Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How to Create Self-Sensing Air Muscles from Conductive Fibers

By constructing Mckibben Muscles out of conductive fibers, we are able to measure the contraction and force output of the muscle without external encoders. These selfsensing actuators can then be controlled in flexible structures, without the rigid, well-defined joints demanded by typical position encoders. The contraction is manifest in changes in the inductance of the braid. The force output is detected through changes in the braid resistance due to strain in the conductive individual fibers.
Immunohistochemistry – Microarray Analysis of Patients with Peritoneal Metastases of Appendiceal or Colorectal Origin

Background: The value of immunohistochemistry (IHC)-microarray analysis of pathological specimens in the management of patients is controversial, although preliminary data suggest potential benefit. We describe the characteristics of patients undergoing a commercially available IHC-microarray method in patients with peritoneal metastases (PM) and the feasibility of this technique in this population. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients with pathologically confirmed PM from appendiceal or colorectal primary who underwent Caris Molecular Intelligence™ testing. IHC, microarray, FISH, and mutational analysis were included and stratified by Peritoneal Carcinomatosis Index (PCI) score, histology, and treatment characteristics. Statistical analysis was performed using non-parametric tests. Results: Our study included 5 patients with appendiceal and 11 with colorectal PM. The median age of patients was 51 (IQR 39–65) years, with 11 (68%) female. The median PCI score of the patients was 17 (IQR 10–25). Hyperthermic intra-peritoneal chemoperfusion was performed in 4 (80%) patients with appendiceal primary tumors and 4 (36%) with colorectal primary. KRAS mutations were encountered in 40% of appendiceal vs. 30% colorectal tumors, while BRAF mutations were seen in 40% of colorectal PM and none of the patients with appendiceal PM (p = 0.06). IHC biomarker expression was not significantly different between the two primaries. Sufficient tumor for microarray analysis was found in 44% (n = 7) patients, which was not associated with previous use of chemotherapy (p > 0.20 for 5-FU/LV, Irinotecan and Oxaliplatin). Conclusion: In a small sample of patients with PM, the feasibility and results of IHC-microarray staining based on a commercially available test is reported. The apparent high incidence of the BRAF mutation in patients with PM may potentially offer opportunities for novel therapeutics and suggest that IHC-microarray is a method that can be used in this population.
Creating virtual platform for cloud computing

Web has become an open platform where everybody can build and run their applications. Big companies can manage the capital expenditure themselves. Small company or a user wants to provide web services, better they can rent the computing infrastructure. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is the delivery of computer infrastructure such as servers, network, applications, storage, software, hardware as a service. The customer is charged only for the resources consumed like utility based computing. Virtualization is a technique to implement cloud computing resources such as platform, application, storage, and network. The beauty of virtualization solutions is that you can run multiple virtual machines (VM) simultaneously on a single computer. This paper provides implementation details of creating virtual platform. i.e. virtual guest operating system running on Windows7 host
Change Propagation Analysis in Complex Technical Systems

Understanding how and why changes propagate during engineering design is critical because most products and systems emerge from predecessors and not through clean sheet design. This paper examines a large data set from industry including 41,500 change requests that were generated during the design of a complex sensor system spanning a period of 8 years. In particular, the networks of connected parent, child, and sibling changes are resolved over time and mapped to 46 subsystem areas of the sensor system. These change networks are then decomposed into one-, two-, and three-node motifs as the fundamental building blocks of change activity. A statistical analysis suggests that only about half (48.2%) of all proposed changes were actually implemented and that some motifs occur much more frequently than others. Furthermore, a set of indices is developed to help classify areas of the system as acceptors or reflectors of change and a normalized change propagation index shows the relative strength of each area on the absorber-multiplier spectrum between -1 and +1. Multipliers are good candidates for more focused change management. Another interesting finding is the quantitative confirmation of the "ripple" change pattern previously proposed. Unlike the earlier prediction, however, it was found that the peak of cyclical change activity occurred late in the program driven by rework discovered during systems integration and functional testing.
Measurement and Impact of Staphylococcus aureus Colonization Pressure in Households.

