Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fixed-Current Operation of a VCSEL Transmitter Over a Temperature Range From ${-} 20^{\circ}$C to 80$^{\circ}$ C Using an Elevated-Oxide-Layer Structure

We have demonstrated fixed-current operation of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) transmitter operating at 1.25 Gb/s over a wide temperature range by using an elevated-oxide-layer structure. Four different types of oxide VCSELs have been prepared for the transmitter modules; conventional-oxide and elevated-oxide-layer VCSELs with the oxide-aperture diameter of 6.6 and 10 μm, and their temperature dependence of the threshold current and turn-off transient responses have been measured. Approximately 10%-reduced both fall time and timing jitter mainly originating from the alleviated turn-off-induced abnormalities in the elevated-oxide-layer VCSEL transmitters contributed to achieve the fixed-current operation in the temperature range from 20 °C to 80 °C. Although the operating current of the elevated-oxide-layer VCSEL transmitter should be increased as the threshold current increases, a simple driving circuit owing to the fixed-current operating transmitter over a wide temperature range will bring a drastic energy saving in the optical data transmission system that incorporates VCSEL as a light source.
Motion Detection Techniques Using Optical Flow

Abstract — Motion detection is very important in image processing. One way of detecting motion is using optical flow. Optical flow cannot be computed locally, since only one independent measurement is available from the image sequence at a point, while the flow velocity has two components. A second constraint is needed. The method used for finding the optical flow in this project is assuming that the apparent velocity of the brightness pattern varies smoothly almost everywhere in the image. This technique is later used in developing software for motion detection which has the capability to carry out four types of motion detection. The motion detection software presented in this project also can highlight motion region, count motion level as well as counting object numbers. Many objects such as vehicles and human from video streams can be recognized by applying optical flow technique. Keywords — Background modeling, Motion detection, Optical flow, Velocity smoothness constant, motion trajectories.
Neoatherosclerosis as reason for stent failures beyond 5 years after drug-eluting stent implantation.

A 69-year-old male (case 1) was admitted due to acute non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Eight years earlier, he had previously undergone treatment with a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES). Four years after stent implantation, a follow-up angiography was obtained showing a patent …
Temperature sensor based on a liquid crystal plasmonic wire grating

In this work, a novel liquid crystal (LC) temperature sensor, based on a Silver (Ag) wire grating, is proposed and theoretically analyzed. The structure is composed of several Ag nanowires distributed in a parallel configuration (see Fig. 1). These wires can be deposited onto a silica glass or plastic substrate. Another substrate positioned on it is separated by spacers of 1.2 μm. The resulting cavity is filled with an E7 LC. The high thermo-optic coefficient of the LC is used to modify the plasmonic resonance of the wire grating. The structure is simple and easily scalable. The application of a 420 nm laser allows an output power ratio sensitivity of 16.7·10-2 dB/°C with a high linearity. This is ten times more than other related temperature sensors based on light intensity variation.
Robust offering strategy for a wind power producer under uncertainties

In the deregulated electricity market, wind power producers (WPPs) are required to submit their generation profile in the day-ahead (DA) market. The consideration of uncertainties associated with price and wind power become crucial to facilitate decision making and risk hedging for WPPs. In this paper, a bidding strategy based on robust optimization is proposed under two trading floors, namely DA market and balancing market. This approach has merits on modelling multiple uncertainties. In addition, the original nonconvex bi-level problem is reformulated into a LP master problem and a MILP subproblem by employing decomposition and linearization techniques. Case studies based on Nodic market demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Synchronization analysis of the supermarket refrigeration system

