Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Driver-Automation Cooperative Approach for Shared Steering Control Under Multiple System Constraints: Design and Experiments

This paper addresses the shared lateral control between a human driver and a lane keeping assist system of intelligent vehicles for both lane keeping and obstacle avoidance. This control issue is very challenging in today's automotive industry due to the human–machine interaction involved in the control design. In this paper, we propose a new approach to consider such an interaction via a fictive driver activity parameter introduced into the road–vehicle system. Hence, the steering assistance actions can be computed according to the driver's real-time behaviors. The Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy control approach is proposed to deal with the time-varying driver activity parameter and vehicle speed. Especially, the concept of robust invariant set is exploited using Lyapunov arguments to handle theoretically both system state and control input limitations. Considering these system constraints in the control design procedure aims to improve the driver's safety and comfort. Experimental tests with a human driver and an advanced interactive dynamic driving simulator are conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Research on an Ultra-High-Speed Protection Based on Multiresolution Morphological Gradient

A new ultra-high-speed protection scheme based on multi-resolution morphological gradient (MMG) transformation is proposed in this paper. The transient current generated by the internal and external faults in extremely high voltage (EHV) transmission line contains different high frequencies because of the line traps and bus-bar stray capacitance. So there are differences in singularity degree of transient current wave forms at sudden change point between internal and external fault. The differences are extracted and amplified by multi-resolution morphological gradient (MMG). By detecting the singularity of fault transient current signals in one terminal using MMG, the proposed ultra-high-speed protection scheme can discriminate between internal and external faults rapidly and securely. A typical 500 kV EHV transmission system has been simulated by ATP/EMTP to evaluate the scheme. A large of simulation results show that the proposed scheme is effective and capable of providing correct responses under conditions of different fault types, positions, path resistances, and inception angles.
Glycosphingolipid GM3 is Indispensable for Dengue Virus Genome Replication

Dengue virus (DENV) causes the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral disease of humans worldwide. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are involved in virus infection by regulating various steps of viral-host interaction. However, the distinct role of GSLs during DENV infection remains unclear. In this study, we used mouse melanoma B16 cells and their GSL-deficient mutant counterpart GM95 cells to study the influence of GSLs on DENV infection. Surprisingly, GM95 cells were highly resistant to DENV infection compared with B16 cells. Pretreatment of B16 cells with synthetase inhibitor of GM3, the most abundant GSLs in B16 cells, or silencing GM3 synthetase T3GAL5, significantly inhibited DENV infection. DENV attachment and endocytosis were not impaired in GM95 cells, but DENV genome replication was obviously inhibited in GM95 cells compared to B16 cells. Furthermore, GM3 was colocalized with DENV viral replication complex on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inside the B16 cells. Finally, GM3 synthetase inhibitor significantly reduced the mortality rate of suckling mice that challenged with DENV by impairing the viral replication in mouse brain. Taken together, these data indicated that GM3 was not required for DENV attachment and endocytosis, however, essential for viral genome replication. Targeting GM3 could be a novel strategy to inhibit DENV infection.
The role of inter-unit coordination mechanisms in knowledge sharing: a case study of a British MNC

Valuable knowledge in organizations is too often ‘locked in’ within one unit. The contribution of this paper is to provide insights into the knowledge-sharing effect of inter-unit coordination mechanisms. This topic has not yet received in-depth study. We fill this gap with a case study of a UK-based multinational, in which we explore knowledge sharing between business units. Data was collected using a questionnaire and interviews. The findings from our study highlight that formal coordination is preferable. Informal networking as an inter-unit coordination mechanism was not perceived as beneficial for knowledge sharing. The knowledge-sharing enablers, trust and knowledge complexity, largely dominated the possibilities for inter-unit knowledge sharing whatever coordination was used. Especially, the perceived knowledge complexity caused problems that could not be fully compensated for by any type of coordination mechanism. The study also highlights the unexpectedly minor role of common knowledge and the only indirect effect of coordination through values.
Cell-autonomous requirement for β1 integrin in endothelial cell adhesion, migration and survival during angiogenesis in mice

