Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asian summer monsoon anomalies induced by aerosol direct forcing : the role of the Tibetan Plateau

In this paper we present results of a numerical study using the NASA finite-volume GCM to elucidate a plausible mechanism for aerosol impact on the Asian summer monsoon involving interaction with physical processes over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). During the premonsoon season of March–April, dusts from the deserts of western China, Afghanistan/Pakistan, and the Middle East are transported into and stacked up against the northern and southern slopes of the TP. The absorption of solar radiation by dust heats up the elevated surface air over the slopes. On the southern slopes, the atmospheric heating is reinforced by black carbon from local emission. The heated air rises via dry convection, creating a positive temperature anomaly in the mid-to-upper troposphere over the TP relative to the region to the south. In May through early June in a manner akin to an ‘‘elevated heat pump’’, the rising hot air forced by the increasing heating in the upper troposphere, draws in warm and moist air over the Indian subcontinent, setting the stage for the onset of the South Asia summer monsoon. Our results suggest that increased dust loading coupled with black carbon emission from local sources in northern India during late spring may lead to an advance of the rainy periods and subsequently an intensification of the Indian summer monsoon. The enhanced rainfall over India is associated with the development of an aerosol-induced large-scale sea level pressure anomaly pattern, which causes the East Asia (Mei-yu) rain belt to shift northwestward, suppressing rainfall over East Asia and the adjacent oceanic regions.
Effects of magnesium sulphate on intraoperative anaesthetic requirements and postoperative analgesia in gynaecology patients receiving total intravenous anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND This randomized, double-blind, prospective study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of magnesium sulphate on anaesthetic requirements and postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing total i.v. anaesthesia (TIVA). METHODS Fifty patients who underwent gynaecological surgery were randomly divided into two groups. Before induction of anaesthesia, the magnesium group (Group M) received magnesium sulphate 50 mg kg(-1) i.v. as a bolus and then 15 mg kg(-1) h(-1) i.v. by continuous infusion. The control group (Group S) received the same amount of isotonic saline. TIVA (propofol+remifentanil) was administered under bispectral index monitoring during anaesthesia induction and maintenance. Rocuronium was administered before orotracheal intubation and during surgery when the train-of-four count was 2 or more. After operation, patient-controlled analgesia with a solution of ketorolac and morphine was used and the consumption of this solution was recorded. Pain scores at rest and upon movement were evaluated 30 min, 4, 24, and 48 h after surgery. RESULTS Patients in Group M required less rocuronium than those in Group S [mean (SD) 0.44 (0.09) vs 0.35 (0.07) microg kg(-1) min(-1), P<0.05]. The total amounts of propofol and remifentanil administered were similar in the two groups. Postoperative pain scores, cumulative analgesic consumption, and shivering incidents were significantly lower in Group M (P<0.05). Mean arterial pressure just after intubation and during the immediate postoperative period was also significantly lower in Group M (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS I.v. magnesium sulphate during TIVA reduced rocuronium requirement and improved the quality of postoperative analgesia.
Unsupervised defect detection of flexible printed circuit board gold surfaces based on wavelet packet frame

Quality control is one of the important issues in the flexible printed circuit board (FPC) making industry. This paper propose a unsupervised defect detection approach based on wavelet packet fame for solving the problem of automatic inspection of Flexible Printed Circuit boards (FPC) gold surfaces. Detection of defects within the inspected texture of FPC gold surfaces is performed first by decomposing the gray level images into subbands using wavelet packet frame, then by extracting corresponding features from some important subbands selected according to their subwindow average energy, finally by reducing feature dimensions with principal component analysis (PCA) and thresholding the result feature images. A number of images of FPC gold surface with a variety of defects have been tested and the experimental results which yielded visually good segmentation confirm the validity of the proposed algorithm.
Anatomical Substrates of the Alerting, Orienting and Executive Control Components of Attention: Focus on the Posterior Parietal Lobe

Both neuropsychological and functional neuroimaging studies have identified that the posterior parietal lobe (PPL) is critical for the attention function. However, the unique role of distinct parietal cortical subregions and their underlying white matter (WM) remains in question. In this study, we collected both magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data in normal participants, and evaluated their attention performance using attention network test (ANT), which could isolate three different attention components: alerting, orienting and executive control. Cortical thickness, surface area and DTI parameters were extracted from predefined PPL subregions and correlated with behavioural performance. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used for the voxel-wise statistical analysis. Results indicated structure-behaviour relationships on multiple levels. First, a link between the cortical thickness and WM integrity of the right inferior parietal regions and orienting performance was observed. Specifically, probabilistic tractography demonstrated that the integrity of WM connectivity between the bilateral inferior parietal lobules mediated the orienting performance. Second, the scores of executive control were significantly associated with the WM diffusion metrics of the right supramarginal gyrus. Finally, TBSS analysis revealed that alerting performance was significant correlated with the fractional anisotropy of local WM connecting the right thalamus and supplementary motor area. We conclude that distinct areas and features within PPL are associated with different components of attention. These findings could yield a more complete understanding of the nature of the PPL contribution to visuospatial attention.
Criteria for Privacy Supporting System

