Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planning of diverse trajectories for UAV control displays

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are more and more often used to solve different tasks in both the private and the public sector. Some of these tasks, can be often performed completely autonomously, while the others are still dependent on the remote pilots. They control an UAV using a command display where they can control it manually using joysticks, or give it a simple task. The command display allow for the planning of the UAV trajectory through the waypoints while avoiding the no-fly zones. Nevertheless, the operator can be aware of other preferences, or soft restrictions, for which it's not feasible to be inserted into the system especially during the time critical tasks. We propose to provide the operator with several alternative trajectories which are different from the operator's point of view. So he can choose the best one for the current situation. In this contribution we evaluate previously presented techniques for diverse planning. We focus on an evaluation made by a group of human operators and show how it can be deployed in an UAV control display.
It's a Hard Lock Life: A Field Study of Smartphone (Un)Locking Behavior and Risk Perception

A lot of research is being conducted into improving the usability and security of phone-unlocking. There is however a severe lack of scientic data on users’ current unlocking behavior and perceptions. We performed an online survey (n = 260) and a one-month eld study ( n = 52) to gain insights into real world (un)locking behavior of smartphone users. One of the main goals was to nd out how much overhead unlocking and authenticating adds to the overall phone usage and in how many unlock interactions security (i.e. authentication) was perceived as necessary. We also investigated why users do or do not use a lock screen and how they cope with smartphone-related risks, such as shouldersurng or unwanted accesses. Among other results, we found that on average, participants spent around 2.9 % of their smartphone interaction time with authenticating (9 % in the worst case). Participants that used a secure lock screen like PIN or Android unlock patterns considered it unnecessary in 24.1 % of situations. Shoulder surng was perceived to be a relevant risk in only 11 of 3410 sampled situations.
WHAT INFLUENCE CREDIT CARD DEBTS IN YOUNG CONSUMERS IN MALAYSIA

This paper examines empirically antecedents of the credit card debts in young consumers in Malaysia. We examine whether easy access to credit card, credit card related knowledge, aggressive promotion by credit card industry, low minimum payment requirement and attitude towards credit cards influence credit card debts in the younger generation. Regression model was used to meet the objectives. These findings based on a sample of 240 young credit card holders, show that the factors that affect credit card debts are credit card related knowledge, aggressive promotion by credit card industry and low minimum payment requirements. These findings also provide insights for both bank management and policy-makers to improve the bank performance in terms of credit card debts.
Deformations Incorporating Rigid Structures

Division of Radiological Sciences, Guy's Hospital, London Bridge, London SE1 9RT Medical image registration can provide useful clinical information relating images of the same patient acquired from different modalities, or from serial studies with a single modality. Current algorithms invariably assume that the objects in the images can be treated as a rigid body. In practice, some parts of a patient, usually bony structures, may move as rigid bodies while others may deform. To address this, we have developed a new technique that allows identified objects in the image to move as rigid bodies, while the remainder smoothly deforms. Euclidean distance transforms calculated from the rigid objects are used to weight a linear combination of pre-defined linear transformations, one for each rigid body in the image, and also to form a modified radial basis function. This ensures that the non-linear deformation tends to zero as we move towards the rigid body boundary. The resulting deformation technique is valid in any dimension, subject to the choice of the basis function.We demonstrate this technique in two dimensions on a pattern of rigid square structures to simulate the vertebral bodies of the spine, and on sagittal magnetic resonance images collected from a volunteer.
Arthroscopic Mechanical Chondroplasty of the Knee Is Beneficial for Treatment of Focal Cartilage Lesions in the Absence of Concurrent Pathology

