Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Dual-Mode Sensor for the Detection of Interface Flaw in “Insulator-Conductor” Composite Structures

“Insulator-conductor” composite structures have been extensively used in a vast number of fields in recent years. However, due to different factors including but not limited to environmental and adverse working conditions, the interface between the insulator and conductor is prone to flaws. Therefore, non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques are needed to inspect the functionality and integrity of such composite structures. A dual-mode sensor that combines principles of eddy current and capacitive sensing is proposed to detect the interfacial flaws in “insulator-conductor” composite structures. The proposed sensor uses phase switching excitation to switch between inductive and capacitive detection modes, and the feasibility of the method was analyzed by equivalent circuit analysis and Finite Element (FE) simulations. The dual-mode sensor was fabricated on a single Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and used for experimental investigation on specimens of “Perspex-aluminum” composite structures. The experimental results verified the results of equivalent circuit analysis and FE simulation, and showed that the proposed sensor is able to detect corrosion under insulation, surface cracking on the conductor and interface debonding. Results also show that the detected information of the two modes complement each other, proving that the detection method has the ability to evaluate flaws in complex situations at the interface.
A Review of the Critical Shoulder Angle

Rotator cuff tears (RCT) are a complex pathology of the shoulder which may result from trauma or chronic degeneration and are often multifactorial in nature. The concept of mechanical impingement of the supraspinatus tendon underneath the acromion was first introduced by Armstrong [1] in 1949 and was later verified and popularized by Neer [2]. In 1986, Bigliani et al. [3]. identified three distinct acromial shapes and found the hooked type acromion to be the most strongly associated with rotator cuff pathology. By Banas et al. [4] described an increase in RCTs and subacromial disease with a decreasing lateral inclination angle of the acromion.
Human-centric Software Engineering for Next Generation Cloud- and Edge-based Smart Living Applications

Humans are a key part of software development, including customers, designers, coders, testers and end users. In this keynote talk I explain why incorporating human-centric issues into software engineering for next-generation applications is critical. I use several examples from our recent and current work on handling human-centric issues when engineering various ‘smart living’ cloud- and edge-based software systems. This includes using human-centric, domain-specific visual models for non-technical experts to specify and generate data analysis applications; personality impact on aspects of software activites; incorporating end user emotions into software requirements engineering for smart homes; incorporating human usage patterns into emerging edge computing applications; visualising smart city-related data; reporting diverse software usability defects; and human-centric security and privacy requirements for smart living systems. I assess the usefulness of these approaches, highlight some outstanding research challenges, and briefly discuss our current work on new human-centric approaches to software engineering for smart living applications.
Sparse Representation and Dictionary Learning Model Incorporating Group Sparsity and Incoherence to Extract Abnormal Brain Regions Associated With Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a complex mental illness, the mechanism of which is currently unclear. Using sparse representation and dictionary learning (SDL) model to analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) dataset of schizophrenia is currently a popular method for exploring the mechanism of the disease. The SDL method decomposed the fMRI data into a sparse coding matrix <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {X}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and a dictionary matrix <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {D}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. However, these traditional methods overlooked group structure information in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {X}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the coherence between the atoms in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {D}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. To address this problem, we propose a new SDL model incorporating group sparsity and incoherence, namely GS2ISDL to detect abnormal brain regions. Specifically, GS2ISDL uses the group structure information that defined by AAL anatomical template from fMRI dataset as priori to achieve inter-group sparsity in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {X}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. At the same time, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${L_{1}} - norm$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is enforced on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${ {X}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to achieve intra-group sparsity. In addition, our algorithm also imposes incoherent constraint on the dictionary matrix <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${{D}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> to reduce the coherence between the atoms in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${{D}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, which can ensure the uniqueness of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${{X}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the discriminability of the atoms. To validate our proposed model GS2ISDL, we compared it with both IK-SVD and SDL algorithm for analyzing fMRI dataset collected by Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium (MCIC). The results show that the accuracy, sensitivity, recall and MCC values of GS2ISDL are 93.75%, 95.23%, 80.50% and 88.19%, respectively, which outperforms both IK-SVD and SDL. The ROIs extracted by GS2ISDL model (such as Precentral gyrus, Hippocampus and Caudate nucleus, etc.) are further verified by the literature review on schizophrenia studies, which have significant biological significance.
ON-State Contact Resistance and Arc-Less Commutation Characteristics of Cu-W Clad Contact Materials in a Hybrid DC Switch

