Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An EEG based dynamic shared control method for online teleoperation

Shared control is a common method for human and machine cooperation in the teleoperation. Existing methods scarcely consider the effect of the performance of operators. This paper proposes a dynamic shared control approach based on the operator's states. A new indicator named Performance of Teleoperator (PoT) is introduced. By using the BP Neural Network, a model of PoT is trained, which represents the performance of the human teleoperator from the view angle of the brain EEG signals. Meanwhile, a dynamic shared controller is designed. PoT is used to balance the control weight between instructions from the teleoperator and the autonomous controller. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method.
“Not such a kid thing anymore”: Young adults' perspectives on transfer from paediatric to adult cardiology care

BACKGROUND Transfer of adolescents with congenital heart disease from paediatric cardiology providers to specialized adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) care providers is becoming a standard practice. However, some paediatric cardiologists continue to provide care for their patients into adult life. Little is known about the perspectives of young adult patients who have been transferred to ACHD clinics versus those who continue to receive their cardiology care in paediatric settings. METHODS Content and thematic analysis of structured telephone interviews with 21 young adults age 18-25 (13 transferred to ACHD clinic and 8 who had not transferred) was conducted to identify similarities and differences in patient characteristics of those in ACHD versus paediatric settings. RESULTS There were no appreciable differences in gender, age, heart disease type, and independence between those transferred to ACHD care versus those not transferred. Participants in both groups were aware of differences between the paediatric and ACHD care settings and providers, with some favouring the familiarity offered by the paediatric setting and providers. Participants had varying views on parental involvement in their care; most of them had attended clinic appointments on their own. Those who had transferred to ACHD care acknowledged that it would take time to adjust to new relationships. Positive perspectives on actual or anticipated transfer to ACHD care included a growing sense of autonomy and responsibility, as well as access to reproductive information relevant to ACHD patients. CONCLUSIONS The absence of patient characteristics distinguishing those in ACHD care versus those still followed in paediatric care suggests that system, provider, and parent factors, rather than patient factors, may account for patients' perspectives on transfer to ACHD care.
Tobacco Transcription Factor NtbHLH123 Confers Tolerance to Cold Stress by Regulating the NtCBF Pathway and Reactive Oxygen Species Homeostasis

Cold stress is a major environmental factor that impairs plant growth and development, geographic distribution, and crop productivity. The C-repeat binding factor (CBF) regulatory pathway has an essential role in response to cold stress. Here, we characterized a bHLH transcription factor from Nicotiana tabacum, NtbHLH123, in response to cold stress (4°C). Overexpression of NtbHLH123 enhanced cold tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants. Based on yeast one-hybrid, chromatin immunoprecipitation PCR, and transient expression analysis assays, NtbHLH123 binds directly to the G-box/E-box motifs in the promoter of the NtCBF genes and positively regulates their expression. Furthermore, NtbHLH123-overexpressing plants showed lower electrolyte leakage, reduced malondialdehyde contents, H2O2 and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation under cold stress, which contributed to alleviating oxidative damage to the cell membrane after cold stress treatment. And NtbHLH123 increased stress tolerance by improving the expression of a number of abiotic stress-responsive genes to mediate the ROS scavenging ability and other stress tolerance pathways. Taken together, we present a model suggesting that NtbHLH123 is a transcriptional activator that functions as a positive regulator of cold tolerance by activating NtCBF, ROS scavenging-related, and stress-responsive genes.
Combining brain-computer interface with virtual reality: Review and prospect

This paper illustrates the architecture and principles of brain-computer interface and virtual reality (BCI-VR) system respectively, and how they are interrelated. In this brand-new hybrid system, BCI uses bio-signal to serve as input and VR displays the result and serves as output. Current research and applications are mainly focus on the new input and output characteristics of BCI-VR respectively in terms of different effects, purposes and functions. For instance, effects include feedback enhancement, result display; purposes include better rehabilitation, psychological study, to substantiate assumptions, or to design better algorithms for BCI; functions include a new BCI-input mode to boost immersion in virtual environment (VE) and promote accuracy in hybrid system. This paper classifies and analyzes those researches above with concrete details and illustrations. Aside from introduction and current research review, prospect and conclusion, targeted at respective BCI and VR parts and consider the BCI-VR system as a whole, will also be discussed in the latter part. We explain the challenges that still exist and put forward some potential possibilities that how BCI assists VR each other respectively in different aspects for future research, in terms of how BCI assists VR, in four perspectives, and vice versa, in three perspectives.
Control of a four-mecanum wheeled robot with a soft-robotic glove

