Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New X-ray detections of Herbig stars

Context. The interpretation of X-ray detections from Herbig Ae/Be stars is disputed as it is not clear whether these intermediate-mass pre-main sequence stars are able to drive a dynamo and ensuing phenomena of magnetic activity. Alternative X-ray production mechanisms, related to stellar winds, star-disk magnetospheres, or unresolved late-type T Tauri star companions have been proposed. Aims. The companion hypothesis can be tested by resolving Herbig stars in X-rays from their known visual secondaries. Furthermore, their global X-ray properties (such as detection rate, luminosity, temperature, variability) may give clues to the emission mechanism by comparison to other types of stars, e.g. similar-age but lower-mass T Tauri stars, similar-mass but more evolved main-sequence Aand B-type stars, and with respect to model predictions. Methods. In a series of papers we have been investigating high-resolution X-ray Chandra images of Herbig Ae/Be and main-sequence B-type stars where known close visual companions are spatially separated from the primaries. Results. Here we report on six as yet unpublished Chandra exposures from our X-ray survey of Herbig stars. The target list comprises six Herbig stars with known cool companions, and three other A/B-type stars that are serendipitously in the Chandra field-of-view. In this sample we record a detection rate of 100%; i.e. all A/B-type stars display X-ray emission at levels of log (Lx/Lbol) ∼− 5. − 7. The analysis of hardness ratios confirms that HAeBes have hotter and/or more absorbed X-ray emitting plasma than more evolved B-type stars. Conclusions. Radiative winds are ruled out as an exclusive emission mechanism on the basis of the high X-ray temperatures. Confirming earlier results, the X-ray properties of Herbig Ae/Be stars are not vastly different from those of their late-type companion stars (if such are known). The diagnostics provided by the presently available data leave it open whether the hard X-ray emission of Herbig stars is due to young age or indicative of further coronally active low-mass companion stars. In the latter case, our detection statistics imply a high fraction of higher order multiple systems among Herbig stars.
Exact Image Reconstruction for Translation Based Tomography

New techniques for movable ultra-low-cost x-ray CT scanners are in instant and great needs for military, war areas, developing countries, and rural areas. In previous study, we proposed a novel CT scanning method which is based on the parallel translation of the tube/detectors. In other words, the popular slip ring is replaced by a translation based setup, and the instrumentation cost is reduced by a relaxation of the imaging speed requirement. In this paper, we furthered the exact image reconstruction algorithm for the translation based tomography scheme with two or more linear scans. The mathematical model is analyzed and the numerical simulations are conducted for different scans to validate the feasibility of the proposed scheme.
Mobility Effects in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

In this paper, we present the implementation and analysis of our implemented testbed considering the Optimized Link State Routing (OLSR) protocol. We investigate the effect of mobility and topology changing in the throughput of a Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET). The mobile nodes move toward the destination at a regular speed. When the mobile nodes arrive at the corner, they stop for about three seconds. Experimental time is 150 seconds. In this work, we consider 6 models and we assess the performance of our testbed in terms of throughput, round trip time and packet loss. From our experiments, we found that the OLSR protocol has a good performance when the source node is moving. However, the performance is not good when the relay nodes are moving.
P3: Physical proximity prediction routing protocol in socially-aware opportunistic networks

Mobile devices carried by human have been more and more popular. Socially-aware Opportunistic Networks are used in intermittent connected networks by use of store-carry and forward fashion. In this paper, we present P3 routing protocol and utilize the irregularity of mobility about physical proximity and time to predict the future meet opportunity. We establish experiment based on ONE and simulations shown that the efficiency of P3 outperforms Epidemic and PROPHET.
Video summarization based on face recognition and speaker verification

