Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lipid Production Capacity of a Newly Characterized Cyanobacterial Strain Synechocystissp. MH01: A Comparative Performance Evaluation of Cyanobacterial Lipid-Based Biodiesel

Background: Cyanobacteria have been the focus of extensive researches because of their high potential for the development of new generations of useful natural compounds with vast applications. For the entire last ten years, a lot of attention has been dedicated to the cyanobacterial lipids as a main source of valuable materials for clean energy production. Objectives: As there is a direct relationship between biofuel properties and compositional characteristics of fatty acids, a selected lipid-producing cyanobacterial strain was examined and analyzed in terms of fatty acid composition. The biodiesel quality parameters were carefully examined as well. Materials and Methods: A cyanobacterial strain was isolated from waterfalls in the northern part of Iran and identified as Synechocystis sp. MH01. The fatty acids profile of the selected strain, as tested in various culture conditions, was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and compared with control subjects to further validating the biodiesel quality parameters. Results: The autotrophic cultivation of Synechocystissp. MH01 resulted in biomass and lipid productivity of 109 mg.L-1 day-1 and 22.89 mg.L-1 day-1, respectively. The mixotrophic cultivation of MH01 strain in sucrose-containing medium led to an approximately 1.8 and 1.22 fold increase in biomass and lipid productivity compared with the autotrophic condition. The addition of glycine to BG11 medium caused up to ~1.3 and ~1.18 fold increase in biomass and lipid productivity compared with control subjects. The analysis of qualitative parameters of the biodiesel, as derived from the lipids, indicated that Synechocystis sp. MH01 has a high ability for lipid production under optimal culture conditions Conclusions: It seems feasible to evolve the Synechocystissp. MH01 further particularly for more lipid production as a promising primary raw material for biofuel production through fine-tuning of medium composition
Scalable and efficient analog parametric fault identification

Analog circuits embedded in large mixed-signal designs can fail due to unexpected process parameter excursions. To evaluate manufacturing tests in terms of their ability to detect such failures, parametric faults leading to circuit failures should be identified. This paper proposes an iterative sampling method to identify these faults in large-scale analog circuits with a constrained simulation budget. Experiment results on two circuits from a serial IO interface demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology. The proposed method identifies a significantly larger and diverse set of critical parametric faults compared to a Monte Carlo-based approach for identical computational budget, particularly for cases involving significant process variations.
Adaptive node placement for improving localization accuracy in clutter-prone environments

Range-based localization techniques can yield unacceptably large errors when used in cluttered environments. Clutter in the environment leads to large distance measurement errors due to non-line-of-sight (NLOS) signal propagation. In this paper, we focus on the localization of a mobile node in clutter using a multi-hop localization method, namely DV-Distance, and suggest that node mobility is key to improving localization accuracy in cluttered environments. We propose APDV, a distributed control algorithm that carefully moves nodes in the monitored area to reduce distance overestimates caused by clutter and network sparsity. We evaluate the performance of APDV in simulated and real network settings. Our technique is shown to outperform existing approaches when a majority of the distance measurements are NLOS in nature.
Intelligence without Robots: A Reply to Brooks

In his recent papers, entitled “Intelligence without Representation” and “Intelligence without Reason,” Brooks argues for mobile robots as the foundation of AI research. This article argues that even if we seek to investigate complete agents in real-world environments, robotics is neither necessary nor sufficient as a basis for AI research. The article proposes real-world software environments, such as operating systems or databases, as a complementary substrate for intelligent-agent research and considers the relative advantages of software environments as test beds for AI. First, the cost, effort, and expertise necessary to develop and systematically experiment with software artifacts are relatively low. Second, software environments circumvent many thorny but peripheral research issues that are inescapable in physical environments. Brooks’s mobile robots tug AI toward a bottom-up focus in which the mechanics of perception and mobility mingle inextricably with or even supersede core AI research. In contrast, the softbots (software robots) I advocate facilitate the study of classical AI problems in real-world (albeit, software) domains. For example, the UNIX softbot under development at the University of Washington has led us to investigate planning with incomplete information, interleaving planning and execution, and a host of related high-level issues.
Breaching the Contract? Privacy and the UK Census

Along with informed consent, anonymization is an accepted method of protecting the interests of research participants, while allowing data collected for official statistical purposes to be reused by other agencies within and outside government. The Decennial Census, carried out in a number of countries, including the United Kingdom, is a major event in the production of research data and provides an important resource for a variety of organizations. This article combines ethical evaluation, a review of relevant law and guidance, and analysis of 30 qualitative interviews (carried out during the period of the 2001 UK Census), in order to explore the adequacy of the current framework for the protection of informational privacy in relation to census data. Taking account of Nissenbaum's concept of “contextual integrity,” Vedder's concept of “categorical privacy,” and Sen's call to heed of the importance of “actual behavior,” it will be argued that the current “contractarian” view of the relationship between an individual participant and the organization carrying out the Census does not engage sufficiently with actual uses of data. As a result, people have expectations of privacy that are not matched by practice and that the current normative—including the governance—framework cannot capture.
Observer-based postural balance control for humanoid robots

