Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Time domain measurements for UWB on-body radio propagation

Wireless body area network (BAN) has being a subject of growing interest in recent years. It allows the monitoring of health information with the help of sensors utilizing low power technology such as ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. Scanning the existing literature reveals that most experimental studies on BAN channel have been conducted with human object in a standing position. Alomainy et al. have performed a measurement campaign to investigate UWB on-body radio channels with some sitting body scenarios. Nevertheless, very few antenna positions have been considered for each sitting scenario. In this work, we demonstrate experimental investigations of UWB on-body propagation when the human object is in the sitting position, as the sitting posture may be the most common behavior for people living a sedentary lifestyle. A large number of data points are collected to facilitate a comprehensive characterization of the BAN channel. Vector network analyzer has been typically used in the previous measurements to obtain the S21 parameter for analysis. In the current work, time domain apparatus are employed. An UWB pulse generator is used to send an extremely short pulse around the body and the signal is picked up by a time-domain digital communications analyzer (sampling oscilloscope). From the received data, simple signal processing algorithms are used to extract the relevant channel parameters including the path loss and the signal power variation. Such information could provide useful insight into designing efficient body-centric radio systems.
Nonlinear feature extraction of hyperspectral data based on locally linear embedding (LLE)

Feature extraction is an indispensable preprocessing step for information extraction from hyperspectral remote sensing data. In this paper, we introduce a nonlinear feature extraction algorithm, called Locally Linear Embedding (LLE), and customize it for hyperspectral remote sensing applications. Unlike the linear feature extraction algorithms based on eigenvectors of data covariance matrix, LLE preserves local topology of hyperspectral data in the reduced space. This preservation is important to maintain the nonlinear properties of the input data that benefits further information extraction. To investigate its effectiveness for hyperspectral remote sensing applications, LLE was examined in terms of spatial information preservation and pure pixel identification. The preliminary result of this study demonstrated that it compared favorably with PCA on spatial information preservation. In addition, it exceeded PCA on pure pixel identification through scatter plots. Index Terms – feature extraction, hyperspectral, dimensionality reduction, Principal Component Analysis, Locally Linear Embedding, information content.
Mutant of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Which Allows Deoxyribonucleic Acid Synthesis and Division in Cells Synthesizing Viral Ribonucleic Acid

Some temperature-sensitive mutants of vesicular stomatitis virus were tested for their ability to block the initiation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis and division in serum-stimulated hamster embryo fibroblasts at the nonpermissive temperature. Although the parental strain blocked these processes, one particular mutant allowed essentially normal DNA synthesis and division. By autoradiography, it was shown that individual cells infected with this mutant could synthesize viral ribonucleic acid and at the same time initiate DNA synthesis and divide. Cells infected with such conditional defective mutants appear to be suitable for studies on the effects of persistent viral infections on molecular and cellular functions in proliferating cell populations.
The Real-Life Safety and Efficacy of vardenafil (REALISE) study: results in men from Europe and overseas with erectile dysfunction and cardiovascular or metabolic conditions.