Hybrid dc switches have better performance with regard to energy conservation and less arc erosion than conventional semiconductor switches and mechanical switches. A novel hybrid dc switch based on a SiC-MOSFET is developed, and it accomplishes arc-less commutation if the current is below a threshold value, which is mainly determined by the boiling voltage of its contact material. However, as it is difficult for common contact materials to have both a low ON-state contact resistance and high boiling voltage, optimization of the contact materials is necessary to further decrease the ON-state contact resistance and improve the arc-less commutation characteristics of hybrid dc switches. New-type Cu-W clad contacts are proposed in this article by brazing tungsten top layers on copper bulks. The performance of the Cu-W clad contacts with the tungsten top layers of different thickness is evaluated by comparing their ON-state contact resistance and the threshold current of arc-less commutation with those of copper contacts and tungsten contacts under dc current ranging from 100 to 400 A. The results of the experiments show that the Cu-W clad contacts with the tungsten top layers of 1 mm thickness are the most suitable for arc-less hybrid dc switches because of their low ON-state contact resistance and largest threshold current of arc-less commutation.
A Re-trained Model Based On Multi-kernel Convolutional Neural Network for Acoustic Scene Classification

This paper proposes a deep learning framework applied for Acoustic Scene Classification (ASC), which identifies recording location. In general, we apply three types of spectrograms: Gammatone (GAM), log-Mel and Constant Q Transform (CQT) for front-end feature extraction. For back-end classification, we present a re-trained model with a multi-kernel CDNN-based architecture for the pre-trained process and a DNN-based network for the post-trained process. Our obtained results over DCASE 2016 dataset show a significant improvement, increasing by nearly 8% compared to DCASE baseline of 77.2%.
Induction of exocytosis in characean internodal cells by locally restricted application of chlortetracycline and the effect of cytochalasin B, depolarizing and hyperpolarizing agents*

Abstract. Local exocytosis with concomitant deposition of cell wall material (plugs) was induced in mature characean internodal cells by application of Sephadex beads loaded with a chlortetracycline (CTC)/CaCl2 solution. Plugs can be formed anywhere on the cells independently of structural and/or functional plasma membrane domains, provided that the pH of the CTC/CaCl2 solution is above 5.5. Plug formation is inhibited by cytochalasin B and membrane depolarizing agents. Treatment with fusicoccin enhances exocytosis. The results suggest that actin filaments are involved in the transport of vesicles and endoplasmic reticulum cisternae towards the cell membrane, and that the membrane potential determines the extent of CTC mediated Ca2+ influx.
Understanding the City Behaviour through Data Analysis: A Case Study of Barcelona

Incentivizing the usage of public transportation services among city residents to improve the air quality of the city has been the major target of city officials all around the world. In this paper, we perform an exploratory data analysis on the daily usage and patterns of bicying service usage (Barcelona’s bicycling system and a part of public transport system) and measured air quality values for the city of Barcelona in Spain. Our data analysis results yields three main observations (i) Regarding bicying service, the highest usage of bikes is observed to be during morning and evening rush hours as well as weekdays which shows that bicying service is mostly used by work commuters. (ii) Regarding air quality measurements, the analysis results indicate that Observatori Fabra has the highest air quality whereas the district of Eixample has the poorest air quality among the considered districts of Barcelona and high air pollution are observed during weekdays due to heavy morning rush traffic. (iii) Regarding the relation between bikes service usage and air quality, the correlation between bicycing usage and air quality levels is observed to be low.
Efficient I/O for Neural Network Training with Compressed Data

FanStore is a shared object store that enables efficient and scalable neural network training on supercomputers. By providing a global cache layer on node-local burst buffers using a compressed representation, it significantly enhances the processing capability of deep learning (DL) applications on existing hardware. In addition, FanStore allows POSIX-compliant file access to the compressed data in user space. We investigate the tradeoff between runtime overhead and data compression ratio using real-world datasets and applications, and propose a compressor selection algorithm to maximize storage capacity given performance constraints. We consider both asynchronous (i.e., with prefetching) and synchronous I/O strategies, and propose mechanisms for selecting compressors for both approaches. Using FanStore, the same storage hardware can host 2–13× more data for example applications without significant runtime overhead. Empirically, our experiments show that FanStore scales to 512 compute nodes with near linear performance scalability.
Mating tactics and paternity in a socially monogamous canid, the bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis)

Abstract Relatively little is known about the mating behavior, and factors that influence the mating behavior, of socially monogamous mammals. We used a combination of behavioral and genetic data to examine the mating tactics of a socially monogamous population of bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis). In contrast to some other canid species, we found no evidence that either sex increased range size or traveling distance during the mating season, demonstrating that neither sex roams widely in pursuit of extrapair copulations. Mated partners maintained close proximity during, and sometimes outside, the mating season, suggesting that females looking to engage with extrapair mates might find it difficult to do so. Consistent with these findings, microsatellite analyses revealed lower levels of extrapair paternity (EPP) than have been reported in other canid species, with only 9.8% of cubs produced outside of the pair-bond. We suggest that the relatively low level of EPP in the bat-eared fox may be influenced partly by diet and foraging behavior, which makes it easy for males to maintain close proximity to partners and costly for either sex to roam in search of extrapair mates.
Seasonal Growth of Dominant, Intermediate, and Suppressed Red Pine Trees

