Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Not Inflammation Exposure-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis but Synthase in Chronic Allergen Requirement for Inducible Nitric Oxide

The role of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in allergic airway inﬂammation remains elusive. We tested the hypothesis that iNOS plays different roles during acute versus chronic airway inﬂammation. Acute and chronic mouse models of OVA-induced airway inﬂammation were used to conduct the study. We showed that iNOS deletion was associated with a reduction in eosinophilia, mucus hypersecretion, and IL-5 and IL-13 production upon the acute protocol. Such protection was completely abolished upon the chronic protocol. Interestingly, pulmonary ﬁbrosis observed in wild-type mice under the chronic protocol was completely absent in iNOS 2 / 2 mice despite persistent IL-5 and IL-13 production, suggesting that these cytokines were insufﬁcient for pulmonary ﬁbrosis. Such protection was associated with reduced collagen synthesis and indirect but severe TGF- b modulation as conﬁrmed using primary lung smooth muscle cells. Although activation of matrix metalloproteinase-2/-9 exhibited little change, the large tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) increase detected in wild-type mice was absent in the iNOS 2 / 2 counterparts. The regulatory effect of iNOS on TIMP-2 may be mediated by peroxynitrite, as the latter reversed TIMP-2 expression in iNOS 2 / 2 lung smooth muscle cells and ﬁbroblasts, suggesting that the iNOS–TIMP-2 link may explain the protective effect of iNOS-knockout against pulmonary ﬁbrosis. Analysis of lung sections from chronically OVA-exposed iNOS 2 / 2 mice revealed evidence of residual but signiﬁcant protein nitration, prevalent oxidative DNA damage, and poly(ADP-ribose)
FEATURE EXTRACTION USING MFCC

Mel Frequency Ceptral Coefficient is a very common and efficient technique for signal processing. This paper presents a new purpose of working with MFCC by using it for Hand gesture recognition. The objective of using MFCC for hand gesture recognition is to explore the utility of the MFCC for image processing. Till now it has been used in speech recognition, for speaker identification. The present system is based on converting the hand gesture into one dimensional (1-D) signal and then extracting first 13 MFCCs from the converted 1-D signal. Classification is performed by using Support Vector Machine. Experimental results represents that proposed application of using MFCC for gesture recognition have very good accuracy and hence can be used for recognition of sign language or for other household application with the combination for other techniques such as Gabor filter, DWT to increase the accuracy rate and to make it more efficient.
An evaluation of ocean color model estimates of marine primary productivity in coastal and pelagic regions across the globe

Nearly half of the earth's photosynthetically fixed carbon derives from the oceans. To determine global and re- gion specific rates, we rely on models that estimate marine net primary productivity (NPP) thus it is essential that these models are evaluated to determine their accuracy. Here we assessed the skill of 21 ocean color models by comparing their estimates of depth-integrated NPP to 1156 in situ 14 C measurements encompassing ten marine regions including the Sargasso Sea, pelagic North Atlantic, coastal Northeast
Flexible Cortical Control of Task-Specific Muscle Synergies

Correlation structure in the activity of muscles across movements is often interpreted as evidence for low-level, hardwired constraints on upper-limb function. However, muscle synergies may also emerge from optimal strategies to achieve high-level task goals within a redundant control space. To distinguish these contrasting interpretations, we examined the structure of muscle variability during operation of a myoelectric interface in which task constraints were dissociated from natural limb biomechanics. We found that, with practice, human subjects learned to shape patterns of covariation between arbitrary pairs of hand and forearm muscles appropriately for elliptical targets whose orientation varied on a trial-by-trial basis. Thus, despite arriving at the same average location in the effector space, performance was improved by buffering variability into those dimensions that least impacted task success. Task modulation of beta-frequency intermuscular coherence indicated that differential recruitment of divergent corticospinal pathways contributed to positive correlations among muscles. However, this feedforward mechanism could not account for negative correlations observed in the presence of visual feedback. A second experiment revealed the development of fast, target-dependent visual responses consistent with “minimum intervention” control correcting predominantly task-relevant errors. Together, these mechanisms contribute to the dynamic emergence of task-specific muscle synergies appropriate for a wide range of abstract task goals.
Vineyard Yield Estimation Based on the Analysis of High Resolution Images Obtained with Artificial Illumination at Night

