Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Framework for Registration of Semantic Point Clouds from Stereo and RGB-D Cameras

This paper reports on a novel nonparametric rigid point cloud registration framework, Semantic Continuous Visual Odometry (CVO), that jointly integrates geometric and semantic measurements such as color or semantic labels into the alignment process and does not require explicit data association. The point clouds are represented as nonparametric functions in a reproducible kernel Hilbert space. The alignment problem is formulated as maximizing the inner product between two functions, essentially a sum of weighted kernels, each of which exploits the local geometric and semantic features. As a result of the continuous models, analytical gradients can be computed, and a local solution can be obtained by optimization over the rigid body transformation group. Besides, we present a new point cloud alignment metric that is intrinsic to the proposed framework and takes into account geometric and semantic information. The evaluations using publicly available stereo and RGB-D datasets show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art outdoor and indoor frame-to-frame registration methods. An open-source GPU implementation is also provided.
A comprehensive transport model for semiconductor device simulation

In this paper a comprehensive carrier dynamical transport model for semiconductor device simulation is presented. The model consists of carrier, carrier momentum and carrier energy conservation relations derived using a perturbation solution for the carrier distribution function. Carrier degeneracy, multiple conduction sub-bands and ellipsoidal constant energy surfaces are accounted for, and the effective masses and band edges are assumed to be spatially inhomogeneous. The new formulation overcomes modelling inaccuracies of previous energy transport models based on a drifted Maxwellian distribution function, and for spatially homogeneous, non-degenerate semiconductors offers several computational advantages.
Vacancy clustering in quenched Al-Li solid solution alloys studied by Doppler broadening spectroscopy

The clustering of vacancies in severely quenched Al-Li solid solution alloys, with Li content between 230 and 2760 ppm, has been studied using Doppler broadening spectroscopy. The alloy samples were initially annealed at 873 K in dry air or dry, pure nitrogen. The onset temperature for vacancy clustering in samples initially annealed in air was found to be , lower than for the nitrogen-annealed samples. This result is consistent with the migration of divacancies, formed as a result of the significant increase in vacancy concentration caused by Li migration to, and oxidation at, the surfaces of samples annealed in air. Li-vacancy binding may also contribute, to a lesser extent, to the retardation of vacancy migration in the nitrogen-annealed samples. No dependence on Li content was seen in the results for the two sets of samples.
Enhanced Boiling Heat Transfer

Keywords: chaleur: transfert de: : : ; ebullition: : : ; evaporation: : : ; tubes: : : ; surface d': evaporation: : : ; melanges: : : ; chimie: : : ; nucleation: : : Reference Record created on 2004-09-07, modified on 2016-08-08
Real-time monitoring of pyrotechnically derived aerosol particles in the troposphere

Aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ATOFMS) allows for simultaneous determination of the aerodynamic particle size and chemical composition of individual particles in real time. Polydisperse particles originating from July 4, 1995, fireworks displays were monitored using ATOFMS over a 4-day period. Fireworks particles were identified by ion combinations in the single-particle mass spectra of potassium, aluminum, magnesium, barium, and lead and grouped into chemically specific categories. The relative number of ambient fireworks particles peaked on the morning of July 5, 1995, with representative particles being detected as late as July 19, 1995. The mass spectra of the detected particles are indicative of the original chemical composition of typical fireworks mixtures. This study demonstrates the ability of ATOFMS to serve as a real-time monitor of aerosols in the atmosphere, capable of detecting and tracking aerosol particles of a specific size and chemical composition from a particular source over.
Experimental Evaluation of Algorithm-Assisted Human Decision-Making: Application to Pretrial Public Safety Assessment

