Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Securing the D istributed Kalman Filter Against Curious Agents

Distributed filtering techniques have emerged as the dominant and most prolific class of filters used in modern monitoring and surveillance applications, such as smart grids. As these techniques rely on information sharing among agents, user privacy and information security have become a focus of concern. In this manuscript, a privacy-preserving distributed Kalman filter (PP-DKF) is derived that maintains privacy by decomposing the information into public and private substates, where only a perturbed version of the public substate is shared among neighbors. The derived PP-DKF provides privacy by restricting the amount of information exchanged with state decomposition and conceals private information by injecting a carefully designed perturbation sequence. A thorough analysis is performed to characterize the privacy-accuracy trade-offs involved in the distributed filter, with privacy defined as the mean squared estimation error of the private information at the honest-but-curious agent. The resulting PP-DKF improves the overall filtering performance and privacy of all agents compared to distributed Kalman filters employing contemporary privacy-preserving average consensus techniques. Several simulation examples corroborate the theoretical results.
Characterization and control of a 1-DOF monolithic piezoactuator (MPA)

The Monolithic PiezoActuator (MPA) described in this work proposes the amplification of the piezoelectric deformation by a lever mechanism designed in a bulk piezoceramic plate. The advantages of the monolithic approach are to make the structure compact and to avoid problems of assembling reducing consequently production costs. In addition, several DOF (Degree Of Freedom) MPA can be designed with this approach. The total displacement using the MPA can reach some microns for a few millimeters size device. A numerical model has been used to simulate the static and dynamic behavior of a 1 DOF MPA. Static and dynamic measurements show a maximum displacement of around 6 mm and bandwidths as high as 5 kHz. The second part of this work is devoted to the open-loop position control of the MPA. The piezoelectric actuation is generally known to have a static behavior with a good linearity. Actually, when such an actuator is controlled by the electrical voltage, the typical hysteresis between this voltage and the corresponding deformation of the actuator can reach 20% for a soft PZT. Experimental results show an hysteresis under 10% and weak non-linearity for the MPA compared to standard piezoactuators. In order to linearize the open-loop motions, an open-loop control device which control the quantity of free electrical charges on the micro-actuator has been developed. The implementation of the control method has also given very encouraging results for MPA prototypes used in the laboratory.
Evaluation of Cluster Effect in Mobile Opportunistic Networks

This paper analyses how data dissemination occurs in mobile Opportunistic Networks by evaluating the impact of different parameters such as density of neighbors, communication range, and speed. There exist several analytical models to evaluate the data dissemination time in OppNets. These models were developed based on a very strong assumption of uniform distribution of infected nodes. We prove that this assumption does not work for the whole spectrum of mobile OppNets. This paper shows our simulation results validated with our analytical model and discusses the impact of different parameters on data dissemination.
ESR2 regulates indian hedgehog signaling in neonatal rat ovary

The transcriptional regulatory function of estrogen receptor β (ESR2) is essential for the regulation of primordial follicle activation (PFA). Increased PFA due to the loss of ESR2 becomes evident as early as postnatal day 8 (PND8). To identify the ESR2-regulated genes that control PFA, we performed RNA-seq analyses of wildtype, and Esr2 knockout (Esr2KO) neonatal rat ovaries collected on PND4, PND6, and PND8. Among the differentially expressed genes in Esr2KO ovaries, indian hedgehog (Ihh) displayed the highest downregulation among the ovary enriched genes. IHH regulated genes including Hhip as well as the steroidogenic enzymes were also downregulated in Esr2KO rat ovaries. Remarkably, the expression of Ihh in Esr2KO ovaries was not upregulated despite the high levels of Gdf9 and Bmp15, which are known regulators of Ihh expression in granulosa cells. Our findings suggest that indian hedgehog signaling in the neonatal rat ovary is dependent on ESR2.
Revising the Role of Cortical Cytoskeleton during Secretion: Actin and Myosin XI Function in Vesicle Tethering

In plants, secretion of cell wall components and membrane proteins plays a fundamental role in growth and development as well as survival in diverse environments. Exocytosis, as the last step of the secretory trafficking pathway, is a highly ordered and precisely controlled process involving tethering, docking, and fusion of vesicles at the plasma membrane (PM) for cargo delivery. Although the exocytic process and machinery are well characterized in yeast and animal models, the molecular players and specific molecular events that underpin late stages of exocytosis in plant cells remain largely unknown. Here, by using the delivery of functional, fluorescent-tagged cellulose synthase (CESA) complexes (CSCs) to the PM as a model system for secretion, as well as single-particle tracking in living cells, we describe a quantitative approach for measuring the frequency of vesicle tethering events. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of cytoskeletal function, reveal that the initial vesicle tethering step of exocytosis is dependent on actin and myosin XI. In contrast, treatments with the microtubule inhibitor, oryzalin, did not significantly affect vesicle tethering or fusion during CSC exocytosis but caused a minor increase of transient or aborted tethering events. With data from this new quantitative approach and improved spatiotemporal resolution of single particle events during secretion, we generate a revised model for the role of the cortical cytoskeleton in CSC trafficking.
The effects of probabilistic context inference on motor adaptation

