Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Querying Private Data in Moving-Object Environments

Location-based services, such as finding the nearest gas station, require users to supply their location information. However, a user’s location can be tracked without her consent or knowledge. Lowering the spatial and temporal resolution of location data sent to the server has been proposed as a solution. Although this technique is effective in protecting privacy, it may be overkill and the quality of desired services can be severely affected. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between uncertainty, privacy, and quality of services. We propose using imprecise queries to hide the location of the query issuer and evaluate uncertain information. We also suggest a framework where uncertainty can be controlled to provide high quality and privacy-preserving services. We study how the idea can be applied to a moving range query over moving objects. We further investigate how the linkability of the proposed solution can be protected against trajectory-tracing.
LcAR — Low cost augmented reality for the automotive industry

Currently, AR (Augmented Reality) technologies for the automotive industry are available mostly for high-end luxury vehicles in developed countries where the nature of the solution is such that it is very costly to install and the repair cost is high. However, for developing countries, there is a huge and ever-increasing population that drives at night in low-light conditions where vehicle accidents are almost usually fatal. For developed countries too, the fatalities due to animal crossings etc is high. This paper presents a mechanism to drastically improve the visibility in low-light conditions using Augmented Reality where the real-time video is analyzed, and augmented with the highlights indicating obstacles if any. Our system uses an IR camera with suitable range. This video is then processed to identify the obstacles via machine learning frameworks, classified appropriately and augmented by highlighting the obstacles in the driver's path either visually or audio feedback or both. Our system can build upon previous knowledge to enable constant learning and improvement in the detection accuracy.
The Structure and Acquisition of Sensorimotor Maps

One of the puzzles of learning to talk or play a musical instrument is how we learn which movement produces a particular sound: an audiomotor map. Existing research has used mappings that are already well learned such as controlling a cursor using a computer mouse. By contrast, the acquisition of novel sensorimotor maps was studied by having participants learn arm movements to auditory targets. These sounds did not come from different directions but, like speech, were only distinguished by their frequencies. It is shown that learning involves forming not one but two maps: a point map connecting sensory targets with motor commands and an error map linking sensory errors to motor corrections. Learning a point map is possible even when targets never repeat. Thus, although participants make errors, there is no opportunity to correct them because the target is different on every trial, and therefore learning cannot be driven by error correction. Furthermore, when the opportunity for error correction is provided, it is seen that acquiring error correction is itself a learning process that changes over time and results in an error map. In principle, the error map could be derived from the point map, but instead, these two maps are independently acquired and jointly enable sensorimotor control and learning. A computational model shows that this dual encoding is optimal and simulations based on this architecture predict that learning the two maps results in performance improvements comparable with those observed empirically.
A statistical design for testing apomictic diversification through linkage analysis

The capacity of apomixis to generate maternal clones through seed reproduction has made it a useful characteristic for the fixation of heterosis in plant breeding. It has been observed that apomixis displays pronounced intra- and interspecific diversification, but the genetic mechanisms underlying this diversification remains elusive, obstructing the exploitation of this phenomenon in practical breeding programs. By capitalizing on molecular information in mapping populations, we describe and assess a statistical design that deploys linkage analysis to estimate and test the pattern and extent of apomictic differences at various levels from genotypes to species. The design is based on two reciprocal crosses between two individuals each chosen from a hermaphrodite or monoecious species. A multinomial distribution likelihood is constructed by combining marker information from two crosses. The EM algorithm is implemented to estimate the rate of apomixis and test its difference between two plant populations or species as the parents. The design is validated by computer simulation. A real data analysis of two reciprocal crosses between hickory (Carya cathayensis) and pecan (C. illinoensis) demonstrates the utilization and usefulness of the design in practice. The design provides a tool to address fundamental and applied questions related to the evolution and breeding of apomixis.
Proposal of next-generation HMI utilizing context and personality theories

The relationship between humans and cars is changing; cars are increasingly working autonomously instead of being operated by humans. However, humans tend to experience anxiety, annoyance, overconfidence or distrust when machines act against human expectations. Therefore, Human-Machine Interface (HMI) needs to evolve from a design aiming at automotive control to a logical design that intends to bring about cognitive-behavioral changes to meet human expectations. In this presentation, we propose ‘Next-Generation HMI’ that utilizes context and personality theories for understanding human expectations and prompting changes in human behavior.
Multichannel Design of Non Uniform Constellations for Broadcast/Multicast Services

