Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
[POSTER] Augmented Reality Assistance in the Central Field-of-View Outperforms Peripheral Displays for Order Picking: Results from a Virtual Reality Simulation Study

One area in which glasses-based augmented reality (AR) is successfully applied in industry is order picking in logistics (pick-byvision). Here, the almost hands-free operation and the direct integration into the digital workflow provided by augmented reality glasses are direct advantages. A common non-AR guidance technique for order picking is pick-by-light. This is an efficient approach for single users and low numbers of alternative targets. AR glasses have the potential to overcome these limitations. However, making a grounded decision on the specific AR device and the particular guidance techniques to choose for a specific scenario is difficult, given the diversity of device characteristics and the lack of experience with smart glasses in industry at larger scale. The contributions of the paper are twofold. First, we present a virtual reality (VR) simulation approach to ground design decisions for AR-based solutions and apply it to the scenario of order picking. Second, we present results from a simulator study with implemented simulations for monocular and binocular head-mounted displays and compared existing techniques for attention guiding with our own SWave approach and the integration of eye tracking. Our results show clear benefits for the use of pick-by-vision compared to pick-by-light. In addition to that, we can show that binocular AR solutions outperform monocular ones in the attention guiding task.
Parkinson's Disease Is Not Simply a Prion Disorder

The notion that prion-like spreading of misfolded α-synuclein (α-SYN) causes Parkinson's disease (PD) has received a great deal of attention. Although attractive in its simplicity, the hypothesis is difficult to reconcile with postmortem analysis of human brains and connectome-mapping studies. An alternative hypothesis is that PD pathology is governed by regional or cell-autonomous factors. Although these factors provide an explanation for the pattern of neuronal loss in PD, they do not readily explain the apparently staged distribution of Lewy pathology in many PD brains, the feature of the disease that initially motivated the spreading hypothesis by Braak and colleagues. While each hypothesis alone has its shortcomings, a synthesis of the two can explain much of what we know about the etiopathology of PD. Dual Perspectives Companion Paper: Prying into the Prion Hypothesis for Parkinson's Disease, by Patrik Brundin and Ronald Melki
The experience of Italian nurses and midwives in the termination of pregnancy: a qualitative study

Abstract Objectives: The aim of the study was to provide insight into the experiences of nurses and midwives working in the Italian abortion service. Methods: Study participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted between July and September 2016, among 22 nurses and two midwives working in five abortion services in Milan, Italy. Transcripts of interviews were analysed using a phenomenological approach to data analysis. Results: Five main themes emerged from the analysis: (a) coping with caring for women undergoing a termination of pregnancy; (b) improving professional training; (c) approaching work in a mechanistic way as a means of overcoming difficulties; (4) performing medical abortions; (d) recounting an experience. Conclusions: This first study about assisting with pregnancy termination in Italy may enable critical comparison with studies carried out in other countries. Both nurses and midwives suggested strategies, which may improve the provision of care: collaboration between primary and tertiary care, continuous training, multidisciplinary collaboration, increase of staff turnover and being kept abreast of new pharmaceutical products. Our findings are applicable to wider medical practice.
Serial ATA Commands Logger for Security Monitoring on FPGA Devices

Enforcing the computer systems security policy is highly reliant upon the use of security monitors. The monitoring system should provide a complete view of the monitored system in a stealth mode. The Serial ATA Commands Logger system described in this paper intercepts the ATA commands sent by a host bus adapter to an attached storage device, by monitoring the exchanged traffic, in a transparent manner. Transparency is obtained by integrating the FPGA based system on the physical connection between the two communicating devices. The intercepted commands and parameters are sent to a serial console. The system can interface with commodity hardware devices by supporting Serial ATA 6.0 Gbps data transfer rate and advanced features like Native Command Queuing. Experimental results demonstrate a negligible impact on throughput of data transfers between the host bus adapters and the storage devices. The Serial ATA Commands Logger establishes the basis for a security framework deemed to enable further research and development of storage security focused applications: integrity checkers, intrusion detection systems, data recovery techniques.
Combined TDM and SDM Circuit Switching NoCs with Dedicated Connection Allocator

