pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Inertial Sensed Ego-motion for 3D Vision

Inertial sensors attached to a camera can provide valuable data about camera pose and movement. In biological vision systems, inertial cues provided by the vestibular system are fused with vision at an early processing stage. In this article we set a framework for the combination of these two sensing modalities. Cameras can be seen as ray direction measuring devices, and in the case of stereo vision, depth along the ray can also be computed. The ego-motion can be sensed by the inertial sensors, but there are limitations determined by the sensor noise level. Keeping track of the vertical direction is required, so that gravity acceleration can be compensated for, and provides a valuable spatial reference. Results are shown of stereo depth map alignment using the vertical reference. The depth map points are mapped to a vertically aligned world frame of reference. In order to detect the ground plane, a histogram is performed for the different heights. Taking the ground plane as a reference plane for the acquired maps, the fusion of multiple maps reduces to a 2D translation and rotation problem. The dynamic inertial cues can be used as a first approximation for this transformation, allowing a fast depth map registration method. They also provide an image independent location of the image focus of expansion and center of rotation useful during visual based navigation tasks. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rob.1012
Voltammetric Oxidation of Drugs of Abuse III. Heroin and Metabolites

The oxidative behavior of heroin in aqueous solution is reported. In order to identify its oxidation peaks, several metabolites, 6-monoacetylmorphine, 3-monoacetylmorphine and norheroin, were synthesized and their electrochemical behavior studied using differential pulse voltammetry. The anodic waves observed for heroin correspond to the oxidation of the tertiary amine group and its follow-up product (secondary amine), and to the oxidation of the phenolic group obtained from hydrolysis, at alkaline pHs, of the 3-acetyl group. The results enabled a new oxidative mechanism for heroin to be proposed in which a secondary amine, norheroin, and an aldehyde are obtained. The voltammetric behavior of 6-monoacetylmorphine and morphine was found to be similar demonstrating that the presence of an acetyl substituent on the 6-hydroxy group does not have a relevant influence on the peak potential of the wave resulting from oxidation of the 3-phenolic group.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/elan.20030297
Glucose oxidase inhibition in poly(neutral red) mediated enzyme biosensors for heavy metal determination

Abstract  A biosensor for the determination of heavy metal cations based on glucose oxidase enzymatic inhibition has been developed. The biosensor was assembled on carbon film electrode supports with glucose oxidase immobilised by cross-linking with glutaraldehyde on top of a film of poly(neutral red) as redox mediator, prepared by electropolymerisation. The biosensor was used to determine the metallic cations, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc in the presence of chosen amounts of glucose. The detection limits were found to be 1 µg L-1 for cadmium, 6 µg L-1 for copper, 3 µg L-1 for lead and 9 µg L-1 for zinc. Inhibition constants were determined by using the Dixon plot, and the type of inhibition induced by the metallic cations was evaluated from Cornish-Bowden plots plus Dixon plots, it being found that the inhibition is reversible and competitive for cadmium, mixed for copper and lead and uncompetitive for zinc. Copper-inhibited glucose oxidase to a greater extent followed by cadmium, lead and zinc. Regeneration of the glucose oxidase response was studied by using Ethylene diamine tetracetic acid metal-chelating agent and the nonionic surfactant Triton X-100. The suitability of the biosensor for determination in foodstuffs or beverages which contain trace concentrations of metals was investigated by performing recovery tests in commercial milk samples.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00604-008-0018-
Preliminary characterization of an experimental breast cancer cells brain metastasis mouse model by MRI/MRS