Despite an increasing reliance on fully-automated algorithmic decision-making in our day-to-day lives, human beings still make highly consequential decisions. As frequently seen in business, healthcare, and public policy, recommendations produced by algorithms are provided to human decision-makers to guide their decisions. While there exists a fast-growing literature evaluating the bias and fairness of such algorithmic recommendations, an overlooked question is whether they help humans make better decisions. We develop a general statistical methodology for experimentally evaluating the causal impacts of algorithmic recommendations on human decisions. We also show how to examine whether algorithmic recommendations improve the fairness of human decisions and derive the optimal decision rules under various settings. We apply the proposed methodology to preliminary data from the first-ever randomized controlled trial that evaluates the pretrial Public Safety Assessment (PSA) in the criminal justice system. A goal of the PSA is to help judges decide which arrested individuals should be released. On the basis of the preliminary data available, we find that providing the PSA to the judge has little overall impact on the judge’s decisions and subsequent arrestee behavior. Our analysis, however, yields some potentially suggestive evidence that the PSA may help avoid unnecessarily harsh decisions for female arrestees regardless of their risk levels while it encourages the judge to make stricter decisions for male arrestees who are deemed to be risky. In terms of fairness, the PSA appears to increase an existing gender difference while having little effect on any racial differences in judges’ decision. Finally, we find that the PSA’s recommendations might be unnecessarily severe unless the cost of a new crime is sufficiently high.
Isotope Effects and the Mechanism of Triazolinedione Ene Reactions. Aziridinium Imides Are Innocent Bystanders

Kinetic isotope effects were determined for the ene reactions of 4-phenyl-1,2,4-triazoline-2,5-dione with 2-methyl-2-butene and 2-methyl-1-pentene. In each case highly inverse (kH/kD = 0.87−0.88) vinylic deuterium isotope effects were observed. Large 13C isotope effects were observed for the less-substituted olefinic carbons of each alkene and much smaller effects were found in the more-substituted olefinic carbon. Becke3LYP calculations of the mechanistic pathway for the ene reaction of 1,2,4-triazoline-2,5-dione with isobutene, 2-methyl-2-butene, and tetramethylethylene predict a new mechanism for these reactions involving an open biradical as the key intermediate. This biradical may either form the ene product or reversibly form an intermediate aziridinium imide. The validity of these calculations is supported by a comparison of experimental and theoretically predicted isotope effects. A curved Arrhenius plot of product ratios was found for the ene reaction of 2-methyl-1-pentene in the presence of meth.
Selective Pseudo-Labeling with Reinforcement Learning for Semi-Supervised Domain Adaptation

Recent domain adaptation methods have demonstrated impressive improvement on unsupervised domain adaptation problems. However, in the semi-supervised domain adaptation (SSDA) setting where the target domain has a few labeled instances available, these methods can fail to improve performance. Inspired by the effectiveness of pseudo-labels in domain adaptation, we propose a reinforcement learning based selective pseudo-labeling method for semi-supervised domain adaptation. It is difficult for conventional pseudo-labeling methods to balance the correctness and representativeness of pseudo-labeled data. To address this limitation, we develop a deep Q-learning model to select both accurate and representative pseudo-labeled instances. Moreover, motivated by large margin loss's capacity on learning discriminative features with little data, we further propose a novel target margin loss for our base model training to improve its discriminability. Our proposed method is evaluated on several benchmark datasets for SSDA, and demonstrates superior performance to all the comparison methods.
Reconstruction and identification of 
H→WW*
 with high transverse momentum in the full hadronic final state

This Letter presents a study of the reconstruction and identification of $H\to WW^*$ with high transverse momentum, where both $W^{(*)}$ bosons decay hadronically. We show that the boosted $H\to WW^*$ can be effectively reconstructed as a single jet and identified using jet substructures in the center-of-mass frame of the jet. Such a reconstruction and identification approach can discriminate the boosted $H\to WW^*$ in the full hadronic final state from QCD jets. This result will significantly improve experimental sensitivities of searches for potential new physics phenomena beyond the standard model in final states containing highly boosted Higgs bosons.
Extension of the $2$-representation theory of finitary $2$-categories to locally (graded) finitary $2$-categories

