Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LINEAR DATA ESTIMATORS FOR UW-OFDM: CLASSICAL AND BAYESIAN APPROACHES

UW-OFDM (unique word – orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) is a novel OFDM signaling concept, where the guard interval is built of a deterministic sequence – the so-called unique word – instead of the conventional random cyclic prefix. In contrast to previous attempts with deterministic sequences in the guard interval, the addressed UW-OFDM signaling approach introduces correlations between the subcarrier symbols, which can be exploited by the receiver in order to improve the bit error ratio performance. In this paper we develop several linear data estimators specifically designed for UW-OFDM, based on classical as well as on Bayesian estimation theory. We evaluate the estimators’ performance for the additive white Gaussian noise channel and for selected indoor multipath channel scenarios.
Energy-momentum of the Friedmann models in General Relativity and the teleparallel theory of gravity

This paper is devoted to the evaluation of the energy-momentum density components for the Friedmann models. For this purpose, we have used Moller’s pseudotensor prescription in General Relativity and a certain energy-momentum density developed from Moller’s teleparallel formulation. We show that the energy density of the closed Friedmann universe vanishes on the spherical shell at the radius ρ = 2. This coincides with the earlier results available in the literature. We also discuss the energy of the flat and open models. A comparison shows a partial consistency between Moller’s pseudotensor for General Relativity and teleparallel theory. Further, we show that the results are independent of the free dimensionless coupling constant of the teleparallel gravity.PACS No.: 04.20. –q
Survivors of early childhood trauma and emotional neglect: Who are they and what's their diagnosis?

Background: A two dimensional diagnostic model for (complex) trauma-related and personality disorders has been proposed to assess the severity and prognosis of the impact of early childhood trauma and emotional neglect (Draijer, 2003). An important question that awaits empirical examination is whether a distinction between trauma-related disorders and personality disorders reflects reality when focusing on survivors of early childhood trauma. And, is a continuum of trauma diagnoses a correct assumption and if yes, what does it look like? Objective: We describe the design of a cross-sectional cohort study evaluating this two dimensional model of the impact of trauma and neglect. To provide the rationale of our study objectives, we review the existent literature on the impact of early childhood trauma and neglect on trauma-related disorders and personality disorders. Aims of the study are: 1. to quantify the two dimensional model and to test the relation with trauma and neglect; 2. to compare the two study groups. Method: Two hundred consecutive patients referred to two specific treatment programs (100 from a personality disorder program and 100 from a trauma-related disorder program) in the north of Holland will be included. Data are collected at the start of treatment. The assessments include all DSM-5 trauma-related and personality disorders and general psychiatric symptoms, trauma history and perceived emotional neglect. Discussion: The results will provide an evaluation of the model and an improvement of the understanding of the relationship between trauma-related disorders and personality disorders and early childhood trauma and emotional neglect. This may improve both diagnostic as well as indication procedures. We will discuss possible strengths and limitations of the design.
G-ICP SLAM: An odometry-free 3D mapping system with robust 6DoF pose estimation

The paper proposes an odometry-free 3D mapping system that combines a LIDAR and a inertial sensor. The proposed system achieved robust 6DoF pose estimation for arbitrary motion and is implemented as a hand-held unit to make use of simplified mobile mapping applications. The pose estimation algorithm is based on "Velodyne SLAM" which is a state of the art ICP based SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) method using only point cloud data. We added 3DoF inertial information to process the point cloud correction and the position prediction. Compared to the previous method, the proposed method is robust to rotary motion and works for fast and large change of sensor position and orientation. The results demonstrate effective operation in various environments and we confirmed the improvement of the self-position estimation and mapping performance.
A scan matching method based on the area overlap of star-shaped polygons

We illustrate a method that performs scan matching by maximizing the intersection area of the scans. The intersection area is a robust parameter that is less prone to measurement errors with respect to alternative techniques. Furthermore, such technique does not require to associate each point of one scan to a point of the other one like in some popular algorithms. The relative pose that maximizes the overlap is estimated iteratively. Since the scans are represented by star-shaped polygons due to visibility properties, their intersection can be computed using an efficient linear-time traversal of the vertices. Then, the relative pose is updated under the hypothesis that the combinatorics of intersection is left unchanged and the procedure is repeated until the scans are aligned with sufficient precision.
A 2500-Locus Bin Map of Wheat Homoeologous Group 5 Provides Insights on Gene Distribution and Colinearity With Rice

