pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Particle Size Distribution on the Performance of Ceramic Particulate Suspensions

During the preparation of ceramic glaze suspensions it is necessary to guarantee that the suspension possesses the required properties, with several parameters having to be rigorously controlled, e.g., particle size and solids concentration, composition of the suspension and ionic charge of the liquid. This study focuses attention on the influence of particle size distribution on three important properties of glaze suspensions: rheological behavior, opacity and reflectance characteristics and tendency to dissolve. In this paper, results are presented for two glaze formulations prepared with two different commercial frits of distinct composition. The glazes were prepared in a laboratory ball mill and the grinding time was adjusted for each formulation, in order to obtain suspensions with different particle size (at least three different grinding times). The rheological behavior is strongly dependent on the particle size and also on changes in the interactions between the particles, caused by modifications in the cationic content of the suspending medium, as a result of frit dissolution, which is also influenced by the size of the particles.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ppsc.20060104
Characterisation of n-type γ-CuCl on Si for UV optoelectronic applications

The use of co-evaporation of ZnCl2 with CuCl in order to achieve n-type conductivity in CuCl is reported herein. Linear current-voltage (IV) characteristics in the range of ±4V have been measured using Cu-Au electrical contacts. Room temperature Hall effect measurements show some evidence of a mixed conduction mechanism. On average the samples exhibit n-type conductivity with a bulk electron carrier concentration n ~ 1 x 1016 cm-3 and Hall mobility  ~ 29 cm2v-1s-1 for a CuCl sample doped with a nominal 3 mole % ZnCl2. By use of an in situ CaF2 capping layer, transmission > 90% is achieved. At room temperature a strong Z3 free excitonic emission occurs at ~385 nm using both photoluminescence and x-ray excited optical luminescence, indicating the high optical quality of the doped material
Frequency dispersion reduction and bond conversion on n-type GaAs by in situ surface oxide removal and passivation

The method of surface preparation on n-type GaAs, even with the presence of an amorphous-Si interfacial passivation layer, is shown to be a critical step in the removal of accumulation capacitance frequency dispersion. In situ deposition and analysis techniques were used to study different surface preparations, including NH4OH, Si-flux, and atomic hydrogen exposures, as well as Si passivation depositions prior to in situ atomic layer deposition of Al2O3. As–O bonding was removed and a bond conversion process with Si deposition is observed. The accumulation capacitance frequency dispersion was removed only when a Si interlayer and a specific surface clean were combined
Understanding the perception of very small software companies towards the adoption of process standards

This paper is concerned with understanding the issues that affect the adoption of software process standards by Very Small Entities (VSEs), there needs from process standards and there willingness to engage with the new ISO/IEC 29110 standard in particular. In order to achieve this goal, a series of industry data collection studies were undertaken with a collection of VSEs. A twin track approach of a qualitative data collection (interviews and focus groups) and quantitative data collection (questionnaire), with data analysis being completed separately and finally results merged, using the coding mechanisms of grounded theory. This paper serves as a roadmap for both researchers wishing to understand the issues of process standards adoption by very small companies and also for the software process standards community
A computational model of the referential semantics of projective prepositions

In this paper we present a framework for interpreting locative expressions containing the prepositions in front of and behind. These prepositions have different semantics in the viewer-centred and intrinsic frames of reference (Vandeloise, 1991). We define a model of their semantics in each frame of reference. The basis of these models is a novel parameterized continuum function that creates a 3-D spatial template. In the intrinsic frame of reference the origin used by the continuum function is assumed to be known a priori and object occlusion does not impact on the applicability rating of a point in the spatial template. In the viewer-centred frame the location of the spatial template’s origin is dependent on the user’s perception of the landmark at the time of the utterance and object\ud
occlusion is integrated into the model. Where there is an ambiguity with respect to the intended frame of reference, we define an algorithm for merging the spatial templates from the competing frames of reference, based on psycholinguistic observations in (Carlson-Radvansky, 1997)
Synthetic seed production from encapsulated somatic embryos of cork oak (Quercus suber L.) and automated growth monitoring.