β1 integrin (encoded by Itgb1) is established as a regulator of angiogenesis based upon the phenotypes of complete knockouts of β1 heterodimer partners or ligands and upon antibody inhibition studies in mice. Its direct function in endothelial cells (ECs) in vivo has not been determined because Itgb1-/- embryos die before vascular development. Excision of Itgb1 from ECs and a subset of hematopoietic cells, using Tie2-Cre, resulted in abnormal vascular development by embryonic day (e) 8.5 and lethality by e10.5. Tie1-Cre mediated a more restricted excision of Itgb1 from ECs and hematopoietic cells and resulted in embryonic lethal vascular defects by e11.5. Capillaries of the yolk sacs were disorganized, and the endothelium of major blood vessels and of the heart was frequently discontinuous in mutant embryos. We also found similar vascular morphogenesis defects characterized by EC disorganization in embryonic explants and isolated ECs. Itgb1-null ECs were deficient in adhesion and migration in a ligand-specific fashion, with impaired responses to laminin and collagens, but not to fibronectin. Deletion of Itgb1 reduced EC survival, but did not affect proliferation. Our findings demonstrate thatβ 1 integrin is essential for EC adhesion, migration and survival during angiogenesis, and further validate that therapies targeting β1 integrins may effectively impair neovascularization.
A Note on Application of Nesterov’s Method in Solving Lasso-Type Problems

Many different algorithms have been proposed to solve penalized variable selection problems, in particular lasso and its variants, including group lasso and fused lasso. Loss functions other than quadratic loss also pose significant challenges for finding efficient solvers. Here, we note that Nesterov’s method can be used to transform an optimization problem with general smooth convex loss to quadratic loss with identity covariate matrix in each iteration. After such reduction, the problem becomes much easier to solve or even can be solved in closed form in some cases. We perform some simulations and apply our implementation to phoneme discrimination.
Lipid mediators in the prevention and therapy of neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the nervous system that mainly affects infants and young children. It is the most common solid extracranial tumor of childhood, and accounts for almost 10% of all childhood cancer deaths. Despite intense multimodal treatment consisting of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and stem cell rescue, survival is only 50% in the high-risk group, and the overall survival is around 70%. We therefore need to improve existing treatment protocols and search for new medications. Inflammation drives cancer growth and targeted therapy that dampens inflammatory responses is anti-proliferative. We have previously shown that the inducible COX-2 enzyme that converts the omega-6 fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA) to various inflammatory prostaglandins is upregulated in neuroblastoma tissue. We have also shown that celecoxib, a selective inhibitor of COX-2, may inhibit neuroblastoma growth. This thesis shows that celecoxib both prevents tumor formation and reduces tumor growth in a neuroblastoma xenograft rat model. In addition, celecoxib enhances the effect of the chemotherapeutic drugs irinotecan and doxorubicin. By immunohistochemistry, we detected reduced proliferation and inhibited angiogenesis in tumors from animals treated with celecoxib, either by gavage or by an enriched diet. Omega-3 fatty acids oppose the effects of omega-6 fatty acids such as AA and have been implicated in cancer treatment and prevention. Omega-3 fatty acids such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) are precursors of anti-inflammatory compounds. From EPA, a different series of prostaglandins are produced, and from DHA, resolvins and protectins are produced, which are potent pro-resolving lipid mediators essential for the clearance of inflammatory cells and mediators at an injured site. In this thesis I show that DHA is toxic to neuroblastoma cells both in vivo and in vitro. In vivo, DHA is able to delay time to tumor development and reduce tumor growth in neuroblastoma xenograft models. In vitro, DHA acts by inducing mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis. We also show that neuroblastoma cells convert DHA to hydroperoxy and hydroxy fatty acids through both enzymatic and non-enzymatic mechanisms. However, DHA is not converted to resolvins or protectins in neuroblastoma cells. DHA also potentiates the effect of other cytotoxic drugs such as chemotherapeutics, arsenic trioxide, and non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). In summary, this thesis shows that inhibiting the omega-6 fatty acid pathway and enhancing the omega-3 fatty acid pathway are both possible new strategies for neuroblastoma treatment, and suggests these compounds to be tested as novel therapy for children with neuroblastoma in clinical trials.
A Statistical Approach to Increase Classification Accuracy in Supervised Learning Algorithms