Maintaining postural balance is a fundamental requirement for humanoid robots faced with unknown terrain or external perturbations. In this paper we present an observer-based balancing control strategy that is robust to persistent perturbations on the ground slope which is based on the estimation of the disturbance without the need for an inertial measurement unit. We use the workspace control method in combination with an observer to perform specific maneuvers while maintaining postural balance. We employ a linear observer, a gain-scheduling observer and an extended Kalman filter and compare the results obtained. For the control task considered, while the linear observer falls short in this setting, both the gain-scheduling observer and the extended Kalman filter perform well, which is confirmed by experimental results on a planar biped robot.
A Compact Wideband Dual-Polarized Antenna With Enhanced Upper Out-of-Band Suppression

A compact wideband dual-polarized antenna with enhanced upper out-of-band suppression is presented in this paper. The proposed antenna is an equivalent configuration of two electric dipoles and two magnetic dipoles using the crossed shunt loops. The incorporation of the electric and magnetic dipoles enables the antenna to achieve wide impedance bandwidth and a compact radiator size. In addition, four parasitic strips are inserted near the inner edge of the four loops to enhance the antenna upper out-of-band suppression at 3.5 GHz with improved impedance bandwidth. The antenna is fed by the crossed coaxial baluns with high isolation. A shorting sheet is introduced into the baluns to enhance the upper out-of-band suppression further and create another rejection at 4.9 GHz. To demonstrate the design method, the proposed antenna prototype was fabricated and measured. Measured results show that the proposed antenna has a wide impedance bandwidth of 1.625–3.05 GHz (61%) for ${S}_{11} < -14$ dB with the isolation better than 38.3 dB. The upper out-of-band suppression of the antenna is also highly enhanced with measured ${S}_{11}>-2$ dB from 3.35 to 5.25 GHz. In addition, stable antenna gain and radiation patterns are achieved for base station applications.
Continuous Recognition of Affective States by Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy Signals

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is becoming more and more popular as an innovative imaging modality for brain computer interfaces. A continuous (i.e. asynchronous) affective state monitoring system using fNIRS signals would be highly relevant for numerous disciplines, including adaptive user interfaces, entertainment, biofeedback, and medical applications. However, only stimulus-locked emotion recognition systems have been proposed by now. fNRIS signals of eight subjects at eight prefrontal locations have been recorded in response to three different classes of affect induction by emotional audio-visual stimuli and a neutral class. Our system evaluates short windows of five seconds length to continuously recognize affective states. We analyze hemodynamic responses, present a careful evaluation of binary classification tasks and investigate classification accuracies over the time.
Memory efficient column-layered decoder design for non-binary LDPC codes

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes constructed over the Galois field GF(q) (q>;2), which are also called non-binary LDPC codes, are an extension of binary LDPC codes with significantly better performance. In this paper, an efficient column-layered decoding algorithm, which can reduce the message memory as well as the average number of iterations dramatically, is proposed for min-max decoding. In addition, a non-uniform quantization scheme is developed for reducing the word length while achieving similar performances compared to a conventional quantization scheme. Meanwhile, the corresponding decoder architecture is also proposed.
A new SOC estimation algorithm without integrated error using DCIR repetitive calculation

In this paper, the State of Charge (SOC) estimation algorithm is proposed using the Direct Current Internal Resistance (DCIR) repetitive calculation, which reflects the renewed Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) in real-time by using the measured DCIR through the constant current injection method. Therefore, it is possible to improve the estimation error because there is no integration error and reset interval. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated by comparing with the estimated SOC result using the Coulomb-Counting method under the various C-rates experimental conditions. Also, a State of Health (SOH) estimation method using measured DCIR and Extended Kalman filter (EKF) is proposed. The accuracy of estimation method is evaluated by MATLAB simulation results.
Short‐Term Change in eGFR and Risk of Cardiovascular Events