Background: Articular cartilage lacks the ability for intrinsic repair after acute injury, and focal articular cartilage lesions cause significant morbidity worldwide. Arthroscopic debridement (chondroplasty) represents the majority of cartilage procedures of the knee; however, limited data exist regarding outcomes after chondroplasty performed in isolation of concurrent procedures or not as a primary treatment for osteoarthritis (OA). Hypothesis: Arthroscopic mechanical chondroplasty is beneficial for patients with a focal cartilage lesion of the knee in the absence of meniscal pathology or OA. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Potential participants were identified by querying billing data from a 3-year period in a single-surgeon practice, and eligible patients were verified to meet inclusion criteria through electronic medical record review. OA was quantified through Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) scoring. Subjective patient-reported outcome (PRO) scores, including International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), Tegner, Lysholm, and Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12), were collected preoperatively and at follow-up intervals. International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) grade and lesion size were determined at arthroscopy. Linear regression was used to determine the effect of baseline score on final follow-up score. Correlated regression equations were used to assess the relationship of covariates and change in PRO scores. Results: Fifty-three of 86 (62%) eligible participants completed postoperative questionnaires at an average of 31.5 months (range, 11.5-57 months). The mean patient age was 37.3 ± 9.7 years and mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.7 ± 5.6 kg/m2; 33 (62%) participants were women. The mean treated lesion size was 3.3 ± 1.9 cm2, of these, 36 (68%) were ICRS grade 2 or 3, and 42 (79%) patients had a KL score of 0 to −2. On average, the cohort demonstrated significant improvement from baseline for almost all PRO scores. Regression analysis of change in score versus baseline indicated participants with lower preoperative scores gained more benefit from chondroplasty. Correlated regression equations showed KL score >0 and male sex had a consistent positive effect on change in PRO scores, high ICRS grade had a consistent negative effect, and lesion size, age, and obesity had no effect. Eight patients (15%) required further surgical intervention within the follow-up period. Conclusion: The clinical efficacy of chondroplasty for repair of focal cartilage defects of the knee has not been studied in isolation from concurrent orthopaedic procedures. Our data show that arthroscopic mechanical chondroplasty is beneficial to patients, and response to surgical intervention is correlated with baseline PRO scores, sex, ICRS grade, and KL score.
Performance Modelling of TCP Enhancements in Terrestrial&#8211;Satellite Hybrid Networks

In this paper, we focus on the performance of TCP enhancements for a hybrid terrestrial-satellite network. While a large body of literature exists regarding modeling TCP performance for the wired Internet, and recently over a single-hop wireless link, the literature is very sparse on TCP analysis over a hybrid wired-wireless (multi-hop) path. We seek to make a contribution to this problem (where the wireless segment is a satellite uplink) by deriving analytical estimates of TCP throughput for two widely deployed approaches: TCP splitting and E2E (End-to-End) TCP with link layer support as a function of key parameters such as terrestrial/satellite propagation delay, segment loss rate and buffer size. Our analysis is supported by simulations; throughput comparisons indicate superiority of TCP splitting over E2E scheme in most cases. However, in situations where end-to-end delay is dominated by terrestrial portion and buffering is very limited at intermediate node, E2E achieves higher throughput than TCP splitting
Protein Microarrays with Novel Microfluidic Methods: Current Advances

Microfluidic-based micromosaic technology has allowed the pattering of recognition elements in restricted micrometer scale areas with high precision. This controlled patterning enabled the development of highly multiplexed arrays multiple analyte detection. This arraying technology was first introduced in the beginning of 2001 and holds tremendous potential to revolutionize microarray development and analyte detection. Later, several microfluidic methods were developed for microarray application. In this review we discuss these novel methods and approaches which leverage the property of microfluidic technologies to significantly improve various physical aspects of microarray technology, such as enhanced imprinting homogeneity, stability of the immobilized biomolecules, decreasing assay times, and reduction of the costs and of the bulky instrumentation.
Spatial PAPR Reduction Based Beamforming Scheme for EIRP Constrained Systems

Certain communications transmitters are restricted by their equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) rather than the total transmitted power. Important examples are ultra-wideband systems. Use of channel knowledge at transmission for such systems, when there are multiple transmit antennas, is complicated due to the need to consider the spatial directivities of the radiation. Thus it is computationally prohibitive to implement optimal EIRP constrained beamforming schemes. This work presents a novel low complexity transmit beamforming method for such systems. Motivated by the radiation due to optimal schemes, the algorithm is based on perturbing the dominant channel eigenvector such that the peak-to-average power ratio of the spatial radiation is reduced. Simulation results confirm the improved system performance compared to existing sub-optimal beamforming methods.
Towards a defined, serum‐ and feeder‐free culture of stratified human oral mucosal epithelium for ocular surface reconstruction

Purpose: Ocular surface reconstruction with cultivated oral mucosal epithelial transplantation technique is a viable treatment option for severe ocular surface injuries and diseases with limbal stem cell deficiency. Currently, this technique is based on utilization of xenogenic, allogenic or undefined components such as murine 3T3 feeders, serum and amniotic membrane. In this study, we aimed to find a more defined culture method to generate stratified human oral mucosal epithelium.
Beyond Risk Factors: The Theoretical Contextualization of Illicit ADHD Medication Use Among High School Students