INTRODUCTION The Real-Life Safety and Efficacy of vardenafil study is an international, open-label, prospective, noncomparative, noninterventional study in men with erectile dysfunction (ED). AIM To determine the safety and efficacy of vardenafil in a large international pool of men with ED (aged ≥ 18 years) and associated underlying conditions (N=73,946), in a real-life setting. METHODS Patients attended an initial physician visit and one to two follow-up visits. Data were acquired by physician interviews and patient diaries and recorded in case report forms (CRFs). Data were pooled from 47 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the rest of the world (excluding the United States and Japan for methodological reasons). Results were stratified by baseline ED severity, body mass index (BMI), and the presence of hypertension, diabetes, lipid metabolism disorder, or cardiovascular disease (CVD). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES CRFs and patient questionnaires containing questions on overall improvement of erection, satisfaction with efficacy, and desire to continue vardenafil use. RESULTS Many participants had hypertension (32.0%), diabetes (22.1%), lipid metabolism disorder (14.6%), or CVD (42.2%). High percentages of patients reported improvements in erectile function, irrespective of baseline ED severity (mild, 97.0%; moderate, 96.2%; severe, 85.5%), BMI (<25, 94.1%; ≥ 25 and <30, 94.6%; ≥ 30, 92.9%), or the presence of hypertension (93.6%), diabetes (92.6%), lipid metabolism disorder (94.7%), or CVD (93.3%). Over 90% of patients, including those with underlying conditions, reported being "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with vardenafil efficacy, and stated their intention to continue vardenafil use after the end of the study period. The incidence of adverse events was low, and 97.0% of patients were either "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with vardenafil tolerability. CONCLUSIONS These data from a worldwide population of men with ED and associated underlying conditions show that vardenafil is effective and well-tolerated for the treatment of ED in a real-life setting, supporting its use as a first-line ED therapy.
Error-related negativity reflects detection of negative reward prediction error

Error-related negativity (ERN) is a negative deflection in the event-related potential elicited in error trials. To examine the function of ERN, we performed an experiment in which two within-participants factors were manipulated: outcome uncertainty and content of feedback. The ERN was largest when participants expected correct feedback but received error feedback. There were significant positive correlations between the ERN amplitude and the rate of response switching in the subsequent trial, and between the ERN amplitude and the trait version score on negative affect scale. These results suggest that ERN reflects detection of a negative reward prediction error and promotes subsequent response switching, and that individuals with high negative affect are hypersensitive to a negative reward prediction error.
Manipulation and propagation of uncertainty and verification of applicability of actions in assembly tasks

A systematic methodology of manipulating and propagating spatial uncertainties in the form of homogeneous transforms and in a probabilistic sense is presented. Uncertainties are represented by covariance matrices and the manipulation of uncertainties focuses on the spatial uncertainty propagation and the uncertainty fusion. To integrate the uncertainty information into a task plan that consists of a sequence of primitive actions, the propagation of uncertainty before and after a primitive action such as moving action, perception action, and contact action is developed. A simple and optimal solution for maintaining the consistency in the world state is proposed for perception actions. To determine the applicability of an action, forward propagation and backward propagation are proposed to verify the success of an action in the presence of uncertainties. It is shown that the backward propagation method can be used to determine an admissible set of an action with a specified acceptable success confidence and/or to efficiently apply perception actions to reduce the uncertainty. >
Right ventricular oscillatory power is a constant fraction of total power irrespective of pulmonary artery pressure.

RATIONALE Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is characterized by increased arterial load requiring more right ventricular (RV) hydraulic power to sustain adequate forward blood flow. Power can be separated into a mean and oscillatory part. The former is associated with mean and the latter with pulsatile blood flow and pressure. Because mean power provides for net blood flow, the ratio of oscillatory to total power (oscillatory power fraction) preferably should be small. It is unknown whether this is the case in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). OBJECTIVES To derive components of power generated by the right ventricle in PAH. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Thirty-five patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH) and 14 subjects without PH were included. The patients were divided in two groups, "moderate" and "high," based on pulmonary artery (PA) pressure. PA pressures were obtained by right heart catheterization and PA flows by magnetic resonance imaging. Total hydraulic power (Power(total)) was calculated as the integral product of pressure and flow. Mean hydraulic power (Power(mean)) was calculated as mean pulmonary artery pressure times mean flow. Their difference is oscillatory power (Power(oscill)). Total hydraulic power in subjects without PH compared with moderate and high IPAH was 0.29 ± 0.10 W (n = 14), 0.52 ± 0.14 W (n = 17), and 0.73 ± 0.24 W (n = 18), respectively. The oscillatory power fraction is approximately 23% and not different between groups. CONCLUSIONS In this study, oscillatory power fraction is constant at 23% in non-PH and IPAH, implying that a considerable amount of power is not used for forward flow, making the RV less efficient with respect to its arterial load. Our findings emphasize the need to develop new therapy strategies to optimize RV power output in PAH.
Pathways Mediating the Interaction between Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs) and Platelets

