Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clustered set of three differently sized elliptical dielectric resonator antennas for X-band application

This paper presents a unique approach to achieve wide impedance bandwidth by incorporating a clustered set of three elliptical dielectric resonator antennas located on a ground plane. Radiating modes of three differently sized DRAs are merged to obtain the wide impedance bandwidth. The proposed antenna exhibits a −10 dB reflection bandwidth from 8.0 GHz to 11.0 GHz. The simulated antenna gain varies between 5.5 dBi to 7 dBi within the obtained bandwidth.
Novel contour based detection and GrabCut segmentation for sign language recognition

The main intention of this paper is to build an automatic computer aided hand gesture to voice conversion system for people suffering from Aphonia, a medical term for speech impairment. We have assumed the input gesture images given to the system as simple and complex depending on the background of the image. A novel contour based image segmentation algorithm is proposed in this paper to detect the boundary of the foreground from images with simple dark background. The traditional GrabCut algorithm is employed for segmentation of foreground from images with complex background. This algorithm iteratively segments the image to extract the foreground accurately. The American Sign Language (ASL) 26 finger-spelled alphabet images are taken as the dataset for the two above mentioned algorithms. For the dataset that we have generated, it is observed from the results that contour based segmentation algorithm provides absolutely perfect results. The number of iterations required for GrabCut algorithm to segment the foreground may vary from image to image depending on the background. Out of all the 26 gesture of alphabets, Q, R and S need 6 number of iterations at maximum. A minimum of 1 iteration is required for alphabets E, J and O. On an average, 3 iterations of GrabCut algorithm is required to completely segment the foreground from images with complex background.
Design of Superhydrophobic Paper/Cellulose Surfaces via Plasma Enhanced Etching and Deposition

Superhydrophobicity has been achieved on different paper surfaces via plasma enhanced etching and film deposition. The effects of fiber types and paper making parameters on the superhydrophobic behavior were studied. Achievement of superhydrophobic behavior depends on the formation of nano-scale features on the paper fibers established by selective etching of the amorphous domains in cellulose. Despite different fiber types and paper making processes, superhydrophobicity can be attained provided that plasma etching can occur on the fiber surface to create nano-scale features. Plasma processing conditions that allow the design of superhydrophobic paper or cellulose surfaces with specific adhesion properties are described. The significance of water drop volume on contact angle measurements and thus on characterization and analysis of superhydrophobic behavior of heterogeneous, porous paper substrates is discussed as well.
Multi-Channel Physical Random Bits Generation Using a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser Under Chaotic Optical Injection

We experimentally demonstrate multi-channel physical random bits (PRBs) generation by utilizing chaotic outputs from two linear polarization modes in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) under a chaotic optical injection. The polarization-resolved chaotic signal is obtained with a master-VCSEL subject to optical feedback, and then injects into a slave-VCSEL for driving its two linear polarization modes into chaotic state. We analyze the influences of injection parameters on bandwidth, complexity, and the correlation of two-channel chaotic signals. By using the two chaotic signal outputs from the slave-VCSEL under optimized parameters as entropy sources, we have obtained the PRBs at the dual-channel rate of 160 Gbits/s by adopting the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> least significant bits extraction with logical exclusive-OR (XOR) post-processing. Further utilizing the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-bit cross-merging method, the PRB at a rate of 320 Gbits/s could be obtained.
Piloting and validation of a novel self‐administered online cognitive screening tool in normal older persons: the Cognitive Function Test

Subtle cognitive changes have been described that may predate the onset of clinically recognizable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may reflect pathological changes in the brain that are detectable up to 10 years before the onset of AD. Early screening for cognitive status can have benefits in terms of early management and prevention strategies for cognitive decline.
Selective inner hair cell loss in premature infants and cochlea pathological patterns from neonatal intensive care unit autopsies.

BACKGROUND Deafness and handicapping sensorineural hearing impairment occur frequently in neonatal intensive care unit survivors for unknown reasons. PATIENTS AND METHODS Hearing was tested early and repeatedly in neonatal intensive care unit patients with an auditory brainstem response (ABR) screener. The temporal bones of 15 nonsurvivors (30 ears) were fixed promptly (average, 5 hours) after death for histological evaluation. RESULTS Among these patients, 12 failed the ABR screen bilaterally, 1 passed unilaterally, and 2 passed bilaterally. Cochlear histopathologic conditions that could contribute to hearing loss included bilateral selective outer hair cell loss in 2 patients, bilateral selective inner hair cell loss in 3 (all premature), and a combination of both outer and inner hair cell loss in 2. Other hair cell abnormalities were noted; the 2 infants who had passed the ABR screen demonstrated normal histological features. Neuronal counts were normal. CONCLUSIONS Auditory brainstem response failure among these neonatal intensive care unit infants who died was extremely common in part owing to an unexpected histological alteration, selective inner hair cell loss among premature newborns, that should be detectable uniquely by the ABR testing method. Additional histological patterns suggest more than one cause for neonatal intensive care unit hearing loss. Hair cell loss patterns seem frequently compatible with in utero damage.
Single turn Chinese emotional conversation generation based on information retrieval and question answering

