Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
"Genderfluid" or "Attack Helicopter": Responsible HCI Research Practice with Non-binary Gender Variation in Online Communities

As non-binary genders become increasingly prevalent, researchers face decisions in how to collect, analyze and interpret research participants' genders. We present two case studies on surveys with thousands of respondents, of which hundreds reported gender as something other than simply women or men. First, Tumblr, a blogging platform, resulted in a rich set of gender identities with very few aggressive or resistive responses; the second case study, online Fantasy Football, yielded opposite proportions. By focusing on variation rather than dismissing non-binary responses as noise, we suggest that researchers can better capture gender in a way that 1) addresses gender variation without othering or erasing non-binary respondents; and 2) minimizes "trolls'" opportunity to use surveys as a mischief platform. The analyses of these two distinct case studies find significant gender differences in community dimensions of participation in both networked spaces as well as offering a model for inclusive mixed-methods HCI research.
A novel fast bio-inspired feature for motion estimation

Motion features extracted from video streams are used in a wide variety of computer vision applications including action recognition. For this application many motion features are suggested in previous works and in order to improve the results a group of them are used with some classification methods. In this paper, based on a bio-inspired motion perception model in animals, a new motion feature is proposed. The model is simple and could be realized with a limited number of mathematical operations and the process of feature extraction is much faster than well-known techniques such as histogram of optical flow (HOF) or motion boundary histogram (MBH). Moreover, with proposed modifications the feature becomes invariant to pixels' brightness and mostly sensitive to the magnitude of the motion. Empirical results on KTH dataset show that this new feature outperforms many other typical features in action recognition and competes HOF with acceptable result of (94.49%), while being much faster due to its low complexity.
Comparative evaluation of classifiers for abnormal event detection in ATMs

As the crime rates in the ATMs are increasing, a security system which detects abnormal events is the need of the hour. Several classifiers such as Random Forest, SVM and KNN are used for recognizing human actions. This paper intends to compare the effectiveness of all these methods for abnormal event detection in ATMs. Feature Extraction is done by HOG technique for all three classifiers. Based on the experimental results, it has been found that Random forest, with a detection accuracy of 96.4 %, is the most effective one.
STAGING AND AGEING OF MAMMALIAN EMBRYOS AND FETUSES

S tiS r b a 0. : Staging and Ageing of Mammalian Embryos and Fetuses. Acta vet. Hmo, 1995,64: 83-89. The objective of this study was to elaborate a method of estimating the age of embryos and fetuses of mammals of unknown ontogenetic age, applicable to both altricial and precocial mammals showing different duration of intrauterine development. The method consists of two steps: First, the embryo or fetus under study has to be "staged". It is measured, weighed and classified according to the characteristics given below, in one of the 13 comparable ontogenetic stages. The second step is "ageing": the staged embryo is placed in a point on the regression curve of the respective developmental stage that corresponds to the·duration of intrauterine development. The characteristics of the comparable developmental stages, the regression curves and the way in which they are calculated are presented. This method makes it possible to estimate the age of mammalian embryos and fetuses of unknown ontogenetic age, even of those already sectioned in histological series. In this way it is also possible to estimate the rates of morphogenetic events, the growth rate of the whole embryo or of its individual parts and/or organs. Ageing, embryos, fetuses, comparable developmental stages, mammals, staging, regression age curves
The selective mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist eplerenone prevents decompensation of the liver in cirrhosis

The mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) contributes to fibrosis in various tissues, and MR antagonists, like eplerenone, are used to prevent fibrosis. The role of MR antagonists in hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis is unknown. Here, we investigated the role of MRs and eplerenone in cirrhosis development.
Efficacy of bilateral greater occipital nerve block in postdural puncture headache: a narrative review

The Epidural blood patch is considered the gold standard for managing postdural puncture headache when supportive measures fail. However, it is a procedure which can lead to another inadvertent dural puncture. Other potential adverse events that could occur during a blood patch are meningitis, neurological deficits, and unconsciousness. The bilateral greater occipital nerve block has been used for treating chronic headaches in patients with PDPH with a single injection. This minimally invasive, simple procedure can be considered for patients early, along with other supportive treatment, and an epidural blood patch can be avoided.
A Fast Algorithm of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Mobile Robot Based on Ball Particle Filter

The FastSLAM algorithm has become an effective way to solve the simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problem. However, measured in terms of the number of particles required to build an accurate map, currently, its accuracy cannot be easily enhanced because of particle degeneracy. In view of these problems, in this paper, we present a fast algorithm of SLAM based on the ball particle filter (Ball-PF), which originates from the modification of the box particle filter (Box-PF). First, the transform relationship between Box-PF and Ball-PF are studied in depth so as to show the advantages of Ball-PF with respect to solving the interval constraints satisfaction problem and prevent from breaking down effectively. Then, a new fast algorithm of SLAM is designed with Ball-PF, in which the firefly algorithm is used to maintain the diversity of the ball particles to increase the consistency of the pose estimation effectually. Furthermore, the map matching technique is used to compute the weight of the ball particles and learn the grid maps incrementally. The simulation and experimental results demonstrate the performance superiority of the proposed algorithm.
Distinction between intact and antibiotic‐inactivated bacteria by real‐time PCR after treatment with propidium monoazide