BACKGROUND Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) "colonization pressure" (CP) predicts infections in hospitals. We applied the CP concept to staphylococcal transmission within households. We tested the hypothesis that children with S aureus skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) plus colonization ("cases") with higher baseline household CP (HHCP) would be at greater risk for persistent colonization and recurrent SSTI during study period. METHODS We collected baseline colonization swabs from 92 cases and 296 of their household contacts. Cases underwent decolonization. S aureus HHCP was calculated as the proportion of colonized household contacts at baseline (excluding cases). S aureus colonization and recurrent SSTI in cases were followed for 12 months. RESULTS Overall, median S aureus HHCP was 60% (mean = 55%). For cases colonized with MRSA, median MRSA HHCP was 11% (mean 29%); methicillin-susceptible S aureus (MSSA)-colonized cases had a median MSSA HHCP of 50% (mean = 49%). Over 1 year, MRSA HHCP was an independent risk factor for persistent MRSA colonization in cases (each 10-unit increase in HHCP associated with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.25; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.47). HHCP was not associated with recurrent SSTI in cases. CONCLUSIONS MRSA HHCP is associated with persistent colonization in outpatients. Further studies are needed to determine the relationship between persistent colonization of household contacts, environmental contamination, and SSTI.
Uptake and Diagnostic Yield of Chromosomal Microarray in an Australian Child Development Clinic

Autism is an etiologically heterogeneous developmental disorder for which the range of genetic investigations has expanded considerably over the past decade. Introduction of chromosomal microarray (CMA) to clinical practice has expanded the range of conditions which pediatricians are able to detect. This study reviewed the utilization, yield and cost of genetic investigations in a sample of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) in an Australian metropolitan child development service. Six hundred and ninety eight patients with PDD were identified from the clinic population. One hundred and ten (15.7%) of the clinic population had undergone investigation with chromosomal microarray, 140 (20.0%) with karyotype (KT), and 167 (23.9%) with Fragile X testing (FRGX). Twelve (10.9%) CMA findings were reported, of which seven (6.3%) were felt to be the likely cause of the child’s clinical features. Five (3.5%) KT findings were reported, of which four (2.9%) were felt to be the likely cause of the child’s clinical features. Two patients (1.2%) were identified with Fragile X expansions. One fifth of the clinic’s recent PDD population had undergone testing with CMA. CMA appears to have increased the diagnostic yield of the genetic investigation of autism, in line with internationally reported levels. Number needed to test (NNT) and cost per incremental diagnosis, were also in line with internationally reported levels.
On codes with the locality property Alexander Barg and Itzhak Tamo

We consider codes that support the local recovery property of each code symbol (LRC codes). Codes of this type were extensively studied in recent years because of their applications in distributed storage systems. We discuss algebraic constructions of LRC codes over small alphabets that attain the best possible distance-locality tradeoff and their extensions to cyclic codes and codes on algebraic curves. We also discuss examples of practical LRC codes used in large-scale storage systems and point out some open questions in this area.
The EU ETS in the European Climate Policy Mix: Past, Present and Future

Emissions trading is arguably the lynchpin of EU (European Union) climate policy. In January 2005 the EU adopted a cap-and-trade emissions trading system, through which a certain emission cap was set and a fixed number of emission allowances distributed amongst installations in the various Member States. Although the system has encountered some problems, the EU has not lost faith in it. In fact, even more now depends on its performance – not least the EU’s credibility in international climate politics – than when it was first adopted. The system is undeniably innovative. Prior to 2005, only a few countries had experimented with emissions trading, and no one had ever attempted to employ it at a supranational level. Against this background, this report seeks to analyse and assess the functioning of the EU ETS from a political and legal perspective, and to explore how capable the scheme is to deal with future challenges. To this end, the report examines the past, present and future of emissions trading in the EU.
The Hubris Hypothesis: Empirical Evidence

The Hubris Hypothesis is grounded on a failure to adequately account for the winner’s curse, which leads to overbidding. Surprisingly few papers have attempted to develop a direct empirical test of the presence of overbidding in M&A contests. We develop two such tests in this paper. Our results strongly support the existence of overbidding.
Surface air temperature and its changes over the past 150 years

We review the surface air temperature record of the past 150 years, considering the homogeneity of the basic data and the standard errors of estimation of the average hemispheric and global estimates. We present global fields of surface temperature change over the two 20‐year periods of greatest warming this century, 1925–1944 and 1978–1997. Over these periods, global temperatures rose by 0.37° and 0.32°C, respectively. The twentieth‐century warming has been accompanied by a decrease in those areas of the world affected by exceptionally cool temperatures and to a lesser extent by increases in areas affected by exceptionally warm temperatures. In recent decades there have been much greater increases in night minimum temperatures than in day maximum temperatures, so that over 1950–1993 the diurnal temperature range has decreased by 0.08°C per decade. We discuss the recent divergence of surface and satellite temperature measurements of the lower troposphere and consider the last 150 years in the context of the last millennium. We then provide a globally complete absolute surface air temperature climatology on a 1° × 1° grid. This is primarily based on data for 1961–1990. Extensive interpolation had to be undertaken over both polar regions and in a few other regions where basic data are scarce, but we believe the climatology is the most consistent and reliable of absolute surface air temperature conditions over the world. The climatology indicates that the annual average surface temperature of the world is 14.0°C (14.6°C in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) and 13.4°C for the Southern Hemisphere). The annual cycle of global mean temperatures follows that of the land‐dominated NH, with a maximum in July of 15.9°C and a minimum in January of 12.2°C.
Multi-view object instance recognition in an industrial context

