Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of human body movement on mm wave communication in bullet train cars

This paper examines the influence of the human body on the radio propagation characteristics of 60-GHz band mmWave (millimeter wave) communication systems in terms of the RSSI in the passenger car of bullet trains. We simulated the propagation characteristics of the 60-GHz band by a ray tracing method and investigated how many mmWave access points are necessary to meet the desired throughput at all the seats in the passenger car under the scenario that passengers enjoy the mmWave service while sitting in their seats. However, under scenarios such as a conductor or several passengers walking along the aisle from end to end through the passenger car, the propagation of mmWave is easily mitigated by obstructions such as the human body. So it is also important to further investigate to what extent human body movement along the aisle affects the RSSI of the STAs of those passengers sitting in their own seats. This paper first establishes a 3D simulation model of an ordinary passenger car and a 3D model of the human body. The simulation results numerically show the effect of human body movement and that the negative effect of human body movement can be absorbed if the mmWave APs are suitably allocated.
An Ecological Understanding of Caregiver Experiences in Palliative Care

ABSTRACT Palliative care is specialized health care to improve quality of life for patients with serious illness and their families through prevention and relief of suffering. A Palliative Care Institute was held in western Washington to capture community voices about diverse needs, strengths, and opportunities for improvement of palliative care. Researchers employed qualitative methods to obtain thematic data, provide real-time analysis, and engage in a multivoting technique to reflect stakeholder interest in individual themes and prioritize larger group interests. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems framework was used to explore caregiver experiences. Within the microsystem, caregivers reported difficulties in interactions with medical providers as a key challenge. Within the mesosysytem, interactions between patients and medical providers and the impact on caregivers were explored. Within the exosystem, caregivers reported lack of control over the schedules of personal care staff. Macrosystem influences included impact of local culture on the development of palliative care services. Chronosystem influences include de-medicalization of childbirth and its impact on perceptions of palliative care. Implications include the need for social workers to be proactive in fostering trust and effective communication between care providers and caregivers, and the demand for health care provider training in communication with patients and families.
Nutritional supplementation during pregnancy and offspring cardiovascular disease risk in The Gambia.

BACKGROUND Maternal nutritional intake during pregnancy may have important consequences for long-term health in offspring. OBJECTIVE The objective was to follow up the offspring in 2 randomized trials of nutrient supplementation during pregnancy to investigate the effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in offspring. DESIGN We recruited offspring born during 2 trials in The Gambia, West Africa. One trial provided protein-energy-dense food supplements (1015 kcal and 22 g protein/d) to pregnant (intervention, from 20 wk gestation until delivery) or lactating (control, for 20 wk from birth) women and was randomized at the village level. The second was a double-blind, individually randomized, placebo-controlled trial of calcium supplementation (1.5 g/d), which was also provided from 20 wk gestation until delivery. RESULTS Sixty-two percent (n = 1267) of children (aged 11-17 y) born during the protein-energy trial were recruited and included in the analysis, and 64% (n = 350) of children (aged 5-10 y) born during the calcium trial were recruited and included in the analysis. Fasted plasma glucose was marginally lower in children born to mothers receiving protein-energy supplements during pregnancy than in those children of the lactating group (adjusted mean difference: -0.05 mmol/L; 95% CI: -0.10, -0.001 mmol/L). There were no other differences in CVD risk factors, including blood pressure, body composition, and cholesterol, between children born to intervention and control women from the protein-energy trial. Maternal calcium supplementation during pregnancy was unrelated to offspring blood pressure. CONCLUSION These data suggest that providing supplements to pregnant women in the second half of pregnancy may have little effect on the CVD risk of their offspring, at least in this setting and at the ages studied here. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN96502494.
Shapes In a Box: Disassembling 3D Objects for Efficient Packing and Fabrication