In general, circuit switching (CS) NoCs suffer from path diversity and resource utilization problem. Combining Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM) and Space-Division-Multiplexing (SDM) CS NoCs can reasonably mitigate this problem by increasing the path diversity and improving sharing of sub-channel among multiple connections. In order to investigate and optimize TDM-SDM partitioning strategy, in this paper, we propose a dedicated connection allocator for combined TDM-SDM CS NoCs based on trellis-search algorithm, which can explore all possible paths between source-destination node pairs within a guaranteed latency. In contrast to the recently published approaches, we propose the novel bidirectional search that starts at source node and destination node simultaneously. Compared to previous unidirectional trellis search algorithms, our algorithm halves the search time while keeping the allocator area almost the same. In addition to this, we studied the influence of different TDM-SDM link partitioning strategies on success rate and path length that allowed us to find the optimal solution. The simulation results show our approach can improve the success rate by 25% to 42% compared to previous connection allocation approaches.
Genome‐wide association study and meta‐analysis in Northern European populations replicate multiple colorectal cancer risk loci

Genome‐wide association studies have been successful in elucidating the genetic basis of colorectal cancer (CRC), but there remains unexplained variability in genetic risk. To identify new risk variants and to confirm reported associations, we conducted a genome‐wide association study in 1,701 CRC cases and 14,082 cancer‐free controls from the Finnish population. A total of 9,068,015 genetic variants were imputed and tested, and 30 promising variants were studied in additional 11,647 cases and 12,356 controls of European ancestry. The previously reported association between the single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs992157 (2q35) and CRC was independently replicated (p = 2.08 × 10−4; OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.06–1.23), and it was genome‐wide significant in combined analysis (p = 1.50 × 10−9; OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08–1.16). Variants at 2q35, 6p21.2, 8q23.3, 8q24.21, 10q22.3, 10q24.2, 11q13.4, 11q23.1, 14q22.2, 15q13.3, 18q21.1, 20p12.3 and 20q13.33 were associated with CRC in the Finnish population (false discovery rate < 0.1), but new risk loci were not found. These results replicate the effects of multiple loci on the risk of CRC and identify shared risk alleles between the Finnish population isolate and outbred populations.
Are people getting quality thalassemia care in twin cities of Pakistan? A comparison with international standards

Objectives: This study was conducted to determine if thalassemia patients were getting quality care in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan, as per international standards and to identify determinants for better quality of thalassemia care. Design: A cross sectional study was conducted using interview based structured questionnaire, which was developed using standards of thalassemia care used by International Thalassemia Foundation. Setting: Five healthcare facilities catering to the needs of thalassemia patients in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Participants: Data were collected from 315 thalassemia patients from May to August, 2016. Main outcome measure: Survey data on quality indicators. Results: Results showed that almost half of thalassemia patients (48.5%) were getting poor quality of care. On average patients were getting only 63.93% of possible quality care for the disease. The most deficient quality area was management of complications where patients were getting only 49.1% of possible care. Better quality of care was likely to be received by those patients who were educated, patients with educated fathers, those visiting private facilities and those who were visiting facilities in Islamabad. Those with concomitant diseases were also likely to receive better care. Conclusion: Quality of care provided to thalassemia patients was well below the international standards for the care of thalassemia. There is a need to take urgent action to improve quality of care in the country.
Differences in palliative care quality between patients with cancer, patients with organ failure and frail patients: A study based on measurements with the Consumer Quality Index Palliative Care for bereaved relatives

Background: Palliative care is rooted in the care for incurably ill cancer patients. Yet today there is a recognised need for palliative care for patients with non-cancer conditions. However, the often unpredictable illness trajectories and the difficulty in predicting the imminence of death in people with non-cancer conditions may hamper the provision of high-quality palliative care. Aim: To compare the quality of palliative care provided to patients with cancer, patients with organ failure and frail patients and their relatives. Design: An existing dataset was analysed, consisting of data collected through the Consumer Quality Index Palliative Care questionnaire for bereaved relatives. Setting/participants: Data were analysed of 456 relatives of deceased patients with cancer, patients with organ failure and frail patients from various care settings in the Netherlands. Results: Relatives (e.g. partners or children) of deceased patients with organ failure (n = 61) were more likely to have negative experiences regarding the expertise of healthcare professionals compared with relatives of patients with cancer (n = 215). Relatives of frail patients (n = 180) gave a relatively low rating of the general quality of the care in the last week of the patient’s life, both as regards the care provided to patients (p = 0.015) and as regards the support to relatives (p = 0.009). Conclusion: Compared with the bereaved relatives of patients with cancer, bereaved relatives of patients with organ failure or frailty were more likely to negatively assess the palliative care provided to both the patient and themselves. Improving professionals’ expertise in palliative care for people with non-cancer conditions is recommended.
LVQ Neural Networks Applied To Face Segmentation

