Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A low-cost COTS UWB transceiver for biological applications achieves 50 Mb/s with &#60; 10−6 Raw BER

This paper describes a low cost approach to designing an impulse radio ultra-wide band (IR-UWB) transceiver for biological applications. It operates in a 3–4 GHz sub-band of the overall 3.1–10.6 GHz UWB frequency band using commercial-of-the-shelf components (COTS) along with custom designed UWB pulse generator, analog filters and matched patch antennas. We demonstrate how COTs components can be used in conjunction with active/passive RF circuits to design a functional UWB system for short range (1 m) and medium data rate applications (25 – 50 Mb/s). A Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA development board is used to generate a pseudorandom bit sequence that is wirelessly transmitted/received and analyzed for Bit Error Rate (BER &#60; 10−6). BER is achieved for Tx-Rx distances from 0.3m to 1m through air and pork tissue.
STUDY ON UNDULATOR RADIATION FROM FEMTOSECOND ELECTRON BUNCHES

Linac-based terahertz (THz) source at the Plasma and Beam Physics (PBP) Research Facility, Chiang Mai University (CMU), Thailand, consists of a thermionic RF electron gun, an alpha magnet for magnetic bunch compressor, a travelling wave S-band accelerating structure for post acceleration, and various beam diagnostic instruments. The PBP-CMU linac system can produce relativistic femtosecond electron bunches, which are used to generate coherent THz radiation via transition radiation technique. To increase the radiation intensity, an electromagnetic undulator will be added in the beam transport line. The designed electromagnetic undulator has 35 periods with a period length of 64 mm and a pole gap of 15 mm. This study investigates the dependence of the electron beam energy and longitudinal bunch length on the coherent undulator radiation. The numerical simulation and procedure to generate the undulator radiation in the THz regime by using femtosecond electron bunches produced at the PBP research facility is reported and discussed in this contribution. Numerical calculation result shows that the energy of the undulator radiation, which is produced from electron bunches with an energy of 5 20 MeV, a peak current of 33 55 A, and an effective bunch length of 180 300 fs can reach 14 μJ.
A comparison of range-Doppler and wavenumber domain SAR focusing algorithms

Focusing of SAR data requires a space-variant two-dimensional correlation. Different algorithms are compared with each other in terms of their focusing quality and their ability to handle the space-variance of the correlation kernel: the range-Doppler approach with and without secondary range compression, modified range-Doppler algorithms, and four versions of the wavenumber domain processor. The phase aberrations of the different algorithms are given in analytic form. Numerical examples are presented for Seasat and ERS-1. A novel systems theoretical derivation of the wavenumber domain algorithm is presented. >
Energy and delay trade‐off of the GTS allocation mechanism in IEEE 802.15.4 for wireless sensor networks

The IEEE 802.15. 4 protocol proposes a flexible communication solution for low‐rate wireless personal area networks (LR‐WPAN) including wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It presents the advantage to fit different requirements of potential applications by adequately setting its parameters. When in beacon‐enabled mode, the protocol can provide timeliness guarantees by using its Guaranteed Time Slot (GTS) mechanism. However, power‐efficiency and timeliness guarantees are often two antagonistic requirements in wireless sensor networks. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and propose a methodology for setting the relevant parameters of IEEE 802.15. 4‐compliant WSNs that takes into account a proper trade‐off between power‐efficiency and delay bound guarantees. First, we propose two accurate models of service curves for a GTS allocation as a function of the IEEE 802.15. 4 parameters, using Network Calculus formalism. We then evaluate the delay bound guaranteed by a GTS allocation and express it as a function of the duty cycle. Based on the relation between the delay requirement and the duty cycle, we propose a power‐efficient superframe selection method that simultaneously reduces power consumption and enables meeting the delay requirements of real‐time flows allocating GTSs. The results of this work may pave the way for a power‐efficient management of the GTS mechanism in an IEEE 802.15. 4 cluster. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Nanoparticles for intracellular-targeted drug delivery

Nanoparticles (NPs) are very promising for the intracellular delivery of anticancer and immunomodulatory drugs, stem cell differentiation biomolecules and cell activity modulators. Although initial studies in the area of intracellular drug delivery have been performed in the delivery of DNA, there is an increasing interest in the use of other molecules to modulate cell activity. Herein, we review the latest advances in the intracellular-targeted delivery of short interference RNA, proteins and small molecules using NPs. In most cases, the drugs act at different cellular organelles and therefore the drug-containing NPs should be directed to precise locations within the cell. This will lead to the desired magnitude and duration of the drug effects. The spatial control in the intracellular delivery might open new avenues to modulate cell activity while avoiding side-effects.
Poster: fast GPU read alignment with burrows wheeler transform based index