Modern 3D printing technologies and the upcoming mass‐customization paradigm call for efficient methods to produce and distribute arbitrarily shaped 3D objects. This paper introduces an original algorithm to split a 3D model in parts that can be efficiently packed within a box, with the objective of reassembling them after delivery. The first step consists in the creation of a hierarchy of possible parts that can be tightly packed within their minimum bounding boxes. In a second step, the hierarchy is exploited to extract the (single) segmentation whose parts can be most tightly packed. The fact that shape packing is an NP‐complete problem justifies the use of heuristics and approximated solutions whose efficacy and efficiency must be assessed. Extensive experimentation demonstrates that our algorithm produces satisfactory results for arbitrarily shaped objects while being comparable to ad hoc methods when specific shapes are considered.
Genetic and biochemical properties of Escherichia coli mutants with defects in serine chemotaxis

In Escherichia coli, taxis to certain chemoeffectors is mediated through an intrinsic membrane protein called methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein I (MCP I), which is the product of the tsr gene. Mutants were selected that are defective in taxis toward all MCP I-mediated attractants (alpha-aminoisobutyrate, L-alanine, glycine, and L-serine) but are normal to MCP I-mediated repellents and to chemoeffectors mediated by other MCPs. The mutants could be divided into two classes based on their ability to respond to various concentrations of L-serine. Two MCP I-mediated L-serine systems appear to function in the wild type: one of high and one of lower affinity. The mutations responsible for the serine taxis defects map at about 99 min on the E. coli chromosome and are not complemented by episomes carrying mutations in the tsr gene; this suggests that they are defective in tsr function. Low concentrations of L-[14C]serine specifically bound to wild-type membranes with a Km of 5 microM; in contrast, there was greatly decreased binding to vesicles prepared from the new mutants or from the tsr mutant AW518. Binding of labeled serine to wild-type vesicles was inhibited by MCP I-mediated attractants, but not by MCP II-mediated attractants. The data suggest that MCP I may function as the L-serine chemoreceptor in E. coli.
1×256 multi-layer, low-loss, Si3N4 waveguide optical phased arrays with 0.050° instantaneous-field-of-view

We report multilayer 1×256 Si<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> optical phased arrays with 8-stage multimode interferometer (MMI) tree. The device shows 4.5 μm mode size, 3 dB excess loss and far field pattern with 0.050° beam width.
Biodistribution of Evans blue in an orthotopic AY‐27 rat bladder urothelial cell carcinoma model: implication for the improved diagnosis of non‐muscle‐invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) using dye‐guided white‐light cystoscopy

To investigate the possibility of using Evans blue (EB) as a novel diagnostic tool to detect bladder tumours with white‐light (WL) cystoscopy, in this preclinical study we examine the biodistribution of EB in the different layers (urothelium, submucosa, muscle) of a normal rat bladder and a rat bladder bearing a malignant urothelium composed of syngeneic AY‐27 tumour cells.
BrailleEasy: One-handed Braille Keyboard for Smartphones

The evolution of mobile technology is moving at a very fast pace. Smartphones are currently considered a primary communication platform where people exchange voice calls, text messages and emails. The human-smartphone interaction, however, is generally optimized for sighted people through the use of visual cues on the touchscreen, e.g., typing text by tapping on a visual keyboard. Unfortunately, this interaction scheme renders smartphone technology largely inaccessible to visually impaired people as it results in slow typing and higher error rates. Apple and some third party applications provide solutions specific to blind people which enables them to use Braille on smartphones. These applications usually require both hands for typing. However, Brailling with both hands while holding the phone is not very comfortable. Furthermore, two-handed Brailling is not possible on smartwatches, which will be used more pervasively in the future. Therefore, we develop a platform for one-handed Brailing consisting of a custom keyboard called BrailleEasy to input Arabic or English Braille codes within any application, and a BrailleTutor application for practicing. Our platform currently supports Braille grade 1, and will be extended to support contractions, spelling correction, and more languages. Preliminary analysis of user studies for blind participants showed that after less than two hours of practice, participants were able to type significantly faster with the BrailleEasy keyboard than with the standard QWERTY keyboard.
Stabilizer architecture for humanoid robots collaborating with humans