Humans have been shown to adapt their movements when a sudden or gradual change to the dynamics of the environment are introduced, a phenomenon called motor adaptation. If the change is reverted, the adaptation is also quickly reverted. Humans are also able to adapt to multiple changes in dynamics presented separately, and to be able to switch between adapted movements on the fly. Such switching relies on contextual information which is often noisy or misleading, affecting the switch between known adaptations. Recently, computational models for motor adaptation and context inference have been introduced, which contain components for context inference and Bayesian motor adaptation. These models were used to show the effects of context inference on learning rates across different experiments. We expanded on these works by using a simplified version of the recently-introduced COIN model to show that the effects of context inference on motor adaptation and control go even further than previously shown. Here, we used this model to simulate classical motor adaptation experiments from previous works and showed that context inference, and how it is affected by the presence and reliability of feedback, effect a host of behavioral phenomena that had so far required multiple hypothesized mechanisms, lacking a unified explanation. Concretely, we show that the reliability of direct contextual information, as well as noisy sensory feedback, typical of many experiments, effect measurable changes in switching-task behavior, as well as in action selection, that stem directly from probabilistic context inference.
Community Composition of Bacteria Isolated from Swiss Banknotes Varies Depending on Collection Environment

Humans interact constantly with surfaces and associated microbial communities in the environment. The factors shaping the composition of these communities are poorly understood: some proposed explanations emphasize the influence of local habitat conditions (niche-based explanations), while others point to geographic structure and the distance among sampled locations (dispersal-based explanations). However, the relative roles of these different drivers for microbial community assembly on human-associated surfaces are not clear. Here, we used a combination of sampling, sequencing (16S rRNA) and culturing to show that the composition of banknote-associated bacterial communities varies depending on the local collection environment. Using banknotes collected from various locations and types of shops across Switzerland, we found taxonomic diversity dominated by families such as Pseudomonadaceae and Staphylococcaceae, but with banknote samples from particular types of shops (especially butcher shops) having distinct community structure. By contrast, we found no evidence of geographic structure: similarity of community composition did not decrease with increasing distance among sampled locations. These results show that microbial communities associated with banknotes, one of the most commonly encountered and exchanged human-associated surfaces, can reflect the local environmental conditions (in this case, the type of shop), and the signal for this type of variation was stronger than that for geographic structure among the locations sampled here.
A -119.2 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz, 1.5 mW, fully integrated, 2.5-GHz, CMOS VCO using helical inductors

This letter presents an implementation to reduce area occupation in designing voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) using a filtering technique. We applied a helical inductor to the noise filter in a 2.5-GHz CMOS VCO to reduce area occupation. Because a helical inductor has less area occupation, a small silicon area was achieved. This VCO operates in the 2.5-GHz band with power consumption of 1.5 mW and phase noise of -119.2 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz. Our VCO displays an excellent performance of phase noise in relation to power consumption.
Experimental study of flow in a tank stirred by a Rushton impeller

The paper presents results of an experimental investigation of flow in a stirred vessel. By means of LDA the velocity field was measured in a vicinity of a Rushton type impeller placed in the middle of the tank. Profiles of mean velocities of radial, tangential and axial components were obtained. The profiles of radial and tangential velocity components in the impeller discharge stream were approximated by a modified Gaussian distribution.
Design Optimization and Analysis of NACA 0012 Airfoil Using Computational Fluid Dynamics and Genetic Algorithm

CFD method is inexpensive method of analysis of flow over aerodynamic structure. It incorporates mathematical relations and algorithms to analyze and solve the problems regarding fluid flow. CFD analysis of an airfoil produces results such as lift and drag forces which determines the ability of an airfoil. Optimization of an airfoil involves improving the design of the airfoil in order to manipulate the lift and drag coefficients according to the requirements. It is a very common method used in all fields of engineering. MATLAB is a numerical computing environment which supports interface with other software. XFoil is airfoil analysis software which calculates the lift and drag characteristics for different Reynolds numbers, Mach numbers and angles of attack. MALAB is interfaced with XFoil and the optimization of NACA 0012 airfoil is done and the results are analyzed. The performance of optimized air foil is analyzed using ANSYS FLUENT software.
SARS-CoV-2 transmission in schools in Korea: nationwide cohort study