Abstract Purpose  Chemotherapy increases survival in breast cancer patients. Consequently, cerebral metastases have recently become a significant clinical problem, with an incidence of 30–40% among breast carcinoma patients. As this phenomenon cannot be studied longitudinally in humans, models which mimic brain metastasis are needed to investigate its pathogenesis. Such models may later be used in experimental therapeutic approaches.    Material and methods/results  We report a model in which 69% of the animals (9/13 BALB/c nude mice) developed MR-detectable abnormal masses in the brain parenchyma within a 20 to 62-day time window post intra-carotid injection of 435-Br1 human cells. The masses detected in vivo were either single (7 animals) or multiple (2 animals). Longitudinal MR (MRI/MRS) studies and post-mortem histological data were correlated, revealing a total incidence of experimental brain metastases of 85% in the cases studied (11/13 animals). ADC maps perfectly differentiated edema and/or CSF areas from metastasis. Preliminary MRS data also revealed additional features: decrease in N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) was the first MRS-based marker of metastasis growth in the brain (micrometastasis); choline-containing compounds (Cho) rose and creatine (Cr) levels decreased as these lesions evolved, with mobile lipids and lactate also becoming visible. Furthermore, MRS pattern recognition-based analysis suggested that this approach may help to discriminate different growth stages.    Conclusions  This study paves the way for further in vivo studies oriented towards detection of different tumor progression states and for improving treatment efficiency.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10334-008-0114-
Analysis of cracked steel members reinforced by pre-stressed composite patch

Pre-stress bonded composite patch is a promising technique to reinforce steel member damaged by fatigue. The effectiveness of this technique was verified by fatigue tests on notched steel plates. Results showed that the application of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) strips and, eventually, the introduction of a compressive stress by pretension of the CFRP strips prior to bonding produced a significant increment of the remaining fatigue life. In this paper, the stress intensity factor in the notched plates is computed by a two-dimensional finite element model in connection with the three-layer technique in order to reduce the computational effort. Due to high stress concentration at the plate crack tip, debond is assumed at the adhesive-plate interface. The goal is to illustrate the influence of some reinforcement parameters such as the composite strip stiffness, the pre-stress level, the adhesive layer thickness and the size of the debonded region on the effectiveness of the composite patch reinforcement.http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1460-2695.2003.00598.
Portuguese carrageenophytes - Carrageenan composition and geographic distribution of eight species (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta)

Eight carrageenophytes from the Centre and North coast of Portugal, representing seven genera and three
families of Gigartinales, were studied in 15 different coastal stations in a geographic study, from Baleal
(Peniche), in the central zone, to Moledo, in the northern zone.
In order to characterize the different carrageenan types, 1HNMRspectroscopy was used to identify and
quantify the different carrageenan fractions in the extracted phycocolloids (both water and alkali extractions).
Thereby, detailed information concerning the properties and structure of these polysaccharides
at molecular level was revealed.
Based on the results of the analysis of the carrageenan types, the following conclusions were made:
female gametophytes and non-fertile thalli of Chondrus crispus, Mastocarpus stellatus, Chondracanthus
teedei var. lusitanicus, Gigartina pistillata, Chondracanthus acicularis and Gymnogongrus crenulatus, presented
a varying degrees of kappa–iota hybrid carrageenan (co-polymers of kappa–iota carrageenan).
The kappa/iota ratio ranged from 0 to 2.2. The carrageenans extracted from Ahnfeltiopsis devoniensis
were mainly iota-carrageenan, but some geographic variations in the composition of carrageenans were
found. Calliblepharis jubata contained carrageenans of iota-type in all reproductive stages. Lambda-family
carrageenans were found in tetrasporophytes of C. cripus (lambda), M. stellatus (lambda), C. teedei var.
lusitanicus (hybrid xi–theta), C. acicularis (hybrid xi–theta) and G. pistillata (hybrid xi–lambda)
Interactive searching and browsing of video archives: using text and using image matching

