Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Visual scene augmentation for enhanced human perception

In this paper we present an assistive system for hearing-impaired people that consists of a wearable microphone array and an Augmented Reality (AR) system. This system helps the user in communication situations, where many speakers or sources of background noise are present. In order to restore the “cocktail party” effect multiple microphones are used to estimate the position of individual sound sources. In order to allow the user to interact in complex situations with many speakers, an algorithm for estimating the user’s attention is developed. This algorithm determines the sound sources, which are in the user’s focus of attention. It allows the system to discard irrelevant information and enables the user to focus on certain aspects of the surroundings. Based on the user’s hearing impairment, the perception of the speaker in the focus of attention can be enhanced, e.g. by amplification or using a speech-to-text conversion. A prototype has been built for evaluating this approach. Currently the prototype is able to locate sound beacons in three-dimensional space, to perform a simple focus estimation, and to present floating captions in the Augmented Reality. The prototype uses an intentionally simple user interface, in order to minimize distractions.
A wearable system for mood assessment considering smartphone features and data from mobile ECGs

Traditionally, mood is assessed by either considering physiological data or smartphones-based self-reports. Physiological data is objective and continuous, but difficult to be collected in-field and lacks a subjective component. Smartphones provide subjective feedback and objective data, but lack physiological data. We propose to combine smartphones as a rich sensor system and smartwatches as a wearable heart rate monitor. Both serve as a platform for reporting mood states. Within an explorative user study with six subjects over four weeks, we collected smartphone data and heart rate in addition to subjective ground truth via self-reports. We assessed all three mood dimensions valence, energetic arousal and calmness, but only consider valence in the context of this paper. Analyzing the information gain, we identified the relevance of temporal features (daytime, weekday, type of day) as well as the heart rate. Decision tree classifiers trained on the first three weeks and tested on the fourth achieve recognition accuracies of up to 0.91.
The effect of temperature on the changes of precipitates in low-alloy steel

Investigations on the microstructure of low-alloy steel in the as-received condition and after 70 000 h ageing at 550 and 600°C were carried out. For the recorded images of the microstructure, a quantitative analysis of precipitates was performed. On that basis, a statistical analysis of collected data was made with the aim of estimating parameters of selected theoretical statistical distribution. Then, the forecast for average precipitate diameter and standard deviation of such a distribution for the time of 100 000 h at 550 and 600°C was calculated. The obtained results of investigations confirm the possibility of using, in evaluation of degradation degree for materials in use, the forecasting methods derived from mathematical statistics.
Scat detection dogs in wildlife research and management: application to grizzly and black bears in the Yellowhead ecosystem, Alberta, Canada

We report the development and application of a method using domestic dogs (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758) to systematically locate wildlife scat over large remote areas. Detection dogs are chosen for their strong object orientation, high play drive, and willingness to strive for a reward. Dogs were trained to detect grizzly bear ( Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) and black bear (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) scats over a 5200-km 2 area of the Yellowhead Ecosystem, Alberta, Canada. DNA from scat provided the species and (for grizzly bears only) sex and individual iden- tities of the animal at each location. Concentrations of fecal cortisol and progesterone metabolites from these same grizzly bear scats provided indices of physiological stress and reproductive activity (in females), respectively. Black and grizzly bears were most concentrated in the northern portion of the multiuse study area, where food is most abundant yet poaching-related mortality appears to be heaviest. Physiologic stress was also lowest and female reproductive activ - ity correspondingly highest for grizzly bears in the north. The scat-based distributions corresponded to concurrently collected hair-snag data in 1999 and global positioning system radiotelemetry data (of grizzly bears) in 1999 and 2001. Results suggest that the scat dog detection methodology provides a promising tool for addressing a variety of manage- ment and research questions in the wildlife sciences. Resume : Nous decrivons la mise au point et l'utilisation d'une methode de detection systematique des feces d'animaux sauvages sur de grandes surfaces eloignees a l'aide de chiens domestiques (Canis familiaris Linnaeus, 1758). Les chiens sont choisis pour cette operation d'apres leur orientation marquee pour les objets, leur forte tendance a jouer et leur empressement a travailler pour des recompenses. Les chiens ont ete entraines a detecter la presence de feces d'ours noirs (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) et de grizzlis (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1758) dans une region de 5200 km 2 dans l'ecosysteme de Yellowhead, Alberta, Canada. L'analyse de l'ADN des feces fournit l'identite speci- fique et, pour les grizzlis seulement, le sexe et l'identite individuelle des animaux a chaque site. Les metabolites du cortisol et de la progesterone dans les feces de ces grizzlis donnent des indices respectivement du stress physiologique
Effects of static magnetic fields on bone microstructure and mechanical properties in mice

