Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tightly Coupled Low Cost 3D RISS/GPS Integration Using a Mixture Particle Filter for Vehicular Navigation

Satellite navigation systems such as the global positioning system (GPS) are currently the most common technique used for land vehicle positioning. However, in GPS-denied environments, there is an interruption in the positioning information. Low-cost micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS)-based inertial sensors can be integrated with GPS and enhance the performance in denied GPS environments. The traditional technique for this integration problem is Kalman filtering (KF). Due to the inherent errors of low-cost MEMS inertial sensors and their large stochastic drifts, KF, with its linearized models, has limited capabilities in providing accurate positioning. Particle filtering (PF) was recently suggested as a nonlinear filtering technique to accommodate for arbitrary inertial sensor characteristics, motion dynamics and noise distributions. An enhanced version of PF called the Mixture PF is utilized in this study to perform tightly coupled integration of a three dimensional (3D) reduced inertial sensors system (RISS) with GPS. In this work, the RISS consists of one single-axis gyroscope and a two-axis accelerometer used together with the vehicle’s odometer to obtain 3D navigation states. These sensors are then integrated with GPS in a tightly coupled scheme. In loosely-coupled integration, at least four satellites are needed to provide acceptable GPS position and velocity updates for the integration filter. The advantage of the tightly-coupled integration is that it can provide GPS measurement update(s) even when the number of visible satellites is three or lower, thereby improving the operation of the navigation system in environments with partial blockages by providing continuous aiding to the inertial sensors even during limited GPS satellite availability. To effectively exploit the capabilities of PF, advanced modeling for the stochastic drift of the vertically aligned gyroscope is used. In order to benefit from measurement updates for such drift, which are loosely-coupled updates, a hybrid loosely/tightly coupled solution is proposed. This solution is suitable for downtown environments because of the long natural outages or degradation of GPS. The performance of the proposed 3D Navigation solution using Mixture PF for 3D RISS/GPS integration is examined by road test trajectories in a land vehicle and compared to the KF counterpart.
Analysis of Control Architectures for Teleoperation Systems with Impedance/Admittance Master and Slave Manipulators

A large number of bilateral teleoperation control architectures in the literature have been designed based on assumed impedance models of the master and slave manipulators. However, hydraulic or heavily geared and many other manipulators cannot be properly described by impedance models. In this paper, a common four-channel bilateral control architecture designed for the above impedance models is extended to teleoperation systems with master and slave manipulators of either the admittance or impedance type. Furthermore, control parameters that provide perfect transparency under ideal conditions are found for each type of teleoperation system. Because in practice such parameters may not lead to systems that are robust to time delays and model uncertainties, an analysis of the stability and performance robustness of this very general architecture and two-channel architectures is also presented. The analysis uses the passivity-based Llewellyn two-port network absolute stability criterion, as well as bounds on the minimum and range of values of the impedance transmitted to the operator. The results of these evaluations provide design guidelines on choosing a particular control architecture and its parameters given different master and slave manipulator structures.
Timing in the art of integration: 'that's how the bastille got stormed'

This paper uses a long term ethnographic study of the design and implementation of an electronic patient records (EPR) system in a UK hospital Trust to consider issues arising in the multi-faceted process of integration when a customizable-off-the-shelf (COTS) system is configured and deployed in a complex setting. The process involves trying to artfully work out how disparate technologies integrate with existing and evolving patterns of work within developing regulatory requirements. We conclude by suggesting ways in which ethnographic interventions and user involvement may be timed and targeted to aid in achieving this process.
Text Document Classification based-on Least Square Support Vector Machines with Singular Value Decomposition

Due to rapid growth of on-line information, text classification has become one of key technique for handling and organizing text data. One of the reasons to build taxonomy of documents is to make it easier to find relevant documents, content filtering and topic tracking. LS-SVM is the classifier, used in this paper for efficient classification of text documents. Text data is normally highdimensional characteristic, to reduce the high-dimensionality also possible with SVM. In this paper we are improving classification accuracy and dimensionality reduction of a large text data by Least Square Support Vector Machines along with Singular Value Decomposition.
Capture of hair geometry from multiple images

Hair is a major feature of digital characters. Unfortunately, it has a complex geometry which challenges standard modeling tools. Some dedicated techniques exist, but creating a realistic hairstyle still takes hours. Complementary to user-driven methods, we here propose an image-based approach to capture the geometry of hair.The novelty of this work is that we draw information from the scattering properties of the hair that are normally considered a hindrance. To do so, we analyze image sequences from a fixed camera with a moving light source. We first introduce a novel method to compute the image orientation of the hairs from their anisotropic behavior. This method is proven to subsume and extend existing work while improving accuracy. This image orientation is then raised into a 3D orientation by analyzing the light reflected by the hair fibers. This part relies on minimal assumptions that have been proven correct in previous work.Finally, we show how to use several such image sequences to reconstruct the complete hair geometry of a real person. Results are shown to illustrate the fidelity of the captured geometry to the original hair. This technique paves the way for a new approach to digital hair generation.
Dynamic changes of nutrient composition throughout the entire life cycle of black soldier fly

Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae, Hermetia illucens L. , develops on organic wastes, reducing ecological pollution and converting waste biomass into protein and fat rich insect biomass. BSF can replace increasingly expensive protein sources used in poultry, aquaculture and livestock compound diet formulation, such as fish meal and soybean meal, which holds the potential to alleviate future food and feed insecurity. The fate of nutritional spectra in BSF during its life cycle phases is still poorly understood. This study assessed metabolic changes in nutrition composition of BSF from egg to adult. A rapid increase of crude fat content was observed since the development of 4–14 days of larvae with its maximum level reaching 28.4% in dry mass, whereas the crude protein displayed a continuous decreasing trend in the same development phases with minimum level of 38% at larval phase (12 days) and peak level of 46.2% at early pupa stage. A sharp drop in crude fat was noticed from early prepupae to late pupae (24.2%, 8.2% respectively). However crude protein shows its maximum value being 57.6% at postmortem adult stage with 21.6% fat level. In addition, fatty acids, amino acids, minerals and vitamins composition in different development stages of BSF were presented and compared. Findings from this study could provide podium to food and feed industry for framing a strategy for specific molecular nutritional component intake into the diets of humans, aquaculture and animals. It is also indicated that BSF is a possible insect which can be applied to combating the food scarcity of countries where micronutrient deficiency is prevalent. Moreover it contributes to advance exploring for developmental and metabolic biology of this edible insect.
Evaluation of the Influence of Lubricants on the Viscoelastic Properties of Tablets Using the Stress Relaxation Test.

Tablets are the most common dosage form. They are prepared by compression of powders or granular powders. The principle of the tablet compression process is the transformation of the undeformed particles of a compressed material to the elastically and plastically deformed particles due to the action of the compression force. The viscoelastic properties of the fillers and the impact of the lubricants on these properties are important factors, which are further reflected in the properties of tablets. A more detailed description of the viscoelastic properties and the interactions between the filler particles or the filler and the lubricants facilitate the selection of excipients for the tablet preparation to obtain tablets of required properties and quality. This study evaluates the elasticity and plasticity behaviour of the tablet mixtures during the compression process. The influence of two different lubricants on microcrystalline cellulose, a filler intended for direct compression, is studied using the stress relaxation test.
The Trihelix Transcription Factor GTL1 Regulates Ploidy-Dependent Cell Growth in the Arabidopsis Trichome[W][OA]

Leaf trichomes in Arabidopsis thaliana develop through several distinct cellular processes, such as patterning, differentiation, and growth. Although recent studies have identified several key transcription factors as regulating early patterning and differentiation steps, it is still largely unknown how these regulatory proteins mediate subsequent trichome development, which is accompanied by rapid cell growth and branching. Here, we report a novel trichome mutation in Arabidopsis, which in contrast with previously identified mutants, increases trichome cell size without altering its overall patterning or branching. We show that the corresponding gene encodes a GT-2-LIKE1 (GTL1) protein, a member of the trihelix transcription factor family. GTL1 is present within the nucleus during the postbranching stages of trichome development, and its loss of function leads to an increase in the nuclear DNA content only in trichomes that have completed branching. Our data further demonstrate that the gtl1 mutation modifies the expression of several cell cycle genes and partially rescues the ploidy defects in the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor mutant siamese. Taken together, this study provides the genetic evidence for the requirement of transcriptional regulation in the repression of ploidy-dependent plant cell growth as well as for an involvement of GTL trihelix proteins in this regulation.
Indexing cognitive workload based on pupillary response under luminance and emotional changes

Pupillary response is a popular physiological index of cognitive workload that can be used for design and evaluation of adaptive interface in various areas of human-computer interaction (HCI) research. However, in practice various confounding factors unrelated to workload, including changes of luminance condition and emotional arousal might degrade pupillary response based workload measures such as commonly used mean pupil diameter. This work investigates pupillary response as a cognitive workload measure under the influence of such confounding factors. Video-based eye tracker is used to record pupillary response during arithmetic tasks under luminance and emotional changes. Machine learning based feature selection and classification techniques are proposed to robustly index cognitive workload based on pupillary response even with the influence of noisy factors unrelated to workload.
Aligning Ethics with Medical Decision-Making: The Quest for Informed Patient Choice