The concern about privacy issues has increased among web store customers. The merchants are trying to convince the public about the level of privacy on their sites by using privacy statements. This is not, however, an easy task, because the very nature of privacy is unclear. It is hard to define the requirements for a system that is capable of protecting the privacy of the users. The approach of this study is first to explore the research on the psychological processes of privacy regulation and then to analyse its fundamental elements. Thereafter, the acquired knowledge is used to define a set of criteria for a system that is able to fulfill the requirements of human privacy processing and is able to support that process in online situations.
Long-term effectiveness of lithium in bipolar disorder: a multicenter investigation of patients with typical and atypical features.

OBJECTIVE Poor response to long-term lithium treatment has been reported to be associated with atypical features of bipolar disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of atypical symptoms on the effectiveness and stability of long-term lithium treatment in a prospective, multicenter cohort of bipolar patients in a naturalistic setting. METHOD Patients were initially selected according to International Classification of Diseases, 8th Revision, criteria for bipolar disorder and required long-term treatment. Their diagnoses were reconfirmed according to DSM-IV upon its publication. They were prospectively followed for an approximately 20-year period ending in 2004 in 5 centers participating in the International Group for the Study of Lithium-Treated Patients. Examinations included a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, an assessment of typical and atypical features on an 8-item scale, and an evaluation of clinical course using the morbidity index. Unbalanced repeated-measures regression models with structured covariance matrices were used to assess the extent to which the morbidity index was influenced by atypical symptoms, duration of treatment, and pretreatment features. RESULTS A total of 242 patients were followed for a mean period of 10 years. In 142 patients, the number of typical features was greater than the number of atypical features, whereas in 100 patients the number of atypical features was greater than or equal to the number of typical features. The mean morbidity index remained stable over a period of 20 years in both groups of patients and was not significantly associated with the presence of atypical features, the duration of lithium treatment, the number or frequency of episodes, or latency from the onset of bipolar disorder to the start of lithium treatment. CONCLUSION Our study suggests that long-term response to lithium maintenance treatment is stable both in patients with typical and in patients with atypical features. The predominance of either typical or atypical features did not result in different responses to long-term lithium treatment in this sample of bipolar patients.
Using Virtual Role-Play to Enhance Teacher Candidates' Skills in Responding to Bullying.

nearly one in three students in the united States today is negatively impacted by bullying. Teachers can play a critical role in stopping bullying-related violence, but many struggle with how to engage students in difficult conversations. Traditional classroom-based pedagogy used to teach communication skills (e.g., modeling & role-play) is inefficient and limited in scope. recent advances in artificial intelligence have resulted in the development of virtual pedagogical agents designed to simulate authentic conversations and can be leveraged to teach vital communication skills. This exploratory study examines the effectiveness of a “virtual role-play” (VrP) tool developed to help teacher candidates effectively respond to classroom bullying by providing them with opportunities to engage in repeated, authentic practice conversations. We hypothesized that practice in simulated conversations provided by VrP would improve teacher candidates’ communication skills by improving their fluency in responding to classroom bullying. our findings revealed that the repeated practice afforded by VrP improved candidates’ fluency by helping them focus on more refined word choice, reducing their reliance on written notes, and improving their nonverbal skills. implications regarding use of VrP to prepare candidates to communicate in bullying situations are discussed. This research was supported by the Institute of Education
{34 () Adaptive Probabilistic Networks with Hidden Variables *

Probabilistic networks (also known as Bayesian belief networks) allow a compact description of complex stochastic relationships among several random variables. They are used widely for uncertain reasoning in artiicial intelligence. In this paper, we investigate the problem of learning probabilistic networks with known structure and hidden variables. This is an important problem, because structure is much easier to elicit from experts than numbers, and the world is rarely fully observable. We present a gradient-based algorithm and show that the gradient can be computed locally, using information that is available as a byproduct of standard inference algorithms for probabilistic networks. Our experimental results demonstrate that using prior knowledge about the structure, even with hidden variables, can signiicantly improve the learning rate of probabilistic networks. We extend the method to networks in which the conditional probability tables are described using a small number of parameters. Examples include noisy-OR nodes and dynamic probabilistic networks. We show how this additional structure can be exploited by our algorithm to speed up the learning even further. We also outline an extension to hybrid networks, in which some of the nodes take on values in a continuous domain.
Locally adaptive image sensing with the 64x64 cell MIPA4k mixed-mode image processor array