This paper presents a method for vineyard yield estimation based on the analysis of high-resolution images obtained with artificial illumination at night. First, this paper assesses different pixel-based segmentation methods in order to detect reddish grapes: threshold based, Mahalanobis distance, Bayesian classifier, linear color model segmentation and histogram segmentation, in order to obtain the best estimation of the area of the clusters of grapes in this illumination conditions. The color spaces tested were the original RGB and the Hue-Saturation-Value (HSV). The best segmentation method in the case of a non-occluded reddish table-grape variety was the threshold segmentation applied to the H layer, with an estimation error in the area of 13.55%, improved up to 10.01% by morphological filtering. Secondly, after segmentation, two procedures for yield estimation based on a previous calibration procedure have been proposed: (1) the number of pixels corresponding to a cluster of grapes is computed and converted directly into a yield estimate; and (2) the area of a cluster of grapes is converted into a volume by means of a solid of revolution, and this volume is converted into a yield estimate; the yield errors obtained were 16% and −17%, respectively.
cSamp: A System for Network-Wide Flow Monitoring

Critical network management applications increasingly demand fine-grained flow level measurements. However, current flow monitoring solutions are inadequate for many of these applications. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of CSAMP, a system-wide approach for flow monitoring. The design of CSAMP derives from three key ideas: flow sampling as a router primitive instead of uniform packet sampling; hash-based packet selection to achieve coordination without explicit communication; and a framework for distributing responsibilities across routers to achieve network-wide monitoring goals while respecting router resource constraints. We show that CSAMP achieves much greater monitoring coverage, better use of router resources, and enhanced ability to satisfy network-wide flow monitoring goals compared to existing solutions.
Reconstructing in-vivo reflectance spectrum of pigmented skin lesion by Monte Carlo simulation

In dermatology applications, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy has been extensively investigated as a promising tool for the noninvasive method to distinguish melanoma from benign pigmented skin lesion (nevus), which is concentrated with the skin chromophores like melanin and hemoglobin. We carried out a theoretical study to examine melanin distribution in human skin tissue and establish a practical optical model for further pigmented skin investigation. The theoretical simulation was using junctional nevus as an example. A multiple layer skin optical model was developed on established anatomy structures of skin, the published optical parameters of different skin layers, blood and melanin. Monte Carlo simulation was used to model the interaction between excitation light and skin tissue and rebuild the diffuse reflectance process from skin tissue. A testified methodology was adopted to determine melanin contents in human skin based on in vivo diffuse reflectance spectra. The rebuild diffuse reflectance spectra were investigated by adding melanin into different layers of the theoretical model. One of in vivo reflectance spectra from Junctional nevi and their surrounding normal skin was studied by compare the ratio between nevus and normal skin tissue in both the experimental and simulated diffuse reflectance spectra. The simulation result showed a good agreement with our clinical measurements, which indicated that our research method, including the spectral ratio method, skin optical model and modifying the melanin content in the model, could be applied in further theoretical simulation of pigmented skin lesions.
Age as a moderator in the relationship between work-related characteristics, job dissatisfaction and need for recovery

Job dissatisfaction and need for recovery are associated with voluntary turnover, absenteeism and diminished health. In the light of encouraging working longer, this study investigated whether the relationships between various work characteristics and job dissatisfaction and need for recovery are dependent on age. Cross-sectional questionnaire data from 591 university employees were divided into four age groups: < 36, 36–44, 45–54 and ≥ 55 years. Multivariate regression analyses were used, including interaction variables to detect a moderating effect of age group. Limited age group effects were found: only the association of Feedback with job dissatisfaction and Task variety with need for recovery were influenced by age group. The salience of specific work characteristics within the age groups varied: for job dissatisfaction, Task variety ( < 55) and Changes in tasks ( ≥ 55) were most important. For need for recovery, this applied to Autonomy ( < 36) and Workload ( ≥ 45). To encourage working longer, age-specific measures could be considered, in addition to individual measures, to respond to individual needs. Practitioner summary: Demographic changes increase the importance to stimulate working longer. Using questionnaire data, we investigated the relationship between work characteristics, job dissatisfaction and need for recovery in four age groups. Although the moderating effect of age group was rather limited, the salience of specific work characteristics within the age groups varied.
Analysis and Enhancement of CSMA/CA With Deferral in Power-Line Communications

Power-line communications are employed in home networking to provide easy and high-throughput connectivity. The IEEE 1901, the MAC protocol for power-line networks, employs a CSMA/CA protocol similar to that of 802.11, but is substantially more complex, which probably explains why little is known about its performance. One of the key differences between the two protocols is that whereas 802.11 only reacts upon collisions, 1901 also reacts upon several consecutive transmissions and thus can potentially achieve better performance by avoiding unnecessary collisions. In this paper, we propose a model for the 1901 MAC. Our analysis reveals that the default configuration of 1901 does not fully exploit its potential and that its performance degrades with the number of stations. Based on analytical reasoning, we derive a configuration for the parameters of 1901 that drastically improves throughput and achieves optimal performance without requiring the knowledge of the number of stations in the network. In contrast, 802.11 requires knowing the number of contending stations to provide a similar performance, which is unfeasible for realistic traffic patterns. We confirm our results and enhancement with testbed measurements, by implementing the 1901 MAC protocol on WiFi hardware.
A robust bi-objective uncertain green supply chain network management

