decision Tree. We made and compared several classification schemes with different keywords, dataset, and k-fold cross validation techniques. Finally, we calculate Net Sentiment Score which correlates with customer satisfaction using classification results. The experiments shows that Grab's customer satisfaction is higher than GO-JEK's. The study also shows that customers tend to mention both companies Twitter account for bad experiences and not mentioning company's account for positive comments.
Emerging Infectious Disease Leads to Rapid Population Declines of Common British Birds

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly cited as threats to wildlife, livestock and humans alike. They can threaten geographically isolated or critically endangered wildlife populations; however, relatively few studies have clearly demonstrated the extent to which emerging diseases can impact populations of common wildlife species. Here, we report the impact of an emerging protozoal disease on British populations of greenfinch Carduelis chloris and chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, two of the most common birds in Britain. Morphological and molecular analyses showed this to be due to Trichomonas gallinae. Trichomonosis emerged as a novel fatal disease of finches in Britain in 2005 and rapidly became epidemic within greenfinch, and to a lesser extent chaffinch, populations in 2006. By 2007, breeding populations of greenfinches and chaffinches in the geographic region of highest disease incidence had decreased by 35% and 21% respectively, representing mortality in excess of half a million birds. In contrast, declines were less pronounced or absent in these species in regions where the disease was found in intermediate or low incidence. Also, populations of dunnock Prunella modularis, which similarly feeds in gardens, but in which T. gallinae was rarely recorded, did not decline. This is the first trichomonosis epidemic reported in the scientific literature to negatively impact populations of free-ranging non-columbiform species, and such levels of mortality and decline due to an emerging infectious disease are unprecedented in British wild bird populations. This disease emergence event demonstrates the potential for a protozoan parasite to jump avian host taxonomic groups with dramatic effect over a short time period.
Mental Health Among Incarcerated Women: An Examination of Factors Impacting Depression and PTSD Symptomology

Female offenders experience mental health symptoms at a higher rate than male offenders and females in the community. The current study investigated individual characteristics and experiences that may impact symptoms of depressive disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a sample of female inmates in a large Southern prison system. Results showed high rates of reported childhood and adult victimization experiences among the sample. Factors such as seeking mental health treatment prior to incarceration significantly impacted the reporting of depressive and PTSD symptoms, as did victimization histories. Findings suggest that women would benefit from screening to identify mental health needs at the onset of incarceration as well as gender responsive needs assessment and programming to address histories of victimization and current mental health symptomatology.
The Global Hidden Hunger Indices and Maps: An Advocacy Tool for Action

The unified global efforts to mitigate the high burden of vitamin and mineral deficiency, known as hidden hunger, in populations around the world are crucial to the achievement of most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We developed indices and maps of global hidden hunger to help prioritize program assistance, and to serve as an evidence-based global advocacy tool. Two types of hidden hunger indices and maps were created based on i) national prevalence data on stunting, anemia due to iron deficiency, and low serum retinol levels among preschool-aged children in 149 countries; and ii) estimates of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) attributed to micronutrient deficiencies in 136 countries. A number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as India and Afghanistan, had an alarmingly high level of hidden hunger, with stunting, iron deficiency anemia, and vitamin A deficiency all being highly prevalent. The total DALY rates per 100,000 population, attributed to micronutrient deficiencies, were generally the highest in sub-Saharan African countries. In 36 countries, home to 90% of the world’s stunted children, deficiencies of micronutrients were responsible for 1.5-12% of the total DALYs. The pattern and magnitude of iodine deficiency did not conform to that of other micronutrients. The greatest proportions of children with iodine deficiency were in the Eastern Mediterranean (46.6%), European (44.2%), and African (40.4%) regions. The current indices and maps provide crucial data to optimize the prioritization of program assistance addressing global multiple micronutrient deficiencies. Moreover, the indices and maps serve as a useful advocacy tool in the call for increased commitments to scale up effective nutrition interventions.
A Humanoid Vision System for Interactive Robots

ESCHeR: A binocular active vision platform with space variant lenses has been developed. The custom built lenses provide 120 degrees field of view with maximum 7.7 times magnification in the fovea versus periphery. Two types of vision processes have been developed on this platform; (1) Motion segmentaiton based on optical flow, and (2) Stereo segmentation by zero disparity filtering based on a phase disparity method. Both processes produce feature maps with pixelwise confidence values, which are then fused together using the confidence values to produce robust estimation of the segmented target position and velocity. Integrated with a high performance gaze control based on Kalman filter, the entire system runs at frame rate. The system performs the task of detection and pursuit of moving deformable objects in cluttered environments without a-priori knowledge of the target shape, color, size, or texture. This system provides the important fundamental performance for intelligent robots which interact with humans.
Journal of Translational Medicine Monocyte Derived Dendritic Cells Generated by Ifn-α Acquire Mature Dendritic and Natural Killer Cell Properties as Shown by Gene Expression Analysis

Background: Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines can induce antitumor immune responses in patients with malignant diseases, while the most suitable DC culture conditions have not been established yet. In this study we compared monocyte derived human DC from conventional cultures containing GM-CSF and IL-4/TNF-α (IL-4/TNF-DC) with DC generated by the novel protocol using GM-CSF and IFN-α (IFN-DC).