We extend the 2-representation theory of finitary 2-categories to certain 2-categories with infinitely many objects, denoted locally finitary 2-categories, and extend the classical classification results of simple transitive 2-representations of weakly fiat 2-categories to this environment. We also consider locally finitary 2-categories and 2-representations with a grading, and prove the associated coalgebra 1-morphisms have a homogeneous structure. We use these results to classify simple transitive 2-representations of certain classes of cyclotomic 2-Kac-Moody algebras.
Microwave Scattering and Emission Models and their Applications

First-order radiative transfer solution first-order radiative transfer solution passive sensing formulation of the surface scattering problem surface model and special cases ranges validity of the IEM model matrix doubling formulations for scattering and emission scattering and emissions models for snow and sea ice comparisons of model predictions with backscattering and emission measurements from snow and ice.
Solid-State Behaviour of the Dichlorobenzenes: Actual, Semi-Virtual and Virtual Crystallography

The crystal structures of the low-melting 1,2- and 1,3-dichlorobenzene isomers in monoclinic space group P21/n and monoclinic space group P21/c, resp. , were detd. by x-ray anal. and in situ crystn. techniques. Attempts to predict these structures in advance by force-field calcns. were not successful, although the known crystal structures of two of the three polymorphs of the 1,4-isomer were successfully a posteriori predicted. Calcd. lattice energies were supplemented with estd. lattice-vibrational entropies obtained in the rigid-body approxn. Energy calcns. for actual and virtual crystal structures indicate that the higher m.p. of the 1,4-isomer can be largely attributed to more efficient crystal packing.
Photochemical Method to Evaluate Oxidation Levels in Heat-Treated Vegetable Oil: Comparison with Peroxide-Value and Acid-Value

To determine the degree of oxidation in vegetable oil, a photochemical method using the electron spin resonance (ESR) spin trapping technique was developed, and the results were compared with those obtained using conventional peroxide-value (PV) and acid-value (AV) methods. Vegetable oil heat-treated were subjected to short UV illumination, and the produced alkyl-oxyl radicals were identified and quantified using the ESR spin trapping technique. ESR signal intensity was used as an indicator of oil oxidation, which monotonically increased as a function of the heat-treatment time. Commercially, available oils were selected and analyzed. The results were compared with those obtained using the PV and AV methods. The present method displayed some analogies with the PV method at least in the early stage of heating. Overall, the present method had highly sensitive and capable of detecting early-stage oxidation in vegetable oil.
Pollutants from combustion : formation and impact on atmospheric chemistry

Sources of pollutants R. Friedrich. Chemistry of combustion processes J. Warnatz. Combustion mechanisms - Solid Phase. Structural Changes and Heterogeneous Reactions K. Svoboda, et al. Influence of physical phenomena on the formation of pollutants in combustion B. Zamuner, R. Borghi. General description of atmospheric chemistry G. Poulet. Stratospheric chemistry and the effect of pollutants on ozone R.A. Cox. Gas-phase reaction mechanisms for nitrogen oxide formation and removal in combustion C.T. Bowman. NOx chemistry and emissions - I Heterogeneous reactions (NO+NO2) K. Svoboda, et al. NOx chemistry and emissions - II Heterogeneous reactions (N2O) K. Svoboda, et al. Formation of aromatics in combustion systems C. Vovelle, J.L. Delfau. Soot formation and oxidation H. Bockhorn. VOC: Volatile organic compounds. Formation and Emission A. Jaecker-Voirol. Sulphur chemistry in combustion I. Sulphur in fuels and combustion chemistry J.E. Johnsson, P. Glarborg. Sulphur chemistry in combustion II. Flue gas desulphurization J.E. Johnsson, S. Kiil. Combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons S.M. Senkan.
Dissecting the Mechanisms of Direct Activation for Proapoptotic BAK and BAX

