Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PhD Forum: Sensor Fusion for Outdoors Augmented Reality on Android

Augmented Reality on smartphones in outdoors environments is a challenging task. Traditional SLAM methods based on local feature tracking are severely hindered by the drastic illumination changes, appearance variations and repeating textured patterns (e.g. leaves and grass) typical of the outdoors setting. We explore a sensor fusion approach that exploits visual cues and the smartphone's inertial sensors. Specifically we use mountain profiles based registration, which is computationally complex but very robust to appearance variations and local features tracking, which is fast but less reliable. A first iteration of the algorithm is being used as the core of an AR application for augmenting panoramic views of cities with historical information.
The Telephone as a Communication Medium for Health Education

The telephone is being widely used by the private sector as a communication medium for understanding and influencing consumer behavior. Coinciding with the growth of telephone use in the private sector is the expansion of telephone use in health care to include complex health promotion and disease prevention interventions aimed at initiating and maintaining health-related behavioral changes. While several studies have evaluated the impact of telephone interventions on a wide range of health behaviors, no published reports synthesizing current knowledge about using the telephone as a communication medium for health education were identified. In this article, the authors therefore (1) examine recent applications of telephone use in health education by describing three example interventions, (2) outline key features and alternatives in conceptualizing and designing health education using the telephone, (3) review advantages and disadvantages of using the telephone for health education, and (4) discuss implications for health education practice and research.
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy - Useful Analytical Tool for Non-Destructive Analysis

It is highly recognized that the use of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry (FTIR) for chemical substances identification it is not a trivial task to be fulfilled by analytical chemists. The complexity of FTIR characterization comes mainly from the high degree of infrared absorption bands overlapping, that are difficult to be accurately ascribed, despite of the fact that up to date computer-searchable databases of spectra are currently available.
Diet-induced obesity in mice causes changes in immune responses and bone loss manifested by bacterial challenge

Obesity has been suggested to be associated with an increased susceptibility to bacterial infection. However, few studies have examined the effect of obesity on the immune response to bacterial infections. In the present study, we investigated the effect of obesity on innate immune responses to Porphyromonas gingivalis infection, an infection strongly associated with periodontitis. Mice with diet-induced obesity (DIO) and lean control C57BL/6 mice were infected orally or systemically with P. gingivalis, and periodontal pathology and systemic immune responses were examined postinfection. After oral infection with P. gingivalis, mice with DIO had a significantly higher level of alveolar bone loss than the lean controls. Oral microbial sampling disclosed higher levels of P. gingivalis in mice with DIO vs. lean mice during and after infection. Furthermore, animals with DIO exposed to oral infection or systemic inoculation of live P. gingivalis developed a blunted inflammatory response with reduced expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and serum amyloid A (SAA) at all time points compared with lean mice. Finally, peritoneal macrophages harvested from mice with DIO and exposed to P. gingivalis exhibited reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines compared with lean mice and when exposed to P. gingivalis LPS treatment had a significantly reduced recruitment of NF-κB to both TNF-α and IL-10 promoters 30 min after exposure. These data indicate that obesity interferes with the ability of the immune system to appropriately respond to P. gingivalis infection and suggest that this immune dysregulation participates in the increased alveolar bone loss after bacterial infection observed in mice with DIO.
On position compensation and force control stability of a robot with a compliant wrist

A compliant wrist instrumented between a robot and its end effector provides a necessary compliance for assembly operations, and the displacement and force information generated from the wrist sensor can be utilized to actively control the end effector. The authors discuss the position compensation for the detection of the compliant wrist due to the gravity load and other external forces at the unconstrained space, and the force control as the robot is constrained with the environment. The system stability problem and dynamic performance are investigated for the different control laws, wrist parameters, and environment models. By analysis and simulation, some meaningful conclusions are obtained. The results are useful for design of the compliant wrist device and determination of the compensator law in the feedback loop. <<ETX>>
Recognition, Diagnosis and Treatment of Meconium Obstruction in Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants

Background: Meconium obstruction (MO) of prematurity can result in increased morbidity or mortality and prolonged hospitalization if not diagnosed and treated appropriately. Objectives: The aims of our study were to identify the incidence and risk factors associated with MO and to review the treatment outcomes. Methods: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 101 extremely low birth weight infants (ELBWIs) who were born between January 1, 2007, and April 1, 2009, at Seoul National University Hospital. Prenatal and neonatal factors were compared between the MO and control groups. The treatment outcomes were also reviewed. Results: Twenty-two (22%) patients were diagnosed as having MO. Eighteen of these patients (82%) had prenatal risk factors for MO. Respiratory distress syndrome was more prevalent in the MO group than in the control group (p = 0.001). Overall, 17 of the 22 patients (77%) were relieved with medical treatment and the rest underwent ileostomy. The times to full enteral feeding did not differ between the medically treated group and the control group. However, the surgically treated group required more time to achieve full enteral feeding, and some patients had persistent gastrointestinal problems. Conclusion: MO is not a rare condition in ELBWIs, and the majority of ELBWIs have prenatal risk factors. Medical management was effective, and medically manageable cases had good prognoses for subsequent feeding, whereas some surgically managed cases had persistent gastrointestinal problems.
Towards a better description of cardiovascular function in pulmonary hypertension

Dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI has become a useful technique for measuring perfusion in many applications. The theoretical basis for perfusion quantification is the central volume principle, which requires deconvolution of the measured arterial input and tissue concentration curves to derive a residue function ( R ) and mean blood perfusion. Deconvolution methods generally differ in assumptions of the global shape of R , computational stability and oscillations in estimated R . Therefore, several deconvolution methods to estimate R and blood perfusion are evaluated in this study. Among these are model-dependent and model-independent techniques. All methods were applied to series of Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the accuracy to reproduce different underlying shapes of R and blood perfusion. Of the model-independent approaches the use of B-splines with Tikhonov regularization had a reasonable accuracy in perfusion estimations and was less biased than all model-dependent approaches. This technique is most promising for application to experimental data.
Automated segmentation of intraretinal cystoid macular edema for retinal 3D OCT images with macular hole

An automated method is proposed to segment and quantify the volume of cystoid macular edema (CME) for the abnormal retina with macular hole (MH) in 3D OCT images. The proposed framework consists of three parts: (1) preprocessing, which includes denoising, intraretinal layers segmentation and flattening, MH and vessel silhouettes exclusion; (2) coarse segmentation, in which an AdaBoost classifier is used to get the seeds and constrained regions for Graph Cut; (3) fine segmentation, in which a graph cut algorithm is used to get the refine segmentation result. The proposed method was evaluated in 3D OCT images from 18 typical patients with CMEs and MH. The true positive volume fraction (TPVF), false positive volume fraction (FPVF) and accuracy rate (ACC) for CME volume segmentation are 84.6%, 1.7% and 99.7%, respectively.
The substrate as a skeleton: ground reaction forces from a soft-bodied legged animal

SUMMARY The measurement of forces generated during locomotion is essential for the development of accurate mechanical models of animal movements. However, animals that lack a stiff skeleton tend to dissipate locomotor forces in large tissue deformation and most have complex or poorly defined substrate contacts. Under these conditions, measuring propulsive and supportive forces is very difficult. One group that is an exception to this problem is lepidopteran larvae which, despite lacking a rigid skeleton, have well-developed limbs (the prolegs) that can be used for climbing in complex branched structures and on a variety of surfaces. Caterpillars therefore are excellent for examining the relationship between soft body deformation and substrate reaction forces during locomotion. In this study, we devised a method to measure the ground reaction forces (GRFs) at multiple contact points during crawling by the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). Most abdominal prolegs bear similar body weight during their stance phase. Interestingly, forward reaction forces did not come from pushing off the substrate. Instead, most positive reaction forces came from anterior abdominal prolegs loaded in tension while posterior legs produced drag in most instances. The counteracting GRFs effectively stretch the animal axially during the second stage of a crawl cycle. These findings help in understanding how a terrestrial soft-bodied animal can interact with its substrate to control deformation without hydraulic actuation. The results also provide insights into the behavioral and mechanistic constraints leading to the evolution of diverse proleg arrangements in different species of caterpillar.
Progression in Maximum Satisfiability

Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT) is a well-known optimization version of Propositional Satisfiability (SAT), that finds a wide range of relevant practical applications. Despite the significant progress made in MaxSAT solving in recent years, many practically relevant problem instances require prohibitively large run times, and many cannot simply be solved with existing algorithms. One approach for solving MaxSAT is based on iterative SAT solving, which may optionally be guided by unsatisfiable cores. A difficulty with this class of algorithms is the possibly large number of times a SAT solver is called, e.g. for instances with very large clause weights. This paper proposes the use of geometric progressions to tackle this issue, thus allowing, for the vast majority of problem instances, to reduce the number of calls to the SAT solver. The new approach is also shown to be applicable to core-guided MaxSAT algorithms. Experimental results, obtained on a large number of problem instances, show gains when compared to state-of-the-art implementations of MaxSAT algorithms.
Space charge analysis of modified and unmodified XLPE model-cables under different electric fields and temperatures