Prescription ADHD medication has been shown to be on the rise as a drug of abuse among young people. Unlike other drugs that serve only the purpose of achieving a high, this particular substance can also be perceived as useful and beneficial by those who abuse it. It is these positive attributes given to the illicit use of these drugs that make them so dangerous, especially in the hands of youths. To date extant research has made little effort to contextualize this type of drug use within theories of deviance. This study looks to fill that void as well as bridge the gap between current epidemiological studies on this topic and future etiological studies looking to assess causation within a theoretical context. Examining a national sample of 12 th grade students (N=2,384), this study looks at what risk factors and predictors exist for the illicit use of ADHD medication. By testing aspects of social bonding and social learning theories, the goal is to assess which theory can best predict this type of drug use. Due to the low proportion of users, a rare events logistic regression is utilized in the analysis. While social learning items were able to account for the greatest level of variance in use, many of the findings contradict the theory, and therefore no theoretically based conclusions can be made at this time. Overall, more research needed on this topic using better fitting data tailored for theoretical interpretation. Considerations for future studies are also discussed.
The AWARE architecture: supporting context-mediated social awareness in mobile cooperation

Maintaining social awareness of the working context of fellow co-workers is crucial to successful cooperation. For mobile, non co-located workers, however, this social awareness is hard to maintain. In this paper we present the concept of Context-Mediated Social Awareness to denote how context-aware computing can be used to facilitate social awareness. We illustrate the concept in a case study of mobile collaboration in a hospital and present the `AwarePhone', which is designed to support context-mediated social awareness among hospital clinicians. Based on this conceptual and empirical basis, the paper presents the AWARE architecture, which is a generic platform for supporting context-mediated social awareness.
Implementation for LAPACK of a Block Algorithm for Matrix 1-Norm Estimation

We describe double precision and complex*16 Fortran 77 implementations, in LAPACK style, of a block matrix 1-norm estimator of Higham and Tisseur. This estimator diers from that underlying the existing LAPACK code, xLACON, in that it iterates with a matrix with t columns, where t 1 is a parameter, rather than with a vector, and so the basic computational kernel is level 3 BLAS operations. Our experiments with random matrices on a Sun SPARCStation Ultra-5 show that with t = 2 or 4 the new code oers better estimates than xLACON with a similar execution time. Moreover, with t > 2, estimates exact over 95% and 75% of the time are achieved for the real and complex version respectively, with execution time growing much slower than t. We recommend this new code be included as an auxiliary routine in LAPACK to complement the existing LAPACK routine xLACON, upon which the various drivers should still be based for compatibility reasons.
A blind deconvolution approach to ultrasound imaging

In this paper, a single-input multiple-output (SIMO) channel model is introduced for the deconvolution process of ultrasound imaging; the ultrasound pulse is the single system input and tissue reflectivity functions are the channel impulse responses. A sparse regularized blind deconvolution model is developed by projecting the tissue reflectivity functions onto the null space of a cross-relation matrix and projecting the ultrasound pulse onto a low-resolution space. In this way, the computational load is greatly reduced and the estimation accuracy can be improved because the proposed deconvolution model contains fewer variables. Subsequently, an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm is introduced to efficiently solve the proposed blind de convolution problem. Finally, the performance of the proposed blind deconvolution method is examined using both computer simulated data and practical in vitro and in vivo data. The results show a great improvement in the quality of ultrasound images in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution gain.
Biologically Active Blood Plasma-Based Biomaterials as a New Paradigm for Tissue Repair Therapies

Abstract Platelets contain an array of growth factors, extracellular matrix molecules, and other signaling molecules that are released into the injury site upon platelet activation, thus providing the cues needed to help initiate and orchestrate tissue repair. In an effort to harness this activity for therapeutic use, autologous concentrated platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has become a popular therapy, particularly in sports medicine, where the desired outcome is to overcome the body's limitations to tissue repair and accelerate healing. However, the effectiveness of PRP therapies remains controversial due to variable clinical outcomes. Potential sources of variability include the different types of platelet concentrators as well as the inherent variation in patient-to-patient platelet and growth factor quality and quantity. Additionally, PRP, either activated pre- or postinjection, cannot be spatially contained in an injury site and is rapidly resorbed. A further limitation to PRP is that it is not a simple, .
SSVEP-based hierarchical architecture for control of a humanoid robot with mind

In this paper, we present an SSVEP-based hierarchical architecture for control of a humanoid robot with mind, consisting of five-layer decisions from robot state level to implementation level. This architecture is able to control a variety of humanoid robot behaviors at different levels to perform a complex task. We implement this hierarchical architecture on our Cerebot platform and test this control architecture in a multi-task experiment. We compare its control performance with the one achieved using manual control by an experienced operator. The results show that the architecture with coordinating multi-layer decisions and fusing human and robot actions is a good way to solve the issue of the limited information transfer rate (ITR) in mind-controlled humanoid robot system using current EEG-based BCI technology.
Electrical equipment maintenance 101