Probabilistic mixture models have been widely used for different machine learning and pattern recognition tasks such as clustering, dimensionality reduction, and classification. In this paper, we focus on trying to solve the most common challenges related to supervised learning algorithms by using mixture probability distribution functions. With this modeling strategy, we identify sub-labels and generate synthetic data in order to reach better classification accuracy. It means we focus on increasing the training data synthetically to increase the classification accuracy.
A simulation-based study for DRAM power reduction strategies in GPGPUs

General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) operate many threads concurrently, however they demand large DRAM access because of small internal memory size assigned to each thread. As a result, the power consumption in DRAM components becomes increasingly significant. We have examined a few techniques that can reduce DRAM power consumption in GPGPUs. A GPGPU simulator supporting L2 cache is used for this study. The effects of changing the memory channel organization, DRAM clock frequency, row buffer management policy, open or closed, and the L2 cache memory system are studied. Not only the total DRAM energy consumption but also that due to each DRAM operation, such as active-precharge, burst, and background, are estimated. The examined DRAM power reduction techniques bring negligible execution time changes for solving compute-bound problems, but they result in 12–27% savings of DRAM power consumption.
Primary and secondary alterations of immune reactivity in the elderly: impact of dietary factors and disease

Summary: The function of the immune system declines with age. It is the aim of the present review to demonstrate that it makes sense to distinguish between primary and secondary alterations of immune reactivity in the elderly. Primary changes occur as the result of an age‐dependent intrinsic decline of immune responsiveness. They also occur in healthy persons, i.e. persons, selected according to the criteria of the SENIEUR protocol of the European Community's Concerted Action Program on Aging (EURAGE). T lymphocytes are hereby more severely affected than B cells or antigen presenting cells, possibly due to the involution of the thymus, which is almost complete at the age of 60. Secondary immunological changes occur as the result of environmental factors including diet, drug intake, physical activity etc. or arc alternatively due to underlying diseases. In this article, the effects of high lipid intake as well as the impact of diseases, such as for instance Alzheimer's disease and atherosclerosis, will be addressed. The results underline the complexity of immunological alterations to be expected in old age. Changes in the aging immune system represent an opportunity for increased frequency and severity of disease and endanger the protective effect of vaccination.
Detection of Changes in Natural Aquifer Reservoirs based on the Index of Drought

The purpose of this work is the benefit exploitation of spectral indices such as NDVI, NDWI and NDDI for obtaining drought maps. To this objective, the geographical region of Poopo Lake (Bolivia) is selected as a study area. A set of multitemporal multiband scenes of this geographical area, sensed by Landsat7-ETM+ and Landsat8-OLI/TIRS sensors have been chosen. Experiments on this images datasets provide encouraging results which may be further used for the analysis of change detection, the decision-making and implementing future action plans.
A Contrast Enhancement Algorithm for Low-Dose CT Images Based on Local Histogram Equalization

As an important and necessary step in many medical image processing applications, contrast enhancement can amplify tiny anatomies, such as airways, vessels, lung nodules and pulmonary fissures in lung CT (computerized tomography) images. In this paper we describe a more useful contrast enhancement algorithm based on localized histogram equalization for low-dose CT images. This algorithm applies a two-stage approach: (1) computing the local statistics using a novel scheme which uses two parameters (the sub-block size and the motion step) as guides in reducing the calculating time and avoiding block artifacts at the block boundaries; and then (2) performing histogram equalization based on a modified local contrast-stretching manipulation. We tested the proposed algorithm on 2 CT sets which include 258 HRCT ( high resolution computerized tomography) images and 476 low-dose CT images respectively. Comparing with the visual inspection and the processing rate, the algorithm is proved as a flexible and effective way for low-dose lung CT image enhancement and can be use as a pre-process method for low dose CT images understanding and analysis.
In vivo Raman spectroscopy for detection of oral neoplasia: A pilot clinical study

