Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extrinsic contributions to the grain size dependence of relaxor ferroelectric Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O_3: PbTiO_3 ceramics

This paper addresses the observed grain size with dependence of the dielectric behavior for Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O_3: PbTiO_3 ceramics grain sizes ≥ 1.0 μm. A combined transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis and dielectric characterization are modeled with a modified brick wall approach. From this model, it is possible to extrapolate information such as single crystal values of dielectric maximum, K _max, the diffuseness coefficient, δ, and the average intergranular thickness for relaxor ceramics. The calculated intergranular thickness agrees well with TEM observations, ≍2.0 nm. This semi-empirical method may be potentially useful in development work of relaxor ceramics to predict the optimized dielectric properties obtainable within microstructural restrictions.
A group-based low delay variable length decoder for MPEG-4

A new grouping method for variable-length code (VLC) table is presented. It takes advantage of a unified look- up table and generates the table address by comparing the input data bit-by-bit. In theory, it can significantly decrease the critical path delay of the circuit. Experimental result shows that the decoding speed is 2 cycles per no-escape code and 2 to 4 cycles per escape code. The decoder has been integrated into a mpeg-4 decoder of 1080P video. And the FPGA prototype result shows that the frequency could achieve 255MHz. Variable-length coding (VLC) has been widely applied to audio and video compression. It is often used together with other compression techniques such as run-level coding to increase the data compression rate. The main idea of VLC is to shorten the length of the overall data. Short codewords are assigned to frequently occurring data while long codewords are assigned to infrequently occurring data. Most of the MPEG video and audio compression is based on VLC. Therefore, high-performance variable-length decoding (VLD) becomes very important in the real-time demands of high quality video decoding systems like DTV or HDTV. Speed and area are two important performances aspects of variable-length decoder (VLD). First, the length of VLC data can only be known after the data is successfully matched, which causes great difficulty to increase the encoding speed. Second�» the length of the longest codeword usually reaches more than a dozen, and the total number of codewords ranges
Miniature thermoelectric coolers for semiconductor lasers

The problem of matching thermoelectric coolers and semiconductor lasers with respect to heat flow densities and electrical currents is discussed. It is shown that the solution of this problem is accomplished by the reduction of thermoelement dimensions to the submillimeter level. Assembled with extruded thermoelectric materials, miniature coolers with a thermoelement length as short as 0.1 mm and a cross section of 0.2×0.2 mm2 are demonstrated. Using 0.5 mm thick aluminum ceramic plates, the overall height of these miniature coolers can be as low as 1.1 mm. The devices are designed for cooling and thermally stabilizing miniature optoelectronic elements, especially semiconductor lasers. The results of device testing over a wide range of temperature and heat loads are given. This novel approach in thermoelectric cooler design represents a new step in miniaturization and reduced current requirements, with little or no loss in maximum attainable temperature difference. A ΔTmax of 68 K is demonstrated with inp.
Bionimbus: a cloud for managing, analyzing and sharing large genomics datasets

Background As large genomics and phenotypic datasets are becoming more common, it is increasingly difficult for most researchers to access, manage, and analyze them. One possible approach is to provide the research community with several petabyte-scale cloud-based computing platforms containing these data, along with tools and resources to analyze it. Methods Bionimbus is an open source cloud-computing platform that is based primarily upon OpenStack, which manages on-demand virtual machines that provide the required computational resources, and GlusterFS, which is a high-performance clustered file system. Bionimbus also includes Tukey, which is a portal, and associated middleware that provides a single entry point and a single sign on for the various Bionimbus resources; and Yates, which automates the installation, configuration, and maintenance of the software infrastructure required. Results Bionimbus is used by a variety of projects to process genomics and phenotypic data. For example, it is used by an acute myeloid leukemia resequencing project at the University of Chicago. The project requires several computational pipelines, including pipelines for quality control, alignment, variant calling, and annotation. For each sample, the alignment step requires eight CPUs for about 12 h. BAM file sizes ranged from 5 GB to 10 GB for each sample. Conclusions Most members of the research community have difficulty downloading large genomics datasets and obtaining sufficient storage and computer resources to manage and analyze the data. Cloud computing platforms, such as Bionimbus, with data commons that contain large genomics datasets, are one choice for broadening access to research data in genomics.
Affective multimodal human-computer interaction

Social and emotional intelligence are aspects of human intelligence that have been argued to be better predictors than IQ for measuring aspects of success in life, especially in social interactions, learning, and adapting to what is important. When it comes to machines, not all of them will need such skills. Yet to have machines like computers, broadcast systems, and cars, capable of adapting to their users and of anticipating their wishes, endowing them with the ability to recognize user's affective states is necessary. This article discusses the components of human affect, how they might be integrated into computers, and how far are we from realizing affective multimodal human-computer interaction.
A robust expression negation algorithm for accurate face recognition for limited training data