We constructed high-density deletion bin maps of wheat chromosomes 5A, 5B, and 5D, including 2338 loci mapped with 1052 EST probes and 217 previously mapped loci (total 2555 loci). This information was combined to construct a consensus chromosome bin map of group 5 including 24 bins. A relatively higher number of loci were mapped on chromosome 5B (38%) compared to 5A (34%) and 5D (28%). Differences in the levels of polymorphism among the three chromosomes were partially responsible for these differences. A higher number of duplicated loci was found on chromosome 5B (42%). Three times more loci were mapped on the long arms than on the short arms, and a significantly higher number of probes, loci, and duplicated loci were mapped on the distal halves than on the proximal halves of the chromosome arms. Good overall colinearity was observed among the three homoeologous group 5 chromosomes, except for the previously known 5AL/4AL translocation and a putative small pericentric inversion in chromosome 5A. Statistically significant colinearity was observed between low-copy-number ESTs from wheat homoeologous group 5 and rice chromosomes 12 (88 ESTs), 9 (72 ESTs), and 3 (84 ESTs).
Cross-Architecture Binary Semantics Understanding via Similar Code Comparison

With the prevailing of smart devices (e.g., smart phone, routers, cameras), more and more programs are ported from traditional desktop platform to embedded hardware with ARM or MIPS architecture. While the compiled binary code differs significantly due to the variety of CPU architectures, these ported programs share the same code base of the desktop version. Thus it is feasible to utilize the program of commodity computer to help understand those cross-compiled binaries and locate functions with similar semantics. However, as instruction sets of different architectures are generally incomparable, it is difficult to conduct a static cross-architecture binary code similarity comparison. To address, we propose a semantic-based approach to fulfill this target. We dynamically extract the signature, which is composed of conditional operations behaviors as well as system call information, from binaries on different platforms with the same manner. Then the similarity of signatures is measured to help identify functions in ported programs. We have implemented the approach in MOCKINGBIRD, an automated analysis tool to compare code similarity between binaries across architectures. MOCKINGBIRD supports mainstream architectures and is able to analyze ELF executables on Linux platform. We have evaluated MOCKINGBIRD with a set of popular programs with cross-compiled versions. The results show our approach is not only effective for dealing with this new issue of cross-architecture binary code comparison, but also improves the accuracy of similarity based function identification due to the utilization of semantic information.
Accelerometer-based gesture recognition via dynamic-time warping, affinity propagation, & compressive sensing

We propose a gesture recognition system based primarily on a single 3-axis accelerometer. The system employs dynamic time warping and affinity propagation algorithms for training and utilizes the sparse nature of the gesture sequence by implementing compressive sensing for gesture recognition. A dictionary of 18 gestures is defined and a database of over 3,700 repetitions is created from 7 users. Our dictionary of gestures is the largest in published studies related to acceleration-based gesture recognition, to the best of our knowledge. The proposed system achieves almost perfect user-dependent recognition and a user-independent recognition accuracy that is competitive with the statistical methods that require significantly a large number of training samples and with the other accelerometer-based gesture recognition systems available in literature.
[3H]Dihydrorotenone Binding to NADH: Ubiquinone Reductase (Complex I) of the Electron Transport Chain: An Autoradiographic Study

Abnormalities of mitochondrial energy metabolism may play a role in normal aging and certain neurodegenerative disorders. In this regard, complex I of the electron transport chain has received substantial attention, especially in Parkinson’s disease. The conventional method for studying complex I has been quantitation of enzyme activity in homogenized tissue samples. To enhance the anatomic precision with which complex I can be examined, we developed an autoradiographic assay for the rotenone site of this enzyme. [3H]dihydrorotenone ([3H]DHR) binding is saturable (KD = 15–55 nm) and specific, and Hill slopes of 1 suggest a single population of binding sites. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) enhances binding 4- to 80-fold in different brain regions (EC50 = 20–40 μm) by increasing the density of recognition sites (Bmax). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate also increases binding, but NAD+ does not. In skeletal muscle, heart, and kidney, binding was less affected by NADH. [3H]DHR binding is inhibited by rotenone (IC50 = 8–20 nm), meperidine (IC50 = 34–57 μm), amobarbitol (IC50 = 375–425 μm), and MPP+(IC50 = 4–5 mm), consistent with the potencies of these compounds in inhibiting complex I activity. Binding is heterogeneously distributed in brain with the density in gray matter structures varying more than 10-fold. Lesion studies suggest that a substantial portion of binding is associated with nerve terminals. [3H]DHR autoradiography is the first quantitative method to examine complex I with a high degree of anatomic precision. This technique may help to clarify the potential role of complex I dysfunction in normal aging and disease.
Triangulation from Two Views Revisited: Hartley-Sturm vs. Optimal Correction

A higher order scheme is presented for the optimal correction method of Kanatani [5] for triangulation from two views and is compared with the method of Hartley and Sturm [3]. It is pointed out that the epipole is a singularity of the Hartley-Sturm method, while the proposed method has no singularity. Numerical simulation confirms that both compute identical solutions at other points. However, the proposed method is significantly faster.
Dynamics of Peer Grading: An Empirical Study