In this paper, we propose a video summarization system based on face recognition and speaker verification. In the proposed system, face recognition is performed first. The Adaboost approach is adopted to find out the image regions which contain human faces. We perform the Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) technique to decompose the face regions into basis and corresponding coefficients. Next, we use the coefficients as features to do classification by Support Vector Machine (SVM). Simultaneously, the voice part is used to do speaker verification via GMM-SVM approach. Finally, the video summarization is processed according to the face recognition and speaker verification results. With the consideration of both sound and image parts, the proposed system shall have better performance than traditional video summarization systems.
Public Opinions and Use of Various Types of Recreational Infrastructure in Boreal Forest Settings

We have investigated public preferences for use intensity and visual quality of forest recreational infrastructure. Forest infrastructure covers five classes, along a continuum from unmarked paths to paved walkways. Altogether, 39 sites were categorized into the five classes and measured with automatic counters. A sample of 545 respondents living in southeastern and middle Norway were asked to rate 15 forest scenes and 35 preconceptions of recreational settings. The path scenarios were depicted as digitally calibrated photos that systematically displayed physical path feature in boreal, semi-natural settings. Survey participants showed a clearly greater preference for photos and preconceptions of forests settings containing minor elements of forest infrastructure; unmarked paths received the highest score and forest roads/walkways/bikeways the lowest. We identified a clear mismatch between public preferences for forest infrastructure and the intensity of use; the less appreciated infrastructure was the most used. Planning and management has to consider these different needs for recreational infrastructure, and we propose an area zoning system that meets the different segments of forest visitors.
Discrete LQ Rate Control for MPEG2 Video Streaming System

In this paper, we propose a novel rate control system by applying the discrete linear quadratic rate control method (DLQ) to transmissions of MPEG2 streams in IP networks. We give out the detail deduction for disturbed-DLQ-regulator problem and the corresponding methods to implement the results into media streaming rate control. Study shows that DLQ is superior to conventional rate control schemes especially in client buffer utilization. Besides the basic DLQ method, we also investigate DLQ under heavy-traffic scenarios and provide improvements for this special case. The influences of delay, with respect to different mean values and variances, are discussed carefully.
Dietary Diversity and Its Related Factors among Adolescents: A Survey in Ahvaz-Iran

Introduction: Healthy growth and development essentially need a balanced diet of nutrients and vitamins which includes a variety of foods from different food groups. The primary aim of this study was to assess the dietary diversity (DD) and its related factors among adolescents’ high school girls in Ahvaz-Iran. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study which it was structured based on the WHO & FAO's dietary diversity questionnaire. The study population consisted of 506 high school girls aged 15 to 18. Data about diet, socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics were gathered. A dietary diversity score (DDS) and anthropometric of girls were measured. The relation of DDS with anthropometric measures and economic situation were assessed. Results: The mean DDS was 6.81±1.75. A total of 18.85% and 8.3% of participants were overweight and obese respectively. In participants with scores ≥ six, Body Mass Index, waist circumference and waist-hip ratio were slightly greater than in individuals with scores less than six, however it was not significant except for waist hip ratio. The Logistic Regression showed that; weak economical situation was a risk for poor DDS (OR= 3.5, CI= 1.06-10.6, p=0.03). Conclusion: The FAO's third version of guidelines is a good indicator for measuring DDS. The results of this study indicate that high school girls’ knowledge and practice about dietary diversity are not good and need to be improved by educational classes.
Maintaining XPath views in loosely coupled systems

We address the problem of maintaining materialized XPath views in environments where the view maintenance system and the base data system are loosely-coupled. We show that the recently proposed XPath view maintenance techniques require tight coupling, and thus are not practical for loosely-coupled systems. Our solution adapts to loose-coupling by using information that is fully available through standard XPath interfaces. This information consists of the view definition, the update statement, and the current materialized view result. Under this model, incremental maintenance is not always possible; thus, maintaining the consistency of the views requires frequent view recomputations. Our goal is to reduce the frequency of view recomputation by detecting cases where a base update is irrelevant to a view, and cases where a view is self maintainable given a base update. We develop an approach that reduces the irrelevance and self maintainability tests, respectively, to checking the intersection and containment of XPath expressions. We present experimental results showing the effectiveness of the proposed approach in reducing view recomputations.
Adaptive soft-output detection in MIMO systems