We address the problem of performing faster read alignment on GPU devices. The task of DNA sequence processing is extremely computationally intensive as constant progress in sequencing technology leads to ever-increasing amounts of sequence data[6]. One of possible solutions for this problem is to use the extreme parallel capacities of modern GPU devices[5]. However, performance characteristics and programming models for GPU differ from those of traditional architectures and require new approaches. Most importantly, host memory and I/O systems are not directly accessible from a GPU device and GPU memory is usually an order of magnitude smaller than memory on a host. Considering the size of read alignment data, the memory limit becomes a real problem: when reference sequence index does not fit into memory it has to be split into chunks that will be processed individually. In most cases the complexity of the algorithm does not depend on the index size, so such index splitting increases computation time tremendously. Analysis of existing solutions for read alignment on GPU showed that memory limit is the chief performance issue. One of the attempts to reduce memory consumption consisted in replacing commonly used suffix tree, which allows for better theoretical performance of the algorithm [4], with suffix array, which is less efficient in terms of pure computational complexity but more compact. By doing this, authors of MummerGPU++ achieved several times better performance[3]. We suggest using Burrows-Wheeler Transform[1] for both index and the corresponding search algorithm to achieve much smaller memory footprint. This transform is used mainly in compression algorithms such as bzip2 as it replaces reoccurring patterns in the string by continuous runs of a single symbol, but it can be also used for pattern matching[2]. At the same time we continue using more traditional suffix array on host side to benefit from computational characteristics of both GPU and CPU. We reduced index size 12 times and just by doing this achieved 3-4 time performance improvement compared to suffix-array based solution MummerGPU++. Since even with this compressed index workload size can exceed available device memory we developed a performance model to analyze how overall execution time is affected by proportions and succession in memory is allocated for chunks of index and query set. This model allowed us to find best balance of memory allocation and double performance compared to naive approach when we allocate equal shares of memory for index and queries. The model is then applied to show that using multiple GPUs is a way not only to speed up application, but also to overcome some single-GPU performance issues and have super-linear scaling at least on number of GPUs typically available on one host.
The Epidemic Behavior of the Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a leading worldwide cause of liver disease. Here, we use a new model of HCV spread to investigate the epidemic behavior of the virus and to estimate its basic reproductive number from gene sequence data. We find significant differences in epidemic behavior among HCV subtypes and suggest that these differences are largely the result of subtype-specific transmission patterns. Our model builds a bridge between the disciplines of population genetics and mathematical epidemiology by using pathogen gene sequences to infer the population dynamic history of an infectious disease.
Drosophila neurotactin mediates heterophilic cell adhesion.

Neurotactin is a 135 kd membrane glycoprotein which consists of a core protein, with an apparent molecular weight of 120 kd, and of N‐linked oligosaccharides. In vivo, the protein can be phosphorylated in presence of radioactive orthophosphate. Neurotactin expression in the larval CNS and in primary embryonic cell cultures suggests that it behaves as a contact molecule between neurons or epithelial cells. Electron microscopy studies reveal that neurotactin is uniformly expressed along the areas of contacts between cells, without, however, being restricted to a particular type of junction. It putative adhesive properties have been tested by transfecting non adhesive Drosophila S2 cells with neurotactin cDNA. Heat shocked transfected cells do not aggregate, suggesting that neurotactin does not mediate homophilic cell adhesion. However, these transfected cells bind to a subpopulation of embryonic cells which probably possess a related ligand. The location at cellular junctions between specific neurons or epithelial cells, the heterophilic binding to a putative ligand and the ability to be phosphorylated are consistent with the suggestion that neurotactin functions as an adhesion molecule.
Analysis of ALTAIR 1998 meteor radar data

[1] We describe a new analysis of a set of 32 UHF meteor radar traces recorded with the 422 MHz Advanced Research Project Agency Long-Range Tracking and Identification Radar facility in November 1998. Emphasis is on the absolute velocity measurements and inferences that can be drawn from them regarding the meteoroid masses and mass densities. We find that the 3-D velocity versus altitude data can be fitted as quadratic functions of the path integrals of the atmospheric densities versus distance, and deceleration rates derived from those fits all show the expected behavior of increasing with decreasing altitude. We also describe a computer model of the coupled processes of collisional heating, radiative cooling, evaporative cooling and ablation, and deceleration for meteoroids composed of defined mixtures of mineral constituents. For each of the cases in the data set, we ran the model starting with the measured initial velocity and trajectory inclination and with various trial values of the quantity mρs2 (initial mass times mass density squared) and then compared the computed deceleration versus altitude curves versus the measured ones. In this way we arrived at the best fit values of the mρs2 for each of the measured traces. Then further, assuming various trial values of the density ρs, we compared the computed mass versus altitude curves with similar curves for the same set of meteoroids determined previously from the measured radar cross sections and an electrostatic scattering model. In this way we arrived at estimates of the best fit mass densities ρs for each of the cases.
An efficient depth estimation using temporal 3D-Warping

