Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Pressure Sensing System for Heart Rate Monitoring with Polymer-Based Pressure Sensors and an Anti-Interference Post Processing Circuit

Heart rate measurement is a basic and important issue for either medical diagnosis or daily health monitoring. In this work great efforts have been focused on realizing a portable, comfortable and low cost solution for long-term domestic heart rate monitoring. A tiny but efficient measurement system composed of a polymer-based flexible pressure sensor and an analog anti-interference readout circuit is proposed; manufactured and tested. The proposed polymer-based pressure sensor has a linear response and high sensitivity of 13.4 kPa−1. With the circuit’s outstanding capability in removing interference caused by body movement and the highly sensitive flexible sensor device, comfortable long-term heart rate monitoring becomes more realistic. Comparative tests prove that the proposed system has equivalent capability (accuracy: <3%) in heart rate measurement to the commercial product.
Joint Channel Access and Sampling Rate Control in Energy Harvesting Cognitive Radio Sensor Networks

In this paper, we investigate the network utility maximization problem in energy harvesting cognitive radio sensor networks (CRSNs). Different from traditional sensor networks, sensor nodes in CRSNs are embedded cognitive radio modules, enabling them to dynamically access the licensed channels. Since the dynamic channel access is critical to guarantee the network capacity for CRSNs, existing solutions without considering the dynamic channel access cannot be directly applied into CRSNs. To this end, we aim at maximizing the network utility by jointly controlling the sampling rates and channel access of sensor nodes, under the energy consumption, channel capacity and interference constraints. With the consideration of fluctuated energy harvesting rates and channel switching costs, we formulate the network utility maximization as a mix-integer non-linear programming problem and solve it in an efficient and decoupled way by means of dual decomposition. A joint channel access and sampling rate control scheme, named JASC, is then proposed considering the real-time channel sensing results and energy harvesting rates. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that JASC can efficiently improve the network utility in CRSNs based on a realistic energy harvesting dataset.
Estimation of poverty indicators at the sub-national level using multivariate small area models

In recent years, the measure of regional disparities on poverty and social exclusion has received increasing attention by policy makers and this has produced a growing demand of sub-national statistical information on income parameters. Taking into account the multidimensionality of this phenomenon, in the Laeken European Council (Eurostat, 2003) a set of financial poverty indicators were suggested to monitor the progress in fighting inequality. In the European Union regional statistical information on income can be obtained from the European Community Household Panel, a survey designed to provide reliable estimates for large regions in the countries. The aim of this work is to estimate at sub-national level some of the income indicators suggested in the Laeken council. We propose Bayesian small area estimators based on multivariate area level models exploiting the correlation between different indicators. The tendency of model based estimates to over-shrink towards the synthetic component can be a draw-back for policy makers interested in capturing regional disparities in financial poverty. To preserve the relationship between different indicators and disparities over areas, we adopt a multivariate constrained Bayes estimator. The comparison between results based on different models allows us to select the estimator realizing the best compromise between gain in efficiency and reduction of the over-shrinkage.
Nonlinear pricing in an oligopoly market: the case of specialty coffee

Firms that use nonlinear pricing may distort product characteristics away from their efficient levels. This paper offers the first empirical study of this issue. Using data from a specialty coffee market, I estimate a structural utility model to compute consumers' benefits from changing products' sizes. I then compare the estimated benefits to cost data. Design distortions are relatively large for products not targeted to the highest-demand consumers. Distortions decrease toward zero with drink size for products with the largest profit margins. These results support some of the central predictions from nonlinear pricing theory, including “no distortion at the top. ”
Hand-printed Chinese Character Recognition

Recognition of Chinese characters has been an area of major for many years, and a large number of research papers and reports have already been published in this area. There are several major problems with Chinese character recognition: Chinese characters are distinct and ideographic, the character size is very large and a lot of structurally similar characters exist in the character set. Thus, classification criteria are difficult to generate. This paper presents a new technique for the recognition of hand-printed Chinese characters using statistical pattern classification. Conventional methods have relied on hand-constructed dictionaries which are tedious to construct and difficult to make tolerant to variation in writing styles. The paper discusses Chinese character recognition using dominant point feature extraction and statistical pattern classification. The system was tested with 500 characters (each character has 40 samples) and the rate of recognition obtained was 84.45%. This strongly supports the usefulness of proposed measures for Chinese character classification.
Research and Implementation on Summary Data Generating Algorithm for Streaming Data Based on Haar Wavelet Transform