Although important and effective contributions on face recognition under varying facial expressions have been reported up to date, most of the methods need multiple images of an individual stored in the database. However, this problem becomes more challenging when a limited number of training samples are available as is the case for expression invariant face identification for surveillance and security applications. This paper proposes a simple and effective method that can be integrated into any face and expression recognition system to improve the overall recognition accuracy even under limitation of training samples. In this approach, neutral component of the expressive image is estimated utilizing prior information obtained from different subjects under the same expression. Basically by analyzing the impact of a particular expression on a neutral face a nullification process is developed to convert the expressive image to a neutral face. In order to make it justifiable to utilize common expression information for different subjects, an alignment strategy is employed where for each expression a specific expression template is used, and the images are warped to their corresponding expression face template. After negating the facial expression from the expressive images, principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to reduce the dimension and cosine similarity matching is used for classification. The experimental results on Cohn-Kanade database exhibit the effectiveness of the proposed method even when there is a single training sample per class is available in the database.
Information divergences and the curious case of the binary alphabet

Four problems related to information divergence measures defined on finite alphabets are considered. In three of the cases we consider, we illustrate a contrast which arises between the binary-alphabet and larger-alphabet settings. This is surprising in some instances, since characterizations for the larger-alphabet settings do not generalize their binary-alphabet counterparts. For example, we show that f-divergences are not the unique decomposable divergences on binary alphabets that satisfy the data processing inequality, despite contrary claims in the literature.
Diagnostic value of plasma cystatin C as a glomerular filtration marker in decompensated liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND Plasma creatinine concentration and calculated creatinine clearance are of limited value as glomerular filtration rate (GFR) markers in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. We assessed plasma cystatin C as an indicator of GFR in such patients. METHODS We studied 36 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and 56 noncirrhotic controls, both groups including individuals with normal and impaired renal function. GFR was measured in all individuals by inulin clearance, with values <72 mL x min(-1) x 1.73 m(-2) considered decreased. We measured cystatin C and creatinine in plasma and calculated (from plasma concentrations) and measured creatinine clearances, using for them decision points of 1.25 mg/L, 115 micromol/L, and 72 and 72 mL x min(-1) x 1.73 m(-2), respectively. RESULTS Plasma cystatin C concentrations were similar in controls and cirrhotics and, at the usual cutpoint, could detect decreased GFR with similar sensitivities in the two groups (73% and 88%, respectively). Serum creatinine was markedly lower in cirrhotics and remained mostly within the reference interval at all GFR values; the diagnostic sensitivity of creatinine was much lower in cirrhotics than in controls (23% vs 64%). Lower diagnostic sensitivity was also observed for calculated creatinine clearance (53% vs 100% in controls), whereas similar sensitivities were found for measured creatinine clearance (86% and 81%) in controls and cirrhotics, respectively. ROC analysis showed that all four variables had similar diagnostic accuracies in cirrhotic patients. However, it also revealed that good diagnostic accuracies for plasma creatinine and calculated creatinine clearance can be obtained only if reference intervals different from those used for the general population are adopted. CONCLUSIONS Plasma cystatin C concentration is an accurate GFR marker in cirrhotic patients. Plasma creatinine concentration and calculated creatinine clearance are of no practical value, as their reference values vary with the severity of the liver disease.
Conductivity and space charge in LDPE containing nano- and micro-sized ZnO particles

DC conductivity and ac impedance measurements were made in air and in vacuum on samples of low density polyethylene to which nano-sized and micro-sized ZnO particles and a dispersant had been added. The samples were 150-200 mum thick. The temperature range was 30-70degC. The temperature dependence of the vacuum dc conductivity in samples containing the dispersant and 10% w/w nanosized ZnO followed an Arrhenius relationship closely, the conductivity being 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than that of a sample containing dispersant only. The addition of 10% w/w microsized ZnO had very little effect on the dc conductivity. The ac measurements were made in the frequency range 10 mHz-1 MHz. Addition of nanoparticles increased the ac conductivity at higher frequencies but decreased it at lower frequencies, the cross-over frequency increasing with increasing temperature. The real part of the relative permittivity of samples with nanoparticles was increased relative to that of samples containing dispersant only, at all temperatures, but the corresponding values in samples with microparticles were unchanged, within experimental error. Space charge profiles were obtained using the laser-intensity-modulation-method (LIMM). Space charge densities of order 300 Cm-3 were measured in the bulk near the electrodes, several hours after poling at field strengths around 30 kV/mm.
A high gain monopolar patch antenna with low profile

