Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PWVD resolution considerations for LFMCW signal detection by WHT

Linear Frequency Modulated Continuous Waveform (LFMCW) is one of the most common waveforms used in low probability of intercept (LPI) radars. The Wigner-Hough transform (WHT) is a powerful technique for detection and parameter extraction of LFMCW waveforms that can be employed by Electronic Support Receivers. For a fast detection and a timely response to the adversary emitter, the selection of the pseudo Wigner-Ville distribution (PWVD) window length is critical. In this work we analyze the relation between PWVD window length, WHT span angle and span resolution. It is shown that faster correct detections can be achieved by decreasing the PWVD window length and consequently decreasing the WHT plane. A rapid detection and apiori estimation of target emitter signal chirp rate will allow enough time for a fine tuned post-processing which can be applied specifically to the a priori estimates.
Advantage of Using Inosine at the 3′ Termini of 16S rRNA Gene Universal Primers for the Study of Microbial Diversity

ABSTRACT To overcome the shortcomings of universal 16S rRNA gene primers 8F and 907R when studying the diversity of complex microbial communities, the 3′ termini of both primers were replaced with inosine. A comparison of the clone libraries derived using both primer sets showed seven bacterial phyla amplified by the altered primer set (8F-I/907R-I) whereas the original set amplified sequences belonging almost exclusively to Proteobacteria (95.8%). Sequences belonging to Firmicutes (42.6%) and Thermotogae (9.3%) were more abundant in a library obtained by using 8F-I/907R-I at a PCR annealing temperature of 54°C, while Proteobacteria sequences were more frequent (62.7%) in a library obtained at 50°C, somewhat resembling the result obtained using the original primer set. The increased diversity revealed by using primers 8F-I/907R-I confirms the usefulness of primers with inosine at the 3′ termini in studying the microbial diversity of environmental samples.
Knowledge integration for improving performance in LVCSR

This paper presents a knowledge integration framework to improve performance in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition. Two types of knowledge sources, manner attribute and prosodic structure, are incorporated. For manner of articulation, six attribute detectors trained with an American English corpus (WSJ0) are utilized to rescore hypothesized phones in word lattices obtained by a baseline ASR system. For the prosodic structure, models trained with an unsupervised joint prosody labeling and modeling (PLM) technique using WSJ0 are used in lattice rescoring. Experimental results on the American English WSJ word recognition task of the Nov92 test set show that the proposed approach significantly outperforms the baseline system that does not use articulatory and prosodic information. The results also demonstrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the PLM technique in constructing prosodic models for American English ASR.
Differential Effects of Oral β Blockade on Cardiovascular and Sympathetic Regulation

In patients with hypertension, β blockade decreases muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA; micrographic technique) expressed in burst frequency (burst/min) but does not affect MSNA expressed in burst incidence (burst/100 heart beats), because reductions in blood pressure (BP) upon each diastole continue to deactivate the arterial baroreceptors, but at a slower heart rate (HR). We studied the effects of oral β blockade on MSNA and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in normal participants. Bisoprolol (5 mg, 1 week) was administered in 10 healthy young adults, using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized cross-over study design. The beat-to-beat mean RR interval (RR) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) series were analyzed by power spectral analysis and power computation over the very low frequency (VLF), low frequency, and high frequency (HF) bands. Baroreflex sensitivity was computed from SBP and RR cross-analysis, using time and frequency domain methods. Bisoprolol increased RR (P < .0005), decreased mean SBP and diastolic blood pressure values (P < .01), did not change the SBP and RR powers, except for RR power in VLF (P < .02) and SBP power in HF (P < .03). The MSNA variability (P > .13) and respiratory pattern (P = .84) did not change from placebo to bisoprolol condition. The bisoprolol-induced bradycardia was associated with higher burst/100 heart beats (P < .05) and bisoprolol did not affect burst/min (P = .80). Time domain BRS estimates were increased after bisoprolol (P < .05), while frequency domain ones did not change (P > .1). Oral bisoprolol induces differential effects on sympathetic burst frequency and incidence in normal participants. Peripheral sympathetic outflow over time is preserved as a result of an increased burst incidence, in the presence of a slower HR. Unchanged BP and HR and MSNA variability suggests that the larger burst incidence is not due to sympathetic activation.
Rocking Newton’s cradle

In textbook descriptions of Newton’s cradle, it is generally claimed that displacing one ball will result in a collision that leads to another ball being ejected from the line, with all others remaining motionless. Hermann and Schmalzle, Hinch and Saint-Jean, and others have shown that a realistic description is more subtle. We present a simulation of Newton’s cradle that reproduces the break-up of the line of balls at the first collision, the eventual movement of all the balls in phase, and is in good agreement with our experimentally obtained data. The first effect is due to the finite elastic response of the balls, and the second is a result of viscoelastic dissipation in the impacts. We also analyze a dissipation-free ideal Newton’s cradle which displays complex dynamics.
Hybrid Value Iteration for POMDPs

The Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) provides a rich mathematical model for designing agents that have to formulate plans under uncertainty. The curses of dimensionality and history associated with solving POMDPs have lead to numerous refinements of the value iteration algorithm. Several exact methods with different pruning strategies have been devised, yet, limited scalability has lead research to focus on ways to approximate the optimal value function. One set of approximations relies on point-based value iteration, which maintains a fixed-size value function, and is typically executed offline. Another set of approximations relies on tree search, which explores the implicit tree defined by the value iteration equation, and is typically executed online. In this paper we present a hybrid value iteration algorithm that combines the benefits of point-based value iteration and tree search. Using our approach, a hybrid agent executes tree search online, and occasionally updates its offline-computed lower bound on the optimal value function, resulting in improved lookahead and higher obtained reward, while meeting real-time constraints. Thus, unlike other hybrid algorithms that use an invariant value function computed offline, our proposed scheme uses information from the real-time tree search process to reason whether to perform a point-based backup online. Keeping track of partial results obtained during online planning makes the computation of point-based backups less prohibitive. We report preliminary results that support our approach.
An Economic Evaluation of Subjective Well-Being Derived from Sport Participation

This study links up the theories of social psychology, economics and sport management to assess the impact of sport participation on subjective well-being (SWB) and use a simple statistic method to estimate the relative monetary value that sport participation derives SWB for Taiwan’s college students. By constructing proper measurements on sport participation and SWB respectively, a structural equation model (SEM) is developed to perform a confirmatory factory analysis, and the causal relationship between sport participation and SWB as well as the effect of the demographic variables on these two concepts are also discussed. Keywords—Demographics, Economic value, Sport participation, Structural equation modeling (SEM), Subjective well-being.
An iterative parametric estimation method for Hammerstein large-scale systems: a simulation study of hydraulic process

This paper aims at developing an iterative method which permits to estimate the parameters of single-input single-output (SISO) large-scale nonlinear systems, described by Hammerstein mathematical models. We particularly focus on the dynamic large-scale nonlinear systems, which are made up of several interconnected nonlinear monovariable subsystems. Each subsystem can operate in a stochastic environment and be described by a discrete-time Hammerstein mathematical model with known structure variables (order, delay) and unknown time-varying parameters. The problem formulation is achieved based on the prediction error method and the least-squares techniques. The convergence analysis of the recursive algorithm is provided using the differential equation approach and its performance is illustrated by treating two simulation examples.
Automated image based prominent nucleoli detection

Introduction: Nucleolar changes in cancer cells are one of the cytologic features important to the tumor pathologist in cancer assessments of tissue biopsies. However, inter-observer variability and the manual approach to this work hamper the accuracy of the assessment by pathologists. In this paper, we propose a computational method for prominent nucleoli pattern detection. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five hematoxylin and eosin stained images were acquired from prostate cancer, breast cancer, renal clear cell cancer and renal papillary cell cancer tissues. Prostate cancer images were used for the development of a computer-based automated prominent nucleoli pattern detector built on a cascade farm. An ensemble of approximately 1000 cascades was constructed by permuting different combinations of classifiers such as support vector machines, eXclusive component analysis, boosting, and logistic regression. The output of cascades was then combined using the RankBoost algorithm. The output of our prominent nucleoli pattern detector is a ranked set of detected image patches of patterns of prominent nucleoli. Results: The mean number of detected prominent nucleoli patterns in the top 100 ranked detected objects was 58 in the prostate cancer dataset, 68 in the breast cancer dataset, 86 in the renal clear cell cancer dataset, and 76 in the renal papillary cell cancer dataset. The proposed cascade farm performs twice as good as the use of a single cascade proposed in the seminal paper by Viola and Jones. For comparison, a naive algorithm that randomly chooses a pixel as a nucleoli pattern would detect five correct patterns in the first 100 ranked objects. Conclusions: Detection of sparse nucleoli patterns in a large background of highly variable tissue patterns is a difficult challenge our method has overcome. This study developed an accurate prominent nucleoli pattern detector with the potential to be used in the clinical settings.
Non-Intrusive Action Symmetry Measurement for Dementia and Rehabilitation

The purpose of this work is to quantify the symmetry in human actions, which is a common objective in medical research. To this end, a novel non-intrusive method for quantifying action symmetry in the frequency domain is proposed. Reflectional symmetry is estimated over time and a new metric is proposed based on dynamic symmetry warping distance. The proposed method can be utilised to provide quantitative estimates of symmetry in actions occurring during the examination of a patient. In order to evaluate the proposed approach and metric, experiments were performed both with phantom data where ground truth is available and with real data offering quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Microstrip Diplexer Design Using Common T-Shaped Resonator