The study on streaming data is one of the hot topics among the database field recently. Unlike traditional data sets, stream data arrive continuously and they are fast changing, massive, possibly unpredictable. These characteristics of data stream determine that only approximate queries on them are proper. The key of approximate query is to construct a synopsis data structure far smaller than the size of the original data set with least reconstruction error. In this paper we present a novel greedy method , GreedyStream, to compute wavelet-based synopsis based on the particular analysis of wavelet theory. The synopsis produced by a conventional wavelet threshold approach have some significant drawbacks, such as the high variance in the quality of data approximation, the tendency for severe bias in favor of certain regions of the data. We present a one-pass wavelet threshold method to attempt to adapt the threshold based on what is happening to neighboring coefficients. Experiments on real data sets proved it more robust in accurate data reconstruction
A Protein Turnover Signaling Motif Controls the Stimulus-Sensitivity of Stress Response Pathways

Stimulus-induced perturbations from the steady state are a hallmark of signal transduction. In some signaling modules, the steady state is characterized by rapid synthesis and degradation of signaling proteins. Conspicuous among these are the p53 tumor suppressor, its negative regulator Mdm2, and the negative feedback regulator of NFκB, IκBα. We investigated the physiological importance of this turnover, or flux, using a computational method that allows flux to be systematically altered independently of the steady state protein abundances. Applying our method to a prototypical signaling module, we show that flux can precisely control the dynamic response to perturbation. Next, we applied our method to experimentally validated models of p53 and NFκB signaling. We find that high p53 flux is required for oscillations in response to a saturating dose of ionizing radiation (IR). In contrast, high flux of Mdm2 is not required for oscillations but preserves p53 sensitivity to sub-saturating doses of IR. In the NFκB system, degradation of NFκB-bound IκB by the IκB kinase (IKK) is required for activation in response to TNF, while high IKK-independent degradation prevents spurious activation in response to metabolic stress or low doses of TNF. Our work identifies flux pairs with opposing functional effects as a signaling motif that controls the stimulus-sensitivity of the p53 and NFκB stress-response pathways, and may constitute a general design principle in signaling pathways.
Superintendents as a Catalyst of Economic Development: Academic Excellence vs. Economic Gardening

Many school districts in Pennsylvania face severe cuts in basic education funding from the state as well as the loss of funding caused by students exiting the school district to charter and cyber charter schools. These diminishing revenues are pushing many school districts to reduce staff and programs. On top of these cuts, some districts have had to raise taxes to cover their remaining funding deficiencies. These funding challenges could threaten the financial stability of many small school districts and possibly, their very existence. This research study focuses on understanding the needs of the local community and business leaders concerning the impacts of taxation, workforce preparation, and the creation of a viable local economic climate. This study examines the local school district’s role and the superintendent’s responsibilities, along with those of local community and business leaders, in promoting economic development and creating a sustainable local tax base. Specifically, this study compares two competing educational strategies, Academic Excellence and Economic Gardening. In researching how these two strategies are implemented, this study concluded that superintendents have a role as a catalyst for economic development through the development of business, education, and community partnerships. To maintain the anonymity of the study region and the study’s participants, the region was renamed to the Olympus Mount Region of Pantheon County. Specifically, this study focused on a metropolitan area of the Olympus Mount Region in Pantheon County. Choosing this region enabled the research to focus on a community that, within a five mile radius, contained three distinct economic growth rings generated from the life cycle of the steel and other related manufacturing industries. The chosen study area demonstrated the divisions among municipalities based on their economic viability. Investigating this geographic area exclusively offered depth of insight and context to the research less feasible in a more broadly designed research project. Future researchers of education and economic development are asked to consider using data-rich region-based models for case studies where appropriate.
The resilience of tradition: Malay allusions in contemporary architecture

How and to what extend is contemporary Malaysian architecture influenced by Malay culture, values and forms? In what way is the Malay Modern situated within the discourse of contemporary tropical architecture? Can the evolution of Malay architecture answer the challenge of developing climatically appropriate eco-architecture? Such questions are being asked in Malaysian Universities and in international conferences looking at modernism, postmodernism, regionalism, tropical architecture, green building, and sustainability. Malay vernacular architecture is intrinsically environmentally-conscious, embodying sustainable principles, design ideas, and tectonic solutions. Globally, there is growing awareness that culturally -responsive strategies in architecture can be aligned with advancing sustainability standards in buildings and contemporary urban development. This book compiles attempts by architects and builders so far to respond to two critical agendas-the sustainability agenda and the cultural agenda. In the era of climate change, the challenge facing building professionals and designers in Malaysian and Asian cities is how to develop and expand sustainability strategies which are culturally rooted in local genius and regional identity.
Design Proposal for Three Two-Dimensional Wind Tunnel Nozzles for Supersonic Probe Calibration