We report a pilot study carried out to evaluate the applicability of in vivo Raman spectroscopy for differential diagnosis of malignant and potentially malignant lesions of human oral cavity in a clinical setting. The study involved 28 healthy volunteers and 171 patients having various lesions of oral cavity. The Raman spectra, measured from multiple sites of normal oral mucosa and of lesions belonging to three histopathological categories, viz. oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) and leukoplakia (OLK), were subjected to a probability based multivariate statistical algorithm capable of direct multi‐class classification. With respect to histology as the gold standard, the diagnostic algorithm was found to provide an accuracy of 85%, 89%, 85% and 82% in classifying the oral tissue spectra into the four tissue categories based on leave‐one‐subject‐out cross validation. When employed for binary classification, the algorithm resulted in a sensitivity and specificity of 94% in discriminating normal from the rest of the abnormal spectra of OSCC, OSMF and OLK tissue sites pooled together. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Multicast capacity of cache enabled content-centric wireless Ad Hoc networks

In this paper, we investigate the upper bound of multicast capacity for content- centric wireless ad hoc networks with content-centric hierarchical routing strategy. We consider two content-centric hierarchical routing strategies, namely, the homogeneous hierarchical routing strategy where each content is requested and cached with equal probability, and the heterogenous hierarchical routing strategy where each content is cached with different probabilities and the requested contents follow a Zipf content popularity distribution. For the two proposed hierarchical routing strategies, we establish the upper bounds on multicast capacity of content-centric wireless ad hoc networks, respectively. We then discuss how the system parameters, such as the number of nodes n, the number of users p, the cache size C, the probability of cache qm and the content popularity distribution impact on the muilticast capacity scalings.
Talking sense

Find the secret to improve the quality of life by reading this talking sense. This is a kind of book that you need now. Besides, it can be your favorite book to read after having this book. Do you ask why? Well, this is a book that has different characteristic with others. You may not need to know who the author is, how well-known the work is. As wise word, never judge the words from who speaks, but make the words as your good value to your life.
Opposing impacts on healthspan and longevity by limiting dietary selenium in telomere dysfunctional mice

Selenium (Se) is a trace metalloid essential for life, but its nutritional and physiological roles during the aging process remain elusive. While telomere attrition contributes to replicative senescence mainly through persistent DNA damage response, such an aging process is mitigated in mice with inherently long telomeres. Here, weanling third generation telomerase RNA component knockout mice carrying short telomeres were fed a Se‐deficient basal diet or the diet supplemented with 0.15 ppm Se as sodium selenate to be nutritionally sufficient throughout their life. Dietary Se deprivation delayed wound healing and accelerated incidence of osteoporosis, gray hair, alopecia, and cataract, but surprisingly promoted longevity. Plasma microRNA profiling revealed a circulating signature of Se deprivation, and subsequent ontological analyses predicted dominant changes in metabolism. Consistent with this observation, dietary Se deprivation accelerated age‐dependent declines in glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, and glucose‐stimulated insulin production in the mice. Moreover, DNA damage and senescence responses were enhanced and Pdx1 and MafA mRNA expression were reduced in pancreas of the Se‐deficient mice. Altogether, these results suggest a novel model of aging with conceptual advances, whereby Se at low levels may be considered a hormetic chemical and decouple healthspan and longevity.
Explorer The CoDyCo Project achievements and beyond : Towards Human Aware Whole-body Controllers for Physical Human Robot Interaction