Objective There is an urgent public need to readdress the school closure strategies. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of COVID-19 in schools and school-aged children to understand their roles in transmitting SARS-CoV-2 in Korea. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting All schools in Korea Patients All school-aged children in Korea. Interventions None (observational study). Main outcome measures Incidence rate, proportion of affected schools. Results Between February and December 2020, the incidence rate was lower among school-aged children (63.2–79.8 per 100 000) compared with adults aged 19 and above (130.4 per 100 000). Household was the main route of transmission (62.3%), followed by community (21.3%) and school clusters (7.9%). Among the schools in Korea, 52% of secondary schools had COVID-19 cases, followed by 39% of primary schools and 3% of kindergartens. Conclusions We found that schools and school-aged children aged 7–18 years were not the main drivers of COVID-19 transmission. The major sources of transmission were households. What role do schools play in transmitting COVID-19? This national study from Korea finds few children caught COVID-19 in school, most acquired it from household transmission. The authors discuss whether school closures are a useful way to interrupt COVID-19 transmission.
Gas insulated substation (GIS) for HVDC

The paper deals with the topic of a Gas Insulated Substation (GIS) optimized for HVDC. The electric field distribution of DC systems is mainly controlled by the conductivity k of the dielectric media. Surface charge accumulation leads to field distortion. In order to prevent this phenomenon on the spacer of such systems, a conducting coating has been realised. Investigations are made with a real 145 kV-GIS-setup. The influence of the surface coating on the field distribution can be proved with this experimental setup. Numerical calculations based on the Boundary-Element-Method (BEM) are made to investigate the influence of surface resistivity and surface charge on the field distribution of a spacer. The charge accumulation on an uncoated spacer is measured, simulated and discussed. With a coated spacer it is possible to prevent this charging.
SpectraGAN: spectrum based generation of city scale spatiotemporal mobile network traffic data

City-scale spatiotemporal mobile network traffic data can support numerous applications in and beyond networking. However, operators are very reluctant to share their data, which is curbing innovation and research reproducibility. To remedy this status quo, we propose SpectraGAN, a novel deep generative model that, upon training with real-world network traffic measurements, can produce high-fidelity synthetic mobile traffic data for new, arbitrary sized geographical regions over long periods. To this end, the model only requires publicly available context information about the target region, such as population census data. SpectraGAN is an original conditional GAN design with the defining feature of generating spectra of mobile traffic at all locations of the target region based on their contextual features. Evaluations with mobile traffic measurement datasets collected by different operators in 13 cities across two European countries demonstrate that SpectraGAN can synthesize more dependable traffic than a range of representative baselines from the literature. We also show that synthetic data generated with SpectraGAN yield similar results to that with real data when used in applications like radio access network infrastructure power savings and resource allocation, or dynamic population mapping.
Informal Recreation’s Relationship With College Student Stress and Anxiety

In this study, 18 undergraduate college students were interviewed and identified academics, work, and relationships as primary sources of stress and anxiety. The students attributed their reduced stress and anxiety to their participation in informal recreation. Administrators in student affairs are encouraged to integrate informal recreational opportunities in their collaborative approach to students’ mental and emotional well-being through marketing and promotion, easier access to open recreation, partnerships with external organizations, and continued integration of technology.
Study of Farm Vehicle Crashes in North Carolina

Crashes involving farm vehicles on the public roads in North Carolina have remained basically the same for 30 years. However, as the population continues to increase, some farmland near urban centers is developed into residential neighborhoods, which increases the likelihood that a farm vehicle will encounter other vehicles. This study provides a descriptive analysis of more than 3,000 farm vehicle crashes reported in North Carolina from 1991 through 1999. The study also includes a summary of 69 clinical examinations of farm vehicle crash sites and provides recommendations to decrease the frequencies of these crashes. A primary finding of the study is that rear-end and left-turn crashes make up more than 50% of the crashes. Other findings include the fact that the roadway and operation characteristics on primary highways are noticeably different from those on secondary roads. Because of the relatively small number of annual events and the potential effects on the agricultural industry, countermeasures need to be targeted. Recommendations include the following: a learner’s permit to operate a farm vehicle on the public highways should be required, all farm vehicles operating on public highways should be required to display the “Slow Moving Vehicle” emblem, the costs and benefits of requiring all new farm vehicles to have flashing beacons permanently fixed to the vehicle should be researched, and brochures that inform farmers on specific strategies to reduce farm vehicle crashes should be developed and distributed. These strategies include information on how to perform a wide two-point left turn and voluntary adoption of more stringent standards for their vehicle operators and equipment.
Developing online teacher communities to support communication and collaboration