Introduction Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have an important role in the process of vascular injury repair. Platelets have been shown to mediate EPC recruitment, maturation and differentiation. Yet, the mechanism underlying this interaction is unclear. We, therefore, aimed to examine whether direct contact between platelets and EPCs is essential for the positive platelets-EPC effect, and to investigate the main mediators responsible for the improvement in EPCs function. Methods Human EPCs were isolated from donated buffy coats and cultured in either: 1. EPCs co-incubated with platelets placed in a 1 µm-Boyden chamber. 2. EPCs incubated with or without platelets in the presence or absence of bFGF/PDGF Receptor inhibitor (PDGFRI). After 7 days culture, EPCs ability to form colonies, proliferate and differentiate was examined. Culture supernatants were collected and growth factors levels were evaluated using ELISA. Growth factors mRNA levels in EPCs were evaluated using RT-PCR. Results and Conclusions After 7 days culture, EPCs functional properties were higher following co-incubation with platelets (directly or indirectly), implying that direct contact is not essential for the platelet’s positive effect on EPCs. This effect was reduced by PDGFRI inhibition. Additionally, higher levels of PDGFB in EPCs-platelets supernatant and higher levels of PDGFC mRNA in EPCs co-incubated with platelets were found. In contrast, FGF and other potential mediators that were examined and inhibited did not significantly affect the interaction between platelets and EPCs. Thus, we conclude that PDGF has a central role in the interaction between platelets and EPCs. Further study is required to examine additional aspects of EPC-platelets interaction.
A Comparison of Postoperative Epidural Analgesia Between Patients with Chronic Cancer Taking High Doses of Oral Opioids Versus Opioid‐Naive Patients

&NA; Our study evaluated 116 surgical patients with cancer who received postoperative epidural analgesia with bupivacaine (BUP) (0.1%) and morphine (MS) (0.01%) during 5 days after epidural‐light general anesthesia. Patients in group I (n = 17) were taking opioids in doses larger than 50 mg of morphine daily for 3 mo or more, whereas patients in group II (n = 99) were opioid‐naive. Postoperative epidural infusions were started at 10 mL•h‐1 for group I and 5 mL•h‐1 for group II. All patients were evaluated every 6 h for pain, withdrawal, and overdosing. Dynamic pain scores were kept below 4/10 by titrating infusions and/or giving intravenous (IV) MS 4 mg every hour as needed. Fifteen patients were taking opioids for 3‐6 mo and the remainder for more than 6 mo. Mean oral MS preoperative usage for group I was 183 mg (90‐360 mg range). All patients experienced adequate analgesia. Group I required more epidural (137 vs 44 mg) and IV (48 vs 10 mg) MS and had a longer requirement for analgesic therapy (9 vs 3 days) when compared with group II. Daily epidural and IV MS usage were always more for group I by two‐ to threefold. No patient experienced respiratory depression or opioid withdrawal during the hospitalization. Thus, epidural BUP‐MS appears to provide adequate postoperative analgesia while preventing withdrawal in opioid‐dependent patients, if three times the normal dosage and duration of therapy are employed. (Anesth Analg 1993;76:302‐7)
Online Multi-object k-coverage with Mobile Smart Cameras

In this paper, we combine k-coverage with the Cooperative Multi-robot Observation of Multiple Moving Targets problem, defining the new problem of online multi-object k-coverage. We demonstrate the benefits of mobility in tackling this and propose a decentralised multi-camera coordination that improves this further. We show that coordination exploiting shared visual features is more effective than coordination based on Euclidean distance. When coordinating k-coverage in a distributed way, our results suggest that the design of coordination mechanisms should shift towards decisions being made by potential responders with up-to-date knowledge of their own state, rather than a coordinating camera.
Reinterpreting The Keynesian Revolution