This paper presents a four-wheeled robot, which is controlled with a soft-robotic glove. In the proposed glove an IMU, a FSR and two Flex sensors are used. The FSR sensor is applied as a start key of the robot, which can be used to turn on or turn off the under study robot's motors. Moreover, rate change of in the value of the IMU and Flex sensors are defined as robot's movement command. The proposed movement command is sent to the robot based on wireless connection. In order to send the robot's controlling commands and review the feedback from the ultrasonic sensors, which are set on the robot for obstacle avoidance, a nRF24l01 module is used. According to the experimental tests, the rate of sending and receiving the data based on the aforementioned module is acceptable, because the delay in the send and receive process can be negligible. Finally, the Fuzzy logic is used to the end of improving the performance of the ultrasonic sensors, which are set on the robot for obstacle avoidance. The experimental results corroborate the acceptable performance of the designed Fuzzy logic on obstacle avoidance based on the proposed ultrasonic sensors.
Global/local processing style: Explaining the relationship between trait anxiety and binge eating

OBJECTIVE Anxiety is a risk factor for disordered eating, but the mechanisms by which anxiety promotes disordered eating are poorly understood. One possibility is local versus global cognitive processing style, defined as a relative tendency to attend to details at the expense of the "big picture. " Anxiety may narrow attention, in turn, enhancing local and/or compromising global processing. We examined relationships between global/local processing style, anxiety, and disordered eating behaviors in a transdiagnostic outpatient clinical sample. We hypothesized that local (vs. global) processing bias would mediate the relationship between anxiety and disordered eating behaviors. METHOD Ninety-three participants completed the eating disorder examination-questionnaire (EDE-Q), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-trait subscale, and the Navon task (a test of processing style in which large letters are composed of smaller letters both congruent and incongruent with the large letter). The sample was predominantly female (95%) with a mean age of 27.4 years (SD = 12.1 years). RESULTS Binge eating, but not fasting, purging, or excessive exercise, was correlated with lower levels of global processing style. There was a significant indirect effect between anxiety and binge eating via reduced global level global/local processing. DISCUSSION In individuals with disordered eating, being more generally anxious may encourage a detailed-oriented bias, preventing individuals from maintaining the bigger picture and making them more likely to engage in maladaptive behaviors (e.g., binge eating).
Multi-grid nonlocal techniques for x-ray scatter correction

In this work, we used nonlocal priors in a Bayesian approach for X-ray scatter correction. The control parameters of our algorithms such as the patch sizes and search areas were set in such a way that significant improvement in correction results can be achieved. This, however, led to drastic increases in computation time. To solve this problem, we developed a novel multi-grid technique based on some observations on the matching process involved in the nonlocal priors. Experimental results have demonstrated that this technique is effective, accelerating the computation time significantly while maintaining the quality of correction results. In addition to scatter correction, it can also be used for other image processing applications where fast high-dimensional nonlocal filtering is needed.
Calantha: Content distribution across geo-distributed datacenters

Large cloud service providers often replicate data to multiple geographically distributed datacenters for availability and service quality purposes. The enormous amount of data needed to be shuffled among datacenters call for efficient schemes to maximally exploit the capacity of the inter-datacenter networks. In this paper, we propose Calantha, a new rate allocation scheme that improves the reliability and operability of content distribution across geo-distributed datacenters, without sacrificing capacity utilization and max-min fairness among competing sessions. Calantha leverages hop-constrained spanning tree to enhance the reliability of inter-datacenter links. A novel approximation algorithm is proposed to solve the rate allocation problem in polynomial time and achieve α-optimal approximation. Our simulation results have shown that we can reduce the number of spanning trees by 44.5%, as well as has 2.7% more average capacity utilization and 1.0% less minimum spanning tree calculations.
Assembly of Methyl Coenzyme M Reductase in the Methanogenic Archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis

ABSTRACT Methyl coenzyme M reductase (MCR) is a complex enzyme that catalyzes the final step in biological methanogenesis. To better understand its assembly, the recombinant MCR from the thermophile Methanothermococcus okinawensis (rMCRok) was expressed in the mesophile Methanococcus maripaludis. The rMCRok was posttranslationally modified correctly and contained McrD and the unique nickel tetrapyrrole coenzyme F430. Subunits of the native M. maripaludis (MCRmar) were largely absent, suggesting that the recombinant enzyme was formed by an assembly of cotranscribed subunits. Strong support for this hypothesis was obtained by expressing a chimeric operon comprising the His-tagged mcrA from M. maripaludis and the mcrBDCG from M. okinawensis in M. maripaludis. The His-tagged purified rMCR then contained the M. maripaludis McrA and the M. okinawensis McrBDG. The present study prompted us to form a working model for MCR assembly, which can be further tested by the heterologous expression system established here. IMPORTANCE Approximately 1.6% of the net primary production of plants, algae, and cyanobacteria are processed by biological methane production in anoxic environments. This accounts for about 74% of the total global methane production, up to 25% of which is consumed by anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). Methyl coenzyme M reductase (MCR) is the key enzyme in both methanogenesis and AOM. MCR is assembled as a dimer of two heterotrimers, where posttranslational modifications and F430 cofactors are embedded in the active sites. However, this complex assembly process remains unknown. Here, we established a heterologous expression system for MCR to learn how MCR is assembled.
SADP: A State-Aware Domain Partition Approach in Large Scale Software Defined Networking