The introduction of HVDC links into the power grid have made polymeric cables for DC transmission a subject of great interest. XLPE is a widely used insulation material for HVDC cables. However, dealing with space charge accumulation in XLPE cables still remains a challenge. New insulating materials offer new possibilities facing these challenges, if their properties are well understood. Two model-cables with equal dimensions but different XLPE insulation are investigated in this study. One material is “conventional” XLPE, which is normally used for AC-cables, while the other is treated to introduce additional functionality into the polymer composition. The cables were exposed to a number of different combinations of applied electric field and isothermal temperature conditions, while space charge measurements on the samples were performed, using the PEA-method. The slight modification of the polymer composition of XLPE leads to considerable changes in space charge development. The modification influences injection, transport and recombination of charges in the sample.
Adenosine A 1 and Prostaglandin EP 3 Receptors Mediate Global Airway Contraction after Local Epithelial Injury

Epithelial injury and airway hyperresponsiveness are prominent features of asthma. We have previously demonstrated that laser ablation of single epithelial cells immediately induces global airway constriction through Ca-dependent smooth muscle shortening. The response is mediated by soluble mediators released from wounded single epithelial cells; however, the soluble mediators and signaling mechanisms have not been identified. In this study, we investigated the nature of the epithelial-derived soluble mediators and the associated signaling pathways that lead to the L-type voltage-dependentCa channel 3 (VGCC)–mediatedCa influx.We found that inhibition of adenosine A1 receptors (or removal of adenosine with adenosine deaminase), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 or EP3 receptors, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), or plateletderived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) all significantly blocked Ca oscillations in smooth muscle cells and airway contraction induced by local epithelial injury. Using selective agonists to activate the receptors in the presence and absence of selective receptor antagonists, we found that adenosine activated the signaling pathway A1R→EGFR/PDGFR→COX-2→EP3→VGCCs→calcium-induced calcium release, leading to intracellular Ca oscillations in airway smooth muscle cells and airway constriction.
A 42 fJ/Step-FoM Two-Step VCO-Based Delta-Sigma ADC in 40 nm CMOS

A 40 MHz-BW 10 bit two-step VCO-based Delta-Sigma ADC is presented. With the open-loop structure and highly digital building blocks, a robust performance, high bandwidth and high power efficiency are achieved. The nonlinearities of the coarse and the fine VCO-based quantizers are mitigated by distortion cancellation and voltage swing reduction schemes respectively. Because of the intrinsic DEM of the VCO-based quantizer output, the matching requirement of the DAC cells is greatly relaxed. The experimental results in 40 nm CMOS show that, with 1.6 GHz sampling frequency, the proposed ADC reaches 59.5 dB SNDR and 67.7 dB SFDR for 40 MHz bandwidth. The power consumption is only 2.57 mW under 0.9 V power supply, corresponding the best FoM (42 fJ/step) among high bandwidth ( 20 MHz) DS ADCs.
Sensitivity Analysis For Building Evolving & Adaptive Robotic Software

There has been a considerable growth in research and development of service robots in recent years. For deployment in diverse environment conditions for a wide range of service tasks, novel features and algorithms are developed and existing ones undergo change. However, developing and evolving the robot software requires making and revising many design decisions that can affect the quality of performance of the robots and that are non-trivial to reason about intuitively because of interactions among them. We propose to use sensitivity analysis to build models of the quality of performance to the different design decisions to ease design and evolution. Moreover, we envision these models to be used for run-time adaptation in response to changing goals or environment conditions. Constructing these models is challenging due to the exponential size of the decision space. We build on previous work on performance influence models of highly-configurable software systems using a machine-learning-based approach to construct influence models for robotic software.
Correlation analysis for geo-indistinguishability based continuous LBS queries

The popularity of mobile devices with positioning capability and Internet accessibility in recent years has caused a revolution in the Location Based Services (LBS) market. Unfortunately, without preserving the user's location privacy, LBS providers can collect and log the accurate locations of the service users. Many mechanisms have been developed to preserve the LBS user's location privacy. While said mechanisms have had demonstrable effectiveness with snapshot queries, the shortcoming of supporting continuous queries is their main drawback. Geo-indistinguishability represents an obfuscation-based location privacy notion, which preserves the user's accurate location while allowing an adequate amount of information to be released. Despite its effectiveness and simplicity, geo-indistinguishability notion does not address the potential correlation of the subsequent locations reported within the continuous queries. In this paper, we report our progress on developing an adaptive geo-indistinguishability mechanism for continuous LBS queries. We show the effect of exploiting the correlation of the user's obfuscated locations on the location privacy level. The initial results show the need for an adaptive mechanism that adjusts the amount of noise required to obfuscate the user's location based on the correlation level with its previous obfuscated locations.
A new SAO based on histogram analysis in HEVC