SUMMARY We present a fast object recognition system coding shape by viewpoint invariant geometric relations and appearance information. In our advanced industrial work-cell, the system can observe the work space of the robot by three pairs of Kinect and stereo cameras allowing for reliable and complete object information. From these sensors, we derive global viewpoint invariant shape features and robust color features making use of color normalization techniques. We show that in such a set-up, our system can achieve high performance already with a very low number of training samples, which is crucial for user acceptance and that the use of multiple views is crucial for performance. This indicates that our approach can be used in controlled but realistic industrial contexts that require—besides high reliability—fast processing and an intuitive and easy use at the end-user side.
SHREC 08 Entry : Report of the Stability Track on Watertight Models

In this report we present the results of the Stability on Watertight Models Track. The aim of this track is to evaluate the stability of algorithms with respect to input perturbations that modify the representation of the object without changing its overall shape significantly. Examples of these perturbations include geometric noise, varying sampling patterns, small shape deformations and topological noise.
Generating command and control systems in an hour: The microsoft way

In this paper the authors investigate the benefits of adopting single vendor architectures to develop C2 applications. The component based architecture chosen for the exercise was the Microsoft Windows 2000 DNA Architecture. While single vendor architectures have disadvantages and risks it was felt that the advantages of the approach also needed investigation as input into unbiased discussion on the development of future C2 systems. Current and past approaches to C2 system development based on closed and supposedly open approaches have had a variety of problems. It is felt that the focus in the future needs to move away from building systems and move towards the dynamic, rapid and flexible integration of existing technologies. In this paper we describe a number of experiments and studies aimed at developing components of functionality useful in C2 systems rapidly using off the shelf components from a single commercial architecture.
Efficient luminescent solar cells based on tailored mixed-cation perovskites

Researchers developed a perovskite solar cell with high power-conversion efficiency (>20%) and intense electroluminescence yield (0.5%). We report on a new metal halide perovskite photovoltaic cell that exhibits both very high solar-to-electric power-conversion efficiency and intense electroluminescence. We produce the perovskite films in a single step from a solution containing a mixture of FAI, PbI2, MABr, and PbBr2 (where FA stands for formamidinium cations and MA stands for methylammonium cations). Using mesoporous TiO2 and Spiro-OMeTAD as electron- and hole-specific contacts, respectively, we fabricate perovskite solar cells that achieve a maximum power-conversion efficiency of 20.8% for a PbI2/FAI molar ratio of 1.05 in the precursor solution. Rietveld analysis of x-ray diffraction data reveals that the excess PbI2 content incorporated into such a film is about 3 weight percent. Time-resolved photoluminescence decay measurements show that the small excess of PbI2 suppresses nonradiative charge carrier recombination. This in turn augments the external electroluminescence quantum efficiency to values of about 0.5%, a record for perovskite photovoltaics approaching that of the best silicon solar cells. Correspondingly, the open-circuit photovoltage reaches 1.18 V under AM 1.5 sunlight.
QoS-aware fair scheduling in multihop wireless ad hoc networks

Providing fairness and maintaining a certain quality of service (QoS) in shared medium, multihop wireless networks are challenging, due to the unique characteristics of these networks. In this paper we consider the presence of both guaranteed and best-effort flows in the network. The aim is to ensure minimum required bandwidth to the best-effort flows and provide an equal share of residual bandwidth to all the flows. We propose a flow weight calculation scheme to both guaranteed and best-effort flows and a distributed, localized mechanism to implement the time-stamp based ad hoc fair queueing model
Automated Content-based Image Retrieval

