nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Mode Coupling Effects in Ring Core Fibers for Space Division Multiplexing Systems
Venue: Journal of Lightwave Technology

An optical fiber with weak mode coupling is desirable for future ultrahigh capacity space division multiplexing (SDM) systems because mode coupling in an optical fiber results in extrinsic loss of the fiber and crosstalk between guided optical modes. To study the feasibility of a ring core fiber (RCF) for SDM systems, in this paper, we investigate the mode coupling in the RCF supporting five or seven guided mode groups (MGs) at a wavelength of 1550 nm. For this purpose, the coupled mode/power theory with identified spatial power spectrum of random perturbations of fiber axis is used to estimate the bend loss/crosstalk of the RCF due to microbending. It is shown that based on the identified parameters for the spatial power spectrum in the 5/7 MG RCF, the estimated bend loss/crosstalk of the RCF agrees well with experimental results. In addition, the impact of the gradient parameter a and refractive index contrast D of the fiber refractive index profile on bend loss and crosstalk of the RCF is explored. Simulation results indicate that the D instead of the a significantly affects bend loss and crosstalk of the RCF. The magnitude improvement in bend loss by increasing the D is dependent on the spatial power spectrum.
Strategies for Investigating G Protein Modulation of Voltage Gated Ca2+ Channels.
Venue: Cold Spring Harbor protocols

G protein coupled receptor modulation of voltage gated ion channels is a common means of fine tuning the response of channels to changes in membrane potential. Such modulation impacts physiological processes such as synaptic transmission, and hence therapeutic strategies often directly or indirectly target these pathways. As an exemplar of channel modulation, we examine strategies for investigating G protein modulation of CaV2.2 or N type voltage gated Ca(2+ channels. We focus on biochemical and genetic tools for defining the molecular mechanisms underlying the various forms of CaV2.2 channel modulation initiated following ligand binding to G protein coupled receptors.
Stimulation of Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis by the Mental Disease Gene DISC1 is Mediated by N Type Voltage Gated Calcium Channels
Venue: Front. Synaptic Neurosci.

Lesions and mutations of the DISC1 (Disrupted in schizophrenia 1) gene have been linked to major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism, but the influence of DISC1 on synaptic transmission remains poorly understood. Using two independent genetic approaches RNAi and a DISC1 KO mouse we examined the impact of DISC1 on the synaptic vesicle (SV) cycle by population imaging of the synaptic tracer vGpH in hippocampal neurons. DISC1 loss of function resulted in a marked decrease in SV exocytic rates during neuronal stimulation and was associated with reduced Ca2+ transients at nerve terminals. Impaired SV release was efficiently rescued by elevation of extracellular Ca2+ hinting at a link between DISC1 and voltage gated Ca2+ channels. Accordingly, blockade of N type Cav2.2 channels mimics and occludes the effect of DISC1 inactivation on SV exocytosis, and overexpression of DISC1 in a heterologous system increases Cav2.2 currents. Collectively, these results show that DISC1 dependent enhancement of SV exocytosis is mediated by Cav2.2 and point to aberrant glutamate release as a probable endophenotype of major psychiatric disorders.
Money Laundering and Technology Enabled Crime: a cultural analysis
Venue: AMCIS

Over the past decade or so, aided by information and communication technologies, money laundering has seen a sharp increase. While traditionally money laundering was associated with drug cartels and warlords, increasingly the focus has shifted towards white collar crime and terrorist financing. It is therefore important to understand why money laundering (and hence white collar crime) comes into being and sustains over a period of time. This paper, while exploring the antecedents of technology enabled white collar crime, undertakes a cultural analysis of the Silk Road case. The cultural analysis helps in understanding patterns of behavior associated with technology enabled white collar crimes.
Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns in South Africa's national parks

Air temperatures have increased globally over the past decades, while rainfall changes have been more variable, but are taking place. In South Africa, substantial climate related impacts are predicted, and protected area management agencies will need to respond actively to impacts. It is critical for management agencies to understand the way in which climate is changing locally to predict impacts and respond appropriately. Here, for the first time, we quantify observable changes in temperature and rainfall in South African national parks over the past five to ten decades. Our results show significant increases in temperatures in most parks, with increases being most rapid in the arid regions of the country. Increases in the frequency of extreme high temperature events were also most pronounced in these regions. These results are consistent with other climate studies conducted in these areas. Similar increases were identified for both minimum and maximum temperatures, though absolute minimum temperatures increased at greater rates than absolute maxima. Overall, rainfall trends were less obvious, but a decrease in rainfall was observed for the southern Cape (in three parks) and an increase was detected in one park. The observed temperature changes over the last 20 50 years have in several instances already reached those predicted for near future scenarios (2035) indicating that change scenarios are conservative. These results provide individual parks with evidence based direction for managing impacts under current and projected changes in local climate. They also provide the management agency with sub regional information to tailor policy and impact monitoring. Importantly, our results highlight the critical role that individual weather stations play in informing local land management and the concerns for parks that have no local information on changes in climate.
Measuring recreational visitation at U.S. National Parks with crowd sourced photographs.
Venue: Journal of environmental management

