Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analysis of channel propagation models based on calculated and measured data

In this research various propagation models are analyzed and compared according to both of calculated and measured results. These propagation models depend on location, frequency range and clutter type such as urban, suburban and countryside. The propagation models have been proposed at the operating frequency of 900 MHz. The interaction between the electromagnetic waves and the environment reduces the signal strength, which is sent from transmitter to receiver that causes the path loss. It was noticed from the obtained results that SUI model showed the lowest path loss values in urban environment.
SAR real-time guidance system based on NLM despeckling and gradient binary description

In recent years, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been widely used in guidance systems due to its high imaging quality and other superior functions. As the basis of system, SAR image registration has a direct impact on guidance precision. However, due to some inherent characteristics, especially the polarization and speckle noise, we need to adopt more effective approach to achieve the high precision and low computation of SAR guidance system than other optical image based systems. Therefore, in this paper, first, we implement NLM (Non-local Means) filter to improve the image quality damaged by speckle. Then, at feature detection and description stage, we adopt well-known FAST (Features from Accelerated Segment Test) and gradient-based binary descriptors, LDB (Local Difference Binary), to overcome strict real-time requirement and polarization phenomenon. Finally, at matching stage, in order to increase the number of correct pairs, the FSC (Fast Sample Consensus) is used to discard outliers matched by Hamming distance. And the transformation parameters could be estimated with affine model. To evaluate the performance of algorithms, three comparative experiments have been accomplished. The results demonstrate a good performance of our proposed method.
A visual attention operator for playing Pac-Man

The paper explores the use of reinforcement learning in tasks that involve image-like (but not necessarily raw-pixel) state representations. It proposes a visual attention operator, related to the concept of visual attention presented in previous works. The operator is tested on the game of Pac-Man, where it allows the use of the same agent with various game layouts, no matter what their dimensions (and thus the size of the image-like representation) are. It is shown that the approach is able to summarize information present in the original representation into a fixed-size glimpse and that the approach is able to outperform several more direct approaches.
Subarray-Based Frequency Diverse Array for Target Range-Angle Localization With Monopulse Processing

Frequency diverse array (FDA) can offer new degrees-of-freedom, but the target localization of basic FDA is fundamentally limited by the range-angle-coupled and range-periodic peaks of beampattern. In this paper, we propose a localization system with the combination of subarray-based FDA and full-band FDA, as the transmitter and the receiver, respectively. The transmit and receive beampatterns are both decoupled in range and angle domains. Target range-angle localization is achieved by two steps. First, using the outputs of subarrays, we solve the range ambiguity and obtain a coarse location. Second, the monopulse processing of range-angle localization is developed for the proposed system by taking the coarse location as the receiving beam pointing. The localization performance is also analyzed in Cramér-Rao lower bound, computational complexity, and output signal to interference-plus-noise ratio. Several simulation results demonstrate that unambiguous target range-angle localization can be achieved with a low computational cost by the proposed method.
Development and Evaluation of Speed Harmonization Using Optimal Control Theory

This article addresses the problem of harmonizing the speed of a number of automated vehicles before they enter a speed reduction zone on a freeway. We formulate the control problem and provide an analytical, closed-form solution that can be implemented in real time. The solution yields the optimal acceleration/deceleration of each vehicle under the hard safety constraint of rear-end collision avoidance. The effectiveness of the solution is evaluated through a microscopic simulation testbed and it is shown that the proposed approach reduces significantly both fuel consumption and travel time. In particular, for different traffic volume levels, fuel consumption per vehicle is reduced by 12-17% and 2-12% compared to the baseline case, where the vehicles are human-driven without control, and variable speed limit (VSL) respectively, while travel time is reduced by 28-32% and 11-28%.
Pre-coding technique for adaptive threshold detectors in diffusion-based molecular communications