Cork oak (Quercus suber) somatic embryos were coatedwith alginate for the production of synthetic seeds and their storability for commercialization was investigated. Also, the automatic monitoring of somatic embryo growth with a digital system of image capture was tested.Apower regressionmodelwasfitted between size and fresh weight (Adjusted R-squared = 0.96). This method permitted growth assessment without contamination risk and opens the possibility of an automated control of culture growth for the future up scaling of plant production. Conversion rate of synthetic seedswas higher onmediumsupplementedwithmineral nutrients than onmediumwithout nutrients. Also, when the somatic embryos were coated without mineral nutrients added to the capsule, conversion rate was significantly lower. The addition of sucrose to the capsule had no significant effect on the conversion rate. No differences were recorded between 50 and 100 mM CaCl2 for capsule complexation. Synthetic seeds were cold stored at 4_C for two months without significant loss of conversion capacity. The present study reports the first attempts to determine optimal storage time and conditions for conversion of encapsulated somatic embryos of cork oak
An experimental analysis of the instability of non-axisymmetric liquid bridges in a gravitational field

he stability limits of nonaxisymmetric liquid bridges between equal in diameter, coaxial disks have been determined experimentally. Experiments have been performed by working with very small size liquid bridges. The experimental setup allows any orientation of the liquid bridge axis with respect to the local gravity vector acceleration. By appropriately orienting the liquid bridge axis, the influence on the stability limits of both the lateral and the axial component of the acceleration acting on the liquid bridge has been investigated
Taxonomic differences between Pinus sylvestris and P. uncinata revealed in the stomata and cuticle characters for use in the study of fossil material

Taxonomic differences in the needle epidermis characteristics of Pinus sylvestris L. and Pinus uncinata Ramond ex DC. from two Iberian populations were sought; such information could help identify these species when pollen analysis and the inspection of wood anatomy fails. The features of the cuticle are commonly well preserved in the fossil record. Although the epidermal patterns of the examined taxa were similar, qualitative differences were seen in the subsidiary and guard cells. P. sylvestris showed small subsidiary cells homogenously arranged around the opening of the epistomatal chamber, while P. uncinata showed small, lateral subsidiary cells and non-differentiated subsidiary cells in the polar position. The aperture of the epistomatic chamber of P. uncinata was also larger in diameter (15.1 ± 1.8  µm P. sylvestris; 21.1 ± 2.8  µm P. uncinata). Principal components analysis and discriminant analysis was performed on the features of the guard cells characterising the size and shape of the cuticular thickenings — all the variables analysed can be measured in disperse stomata in microscope preparations for pollen analysis. Significant differences were found in the upper woody lamellae width and the coefficient associated with the shape of the medial lamellae borders (discriminant analysis weighting 0.739 and 0.826 respectively). Other significant parameters included the coefficient associated with the relative size of the medial lamellae border width of the guard cells with respect to the distance between the external limits of the medial lamellae borders, and the length of the upper woody lamella. Different light regimens appeared not to significantly affect the variability of the studied features
A barley cysteine-protease inhibitor reduces teh performance of two aphid species in artificial diets and transgenic arabidopsis plants

Cystatins from plants have been implicated in plant defense towards insects, based on their role as inhibitors of heterologous cysteine-proteinases. We have previously characterized thirteen genes encoding cystatins (HvCPI-1 to HvCPI-13) from barley (Hordeum vulgare), but only HvCPI-1 C68 → G, a variant generated by direct-mutagenesis, has been tested against insects. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the whole gene family members of barley cystatins against two aphids, Myzus persicae and Acyrthosiphon pisum. All the cystatins, except HvCPI-7, HvCPI-10 and HvCPI-12, inhibited in vitro the activity of cathepsin L- and/or B-like proteinases, with HvCPI-6 being the most effective inhibitor for both aphid species. When administered in artificial diets, HvCPI-6 was toxic to A. pisum nymphs (LC50 = 150 μg/ml), whereas no significant mortality was observed on M. persicae nymphs up to 1000 μg/ml. The effects of HvCPI-6 ingestion on A. pisum were correlated with a decrease of cathepsin B- and L-like proteinase activities. In the case of M. persicae, there was an increase of these proteolytic activities, but also of the aminopeptidase-like activity, suggesting that this species is regulating both target and insensitive enzymes to overcome the effects of the cystatin. To further analyze the potential of barley cystatins as insecticidal proteins against aphids, Arabidopsis plants expressing HvCPI-6 were tested against M. persicae. For A. pisum, which does not feed on Arabidopsis, a combined diet-Vicia faba plant bioassay was performed. A significant delay in the development time to reach the adult stage was observed in both species. The present study demonstrates the potential of barley cystatins to interfere with the performance of two aphid specie
Intrusion-Resilient Integrity in Data-Centric Unattended WSNs

Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) operate in autonomous or disconnected mode: sensed data is collected periodically by an itinerant sink. Between successive sink visits, sensor-collected data is subject to some unique vulnerabilities. In particular, while the network is unattended, a mobile adversary (capable of subverting up to a fraction of sensors at a time) can migrate between compromised sets of sensors and inject fraudulent data. In this paper, we provide two collaborative authentication techniques that allow an UWSN to maintain integrity and authenticity of sensor data-in the presence of a mobile adversary-until the next sink visit. Proposed schemes use simple, standard, and inexpensive symmetric cryptographic primitives, coupled with key evolution and few message exchanges. We study their security and effectiveness, both analytically and via simulations. We also assess their robustness and show how to achieve the desired trade-off between performance and security
Fuzzy min-max neural networks for categorical data: application to missing data imputation

The fuzzy min–max neural network classifier is a supervised learning method. This classifier takes the hybrid neural networks and fuzzy systems approach. All input variables in the network are required to correspond to continuously valued variables, and this can be a significant constraint in many real-world situations where there are not only quantitative but also categorical data. The usual way of dealing with this type of variables is to replace the categorical by numerical values and treat them as if they were continuously valued. But this method, implicitly defines a possibly unsuitable metric for the categories. A number of different procedures have been proposed to tackle the problem. In this article, we present a new method. The procedure extends the fuzzy min–max neural network input to categorical variables by introducing new fuzzy sets, a new operation, and a new architecture. This provides for greater flexibility and wider application. The proposed method is then applied to missing data imputation in voting intention polls. The micro data—the set of the respondents’ individual answers to the questions—of this type of poll are especially suited for evaluating the method since they include a large number of numerical and categorical attributes
Analysis of pattern recognition techniques for in-air signature biometrics

As a result of advances in mobile technology, new services which benefit from the ubiquity of these devices are appearing. Some of these services require the identification of the subject since they may access private user information. In this paper, we propose to identify each user by drawing his/her handwritten signature in the air (in-airsignature). In order to assess the feasibility of an in-airsignature as a biometric feature, we have analysed the performance of several well-known patternrecognitiontechniques—Hidden Markov Models, Bayes classifiers and dynamic time warping—to cope with this problem. Each technique has been tested in the identification of the signatures of 96 individuals. Furthermore, the robustness of each method against spoofing attacks has also been analysed using six impostors who attempted to emulate every signature. The best results in both experiments have been reached by using a technique based on dynamic time warping which carries out the recognition by calculating distances to an average template extracted from several training instances. Finally, a permanence analysis has been carried out in order to assess the stability of in-airsignature over time
A study on the inclusion of forest canopy morphology data in numerical simulations for the purpose of wind resource assessment

A series of numerical simulations of the flow over a forest stand have been conducted using two different turbulence closure models along with various levels of canopy morphology data. Simulations have been validated against Stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry measurements from a wind tunnel study using one hundred architectural model trees, the porosities of which have been assessed using a photographic technique.\ud
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It has been found that an accurate assessment of the porosity of the canopy, and specifically the variability with height, improves simulation quality regardless of the turbulence closure model used or the level of canopy geometry included. The observed flow field and recovery of the wake is in line with characteristic canopy flows published in the literature and it was found that the shear stress transport turbulence model was best able to capture this detail numerically
Data-Driven RDF Property Semantic-Equivalence Detection Using NLP Techniques

DBpedia extracts most of its data from Wikipedia’s infoboxes. Manually-created “mappings” link infobox attributes to DBpedia ontology properties (dbo properties) producing most used DBpedia triples. However, infoxbox attributes without a mapping produce triples with properties in a different namespace (dbp properties). In this position paper we point out that (a) the number of triples containing dbp properties is significant compared to triples containing dbo properties for the DBpedia instances analyzed, (b) the SPARQL queries made by users barely use both dbp and dbo properties simultaneously, (c) as an exploitation example we show a method to automatically enhance SPARQL queries by using syntactic and semantic similarities between dbo properties and dbp properties
A review  of energy efficiency label of street lighting systems