This paper presents an implementation of locally adaptive image sensing with the MIPA4k image processor array. The implemented adaptive sensor circuitry allows the extraction of image detail in the presence of large dynamic intra-scene lighting variations. The imple­mented circuit method is based on the use of nonlinear resistive network filtering during image integration for controlling the pixel integration times locally, through the extraction and examination of average local intensity. Measured examples of the adaptive sensing operation performed with the MIPA4k processor array are presented.
A new defuzzification method for fuzzy control of power converters

In this paper, a new defuzzification method is proposed which can provide improved performance in fuzzy control for DC-DC converters. A comparative study of different defuzzification methods adopted in fuzzy logic control (FLC), such as center of area (COA), center of sums (COS), height method (HM), middle of maxims (MOM), center of largest area (COLA), and first of maxims (FM), for application to DC-DC buck-converters is presented. The distinction among the characteristics which lead to varying performance is outlined. A new method called height weighted second maxims (HWSM) is proposed and its performance is assessed. The paper also presents simulation results of the performance of the closed-loop converters from the standpoint of start-up transient, bad regulation and line regulation. The simulations show that COA, COS, and HM defuzzification methods have better dynamic performance and less steady state error. The new HWSM defuzzification method provides further improvement.
A robust mobile business card reader using MMCC barcode

Business cards have existed since the 19th century and exchanging of business cards is common during introduction. The digital version, an electronic business card, helps to share information quickly and accurately. Also, it allows information to be stored and easily located. However, the current state of the art in business card readers using OCR technology usually fail in correctly reading all elements of the business card. Hence, in this paper, we proposed the use of an Mobile Multi-Colour Composite (MMCC) barcode printed on the business card. Containing the electronic version of the business card, the MMCC barcode allows cheap and accurate reading of the business card with a mobile phone camera. To highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compared the results against commercially available business card readers, both in desktop and mobile versions.
Involvement of CCL18 in Allergic Asthma1

Allergic asthma is associated with a pulmonary recruitment of Th type 2 cells, basophils, and eosinophils, mainly linked to chemokine production. CCL18 is a chemokine preferentially expressed in the lung, secreted by APCs, induced by Th2-type cytokines, and only present in humans. Therefore, CCL18 may be involved in allergic asthma. PBMC from asthmatics allergic to house dust mite cultured in the presence of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus 1 (Der p 1) allergen secreted CCL18, 48 and 72 h after stimulation, whereas those from healthy donors did not. Part of CCL18 was directly derived from Der p 1-stimulated plasmacytoid dendritic cells, whereas the other part was linked to monocyte activation by IL-4 and IL-13 produced by Der p 1-stimulated T cells. In bronchoalveolar lavages from untreated asthmatic allergic patients, CCL18 was highly increased compared with controls. Functionally, CCL18 preferentially attracted in vitro-polarized Th2 cells and basophils, but not eosinophils and Th1 cells, and induced basophil histamine and intracellular calcium release. These data show a new function for CCL18, i.e., the recruitment of Th2 cells and basophils, and suggest that CCL18 may play a predominant role in allergic asthma.
Neural Networks Variable Structure Control for Nonlinear Time-delay Systems Based on Robust Control

Combined neural networks, sliding model variable structure control with robust Hinfin control theory, the control problems of complex systems were studied. A new control strategy is proposed for a class of nonlinear time-delay systems. By adding a neural networks sliding model compensate controller, this scheme can guarantee the systems, which have uncertain terms and disturbance, to be stable. Made use of nonlinear approximate ability of neural networks, the control problems of complex systems - existing unrestricted nonlinear disturbance is solved very well. Compared with the existing the research findings, this control scheme has better adaptivity and robustness. The simulation results indicate that the controller is effective
Efficient Hybrid Framework for Wireless Image Transmission. Y a Part of This Work Was Presented in Icip 97 2. Motivation and Previous Work