Author(s): de Alfaro, L; Shavlovsky, M | Abstract: Peer grading is widely used in MOOCs and in standard university settings. The quality of grades obtained via peer grading is essential for the educational process. In this work, we study the factors that influence errors in peer grading. We analyze 288 assignments with 25,633 submissions and 113,169 reviews conducted with CrowdGrader, a web based peer grading tool. First, we found that large grading errors are generally more closely correlated with hard-to-grade submission, rather than with imprecise students. Second, we detected a weak correlation between review accuracy and student proficiency, as measured by the quality of the student's own work. Third, we found little correlation between review accuracy and the time it took to perform the review, or how late in the review period the review was performed. Finally, we found a clear evidence of tit-for-tat behavior when students give feedback on the reviews they received. We conclude with remarks on how these data can lead to improvements in peer-grading tools.
A Sparse Approximate Inverse Preconditioner for Nonsymmetric Linear Systems

This paper is concerned with a new approach to preconditioning for large, sparse linear systems. A procedure for computing an incomplete factorization of the inverse of a nonsymmetric matrix is developed, and the resulting factorized sparse approximate inverse is used as an explicit preconditioner for conjugate gradient--type methods. Some theoretical properties of the preconditioner are discussed, and numerical experiments on test matrices from the Harwell--Boeing collection and from Tim Davis's collection are presented. Our results indicate that the new preconditioner is cheaper to construct than other approximate inverse preconditioners. Furthermore, the new technique insures convergence rates of the preconditioned iteration which are comparable with those obtained with standard implicit preconditioners.
Adaptive Step Size for OFDM CFR with Cognitive Clipping

In this paper, an adaptive step size algorithm is proposed to reduce peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) of OFDM signals. The error vector magnitude (EVM) and spectral mask constraints are considered. Unlike the existing cognitive clipping method, the proposed scheme adjusts the EVM threshold with adaptive step size, which is proportionate to the ratio between PAR of each OFDM symbol and that required by system. Compared with the original method, the new algorithm offers more than 0.2dB PAR reduction at 10e-4 complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF) level and 20% iteration reduction for 256 subcarriers QPSK WiMAX signal.
Modeling admissible behavior using event signals

We describe here how to obtain a model for the admissible behavior of a discrete event system that is represented by a safe Petri net (PN) model. The transitions of this PN model may be controllable or uncontrollable. Also given is a sequential specification which is modeled with a special state machine. Then, using the condition and event arcs of net condition/event systems, a combined model of plant and specification is obtained. We use only the structure of this combined model to develop a method which gives the admissible behavior of the system. Thus, we avoid the complexity of a complete state enumeration.
Active site-directed double mutants of dihydrofolate reductase.

Variants of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), which confer resistance to antifolates, are used as dominant selectable markers in vitro and in vivo and may be useful in the context of gene therapy. To identify improved mutant human DHFRs with increased catalytic efficiency and decreased binding to methotrexate, we constructed by site-directed mutagenesis four variants with substitutions at both Leu22 and Phe31 (i.e., Phe22-Ser31, Tyr22-Ser31, Phe22-Gly31, and Tyr22-Gly31). Antifolate resistance has been observed previously when individual changes are made at these active-site residues. Substrate and antifolate binding properties of these "double" mutants revealed that each have greatly diminished affinity for antifolates (> 10,000-fold) yet only slightly reduced substrate affinity. Comparison of in vitro measured properties with those of single-residue variants indicates that double mutants are indeed significantly superior. This was verified for one of the double mutants that provided high-level methotrexate resistance following retrovirus-mediated gene transfer in NIH3T3 cells.
Block adaptive beamforming via parallel projection method

This paper addresses a simple, and yet effective approach to the design of block adaptive beamformers via parallel projection method (PPM), which is an extension of the classic projection onto convex set (POCS) method to inconsistent sets scenarios. The proposed approach begins with the construction of the convex constraint sets, which the weight vector of the adaptive beamformer lies in. The convex sets are judiciously chosen to force the weights to possess some desirable properties or to meet some prescribed rules. Based on the minimum variance criterion and a fixed gain at the look direction, two constraint sets including the minimum variance constraint set and the gain constraint set are considered. For every input block of data, the weights of the proposed beamformer can then be determined by iteratively projecting the weight vector onto these convex sets until it converges. Furnished simulations show that the proposed beamformer provides superior performance compared with previous works in various scenarios but yet in general with lower computational overhead.
The Ragnarok architectural software configuration management model