The supermarket refrigeration system typically has a distributed control structure, which neglects interactions between its subsystems. These interactions occasionally lead to a synchronous operation of the display-cases, which increases both energy consumption and deterioration of components. This is by all mean to be avoided. The paper focuses on synchronization dynamics of the refrigeration system modeled as a piecewise-affine switched system. Stability analysis is performed by gluing the subsystems together to create a single dynamical system. The system behavior is analyzed using the bifurcation and chaos theory. It is demonstrated that the system can have a complex chaotic behavior, which is far from the synchronization. This shows that making the system chaotic is a good choice for a desynchronization strategy. The positive maximum Lyapunov exponent is usually taken as an indication of the existence of chaos. It is used in this paper as a measure of performance for the tendency of the system to synchronize, that is, the higher value of the maximum Lyapunov exponent the lower risk for synchronization.
The optimal legal retirement age in an OLG model with endogenous labour supply

The long run welfare implications of the legal retirement age are studied in a perfect foresight overlapping-generations model where agents live for two periods. Agents’ lifetime is divided between working life and retirement by a legal retirement age controlled by the government whereas agents, besides savings, control the intensive margin or "yearly" labour supply. The legal retirement age is utilized to dampen distortionary effects of payroll taxes and public pension annuities and promote capital accumulation. We show that a social optimal legal retirement age exists and how it depends on whether payroll taxes or benefit annuities ensures budget balance of the PAYG pension system.
NGOs, civil society and democratization: a critical review of the literature

One of the most striking features of the anglophone literature on NGOs is the diversity of NGO sectors and their contributions to civil society and democracy; yet, exploration of this complexity is often eschewed in favour of a normative approach in which the apparently mutually enhancing relationship between NGOs, civil society and the state is underpinned by liberal democratic assumption rather than an engagement with wider debates about the politics of development. Following a critique of this approach to NGOs, civil society and democracy, the paper argues that the role of NGOs in the politics of development is far more complex than much of the NGO literature would suggest, and calls for a more contextualized and less value-laden approach to the understanding of the political role of NGOs.
Louse-borne Relapsing Fever in Persia

Case 16. -A man aged 42 had had a dragging left leg and slightly ataxic gait for six years. He was found to haxe left ankle clonus, brisk reflexes, and bilateral extensor responses. tfubarine in doses of 20 mg. and 30 mg. produced severe sideeffects, blurring of vision, and drunkenness, great ataxia, but no objective improvement in gait. The drug was discontinued at patient's own request. Case 17. -A woman aged 44 had had disseminated sclerosis for 10 years. Brisk tendon reflexes, bilateral extensor plantar responses, and spastic paraplegia were present. She was able to walk a few steps, but had not been out of her house for three "Years. Tubarine in 30-mg. doses did not give any relief but made the patient giddy and more ataxic.
Audio segmentation based approach for improved emotion recognition

Recognition of emotion expressed by a customer in spoken speech is gaining importance because of the expansion of services industry and the need to identify the sentiment of the customer which are not available through a text channel. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective method to enhance the recognition accuracy of emotion in spoken speech. The approach is based on segmenting the audio into smaller, fixed length, segments and recognizing the emotion of each segment individually before fusing the identified emotions to mark the emotion of the audio file. We show through experiments the enhanced performance of the our method on a freely available emotion database called Emo-DB.
Critérios de seleção para parceiros de curto e de longo prazo de universitárias paulistas

Este trabalho foi realizado com mulheres universitarias da cidade de Sao Paulo no ano de 2007 para determinar quais os criterios que estas utilizam quando selecionam parceiros para relacionamentos amorosos de curto e longo prazo. A partir de um questionario e de uma escala do tipo Lickert no qual elas deveriam atribuir valores a caracteristicas especifi cas em relacao a sua auto-imagem e as expectativas para um relacionamento a curto e longo prazo, obtivemos resultados numericos que nos permitiram uma analise estatistica dos dados. Comparando a auto-imagem com parceiros de curto e de longo prazo as mulheres tendem a escolher parceiros diferentes delas mesmas para relacionamentos de curto prazo e semelhantes a elas para relacionamentos de longo prazo. Para parceiros de longo prazo, as mulheres buscam caracteristicas em categorias que possam proporcionar seguranca. Por outro lado, tanto para parceiros de curto prazo, quanto parceiros de longo prazo, as exigencias medias das mulheres a respeito de recursos fi nanceiros tambem sao menores que a sua auto-imagem.
AGL24, SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE, and APETALA1 Redundantly Control AGAMOUS during Early Stages of Flower Development in Arabidopsis[W]