Molecular Communication (MC) is a subject in medicine, biology and communication engineering. This new paradigm is introduced to carry messages between nano-machines. Because of their size, one of the primary limitation of these devices is their computation capability. For this reason, the proposed ideas regarding MC should be as low complex as possible. Due to the random propagation of molecules, intersymbol interference becomes a major restriction in MC. The majority of ISI combating techniques in literature are implemented at receiver side. In this contribution, a new pre-coding algorithm is introduced at transmitter side to mitigate the intersymbol interference for adaptive threshold detectors. This algorithm will ensure us that we can utilise these detectors in different situations. Our analytical and numerical results indicate that the proposed scheme will provide a significant performance boost regarding these detectors.
Motion detection in video surviellance: A systematic survey

Visual surveillance systems have long been in use to gather information, to monitor people, events and activities. The main objective is to compensate the conventional passive video surveillance systems which become ineffective as the number of cameras outdo the capability of human operators to monitor them. The process of object detection usually involves background modeling and motion segmentation. Subsequent processes such as object tracking, behavior analysis and recognition are greatly dependent on it. Objects in consecutive frames are matched to track motion. Visual surveillance systems with multiple cameras help immensely in expanding the area of surveillance. The main approaches are detection of person, tracking of person and behavior analysis. A survey on the various methods of identifying objects is done.
Asymptomatic Intestinal Colonization with Protist Blastocystis Is Strongly Associated with Distinct Microbiome Ecological Patterns

Given the results of our study and other reports of the effects of the most common human gut protist on the diversity and composition of the bacterial microbiome, Blastocystis and, possibly, other gut protists should be studied as ecosystem engineers that drive community diversity and composition. ABSTRACT Blastocystis is the most prevalent protist of the human intestine, colonizing approximately 20% of the North American population and up to 100% in some nonindustrialized settings. Blastocystis is associated with gastrointestinal and systemic disease but can also be an asymptomatic colonizer in large populations. While recent findings in humans have shown bacterial microbiota changes associated with this protist, it is unknown whether these occur due to the presence of Blastocystis or as a result of inflammation. To explore this, we evaluated the fecal bacterial and eukaryotic microbiota in 156 asymptomatic adult subjects from a rural population in Xoxocotla, Mexico. Colonization with Blastocystis was strongly associated with an increase in bacterial alpha diversity and broad changes in beta diversity and with more discrete changes to the microbial eukaryome. More than 230 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), including those of dominant species Prevotella copri and Ruminococcus bromii, were differentially abundant in Blastocystis-colonized individuals. Large functional changes accompanied these observations, with differential abundances of 202 (out of 266) predicted metabolic pathways (PICRUSt), as well as lower fecal concentrations of acetate, butyrate, and propionate in colonized individuals. Fecal calprotectin was markedly decreased in association with Blastocystis colonization, suggesting that this ecological shift induces subclinical immune consequences to the asymptomatic host. This work is the first to show a direct association between the presence of Blastocystis and shifts in the gut bacterial and eukaryotic microbiome in the absence of gastrointestinal disease or inflammation. These results prompt further investigation of the role Blastocystis and other eukaryotes play within the human microbiome. IMPORTANCE Given the results of our study and other reports of the effects of the most common human gut protist on the diversity and composition of the bacterial microbiome, Blastocystis and, possibly, other gut protists should be studied as ecosystem engineers that drive community diversity and composition.
Evolutionary algorithms for near-optimum detection of multi-beam satellite signals