There are very few countries that have provisions addressing the energy efficiency of the whole street lighting system, such as Spain or the Netherlands. Nevertheless, there is not an agreement about how energy efficiency must be assessed. The Spanish Government contemplates it in the Royal Decree 1890/2008 with the goal of improving energy savings and efficiency. However, this has not obtained the expected results. Nowadays, energy efficiency of this kind of systems is assessed using a label. In the case of Spain, this label only assesses one magnitude. The contributions of this paper are two evaluation systems (kiviat diagram and pie chart) which assess five magnitudes: lamps, energy efficiency index, light pollution, renewable energy contribution, and harness of the luminous flux using dimming. After that, a survey was done to study several subjects: (1) if citizens are aware about the efficiency of street lighting systems, (2) whether the sample of colors used in the label is adequate, and (3) if our proposed systems could replace the current evaluation system. Finally, the paper finishes with the conclusions of the survey
Reproducibility of a new signal processing technique to assess joint sway during standing

Postural control strategies can be investigated by kinematic analysis of joint movements. However, current research is focussing mainly on the analysis of centre of pressure excursion and lacks consensus on how to assess joint movement during postural control tasks. This study introduces a new signal processing technique to comprehensively quantify joint sway during standing and evaluates its reproducibility. Fifteen patients with non-specific low back pain and ten asymptomatic participants performed three repetitions of a 60-second standing task on foam surface. This procedure was repeated on a second day. Lumbar spine movement was recorded using an inertial measurement system. The signal was temporally divided into six sections. Two outcome variables (mean absolute sway and sways per second) were calculated for each section. The reproducibility of single and averaged measurements was quantified with linear mixed-effects models and the generalizability theory. A single measurement of ten seconds duration revealed reliability coefficients of .75 for mean absolute sway and .76 for sways per second. Averaging a measurement of 40 seconds duration on two different days revealed reliability coefficients higher than .90 for both outcome variables. The outcome variables’ reliability compares favourably to previously published results using different signal processing techniques or centre of pressure excursion. The introduced signal processing technique with two outcome variables to quantify joint sway during standing proved to be a highly reliable method. Since different populations, tasks or measurement tools could influence reproducibility, further investigation in other settings is still necessary. Nevertheless, the presented method has been shown to be highly promising
DIII topological superconductivity with emergent time-reversal symmetry

We find a class of topological superconductors which possess an emergent time-reversal symmetry that is present only after projecting to an effective low-dimensional model. We show that a topological phase in symmetry class DIII can be realized in a noninteracting system coupled to an s-wave superconductor only if the physical time-reversal symmetry of the system is broken, and we provide three general criteria that must be satisfied in order to have such a phase. We also provide an explicit model which realizes the class DIII topological superconductor in 1D. We show that, just as in time-reversal invariant topological superconductors, the topological phase is characterized by a Kramers pair of Majorana fermions that are protected by the emergent time-reversal symmetry
Survival in elderly men in relation to midlife and current BMI

Dette er siste tekst-versjon av artikkelen, og den kan inneholde små forskjeller fra forlagets pdf-versjon. Forlagets pdf-versjon finner du på www.sage.com: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afu202 / This is the final text version of the article, and it may contain minor differences from the journal's pdf version. The original publication is available at www.sage.com: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afu202Background: the relationship between BMI and mortality is U-shaped in the elderly but may be modified by midlife BMI and change in weight.

Objective: to elucidate mortality prediction by BMI trajectory in older men.

Subjects: the Oslo cohort of men born in 1923–32 were screened for BMI and cardiovascular risk in 1972–73. Survivors were rescreened at ages of 68–77 years, and all-cause mortality was followed from 2000 to 2011.

Methods: we calculated Cox regression proportional hazards for 11-year mortality rates in relation to BMI change among 5,240 men with no reported disease in 1972–73 and complete data. Models were adjusted for demographics, medications and disease. Men with BMI < 25 kg/m2 in midlife (1972–73) and in 2000 were the reference group.

Results: men whose BMI changed from <25 kg/m2 in midlife to 25–29.9 kg/m2 in 2000 carried the lowest mortality risk (hazard ratio [HR] 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75–0.94). Men with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 in midlife were at highest risk (HR 1.79; 95% CI 1.12–2.88 if reclassified to 25–29.9 kg/m2 in 2000 and HR 1.39; 95% CI 1.05–1.85 if BMI remained ≥30 kg/m2 in 2000). Men with BMI 25–29.9 kg/m2 in midlife that reclassified to <25 kg/m2 in 2000 had increased risk. Findings were similar when percentage change in BMI was the outcome.

Conclusion: survival in older men with normal weight at midlife was associated with BMI gain after midlife while midlife obesity increased risk regardless of subsequent change.Seksjon for idrettsmedisinske fag / Department of Sports Medicin