This study presents a novel microstrip diplexer with a joint T-shaped resonator. The T-shaped resonator has an extremely small frequency ratio using microstrip with practical line width. Additionally, the T-shaped resonator can be used as a frequency selective signal splitter, making it feasible to design a diplexer for a system with two extremely close bands. The diplexer using a joint T-shaped resonator does not require combining circuits and matching networks. A diplexer used in the UMTS-WCDMA system is designed and measured. The proposed diplexer has high isolation and wide stopband in addition to satisfying the passband requirement. A satisfactory agreement between the simulated results and the measured results validate the proposed configuration.
Effects of land use in Southwest Australia: 1. Observations of cumulus cloudiness and energy fluxes

The Southwest Australian region has large homogeneous tracts of differing vegetation types separated by a sharp transition called the vermin or bunny fence which runs for almost 750 km. Seasonal winter agriculture is found to the west of the fence, whereas to the east native perennial vegetation grows. Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5 imagery are used to construct monthly cumulus cloud frequency of occurrence maps for the region 0800 to 1500 LT in hourly increments for 1999 and 2000. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery are used to retrieve regional values of surface temperature, albedo, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, fractional soil moisture availability, sensible and latent heat fluxes. High spatial resolution Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) imagery are used to retrieve detailed values along the fence. MODIS imagery also is utilized to retrieve cloud optical thickness, droplet sizes, and liquid water paths. This study shows that higher soil moisture availability is found over agricultural areas during winter (September) and over native vegetation areas during summer (December). Latent heat fluxes are higher over native vegetation than over agricultural areas during summer, while sensible heat fluxes are lower. Cumulus clouds occur with higher frequency and have higher optical thicknesses, cloud liquid water contents, and effective radii over agricultural areas during the winter and over native perennial vegetation during the dry summer. This is due to higher latent heat fluxes and available energy over agriculture during winter and over native vegetation during summer. We conclude that land use differences result in differences in available soil moisture and surface energy fluxes, which in turn lead to the observed preferential enhancement of cumulus cloudiness and cumulus cloud properties.
Regulation of spindle and kinetochore‐associated protein 1 by antitumor miR‐10a‐5p in renal cell carcinoma

Analysis of our original microRNA (miRNA) expression signature of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) showed that microRNA‐10a‐5p (miR‐10a‐5p) was significantly downregulated in RCC specimens. The aims of the present study were to investigate the antitumor roles of miR‐10a‐5p and the novel cancer networks regulated by this miRNA in RCC cells. Downregulation of miR‐10a‐5p was confirmed in RCC tissues and RCC tissues from patients treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Ectopic expression of miR‐10a‐5p in RCC cell lines (786‐O and A498 cells) inhibited cancer cell migration and invasion. Spindle and kinetochore‐associated protein 1 (SKA1) was identified as an antitumor miR‐10a‐5p target by genome‐based approaches, and direct regulation was validated by luciferase reporter assays. Knockdown of SKA1 inhibited cancer cell migration and invasion in RCC cells. Overexpression of SKA1 was observed in RCC tissues and TKI‐treated RCC tissues. Moreover, analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas database demonstrated that low expression of miR‐10a‐5p and high expression of SKA1 were significantly associated with overall survival in patients with RCC. These findings showed that downregulation of miR‐10a‐5p and overexpression of the SKA1 axis were highly involved in RCC pathogenesis and resistance to TKI treatment in RCC.
Free Iris and Focus Image Generation by Merging Multiple Differently Focused Images Based on a Three-Dimensional Filtering

This paper describes a method of free iris and focus image generation based on transformation integrating multiple differently focused images. First, we assume that objects are defocused by a geometrical blurring model. And we combine acquired images on certain imaging planes and spatial information of objects by using a convolution of a three-dimensional blur. Then, based on spatial frequency analysis of the blur, we design three-dimensional filters that generate free iris and focus images from the acquired images. The method enables us to generate not only an all-in-focus image corresponding to an ideal pin-hole iris but also various images, which would be acquired with virtual irises whose sizes are different from the original one. In order to generate a certain image by using multiple differently focused images, especially very many images, conventional methods usually analyze focused regions of each acquired image independently and construct a depth map. Then, based on the map, the regions are merged into a desired image with some effects. However, generally, it is so difficult to conduct such depth estimation robustly in all regions that these methods cannot prevent merged results from including visible artifacts, which decrease the quality of generated images awfully. In this paper, we propose a method of generating desired images directly and robustly from very many differently focused images without depth estimation. Simulations of image generation are performed utilizing synthetic images to study how certain parameters of the blur and the filter affect the quality of generated images. We also introduce pre-processing that corrects the size of acquired images and a simple method for estimating the parameter of the three-dimensional blur. Finally, we show experimental results of free iris and focus image generation from real images.
New Roles for Interleukin-1 Beta in the Mechanisms of Epilepsy

