Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Microdosimetric Realistic Model to Study Frequency-Dependent Electroporation in a Cell with Endoplasmic Reticulum

The study of the frequency-dependent response of a biological cell and its organelles to an intense electric field is of growing interest in the bioelectromagnetic area. The possibility offered by continuous waves to uncouple the effects of the electric field during electroporation is employed in this work using a numerical model including the realistic shape of cell and endoplasmic reticulum membranes. The higher efficiency of the microwave signals in electroporating the subcellular structures, in comparison with the radiofrequency signals, is highlighted.
Personality Traits Classification on Twitter

Personality traits have been shown to have strong influences on important aspects of life such as success in the workplace, political temperament, and general emotional stability. Computer-based personality assessments using information from social networking platforms have shown to be more accurate than judgments made by people close to the subject. This paper presents a personality traits classification system that incorporates language-based features, based on count-based vectorization (TF-IDF) and the GloVe word embedding technique, with an ensemble prediction system consisting of gradient-boosted decision trees and an SVM classifier. This combination allows to reliably estimate certain personality traits using only the latest 50 tweets from a user's profile. The performance of the proposed system is validated on a large, publicly available dataset and compares favourably with other state-of-the-art methods.
Co-Designed Handset Antennas with Wide Angular mm-Wave Coverage and LTE MIMO

The co-existence of mm-wave and LTE antennas in modern handsets is yet an unsolved challenge in the phone industry and antenna research community. The different antenna types merged together in a shared volume easily hinder each other's performance. This paper extends the work published recently, showing how high-gain mm-wave antennas at 28 GHz can be incorporated in the same volume with LTE MIMO antennas. The results show that with small compromises a decent performance can be achieved at both mm-wave and LTE bands.
A New Bayesian Modeling for 3D Human-Object Action Recognition

Intelligent surveillance systems in human-centered environments require people behavioral monitoring. In this paper, we propose a new Bayesian framework to recognize actions on RGB-D videos by two different observations: the human pose and objects in its vicinity. We design a model for each action that integrates these observations and a probabilistic sequencing of actions performed during activities. We validate our approach on two public video datasets: CAD-120 and Watch-n-Patch. We show a performance gain of 4% in action detection on the fly on CAD-120 videos. Our approach is competitive to 2D image features and skeleton-based methods, as we present an improvement of 16% on Watch-n-Patch. Action recognition performance is clearly improved by our Bayesian and joint human-object perception.
Joint Optimal Allocation and Scheduling for Electric Buses with Vehicle-to-Grid Regulation Service

Electric Bus (EB), as a special type of electric vehicle (EV), can be regarded as a large mobile storage in the city. With large batteries installed, EBs are capable of providing frequency regulation service to the local power grid of the city. In this paper, a novel framework for joint optimal allocation and scheduling for EBs with V2G regulation service is studied. First, the optimal allocation and scheduling problem is proposed as a mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) problem. Second, by using the Lagrangian dual decomposition method, a distributed algorithm is devised to solve this problem. The simulation results show that both the optimal allocation to balance EB demand in the city and scheduling for V2G regulation service can be achieved in an effective manner. In addition, with more EBs participated in the system, the power fluctuations of local city power grid can be further flattened.
Prognostic factors of pyogenic liver abscess.

Department of Emergency Medicine, Mackay Memorial Hospital, No.92, Sec 2, Chung-Shan North Rd. Taipei 10449, Taiwan Mackay Medicine, Nursing and Management College, No.92, Shengjing Rd., Beitou District, Taipei 112, Taiwan Research center for Biomedical Devices, Taipei medical University, Taiwan Department of Anesthesiology, Municipal Wan-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 116 Taiwan
Selection of Acceleration Sensors for an Activity Monitoring System in Animal Welfare Applications for Dairy Cows

This paper compares the data of five acceleration sensors of three different types at two different placements on a dairy cow. Data was collected in video surveilled measurement series. The studies are targeting the development of an activity monitoring system integrated in a collar. The acceleration data of the sensors was analyzed regarding the standing-up, lying-down and rumination event. An acceleration sensor was chosen for further development of the event recognition with machine learning algorithms.
In-Situ-Linearization for Instantaneous Frequency Measurement Systems

In this publication a linearization process for six-port based instantaneous frequency measurement (IFM) systems for surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators is presented. This concept makes the system more tolerant against temperature and other environmental influences and can be further implemented on microcontrollers. Measurements in the temperature chamber are presented to show the feasibility of the developed demonstrator and algorithms.
Video Processing Algorithm in Automated Semen Analysis using Optical Flow