Land managers rely on visitation data to inform policy and management decisions. However, visitation data is often costly and burdensome to obtain, and provides a limited depth of information. In this paper, we assess the validity of using crowd sourced, online photographs to infer information about the habits and preferences of recreational visitors by comparing empirical data from the National Park Service to photograph data from the online platform Flickr for 38 National Parks in the western United States. Using multiple regression analysis, we find that the number of photos posted monthly in a park can reliably indicate the number of visitors to a park in a given month. Through additional statistical testing we also find that the home locations of photo takers, provided voluntarily on an online profile, accurately show the home origins of park visitors. Together, these findings validate a new method for measuring recreational visitation, opening an opportunity for land managers worldwide to track and understand visitation by augmenting current data collection methods with crowd sourced, online data that is easy and inexpensive to obtain. In addition, it enables future research on how visitation rates change with changes in access, management or infrastructure, weather events, or ecosystem health, and facilitates valuation research, such as travel cost studies.
Stakeholder perception of regulating commercial tourism in Victorian National Parks, Australia

In 2013, the Victorian State Government, Australia, amended legislation to allow the private sector to build and operate tourism superstructure within National Park borders. This study utilised a theoretical regulatory framework to categorise the strategies which regulate commercial tourism in National Parks. Data pertaining to stakeholders' perceptions of the effectiveness of each strategy were collected. Stakeholders within this study sought a clearer government vision for tourism superstructure in National Parks, one which acknowledged conservation as priority and was supported by a more comprehensive regulatory system addressing potential impacts. The results from this study have practical implications for designing an efficacious regulatory system for tourism superstructure in National Parks. The findings suggest an efficacious regulatory system could increase stakeholder trust of and support for government regulatory efforts. This study provides a useful framework for future regulatory focused studies and outlines the theoretical implications for future research in similar settings.
A black hole mass determination for the compact galaxy Mrk 1216

Mrk 1216 is a nearby, early type galaxy with a small effective radius of 2.8 kpc and a large stellar velocity dispersion of 308 km/s for its K band luminosity of 1.4x10^11 L_sun. Using integral field spectroscopy assisted by adaptive optics from Gemini North, we measure spatially resolved stellar kinematics within ~450 pc of the galaxy nucleus. The galaxy exhibits regular rotation with velocities of \pm 180 km/s and a sharply peaked velocity dispersion profile that reaches 425 km/s at the center. We fit axisymmetric, orbit based dynamical models to the combination of these high angular resolution kinematics, large scale kinematics extending to roughly three effective radii, and Hubble Space Telescope imaging, resulting in a constraint of the mass of the central black hole in Mrk 1216. After exploring several possible sources of systematics that commonly affect stellar dynamical black hole mass measurements, we find a black hole mass of (4.9\pm1.7)x10^9 M_sun and a H band stellar mass to light ratio of 1.3\pm0.4 M_sun/L_sun (1 sigma uncertainties) Mrk 1216 is consistent with the local black hole mass stellar velocity dispersion relation, but is a factor of ~5 10 larger than expectations from the black hole mass bulge luminosity and black hole mass bulge mass correlations when conservatively using the galaxy's total luminosity or stellar mass. This behavior is quite similar to the extensively studied compact galaxy NGC 1277. Resembling the z~2 quiescent galaxies, Mrk 1216 may be a passively evolved descendant, and perhaps reflects a previous era when galaxies contained over massive black holes relative to their bulge luminosities/masses, and the growth of host galaxies had yet to catch up.
X ray polarimetry with the Polarization Spectroscopic Telescope Array (PolSTAR)

This paper describes the Polarization Spectroscopic Telescope Array (PolSTAR) a mission proposed to NASA's 2014 Small Explorer (SMEX) announcement of opportunity. PolSTAR measures the linear polarization of 3 50 keV (requirement; goal: 2.5 70 keV) X rays probing the behavior of matter, radiation and the very fabric of spacetime under the extreme conditions close to the event horizons of black holes, as well as in and around magnetars and neutron stars. The PolSTAR design is based on the technology developed for the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission launched in June 2012. In particular, it uses the same X ray optics, extendable telescope boom, optical bench, and CdZnTe detectors as NuSTAR. The mission has the sensitivity to measure ~1% linear polarization fractions for X ray sources with fluxes down to ~5 mCrab. This paper describes the PolSTAR design as well as the science drivers and the potential science return.
Vehicle to Infrastructure Communication Based Eco Driving Operation at Multiple Signalized Intersections
Venue: 2016 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC)