The mechanisms that transform a normal brain to an epileptic one are not fully understood. Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) contributes to neuronal degeneration observed in several neurological disorders and recently has been implicated in neuronal injury that may accompany the process of epileptogenesis. This review presents the hypothesis that IL-1β may contribute to the development of epilepsy via several mechanisms, including classical effects on neuronal survival and transcription pathways; novel rapid effects on receptor-gated ion channels; and long-lasting effects on expression of selective gene families. Thus, evidence that IL-1β actions in epilepsy can be independent from the neurotoxic effects of this cytokine is presented.
Innovative use of platinum compounds to selectively detect live microorganisms by polymerase chain reaction

PCR cannot distinguish live microorganisms from dead ones. To circumvent this disadvantage, ethidium/propidium‐monoazide (EMA/PMA) and psoralen to discriminate live from dead bacteria have been used for 2 decades. These methods require the use of numerous laborious procedures. We introduce an innovative method that uses platinum compounds, which are primarily used as catalysts in organic chemistry and partly used as anti‐cancer drugs. Microorganisms are briefly exposed to platinum compounds in vivo, and these compounds penetrate dead (compromised) microorganisms but not live ones and are chelated by chromosomal DNA. The use of platinum compounds permits clear discrimination between live and dead microorganisms in water and milk (including Cronobacter sakazakii and Escherichia coli) via PCR compared with typically used PMA. This platinum‐PCR method could enable the specific detection of viable coliforms in milk at a concentration of 5–10 CFU mL−1 specified by EU/USA regulations after a 4‐h process. For sample components, environmental water contains lower levels of PCR inhibitors than milk does, and milk is similar to infant formula, skim milk and blood; thus, the use of the platinum‐PCR method could also prevent food poisoning due to the presence of C. sakazakii in dairy products. This method could provide outstanding rapidity for use in environmental/food/clinical tests. Platinum‐PCR could also be a substitute for the typical culture‐based methods currently used. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 301–310. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
An implementation of a plane-sweep algorithm on a personal computer

Plane-sweep algorithms were Introduced by Shames to solve the intersection problem of n straightline segments in time 0(n log n). Nievergelt and Preparata have shown that regions of arbitrary shape and topology can be processed with the same asymptotic effort required for line segments. In this paper we consider a set of polygons in the plane. The polygons are given by their edges, and each edge is given by its two endpoints. The x-axis is marked as the direction of the process which leads to a unidirectional sweep. The segment endpoints along with all the Information required to process them represent a queue of tasks to be accomplished. The queue is described by the abstract data type x-queue. A parallel to the y-axis, called a cross section, is decomposed into intervals by the regions which partition the plane. The abstract data type describing the state of the current cross section is called the y-table. A key feature of the algorithm is that the intersection points of the originallygiven segments need not be known in advance, but are found during the sweep and considered as forthcoming tasks. No backtracking is needed and no intersection points are left undiscovered. This paper focuses on implementation aspects. It Is shown that an application independent skeleton can be extractedfrom the originalplane-sweep algorithm. This skeleton performs most of the work, the applications must only supply the code to process a single region. The x-queue has been implemented using two different data structures: a partially ordered tree stored In a heap, and a bucket organization The y-table has been implemented usmg a height-balanced binary tree Only 4681 words of memory are required on the With personal computer for the storage of the code of the plane-sweep skeleton. Sweep algorithms are said to lack robustness. This is due to numerical problems caused by the fact that the mapping from real numbers to machine representable numbers is not bijectlve. For each floating-point number represented In a given machine there Is a corresponding Interval on the number line such that all numbers in the number line have the same machine representation. If the segment endpoints are assumed to have integer coordinate values in the range [0, MJ, then at least 5 log M + 4 bits are required for the storage of thefraction part of floating-point numbers in order
Extended symmetrical aperture direction finding using correlative interferometer method

Correlative Interferometry is the most commonly used practical Direction Finding method. It is based on comparing the measured phase differences with the recorded and saved phase differences. In order to achieve an unambiguous direction of arrival (DOA) estimate, classical methods require antenna aperture within half wavelength. In this paper, we compare the effect of the increased number of non-parallel antenna pairs. It is observed that, increasing the number of non-parallel antenna pairs (baselines), unambiguous DOA estimates can be made for a symmetrically placed antenna array with antenna apertures greater than the half wavelength.