Over the last number of decades much research work has been done in the general area of video and audio analysis. Initially the applications driving this included capturing video in digital form and then being able to store, transmit\ud
and render it, which involved a large effort to develop compression and encoding standards. The technology needed to do all this is now easily available and cheap, with applications of digital video processing now commonplace,\ud
ranging from CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) for security, to home capture of broadcast TV on home DVRs for personal viewing.\ud
One consequence of the development in technology for creating, storing and distributing digital video is that there has been a huge increase in the volume of digital video, and this in turn has created a need for techniques to allow effective management of this video, and by that we mean content management. In the BBC, for example, the archives department receives approximately 500,000 queries per year and has over 350,000 hours of content in its library. Having huge archives of video information is hardly any benefit if we have no effective means of being able to locate video clips which are of relevance to whatever our information needs may be. In this chapter we report our work on developing two specific retrieval and browsing tools for digital video information. Both of these are based on an analysis of the captured video for the purpose of automatically structuring into shots or higher level semantic units like TV news stories. Some also include analysis of the video for the automatic detection of features such as the presence or absence of faces. Both include some elements of searching, where a user specifies a query or information need, and browsing, where a user is allowed to browse through sets of retrieved video shots. We support the presentation of these tools with illustrations of actual video retrieval systems developed and working on hundreds of hours of video content
Effects of Cu diffusion-doping on structural, optical and magnetic properties of ZnO nanorod arrays grown by VPT

Well-aligned ZnO nanorods were prepared by the vapor phase transport method on Si covered with a ZnO buffer layer. After the nanostructure growth, Cu was doped into the ZnO nanorods by diffusion at three different temperatures and for different times. Undoped and Cu diffusion-doped ZnO samples are highly textured, with the c axis of the wurtzite structure along the growth direction. The incorporation of Cu caused some slight changes in the nanorod alignment, although the wurtzite crystal structure was maintained. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements revealed that Cu ions were in a divalent state and substituted for the Zn2+ ions of the ZnO matrix. Photoluminescence results at 10 K indicate that the incorporation of copper leads to a relative increase of Cu-related structured green band deep level intensity. Magnetic measurements revealed that both undoped and Cu diffusion-doped ZnO samples exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism. It was also found that bound magnetic polarons play an important role in the appearance of room temperature ferromagnetism in Cu diffusion-doped ZnO nanorods
Implementation of Software Process Improvement Through TSPi in Very Small Enterprises

This article shows an experience in a very small enterprise related to improving software quality in terms of test and process productivity. A customized process from the current organizational process based on TSPi was defined and the team was trained on it. The pilot project had schedule and budget constraints. The process began by gathering historical data from previous projects in order to get a measurement repository. Then the project was launched and some metrics were collected. Finally, results were analyzed and the improvements verified
First passages for a search by a swarm of independent random searchers

In this paper we study some aspects of search for an immobile target\ud
by a swarm of N non-communicating, randomly moving searchers (numbered by\ud
the index k, k = 1, 2, . . . ,N), which all start their random motion simultaneously\ud
at the same point in space. For each realization of the search process, we record\ud
the unordered set of time moments {τk}, where τk is the time of the first passage\ud
of the kth searcher to the location of the target. Clearly, τks are independent,\ud
identically distributed random variables with the same distribution function Ψ(τ ).\ud
We evaluate then the distribution P(ω) of the random variable ω ∼ τ1/¯τ ,\ud
where ¯τ = N−1N\ud
k=1 τk is the ensemble-averaged realization-dependent first\ud
passage time. We show that P(ω) exhibits quite a non-trivial and sometimes\ud
a counterintuitive behavior. We demonstrate that in some well-studied cases\ud
(e.g. Brownian motion in finite d-dimensional domains) the mean first passage\ud
time is not a robust measure of the search efficiency, despite the fact that Ψ(τ )\ud
has moments of arbitrary order. This implies, in particular, that even in this\ud
simplest case (not to mention complex systems and/or anomalous diffusion) first\ud
passage data extracted from a single-particle tracking should be regarded with\ud
appropriate caution because of the significant sample-to-sample fluctuations
Plant protein-coding gene families: emerging bioinformatics approaches

Protein-coding gene families are sets of similar genes with a shared evolutionary origin and, generally, with similar biological functions. In plants, the size and role of gene families has been only partially addressed. However, suitable bioinformatics tools are being developed to cluster the enormous number of sequences currently available in databases. Specifically, comparative genomic databases promise to become powerful tools for gene family annotation in plant clades. In this review, I evaluate the data retrieved from various gene family databases, the ease with which they can be extracted and how useful the extracted information is
Moonlight and shelter cause differential seed selection and removal by rodents