Conflicting objectives becomes a common issue in many supply chain network optimization problems. In this paper, a new model is formulated to design a green supply chain network through a new mixed integer linear programming problem. Uncertain demand and stochastic environmental respect levels are the main parameters of the formulation. The first objective function minimizes the cost of the supply chain while the second objective function minimizes CO2 emission. Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) approach is adapted to deal with demand uncertainty and the stochastic CO2 emission level. Finally, the model outputs and its results discussion are illustrated through a numerical example.
CRF Based Point Cloud Segmentation

Since devices to capture point clouds easily are relatively recent (Kinect), there has not been much research into segmenting out objects from a point cloud. Previous work in the segmentation of 3d point cloud scenes has usually involved the extracting geometric primitives using features like normals and curvatures [2, 3]. Other research has focused on segmenting out a single object foreground from the background in a semi-supervised or unsupervised manner [4]. None of the prior work found covers the segmentation of a class of objects from a single instance of that object, which is the main focus of this current work.
ID-based encryption for complex hierarchies with applications to forward security and broadcast encryption

A forward-secure encryption scheme protects secret keys from exposure by evolving the keys with time. Forward security has several unique requirements in hierarchical identity-based encryption (HIBE) scheme: (1) users join dynamically; (2) encryption is joining-time-oblivious; (3) users evolve secret keys autonomously. We present a scalable forward-secure HIBE (fs-HIBE) scheme satisfying the above properties. We also show how our fs-HIBE scheme can be used to construct a forward-secure public-key broadcast encryption scheme, which protects the secrecy of prior transmissions in the broadcast encryption setting. We further generalize fs-HIBE into a collusion-resistant multiple hierarchical ID-based encryption scheme, which can be used for secure communications with entities having multiple roles in role-based access control. The security of our schemes is based on the bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption in the random oracle model.
Eurographics Symposium on Point-based Graphics (2005) a Unified Lagrangian Approach to Solid-fluid Animation

We present a framework for physics-based animation of deforming solids and fluids. By merging the equations of solid mechanics with the Navier-Stokes equations using a particle-based Lagrangian approach, we are able to employ a unified method to animate both solids and fluids as well as phase transitions. Central to our framework is a hybrid implicit-explicit surface generation approach which is capable of representing fine surface detail as well as handling topological changes in interactive time for moderately complex objects. The generated surface is represented by oriented point samples which adapt to the new position of the particles by minimizing the potential energy of the surface subject to geometric constraints. We illustrate our algorithm on a variety of examples ranging from stiff elastic and plasto-elastic materials to fluids with variable viscosity.
APPLICATION OF NONLINEAR CONTROL TO A COLLISION AVOIDANCE SYSTEM

The design of a collision avoidance (CA) algorithm is presented. Previous work relied on a simple CA algorithm which used on/off brake control. This work is extended by using nonlinear control techniques to improve brake control and minimize driver discomfort. First, a quarter car model suitable for control design is described. Then, a multi-surface sliding controller with on/off hysteresis is developed. The on/off hysteresis is modified to include a switch with 1st order dynamics in an attempt to minimize large initial accelerations. Finally, the simulation results of the CA algorithms are given. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102946.
Understanding the geometry of workspace obstacles in Motion Optimization

What is it that makes movement around obstacles hard? The answer seems clear: obstacles contort the geometry of the workspace and make it difficult to leverage what we consider easy and intuitive straight-line Cartesian geometry. But is Cartesian motion actually easy? It's certainly well-understood and has numerous applications. But beneath the details of linear algebra and pseudoinverses, lies a non-trivial Riemannian metric driving the solution. Cartesian motion is easy only because the pseudoinverse, our powerhouse tool, correctly represents how Euclidean workspace geometry pulls back into the configuration space. In light of that observation, it reasons that motion through a field of obstacles could be just as easy as long as we correctly account for how those obstacles warp the geometry of the space. This paper explores extending our geometric model of the robot beyond the notion of a Cartesian workspace space to fully model and leverage how geometry changes in the presence of obstacles. Intuitively, impenetrable obstacles form topological holes and geodesics curve around them accordingly. We formalize this intuition and develop a general motion optimization framework called Riemannian Motion Optimization (RieMO) to efficiently find motions using our geometric models. Our experiments demonstrate that, for many problems, obstacle avoidance can be much more natural when placed within the right geometric context.
Reciprocating Friction and Wear Behavior of Zr2[Al(Si)]4C5 and Zr2[Al(Si)]4C5–SiC Composite Against Si3N4 Ball