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) is under development by the Joint video coding standardization project of ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group and Moving Picture Experts Group. The current in-loop filter has two tools, deblocking filter (DF) and sample adaptive offset (SAO). The SAO band offset (BO) is perfect only the constructed samples in a Coding Tree Block (CTB) spread over four continuous bands, but not adaptive if the signal focuses on a range narrower or wider than four bands. Two additional types are proposed in this paper to solve this problem. If the signal is compacted to two discontinuous bands, another BO type is added. Experimental results show efficiency and subjective quality improvement compared with HEVC test model 10 (HM10.0) anchor.
Generalized Euler equations for linked rigid bodies.

We derive the equations of motion for linked rigid bodies from Lagrange mechanics and from Gauss's principle of least constraint. The rotational motion of the subunits is described in terms of quaternion parameters and angular velocities. Different types of joints can be incorporated via axis constraints for the angular velocities. The resulting equations of motion are generalizations of the Euler equations of motion for a single rotor.
Tellurium and Selenium Resistance in Rhizobia and Its Potential Use for Direct Isolation of Rhizobium meliloti from Soil

Forty-eight Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium strains were screened for resistance to tellurite, selenite, and selenate. High levels of resistance to the metals were observed only in Rhizobium meliloti and Rhizobium fredii strains; the MICs were 2 to 8 mM for Te(IV), >200 mM for Se(VI), and 50 to 100 mM for Se(IV). Incorporation of Se and Te into growth media permitted us to directly isolate R. meliloti strains from soil. Mutant strains of rhizobia having decreased levels of Se and Te resistance were constructed by Tn5 mutagenesis and were found to have transposon insertions in DNA fragments of different sizes. Genomic DNAs from Ter rhizobium strains failed to hybridize with Ter determinants from plasmids RP4, pHH1508a, and pMER610.
Design of blocks for a Field Programmable Mixed Array (FPMA)

In this work, we propose an architecture for a Field Programmable Mixed Array (FPMA), with focus on the basic building blocks used in the analog reconfigurable core. Although analog circuits do not benefit from technology scaling as much as their digital counterparts, analog designers cannot avoid using deep submicron fabrication processes because of System on a Chip integration requirements. Considering the increased negative effects of process variations in smaller feature sizes, reconfigurability can be of great use for compensation of process-related errors. Analog core of the proposed FPMA contains basic building blocks such as programmable operational transconductance amplifiers, wide input range operational amplifiers, dynamic comparators, and capacitor arrays. Digital core is based on the configurable logic cells of LUT-based FPGA architectures. Data converters are also implemented as interface between the analog and digital cores. All circuits were designed in a 130nm CMOS process with 1.2V single power supply.
Generic sensing hardware and real-time reconstruction for structured analog signals

Generic acquisition hardware promotes a unified treatment of various signal classes. In modern applications involving wide input bandwidths, uniform sampling, the common practice for generic digitization, leads to prohibitively large sampling and processing rates due to the wide Nyquist bandwidth of the input. In this paper, we present the X-ADC system which narrows down the input bandwidth by analog preprocessing prior to sampling at rates substantially lower than Nyquist. As we show, the X-ADC strategy is generic in the sense that multitude radio and medical imaging applications with structured signals can utilize the same architecture for lowrate acquisition. A recently published sub-Nyquist hardware, which was designed according to the proposed X-ADC scheme, provides a concrete reference for the present study. We complement the generic acquisition by reporting on a real-time embedded implementation of a sub-Nyquist reconstruction algorithm. The embedded design enables, for example, fast spectrum sensing which is essential to real-time cognitive radio applications.
Equivalence of robust VaR and CVaR optimization

We show that robust optimization of the VaR and CVaR risk measures with a minimum return constraint under distribution ambiguity reduce to the same second order cone program. We use this result to formulate models for robust risk optimization under joint ambiguity in distribution, mean returns and covariance matrices, under ellipsoidal ambiguity sets. We also obtain models for robust VaR and CVaR optimization for polytopic and interval ambiguity sets of the means and covariance. The models unify and/or extend several existing models. We also propose an algorithm and a heuristic for constructing an ellipsoidal ambiguity set from point estimates given by multiple securities analysts, and show how to overcome the well-known conservatism of robust optimization models. Using CDS spread return data from eurozone crisis countries we illustrate that investment strategies using robust optimization models perform well even out-of-sample. Finally, using a controlled experiment we show how the well-known sensitivity of CVaR to mis-specifications of the first four moments of the distribution is alleviated with the robust models.