Loss-of-function alleles of AGAMOUS-LIKE24 (AGL24) and SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) revealed that these two similar MADS box genes have opposite functions in controlling the floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana, with AGL24 functioning as a promoter and SVP as a repressor. AGL24 promotes inflorescence identity, and its expression is downregulated by APETALA1 (AP1) and LEAFY to establish floral meristem identity. Here, we combine the two mutants to generate the agl24 svp double mutant. Analysis of flowering time revealed that svp is epistatic to agl24. Furthermore, when grown at 30°C, the double mutant was severely affected in flower development. All four floral whorls showed homeotic conversions due to ectopic expression of class B and C organ identity genes. The observed phenotypes remarkably resembled the leunig (lug) and seuss (seu) mutants. Protein interaction studies showed that dimers composed of AP1-AGL24 and AP1-SVP interact with the LUG-SEU corepressor complex. We provide genetic evidence for the role of AP1 in these interactions by showing that the floral phenotype in the ap1 agl24 svp triple mutant is significantly enhanced. Our data suggest that MADS box proteins are involved in the recruitment of the SEU-LUG repressor complex for the regulation of AGAMOUS.
Complement factor H and the bilaterality of age-related macular degeneration.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether complement factor H (CFH Y402H) genotype influences bilateral involvement of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) lesions. METHODS The Blue Mountains Eye Study (BMES) followed up 3654 participants 49 years and older (BMES 1, 1992-1994), including 2335 (75.3% of survivors) at the 5-year (BMES 2, 1997-1999) and 1952 (76.5%) at the 10-year (BMES 3, 2002-2004) examinations. Age-related macular degeneration retinal photographic grading used the Wisconsin system. Early and late AMD included prevalent and incident cases from all visits. CFH genotyping used TaqMan assays. RESULTS Of 767 AMD cases, 53.3% of early and 53.1% of late AMD cases were bilateral. After adjusting for age and other covariants, the CFH CC (Y402H polymorphism) genotype was associated with an increased likelihood of bilateral compared with unilateral involvement by any soft drusen (odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-4.5), distinct soft drusen (OR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.0-8.1), and pigmentary abnormalities (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.0-2.8). We could not establish significant associations between this genotype and the bilaterality of late AMD (OR, 1.8; 95% CI, 0.4-7.7), either geographic atrophy (OR, 0.6; 95% CI, 0.07-4.6) or neovascular AMD (OR, 3.4; 95% CI, 0.3-41.4). CONCLUSIONS Persons with the CFH CC genotype at any given age have an increased likelihood of bilateral compared with unilateral involvement of some early AMD lesions.
Variability in Sex-Determining Mechanisms Influences Genome Complexity in Reptilia

In this review, we describe the history of amniote sex determination as a classic example of Darwinian evolution. We suggest that evolutionary changes in sex determination provide a foundation for understanding important aspects of chromosome and genome organization that otherwise appear haphazard in their origins and contents. Species with genotypic sex determination often possess heteromorphic sex chromosomes, whereas species with environmental sex determination lack them. Through a series of mutations followed by selection at key genes, sex-determining mechanisms have turned over many times throughout the amniote lineage. As a consequence, amniote genomes have undergone gains or losses of sex chromosomes. We review the genomic and ecological contexts in which either temperature-dependent or genotypic sex determination has evolved. Once genotypic sex determination emerges in a lineage, viviparity and heteromorphic sex chromosomes become more likely to evolve. For example, in extinct marine reptiles, genotypic sex determination apparently led to viviparity, which in turn facilitated their pelagic radiation. Sex chromosomes comprise genome regions that differ from autosomes in recombination rate, mutation rate, levels of polymorphism, and the presence of sex-determining and sexually antagonistic genes. In short, many aspects of amniote genome complexity, life history, and adaptive radiation appear contingent on evolutionary changes in sex-determining mechanisms.
A simplified immuno‐enzymetric assay of the epidermal growth factor receptor in breast tumors: Evaluation in 282 cases