A low profile monopolar patch antenna with conical beam radiation pattern and high gain performance is presented in this paper. The antenna has a simple structure which consists of a monopolar patch, a ground and a set of shorting pins. To enhance the gain performance, the antenna is designed to operate with TM03 mode and TM04 mode. The proposed antenna operates from 2.41 to 2.51 GHz for the VSWR ≤ 2 and has the maximum gain of 11 dBi. Most important, the antenna is low profile which only has the height of 0. 03λ0.
Mobile Phones and Economic Development: Evidence from the Fishing Industry in India

There is considerable speculation about the correlation between investments in telecommunications and economic development. Mobile phones, by virtue of their role as carriers and conduits of information, ought to lessen the information asymmetries in markets, thereby making rural and undeveloped markets more efficient. This research tests this assumption using a case-study from India, where the fishing community in the south-western state of Kerala has adopted mobile phones in large numbers. We find that with the wide-spread use of mobile phones, markets become more efficient as risk and uncertainty are reduced; there is greater market integration; there are gains in productivity and in the Marshallian surplus (sum of consumer and producer surplus); and price dispersion and price fluctuations are reduced. The potential efficiencies are, however, subject to easy access to capital, without which the market remains less efficient than it could be. Finally, the quality of life of the fishermen improves as they feel less isolated, and less at risk in times of emergencies
Molecular-Based Identification and Phylogeny of Oligonychus Species (Acari: Tetranychidae)

ABSTRACT The genus Oligonychus has been morphologically divided into two groups based on the direction of curvature of the aedeagus and includes some morphologically similar species that are difficult to distinguish. To develop DNA-based methods for identifying Oligonychus species and to determine the phylogenetic relationships among them, we examined the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene of mitochondrial DNA and the internal transcribed spacer and 28S regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene for 17 species. Based on the genetic distances (p-distances) of the three DNA regions, the range of intraspecific divergence was found to be below (and not overlap) the range of interspecific divergence, which allowed the 17 species to be discriminated correctly, consistent with their classification based on morphology. Phylogenetic trees constructed by neighbor-joining and Bayesian methods clearly showed two clades, consisting of species whose aedeagi curve ventrally and dorsally, respectively. Three Oligonychus species inhabiting gramineous plants formed clearly defined subclades.
Role of interleukin 10 and transforming growth factor beta1 in the angiogenesis and metastasis of human prostate primary tumor lines from orthotopic implants in severe combined immunodeficiency mice.

Transfection of primary human prostate tumor cells (i.e., HPCA-10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d lines) with the transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 gene stimulated anchorage-independent growth and promoted tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis after orthotopic implantation in severe combined immunodeficiency mice. In contrast, interleukin (IL)-10 transfected cells or cells cotransfected with these two genes exhibited reduced growth rates and significantly reduced angiogenesis and metastasis after 8, 12, and 16 weeks. Enzyme-linked immunosandwich assays confirmed that the respective tumors expressed elevated levels of TGF-beta1 and IL-10 in vivo. ELISAs further showed that TGF-beta1 expression induced matrix metalloproteinases-2 (MMP-2) expression, whereas IL-10 down-regulated MMP-2 expression while up regulating TIMP-1 in the transfected cells. Also, tumor factor VIII levels correlated with TGF-beta1 and MMP-2 expression and inversely with IL-10 and TIMP-1 levels. More importantly, mouse survival was zero after 4-6 months in mice bearing TGF-beta1- and MMP-2-expressing tumors and increased significantly in mice implanted with IL-10- and TIMP-1-expressing tumors (i.e., to >80% survival). Analysis of the metastatic lesions showed that they expressed TGF-beta1 and MMP-2 but barely detectable levels of IL-10 or TIMP-1, suggesting that IL-10 and TIMP-1 might normally block tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis.
On solving relative norm equations in algebraic number fields

Let Q ⊆ ∈ ⊆ F be algebraic number fields and M ⊂ F a free o e -module. We prove a theorem which enables us to determine whether a given relative norm equation of the form |N F/e (η)| = |θ| has any solutions η ∈ M at all and, if so, to compute a complete set of nonassociate solutions. Finally we formulate an algorithm using this theorem, consider its algebraic complexity and give some examples.
COMT val158met Polymorphism and Neural Pain Processing