The architecture is the fundamental framework designing and implementing large scale software, and the ability to trace and control its evolution is essential. However, many traditional software configuration management tools view "software" merely as a set of files, not as an architecture. This introduces an unfortunate impedance mismatch between the design domain (architecture level) and configuration management domain (file level.) This paper presents a software configuration management model that allows tight version control and configuration management of the architecture of a software system. Essential features of the model have been implemented in a research prototype, Ragnarok. Two years of experience using Ragnarok in three, real, small- to medium sized projects is reported The conclusion is that the presented model is viable, feels "natural" for developers, and provides good support for handling an evolving architecture.
Epigenetic Therapy in Lung Cancer – Role of microRNAs

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNA species that have been implicated in the control of many fundamental cellular and physiological processes such as cellular differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and stem cell maintenance. Some miRNAs have been categorized as “oncomiRs” as opposed to “tumor suppressor miRs. ” This review focuses on the role of miRNAs in the lung cancer carcinogenesis and their potential as diagnostic, prognostic, or predictive markers.
Dense visual-inertial navigation system for mobile robots

Real-time dense mapping and pose estimation is essential for a wide range of navigation tasks in mobile robotic applications. We propose an odometry and mapping system that leverages the full photometric information from a stereo-vision system as well as inertial measurements in a probabilistic framework while running in real-time on a single low-power Intel CPU core. Instead of performing mapping and localization on a set of sparse image features, we use the complete dense image intensity information in our navigation system. By incorporating a probabilistic model of the stereo sensor and the IMU, we can robustly estimate the ego-motion as well as a dense 3D model of the environment in real-time. The probabilistic formulation of the joint odometry estimation and mapping process enables to efficiently reject temporal outliers in ego-motion estimation as well as spatial outliers in the mapping process. To underline the versatility of the proposed navigation system, we evaluate it in a set of experiments on a multi-rotor system as well as on a quadrupedal walking robot. We tightly integrate our framework into the stabilization-loop of the UAV and the mapping framework of the walking robot. It is shown that the dense framework exhibits good tracking and mapping performance in terms of accuracy as well as robustness in scenarios with highly dynamic motion patterns while retaining a relatively small computational footprint. This makes it an ideal candidate for control and navigation tasks in unstructured GPS-denied environments, for a wide range of robotic platforms with power and weight constraints. The proposed framework is released as an open-source ROS package.
Genetic Recombination during Coinfection of Two Mutants of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus

ABSTRACT Recombination between coinfecting viruses had not been documented previously for a nonsegmented negative-strand RNA virus (mononegavirus). We investigated the potential of intermolecular recombination by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by coinfecting HEp-2 cells with two recombinant RSV (rRSV) mutants lacking either the G gene (ΔG/HEK) or the NS1 and NS2 genes (ΔNS1/2). These viruses replicate inefficiently and form pinpoint plaques in HEp-2 cells. Therefore, potential recombined viruses with a growth and/or plaque formation advantage should easily be identified and differentiated from the two parental viruses. Further identification of potential recombinants was aided by the inclusion of point mutation markers in the F and L genes of ΔG/HEK and the design of reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) primers capable of detecting these markers. Independent coinfections and control single infections by these two rRSV mutants were performed. In one of six coinfections, an RSV variant was identified that produced plaques slightly larger than those of wild-type RSV in HEp-2 cells. RT-PCR and sequencing provided evidence that this variant was a recombined RSV (rec-RSV). The rec-RSV appeared to have been generated by a polymerase jump from the ΔG/HEK genome to that of ΔNS1/2 and back again in the vicinity of the SH-G-F genes. This apparently involved nonhomologous and homologous recombination events, respectively. The recombined genome was identical to that of the ΔG/HEK mutant except that all but the first 12 nucleotides of the SH gene were deleted and replaced by an insert consisting of the last 91 nucleotides of the G gene and its downstream intergenic region. This insert could have come only from the coinfecting ΔNS1/2 virus. This resulted in the formation of a short chimeric SH:G gene. Northern and Western blot analysis confirmed that the rec-RSV did not express the normal SH and G mRNAs and proteins but did express the aberrant SH:G mRNA. This provides an experimental demonstration of intermolecular recombination yielding a viable, helper-independent mononegavirus. However, the isolation of only a single rec-RSV under these optimized conditions supports the idea that RSV recombination is rare indeed.
Diagnosis and Monitoring of Choroidal Osteoma through Multimodal Imaging

A 16-year-old Caucasian female with a 6-month history of decreased visual acuity and metamorphopsia in the left eye is reported. The fundus of the left eye revealed a well defined lesion in the macula region. Diagnosis of choroidal osteoma was established using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), indocyanine green angiography (ICG), and B-scan ultrasonography. Subretinal fluid (SRF) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) detachment were noted in the absence of obvious classic choroidal neovascularisation (CNV). The patient was followed up for over 13 months without any treatment in the interim and the lesion was noted to have enlarged but visual acuity and SRF had remained stable. We report an interesting case where subretinal fluid was noted in the absence of evident choroidal neovascularisation and provide an example of the imaging modalities application in the era of “optical biopsy. ”