The reciprocating sliding friction and wear properties of two novel materials of Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5) ceramic and Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5)-30 vol% SiC composite against Si(3)N(4) ball were investigated. The sliding friction process of Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5) against Si(3)N(4) experiences two different stages under constant normal load and involves friction and wear mechanism transition. The static coefficient of friction increases with an increasing normal load. The friction force mainly comes from the interfacial shear between Si(3)N(4) ball and Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5), which changes with varied sliding distances and normal loads. In contrast, the friction process of the composite experiences one stage and the friction coefficient is not related to the test durations and normal loads. The friction force between Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5)-30 vol% SiC composite and Si(3)N(4) is mainly from the plough between SiC particles and Si(3)N(4) ball, which appears not to be influenced significantly by different normal load and sliding distance. In addition, microfracture induced mechanical wear is the rate-control wear mechanism in both Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5) and Zr(2)[Al(Si)](4)C(5)-30 vol% SiC composite. Adding SiC improves the wear resistance of the single-phase material, because the second phase bears normal load and slows down material removal.
A novel distributed routing protocol to support ad-hoc mobile computing

This paper presents a new, simple and bandwidth-efficient distributed routing protocol for ad-hoc mobile networks. Unlike the conventional distributed routing algorithms, our protocol does not attempt to consistently maintain routing information in every node. In an ad-hoc mobile network where mobile hosts are acting as routers and where routes are made inconsistent by mobile host movements, we employ a new associativity-based routing scheme where a route is selected based on nodes having associativity states that imply periods of stability. In this manner, the routes selected are likely to be long-lived and hence there is no need to restart frequently, resulting in higher attainable throughput. The association property also allows the integration of ad-hoc routing into a BS-oriented wireless LAN environment, providing fault tolerance in times of base station (BS) failures. The protocol is free from loops, deadlock and packet duplicates and has scalable memory requirements. Simulation results obtained reveal that shorter and better routes can be discovered during route re-constructions.
Adversarial Cooperative Path-Finding: A First View

An adversarial version of the problem of cooperative path-finding (CPF) in graphs is addressed. Two or more teams of agents compete in finding paths in the graph to given destination vertices. The task is to control agents of a selected team so that its agents reach their destinations before agents of adversaries. Tactics such a blocking agents of the adversary or protecting own agents are allowed by the suggested formal definition of the problem.
Mechanical Behaviour of Functionally Graded Composite Vitreous Enamelled Steel Sheets

Among various coatings for industrial and engineering applications, vitreous enamel ones have advantages of chemical inertness, high temperature stability and superior mechanical properties with reference to abrasion or impact as a comparison to other coating materials applied by thermal spraying. The enamelled composite, due to its internal composition, functionalization and architecture can be considered as a functionally graded composite material. In the present work, a first systematic characterization of the mechanical behaviour of enamelled steel sheets is presented. Tests were performed under four-point bending load with displacement control and acoustic emission monitoring. The mechanical response of tested materials was used to determine some key elastic parameters (e.g. Young Modulus), and the First Crack Failure parameter. Moreover, the mechanical performance of tested coated specimens was also related and discussed with reference to microstructure, surface characteristics, and residual strains in the coated structure.
ODIN

The large spread of sensors and smart devices in urban infrastructures are motivating research in the area of the Internet of Things (IoT) to develop new services and improve citizens’ quality of life. Sensors and smart devices generate large amounts of measurement data from sensing the environment, which is used to enable services such as control of power consumption or traffic density. To deal with such a large amount of information and provide accurate measurements, service providers can adopt information fusion, which given the decentralized nature of urban deployments can be performed by means of consensus algorithms. These algorithms allow distributed agents to (iteratively) compute linear functions on the exchanged data, and take decisions based on the outcome, without the need for the support of a central entity. However, the use of consensus algorithms raises several security concerns, especially when private or security critical information is involved in the computation. In this article we propose ODIN, a novel algorithm allowing information fusion over encrypted data. ODIN is a privacy-preserving extension of the popular consensus gossip algorithm, which prevents distributed agents from having direct access to the data while they iteratively reach consensus; agents cannot access even the final consensus value but can only retrieve partial information (e.g., a binary decision). ODIN uses efficient additive obfuscation and proxy re-encryption during the update steps and garbled circuits to make final decisions on the obfuscated consensus. We discuss the security of our proposal and show its practicability and efficiency on real-world resource-constrained devices, developing a prototype implementation for Raspberry Pi devices.