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF‐R) is currently being investigated in human clinical oncology, and particularly in breast cancer, as a potential prognostic factor and a biological target for therapy. As an alternative to the 125I‐EGF binding assay, we propose a sensitive immuno‐enzymetric assay (IEMA) suitable for EGF‐R assay in breast cancer. The assay is performed on solubilized extracts of the 105,000 g pellet of a tumor homogenate, allowing estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) assays to be made on the cytosol. The IEMA is performed on 96‐well plates coated with the monoclonal anti‐EGF‐R antibody RI, through an anti‐mouse IgG2b bridge. Trapped EGF‐R in the samples is covered by a second monoclonal antibody (MAb), 528, and revealed by an antilgG2a‐peroxidase complex. The sensitivity is I fmol/mg membrane protein, and the assay can be performed on tissue samples down to 50 mg. Two hundred and twenty primary ductal breast carcinomas assayed by this method showed a log normal distribution with a modal value of 8 fmol/mg prot. , a mean at 18 and a median at 13 fmol/mg prot. EGF‐R‐rich tumors (>20 fmol/mg prot.) were highly correlated with the absence of estrogen receptors and/or with a high histological grade (SBR III). Our data demonstrate the validity of the IEMA assay of EGF‐R in human breast tumors.
Structural Relationships between Work Environment and Service Quality Perceptions as A Function of Customer Contact Intensity: Implications for Human Service Strategy

This study assesses the importance of customer-contact intensity at the service encounter level as a determinant of service quality assessments. Using data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, it shows that performance-driven human resources practices play an important role as determinants of employee customer orientation and service capability in both high-contact (outpatient healthcare) and low-contact (benefits claim processing) human service contexts. However, there existed significant differences across service delivery settings in the salience of customer orientation and the congruence between employee and customer perceptions of service quality, depending on the intensity of customer contact. In both contexts, managerial attention to high-performance work systems and customer-orientation has the potential to favorably impact perceptions of service quality, amplify consumer satisfaction, and enhance operational efficiency.
Pyramid‐based super‐resolution of the undersampled and subpixel shifted image sequence

The existing methods for the reconstruction of a super‐resolution image from the undersampled and subpixel shifted image sequence have to solve a large ill‐condition equation group by approximately finding the inverse matrix or performing many iterations to approach the solution. The former leads to a big burden of computation, and the latter causes the artifacts or noise to be overstressed. So they are rarely implemented in practical use. In order to solve these problems, in this article, we consider applying pyramid structure to the super‐resolution of the image sequence and present a suitable pyramid framework, called Super‐Resolution Image Pyramid (SRIP), and determine the pyramid back‐projection. Pyramid structure and methods are widely used in image processing and computer vision. But we have not found their applications to the super‐resolution in literatures. We give a complete description for SRIP. As an example, the Iterative Back‐Projection (IBP) suggested by Peleg (1991, 1993) is integrated in this pyramid framework. The experiments and the error analysis are performed to show the effectiveness of this framework. The image resolution can be improved better even in the case of severely undersampled images. In addition, the other general super‐resolution methods can be easily integrated in this framework so that they can be done in parallel so as to meet the need of real‐time processing. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 12, 254–263, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.10033
Experimental Study on UWB Pulse Generation Using UWB Bandpass Filters