Hoy en dia, los avances en las tecnologias de informacion y comunicacion permiten el uso de robots como companeros en las actividades con los seres humanos. Mientras que la mayoria de las investigaciones existentes se dedica a la interaccion entre humanos y robots, el marco de esta investigacion esta centrado en el uso de robots como agentes de colaboracion. En particular, este estudio esta dedicado a los robots humanoides que puedan ayudar a la gente en varias tareas en entornos de trabajo. Los robots humanoides son sin duda los m as adecuados para este tipo de situaciones: pueden usar las mismas herramientas que los seres humanos y son lo m as probablemente aceptados por ellos. Despues de explicar las ventajas de las tareas de colaboracion entre los humanos y los robots y las diferencias con respecto a los sistemas de interaccion y de teleoperacion, este trabajo se centra en el nivel de las tecnologias que es necesario para lograr ese objetivo. El problema mas complicado en el control de humanoides es el balance de la estructura. Este estudio se centra en tecnicas novedosas para la estimacion de la actitud del robot, que se utilizaran para el control. El control del robot se basa en un modelo muy conocido y simplificado: el pendulo invertido. Este modelo permite tener un control en tiempo real sobre la estructura, mientras que este sometida a fuerzas externas / disturbios. Trayectorias suaves para el control de humanoides se han propuesto y probado en plataformas reales: estos permiten reducir los impactos del robot con su entorno. Finalmente, el estudio extiende estos resultados a una contribucion para la arquitectura de colaboracion humano-humanoide. Dos tipos de colaboraciones humano humanoide se analizan: la colaboracion fisica, donde robots y humanos comparten el mismo espacio y tienen un contacto fisico (o por medio de un objeto), y una colaboracion a distancia, en la que el ser humano esta relativamente lejos del robot y los dos agentes colaboran por medio de una interfaz. El paradigma basico de esta colaboracion robotica es: lo que es dificil (o peligroso) para el ser humano se hace por medio del robot y lo que es dificil para el robot lo puede mejor hacer el humano. Es importante destacar que el contexto de los experimentos no se basa en una unica plataforma humanoide; por el contrario, tres plataformas han sido objeto de los experimentos: se han empleado los robots HOAP-3, HRP-2 y TEO. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modélisation de visages par un réseau d'ondelettes de Gabor

Nous proposons une nouvelle methode de codage d'une image d'un visage par un reseau d'ondelettes de Gabor. Ce type de reseau permet d'approcher toute fonction par une combinaison lineaire d'ondelettes de Gabor auxquelles sont associees des poids. Les parametres du reseau, a savoir les poids et les coefficients intervenant dans la definition des ondelettes de Gabor, sont determines par apprentissage. Dans notre methode, nous associons un indice de confiance a chaque ondelette, lequel permet d'accorder plus d'importance aux ondelettes les plus signicatives. Le coefficient de confiance est determine en etudiant les evolutions des parametres de l'ondelette au cours de l'apprentissage, etape qui dans notre cas fait intervenir plusieurs images du visage d'un meme individu avec differentes expressions faciales. Le masque obtenu par combinaison des amplitudes des ondelettes ponderees par les coefficients de confiance indique les zones du visage contenant des indices caracteristiques fiables pour la reconnaissance.
Synchronous spike propagation in Izhikevich neuron system with spike-timing dependent plasticity

Recently spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) was discovered in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus and modeled as STDP rules. On the other hand, Izhikevich neuron model was proposed to be able to reproduce the firing patterns observed experimentally. In this paper, it is found that the STDP process like a stochastic resonance phenomenon arises in Izhikevich neuron system which has some typical firing patterns such as regular spiking (RS), intrinsically bursting (IB) and chattering (CH). Under the optimum noise intensity, synaptic weights are potentiated according to each firing pattern of RS, IB and CH and signals can be propagated stably in this system. It is concluded that STDP with the noise can enhance the synchronous spike propagation.
GPC Robust Design Using Linear and/or Bilinear Matrix Inequalities