Semen analysis is extensively practiced in laboratories for preparing cattle artificial insemination. Despite the fact that the laboratory analysis process is reliable, its complexity hinders the application of semen quality checking done by inseminators at the farms. Therefore, this research was conducted to create an algorithm that enables cattle semen analysis to be done easily and automatically at the farms. The algorithm uses the thresholding method to perform sperm detection and optical flow technique to calculate the velocity of each sperm. It has been successfully implemented on an Android application on Samsung S6 integrated with MooAnalyzer device. By comparing the system’s test results with Balai Inseminasi Buatan Lembang laboratory test standard, the system could calculate motile sperm concentration with an error of ± 8.53%, and a measurement variance of ± 2.95%. The entire calculation process took less than 30 seconds.
Effect of Cannabis sativa on Hematological Indices in Rats and Men

2 Abstract: This study was designed to assess the effects of injection of different doses of petroleum ether extract of Cannabis sativa on important hematological indices in rats. Similar effects in adult men who had been smoking C. sativa for different periods were also assessed. Blood hemoglobin concentration was not affected in both addicted humans and treated rats, whereas blood erythrocyte count (RBC) and total leukocytes count (TWBC) revealed significant (p<0.05) decreases in the group of rats treated with 0.2 mg/g of the extract and 0.6 mg/g respectively but no changes in addict men groups were observed. Neutrophils and lymphocytes percentages decreased and eosinophils increased significantly (p<0.05) in all treated groups of rats compared to the control group. In the addicted men eosinophils and monocytes showed significantly (p<0.05) lower levels compared to the control group, but lymphocytes percentages were elevated in all addicted men compared to the control group with a significant (p<0.05) difference in the heavy addicted group. These findings showed that injection of C. sativa petroleum extract to the rats resulted in different effects in some parameters compared to those in addicted men smoked C. sativa for long periods. This was clear for the lymphocytes percentage which decreased significantly in the treated rats and showed significantly higher percentage in the addicted men when compared to their controls.
Robust Wireless Power Receiver for Multi-Tone Waveforms

This paper presents a multi-tone wireless power receiver (WPRx) that can operate efficiently across various waveforms with a different number of tones. Conventional wireless power receivers have a significant efficiency dependence on the power levels and loading conditions. In this work, the conventional WPRx is also verified experimentally to be highly dependent on the input waveforms and their number of tones. Thus, a multi-tone WPRx is proposed using a configurable dc-to-dc voltage boost converter to track the optimal efficiency using external reference voltage. The proposed multi-tone WPRx is prototyped and characterized across different waveforms within a 10-MHz bandwidth at 2.4-GHz with a wide range of input power levels. The measured results show a significant suppression (of four times) in the efficiency variations across the different number of tones relative to conventional WPRx. For instance, at -10-dBm input power level, the standard deviation in the efficiency of the proposed WPRx, across different waveforms, is less than 1/4 that of the conventional WPRx while maintaining a very close average efficiency across these waveforms. While the conventional WPRx can be optimized only for a single type of waveforms, the proposed multi-tone WPRx can maintain a stable efficiency across different waveforms with minimum variations.
Physical Activity With Moderate to Vigorous Intensity in Preschool and First-Grade Schoolchildren

The purpose of this investigation was to study the pattern of habitual physical activity (HPA) and to assess the time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in kindergarten and first-grade schoolchildren. In 54 children, HPA was studied during 4 consecutive days by whole-day heart rate (HR) monitoring. MVPA was defined on the basis of HR threshold above 139 beats per minute. Sustained periods of MVPA of 20 or more minutes were observed only in 20% of boys and 17% of girls. However, the pattern of HPA of all children contained 1-min, and 2- to 4-min periods of MVPA, and 80% of boys and 90% of girls had 5- to 9-min sustained periods of MVPA. It can be concluded that in 4- to 8-year-old children, HPA is characterized by an intermittent pattern without prolonged periods of MVPA.
Comparative Study of 1-Tb/s Single Laser Coherent Optical Systems based on OFDM and Nyquist FDM

Two multiplexing techniques, digitally frequency multiplexed Nyquist FDM and OFDM, are evaluated in high-data rate coherent optical transmissions. Simulations are carried out to achieve a net data rate of 1 Tb/s through dual-polarization 64QAM and 256QAM at 100 GBd and 75 GBd, respectively. The systems’ performance were evaluated in terms of OSNR versus Tx and Rx laser linewidths, number of subcarriers, and DAC/ADC quantization and bandwidths. Despite similar performance for both techniques, CO-NFDM may allow a lower-cost implementation.
The HLA-DRB1 Alleles Effects on Multiple Sclerosis:a Systematic Review