Background Lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) on a single occasion is associated with risk of cardiovascular events; whether the degree of change in eGFR during a 1‐year period adds prognostic information is unknown. Methods and Results We included adults who had ≥2 outpatient eGFR measurements (≥6 months apart) during a 1‐year accrual period in Alberta, Canada. According to recent guidelines, we used a change in eGFR category (≥90, 60 to 89, 45 to 59, 30 to 44, 15 to 29, and <15 mL/min per 1.73 m2), and the presence/absence of a ≥25% change from baseline to classify participants into 5 groups: certain drop, uncertain drop, stable (no change), uncertain rise, and certain rise. We calculated adjusted rates of cardiovascular events (per 10 000 person‐years) for each group. We estimated the adjusted risks of cardiovascular events associated with each category of change in eGFR, in reference to stable kidney function. Among the 526 388 participants, 76.1% (n=400 560) had stable, 2.6% (n=13 668) had a certain drop, and 3.3% (n=17 499) had a certain rise in eGFR. Compared with participants with stable kidney function, adjusted risks of myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke were 27%, 51%, and 20% higher, respectively, for those with a certain drop in kidney function. After adjusting for the last eGFR at the end of the accrual period, the observed association diminished. Conclusion Clinically relevant changes in eGFR are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events. However, most of the apparent increase in risk can be accounted for by assessing comorbidity and baseline kidney function.
Allelic Frequencies of Six (CA)n Microsatellite Markers of the Dystrophin Gene in the Korean Population

Using the polymerase chain reaction, we examined the allele frequencies and heterozygosities of six (CA)n markers of the dystrophin gene in Koreans. Allele frequencies of these markers were different from those reported for Caucasians. The heterozygosity values for these markers range from 29 to 86%. With the exception of the STR50 marker, these values were lower than those of Caucasians. However, all markers except for the 3′CA marker showed PIC values over 0.5, suggesting a high degree of polymorphism. Therefore, this study will be useful in linkage analysis for Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy families in the Korean population.
Noise and frequency analyses of a miniaturized 3-DOF accelerometer utilizing silicon nanowire piezoresistors

This paper presents the characterization of nanowire p-type Si piezoresistor, as well as the design of an ultra small 3-degree of freedom (3-DOF) accelerometer utilizing the nanowire Si piezoresistor. The investigation of silicon nanowire piezoresistor showed the longitudinal piezoresistance coefficient /spl pi//sub l[011]/ of the Si nanowire piezoresistor increased up to 60% with a decrease in the cross sectional area, while transverse piezoresistance coefficient /spl pi//sub t[011]/ decreased with an increase in the aspect ratio of the cross section. The sensitivity, noise, and frequency performance of the ultra small accelerometer using the silicon nanowires are carefully analyzed.
Visual quality assessment: recent developments, coding applications and future trends

Research on visual quality assessment has been active during the last decade. In this work, we provide an in-depth review of recent developments in the field. As compared with existing survey papers, our current work has several unique contributions. First, besides image quality databases and metrics, we put equal emphasis on video quality databases and metrics as this is a less investigated area. Second, we discuss the application of visual quality evaluation to perceptual coding as an example for applications. Third, we benchmark the performance of state-of-the-art visual quality metrics with experiments. Finally, future trends in visual quality assessment are discussed.
Real-Time Immune Monitoring to Guide Plasmid DNA Vaccination Schedule Targeting Prostatic Acid Phosphatase in Patients with Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Purpose: We have previously reported that a DNA vaccine encoding prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) could elicit PAP-specific T cells in patients with early recurrent prostate cancer. In the current pilot trial, we sought to evaluate whether prolonged immunization with regular booster immunizations, or “personalized” schedules of immunization determined using real-time immune monitoring, could elicit persistent, antigen-specific T cells, and whether treatment was associated with changes in PSA doubling time (PSA DT). Experimental Design: Sixteen patients with castration-resistant, nonmetastatic prostate cancer received six immunizations at 2-week intervals and then either quarterly (arm 1) or as determined by multiparameter immune monitoring (arm 2). Results: Patients were on study a median of 16 months; four received 24 vaccinations. Only one event associated with treatment >grade 2 was observed. Six of 16 (38%) remained metastasis-free at 2 years. PAP-specific T cells were elicited in 12 of 16 (75%), predominantly of a Th1 phenotype, which persisted in frequency and phenotype for at least 1 year. IFNγ-secreting T-cell responses measured by ELISPOT were detectable in 5 of 13 individuals at 1 year, and this was not statistically different between study arms. The overall median fold change in PSA DT from pretreatment to posttreatment was 1.6 (range, 0.6–7.0; P = 0.036). Conclusions: Repetitive immunization with a plasmid DNA vaccine was safe and elicited Th1-biased antigen-specific T cells that persisted over time. Modifications in the immunization schedule based on real-time immune monitoring did not increase the frequency of patients developing effector and memory T-cell responses with this DNA vaccine. Clin Cancer Res; 20(14); 3692–704. ©2014 AACR.
In-hand object recognition via texture properties with robotic hands, artificial skin, and novel tactile descriptors