1. Introduction 2. The Keynesian Revolution 3. Economics, Science and the Sociology of Science i) Economics and Science ii) Sociology of Science: Methodological Frameworks iii) Kuhn on Scientific Revolutions iv) Lakatos's Methodology of Scientific Research Programs v) McCloskey's Rhetoric of Economics vi) Morrell and Geison's Research School Approach vii) Developments since Morrell and Geison 4. Theory Success and Failure: Macroeconomics in the 1930s and 1940s i) Persona ii) Reputation iii) Recruitment or Discipleship iv) Institutionalisation v) Research Focus, Innovation and Testing vi) Funding vii) Publishing 5. Summary and Future Research
Linking Geology and Microbiology: Inactive Pockmarks Affect Sediment Microbial Community Structure

Pockmarks are geological features that are found on the bottom of lakes and oceans all over the globe. Some are active, seeping oil or methane, while others are inactive. Active pockmarks are well studied since they harbor specialized microbial communities that proliferate on the seeping compounds. Such communities are not found in inactive pockmarks. Interestingly, inactive pockmarks are known to have different macrofaunal communities compared to the surrounding sediments. It is undetermined what the microbial composition of inactive pockmarks is and if it shows a similar pattern as the macrofauna. The Norwegian Oslofjord contains many inactive pockmarks and they are well suited to study the influence of these geological features on the microbial community in the sediment. Here we present a detailed analysis of the microbial communities found in three inactive pockmarks and two control samples at two core depth intervals. The communities were analyzed using high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA V3 region. Microbial communities of surface pockmark sediments were indistinguishable from communities found in the surrounding seabed. In contrast, pockmark communities at 40 cm sediment depth had a significantly different community structure from normal sediments at the same depth. Statistical analysis of chemical variables indicated significant differences in the concentrations of total carbon and non-particulate organic carbon between 40 cm pockmarks and reference sample sediments. We discuss these results in comparison with the taxonomic classification of the OTUs identified in our samples. Our results indicate that microbial communities at the sediment surface are affected by the water column, while the deeper (40 cm) sediment communities are affected by local conditions within the sediment.
Comparative evaluation of ondansetron and granisetron in prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting following laparoscopic cholecystectomy in females

Post operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) continue to be frequent occurrences, even when conventional antiemetics are prophylactically used. In a randomized double blind study, 100 female patients scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy under general anaesthesia were divided into 2 groups of 50 patients each and received 0.1mg/Kg of Ondansetron (Group X) or 0.04mg/Kg of Granisetron (Group Y) pre- operatively. Patients were observed for 24 hours post operatively and interpretation of symptoms of nausea and vomiting was done according to Gan and Alexander scale (0-2). 80% of patients in Group Y and 48 % patients in Group X did not experience PONV; the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). 2 patients (4%) in Group Y and 15patients (30%) in Group X required rescue antiemetic medication during the 24 hour study period. The difference was found to be highly significant (p<0.001) The difference in the incidence of PONV between the two groups after 6 hours to 24 hours was highly significant (p<0.001). It was concluded that prophylactic administration of Granisetron is more effective than Ondansetron, in reducing in incidence of PONV with prolonged effects.
Queueing Analysis of a Versatile Class of Service Policies

A discrete-time system of two queues served according to distinct policies is studied in this paper: one queue receives 1-limited service; the other is served according to some policy from the introduced class of (state dependent) policies S . Class S contains traditional service policies as well as flexible ‘ad hoc’ policies which may be designed to meet specific objectives and optimize performance. Some examples of ad hoc policies in S are presented and numerical results are derived to illustrate the potential for efficiency provided by service policies in S . Keyword Codes: C.2. 1; C.2. 2; C.4
Robust adaptive control of a Magnetic Shape Memory actuator for precise positioning