In this paper, we investigate soft-output detection for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems over wireless fading channels. Considering the list sphere decoder (LSD) algorithm and taking advantage of the temporal correlation in a Rayleigh fading MIMO channel, an adaptive method is proposed to reduce the complexity of the list detector for evaluating the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) values. The list of best candidates at the channel output is adaptively updated from the past channel information by employing a measure that offers an appropriate performance/complexity tradeoff. Moreover, the lists are centered around a low complexity near maximum likelihood (ML) point which is also adaptively estimated.
BUILDING INTELLIGENT MULTIMEDIA INTERFACES

Hypermedia provides current authors with a new way to combine different media into single artefacts. These can be developed and marketed in the style of conventional media publications. Multimedia technologies not only bring the presentation of data stored as images, sound and video but also allow the incorporation of media specific input modes (e.g. natural language, speech, pen gesture), and the generation of images, sound and video from more abstract formats. Systems combining multiple input and output modes through an abstract representation are still a long way from the market, but parts of them (such as rules for automatically creating business graphics in spreadsheets) are being incorporated into existing products now. An example multimodal system (MMI 2) is described to illustrate the technologies which could be brought to the market independently. A more direct approach to introducing intelligence into multimedia systems is to incorporate it into conventional hypermedia tools. The MIPS multimedia presentation system which combines the presentation of an open pre-authored hypermedia network stored in the HyTime standard format with dynamically created web nodes containing answers to conventional database queries is described. This illustrates how conventional hypermedia tools can be extended to include intelligent automatic generation of multimedia presentations from retrieved data.
Sensorimotor coordination and metastability in a situated HKB model

Oscillatory phenomena are ubiquitous in nature and have become particularly relevant for the study of brain and behaviour. One of the simplest, yet explanatorily powerful, models of oscillatory Coordination Dynamics is the Haken–Kelso–Bunz (HKB) model. The metastable regime described by the HKB equation has been hypothesised to be the signature of brain oscillatory dynamics underlying sensorimotor coordination. Despite evidence supporting such a hypothesis, to our knowledge, there are still very few models (if any) where the HKB equation generates spatially situated behaviour and, at the same time, has its dynamics modulated by the behaviour it generates (by means of the sensory feedback resulting from body movement). This work presents a computational model where the HKB equation controls an agent performing a simple gradient climbing task and shows (i) how different metastable dynamical patterns in the HKB equation are generated and sustained by the continuous interaction between the agent and its environment; and (ii) how the emergence of functional metastable patterns in the HKB equation – i.e. patterns that generate gradient climbing behaviour – depends not only on the structure of the agent's sensory input but also on the coordinated coupling of the agent's motor–sensory dynamics. This work contributes to Kelso's theoretical framework and also to the understanding of neural oscillations and sensorimotor coordination.
Classification and investigation of Asian aerosol absorptive properties

Abstract. Asian aerosols are among the most complex yet widely studied components of the atmosphere not only due to their seasonal variability but also their effects on climate change. Four Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites have been selected to represent aerosol properties dominated by pollution (Taihu), mixed complex particle types (Xianghe), desert-urban (SACOL), and biomass (Mukdahan) in East Asia during the 2001–2010 period. The volume size distribution, aerosol optical depth (τ and τ abs ), Angstrom exponent (α and α abs ), and the single scattering co-albedo (ω oabs ) parameters over the four selected sites have been used to (a) illustrate seasonal changes in aerosol size and composition and (b) discern the absorptive characteristics of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), mineral dust particles, and mixtures. A strongly absorbing mineral dust influence is seen at the Xianghe, Taihu, and SACOL sites during the spring months (MAM), as given by coarse mode dominance, mean α 440–870 abs440–870 > 1.5. There is a shift towards weakly absorbing pollution (sulfate) and biomass (OC) aerosol dominance in the summer (JJA) and autumn (SON) months, as given by a strong fine mode influence, α 440–870 > 1, and α abs440–870 abs440–870 > 1 and α abs440–870 > 1.5). At Mukdahan, a strong fine mode influence is evident year round, with weakly and strongly absorbing biomass particles dominant in the autumn and winter months, respectively, while particles exhibit variable absorption during the spring season. A classification method using α 440–870 and ω oabs440 is developed in order to infer the seasonal physico-chemical properties of the aerosol types, such as fine and coarse mode, weak and strong absorption, at the four selected Asian sites.
Alphacoronaviruses in New World Bats: Prevalence, Persistence, Phylogeny, and Potential for Interaction with Humans