Recent studies have shown the potential performance gain of Non Uniform Constellations (NUC) compared to the conventional uniform constellations. NUC can be a promising candidate in 5G systems to increase the data throughput. In the literature, NUC is designed for a specific SNR value and propagation channel. However, in broadcast/multicast services, the received signal by different users will see independent and different channels. Hence, in this paper, we focus on the potential gain of NUC when jointly optimized for more than one propagation channel. In order to assess the gain, we propose an iterative algorithm to jointly optimize the NUC for different channel conditions. The resulting constellations are then compared to uniform constellation and single channel NUC. The simulation results show that the newly designed constellations outperform the classical single channel NUC across different channel conditions when the average performance (across different channels) is considered.
Methylene Blue Attenuates Diabetic Retinopathy by Inhibiting NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation in STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the regulatory effects of methylene blue (MB) on diabetic retinopathy (DR) and explored the molecular mechanisms of MB as a retina protection agent. Methods: The thicknesses of retinal layers and permeability of the blood–retinal barrier (BRB) were measured by histology analysis, and the expression levels of NLRP3, ASC, procaspase-1, caspase-1, IL-1β, and IL-18 were measured by western blotting. Lentivirus-based knockdown of NLRP3 gene was used to confirm the role of NLRP3 inflammasome. Results: MB treatment attenuates DR supported by the increase of relative thicknesses of retinal layers and the reduction of BRB permeability when compared with the untreated diabetic group. Further, MB significantly downregulated the levels of all detected inflammation mediators and showed inhibition on NLRP3 inflammasome activation similar to NLRP3 gene silencing. Conclusions: This study revealed a novel mechanism underlying the protection role of MB in the pathogenesis of DR.
An Optimized Method to Generate Human Active Osteoclasts From Peripheral Blood Monocytes

Osteoclasts (OCs), the bone-resorbing cells, play a key role in skeletal development and adult bone remodeling. They also participate in the pathogenesis of various bone disorders. One of the major technical difficulties in the generation of OCs, when working on human material, is the ability to achieve large differentiation of mature OCs from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Access to a standardized source of active OCs is needed to better analyze the roles of human OCs. The aim of this study was to develop a procedure yielding active and mature OCs from fresh human PBMCs. We therefore examined the differentiation of PBMCs to OCs in different cell culture media, using non-stripped and charcoal-stripped sera in the presence of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) and receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL). We also studied the effects of vitamin D3 in the differentiation level of PBMCs to OCs. Phalloidin-AlexaFluor®488/DAPI fluorescent stainings and dentin resorption analyses by scanning electron microscopy were used to identify the number and size of differentiated OCs, number of nuclei per cell and resorption activities of OCs for a 7–14–21-day culture period. This study reports an optimized method for an efficient production of human active OCs from a low seeding density of PBMCs, after a 14-day culture period by using a medium containing fetal bovine charcoal-stripped serum in the presence of M-CSF and RANKL, and in the absence of vitamin D3.
Evaluation of using spot urine to replace 24 h urine sodium and potassium excretions

Abstract Objective The most accurate method to estimate Na and K intakes is to determine 24 h urinary excretions of these minerals. However, collecting 24 h urine is burdensome. Therefore it was studied whether spot urine could be used to replace 24 h urine samples. Design Participants collected 24 h urine and kept one voiding sample separate. Na, K and creatinine concentrations were analysed in both 24 h and spot urine samples. Also 24 h excretions of Na and K were predicted from spot urine concentrations using the Tanaka and Danish methods. Setting In 2011 and 2012, urine samples were collected and brought to the study centre at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Subjects Women (n 147) aged 19–26 years. Results According to p-aminobenzoic acid excretions, 127 urine collections were complete. Correlations of Na:creatinine, K:creatinine and Na:K between spot urine and 24 h urine were 0·68, 0·57 and 0·64, respectively. Mean 24 h Na excretion predicted with the Tanaka method was higher (difference 21·2 mmol/d, P<0·001) than the measured excretion of 131·6 mmol/d and mean 24 h Na excretion predicted with the Danish method was similar (difference 3·2 mmol/d, P=0·417) to the measured excretion. The mean 24 h K excretion predicted with the Tanaka method was higher (difference 13·6 mmol/d, P<0·001) than the measured excretion of 66·8 mmol/d. Bland–Altman plots showed large individual differences between predicted and measured 24 h Na and K excretions. Conclusions The ratios of Na:creatinine and K:creatinine in spot urine were reasonably well associated with their respective ratios in 24 h urine and appear to predict mean 24 h Na excretion of these young, Caucasian women.
The Role of Functional Respiratory Imaging in Treatment Selection of Children With Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Down Syndrome.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The complexity of the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children with Down syndrome (DS) is illustrated by a prevalence of residual OSA after adenotonsillectomy. The aim of this study was to investigate whether upper airway imaging combined with computation fluid dynamics could characterize treatment outcome after adenotonsillectomy in these children. METHODS Children with DS and OSA were prospectively included. All children underwent an evaluation of the upper airway and an ultra-low dose computed tomography scan of the upper airway before adenotonsillectomy. The upper airway tract was extracted from the scan and combined with computational fluid dynamics. Results were evaluated using control polysomnography after adenotonsillectomy. RESULTS Thirty-three children were included: 18 boys, age 4.3 ± 2.3 years, median body mass index z-score 0.6 (-2.9 to 3.0), and median obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was 15.7 (3-70) events/h. The minimal upper airway cross-sectional area was significantly smaller in children with more severe OSA (P = .03). Nineteen children underwent a second polysomnography after adenotonsillectomy. Seventy-nine percent had persistent OSA (obstructive apneahypopnea index > 2 events/h). A greater than 50% decrease in obstructive apnea-hypopnea index was observed in 79% and these children had a significantly higher volume of the regions below the tonsils. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to characterize treatment outcome in children with DS and OSA using computed tomography upper airway imaging. At baseline, children with more severe OSA had a smaller upper airway. Children with a less favorable response to adenotonsillectomy had a smaller volume of regions below the tonsils, which could be due to enlargement of the lingual tonsils, glossoptosis, or macroglossia. COMMENTARY A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 501.
An Ultra Low Power, 10-Bit Two-Step Flash ADC for Signal Processing Applications