Due to their outstanding strain capability, Magnetic Shape Memory actuators are a promising technology for positioning systems. Their wide hysteresis and dependence on temperature require a control system capable to cope with time-varying hysteresis as well as other uncertainties. In this paper, we adopt a modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii operator to capture and compensate by inverse model the hysteresis adaptively. A robust adaptive controller based on adaptive bounding techniques is then designed and integrated in order to improve the performance of the adaptive compensator. Experimental results on a 1DOF linear positioning prototype with micrometric precision confirm the effectiveness of the approach.approach.
Risk Factors for Intracranial Haemorrhage in Accidents Associated with the Shower or Bathtub

Background There has been little research on bathroom accidents. It is unknown whether the shower or bathtub are connected with special dangers in different age groups or whether there are specific risk factors for adverse outcomes. Methods This cross-sectional analysis included all direct admissions to the Emergency Department at the Inselspital Bern, Switzerland from 1 January 2000 to 28 February 2014 after accidents associated with the bathtub or shower. Time, age, location, mechanism and diagnosis were assessed and special risk factors were examined. Patient groups with and without intracranial bleeding were compared with the Mann-Whitney U test.The association of risk factors with intracranial bleeding was investigated using univariate analysis with Fisher's exact test or logistic regression. The effects of different variables on cerebral bleeding were analysed by multivariate logistic regression. Results Two hundred and eighty (280) patients with accidents associated with the bathtub or shower were included in our study. Two hundred and thirty-five (235) patients suffered direct trauma by hitting an object (83.9%) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) was detected in 28 patients (10%). Eight (8) of the 27 patients with mild traumatic brain injuries (GCS 13–15), (29.6%) exhibited intracranial haemorrhage. All patients with intracranial haemorrhage were older than 48 years and needed in-hospital treatment. Patients with intracranial haemorrhage were significantly older and had higher haemoglobin levels than the control group with TBI but without intracranial bleeding (p<0.05 for both). In univariate analysis, we found that intracranial haemorrhage in patients with TBI was associated with direct trauma in general and with age (both p<0.05), but not with the mechanism of the fall, its location (shower or bathtub) or the gender of the patient. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified only age as a risk factor for cerebral bleeding (p<0.05; OR 1.09 (CI 1.01;1.171)) Conclusion In patients with ED admissions associated with the bathtub or shower direct trauma and age are risk factors for intracranial haemorrhage. Additional effort in prevention should be considered, especially in the elderly.
Speech Summarization Without Lexical Features for Mandarin Broadcast News

We present the first known empirical study on speech summarization without lexical features for Mandarin broadcast news. We evaluate acoustic, lexical and structural features as predictors of summary sentences. We find that the summarizer yields good performance at the average F-measure of 0.5646 even by using the combination of acoustic and structural features alone, which are independent of lexical features. In addition, we show that structural features are superior to lexical features and our summarizer performs surprisingly well at the average F-measure of 0.3914 by using only acoustic features. These findings enable us to summarize speech without placing a stringent demand on speech recognition accuracy.
Scheduling nodes in wireless sensor networks: a Voronoi approach

A wireless sensor network is a special kind of ad-hoc network with distributed sensing and processing capability that can be used in a wide range of applications, such as environmental monitoring, industrial applications and precision agriculture. Despite their potential applications, such networks have particular features imposed by resource restrictions, such as low computational power, reduced bandwidth and specially limited power source. In case of a network with a high density of sensor nodes, some problems may arise such as the intersection of sensing area, redundant data, communication interference, and energy waste. A management application is necessary to make the most of network resources. On the other hand, a high-density network can introduce a fault-tolerant mechanism, increase precision, and provide multi-resolution data. The network density control depends on the application. In this paper, we propose a method to set up which nodes should be turned off or on. The management may take the sensor node out of service temporally. Our design uses a Voronoi diagram, which decomposes the space into regions around each node. That schema could be used in management architecture for a wireless sensor network.