Bats are reservoirs for many different coronaviruses (CoVs) as well as many other important zoonotic viruses. We sampled feces and/or anal swabs of 1,044 insectivorous bats of 2 families and 17 species from 21 different locations within Colorado from 2007 to 2009. We detected alphacoronavirus RNA in bats of 4 species: big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), 10% prevalence; long-legged bats (Myotis volans), 8% prevalence; little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), 3% prevalence; and western long-eared bats (Myotis evotis), 2% prevalence. Overall, juvenile bats were twice as likely to be positive for CoV RNA as adult bats. At two of the rural sampling sites, CoV RNAs were detected in big brown and long-legged bats during the three sequential summers of this study. CoV RNA was detected in big brown bats in all five of the urban maternity roosts sampled throughout each of the periods tested. Individually tagged big brown bats that were positive for CoV RNA and later sampled again all became CoV RNA negative. Nucleotide sequences in the RdRp gene fell into 3 main clusters, all distinct from those of Old World bats. Similar nucleotide sequences were found in amplicons from gene 1b and the spike gene in both a big-brown and a long-legged bat, indicating that a CoV may be capable of infecting bats of different genera. These data suggest that ongoing evolution of CoVs in bats creates the possibility of a continued threat for emergence into hosts of other species. Alphacoronavirus RNA was detected at a high prevalence in big brown bats in roosts in close proximity to human habitations (10%) and known to have direct contact with people (19%), suggesting that significant potential opportunities exist for cross-species transmission of these viruses. Further CoV surveillance studies in bats throughout the Americas are warranted.
ETH Workshop on Software Correctness and Reliability

ETH Workshop on Software Correctness and Reliability, Zürich, October 2–3, 2015 © P. Cousot Software correctness proofs • Any formal proof of a non-trivial program requires a reasoning by mathematical induction (e.g., following Turing, on the number of program execution steps): • Invent an inductive argument (e.g. invariant, variant function), the hardest part • Prove the base case and inductive case (e.g. true on loop entry and preserved by one more loop iteration) • Prove that the inductive argument is strong-enough, that is, it implies the program property to be verified
A timing-based bandwidth allocation protocol for QoS provisioning in multimedia wireless networks

In wireless networks carrying multimedia traffic, it becomes necessary to provide a quality of service (QoS) guarantee for multimedia traffic connections. A novel timing-based bandwidth allocation protocol is proposed as a solution to support QoS guarantees in the multimedia wireless networks. Based on the existing network conditions, the proposed scheme makes an adaptive decision for bandwidth reservation and call admission by employing fuzzy inference mechanism, timing based reservation strategy, and round-borrowing strategy in each base station. The amount of reserved bandwidth for each base station is dynamically adjusted, according to the online traffic information of each base station. Simulation results show that our timing-based bandwidth reservation scheme outperforms the previous schemes in terms of connection-blocking probability, connection-dropping probability, and bandwidth utilization.
An efficient English to Hindi machine translation system using hybrid mechanism