An ultra low power, 10-bit two-step flash analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for communication and bio-potential signal processing applications is presented in this paper. In the proposed design the conventional open loop comparator is replaced with programmable bias inverter (PBI), the bias inverter (BI) consists of basic digital inverter with cascode PMOS and NMOS as bias transistors in the top and bottom. The switching threshold voltage of BI changes with different reference bias voltages, which compares the analog input voltage with BI switching threshold and provide respective digital outputs. The programmability of the BI makes the proposed ADC to operate from DC to 1 GS/s sampling frequency range and hence ADC power gets scaled accordingly. The major advantages of the PBI based two-step flash ADC is lower power consumption, smaller area and improved static/dynamic performance due to lower mismatch between the PBI comparators and smaller input capacitance. The proposed ADC is designed in 90nm standard CMOS process occupying a core area of 0.096 mm2. The performance parameters of the proposed ADC are found to be, differential non-linearity (DNL) of ±0.38 LSB, integral non-linearity of ±0.54 LSB, signal-to-noise-and-distortion ratio (SNDR) of 57.38 dB, spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) of 69.3 dB, effective number of bits (ENOB) of 9.24 at 1.0 V supply voltage. The power consumption of this ADC at 100 kS/s sampling frequencies is 280 nW and at higher sampling frequencies upto 1 GS/s it is 5.6 mW.
Deep Appearance Maps

We propose a deep representation of appearance, i.e. the relation of color, surface orientation, viewer position, material and illumination. Previous approaches have used deep learning to extract classic appearance representations relating to reflectance model parameters (e.g. Phong) or illumination (e.g. HDR environment maps). We suggest to directly represent appearance itself as a network we call a deep appearance map (DAM). This is a 4D generalization over 2D reflectance maps, which held the view direction fixed. First, we show how a DAM can be learned from images or video frames and later be used to synthesize appearance, given new surface orientations and viewer positions. Second, we demonstrate how another network can be used to map from an image or video frames to a DAM network to reproduce this appearance, without using a lengthy optimization such as stochastic gradient descent (learning-to-learn). Finally, we show the example of an appearance estimation-and-segmentation task, mapping from an image showing multiple materials to multiple deep appearance maps.
A Three-Phase Method for Group Decision Making With Interval-Valued Intuitionistic Fuzzy Preference Relations

This paper develops a new method for solving group decision making (GDM) problems with interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy preference relations (IVIFPRs). First, an additive consistency of an IVIFPR is defined by the additive consistency of intuitionistic fuzzy preference relation (IFPR). Based on the additive consistency definition of IVIFPR, two linear programming models are established to extract the most optimistic and pessimistic consistent IFPRs from an IVIFPR, respectively. Especially, if the feasible regions of these two models are empty, two adjusted programming models are constructed. Afterwards, a risk attitudinal-based consistent IFPR is determined considering decision maker's (DM's) risk attitude. To derive the intuitionistic fuzzy priority weights from the risk attitudinal-based consistent IFPR, a multiobjective programming model is established and transformed into a linear goal program to resolve. Subsequently, combining DMs’ subjective and objective importance degrees, the comprehensive importance degrees of DMs are generated. Using comprehensive importance degrees as order inducing variables, a new comprehensive importance interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy induced ordered weighted averaging (CI-IVIF-IOWA) operator is defined to aggregate the individual IVIFPRs into a collective one. Thereby, a three-phase method is proposed for GDM with IVIFPRs. An example of network system selection is examined to illustrate the practicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.
Parental self-regulation, emotional regulation and temperament: Implications for intervention