Distributed multi-domain network architecture has improved the reliability and scalability of software defined networking (SDN). However, it also introduces a new challenge to domain partition because of the uncertainty of network state. In the multi-domain SDN, both excessive and few switch deployments in each domain will bring about the load imbalance of domain controllers and the poor network stability. To address the above problems, for a given large scale SDN network, this paper proposes a State-Aware Domain Partition (SADP) approach. Firstly, through collecting the information of distance, delay and traffic in the network, SADP perceives the network state of all devices, and builds the corresponding state-aware lists of switches and controllers, respectively. Then, according to the specific sequencing of elements in the lists, the awareness connections between switches and controllers are implemented to partition multiple domains and construct the distributed SDN network. Finally, simulation shows that, compared with the typical algorithms, SADP can achieve the better performance of SDN domain partition, which has low processing delay and high load balancing rate.
Thin body InAlN/GaN HEMT technology on sapphire: special focus on high-temperature and electrochemical applications

This thesis is dedicated to the investigation of lattice-matched InAlN/GaN high electronmobility transistors (HEMTs) for their application in high-temperature electronics and in electrochemical sensor systems. In this work, this refers to ambient temperatures as high as 600 ◦C or to the application in corrosive liquid media, like strong acidic (pH = 1) or alkaline (pH = 13) solutions. These two environments cannot be addressed with conventional silicon (Si) or gallium arsenide (GaAs) devices, but can be accessed using a more robust, more thermally stable material like the lattice-matched InAlN/GaN heterostructure. However, to further enhance performance and stability the proposed electrochemical sensor comprises an InAlN/GaN HEMT and, as the actual chemical sensor, an inert boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode applicable for pH measurements or redox signal detection. The integration with diamond and, apparently, the operation at elevated temperatures require a thermally stable HEMT. Additionally, both applications also require HEMTs exhibiting low overall device leakage characteristics. Therefore, in this work a new GaNon-Sapphire (GOS) HEMT technology comparable to the Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) technology was developed, capable of reducing parasitic leakage currents through the gate diode, through the buffer, and between separate contact pads (also between separate devices). Here, GOS implies the oxidation of the InAlN barrier, employment of a thin body (as thin as 50 nm GaN buffer + 50 nm AlN nucleation layer) material stack on sapphire, and the confinement of the active device mesa by dry-etching to small islands on the sapphire substrate. At room temperature, 0.25 μm gate length devices prepared in this GOS technology exhibit an output current density of IDS = 0.4 A/mm and a threshold voltage of Vth = −1.4 V. The residual off-state current is 1 pA nearly independent of the gate width and the subthreshold swing is 73 mV/dec. The resulting current on/off ratio is larger than 10, increased by 3 orders of magnitude compared to HEMTs prepared in a conventional device technology. Up to 600 ◦C such GOS HEMTs allow operation exploiting the full modulation range, i.e. from below threshold (VGS = −2 V) to fully open channel (VGS = +2 V). The corresponding device characteristics, e.g the maximum drain current, the transconductance, and the 1 MHz large signal output power, change only within less than 10 %. The residual off-current at 600 ◦C is approximatly Ioff = 10 nA (WG = 50 μm) resulting in an, at this temperature, high current on/off ratio larger than 10. The electrochemical sensor system is analyzed with respect to two different measurement techniques yielding two essential combinations of the BDD electrode and the InAlN/GaN
A runtime controller for openCL applications on heterogeneous system architectures

Nowadays Heterogeneous System Architectures (HSAs) are becoming very attractive in the embedded and mobile markets thanks to the possibility to select the best computational resource among the available compute units to optimize the performance per Watt figure of merit. In this scenario, OpenCL is becoming the standard paradigm for heterogeneous computing supporting the programming of all types of units with a single abstraction level. However, the decision of the resource to use together with its architectural tuning is still left to the programmer; this issue is even more exacerbated when considering the fact that the choice depends also on the actual conditions in which the system is operating. This work aims at proposing a runtime controller, integrated in Linux Operating System (OS), for optimizing the power efficiency of a running OpenCL application deciding the system configuration. Our experimental results over a set of applications from the Polybench suite on the Odroid XU3 board show that our controller is able to obtain a power efficiency of more than 90% of the one achievable via offline profiling.
Excretion of starch and esterified short-chain fatty acids by ileostomy subjects after the ingestion of acylated starches.