This article proposes an integrated methodology for the robust design of a generalized predictive controller (GPC) based on linear and/or bilinearmatrix inequalities (LMIs/ BMIs). Firstly, a GPC formulation in state space which incorporates a full rank observer to estimate the on-line states is presented. It is then shown that the poles of such an observer are equivalent to the roots of filter polynomials Tj(z−1) in a GPC Input/Output (I/O)formulation, which implies that these poles inherit the robustness effect associated with filter polynomial roots. In this way, we obtain closed-loop robust stability conditions and closedloop robust ∞ -norm bounding conditions for the design of a GPC, based on LMIs and/or BMIs. These conditions take into account linear fractional (LFR) plant uncertainty. This type of uncertainty also contains affine dependence as a particular case, and can represent any matrix rational function. Finally, the robust GPC parameters are optimally obtained using a multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA). This integrated methodology is applied, as an example, to themultiobjectivemaximization of an uncertainty range and ∞ -norm minimization in a benchmark plant: the twomass-spring mechanical system.
Forecasting the Risk of Speculative Assets by Means of Copula Distributions

The GARCH(1,1) model and its extensions have become a standard econometric tool for modeling volatility dynamics of financial returns and port-folio risk. In this paper, we propose an adjustment of GARCH implied conditional value-at-risk and expected shortfall forecasts that exploits the predictive content of uncorrelated, yet dependent model innovations. The adjustment is motivated by non-Gaussian characteristics of model residuals, and is implemented in a semiparametric fashion by means of conditional moments of simulated bivariate standardized copula distributions. We conduct in-sample forecasting comparisons for a set of 18 stock market indices. In total, four competing copula-GARCH models are contrasted against each other on the basis of their one-step ahead forecasting performance. With regard to forecast unbiasedness and precision, especially the Frank-GARCH models provide most conservative risk forecasts and out-perform all rival models.
Angiocrine Wnt signaling controls liver growth and metabolic maturation in mice

Postnatal liver development is characterized by hepatocyte growth, proliferation, and functional maturation. Notably, canonical Wnt signaling in hepatocytes has been identified as an important regulator of final adult liver size and metabolic liver zonation. The cellular origin of Wnt ligands responsible for homeostatic liver/body weight ratio (LW/BW) remained unclear, which was also attributable to a lack of suitable endothelial Cre driver mice. To comprehensively analyze the effects of hepatic angiocrine Wnt signaling on liver development and metabolic functions, we used endothelial subtype‐specific Stab2‐Cre driver mice to delete Wls from hepatic endothelial cells (HECs). The resultant Stab2‐Cretg/wt;Wlsfl/fl (Wls‐HECKO) mice were viable, but showed a significantly reduced LW/BW. Specifically, ablation of angiocrine Wnt signaling impaired metabolic zonation in the liver, as shown by loss of pericentral, β‐catenin‐dependent target genes such as glutamine synthase (Glul), RhBg, Axin2, and cytochrome P450 2E1, as well as by extended expression of periportal genes such as arginase 1. Furthermore, endothelial subtype‐specific expression of a c‐terminally YFP‐tagged Wls fusion protein in Wls‐HECKO mice (Stab2‐Cretg/wt;Wlsfl/fl;Rosa26:Wls‐YFPfl/wt [Wls‐rescue]) restored metabolic liver zonation. Interestingly, lipid metabolism was altered in Wls‐HECKO mice exhibiting significantly reduced plasma cholesterol levels, while maintaining normal plasma triglyceride and blood glucose concentrations. On the contrary, zonal expression of Endomucin, LYVE1, and other markers of HEC heterogeneity were not altered in Wls‐HECKO livers. Conclusion: Angiocrine Wnt signaling controls liver growth as well as development of metabolic liver zonation in mice, whereas intrahepatic HEC zonation is not affected. (Hepatology 2017).
Effect of tiplaxtinin (PAI‐039), an orally bioavailable PAI‐1 antagonist, in a rat model of thrombosis