This work presents a theoretical and integrative review about parental self-regulation and emotional regulation processes, and its connections with parental coping and temperament. Parents' adaptation requires the ability to regulate their own behavior in reaction to their perception and interpretation of the child's behavior. These self-regulation processes are often intertwined with intense emotions that need to be regulated. Parenting attitudes and behaviors cannot be fully understood without considering the parents' emotional dysregulation and their emotional regulation strategies. However, only few studies focus the effects of parents' emotional regulation strategies on the parenting behavior. Experiential avoidance and overprotection are discussed as extreme cases of parental emotional regulation strategies that may have particularly detrimental effects in childrearing. The authors propose that, although the main parenting interventions already use a self-regulation approach, specific training in adaptive emotional regulation strategies should be included in these programs.
Reusable intellectual property core protection for both buyer and seller

This paper presents a methodology for IP core protection of CE devices from both buyer's and seller's perspective. In the presented methodology, buyer fingerprint is embedded along seller watermark during architectural synthesis phase of IP core design. The buyer fingerprint is inserted during scheduling phase while seller watermark is implanted during register allocation phase of architectural synthesis process. The presented approach provides a robust mechanisms of IP core protection for both buyer and seller at zero area overhead, 1.1 % latency overhead and 0.95 % design cost overhead compared to a similar approach (that provides only protection to IP seller).
LAYERED DOUBLE HYDROXIDES: NANOMATERIALS FOR APPLICATIONS IN AGRICULTURE

Este trabalho de revisao tem como objetivo apresentar os Hidroxidos Duplos Lamelares (HDL) como nanomateriais para serem aplicados na agricultura, com destaque para a utilizacao desses como matrizes para o armazenamento e a liberacao lenta de nutrientes e agroquimicos para o cultivo de plantas. Sao abordadas as caracteristicas estruturais, as principais propriedades e os principais metodos de sintese e de caracterizacao dos HDL. Sao tambem reportados trabalhos da literatura, demonstrando a potencial aplicacao desses materiais no armazenamento e na liberacao lenta de nitrato , fosfato, agroquimicos, alem da utilizacao como adsorventes. Pretende-se com esta pesquisa expandir, em um futuro proximo, o campo de investigacao desses materiais com aplicacao na agricultura, aumentando a interface entre a quimica e a agronomia.
Real-time speaker recognition system using multi-stream i-vectors for AI assistant

We describe a real-time speaker recognition that works in sync with ASR engine. In order to improve recognition accuracy, we employed multi-stream i-vectors. The proposed multi-stream i-vectors compensate the limited amount of information contained in a single i-vector. Our approach outperforms than the convensional i-vector method in terms of EER.
Driver's gaze zone estimation by transfer learning

Estimating driver's gaze zone has very important role to support advanced driver assistant system (ADAS). The gaze estimation can monitor the driver focus and indirectly control the user interface/user experience (UI/UX) on a windshield using augmented reality-head up display (AR-HUD). However, to train gaze zone estimator as a classification task, someone pays huge costs to gather a large amount of annotated dataset. To reduce the labor work, we used a transfer-learning method using pre-trained CNN model to project the gaze estimation task by regression on mobile devices that have large and reliable dataset into new classification task to overcome lack of annotated dataset for gaze zone estimation. We tested the proposed method to our own building simulation test bed. The result is shown in validation accuracy around 99.01 % and test accuracy with unseen driver around 60.25 % for estimating 10 gaze zones in-vehicle.
Matching improvement of thin substrate SIW horn antenna using dielectric transitions

This paper proposed a new technique to improve the impedance bandwidth of a thin (λο/13) substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) based H-plane horn antenna. Transitions in the form of relatively high dielectric substrate are loaded on both side of thin substrate, extended from SIW horn antenna aperture. This transition behaves as an impedance transformer between free space (377 Ω) and SIW horn aperture having relatively low impedance. Simulated impedance bandwidth of 31.91% is achieved covering 13.59 GHz to 18.75 GHz. The radiation pattern is fairly stable throughout the bandwidth with a peak gain variation of 6.70 dBi to 11.60 dBi.