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that affects sensitive and motor functions. Many population studies were made with the intent of knowing better the most affected groups and the disease manifestations. These review analyses some of those studies, evaluating risk factors, especially genetic relations of Human Leukocyte Antigen DRB1 (HLADRB1) gens, for developing clinical disease. Method: We have analyzed 57 articles, published between 2009 and 2014, with the key words “multiple sclerosis”, “genetic association studies” and “HLA-DRB1 chains”, through the Scopus database. Only 18 articles were eligible for our study; they were read entirely and included in the fial analysis. Results: Most studies imply genetic and environmental factors for the incidence of MS, its age of starting and prognosis. Previous studies have shown that many gens are related in MS pathogenesis and that interactions between them are important in determining clinical manifestations. Limitations: Different results were observed when different populations were targeted in the studies. Conclusion: There is an important relation between HLA-DRB1 and MS in diverse population groups. Complementary studies are needed to know better the importance of environmental factors and its interaction with gens in the development of MS.
Climate change impact assessment on rainfall-runoff process: a case study of Pishin Reservoir Basin in Iran

Impacts of climate change could have far-reaching and unpredictable consequences on water resources in many watersheds. In the past decade, many researchers have focused on assessing the impacts of climate change on the hydrologic cycle processes. In this study, impacts of the climate change on the Rainfall-Runoff Process (RRP) in Pishin Basin in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in southeast of Iran is investigated. AFFDEF which is a distributed rainfall-runoff model has been calibrated using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and tested using daily records of Pishin reservoir inflows and rain gauges in the basin. The calibrated model has been then utilized to simulate RRP under assessed conditions of climate change till the year 2050 using A2 and A1B scenarios from the SRES family of scenarios generated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results have shown that the calibrated model has been able to properly regenerate reservoir inflows and can be utilized as a useful tool for runoff prediction under different climate change scenarios.
Application of Hedonic Price Model in the Prague Property Market

Hedonic price model was developed to quantify the influence of structural, accessibility and environmental attributes on the price of housing in the city of Prague. We have considered the size of flat as structural variable, the distance from the dwelling to the city center and to the nearest tube station as accessibility variables, and the proximity to the nearest urban forest as environmental variable. We have developed several regression models and tested their robustness in terms of the significance of parameters and the amount of variability explained. The sample is made up of 1,708 observations gathered from the city of Prague. Results show the size of flat is the most relevant variable explaining the price of housing. We have found also a significant inverse relationship between the selling price and its distance from a city center and urban forests.
Discovering the Functions of Language in Online Forums

In this work, we revisit the functions of language proposed by linguist Roman Jakobson and we highlight their potential in analyzing online forum conversations. We investigate the relationship between functions and other properties of comments, such as controversiality. We propose and evaluate a semi-supervised framework for predicting the functions of Reddit comments. To accommodate further research, we release a corpus of 165K comments annotated with their functions of language.
The effect of an 8-week Period of Endurance Exercise on the Quality of Life and Body mass index in Male Smokers

Background: The aim of the study was to measure the effect of an 8-week period of endurance exercise on the quality of life and BMI of male smokers.Materials and Methods: Among the cigarette addicted men referred to the center to quit smoking, 20 subjects were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly divided into two groups of experimental (n = 10) (mean age: 34.33 Â± 5.07 years and BMI: 25.41 Â± 3.55 kg/m2) and the control group (n = 10) (mean age: 32.10 Â± 4.81 years and BMI: 27.26 Â± 66 kg/m2). Weight, height and the BMI were measured before and after the 8-week exercise program by using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaires. The endurance exercise included an 8-week training program (3 sessions each week, and 60 minutes each session) which included running with the intensity of 75% MHR. Intensity of exercise was controlled through maximum heart rate and the formula (220_ age). The intensity and duration of exercise increased in each session. The data analysis was done using the variance analysis method for repetitive data and the independent T-test. Findings: The results showed that after the completion of the Endurance exercise program, the quality of life of the smoking men improved and increased significantly (P < 0.001). Their BMI significantly decreased (P < 0.01) while changes in these indices were not significant for the control group. Conclusion: The results showed that 8 weeks of Endurance exercise resulted in significant changes in the quality of life and BMI of male smokers. Keywords: Endurance exercise, quality of life, Body Mass Index (BMI), Male smokers
Does Change in Information Environment Affect the Choice between Bank Debt and Public Debt?