Multi-beam satellites represent one of the enabling technologies for future terabit satellite systems. It is known that, increasing the reuse factor of frequency sub-bands, it is possible to boost multi-beam satellite capacity, provided that co-channel interference is conveniently reduced at the Earth station side. To this aim, suitable multi-user detection techniques are required. The optimum detection is based on the maximum-likelihood (ML) criterion, which involves a prohibitive computational burden for large reuse factors. Alternative state-of-the-art suboptimal solutions are based on Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) detection and iterative interference cancellation. In this work, we aim at testing near-optimum multi-beam detection techniques based on evolutionary algorithms, namely: Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSOs), both them well suited for solving complex nonlinear optimization problems with tolerable computational complexity. In particular, we shall consider GA and PSO-assisted maximum likelihood detection, thus exploiting the capability of GA and PSO of finding near-optimum ML solution within a search space of reasonable cardinality. A simulation testbed will be implemented by considering a multi-beam Single Feed per Beam Antenna System (SFBA) with combined transmission and reception antennas. Results obtained by evolutionary-aided ML detection will be compared with those yielded suboptimal MMSE multi-beam detection and with the single-user bound. Simulation results show the near-optimal potential of the proposed evolutionary techniques, in particular when the theoretical ML detection exhibits unaffordable computational burden.
The Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone in the Neo-Tethyan suture , western Iran : Zircon UPb evidence of late Palaeozoic rifting of northern Gondwana and mid-Jurassic orogenesis

The Zagros Orogen, marking the closure of the Neo-Tethyan Ocean, formed by continental collision beginning in the late Eocene to early Miocene. Collision was preceded by a complicated tectonic history involving Pan-African orogenesis, Late Palaeozoic rifting forming Neo-Tethys, followed by Mesozoic convergence on the ocean's northern margin and ophiolite obduction on its southern margin. The SanandajSirjan Zone is a metamorphic belt in the Zagros Orogen of Gondwanan provenance. Zircon ages have established Pan-African basement igneous and metamorphic complexes in addition to uncommon late Palaeozoic plutons and abundant Jurassic plutonic rocks. We have determined zircon ages from units in the northwestern Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone (Golpaygan region). A sample of quartzite from the June Complex has detrital zircons with U-Pb ages mainly in 800-1050 Ma with a maximum depositional age of 547 ± 32 Ma (latest Neoproterozoic¿earliest Cambrian). A SHRIMP U-Pb zircon age of 336 ± 9 Ma from gabbro in the June Complex indicates a Carboniferous plutonic event that is also recorded in the far northwestern SanandajSirjan Zone. Together with the Permian Hasanrobat Granite near Golpaygan, they all are considered related to rifting marking formation of Neo-Tethys. Scarce detrital zircons from an extensive package of metasedimentary rocks (Hamadan Phyllite) have ages consistent with the Triassic to Early Jurassic age previously determined from fossils. These ages confirm that an orogenic episode affected the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone in the Early to Middle Jurassic (Cimmerian Orogeny). Although the Cimmerian Orogeny in northern Iran reflects late Triassic to Jurassic collision of the Turan platform (southern Eurasia) and the Cimmerian microcontinent, we consider that in the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone a tectonothermal event coeval with the Cimmerian Orogeny resulted from initiation of subduction and closure of rift basins along the northern margin of Neo-Tethys.
Distributed Subgradient Method With Edge-Based Event-Triggered Communication

This paper proposes a distributed subgradient method for constrained optimization with event-triggered communications. In the proposed method, each agent has an estimate of an optimal solution as a state and iteratively updates it by a consensus-based subgradient algorithm with a projection to a common constraint set. The local communications are carried out by the edge-based triggering mechanism when the difference between the current state and the last triggered state exceeds a threshold. We show that the states of all agents asymptotically converge to one of the optimal solutions under a diminishing and summability condition on a stepsize and a threshold for a trigger condition. We also investigate the convergence rate with respect to the time-averaged state of each agent. The simulation results show that the proposed event-triggered algorithm can reduce the number of communications compared to the time-triggered algorithms.
Developmental Differentiation and Binding of Mental Processes with g through the Life-Span