Summary. Objective: To assess the antithrombotic and profibrinolytic effects of tiplaxtinin (PAI‐039), an orally bioavailable antagonist of PAI‐1, in rat models of thrombosis. Methods and results: Carotid artery and vena cava vascular injury was produced by application of FeCl3 and blood flow was monitored using ultrasonic technology. To assess efficacy in a thrombosis prevention paradigm, PAI‐039 was administered orally 90 min before injury (1–30 mg kg−1). To assess efficacy in a thrombosis treatment paradigm, vascular injury and stable thrombus formation were followed 4 h later by recovery and PAI‐039 administration. PAI‐039 prevented carotid artery occlusion in 20, 68 and 60% of animals pretreated with 0.3, 1.0 and 3.0 mg kg−1, respectively. Time to occlusive thrombosis was increased from 18.2 ± 4.6 min in controls to 32.5 ± 8.7 (P = ns), 46.1 ± 7.0 (P < 0.05), and 41.6 ± 11.3 min (P < 0.05) in the respective PAI‐039 treatment groups. In the vena cava protocol, PAI‐039 pretreatment significantly reduced thrombus weight at PAI‐039 doses of 3, 10 and 30 mg kg−1. When PAI‐039 was dosed in a treatment paradigm 4 h after stable arterial and venous thrombosis, a significant reduction in thrombus weight was observed 24 h later at PAI‐039 doses of 3, 10 and 30 mg kg−1. PAI‐039 (10, 30 and 100 mg kg−1) had no effect on platelet aggregation in response to ADP or collagen and was not associated with increased bleeding or prolonged prothrombin time. In animals bearing no vascular injury, PAI‐039 had no effect on circulating, low‐levels of PAI‐1 activity. In contrast, circulating PAI‐1 activity increased 5‐fold following the induction of vascular injury, which was completely neutralized by PAI‐039. Conclusions: PAI‐039 exerts antithrombotic efficacy in rat models of arterial and venous vascular injury without effecting platelet aggregation.
Mobile Social Software - Potentials and Limitations of Enabling Social Networking on Mobile Devices

Driven by the increased usage of information and communication technology (ICT) the typical behavior and the acting of users in private as well as in professional settings changed dramatically over the last years. Modern applications of ICT are seen as instruments to fulfill the wants and needs of heterogeneous user groups. Above of all, the event of the Internet as well as the omnipresent availability of computing systems and mobile technologies altered the communication between users. For instance nowadays a lot of them regularly use Web-based search engines to search for information, they chat with friends, upload and share pictures which they took for instance with their mobile phone camera, and last but not least they download and share music files to listen to them on their mobile devices. Against this background the users already experience the medial convergence which they have to create actively.
Remote Testimony: How to Trust an Autonomous Vehicle

With the advance of Car2X communication models, vehicles become a virtual part of intelligent traffic infrastructures, requiring remote interaction of safety-critical components. The availability of such an integrated system could provide high advantage for the mobility of persons and goods. In this scenario, one of the main concerns with intelligent cars and their network interconnectivity is the susceptibility to cyber-physical attacks. We present a novel concept to establish trust, reliability and safety in intelligent vehicles. Our idea allows a peer in the network to receive a testimony that a vehicle's safety-critical components have not been compromised and as a mater of fact communicate reliable and trustful data. We describe a remote testimony architecture and demonstrate its immunity in the crucial case of an adversary having full control over the vehicle's central units. Our architecture refrains from the heavy and expensive machinery of trusted computing solutions. It makes minimal trust assumptions on the underlying hardware and requires from sensors tamper resistance and provision of a digital signature.
BEOL compatible graphene/Cu with improved electromigration lifetime for future interconnects

We demonstrate a method to grow graphene directly on patterned Cu wires below 400 °C, within the thermal budget of back-end-of-line processes (BEOL). The process flow is compatible with direct etched Cu processes for advanced interconnects technology. The graphene/Cu composite exhibits 2× lower resistivity, 1.4× higher breakdown current density and 40× longer electromigration (EM) lifetime than as-deposited Cu. The EM performance of graphene/Cu is 10× better than 2 nm CoWP on Cu, and is comparable to the industry-standard 3 nm CoWP capping layer. DFT calculations reveal that the binding between the pristine in-situ grown graphene and Cu makes the Cu atom more resilient to external forces.