BACKGROUND Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have a role in maintaining bowel health and can assist in the prevention and treatment of colonic disease. The ability of acylated starches to deliver SCFAs to the large bowel has been shown in animal studies but has not been established in humans. OBJECTIVE The aim was to determine whether cooked, highly acylated starches were resistant to small intestinal digestion in ileostomy volunteers. DESIGN Volunteers consumed single doses of custards containing 20 g cooked acetylated, propionylated, or butyrylated high-amylose maize starches (HAMSA, HAMSP, and HAMSB, respectively) on each collection day. The amounts of starch and of esterified SCFAs ingested and subsequently excreted in the stoma effluent were measured. Custards containing unacylated high-amylose maize starch (Hylon VII, HAMS) and low-amylose maize starch (3401C, LAMS) were consumed as controls. RESULTS Between 73% and 76% of the esterified SCFAs survived small intestinal digestion, which showed the potential of acylated starches to deliver specific SCFAs to the large bowel. The resistance of starches to small intestinal digestion as measured by ileal excretion was significantly greater for HAMSA, HAMSP, HAMSB, and HAMS than for LAMS (P < 0.001). The concentration of acetate in stoma digesta was higher than expected in all groups; this additional acid may have been derived from endogenous sources. CONCLUSIONS Acylated starches are a potentially effective method of delivering significant quantities of specific SCFAs to the colon in humans. These products have potential application in the treatment and prevention of bowel disorders amenable to modulation by SCFAs.
PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF THE SELF EMULSIFYING DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM CONTAINING ATORVASTATIN HMG­COA INHIBITER

As a consequence of modern drug discovery techniques, there has been a steady increase in the number of new pharmacologically active lipophilic compounds that are poorly water‐soluble. It is a great challenge for pharmaceutical scientists to convert those molecules into orally administered formulations with sufficient bioavailability. Among the approaches to improve the oral bioavailability of these molecules, the use of self‐emulsified drug delivery systems (SEDDS) has been shown to be reasonably successful in improving the oral bioavailability of poorly water‐soluble and lipophilic drugs. In the present study we formulate self‐emulsified drug delivery systems (SEDDS) through the nanoemulsion for the effective delivery of Atorvastatin which is a HMG‐COA Inhibiter.
Guided waves in a stiffened composite laminate with a delamination

The integrity of safety-critical structural composites can be enhanced by the use of innovative ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation techniques. Among the various existing techniques, guided wave methods provide a good promise in terms of sensitivity to a variety of damage types or defects and the extent of the area that can be monitored, given the ability of these waves to travel relatively long distances within the structure under investigation. In comparison with isotropic metallic structures, wave propagation in composite structures presents additional complexity for effective damage identification. The material inhomogeneity, anisotropy, and the multilayered construction of composite materials lead to significant dependence of wave modes on laminate layup configurations, direction of propagation, frequency, and interface conditions. In this article, a specific structure will be analyzed with different levels of complexities in an effort to determine the propagation characteristics of the waves. The investigated structure is a stiffened composite plate of finite thickness and infinite lateral dimensions. The work is carried out using theoretical analysis, numerical modeling, and laboratory experiments. Numerical (finite element) simulations are used for more realistic models, where the geometric and material complexities present practical difficulties in direct analysis using theoretical constructs only.
Multiferroic hexagonal HoMnO3 films

The fundamental properties of hexagonal multiferric HoMnO3 films have been thoroughly investigated. The films are grown by pulsed laser deposition on Y:ZrO2(111) substrates. High quality epitaxial HoMnO3 films of 25 – 1000 nm thickness were successfully prepared. The film properties are compared to those of single-crystals. The magnetization measurements revealed that the films show a deviating magnetic behavior from the single-crystals in several ways. For instance, the films have a weakened antiferromagnetic Ho order confirmed from magnetic susceptibility. The differences are likely to be related to the modified (mostly larger) lattice parameters of films. An approximate phase diagram in comparison with the single-crystal’s one is constructed. For multiferroicity investigations, Second Harmonic Generation (SHG; in collaboration with the group of M. Fiebig) has been employed. By SHG, the ferroelectric polar order of the films is obviously confirmed. The ferroelectric switching at room temperature could be clearly demonstrated, whereas leakage of films requires generally a more sophisticated approach.
Comparing Taxonomies for Organising Collections of Documents

There is a demand for taxonomies to organise large collections of documents into categories for browsing and exploration. This paper examines four existing taxonomies that have been manually created, along with two methods for deriving taxonomies automatically from data items. We use these taxonomies to organise items from a large online cultural heritage collection. We then present two human evaluations of the taxonomies. The first measures the cohesion of the taxonomies to determine how well they group together similar items under the same concept node. The second analyses the concept relations in the taxonomies. The results show that the manual taxonomies have high quality well defined relations. However the novel automatic method is found to generate very high cohesion.