Abstract Color-segmentation is quite sensitive to changes in light intensity. Many algorithms do not tolerate variations in color hue which correspond, in fact, to the same object. In this work an image segmentator algorithm based on Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) networks is proposed and tested on a tracking application. In LVQ networks, neighboring neurons learn to recognize neighboring sections of the input space. Neighboring neurons would correspond to object regions illuminated in a different manner. The segmentator involves a LVQ network that operate directly on the image pixels and a decision function. This algorithm has been applied to spotting and tracking human faces, and have shown more robustness on illumination changes than other standard algorithms.
Computational Performance Analysis of Cluster-based Technologies for Big Data Analytics

Due to rapid development in Internet, applications and communication technology a huge volume of unstructured data is generated from various sources such as social media, sensor networks, online services, healthcare devices, bioinformatics, computational biology and many more sources. However, the huge volume of data is facing numerous challenges in term of storage and timely processing. Distributed computing platform such as Hadoop MapReduce and Spark is becoming major programming models for data intensive applications. In this paper we compare the performance of both Hadoop MapReduce and Spark programming models in term of computation efficiency. For the purpose of comparison of both the programming models, we employ three applications such as WordCount, Sort and PageRank with varied size of input datasets. The experimental results show that Spark outperforms Hadoop MapReduce in all cases.
DAGSENS: Directed acyclic graph based direct and adjoint transient sensitivity analysis for event-driven objective functions

We present DAGSENS, a new approach to parametric transient sensitivity analysis of Differential Algebraic Equation systems (DAEs), such as SPICE-level circuits. The key ideas behind DAGSENS are, (1) to represent the entire sequence of computations from DAE parameters to the objective function (whose sensitivity is needed) as a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) called the “sensitivity DAG”, and (2) to compute the required sensitivites efficiently by using dynamic programming techniques to traverse the DAG. DAGSENS is simple, elegant, and easy-to-understand compared to previous approaches; for example, in DAGSENS, one can switch between direct and adjoint sensitivities simply by reversing the direction of DAG traversal. Also, DAGSENS is more powerful than previous approaches because it works for a more general class of objective functions, including those based on “events” that occur during a transient simulation (e.g., a node voltage crossing a threshold, a phase-locked loop (PLL) achieving lock, a circuit signal reaching its maximum/minimum value, etc.). In this paper, we demonstrate DAGSENS on several electronic and biological applications, including high-speed communication, statistical cell library characterization, and gene expression.
Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Zn-(Y/Gd) alloys

As-cast Mg\(_9\)\(_4\)Zn\(_2\)Y\(_4\) alloy has been subjected to compression and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) separately. The as-cast alloy contains mainly a long-period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase and a Mg\(_2\)\(_4\)Y\(_5\) phase as secondary phases. During compression, kinking occurs in the LPSO phase and LPSO/Mg mixture. Most kink boundaries of LPSO are composed of basal type dislocations. The rotation axes of the kink boundaries in LPSO/Mg are preferentially located in the (0001) plane. ECAP processing develops a bimodal microstructure consisting of large deformed grains and sub-micron dynamically recrystallised (DRXed) grains. The DRXed grains are mainly located along the original grain boundaries. Kink boundaries also acts as DRX nucleation sites. The ECAP processing increased significantly the strength of the alloy. In the as-cast Mg-Zn-Y alloys, the main secondary phase changes when different ratios of Zn/Y are applied: LPSO (Zn/Y ratio is 0.5) → LPSO+W (Zn/Y ratio is 1, W is Mg\(_3\)Zn\(_3\)Y\(_2\)) → W (Zn/Y ratio is 2.33). When Y is half replaced by Gd, the types of phases are similar. When Y is replaced fully by Gd, W phase becomes the main secondary phase. The structure of the LPSO also changes with different Zn/Y ratios and the presence of Y or Gd.
The indentation of materials by wedges

It is shown that the mechanism and extent of the deformation of materials by wedges depends upon the angle of the indenter, and on the elasticity of the indented material as well as on its yield point. The theory for a plastic rigid solid applies only when the angle of the wedge is acute and the indented materials are of low elasticity. At more acute angles, the mechanism of deformation has been shown by Mulhearn to become one of radial compression. It is shown here that this mode of deformation is also favoured when more elastic materials are used. It is also shown that the indentation pressure approximates to that for the expansion of a semicylindrical cavity in an infinite elastic medium with definite yield point and takes the form P / Y = m In (E / Y) + C where m and C are constants, E is the Young modulus, Y the yield point in simple extension and P the flow pressure. The value of C depends upon the angle of the wedge. The result is analogous to that obtained by Marsh using a 136° pyramidal indenter, but elastic effects are more important in wedge indentation than when indenting with a pyramid. For blunt wedges and elastic materials, elastic effects predominate in importance; the process can then be regarded as that of the indentation of an ideally elastic solid by a rigid wedge. The pressure distribution on the indentation has been determined. It is shown that elastic theory satisfactorily predicts this distribution of pressure, as well as its mean value. For the indentation of highly elastic materials by acute angled wedges, the elastic and plastic deformations become comparable and the mode of deformation is very complex.
Clinical and Environmental Correlates of Serum BDNF: A Descriptive Study with Plausible Implications for AD Research.