Using brokerage mergers and closures as natural experiments, we examine how exogenous change in information environment affects firms’ choice between bank debt and public debt. Our difference-in-differences approach shows that exogenous increase in information asymmetry (reduction in analyst coverage) causes firms to substitute away from public debt to bank debt. The finding is consistent with theoretical literature that public bondholders, compared with banks, are more sensitive to information asymmetry problems. Importantly, this paper directly tests the underlying assumptions behind the theoretical framework by documenting an instantaneous negative bond market reaction and an insignificant change in bank loan spread. We also document that such an impact is more pronounced for firms with low initial analyst coverage, with high assets substitution risk, and with low quality of corporate governance. JEL Classification: G24, G32
Offshoring, Matching, and Income Inequality: Theory and Empirics

This paper develops a matching framework of offshoring in which offshoring is defined as a cross-country many-to-one matching between workers and managers with complementary production technology. We embed the matching framework into two countries and two tasks with a continuum of skills to study the distributional effects of offshoring. Offshoring affects the matching mechanism, thereby (A) increasing total production in the world; (B) and what is more, raising total earnings in each respective country without creating conflicts of interest between two countries; (C) but it changes within-country inequality through differential distributional impacts between-task and within-task in each country. Combining data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. American Community Survey from 2002 to 2011, we provide empirical evidence that exposure to outward offshoring increases the salaries of managers who have a college degree or more by 1.6 percent, decreases the salaries of managers who have less than college by 1.3 percent, and reduces the wages of workers by 0.9 percent. Exposure to inward offshoring reduces the salaries of managers by 0.7 percent and increases the wages of workers by 0.4 percent. Offshoring explains about 12 to 21 percent of the widening income inequality in the U.S. Furthermore, the model provides a theoretical answer to why U.S. multinationals are shifting most of their production activities to countries such as Brazil, China, Mexico, and India, whose skill distributions have intermediate skill overlaps with the U.S., and not to countries that have little skill overlaps or high skill overlaps. Our empirical results predict that the accumulation of more educational attainment in China will drive U.S. multinationals to reshore production tasks from China back to the U.S. ∗Department of Economics, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, E-mail: jrchoi@ucdavis.edu. I am grateful to Robert Feenstra for his helpful advice and guidance from a very early stage, and to Alan Taylor, Deborah Swenson, Ina Simonovska, and Shu Shen for their fruitful comments. I also thank Pol Antràs, Colin Cameron, Nicolas Caramp, Athanasios Geromichalos, Melissa Kearney, Hanbin Lee, Kevin Lim, Felipe Aviles Lucero, Kalina Manova, Isabelle Mejean, Jihyun Park, Giovanni Peri, Brendan Price, Martine Quinzii, Katheryn Russ, Sanjay Singh, Rizki Nauli Siregar, Anson Soderbery, Hee Yeul Woo, Mingzhi Xu, Vasco Yasenov, and participants at the UC Davis Macro/International Brown Bag, the Fall 2016 Midwest International Trade Conference, the Western Economic Association International Annual Conference 2016, the European Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society 2016, the European Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society 2017, and the Sonoma State University for helpful discussions. This research was supported by Provost’s Dissertation Year Fellowship in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences from UC Davis.
The Association between Ethnic Group Affiliation and the Ratings of Comprehensibility, Intelligibility, Accentedness, and Acceptability

Previous research has shown that there is a relationship between language and identity, and thus the present study focuses on ethnic group affiliation (EGA) as a part of one’s ethnic group identity and its association with speech constructs (i.e., intelligibility, comprehensibility, accentedness, and acceptability). EGA scores were collected through an online questionnaire and the speech data were evaluated globally using a 9-point Likert scale. Contrary to the findings of previous research on the relationship between EGA and the aforementioned speech constructs, the present study did not find any significant correlations between speakers’ EGA scores and their ratings on the four speech constructs at least in a non-conflictual college context. Furthermore, there was also no relationship between the nonnative speakers’ daily use of language and their EGA scores. Similarly, the listeners’ EGA scores also did not correlate significantly with the way they evaluated the speech samples. The only exception in this correlation was the relationship between language-related EGA and the accentedness scores. Finally, the study also points to a trend where a new generation of native speakers of English tend to score non-native speech less harshly especially as regards accentedness.