Various environmental factors may influence the foraging behaviour of seed dispersers which could ultimately affect the seed dispersal process. We examined whether moonlight levels and the presence or absence of rodentshelter affect rodentseedremoval (rate, handling time and time of removal) and seedselection (size and species) among seven oak species. The presence or absence of safe microhabitats was found to be more important than moonlight levels in the removal of seeds. Bright moonlight caused a different temporal distribution of seedremoval throughout the night but only affected the overall removal rates in open microhabitats. Seeds were removed more rapidly in open microhabitat (regardless of the moon phase), decreasing the time allocated to seed discrimination and translocation. Only in open microhabitats did increasing levels of moonlight decrease the time allocated to selection and removal of seeds. As a result, a more precise seedselection was made under shelter, owing to lower levels of predation risk. Rodent ranking preference for species was identical between full/new moon in shelter but not in open microhabitats. For all treatments, species selection by rodents was much stronger than size selection. Nevertheless, heavy seeds, which require more energy and time to be transported, were preferentially removed under shelter, where there is no time restriction to move the seeds. Our findings reveal that seedselection is safety dependent and, therefore, microhabitats in which seeds are located (sheltered versus exposed) and moonlight levels in open areas should be taken into account in rodent food selection studies
Modelling Saharan dust transport into the Mediterranean basin with CMAQ

The need for a better quantification of the influence of Saharan dust transport processes on the air quality modelling in the Mediterranean basin led to the formulation of a dust emission module (DEM) integrated into the Air Quality Risk Assessment System for the Iberian Peninsula (SERCA). This paper is focused on the formulation of DEM based on the GOCART aerosol model, along with its integration and execution into the air quality model. It also addresses the testing of the module and its evaluation by contrasting results against satellite products such as MODIS and CALIPSO and ground-level observations of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and concentration levels of PM10 for different periods in July 2007. DEM was found capable of reproducing the spatial (horizontal and vertical) and temporal profiles of Saharan dust outbreaks into the Mediterranean basin and the Atlantic coast of Africa. Moreover, it was observed that its combination with CMAQ increased the correlation degree between observed and modelled PM10 concentrations at the selected monitoring locations. DEM also enhanced CMAQ capabilities to reproduce observed AOT, although significant underestimations remain. The implementation of CMAQ + DEM succeeded in capturing Saharan dust transport into the Iberian Peninsula, with contributions up to 25 and 14 μg m−3 in 1 h and 24 h average PM10 respectively. The general improvement of total PM10 predictions in Spain are however moderate. The analysis of model performance for the main PM components points out that remaining PM10 underestimation is due to dust local sources missing in the inventories and misrepresentation of organic aerosol processes, which constitutes the main areas for future improvement of CMAQ capabilities to simulate particulate matter within SERCA
Smoothing of PV power fluctuations by geographical dispersion

The quality and the reliability of the power generated by large grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) plants are negatively affected by the source characteristic variability. This paper deals with the smoothing of power fluctuations because of geographical dispersion of PV systems. The fluctuation frequency and the maximum fluctuation registered at a PV plant ensemble are analyzed to study these effects. We propose an empirical expression to compare the fluctuation attenuation because of both the size and the number of PV plants grouped. The convolution of single PV plants frequency distribution functions has turned out to be a successful tool to statistically describe the behavior of an ensemble of PV plants and determine their maximum output fluctuation. Our work is based on experimental 1-s data collected throughout 2009 from seven PV plants, 20 MWp in total, separated between 6 and 360 km
Correlation between ileal digestibility of amino acids and chemical composition of soybean meals in broilers at 21 days of age