Glow, the Scottish arm of the National Grid for Learning (NGfL), was created to connect each of Scotland's 32 local authorities, schools, teachers and pupils, as well as key stakeholders through a secure intranet. Since the official launch of Glow in 2007 it has received a mixed reception amongst the teaching profession and engagement has been variable. This study set out to investigate Glow's use. The initial online survey of teachers' perceptions of Glow, in 2009, indicated that respondents were making little use of Glow. This led to a refocusing ofthe research to investigate a group of teachers who had a history of communicating online, with a view to understanding how teacher communities evolve online. A case study approach was adopted using a variety of methods including e-participant observations of their asynchronous discussion forums, questionnaires and interviews. The research builds on previous work on member Life-Cycle models and online community models in order to describe and analyse this onlineteacher community. Key findings emerged related to the adequacy of existing models of online communities and the evolution of new modes of online interaction. Specifically, member Life-Cycle models designed for open online communities do not fully describe the roles adopted in a closed teacher community. Furthermore, such models are inadequate to fully understand community development where members communicate offline as well as online. For this existing teacher community synchronous discussions appear to be increasing in relevance and popularity in comparison with asynchronous discussions. The implications of this for the next generation of Glow and online teacher communities are particularly relevant suggesting that focused synchronous discussion groups are an area for future research. Keywords: Glow, NGfL, online communication, online collaboration, online communities, teacher communities.
Impact of Citrus Pulp or Inulin on Intestinal Microbiota and Metabolites, Barrier, and Immune Function of Weaned Piglets

We investigated the use of citrus pulp (CP) as a novel prebiotic capable of exerting microbiota and immunomodulating capacities to alleviate weaning stress. Inulin (IN), a well-known prebiotic, was used for comparison. Hundred and 28 male weaned piglets of 21 days old were assigned to 32 pens of 4 piglets each. Piglets were assigned to one of the four treatments, i.e., control, IN supplemented at 0.2% (IN0.2%), and CP supplemented either at 0.2% (CP0.2%) or at 2% (CP2%). On d10–11 and d31–32 post-weaning, one pig per pen was euthanized for intestinal sampling to evaluate the growth performance, chyme characteristics, small intestinal morphology, colonic inflammatory response and barrier integrity, metabolite profiles [gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)], and microbial populations. The IN treatment and the two CP treatments induced higher small intestinal villus height to crypt depth ratios in comparison with the control diet at both sampling times. All treatments decreased acidic goblet cell absolute counts in the crypts in comparison to the control diet of the duodenum on d10–11 and d31–32. The gene expression of β-defensin 2 was downregulated in colonic tissues following the IN and CP2% inclusion on d31–32. On d31–32, piglets fed with IN and CP0.2% showed lower mRNA levels of occludin and claudin-3, respectively. Not surprisingly, flavonoids were observed in the colon in the CP treatments. Increased colonic acetate proportions on d10–11, at the expense of branched-chain fatty acid (BCFA) levels, were observed following the CP2% supplementation compared to the control diet, inferring a reduction of proteolytic fermentation in the hindgut. The beneficial microbial community Faecalibacterium spp. was promoted in the colon of piglets fed with CP2% on d10–11 (p = 0.04; false discovery rate (FDR) non-significant) and on d31–32 (p = 0.03; FDR non-significant) in comparison with the control diet. Additionally, on d31–32, CP2% increased the relative abundance of Megasphaera spp. compared to control values (p = 0.03; FDR non-significant). In conclusion, CP2% promoted the growth of beneficial bacterial communities in both post-weaning time points, modulating colonic fermentation patterns in the colon. The effects of CP supplementation were similar to those of IN and showed the potential as a beneficial feed supplement to alleviate weaning stress.
Composition and Distribution of Fish Larvae Surrounding the Upwelling Zone in the Waters of Northeastern Taiwan in Summer

We investigated the species composition and distribution of fish larvae surrounding the upwelling zone in the waters of northeastern Taiwan in July 2011. The surface water had higher temperatures (25.7°C-28.3°C) and lower salinity (33.67-34.05 psu) than did lower water columns. A divergent trend was observed between temperature and salinity in the waters above 80 m. Moreover, we identified a cold-core eddy at the upwelling of the Kuroshio subsurface at waters approximately 60 m beneath the surface. In total, 1834 fish larvae were collected from eight stations; 85 taxa contributing to 60 families were identified. The abundance of fish larvae varied among stations. The five predominant larval taxa, which constituted 50% of the total fish larvae, were Auxis spp. (30.14%), Sciaenidae spp. (6.73%), Decapterus spp. (6.29%), Champsodon spp. (5.52%), and Gobiidae spp. (4.83%). Higher diversity and lower evenness index values were recorded in areas of high temperature and low salinity. Two larval fish assemblages, Mixed Coastal Group and Upwelling Group, were identified from a cluster analysis. Mixed Coastal Group exhibited higher density, higher temperature, and lower salinity than Upwelling Group did. Thus, in general, the density, spatial distribution, composition, and diversity of fish larvae differed, and the salinity at the 20-m layer exerted a more substantial effect on larval distribution in this study.