Although newer techniques such as laser Doppler and hot-wire anemometry have emerged, aerodynamic probes remain the best tools for the analysis of flows in turbomachines. Based on the nature of how these probes accomplish this analysis, they must be calibrated in well known flows prior to use. This calibration takes place in wind tunnels with uniform, parallel flows at precise Mach numbers. The existing probe calibration wind tunnel at the division of Heat and Power Technology (HPT) at KTH has an operating range of Mach 0.1 to 0.95. This report seeks to provide guidance for the production of three new nozzles for this wind tunnel to raise the calibration range to Mach 1.2. The three nozzles will be designed to operate at Mach 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 to allow for a range of probe calibration values. This report will also include a cursory investigation into the loading effect of the supersonic flow on the probes to be calibrated. Royal Institute of Technology Division of Heat & Power Technology Duke University Pratt School of Engineering
Improving Search Engines by Query Clustering

search engine queries whose aim is to identify groups of queries used to search for similar information on the Web. The framework is based on a novel term vector model of queries that integrates user selections and the content of selected documents extracted from the logs of a search engine. The query representation obtained allows us to treat query clustering similarly to standard document clustering. We study the application of the clustering framework to two problems: relevance ranking boosting and query recommendation. Finally, we evaluate with experiments the effectiveness of our approach.
Temporal regulation of epithelium formation

To establish the animal body plan, embryos link the external epidermis to the internal digestive tract. In Caenorhabditis elegans, this linkage is achieved by the Arcade Cells, which form an epithelial bridge between the foregut and epidermis, but little is known about how development of these three epithelia is coordinated temporally. The Arcade Cell epithelium is generated after the epidermis and digestive tract epithelia have matured, ensuring that both organs can withstand the mechanical stress of embryo elongation; mis-timing of epithelium formation leads to defects in morphogenesis. Here, we report that temporal regulation of the Arcade Cell epithelium is mediated by the pioneer transcription factor PHA-4/FoxA, the cytoskeletal regulator ZEN-4/MKLP and the polarity protein PAR-6. We find that PHA-4 activates expression of a broad cohort of epithelial genes. However, accumulation of protein is delayed by ZEN-4, acting in concert with its partner CYK-4/MgcRacGAP. Finally, PAR-6 localizes factors within adherens junctions and at the apical surface, leading to Arcade Cell polarity. The results reveal that the timing of a landmark event during embryonic morphogenesis is mediated by the concerted action of four proteins that delay the formation of an epithelial bridge. In addition, we find that FoxA associates with many epithelial genes in mammals, suggesting that regulation of epithelial identity may be a conserved feature of FoxA factors and a contributor to FoxA function in development and cancer.
Autophagy Is Involved in the Cardioprotection Effect of Remote Limb Ischemic Postconditioning on Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Normal Mice, but Not Diabetic Mice

Background Recent animal study and clinical trial data suggested that remote limb ischemic postconditioning (RIPostC) can invoke potent cardioprotection. However, during ischemia reperfusion injury (IR), the effect and mechanism of RIPostC on myocardium in subjects with or without diabetes mellitus (DM) are poorly understood. Autophagy plays a crucial role in alleviating myocardial IR injury. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of RIPostC on mice myocardial IR injury model with or without DM, and investigate the role of autophagy in this process. Methodology and Results Streptozocin (STZ) induced DM mice model and myocardial IR model were established. Using a noninvasive technique, RIPostC was induced in normal mice (ND) and DM mice by three cycles of ischemia (5 min) and reperfusion (5 min) in the left hindlimb. In ND group, RIPostC significantly reduced infarct size (32.6±3.0% in ND-RIPostC vs. 50.6±2.4% in ND-IR, p<0.05) and improved cardiac ejection fraction (49.70±3.46% in ND-RIPostC vs. 31.30±3.95% in ND-IR, p<0.05). However, in DM group, no RIPostC mediated cardioprotetion effect was observed. To analyze the role of autophagy, western blot and immunohistochemistry was performed. Our data showed that a decreased sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62) level, an increased Beclin-1 level, and higher ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I were observed in ND RIPostC group, but not DM RIPostC group. Conclusions The current study suggested that RIPostC exerts cardioprotection effect on IR in normal mice, but not DM mice, and this difference is via, at least in part, the up-regulation of autophagy.
ALIS evaluation tests in Croatia