This paper will explore the maintenance of electrical equipment. Specifically it will look at: 1) Why maintenance is performed on electrical equipment? 2) What, legal or other, drivers are behind performing electrical equipment maintenance? 3) Electrical equipment maintenance is performed on an interval, but what is the purpose of this interval and how is it determined? 4) What is the difference between breakdown, preventive, and predictive electrical equipment maintenance methods and when should each be applied? 5) What do available testing technologies, such as - insulation resistance, power factor, oil analysis, partial discharge, infrared, ultrasonic, functional analysis, etc., tell us about the condition of electrical equipment and when should they be applied to various types of electrical equipment? 6) What does analysis of electrical equipment maintenance data/information reveal about the frequencies, philosophies, and foundation on which maintenance is performed?
A Recognition System for 3 D Embossed Digits on Non-Smooth Metallic Surface

Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520 THAILAND Abstract. This paper presents a new solution to the automatic localization and recognition of natural digits embossed on structured and rough surfaces. A new concept of combining periodic (e.g. FFT, DCT) with polynomial moments (e.g. Tchebichef moments) is shown that the new method can eliminate some of the problems associated with the Gibbs phenomena. QR decomposition is used to obtain a unitary basis, minimizing the numerical effort when modeling surfaces. The combined moment method is used to generate a smoothed global model of the surface structure. Following segmentation of the individual digits, pattern recognition based on moment function such as Hu’s moment invariants, Zernike moments, and Orthogonal Fourier Mellin Moments was used to recognize the stamped number after analyzing 3D surface data of the steel block. A prototype system of the laser-scanning instrument was implemented and test measurements were performed in a production line. The results showed the correct functionality of the method.
Towards Task-Based Temporal Extraction and Recognition

We seek to improve the robustness and portability of tem- poral information extraction systems by incorporating data-driven tech- niques. We present two sets of experiments pointing us in this direction. The first shows that machine-learning-based recognition of temporal ex- pressions not only achieves high accuracy on its own but can also improve rule-based normalization. The second makes use of a staged normaliza- tion architecture to experiment with machine learned classifiers for cer- tain disambiguation sub-tasks within the normalization task.
Employing Compositional Semantics and Discourse Consistency in Chinese Event Extraction

Current Chinese event extraction systems suffer much from two problems in trigger identification: unknown triggers and word segmentation errors to known triggers. To resolve these problems, this paper proposes two novel inference mechanisms to explore special characteristics in Chinese via compositional semantics inside Chinese triggers and discourse consistency between Chinese trigger mentions. Evaluation on the ACE 2005 Chinese corpus justifies the effectiveness of our approach over a strong baseline.
High Genetic Diversity of Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae Isolates from Two Children Attending a Day Care Center

ABSTRACT Twenty-one nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) isolates from the throats of two healthy children were genotyped by multilocus sequence typing. Nine unique sequence types (STs) were identified. These STs were scattered throughout the phylogenetic tree of reported NTHi STs, demonstrating the high level of NTHi diversity found in colonized children.
Querying Diverse Treebanks in a Uniform Way

This paper presents a system for querying treebanks in a uniform way. The system is able to work with both dependency and constituency based treebanks in any language. We demonstrate its abilities on 11 different treebanks. The query language used by the system provides many features not available in other existing systems while still keeping the performance efficient. The paper also describes the conversion of ten treebanks into a common XML-based format used by the system, touching the question of standards and formats. The paper then shows several examples of linguistically interesting questions that the system is able to answer, for example browsing verbal clauses without subjects or extraposed relative clauses, generating the underlying grammar in a constituency treebank, searching for non-projective edges in a dependency treebank, or word-order typology of a language based on the treebank. The performance of several implementations of the system is also discussed by measuring the time requirements of some of the queries.
Neural Correlates of Complex Tone Processing and Hemispheric Asymmetry

In an effort to further explore the role of the right hemisphere in auditory processing, this study utilized brain event-related potentials (ERPs) and standardized low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) in order to localize electrical brain activity of complex tone processing. Participants engaged in a diotic pitch discrimination task while ERP components were recorded from 28 electrodes on the scalp. ERPs were analyzed via individual/group average area measurements and were submitted to sLORETA for neural source localization. Results showed stronger right vs. left hemisphere activation to complex tone processing that was localized to regions of the auditory cortex. Findings support the notion that auditory cortical regions in the right hemisphere may be involved in music processing. Moreover, these findings indicate that source localization methods may be a good approach to study the complex nature of brain electrical activity during cognitive processing.