We consider the problem of eecient image transmission over noisy time-varying channels subject to a low transmission energy constraint (and xed bandwidth/delay constraints). We examine the limits of desirability of a highly compressed representation using a Joint Source-Channel Coding (JSCC) framework. Speciically, invoking as a platform a state-of-the-art wavelet image coder, we demonstrate how the resulting highly compressed digital stream, appropriately protected against channel noise, is not always the best solution. We show how a hybrid scheme based on simple partitioning of the wavelet image representation into \compressed" and \uncompressed" components can lead to signiicantly improved performance (of the order of 3 dB in PSNR for Rayleigh channels) over popular JSCC schemes which are based on compressed, entropy-coded, and appropriately unequal error-protected (UEP) source representations. 1. INTRODUCTION Joint source-channel coding (JSCC) for improving the overall performance of practical image communications systems has gained considerable interest lately. In this paper we address the problem of eecient image transmission over slowly time-varying wireless channels. In this setup, there are usually three important constraints to consider: transmission bandwidth, energy and delay , while maximizing the delivered image quality. Other practical system constraints may include computational complexity, memory/storage requirements, etc. In the following we consider the case of xed total energy, bandwidth, and transmission delay, as appropriate in low-power wireless applications, while relaxing other constraints, and show how to maximize the expected reconstructed image quality (we use a simple Mean Squared Error-MSE measure). This paper advocates the use of a novel hybrid com-pressed/uncompressed framework. The idea is to exploit the advantages of graceful degradation (uncompressed component) that is reminiscent of analog transmission while retaining the compression advantages of digital transmission (compressed component). Before we describe our proposed approach, we consider a fundamental but surprisingly little-referenced result from information theory that motivates, in part, our proposed philosophy. Suppose we wish to communicate over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel with X being a discrete-time, continuous-amplitude source, and N the AWGN noise that is un-correlated with X (see Fig.1). In our context X represents a part of image data. Suppose Y = f(X) is the encoder function such that Y is the transmitted signal. The received signal is ^ Y = Y +N. 1 Note that X, Y , ^ Y and ^ X are vectors of possibly diierent dimensions. In our discussion we suppress the issue of diierent dimensionali-and g(:) to minimize the expected …
The role of solid friction in the sedimentation of strongly attractive colloidal gels

We study experimentally and theoretically the sedimentation of gels made of strongly aggregated colloidal particles, focusing on the long-time behaviour, when mechanical equilibrium is asymptotically reached. The asymptotic gel height is found to vary linearly with the initial height, a finding in stark contrast with a recent study on similar gels. We show that the asymptotic compaction results from the balance between gravity pull, network elasticity and solid friction between the gel and the container walls. Based on these ingredients, we propose a simple model to account for the dependence of the height loss on the initial height and volume fraction. As a result of our analysis, we show that the static friction coefficient between the gel and the container walls strongly depends on the volume fraction: the higher the volume fraction, the weaker the solid friction. This non-intuitive behaviour is explained using simple scaling arguments.
Hydrogen Evolution Reaction of γ-Mo0.5W0.5 C Achieved by High Pressure High Temperature Synthesis

For the first time, the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalytic performances of incompressible γ-Mo0.5W0. 5C, prepared by high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) synthesis, were investigated in the electrolyte. The polarization curve of the γ-Mo0.5W0. 5C cathode exhibits the current density of 50 mA∙cm−2 at an overpotential value of 320 mV. The corresponding Tafel slope of the incompressible γ-Mo0.5W0. 5C is 74 mV∙dec−1. After a 1000-cycle test, and then exposure to the air for six months, the γ-Mo0.5W0. 5C electrode performed a current density of 50 mA∙cm−2 at an overpotential of 354 mV, which was close to the initial one.
Correlations of Handgrip Strength with Selected Hand-Arm-Anthropometric Variables in Indian Inter-university Female Volleyball Players

Purpose The purpose of this study was to estimate the dominant handgrip strength and its correlations with some hand and arm anthropometric variables in 101 randomly selected Indian inter-university female volleyball players aged 18-25 years (mean age 20.52±1.40) from six Indian universities. Methods Three anthropometric variables, i.e. height, weight, BMI, two hand anthropometric variables, viz. right and left hand width and length, four arm anthropometric variables, i.e. upper arm length, lower arm length, upper extremity length, upper arm circumference and dominant right and non-dominant handgrip strength were measured among Indian inter-university female volleyball players by standard anthropometric techniques. Results The findings of the present study indicated that Indian female volleyball players had higher mean values in eleven variables and lesser mean values in two variables than their control counterparts, showing significant differences (P<0.032-0.001) in height (t=2.63), weight (t=8.66), left hand width (t=2.10), left and right hand length (t=9.99 and 10.40 respectively), right upper arm length (t=8.48), right forearm length (t=5.41), dominant (right) and non-dominant (left) handgrip strength (t=9.37 and 6.76 respectively). In female volleyball players, dominant handgrip strength had significantly positive correlations (P=0.01) with all the variables studied. Conclusion It may be concluded that dominant handgrip strength had strong positive correlations with all the variables studied in Indian inter-university female volleyball players.