Medical practice should evolve alongside medical ethics. As our understanding of the ethical implications of physician-patient interactions becomes more nuanced, physicians should integrate those lessons into practice. As early as the 1930s, epidemiological studies began to identify that the rates of medical procedures varied significantly along geographic and socioeconomic lines. Dr. J. Alison Glover recognized that tonsillectomy rates in school children in certain school districts in England and Wales were in some cases eight times the rates of children in other districts, with the only significant predictive factors being the current chief medical officer in the area and the socioeconomic well-being of the child's parents. Unfortunately, Dr. Glover's work revealed that the increase in tonsillectomies did not improve the health of adolescent patients and appeared to be performed “as a routine prophylactic ritual for no particular reason and with no particular result. ”
Effect of 1-year smoking cessation on airway inflammation in COPD and asymptomatic smokers

Smoking cessation is the only treatment in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) effective in slowing down disease progression. Its effect on airway inflammation in COPD is unknown, although cross-sectional studies suggest ongoing inflammation in ex-smokers. In order to elucidate the effect of smoking cessation on airway inflammation, 28 smokers with COPD (mean age: 55 yrs; forced expiratory volume in one second: 71% predicted) and 25 asymptomatic smokers with normal lung function (aged 50 yrs) were included in a 1-yr smoking cessation programme. Effects of smoking cessation on airway inflammation were investigated in bronchial biopsies (baseline, 12 months) and sputum samples (baseline, 2, 6 and 12 months). In the 12 candidates with COPD who successfully ceased smoking, airway inflammation persisted in bronchial biopsies, while the number of sputum neutrophils, lymphocytes, interleukin (IL)-8 and eosinophilic-cationic-protein levels significantly increased at 12 months. In the 16 asymptomatic smokers who successfully quitted, inflammation significantly reduced (i.e. number of sputum macrophages, percentage of eosinophils and IL-8 levels) or did not change. The current authors suggest that the observed persistent airway inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is related to repair of tissue damage in the airways. It remains to be elucidated whether this reflects a beneficial or detrimental effect.
Comparison of eligible non-enrolled patients and the randomised TWENTE trial population treated with Resolute and Xience V drug-eluting stents.

AIMS The TWENTE trial recently enrolled more than 80% of all eligible patients, who were randomised to zotarolimus-eluting Resolute or everolimus-eluting XIENCE V stents. In the present study, we investigated whether eligible, non-enrolled patients differed from the randomised TWENTE trial population in baseline characteristics and one-year outcome. METHODS AND RESULTS Characteristics of 1,709 eligible patients were analysed. Independent external adjudication of clinical events was likewise performed for non-enrolled (n=318) and randomised patients (n=1,391). Non-enrolled and randomised patients did not differ in gender distribution, diabetes mellitus, and clinical presentation, but differed significantly in age and cardiovascular history. Nevertheless, clinical outcome after one year did not differ in the primary composite endpoint target-vessel failure (TVF; 9.8% vs. 8.1%; p=0.34), and its components cardiac death (1.6% vs. 1.2%; p=0.61), target vessel-related myocardial infarction (4.7% vs. 4.6%; p=0.92), and target-vessel revascularisation (3.8% vs. 3.0%; p=0.48). Previous bypass surgery predicted TVF in non-enrolled patients (p=0.001); removal of these patients resulted in identical TVF rates for non-enrolled and randomised patients (7.3% vs. 7.3%; p=0.99). CONCLUSIONS Despite some differences in baseline characteristics, non-enrolled and randomised patients did not differ in one-year outcome, which was favourable for both populations and may be related to the drug-eluting stents used.
All-In-1 at IJCNLP-2017 Task 4: Short Text Classification with One Model for All Languages

We present All-In-1, a simple model for multilingual text classification that does not require any parallel data. It is based on a traditional Support Vector Machine classifier exploiting multilingual word embeddings and character n-grams. Our model is simple, easily extendable yet very effective, overall ranking 1st (out of 12 teams) in the IJCNLP 2017 shared task on customer feedback analysis in four languages: English, French, Japanese and Spanish.
Calculating the millimetre‐wave scattering phase function of snowflakes using the self‐similar Rayleigh–Gans Approximation

Exploitation of millimetre‐wave radiometer and radar observations of ice clouds and snow requires the ability to model the scattering properties of snowflakes. This article extends the Self‐Similar Rayleigh–Gans Approximation (SSRGA) for rapid computation of the backscatter cross‐section of ice aggregates, to compute the full scattering phase function, the scattering and absorption cross‐sections and the asymmetry factor. We also show that the Rayleigh–Gans Approximation (RGA) may be improved to represent the enhanced scattering and absorption when the monomers from which the aggregate is composed are non‐spherical. The new model is shown to perform well when compared to benchmark 94 and 183 GHz Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) calculations of the scattering by simulated unrimed aggregates of maximum dimension up to 1 cm that have a mass–size relationship in the range observed from aircraft. For denser particles, such as would result from riming, the validity of the underlying RGA becomes questionable and both the backscatter and scattering cross‐sections can be underestimated by a factor of 2.
Social reward improves the voluntary control over localized brain activity in fMRI-based neurofeedback training