ABSTRACT All the living organisms originate, evolve and live under geomagnetic field (GMF, 20–70 µT). With rapid development in science and technology, exposure to various static magnetic fields (SMFs) from natural and man-made sources remains a public environmental topic in consideration of its probable health risk for humans. Many animal studies related to health effect have demonstrated that SMF could improve bone formation and enhance bone healing. Moreover, most of the studies focused on local SMF generated by rod-type magnet. It was difficult to come to a conclusion that how SMF affected bone metabolism in mice. The present study employed hypomagnetic field (HyMF, 500 nT), and moderate SMF (MMF, 0.2 T) to systematically investigate the effects of SMF with continuous exposure on microstructure and mechanical properties of bone. Our results clearly indicated that 4-week MMF exposure did not affect bone biomechanical properties or bone microarchitecture, while HyMF significantly inhibited the growth of mice and elasticity of bone. Furthermore, mineral elements might mediate the biological effect of SMF.
CFOA-Based Lossless and Lossy Inductance Simulators

Inductance simulator is a useful component in the circuit synthesis theory especially for analog signal processing applications such as filter, chaotic oscillator design, analog phase shifters and cancellation of parasitic element. In this study, new four inductance simulator topologies employing a single current feedback operational amplifier are presented. The presented topologies require few passive components. The first topology is intended for negative inductance simulation, the second topology is for lossy series inductance, the third one is for negative lossy parallel inductance (-R) (-L) and the fourth topology is for negative parallel (-R) (-L) (-C) simulation. The per- formance of the proposed CFOA based inductance simula- tors is demonstrated on both a second-order low-pass filter and inductance cancellation circuit. PSPICE simulations are given to verify the theoretical analysis.
Pathologic basis of the sonographic differences between thyroid cancer and noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features

Ultrasonography is pivotal in triage thyroid biopsy in the era after the identification of noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP). This pictorial essay illustrates the pathologic basis of the sonographic features that distinguish NIFTP from thyroid cancers. In this study, we present the correlations of ultrasonography to ×1 histopathology to assess shape and margin characteristics. Markedly hypoechoic nodules correlate to microfollicular/solid nodules, while isoechoic/hyperechoic thyroid nodules correlate to normofollicular/macrofollicular nodules. The ultrasound findings of NIFTP and minimally invasive encapsulated thyroid cancers are similar. Both are well-circumscribed, oval-to-round nodules with regular margins. Blurred or microlobulated margins indicate infiltrating tumors, while lobulated margins are characteristic of expansile tumors. Overtly invasive encapsulated tumors are characterized by oval-to-round nodules with irregular or lobulated margins. The ultrasound findings for infiltrative thyroid cancers show at least one of the following malignant features: marked hypoechoicity, taller-than-wide shape, microcalcifications, and blurred or microlobulated margins.
The Lysyl Oxidase Inhibitor, β-Aminopropionitrile, Diminishes the Metastatic Colonization Potential of Circulating Breast Cancer Cells

Lysyl oxidase (LOX), an extracellular matrix remodeling enzyme, appears to have a role in promoting breast cancer cell motility and invasiveness. In addition, increased LOX expression has been correlated with decreases in both metastases-free, and overall survival in breast cancer patients. With this background, we studied the ability of β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), an irreversible inhibitor of LOX, to regulate the metastatic colonization potential of the human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231. BAPN was administered daily to mice starting either 1 day prior, on the same day as, or 7 days after intracardiac injection of luciferase expressing MDA-MB-231-Luc2 cells. Development of metastases was monitored by in vivo bioluminescence imaging, and tumor-induced osteolysis was assessed by micro-computed tomography (μCT). We found that BAPN administration was able to reduce the frequency of metastases. Thus, when BAPN treatment was initiated the day before, or on the same day as the intra-cardiac injection of tumor cells, the number of metastases was decreased by 44%, and 27%, and whole-body photon emission rates (reflective of total tumor burden) were diminished by 78%, and 45%, respectively. In contrast, BAPN had no effect on the growth of established metastases. Our findings suggest that LOX activity is required during extravasation and/or initial tissue colonization by circulating MDA-MB-231 cells, lending support to the idea that LOX inhibition might be useful in metastasis prevention.
Learning Fine-Grained Spatial Models for Dynamic Sports Play Prediction

We consider the problem of learning predictive models for in-game sports play prediction. Focusing on basketball, we develop models for anticipating near-future events given the current game state. We employ a latent factor modeling approach, which leads to a compact data representation that enables efficient prediction given raw spatiotemporal tracking data. We validate our approach using tracking data from the 2012-2013 NBA season, and show that our model can make accurate in-game predictions. We provide a detailed inspection of our learned factors, and show that our model is interpretable and corresponds to known intuitions of basketball game play.
Classification of Network Traffic via Packet-Level Hidden Markov Models