1. During 1960 and 1961 a study of cambial growth was conducted with vernier tree ring bands in a thirty-four-year-old red pine (Pinus resinosa Ait.) stand in central Wisconsin. The seasonal rate of cambial growth and time of initiation of cambial growth were studied for trees of dominant, intermediate, and suppressed crown classes. In addition, cambial growth in the upper stem was studied in dominant and intermediate trees for comparison with growth in the lower stem. 2. Dominant trees started growing earlier, grew faster, and had a longer growing season than intermediate trees. Suppressed trees grew negligibly and had a very short growing season. 3. Growth of all trees was highly intermittent throughout the growing season. Individual trees grew, stopped growing, and then resumed growth. Growth cessation of some trees occurred even during the time when the average rate of growth for all trees was greatest. Seasonal growth patterns varied greatly during successive years, indicating extreme sensitivity of diameter growth to environmental stresses. 4. This study emphasized that growth inhibition in suppressed trees resulted from decreased rates of growth, shorter growing season, and later initiation of growth than in intermediate or dominant trees. 5. Trees grew faster in the upper than in the lower stem in both dominant and intermediate trees. In dominant trees there were more instances of growth cessation in the lower part of the stem than in the upper part. But in intermediate trees there were only a few more instances of growth cessation in the lower stem than in the upper stem. At both heights, however, growth cessation and resumption occurred much more frequently in intermediate than in dominant trees. 6. Possible internal causes of growth intermittency are discussed. The delay in growth initiation of the more suppressed trees emphasizes the importance of hormones in competition among trees. 7. Hydration effects on growth measurements of stems are discussed.
Environmental influences on aquatic plants in freshwater ecosystems

Aquatic plants are important components of many freshwater ecosystems. In this review we examine natural and anthropogenic influences on the distribution and abundance of aquatic plants, and develop a conceptual model of those diverse interactions. Species of aquatic plants vary greatly in their anatomy, physiology, life-history traits, and ability to tolerate inorganic and biological stressors. Key examples of inorganic stressors are extreme regimes of flow velocity, irradiance, salinity, ice cover, temperature, nutrients, and pollutants. Stressors associated with competition, herbivory, and disease may also limit the ability of species to utilize otherwise suitable habitats. Some aquatic plants have a cosmopolitan distribution and display high levels of polymorphism and phenotypic plasticity in response to variations of environmental factors; these qualities allow them to occur over a wide range of conditions. Other species, however, have narrower tolerances and are potentially useful indicators of envi.
Demystifying Tensor Cores to Optimize Half-Precision Matrix Multiply

Half-precision matrix multiply has played a key role in the training of deep learning models. The newly designed Nvidia Tensor Cores offer the native instructions for half-precision small matrix multiply, based on which Half-precision General Matrix Multiply (HGEMM) routines are developed and can be accessed through high-level APIs. In this paper, we, for the first time, demystify how Tensor Cores on NVIDIA Turing architecture work in great details, including the instructions used, the registers and data layout required, as well as the throughput and latency of Tensor Core operations. We further benchmark the memory system of Turing GPUs and conduct quantitative analysis of the performance. Our analysis shows that the bandwidth of DRAM, L2 cache and shared memory is the new bottleneck for HGEMM, whose performance is previously believed to be bound by computation. Based on our newly discovered features of Tensor Cores, we apply a series of optimization techniques on the Tensor Core-based HGEMM, including blocking size optimization, data layout redesign, data prefetching, and instruction scheduling. Extensive evaluation results show that our optimized HGEMM routine achieves an average of 1.73× and 1.46× speedup over the native implementation of cuBLAS 10.1 on NVIDIA Turing RTX2070 and T4 GPUs, respectively. The code of our implementation is written in native hardware assembly (SASS).
Robotic arm assisted surgery in orthopaedics: a Health Technology Assessment evaluation in Liguria Region