Neurofeedback (NF) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) allows voluntary regulation of the activity in a selected brain region. For the training of this regulation, a well-designed feedback system is required. Social reward may serve as an effective incentive in NF paradigms, but its efficiency has not yet been tested. Therefore, we developed a social reward NF paradigm and assessed it in comparison with a typical visual NF paradigm (moving bar). We trained twenty-four healthy participants, on three consecutive days, to control activation in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) with fMRI-based NF. In the social feedback group, an avatar gradually smiled when ACC activity increased, whereas in the standard feedback group, a moving bar indicated the activation level. In order to assess a transfer of the NF training both groups were asked to up-regulate their brain activity without receiving feedback immediately before and after the NF training (pre- and post-test). Finally, the effect of the acquired NF training on ACC function was evaluated in a cognitive interference task (Simon task) during the pre- and post-test. Social reward led to stronger activity in the ACC and reward-related areas during the NF training when compared to standard feedback. After the training, both groups were able to regulate ACC without receiving feedback, with a trend for stronger responses in the social feedback group. Moreover, despite a lack of behavioral differences, significant higher ACC activations emerged in the cognitive interference task, reflecting a stronger generalization of the NF training on cognitive interference processing after social feedback. Social reward can increase self-regulation in fMRI-based NF and strengthen its effects on neural processing in related tasks, such as cognitive interference. A particular advantage of social feedback is that a direct external reward is provided as in natural social interactions, opening perspectives for implicit learning paradigms.
Identification of Bovine Sperm Surface Proteins Involved in Carbohydrate-mediated Fertilization Interactions*

Glycan-protein interactions play a key role in mammalian fertilization, but data on the composition and identities of protein complexes involved in fertilization events are scarce, with the added complication that the glycans in such interactions tend to differ among species. In this study we have used a bovine model to detect, characterize and identify sperm lectins relevant in fertilization. Given the complexity of the sperm-toward-egg journey, two important aspects of the process, both primarily mediated by protein-sugar interactions, have been addressed: (1) formation of the sperm reservoir in the oviductal epithelium, and (2) gamete recognition (oocyte-sperm interaction). Using whole sperm cells and a novel affinity capture method, several groups of proteins with different glycan specificities, including 58 hitherto unreported as lectins, have been identified in sperm surface, underscoring both the efficacy of our selective approach and the complex composition and function of sperm. Based on these results and previous data, we suggest that sperm surface proteins play significant roles in fertilization events such as membrane remodeling, transport, protection and function, thus supporting the hypothesis that rather than a simple lock-and-key model, mammalian fertilization relies on a complex interactome involving multiple ligands/receptors and recognition/binding events.
Redefining fetal evoked fields with biomagnetic recordings over the whole maternal abdomen

The development of a technique for the recording of fetal brain activity has been highly limited by the inaccessibility of the developing human brain in utero. Based on the needs of resolution and a noninvasive nature, only biomagnetic measurements are suitable for the determination of the integrity of the fetal brain on a routine basis. We have built a new biomagnetic measurement device dedicated to this task. The main construction concerns were those of patient comfort, ease of performance of standard measurements, and appropriate spatial and temporal resolution. Our initial evaluation of the instrument has shown that it is capable of obtaining signals traditionally regarded as evoked fetal fields. Our results also show that this interpretation has to be made very carefully and that a large scale array is more appropriate for the extraction of fetal brain signals. In future it will be necessary to develop more controlled protocols by combining fetal behavioural tests and fetal auditory evoked field (fAEF) recordings, to generate convincing evidence that reported fAEF are generated in the fetal brain.
Relay-Assisted OFDM for Ultraviolet Communications: Performance Analysis and Optimization

Ultraviolet (UV) communication enables non-line-of-sight (NLOS) outdoor wireless connectivity and is particularly desirable to relax or eliminate pointing and tracking requirements of infrared links. In comparison to infrared counterparts, UV links are subject to relatively higher path loss as well as intersymbol interference resulting from frequency selective nature of the channel. In this paper, we propose the powerful combination of relay-assisted transmission and multi-carrier architecture based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Specifically, we consider a cooperative diversity system with orthogonal cooperation protocol and use DC-biased optical OFDM as the underlying physical layer. We consider both amplify-and-forward (AF) and detect-and-forward (DF) relaying. We investigate the error rate performance of the proposed relay-assisted OFDM UV system under consideration and demonstrate performance gains over point-to-point OFDM UV systems. We further determine optimal power allocation schemes to improve the performance. We also propose a variable-rate UV OFDM system and improve system throughput via bit loading.