Traffic classification and identification is a fertile research area. Beyond Quality of Service, service differentiation, and billing, one of the most important applications of traffic classification is in the field of network security. This paper proposes a packet-level traffic classification approach based on Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Classification is performed by using real network traffic and estimating - in a combined fashion - Packet Size (PS) and Inter Packet Time (IPT) characteristics, thus remaining applicable to encrypted traffic too. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is evaluated by considering several traffic typologies: we applied our model to real traffic traces of Age of Mythology and Counter Strike (two Multi Player Network Games), HTTP, SMTP, Edonkey, PPlive (a peer-to-peer IPTV application), and MSN Messenger. An analytical basis and the mathematical details regarding the model are given. Results show how the proposed approach is able to classify network traffic by using packet-level statistical properties and therefore it is a good candidate as a component for a multi-classification framework.
Approximate Clustering with Same-Cluster Queries

Ashtiani et al. proposed a Semi-Supervised Active Clustering framework (SSAC), where the learner is allowed to make adaptive queries to a domain expert. The queries are of the kind "do two given points belong to the same optimal cluster? ", where the answers to these queries are assumed to be consistent with a unique optimal solution. There are many clustering contexts where such same cluster queries are feasible. Ashtiani et al. exhibited the power of such queries by showing that any instance of the k-means clustering problem, with additional margin assumption, can be solved efficiently if one is allowed to make O(k^2 log{k} + k log{n}) same-cluster queries. This is interesting since the k-means problem, even with the margin assumption, is NP-hard. In this paper, we extend the work of Ashtiani et al. to the approximation setting by showing that a few of such same-cluster queries enables one to get a polynomial-time (1+eps)-approximation algorithm for the k-means problem without any margin assumption on the input dataset. Again, this is interesting since the k-means problem is NP-hard to approximate within a factor (1+c) for a fixed constant 0 < c < 1. The number of same-cluster queries used by the algorithm is poly(k/eps) which is independent of the size n of the dataset. Our algorithm is based on the D^2-sampling technique, also known as the k-means++ seeding algorithm. We also give a conditional lower bound on the number of same-cluster queries showing that if the Exponential Time Hypothesis (ETH) holds, then any such efficient query algorithm needs to make Omega (k/poly log k) same-cluster queries. Our algorithm can be extended for the case where the query answers are wrong with some bounded probability. Another result we show for the k-means++ seeding is that a small modification of the k-means++ seeding within the SSAC framework converts it to a constant factor approximation algorithm instead of the well known O(log k)-approximation algorithm.
Highly-sensitive detection of Salmonella typhi in clinical blood samples by magnetic nanoparticle-based enrichment and in-situ measurement of isothermal amplification of nucleic acids

Enteric fever continues to be a major cause of mortality and morbidity globally, particularly in poor resource settings. Lack of rapid diagnostic assays is a major driving factor for the empirical treatment of enteric fever. In this work, a rapid and sensitive method ‘Miod’ ‘has been developed. Miod includes a magnetic nanoparticle-based enrichment of target bacterial cells, followed by cell lysis and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of nucleic acids for signal augmentation along with concurrent measurement of signal via an in–situ optical detection system. To identify positive/negative enteric fever infections in clinical blood samples, the samples were processed using Miod at time = 0 hours and time = 4 hours post-incubation in blood culture media. Primers specific for the STY2879 gene were used to amplify the nucleic acids isolated from S. typhi cells. A limit of detection of 5 CFU/mL was achieved. No cross-reactivity of the primers were observed against 106 CFU/mL of common pathogenic bacterial species found in blood such as E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, A. baumanni, E. faecalis, S. Paratyphi A and K. pneumonia. Miod was tested on 28 human clinical blood samples. The detection of both pre-and post-four-hours incubation confirmed the presence of viable S. typhi cells and allowed clinical correlation of infection. The positive and negative samples were successfully detected in less than 6 hours with 100% sensitivity and specificity.
Towards a classification scheme for co-simulation approaches in energy systems

Simulations become more and more crucial in the field of future energy systems. This is caused by the increasing complexity of energy systems that consist of a variety of subsystems such as supply infrastructures, production, consumption, markets, communication, meteorology etc. Co-simulation tools provide the possibility to combine models of these subsystems and run them in a coordinated simulation. However, such simulations become more and more complex, making it improbable that the user of a simulation is the same person that develops the simulation system. To facilitate the communication between users and developers of co-simulation tools and to help the user to find the suitable software for his purpose, the authors suggest a typification of co-simulation tools. This is done by identifying the most relevant attributes each specified by a set of possible configurations. The utilization of the developed schemed is demonstrated by applying it to the mosaik co-simulation framework.
Arm Inductance and Sub-module Capacitance Selection in Modular Multilevel Converter