The correlations between chemical composition and coefficient of standardized ileal digestibility (CSID) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) were determined in 22 soybean meal (SBM) samples originated from USA (n = 8), Brazil (BRA; n = 7) and Argentina (ARG; n = 7) in 21-day old broilers. Birds were fed a commercial maize-SBM diet from 1 to 17 days of age followed by the experimental diets in which the SBM tested was the only source of protein (205 g CP/kg) for three days. Also, in vitro nitrogen (N) digestion study was conducted with these samples using the two-step enzymatic method. The coefficient of apparent ileal digestibility (CAID) of the SBM, independent of the origin, varied from 0.820 to 0.880 for CP, 0.850 to 0.905 for lysine (Lys), 0.859 to 0.907 for methionine (Met) and 0.664 to 0.750 for cysteine (Cys). The corresponding CSID values varied from 0.850 to 0.966 for CP, 0.891 to 0.940 for Lys, 0.931 to 0.970 for Met and 0.786 to 0.855 for Cys. The CSID of CP and Lys of the SBM were positively correlated with CP (r = 0.514; P menor que 0.05 and r = 0.370; P = 0.09, respectively), KOH solubility (KOH sol.) (r = 0.696; P menor que 0.001 and r = 0.619; P menor que 0.01, respectively), trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) (r = 0.541; P menor que 0.01 and r = 0.416; P = 0.05, respectively) and reactive Lys (r = 0.563; P menor que 0.01 and r = 0.486; P menor que 0.05) values, but no relation was observed with neutral detergent fiber and oligosaccharide content. No relation between the CSID of CP determined in vivo and N digestibility determined in vitro was found. The CSID of most key AA were higher for the USA and the BRA meals than for the ARG meals. For Lys, the CSID was 0.921, 0.919 and 0.908 (P menor que 0.05) and for Cys 0.828, 0.833 and 0.800 (P menor que 0.01) for USA, BRA and ARG meals, respectively. It is concluded that under the conditions of this experiment, the CSID of CP and Lys increased with CP content, KOH sol., TIA and reactive Lys values of the SBM. The CSID of most limiting AA, including Lys and Cys, were higher for USA and BRA meals than for ARG meals
Evaluation of the reliability of commercial concentrator triple-junction solar cells by means of accelerated life tests (ALT)

A temperature accelerated life test on commercial concentrator lattice-matched GaInP/GaInAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells has been carried out. The solar cells have been tested at three different temperatures: 119, 126 and 164 °C and the nominal photo-current condition (820 X) has been emulated by injecting current in darkness. All the solar cells have presented catastrophic failures. The failure distributions at the three tested temperatures have been fitted to an Arrhenius-Weibull model. An Arrhenius activation energy of 1.58 eV was determined from the fit. The main reliability functions and parameters (reliability function, instantaneous failure rate, mean time to failure, warranty time) of these solar cells at the nominal working temperature (80 °C) have been obtained. The warranty time obtained for a failure population of 5 % has been 69 years. Thus, a long-term warranty could be offered for these particular solar cells working at 820 X, 8 hours per day at 80 °C
Cooperative ITS communications architecture: the FOTsis project approach and beyond

With the continuous development in the fields of sensors, advanced data processing and communications, road transport oriented intelligent applications and services have reached a significant maturity and complexity. Cooperative ITS services, based on the idea of sharing accurate information among road entities, are currently being tested on a large scale by different initiatives. The field operational test (FOTsis) project contributes to the deployment environment with services that involve a significant number of entities out of the vehicle. This made necessary the specification of an architecture which, based on the ISO ITS station reference architecture for communications, could support the requirements of the services proposed in the project. During the project, internal implementation tests and external interoperability tests have resulted in the validation of the proposed architecture. At the same time, these tests have had as a result the awareness of areas in which the FOTsis architecture could be completed, mainly to take full advantage of all the emerging and foreseeable data sources which may be relevant in the road environment. In this study, the authors will outline an approach that, based on the current cooperative ITS architecture and the SmartCities and Internet Of Things (IoT) architectures, can provide a common convergence platform to maximise the information available for ITS purposes