Tohoku University, Japan is developing a new hand-held land mine detection dual-sensor (ALIS) which is equipped with a metal detector and a GPR. ALIS is equipped with a sensor tracking system, which can record the GPR and Metal detector signal with its location. The Migration processing drastically increases the quality of the imaging of the buried objects.Evaluation test of ALIS has been conducted several test sites. Tests in real mine fields in Croatia has been conducted between December 2007 and April 2008. Under different soil and environment conditions, ALIS worked well. Then ALIS evaluation test started in Cambodia in February 2009 and we could find discrimination capability of ALIS in test lanes, and we are planning to start evaluation test in real mine fields in Cambodia.
Supplemental Information : Predictive spatial risk model of poliovirus to aid prioritization and hasten eradication in Nigeria

1 Institute for Disease Modeling, Intellectual Ventures, Bellevue, WA, USA 2 Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA 3 National Polio Emergency Operations Center, Abuja, Nigeria 4 National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Abuja, Nigeria 5 University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA 6 Kano Polio Emergency Operations Center, Kano, Nigeria * Email: aupfillbrown@intven.com
International Conference on Intelligent and Advanced Systems 2007 an Hmm-based Online Recognition System for Farsi Handwritten Words

In this paper, we propose a method for online Farsi handwritten words recognition. At first, words are broken to their sub-words. Each sub-word is made of some strokes. We assign a tag to each sub-word based on the positions and shapes of its sub-strokes. After that, we classify sub-words according to their tags. Some online features are extracted from the main-stroke after the preprocessing stage. Preprocessing contains operations such as dehooking, smoothing, normalization and boundary box equalization. Recognition process is consisted of some stages. First, the input word is divided into probable constructing sub-words, and recognition process is accomplished for each of them. For each sub-word, we find the class and sub-class of it, based on the tag and an extracted feature respectively. Some other features are extracted from the main-stroke of the sub-word, which are useful for training and testing the hidden Markov models as the classifier. These HMMs are the last level in our recognition system. In this paper, we use a 1000-sub-word database of the most frequently used Farsi words. The performance of the system in finding the classes and sub-classes of the sub-words is 99.45% and 99.91% respectively. The rate of correct performance of the HMMs is 82.96% making the total recognition rate of the system on the database 82.43%.
Specific Self-Organized System Architecture optimized and controlled via a Load Profile driven ad hoc Network Routing Scheme

In this paper we present a bandwith reserving load driven routing concept for a channel switched wireless network, based on the principle of self-organization. We describe the planar structure of the network, the relaying principle of the nodes and the details of the routing algorithm based on a specified load profile. In particular, we discuss the resource utilization, simulation results and make a performance comparison with a simple shortest distance to target routing algorithm. Both protocols are especially designed and implemented for the kind of wireless channel switched ad hoc communication network introduced. Key-Words:System Architecture, Load Profile Scheme, Network Control and Routing, Wireless ad hoc Network Modeling and Simulation, Protocol Design, Wireless Channel Switched ad hoc Communication Network, Self-Organizing Network.
A LRF and stereovision based data association method for objects tracking

This paper presents a fusion method for objects tracking using laser sensory data and stereovision. Based on the Extended Kalman filter, the tracking uses an Oriented Bounding Box (OBB) representation for tracked objects. The representation model takes into account an Inter-Rays (IR) uncertainty concept, which is related to the fact that the laser raw data points representing the extremities of an extracted OBB do not coincide with the real objects extremities. To improve the objects state estimation, the tracking process integrates a Fixed Size (FS) assumption. The FS assumption allows to exploit the most precise object's size estimation, memorised during the tracking. To achieve data association, a threshold based laser points clustering provides satisfying results. However, there are many cases where, without additional information, it is impossible to cluster laser raw data points correctly. To discard clustering ambiguities, a fusion method combining laser sensory data and stereovision information is proposed. The stereovision information is extracted only within regions of interest, defined from laser points. The fusion method takes place in the early stage of the measurement extraction from laser raw data points. The proposed approach is tested and evaluated to demonstrate its reliability.
Prudential Uncertainty Causes Time-Varying Risk Premiums

Time-varying risk premiums are a natural consequence of prudent savings behavior. Prudence prescribes a countercyclical marginal propensity to consume which leads to countercyclical consumption volatility and risk premiums. This "prudential uncertainty" channel is amplified by external habit, which makes the investor feel poorer and act more prudently. A calibrated production economy with a slow-moving, external habit shows that this channel can quantitatively explain return and dividend predictability regressions. The model matches numerous other moments, including the mean and volatility of the equity premium, the mean and volatility of the risk-free rate, and the second moments of output, consumption, and investment.