The success of robots in real-world environments is largely dependent on their ability to interact with both humans and said environment. The FP7 EU project CoDyCo focused on the latter of these two challenges by exploiting both rigid and compliant contacts dynamics in the robot control problem. Regarding the former, to properly manage interaction dynamics on the robot control side, an estimation of the human behaviours and intentions is necessary. In this paper we present the building blocks of such a human-in-the-loop controller, and validate them in both simulation and on the iCub humanoid robot using a human-robot interaction scenario. In this scenario, a human assists the robot in standing up from being seated on a bench.
Bandwidth potential and electromagnetic isolation: Tools for analysing the impedance behaviour of antenna systems

Three approaches to analysing the impedance characteristics of antennas and antenna systems are discussed. The concept of bandwidth potential computes the obtainable bandwidth of an antenna through automatically generated two-component matching circuits at all frequencies. The original concept of bandwidth potential that matches the impedances to 50 Ohm is generalised to include optimisation of the matching circuit to maximise the obtainable bandwidth. The second approach uses power waves to simplify the analysis of matching circuits. As opposed to travelling waves, the power waves describe the propagation of power in microwave networks directly. In the third concept both ports of a two-port antenna system are sequentially matched for each frequency and the resulting isolation is called the electromagnetic isolation that is independent of antenna matching.
Dynamic analysis of submerged microscale plates: the effects of acoustic radiation and viscous dissipation

The aim of this paper is to study the dynamic characteristics of micromechanical rectangular plates used as sensing elements in a viscous compressible fluid. A novel modelling procedure for the plate–fluid interaction problem is developed on the basis of linearized Navier–Stokes equations and no-slip conditions. Analytical expression for the fluid-loading impedance is obtained using a double Fourier transform approach. This modelling work provides us an analytical means to study the effects of inertial loading, acoustic radiation and viscous dissipation of the fluid acting on the vibration of microplates. The numerical simulation is conducted on microplates with different boundary conditions and fluids with different viscosities. The simulation results reveal that the acoustic radiation dominates the damping mechanism of the submerged microplates. It is also proved that microplates offer better sensitivities (Q-factors) than the conventional beam type microcantilevers being mass sensing platforms in a viscous fluid environment. The frequency response features of microplates under highly viscous fluid loading are studied using the present model. The dynamics of the microplates with all edges clamped are less influenced by the highly viscous dissipation of the fluid than the microplates with other types of boundary conditions.
Acute Efficacy and Safety of Intravenous Administration of Nicorandil in Patients With Acute Heart Failure Syndromes: Usefulness of Noninvasive Echocardiographic Hemodynamic Evaluation

This study was conducted to evaluate the acute efficacy and safety of intravenous administration of nicorandil in patients with acute heart failure syndromes (AHFS), under noninvasive hemodynamic assessment with transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. After baseline hemodynamic measurements, initial bolus and 48-hour continuous intravenous nicorandil infusion were begun in 14 hospitalized patients with AHFS. After 2-hour infusion, estimated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure was reduced from 21.4 ± 6.4 to 17.5 ± 5.2 mm Hg (P < 0.05) and was sustained for 48 hours to 16.2 ± 5.5 mm Hg (P < 0.05). A significant increase in estimated cardiac output was observed at 2 hours, from 4.0 ± 1.0 to 4.8 ± 1.3 L/min (P < 0.05). This increase was sustained for 48 hours to 5.8 ± 1.8 L/min (P < 0.05). The high blood pressure (BP) group (baseline systolic BP ≥ 140 mm Hg, n = 7) exhibited significant decrease in systolic BP (from 156.7 ± 14.2 to 135.4 ± 13.3 mm Hg, P < 0.05). In contrast, there was no change in systolic BP in the low BP group (baseline systolic BP < 140 mm Hg, n = 7) over 48 hours (from 107.6 ± 20.4 to 107.7 ± 17.4 mm Hg, P = not significant). The results of this study demonstrate the acute hemodynamic efficacy and safety of intravenous administration of nicorandil and also suggest the usefulness of noninvasive echocardiographic hemodynamic evaluation in the urgent phase of AHFS.