Eco driving using V2I communication at multiple intersections has significant fuel benefit for road transportation. This paper presents a fuel saving strategy for vehicle travelling in between two red signalized intersections. An optimal control problem (OCP) is formulated to minimize fuel consumption and solved by Legendre pseudo spectral (LPS) method. It is found that the optimal driving operation falls into either two stage or three stage mode. The occurrence of different states is related to intersection distance under certain speed limit. In addition, a sub optimal operating strategy is proposed to determine the travelling trajectory for real time implementation, achieving a faster computational speed than LPS.
Personalized Driver Assistance for Signalized Intersections Using V2I Communication
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intersection crossing is a frequent driving maneuver in urban driving. Traffic lights and stop signs force the vehicles to stop and restart causing frustration to drivers. To help the driver in approaching and passing intersections, the vehicle can be equipped with an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) that utilizes vehicle to infrastructure communication. As opposed to centralized traffic light optimization, the in vehicle system uses information on traffic light location and timing to find an individual optimal driving pace, which is then conveyed to the driver. The conventional approach to the pace optimization problem is to consider such parameters as time of arrival, fuel consumption, and emissions. However, to be effective, the system should take into account another important factor driver's preferences and driving characteristics to improve the acceptance of the system. In this paper, we propose a personalized pace optimization algorithm for approaching and passing signalized intersections that can be used in ADAS. It learns the personal driver's preferences and characteristics during the course of driving and uses this knowledge to calculate driving pace that improves fuel economy, reduces waiting time, and addresses the driver's preferences. We demonstrate the proposed methodology by comparing the system's recommendations for drivers with different preferences and driving styles. Drivers' features were extracted from data collected on an experimental vehicle. We utilize the drivers' profiles to find an optimal driving pace for a specified route for each particular driver. We validate the methodology by simulation to show fuel economy benefits of the generated speed profiles.
A Fuel Saving Green Light Speed Advisor for Signalized Intersections using V2I Communication

This study introduces a green light speed advisory strategy in a connected vehicle environment, which helps vehicles avoid unnecessary stopping before intersections and improves fuel consumption efficiency. A number of existing studies have worked on Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory (GLOSA) but most of them focus on the macro level, ignoring the process of speed changes. Rakha et al. considered the acceleration process in his research, but there is no simulation and field data to support his results, and fuel consumption was considered in terms of total consumption in the time period, which is not reasonable. When vehicles approach intersections at different speeds, the fuel consumption will be different. This paper formulates explicit fuel consumption objective functions based on the VT Micro model to measure fuel consumption for different speed profiles. A strategy is developed to reduce fuel consumption. Over 100,000 runs of the experiment have been conducted in MATLAB and the results show that the strategy can save up to 56% of fuel if the vehicle follows the system's speed advice. The average fuel savings for green light signals is 56% and for red signal scenarios it is 21% An android app has also been developed to collect field data in the connected vehicle environment. The results from the field show that vehicles with GLOSA reduce fuel consumption by 13% compared to vehicles without GLOSA.
Soft tissue sealing around dental implants based on histological interpretation.
Venue: Journal of prosthodontic research

The aim of this study was to provide an overview on the biology and soft tissue sealing around dental implants and teeth.  This is a narrative review performed through scientific articles published between 1977 and 2014, indexed in MEDLINE and PubMed databases. The study selected articles that focused on epithelial sealing around dental implant or teeth with cell biology and histology of soft tissue.  Implant therapy has been widely applied in dental rehabilitation for many years, with predictable long term results. The longevity and functionality of dental implants is dependent on both osseointegration around the implant body and the establishment of a soft tissue barrier that protects the underlying hard tissue structures and the implant itself. The health and stability of the peri implant mucosa also affects the esthetics of the implant. The healing and maintenance of the epithelial and connective tissues around implants are increasingly recognized as being fundamental to implant success. However, there has been little research into the function or formation of the soft tissue seal around dental implants, and the roles of this unique mucosal interface remain unclear.  This narrative review explores the extent of the current knowledge of soft tissue barriers around implants from both a basic and clinical perspective, and aims to consolidate this knowledge and highlight the most pertinent questions relating to this area of research.
Random spectrum loading of dental implants: An alternative approach to functional performance assessment.
Venue: Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials

The fatigue performance of dental implants is usually assessed on the basis of cyclic S/N curves. This neither provides information on the anticipated service performance of the implant, nor does it allow for detailed comparisons between implants unless a thorough statistical analysis is performed, of the kind not currently required by certification standards. The notion of endurance limit is deemed to be of limited applicability, given unavoidable stress concentrations and random load excursions, that all characterize dental implants and their service conditions. We propose a completely different approach, based on random spectrum loading, as long used in aeronautical design. The implant is randomly loaded by a sequence of loads encompassing all load levels it would endure during its service life. This approach provides a quantitative and comparable estimate of its performance in terms of lifetime, based on the very fact that the implant will fracture sooner or later, instead of defining a fatigue endurance limit of limited practical application. Five commercial monolithic Ti 6Al 4V implants were tested under cyclic, and another 5 under spectrum loading conditions, at room temperature and dry air. The failure modes and fracture planes were identical for all implants. The approach is discussed, including its potential applications, for systematic, straightforward and reliable comparisons of various implant designs and environments, without the need for cumbersome statistical analyses. It is believed that spectrum loading can be considered for the generation of new standardization procedures and design applications.
Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc. determined by HPLC MS/MS
Venue: Journal of Food Measurement and Characterization

Oxidative stress related diseases often arise from over production of free radicals and reactive oxygen/nitrogen species. The prevention of these diseases could be possible with the use of natural antioxidant plants that could be promising as therapeutic candidates. Since antioxidant properties of a species could be stem from phenolic compounds, it is, therefore, important to evaluate antioxidant and total/individual phenolic and flavonoid content. For this purpose, we evaluated antioxidant properties of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc. based on three parameters: the antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and flavonoid content as well as identification of phenolic acids of water extract (WEG) and ethanol extract (EEG) of ginger. For antioxidant capacity, we performed FRAP, CUPRAC assay, Fe2+ chelating ability, DPPH and DMPD radical scavenging activities. Also, total phenolic and flavonoid contents in both extracts were also measured via Folin Ciocalteu's method. For identification of phenolic acids, HPLC MS/MS method was performed. The results showed that EEG had generally better antioxidant activity than WEG in all assays. HPLC MS/MS analysis showed that there are at least eight different phenolic acids found in ginger, among which pyrogallol p hydroxybenzoic acid, ferulic acid and p coumaric acid were more abundant in both extracts. This study clearly showed that ginger extracts demonstrated effective antioxidant properties and their consumption may reduce or delay the progression of diseases that oxidative stress take place due to lack of antioxidant supplementation.
High Throughput Random Mutagenesis and Single Molecule Real Time Sequencing of the Muscle Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
Venue: PloS one

High throughput random mutagenesis is a powerful tool to identify which residues are important for the function of a protein, and gain insight into its structure function relation. The human muscle nicotinic acetylcholine receptor was used to test whether this technique previously used for monomeric receptors can be applied to a pentameric ligand gated ion channel. A mutant library for the a1 subunit of the channel was generated by error prone PCR, and full length sequences of all 2816 mutants were retrieved using single molecule real time sequencing. Each a1 mutant was co transfected with wildtype b1, d, and e subunits, and the channel function characterized by an ion flux assay. To test whether the strategy could map the structure function relation of this receptor, we attempted to identify mutations that conferred resistance to competitive antagonists. Mutant hits were defined as receptors that responded to the nicotinic agonist epibatidine, but were not inhibited by either a bungarotoxin or tubocurarine. Eight a1 subunit mutant hits were identified, six of which contained mutations at position Y233 or V275 in the transmembrane domain. Three single point mutations (Y233N, Y233H, and V275M) were studied further, and found to enhance the potencies of five channel agonists tested. This suggests that the mutations made the channel resistant to the antagonists, not by impairing antagonist binding, but rather by producing a gain of function phenotype, e.g. increased agonist sensitivity. Our data show that random high throughput mutagenesis is applicable to multimeric proteins to discover novel functional mutants, and outlines the benefits of using single molecule real time sequencing with regards to quality control of the mutant library as well as downstream mutant data interpretation.
Efficient Intersection of Three Quadrics and Applications in Computer Vision
Venue: 2016 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)

In this paper, we present a new algorithm for finding all intersections of three quadrics. The proposed method is algebraic in nature and it is considerably more efficient than the Grobner basis and resultant based solutions previously used in computer vision applications. We identify several computer vision problems that are formulated and solved as systems of three quadratic equations and for which our algorithm readily delivers considerably faster results. Also, we propose new formulations of three important vision problems: absolute camera pose with unknown focal length, generalized pose and scale, and hand eye calibration with known translation. These new formulations allow our algorithm to significantly outperform the state of the art in speed.