One limitation to the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify orthopedic infections has been apparent false‐positive results, possibly due to the detection of dead bacteria. We recently showed that the use of DNA‐binding agent propidium monoazide (PMA) could distinguish viable from heat‐inactivated bacteria, and, in this study, we investigated whether the same technique can be applied to bacteria killed by two antibiotics with distinctly different mechanisms of action, a test of greater clinical relevance than thermal inactivation. Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidermidis were inactivated by vancomycin and gentamicin and treated with PMA or left untreated before DNA extraction. The threshold cycle difference of antibiotic‐treated bacteria with and without PMA pretreatment was investigated with PCR primers for the 16S rDNA and tuf genes. Our results indicated that PMA effectively inhibited detection by PCR of bacteria, which had been inactivated by either vancomycin or gentamicin. The effect was statistically significant at 24 h after treatment (Ct difference consistently >3; p < 0.05) and after 10 days of treatment (Ct difference >4; p < 0.01), when compared to viable cells (Ct difference 1–2). Vancomycin had a stronger effect on the Ct value than gentamicin, reflecting the different mechanism of action of each antibiotic. Techniques of this type may help reduce clinically false‐positive PCR results caused by the detection of dead bacteria, and may be especially useful in patients who have received antibiotics, such as patients undergoing the second stage of a two‐stage revision for infected arthroplasty. © 2010 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 28:1245–1251, 2010
RFIBricks: Interactive Building Blocks Based on RFID

We present RFIBricks, an interactive building block system based on ultrahigh frequency radio-frequency identification (RFID) sensing. The system enables geometry resolution based on a simple yet highly generalizable mechanism: an RFID contact switch, which is made by cutting each RFID tag into two parts, namely antenna and chip. A magnetic connector is then coupled with each part. When the antenna and chip connect, an interaction event with an ID is transmitted to the reader. On the basis of our design of RFID contact switch patterns, we present a system of interactive physical building blocks that resolves the stacking order and orientation when one block is stacked upon another, determines a three-dimensional (3D) geometry built on a two-dimensional base plate, and detects user inputs by incorporating electromechanical sensors. Because it is calibration-free and does not require batteries in each block, it facilitates straightforward maintenance when deployed at scale. Compared with other approaches, this RFID-based system resolves several critical challenges in human-computer interaction, such as 1) determining the identity and the built 3D geometry of passive building blocks, 2) enabling stackable token+constraint interaction on a tabletop, and 3) tracking in-hand assembly.
A 55 kW three-phase automotive traction inverter with SiC Schottky diodes

Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices are expected to have an impact on power converter efficiency, weight, volume, and reliability. Presently, only SiC Schottky diodes are commercially available at relatively low current ratings. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has collaborated with Cree and Semikron to build a Si IGBT-SiC Schottky diode hybrid 55 kW inverter by replacing the Si pn diodes in Semikron's automotive inverter with Cree's made-to-order higher current SiC Schottky diodes. This paper shows the results obtained from testing this inverter and compares it to a similar all-Si inverter.
Behavioral synthesis techniques for intellectual property protection

We introduce dynamic watermarking techniques for protecting the value of intellectual property of CAD and compilation tools and reusable design components. The essence of the new approach is the addition of a set of design and timing constraints which encodes the author's signature. The constraints are selected in such a way that they result in a minimal hardware overhead while embedding a unique signature that is difficult to remove and forge. Techniques are applicable in conjunction with an arbitrary behavioral synthesis task such as scheduling, assignment, allocation, transformation, and template matching.On a large set of design examples, studies indicate the effectiveness of the new approach that results in signature data that is highly resilient, difficult to detect and remove, and yet is easy to verify and can be embedded in designs with very low hardware overhead. For example, the probability that the same design with the embedded signature is obtained by any other designers by themselves is less than 1 in 10102, and no register overhead was incurred. The probability of tampering, the probability that part of the embedded signature can be removed by random attempts, is shown to be extremely low, and the watermark is additionally protected from such tampering with error-correcting codes.
Linear Algebra over Z_p[[u]] and related rings