This paper presents an experimental study on the generation of the ultra-wideband (UWB) pulses with full FCC's frequency band for UWB radio system by using UWB bandpass filters developed recently. This work includes, 1) generation of the full UWB (3.1-10.6 GHz) pulse using various UWB bandpass filters, 2) investigation of the time response (impulse response) of UWB bandpass filters, and 3) analysis and evaluation of the generated pulses, both waveforms and spectrum, and comparison with a Gaussian doublet. The experimental and analyzed results demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique using UWB bandpass filter in the full UWB pulse generation. The comparison with the Gaussian doublet showed also the similarity and difference between the Gaussian doublet and the generated UWB pulses
Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased ex vivo-platelet aggregation and decreased response to aspirin–antithrombotic potential of ACE-inhibitors and AT1-antagonists

Recently, Ogawa et al. [1] examined the efficacy of low-dose aspirin for the primary prevention of atherosclerotic events in patients with type 2 diabetes in Japan. In this Japanese Primary Prevention of Atherosclerosis With Aspirin for Diabetes (JPAD) Trial, aspirin did not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. The interpretation of these results is challenging, the authors of the study and of the editorial interpreted the results in context with the low incidence of atherosclerotic disease in Japan [1, 2]. Likewise, the The Prevention of Progression of Arterial Disease and Diabetes (POPADAD) Trial failed to reduce cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes and asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease by aspirin [3]. On the basis of the concept that diabetes may modulate platelet aggregation, the purpose of our study was to evaluate the effect of type 2 diabetes on parameters of platelet aggregation, as well as the effect of antithrombotics in this patient collective by use of whole blood aggregometry. In this prospective observational registry, blood samples from 184 patients with coronary heart disease and/or arterial hypertension were analysed by whole-blood lumi-aggregometry. Platelet aggregation was determined by the increase in impedance across paired electrodes in response to the stimulatory agents collagen and adenosine diphosphate (ADP), as recently described [4]. After recruitment of the patients, venous blood samples were collected in plastic tubes containing a 1 : 10 volume of acid citrate anticoagulant (two parts of 0.1 mol/l citic acid to three parts of 0.1 mol/l trisodium citrate). Platelet aggregation in whole blood samples were examined by an impedance aggregometer (Model 560, Chrono-Log, Havertown, PA, USA). Measurements were performed at 37 C and a stirring speed of 900 rpm. According to the recommendations of the manufacturer, citrate blood (500ml) was diluted 1-to-1 with 0.9% NaCl and prewarmed for 5 minutes at 37 C. After the electrode was placed, aggregation was induced by the stimulatory agents collagen (final concentration 2 mg/ml) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP; final concentration 5 mmol/ml). Collagen and ADP were purchased from Nobis (Endingen, Germany). Platelet aggregation was monitored continually for 6 minutes, and responses were recorded as electrical impedance across paired electrodes (in Ohm). Inhibition of aggregation was evaluated as the percentage comparing the extent of aggregation in the presence or absence of diabetes and in the presence or absence of aspirin. Treatment with other classical antithrombotics than aspirin led to study exclusion. Group comparisons were performed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with a Bonferroni post hoc test. Without antithrombotic medication, patients with type 2 diabetes (n1⁄4 18, eight females, mean age 62 14) showed a 26% increase in collagen-induced platelet aggregation ( p1⁄4 0.03) and a 40% increase in ADP-induced platelet aggregation ( p1⁄4 0.04)
Inhibiting Left-Handed Wave Propagation by a Band Gap of Stacked Cut-Off Metallic Hole Arrays

In this letter, the behavior of a recently reported left-handed metamaterial working at millimeter-wave frequencies is analyzed. The metamaterial is built by the periodic stacking of metallic plates with sub-wavelength hole arrays that show extraordinary optical transmission. If the longitudinal period of the stacked structure is chosen adequately, it is possible to mold the electromagnetic wave propagation inside the structure from right-handed to left-handed. The transmission response of the fabricated prototype has been measured with a millimeter wave quasioptical vector network analyzer in the range between 40 GHz and 110 GHz confirming the possibility to tune the left-handed or right handed characteristics of the waves propagating there. These results can give rise to interesting applications such as novel lenses and other quasioptical structures