Pro-apoptotic BAK and BAX form toxic mitochondrial pores in response to cellular stress. Whereas BAX predominantly resides in the cytosol, BAK is constitutively localized to the outer mitochondrial membrane. Select BH3 domain helices directly activate BAX by engaging an α1/α6 trigger site. The inability to express full-length BAK has hampered full dissection of its activation mechanism. Here, I report the production of full-length, monomeric BAK by mutagenesis-based solubilization of its C-terminal α-helical surface. Recombinant BAK autotranslocates to mitochondria, but only releases cytochrome c upon BH3 triggering. A direct activation mechanism was explicitly demonstrated using a liposomal system that recapitulates BAK-mediated release upon addition of BH3 ligands alone. Photoreactive BH3 helices mapped both triggering and autointeractions to the canonical BH3-binding pocket of BAK, whereas the same ligands crosslinked to the α1/α6 site of BAX. Thus, BAK and BAX activation are initiated by direct BH3 interaction, but at distinct trigger sites. These structural and biochemical insights provide new opportunities for developing pro-apoptotic agents that activate the death pathway through direct but differential engagement of BAK and BAX.
Towards a motivational alternative to the strength model of self-control

Self-control is an area of research that has received increased attention over the last couple of decades. Failures of self-control, in particular, are held to be the underlying cause of a number of societal ills. The strength model of self-control (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998) purports to explain failures of self-control through the use of a limited resource model. According to the model, initial acts of self-control draw upon a resource, temporarily depleting it and making subsequent self-control acts more likely to fail – a process known as ego depletion. Although the model has inspired a great deal of research, researchers have begun to question both the model itself (e.g., Inzlicht & Schmeichel, 2012), and the research findings that it has generated (e.g., Carter & McCullough, 2013). The current project argues that the strength model suffers from conceptual confusions that render the model untenable, necessitating its replacement with an alternative. A reconceptualisation of drive theory (Maze, 1983), in concert with the process model (Inzlicht & Schmeichel, 2012), is offered as a deterministic framework through which to reinterpret existing findings. In light of suggestions that the ego depletion effect has been overstated, this project also aimed to investigate whether and under what conditions the ego depletion effect could be produced. Three experiments were performed, manipulating both the difficulty and length of the initial self-control task, using common strength model tasks. For all three experiments it was hypothesised that there would be an ego depletion effect, and that the magnitude of the effect would vary as a function of time and difficulty of the initial task. In all three experiments the hypothesis was not supported. There is a shift in current psychological science to recognise the importance of replications and null results; it is in this light that the findings are discussed. The future of self-control research is discussed in light of the null results, and the reconceptualisation of self-control provided by drive theory.
A Bayesian Approach to Detecting Nonlinear Risk Exposures in Hedge Fund Strategies

This paper proposes a model that allows for nonlinear risk exposures of hedge funds to various risk factors. We introduce a flexible threshold regression model and develop a Bayesian approach for model selection and estimation of the thresholds and their unknown number. In particular, we present a computationally flexible Markov chain Monte Carlo stochastic search algorithm which identifies relevant risk factors and/or threshold values. Our analysis of several hedge fund returns reveals that different strategies exhibit nonlinear relations to different risk factors, and that the proposed threshold regression model improves our ability to evaluate hedge fund performance.
Development of a tethered biomembrane biosensing platformfor the incorporation of ion channels