Let R be a complete discrete valuation ring, S=R[[u]] and n a positive integer. The aim of this paper is to explain how to compute efficiently usual operations such as sum and intersection of sub-S-modules of S^d. As S is not principal, it is not possible to have a uniform bound on the number of generators of the modules resulting of these operations. We explain how to mitigate this problem, following an idea of Iwasawa, by computing an approximation of the result of these operations up to a quasi-isomorphism. In the course of the analysis of the p-adic and u-adic precisions of the computations, we have to introduce more general coefficient rings that may be interesting for their own sake. Being able to perform linear algebra operations modulo quasi-isomorphism with S-modules has applications in Iwasawa theory and p-adic Hodge theory.
Compliant Interface Based on Carbon Nanotube Piezoresistive Films for Social Interaction

Vision and audition are widely used in human-computer social interaction. Even though highly performant tactile sensors are available on the market, very few social interfaces exploit haptics as a sensing modality. Touch is a fundamental channel to communicate complex social feeling. Recent haptic studies show up changes of paradigm in the design of social touch interfaces. In this research, we investigate the design of a new compliant electronic skin (e-skin) based on piezoresitive carbon nanotube (CNT) films to facilitate interaction. CNT e-skin uses tiny mechanical sensors, fabricated at low cost. Because of their 3D structure, CNT mechanical response can be easily adjusted accordingly to the application. Here, we present the multimodality of the CNT e-skin. Inspired by human somatosensory system, this compliant CNT e-skin is sensitive to the pressure, temperature and moisture. The first integration on a robotic platform is on-going work, with the objective of using it as social interaction modality.
Isolation of a unique hepatic stellate cell population expressing integrin α8 from embryonic mouse livers

Background: Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play an important role in liver fibrogenesis. However, little is known about their phenotype and role in liver development. The aim of this study is to identify specific markers for embryonic HSCs. Results: Using antibodies against ALCAM and PDPN, we separated mesothelial cells (MCs) and HSCs from developing livers and identified integrin α8 (ITGA8) as a marker for embryonic desmin+ HSCs that are preferentially localized near the developing liver surface and α‐smooth muscle actin+ perivascular mesenchymal cells around the vein. A cell lineage–tracing study revealed that upon differentiation, MC‐derived HSCs or perivascular mesenchymal cells express ITGA8 during liver development. Using anti‐ITGA8 antibodies, we succeeded in isolating MC‐derived HSCs and perivascular mesenchymal cells from embryonic livers. In direct co‐culture, ITGA8+ mesenchymal cells promoted the expression of hepatocyte and cholangiocyte markers in hepatoblasts. In the normal adult liver, expression of ITGA8 was restricted to portal fibroblasts in the portal triad. Upon liver injury, myofibroblasts increased the expression of ITGA8. Conclusions: ITGA8 is a specific cell surface marker of MC‐derived HSCs and perivascular mesenchymal cells in the developing liver. Our data suggest that ITGA8+ mesenchymal cells maintain the phenotype of hepatoblast in liver development. Developmental Dynamics 247:867–881, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Computer aided motion: Move3D within MOLOG

Reports on our current effort for applying probabilistic path planning techniques to logistics and operation in huge industrial installations (e.g., power plants). We show how the specific domain constraints impose a dedicated software architecture to take advantage of the generality of probabilistic approaches. In addition, such an architecture should be compatible with existing CAD systems making critical the interface issues. We conclude with three study cases currently under development within the European project MOLOG.
An improved attribute recognition algorithm of overhead line engineering evaluation based on confidence dispersion

Attribute recognition algorithms are widely used in engineering evaluation. However, the confidence parameters in this algorithm are usually chosen empirically, which has a great influence on the accuracy of engineering evaluation. In this paper, in order to improve the accuracy of the algorithm, a so-called confidence dispersion technical parameter is proposed to describe the influences of the sample data on confidence parameters in attribute recognition model. The numerical dispersion characteristics and the statistical distribution of the optimal confidence intervals are analyzed and the validity of confidence dispersion index has been proved by empirical model derivation and experimental simulation. Then a data-driven attribute recognition evaluation method is proposed based on the proposed confidence dispersion technical parameter, with the confidence parameters adaptive to sample data. According to contrastive simulation results on the technical design evaluation database of 220kV overhead line engineering projects, it has been verified that the proposed algorithm is feasible and effective, which also provides a new idea for the future design quality evaluation tasks of over-head line engineering projects.
Kitten: a tool for normalizing HTML and extracting its textual content

The web is composed of a gigantic amount of documents that can be very useful for information extraction systems. Most of them are written in HTML and have to be rendered by an HTML engine in order to display the data they contain on a screen. HTML file thus mix both informational and rendering content. Our goal is to design a tool for informational content extraction. A linear extraction with only a basic filtering of rendering content would not be enough as objects such as lists and tables are linearly coded but need to be read in a non-linear way to be well interpreted. Besides these HTML pages are often incorrectly coded from an HTML point of view and use a segmentation of blocks based on blank space that cannot be transposed in a text filewithout confusing syntactic parsers. For this purpose, we propose the Kitten tool that first normalizes HTML file into unicode XHTML file, then extracts the informational content into a text filewith a special processing for sentences, lists and tables.
Goos-Hänchen effect on Si thin films with spherical and cylindrical pores