Background: Robotic surgery is a mini-invasive technique that involves the execution of interventions with collaborative robots. Among them, the MAKO system is a high-tech robotic platform for prosthetic surgery in orthopaedics. Liguria faces the problem of the balance between demand and offer of arthroplasty due to the high presence of the elderly concerning its demographic configuration. The high passive mobility due to the interventions of orthopaedic prostheses and the presence on Ligurian soil (Local Health Unit 5, LHU5) of a robotic system for the prosthetic implant, suggest to perform an assessment of the assistant consequences, economic, social and ethical caused by the adoption of MAKO technology with an HTA approach.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive review of the scientific literature to find evidence on the benefit of MAKO robotic-arm assisted surgery for partial (UKA) or total (TKA) knee arthroplasty. Data on the number of admissions for UKA and TKA interventions and the hospital stay average in Liguria was extracted from the regional database.Results: The literature search identified 14 papers. Most of them were not considered with proper evidence because not being peer-reviews published in an indexed journal, studies conducted on cadavers, limited to the operative phase and lacking clinical outcomes, non-experimental studies, studies without comparators or with inadequate comparators. Thus, we selected 3 studies. Focusing on the LHU5 data from the regional database, we observed an annual increase of about 90% in hospitalizations and an average decrease of 3-day hospitalization days.Conclusions: The type of studies and the evidence available are rather thin and not consolidated either from clinical effectiveness or safety or cost-effectiveness. It is not possible today to estimate adequately how and how much these costs will be translated into practical clinical benefits and possible economic savings. Therefore, it is believed that the adoption of this technology should exclusively take place in the context of a research activity aimed at defining all the possible dimensions of the technology (safety-efficacy-cost/effectiveness).
Genetic relationships among Ethiopian mustard genotypes based on oil content and fatty acid composition

Quantification and classification of genetic diversity among genotypes is essential for parental selection in breeding programs. The objective of this study was to classify and cluster Ethiopian mustard genotypes according to their fatty acid composition, and to assess the genetic relationship between the genotypes. This study revealed wide variation in fatty acid composition. Principal component analysis showed that desaturation ratio, elongation ratio, monounsaturated fatty acids, oleic desaturation ratio, and vaccinic acid had the highest loading in the first component that accounted for 39.28% of the total variation. For the second principal component stearic acid, saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid, oleic desaturation ratio, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and -linolenic acid had the highest loading that accounted for 30.97% of the total variation. Five principal components explained 96.01% of the total variation. The dendrogram generated by the UPGMA cluster analysis grouped B. carinata genotypes into 11 distinct clusters. The pair-wise mean genetic distance estimates based on fatty acid composition was 1.08 ± 0.02. The information generated from this study can be used to plan crosses and maximize the use of genetic diversity and expression of heterosis.
Light Intensity and Fertilizer Concentration: II. Optimal Fertilizer Solution Concentration for Species Differing in Light Requirement and Growth Rate

To evaluate the effects of increasing photosynthetic photon fl ux (PPF) on op- timal fertilizer concentrations, we grew wax begonia (Begonia semperfl orens-cultorum Hort.) and petunia (Petunia ◊hybrida Hort. Vilm-Andr.) seedlings in a soilless growing medium without starter fertilizer under three PPF treatments (high, medium, and low corresponding to an average daily PPF of 23.2, 15.6, and 9.8 mol . m -2. d -1 , respectively) and subirrigated with six fertilizer concentrations (electrical conductivity (EC) of 0.12, 0.65, 1.18, 1.71, 2.24, and 2.77 dS . m -1 ). Compared to low PPF, shoot dry mass of wax begonia and petunia seedlings increased 2- and 3-fold, respectively, at high PPF. Fertilizer EC resulting in maximum shoot dry mass was the same (1.28 and 1.87 dS . m -1 for wax begonia and petunia, respectively) in the three PPF treatments. Shoot dry mass and leaf area of petunias decreased little at higher than optimal fertilizer EC in the three PPF treatments, while growth of begonia was inhibited at high fertilizer EC. The optimal fertilizer range, calculated as the lower and upper limits of fertilizer EC within which plant growth was not reduced by >10% as compared to the optimum EC was 0.65 to 1.71 dS . m -1 in wax begonia and 1.18 to >2.77 dS . m -1 for petunia. Compared to those grown at 1.18 dS . m -1 , wax begonias grown at 1.71 dS . m -1 had similar dry mass, but were shorter in all three PPF treatments (average height reduction of 6.5%). In general, EC of the top layer of the growing medium was higher than that of the bottom layer of the growing medium, and this difference increased with increasing EC.
About Synchronization Problem of Group of Weakly Coupled Identical Oscillators

The work is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of synchronization of a large number of weakly coupled oscillators in the presence of dissipative bonds. These bonds are included in the system dynamics equations in the form of diffusion matrices, providing asymptotically stable oscillation of the oscillator ensemble as a whole. Three types of interaction known as "identical all-to-all", "nearest neighbors" and "nearest neighbors in a circle" are considered as examples.