Solid-supported membranes present a biomimetic platform that can be adapted for bio-physical, biochemical and electrophysiological studies. In addition to this they offer an environment to host membrane proteins for the purposes of biosensing. This thesis examines the use of such a system and the possibilities it presents for the studies of ion channels and their potential applications in biosensing. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a powerful technique in the study of solid-supported membranes giving access to capacitance and resistance data, and as such was employed as the main method of characterisation. Electrodes were designed for this purpose in conjunction with Philips Research, and the suitability of the surface for the formation of insulating tethered bilayer lipid membranes (tBLMs). The development of these electrodes led to the incorporation of a SiO2 insulating layer, however its addition resulted in di�culties with the formation of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). However, further refinement of the manufacturing process should resolve these issues. Despite these diffculties, studies were performed using first generation electrodes (P1). Two ionophores, valinomycin and gramicidin, were employed in the characterisation of the ion transport properties of the tBLM system. These studies yielded important information about the structure of the tBLM system under investigation, as well as the ways ion transport can be presented in EIS. Using the work on ionophores as a foundation, an investigation into the incorporation and characterisation of ion channels in tBLM was conducted. Three channels were studied - a ligand-gated eukaryotic Ca2+-permeant channel (TRPC5), a voltage-gated prokaryotic Na+-permeant channel (NavCbt), and a pH-gated K+-permeant channel (KcsA). The success of these studies varied, but provided strong evidence that ion channel incorporation is possible. Further investigation of channel function in the tBLM is required as measured activity is lower than that suggested by literature.
First principles calculation of electrical conductivity and giant magnetroresistance of Co{vert_bar}Cu multilayers

We show that the Kubo formula can be used to calculate the nonlocal electrical conductivity of layered systems from first principles. We use the Layer Korringa Kohn Rostoker method to calculate the electronic structure and Green function of Co/Cu/Co trilayers within the local density approximation to density functional theory. This Green function is used to calculate the conductivity through the Kubo formula for both majority and minority spins and for alignment and anti-alignment of the Co moments on either side of the Cu spacer layer. This allows us to determine the giant magnetoresistance from first principles. We investigate three possibilities for the scattering in Co/Cu/Co: (1) equal electron lifetimes for Cu, majority spin Co, and minority spin Co, (2) equal electron lifetimes for majority and minority Co, weaker scattering in Cu and spin dependent interfacial scattering, (3) electron lifetimes for majority and minority spin cobalt proportional to their Fermi energy densities of states and spin dependent interfacial scattering.
Effects of salts on activated carbon adsorption of fulvic acids

Calcium, magnesium, and sodium significantly influenced the adsorptive capacity of activated carbon for fulvic acids from three sources, including a natural groundwater supply. Adsorptive capacity was evaluated as a function of salt type, salt concentration, and pH and was most sensitive to changes in low concentrations of salt. Chloride, sulfate, bicarbonate, and phosphate exhibited no observable effect on the adsorption of fulvic acid. Calcium significantly influenced the adsorption of peat fulvic acid by an activated carbon column, the addition of calcium greatly enhanced adsorption, and the withdrawal of calcium from a loaded column resulted in substantial desorption. Salts enhanced the adsorption of dihydroxybenzoic acid but had variable effects on the adsorption of EDTA, citric acid, and aspartic acid.
Actionnement microfluidique par ondes acoustiques de surface : de la physique aux applications biologiques

A lab-on-a-chip aims at integrating on a miniaturized substrate one or several laboratory functions. This miniaturization of elementary functions has major advantages to design portable systems, to control precisely the experimental conditions or to reduce the environmental impact of industrial activities. In most of these microsystems, it is necessary to actuate a small amount of chemical or biological fluid under the form of droplets. In particular, it is often necessary to move, divide atomize or mix these small quantities of fluids. Surface Acoustic Wave actuators allow to perform all these elementary operations. They rely on the nonlinear interaction of a surface wave and a liquid. However a precise understanding of the underlying physics is still missing, hence restraining a widespread use of these microsystems. We present, in this thesis, a theorical and experimental study of the oscillation and the displacement of a droplet under a surface acoustic wave excitation. In the first part, we describe the droplet dynamics and nonlinear energy transfers that occur during actuation. The second part of the manuscript is dedicated to the development of a weakly nonlinear model to study parametric response of a droplet to periodic excitation. In a third part, the influence of the gravity is shown through the comparison of pendant and sessile droplet dynamics. A competition beetwen acoustic forces and gravity appears when tilting the experimental device and allow us to observe new droplet dynamics. In the last part of the manuscript, the free surface drop deformations generated by surface acoustic waves, are used to viably sort cells based on their adhesion properties.