Emotional conversation is attracting more attention in natural language understanding and machine intelligence. In this paper, we propose a single turn Chinese emotional conversation generation system. Given a post, our system generates appropriate responses from large-scale conversation datasets together with corresponding emotional labels. This system consists of four components, i.e., information retrieval (IR) system, language model, question answering (QA) system and emotion classifier. The experimental results on benchmark dataset show that our system is capable of retrieving appropriate responses with emotional labels.
Nested polygonal chain mapping of omnidirectional video

Conventionally, the equirectangular projection (ERP) has been used for representing 360-degree panorama videos. However, ERP suffers from over stretching in polar regions and thus increases the bitrate and the encoding/decoding complexity. This paper presents the nested polygonal chain packing method where the top and bottom stripes of an ERP picture are resampled sample-row-wise. The sampling ratio is a linear function of the sample row being processed. The height of the top or bottom stripe can be for example a quarter of the height of the ERP picture. The resampled sample rows are arranged in nested polygonal chains. According to the presented experimental results, the proposed nested polygonal chain packing provides on average 6.1% bitrate reduction compared to ERP.
Influence of ZnO on the ultrasonic velocity and elastic moduli of soda lime silicate glasses

The effects of ZnO on longitudinal and transverse ultrasonic wave velocities of soda lime silicate (SLS) glasses have been measured using the pulse-echo method at 5 MHz frequency at room temperature. The elastic properties: Longitudinal modulus, shear modulus, Young’s modulus, bulk modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and Debye temperature are found to be rather sensitive to the glass composition. Experiments showed that these parameters depend upon the ZnO-modifier content. Key words: Glasses, annealing, ultrasonic measurements, elastic properties.
DORA The Explorer: Directed Outreaching Reinforcement Action-Selection

Exploration is a fundamental aspect of Reinforcement Learning, typically implemented using stochastic action-selection. Exploration, however, can be more efficient if directed toward gaining new world knowledge. Visit-counters have been proven useful both in practice and in theory for directed exploration. However, a major limitation of counters is their locality. While there are a few model-based solutions to this shortcoming, a model-free approach is still missing. We propose $E$-values, a generalization of counters that can be used to evaluate the propagating exploratory value over state-action trajectories. We compare our approach to commonly used RL techniques, and show that using $E$-values improves learning and performance over traditional counters. We also show how our method can be implemented with function approximation to efficiently learn continuous MDPs. We demonstrate this by showing that our approach surpasses state of the art performance in the Freeway Atari 2600 game.
Type I interferon suppresses virus-specific B cell responses by modulating CD8+ T cell differentiation

Type I interferon–driven CD8+ T cells suppress neutralizing antibody production during chronic LCMV infection. See related Research Articles by Fallet et al. and Sammicheli et al. and a Focus by Laidlaw et al. B cells hoisted by their own petard: IFN-I Certain pathogens, including HIV and hepatitis viruses, that lead to persistent infections are often associated with suboptimal antibody responses. Using LCMV infection in mice, Fallet et al., Moseman et al., and Sammicheli et al. report that up-regulation of type I interferon (IFN-I) in the early phase of infection is a key contributor to premature deletion of virus-specific B cells. Blockade of IFN-I prevents B cell deletion. Although the studies agree that IFN-I does not act directly on B cells, they found that distinct immune cells mediate IFN-I–dependent deletion of B cells, depending on the system examined. Targeting of the IFN-I pathway could be used to restore B cell responses during persistent viral infections in humans. Studies have established a role for T cells in resolving persistent viral infections, yet emerging evidence indicates that both T and B cells are required to control some viruses. During persistent infection, a marked lag or failure to generate neutralizing antibodies is commonly observed and likely contributes to an inability to control certain pathogens. Using lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) as a model, we have examined how a persistent viral infection can suppress neutralizing humoral immunity. By tracking the fate of virus-specific B cells in vivo, we report that LCMV-specific B cells were rapidly deleted within a few days of persistent infection, and this deletion was completely reversed by blockade of type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling. Early interference with IFN-I signaling promoted survival and differentiation of LCMV-specific B cells, which accelerated the generation of neutralizing antibodies. This marked improvement in antiviral humoral immunity did not rely on the cessation of IFN-I signaling in B cells but on alterations in the virus-specific CD8+ T cell response. Using two-photon microscopy and in vivo calcium imaging, we observed that cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) productively engaged and killed LCMV-specific B cells in a perforin-dependent manner within the first few days of infection. Blockade of IFN-I signaling protected LCMV-specific B cells by promoting CTL dysfunction. Therapeutic manipulation of this pathway may facilitate efforts to promote humoral immunity during persistent viral infection in humans. Our findings illustrate how events that occur early after infection can disturb the resultant adaptive response and contribute to viral persistence.
Socio-economic and ethnic group inequities in antenatal care quality in the public and private sector in Brazil.