We examine the effects on the spatial and angular Goos-Hanchen (GH) beam shifts of spherical and cylindrical pores in a thin film. In our calculations, a p-polarized light is incident on a 1-μm thick porous silicon (Si) thin film on a Si substrate. The beam shifts are within the measurement range of usual optical detectors. Our results show that a technique based on GH shift can be used to determine the porosity and pore structure of thin films at a given thickness.
A different algebraic analysis of the ZUC stream cipher

Existing algebraic analyses of the ZUC cipher indicate that the cipher should be secure against algebraic attacks. In this paper, we present an alternative algebraic analysis method for the ZUC stream cipher, where a combiner is used to represent the nonlinear function and to derive equations representing the cipher. Using this approach, the initial states of ZUC can be recovered from 297 observed words of keystream, with a complexity of 2282 operations. This method is more successful when applied to a modified version of ZUC, where the number of output words per clock is increased. If the cipher outputs 120 bits of keystream per clock, the attack can succeed with 219 observed keystream bits and 247 operations. Therefore, the security of ZUC against algebraic attack could be significantly reduced if its throughput was to be increased for efficiency.
Oncogenes in immune cells as potential therapeutic targets

The role of deregulated expression of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes in tumor development has been intensively investigated for decades. However, expression of oncogenes and their potential role in immune cell defects during carcinogenesis and tumor progression have not been thoroughly assessed. The defects in proto-oncogenes have been well documented and evaluated mostly in tumor cells, despite the fact that proto-oncogenes are expressed in all cells, including cells of the immune system. In this review, key studies from immune-mediated diseases that may be associated with oncogene signaling pathways are refocused to provide groundwork for beginning to understand the effects of oncogenes in and on the cancer-related immune system dysfunction.
EFFECT OF ALIGNMENT, SIZING, AND MANUFACTURING METHOD ON MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF RECYCLED CARBON FIBER COMPOSITES

The exceptional combination of properties offered by carbon fiber composites has propelled their incorporation into high performance markets such as aerospace, wind energy, luxury cars and sporting goods. While the use of carbon fiber in these sectors is expected to continue to increase, the high price and energy cost associated with carbon fiber production acts as a significant barrier of entry into larger volume markets, such as the automotive industry. One method of navigating this transition is through the use of recycled carbon fiber composites. In addition to displacing thousands of tons of carbon fiber composite waste from landfills and incineration each year, use of recycled carbon fiber in composites has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of composite parts while providing only slightly reduced mechanical properties. Carbon fiber reclamation can produce fibers with up to 90% and 100% of the strength and stiffness, respectively, of virgin fibers, 25% the cost and 10-20% of the production energy of virgin fibers, and with a 99% yield. In this study, we investigate the structure and properties of recycled carbon fibers and their composites. We obtained sized recycled carbon fibers from Adherent Technologies, Inc., which are produced with a wet chemical recycling process
Concise Derivation of Complex Bayesian Approximate Message Passing via Expectation Propagation

In this paper, we address the problem of recovering complex-valued signals from a set of complex-valued linear measurements. Approximate message passing (AMP) is one state-of-the-art algorithm to recover real-valued sparse signals. However, the extension of AMP to complex-valued case is nontrivial and no detailed and rigorous derivation has been explicitly presented. To fill this gap, we extend AMP to complex Bayesian approximate message passing (CB-AMP) using expectation propagation (EP). This novel perspective leads to a concise derivation of CB-AMP without sophisticated transformations between the complex domain and the real domain. In addition, we have derived state evolution equations to predict the reconstruction performance of CB-AMP. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of CB-AMP and state evolution.
Quadro-Star: a high performance optical WDM star network

This paper proposes an original approach to controlling WDM Passive optical stars, termed queuing arrivals for delayed reception operation (Quadro). In WDM stars the fundamental problem of receiver conflicts leads to severe performance degradation. In current solutions conflicts are prevented by scheduling transmissions or resolved by retransmissions. Both approaches waste bandwidth and involve electronic processing and buffering. The proposed approach is conceptually different in introducing a local conflict resolution mechanism at each receiver incorporating delay lines. This solution brings optical star networks a step closer to an all-optical realization. In addition, it allows an almost total utilization of the channels, as obtainable until now only by TDM control. Contrary to TDM, however, the proposed solution does not suffer performance degradation under heterogeneous traffic conditions and increasing number of nodes. It is thus unique in offering the potential of an all-optical solution providing at the same time high throughput, low delay, small buffer requirements, and robustness under all traffic conditions. >