Integration/differentiation of mental processes is major mechanism of development. Developmental theories ascribe intellectual development to it. In psychometric theory, Spearman’s law of diminishing returns postulates that increasing g allows increasing differentiation of cognitive abilities, because increased mental power allows variable investment in domain-specific learning. Empirical evidence has been inconsistent so far, with some studies supporting and others contradicting this mechanism. This state of affairs is due to a developmental phenomenon: Both differentiation and strengthening of relations between specific processes and g may happen but these changes are phase-specific and ability-specific, depending upon the developmental priorities in the formation of g in each phase. We present eight studies covering the age span from 4 to 85 years in support of this phenomenon. Using new powerful modeling methods we showed that differentiation and binding of mental processes in g occurs in cycles. Specific processes intertwine with g at the beginning of cycles when they are integrated into it; when well established, these processes may vary with increasing g, reflecting its higher flexibility. Representational knowledge, inductive inference and awareness of it, and grasp of logical constraints framing inference are the major markers of g, first intertwining with in their respective cycles and differentiating later during the periods of 2–6, 7–11, and 11–20 years, respectively. The implications of these findings for an overarching cognitive developmental/differential theory of human mind are discussed.
Analysis of miR-148b expression differences in stage-I and II parosteal osteosarcoma

Expression of human serum albumin-micro RNA miR-148b in patients with stage-I and II parosteal osteosarcoma and its effect on prognosis were investigated. A total of 47 cases of fresh tissues of stage-I and II parosteal osteosarcoma and the corresponding para-carcinoma normal bone tissues resected by operation were collected; the expression of miR-148b in parosteal osteosarcoma tissues and normal bone tissues was detected, and the correlations of miR-148b expression in parosteal osteosarcoma tissues with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis were analyzed. The expression level of miR-148b in parosteal osteosarcoma tissues was significantly lower than that in para-carcinoma normal tissues (P<0.05). It was found that the low expression of miR-148b was correlated with the lung metastasis (P<0.05). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis showed that the overall survival rate of patients in the low-expression miR-148b group was lower than that in the high-expression group (P<0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the miR-148b level (P=0.003) was an independent prognostic factor affecting the prognosis. The results of this study showed that the expression of miR-148b in stage-I and II parosteal osteosarcoma tissues declines, which is related to the poor clinical prognosis of parosteal osteosarcoma.
High-Efficiency Zero-Voltage Switching Single-Stage Switching Amplifier With Half-Bridge Active Clamping Circuit

A zero-voltage switching (ZVS) single-stage switching amplifier (SSA) is proposed in this paper. The proposed SSA is composed of a bipolar phase shift modulation (BPSM) high-frequency link single-stage inverter and a half-bridge active clamp (HBAC) circuit. HBAC circuit is developed to clamp the voltages across cycloconverter switches and to recycle the energy in filter inductor and leakage inductance. ZVS of cycloconverter switches can be realized with the help of active clamp circuit. By utilization of magnetizing current, wide range ZVS of primary-side switches can be achieved. By delaying the turn on time of clamp switches to primary-side switches, full range ZVS of active clamp switches can be realized. High efficiency of the proposed HBAC-SSA is achieved with single-stage power conversion, recycling of inductive energy, and wide range ZVS. Benefiting with BPSM and voltage clamp across cycloconverter switches, low distortion of output voltage is also obtained. A 120 W prototype with 93.6% peak efficiency and 0.07% total harmonics distortion has been built to verify the analysis results of the proposed HBAC-SSA.
High-performance computing for protein fold prediction

Protein fold recognition is a nondeterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard) problem in the field of computer science. Most algorithms that have been proposed to identify the protein folding structure have been based on the hydrophobic-polar (HP) model. However, the identification of protein folding remains a challenge for high-performance computing. This paper proposes a high-performance computing algorithm that combines a double-bottom-chaotic particle swarm optimization (DBM-PSO) method with a local search approach (DBM-L-PSO) to identify the optimal protein folding structures. The identification performance of the DBM-L-PSO algorithm was evaluated for ten protein sequences with the HP model. All of the experimental results showed that DBM-L-PSO algorithm provided an optimal identification for the protein folding structures using both short and long amino acid sequences. The proposed algorithm, DBM-L-PSO, outperformed several other algorithms in protein fold recognition. This study indicates that DBM-L-PSO possesses a substantial ability to identify protein folding structures.
New Brazilian Floristic List Highlights Conservation Challenges