BACKGROUND Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may play a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) through neurotrophic effects on basal cholinergic neurons. Reduced serum levels of BDND are observed among AD patients and may predict AD risk. Nevertheless, knowledge about factors associated with its levels in blood is lacking. OBJECTIVE To identify clinical and demographic correlates of serum BDNF levels. METHODS BDNF was measured from serum collected between 1992-1996 and 1998-2001 in participants from the Original and Offspring cohorts of the Framingham Study, respectively. A cross-sectional analysis was done to evaluate the relationship between clinical measures and BDNF levels using standard linear regression and stepwise models. Analyses were conducted in the total sample and separately in each cohort, and were adjusted for age and sex. RESULTS BDNF was measured in 3,689 participants (mean age 65 years, 56% women; 82% Offspring). Cigarette smoking and high total cholesterol were associated with elevated BDNF levels, and history of atrial fibrillation was associated with decreased levels. Elevated BDNF levels were related to greater physical activity and lower Tumor Necrosis Factor-α levels in Offspring. Stepwise models also revealed associations with statin use, alcohol consumption and Apolipoprotein Eε4 genotype. CONCLUSION Serum BDNF correlates with various metabolic, inflammatory and life-style measures which in turn have been linked with risk of AD. Future studies of serum BDNF should adjust for these correlates and are needed to further explore the underlying interplay between BDNF and other factors in the pathophysiology of cognitive impairment and AD.
Efficient Single-Precision Floating-Point Division Using Harmonized Parabolic Synthesis

This paper proposes a novel method for performing division on floating-point numbers represented in IEEE-754 single-precision (binary32) format. The method is based on an inverter, implemented as a combination of Parabolic Synthesis and second-degree interpolation, followed by a multiplier. It is implemented with and without pipeline stages individually and synthesized while targeting a Xilinx Ultrascale FPGA.The implementations show better resource usage and latency results when compared to other implementations based on different methods. In case of throughput, the proposed method outperforms most of the other works, however, some Altera FPGAs achieve higher clock rate due to the differences in the DSP slice multiplier design.Due to the small size, low latency and high throughput, the presented floating-point division unit is suitable for high performance embedded systems and can be integrated into accelerators or be used as a stand-alone accelerator.
Distance-Decay Relationship for Biological Wastewater Treatment Plants

ABSTRACT Patterns in the spatial distribution of organisms provide important information about mechanisms underlying biodiversity and the complexity of ecosystems. One of the most well-documented spatial patterns is the distance-decay relationship, which is a universal biogeographic pattern observed repeatedly for plant and animal communities, particularly for microorganisms in natural ecosystems such as soil, ocean, and salt marsh sediment. However, it is uncertain whether the microorganisms exhibit a distance-decay pattern in engineered ecosystems. Therefore, we measured the distance-decay relationship across various microbial functional and phylogenetic groups in 26 biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China using a functional gene array (GeoChip 4.2). We found that microbial communities of activated sludge in WWTPs exhibited a significant but very weak distance-decay relationship. The taxon-area z values for different functional and phylogenetic groups were <0.0065, which is about 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower than those observed in microbial communities elsewhere. Variation-partitioning analysis (VPA) showed that the relationships were driven by both environmental heterogeneity and geographic distance. Collectively, these results provided new insights into the spatial scaling of microbial communities in engineering ecosystems and highlighted the importance of environmental heterogeneity and geographic distance in shaping biogeographic patterns. IMPORTANCE Determining the distance-decay relationship of microbial biodiversity is important but challenging in microbial ecology. All studies to date are based on natural environments; thus, it remains unclear whether there is such a relationship in an engineered ecosystem. The present study shows that there is a very weak distance-decay relationship in an engineered ecosystem (WWTPs) at the regional-to-continental scale. This study makes fundamental contributions to a mechanistic, predictive understanding of microbial biogeography.