A functional polymorphism (val158met) of the gene coding for Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COM) has been demonstrated to be related to processing of emotional stimuli. Also, this polymorphism has been found to be associated with pain regulation in healthy subjects. Therefore, we investigated a possible influence of this polymorphism on pain processing in healthy persons as well as in subjects with markedly reduced pain sensitivity in the context of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Fifty females (25 patients with BPD and 25 healthy control participants) were included in this study. Genotype had a significant – though moderate - effect on pain sensitivity, but only in healthies. The number of val alleles was correlated with the BOLD response in several pain-processing brain regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, lateral globus pallidus, anterior and posterior insula. Within the subgroup of healthy participants, the number of val alleles was positively correlated with the BOLD response in posterior parietal, posterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. BPD patients revealed a positive correlation between the number of val alleles and BOLD signal in anterior and posterior insula. Thus, our data show that the val158met polymorphism in the COMT gene contributes significantly to inter-individual differences in neural pain processing: in healthy people, this polymorphism was more related to cognitive aspects of pain processing, whereas BPD patients with reduced pain sensitivity showed an association with activity in brain regions related to affective pain processing.
A multi-national study of reading and tracing skills in novice programmers

A study by a ITiCSE 2001 working group ("the McCracken Group") established that many students do not know how to program at the conclusion of their introductory courses. A popular explanation for this incapacity is that the students lack the ability to problem-solve. That is, they lack the ability to take a problem description, decompose it into sub-problems and implement them, then assemble the pieces into a complete solution. An alternative explanation is that many students have a fragile grasp of both basic programming principles and the ability to systematically carry out routine programming tasks, such as tracing (or "desk checking") through code. This ITiCSE 2004 working group studied the alternative explanation, by testing students from seven countries, in two ways. First, students were tested on their ability to predict the outcome of executing a short piece of code. Second, students were tested on their ability, when given the desired function of short piece of near-complete code, to select the correct completion of the code from a small set of possibilities. Many students were weak at these tasks, especially the latter task, suggesting that such students have a fragile grasp of skills that are a prerequisite for problem-solving.
Circumstellar Dust Created by Terrestrial Planet Formation in HD 113766

We present an analysis of the gas-poor circumstellar material in the HD 113766 binary system (F3/F5, 10-16 Myr), recently observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. For our study we have used the IR mineralogical model derived from observations of the Deep Impact experiment. We find the dust dominated by warm, fine (~1 μm) particles, abundant in Mg-rich olivine, crystalline pyroxenes, amorphous silicates, Fe-rich sulfides, amorphous carbon, and colder water ice. The warm dust material mix is akin to an inner main-belt asteroid of S-type composition. The ~440 K effective temperature of the warm dust implies that the bulk of the observed material is in a narrow belt ~1.8 AU from the 4.4 L☉ central source, in the terrestrial planet-forming region and habitable zone of the system (equivalent to 0.9 AU in the solar system). The icy dust lies in two belts, located at 4-9 and 30-80 AU. The lower bound of warm dust mass in 0.1-20 μm, dn/da ∼ a−3.5 particles is very large, at least 3 × 1020 kg, equivalent to a 320 km radius asteroid of 2.5 g cm−3 density. Assuming 10 m particles are the largest present, the lower bound of warm dust mass is at least 0.5 MMars. Neither primordial nor mature, the dust around HD 113766A originates from catastrophic disruption of terrestrial planet embryo(s) and subsequent grinding of the fragments or from collisions in a young, extremely dense asteroid belt undergoing planetary aggregation. The persistence of the strong IR excess over the last two decades argues for a mechanism to provide replenishment of the circumstellar material on yearly timescales.
Handbook of Knowledge Representation Edited Temporal Representation and Reasoning

This book is about representing knowledge in all its various forms. Yet, whatever phenomenon we aim to represent, be it natural, computational, or abstract, it is unlikely to be static. The natural world is always decaying or evolving. Thus, computational processes, by their nature, are dynamic, and most abstract notions, if they are to be useful, are likely to incorporate change. Consequently, the notion of representations changing through time is vital. And so, we need a clear way of representing both our temporal basis, and the way in which entities change over time. This is exactly what this chapter is about. We aim to provide the reader with an overview of many of the ways temporal phenomena can be modelled, described, reasoned about, and applied. In this, we will often overlap with other chapters in this collection. Some of these topics we will refer to very little, as they will be covered directly by other chapters, for example, temporal action logic [84], situation calculus [185], event calculus [209], spatio-temporal reasoning [74], temporal constraint satisfaction [291], temporal planning [84, 271], and qualitative temporal reasoning [102]. Other topics will be described in this chapter, but overlap with descriptions in other chapters, in particular: The topics in several other chapters, such as reasoning about knowledge and belief [203], query answering [34] and multi-agent systems [277], will only be referred to very briefly. Although this chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of all approaches to temporal representation and reasoning, it does outline many of the most prominent ones, though necessarily at a high-level. If more detail is required, many references are provided. Indeed, the first volume of the Foundations of Artificial Intel