This paper, for the first time, proposes a solution for the problem of in-hand object recognition via surface textures. In this study, a robotic hand with an artificial skin on the fingertips was employed to explore the texture properties of various objects. This was conducted via the small sliding movements of the fingertips of the robot over the object surface as a human does. Using our proposed robust tactile descriptors, the robotic system is capable of extracting information-rich data from the raw tactile signals. These features then assist learning algorithms in the construction of robust object discrimination models. The experimental results show that the robotic hand distinguished between different in-hand objects through their texture properties (regardless of the shape of the in-hand objects) with an average recognition rate of 97% and 87% while employing SVM and PA as an online learning algorithm, respectively.
N400 incongruity effect in an episodic memory task reveals different strategies for handling irrelevant contextual information for Japanese than European Canadians

East Asians/Asian Americans show a greater N400 effect due to semantic incongruity between foreground objects and background contexts than European Americans (Goto, Ando, Huang, Yee, & Lewis, 2010). Using analytic attention instructions, we asked Japanese and European Canadians to judge, and later, remember, target animals that were paired with task-irrelevant original (congruent), or novel (incongruent) contexts. We asked: (1) whether the N400 also shows an episodic incongruity effect, due to retrieved contexts conflicting with later-shown novel contexts; and (2) whether the incongruity effect would be more related to performance for Japanese, who have been shown to have more difficulty ignoring such contextual information. Both groups exhibited episodic incongruity effects on the N400, with Japanese showing more typical N400 topographies. However, incongruent-trial accuracy was related to reduction of N400s only for the Japanese. Thus, we found that the N400 can reflect episodic incongruity which poses a greater challenge to Japanese than European Canadians.
Mobile application management

A computer-implemented method may include determining whether a computing device accessing an online application marketplace is associated with a particular business entity registered with the online application marketplace. The method may further include identifying applications that were selected by a representative of the particular business entity to be identified to users whose devices are determined to be associated with the particular business entity. The method may still further include providing data for displaying the applications and a control for downloading executable code for at least one of the applications, receiving an indication that the control has been selected by the user to download the executable code for the applications, and providing the executable code for the at least one of the applications.
The Strong HB Problem and its Applications

The HB problem first introduced by Blum and Hopper has been the basis for extremely lightweight authentication protocols for RFID tags [18, 19]. In this paper we introduce a variant of this problem which we call the strong HB problem. We analyze the strong HB problem and give some arguments that support its hardness. We then use the strong HB assumption in two applications of independent interest. First, while the HB problem has been the basis of several lightweight protocols for RFID authentication, none of these protocols have proofs of security against fully adaptive man-inthe-middle attacks. We improve on the HB protocol [15] using the strong HB assumption. Our protocol is two rounds less than HB, with similar efficiency otherwise, and can be proven secure against man-in-the-middle attacks. In addition, we create a related-key secure nonadaptive MAC based on our improved version of the HB .
Agent-Based Electrical Power Management Model in Consideration of Weather Change

Smart grid systems have been actively discussed in order to achieve a sustainable, low-carbon society that efficiently consumes electric power and introduces photovoltaic power generation via renewable energy or electric vehicles. In this study, we focus on the smart meter system based on an agent model to manage electric power use in residential homes that are equipped with solar panels and a storage battery. We evaluated the system with an electrical power management simulation.
Phonological outcome of laryngeal framework surgery by different anesthesia protocols: a single-surgeon experience

Abstract Conclusion: Similar to combined arytenoid adduction and medialization laryngoplasty (i.e. combined surgery) under local anesthesia, general anesthesia by intubation or by the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) method significantly improves phonological outcome. Thus, laryngeal framework surgery under general anesthesia is a promising surgical approach for selected patients with unilateral vocal cord paralysis (UVCP). Objective: The advantages of laryngeal framework surgery under local anesthesia have been described, but no studies exist concerning the difference in phonological outcome of laryngeal framework surgery performed under general anesthesia. To add new information, we retrospectively investigated the phonological outcome of the combined surgery performed under three different anesthesia protocols. Methods: Thirty-nine consecutive patients with severe UVCP underwent the combined surgery under three anesthesia protocols performed by a single surgeon: (1) under general anesthesia by intubation, (2) under general anesthesia using LMA, and (3) under local anesthesia. Results: Under all anesthesia protocols, the vocal cords of most patients could be positioned such that the best vocal outcome could be expected. Statistical analyses demonstrated improved maximum phonation time and mean airflow rate, and grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale in all patients, regardless of their anesthesia protocol. Furthermore, of the three protocols, local anesthesia had the shortest operation time.