This paper presents a computationally efficient method for estimation of high-quality depth for multiview video acquired by a camera array in motion. Depth information is essential for 3DTV display system for generating video streams from virtual view points. Dense depth estimation has been successfully modeled as a Markov Random Field, and several methods like Iterated Conditional Modes, Graph Cuts and Belief Propagation have been proposed to solve the same. While depth estimation using Graph Cuts and Belief Propagation give accurate results, their computational requirements are high. On the other hand, Iterated Conditional Modes is fast, but the quality of the result is poor. In our work, we propose a technique for boosting the quality of the resultant depth estimated using Iterated Conditional Modes to near Graph Cuts or Belief Propagation levels while keeping the computational cost low.
Significantly decreased methylthioadenosine phosphorylase expression in malignant melanoma.

ous (colloid) adenocarcinoma of ectopic breast tissue in the vulva: a case report. Breast J. 2003;9:113–115. 14. Van der Putte SC. Mammary-like glands of the vulva and their disorders. Int J Gynecol Pathol. 1994;13:150–160. 15. Van der Putte SC, van Gorp LH. Adenocarcinoma of the mammary-like glands of the vulva: a concept unifying sweat gland carcinoma of the vulva, carcinoma of supernumerary mammary glands and extra-mammary Paget’s disease. J Cutan Pathol. 1994;21:157–163. 16. Van der Putte SC. Anogenital “sweat” glands. Histology and pathology of a gland that may mimic mammary glands. Am J Dermatopathol. 1991;13:557–567. 17. Van der Putte SC. Ultrastructure of the human anogenital “sweat” gland. Anat Rec. 1993;235: 583–590. 18. Rao KV, Tikku I, Kapur MB, et al. Invasive primary mucinous carcinoma of the skin. Int Surg. 1978;63:168–170.
Proinflammatory Activity of a Cecropin-Like Antibacterial Peptide from Helicobacter pylori

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori, the bacterial pathogen associated with gastritis and peptic ulcers, is highly successful in establishing infection in the human gastric mucosa, a process typically associated with massive infiltration of inflammatory cells. Colonization of the mucosa is suggested to be facilitated by H. pylori-produced cecropin-like peptides with antibacterial properties, giving the microbe a competitive advantage over other bacteria. We show that a cecropin-like antibacterial peptide from H. pylori, Hp(2-20), not only has a potent bactericidal effect but also induces proinflammatory activities in human neutrophils, e.g., upregulation of integrins (Mac-1), induction of chemotaxis, and activation of the oxygen radical producing NADPH-oxidase. Furthermore, we show that these effects are mediated through binding of Hp(2-20) to the promiscuous, G-protein-linked lipoxin A4 receptor–formyl peptide-like receptor 1.
Radiation Hard Silicon Nanowire Field Effect Transistors

Silicon nanowire-based transistors were fabricated and tested for their radiation hardness by exposure to Co60 X-ray radiation at doses ranging from 50-250 kRad. Minor degradation of the transistor characteristics was observed at 250 kRad. Our results show the inherent radiation hardness of nanowire devices.
Persistent Gaps of Knowledge for Naming and Distinguishing Multiple Species of Crown-of-Thorns-Seastar in the Acanthaster planci Species Complex

Nearly a decade ago, DNA barcoding (partial mitochondrial COI gene sequences) showed that there are at least four species in the Indo-Pacific within what was previously conceived to be a single Crown-of-Thorns-Seastar (COTS) species, Acanthaster planci. Two of these species—A. planci Linnaeus, 1758, distributed in the North Indian Ocean, and A. mauritiensis de Loriol, 1885, distributed in the South Indian Ocean—have been already unequivocally named. In contrast, the Pacific COTS (proposed name: A. solaris (Schreber, 1795) and the COTS from the Red Sea (still to be named) require further taxonomic work. COI barcoding sequences and Barcode Identification Numbers (BINs) are available for all four COTS species in the global Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). We recommend depositing voucher specimens or tissue samples suitable for DNA analyses when studying any aspect of COTS, and use BINs to identify species, to ensure that no information is lost on species allocation until unequivocal Linnean names are available for the Pacific and Red Sea species as well. We also review the differences between COTS species with respect to morphology, ecology, and toxicity. Future studies should widen the current biogeographic coverage of the different COTS species by strategically sampling neglected areas, especially at the geographic distribution limits of each species, to enhance our understanding of the diversity of this reef coral predator.
Several uses for tangential-flow filtration in the pharmaceutical industry.