India is a multilingual country; different states have different territorial languages but not all Indians are polyglots. There are 18 constitutional languages and ten prominent scripts. The majority of the Indians, especially the remote villagers, do not understand, read or write English, therefore implementing an efficient language translator is needed. Machine translation systems, that translate text form one language to another, will enhance the knowledgeable society of Indians without any language barrier. English, being a universal language and Hindi, the language used by the majority of Indians, we propose an English to Hindi machine translation system design based on declension rules. This paper also describes the different approaches of Machine Translation.
Developing Automaticity in Children with Learning Disabilities: A Functional Perspective Part Two: Programme Methods and Materials

This chapter is the second of two chapters in this book to describe an instructional programme based on Luria's theories, which can be used to develop basic skills and automaticity in reading, writing, and spelling. The first chapter focused on the programme's theory, and then described how assessment is used to develop an individual programme relating to both basic skill and fluency needs in reading, writing, and spelling. The process was illustrated with one detailed case study. The results of this case study (Child 1) are presented in the current chapter, together with the results of 13 children exposed to similar fluency-based interventions. The results of six children exposed to one or more systematic variations in programme implementation are then discussed. Case contrast analysis is used to highlight three variables affecting successful programme implementation, namely: consistent and regular exposure to phonological and phonic instruction to provide a foundation of basic skills on which the fluency interventions in the programme can be built; consistent implementation of methods designed to improve both reading fluency, and writing and spelling fluency, to produce the greatest likelihood of positive effects; and consistent support from parents in programme implementation to produce the greatest likelihood of positive effects. auditory processing, phonological awareness and
Surface degradation of glass ceramics after exposure to acidulated phosphate fluoride

Objective This study evaluated the surface degradation effect of acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel exposure on the glassy matrix ceramics as a function of time. Material and methods Disc-shaped ceramic specimens (N = 120, 10/per ceramic material) were prepared in stainless steel molds (inner diameter: 5 mm, height: 2 mm) using 6 dental ceramics: 3 indicated for ceramic-fused-to-metal (Vita Omega 900, Carmen and Vita Titankeramik), 2 for all-ceramic (Vitadur Alpha and Finesse® Low Fusing) and 1 for both types of restorations (IPS d.SIGN). The specimens were wet ground finished, ultrasonically cleaned and auto-glazed. All specimens were subjected to calculation of percentage of mass loss, surface roughness analysis and topographical description by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) before (0 min) and after exposure to 1.23 % APF gel for 4 min and 60 min representing short- and long-term etching effect, respectively. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with repeated measures and Tukey`s test (α=0.05). Results Significant effect of the type of the ceramics (p=0.0000, p=0.0031) and exposure time (p=0.0000) was observed in both surface roughness and percentage of mass loss values, respectively. The interaction factor between both parameters was also significant for both parameters (p=0.0904, p=0.0258). Both 4 min (0.44±0.1 - 0.81±0.2 µm) and 60 min (0.66±0.1 - 1.04±0.3 µm) APF gel exposure created significantly more surface roughness for all groups when compared to the control groups (0.33±0.2 - 0.68±0.2 µm) (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in percentage of mass loss between the ceramics at 4 min (p>0.05) but at 60 min exposure, IPS d.SIGN showed the highest percentage of mass loss (0.1151±0.11). The mean surface roughness for Vita Titankeramik (0.84±0.2 µm) and Finesse® Low Fusing (0.74.±0.2 µm) was significantly higher than those of the other ceramics (0.59±0.1 µm - 0.49±0.1 µm) and Vita Titankeramik (p<0.05) regardless of the exposure time. A positive correlation was found between surface roughness and percentage of mass loss for all ceramic materials [(r=0.518 (Vitadur Alpha), r=0.405 (Vita Omega 900), r=0.580 (Carmen), r=0.687 (IPS d.SIGN), r=0.442 (Finesse® Low Fusing), r=0.572 (Vita Titankeramik), Pearson`s correlation coefficient)]. The qualitative SEM analysis showed evidence of corrosive attack on all of ceramics at varying degrees. Conclusions The ceramics indicated for either metal-ceramic or all-ceramic restorations were all vulnerable to surface texture changes and mass loss after short-term and long-term APF gel exposure.