BACKGROUND Socio-economic inequalities in maternal and child health are ubiquitous, but limited information is available on how much the quality of care varies according to wealth or ethnicity in low- and middle-income countries. Also, little information exists on quality differences between public and private providers. METHODS Quality of care for women giving birth in 2004 in Pelotas, Brazil, was assessed by measuring how many of 11 procedures recommended by the Ministry of Health were performed. Information on family income, self-assessed skin colour, parity and type of provider were collected. RESULTS Antenatal care was used by 98% of the 4244 women studied (mean number of visits 8.3), but the number of consultations was higher among better-off and white women, who were also more likely to start antenatal care in the first trimester. The quality of antenatal care score ranged from 0 to 11, with an overall mean of 8.3 (SD 1.7). Mean scores were 8.9 (SD 1.5) in the wealthiest and 7.9 (SD 1.8) in the poorest quintiles (P < 0.001), 8.4 (SD 1.6) in white and 8.1 (SD 1.9) in black women (P < 0.001). Adjusted analyses showed that these differences seemed to be due to attendance patterns rather than discrimination. Mean quality scores were higher in the private 9.3 (SD 1.3) than in the public sector 8.1 (SD 1.6) (P < 0.001); these differences were not explained by maternal characteristics or by attendance patterns. CONCLUSIONS Special efforts must be made to improve quality of care in the public sector. Poor and black women should be actively encouraged to start antenatal care early in pregnancy so that they can fully benefit from it. There is a need for regular monitoring of antenatal attendances and quality of care with an equity lens, in order to assess how different social groups are benefiting from progress in health care.
Unawareness, Beliefs, and Speculative Trade

We define a generalized state-space model with interactive unawareness and probabilistic beliefs. Such models are desirable for potential applications of asymmetric unawareness. Applying our unawareness belief structures, we show that the common prior assumption is too weak to rule out speculative trade in all states. Yet, we prove a generalized "No-speculative-trade" theorem according to which there can not be common certainty of strict preference to trade. Moreover, we prove a generalization of the "No-agreeing-to-disagree" theorem. Finally, we show the existence of a universal unawareness belief type space.
Evaluation Amid different Software Design Patterns

The software developers have been wholeheartedly implemented the various design patterns in current years. There is sufficient confirmation that patterns can have a valuable blow on software quality, on the other hand in some situations patterns have been improperly implemented because of having not too much experience. A software developer can make the design process simpler, well design to be reuse and most proficient with the help of various design patterns. But, a software developer should have a lot of experience and knowledge of using the design patterns. The design quality is a significant tool that is considered to find out the quality of a software product. In order to find out the quality of design in the premature stages of software process is an important task to extend and improve the quality of software. In order to make the software professional, the design patterns are useful tools for this purpose. This paper represents that how evaluation among different software design patterns with Chidamber-Kemerer (C&K) metrics is carried out.
Flexibility in the duration of parental care: Female leopards prioritise cub survival over reproductive output

Deciding when to terminate care of offspring is a key consideration for parents. Prolonging care may increase fitness of current offspring, but it can also reduce opportunities for future reproduction. Despite its evolutionary importance, few studies have explored the optimal duration of parental care, particularly among large carnivores. We used a 40-year dataset to assess the trade-offs associated with the length of maternal care in leopards in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, South Africa. We compared the costs imposed by care on the survival and residual reproductive value of leopard mothers against the benefits derived from maternal care in terms of increased offspring survival, recruitment and reproduction. We also examined the demographic and ecological factors affecting the duration of care in the light of five explanatory hypotheses: litter size, sex allocation, resource limitation, timing of independence and terminal investment. Duration of care exhibited by female leopards varied markedly, from 9 to 35 months. Mothers did not appear to suffer any short- or long-term survival costs from caring for cubs, but extending care reduced the number of litters that mothers could produce during their lifetimes. Interestingly, the duration of care did not appear to affect the post-independence survival or reproductive success of offspring (although it may have indirectly affected offspring survival by influencing dispersal distance). However, results from generalised linear mixed models showed that mothers prolonged care during periods of prey scarcity, supporting the resource limitation hypothesis. Female leopards also cared for sons longer than daughters, in line with the sex-allocation hypothesis. Cub survival is an important determinant of the lifetime reproductive success in leopards. By buffering offspring against environmental perturbation without jeopardising their own survivorship, female leopards apparently "hedge their bets" with current offspring rather than gamble on future offspring which have a small probability of surviving. In many species, parents put their own needs before that of their offspring. Leopard mothers appear sensitive to their offspring's demands, and adjust levels of care accordingly.
An optimal gate design for the synthesis of ternary logic circuits