The versatility and economic feasibility of tangential-flow (cross-flow) filtration are demonstrated by its application to four common types of filtration problems. The use of tangential flow as pre filtration for a Water For Injection system allows long-term filtration without the need for constant filter changes. In addition, the fact that the filter can be repeatedly regenerated reduces replacement costs to a minimum. Clarification of a solvent system confirms that throughputs with cross-flow filtration are many times greater than with conventional dead-end methods. Recovery of an enzyme from mucoid fermentation broth, traditionally time-consuming due to the need for several prefiltration steps, proceeds quickly because of the self-cleaning action of the cross-flow filter. The flexibility of the cross-flow concept lies in its ability to concentrate suspended material in the recirculation stream. It is therefore ideal for the harvesting of bacterial cultures, as the closed system offers little opportunity for contamination.
Graceful Object‐Based Performance Evolution

Object‐based design and development are thought to facilitate graceful evolution of functionality, and thus enhance the reusability of software components. They can also facilitate graceful performance evolution. The performance of a layered object‐based component can be made tunable to meet changing needs by permitting clients to ‘plug in’ appropriate implementations for its constituent components through generic parameters. If the components and their constituents are carefully designed, then performance tuning is possible without direct modification to the internal details of the participating components, thus significantly lowering the cost for performance evolution. The contribution of this paper is to software practice. It explains how software engineers can build performance‐tunable components using C++ templates. It includes empirical results confirming that tuning produces expected performance improvements with minimal code change. The results are especially significant because they are scalable to arbitrarily large and heavily layered software components and subsystems. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A flexible system simulator for antenna performance evaluation of radar level measurements

In this contribution, a flexible radar system simulator is introduced emulating a widely used radar test range to efficiently evaluate the effects of antenna design in terms of monostatic radar operation for tank level measurements. Typically, prototypes of novel antenna designs are tested in a scenario consisting of distinct reflectors, like e.g. trihedral corner reflectors. In order to accelerate and to cheapen the antenna design and verification process, the number of required hardware prototype setups needs to be reduced. Hence, a MATLAB-implemented hybrid simulator is set up including arbitrary 3D antenna pattern and full-wave reflector models, ray-based wave propagation as well as FMCW signal processing algorithms, thus providing the overall relationship between the characteristic antenna properties and the obtainable level distance accuracy. The simulated results are verified by measurements in a frequency range from 8.5 to 10.5 GHz.
SENSORS 2006 , EXCO , Daegu , Korea / October 22-25 , 2006 Development of Welding Profile Measuring System with Vision Sensor

This paper describes the development of the 3D measurement system for welding robot. The system consists of PC based vision camera and stripe-type laser diode. The total system is assembled into a compact module which can be attached to the head of welding robot system. Especially, this system is designed to operate at different working distances. For this purpose, the mechanism which adjusts the focal length and the relative location between camera and laser diode is devised. These two configurations are changing according to current working distance automatically. Most parts of image processing such as camera calibration, correction of distortion, and line extraction are implemented and running on PC. After measuring the welding profile, the three dimensional shape of the work piece is obtained and some useful features for robot manipulation are calculated. Some experiments are carried out and some applications are given.
Un modèle arbre dépendant des distances pour l'étude des relations entre la dynamique et la structure spatiale d'une forêt dense sempervirente

Un modele arbre dependant des distances a ete developpe afin d'etudier les relations entre la structure spatiale et la dynamique au sein de peuplements plurispecifiques inequiennes. Ce modele integre les trois processus responsables de la dynamique d'un peuplement : la croissance, la mortalite et le recrutement de nouveaux individus a partir de 10 cm de diametre. L'originalite du modele repose sur la description de la croissance du houppier des arbres dans plusieurs directions de l'espace. Chacune des directions du houppier croit independamment des autres suivant un schema potentiel * reducteur. Le reducteur de croissance est un indice synthetique compose de deux termes : le premier rend compte de l'effet de la competition symetrique et le second de l'effet de la competition asymetrique. Deux formulations des processus de mortalite et de recrutement ont conduit a deux versions differentes du modele : une version simplifiee independante de la densite et une version dependante de la densite plus satisfaisante au niveau de la representation des processus. Le modele a ete implemente en langage oriente objet c++ afin de disposer d'un simulateur informatique permettant de generer des peuplements virtuels. Puis, il a ete cale sur le peuplement tropical humide d'uppangala (ghats occidentaux de l'inde). L'analyse des liens entre la structure spatiale et la dynamique des peuplements a ete alors abordee a travers trois exemples. Tout d'abord, le modele a permis d'analyser la sensibilite de la structure spatiale (caracterisee grace aux methodes d'analyse de voisinage de second ordre de ripley et diggle) des peuplements simules vis-a-vis de certains parametres de dynamiques. Ensuite, le modele a ete utilise pour verifier une hypothese de renouvellement de la canopee par glissement d'unites circulaires. Enfin, le modele a ete utilise afin d'evaluer l'impact de differentes modalites spatiales d'exploitation sur les peuplements.