We propose a content based image retrieval system based on object extraction through image segmentation. A general and powerful multiscale segmentation algorithm automates the segmentation process, the output of which is assigned novel colour and texture descriptors which are both efficient and effective. Query strategies consisting of a semi-automated and a fully automated mode are developed which are shown to produce good results. We then show the superiority of our approach over the global histogram approach which proves that the ability to access images at the level of objects is essential for CBIR. Introduction Image retrieval has traditionally been based on manual caption insertion describing the scene which can then be searched using keywords. Caption insertion is a very subjective procedure and quickly becomes extremely tedious and time consuming, especially for large image databases which are becoming ever more common with the growing availability of digital cameras and scanners. There is thus an urgent need for effective content-based image retrieval (CBIR) systems.
Frameworks for interfacing trajectory tracking with predictive trajectory guidance for autonomous road vehicles

This paper investigates two frameworks for interfacing trajectory tracking functions with a computationally tractable nonlinear model predictive trajectory guidance module for an autonomous road vehicle. In the first framework, the predictive trajectory guidance itself is configured in a tracking mode where the control inputs computed by the model predictive control act as targets for some lower-level control system acting on the steering, brakes or engine. In the second framework, the state trajectories computed by the predictive trajectory guidance module are configured to be tracked by a non-predictive state tracking controller derived via input/output linearization. In both frameworks, the main considerations are driven by the time scales selected for computational expediency of the predictive guidance module, its update rate, and for control of the lower-level dynamics. The performance of the two frameworks, including the computational aspects, are compared considering public road driving as well as high performance race line scenarios.
Evaluation of the speech output of a smart-home system in a car environment

This paper reports on the evaluation of the speech output component of a dialogue system that enables the control of different home appliances via speech. It was simulated that participants called the system from the car and listened to feedback messages from the system. Their task was to judgethe quality of the systems output while performing a driving task in the TNO driving simulator. The following effects on the quality judgements were studied: type of system prompt (natural, synthesized), transmission degradations (circuit noise, speech codec, packet loss), and the driving task. The results are presented in terms of these aspects.
The Economic Status of Elderly Divorced Women

Over the past 35 years the gap in poverty between divorced and married women increased from 2:1 (in 1967) to 4:1 (in 2001). Despite high poverty rates, divorced women are no less educated than married women. Labor market earnings are a particularly important source of income for elderly divorced women; Divorced women's level of labor force participation is comparable to that of married men; however, retirement of divorced women experiences no spike at ages 62 and 65, as is the case for married men. Divorced women are quite distinct from separated women, with the latter much less educated, lower income, and minority; grouping these two populations together, as is often done, is a mistake. Initial analyses suggest that the reduction in the requirement on length of marriage from 20 to 10 years to receive Social Security divorcee benefits had little or no effect on alleviating divorcee poverty. A large number of questions remain unanswered, but given the speed at which the cohorts with high prevalence of divorce are approaching old age, the time is now to address these questions.
Compression Efficiency of Different Embedded Image Compression Techniques with Huffman Encoding

Images require substantial storage and transmission resources. Image compression reduces the data required to represent these images. Image compression normally uses reduction in bits representing the pixels. Here we use the Discrete wavelet Transform (DWT) followed by EZW and SPIHT algorithms. Discrete wavelet transform reduces the noise levels and it is advantageous in its high speed and accuracy. EZW and SPIHT algorithms are lossy compression methods and the accuracy of image depends on bit rate. For further compression we use “Huffman coding” with EZW and SPIHT algorithms. The results are analyzed for “Lena” image.
Different approaches to multiedge detection in SAR images

Edge detection is a fundamental issue in image analysis. The presence of speckle, which can be modelled as a strong multiplicative noise, complicates edge detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Several statistical edge detectors have been developed specifically for such images, based on the hypothesis that only one step edge is present in the analyzing window. The authors concentrate on the spatial aspect of edge detection in SAR images. Depending on the scene type and the size of the analyzing window, the monoedge hypothesis is violated more or less frequently. They present and compare three approaches to edge detection in a multiedge context: an optimum non-adaptive operator, a spatially adaptive operator and multiscale analysis.
Wildland management of Phytophthora ramorum in northern California forests

In early 2006 we implemented a series of comparative silvicultural treatments aimed at managing the spread of Phytophthora ramorum Werres, de Cock & Man in? t Veld by reducing inoculum densities in isolated infestations on one public and three private properties in southern Humboldt County. These treatments, which took place on over 56 forested ha, are the first attempts at large-scale, stand-level silvicultural management of P. ramorum in California. As part of first-year post treatment monitoring, we compare a number of issues related to operational effectiveness of the treatment installations, such as identifying areas for treatment, barriers to treatment, time frames, expense, equipment and vehicle sanitation, and public perception of treatments. These are issues to be considered by anyone attempting silvicultural treatment of this pathogen in the future.