Arm inductor and sub-module (SM) capacitor are two key components in the modular multilevel converter (MMC). Optimizing the selection of arm inductance and sub-module capacitance is thus critical for the converter design. This report aims at developing a selection principle for arm inductance and sub-module capacitance in MMC. Arm inductors in MMC are used to limit the circulating current which flows within the converter. The switching frequency harmonic is found to be the dominant component in the circulating current when an active circulating current suppressing controller is implemented. The analytical relationship between the arm inductance and switching frequency circulating current is derived, based on which the arm inductance requirement is obtained by limiting the circulating current to meet the defined specifications. In some applications, the arm inductors can also be used to limit the overcurrent during a dc side short circuit fault. The relationship between the arm inductance and fault current is investigated, as well as its impact on arm inductance selection. The sub-module capacitance in MMC is selected mainly based on the capacitor voltage fluctuation constrain. The voltage unbalance among sub-module capacitors is revealed to have a significant impact on the sub-module capacitance selection, as the unbalanced voltage would increase the total capacitor voltage fluctuation. The impact of
Entry Games Under Private Information

We study market entry decisions when firms have private information about their profitability. We generalize current models by allowing general forms of market competition and heterogeneous firms that self-select when entering the market. Post-entry profits depend on market structure, and on the identities and the private information of the entering firms. We introduce a notion of the firm's strength and show that an equilibrium where players' strategies are ranked by strength, or herculean equilibrium, always exists. Moreover, when profits are elastic enough with respect to the firm's private information, the herculean equilibrium is the unique equilibrium of the game.
Appropriate nutritional management in patients with impaired mastication and those with mild dysphagia: a multicenter study of the usefulness of novel foods processed and softened by enzymes.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Our aim was to investigate the safety of iEAT (a food that is softened by heat and enzyme homogeneous permeation) and iEAT-affected nutrition parameters, e.g., nutrition intake (calculated from the consumption rate in patients with impaired mastication and those with mild dysphagia). METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN A multicenter, randomized, cross-over study of iEAT was conducted in 50 patients (mean age 77.0±11.0 years) with dysphagia due to Occasional aspiration (4 points on the Dysphagia Severity Scale [DSS]) or Oral problems (5 points) randomly assigned to the study diet (iEAT) or its opposite (the modified traditional [control] diet) for 1 week and then switched for 1 week to the opposing diet. Intake of energy, protein, lipid, carbohydrate, and sodium were evaluated along with questionnaire-assessed levels of satisfaction. RESULTS The mean intake was significantly lower for the study diet, whereas the intakes of energy, protein, carbohydrate on day 1, intake of protein on day 7, and body weight on day 7 were significantly higher for the study diet. We found no between-group differences in hematologic and blood biochemistry parameters, no diet-related adverse events, greater satisfaction with the appearance of the study diet (p<0.001), and comparable levels of satisfaction with ease of eating, ease of swallowing, and taste for both diets. CONCLUSIONS iEAT was provided to patients with mild dysphagia as safely as a blender diet or other diets usually provided at each study site, and can serve as an efficient nutrition source.
Application of an inverse-forward approach to derive the 12-lead ECG from body surface potential maps

An inverse-forward approach was assessed to compute a 12-lead ECG from body surface potential mapping data. Using simulated data (n=21), reconstructed 12-lead ECGs had accurate morphology (CC>0.88), amplitude (RMSE<8.6%) and mean electrical axis during both depolarization and repolarization (| Δθ| < 17 degrees). There was no significant deterioration in results until body surface mapping electrodes were removed within 6 cm of any 12-lead electrode (p < 0.0001). Reconstructed 12-lead ECGs of 6 CRT candidates captured the measured mean electrical axis during the QRS and T-wave (I Δθ| = 6.2 ± 4.7 and 14.2 ± 2.6 degrees respectively). Furthermore, additional clinically relevant features were reproduced allowing the correct identification of left bundle branch block and nonspecific intraventricular conduction disturbance, including: broad/notched R-waves, presence/absence of Q-wave, and direction of T-waves.
A Practical Technique for Improving the Accuracy of Interviewer Observations: Evidence from the National Survey of Family Growth

Face-to-face household surveys sometimes ask field interviewers to record observations about selected characteristics of all sampled housing units. Some surveys ask interviewers to record judgments about potential respondents to serve as proxy measures of key variables. Past studies have shown that these judgments are prone to error, which has negative implications for survey estimators in terms of the bias and variance introduced by nonresponse adjustments based on the judgments. Practical techniques for reducing these errors are therefore needed. This article analyzes an intervention implemented in the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth. The intervention was designed to provide field interviewers with observable predictors of a key auxiliary variable for which they were recording observations. The analysis shows evidence of a significant improvement in the quality of the observations. The article concludes with a discussion of directions for future work in this area.