Plasmodium malariae is a protozoan parasite that causes malaria in humans and is genetically indistinguishable from Plasmodium brasilianum, a parasite infecting New World monkeys in Central and South America. P. malariae has a wide and patchy global distribution in tropical and subtropical regions, being found in South America, Asia, and Africa. However, little is known regarding the genetics of these parasites and the similarity between them could be because until now there are only a very few genomic sequences available from simian Plasmodium species. This study presents the first molecular epidemiological data for P. malariae and P. brasilianum from Brazil obtained from different hosts and uses them to explore the genetic diversity in relation to geographical origin and hosts. By using microsatellite genotyping, we discovered that of the 14 human samples obtained from areas of the Atlantic forest, 5 different multilocus genotypes were recorded, while in a sample from an infected mosquito from the same region a different haplotype was found. We also analyzed the longitudinal change of circulating plasmodial genetic profile in two untreated non-symptomatic patients during a 12-months interval. The circulating genotypes in the two samples from the same patient presented nearly identical multilocus haplotypes (differing by a single locus). The more frequent haplotype persisted for almost 3 years in the human population. The allele Pm09-299 described previously as a genetic marker for South American P. malariae was not found in our samples. Of the 3 non-human primate samples from the Amazon Region, 3 different multilocus genotypes were recorded indicating a greater diversity among isolates of P. brasilianum compared to P. malariae and thus, P. malariae might in fact derive from P. brasilianum as has been proposed in recent studies. Taken together, our data show that based on the microsatellite data there is a relatively restricted polymorphism of P. malariae parasites as opposed to other geographic locations. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Generalized Killing spinors on Einstein manifolds

We study generalized Killing spinors on compact Einstein manifolds with positive scalar curvature. This problem is related to the existence of compact Einstein hypersurfaces in manifolds with parallel spinors, or equivalently, in Riemannian products of flat spaces, Calabi–Yau, hyperkahler, G2 and Spin(7) manifolds.
Why do larvae of Utetheisa ornatrix penetrate and feed in pods of Crotalaria species? Larval performance vs. chemical and physical constraints

Larvae of Utetheisa ornatrix (L.)(Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) are found mainly inside unripe pods of several alkaloid‐bearing Crotalaria (Fabaceae) species. Although eggs are laid on the leaves, the larvae are usually found feeding on unripe seeds in the pods. In this work, we investigated the selective pressures that could explain why U. ornatrix larvae feed primarily on unripe pods with seeds and not on leaves. Our results showed that larval survivorship in the laboratory was unaffected by feeding on leaves or unripe seeds, and that larval development up to the pupal stage was better in larvae that fed on unripe seeds, although perforating unripe pods to reach seeds was costly in terms of survivorship. Females were also heavier when fed on unripe seeds, but there was no significant difference in the fecundity of females fed either of the two diets. Feeding on unripe seeds in pods had other benefits for U. ornatrix, including a lower predation rate for larvae that fed inside compared to larvae that fed outside the pods. Similarly, adults derived from larvae that fed on unripe seeds were preyed upon less frequently by the orb‐weaving spider Nephila clavipes than were adults that fed on leaves. The latter benefit may be closely related to the high concentration of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in unripe seeds, which is about five times more than in leaves. These alkaloids are sequestered by the larvae and transferred to adults, which then become chemically protected. However, this chemical defence does not protect the larvae against ants such as Ectatomma quadridens and Camponotus crassus. Pods with unripe seeds that confer physical protection to larvae and pyrrolizidine alkaloids that confer chemical protection to adults limit the use of leaves by U. ornatrix larvae.