Over the last few decades, CMOS-based digital circuits have been steadily developed. However, because of the power density limits, device scaling may soon come to an end, and new approaches for circuit designs are required. Multi-valued logic (MVL) is one of the new approaches, which increases the radix for computation to lower the complexity of the circuit. For the MVL implementation, ternary logic circuit designs have been proposed previously, though they could not show advantages over binary logic, because of unoptimized synthesis techniques. In this paper, we propose a methodology to design ternary gates by modeling pull-up and pull-down operations of the gates. Our proposed methodology makes it possible to synthesize ternary gates with a minimum number of transistors. From HSPICE simulation results, our ternary designs show significant power-delay product reductions; 49 % in the ternary full adder and 62 % in the ternary multiplier compared to the existing methodology. We have also compared the number of transistors in CMOS-based binary logic circuits and ternary device-based logic circuits.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response to alcohol pictures predicts subsequent transition to heavy drinking in college students.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Young adults show the highest rates of escalating drinking, yet the neural risk mechanisms remain unclear. Heavy drinkers show variant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response to alcohol cues, which may presage increasing drinking. In this longitudinal study, we ascertained whether BOLD response to alcohol pictures predicted subsequent heavy drinking among college students. METHODS Participants were 43 18-21-year-olds in the United States who underwent BOLD scanning and completed monthly substance use surveys over the following year. Participants were categorized according to baseline and follow-up drinking into 13 continuously moderate drinkers, 16 continuously heavy drinkers and 14 transitioners who drank moderately at baseline but heavily by follow-up. During fMRI scanning at baseline, participants viewed alcohol and matched non-alcohol beverage images. RESULTS We observed group differences in alcohol cue-elicited BOLD response in bilateral caudate, orbitofrontal cortex, medial frontal cortex/anterior cingulate and left insula (clusters > 2619 ml, voxelwise F(2,40) > 3.23, P < 0.05, whole-brain corrected P < 0.05), where transitioners hyperactivated compared with moderate and heavy drinkers (all Tukey P < 0.05). Exploratory factor analysis revealed a single brain network differentiating those who subsequently increased drinking. Exploratory regressions showed that, compared with other risk factors (e.g., alcoholism family history, impulsivity), BOLD response best predicted escalating drinking amount and alcohol-related problems. CONCLUSIONS Neural response to pictures of alcohol is substantially enhanced among United States college students who subsequently escalate drinking. Greater cue-reactivity is associated with larger increases in drinking and alcohol-related problems, regardless of other baseline factors. Thus, neural cue-reactivity could uniquely facilitate identifying individuals at greatest risk for future problematic drinking.
Cooperative extremum seeking for a one-dimensional non-linear map using a two-robot formation

This paper presents a cooperative extremum seeking control scheme that uses a linear formation of two robots to find a maximum of an unknown one-dimensional non-linear map. A consensus control algorithm is used to drive the centre of the formation and an integral feedback control loop is proposed to drive the gradient of an unknown field function to zero. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the performance of the proposed method.
Residual-based forensic comparison of video sequences

Video content can be acquired with off-the-shelf hardware, and is thus increasingly used to record events. With the growing role of video data for communicating to a large audience, we need tools to ensure the authenticity of video content. However, until now, only few methods exist to forensically analyze videos. In this work, we propose a method for statistically comparing two video sequences. Per sequence, intra- and inter-frame residuals are computed. Optical flow is used to compensate for motion artifacts on inter-frame residuals. We use one sequence to build a statistical model, and compare it to the second sequence. From a forensic perspective, the proposed method enables two applications. First, manipulations can be accurately localized if both sequences are subsequences of the same video. Second, source cameras can be distinguished if both sequences stem from different videos. The proposed method is evaluated on collected smartphone data and green-screen splices. Further, it is quantitatively compared to both a recent PRNU-based approach and a technique based on autoencoders.